PETE CARROLL: First off, Christmas week, happy holidays to everybody. I know we're going to be taking it right on through the holiday and all that. Appreciate you hanging with us and all. It's a great time for us to find out what we're grateful for and to appreciate it. We're definitely in that mode here. We'll hopefully make this a great week in a lot of ways.
Q. Pete, just right off the top here, what's your understanding of what happened with Josh and how it affects you guys moving forward? What's next for him, and how disappointed are you that it's back here again?
PETE CARROLL: Well, we're not able to comment about any of it really other than to say he's still in the -- coming in, working out with our trainers, and getting his work done conditioning-wise. We'll revisit it again next week. Certainly disappointed not to have him, for his sake and for a lot of things. We'll stay with it, and we'll see what happens next week.
Q. So two questions. Is it your understanding that it's now kind of a week by week it gets evaluated, or do you have any other guidance from the NFL on that?
PETE CARROLL: I don't know any of that. I don't have any information. Sorry.
Q. When you look at this week's game, you talked last time about not having Carlos and Chris, but those aren't the only guys missing because of injury. How different does the team look now compared to the last matchup against the Rams?
PETE CARROLL: We certainly balanced out our attack and what we're trying to do. We just kind of went in an offshoot direction for a bit. We didn't mean to, but we did. We feel very confident that we're back. We're hoping that we can continue. We're really pleased we've been able to run the ball the last couple of weeks, and it's necessary for us to really feel our style of play. It's a good feeling.
Q. Hey, Pete, on Monday you were discussing on the radio that there have been issues at times this year with passing off receivers and picking up routes coming into zones. Looking back at some of the issues early in the season, giving them explosive plays, some of the busted coverages. How big of an issue do you think that was in terms of the vision and awareness, and do you think the lack of chemistry played into that?
PETE CARROLL: Let me just say that we just weren't hitting it right. We weren't on it like we needed to be, and there just wasn't enough of the substance that we needed to have everybody connected and communicating really well and confident in what was going on, so we were just a step off of things.
Remember that -- you guys have got to look back and remember that all of those yards that were on the board, so much of them were after the fact, fourth quarter, catch-up mode, which we're not pleased about or happy with at all, but there was thousands, it seemed like, of yards that happened in that mode. That's the mode we played poorly in. So we just had to clean things up and get sharper, but it naturally coalesced with just the time together and also the time necessary.
New players, they need to learn our system. They need to understand it. They need to play together with guys, all of that. Honestly, I never felt like it wasn't going to happen and we weren't going to turn it around. I was just really impatient and frustrated by it. Since the turn of the second half here, we've been a different team on defense, and it feels like we're going in the right direction. So whatever happened before is long gone for us now.
Q. Pete, you said Monday this is as good a defense as you'll face. What particular -- I know they changed coordinators, but what are they doing this year that makes them so effective?
PETE CARROLL: They have a different package of defense entirely, and it's a different style. Some of the obvious features are similar. Aaron Donald is still playing on the guard, and he's rushing as much as he can, and they're trying to feature putting him in the right spots and moving him around, and they do that in great fashion. But it's just a different formula of defense and different concept coverage-wise and front-wise, and they look really good. Everybody fits the format of what they need them to do. I really think Leonard Floyd has been a real great addition for them and his style of play.
They have a really good active group, run real well, and it starts up front, and they've got a great place to build from.
Q. Pete, how is Josh doing with the latest news and everything? How is he handling it?
PETE CARROLL: Very frustrated that he's not out here, frustrated by it.
Q. Injury-wise, what's the plan this week for Carlos Dunlap and Brandon Shell?
PETE CARROLL: Both those guys are going to -- Carlos is practicing. He starts the week in full mode. We're going to monitor Brandon until later in the week with the hopes that he can get back out on the field by Friday and show us some stuff and see if he can compete to play.
We're really pleased with what Cedrick did at right tackle, so we feel fortunate he had a nice game going into this one, but we'll see what happens with Brandon.
Q. Pete, is there anything you can tell us about just kind of where Josh is at? Is it remorse? Is it surprise? Is it confusion?
PETE CARROLL: I'm sorry, guys. I'm not supposed to even comment about it. We're not supposed to talk about it. Got to leave it at that. I'm sorry.
Q. But you guys will keep him on the roster?
PETE CARROLL: Yes.
Q. And any update on Phillip Dorsett and his foot?
PETE CARROLL: I just saw Phillip in the weight room before the walk-through today, and he's moving around pretty well. He's out of the boot and trying to make the transition now. So I don't know how long it takes from this point, but he's made strides forward and he's at least to that portion of his workout now.
Q. Hi, Pete. There's a national report that there was a setback with substance abuse for Josh Gordon. Can you at least delineate whether it's an administrative part of the reinstatement?
PETE CARROLL: Sorry, can't comment on this stuff. Sorry.
