Matt Burke – September 20, 2018
Download PDF version
Thursday, September 20, 2018
Defensive Coordinator Matt Burke
(How is LB Raekwon McMillan doing? And can you talk about LB Jerome Baker as well?) – “They’re both doing well. They’re both progressing in the roles we’re asking them to play. I think it’s sort of been a recurring theme for me up here with Raekwon. You forget, just because of his maturity, that he hasn’t played a lot of football for us. I thought he got a lot better last week coming downhill in the run game and striking a little bit and playing a little bit stouter for us and firmer in there for us. So I was happy to see him do that and kind of make that step. He had a couple of really good shots taking on o-linemen and doing some of the things that we’re really looking for him to do. I’m happy with his progression and again, I’m always kind of cautious with myself as well, because his maturity and his presence kind of makes you think he’s well ahead of where he is sometimes. There’s still some things he has to work on but he’s been doing good. (Jerome) Baker is probably the same way. Obviously there’s a different style of play and personalities but the things we’re asking Baker to do and the roles that we’re trying to put Jerome in, he’s doing a good job for us. Honestly, I thought I probably should have gotten Baker in a little bit more last week in some different situations. The game had a little different rhythm to it. I probably could have gotten him on the field a bit more. I’ll try to utilize his skillset a little bit better.”
(LB Chase Allen opened with the starters on Sunday just because of a unique package?) – “Yes. We’re trying to roll those guys and give guys different roles. Obviously Chase is a bigger linebacker and has a giant head on him and can use that to do some things. (laughter) We just try to use him a little bit and take some stuff off them and try to put all of the guys in a position to succeed and to utilize each of their skillsets. Chase is a guy that’s proven to us that he’s capable of playing on Sundays, so we’re going to try to find a role that he can help us win ball games.”
(Explain to me your thought process … Obviously S Reshad Jones’ shoulder injury is something you have to be careful with because of the nature of his position; but if you are forced to play without him, does S Minkah Fitzpatrick go back there or are you comfortable with him with where he is at nickel? Does S Maurice Smith get into the equation there?) – “All of that. Part of the reason we train the guys the way we train them is (because) you’re never going to go through a season 100 percent healthy. Even if it’s just little bumps and bruises and nicks and a play here and there – or a series – that’s one of the reasons we’ve cross-trained a lot of those guys at different spots. I think the ability for Minkah (Fitzpatrick) to play a couple of different spots and for Bobby (McCain) to do the same and some of those guys, and obviously bringing ‘Mo’ (Maurice Smith) up as a guy that’s been in the system and been around the program, it’s not like he’s a new player for us. He has a familiarity and all of those guys (do). It’s the same. It’s probably a similar answer to the linebackers. We’ll take a look at how we have to play certain guys, whether it’s the safeties or the nickels, and put those guys out (there); but all of those options are available to us, which helps. I wouldn’t say that … We continue to try to get Minkah some work at different spots, so it’s not like he’s only been playing down in the nickel and now (we) don’t want to move him back there. We keep training those guys and moving guys around. He’s been getting work at a lot of different positions and again, we feel good. We’ll feel good about putting them all in a spot that we think is the best group to go win on Sunday.”
(Has CB Bobby McCain’s work outside in the first two games been pretty much what you anticipated you’d get from him?) – “Yes, certainly. Again, Bobby is a guy that you know what you’re going to get. He’s going to compete and bite your face off and play hard and do it right, do it the way you’re asking. And that’s what he’s done. We can win with that, for sure. He’s done a good job. He saved us. He made a hell of a play at the end of the half there (last week). That’s an unbelievable play by him. He’s been good.”
(What physical trait does CB Bobby McCain have that maybe stands out above others?) – “He’s quick. He’s a quick player. I know people think he’s sort of a smaller guy, but he’s a physical player at the corner position, for a ‘shorter guy.’ With his quickness – and he can strike people and stuff – he can get hands on (guys) and can mirror routes and stuff like that. Again, he’s used to playing in the slot where there’s a lot of stuff going on in there. He’s had to fit in the run game, so he’s not afraid to do that. He’s got a physical presence to his game. Then also, he’s had to matchup against a lot of quick players in that role. So moving out there, that just hasn’t been a change for him. He’s kind of utilized that skillset – his quickness, his toughness, his tenacity – and kind of just transferred it a couple of yards outside.”
