Brian Flores – October 1, 2021
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Friday, October 1, 2021
Head Coach Brian Flores
(Will C/G Michael Deiter and WR William Fuller V be available to you Sunday?) – “Deiter was injured in practice on Wednesday. He’s going to be out and likely to go on IR. Fuller, he was at practice yesterday. We expect him to practice today and go on Sunday.”
(Is OL Greg Mancz next up at center?) – “Yeah, Greg will start at Center.”
(I know you talked about him after the acquisition and sorry to ask you again, but what are some of the qualities in which you like about OL Greg Mancz?) – “Smart, tough, competes. He’s picked up the offense quickly. Vocal. He’s done a nice job so he’ll be in there this weekend.”
(How big of an impact do you see the C/G Michael Deiter injury having on the team?) – “Yeah, I mean Deiter is the starting center. He’s done a nice job really the entire spring, training camp and the start of this season. It’s unfortunate but we’ve got to move on with the next player and the next man up mentality like we’ve talked about. But yeah, it’s a tough loss. It’s a tough loss for the offensive line, us as an offense and us as a team. Deiter will be the first guy to say for us to go out there and prepare and practice the right way and hopefully play well on Sunday.”
(Is this a situation where C/G Michael Deiter going on the IR and will return or is this a situation where his season is done?) – “I think we’ll take this like every player, it’s day-to-day. Every injury is a little bit different. The rehabs are always different. In this case, it will be a minimum of three weeks and we will see how the rehab process goes in those early weeks and have a better idea of where we’re at after those initial three weeks.”
(Where does that leave you as far as a backup center? I’m going to guess G/T Jesse Davis just because he does everything else.) – “Jesse can snap. He’s snapped before. We’ve got a couple different ways we can go there. Again, there’s a good amount of versatility throughout the offensive line. We’ll have a plan. We have a backup center.”
(How difficult is it for the offensive line to mesh and take steps forward now that it’s going to be the fourth different starting offensive line?) – “It’s the way it goes in the National Football League. A lot of teams are dealing with injuries and COVID and that’s just kind of how it is. We’ve talked about that here, being able to shift guys around and move guys into different spots. We do that really early in the season in training camp because it’s more likely than not that will be the case during the season. We’re dealing with it. A lot of teams are dealing with it and the next guy has got to go in and execute. That’s why we practice and prepare and move guys around.”
(When you put C/G Michael Deiter on IR, is bringing up C Cameron Tom a consideration from the practice squad to the 53?) – “Potentially. That is potentially something we might do. There’s a few different ways we could approach this. Cam has done a nice job. He did a nice job in training camp for us. We brought him back to the practice squad so there is potential for that.”
(With the high number of quality wide receivers that you have, what factors go into what decides who is going to be up and who is going to be down in a particular game? How much of it is how they practice? How much of it is matchups?) – “I think it’s gameplan-specific. Who we think will have success in a given grouping, a series of plays, their value in the kicking game, what they bring to the table in the kicking game, blocking in the run game. It’s just all the things we talk about at the wide receiver position. There’s a few different things we talk about as a staff. ‘Hey, we think this guy will be good in these sets of plays. This guy will be good on this on third down or this on early down or this in the run game.’ That’s a lot of the conversations we have as a staff early in the week and that kind of plays into our projection of who would play best in those roles. We’ve always got to have backups and then we let guys get those reps during the week and make that determination at the end of the week.”
(You a do a good job of communicating with players. I’m always curious in a case where established NFL guys are on the inactive list as opposed to young players like WR Albert Wilson and WR Preston Williams, who has had some success in two years, do you make a point to explain to them during the week? Do you have Wide Receivers Coach Josh Grizzard do it in the case of the receivers, when it’s more experienced guys as opposed to a young guy?) – “I’ve always said I keep my conversations with players private. But yes, I have conversations with – I try to have as many conversations throughout the week as possible. It’s hard. It’s hard to talk to everybody on the tea, but in those specific situations like inactives and play time and up, down things like that, yeah, I try to have those conversations. Like you said, honesty is always the best way to go. We feel this way, this is why you’re up, this is what we feel like you can do and this is where for this particular week, a guy may not be up. I think that’s the best way to handle it really for any player, coach or anyone in the organization, just to be honest. I think our guys respond the right way.”
