Kevin Patullo

Q. So at practice, like the one that RB Saquon Barkley had the other day, do you feel like that was intentional the way that he came out? Did you see that coming in pre-practice, and what’s it like as a coach watching him sort of do what he does? (Tim McManus)

Kevin Patullo: I think on Friday the energy was ramped up a little bit just because it was more of a ‘call it’ practice, which is random. We’re just putting the ball down and playing, so it felt more like a game. So, I think the energy and the intensity was really up on Friday, which was fun to see the guys get in that mode. It felt more game-like, and you could feel their energy and their excitement for what we were about to do come out early, and it stayed there all day. So, it was really cool.

Q. You guys were pumping in a lot of noise, doing a lot of silent count, a little bit of pre-snap stuff. How do you think that worked? Where do you think you are when it comes to handling it? (John McMullen)

Kevin Patullo: I think this year, we just made an emphasis on doing that more frequently; the crowd noise and making it challenging on the guys. That’s one of the hardest things the offense has to do is deal with the noise, deal with the silent snap count and be on rhythm and be on time. When you’re moving guys around– guards, centers, and receivers and everything, it gets tricky. So, I think that’s just something we wanted to work on, and it’s been good to do. That’s why we’re practicing it now earlier to kind of work that stuff out, so when we do it down the road, it’s more natural. We don’t wait until we have to come into that situation. We’re trying to get ahead of it now.

Q. You guys have done a lot of red zone over the past few practices. How do you think the passing game has been in those red zone trails? (Eliot Shorr-Parks)

Kevin Patullo: It’s tricky because when you practice, I don’t know what [Defensive Coordinator] Vic [Fangio] has in and he doesn’t know what I have in, so it is kind of luck of the draw if it matches up or not because we’re not really scheming each other. We’re just trying plays essentially that we know we want to do in the future.

And so sometimes it gets a little challenging on the defense or on us, but when you do that, really what you’re trying to do is you’re trying to put the players in a position where they have to problem-solve it because you never know what you’re going to get at times, and so they’ve got to go execute it.

And then the other day in the red zone, kind of where we’re putting emphasis on is more just third-down stuff. And so that gets tricky for us too, third-and-eighth from the eighth, third-and-nine from the nine, and we don’t really know what Vic’s going to be in. So, it’s more about just practicing and hearing the calls and the plays and just trying to problem-solve them as we go.

Q. On Friday, because it was competitive, there was a friendly competition. Does that extend to you and Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio? (Bo Wulf)

Kevin Patullo: I don’t think to me and Vic, no, because we know ultimately, we’re just trying to get each side of the ball ready to go. There were a couple of times where I got excited on some plays. When the guys execute, I think that’s more so what it is. You want to see them execute, and when it works like you want it to work and you envision it and you told them this is how it’s going to work, I think that’s the part that makes it exciting.

There were a couple nice drives where we put a string of plays together and we were kind of hitting and going on all cylinders and hit a couple routes, and then we got the play to [RB] Will [Shipley] for the touchdown, which was nice to see. It was a play we were kind of setting up and it appeared just like we wanted. So, I think that’s the excitement piece and then you just work off those. The guys get excited and you get excited as a coach and just keep going.

Q. In general, how do you like where the offense is right now? I know we’ve seen a lot of pre-snap penalties and stuff like that, but overall do you think things are coming together? (Martin Frank)

Kevin Patullo: Overall, I do because we’re doing a lot. We’re putting the guys in a lot of stressful situations. We’re challenging them a lot with formations and different things we’re doing in concepts, so they’ve got to handle a lot each day. So, ultimately the more we practice, the more that stuff will come down. But we’ve really pushed them to try to challenge their mental game and the physical side and putting it together on the field, and we’re moving guys around a lot so when you do that, that stuff can happen. The more we go, the more it’ll come down, as we know. Once the whole offense we feel like is in a good spot, it’ll shrink. So, in practice, that stuff will all kind of calm down as we go.

Q. How do you assess the wide receiver competition beyond WR A.J. Brown and WR DeVonta Smith? (Jeff McLane)

Kevin Patullo: It’s been fun to watch. They’re all different. All those guys that are competing for those spots in the back end, we’ve got some fast guys, we’ve got some bigger guys. They all bring a different element to the table and so it’s just a matter of getting them in the right position to see them do what they do best. And so, each day there’s a different guy that’s kind of shown up and made a play and done something where we’re like, ‘Okay.’

And I think really what it’s going to come down to is the whole body of work. We’ve got a long way to go, and you don’t realize that how many weeks we actually have left until these games and the joint practices will really be critical for those guys especially to see what they do against other competition.

Q. The first preseason game comes up Thursday, you’re calling plays I assume for the first time. How much are you looking forward to that? (Ed Kracz)

Kevin Patullo: It’ll be fun. Like I’ve said before, it’s really not much different. It’s kind of how we’ve been doing it out here a lot of times and it’ll be different on Thursday just because we’re just trying to put the guys in position to succeed and do the best they can. We’re not necessarily scheming up the Bengals, but we want to do the best we can and see how the operations go. That’s really what it’s all about is how the operation works. When they come off the field, they go back on the field, we can make adjustments and go from there.

Q. When it comes to the off-field dynamic with Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio, maybe you guys aren’t talking very much during practice, but do you guys use each other as a resource maybe between practices to kind of go over different looks? (EJ Smith)

Kevin Patullo: We actually do a lot. We talk a lot. This morning, we talked again. Pretty much every day we talk before practice, after practice. Him and I get together on stuff that maybe he did or we did and say like, ‘Hey, what were you trying to do here?’ We may rep it again, we may walk through it again. It’s been really good, the communication. He’s been a great resource for me and for the offense, and we go back and forth and he’ll ask us, ‘What were you trying to do on this play? What’s the intent of it?’ So he can get it under control and they can rep it. It has really been good.

