Aubrey Pleasant & Stetson Bennett Address The Media After Preseason Win Against The Chargers

but specifically I would like to thank Les Kevin and Tony for believing in me and giving me this opportunity to represent our Organization for this game uh it's different when just one person as a head coach believes in you but collectively as an organization in order to give you this opportunity it does not sit very lightly for me and I want to thank this organization for believing in me sorry no go ahead and do you mind repeating your question absolutely what was the experience like for you being the head coach today um you know you envision what it's going to be like if this is ever your aspiration or every one of your goals uh it was a very very good feeling to know that we were able to fire off be kind of aggressive and assertive on all three phases uh there were things that we talked about in the pregame that we wanted this to look like we wanted to feel and we wanted to feel with the energy and that's what I wanted to give them as well them as well give them back to me and it was a great experience uh you can't underestimate what it means to be a head coach to talk to the refs to understand the rules to walk up and down the sideline when to use your challenge bag which which plays are reviewable which plays are not which plays are challengeable which plays are not uh and those are some of the things that I try to prep myself for the last week or so and I think it really helped me very much for today Aubrey we see you at practice every day and you're always so locked in with with your guys and the DBS and and working with the defense overall in general but what was it like for you to pull from like previous experiences coaching on both sides of the ball to really have a holistic view of what this was for you today yeah thank you for asking that I appreciate you bring that up uh yeah my career I've spent two years on offense uh my first year I actually work with the offensive line and work with running backs the next time I got opportunity to work uh on offensive side of the ball I worked with the quarterbacks and that experience is second to none anytime you sit in that head seat and and after being here today I totally get and understand why owners who are looking for new head coaches would love people that have offensive perspective one because your your quarterback touches the ball every snap right and you want to be able to communicate with them and you want to be able to communicate with them in a way that's not only emotionally productive but also educationally you know what is something that you can take from this uh and those two experiences definitely help me today not only communicating with the coaches but also IND independently communicating with each position group and how can I give them a small tidbit from my personal experience as well as my professional you've been part of some Victorious locker rooms as part of this coaching staff before obviously this little different yeah what was it like especially with the role you had today uh if I tried to not give a team ball today to talk about the collective effort I really thought it was about us uh offense defensive special teams and then right when I said there no game ball coach shami V says no forget that game ball for Aubrey um you know here with the Rams we talk a lot about you the wi is the greater than me and I just wanted to reflect that in that situation um but again it's just nod to coach McVey I what he thought about the opportunity that I was able to seize and I'm very grateful it looked like Jared ver and Joe Coniglio during that moment where the catch was right that not a catch uh was right in front of you guys on the sideline they were just checking to make sure you had your challenge flat ready and you seem to wave it up at McVey up in the coaches was what was that like for you and and kind of uh feeling that that energy on the sideline where you're in a serious moment but you guys are all kind of playing with it well it's only right based off of the the foooo that he had last week you know he kind of fumbled it did he tell you last week he he was leaving and tells me hey you got the challenge flag and then he comes back he's like Hey where's the flag I said you never gave it to me uh no it's just about being ready right understanding what happened the week before you understand how you Val ated in your job and wanted to present yourself in the best in the best best way manner um and I just wanted those guys to know if anything was happened I'd be ready for it now being ready you still have a great a great staff that can help communicate with you to make the best decision but it's up to you as a leader to be ready and it's also up to you as a leader to be able to ass people who do very well in their job to be able to help you with that and I think that's something that Sean has done exceptionally here and I was able to just be um I was able to basically uh take the fruits of that labor for today for myself and I see why it's so valuable for Sean there anything was there anything that surprised you today that maybe you didn't expect to be the responsibility of a head uh no there's nothing that really that that surprised me uh there's one opportunity I thought I could have been a little bit better with my situational Master there was a play I think the offense was going to snaap the ball and they were they had an opportunity at the end of the half where they kind of could have let the the clock bleed out uh I could have used the timeout to save that for our offense for two minute but I kind of felt from my opportun from my experience on offense that they were kind of they were rushing to the ball a little faster than than I assumed so I was like maybe they're not thinking what I am maybe they're just going to snap the ball regularly and if that was a regular season game I probably wouldn't have given them the opportunity for that I probably would just use the timeout um you know as a coach you should be coachable and I'm already being critical on myself and I think that's probably one thing I think I could do better you with all of the responsibilities that you have as a head coach did did a game feel like it was just flying by you know one thing after another or was it kind of manageable well one I I joked to one coach today made me being on offense uh it's a different form it's a different style of coaching it's a different form of headsets um but I would say the flow of the game definitely goes by much faster uh your attention is needed in different places for those of you who've seen me be a position coach my energy needed to be different today to lead a group of men um and I wanted to be able to give that for them so just that energy wise and those guys kind of going back and forth the other thing is you talk a lot about the pendulum uh how that thing swings back and forth between offense and defense and special teams having that headset you really feel it and you know how important it is maybe for some positive reinforcement after something that maybe is unforeseen you had you had two moments today uh specifically where some things happened that the players you know players made mistakes Stetson throws the interception in the end zone um and Josh cardi misses a kick what was your response and kind of your process because uh we saw in the broadcast and then on the field you went up to Josh immediately and then you know working with the quarterback in that way after a mistake and then working with a kicker after a mistake what was your process like there well my experience being able to coach on offense defense special teams at this level has really talked to me the has