Matt Nagy, an Arena Football League legend who played with the Georgia Force, is his third season as the head coach of the Chicago Bears.
The Bears (2-0) will face the Atlanta Falcons (0-2) at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Here’s what Nagy had to say about the Falcons:
Q: How is former AJC Super 11 player James Vaughters doing for the Bears?
A: “James is playing well for us. I like the way that he’s grown for us the last couple of years. I just know that our defensive coaches really appreciate the knowledge that he has in this defense and the way he plays. I thought even in Week 1 you saw him really come around that edge and make a big tackle on a nice play off the edge. Last week, he filled a nice role for our defense. There is a big comfort there and trust from our coaches with James and I appreciate that.”
Q: Have you ever seen an onside kick like the one in the Falcons' last game?
A: “That onside kick last week was crazy. You don’t see a lot of those. That is what catches some peoples off guard in regard to how to react to that. So, I’m sure every team across the NFL has seen it and has talked about how to handle it. It’s certainly was a nice play by Dallas.”
Q: What do you see when you look at the Falcons defense?
A: “I see a lot of speed off the edge. Obviously, up the middle. I just overall see a team that just flies around. I know that on turf they are going to be even faster. I think that we understand that we need to be ready at all times for that speed. Speed is what you feel. Like I’ve said to our guys here, I have a ton of amount of respect for Dan Quinn. I think that he’s a very, very good football coach with what he does. I know how great of a head coach that he is. What he does defensively, I just know that he’s going to have his guys ready. It’s going to be a big challenge for us offensively. We better be ready from play one.”
Q: This will be your second time going on the road. I wonder if any of tweaks that you made to the travel routine for the Detroit game really stuck for you or is there anything that you kind of want to tweak?
A: “What we are going to do is that we’re going to reduce some timing things in the morning with what we do with some of our meetings. We’re keeping our hotel meetings that we typically do on the road, we are going to keep those here (in Chicago) like we did in Week 1 for Detroit. We’ll do everything and get it all completed here at Halas (Hall). We’ll take off and travel to Atlanta and get to Atlanta in the early evening. So, we won’t have our meetings in Atlanta. We’ll do that here. So time-wise it’s similar, but a little different….we are just working through can you eat on the bus? Can you eat on the plane type of deal? As we go through this, we are tweaking when guys can eat. We don’t want to be too tired when we get to Atlanta and we also don’t want to be too hungry. So, we are working through those deals.”
Q: Do you have your single serving of Haagen-Dazs (ice cream)?
A: “What do you think? Every Saturday, a scoop of chocolate, a scoop of Vanilla, a scoop of mint chip and a scoop of coffee. I get four scoopers and I just roll. Every Saturday….That Haagen-Dazs is special.”
Q: You are coaching a team, you are a offensive coach trying to turn an offense around. Dan Quinn, the opposite, I wonder when you were evaluating opportunities, different places that you could go, a few years ago, was part of the thinking give me a team that has a good defense and I’ll fix the offense?
A: “You know what, at that point in time, there weren’t a whole lot of options. I interviewed with the Colts and I interviewed here in Chicago. Those two teams. In that situation, you’re looking at both of those teams. I was excited about the decision. It was just, for me to have that opportunity, you look at everything. For us, when you roll into any team and you know you have a great defense as an offensive coach, that always helps. But at the same time you know that you want to be able to use your ideas on offense as well. That’s your strength. I just feel like it’s a really good match here right now with the players and coaches that we have.”
Q: (Former Georgia standout) Riley Ridley was active for the last four or five games last year has not (been active) this year. How has he handled that? How close is he? If he is close, how much psychology is there in a week like this, if anyone is going to be on point, laser focus, it would be him to show his brother (Falcons wide receiver Calvin Ridley) what he can do?
A: “Riley has done a really good job at being able to just be a professional. I love his attitude. I love the way he practices every day. He’s really close. Right now, for us, it’s just a little bit more of a numbers things. I talk to Riley every day in practice when he’s out there with the (scout) team and we’re always watching to see how guys react to different situations. I’m excited about what his future looks like here. You guys saw a little bit of it last year with how he produced for us in that last game. He has a phenomenal attitude. He’s improving every day. I think it creates more depth for us. As far as the mentality of going back home (he’s actually from Miami) and his brother being on the other side, I haven’t felt that at all other than him being focused. I like where he’s at.”
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