(If you weren’t a defensive coach, how much would you enjoy watching Raiders RB Marshawn Lynch play?) – “That’s hard to get out of your blood there. I mean I respect the way he plays, obviously, and has played for a while. As a defensive coach, I think just by nature, you’re – we have an offensive head coach (laughter) – you appreciate the physical nature of the game. We try to pride ourselves on being a physical team and a physical defense and that’s kind of something … On our side of the ball, that’s kind of how you have to play. Obviously when you have an offensive player that plays a physical brand, there’s a level of admiration and respect for a guy that has done it for a long time and runs hard. To me, he’s one of those guys that you know what you’re getting and he knows what he’s getting type of thing. He’s not afraid to go mix it up. I have a level of respect and admiration for the way he plays and how hard he runs. He’s a tough, hard-nosed dude and fights for yards and all of that stuff. Yes, I have a level of respect for the way he plays the game, for sure.”
(In what areas has CB Xavien Howard made the most improvement since you got your hands on him?) – “I think with ‘X’ it always was … I think his physical skillset really has never been a question. He’s tall, long, he can run and all of that sort of stuff. I feel like I probably answered this last year but his growth comes from the knowledge of the game and start to understand how teams are attacking him or just seeing the nuances of splits and leverages and route concepts and matching things. The more that he plays for us and the more he sees … Again, if you go back that far, I think some of the things that he missed where he lost some time as a rookie with the injuries and some of those things where he just didn’t get that bank of knowledge. So the more he plays, I think he just keeps growing, and the confidence of understanding what an offense is doing to attack him and recognizing splits and stems and route concepts and studying those sorts of things. So I think his football knowledge and his awareness just keeps expanding the more he’s on the field with us, which is sort of like a cyclical thing. His confidence grows and you see with ‘X’ when … If we practice something and we’re like, ‘Hey, if they line up like this, this is what you’re going’ and it happens and he jumps it, then he gets confident about that. Then it just sort of builds. Now he’s like ‘Okay, give me something else that I can sink my teeth into.’ Him having success recognizing certain patterns and routes and those sorts of things lends to confidence, which then kind of re-folds back into he wants more and more. The more he experiences that and has success with that, I think he just keeps growing as a football player.”
(Everyone saw the pass to Jets RB Bilal Powell – the touchdown. What did LB Raekwon McMillan do the rest of the game on pass defense and what does he have to do to keep that from happening again?) – “Listen, he had poor technique on that. He opened his hips up on it and he was worried about … He kind of over-committed to the flat route and Powell angled back underneath him. But we should have a little bit of help there. We shouldn’t isolate him like that. It’s not just him. We need to get that down on the ground and live to fight another play. I put him in a hard spot. But he can help himself with better technique. He kind of flipped his hips and tried to run and (said) ‘I’ve got to get out there right now,’ and then when the guy angled back, he couldn’t get his hips back to kind of plant and come underneath it. I put him in a tough spot, he didn’t have great technique and then we didn’t get help from anywhere else that we probably should have, from a couple of spots. So it was kind of a multitude of things. It wasn’t just on him. I think everyone sort of highlights that but I don’t know if you noticed him the rest of the game in the passing game.”
(No. That’s what I’m asking.) – “Which is a good thing. I think that’s probably the answer more than … I’m not trying to throw that back at you. (McMillan) didn’t get targeted a lot. He was in the right spot. Again, he has a really good feel. (It’s) maybe the opposite of that last answer with ‘X’ (Xavien Howard). He has a good feel for route concepts and what’s happening in the passing game. So when we play him in zone coverages and those sorts of things, he kind of has an understanding of ‘that guy is going here. This is probably what’s going to show up in this window.’ He does a good job of closing windows in zone coverages and recognizing route concepts and those sorts of things to put himself in a good spot. If we’re playing those types of coverages, he usually doesn’t get targeted a lot because he’s in the right spot and he’s closing down whatever windows he’s supposed to be closing down. Again, I put him in somewhat of a man matchup there and it’s a tough matchup for him. He can help himself with better technique and we’ve got a couple of our guys that need to help him finish that play off better too. But I thought for the most part, he did a pretty good job on some of the stuff we were asking him to do. That offense is a quick passing game offense. The ball is out and they’re running all of those screens and shield type plays and those sorts of things. So he has to be a guy that’s running and hitting and making a lot of tackles because the ball is going to be in the hands of those receivers quick. I thought he did a good job with some of that stuff.”
(Is LB Jerome Baker close to competing for playing time in the nickel?) – “Sure. Yes. We work him. He got a couple of reps last week. Maybe that’s a place where I can get him a little bit more work in that world – a matchup like that, putting a little bit more speed on the field. He’s got to earn it. He still has a ways to go in some areas. Yes, he’s done a good job in that. We keep kind of spoon-feeding him a little bit more and more. It’s sort of trickle-down economics and getting him a little bit more every day. Hopefully it fills him up a little bit and he’s ready to go. He’s fine. It’s not that we don’t have confidence in him. It’s just finding the right time and right spot to get all of those guys on the field, whichever matchups we like.”