(What have you seen out of TE Mike Gesicki this week especially after having a good game with 10 receptions last game?) – “The way Mike prepares is really the same every week. He is someone who it’s very important to him. He practices the right way, prepares the right way and he’s anxious to get out there and practice. Like a lot of our guys, he believes that if you do it right in practice, you give yourself an opportunity to do it right in the game. His preparation has really been the same, it’s not like it just spikes up because he played well. I think he’s pretty consistent with his approach to the game every week.”
(I want to ask you about the possible challenges that DT Grover Stewart and DT DeForest Buckner present for the Colts up front?) – “Two very good players up front. Hard to move both guys. DeForest, it’s hard to move him. He’s very quick. He’s obviously very talented. A tough guy to block. Then next to Grover, it’s hard to move Grover. Then they’ve got Tyquan Lewis that goes in there and does a good job. They’ve got some good players really across the board. They do a nice job defensively. They really do a nice job across the board – offensively, defensively and in the kicking game. Specifically the defense, it’s a tough front to play against. They do a lot of things to create confusion schematically. They’re well coached. I think Coach (Matt) Eberflus has done a very nice job since he’s been there. We’ll have our hands full, that’s for sure.”
(With G/T Rob Hunt, just thoughts on how he’s done at right guard. Do you and Offensive Line Coach Lemuel Jeanpierre have a conviction yet whether he’s better at guard or tackle? Or might that take a full season to get a handle on?) – “I think Rob has done a nice job in there at guard. I think he’s learning that position. I think it’s early as far as getting game reps at that spot. He’s still developing. I think he has all the right make up to develop. I think for him and a lot of our younger players, it’s just about playing with some consistency.”
(You’ve mentioned that every team deals with injuries in this league obviously. Looking at the Colts practice report yesterday, there are a lot of guys were on that list. I know you’ll scout and prepare for all 53 guys, but when you have that many injuries you’re looking at, do you have to build in contingencies on how you’ll do types of plan for what they may or may not have available to them?) – “I think first and foremost, we try to prepare for really everyone and assume that they all will be out there. Until we get the word, which a lot of guys don’t practice or are limited on Wednesday and Thursday and then practice on Friday. We probably won’t have a – we don’t get a game status until today. We prepare for everyone but in a situation like this, there are more guys you are preparing for. More guys, more of their offensive linemen, more of the – it looks like some injuries in other places. You’re just preparing for more guys. Our guys know that whoever is in there will be well coached, have good fundamentals, good techniques, are going to know what they are doing, are going to play fast. This team plays fast really in all three phases. This is the National Football League, so everybody is good. Our team knows that. Our team understands that. We know this will be a tough 60-minute ball game.”
(Speaking with CB Nik Needham and DT John Jenkins yesterday, we asked if they had picked QB Jacoby Brissett’s brain at all about the Colts. Both of them said no. John specifically said it’s a new regime, it’s a new year. Jacoby isn’t in that building and neither am I. That kind of mentality, how does that help you guys throughout the week as you prep for this game?) – “I think those guys watch a lot of film on their own. We sit in meetings, we kind of go through it. But yeah, every year is different and everyone has their own way to prepare. I think those guys – Nik and ‘Jenk’ – they prepare well each week. I think that’s the mentality. I think they watch film with their coaches on their own. I think everyone has their own routine as far as how they go throughout the week. I’m confident in those two guys that they’ll be ready to go.”
