All right. Good to see everybody. Great win at home in the division. Obviously a great start to the game, offense going down and scoring a touchdown and defense coming back, getting off to a significant lead there. Just a little funky there in the second half. Just kind of a weird game all the things that happened, the takeaways down in our area. Thought our defense played really hard. Came up big in some of those short area drives. And then it was great to put the game away on offense with some of those four-minute drives, running the ball and closing it out. Plenty of stuff to work on. You know, plenty of stuff to work on. Operationally I thought we did some good things and some things we will be able to address. A win in our league is hard. It's hard to get to. It takes everybody. Took all 70 today. We had some guys go down this week as you guys are well aware. We had guys step up and nobody flinched. It took all 70 again. That's how we roll. You know, you attribute it to our guys, you know, dedicating how we play our style of football all the time no matter the situation. That's what we're chasing. When we do it right, we play really good ball.
You talked a couple times about Tyrice Knight stepping up the last few starts. Comes up with two massive plays. What can you say about his play today?
Well, he got a game ball as well as D Law. Kennedy Polamalu, I gave one, too. I thought our running backs ran tremendously hard and helped close the game out. They're doing a great job. But T Knight specifically, same story. You got to stay ready, how you prepare, and he's playing great football. Obviously want Ernest back as soon as possible, but he is showing he can go in and play great ball and execute. Both of those were pressures we haven't ran before, and so to be able to go in and execute those things not getting all the reps was some high-powered stuff.
Just like how strange it was to see two identical plays like that.
I couldn't believe the D Law got the second. I was like, with holy crap. It's him again. The way that he attacked the ball, T Knight is just awesome. Haven't forced any fumbles this year on defense and got two today. It's awareness, just taking advantage of those opportunities. It was awesome.
With Brissett playing instead of Kyler, did you do some stuff differently because he plays a little bit differently?
MIKE MACDONALD: No. It's funny, it's actually like Brian (Nemhauser) early in the week was asking about how you come up with new plays. It's really just building off looks that you've done and just trying to evolve as the year goes on. But it's in our playbook. We just hadn't hit him yet.
You mentioned the running game there. What sort of stock do you put into the performance, your best output of the season and the way you guys put it together and tried to get going after the turnovers there?
Well, it's a tribute to everybody. This is the second game in a row now against Arizona that our offensive staff has done a great job of getting to runs that -- through adjustments, part of our game plan, over the course of the game that made our run game finish strong. So both games. They deserve a lot of credit, and you felt their offensive line. Felt like we were physical. Felt like we were going to the right people. We took the line. Thought our running backs played really well. Finished runs the right way. Ball was never in jeopardy. So those are all positive things. I think we only had one holding call, which Nick (Kallerup) will learn from. Yeah, really positive.
What was it about the interior blitzing and interior rushing that you thought was key?
I don't know if there was an internal theme going on throughout the week. There was one particular pressure that was inside, but we really would like to have the threat of -- we don't blitz much, but when we do, we want to have the threat of it can come from one side, the other, up the middle so offenses have to prepare for everything.
With the Holani touchdown, what was the idea going to him there? Seems like we haven't really seen him in that situation many times.
I mean, George is doing a great job in practice. He keeps showing that he's a dependable guy and he's effective when he gets the ball and he runs that run really well. We been looking for opportunities to give him the ball. It's hard because our top two guys are so good. Just shows if you just keep knocking on the door and keep kicking butt and keep being productive, we're going to figure out a way to let you do your thing in a game.
Is your quarterback's ball security a concern or freak things?
No, no. Those are things that we can work operationally.
What is about operationally?
Well, the first one was with Olu. I think was the first snap, so that's something we have to be better at. Happened again over there in four-minute with Drew and Bryce. Can't have the ball on the ground in snaps.
How key is it for you continuing to build, establish your culture, to give those opportunities to guys like George that maybe haven't gotten to play much on offense, but you get in a position like, look, we want to make sure you're rewarded for what you did?
