Head Coach Skip Holtz and Quarterback Matt Corral met with the media via Zoom on Thursday afternoon to discuss the Stallions' Week 4 matchup against the Houston Roughnecks on Saturday night at TDECU Stadium in Houston. The Stallions look to extend their winning streak over the Roughnecks to four consecutive games.
"Here we are already in Week 4; it seems like the season is going by so fast," said Coach Skip Holtz in his opening remark. "Houston is coming off a big win, and we have noticed while watching them on film how much their team is evolving into what they will be. They are running their quarterback a bit more than at the start of the season, and he has been extremely productive and probably feels more confident and comfortable running the football. Defensively, they are starting to become a much more pressure-oriented defense that will present some challenges for us, but I believe we are excited about it. We have had an eight-day week coming off our last game against Arlington, and we spent Monday as a self-scouting day. We deeply explored ourselves and spent the day in the film room. We watched our own third down, our own red zone, our own first down production, and even self-scouted some of the things that we might have not done so well. We just wanted to maximize one more extra day of prep. Maybe not as much physically, but mentally as a football team. I have loved the way that our football team has responded. I didn't want any of our guys to take this as criticism, as it was just trying to take a 35,000-foot aerial view of our team and how we could improve. Sometimes, when you look in the mirror, you don't always like what you see, but you must take it with a grain of salt and get better. This team has responded exactly how I have wanted them to, and I am looking forward to watching them go out there and play this weekend. Our guys are excited, and we know the areas we need to work on. Hopefully, we can get better and better every week and find a way to win one game this weekend."
Injuries are a part of the game of football, and the Stallions are having to deal with new faces in different situations and positions, specifically on the offensive side of the ball. Coach Holtz commented on how the coaching staff has been preparing specific individuals who will carry most of the workload on Saturday night. "In the offseason, we had some opportunities to make some changes at tailback," said Holtz. "We liked what we had in Ricky Person Jr. and C.J. Marable, but I love what Larry Rountree III brings. He has been getting better, his game continues progressing, and I am excited to see him in the game. He has been waiting his turn patiently and has been a total team player for us even when he has been inactive. Larry is itching to get his opportunity, and I am excited to see what he can do. I hate that Ricky is hurt right now. It's been a situation where he was very limited in practice, and we entertained the thought of playing him this week, but we told him that we didn't want Ricky playing on one leg; we wanted him healthy. I don't want to push anything that could limit him later on in the season. Rountree III has been practicing well, and we are excited to see him play. Having the leadership from a guy like C.J. Marable will be huge; he is such a solid and stable player who has played a lot of football for us in the past."
Offensive production is something that Holtz and the entire unit look to improve upon heading into Week 4 of the season. "The glaring thing that shows up with that is just the consistency in the run game," said Holtz. "Where we have it blocked the right way, or the guy misses the cut, or four guys do a great job blocking it, yet that fifth guy falls off his block. I feel as if we are one guy away on every play, and we are getting closer in some areas, but there are still some that we will have to improve at. We must develop a good run game; we can't rely on the drop-back pass. With the passing game, we need to become more efficient. A big part is taking what the defense gives us and not trying to get greedy and force the ball down the field. Sometimes, when quarterbacks like Matt Corral, who have great arm strength, know there aren't many windows, they can't fit the ball in. As a coach, I am just trying to get him to take the underneath stuff and take the sure completion. You are never going to go broke making a profit. You will be extremely successful if we can get three or four yards a play. Throwing that interception on the third play of the game last week put our defense's backs against the wall. Our offense went out there and put that drive behind them. We executed well on the second drive but had that fumble going into the end zone. We need to have confidence and pick each other up. The next play mentality is big for us."
With several changes to the offensive line this week, Coach Holtz seemed extremely optimistic about his offensive front heading into Week 4. "I would imagine that those eight sacks we gave up against D.C. were the most that we have given up since we've been here," said Holtz. "Now, we haven't had a sack since then. I think the quarterbacks are doing a much better job of getting rid of the ball, and Matt is doing that. Our offensive line is getting better and better in protection. We are still trying to learn who we are up there, and one of the frustrations has been the lack of consistency from those guys up front. Cole Schneider went out in the game on Friday, Christian DiLauro missed the week before, Jarron Jones went out on Friday, and we were down to only five linemen. We have had several lineups; Keaton Sutherland has played left tackle, left guard, and center as a new player. It seems that we are struggling just a bit to develop the consistency that we talked about in developing the run game. We have a lot of guys playing in different positions, and injuries are the main reason for that. We have had about nine starters miss games this year and we have only played three games. I want to stay healthy in the game tomorrow and continually improve instead of feeling like we are hitting the reset button every week. Our guys have responded well after how much we challenged them after Week 1."