Q. The fact that he's staying on the roster, it's status quo as Sunday and Saturday and Friday?
PETE CARROLL: Yes.
Q. It's back to that?
PETE CARROLL: Yes. I guess I did comment.
Q. The offensive line, they haven't had a sack in the last two weeks. What has been working so well for them recently?
PETE CARROLL: I think it's just the combination of guys feeling good about what's going on, rhythm of the game, passing game, play calling, execution. It's just -- we've just taken a step forward that was necessary here to finish off the season. We got to keep it going. We got to keep it going and keep Russ clean and let him have the freedom to do the things he can do.
We're really pleased he hasn't been hit, knocked down in the last couple weeks. That's good for us. It's something that hasn't happened a lot, and we're going to see if we can keep it going.
Q. Secondly, this is off the field, kind of random. Quandre Diggs, he recently has been donating holiday shopping sprees to families here in Seattle. With the fact that he's only been here for a short period of time, can you speak to his character off the field and why he feels the need to give back to a community that's kind of adopted him?
PETE CARROLL: Yeah, he's a great kid. He has a charisma and a kind of magnetism about him that really attracts people to him. He's a natural leader. It goes along with his attitude and personality. He's also just such a tough guy too. The guys respect the heck out of him.
I know he's done a lot of stuff in the community and continues to work to do what he can to do his part. He is doing it kind of reminiscent of guys that have been here in the past, they've really had an open heart to reach out and help where they can. Everybody loves him. As a matter of fact, I should say too -- I didn't mention about the pro bowl guys, but for the first time pro bowl guys, what a great deal -- I know Quandre is really proud of that, and Tyler and DK -- Tyler Ott and the guys that get their first shot at it, Nick Bellore also. It's just a wonderful thing.
But back to Quandre, he's been a great kid in the program and never hasn't been. Like I said, he was a captain for the Lions, and I can see why that was the case.
Q. Pete, when you were coaching in San Francisco in '95/'96, did you interact much with John McVay, and if so, what were some of your take-aways about your time with him?
PETE CARROLL: Yeah, John was there at the time and was still kind of the guru, kind of the wizard back in the day. You know, he had come off all of his years with the longstanding Niners tradition and stuff, and he had the background and the history and kind of the lore to it. As a matter of fact, I did spend time with John and hung out with him some just to get to know him. He was a big -- a really, really big significant part of all of that success they had then.
Q. And is there anything in Sean McVay's offense that reflects the West Coast principles of the Walsh era?
PETE CARROLL: Well, they reflect more that Mike Shanahan transitioned from that. Mike came out of the Niners system and did a bunch of stuff at Denver and then at Washington. It's more connected to that transition that Mike had made, the running game for sure, the splits and the formations and the things that they do, the quarterback movement pass game that they do.
That was all really -- it came out of West Coast, but really it was Mike Shanahan's kind of origin, I thought. He changed the thing. The zone running was not part of the 49er offense in the West Coast stuff. Everybody loses all of that. This is really much more like Mike's work.
Q. Pete, is there anything new on Darrell Taylor at all?
PETE CARROLL: Yeah, I have something. Yeah, he's going to try to practice next week for the first time, and he's getting ready to do that. We'll find out if that can come to life and all, so we'll see. Like I said all along, we've been waiting and hoping that we could get to this day. He had a lot of consulting that he did to get to that point. He saw a number of doctors to make sure he was confident in what he was doing.
So now that we have that behind us, I think that he'll get a chance to see if he can jump back sooner than later. We'll be happy to have him.
Q. And Nick Bellore, how valuable has he been to kind of the whole thing with special teams kind of the last two years here?
PETE CARROLL: Yeah, he's had a big role. Because he's such a smart football player and such a savvy guy and a tough dude and all of that, he has been a leader in the group of our special teams stuff since the day he walked on here. We really wanted him to come for those reasons. He's just blossomed as a great factor for us. He's playing the best he's played, we've seen him in years. Been the most active and been the biggest factor.
He's always been a real positive and a plus in helping kind of what the game's all about and what special teams are all about for young players and all. He's just been a huge factor for us. It's just great recognition for a hard working dude that has earned it every step of the way by being a tough guy and smart guy and being very competitive.
Q. Hey, Pete, sorry if I missed this, but is Greg Olsen still on track? He's going to practice this week and on track for Sunday.
PETE CARROLL: You're the only guy that figured out. Yeah, that's a great question. Greg is coming back. He'll practice this afternoon. He had a really solid week last week, looked really good. It was really close enough that he had a chance to play last week. It was such a shock that he was so good so soon that we didn't want to press our luck on it. He's back in action this week, and we're happy to get him out here. He has to make it through the week, as always, but he's going full go today.
Q. Pete, you've talked a lot about D.J. Reed's performance with you guys. Was he even on your radar? Did you know much about him, or was this John kind of presenting him?
