Atlanta Falcons coordinators Tommy Rees and Craig Aukerman speak to the media | Press Conference

So, uh, Tommy, you guys obviously going to judge the quarterbacks by what they've done during preseason, uh, but how much their past NFL career, primarily last year, would that factor into your decision? >> Yeah, just probably a little bit. You know, I think you look at the whole body of work. You certainly know um, where guys have been in their career. You know what they've done, you know, in real games on a on a big stage. So there's some, you know, certainly there's things you can draw back to and talk through and, you know, know that guys have handled things in the past, but you know, we've started camp all the way back in the spring with a fresh slate. You know, this is a new offense for Tua, new offense for Mike, you know, new offense for the rest of the guys. So, you know, really trying to evaluate how they've handled that and handled what we've asked them to do and been pleased with the progression and want to continue to go here over the next two and a half weeks. >> How'd Mike look yesterday to you? Yeah, it was first of all, it was great to have him out there, you know, like just for the human as hard as he's worked to get back. Um, you know, dealing with a knee injury and coming back again, there's a lot of joy, you know, personally for him to be out there on the field. I think his teammates had a lot of joy for him and um, you know, he did a nice job. The thing with Mike is he's been doing a lot, just hasn't done the full speed work yet. So, getting him, you know, back caught up to the full speed play, you know, mentally he's been sharp. He's been in walkthroughs, he's been doing seven on seven. So, you know, continuing in those full speed reps will be very valuable. >> What would you say too is fitting into, you know, the system that you guys have here now? >> Yeah. Um, I think there are some consistencies and some things that, you know, as you get through camp and as you get ready to play, you start to um hone in on what each quarterback does well and you really want to devise the offense in terms of how they how they play and what suits their eye and what things, you know, really help them play at a high level. Um, and and I think he's done a nice job. I think he's taken a lot of ownership in the operation side of the offense and um you know we've asked him to do some things he maybe hasn't had to do in his career but he's taken a lot of ownership of that and really taken the work and you know he's stressed that amongst upon himself uh to execute at a high level in terms of those things but pleased with Tua. Um, you know, one thing about him is like when things are clean and he's as accurate as as they get, you know, and so it's our job to stress the other 10 guys around him. Uh, to play with great detail, play with great understanding so that things are clean and, you know, we're able to execute at a high level. >> What are some of those things that Tua hasn't done in the past that you guys are asking? Yeah, I don't want to get into the specifics of the scheme necessarily, but um certainly, you know, we ask a lot of our quarterbacks in the operation side of things and, you know, we have ways to, you know, divvy those responsibilities out, but it starts with the quarterback and, um, he's really taken ownership of that and handled it pretty well. >> Having two lefthanded quarterbacks, >> what kind of challenges or unique things does that present? it it doesn't, you know, it's just you have to like flip your brain in terms of, hey, this is more friendly for on this hash because the quarterback's usually right-handed. You just have to, you know, for us, you have to train yourself to start thinking a little bit differently there. You know, certainly for me, um, really never had a left-handed quarterback. Um, so it's, you know, for it's more for us than it is for them. You know, I think the players around him get used to it and, uh, really not a huge challenge that way. One thing that Tua said last week or a couple weeks ago was that it's usually more of a challenge for the quarterback, the lefty quarterbacks, but because there are two of them, >> right, >> it it actually kind of it switched because now it's actually a challenge for y'all instead of them having to adjust. >> Yeah, there's a great conversation like early in camp like do we flip the drawings so that they don't look like right-handed all the time? Do you leave them as lefty? And you know, poor Mike Beard, our QC, you know, starts flipping all these things to make him left-handed friendly. But yeah, I don't think it's a huge deal to be honest with I think you have enough reps where where things kind of even themselves out. Um, we have a lefty center, too, which is rare, you know, so that's a that's another aspect to it. >> How how much um how difficult is it to to judge the two quarterbacks when you got two