Ben Johnson: 'These guys earned this victory...I couldn't be more proud of them' — Press Conference

[0:00] We had Grady with a groin, and we had Street with a knee. [0:04] So we'll see what that looks like as we move forward here on a short week. [0:09] But I thought these guys did a great job. [0:12] We talked all week about what type of game we thought this would be. [0:16] A tremendous amount of respect for that opponent. [0:19] I think that's a really good football team that we just played. [0:22] That defense was number one in a lot of categories. [0:26] That special teams unit is top five. [0:28] They were number one a year ago. [0:30] I think they were number two right now this year. [0:32] I mean, I think, you know, and their offense can score in bunches also. [0:36] You know, they've got a lot of dynamic weapons on that side of the ball. [0:39] And so to see us go out there and play a physical brand of football, [0:43] we thought that was going to be important for us. [0:45] That showed up in that first drive. [0:47] I thought, you know, I thought our guys came out with their hair on fire, [0:52] and I thought it carried over for 60 minutes. [0:54] There were some ebbs and some flows throughout that game, [0:57] and yet it felt like we responded really well as a team and rallied together. [1:02] So that was exciting to see. [1:04] You know, these guys earned this victory and I couldn't be more proud of them. [1:08] So I'll go ahead and open up from there. [1:09] And that opening drive, a lot's unpacked there. [1:12] 17 plays, 80 yards, a bunch of third down conversions. [1:14] What was most notable to you just about the way it flowed? [1:17] Well, truthfully, I didn't know it was 70 plays. [1:21] And so looking back at it, I just, we thought it was going to be tough to get this thing going. [1:28] And we knew in the first half, we kind of talked about being patient. [1:32] And if the running game, we were getting ones, twos, and threes, [1:36] we thought we could eventually get to the point where those would turn into threes, fours, and fives. [1:41] It's an outstanding front. [1:43] It's a really good scheme. [1:44] They make it very challenging on you. [1:46] And so, you know, I thought we had some really good communication. [1:49] Garrett Bradbury did a nice job driving that train for us. [1:53] Swifty ran super hard. [1:55] And I know he didn't have a ton of yards, but 27 attempts and three touchdowns, [2:00] every single yard was earned by him. [2:03] Those were hard yards to come by. [2:05] Our receivers were blocking. [2:07] And I thought Caleb did a great job just throughout the game, [2:10] certainly on that first drive that you're alluding to. [2:12] But he took care of the football. [2:14] And I thought he did a lot of really good things throughout. [2:18] The cut of the 20-17 early in the fourth quarter, the way the team responded on all three phases was pretty much incredible. [2:25] How would you kind of assess that? [2:26] What impressed you most about that response? [2:28] Yeah, well, we talk about that. [2:30] When the pressure's high, we want to be at our best. [2:34] And like you said, all three phases did that. [2:37] And so I think you find out more about your identity as a team when you get put in those situations. [2:44] And you talk about it as much as you want. [2:46] And yet, to go through it, to live it, and to see us come out of the other side, I think it's good for building our team. [2:54] Because that's really where we're at right now. [2:57] We didn't come here to make a statement. [2:58] We're still building. [2:59] We're still building. [3:00] And this is part of that process right now. [3:03] And, you know, we've got a lot of really good pieces. [3:06] Guys are owning up to their roles. [3:08] And every little way they can impact this game in a positive fashion, they're looking to do that. [3:13] What did you like about the way you did? [3:17] Yeah, well, we knew it was going to be challenging. [3:19] And this was one of the more elaborate game plans in terms of what we were asking him to do as well. [3:27] And that had a lot to do with their scheme. [3:30] And we needed that out of him to make sure we were getting into a good play that had a chance. [3:37] And so, you know, you still look down. [3:40] You had a couple delay games and false starts and things of that nature. [3:43] So the crowd did impact our operation. [3:46] But he stayed calm, cool, and collected throughout. [3:49] I think there were some times where it can get a little bit chaotic. [3:52] And yet he didn't allow that to phase him at all. [3:54] You guys get that delay of the game and then hit the little screen pass that goes through the five. [4:00] What did you like about the blocking there? [4:03] What do you like about the play call first, I guess? [4:05] I got to look at who really made it go. [4:08] But I saw it pre-snap. [4:10] I know I think it was Rome at the point of attack there. [4:13] And we had press coverage. [4:15] And so he really has to go ahead and get that thing started. [4:18] Caleb was able to get their ball around the D end. [4:21] And, you know, with a guy like Khalif, with that punt returnability, that's really what it turns into for him. [4:28] He sees a little bit of grass, and he can turn on the jets and take it through there. [4:31] So we'll see what it looks like on tape. [4:33] But for those things to hit like that, a lot of guys had to do the right thing. [4:37] What kind of impact did you see Jeffrey make for him to come in with less than a week of practice with you guys to play the way he did? [4:43] Yeah, well, I mean, I think our guys were excited the moment they heard the news