(I was going to ask you about WR Will Fuller. When you have a player that’s battled injuries like he has and who has missed this much time, how do you get gauge of whether he’s game ready, especially when he’s fighting something else?) – “I think Will is game ready. I think we saw that last week. I thought he did some nice things. I thought he made a couple of good catches. When he’s been at practices, which he was yesterday, you see some of those things. You use practice, you use the game and you make that determination. We wouldn’t play someone we didn’t feel confident was ready to play. I think Will will be ready to go.”
Nik Needham – September 30, 2021
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Thursday, September 30, 2021
CB Nik Needham
(One thing that’s a little different this year, we were talking to Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer about this, is more players are being used in the defensive backfield than last November/December. Obviously you and CB Justin Coleman are sharing slot duties and four safeties are playing. Last year it was just S Bobby McCain McCain, S Eric Rowe and S Brandon Jones. I’m curious if you tin that has had any impact at all in terms of third down defense being a lot worse as a group this year. I know it’s a small sample size, but is that a factor a lot of guys playing which could lead to confusion or is it unrelated?) – “I don’t think that’s the issue. I think we have to do a better job on first and second down. We got a lot of teams getting in third-and-2, third-and-1, which are real manageable third downs. When they’re in that situation, it’s like 50/50 for them to get it. If we can just execute better on first and second down, we’ll be able to keep them in backed up situations like second-and-10-plus. Just doing that will create a third-and-10 and we are more likely to get off the field with that. It has nothing to do with confusion.”
(How much time in practice do you spend splitting boundary and slot? Do you spend time at both?) – “Wherever they put me, whenever they do that, yeah. I think it’s all gameplan and matchup-wise. I’m more in the slot but like you’ve seen last game, I will go outside as well, because when I first came here, I played outside corner so I have that available with me. I think just wherever they need me or wherever they think this week someone will fit, that’s where they plug a guy.”
(How frustrating does it get when offenses are moving the chains on you like they have in the past couple of games?) – “It’s very frustrating because we know we are better than that. We got too many talented guys on the team to be giving up all of them third downs. We’re just back to the drawing board. We’ve been going over it with Coach (Josh) Boyer and focusing on the minor things as far as execution and communication. That’s really what that comes down to as well.”
(In addition to trying to force more third-and-long situations, what are some other things that were definitely happening last year on third downs that lead to the team being first in the league in that category, that you would love to see start to happen again?) – “I think we just have to make more plays on the ball. Win our one-on-ones. We’ve got to win our one-on-one matchups. I think that’s what it’s come down to as well, D-line and DBs. Like I said, if we can all start doing that and really focusing on that, winning our one-on-ones on third down, this guy is not going to make the play to get the first down. If we can all think like that and move like that, I think it will be more successful.”
(I know they have a new offensive coordinator but has QB Jacoby Brissett shared anything about the Colts offense with you guys?) – “No, I actually haven’t asked him but that’s a good idea. (laughter) I might need to go talk to him and see what he knows about over there. But no, I haven’t asked him yet. I like your shirt, by the way.”
(It’s only been three games but how do you feel like you are performing overall?) – “I think I’m playing alright. I’ve got a lot more work to do. I would say I’m off to a better start than last season, I just feel a little bit more comfortable. Like I said, I’ve got way more work to do. I just need to focus on one play at a time. Like I said earlier about the one-on-one matchups, like last game, I gave up a catch. Me, personally, I don’t want to give up anything so just to have that mindset every game. I think if you stack those on top of week on week on week, you’ll just get better every week. That’s my goal and the overall focus for me.”
(Thinking back to a play last game. I’m wondering from your perspective if you saw it the same way. There was a high pass to TE Darren Waller and you were deeper in coverage. Did it look like that ball was going to get to you and Waller just comes in and leaped?) – “We were in Cover 3. The seven route, I had a fade on me and I was kind of in between because Derek Carr is a good quarterback and he had already tricked me kind of with his gameplay in the game. I saw him looking at Waller but I didn’t know. He might double-pump it and then throw it to the fade. You have to always protect the go ball, so that’s why. But I did for a second think it might go over his head, so I was kind of a little hesitant. That dude is big. He’s big as hell.”
