The Virginia football team has navigated its way through consistently close games this season, securing an 8-2 record with two games to go. UVA has three overtime victories, while late defensive plays contributed to two regulation wins. Both losses, meanwhile, ended with a final throw into the end zone that could have changed an outcome.
That, of course, includes last week’s loss to Wake Forest. Trailing 16-9 in a defensive slugfest, Virginia moved into the red zone at the 12-yard line with approximately a minute to go. The last chance came down to a 4th-and-3 call from the 5-yard line when backup quarterback Daniel Kaelin fired a pass toward Jahmal Edrine in the back right corner of the end zone. It missed and the Demon Deacons escaped with the win.
The Cavaliers’ only other loss this season came down to a final throw too. On a play from the 12-yard line with approximately a minute to go, starting quarterback Chandler Morris tried to squeeze a pass into the right corner that was intercepted by NC State. The Wolfpack held on for the 35-31 win.
It had been two months since that loss at NC State on Sept. 6 so this week marked the first time in a long time that this team would be dealing with a defeat at practice. Mondays are deemed Mindset Monday every week for UVA practices and the message has always been about resetting the table for the next opponent. Don’t get too high with wins, don’t get too low with losses as the cliché goes.
Virginia coach Tony Elliott said he thinks the team handled its response the right way.
“They owned it and ready to go back to work. Obviously disappointed. All of us are disappointed,” Elliott said. “Don't like that feeling but I felt like the guys responded the right way and that's really all you can do and, you know, we talked a lot about mindset Monday being about the mindset regardless of the result on Saturday. You have to own the mistakes, correct them. Tried try not to get too high on the positives but figure out a way to continue to build upon them and then you got to get your eyes forward.”
Elliott spent a lot of time early this week reminding his team about the details that it takes to win, particularly when the ante has gone up. Virginia remains tied for the ACC lead and an active contender for a spot in the conference championship game in Charlotte. That means, in Elliott’s description, that every opponent is going to give you its best effort and then you have to find a way to raise your own effort in response.
In that way, if a few plays aren’t quite right with the alignment details or the blocking assignment, it can be a problem. Or if a play is misread or handled incorrectly, it can cost you like Wake’s punt return for touchdown that ended up being the difference on the scoreboard. Or if it’s making sure you physically hit the marks expected in terms of speed or picking up a block or making a tackle. From a coaching standpoint, maybe it’s not putting a complicated play in as a disguise when it has an option trigger that a young quarterback may not over ride in the moment.
Elliott also reminded his team that an improvement in those types of details can keep a lot of options on the table. That could range from the ACC Championship Game to College Football Playoff implications to simply securing one of the program’s few 9+ win seasons in UVA’s long history. Chasing any of those things will require the Hoos’ best effort because you earn what you get, Elliott said.
“When you're not at your best in this league, it's going to cost you and it's going to cost you some hard lessons,” Elliott said. “And so that's what we're taking with us. It is, hey, every game from here on out is a championship level game and so we gotta have that mindset, we gotta have that level of effort, that level of intensity. ... You're going to get everybody's best. And so you got to have your best and each week that bar is raising. So that's what we're taking into this game.”
Virginia kicks off against Duke at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday in Durham.
Tony Elliott Weekly Press Conference - Duke
Q: How's Chandler doing? Any update on him?
TONY ELLIOTT: He's doing good.
He was out of practice yesterday. Obviously didn't participate, but looks good. Says he's feeling good. Today will be another day going through the protocol, but he's exercising, which is a positive. And we're hopeful that by tomorrow we'll have him back in practice.
Q: This was the first time in more than two months that your guys had had to deal with a loss. What did you notice from the group when you got back together Monday?
TONY ELLIOTT: They owned it and ready to go back to work. Obviously disappointed. All of us are disappointed. Don't like that feeling but I felt like the guys responded the right way and that's really all you can do and, you know, we talked a lot about mindset Monday being about the mindset regardless of the result on Saturday. You have to own the mistakes, correct them. Tried try not to get too high on the positives but figure out a way to continue to build upon them and then you got to get your eyes forward. When you come in (to the facility) we have a big windshield graphic because it's always about what's ahead so disappointed but at the same time to we understand that there was a lot that we could have controlled in the game that we didn't and ultimately we we own the and we earn the result that we got.