Yeah, I mean, it's simple. It's not like we're trying to reward guys. We are trying to win. Guys that show that they can go play great football, we're going to give them opportunities to go do that. I think our actions back that up. I don't know. I would like to play on a team like that. If I was a player and I felt like, why, do you want me to come out and work so hard every day, do all the things you're asking me to do? We want to develop you as a player and we're going need you at some point. So why would you not operate like that? I don't know. Some people don't do that. I don't get it.
What are the early indications on Jalen's injury?
Yeah, it's his knee. Not sure on the severity. Looked like he was in good spirits. You know how it goes. We'll see. We'll get it imaged and move on from there. I mean, could come back to haunt me, I don't think it's season-ending.
What happened with Jarran Reed?
So J Reed, I think the game going into the bye, what was that Houston, at the end of that game he hurt his wrist, so he had an operation during the bye. Look, this just tells you how tough this guy is. He's like an all-time physically tough player, mentally, all of the above. Comes back in two weeks and plays after having -- basically breaking something in his hand or wrist. We thought it was good to go. We thought it was ready, but we had a setback in the game. Just tells you how tough he is. He was thinking throughout the week, shoot, my hand is sore. So we got it re-imaged and turns out he has to have another operation, so it's a setback for him. Your heart goes out to him. It's some adversity for him. But hopefully this will really give him some -- stabilize it and alleviate the pain -- first you're concerned about him for the long run, and then when he can come back and he can come back and play great football for us.
So will he be able to come back this year?
That's the thought, yeah.
With Shaheed, the week and his output today?
Yeah, it was great. Weren't able to get the ball to him in the deeper end of the field, but saw some the run game with him. Felt like he made an impact in the return game. It's funny, you need a punt returner all the sudden. It's a pretty timely trade by John. Well-played.
Is it a second break for Reed? Is it another fracture for Reed?
All I know is he had to have an operation on the same thing, and then we thought it was all right and turned out that it wasn't. It re-happened in the game, so we got to look at it again.
Nick Emmanwori, what can you say about the way he's playing?
We're asking him to play two positions right now. That's what we've referenced over the course of time now is he can start to add responsibility for him. There was a situation today where we probably would've put him in at safety, so learning that as well. So doing a great job. I feel like he's executing at a high level. You feel like he's being decisive, knows exactly -- he's playing with anticipation, which is a positive, and then letting his physical capabilities shine when he goes out there and let's it rip. So we'll continue to build with him, and I'm sure -- I mean, his approach has just been great for a rookie. You know, he's having success, keep coming back, keep rocking, attacking the preparation. Got a great challenge ahead of us this week, so a team that he hasn't seen yet, so need to prepare again at the same level.
Outside of the first snap with Sam, what did you think of Olu entering the game there for the rest of the second half?
Look, I don't know how he played, but felt like we moved the ball when we ran it and the center drives that. I can't wait to watch it. But it's great to have him right there ready to go.
Jaxon, that first touchdown two guys basically draped all over him and he still makes that catch.
What you love about Sam is he pulls the trigger. He's aggressive but like smart with how he does it. He ripped it and Jaxon went and got it. Just shows what he can do. Body control, ball skills, how he tracks it all that was on display.
Back to back weeks of getting up to 28-0 leads, it's only the third time it's ever happened in the Super Bowl era. What's been the impetus for these lightning fast starts recently?
I wish I knew exactly. We'd do it every week. Like I forget what we were talking about earlier in the year. I think we were talking about home, if we could hit the home button, hit it as many times as we possibly can. We have our process. I think we're learning our process, too, about how we get ready for a game. The guys are doing a great job. They're mentally prepared. I think our coaches are doing a great job being very clear about how we're going to start games so guys can go play fasts and decisive. It's only happened how many times. It's not going to happen every time. When it does you're appreciative of the guy's effort.