Jaelan Phillips – September 30, 2021
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Sunday, September 26, 2021
LB Jaelan Phillips
(Good to see you get a lot of snaps last week. How did it go? What were your thoughts after watching the tape?) – “Man, it was incredible. Just the experience as a whole. I don’t want to give the Raiders too much credit, but their stadium is whew. (laughter) Their stadium is crazy. We had a great experience as a team just going through adversity, staying together. It’s always good to get those kind of games. Obviously you always want to come out with a victory, but at the end of the day, I think it was really good experience for me personally and for us as a team. So yeah, definitely happy about that.”
(And pleased with the sort of rush that you were able to get? You seemed to pressure well on a few plays. Were you pleased with how you did from that standpoint?) – “I’m never totally pleased, but I feel like I’m almost there. I feel like I’m starting to get some pressures and I need to find a way myself to convert those pressures into sacks, into negative plays. But it definitely felt good.”
(Did Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer tell you during the week or was it the game morning or was it just how the game went along that you were going to be used in more of a pass-rushing role. When did that become apparent?) – “I pretty much knew all week. The game plan changes every week, so it really just depends on their personnel, on what they’re doing, the matchups that we want to get. It just so happened that this week I was able to get some advantageous matchups, so it was good. It was a really good experience.”
(What was your reaction when he told you?) – “Like I said, it’s the same every week. It’s just – I like doing everything. It was fun. It was fun.”
(Do you think beyond the matchups that you also have shown something to coaches to allow them to trust you a bit more?) – “I think if anything, they’re just starting to notice that I’m getting it more. I think they’re starting to have a little bit more trust in me and I think that kind of equates to more playing time or being used in different positions. So I think for me, I’ve said it before: my focus has just been to get more comfortable in the scheme and then just keep improving every week on the things that I need to improve on.”
(Is there a particular vet that maybe you’ve leaned on just in terms of kind of getting the ropes and kind of understanding what it takes week to week to be successful?) – “I’ve definitely gotten close, especially the d-line – Emmanuel Ogbah, Christian Wilkins in particular, Zach Sieler. These are all guys that I definitely pick their brain a lot. Ogbah especially, just obviously he’s an end. He’s somebody that I kind of aspire to be like so I definitely try to talk as much as I can and what they do that I can appreciate. (John) Jenkins does this as well, ‘E. Rob’ (Elandon Roberts) does this as well. They hold me accountable, regardless of it’s a good play or a bad play. They’re just going to keep it 100 with me. It’s never good when someone is just blowing smoke at you and saying, ‘oh yeah, that’s great, that’s great.’ You want someone who’s going to keep it real with you, so I definitely think I have that on this team.”
(There’s been a lot of talk about third-down defense and getting back to where the team was last year. I know you weren’t here but what do you think separates third down from first and second, and what’s kind of the key to having success from your experience on third down?) – “I think the philosophy of the offense changes, right? When it’s third-and-10, they’re most likely going to air the ball out just because they obviously need to get the first down and they need to gain yards. So as a defense, you don’t want to place more importance on any particular down because the bottom line is if you don’t do well on first and second down you’re not even going to be able to get to that third down. So third down is just an opportunity to get off the field, get the offense back on the field to score points and at the end of the game, whoever has the most points wins. So it’s definitely paramount for us to get out there and be great on third down like we were last year. We’re just going to continue working on that. It’s definitely been a point of emphasis though.”
Myles Gaskin – September 30, 2021
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Thursday, September 30, 2021
RB Myles Gaskin
(You’ve consistently been at about five yards a carry. What do you think is the key to that?) – “Just trusting my blocks. Just trusting those guys up front. I think that Jacoby (Brissett) did a great job last week, so it kind of opened up some holes for me. Like I said, just trusting and believing in the play call, and then the guys up front.”
