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Q: How do you balance keeping Derek Carr clean and upright when you have two pass rushers like the Broncos have? Does that affect your play calling at all?**
Coach Olson:"Obviously, they have a very talented defensive front, and we have faced some talented defensive fronts thus far this season. They have two special edge rushers. They've got some good defensive tackles as well, so it's hard to really … When you're playing a team that has four players that can rush the passer, it makes it difficult to double up on any one guy. I think the line and the quarterbacks, running backs, everybody that is involved in protection is taking a great amount of pride right now in what we're doing to try to help Derek and keep Derek clean. I think they like the plan, and they've done a good of executing and playing for the most part of the season. Certainly, we're aware of those guys. We've got to be aware of them in terms of the timing in the passing game and in terms of the protection and the different types of protection that we'll carry into this game."
Q: How has the offensive line responded this week to Tony Sparano's assessment of how the team got beat at the point of attack against Seattle?
Coach Olson:"I think we've had two good days of practice. Again, it was a hot day today, but we got a lot of good work done, especially on third downs – today is a big third-down day. So, it was one of our better third down days, as a matter of fact, of the season. We always track completion percentage and the number of third-down conversions and it was actually one of our better third-down days. I think they've responded well. Nobody, obviously, was happy with the results last week and nobody has been happy with the results through the first eight weeks. But, they've maintained a real good attitude. They've come to work every day and they responded well after this last loss."
Q: Peyton Manning talked about how valuable his rookie season was. Do you think that each experience – good, bad or indifferent – for Derek Carr is really helping him?
Coach Olson: "I believe it is. Certainly you'd like to come in and win football games. He would tell you the same thing. It's been invaluable for him thus far. You compare different experiences with different players. But again, he came in as a mature player. It would be one thing if he maybe wasn't as experienced of a player, wasn't as intelligent of a player wasn't able to get himself out of harm's way. But, he is an intelligent player, and again, we've put a lot on him in terms of what he is doing in both the run game and the protection game. He is handling it well. There have been some calls and some things he'd like to have back, but I'll promise you that he's learned from it and he'll be better down the road."
Q: With Carr's two interceptions last week, how do you keep him aggressive without forcing things?
Coach Olson: "I thought it was important that he came out in the second half and play well. I think he was 11-of-22 with two interceptions in the first half and 14-of-18 with two touchdowns in the second half. To me, that was a real important half for him. Then having a chance to go back and look at it this week and realize that those decisions on the first two weren't great decisions on his part. He has a chance now to look at them and learn from them. Just the way he responded in the second half, I think was critical for him in terms of his development and I think that there is a lot of belief that he had in himself in the locker room at halftime that, 'I am going to get this thing fixed and I will play better this second half.' And he went out and played better, so that was very encouraging."
Q: He said there is no difference in his demeanor if he is 0-8 or 8-0. Has that been weird for you?
Coach Olson: "He has a hard time sleeping like anybody else. He understands his role as a leader and that he can't be a guy that gets real down. It would be real easy for a guy to get down on himself this year, but in terms of the leadership role that we're asking of him, he's got to motivate and stimulate the other guys on the team. I think it's more so that. I also think because of where he is at in his life in terms of being a father and a husband, I think that he wants to make sure that he's not taking a lot of his work home, much like all of us do. But when you get home, you try to make sure that your kids understand that this guy is a father. You'd hope that he his kid is 12-years-old or 13-years-old, 'I didn't notice a difference when my dad came home. He was still a great dad to me.' But it hurts Derek. I can promise you that. We talk about it – the lack of sleep, playing the different plays through in your mind, especially on a Sunday night after the game in a close game, a competitive game. You can go through every single play, really, over and over again. I think it's just that in his mind, he has a lot of faith, obviously. He relies on his faith to get him through this tough time, but it hurts him."
