By Mazvita Maraire Posted on

What the Assistant head coaches said in their weekly press conferences.

After spending some of thier off days interviewing for head coaching vacancies on Zoom last week, DC Aden Durde and OC Klint Kubiak are fully focused on Saturdays game with the Niners

DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR ADEN DURDE

Q. How much do you think they could change their game plan or try to do things differently after what happened in the game two weeks ago?

ADEN DURDE: Yeah, I think you’ve got to credit them. They’re great coaches, and they’re going to have a plan that is going to attack us. We just have to be prepared, ready to adjust.

Q. Do you prefer to just clear the slate and start fresh from square one, or because it was just a couple of weeks ago, do you just add on to the game plan that you have?

ADEN DURDE: That’s a great question. I think you always have to go through your process, and you have to give that the respect that it needs, and then you go through that, sometimes some of them will be the same answers and some of them won’t.

Q. Because they only had 42 snaps on offense, how much of the game plan did you not use last time?

ADEN DURDE: Yeah, we watch every snap. Not a lot of it. We used most of it, yeah.

Q. What was the experience like going through your first head coaching interviews?

ADEN DURDE: Yeah, it was good. To be honest with you, the best part of it is we had a week off. I don’t know if I could have done it if I didn’t because it’s so hard to focus on different things. But we had some time off, prepared for it, and then just enjoyed it.

Q. How much goes into that, prepping for that?

ADEN DURDE: That’s a really good question because I had thought before I done it, but I think once you realize, once you’re in it, it just tests your principles and what you believe in, and you have to answer questions honestly.

Q. Obviously you interviewed a lot to get the jobs you’ve had. Are the questions a lot different for a head coach than they are for a coordinator, things like that?

ADEN DURDE: Sometimes, obviously because you’re asked to lead a whole team, and sometimes you’re more schematic because you’re talking to a head coach, then you’re talking about scheme a lot of the time.

Q. How much are they asking you about their roster?

ADEN DURDE: I just came off a game, and it was just like on to this and then we’re back into this game. It wasn’t huge.

Q. You guys had the crowd noise up pretty loud in practice today. Is that a focus getting ready for Saturday?

ADEN DURDE: No doubt. This thing is going to be rocking. I think we got a taste of that in the Rams game, I thought. We spoke about it like two days ago. As a defense we’ve got to keep feeding the crowd. We’ve got to keep giving them momentum so they can rock with us and keep it like that.

Q. Is that a regular thing that you guys do during the regular season or just every now and again?

ADEN DURDE: Yeah, it’s a regular thing. It’s week by week, every time.

Q. For a lot of young guys, this is their first time in the playoffs. In an experience like this, how valuable is a guy like a D-Law (DeMarcus Lawrence) or a J-Reed (Jarran Reed), some of the veterans who have been through it a lot?

ADEN DURDE: Yeah, I think week by week, their value is there. I think what Mike (Macdonald) has done a great job of here is attacking each week, and I feel like the young guys are in such a mode of that. I was just walking off the field with D-Hall (Derick Hall), and we were just like, it just feels like a normal game. We’re getting ready and we have to go play.

Q. How much do you count on the scout team guys and the looks that they give you? We always spend so much time talking about the starters. How much do you count on those guys?

ADEN DURDE: They’re hugely valuable, and they get regarded every week for the best scout team player. I think sometimes they do get lost because you’re so focused on going ahead, winning that week, and Mike (Macdonald) and John (Schneider) talk about the whole 70-man roster. That’s so important here, how they prepare, how they practice, how they study. I think some of the rushers it helps them improve and develop because they have to study off of players, like who are you going to be this week. You study their moves, you study how they play. You get to look at that and kind of grow your game.

Q. How detail-oriented do they have to be to make it the most effective for your defensive guys?

ADEN DURDE: I think they have to be very detail-oriented, but there’s also a part of the game that is like a human part of the game and people react and feel the game. When the ball plays and it kind of breaks down, they do the things they do, and you allow them to be themselves, as well, within the system.

Q. How does discipline play into your rush and coverage, the importance of discipline in your rush and coverage?

ADEN DURDE: Understanding how people get off the rock, how they attack their rushing lanes and play off each other. I wouldn’t say it’s discipline of staying in your lane, but there’s a discipline of playing off each other, knowing when to play off each other, and then the coverage playing, and how do those things offset each other is important because on one hand, the rush might win now, which gives the coverage a chance, and on the other end the coverage might hold up and then suddenly you give the rush a chance to come to life. That’s the balance of rush and cover.

Q. What do you notice with Coby Bryant coming back?

ADEN DURDE: The same Coby (Bryant) every day, just locked in, ready to go. Just got that kind of angry look on his face all the time he gives me, and he goes to work.