(Blitz pick up I know is something you’ve worked on. You’ve talked about improvement there. Are you happy with where that is at for you and for the running back room right now?) – “I think I can do a lot better, just being a smaller guy, I’ve told you guys that before. I’m just always trying to work on that. But yeah, I think as a running group, I think Malcolm (Brown) is the head of that because he’s an older guy. He always gives us little nuggets for myself, Salvon (Ahmed). Yeah, I think we can get better. For myself, I think I can get a lot better and as a running back group, I think we still got a little more room to grow.”
(When you guys have a day where you produce 133 rushing yards, which basically equates to, if you average it out it is 2,100 rushing yards a season. Do you think that should ultimately lead to success for the team?) – “The success of the team doesn’t just come from one thing at all. If you just have that and then no passing yards, then hell no. I think everything needs to be balanced. I feel like ‘E’ (Eric Studesville) and George (Godsey) have been taking good care of that. We’re figuring it out as we go. Obviously we’re trying to find out our strengths as a team still and running the ball has been good for us at times. But in different games, we’ve got different things we need to do.”
John Jenkins – September 30, 2021
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Thursday, September 30, 2021
DT John Jenkins
(How has it been to have increased minutes? What’s that like for you?) – “I don’t know what to say. It’s a good feeling. I’m just working, coming in day and night, late nights and early mornings and just working. Whatever my job entails, I just do it to the best of my ability.”
(This is the question specifically about you guys as a defense but as a defensive player, when a team is running on you and getting a consistent 4.5 yards per carry and you can’t stop them, what does that feel like?) – “It’s not a good feeling. I can just tell by your facial expression that it wasn’t a good question. It was just one of those situations where it was like, ‘Y’all got to do better,’ right? Everyday we are getting better and better and better. To answer your question, it’s not a good feeling, especially for me being a first and second down defensive player. I take that really serious and that’s the reason why I’ve been around for so long because I take that job extremely serious. When you say that, it hits me personally because that lets me know I got to go do something and I got to go get better and put in more film and put in more time to become a better player. You know what I mean? It sucks but at the end of the day, it’s the NFL, everybody gets paid, everybody has a job to do and sometimes it doesn’t go in our favor, but we continue to work and come together tight as a team to prevent that from happening another time.”
(Most defenses, they always say we have to stop the run first. What’s it like when you – I’ve looked at this so many times in so many different years, you guys focus on so much else that it seems as if the run has fallen between the cracks.) – “We focus on everything. We focus on being a better defense. I don’t know what you are focused on or what you see out of your eyes. I just know from being within these walls, we focus on being a great defense. We work on everything. Not everybody is perfect but we work hard. That’s the best I can – I know we all want to be great and you can see that if you are around us more, that we want to be great and we take this serious.”
(What jumps out at you on film when you watch RB Jonathan Taylor?) – “He’s a strong runner. Shifty. I had the opportunity to play with a lot of good running backs. Pierre Thomas, Saquon (Barkley) in his rookie year in New York and this guy is of that caliber. He’s a great, great runner. We just have to be more in-tune with our blocks, with our eyes and stay stout.”
(I asked CB Nik Needham about this but have you picked QB Jacoby Brissett’s brain about the Colts at all?) – “No, actually I haven’t. Every year is different, man. I can sit there and say hey this, that and the third and ask all these questions but every year, the mindset is different. I’m not in those walls. I’m not in that building so I don’t know how they are going to play us. When Jacoby was there, it was a whole different philosophy so therefore, I just take every week no differently.”
Robert Hunt – September 30, 2021
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Thursday, September 30, 2021
G/T Robert Hunt
(Obviously, despite it being a loss, when you looked at the film as an offensive line, did you come out a little bit more pleased with your performance compared to the Buffalo game?) – “Yeah. I think we did. We had an emphasis that week – last week – to come out and prepare better and do what we can do better. Taking it a play at a time, I think we did that. It definitely wasn’t a perfect game. We can still improve, which we are trying to do and which we will do. But yeah, it felt better than it did the Buffalo week.”