really taught me the importance of player mental health and the one thing that we do here is we talk a lot about modeling the way and I'm really proud that coach McVey was able to change the messenger but I wasn't going to change the message and I wanted them to know that when they came to the sideline there would be no enemy over here and uh those guys need that support at that time and there's a difference between not taking full advantage of that opportunity and not being ready and we were ready but sometimes when things don't go your way you can't always deal with you can't always uh determine the consequences but you can take care of those choices and that's what I wanted to provide for those guys at that moment you talked about having the kind of missing the offense with the headset on what was it like when the pendulum swung the other way with the 47y touchdown to JJ lap and that's a young man who went a very small college and he's really fighting for a job well the thing that I really wanted to make important to the players before they went to the field is how important this opportunity was for me and I wanted to match that importance which I knew it was for them these guys work so hard to capitalize their opportunities when they get that moment and that's a perfect example of that young man doing it but also STS in on time putting it where he needs to be and the offensive line who had a little fight and struggles here and there who were able to protect at the most important time did you call that play say did you call that play uh no we were I'd say one thing that we did today today offensively is they allowed me to have my say they allowed me to say what I thought whether it was more run more pass or aggressive or not but Sean was still on the headset and so we did a good job collectively communicating good question we always see we always see you coaching up your guys in your room when they come to the sidelines how did you balance that usual responsibility with everything you were doing today well I believe in when you have a vision you should start with in in mind I knew that ultimately I'd love to stand at this Podium and be able to help a team win their establish their goals and by me knowing that along the way if I knew if I ever got an opportunity I want to make sure that the guys that were underneath me were able to lead and that's what I think all good coaches and all good leaders do is that they help impower those that are underneath you or maybe give them opportunities before they think they're ready when they are so when it comes they're able to go and that's what we did today Not only was I elevated in position but there were two two very important coaches that were under me that got elevated and with that being said I told the entire team that I was very thankful and the coaching staff because there are several other coaches on his staff that have just as you know arguably good as resume is what you want to call it as I do but to allow me to go and lead and then for them to follow and to give me their heart and soul man it meant everything to me today and I'm very appreciative for the entire organization and the staff conat thank you thank you we got St coming right in e e we more comfortable and efficient were you or how would you describe it I think so uh I'm I'm I'm thinking about just individual plays where uh I don't like scoring 13 points you know and I know it's preseason I know it's but but um just specific plays where I missed on the first drive or maybe it was the second Drive the little roll out um flat route to uh I can't remember who was running it um but I think overall the operation and the uh execution was better yes where did you see on that long touchdown pass uh they went quarters and uh you know we've been running the ball so the safety kind of bit up and JJ was basically one1 out there on the corner um cuz the safety had bit up and so just put it up he made a good take guess on Sunday you talked about kind of the roller coaster of the game M how did you prep yourself for this game is there anything you did differently uh no I I didn't do anything differently um just kept things the same uh you know because it's hard to you know kind of Judge what might need to be different on the first game you know um and so kept it kept it the same um and just you know playing in another game just kind of made you settle down a little bit more I guess what allows you to compart minimalize mistakes that you make in the game sometimes specifically the interceptions this the second week obviously but dealt with that but they've been able to bounce back and right make a play I think I mean it really is just um well I mean we got to do the next play we got to do the next thing because that's what's best for the team that's what's best for you know me for everybody else who's involved you can't just really sit on the past um you got to go forward you talked about wanting to avoid the mental kind of mistakes that were in the first game were you able to do that today and how I uh yeah we had one uh made a check and I moved somebody over wasn't supposed to move him over because uh we were supposed to block the safety and even though it it was it was a weird look but you know got that corrected won't make that mistake again um you know I think when you don't play football for so long that um you you want it to be perfect but you kind of got to you know you got to make those mistakes to learn from them right and as much as I don't want to do that right it it is good that some things like that happen so you can learn from them last week you had an opportunity to watch the film obviously after the game what did you learn the most from watching the film um that just if something doesn't feel right it's probably not and you don't have to force it um you don't have to make something happen that's not there you know away check it Down live to fight another play if if uh you know that's an option St how much all these reps are helping you from the scrimmages or joint practices to the preseason game I think they're helping me immensely you know you can't it's hard to get better at football if you don't play football um so I think uh you know every every single snap I'm uh you know grateful for and and trying to do my best with it can you describe the relationship with JJ lap he's a young man you're playing in a monster program in Georgia he's playing in a school that had there nothing like that and for him to get behind the defense he's done it in Camp a couple of times what's that mean for a young man like that you know well he was fired up I he spiked it he he did the you know that was that made me laugh uh but you know he's he's uh he can roll and I don't think uh you know it doesn't really matter where you're from if you can roll um you know and so he's he's we put him in those positions a few times and he's you know executed and so kind of build that trust with him whenever that situation comes up you're like well maybe you know he's going to do it again which he did today so how does it feel to have organization believe in you the way the Rams I I think it's it's uh first of all first class organization you know um it means a lot and uh you know it uh not that you know that's the reason why you come in to work every day but it does give you that little extra umph whenever you know maybe you don't feel like it maybe you know you're sore or just something happens right uh it's like all right well you know you do have these people behind you and and you know they are you know encouraging you and they do believe in you and so it's uh you know it's very encouraging and it helps helps give you that little extra ounce whenever you need itate it