Read the full transcript from S Michael Taaffe's postgame media availability on September 21, 2026.

So two games of heavy snaps for you in your first two NFL games. If you had to assess what you've done well and then what you think you could get better at specifically?

Michael Taaffe: Yeah, what I could get better at, just slowing the game down early. I thought I did a better job of that Week 2 two, this last game, but it's just kind of how the game goes. I think the first play of the game for me, I made a tackle on Deebo and that kind of gets your juice going. When you don't make a tackle until the second, third drive, then it's kind of, you have to find a way to get into that groove faster if you don't get that immediate contact. So that's why I think I did a better job. So I still got to find a way to keep it going. Other ways to improve, when you're playing safety, you always have to look at, did you communicate really well? Did you secure the deep part of the field? Did you eliminate explosives? Did you tackle really well? And did you play man-to-man really well? Because talking to a lot of quarterbacks in this league, Sam Ehlinger is one of my really good friends, I got a chance to talk to Bo Nix as well in the offseason because they're in the same room, obviously talking to Malik a ton. What they think is when they see a safety on a receiver, that's a win for them all day. And they see a running back and open field on a safety, that's a win for the running back all day. So if you can tackle really well and if you can play man really well as a safety and obviously do the things that you're meant to do, communicate and make sure everybody's on the same page, then that's a recipe for a really good safety. So looking at, obviously, the learning points in the games, but also just can you keep doing what you're doing good, and then can you fix what you need to fix?

You mentioned that first series. I believe you had a good run fit on there, just with McCaffrey. Just what did you see the overall improvement in the run defense from Week 1 to Week 2?

Michael Taaffe: Yeah, front showed up, front seven. You got to give the credit to the front seven. They relied on us this game to be more involved as safeties to be in the run fit and I took that challenge. And I think all four safeties that played this game took that challenge on. It was like, hey, they want us to be involved in the run fit, let's go get involved. And all of us had to come with a sense of physicality that when the running back's in the hole, go meet them and go bring that force, go bring that physicality, go bring that effort. And that's what I try to do. Christian's a really good back. The other back's really good. Deebo's a really good runner. Kittle's a really good tight end, run after catch. They obviously got really good receivers last week. But when you meet somebody with that force, then you just wrap on and you keep running your feet. So that's what I try to do, and I just try to trust my training.

What's the kind of read and react mentality that has to go into that as a safety because maybe you also have responsibilities up top as well?

Michael Taaffe: Yeah, obviously as a safety, your definition of your job is a safety net. When everything goes wrong, can you get the guy on the ground? So obviously you have a little bit more responsibility than just tackling the running back that I'll kind of keep to our defensive scheme. But once you see it's run, can you go find the hole that you're designed for? And can you go hit it with a sense of urgency and know that if you hit it faster than the running back, then it's going to be a no gain. So that's the type of football that I like to play because the other 10 guys are holding their gap and I can trust that they're holding their gap and if I am allowed to go run through my gap clean, then I should be able to go make that tackle and I feel like that's what I showed out there.

Just two weeks into the season, the hard work is being put in but maybe the results aren't there from a win-loss perspective. Mentally in the locker room, whether it's the younger guys leaning on the veterans, how do you handle that early in the season when you're not seeing the results yet that you want to see?

Michael Taaffe: I think results is one thing, but looking at the actual tape is another thing. If you break down the tape, is it this didn't go right because one guy didn't do their one-eleventh or I didn't do my one-eleventh here or somebody else didn't do it. And the coolest thing about it is everybody's owning what they need to do better. Everybody's owning what they did really good and everybody's owning what they need to do better in the moment. And so for us, it's like, 'hey, dude, look at the tape. We're this close on this play, this close on this play,' from special teams to offense to defense. If we just keep continuing doing our job, then I feel like we were right there in it. You know, we go in 6-14 at half and we rely on our defense to go get a stop and that didn't happen. And so that third quarter got away from us, but it was all something that we could control. And at the end of the day, it's a really good sign to know that it's in your control because if it wasn't in our control, then it would be like, oh shoot, but it's all in our control and all these plays, like Malik just stood up here and said is, it's on us. And so obviously the new team that's coming in here to Hard Rock next week, Mahomes and the Chiefs, they're a really good outfit. They're a really good team. I got a lot of respect for everybody on that team, and I played with Xavier Worthy for three years. But if we just focus on us this week and what we can do to get better and the urgency that it takes from special teams to defense to offense, then we can go out and compete with anybody.

I got a crazy question about your power of recall. When Ryan Fitzpatrick was here as a quarterback, he once recalled all 100 touchdowns that he had thrown. We've heard LeBron James talk about every possession of a fourth quarter. Golfers know every stroke. How many plays can you recall from Sunday's game? Can you recall what, like, fifty-six defensive snaps or what? How is your power of recall?

Michael Taaffe: I would like to say my recall is one of my strong suits. I think I use that as an advantage because I understand – I think that's what I did better from Week 1 to Week 2 is I understand, OK, this is what they hit us on. And if you can remember that in the moment, because it's going fast and all this misdirection that Coach Shanahan brings to you in that West Coast system. If you can remember what they just hit you on, what is the next move off that? Or if it's a guy like Coach Shanahan, he likes to come back to the things that worked, maybe just add a different formation. OK, you see the formation, but at the end of the day, it's just an X, an S, a Z, a Y, a quarterback, a halfback, and if you put them all out there as just X's and O's, then you see the formation, you see what they're trying to do, the scheme, then you can go make a play. So I think recall is really important. I like to say that I use that as an advantage.