(Based on the stage of where LB Jerome Baker is in his career, is LB Kiko Alonso still, in your mind, the person best equipped in coverage at linebacker?) – “This game has become such a matchup game. I think that’s week to week. There’s probably some … Kiko probably has about 15 pounds on Baker. There’s times where we feel that’s probably a better matchup (because) he’s taller, longer and a little bit of a bigger body. That may be a week where we feel that’s a better matchup for us. Baker is quicker and obviously lower to the ground. He can run. He’s probably – don’t tell Kiko I said this – but he’s probably faster straight outright and stuff like that. So those are different matchups. Sometimes we’ll say we like Kiko in this role and sometimes it may be Baker. Obviously I thought Kiko played an outstanding game last week. I have no qualms about the way he’s been playing football for us.”
(We’ve beaten you to death with tight end questions and concerns the last couple of years. You guys made some major moves. S Minkah Fitzpatrick and LB Jerome Baker are supposed to help with the tight end. How confident are you that it’ll make a difference against a player like Raiders TE Jared Cook?) – “Yes, obviously Jared has had a successful season so far. He’s had a lot of targets. Obviously he had some success against us last year. That’s part of the reason we tried to bring some of the players in that we brought in. It’s similar in terms of having matchups and players that we like and different body types in different roles for different types of players. Cook is a guy that obviously we have to be aware of and what they’re trying to do with him. They’re trying to get him the ball in a lot of scenarios. Yes, that’s the game plan is to try to have some different body types to throw at him and try to take some of his game away.”
(How different is it for a defensive play-caller when you know an offense like the Patriots or Oakland, their primary receiver is the tight end? He’s not the guy getting the check-down, he’s getting a good amount of targets.) – “I don’t know that necessarily it matters in terms of what position that player plays. Every week there’s going to be one or two guys that you’re saying ‘Hey, these are their guys.’ It’s not like we’re going to put six guys on (Jared) Cook and leave Amari Cooper hanging out by himself either. There’s always (things) built in with certain calls that you just like better, that sort of feature more positive coverage on some of those guys. The fact that he’s a tight end, I don’t know if that changes a whole lot of stuff in terms of it’s more like these are the calls we’re going to lean on or the ways we’re going to try to isolate those guys. With a guy like Cook, they flex him out a lot. So he ends up being in wide receiver spots anyways. It’s not like he’s always doing it from the line of scrimmage. That’s a different release point than some other spots. I think that’s just every week. If you want to talk general stuff, we look at what they’re trying to do on offense and we try to take it away. So obviously every week there’s going to be a couple of guys that they’re trying to feature and get the ball to, and it’s our job to try to negate that. This week, he happens to probably be one of those players.”
(What have you seen from DE Charles Harris in the first two games?) – “Honestly, I think he’s a little bit like Raekwon (McMillan), just in terms of he’s getting better and better every day. He had the sack negated last week (by a penalty). I don’t want to say I felt bad for him but it would have been good. He had a sack and was kind of getting the momentum going. I think he gets frustrated sometimes. He hasn’t had as many of the positive results – end results – statistically. He’s had a lot of pressures for us and affected plays but he just hasn’t had that putting up sack numbers, which I think he gets frustrated by sometimes. It was cool to see him get the sack. It stinks that it was taken away by the NZI (neutral zone infraction); but again, all we really want him to do is get off the ball and cause havoc. He’s an explosive player. We just keep telling him ‘put your hand down, get off and good things will happen.’ I thought he was better last week – this past week – than the first week, in terms of doing that stuff. Again, I hope all of these guys are on a trend that we just keep getting better every week and getting better every week. He’s still a young player for us. He played more obviously than Raekwon did last year but I just hope all of those young players keep on that trend. If we keep saying every week, ‘Okay, he got better. He got better.’ We don’t want him to press. Those results will come. If he keeps playing the techniques and style that we want him to play, those will come. It’s a luxury to have a first-round draft pick that we’re throwing three or four other guys in with. It’s nice that he plays 20 to 30 snaps, or whatever it is, and he can throw his fastballs and give us different looks. I think if he just keeps playing the techniques and playing the style we’re asking him to play, the statistical results will come because he has done some positive things for us. I think we just try to teach him not to get frustrated, stay the course and that stuff will work out.”
