With Brown in particular, having more opportunities fell in line with his old pattern of playing nearly every snap. He was at 90 percent of the snaps in 2023 when he went to the Pro Bowl, but he has played around 70 percent this year. Part of that's a function of having more qualified players around him, so he doesn't have to play every snap, but also they wanted to be judicious with his workload, as he came off last year's knee injury that ended his season after one game. He played 82 percent of the snaps in Sunday's win (45 total of the team's 55).
"We ramped his play time up; he was playing 70 percent of the snaps," Canales said. "He's feeling good and he asked us, and so we gave him a few more opportunities to be out there in some rush downs and some different things, but he's been responding really well and he's working tirelessly to make sure, you know, that he's physically ready to handle whatever you throw at him."
But more than any individual plays, it's the conversations that Canales likes to see. Referring to an interaction between Brown and quarterback Bryce, in which Young looked at Brown coming off the field early and said, "Go get it back for me and we'll go," Canales said that moves the team closer to his goal of being player-led.
"I'm always trying to read our body language; how are we doing so I can check in with guys and just be a presence so we can refocus," Canales said. "Whether it's from a big drive in a positive way or whether we go out there with some adversity to make sure we have the right focus, the right mentality.
"To hear our leaders talking together across the ball, that's what it takes. It doesn't matter how you end up in this situation, can you go out and execute one more time, can you keep your focus on your side while also being able to connect with us, we believe we can get this done, so I love to hear that they're talking together. The belief is there."
That also extends to meeting with Young, and other position groups weekly to talk about their favorite plays in certain situations, as they learn each other's preferences, and build the trust they need.