(We didn’t see C/G Michael Deiter out there today, so obviously that raises questions about whether he’ll be available on Sunday. If you are to go with OL Greg Mancz at center, how does that affect the line play? How does that affect communication?) – “I think we’ll be ok. Greg practices just like the rest of us. We’re all in the same meeting room learning the same deals. He’s a center so he’s definitely in-tune with everything that’s going on. I think we’ll be fine.”
(You guys did rush for over 100 yards. We’ve asked you guys a lot about pass protection, but as offensive linemen and kind of getting those five guys together, are there any nuances to maybe run blocking that the average person doesn’t know about?) – “Yeah, as an O-line, that’s what you want to do. You want to run the ball so you won’t be in third-and-10s and they bring the house. We want to run the ball and we want to be good at it so we can manage the down-and-distance, so we can be third-and-2, third-and-3 and third-and-5. So yeah, it’s a big emphasis to run the football. That’s what we want to do.”
(Do you all feel like that can be your identity as a run team?) – “I think so. I think we’ve got the backs. I think we’ve got the guys to do it. It’s just up to us to do it.”
(You’re talking about creating the holes?) – “Yeah.”
(What was different this week as opposed to what you guys have done the first two weeks?) – “I wouldn’t say anything was different. I think we just had to step back and look ourselves in the mirror and hone-in and focus in on our individual selves and then as a unit. We just knew what we did. At Buffalo, everybody knew how that week went and we just wanted to improve on that week.”
(With the tandem blocks that you guys do, how much of that is a technique thing versus practice?) – “Tandem blocks? What do you mean?”
(In terms of working on two guys.) – “How much of that is technique than…?”
(Chemistry or…) – “I mean I don’t know. As an offensive lineman, you’ve been doing this for a while so you know where the B-block is, you know where the C-block is. You’ve just got to – you’ve got to practice it. So if that’s what you’re asking, then yeah you have to practice it, I would say, to be better at it and continue to get good at it. I think we’ve been hitting it a lot. We’ve made an emphasis on double teams since the beginning of camp. That’s something that we want to do is run the ball.”
(When you don’t – and this is just a question for the technical aspect. When you don’t go live in practice, do you get the real looks of those tandem blocks in the run game?) – “Yeah, I think so. I think so. I mean of course it’s not a game rep block but you can definitely make it as close as you can. With pads on or without pads on, we focus on the guys holding the bag, get out on them and stay low. If we’ve got pads on then you’ve got to try to fit the gap. We aren’t D-linemen but we try to play like we are D-linemen. It’s an emphasis for not just us to get the block but the guy that’s on defense doing a block for us, acting like he’s the defender, it’s an emphasis for him to give us a good look. We try to get as close as we can.”
(As an offensive lineman, is it just kind of natural and naturally easier to block on a regular called run play as opposed to an RPO because you know that you can’t go more than like one yard down the field?) – “Yeah, I think so. It’s a normal run play. You’ve got to go. You pin your ears back and let’s go. RPOs, being downfield, you’ve got to be kind of careful with it.”
(Did Offensive Line Coach Lemuel Jeanpierre sort of say or stress anything throughout last week that was particularly helpful or showed up on Sunday that you remember?) – “Just like we’re all stressing, just take it one play at a time. Just take it one play at a time. We know what we can do. We’ve got to play with confidence and we’ve got to play fast. That’s what we’ve got to do. We knew that. There wasn’t nothing that he stressed that we didn’t already know.”
(Was the RB Malcolm Brown touchdown run as perfect as you could draw it up?) – “That was exciting. That was a good run. That was beautiful to see actually. That was really good. Hopefully we can keep that up.”
Jerome Baker – September 30, 2021
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Thursday, September 30, 2021
LB Jerome Baker
(We saw you limited on the injury report yesterday – listed you as limited – could you go full today and do you expect to play Sunday?) – “Yeah, I was fine. I don’t know why I was on there. But yeah, I was fine. (laughter)”
(Just a quick question before I ask my real question. Are you communicating – do you have the green dot helmet to relay the defensive calls?) – “Do I have the green dot? Is that what you’re asking? Yeah, I have it.”