had a whole body of full practices >> and Michael obviously has not. Is that difficult in that judgment process? >> Yeah, it's certainly a different scale, right? you have live periods, you have situational football, you have things with, you know, a real pass rush. Um, so you have to evaluate him on a on a little bit of a slope just because, you know, one guy's in walkth through and one guy's in seven on seven and mentally you're trying to make sure the operation's correct and that his eyes are in the right place and that he's picking everything up. And to Mike's credit, like we talk about maximizing mental reps, maximizing reps when you're not in there. We really feel like he's done that. you know, two of those there's more, you know, hard evidence on the field. But, you know, it's our job as coaches to sift through each of those processes and make sure that we can get a fair evaluation on both guy. >> Is Michael going to play in his last? >> It's really not a question for me to answer. So, I'll I'll, you know, uh, defer to Kev and Matt and Ian on on all those. >> I might be off a little bit on this, but I think to I have like 126 attempts from like the beginning of camp to now. I might at around close to 120. How pleased are you with the way you guys handled that to where attempts wise they're kind of >> Yeah, it was a um very strategic in how we approached it. You know, obviously there was an early part there where Tua was, you know, unavailable for for an early stretch, but look, Kev did a great job of putting together a plan and coach Vampel did a great job of making sure that the rotation made sense so that we got a full body of work, as much as we were allowed to do or we could do with both guys. So, um pleased that way. And now again, it's it's catching up full speed for Mike and it's continued to progress for Tua. >> I think Alex talked about with Mike that he had like a top down approach just because there isn't a pass rush, you have more time, you can afford to be aggressive a little bit more. >> Yeah. >> How do you when you go into 11-11, do you still encourage that mindset? Do you have to not coach it out a little bit, but I mean, how do you kind of handle that with him? >> No, I think we just, you know, we fall back on our rules, right? Like we have certain things based on the defense's perspective on where the ball needs to end up. And there's times to be aggressive. there's times where they're in a good call and we got to make the right decision and um those are things we continue to harp on and um you know there's concepts that are top down and there concepts that are low to high and um I think Mike's done a nice job been able to separate those two roster cuts happen this weekend. What's kind of your role in that in your conversations with Ian and his staff? Yeah, just, you know, speak when I'm asked, you know, opinion of guys, uh, in terms of where they fit on the roster, how we see them fitting into the offense, and really my job is to lay out the role of each guy, you know, like provide an evaluation, but it's really how do they fit into us playing winning football and, um, it's been a blast working with Ian and Matt and Kev through all those conversations. I said it before, we have a tremendous staff and um you know, each position coach has a really good pulse on their room and it's you know, it's my job to kind of bring it full circle and understand where it where it fits into the grand scheme of things. >> When it comes to who starts week one, will you will you take a similar sort of back step or or will you be more forceful to say I think I'm seeing something with this guy or this guy, you know, this conversation? >> Look, we have a very good dialogue between all of us. So, I'm not real concerned about, you know, voices being heard or not. there's been an open dialogue and a lot of mutual respect amongst who we work with. So, um, again, those conversations will take place and we'll all say our part and, you know, we'll move forward together and with one decision. >> Tommy, there was a moment in practice yesterday where Michael found coming across 111. You and I both played position. He got bumped a little. >> Yeah. Yeah. It's a good eye. >> Wondered if you put a little smile on your face. I did. Warmed him a little bit. Know you live through that. We both said good. You know what I mean? Like good. We want it to happen. That's why we're out here. Hey man, you're cleared. Let's let's go. There's obviously going to be, you know, your first day back out there. There's going to be some, you know, like excited nerves and all those things, but I thought Mike handled it great. You know, I thought his teammates were really supportive around him and get bumped once. I wish he would have fell, but I'm just But no, like he handled a great smile on his face and and ready for the next play. >> What have you made of Jack um and how he's adapted to this environment