Read the full transcript from OC Bobby Slowik's media availability on October 22, 2026.

There have been several throws where the network analyst calling the game, Mark Schlereth did this several times during the game against Cincinnati, have implored Malik just to take the check down, to take what's there. Have you implored him as well to do that? Has that been a talking point where you simply told him you need to do this more?

Bobby Slowik: I think in general, I would say the pass game in total, we just need to stack more completions, that's been a big emphasis for us. I think there's a lot of different parts of that, checkdowns are one of them. Without a doubt, checkdowns are one of them. But you also don't want to go out there and just be throwing checkdowns when number one is wide open for an explosive. So that's the nature of playing quarterback. I think over the bye week, had a lot of time as coaches, as players, between me and Haf and me and Malik, getting together, talking through a lot of different things and a lot of different thoughts. Generally I don't think anybody really thinks the pass game is where we want it to be, and I think it all starts with just like, in my mind, I've got to coach this better. Like too often right now when you watch our pass game, I just don't think everybody on the field sees the game through the same lens. And to me, I always start with me on that. I got to find a way to help coach this where we're all seeing the game the same way, and right now I don't think everybody, all the 11 guys are seeing the game the same way. I think it's easy to talk about the quarterback, but there's 10 other guys out there that need to help him. So I really, for the most part all the way through, run game and pass game, I took a lot of time to reflect just on myself. How do I help these guys make sure we take that next step, we keep improving. I thought we have improved in certain areas as we went through the first five weeks. How do we take in particular in the pass game that next step to just be – we got to be way more consistent.

You mentioned you and Hafley sat down and talked with Malik. I'm curious what's the benefit of having a defensive-minded head coach for a quarterback?

Bobby Slowik: I think it helps him a lot like he's able to just sit down, talk to me, talk to Malik about like, "hey, this is what I see. This is what I would do. This is how I would approach maybe taking this away or maybe what this play like, I have a hard time with this." And that's really valuable, especially you spend so much time looking at the opponent's film and thinking through their personnel or their structures that you have to go against, but you can't always extrapolate that to how exactly we will be attacking them. I think a defensive head coach is able to kind of see everything and he's able to have those conversations, so that part's really helpful.

What will it be like to have Ryan Slowik on the other side, which I understand isn't the first time it's happened, just from experiencing that before?

Bobby Slowik: It's fun. It's exciting. I'm really excited for it. I mentioned this last year, one of the main reasons I came here last year was because Ryan was here and had been here, and that was a really cool experience and opportunity for me. He's seven, eight years older than me, so outside of when he went off to college, we hadn't spent a lot of time together until last year. So that was really neat to have that experience again, especially pulling for the same team. We had coached against each other before that, so now to be enemies again for a week or a few weeks through the course of the season, it's been fun. We go radio silent really for multiple weeks leading up to this thing. There'll be a few jabs. Maybe I'll see him at midfield and give him a sucker punch or something, you know what I mean? (laughter) It'll be fun. We have fun with it, so it'll be good.

Is there an extra level of chess match that you think a week like this turns into knowing his familiarity with you? Not only that, but Brian Duker is their defensive coordinator.

Bobby Slowik: Yeah, I think there's part of that. Just like we went against kind of what they're doing defensively here last year, so I'm a little bit familiar with it. They're familiar with going against the bones of our offense from going against it the last few years here. But more than anything, honestly, I think it's just the familiarity you get from a division game. Division games kind of are their own thing. There's a different energy when you play a division game. The players are different as far as just knowing each other, going against each other as often as you do, and you get really familiar with each other schematically also. So yeah, but I think it has more to do with the division component than it does my brother or Duker or anything like that.

I'm doing something on what you tell ball carriers to protect the ball. And I was saying that, I'm old, I was always taught high and tight, but I know that guys are punching with the Peanut Punch and trying to rake and trying to pry fingers off the ball. What do you tell your guys about ball protection? Do you have to be aware that somebody could be coming up behind you, all that kind of stuff?

Bobby Slowik: We talk about it a lot. It's a big deal to us. I think right now more than ever, across the NFL, defenses are hyperaware of getting the ball out. I think sometimes across the NFL, it's at the expense of tackling, so we make a big emphasis of that. If we're able to protect the ball, I think we can make more people miss than we usually can and run through some tackles. But none of that matters if they're getting it out on us. I think we've done a good job protecting it so far this year, but we endlessly talk about high and tight, like where the ball carriage is, where we're seating it on our breastplate, like the five points of pressure, when you're in traffic how we got to cover it up with two hands. I think a big one right now is like when you're going to the ground, it's a huge alert for defense. When you're going to the ground, the ball gets exposed, how to hit that and how we protect it. I mean, it's endless conversation. It's endless drills. We start really every day here in our position drills with ball security stuff. It's huge for us. It's not like we've done anything groundbreaking as far as different teaching in how we secure the ball, it's just hyperaware because of how much better and how much more defense is coaching. I mean, it's got to be the top coaching point across the NFL on defense. It's a really big deal.

How much can you use that to your advantage? I don't know if you can quantify it. Are you aware which defenders go for the Peanut Punch a lot and do you tell players?