Q: Question about the the sliding rule for quarterbacks. Obviously it's there so they don't take all the bumps and bangs of but it does leave them very prone to big shots. Do you have any concern just about the construction of that rule?
TONY ELLIOTT: I like the fact that they have protection when they go to slide. It's a slippery slope. Looking at the play, I think all of us initially thought there should have been maybe some additional penalties. But I trust that the folks that reviewed it in Charlotte got it right. I don't think it was a malicious move. I don't think they were intending to try and hurt the quarterback.
It's a tough deal because the defenders, they're trying to fight for every yard and stop forward progress, and then the quarterback slides down. So I'm sure they'll review it. I don't have a big issue with it. I've actually instructed Chandler (Morris) to slide, to get down in those situations. Because if he goes head first, then obviously you got the possibility of landing on shoulders and also taking a hit to the head going forward. And then sliding there, you would hope that with the slide, guys would be able to respond in time so that you don't get hit.
Q: And then another kind of big picture question, but the ACC with the expanded, all the extra teams, getting rid of divisions, the unbalanced schedule. When you start getting into, and I know you don't focus on this, but you start getting into the tiebreaker talk, a couple of coaches have pointed out that tiebreakers are tough because you're playing that unbalanced schedule. Do you have any concerns that maybe an unintended consequence of the expansion is some pretty funky tiebreaker scenarios?
TONY ELLIOTT: I don't, because at the end of the day, when we get our schedule, we got an opportunity, right? And if you don't want to be in a tiebreaker, then you control what you can control. And that was my message to the guys. Like for us, we created some separation in October, and what we did is we lost some of that separation. But we still got an opportunity to control what's in front of us. We got two games left in league play, and we take care of our business, then I think we'll be in a position to be considered or possibly, you know earn an opportunity to get in. So man I don't really want to spend time worrying about that. What I want to focus on is how do you win all your ACC games? I think if you win all your ACC games, you know you have an opportunity to be to be in Charlotte plus that stuff is too complicated. Even though I'm a math guy. It hurts my brain. So I gotta focus on getting the team ready to play, not what the tiebreaker scenarios are. Yeah, I just, I don't even, it's too complicated.
Q: Any status update on Jayden Thomas and Noah Vaughn and those guys?
TONY ELLIOTT: Yeah, so we're hopeful that Noah Vaughn and JT (Jayden Thomas) could hopefully be back for the last game. They're going to be out this week and maybe sprinkle back into practice next week. Same thing with (Kevin) Wigenton, those high ankle sprains. Our medical staff is doing an outstanding job because those are typically six-week type deals, and so we could possibly have them back soon. But that's the target date on those three. And (David) Wohlabaugh, similar situation after the ankle surgery, just kind of getting him back. We're hopeful that all those ankle guys will be ready to go by Tech and we're hoping that Ben York will get back into practice. Today, he'll do some individual stuff. Hopefully we'll be turned loose to tomorrow and get two good days of practicing to be available for service on Saturday.
Q: And then with Daniel Kaelin, when you look back on film, how would you assess how he handled it coming in for his first real college football game?
TONY ELLIOTT: I thought he had probably two plays that he wanted back but other than that, he did his job. I think we put him in a tough spot down there on the goal line. It was really kind of a deal where we were trying to disguise a little bit. But there was a pass option on it. Looking back, you probably say don’t put the young quarterback in that situation, just shift it back in and go to he actual play call, so that really wasn't on him. And then I thought he made the throws that were there, and then we had some unfortunate matchups where we lost that resulted in some turnovers there. So I thought he handled it as good as he could. I know he wants about two plays back. But other than that, you look at it, we had the ball inside the red zone with three minutes left in the game, and then also with 36 seconds inside the 10-yard line, we had a shot to go win it.
So he did what he needed to do to get us in those positions, right, considering the circumstances. Now we all got to do better to support him. And even if that's Chandler (Morris) in there, we all got to do better to support them and see, can we not make it where it comes down to that situation at the end of the game. But nonetheless, he jumped in there, battled back, thought he made some good throws. I thought he got the ball to the guys he was supposed to get the ball to, to convert some first downs, but the three turnovers I think is ultimately what got us. And I think one there, he'll learn. The one, he probably pulls it down and scrambles as opposed to setting up to throw. But the other one, we get beat up front that doesn't give him the time to get that ball off. And then the last turnover wasn't related to him. That's more of a coaching and a fundamental thing that we gotta continue to work on.
