PRESS CONFERENCE
September 21, 2022

Q: After starting two games on the road, is it nice to be back home?

MJ: I think we’ve done a good job preparing for the games wherever they are and we need to do that this week. We are delighted to be in front of our fans and to go and play on our pitch.

Q: Did anything change for you after that first victory? Is there a better atmosphere or is it a bit the same for you?

MJ: I think at the start of the season we’ve played two games so far and you can’t focus on the results, you just have to keep sticking to the process of what you’re doing every week. Every player has their own routine and I like to stick to mine. Like I said, it’s a long year and you want to have the routine in place so you can have that process. Obviously you want to win every game. We won the last one and we just want to try and stack them again.

Q: The Ravens gave up 28 points in the fourth quarter, are there any areas you think you can exploit in that defense?

MJ: I think their defense is really good, they always have been. This year they have a lot of very good players. I think it was a really interesting game, but it was only a few games. They did a really good job in their first two games overall and like I said, the players are there, the patterns are there, obviously, kind of a new pattern. They try to learn it, try to communicate with each other, you can see that. Really, really good players, ball hawks in the secondary, good forwards, good linebackers, so we definitely have our plate full.

Q: How would you explain some of the bad tapes, plays from the last two games that you might want to salvage or improve?

MJ: There really isn’t a bad band. I think there are things that you want to recover, but if you win the game, you can sit and complain about the games that you would like to recover, but in the end, you won, and that’s what which is important. It’s not about always winning super pretty all the time, it’s about winning, so that’s all I care about, all I’ve ever cared about. All other things take care of themselves. Obviously, like I said, you want to stack the good games on top of each other and you have to have more consistency with that, but the really bad games get a little thinner. That’s the goal and you can do it every week and then get better. The wins will come and that’s the only thing that matters.

Q: In the process you talked about, are you in a position where you can just react to the offense or are you thinking a little too much about what you would like at this point?

GM: I never really react to offense, I react to defense. Obviously, that’s your goal as a quarterback, is to see what the defense is doing and react to it. I’ve always done that, when the ball is broken, drop it all and go out there and let it rip. I don’t really think I think at all.

Q: Do you see any signs that you’re going to find easier throws?

MJ: I think every attack is different and we have very good players. They did a good job and like you said the players are really good in the NFL so it’s not going to be an open game every time but when it is I have to hit them. There are a few that I wish I could have hit last week and it’s gone now, so all you can do is try and hit those this week. They did a good job opening up. I like hard throws, I like easy throws, anything that moves the ball down the court is good for me and good for the offense. Obviously, we actually moved it pretty well in terms of footage and all that. Just hit it when we get there and find ways to get the ball into the end zone.

Q: People are asking this week, “Is Mac getting better or not”? People see standards of improvement as statistics, are there other marks of improvement that you think people are missing?

MJ: I mean, every week you try to improve. I would say we improved from week one to week two and it’s not just me, it’s everyone. We all got better and better. We had a lot of games and we had a big one this week. That’s all you can judge yourself on, it’s your last game. We won our last game so that’s all that matters and next week is next week. That’s all you can focus on. I’m not sure about the stats and stuff, I don’t really look at them. I don’t have a lot of info there for you, the only one like I said is either a W or an L and that’s the only one that matters.

Q: In Alabama and a bit last week, you ran RPOs. In Alabama, it was important to you. How much do you like this game? Do you hope there will be more in the future for you guys here?

MJ: Good job watching a movie. No, I think we did a little. But I like these games. I think every offense has it, in one way or another. They are good games. But we have to be able to do a lot of things. As I always say, there are different types of games – short, medium, long, play-action, RPO, gimmick. So there are different compartments you put them in and you want to be able to do them all. So yes, I like RPOs. They are cool.

GM: I think it emphasizes defense. I definitely learned in college just by watching Coach [Nick] Saban sometimes explodes in training. Just knowing he’s trying to tell someone to do something but his guy is running a route, but that’s also a race. Is it a pass? So there’s a lot of cool gray area from an attacking perspective. I always, obviously, we didn’t run them in high school, I ran the T-wing. They were new to me in Alabama. I’ve seen teams perform them on film. Some teams do it well. Some teams do it in interesting ways. You can’t really tell if it’s an RPO or game action sometimes. It’s an interesting piece.

Q: Is that something you were able to bring to the table during the offseason as you prepared for this year? It’s just something we haven’t really seen.

MJ: Yeah I definitely think so. Other teams were also doing them in the league and had good production. So I think, like I said, every offense has its base plays and you don’t necessarily want your RPOs to be your base plays, which they aren’t. But it’s still nice to have that extra flavor you can get in there. Like you said, it’s a run, it’s a pass, what is it? So I think they are still good. We just have to keep growing, growing from them. Learn how to do them and keep figuring it out from the start. That’s kind of what the start of the season is for, figuring out what we want to do. Then, once we have found what really works, we will use it throughout the year.

Q: I wanted to come back to something you actually said after the game. I think you were asked about the touchdown in Nelson [Agholor] and you talked about how it was kind of a 50-50 ball. You mentioned it was kind of a different philosophy than last year, throwing to someone who could be well covered, but just kind of trust them to go and make a play. Was it a difficult philosophy for you to adopt?

MJ: No, I think it’s great. I think we want to give all of our playmakers a chance. A lot of our plays have some reading on that. I love the freedom of being able to do that. I’ve done that a lot in the past. It’s good. I think 50-50 is a light term, it’s like oh it can go either way. But it’s hard to defend when you’re one-on-one and there aren’t many people around. So, I know it’s hard for the defender, and obviously they can make good plays too. So it can go both ways. But we definitely trust the guys and we’ve worked hard on it. We will have to have the time to be able to do it with the offensive line that we have. I just want to keep growing with it. Sometimes they seem close, but they end up being really open. So it depends on the game.

Q: On some of these 50-50 games maybe it’s kinda (inaudible) decisions you make before the shot based on the match or it’s those things that you identify and come back to after a certain time knowing you have at least a one-on-one. one like maybe a third, or your last read?

MJ: I think for me the most important thing is, what is the game and what is the goal of the game? As long as I know the purpose, I have the green light to do what I’m supposed to do. If I don’t know the goal and we’re still calling it, we’re probably just trying to see the game and there are other reasons we’re trying to. So for me, that’s always been my thing, what do you want me to do as a quarterback to make this game a success? You have to trust the coaches and allow them to work. That’s what they do really well is organize things and put you in a good position. They will never put me in a bad position. It’s their job. My job is to direct what they do and do it very well. So we trust him. We want to keep growing and doing even better as players.