Opening statement:
"Day 2 of the work week – a good day out there, got a lot done. Guys were bouncing around, and it was a good practice?"
On what scares him most about Falcons QB Matt Ryan:
"Would never say scared. What I would say is that I have been in the division with him in his formative years and playing him twice a year back in those years when I was at the Saints. I have seen him grow and grow and grow and have seen him be in charge of his improvement. I see him on how he has balanced his way through different coordinators, different likes and dislikes of what he likes to do. As I look at it as an older quarterback – you start to get into the double-digit years, plus years and stuff – the influence of whoever is coordinating him and whoever is coaching him, he is having some say in some things and doing some really, really good things. He is very accurate. Our work is going to be cut out for us. You can't fool those kinds of guys that many times. It is about execution and who can out execute each other."
On game planning to contain Falcons WR Julio Jones and the Falcons' receiving corps:
"Understanding that the ball is going to go there. That is the big part of it. Where he is lined up and how they create the formations to change up the spots and the areas of the field that he will work in. We have to understand from our attention to detail, being aware of where he is lining up. The schemes will change dependent upon the situations of the game. It depends on the down and distances of the game. Those are the types of things that you do each and every week, but you have to be much better with his physical and big presence. He has a body like a lot of tight ends in the league. He can separate himself from coverage because he is bigger than most guys who have to cover him."
On Ryan's performance this season:
"He is playing well. He really is playing well. He is executing very well. You can see the comfort zone that he has with (Falcons offensive coordinator) Steve (Sarkisian), the coordinator, in Year 2. That usually is the way that it is in our league."
On the next step for QB Baker Mayfield this season:
"One of the things that I have conveyed to him is that if I could feel really good about him feeling good about the confidence that I have in him and that we have in him – it is not I; it is we have in him. We have his back. Now, let's go. You are a smart enough quarterback, instinctive enough quarterback. We understand that mistakes are going to be made. Do not be afraid of making mistakes. Just cut it loose and play, and make faster and faster decisions. That is the No. 1 thing that I have tried to convey to him. I am witnessing in practice each and every day. I am witnessing it always every day and witnessing the conversations that I have with him every day. It is not just me, it is everybody – his teammates having those conversations with him, the other coaches having those conversations with him. That is the next step for a young quarterback in my mind."
On if Mayfield needed to be told the team was confident in him:
"No, I do not. I do not think that he had to be told that. Nope. I just wanted to make sure that he felt that. I am kind of that way as a presence. Making sure that you feel, not hear."
On DB Denzel Ward and LB Jamie Collins, Sr.:
"Had good days. Had good days."
On the LT competition between OL Greg Robinson and OL Desmond Harrison:
"It is going well. They are both taking it step by step by step. Des' health, we are not just trying to throw him back into the fire right off of the bat. They are getting good reps. Everything has been good. We will make that decision at the end of the week, but it looks good."
On if Mayfield's remarks about being comfortable with Robinson sways the decision at all:
"I would say this, all of those things are factors, but the biggest thing is who is playing the best and what gives us the best chance. We take in every factor, yes."
On if he has 'dug deeper' into the film to prepare for Ryan:
"I have gone back to some games. Yes, I have gone back to actually watching some of those games and just thinking though the process. We have evolved in some of those things and have gotten better in a few of those things, but there have been a couple of ideas from the old days that we have resurrected."
On the Browns defense being successful earlier in the season on third down:
"We are still real good in certain areas of it, but last week was irritating."
On why the Falcons offense has been successful on third down:
"Quarterback and synergy with the receiver he is working with. Take the grayness out of the play. They do a really good job of taking the thought process out of the play – execute. They have a premise or a reason of we are going to run this play versus an expected coverage or an expected situation. He is very accurate – very accurate."
On determining if DB Damarious Randall should play CB or remain at S for a game:
"A lot of it goes into the matchup type of stuff, the depth on the roster or the depth that day and then his health. All of those factors go in that."
On if Randall is healthy enough to play CB:
"He is really having a good week right now. Knock on wood. Hopefully, it keeps on going, but he is having a good week."
On if DBs Juston Burris, Phillip Gaines and Jermaine Whitehead have time to get up to speed for Sunday's game:
"We started at 6:30 a.m. way before all of the meetings, and they will be here real late at night. It will be their ability to comprehend and their ability to understand. The game is the same. A lot of the times the verbiage is different. We just call it different. A couple of those guys have come from guys that I have coached their coaches, and a couple of those guys' coaches have been on my staff before. There is a little bit of a bond there."
On Whitehead and Whitehead being ejected from his game in Week 9:
"Right now, it is all evolving. I do not know enough about that yet to answer that question."
On how good of an indicator a team's practice week is to its performance in the game:
"I do believe that from a coach's perspective that the preparation process, you help that thing out. As a coach, you do not want to be shocked by feeling like you did not do enough. When the preparation is good, the attention to detail is good and the practices are good, then you are eliminating that guilt or overthinking like 'Should have done more.' Personally, me, I am never going to have that excuse. I am always going to do more. Now, they have to play on Sunday."
On how important it is for Mayfield to win again before the season culminates as part of his development:
"It is very important. Not only him, all of them – it is very important. We do not do this to earn a scholarship. We do not do this to stay eligible in the NCAA. This is our job, and it is about winning. From him and all of the guys, even the experienced guys that have come here to us – some have been on Super Bowl teams, some have won Super Bowls; there are coaches on this staff that are the same way – it is about winning. We do that play by play, meeting by meeting, period by period. We keep track of all of that to make sure we understand the importance of that."