(So I guess you know this week we’ve been asking a lot about the third-down defense and you guys not being able to get off the field as easily as last year. I guess third down, what are you looking at and what are you trying to relay? How do you maybe make checks especially on a third-down play?) – “It truly depends on what defense we’re in, but I can tell you like the simple things, just being aware of where the down-and-distance is at – if it’s third-and-long, is it third-and-short, are they trying to pick us? It’s truly just figuring out what we’re in and what they’re trying to do against us. There’s no secret we play a lot of man, so a lot of teams are just trying to pick us. That’s the main thing, so when we do play zone just being aware of where the sticks are at. I think we’re truly just at the end of the day as a defense, we’ve just got to execute and that’s knowing your leverage, that’s eliminating yards after the catch. Just those things we truly preach on and that’s how you get off the field in this league.”
(It’s a weird question to ask, but I think you would know because you have some context. What’s missing from this defense? You guys were so good last year and it doesn’t seem to be clicking yet and maybe it didn’t click early last year, too, because you guys were like 1-3.) – “What’s missing? I wouldn’t say anything is missing. I think it’s just a lack of truly just executing. I think guys last year, we just executed better and this year I think we’re just not having that focus of – we’re just not executing. We’re not getting it done. Now we’re preaching that every third down, if it’s in practice, if it’s in walkthrough – whatever it is, we’re preaching execute, execute, execute. What I mean by execute is knowing your leverage, it’s getting back on your breaks on zone drops. Whatever it is, you’ve truly got to execute your job and having trust in the guys around you to do their job. I think guys – it’s not a sense of they’re trying to do bad or do wrong. It’s they’re trying to make the play for themselves and not be wrong and that’s not how our defense is. Our defense is truly a team defense. I think that’s the main thing. We’ve got guys that want to do right, want to make the play. But in this defense, plays come to you if you just do your job. I think that’s the one thing we’ve got to just lock in on.”
(Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer said that earlier this week that it’s not guys doing bad for making the bad play. They’re just trying to make that extra play. Do you find yourself in that situation where…?) – “Yeah, there’s been times I definitely am a part of that group. I’m not going to sit there and say I’m not. I can think of a few times it was me and it’s not just in a game. It’s times in practice, walkthroughs, whatever it is. It’s usually if it happens in practice, it’s kind of hard to just fix it game time, so you are going to get it right today or yesterday. So I think for me, we all make our mistakes. We all try too hard and we end up being out of the play and hurting us more than helping us. I would definitely say I was in that group, too.”
(You faced RB Johnathan Taylor your last year at Ohio State and when he was a freshman. He carried the ball 15 times that game. Did anything stand out to you about him at that time thinking, “yeah I’m going to see that guy in the pros in a few years?”) – “Yeah, just the way he runs. He’s a strong, physical, center of gravity guy. He’s just been like that. He’s got all the tools to be a great back in the league and I saw that early on. Even this past offseason, we worked out at the same place and he’s still the same way. He’s a strong, physical guy. He just competes his ass off.”
(Was there any difference in terms of how it was for you not having either linebacker coach last Sunday with you and are they back this week?) – “Was it a difference? I wouldn’t say there was a difference. ‘Camp’ (Anthony Campanile) brings that energy. He’s a guy that no matter what day it is, if it’s a walkthrough, if it’s a gameday or whatever, he’s going to bring the same exact energy every day. I think that was the only difference, the true difference. He’ll be fine. He’ll be back soon and we’re waiting on him.”