Earlier, I asked Hafley about any concerns in the secondary from yesterday, and he talked at length about the communication. What was going on in terms of communicating back there? What was working, what wasn't working?

Michael Taaffe: Yeah, I think Coach Hafley, he's told me, I think he's told y'all, he trusts me to be in there because of communication. I think that's one of my strong suits. So at the end of the day, if communication is something that we need to work on, then I look at myself in the mirror because I was out there for almost every snap. And so he believes in me, and my teammates believe in me, and I believe in myself to communicate top notch, the best communication in the back end in the whole league. And that's the standard that I hold myself to. That's the standard that my teammates hold me to. That's the standard that we hold each other to. So you can point fingers or you can say, communication, that's 16's strong suit, so I got to find a way to get it done. Clearly, we didn't communicate well enough on Sunday. And so we got to go back to the drawing board, and we're going to be better, and we will be better. So take it as a learning experience, and I can't wait for another game to go prove that we can do better.

Two games under your belt, just what have you learned about the way the NFL likes to run their offenses?

Michael Taaffe: It's a little bit different of a scheme. I mean, you break it down, like college, you don't huddle. So the huddle is an aspect to get the guys that are showing disguise are they going to go on the ball and snap it really quick? Now they just got you in a disguise. Are they going to go on a hard count? Now they see is there a rotation. Are they close to the hash? Maybe it's one-high. Are they getting wider from the hashes? Maybe it's two-high. Are they getting right on top of their number twos? Maybe it's quarters. Or you look at the time clock on 3rd down. All right, it's getting 8, 7, 6. All right, he's about to snap the ball. So just understanding what the quarterback's trying to do with the cat and mouse game with the safeties, I think is the really important thing. But also a lot of it is matchups. George Kittle, Pro Bowler. Christian McCaffrey, Pro Bowler. Mike Evans, Pro Bowler. Juice, Pro Bowler. Brock Purdy. Pro Bowler. I know there's more Pro Bowlers on that team, but understanding what they're trying to do and what their strength is and our coaches say, who's the guy you're going against every single week? And you have to know that guy like the back of your hand. So I think a lot of it is matchups, too. And that's the cool thing about it, is Coach Hafley puts us in really good matchups and to just let loose, cut it loose and go play free. And that's what we got to do more of, just go play free.

You mentioned earlier some of the conversations you had with the quarterbacks. What's the biggest piece that you've taken in those conversations that kind of helped, especially if you guys have faced these loaded offenses?

Michael Taaffe: Understanding where they're going with the ball in different situations. So I think this game, what quarterbacks break it down is, it's a situational game. So you're going to get a certain amount of plays when you're backed up. You're gonna get a certain amount of plays when it's 2nd-and-10. You're gonna get a certain amount of plays when it's in the fringe area, which is like the maroon zone, just right outside the red zone. You're gonna get a certain amount of plays when it's the red zone, or when it's 3rd-and-long, or when it's must have it 3rd-and-5, when he gets you in a disguise. So it's a lot of situational football that they had talked to me about. At the end of the day, a lot of the schemes are similar. So what is this coach's flavor? A lot of the quarterbacks had taught me to study the offensive coordinator also. That's something that you don't really do in college either, is knowing who the offensive coordinator is and knowing his family tree, knowing his coaching tree. So did he come from Coach Shanahan? Did he come from – for defense, is it Coach Hafley or somebody like that? So just knowing the coaching tree, knowing what he likes to do, knowing his scheme. And then the last thing that I would say about quarterbacks is the first 15 is real. So the offensive coordinator and the offense is going to scheme all day their first 15 plays that they're going to run against you. They think they know they're going to get you in this call and this call, and they're going to run it and run it and run it and run it. They're going to motion and motion and motion. And so you just got to be ready for that. And so just knowing looking a little bit at the tape with Coach Reid and Patrick Mahomes, he's going to like to take it downtown. So we've got to secure the deep part of the field. He's going to use his legs. He's going to go try to make a play and he's going to give it to his speed guys. And then obviously the running backs are really, really talented, one of the best in the league. So knowing what they're going to like to do on those first 15 and then the situational football.

There's a rotation going on at safety. Can you assess your reps of playing alongside both Dante Trader Jr. and Zayne Anderson and what you like about playing next to each one of them?

Michael Taaffe: Yeah, I mean, no difference. Both of them – what I respect about both of them is when the ball, for some reason, hits the post safety, when we're in post safety defense, usually the running back shouldn't get up to us, but we know nothing's perfect. When the ball gets up to them, they get it on the ground, and that's so sick. They're not scared. They're not backpedaling. They're running at the running back, whether it's Christian McCaffrey, Pro Bowler, Ashton Jeanty, future Pro Bowler, I think. They're going and they're going to get the guy on the ground. They're playing with a level of physicality. They're making me feel comfortable out there, so they've helped me a ton. Couldn't give enough credit to those guys. They deserve it. They helped me a lot. And there's no beef between us three. We're all just really excited for one another, which is really, really cool. It's really rare to come around that to where three guys that, in this league that I got to get used to is fighting for money, fighting for food on your table, and you're just happy for each other it's really cool and I'm so glad that I'm in that position with them.