{"id":60192,"date":"2022-08-18T16:10:28","date_gmt":"2022-08-18T20:10:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jetnation.com\/?p=60192"},"modified":"2022-08-26T01:37:11","modified_gmt":"2022-08-26T05:37:11","slug":"mike-lafleur-interview-transcript","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/2022\/08\/18\/mike-lafleur-interview-transcript\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike LaFleur Interview Transcript"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here is the interview transcript for Mike LaFleur<\/a> as he gives updates on the offense.<\/p>\n

Brian Costello, New York Post: What\u2019s the adjustment been like since Friday night when you knew Zach (Wilson) was going down for a while?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The show goes on. It is what it is. For him, making the most of this situation. Obviously, he wants to be out on the field, but he can\u2019t be right now. He\u2019s got to get healthy. We\u2019ve been through this thing before. He\u2019s going to bust his butt in the classroom. He\u2019s going to bust his butt in everything he\u2019s going to do to get out there, because he wants to get out there. Obviously, he went down. Joe (Flacco) steps up. Mike (White) steps up. Chris (Streveler) had a great night, weren\u2019t totally planning on playing him, but then obviously he played that whole fourth quarter there, which was really cool to see. Show goes on.<\/p>\n

Rich Cimini, ESPN.com: By\u00a0him\u00a0missing two preseason games \u2014 I\u2019m talking about Zach \u2014 and all of the joint practices, how much does that stunt his\u00a0early\u00a0season development?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Like I just said, for whatever position it is, if you want to get good at football, you have to play football. You have to practice football. That can\u2019t happen for him, right now, obviously. So, he\u2019s going to go and attack it the\u00a0best\u00a0way he knows how. He went through this last year, unfortunately. He knows what to do, what to watch, what to say, what to do in the meetings. So, he\u2019s going to make the most of this situation, just like we all are. So, when he\u2019s back and ready to go, it\u2019s full speed ahead.<\/p>\n

Brian Costello, New York Post: The shuffle on the offensive line, Mekhi (Becton) being out. What\u2019s this period like to get those five playing as a unit? They haven\u2019t had OTAs together. They haven\u2019t had a lot of time in training camp together.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah, totally. Getting out there like you just said, starting to gel together. I have all the confidence in the world that the five that we put out there are going to figure it out by the time we get to Baltimore. Again, just like I was saying with the last question, you get good at football by practicing and playing football. So, the more that they\u2019re out there, the more that they\u2019re practicing together, the more they\u2019re figuring out their standard and their style together, the better it\u2019s going to be for everybody.<\/p>\n

Zack Rosenblatt, The Athletic: What was your relationship like with Robert Calabrese<\/a> before he came into your room and how has that grown since you\u2019ve been spending a lot of time together?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t know Rob too well. I did know of Rob from his time in Denver with a guy that I know well in Rich Scangarello, and he raved about him, so much so he basically gave me the keys to the car because of how well he was speaking about him. When I was still in San Francisco, I had a chance to talk and Zoom with Rob, and it was a no-brainer. Everything that Rich Scangarello, everything that Wade Harman, the tight end coach at Denver at the time, he echoed the same stuff and it\u2019s been so true here. He\u2019s a great dude. He\u2019s a great guy to work with. He\u2019s a great family man. He\u2019s a great coach. I think the sky\u2019s the limit for him.<\/p>\n

Zack Rosenblatt, The Athletic: (Follow Up) What\u2019s been the dynamic of that QB room because between you two and you have three quarterbacks that were here last year? I feel like that\u2019s pretty rare in the modern NFL where you have a whole quarterback room returning.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s been good. We didn\u2019t have to get to know each other going into this year like you did last year \u2013 obviously, Zach being a rookie. I didn\u2019t know Mike, I didn\u2019t know James Morgan, bringing in Joe midseason. So, when we got back here in April, everyone knew each other. You could hit the ground running right there. There\u2019s something to be said about that. It\u2019s just the trust factor. I believe they trust me and that I\u2019m going to do everything I can to help them be the best that they can be. They know Rob is going to do the same thing, and we trust those guys with everything because we know what kind of men they are and what kind of workers they are.<\/p>\n

Brian Costello, New York Post: What was the process getting ready for these joint practices in terms of your\u00a0conversations\u00a0with Dean Pees and what you want scripted versus unscripted and getting the most out of these practices?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve done this basically almost every single year, and every year is a little bit different. Dean and I spoke a few days ago. It\u2019ll be good because they\u2019re a different front than us. They run a lot more Cover 2 than we do. They bring some Cover 0. From that standpoint, I\u2019m not really that concerned if I call a bad play into a bad coverage, what would be a good play for them, let\u2019s see if we can survive that play. You have to put in the time to make sure you\u2019re giving your guys a chance. The last two days have been a lot of game planning, a lot of practice planning. Like I said, Dean and I spoke and he said the same thing you did. He goes, \u201cIf you don\u2019t want to see something on a particular play,\u201d I\u2019m like, \u201cI\u2019m not really concerned about that. I want to see our players play fast and go be the best they can be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ethan Sears, New York Post: With (George) Fant specifically, how\u2019s he handling moving from left to right?<\/strong><\/p>\n