Coach Holtz continued his media appearance by touching on what problems Houston's defense looks to present on Saturday night and the head-to-head matchup with Coach C.J. Johnson. "When I look at our offensive line," said Holtz. "Most of the struggles have been on the fundamentals rather than the talent. We have discussed how many guys play different positions and all the calls and checks that come with that. If we can get some stability there, we can improve fundamentally. We can't make these guys bigger, faster, or stronger, but I think we have a lot of talent on the offensive line and must get settled in. When I look at Houston's defensive line, they are big. They are enormous in the middle of their defense and very difficult to move. They make it extremely difficult to run inside and generate a run game. They are big, athletic, and have great fundamentals, and they all do a great job of stopping the opposition's run game. It will be a challenge for our guys up front. They have done an excellent job of evolving their defense and giving you different looks on how many guys they keep in the box. They are playing excellent defense, which will be a huge challenge for us. I greatly respect Coach Johnson, having known him for a long time. I've had the opportunity to interact with him while he was the head coach at Tulane, and our relationship didn't start here; I have been a fan of his and the job he does for quite a while. They have a lot of new faces on the roster this year after the season they had last year, and they have gotten better and better. It will be a great game; they have a great coaching staff and will be ready to play."
Holtz concluded his media appearance by addressing the USFL Conference standings and what a win would do for postseason implications. "We sit down the day after the game and talk about everything," said Holtz. "We talked about standings in our conference, the other conference, and the overall big picture. Once we pass that, we don't talk much about it. We always try to keep the focus on a 1-0 mentality and keep trying to win one game a week. It would be great to win tomorrow and get a two-game lead in the standings. However, if you lose the final six, that two-game lead in Week 4 doesn't matter. You have to take it one game at a time, one step at a time, one play at a time, and focus on where it needs to be. We have broken this season into a first and second half, but the first half has been challenging. We have played two games on the road, and one has been at night at the furthest destinations in D.C. and Michigan. We have been getting back to headquarters extremely late, and that has been a challenge for us. We have a tired football team, and our coaches have been mindful of that. All of our games in the second half of the season will be in the afternoon, which will be nice from a recovery standpoint. We have discussed overcoming adversity more than we have discussed standings or anything. The team that will win it will be playing their best football late in the season, and that's where we want to get going."
Matt Corral took to the mic and began his media availability, answering a question about the one-point conversion that put the Stallions out in front in last Friday's game. "It was a designed read, but I wasn't expecting it to be that big of a whole," said Corral. "I was just trying to let it play out and be patient. I didn't expect it to be so wide open, and I guess that's why you saw my reaction."
Furthermore, Corral mentioned that Houston's defense is extremely aggressive after watching the Roughnecks on tape all week. "Those guys are aggressive," said Corral. "They play in your face, and they're super active. Houston plays us hard every year, and we have to play our game and focus on us; that's all that matters." Getting the offense back on track is something that the Stallions' signal-caller mentioned has been a central point of emphasis by the entire team. "We all need to do our job. I need to hit the check-downs and use my legs, our receivers need to get their proper depth, and we all need to get on the same page. We have put together a great week of practice, and I look forward to seeing us cut it loose."
Corral also touched on the injuries to the offensive line room and how they affected him as a quarterback. "I think that our offensive line does a great job of adapting," said Corral. "Coach Guge does a great job of preparing those guys to play different positions on the offensive line. I wasn't worried about guys playing different positions on Friday night; I just wanted to ensure that we would have enough linemen to finish the game. By the end of the game, we were down to only the five guys in there."
Corral concluded his media appearance by addressing the status of practice, establishing the run game, and how he and his teammates handle the long season's grind. "Myself and the receivers used the off day to get on the same page," said Corral. "Talking about route concepts and what we saw on certain plays. We spent all Monday morning doing that, and it showed up at practice."
"The goal for us every game is to have over 120 yards rushing," said Corral. "Coach Holtz would say the same thing, and it helps the quarterback so much when you establish a run game. People don't notice how much of a grind a long season is; we all do a great job of staying on top of our health and putting the necessary things into our bodies that we all need. Getting back well after midnight and then having to play on a Friday was tough, but we got it done, and no complaints from over here."