MIKE TOMLIN: Good afternoon. As always, I'll start with a quick assessment of our last performance. Really have the same reaction that I had after the game. I thought a major catalyst overall the three phases of the game that was significant was our ability to minimize their outstanding running back, Taylor. Their offensive unit has been on fire. Punted I think 16 times in eight ball games. You know, their success is well documented.
But from our perspective stemmed from their ability to run the ball, stay on schedule, minimize one-dimensional passing circumstances.
It allowed them to stay one step ahead of the defensive units usually. It allowed them to minimize the potential of negativity in doing so.
They protected the ball. I think they only turned the ball over four times on the season. So a major component on the game for us was altering, making them absorb more risk, having them be in more one-dimensional passing circumstances; hopefully punt a little bit more.
All of those things stem from our ability to minimize the run game, and so just wanted to restate that.
I thought largely we played complementary football as well. Once we started taking the ball away, the offense started scoring, I think we put on two quick touchdowns in the first half off of turnovers. It didn't always start that way. I thought that our inability to score when we got that turnover in the special teams game was a significant component, early component of the game from a negative perspective.
So complementary football is big. Stopping the run is big. The takeaway game obviously is always big. These are core values, man, that we hold and certainly work toward. We saw the fruit of that labor in-stadium in terms of how the game unfolded.
From a health standpoint, we had a number of things going on with people, a lot of significant updates. I'm certain that I will get more clarity as we push forward through the week.
Scotty Miller is out with his finger. We'll see how he's able to function at some point this week with that.
Cole Holcomb is still out with his illness. We'll keep an eye on him and see what his level of participation is.
Isaac Seumalo is still nursing a pec like he was managing at the early portions of last week, and he was able to function for us.
Pep has a soft tissue injury.
Chuck Clark is sick. He should be returning to us.
And then we have some other bumps and bruises associated with play that may limit some people at the beginning of the week but not prevent them from practicing and participating as we push forward through the week.
As we always do, one man's misfortune is another man's opportunity. We will take it as an opportunity to grow and develop some others and ready ourselves in that way.
Certainly excited about a complete week's work with Kyle Dugger. You know, was really impressed by his work in-stadium. I would be remiss if I didn't mention that again. Really impressed by his work in-stadium. Excited about having a complete week of work with him at the safety position, not only in terms of knowing what to do; certainly he displayed an ability to learn quickly and play and detail that component of it, but the communication component of it, the work within groups.
I thought Jalen Ramsey did an awesome job with him, particularly as we got into the weekend last week making sure they were coordinated as safeties.
But all this work didn't mean anything. We still had to get in the stadium and make it happen. It certainly was a challenge. It lacked a little bit of fluidity there early on, but I thought as those two worked and worked together, their experience in the National Football League even though they're somewhat new to us, and whether it's Jalen new to the safety position, I thought their global overall experience and talent showed up as the game wore on.
So excited about an additional week's work with that collective. Jalen will continue to work exclusively at safety. We value his positional flexibility. It's an asset to us. Gives a lot of people things to work on, but certainly under the circumstances we are in right now we deemed that appropriate as we did last week in terms of nailing him down there.
And so provide opportunities for guys like Brandin Echols to step up, which he did, and play more snaps as a nickel, et cetera. Even guys like James Pierre had an opportunity get some snaps outside. We've got more depth at corner than at safety, and so we're just simply pivoting and doing what's required to keep the train rolling.
Now, I'll start on the Los Angeles Chargers. I'll start first on their defensive side. Got a lot of respect for Jesse Minter, man, and his strategic approach to the game on that side. He does an awesome job minimizing big plays. He does an awesome job of moving Derwin James around. Derwin is just the straw that stirs the drink for them. He plays safety and base. He is capable of playing run-down nickel. He is also capable of playing linebacker in passing circumstances.
Minter does an awesome job of, you know, showing all his talents in those ways. He's a good blitzer. Good tackler. His disguises are great.
I think they do a nice job with veterans in the second, like Jefferson and Donte Jackson and others who also have to be versatile as he moves around.
So I think oftentimes we don't talk enough about that. If one person is moving around it generally creates challenges for others, and they manage that really, really well.
At the linebacker spot they got a nice blend of older and younger. Perryman, mixed up with Henley, man, is a nice tandem. Perryman has really good instincts and experience, rundown tackler.
Henley is a challenge. Good athlete, sideline to sideline tackler, former safety. I think you see that in his game in terms of his ability to cover grass and do some of the things that can be challenging to other linebackers.
