Dan Quinn press conference before Super Bowl in Houston: transcript

Key points

• Quinn said the day's practice focused on the football, noting both teams had 11 turnovers in the season and that teams with a plus turnover margin are 9-0 this postseason.
• He said the loss to Kansas City and the bye week built resiliency and stronger unconditional support among teammates.
• He said New England's slot receivers, paired with Tom Brady's accuracy, make coverage a challenge for defenses.
• He talked about growing up in Morristown, New Jersey, and about a book on the All Blacks rugby team that influenced him.
• He called the loss to Philadelphia a painful one, with few runs called and 10 or 11 missed tackles, but said such losses build toughness.
• He praised Vic Beasley's growth from rookie year to leading the league in sacks and said the offensive system will stay in place.

Chapters

1. 0:00Opening remarks on focus on the football
2. 1:00Lessons from the Kansas City loss and the bye
3. 1:34Patriots' use of slot receivers
4. 3:22Growing up in New Jersey
5. 4:57Kyle Shanahan and coaching interviews
6. 5:32Motivational books and the All Blacks
7. 6:55What went wrong against Philadelphia
8. 8:30Facing Tom Brady in the Super Bowl
9. 9:36Vic Beasley's development
10. 11:16Keeping the offensive system in place

Full transcript

0:00I thought yesterday we had a really good day. I felt the speed that we were looking for from practice was on point, the strain. And as teammates, we know we got to put out for one another. All right, that effort, that strain, that battle, that practice to get one another ready is so important. For those of us, for those of you who have been around us all season or just for a few weeks, you know what today is. This is a day we dedicate to the football. And it's going to be a huge factor in this game for sure. these are two really good teams that have high regard for the ball on offense and know how to go after it on defense. Both teams had 11 turnovers during the season which happened to be the fewest in the NFL so they're gonna be tough to come by. We're looking forward to getting back out on the grass today and putting all the third down some red zone emphasis into our stuff today but it is going to be about the ball. We reminded the teams last night teams are 9-0 in this postseason when you're in the plus and the turnover margin.

1:00So it's a great stat, one that I love sharing with the team because it's not an offensive stat-driven or defensive stat-driven. It's totally team-related. So that's an important one for us, and that's where our focus is today. With that, I'll be glad to open it up to questions. Hi, Dan. Susie Culver, ESPN. You talked about the loss to Kansas City and the playoff bye were moments of shifting for the positive. How so? Yeah, Susie, we have discussed that. And when you go through a difficult loss or a challenge in time, you do gain some resiliency. You do gain some toughness.

1:34So when we lost to Kansas City at home, it was one of those moments where, you know, I was anxious to see how we'd respond. Knowing it was difficult, and we ended up going out to L.A. the next week. We played well. We came back home to San Francisco. Where I felt that shift was the unconditional support for one another. And when you get to that spot where I'm just going to go battle for the guy right next to me, it got a little stronger. and then as the end of the regular season happened we really challenged the team to find is there a part of your game you can improve upon during that bye and that's where another shift happened in the postseason so the unconditional support can you get a little tighter can you get a little bit more on mark and those were the things that those two shifts have been a real difference for us then Bill Burt CNHI sports Boston The Patriots, a position of strength for the Patriots, has obviously been quarterback over the last 15, 16 years. Another, you could argue, is the slot receiver. Yep. Going to Troy Brown, where they bring in Wes Welker, I think you know Wes a little bit. For sure, yeah. And now Edelman and Amendola. Can you talk about their emphasis on that position, maybe even more so than the outside guys? Sure, I'd be glad to talk about that.

2:51I think they've done a fantastic job of knowing best how to feature their guys and whether it's running back wide receiver tight end but talking specifically into the slot you're looking for guys that can beat man-to-man and break guys off you know and winning against the leverage that they have they've got a really clear vision of how to do that and have for years like you said all the way back from Troy with his versatility the job with Wes Amendola and Julian inside so So having guys who have that kind of unique stuff that can beat man-to-man inside, it makes it a real challenge for the defense.

3:22You can think you have the right coverage at the right time, and the guy can break off, you know, to get open. And then you combine that with the accuracy, you know, of Tom and where he can go with the ball, it definitely poses a challenge for the defense. They've got a lot of unique things that they do offensively, but I would have to agree that the way they feature the inside players is a factor. Hi, Dan. Your coaching career has kind of taken you all over the country, but I'm curious if we could go back to New Jersey and how your roots growing up in New Jersey have shaped, and the people there have shaped your coaching career. For sure. I grew up in Morristown, New Jersey, and all through that time coming up, you know, through youth football and high school football, there were so many coaches that impacted me. And, you know, names that you wouldn't be familiar with today, but that left a, you know, long impression on my life. So it was probably at that point growing up there that, you know, my first love of football, began for me it was watching the New York Giants growing up with Bill Parcells and Lawrence Taylor and that whole crew coming up through the 80s and

4:25then as I got you know moved on to college I thought you know I'd want to coach for sure I was gonna teach and then ended up going you know the college route and going that way but it's absolutely been a huge impact on my life you know growing up there and all the people when you're coming up that have an influence on you, encourage you, support you, challenge you. For sure, it's made a big difference. Jeff Legwald, ESPN.com. I'm curious, you've been where Kyle is right now, preparing for a Super Bowl.

4:57Preparing for the next thing, too. How do you think he's done with that, and have you had discussions with Kyle about assistant coaches? Well, number one, I think going through that process, like you said, I think he's done a remarkable job. And one of the real qualities as a head coach is when you're going through those interviews and getting ready, you better have real balance and knowing how to compartmentalize and make sure your focus is on the right things at the right time. And that's what I've seen from him. So it's not the easiest thing to do, but it's worth it when you spend all your time, all your energy to make sure that everything's going exactly like you'd like.