and grown through training camp? >> Yeah, tree trunks. that's his nickname with those big legs of his. Um >> Jack's been great, man. Like, um done a really nice job. You know, Coach Van Pelt cannot say enough positive things about his development with Jack and where he's grown to. Um to, you know, where he was in rookie mini camp to where he is now. You know, great head on his shoulders, you know, pretty unflapable in terms of just his ability to handle information, stay calm, stay poised, and then, you know, Al's done a great job developing his footwork and his rhythm and timing. So, you know, pleased with Jack. We still have a long way to go and a lot of steps. You know, there's a lot of things we're still trying to clean up with him from an operation and mental side and seeing the big picture of coverages and all that. You know, we have a he's from Bloomer, Wisconsin, which is a very small town. We joke around about it a lot. He's not like one of their notable an alumni yet. So, we're just our goal is we're trying to get him on the Wikipedia page and try to get him if you type his name into chat GBT to show up. So, if anybody can help with that, it go a long way for Jackie Boy. >> We're trying. >> Yeah. I know you guys are. Yeah. >> Propaganda. >> That's why I'm off social media. That's good. >> Who else has uh come out of there if he's not? >> Uh so quick story. Bloomer, Wisconsin is like the United States capital of jump roping. So yes, it's like this jump. So you look it up and he's like, "Oh, that guy was year older than me. It's BS that he's in there. He's a jump roper." I'm like, "All right, well, I didn't know anything about it." So Jack's a great kid, man. And he's done a nice job. Still got a long ways to go. Um, but you know, he's put in the work forward to put himself in a good position >> background to the Jack's round. >> Not with those legs. >> What was it about him in the pre-draft and the draft process that you saw that you thought was worth, you know? >> Yeah, the capacity. I think the capacity, like his his mental capacity, his ability to handle things that way. Um, when we brought him in, you know, that was a real positive. And, you know, he's got the stature and all those physical traits. But, you know, a lot of those meetings pre-draft are like figure out how this guy's how he ticks and can he handle it from a mental aspect and that's so important at this position, man. Like, you can't really operate without it. So, um, he's done a nice job of of continuing to grow and improve. >> Kevin has always said you guys are evaluating everything, you know, every mental rep, every rep on the field. when it comes to Mike, you know, just cleared yesterday or, you know, this weekend, what were some of the things that stood out to you in terms of what you want to see in that command of the playbook and the understanding of the offense, you know, throughout these months knowing him? >> Yeah, just all the things that mentally you were able to gather and sometimes taking a backseat and seeing it from a different vantage point helps you tremendously mentally. You want to see that now resonate on the field. You want to see the retention from the meeting, from watching, from walkthroughs translate onto the field when things are going full speed. So, we're going to continue to work with him and look, Mike's again, could not be more pleased with like the work he's put in, where he's at mentally. Um, and I know he's excited to be out there. >> I don't know if it's maybe from our vantage point, you look at it if it's something that's overrated, but, you know, it's been, you know, from receiver standpoint, it's been Drake and then the past couple years some different guys. How important is it at all to you guys to have a consistent, you know, number two wide receiver in this? >> Yeah. Well, I mean, I think, you know, we have a number of guys on the group that have a skill set that provides something, you know, maybe not all of them do the same thing well, but I think it's good to have, you know, you want your receiver room to be a little bit like a basketball team where you got guys that can do different things and uh provide um, you know, different roles within the group. Been really pleased with a lot of those guys, man. Like Hans had a good camp, Oz showed up, you know, obviously, you know, Zachariah's, you know, done a lot of good things for us, but Chris Blair stepped up, Drum has stepped up. Like we have a lot of guys in that room that we've been on them about the details. RP on them about the details. Coach Ingster and Tanner's on them about the details. And like as those guys start to embrace that, like the biggest difference for us game one to game two in the preseason was simply playing with better detail. And like it's such a good coaching lesson to be able to look back on both films and say, "Hey, when we do it right, when we're sloppy with our details, here are the two options." And um that group specifically I think has taken really strong ownership of those. >> Um just a quick followup. I don't know if you said but what ended up winning out with the board? Did it get did it get flipped or did you guys keep it for right-handers? >> I don't remember. Yeah. >> Yeah. We're good on that. Yeah. >> We going to open up with the uh GAC game this past Friday. Sun scored the game-winning touchdown as a freshman quarterback. Is that was the first question? Obviously, >> little little run pass option, a little read it. Uh 18 seconds left to go in the game. >> Drove him down there in a two-minute drive. >> You know, end up keeping the ball, scoring the winning touchdown. 