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UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME MEDIA CONFERENCEOctober 5, 2011Michael FloydTommy ReesQ. Much do you have to prepare for -- TOMMY REES: I think it's been advertised every week and depending on how the game goes, I think the biggest thing is getting the turnovers that come from mental mistakes more than physical. Physical play, you can throw an interception and it's just a bad throw, those happen but making sure you know where you're throwing the ball, that's more of the mental aspect of the game. The biggest thing to do week-in and week-out is prepare mentally. Q. Inaudible. TOMMY REES: When you play a team like Air Force, they come to play every game, and they are going to be out there playing hard and playing to the whistle and the biggest thing with them is making sure you're knowing what they are doing. They do a couple of different things and move around on defense so. You just have to stay focused and know that they are going to give you their best shot and you have to be ready for that. Q. Coach talks about the offense -- are you at a point now where you're seeing things, can you just talk about that and where you hope to be with that? TOMMY REES: Yeah, as the season goes on and progresses, you get more and more comfortable, and just being able to recognize what defenses are trying to do and understand what works within our offense and take advantage of those. The more comfortable everybody gets within the offense and taking advantage of the defense, they will play faster and play to whatever speed they face on defense. Q. Looking back, how fast everything is, is the offense moving as fast as you thought it was, the tempo, is it the pace where you thought it was? TOMMY REES: Going back to those first days, you didn't know what to expect; so the tempo of it overwhelmed everyone. Now we understand the offense, and our second year in it, I think that makes it slow down. And I think we play to the speed that we think it needs to be played at to help us win a game and I think so far, we're doing a good job of going fast and tempo-ing it down depending how the game has been going. Q. Is it a case of, not forcing the ball to Michael, but getting it to him as much as possible, how do you balance getting the ball out or if they are double-teaming you there might be a better option out there? MICHAEL FLOYD: I tell Tommy all the time, it doesn't really matter. As long as we win, I don't mind it at all. Just we stand on the sideline and we see what we can do and holler, give me the ball, if there's anyway possible in the game, but it's just about setting down and making sure that we are doing everything right. Q. What's your perspective on forcing it but not -- TOMMY REES: The bottom line is we are a better team when Mike is involved and he's a strong part of our offense. There's a fine line, of course, so we just have to stay within the offense and make sure we recognize how the defense is trying to take him away and take advantage of all of the opportunities we can. Q. Can you just talk about your role -- we talk to the offensive linemen and running backs, what's your role in making sure that they go the right way? TOMMY REES: The good thing is with such an experienced offensive line, they are able to see a lot of the same things I do and we communicate back and forth on what protections we want to be in. A lot of it is making sure we are sliding the right direction or in the right protection for a specific play. You know, that's something I continue to strive to improve on and get better at, and like you said, the offensive line has done a really good job all year of protecting me, and the running back has done a good job at pass protection. You can't ask for much more out of them. Q. Is it pretty easy to figure out where they are coming? TOMMY REES: Not always but it's something you do every week and it's part of playing quarterback. It's a pretty big focus of ours, because if they are protecting well, you have time to make plays. So it all kind of starts up front. Q. What percentage of time for your right, like 99% of the time? TOMMY REES: I would like to make it 100% but sometimes it's not always as good. But we have done a good job of it so far, so I just need to continue to get better there. Q. Michael, obviously you guys started off strong against Purdue, but you didn't let up this time. Just talk about putting that complete effort in, starting strong and finishing strong the whole way through. MICHAEL FLOYD: Yeah, I think it was a positive thing for the whole team to see. We have not done that a lot in the past and just start out strong and end strong was a great thing for our team to see. And it's a good thing I think for Coach to know that we have that will to keep going and not stop doing what we are doing and playing good football. Q. Tommy, how important was that for this team to have that great effort? TOMMY REES: I think it shows that we have been building on the past weeks and finally put a full-game effort and close off a team, I think just helps everyone and shows everyone what we are capable of doing. We left some points out on there the field, and there's ways we can continue to get better, but it's a good place to start on and build off of. Q. We have harped on turnovers throughout the year, but how more important is it this week where you have a team that has possessions of eight minutes at a time and you can't afford to give the ball up? TOMMY REES: Right. You have to make the most of every possession that you have and turnovers kill possessions, kill drives, that's can't happen. When