Q. When teams play a lot of 11 personnel, does that make it tough for them to do the and-one blocking on the edges?
TERYL AUSTIN: No, there's ways to scheme it up. You can always get guys to chip and bring receivers in and tight ends and everything, so they'll find a way to do that. I don't think they're going to leave our edges clean. So teams do it. They do it all the time. A lot of teams run a lot of 11, and they're able to figure that out.
Q. Is it unusual for a rookie like (indiscernible) to come in and do the volume that he's done so early in the season?
TERYL AUSTIN: It is. I think it is, but he's done a great job. When you watch him, he does a lot of things for them, he blocks, he catches, he makes contested catches, combat catches, all those things.
I think Matthew probably developed a little bit of trust in him, and that helps. I think when you're a young guy and a veteran quarterback like Matthew trust you, that's why he's throwing you the ball.
Q. With the amount of times (indiscernible) getting more snaps, is that going to naturally take care of itself this week some because they are in 11 as much as they are?
TERYL AUSTIN: I would think so. There's an opportunity for him to get more work on the field. He's been steadily progressing each week, he's gotten a little bit more and has done a good job with it, so we'll see how it goes this week.
But probably can't anticipate it because (indiscernible).
Q. Minkah hasn't had an interception this season. Is that something you guys look at during the bye week and put him in positions to make those plays more often?
TERYL AUSTIN: No, I think we're always conscious of where we put guys to try to get them in the best positions to make plays. Just right now sometimes you go through those -- I don't want to call it a drought, but you go through those times when the ball is not coming your way.
But I have every confidence that Minkah is going to get around a few balls sooner or later.
Q. With their play caller, their quarterback, all the skill position guys they have, they're really an effective passing offense. How do you evaluate the performance of the cornerbacks this season?
TERYL AUSTIN: I think like anybody, there's always room to improve, and that's what we're trying to do to be more consistent, to play tighter coverage, and that's going to come up every week no matter -- you'll be asking me -- if you asked me the same question in week 17, it would be the same thing.
We're just trying to go out there and make sure we play well enough to win that week and then look at the tape, see where we've got to improve and go from there.
Q. When you guys subbed in against the Ravens, you put Joey in out of the dime. Should we take that to mean that you weren't satisfied with either corner's performance in that game?
TERYL AUSTIN: No, I think it means we're just satisfied with Joey's progression. I think you look at it that way, that he's making strides, and we feel comfortable enough to put him in the game in other than 3rd-down situations.
Q. Has he looked for comfortable on one side versus the other from what you've seen from him?
TERYL AUSTIN: No, I think we've been mostly working him on the left, and I think that's -- for young guys, sometimes you want to keep them on the side and let them learn, let them see because things happen differently on the left than on the right. A lot of times people think, it's just a corner, but it's more than that.
We've been working him on the left and letting him do most of his work there, and that seems to be helping him.
Q. What have you liked the most about (indiscernible)?
TERYL AUSTIN: He's got a lot of really good attributes. He's an unbelievable route runner, and he knows how to get himself in position to get open. He understands the coverages he faces so he doesn't put himself in bad spots. Sometimes guys will be in zone and they'll run right into a coverage or something like that. He doesn't do that.
He does all those things, catches the ball. He's got good run after catch. I can't say enough good things about the guy. He is a top receiver in this league, and you've got to know where he is.
Q. When you don't know what the running back situation will look like, do you just kind of look at them all and just deal with scheme or how do you approach --
TERYL AUSTIN: Yeah, I think we're not going to have a lot of tape on some of these guys maybe, so what we'll do is we'll pick the runs they like, the schemes they like to do, and then kind of figure it out as the game goes on. You'll get a feel for the backs and what kind of backs they are, if they like to bounce it, if they like to cut it back, whatever it may be, but we'll have to get that feel as the game goes on.
Q. (Indiscernible).
TERYL AUSTIN: It always does because lots of moving parts at the snap, and you want to make sure guys get their eyes in the right positions so that they can key the things that they need to key and get themselves in position to make plays, so it's a challenge.
Q. (Indiscernible) you know that he was having any discomfort? Is that something that's going to hinder him at all?
TERYL AUSTIN: That's a no and a no.
Q. I noticed you had different guys. Like Fehoko was wearing 99 like yesterday. Every week a scout has to game plan as the opponent, sometimes scouts have to be guys that are Hall-of-Famers. I'm curious, does that help those players that have to serve in those roles? Does it help their development, help them get off that role and be on the other side?
TERYL AUSTIN: Yeah, I think sometimes, like a lot of things, you do things that are good for the team, and that helps our team. So if guys have to sacrifice for one week doing something that they don't typically do, I think everybody would buy into it if it helps us get a win on Sunday.
Q. But does that help that player's development? Can it help that player's development?
TERYL AUSTIN: It can because sometimes you find out some things you're able to do that you didn't think you could do. That's how I look at it.
Q. Has there been anybody that stands out to you that has sort of thrived in maybe being some guy on team Y --
TERYL AUSTIN: No, I think you have some guys that are -- you hope if a guy is a good -- if he shows good on scout team, that eventually he works his way up to be a good player. Really that's more what you're looking at. I don't know if I could take an instance of that and say, oh, yeah, him doing this guy made him a better player. I don't know if I could say that.
Q. How quickly is Stafford (indiscernible)?
TERYL AUSTIN: Pretty quick. He's good. He sees the field. He gets rid of it. There's going to be some times that he has to throw the ball downfield, and that's like anybody, and the routes will dictate when he holds the ball. But a lot of times that ball is out of his hands, and we're going to have to do a good job of tackling, not allowing run after catch, and get your hands up when he's throwing it.
Q. How big of an issue has tackling been and how quickly can you correct it?
TERYL AUSTIN: We've had our missed tackles. I think we're starting to tackle better. We're doing better at that. We're working at it.
It's not a lack of want-to. We've just got to make sure we do it. It's going to be real big because, again, yards after catch are going to be big. Tackling the running back is going to be big. That's part of football. If you can't tackle, then you suffer.
I think the games we didn't play well, you could probably look at our tackling, the games we played poorly. The games we played well, our tackling was probably pretty good.
Q. What do you think is the most unique part about Sean McVay's offense?
TERYL AUSTIN: I would say it would probably be some of the motions and some of the things that he does with guys in terms of where guys block in the run game. He'll have some unconventional things that way. You'll see 17 insert up inside and block guys and block linebackers. It's kind of unique that way. It stresses sometimes your run game.
Q. (Indiscernible) inside linebackers?
TERYL AUSTIN: I did. I did. I thought those guys were active. I thought they got after it really well.
I think as a group, as a unit, they've been improving, steadily improving all year. I like where they're headed. We've just got to continue to keep it going out there coming off the break.
Q. Do they have the kind of attitude that you like to see in an inside linebacker? It seems like they all really enjoy --
TERYL AUSTIN: Absolutely, yeah, they do. They have good energy. They're tough guys. They like it. They love ball.
I think they have all of the ingredients that you like in that room. They push each other. The guys push each other to get better. They know that, hey, not one guy is going to take every snap, so we all need to be in this together and do a great job together, and they really bought into that.
Q. I know with Minkah (indiscernible) you haven't seen the splash plays, does it make you think you need to put him back where he can do that? How do you juggle?
TERYL AUSTIN: Yeah, that's always a struggling act. I just think that he'll be able to get his plays. I think sometimes it's just the law of averages kind of slows it down a little bit.
I believe, because I know what kind of football player he is, that he's going to start getting his hands on some balls and making the splash that we need.
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