George is a pro, I\u2019ve gotten to know George really well, for these past two years and I can\u2019t say enough good things about him, again. Off the field, he\u2019s a great person, great family guy. He\u2019s been outspoken about how he felt really comfortable at left, I was telling him the other day, I said, \u201cthe crazy part about this thing is the reason we feel like you can go from left, to right, to guard if you had to is because you\u2019re that gifted and that versatile and you\u2019ll figure it out.\u201d Yeah, it\u2019s going to be a little bit of an adjustment because he\u2019s been over there for a good part of a year now, but he\u2019s been over at right, he\u2019s got a great offensive line coach in John Benton, and again, he\u2019ll figure it out because he always does.<\/p>\n

Andy Vasquez, NJ Advance Media: For Zach, he had an\u00a0opportunity\u00a0to go out of bounds on the play when he got hurt and Saleh said he should\u2019ve. Obviously, that was a bit of an issue last year, so as a coach what do you say to him? I\u2019m sure the point was driven home by what happened, but where are you kind of at with that?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a good question because these guys are competitors and what I said to Zach was even if this was the first game in the first quarter you still wouldn\u2019t want to do that. Now you\u2019re in the fourth quarter of a game on a third and five and you\u2019re scrambling to go make a play to go win a football game, that\u2019s a whole different deal. But again, like you just said because of what happened he\u2019s going to learn from that one and we just have to keep reminding.<\/p>\n

Brian Costello, New York Post: Where\u2019s Garrett Wilson at in his progression?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Just getting more and more comfortable, hearing the verbiage in the huddle, again I think last time I was up here we were almost in with the offense, and over the last eight, ten, whatever days it\u2019s been we\u2019ve been able to hone in on all the little details and nuances, moving him around a little bit more than he was in those first two weeks. He\u2019s handled it well. Again, I keep saying it, a good dude, a football guy, he sees it really well. He just has a great feel out there on the field.<\/p>\n

Rich Cimini, ESPN.com: One of the issue for rookie receivers is being able to handle the physical nature, the bump and run, how much of it did he see on Friday night and how did he handle it?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t see a ton of it just because he didn\u2019t play a lot, but he\u2019s seen it every day out here. Again, like you just said, that\u2019s the biggest adjustment for receivers, it\u2019s not necessarily the speed of the game, not even really the huddle and the play calls, it\u2019s two totally different games right now, the college game and the pro game because of all the bumps he sees. So, he\u2019s learning every single day, working his feet at the line of scrimmage, because again you still have to get from point A to point B as fast as humanly possible because there is a pass rush, so you can\u2019t take all day and he\u2019s learning that and he\u2019ll figure it out, he\u2019s talented and he understands it.<\/p>\n

Zack Rosenblatt, The Athletic: Calvin Jackson, he\u2019s made some plays throughout camp, he had that touchdown in the game, what has he shown you as an undrafted guy?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Very similar to Garrett in terms of just the feel of the game, it\u2019s very natural for him. He does stuff that\u2019s un-coachable in terms of doing a little extra on his routes when it makes sense. He understands every position on the field already, you can just tell he puts a lot of time into it away from the building to make sure that when he\u2019s out there, he\u2019s the most prepared he can be. Obviously, you guys saw it on Friday, making some plays and I\u2019ve been pleased with what he\u2019s been doing out there at practice.<\/p>\n

Antwon Staley, New York Daily News: The running back room has a lot of talent, just talk about that, what you\u2019ve see from them and also Breece Hall?<\/strong><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot of good runners in there, good football players. Taylor Embree, our running backs coach, does an awesome job with those guys. He learned from one of the best in Bobby Turner, who\u2019s a legend running back coach in this league, has won multiple Super Bowls and that\u2019s what was so fascinating for me, or intriguing and (Coach) Saleh, to be able to bring Taylor in here because he got to learn from Bobby Turner in what it takes to coach running backs in this league. You\u2019ve got to be tight with your words with it, you\u2019ve got to be disciplined, but you\u2019ve also got to let these guys play, particularly when the bullets are live on Sundays. I know he\u2019s done that, the guys feel real free, they\u2019re on it in terms of the scheme and they\u2019re able to go out there and show what they can do. To answer your question with Breece (Hall), it\u2019s like I said a few weeks ago, he\u2019s not really limited in anything he can do, he sneaks up on defenders with that speed and that size combination. For him, it\u2019s just coming to work every single day and try to be the best he can be every single day.<\/p>\n

Brian Costello, New York Post: Denzel (Mims) spoke to us and he said he considers himself a starter, but Friday night he gets out there and he has a pre-snap penalty and then a drop right in a row, is that the kind of stuff that has to go away for Denzel?<\/strong><\/p>\n

That\u2019s just anybody. You can\u2019t have pre-snap penalties in this league particularly because you get behind the chains and we know how hard it is to get back on track at times. That\u2019s not just Denzel, that\u2019s everybody, we have a lot of things to still clean up, again, like I\u2019ve stated, he is much further along with the offense, and his body. He put in a lot of time, again I know you guys have heard that a lot but it shows, he\u2019s in great physical shape, he\u2019s learning the offense more and more every single day. You can tell as he\u2019s breaking the huddle how much more comfortable he is, yes he has to clean those two things up and he will.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here is the interview transcript for Mike LaFleur as he gives updates on the offense. Brian Costello, New York Post: What\u2019s the adjustment been like since Friday night when you knew Zach (Wilson) was going down for a while?\u00a0 The show goes on. It is what it is. For him, making the most of this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":59457,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[213],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-60192","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jet-news"},"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/USATSI_16788090_168398080_lowres.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/peLffi-fEQ","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/73"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60192"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60192\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60199,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60192\/revisions\/60199"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}