that we were bringing him on. [4:49] And he's fit right in. [4:51] You know, we've got a high-character locker room, and he is that himself. [4:56] And you can feel his presence out there, whether it's during the play or even after the play. [5:02] You can feel him talking a little smack as well, which I think that elevates everybody around him. [5:08] So I thought he played outstanding. [5:10] He got one of the game balls. [5:12] I mean, to come in there and have a share of the lead of tackles and a sack in his first game, his impact was profound. [5:20] I think it's a field goal block and a pass that turns into an interception. [5:24] Just the impact that he had in those moments. [5:26] Yeah, he's another guy that got a game ball. [5:29] You know, he's consistently attacking. [5:32] You know, he wants to affect the quarterback. [5:34] He wants to make plays. [5:37] We thought, you know, going into it, we're close, we're close, we're close. [5:41] We're knocking on the door in our field goal block unit. [5:43] And so it was great to see us finally knock that door down and come away with one. [5:48] So, you know, he does a great job. [5:50] He takes no plays off. [5:52] And I think when you play like that, good things will come. [5:54] They might not come often or all the time, but the more you keep chipping away with that mentality, [6:00] they're going to continue to come your way. [6:02] You said you're still building. [6:03] This is three Bright Lights games, prime time, against proven opponents that you guys have played really well. [6:08] And what have you learned about this group and just their hunger to be on stage and perform the way they have? [6:12] Yeah, you know, I think we're still early on in the season in a lot of regards. [6:19] We're not even halfway yet. [6:21] And so I think we're in a good spot. [6:25] You know, that's one of those that we've got to continue to play this thing out. [6:28] We're still getting better in a lot of areas. [6:30] There's a lot of places that we can get better at as well, which we'll do. [6:34] We'll look at in depth over the bye week. [6:36] But, you know, we're just solely focused every week. [6:39] I tried to explain this last week. [6:41] We're just focused on how do we get 1-0 for the next week. [6:44] And once we get into December and January, we'll start worrying about big picture stuff. [6:48] But we've got to continue to improve. [6:51] And, you know, we've got a short week coming up with a good opponent that's kind of hot right now. [6:57] You know, they're playing good football. [6:59] So we've got to keep it going, prime time or not. [7:02] We've got to keep finding a way to go 1-0 each week. [7:05] You talked about the game plan being more elaborate than usual. [7:08] Is it something where maybe at this time last year, [7:10] would you have trusted Caleb to be able to process all of that one scrimmage as quickly as he did today? [7:16] Well, he's definitely further along in the offense than he was. [7:20] So, yeah, I don't think there's any question about that. [7:24] But we've got a ton of confidence in him. [7:26] And I know if things don't look great necessarily early on in the week, [7:31] I trust him at this point to get it down by the time we get to game day. [7:35] And that's a credit to his approach right now. [7:38] It's awesome. [7:39] He does a phenomenal job working. [7:40] I mean, I looked out there. [7:42] I think it was Saturday afternoon after our red zone practice. [7:45] And he and JT Baird are still on the field for an extra hour after practice had already ended. [7:51] And so that's just kind of where he is right now as a player. [7:55] He loves downloading all this and then bringing it to life on game day. [8:00] And I think he's played really well for these last three games. [8:03] Touchdown to JSN's four and a half. [8:05] Is that just a byproduct of the Blitz not getting home and to repeat it? [8:08] Yeah, it looked like a double move and just got us on the outside. [8:12] So, you know, we tried something similar when we got the ball back. [8:17] And that's why Rowan was able to get down the sideline and we just, we weren't able to connect. [8:23] With the lovely fumble, obviously in that situation, it's not what you want. [8:27] Do you have to say anything to him or is that? [8:29] No. [8:31] And you wanted to be clean offensively. [8:32] And not a lot of penalties. [8:34] I think there was only one sack and then obviously the one fumble. [8:36] But did that meet your threshold against an opponent like this? [8:40] Where you wanted to be? [8:41] Or is this? [8:41] How many sacks? [8:42] Or how many penalties did you say? [8:44] I think three. [8:44] He was just talking about on offense. [8:47] Yeah, offense. [8:47] Okay. [8:48] Because as a team, we have way too many. [8:49] Because I know you wanted to be clean on that. [8:51] Yeah. [8:52] Yeah. [8:53] No, I mean, anytime you have these pre-snap penalties, those bother me. [8:57] So the two delay games, false start, like those are the things we've got to clean up. [9:03] But it is a loud environment. [9:05] But that's no crutch for us. [9:07] What do you think of Roush today would? [9:10] I don't know. [9:11] I don't know yet. [9:12] I'll look at the tape and we'll see how it goes. [9:14] But, you know, I thought the offense did a really good job throughout that game. [9:20] I think I said it at halftime that it felt like once we got the first first down, we were [9:25] able to use that momentum and end up with points. [9:28] But we did have our number of three and outs on the day as well, which, like I said, that's [9:33] a darn good defense. [9:35] Thank you. [9:35] Thank you. [9:36] Thank you.