Q. Last Tuesday at the trading deadline, you added WR Mike Williams and OLB Preston Smith. Understanding that both of those guys are new to the Steelers but not new to the NFL, are either of the positions they play easier to learn quickly to be able to contribute to a new team within a week?
A. I think both of those positions, if you compare them globally to all positions, both of those positions are ones that would be more inclined to be ready quickly. The global language is similar, probably in both positions and just the significant component of what they do – pass rushers in passing circumstances, receivers in one-dimensional passing circumstances – they don't have to get ready for the totality of the playbook. But in areas of the game where their special skills are heightened, those situational moments, they'll be ready to rock and roll.
Q. What do you like about each guy?
A. I'm familiar with the men, first and foremost. We're all familiar with their bodies of work, their resumes. Preston's got 68.5 career sacks, and Mike's been a big-play guy since he's been in the league, making combat catches down the field, 1-on-1. But equally important to us is the intangible component. Both guys are really good teammates. Both guys have a really good relationship with the game, they're students of the game. You see football intellect in their play, and I think that's just as important as their talent and their resumes.
Q. Have you found that NFL teams are now more willing to make trades close to the deadline than they were when you first became a head coach?
A. No question, but a lot of things have teed that up. This trade deadline has moved back a little bit, and I think it's been incentivized globally in terms of how we approach our business. And so I definitely think there's more activity, but sometimes there's more reporting of the activity, too. Some of the things that that went on behind the scenes years ago were not reported. Any phone call or potential interaction in today's market is reported. And so there is an uptick in activity, but probably not as significant as it appears. It's probably just a significant uptick in reporting of potential activity.
Q. You used the word "incentivized." How is it incentivized?
A. Just moving the deadline date around, the willingness to move the date. And obviously it's important to be open to that, because we've essentially added games and so forth to the season, but moving the date back obviously incentivizes that and gives people an opportunity to think critically about what it is they might need down the stretch.
Q. Since you became the Steelers coach in 2007, your record after the bye is 13-4. Why do you think you've had that kind of success in those situations?
A. I don't overthink the bye. I try to do what's appropriate, not only for the collective, but for individuals within the collective. If someone is young and developing and needs physical repetitions, then I provide that. If someone is experienced and needs rest, then I provide that. If someone is ailing and needs rehabilitation, I provide that. I just go into it with a multi-pronged approach and an effort to give the individuals within the collective what it is they need to make it a productive week, and thus I think it positions us to be productive collectively coming out of the bye.
Q. In the NFL what does good run defense look like, and what kind of statistics are acceptable in terms of yards per carry and total rushing yards gained?
A. I think good run defense is not allowing people to run in those moments where the ability to run the ball is significant. Short-yardage, red zone run defense, 4-minute football, those moments where running the football is prevalent and significant in terms of how a game unfolds. I think that really defines a group. Obviously, on the surface level you can talk about the yards given up per game, but it's the situational component of it. Week in and week out different people have different agendas. Some people are going to throw the ball 55 times, and you can lead yourself to believe you got a good run defense, because they threw the ball 55 times, and really it was just that your run defense wasn't tested. And so for me, it's not about the volume component of it, or not necessarily the number of yards per game. But for somebody who's in it and lives it, I've got to look at the tape. I've got to look at the moments. It's the ability to turn back the run when it's thickest. I think this defines the significant run defenses in that area.
Q. One of the elements of good run defense is when defensive players have "good run fits." What are "run fits?"
A. Being where you're supposed to be. You have 7-man boxes. You have 8-man boxes. Usually it's enough people for each gap, and it's about guys being in those gaps, whatever the schematics prescribe. Oftentimes, when you're a single-high defense, we call it 1-gap football, because we have an appropriate number of people in the box to accommodate all the potential offensive gaps. And really, a run doesn't break out under those circumstances unless there's negligence. But sometimes that negligence is just good execution by the opponent. Neither here nor there, the bottom line is when you got one safety in the middle of the field, like Minkah in the middle of the field, in most circumstances you've got enough people allocated in the box to minimize the running game. And in those instances, you want 4 yards or less.
Q. Washington's opponents have 41 kickoff returns so far this season, and for comparison's sake, your team has returned 7 kickoffs and your opponents have returned 14. Is that something your special teams might be able to exploit today?
A. We're definitively going to be given an opportunity based on their personality. But oftentimes personalities of the unit reflect their leader. The special teams coordinator for the Commanders is Larry Izzo, and anybody who has been around ball a significant amount of time realizes the type of player Larry Izzo was as a special teamer. He was an aggressive, productive, combative player. And I think the fact that they're kicking and covering kind of reflects his demeanor and what he was as a player.
