On his first experience of the Big House

It was a good experience. Just excited for the players to get a chance to play a game, play somebody else after having gone through spring ball with them, having gone through the summer, having through training camp. It was great to see them get out there and have some success, fly around. Feel like we played with a lot of energy and had a lot of fun. Hopefully, we can build on it again this week.

On how often he talks to Mike Macdonald

He sent me a really nice text for the game. I know he's in prep for week one. Dear friend but it is what it is. We're just trying to be the best versions of ourselves.

On having 7 sacks in the first game

I think it's just a mentality that we want to have that everybody gets a chance. Everybody eats. A huge thing for us is when one person makes a play, we all make a play. I've said this before, I would love at the end of the guy to have a guy that could have 12, 13 sacks. Right now, we want to spread it around, we want to bring different guys. I think we got all three levels of the defense involved with pressure. It keeps offenses off-balanced. If the guys buy into it, and continue to buy into it, I think we can have a lot of success.

On being able to match up with different styles of offense

I think one of our traits is that we're flexible. I think we have a versatile package. We have a lot of different pieces. We were counting 6 different EDGE pieces that bring something a little bit different to the table. Different matchups with different types of O-linemen, they can do different things, bunch of different interior guys. In camp, I think used our linebackers a little bit more. Didn't do it quite as much in that first game. There's just a lot of versatility, a lot of speed. I think we have the ability to match up with a lot of different styles.

On Braiden McGregor

I think he's had a tremendous camp. He's a guy, right when I got here, was sort of asking around. He's a guy that people have pinpointed with potential. Potential is sometimes a scary word but he's battled some injuries in his career. Was able to get through last season and sort of get healthy, I think. He's a guy I think we're trying to build confidence in. I thought in his snaps he was really, really productive. Would like to get him more snaps, it's just kind of how the game went. He has a high ceiling for us as a EDGE presence both against the pass and the run with his size and length. He had a couple really, really good one-on-one rushes that he might not have gotten a sack for, we know how much we disrupted the quarterback and the timing of the play. Was proud of the way he played.

On Eyabi Anoma

To his credit, guy got here about three weeks ago. He's bought into what we're trying to do. He's a guy with a lot of physical tools, a high ceiling. I think he's still learning. I told him that we're trying to feed him more each week. It was like, hey, let's throw him in there on the next third down and, of course, the rest was history for him. It was good to get him in there more in the second half on normal downs to get a feel for playing the run and playing the normal style of play. He's a guy that we can definitely utilize as a pass rusher as we go.

On Mason Graham

Mason, gosh, he's been here since I've been here so he doesn't feel like a freshman anymore. He's physical, I really think—I don't know his high school coach but he was really, really well-coached in high school. He knows how to play with his hands and he knows how to play with great technique. His wrestling background helps. Coach Elston, since he's been here, has done a great job with him. He's a guy that has a high ceiling. We're excited to have him and we're excited about his first opportunity.

On the impact on the interior defensive line

I think it starts with those guys. Playing good defense starts with your D-line, especially the interior guys. Mazi's our leader and he's sort of brought along the rest of the room with him, along with Coach Elston. For those guys to, one, for us to have the amount of guys that we have that we think we can play with, it keeps everybody fresh. You're not counting on a 300-pound-plus guy to have to play 50 snaps in a game. Just credit to those guys, credit to Coach Herb for getting them ready to play. Look forward to continuing to grow more guys in that room.

On the secondary

I thought we were sticky. We didn't give up any explosive plays. There was one seam route that we almost got our hands on the ball that they completed and then there was a crossing route or two that we just sort of lost leverage on. Overall, I thought Coach Clink and Coach Jay do a really good job of having those guys prepared, knowing what concepts are coming. I thought Makari Paige—really, really proud of him. For his extended action, I thought he was flying around and I thought he had some really nice tackles. Of course, Rod was great. Great to see him flying around. R.J. has become a little bit of a chess piece for us that we can move around. We had him up along the line of scrimmage on some packages. That group right there is really good. Mikey, my gosh, first game on defense. First third down of the season, he goes in there and gets the sack. Just excited about what he's brought to the table. I thought D.J. and Gemon had really, in coverage, kind of quiet games because their guys didn't make a lot of plays which is good. Of course, D.J. had a really heads-up play to pick up the ball on the fumble. Overall, just happy with the way that group played.

On Will Johnson

I thought he had a couple of really nice plays in the second half. They challenged him up our sideline and he had an elite finish on the ball against the same receiver, ironically, that he ended up getting one later. I think those games are invaluable for—we need Will to be really good as the season goes. When you start getting into conference play, we know there's bigger fish down the road. You're not happy he gave up a touchdown but I am happy he got challenged and they threw the ball at him. I think he'll continue to learn the details of preparation at this level. I'm really excited about his future.