(You mentioned RB Jonathan Taylor, obviously it’s going to be important to stop him. In what ways can this team’s run defense improve?) – “It’s the same thing, just doing your job. You don’t have to try to make the play by yourself. Our defense is truly built on setting the edge, tackling well and playing your fundamentals and technique. That’s truly our defense. All of us are smart, all of us understand what we are doing. It’s about just doing that every single play, every down, every quarter. Not just doing it in the beginning of the game and later in the game it shows up. It’s truly about every single snap, locking in and truly doing it as a defense. Our defense is truly built on ‘together.’ We’ve got to do it together and nobody can just make the play by themselves so I guess that’s what we need to do.”
Eric Rowe – September 29, 2021
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Wednesday, September 29, 2021
S Eric Rowe
(I know last year you guys were the best third-down defense and the best at getting off the field. Right now, you guys are last in the league. Is there anything that stands out to you in the first three games that correlates to some of those issues?) – “Yeah. First, it starts on first and second down. Right now, we just aren’t doing that strong on first and second down. That obviously leads to a more manageable, for the offense, third down. Third-and-short. That’s a situation that we don’t want to be in. We want to get them in second-and-long, get them to third-and-long and then get to our exotic stuff and get off the field. Just right now, that’s what’s going on.”
(Head Coach Brian Flores gave credit to some of the opponents. Good passes and great catches. Do you feel that you are getting lined up right and it’s just a matter of making those 50/50 plays at times?) – “Yeah, I mean they get paid too. They make good catches, good runs, good blocks. It’s just right now, we need to make more plays than the opponent. Those 50/50s, we have to start coming down with more of them.”
(It’s often talked about how continuity is really good for the offensive line, guys building chemistry and playing together. Could the same be said for the defensive backfield?) – “Yeah, I think it’s the same for any position group. The more chemistry you have with the guys, the locker room, outside the field, it translates. It translates on the field. Maybe not necessarily like assignment-wise on whatever scheme we have, but just kind of effort-wise. You play a little harder, you trust more, you trust the guy next to you. You know whatever job they have, you know that they are going to get it done and they know that you are going to get it done. Really any position group, that chemistry is good for you.”
(You got to come in on a few blitzes and S Brandon Jones as well. How much do you like that aspect of the game because usually you’re in coverage? Just to do something different.) – “I like it because I can disguise, especially if it’s like a tight end on the side of the blitz I’m going, I can show man because about 90 percent (of the time), that’s what I’m in. It makes it easier on me because they’re not counting me in the blitz and I don’t get picked up. Sprinkle me in on a couple blitzes. Whenever they call it, I like it. It’s a switch up. It’s a chance for me to get the quarterback and try to make a different type of play than usually man coverage.”
(You were in the quarterback’s face when LB Elandon Roberts had the pick, right? At what moment did you realize that the good guys had the ball?) – “When the crowd went ‘Ahh.’ You could tell it wasn’t the Raiders crowd because obviously it would be super loud. It was our fans there and I just happened to look and see Elandon running down the field. Obviously, that’s a great feeling because I was like, ‘We need to score.’”
(Were you worried at all? Because you got a hit on QB Derek Carr on that play?) – “I would say I ran into him. (laughter)”
(I think LB Elandon Roberts had that happen to him in Week 1 where you run into a quarterback and you never know what a penalty is.) – “When I was going, especially a guy like Derek Carr, I know he’s going to get the ball off before I even get to him because he’s looking at me running. I was trying to just mirror his hand and get my hand up to see if I could tip the ball. Obviously I missed and just kind of ran into him. For a half second I was like, ‘I hope they don’t call that.’ Then I saw E-Rob running, so I was like ‘alright, good.’”
(Did you play with QB Carson Wentz when he first got to Philly?) – “Yeah, like a training camp. Spring, training camp and then I got traded.”
(Any recollections of what QB Carson Wentz was like when he first started?) – “When he was a rookie? Obviously, he’s lightyears away from that. I remember when I first got there, he was just throwing deep bombs off the rip the first practice, and he had an arm. I was like, ‘Jeez, who is this guy?’ That was like, five, six years ago now. Obviously, he’s a lot better now.”