Bobby Slowik: You know when you're playing Fred Warner; we had that earlier this year, so I think that's relatable for everybody in here now. Fred's one of the few guys in the NFL who can Peanut Punch and tackle at the same time. That's hard to do. But being able to know who those guys are that do it really well and do it all the time, the guys for us that have the ball a lot, they got to know that. They got to be on that. Again, not to point him out again but have a little fun with him, I think Herm, he learned his lesson in that game. You know what I mean? Like we're talking to everybody and all of a sudden Herm gets his first opp, he's like, "Man, I got the ball,' and then Fred Warner comes along and you're not quite ready for it and it gets punched out. I think that moment in particular, I think everybody kind of is like, okay, this is real for everybody involved. I got to know these guys.

How will Caleb's potential return help not just Malik, but the offense in general?

Bobby Slowik: I'm excited for him, man. Just the things he was able to do through a game and a half, two games, when he was out there, I think his competitiveness really showed. He's a huge target, big range. He can win one-on-ones. He beats man coverage. I thought he did that when he had his opportunities and I thought it was pretty clear – again, we've talked about this before – like there's a component of having a rapport between the quarterback and the eligible. And I think him and Malik, they see the game the same way a lot. So again, I referenced making sure all 11 are seeing the game the same way. Those two, I think, do pretty naturally, and I think that's powerful to have in the pass game, just having a target that you trust.

Aside from having a toe out of bounds in one game, what are some of the reasons why Chris Bell has gone two consecutive games without a catch?

Bobby Slowik: I mean it's not for lack of effort, really any party involved. I think sometimes there's been a few times we just missed them. I think there's been a few times where the coverage just hasn't worked out. I've called a play at a poor time, and then outside of that, there's only so many things you can control. I think Chris is still working. I think he's still growing. Really I thought last game he's done a great job and really took another step as far as accountability and being able to be out there and be trustworthy and where he's supposed to be and doing what he's supposed to do every play, which is something he's really been working on. And he took a step in that regard without a doubt. To answer the question, I think it's a matter of time before he shows up in a big way again, I really have no concerns in that regard.

Where have you seen the growth in Ollie over the past couple of games filling in for De'Von? This is probably the most consistent run he's gotten since he was back in Stillwater.

Bobby Slowik: I mean, to steal your word there, I'd say it's probably the most consistent accountability he's had. And I use that term in a way when again, I'm talking about like everybody being able to trust what you're doing on the field. Are you doing your one-eleventh? He's been doing his one-eleventh the last two weeks at a much more consistent level than, again, I was with him here last year as a rookie and it's hard to do that as a rookie, but it's been way more consistent right now. I think it just infuses confidence in him, and then once you play with as much passion as he plays with and you get confidence, then I think you really are giving yourself the best chance to show your skills. I think that's been fun to watch.

Speaking of the run game, what have you seen from the run game? And is it at the point where it can lead you to a victory, where you can ride it to a victory, including on Sunday?

Bobby Slowik: I think we've done a really good job running the ball. I think it's an emphasis of who we want to be. Nothing's changed as far as who we want to be as an offense; we want to be a team that runs the ball. We want to be a team that's physical and plays with effort and all this stuff we've talked about before. Nothing there has changed, and I think that's done nothing but improve game to game to game. Obviously losing De'Von stinks for all of us involved and for the kid in particular, but I thought nobody blinked. I thought as much as we want to embody a next-man-up mentality, I thought we did that. We went back out. We just kept grinding, kept putting in the work in the run game. I think really through the course of the season after the first week, I mean, we really have put our offense on the run game's back. I think that's done good things for us as we keep going through this, and that won't change.

I believe the Jets rank fourth against the pass, just what do they do well?

Bobby Slowik: I mean, they make it hard, man. They got really good personnel all the way across the defense. Their front's good. They're really big on the interior. They got two really good edge rushers that make it where you don't have a lot of time. They make it where it's hard to help on the edge players just based on the pressure package they have. He does a great job with real pressures, sim pressures, five-man rush, four-man rush, six-man rush, varying coverage where sometimes it's two, sometimes it's three. There's a lot you have to handle in the pass game. They change where the open areas are, which makes it hard for us to just be like, hey, your answer this week is going to be in the middle of the field. Sometimes you can go into weeks like that; these guys don't let you do that. And then they got really good backers and secondary players behind the d-line. Obviously, Minkah plays at a high level his whole career, he makes plays on the ball. Dane's a really good player. Their two corners are good, they're tough, they're scrappy, and then the two backers are not only good in coverage, but they're really good as blitzers and they cover a lot of grass. It's a really good scheme paired with really good personnel, which just makes it tough. It makes you be on it.

One stat that caught my attention is how the o-line has been setting up ball carriers for an average of 1.77 yards before contact. So how much emphasis has been made to how the o-line is setting up the tone?

Bobby Slowik: Well, I imagine that's in a good way, right, that's a good stat? I'm not a huge stat guy, but it sounds like it's a good stat. I would say it really goes to our guys up front, we treat as the strength of our team, like the strength of our offense and they fully embrace that. That's what we want to emphasize, and I think they really embrace that in the run game in particular. They want to displace people, and I think that really ties exactly to that stat. It's not like we just want to block and cover people up and just make it where our backs can dance around in the backfield and go make a play. They want to be the reason it goes. They want to be playing Cincinnati and displace three of the bigger individuals on the inside in the NFL and get them five, six, seven yards down the field, and they did that. Not every play, but they take advantage of their opportunities and they really embrace that. They play to that. Our backs love it, our quarterbacks love it, our receivers love it. Our tight ends are heavily involved. I think Will's done a really good job in the run game. I think Greg's picked it, just all the way across the board, how the whole offense has embraced blocking and really just buying into the run game in totality, I couldn't be happier.