Q: Just back to Chandler (Morris), since he's been in college football so long, would you need him to practice at some point this week in order to play? Or could he just show up on Saturday and be clear by then?
TONY ELLIOTT: Man, I think there's so much in a game plan that you need to practice, right, and be able to take some of those reps. And his position is about timing, so we would need him to get into practice. Is he a veteran guy that's played enough football that you could say, okay, he could play, yes, but will his precision and his timing be there if he doesn't practice? So we're hopeful that by tomorrow, we'll have him back in practice, rock and roll.
Q: And then in between the first and second quarters of the game the other day, Sage Ennis was really getting into the rest of the offense. Is that something you like? And were you surprised to see it? Did you, did you enjoy seeing it? What was your, what was your kind of stance there?
TONY ELLIOTT: So there was, a lot of good, but then there was also some opportunity for me to teach. I don't know if you saw me kind of pull him to the side as well, just to kind of encourage him that in that moment when you're emotional, still make sure that it's the right message. And I think he understands that. And so we quickly had a moment where we got on the same page and then he was able to go and relay the right message to the guys. Yes, you want to see a passion? That's something that I've challenged the the whole offensive unit with In particular this week is I think that's kind of where where we got to ramp it back up, right?
I think we kind of got to a place where guys are just expecting somebody to make a play and then what happened in the game is the play didn't get made. And so that's a lesson for everybody. Don't wait on somebody else to make a play. You had the intensity and the focus and the attention to detail and you go make the play and you want to be the guy that everybody's expecting to make the play. And that's really kind of where we got to go. Because when you look at the tape, offensively, it's not like it's a bunch of busted assignments.
In the game of football, right, you're going to lose some one-on-ones every once in a while, because really what it comes down to is 11 one-on-ones every single play and we lost we lost a couple one-on-ones in inopportune times that resulted in some some turnovers that cost us possessions. Whereas in the past when we lost a one on one it didn't have that dramatic of an impact on the play. But I told him I said man when we're at our best is when we're aggressive, we're attacking, man we got an intensity about ourself and I think that's what you saw and say is just trying to get the guys to a man, let's go play, to our standard and not wait around.
Q: On the Wake (Forest) punt return, it looked like the return man initially was not even going to field it, but then it took that bounce toward the goal line and he picked it up. What were the breakdowns on that? And what would you like to have seen happen that didn't happen?
TONY ELLIOTT: So I thought I thought Wake did a good job of changing up their scheme. They went to a basically a field double team. So they double teamed the three guys to the field. And we were kicking the ball into the boundary, right? So the hope was that they were going to be able to field the ball and get it back to the field.
The ball bounced, right? We had two guys that relaxed, which is on the coaches, man, we gotta do a better job of coaching them to play all the way through. That's a natural tendency that ball hits the ground, you think that everybody's going to relax. But you gotta remember as a punt coverage team, it doesn't matter if the ball hits you, right? On the return team, you don't want the ball to hit you, right? So on the punt team, okay, you keep playing and you go get the ball and you hand it to the ref.
And so I think we had, um, you know, two guys that kind of pulled up when they saw the ball hit the ground, one of our contain guys to the field lost containment. So we were intending to try and force it into the boundary and have the one-on-ones that we won into the boundary to down the football. And then the doubles would be coming late from the field in case it, uh, in case it got out. And so what happened is, you know, we relaxed a little bit, we weren't there in position to down it. We had two opportunities, we missed a tackle there, and before you know it, the ball was on the sideline.
And then the last thing, and we gotta do a better job of coaching and making sure our punter fully understands that in that situation don't let the ball stay on the sideline. Force it back to contain, and then we might have had a chance to down the ball right there at the 50-yard line, but we took the wrong angle.
And we got blocked. And then now it's on the sideline. And we only have one defender coming from the backside that couldn't down it. So a lot of opportunity for us to coach better from a fundamental standpoint, from a schematic standpoint, from a situational awareness standpoint, and then an opportunity for our coverage guys to grow just from that costly lesson.
Q: Focus obviously is on preparing for Duke, but Thursday marks the third anniversary of the November 13th tragedy. Could you detail what plans the team has for Thursday?