14 seconds left. So, appreciate you guys. There you go. >> Slow to congratulate >> him, right? Khalif Raymond, where's he, you know, Davis Mills? I mean, let's get them all. >> How do we celebrate? Oh, well, I was screaming in the hotel room at about 10:15 at night, so I probably woke up the whole hotel there in Indie, but uh yeah, it was a good little celebration uh for the family. >> How crucial is uh is like the next, you know, few days and the next week for for y'all, especially on special teams, because those last few guys on the roster are going to be very important to what you do. >> Yeah, really crucial. I mean, like I told him, every day is an interview with these guys. uh whether it's out on the practice field, whether it's joint practices, whether it's in the preseason games, uh you know, we've every rep is going to be so important for them because we're all looking and 31 other teams are looking at it, too. So, uh I think our guys have been locked in on teams right now in practice and in the games and uh they know how important it is for this team. Uh so, I'm really happy with what they're doing right now. Tyler Goodson, obviously we saw what he did on offense last week, but in terms of spreading out value for someone like him. How how does he improve your group? >> Yeah, first off, Tyler has been doing a great job for us on special teams. Uh after he got done scoring the touchdown, he ran directly to me and said, "Coach, I'm still on kickoff." That's the type of guy he is. The professionalism that he uses, I mean, that stuff is awesome. Like when you're talking about a coach getting excited for a player like that, him scoring a touchdown and then him coming over there and telling me he wants to still be on kickoff, uh that obviously means a lot to him. Um you know, his value continues to go up the more and more he showcases himself, whether it's on offense or on special teams, but I think he's doing a great job for us and we'll look for him to continue to take the next step this week, too. >> I'm sure you have a vision where you want the special teams to be at this point in the uh preseason. Are they close to where you thought they would be at this point? They still got a ways to go or how would you judge it? >> Yeah, I think, you know, sometimes it's hit and miss on special teams. Uh, and when I go back and look at it where we should be at, I think the guys are doing a really good job with the things that we're trying to teach as far as technique and fundamentals. So, we're getting there. Uh, I know, you know, each and every day we're trying to improve. Uh, but I like where we're at right now. Um, especially I think our specialists are doing really well. You know, Jake Baileyy's punting the ball really well. Nick made all of his kicks. Um, our interior punt has been continuing to work. You know, we're mi mismatching people a lot, putting them in different positions. Um, just trying to find the best 11 on each and every unit that we can get. But I I like where we're at right now. >> When you had Nick in Tennessee, I think it was 2023, his accuracy had like a really big uptick from where he was 2022 and handful of years prior to then. What did you guys change in his game, if anything, in 2023, and what do you think's kind of allowed him to remain as accurate as he has been since then? >> Yeah, I mean, it this is Nick. Like, he he's it's all about him, you know, I just try to help along the way. Uh, but this guy's such a professional. You know, he's done it for so long. Uh, I think it's, you know, him just perfecting his craft each and every year. Um, and he's found a really great rhythm. You know, the older it gets, the ball is still consistently hitting straight. And uh you know right now he's been extremely accurate and uh I just I just think it's him just going out there and doing what he needs to do each and every day. And um as of right now, you know, that ball's going through the uprights, which has been great for us. Coach, >> go ahead. >> This is a team that the last two seasons uh it was an adventure sometimes with a field goal unit. uh you can point to kind of a handful of games over the last two seasons that maybe the Falcons would have won had they had a