I don’t think Mike Groh has said anything remotely interesting this season.

That’s not a knock on the guy; he just seems like a very vanilla person in front of the media, someone who doesn’t want to give anything away or say something “iffy.”

The Birds’ offensive coordinator spoke to reporters today and these are the more relevant tidbits from his availability:

What does Isaac Seumalo bring to the table? 

Groh: Yeah, Isaac, we’ve been talking about Isaac throughout the course of training camp. He had a strong training camp; he’s played multiple positions for us; a lot of athleticism. (He’s) played with a lot of confidence and is able to not only hear the calls, but make calls and recognize things outs there on the run. He’s done a nice job and earned himself some playing time.

On whether the veteran offensive linemen were consulted before removing Stefen Wisniewski for Seumalo:

Groh: No. We spoke as a staff. We’re always evaluating everything, ourselves, each individual player and their position, how they’re playing. That’s how that decision was made.

On run/pass ratio:

Groh: We all know we want to be balanced and we know we’re a very effective running team. Circumstances dictate the calls each and every week. Sometimes you get off track of maybe the way you intended to play the game. That goes back to starting and scoring earlier, which keeps the run more involved. But we did a lot last week where we came out in the second half and ran the ball right down the field. We know we need to be balanced and that we’re at our best when we are balanced, so there is certainly a conversation about that.

Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz had the more intriguing things to say, after the jump.

What is the coaching point on Michael Bennett’s roughing the passer call?

Schwartz: That’s a really unfortunate play, and I think for the most part this year we’ve been able to avoid plays like that. We coach guys to try to stay in the strike zone, but sometimes they’re going to be pushed off their feet; sometimes they’re not. Our coaching point when they are off their feet is try to swipe the leg and not have forcible contact. I think that’s a judgment call whether that was forceful or not. I know we can bring a lot more force than that and Michael was trying to do the right thing.

Obviously that was a big play in the game. Sometimes you’re going to get a foul when you’re not trying to. Sometimes there is going to be a guy that’s going to hit the quarterback in the head because he ducks the head. There is strict liability on defense. It’s a tough situation, but we got to deal with it.

On Avonte Maddox’s performance:

Schwartz: (He) brought some energy to us. Shows great range. He picked things up extremely quick, but I said that last week. When you play the nickel position you basically play a safety position for us.

Then when Corey Graham got hurt early in that game that really changed the dynamic of how much he was going to play. He was up for it. I think if the end of the game went a little bit different, you would point to that play that – when we had them backed up, we went for the sack, (the 68 yarder to Thielen) I mean, I got aggressive with the call right there and put the corner on an island.

They were able to complete the pass. I was going for the sack, strip, touchdown, safety, whatever it was. We were inches away. This is a game of inches.

Anyway, corner got beat. Avonte did a great job controlling that situation. Slowed that guy down. That was probably four points on that play. Got him slowed down. That’s a tough play to make in the middle of the field like that.

Like I said earlier in the week, those are two talented receivers with the ball in their hands. I thought that was a sign of good things from Avonte.

(Here’s a look again at the play Schwartz is talking about above)

Maddox’s long-term viability at safety

Schwartz: We like safeties that have corner in their background. He’s not ideal size, but he is ideal quickness and range and eyes for the football. The things we liked from him as a nickel we also like from him as a safety. We’ll see going forward. That’s where we are right now.

On Jalen Mills

(I’m going to put the full exchange in here for context)

How would you rate CB Jalen Mills’ play other than that play? (Nick Fierro)

Schwartz: Jalen has made a lot of plays for us. That first third-down stop, he gets his hand on balls, plays great technique. I put the play he gave up, I put that more on me than him. I put him on a big island. We were aggressive there. We had them backed up. We needed a momentum change. We had just fumbled the ball. We were trying to get the sack. We’re inches away from doing that. Quarterback put it up.

I mean, it’s one of those things when you’re a corner, you’re going to get beat. I thought he bounced back well from that within the game and battled and did all the things a corner is going to do. I think it’s just life as a corner. If you make a mistake, if you give up a play, it’s there for everybody to see. You can’t hide it.

Where if a linebacker, defense lineman, or anybody else that makes a mistake, it might go unnoticed. That’s just the hat that those guys wear. They can’t lose confidence because they gave up a play.

Does Mills have to play maybe just a little bit more in control of his emotions? (Nick Fierro)

Schwartz: His emotions?

Yeah. It looked like he was maybe a little out of control towards the end of that game. (Nick Fierro) 

Schwartz: I didn’t see that.

When DT Fletcher Cox kind of had to pull him off. (Nick Fierro)

Schwartz: It’s a competitive game. You want guys to be competitive. You want guys to keep their energy up and things like that. That stuff goes on a million times on the sideline, whether it’s one group talking to another, or a player talking to another. That’s not an unusual situation.

I like the fact that he was combative, and he was getting back. The one thing you don’t want from a corner is him being shell-shocked, and Jalen has never been that way.

(Another Mills question came in after this exchange)

You were mentioning specific-type things with Mills a couple of minutes ago, how would you assess his overall game against the Vikings? (Dave Uram)

Schwartz: You guys know I don’t, I never do that in the media. I think he did play with good technique. Like I said, I was very aggressive in that call, and that puts corners on an island. That’s a little bit of the cost of doing business with corners, you are not going to make every one of those plays. We recognize that.

But I would rather take that and know that we were aggressive and we went after the quarterback right there and they made the play, rather than us have laid back there and tried to bleed it out, particularly at that point in the game.

That’s about it.

Cheers.