TONY ELLIOTT: Yeah, so tough week for a lot of folks. Still got about 20 players on the roster that were here in 2022. And so it's going to be a tough time for them. Actually, the next two weeks is going to be tough because we got the sentencing hearing coming up next week during the bye week. But there'll be an opportunity to go over to the chapel and observe a moment of silence and then they'll ring the bells and then after that go down to the little memorial site outside the arts building and visit the tree, place some flowers, pay our respects, and then come back over here and get ready for practice.
And so that's all optional, right? Because if we only got 20, that means we got about 100 guys that weren't here. They own it, carry it with us, but they may not be fully understanding. So it won't be something that'll be a team mandatory activity, but we will make sure during the time of the day that we don't have anything football related so that anybody, staff or player, that wants to pay their respect will have an opportunity to go over to the chapel or go over to the memorial site, or just grieve and pay their respects in their own way.
Q: Five players today wear 1, 15, or 41. What went into the decisions to keep those numbers active and who gets to wear them?
TONY ELLIOTT: Yeah, so I just thought that it's important that those numbers are always visible within our program on the field to make sure that one, we're reminded of the legacy that we have to carry forward with Lavel (Davis Jr.), Devin (Chandler), and D’Sean (Perry), and then also for the fans, for the families, always an opportunity to see those numbers. And so when you look at who wears those numbers, so right now you got Suderian Harrison went to the same high school as Lavel. And so he was chosen early on to wear that number. And then Keandre (Walker) was another young man that was here that wears number one. And when he went down for the year, I wanted that number to be on the field, right? And so I asked him, would he be comfortable if I let somebody else wear that number for the season? And there was two guys that I thought that would epitomize what it meant to wear that number, represent the program, represent Lavel and his family the right way. And that was either (Antonio) Clary or James Jackson. And so James Jackson stepped up and said, hey, I want to do it. I want to wear that number. And obviously, he was an individual that was here, that was teammates with all three of those young men.
And then we got 15. Hunter (Osborne) is a new guy, but just the character that he has and his willingness to want to come here and be a part of this, considering where he was coming from. So he was a really good option there. And then also we had Dillon Newton-Short, a younger guy from in-state that through all of that, chose to come to Virginia even after the fact. So I thought he would be a great representation. And then we know the connection between Will Bettridge and D’Sean, high school teammates. And so he's been wearing that number in honor of D’Sean and the Perry family since the tragedy happened.
Q: Prior to the bye week, it seems you guys were very successful in the red zone. And then after the bye week, it seemed 15 trips, five touchdowns. What have you seen change there and what has a common theme that you've noticed in those red zone trips?
TONY ELLIOTT: Yeah, just, you know, lack of execution, the game inches, the details of what we do. And it comes back to people have now decided to defend it and give and not give us the easy stuff that we that we were able to take away early in the season. Obviously you got so many things that people don't see sometimes, you're able to get those things, now it comes down to just execution like you look at the last play, right? Because I got a question about the last play of the game. One thing right there is depths are important, right? So if we if we if we get our depth then we can possibly dot the ball on the receiver in the end zone for a touchdown.
If we come out of our break and we're running full speed as fast as we can, and that ball is thrown two yards inside the back pylon, then we have a shot. We didn't quite get our depth. We didn't quite get out of the break the way we needed to, to get to that spot. And so now your timing's off, your spacing's off, and that's a a missed opportunity. And then again, the other red zone trip for us was on the coaches. We should have taken the throw option off of that play call and just use the formation adjustment and go with the design run right there. So that's on us one time. So just little things that we can coach better and we can execute better.
Because again, we're not sneaking up on anybody now, right? Details are going to be what separates us and we just haven't quite been the details like again. Are they doing their job? Yes. Are they going to where they're supposed to go? Yes, but now it's not what I do. It's the how I do it that's going to be important because you're playing championship caliber football late in the season.
Q: You talked about a lot this season, kind of leaning on the senior leadership when we talk about handling success. Just after the loss on Saturday, have you seen them kind of approach that with the team and maybe kind of pick that mood back up and focus back on the goals that you guys do have the rest of the season?