I think the players feed off each other, too. If you watch some of the older guys that have been here, they’ll talk through things as well. I know the receivers talk to DB’s a lot and the O-line and D-line like ‘Hey, what happened on that one?’ We may get them on a play, and then A.J. and [CB Quinyon Mitchell] Q are talking about the release and the route, so I think it really goes hand in hand. It starts with Vic and I going off each other and the players do the same.

Q. What are your impressions of RB Will Shipley in pass protection? (Andrew DiCecco)

Kevin Patullo: He’s done a pretty good job. I mean he did a good job last year. He is a physical player; he is a really good special teams player. As the year went on, I think his role continued to grow and the more he is out there, the more you see from him. I think he’s an impact player in a lot of different ways.

Q. WR A.J. Brown sat out a couple of those team sessions the other day. Is that by design or was it more or something along that? (Bob Brookover)

Kevin Patullo: He got the work in that he needed to do, and then from there, that was just on whatever happened within the day.

Q. Back to the dynamic with you and Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio, are there periods at any point where the offense is kind of serving the defense or vice versa? Does that come down the road? (John McMullen)

Kevin Patullo: No, not really. Every once in a while, he may say, ‘Hey, can you give me one of these plays in this period,’ just so he can look at something or vice versa, but not a ton. I mean there’s some things that, like I said, I don’t necessarily know what he has in, he doesn’t know what I have in, but there may be something that, ‘Hey, do you have this play? And if you do, can I see that during that period just so they could get it on tape.’ That’s really what it’s about is they need to see certain things that we do, too, and now the more we go, the more that’ll probably start to happen the closer we get to the season, so they can get ready and we can get ready.

Q. Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio said that he wanted more base looks that see DB Cooper DeJean at safety. Was that a conversation he had with you? (Brooks Kubena)

Kevin Patullo: Not so much with me, no. I mean I don’t really know what he’s doing as far as base defensive stuff, but if he asks for it, usually we can kind of coordinate that.

Q. In G/T Tyler Steen’s case, what sense do you have of his readiness for that job after seven sessions that you might not have known at the beginning of camp? (Zach Berman)

Kevin Patullo: I think really you just look at his body of work as he’s grown from the last couple years until now. And then obviously on Friday, going against [DT] Jalen Carter, going against [DT] Jordan Davis, you can really see his intensity ramp up, and the want-to and the attitude and just the decision making he has at certain calls he needs to make and the communications really growing, so you can see him in practice. We’re going against a pretty good D-line, so I think that’s really benefited him.

Q. What’s going on with snaps? You guys have had some issues in that department. (Jeff McLane)

Kevin Patullo: Well, we’ve tried a couple different guys in there just to kind of see what we can do from the backup standpoint. And a lot of it is when you get in the heat of the moment and you’re sweating, you’re making calls, you’re doing things and you’re moving faster than you’re used to, that can happen and that’s kind of why we’re trying to work through that now, especially with the silent stuff and the shotgun snaps.

Q. Do you think G Trevor Keegan can do that job? (Jeff McLane)

Kevin Patullo: He’s done a good job up until this point. The other day was kind of the first day we’ve had a couple loose ones and you’ve just got to kind of continue to go and see that whole body of work and what happens.

Q. With WR Johnny Wilson and WR Ainias Smith, what do you want to see from them in year two? (Dave Zangaro)

Kevin Patullo: I think really to just kind of continue to grow their whole game. They have a certain skillset coming in and then you just want to continue to grow from there and see what else they can do. Johnny’s a very physical player. Ainias had some opportunities at the end of the year last year, but really, we just need to see what else they can do besides what they did last year and see if they can continue to advance their game.

Q. [Regarding G Kenyon Green at left guard.] (Martin Frank)

Kevin Patullo: That’s what he’s been right now and that’s kind of where we’ve left him. We’ll kind of leave it at this point right there.

Q. How do you think he’s been doing? (Martin Frank)

Kevin Patullo: He’s been doing pretty good. He’s been a little limited to start, but since we’ve kind of gotten him under the mix now and he’s kind of getting in the flow of things with the guys, it has definitely improved.

Q. Coming into camp, what did you know about WR Elijah Cooks? (Zach Berman)

Kevin Patullo: Just really his size. His size makes a difference and he’s made some plays the last couple of days, which is good to see. I think he’s got a little more speed than you realize, so it’s been fun to watch his game grow. We’ve challenged him a little bit to move around to different spots. If he can continue to do that, obviously that makes him more valuable.

Q. You say you’re not scheming up the Bengals, it’s not like a regular week. Is there a way through the training camp that you’re finding a way to get a full operation of how you might operate on game day? (Brooks Kubena)

Kevin Patullo: I mean really when you look at Friday’s practice, that was as close to one as we get as far as operation and kind of doing certain things and mixing things and packages and plays. We’ll do that again a few more times against ourselves and try to put ourselves in a position to where it feels like it. Like, here’s the string of plays– basically we treated that, as much as we could, like a game. I spent a lot of time with the quarterbacks talking about the string of plays, what they liked, what they didn’t like, and going through that and working through how we were going to orchestrate those drives and those practices. Even though the ball started at the minus 35, then the 50, then the 25, we tried to treat them like in-game moments.