5:32So I was able to share my experiences with them, tell them how I handle those interview processes. And the way that the league does it, where it is during our buy time or our off time, so to speak, that makes a huge difference. I would have had a really hard time doing it any other way. You know, we haven't spent much time on that. honestly there's not a lot of room left in my brain other than this game so for me that's where I wanted our focus to lie and so no we haven't spent a lot of time on that Dan Kurt Bowles from the Austin American Statesman I was curious as far as motivational books that you use in any of the more unusual places you found motivational phrases or devices You know, I did read an interesting book last year about the New Zealand rugby team, the All Blacks, and the culture they've had, the winning they've had.

6:25I've studied rugby from tackling, and it's been a driving influence on our leverage tackling, using our shoulder tackling, keeping our head out. And so my interest for rugby was already there. And then when I found out more about their culture, what they stood for, how they had long-term success for years and years, that book of legacy was certainly one that left a big impression on me. Someday I will make that trip over there to see them compete and play. That's how strongly I felt about this, reading about them.

6:55So I haven't had any interaction with them up to now, but it was definitely a book that captured me. Hey, Dan. Dan, Alex Marvez, Series XM and Sporting News. Every team has a stinker, it seems, during the season. What happened to the Falcons against Philadelphia? Well, that's one way to call it, for sure. You know, we had the preparation was right heading up into there. And then as the game went, we just really didn't play true to our style. And, you know, we didn't get on track offensively.

7:26We had the fewest amount of runs called, I think, in that game. And then defensively, you know, our tackling, you know, we were in double digits for missed tackles. And Alex, for us, that's a painful one to go back when you have 10 or 11 missed tackles in a game. I don't know why, and the reason we go through the process to get ready usually allows us to play really consistent and really well, but there was a, you know, the byproduct of that is we had a buy. I'd never recommend losing going into a buy. It makes for a long one, but what I can tell you is that after that time, the lessons that you do learn when you go through the difficult losses and painful times, they build some strength. They build some resiliency. I was anxious to see how we'd respond, and we did, but going through those tough games it matters it counts it's painful to go through but you have to have some of those experiences to build the toughness that you want to have. Hi Dan, Steve Futterman from CBS News. Let's continue the painful stuff. Can you talk a bit about what it's like to face Tom Brady

8:30in a Super Bowl and he's much older now than he was obviously the first time he was in the Super Bowl 2002 but what does he still have what does he bring to the game that makes it so difficult for the opposing team yeah I think if we had to talk about all the superlatives that he does have it would take a while the guy's a fantastic player and a fantastic competitor but past that it's about this matchup for this game there's nothing you know that we can look back to to say okay well back in 2002 or this like for us it's What can we do over the last two weeks to make sure that, man, are we ready to go attack?

9:03And so that's where our focus lies. We want to make sure we're playing at our best. And that's what we do at practice to make sure the strain, the battle to get through to one another, because we're not going to change and make up a whole bunch of new defenses and new coverages over the last two weeks. But what we can do is do what we do really well. And their offense, and Tom in particular, for years has just functioned at a really high level. And they execute better than just about everybody on lots of, you know, of their routes.

9:36They've had years and years of reps at that. But all that said, it still comes down to in between these white lines, Sunday afternoon, us against them, battling for it all, and that's where our focus is. Coach, back here. Sure. Dennis Barron from TSN. Can you just describe the development of Vic Beasley from his rookie year to this year where he led the league in sacks? Yeah, sure, Dennis. It's a good topic for us and one from our development plan that's really important. So as a first-year player coming in, like most guys, he had high expectations to have a fantastic rookie year, and then he found out it can be challenging.

10:13And this tackle set's different from this one. How do I utilize my games here? And so when the offseason came, there was a real shift and a real focus on finding the techniques that I do well. And here's the things I need to improve on. He's always had the speed to beat a guy to the punch and the way he can jump off the ball. Then now he added the counters into that, the use of pass rush stunts in a better way. So the development from year one to year two was exactly like we'd hoped it would be. There's been a number of guys who've been in that same spot.

10:44They may not show up on the stat sheet in that same way, but there's been a number of guys in our rookie class of this year included that are continuing to improve as it goes. But that's a real testament to him and the work that he put in during the offseason into OTAs, into training camp. I'd love to show you the battles that Schrader and Matthews and he have, you know, on a weekly basis. And that's also made Schrader and Matthews better as well to make sure, OK, we're going to bring all we got in practice every day, lining up against one another. So both sides have gained from that.

11:16Hey, Dan, over here. Joe Person with the Charlotte Observer. I know this is not the focus this week necessarily, but given the success of that offense, how important is it for you to keep that system in place, and is that your intention? Well, the system for us offensively is 100% in place. It's very important for us to establish our run game, and we run a lot of wide zone. It's a system that we do. We love the play action. We love the keepers that go with that, and then you get into the drop-back stuff.

11:46So the system that we have, the way that we attack, it's really important to us. It's important from last year, this year, and moving forward. One of the things I've been so impressed with our offense this year is the way they have such regard for the football, and both these teams do. It's a tough draw to get a football out or knock a football out. So those are a few of the things that are the tenants that will always represent who we are and the ball as well.

Source and licence

Recording: File:Dan Quinn Press Conference Day 5.webm by Atlanta Falcons (2017-02-02), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY 3.0.

The transcript is machine speech-to-text by the TidyTools Audio & video transcriber; the summary, key points and chapters were written by Claude from that transcript. Both may contain errors: check the recording before quoting it.