TONY ELLIOTT: So just right back to work, and they lead by example out of practice. And so when we get out to practice, there's a great sense of urgency from the leadership to lead and not let what happened on Saturday now impact the way that we work on Monday through Friday in preparation for Saturday's game. Good conversation in the senior leadership meeting before the team meeting on Monday. The guys understand that we still got everything ahead of us, right? That we earned the result that we got, right? You tip your hat to Wake Forest.
They won the game, but we still feel like Virginia beat Virginia because we were uncharacteristic in some areas. And so now we got to fix it, go back to work, and everything rises and falls on leadership. And it's important that they set the example. And Jah (Jahmeer Carter) gave a great message after practice when we broke it down with the team and to refocus the guys and to really challenge them on our core values because that's really what it's about is making sure that we stay aligned with our core values. And we kind of got off a little bit and we pointed it out and we owned it. I mean, there were some times where the effort was good, but not good enough, right?
It wasn't championship level. And then the A is accountability and we can't point the finger at anybody, right? We didn't get it done. We got to go back to work and I think they completely understand that and I'll be excited to see today when we got the pads on to kind of see where the energy level is. I anticipate that it's it's going to be one of our better Tuesday practices of the of the year.
Q: What are some of just those main things you want to hone in on practice the rest of the week before going up against Duke?
TONY ELLIOTT: Yeah, so so like I said offensively is details. Let's make sure we're at six and not five. Let's make sure that our alignment is on the hash and not two yards outside the hash or a yard inside the hash. Let's have some pre-snap intensity so that I can pre-snap read. And if I see a copping defensive end, like a defensive end getting ready to drop, I already have an anticipated plan of release. Just those next level things to get to where we wanna go.
That's what I want to see offensively. Back to the high level of strain that we've been having on special teams, getting honed in on the many, many adjustments we're going to have to make for their punt team. Defensively, man, let's get back to taking the ball away. You know, I think it's the first time in like six games we didn't have a takeaway, right? Let's get back fanatical about trying to strip the ball out. Let's get the plan down.
We got to figure out a way to get to their quarterback. Because man, he's really, really good. And if you give him time, man, he'll pick you apart. So we gotta get the plan down so that we can be disruptive up front. So there's a lot of things schematically that we gotta get locked in on. And then there's also the driving of the core values to make sure that we don't get away from what's actually gotten us to where we are.
Q: Coach, you just mentioned the pass rush. You didn't get a sack in this past game. You didn't force a turnover. Obviously, the defense was really good. What did you see when you looked at why you weren't getting home or getting the pressure you had?
TONY ELLIOTT: Well, I think eventually they (Wake Forest) said, we're not going to try and throw it. Right? I think we were able to deal with that, the quarterback, enough to make them more one-dimensional. So if you're one-dimensional now, you're defending the run more than you're defending the pass. So even though we didn't get the sacks, I thought we were disruptive enough with the quarterback to limit them to not much throwing and only 64 yards.
And then the turnovers. We gotta continue to be fanatical about stripping at the ball and when it's in jeopardy, right? We've probably gotten more interceptions but with the ball not being in the air, now you gotta force the fumbles. And we had one on the ground on the fourth down stop. We didn't get it but to me, that's a turnover.
Q: When you get a fourth down stop, especially in the goal line right there with no points, that's a stop to me. And then I think, two for 12 on third down until the end. When you went back and looked at those plays, was it fatigue? What allowed them to convert when they hadn't all night?
TONY ELLIOTT: Yeah, some quarterback run stuff, accounting for the quarterback. So there's some things from a coaching standpoint that we gotta do a better job from, especially with the empty plan. To make sure that we got the quarterback accounted for and he can't he can't convert and you got to down the football. When you got a guy, at the line of scrimmage, you got to make that tackle. You can't miss a tackle. You can't let him get out of a tackle and convert. So I thought that was probably the biggest thing that challenges the defense is in the fourth quarter, you know, third down. And the defense was not what it was and it resulted in three points, but still it was good enough to keep us in the in the ballgame. So I thought it was more not necessarily fatigue. It's just man that strain in the fourth quarter and then having a plan for the quarterback and the quarterback run type stuff.
Q: In your opinion this this the best pass offense you've faced this year?
TONY ELLIOTT: I would say so. Yeah, they do a really good job. Starts with the quarterback, but I think what probably doesn't get as much attention would be the front. They don't let many guys get to the quarterback. So he has time, he has clean pockets, he doesn't feel a ton of pressure, and then he can make every throw.
And you can tell that he does a very, very good job preparing. Because he's anticipating throws, and then he's managing the RPO game, really, really well and getting them some of the, just the gifts, so to speak, the little five yard throws when they may overload the run. So he does a really, really good job. And then the receivers, man, they do, they do a great job with their break point technique. They come back down the stems, right? They create some separations so that the quarterback doesn't have to be perfect with his throws.
They make them right if they need to. He's very, he's very accurate on the run, man. He can, he's got great touch with his ball. So he does a lot of really, really good things that are natural that you can't necessarily coach, but you love to have a guy that can do it.
Q: And you told us earlier in the year that it was a matter of all your young secondary guys, or not young, but all the secondary guys getting accustomed to one another and working out communication. What are you most proud of about that group and what has made them so difficult to (play this season)?
TONY ELLIOTT: Right. So I think first and foremost, they got a very strong bond. You see those guys together, man, they're not counting their reps, they're making them count. Because we're rolling multiple guys at multiple positions, subbing in and out. They're very unselfish. They spend a lot of time preparing on their own.
They're taking pride in their commitment. And I think that's evident in some of the big play busts that we were seeing early in the season. Now you're not seeing as many of those because they're more comfortable with the communication. I think the corners, especially in this last game, are coming up aggressively and fitting the run and then downing the football, getting the ball on the ground. Same thing with the safeties. I think we're doing a better job collectively of downing the football. So it starts with their relationship, their preparation, and then, man, they're starting to develop a little bit of swagger to them.
Q: Yeah, I was going to ask you about your corners, too, the three you're playing, (Emmanuel) Karnley, (Donovan) Platt, and (Jordan) Robinson. It seems like they've been pretty good in one-on-one coverage with pass breakups. What are you noticing there in those particular spots where they're out on an island?
TONY ELLIOTT: Right, just trusting their technique. That they're trusting their technique and trusting their preparation. And not panicking. And I think what you're starting to see is now a lot more confidence. And hopefully that's going to now progress into not just being in position, but taking the ball away, right? So I thought they did a really good job because there was some 50-50 balls that were thrown up. That's either a catch or a pass interference. And I thought they did a good job with just trusting their speed, trusting their technique, staying in phase, and then being able to create the breakup at the last second. But you can see that they're really starting to get comfortable with the techniques that they're being taught, they're trusting it, and it's producing some results for them.
Q: And then Duke's running game, they use the two running backs. How tough are those two guys?
TONY ELLIOTT: Yeah, so I know everyone wants to talk about the pass offense, but when I look at them, I see a very balanced offense, which makes them dangerous. And I think they complement each other. So they're able to run the ball because they can throw the ball. And they can throw the ball because they can run the ball. And what you see is their offensive line does a really, really good job of creating space. And then their backs anticipate where the space is going to be, and then they run downhill.
They come downhill and the young guy, 20, the freshman man, he's, he's going to be something special I think in this league, because he's got a big play ability. He's got breakaway speed but he's not afraid to run between the tackles. He's not afraid to run behind his pads. He's got the ability to stop and start. And then they got a great change up in No. 4, man. He's coming downhill. He's a thumper. But if you, you gotta be careful, if you don't wrap him up, man, he's going to break some explosive runs.
And so they got a really, really good, one-two punch, but they do a great job formationally, right? They do a great job. They're very well coached up front and they knock those double teams off the ball, which creates space. And then that back is coming downhill. It's kind of off of the same tree that I came from with Gus [Malzhan] and Chad [Morris] and it's designed to be a physical smash mouth type of play. And then off of it, right? They can create the play action. They can create, they can run all the RPOs and then they can they can have the naked boot action off of it once you fully commit to it.
So they're going to challenge you to load the box, to stop the run, because of what they can do with their six in the box, including the tight end. And then that's going to force you to be in some one high structures, where you get some one on one coverages. And the quarterback can put the ball over the top, he can dot the back shoulder, right? He can hit the slant, the bang eight, the out, I mean, he can make every throw.
Q: As you continue to prepare for Duke this weekend, what are you bringing with you from last week's loss and what are you letting stay in the past?