you play a team like Air Force that's offensively very good and takes a lot of time possession away, you have to make sure that you are making the most of your offense. Q. You've obviously improved in that area. Just talk about how you avoid I guess those mental breakdowns on the offensive side. MICHAEL FLOYD: Just have composure and be mentally in on what's going on on the field. If there's a lot of false starts, so mentally we have to communicate to each other and make sure that everybody is on the same page. TOMMY REES: Yeah, going off him I think it starts with leadership and making sure that everyone is communicating. You can't let the emotion of the game get the best of you, and you have to stay locked in for four quarters. You have to limit those penalties, because a lot of time, they them come on a big play where you can't afford them. And like I said, those can be drive-killers. Q. Coach Kelly had a quote yesterday that you are developing scar tissue playing quarterback; how much scar tissue do you need as a quarterback for Brian Kelly? TOMMY REES: To be honest, I don't even know what that means. (Laughter) I'm just going to continue to -- Q. I think he's talking about how thick of skin. TOMMY REES: He can get after you a little bit. But he's just a competitive guy and all of us are competitors and we want to win. You've just got to understand what his intentions are, regardless of how the message gets across. As a quarterback, you can't let that get to you. You have to go back out there ready to play. Q. The quarter runs -- was that by design that we are seeing -- TOMMY REES: Those are things that we have got to continue to work on. There were some opportunities where I missed Mike and Tyler in the corner. But more than anything, those are just plays in the game that you want to have back and those are plays you want to hit. But you have guys like Mike and Tyler that are big enough, you probably need to put the ball up there a little more for them, let them go up and jump and take it down over a defender. That's something we continue to work on and continue to get better at. Q. It's been a couple of weeks since you've played at home. TOMMY REES: We are really excited to comeback and play at home with our fans and especially having some momentum coming back. It's a great place to play and we are looking forward to it. Q. How special will it be? MICHAEL FLOYD: It will feel special to get back here. It is always feels good to get back here, everybody likes you and praises and you loves and you wants to get a victory, so it feels. Q. How much do people talk to you about that -- MICHAEL FLOYD: Just random text messages, I don't know who they are. And you guys, of course. That's it. My mom doesn't even know. Q. Have you heard anything from Golden or anybody like that? MICHAEL FLOYD: I talk to him every day, so always -- indiscernible. Q. What kind of conversations are those? MICHAEL FLOYD: Just advice and what's going on and stuff that he sees on TV that he tells me, you know, how he thinks it should be ran, just advice -- I just keep it to myself. Q. Just wanted to ask you what you see from Air Force quarterback Anthony Wright, an all-conference guy, No. 5, just wanted to know your impressions of Anthony Wright. MICHAEL FLOYD: Real aggressive. He's quick, strong, and you know, he goes all the way to the whistle. He doesn't stop at all, and you've just got to make sure you can get a hand on him and do whatever you can to slow him down? Q. You've faced some great, great quarterbacks obviously in your career, how does he measure up to some of the guys you've faced? MICHAEL FLOYD: I put him as one of the head guys that I've played before. He's just strong and very quick and he has a good reaction to the ball. Q. Does he strike you as a guy, as most Air Force players are, they are overlooked in recruiting but does he strike you as a guy who could have played in maybe the Big Ten or BCS conference? MICHAEL FLOYD: Oh, yes, I really believe that he could play somewhere else, like you said, Big Ten. He's just a real competitive guy and you want those guys on defense, guys that don't stop. Q. Tommy, last week Navy's offense ran 105 offensive plays against Air Force. Does that give you something to shoot at this week against that same defense? TOMMY REES: To be honest, 105 plays is kind of a lot. You know, we are just going to try to make the most of all of the opportunities we get on offense, and whether it's a lot of plays or a little, as long as we are putting points up on the board, we are going to try to focus not too much on play counts. Our focus is trying to score, limit our mistakes and make the most of our opportunities. Q. What have you brought to the Notre Dame team since you've taken over as the quarterback? TOMMY REES: You know there's different things every player brings to a team. I try to bring some leadership and some confident out there on the field. I think that the guys, we are all starting to get comfortable with one another and they are starting to react to how I play. I think just being another leader out there and whether that needs to be vocal or by example, we are starting to respond to each other real well. Q. Do you consider this to be your team now? TOMMY REES: You know, as selfish as it sounds, I guess considering it a one-person team, as a quarterback, you want to be the leader and you want to be the guy other players can go to, but this is still a team came, and not to call it one person's team, but I definitely try to take a strong leadership role. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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