PETE CARROLL: I had just seen him flash. I knew of him, yeah, but I hadn't studied him that much. This is really -- like I said, this is to John's credit in the scouting department, finding the guy that could fit in and do something, and they had great vision to see how he could fit in. I'm really excited about how he's playing.
Q. With Tre and Quinton, what's the plan this week?
PETE CARROLL: Quinton is going to stay on IR. He's going to get his knee fixed. He couldn't make the turn. He tried really hard the last couple weeks, and he just couldn't get over the hump on it. He's going to get that taken care of eventually -- soon, I think.
Tre is coming back to practice today. He'll be a little bit limited numbers-wise, but he's coming back to play. Really excited he has a chance to return to us.
Q. Is that a season ending surgery for Quinton?
PETE CARROLL: Yes.
Q. Pete, Russell, in the last game against the Rams, really struggled by his own admission. How much of that was attributable to just an off game, and how much was it something that the Rams were doing? What do you think of his performance since that game?
PETE CARROLL: We were a little bit off then. That's the whole thing about our balance and all that. We just didn't feel the same. It felt like we played uncharacteristically. Russ made the one play in the game where he threw the ball across the field trying to hit Diss, I think, up the sidelines. He was trying hard, trying to make something happen, and I think that kind of stood for what it felt like -- me as a coach, him as a player, our team -- I just felt like we weren't quite right. So we'll see.
We get to go ahead, and fortunately, we get to play these guys again. We'll see how we do this time around. All that's ever happened is gone. That's already behind us and lost and all that. In our minds, we just move on and take the next step. Hopefully, we'll take a good step this week.
Q. Pete, we saw Bryan Mone is coming back to practice for you. Where's he kind of at, the plans for him moving forward, and the year he was having before he got hurt?
PETE CARROLL: I think he was playing really good, by far the best ball he had played with us. Active -- he was really a factor of chasing the ball around. He's 350 pounds, but he runs like crazy with that big body. He looked really good in the walk-through today. That's all I've seen of him other than what we're seeing through the training work.
He's got to practice this week and have a good go at it, but he's got a chance. He is totally tuned in to playing. He's going to go for it during the course of the week. By the weekend, we'll have much more information. I don't have enough yet to know.
Q. Coach, a few big picture sort of questions for you. I know you treat every game the same, 1-0 mentality every week, but knowing a division title is on the line, have you guys addressed that at all, or is it just same preparation, week in, week out?
PETE CARROLL: This week is what all of that's about. It's to get to this point, being a championship opportunity, continuing to pose each game that we play as a championship opportunity so we're practicing that mentality so that, when we get here, we do exactly that again. So hopefully, all of the lessons stick, and we carry on. We're going to take it as we do. It's an opportunity for a great day today, and just one day at a time, put the prep together, and go through a football game here as we're closing out.
We have finished well in our seasons. We finished with a lot of good wins at the end of the year, and this is another opportunity to demonstrate that we get it and we know what we're doing. Philosophically, we're tight and connected, and that we can go out and perform like we're capable against a really great football team. So nothing changes.
Q. And as in the beginning of the season, there was a lot of -- you kept encouraging us, hey, this defense isn't what it can be, what I know it can be yet. In the last few weeks, it feels like the offense is the one to sort of falter, and maybe just a little bit more, as running backs come back healthy, how much confidence do you have that this week both sides of the ball can perform their absolute highest?
PETE CARROLL: Well, we didn't get sacked last week, and we had one kind of sloppy turnover they got, a nice play by them. That's really good football. Running for 180 yards, 170 the week before. If we keep doing those things, we take care of the football, run the ball like that, and be able to keep the quarterback clean, we're going to have success.
The defense has to keep playing. We haven't done anything yet. We've got a long ways to go, but we're so much better and so much more connected than we were, that the whole thing can fit together. I'm not looking at numbers and stats and stuff like that right now. Can we put together a complementary ball that gives us a chance to win?
Last week I thought that was a beautiful day's work. I know that there's other -- we just missed a couple conversions in the fourth quarter that would have changed that game on the third downs, but we need to keep doing this. If we do that, we're hard to beat.
Q. Pete, with it being the holiday season, is there any special message you have to the players, in terms of the COVID-19 and staying with what you guys have done so far?
PETE CARROLL: Yeah, I'm glad you brought it up. We started today with the thought of realizing how fortunate we are to express the gratitude that we have for one another and the system and all that. We're in one of the safest places in the world right now. We've created an environment that we're fortunate as can be that we're this safe for all of these guys that are here with their families and all with the mentality we have. Just within our own group, we need to be really grateful for that, and in that, really showing appreciation and gratitude for the people around us and everybody that we can touch and reach out to and all that.
This is a season for gratitude for us and appreciation, and we want to be mindful of that and share that with everybody that we can connect with.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports