HC ANDY REID’S OPENING STATEMENT: “Very similar to last night, it was a good team win. I thought it was a great effort by all three phases. There were some individuals that really stepped up, but most of all it was team and guys playing off of each other, and that I thought was important. I don’t really have anything injury wise for you right now. The guys are just getting in here, so I’ll be able to get stuff to you later on that. That’s kind of where we stand with that. So, I’ll leave it with that and time’s yours.”
Q: How confident are you that most of the players on the Covid list will make their return this week?
REID: “I think we have a good shot at that. This thing is so unpredictable, that’s the hard part about it, so we’ll just see how it goes. If I had to guess, I think they’d probably be back, but let’s just see how it goes this week.”
Q: How much do you anticipate some of your staff members will be requested to be interviewed for head coaching positions as the season comes to a close?
REID: “I’m sure I’ll hear from people on that—Eric Bieniemy, Spags (Steve Spagnuolo) has been a head coach and could easily jump in somewhere too. I’ve hammered the point about Eric Bieniemy. I just think the world of the guy, and he’s tremendous. I would imagine there are other guys on the staff, so whatever happens, happens there, but I’m always pulling for guys. If they have an opportunity to be promoted, more power to them.”
Q: Are you trying to prepare the team for the postseason or are you still taking it game by game?
REID: “So we feel that were not pulling off, we’re going to keep going and this is a very important game against a very good football team. We got to make sure we’re getting ourselves prepared for that. We don’t have a cushion there like in years past of having a little bit of a cushion there, but that’s not the way it sits this year.”
Q: Is Jerick McKinnon close to coming off IR and if not, what will you do at running back if Clyde Edwards-Helaire is not available?
REID: “Yeah so we’ll kind of figure that out today. McKinnon is in a pretty good position physically, so we’ll just see how he does and then we’ll see where Clyde’s at after we get some of these reports back. We’ll go from there and I’ll get with (Brett) Veach and Rick (Burkholder) and the docs later.”
Q: How do you explain the knack Brett Veach has for finding talent like Byron Pringle and Derrick Gore as undrafted free agents?
REID: “I think they do a phenomenal job. One great thing about Brett is he’s a good communicator and he talks to the coaches and finds out what they need and want and makes whatever scheme they’re working with fit. I appreciate that. He’s been on the coaching side, so he knows the challenges there and he’s able to kind of work that in with the personnel side and challenges they have on the personnel side and blend it. He does a good job. He’s got a good staff too, so those guys bust their tail to get everything right. His right-hand guys, (Mike) Borgonzi, they work hand and hand and attack. I mean you guys know, you guys have talked to Brett and you know how he rolls so he’s always keeping his eyes open.”
Q: How did everything go with the staff filling in for the missing coaches?
REID: “Everybody did a good job with that. EB [Eric Bieniemy] had to cover a lot of bases there, but he did a nice job. Connor Embree stepped in and helped out with the wide receivers, and EB worked with the running backs. Porter Ellett ran over with the quarterbacks and did that. So, it was good. It worked out well all the way around.”
Q: Do you feel a little bit better today than you did last Monday?
REID: “Yeah, you want to go play and play well. That’s what we’ve got to do. It’s a good football team they were playing. We’re not going to sit guys and all that. That’s not where we’re at. We’re not in that position. Joe Bleymaier was in the box. He was here for the wide receivers, but Connor [Embree] was covering some bases down below with us with running backs and he’s always down there with the wide receivers.”
Q: What makes Byron Pringle a good option from the slot and how encouraged are you by the defense right now?
REID: “Well it’s good. I’ll talk about that first. That’s a great thing. The continuity becomes important as you go forward the best you can at this time of year, and [Byron] Pringle, he’s big, he’s fast, he’s strong. That helps when you play inside there. He’s learned it and has taken a lot of pride in learning it, studies it. He’s done a nice job. Really, the sky’s the limit for him. He can even get better than what he’s doing right now, but he’s playing at a high level.”