He is also a really good blitzer. That's a component of his game that looks elevated in 2025 relative to 2024. It's a reasonable expectation to see a young, talented player evolve in certain areas of his game, and certainly his blitz game is much more impactful watching this year's tape than when we were getting ready to play him a year ago.
Their edge group is the group. They've got talent and depth in that group. They play as many as four and five guys along the edge. It's really impressive considering that Bosa is no longer a member of that group yet and is still their deepest and most talented position probably on either side of the ball.
Got a lot of people to get ready for there. Khalil Mack certainly, former defensive player of the year is one worth mentioning. And then Oweh is an acquisition from the Ravens who we have some familiarity with certainly. He's been a big asset to them since his acquisition. I think four sacks or so in the last four games.
On the offensive side, man, it certainly starts with Herbert for us. I fuel like we caught a flyer a year ago. He was limited from a mobility perspective when we played him. I thought it impacted how the game unfolded. It allowed us to do some things schematically that you're somewhat hesitant to do if he has full mobility.
I think it nailed him down in the pocket some and probably limited some of the things they choose to do schematically, like play-action pass and changes of the launch point, which is certainly a component of Greg Roman's attack.
It was minimized some last year, and so as I watch tape this year I'm cognizant of that. Herbert is extremely talented. He can kill you with his arms and certainly can kill you with his legs. He can kill you with both by play extension. He has a complete arsenal of people to throw to.
Can't say enough about their receiver corps. The reacquisition of Keenan Allen is kind of a linchpin. He's a Steady Eddie. Been around Herbert in the past. You can tell he's a security blanket. You throw him in with the emergence of the Johnson and McConkey, they're a dangerous group.
In recent weeks I would be wring if I didn't mention the emergence of Gadsen, the rookie tight end from Syracuse who has really put together some big time games. His talent is showing. He's a guy that's capable of some run after. He's one of those unique body types, almost an oversized receiver if you will.
So we certainly have our hands full in these one-dimensional passing moments working to minimize all those eligibles while at the sometime respecting the mobility component of Herbert.
I talked about all those things and I certainly mentioned the run game, and I better. When you're playing a Greg Roman offense you better be prepared to stand up against the run. They've had some attrition in the backfield, but it hasn't slowed down their growth and progress in that area.
They've drafted the young runner from North Carolina in round one. Certainly they acquired Naj in free agency. Both of those guys are not available to them, but there has still been an uptick in their run game, particularly in recent weeks especially as Vidal has found his rhythm. I think he has got two 100-yard games in the last three weeks. Patterson last week in particular is another young guy. I think he had about 50 yards rushing on eight on nine carries.
So there is no rest for the weary. We got a big game versus a really good team in their venue, one that's talented offensively and talented defensively and in special teams. So with that understanding, we're certainly preparing with an edge this week. We got some things to sort through in terms of player availability. I expect that to clear up as we push through the week and us to be able to narrow our focus and position ourselves to be our best.
I'll pause and open up for questions.
Q. Mike, did you go into the game against Colts thinking Dugger would play all but one snap or did you just want to see how was it going to evolve?
MIKE TOMLIN: I was hopeful that he could play a lot, but certainly we had direct eyes on him in case it wasn't unfolding in the ways that we would like. We're just getting to necessity him. We certainly respect the fact he's a veteran player and he certainly displayed signs that he was capable in our practice sessions leading up to Sunday, but stadiums are somewhat different.
So we had a plan, but we were certainly light on our feet if that wasn't moving and moving in the right direction.
Q. What did you see while he was playing that was satisfying or comforting?
MIKE TOMLIN: I didn't think there was any lack of fluidity in his movement, whether it was presnap adjustments or things that happened at the snap. Oftentimes that's an indicator of understanding. I didn't expect him to be a hub of communication. Communication was probably going to be one-sided.
But just in general in terms of putting eyes on him, his fluidity of movement, adjusting to presnaps shifts and motions and the hair trigger that you saw at or just instantly after the snap gave me an indication that he was comfortable, knew what he was looking at, and that he was going to be okay.
Q. You talked about Jalen's versatility. What traits make him a good safety?
MIKE TOMLIN: You know, his relationship with the game. I think some of the things you talk about when you first talk about the safety position are intangible qualities or not necessarily things that you measure.
He's got really good in instincts, really good passion for the game. He studies the game. I think those are some things that really enable aim to play back there. That's such a major component of that position.
His talents are obvious. His tackling, his range, his physicality; but the more subtle things, the intangible things, are the things that are exciting for us, because as he gains more experience back there it's reasonable to expect some of those talents to show up more frequently.