TONY ELLIOTT: Yeah, well, the result is in the past, right? We can't go back and we can't change that. And so hopefully it's a motivation to man, just, be at your best, right? Because when you're not at your best in this league, it's going to cost you and it's going to cost you some hard lessons. And so that's what we're taking with us, it is that hey, every game from here on out is a championship level game. And so we gotta have that mindset, we gotta have that level of effort, that level of intensity. And again, not to say that the guys weren't playing hard, because we had a lot of guys that were playing hard. It's just, it takes a little bit more. Right this time of year and I told him before last week's game and everything we did up to this point doesn't matter.
Like you got to go in the month of November. You got to go to another level, right? You got to find something deeper inside of you to push you, to motivate you because it's easy to say, oh well, we know what it takes right? Well, you're going to get everybody's best. And so you got to have your best and each week that bar is raising. So that's what we're taking into this game. And then really just an opportunity for us to go get back to that feeling that we enjoy in the locker room. But we're learning from last week that man, you get what you earn. And so if you don't have your best, then you're not going to, you get what you earn. But if you bring your best, then you take control of the situation and you don't leave it up to chance or to somebody else.
Q: How helpful is it to have a experienced veteran at center in Brady Wilson, regardless of who the quarterback is?
TONY ELLIOTT: Oh man, it's huge because he directs traffic in that box. And I know, man, I feel bad for the offensive line. Because they get blamed for so much and not many people understand the life that they live. It's literally a game of inches. And so six inches in the trenches changes five people. And the center has to know how to get all five people in line going in the right direction when the six inches change and a lot of times they change as the ball is being snapped. And so now the center has to direct traffic right and then or it's right before the snap and so then now like just imagine, you're telling five guys what to do based off of six guys that are on the other side and every time they move six inches you have to know the adjustment to be able to tell those guys what to do run or pass and then you got to go execute it.
And then it's happening like with a bunch of physicality and it's moving, right? And then you might have a guy, you've got a block that's over here and you don't get to see him, but you got to slide to him knowing that he's going to be there trusting that you've told the guy next to you what to do so that when you get there, right, you have a chance. So, I mean they get beat up, they get blamed for a whole lot. Like I think the week before we had, we had two sacks and they were on the quarterback, they weren't on the offensive line. But the offensive line got blamed for it, right? Or we don't run the ball well enough. We average 5.4 a carry. Offensive line gets blamed for it. And then some of the best block plays that, I mean, they knock them off the ball, the quarterback throws the RPO.
And so now they got a tough world. And then a lot of times they get put on a one-on-one with a guy that's quicker, just as strong. And he wants that quarterback and you got to stop him. So when you got an experienced center, what it does is it calms everybody down, right? And the guys around them kind of have a leader to tell them the direction that we're going.
So now everybody can be coordinated if that makes sense. That's why it's important to have an experienced center because he's directing traffic. And a lot of times the quarterback is counting on him, right, to help him? So the quarterback is counting on the center from a protection standpoint to help him understand what's going on in the box, because the quarterback now has to see the entire field, so he's got to know what all 11 are doing and he's got to know what all 11 on the other side are supposed to do or what they're showing him that they're doing. And he's got to make all the adjustments. So he needs that center to be able to kind of control traffic in that box so that he can focus on what's going on down the field and feel protected. If that makes sense.
And then the running backs got to get information from the center and the offensive line so that he can fit into the equation when we get into a pass protection. A shout out to my offensive line guys, because they live a tough life, man. Nobody wants to recognize them. Everybody wants to throw them under the bus, right? And they got the hardest doggone job, right? And a lot of times they're being matched up. I think his last name was Williams, Wesley Williams. Yeah, he's a dude, right? I don't know if y'all watch him play. But man, he plays hard, he plays physical, right? And so now, our guys gotta go block him and then guess what? Then they're going to get matched up on Mr. (Vincent) Anthony, that's a 6'6” guy, that's a stud. And then that changes. And guess what? All five of those guys could end up blocking, any one of those guys. So it's a tough life that they live, right?
But they enjoy their job. They take a lot of pride in it. And I'm just glad that Brady's starting to kind of really get back to where he was prior to the injury. Definitely need him to help from a leadership standpoint and really just challenging the guys, which he does. But I want him to be a little bit more vocal at times because I know he can bring that element to what we do offensively.
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