Q. What have you seen out of Riq (Woolen) this season from maybe some early season struggles to the way he’s played the back half of the year?

ADEN DURDE: Yeah, I was thinking of a lot of players, but Riq (Woolen) especially, it’s just his growth and his focus. Really I would say mental toughness to lock in and just get on and prepare and grow in his role. I think you just see him, he’s locked in every day at practice. He’s ready to go, whatever he needs to do, he does it, and he’s out there and he owns his role. He dominates his role a lot of the time.

Q. The way Mike (Macdonald) handles situations like that as a head coach, what have you seen from him, as far as helping a guy out and getting where he needs to be?

ADEN DURDE: I think every time, every single person I’ve seen with Mike (Macdonald) and most of the coaches on our roster is that every piece of information you give them, whether it be, good, bad, indifferent, you always do it with care and love, and I think you always have a solution for people, and you get on with it and you move forward. Whatever it is, if it’s for the defense or in Mike’s case the team to improve, I think that’s how you do it.

OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR KLINT KUBIAK

Q. How did Sam (Darnold) look in practice today?

KLINT KUBIAK: I’ll let Coach (Macdonald) talk about all things related to Sam (Darnold).

Q. How did everything else look?

KLINT KUBIAK: Yeah, I thought we had a really good practice. Drew (Lock) got some reps in there, did a really good job. A lot of confidence in Drew and all of our guys.

Q. That backup role is a tough one. What has Drew (Lock) shown you over the first year?

KLINT KUBIAK: Yeah, Drew has been really impressive throughout OTAs and in training camp and in his role. He started a lot of football games, 28 games in the league, so a lot of confidence in Drew. Brought him here for a reason.

Q. Was today the first day Drew (Lock) got reps?

KLINT KUBIAK: No, you split them throughout the year. Definitely not as much as the first guy.

Q. An oblique injury for a quarterback, what’s the biggest hamperer?

KLINT KUBIAK: Yeah, obviously with any injury, you just want to know what the significance is, so I’ll let Coach (Macdonald) talk about all those things.

Q. Three straight big games in a row. What are you seeing that’s really hitting throughout the last month or so?

KLINT KUBIAK: Just guys improving throughout the season, offensive line, running backs, everything. That’s what we’re looking for is constant improvement as the year goes on. You’re only as good as your next day, so we’ve got to keep improving.

Q. How did Charles Cross do coming back this week?

KLINT KUBIAK: Really good to have Charles (Cross) back. He looks great. He looks rested, ready to roll.

Q. Who is behind him with Josh (Jones) being out?

KLINT KUBIAK: Yeah, we’re given a lot of reps to Josh (Jones), Amari (Kight), so we’ve got guys that have done that role plenty of times in practice.

Q. When you’re going to put a game plan together for a team you just saw a couple of weeks ago, do you start from scratch or do you go back to what you had in Week 18 and build off of that?

KLINT KUBIAK: A little bit of both. You definitely have familiarity with the opponent. Obviously you have a whole new game to watch, two games to watch, adjustments that they’ve made and things that we’ve been working on. It’s a little bit of a mix of both.

Q. How have you seen from Jalen Milroe, we haven’t seen him play in a little while. How has he progressed?

KLINT KUBIAK: He’s made improvements throughout the entire year, getting reps with the look team. He’s been phenomenal in the meeting room. Just a guy that’s really committed to growth. Andrew (Janocko) and Tyson Prince, those guys have done a great job developing (him) throughout the year.

Q. What was the experience like going through the head coaching interviews?

KLINT KUBIAK: It was good. There was a lot going on. It was on a couple of our days off, it was perfect timing, and then right back to business after that.

Q. Did you do any prep ahead of time, whether it be in the offseason or during the season for those type of moments, or was it just like, all right, this team called, so start the process?

KLINT KUBIAK: Yeah, in this profession, those are things that you’re always kind of thinking about in the summers, in your off time, so that when those times come, then you’re ready to roll. But (the) main thing is just being yourself.

Q. How much of a distraction was that? You mentioned it was the off weeks, but you had to prepare a little bit before then.

KLINT KUBIAK: It wasn’t. Had some conversations, and they were good conversations, very flattered for that opportunity, but we’ve worked our entire season, our whole lives for games like this. This is the most important thing.

Q. Seems like the screen game has made some progress the last half of the season. When did you decide that was something you wanted to focus on, and how have you guys gotten better there?

KLINT KUBIAK: I just think our backs have done a great job in practice. Every week you’re trying to see what fits best for that opponent. But K9 (Kenneth Walker III) and Zach (Charbonnet), those guys are really patient screen runners, and our offensive line has done a good job with their timing.

Leave a Reply