kicker that was reliable to have a guy like Nick who has been consistent for many many years. How how important is that? How how much of a dynamic uh does that does that change things to have a guy like that? >> Yeah, I think it's great. You know, each and every time he goes out there, everyone's confident. It's not just me. It's not just him. You know, they all go out there and they know that Nick has been consistent the past couple years. Um really the past five years. uh of him being really good on field goals. So, brings a lot of confidence to ourselves. He's a guy that's very steady. You know, he's not going to ever get too high or too low. He's just a steady type guy. Um and I think guys usually gravitate towards that like, hey, this guy is really cool and calm, collective, and he's going to end up making those kicks. So, it does change the dynamics because we can go out there and kick a 56-y field goal and feel confident that uh he'll make the kick. So, uh I think it's big. got give a lot of credit to Ian going out there and signing uh Nick and getting him here. Um you know, we we feel really good about having Nick on our team. >> Yeah. Coach, could you discuss the ping of uh Jake Bailey? We've been charting his uh hang times up in Indie and uh yesterday here. Yeah, it's uh you know, Chase Blackburn um who works with me uh charts all that stuff and he's had really an unbelievable two weeks of practice just being extremely consistent. We ask a lot of Jake, you know, we ask him a lot on his block point where we don't want it at a certain um you know, yardage point. We want him to be short and we want him to get great hang time and direction. And he's just been doing a really good job. Now, he'll tell you that his second punt wasn't what he wanted. It was down the middle of the field, but it was with 49 hang time, you know, those are the things that we can go and cover, but this guy has been really consistent throughout camp uh and in the preseason games, and we'll look forward to him doing the same thing in the regular season. >> And just following up, we've seen D'Angelo and Mike Ford, a couple special teams guys around here. As you look at the roster, you're trying to identify some of those players that might can help you out in the gunning. Oh yeah. You know, with with Mike Ford, he's been obviously very good the past couple years. Cydney Brown, another guy, Josh Woods, had a really good game against Indianapolis. We had him for four total tackles on kickoff team. He had two solos and two assists. Uh he's been doing a really good job there. There's a lot of guys that I could go out here and say, um, I think the guys have really bought in to what we're trying to teach these guys and we're seeing a lot of it out there on the football field, which is really good and they're getting some success, too, with it. So, uh, the buyin's been great. We just got to continue to have that momentum into the season, too. >> Speaking of Bayern, um, the two young linebackers, third day linebackers, if you will, um, those are two guys that are used to playing defense and they're flying around hunting for you. What's I mean speak of buy in and I I assume that's what you're talking about. >> Yeah. Th those young guys um with Kendall with Perkins and even some of the other younger guys you know don't really play on special teams in college and they've come in and they want to learn uh you know Perk had a really good game. I mean the first two kickoffs that we had um both of them were penalties. He forced two penalties. He got taken down to the ground both times. Uh so that buyin for those younger players uh has been really good. But it starts with our veteran players. Our veterans have bought in and now the younger guys see that and it's been great. You got Dine who who's playing punt. You got older guys. You got X who's playing kickoff. He's also getting reps on punt team uh in practice. You know, when the vets set the tone for the special teams, it's going to help out those younger guys. So, uh really happy with the way our vets have really bought into everything that we're trying to teach. seen it done a number of ways, but the way you guys practice special teams where you insert it in the middle of practice, someone said, "Is that to try to simulate a game as well?" >> Yeah, I I love that. Um, you know, some people do it a little different whether they do it before practice or after practice. I love how we, you know, put it in the middle of practice where now, hey, gives those guys a break, too, on offense and defense, but it also lets them know that any point in time, we could run the special teams. We score a touchdown. All right, now we're going to kickoff. Hey, we've got a punt here. It's third down. We got punt alert. We go for fourth down. Now we punt. Um, you know, I think that's really key to have those guys, um, you know, do some type of special teams in the middle of practice.