Q. Is there a best way yet to return kickoffs under the new rules?
A. I think, more than anything that if you try to go across the field, there's potential for negativity. The most significant returns I've seen – and I've seen all the significant returns because I watch every kick return every week that crosses the 50-yard line just for information because it's all so new – the vast majority of the ones that come back across the 50 are being returned right where they're kicked. If the ball is kicked on the boundary, they return it up the boundary. If the ball is kicked in the middle of the field, they come up the middle of the field, and so forth. Because this concept is so new, if you're trying to run across time zones, as we say, the potential of missed blocks and lack of execution is pretty high, and the chances of you getting a big return under those circumstances don't appear to be very great at this juncture.
Q. Quarterback Jayden Daniels is Washington's No. 2 rusher on the season, with 82 carries for 459 yards, a 5.6 average, and 4 touchdowns. What kind of designed quarterback runs do the Commanders employ for him?
A. Just the standard ones. Zone-reads. Zone-read keeps. Quarterback sweeps in situational moments. I don't know that they're doing anything schematically different or unique, but obviously (Daniels') talents are unique and they've been very fundamental in making sure that they're prudent about utilizing it. You'll see him running the ball in the tight red zone, because that's why he's got 4 rushing touchdowns. That's why they have 15 rushing touchdowns as a collective. They're No. 1 in the league in rushing touchdowns, because if you have to account for the potential of him carrying it, then that thins out that box that we were talking about earlier. And so not only is he a weapon when he's carrying it, but he's also a weapon when he's not carrying it because of his play-fakes and his follow through, and that's a component of their red zone running game and the short-yardage running game that really makes them effective in those moments. They lead the league in red zone rushing touchdowns as I mentioned. They also lead the league in fourth-down conversion rates, where they're 11-of-11 because his mobility and the potential of his mobility thins out defenses in those moments as well.
Q. What kind of protections, if any, is a quarterback entitled to by rule on designed running plays?
A. They don't get any protection that any other ball carrier doesn't get in those moments. And that's something that obviously we're aware of and a component of the game that we work and work continually. We have a lot of experience with it. We've got quarterback mobility in our division, and so it's less irregular for us. It's just more the same for us, and so we respect the mesh point that's associated with zone-reads and things of that nature. We understand the rules, what we're allowed to do. And so we're going to proceed in a very aggressive manner, because that's our mode of operation.
Q. The Commanders have only 3 turnovers in 9 games. How have they managed that?
A. They've been very good with the ball, and Jayden Daniels himself specifically has been very good with the ball. But sometimes stats like that just reflect fortune. They have fumbled 11 times, and I think that's No. 2 in the league in terms of offensive units, but they've only lost one of those 11 fumbles. Which means the ball has been on the ground 11 times, but the defense is not getting it. And so we acknowledge that their turnover rate is excellent, and we respect it, but we also realize that there could be opportunities for us, and we could create opportunities for ourselves. But a component of maximizing that is finishing it off, getting the loose balls that are on the ground. And we've been there before. We had a ball on the ground vs. the Dallas Cowboys in a very significant moment, and Dak Prescott beat us to it, and it was the difference in the game. And so there's a lot of layers to the ball security or the ball search discussion. We recognize we've got a big challenge today, and I'm excited about watching our guys meet it.
Q. What do you expect from a Dan Quinn defense?
A. I expect it to be fundamentally sound. He's a fundamentalist, meaning he's not about a big menu. He's about execution. The things that they're going to call against us won't surprise us, because it's who they are. But they'll play hard. They'll be coordinated. They'll communicate. There won't be people out of place. They won't beat themselves. They'll do fundamental things like ball search, because when you are a fundamentalist, you're not spending a whole lot of time installing and walking-through and making sure that you're ready to go. Instead you spend time in skill development. And obviously I'm talking in great detail, because Dan and I go way back. We were very young coaches working together at VMI in 1995, and I've got a lot of respect for him. I know his values. I share a lot of his values. And that is exactly what you should expect from a Dan Quinn defense.
Q. Kliff Kingsbury had a somewhat storied career as a college quarterback. Do you think that background had any impact on the kind of offense he coordinates in Washington?
A. No question. You see a lot of things that are reflective of that. The pace component of college football is, and has been for a long time, a significant component of play and strategy. That component is less so in the NFL. It's often you can turn on college tape and see 100 offensive snaps in a football game. That's why they have the big cards up on the sidelines and things of that nature. It's about pace in college football, and so you'll feel a lot of PACE usage as a weapon today in his approach to ball. I think that's the No. 1 way his background impacts the offense he now coordinates. And No. 2, obviously, usage of designed quarterback runs is more prevalent in college football, and it's more prevalent in his offenses than it is in most offenses. That's why he's always attracted to quarterback mobility. If you think about his quarterbacks – Jayden Daniels and Kyler Murray when he was in Arizona – quarterback mobility has to be a function of what the quarterback does to be most effective within his system.