Q. Defensive players talked about simplifying the defense last week going into the Colts game. How much of that was a by-product of having new faces like Kyle Dugger and how much was it because you weren't getting the results you desire?
MIKE TOMLIN: I think it's both. I think it always is. All the decisions you make in terms of menu and menu size are usually about yourself first and what you're going through and then what's required to strategically match up against opponents.
Q. Do you anticipate keeping it simple again this week?
MIKE TOMLIN: No issues. We'll see.
Q. To that same vein, there definitely seemed to be a schematic change in terms of two high versus not blitzing as much. Was that primarily how you wanted to attack the Colts, or was that also a reaction to what you've been seeing in recent weeks?
MIKE TOMLIN: Week in and week out we make decisions based on the variables of that week. Certainly the things we did last week were relative to the Colts and our circumstance.
Q. Did you do or not do anything to try to ease Dugger's transition into playing so much for the defense?
MIKE TOMLIN: It's so only much you can do. He is deserving of a lot of credit and that's why I mentioned him directly after the game.
It's only so much you can do. He absorbed a lot of the defense in a short period of time and displayed knowledge and understanding?
Q. Would you like to, if possible, to add some help or depth at safety to allow Jalen to be more position flexible?
MIKE TOMLIN: It really depends on player availability. It's certainly an asset of his, something that he's open to doing, something that he's capable of. But as I mentioned when I was talking about Derwin James, those things don't happen in a vacuum. They involving others and others' movement as well. We'll make those decisions based on what's available to us.
Q. Along those lines you said last week you guys would be buyers at the trade deadline. Got one in Kyle Dugger. Do you anticipate shopping more before 4:00?
MIKE TOMLIN: We'll see what happens. I like shopping.
Q. Mike, along those lines last year around this time you referred to the trade deadline as an arms race. How have you seen in recent years teams become more aggressive when it comes to in-season trades?
MIKE TOMLIN: You know, I don't know that I look at it in terms of trends from that perspective. I just know that if you're trending in the right direction, if you got a desire to be in this thing as the road gets narrow, usually you're open to adding talent that can assist you.
So whether it's attrition based or areas where you fall short, that's something that I think some of the competitive teams are interested in year in and year out. Just a natural component of this thing.
Q. Team announced that you got Valdes-Scantling signed. Doing anymore shopping at wide receiver, or does he address what you needed to address there?
MIKE TOMLIN: You said 4:00?
Q. 4:00.
MIKE TOMLIN: So we got a few more hours. See what happens.
Q. What about him as a player? How does he help you?
MIKE TOMLIN: He's just a practice squader right now. Get him in the fold and get him working and check his overall level of conditioning and how he learns and some of those things. It is not the Dugger discussion. He's just a practice squad guy.
Q. How much did Aaron advocate for bringing him in with his familiarity?
MIKE TOMLIN: He did not.
Q. Just to clarify, did you say Scotty and Cole are out this week or out to begin the week?
MIKE TOMLIN: No. We'll see if they're able to participate, and then the quality of that participation will be our guide in terms of whether or not we include them.
Q. When is the last time you had an illness run through the locker room that kept these guys out for this period of time?
MIKE TOMLIN: COVID is the only the thing that comes to mind. But it's the National Football League, man. That's why you better have a hard-core plan and be light on your feet. I'm certainly thankful that we acquired Kyle Dugger, man, and he's a quick study.
Q. At the wide receiver position, how have you seen guys behind DK Metcalf like Calvin Austin or Roman Wilson continue to grow and develop and how much more would you like to see them continue that process?
MIKE TOMLIN: You know, I think it's been a steady improvement in terms of their quality of play, particularly Roman of late. Other than that boneheaded lack of ball security late in the football game, generally there has been an uptick inequality of his play.
But, again, we don't look at our eligibles as wide receivers. We feel good about our tight end group as eligibles as well. Can't talk about the pass game without talking about the contributions we get from that group. We've been very open about that as well.
When we acquired Jonnu at the very beginning of the journey we talked about that we have eligibles regardless, R-E-C, receivers. I still think we feel the same way. We certainly need growth and development from individuals within our collective, like the two that you mentioned, but we are comfortable how we're distributing the ball and our utilization of people and division of labor to this point.
Q. Going off that, on the defensive side, Payton Wilson obviously a big showing on Sunday. How have you seen him grow and develop this season?
MIKE TOMLIN: You know, he's one of those second-year guys that gained a lot of in-helmet experience last year. So when you get that, it's reasonable to expect those guys to move forward and take off.
Certain guys don't get a lot of in-helmet experience we have that same expectation. Roman, Troy Fautanu for example. So Payton logged a bunch of snaps last year. He's playing really good ball, but we expect him to. He expects himself to.
He has got a really good relationship with the game. He's a professional. He studies. We've asked him to stand if in for Miles Killebrew as a special teams captain, so, man, a lot of the things trending in the right direction from a career standpoint for him certainly.
Q. You guys consistently took away the Colts first read. What did you see in the preparation that led to that being a more consistent factor for your defense?
MIKE TOMLIN: You know, his first option is to turn the hand-up ball to Jonathan Taylor, and so that was the first order of business. It all went on from there as I mentioned.
Q. When you guys as a staff, you and the rest of your defensive coaches, evaluate the creation of turnovers, are you looking from the standpoint as a turnover is a turnover and win is a win, or from the standpoint, Cleveland for instance, in position to make a lot; just didn't get them? The two games you had against the division leaders in the AFC had eleven. Do you look at yourselves as better turnover game strictly by the total or is it more about the position you put your guys into?
MIKE TOMLIN: We're ball searchers. Forget how many we get. We have to consistently display intent where appropriate. As we talked some last week, sometimes it's not appropriate when you're the first hitter for example, but we routinely work on when it's appropriate. We have to be ball aware first; got to be ball searchers second.
When you do those things you generally get the results that you desire.
Q. ...was one of those ball searchers a year ago, you guys made the decision to move on from him. How did you come to that?
MIKE TOMLIN: You know, I'm not getting into practice squad decisions. That's just too far down the totem pole. I'm more interested in what we need to do this week and the guys that are on the 53 we're preparing to play.
Q. What's this defense have to do to build off the momentum you guys had last week against Indianapolis?
MIKE TOMLIN: Simply come back to work. You know, as I mentioned postgame, it's a fine line in this business between success and failure, and it's week in and week out. The teams that are really good, units what are really good, individuals that are really good have a certain level of consistency to their performance.
So that certainly is a challenge for that unit that you asked about.
Q. What do you see out of Patrick Queen from the standpoint of his ability to communicate to the defense, what Teryl wants, getting the checks out and how he operated?
MIKE TOMLIN: PQ has been awesome in year two as our defensive quarterback. He's really owned the responsibility of being a hub of communication. It's something that is somewhat new to him. Although playing is not, being at defensive quarterback is. I like the trajectory of it in year two.
Q. ...running back and on the offensive line but still average (indiscernible) a carry. Is that that Greg Roman or something else going on that makes them so good?
MIKE TOMLIN: I think just there is a commitment from Roman and company. We competed against them a lot over the years. That's a signature of his football. It's going to be evident regardless of who plays running back or the offensive line. All you got to do to think about his time in Baltimore. There was always some emerging runner when faced with adversity, Gus Edwards and others, that he were running through people.
The same remains I think.
Q. Aaron told us after the game that Jalen talked to the team Saturday. What kind of impact do you think that had on the group and what do you think about a guy that's been around seven games willing to go up in front of the team?
MIKE TOMLIN: I asked him to, but he's not the only one. Generally I keep those conversations between us. He's got a lot of experience, NFL experience, world championship experience. I'm thankful that he was willing to share that with his teammates.
Q. Talked a little bit about bringing a bunch of veterans together and molding them together as a team. The two-game losing was the first time that togetherness was really tested. How did you feel like they came through that ordeal?
MIKE TOMLIN: I don't think that was the first time it was tested. It gets tested every day; gets tested continually. That's the nature of the journey that's the season. You know, I'm not overly concerned about that component of it.
We have done or due diligence in terms of the men as individuals. Most of the people we acquired we covered them when they came out in the draft. They passed our smell test. They're good football men.
And usually adversity brings the best out of good football men as opposed to the worst.
Q. Mike, what do you guys have to do to be cleaner in the run game?
MIKE TOMLIN: You know, sometimes you got to tip your cap to your opponent. I think that's the first place you start. I thought Indy did an awesome job. I thought particularly that veteran front tandem of Buchner and Stewart are a problem. We knew that going in. We talked about that in here a week ago. They confirmed that.
It minimized our start to be quite honest with you. Thankful able to catch fire and move on from there. Probably just like to compliment those guys. As I mentioned, when you got veteran guys that have been together like those two, coupled with a guy like Franklin who has grown up in that system, and the safety tandem, as well, Nick Cross in his fourth year drafted, Kenny Moore, long time Colt at the nickel spot.
When you got people down the middle of that defenses like that with that level of not only individual experience but collective experience, there are going to be some challenges.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports