Matt Burke – December 27, 2018
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Thursday, December 27, 2018
Defensive Coordinator Matt Burke
(How is it just from a human standpoint this week? Is there stress for you, as far as coaching as a profession, where you don’t know what’s going to happened from one day to the next? I know you’re laser-focused on the game that’s next, that’s how coaches think; but is there any personal stress for you, what does the future hold? Does it ever enter your mind?” – “Nope. No, it doesn’t. It’s part of what we do. It’s part of our profession, good or bad. It’s just kind of what we sign up for. Again, as I told you guys, it’s not worth wasting time worrying about things or thinking about that. I’m going to go try to win a ball game this week and worry about everything else after that.”
(Being a coach in the league, you’ll probably have to go through a handful of times where there is probably some uncertainty at the end of the season. How have you handled it in the past?) – “The same way. Really, it’s again, I’ll try to give this team and organization everything I have and I’m going to keep doing that until the last whistle blows. Like you said, this is my fourth team in however many years. It’s just part of what we do. You have good seasons and you have not as good seasons. You just try to keep playing through all of them and worry about that time when it comes.”
(What do you mean when you say you told the guys not to worry about it?) – “I didn’t say that. I said that I try not to worry about it. We’re trying to go win a ball game. We’re just focused on Buffalo and having a good end of the season and finishing strong.”
(At certain times, your defensive tackles had some good moments. Obviously DT Vincent Taylor was impactful and we’ve seen moments from DT Davon Godchaux and DT Akeem Spence; but do you believe as you look back that the position was admittedly filled after the team moved on from DT Ndamukong Suh?) – “I think they’ve all played hard this season. I try not to worry about all of those things, about filling spots and all of that. Our roster is built and those are the guys we’re going to go win ballgames with. All of those d-tackles have played well at times and had some slip-ups at times. I think Davon has actually played … Davon played really well last week. I think he’s kind of … I think he hit a little bit of a lull in the season, but I think he’s had a good last couple of weeks. That’s been encouraging for him to see and for him to take that step. Yes, Vincent obviously showed some good signs early before his injury. I’m happy with the effort those guys are giving. Again, even the guys like Ziggy (Hood) and ‘Sly’ (Sylvester Williams) that have come in late and what they’ve done for us, I’m happy with those guys and what they’ve done for us this year.”
(How personal do you take it that you have the 30th ranked defense? It is your unit, you’re the one making the calls. You don’t decide personnel, but it is still the 30th-ranked defense.) – “By what rankings?”
(Yardage.) – “I don’t worry about all of that stuff. Again, you guys worry about all the stats. I’m trying to win ballgames. Obviously we didn’t win enough this year. We’re going to try to win one more. All of the end of season retrospective stuff, I don’t get into all of that and worrying about my rankings and this and that. After each game, we evaluate what went right and wrong and try to fix it week to week. Then we’ll take a step back after the season and try to see if we can hopefully play better next year.”
(Head Coach Adam Gase was talking about the last six weeks or so, you tried to ramp up DE Cameron Wake’s snaps per game because you’re getting closer to the end of the season. Last week Cam played, 30 snaps or 45 percent of the snaps, which I think was the low among the defensive ends. We’re at the end of the season, what are you saving him for?) – “I’m not saving him for anything. We have a rotation, Cam is 36 years old. We’re trying to make sure … There’s a fine line, I think, with Cam in terms of the number of plays and what we’re trying to get out of him. To be honest with you, to some extent Cam informs us of kind of where he’s at and if Cam wants to be on the field, he’s going to be on the field. We’re trying to keep him fresh and obviously I’m sure those 30 snaps, every single one of the third downs, he was on the field. We try to spot him at other places. That’s kind of our approach with all of our d-linemen in terms of rotating those guys and keeping them fresh. I’m not sure that necessarily because it’s the end of the season we’re ramping him up. I think there’s a give and take with, at some point, there’s two many snaps for all of those guys, not just Cam. We try to keep those guys fresh and rotate them through. Obviously Cam’s a guy we want on the field on critical situations and keep him fresh towards the end of the game and on third downs and the stuff that we’re trying to get him loose on. (Defensive Line Coach) Kris (Kocurek) does a good job handling those guys and working that group in a rotation. I don’t have any problem with the way Cam’s been going.”
(How involved were you in personnel selection last offseason? I know they sought your input on DE Robert Quinn and other things, but were you actively involved in every defensive player that was brought in?) – “It’s an organizational decision for all of that stuff. They ask for opinions and I give my opinions. I’m not sure I have final say on anything; but between (General Manager) Chris (Grier) and (Head Coach) Adam (Gase) and all of the guys in the pro personnel department and everything, there are conversations that are constantly going on. I offer my input and sometimes they take it and sometimes they don’t. That’s not my role. I give them where I think guys will fit in our scheme and how we can utilize them and what we’re trying to do from a defensive standpoint. Those are the decisions that are made from a bigger picture standpoint.”
(I ask because Head Coach Adam Gase is never given any player he doesn’t want because he controls the offensive personnel. Is that ever the case with you, where you’re given players you don’t necessarily want?) – “I don’t look at it like that. I’ll take all of the players. Give them all to me. (laughter) Any player that ends up on our roster, I’m happy to have. Like I said, all of those decisions – draft, free agency, all of those things – those are organizational conversations that are ongoing, constantly ongoing. I think Chris (Grier) does a god job of coming down and saying ‘These are the spots that we got,’ or ‘We have an injury that we’ve got to replace and these are the list of guys we’re looking at.’ We bring guys in for workouts during the season and everybody is in there and again, it’s really a group conversation about this is what we need to fill on defense and this is what we think we’re missing on defense, and here are the options and how can we help fill that. Those are constant ongoing conversations. I have input into all of those decisions.”
(From the first game of the season until now, can you think of two players who you feel have made excellent progress, growth and improvement in their skill and performance?) – “I think Raekwon (McMillan) is one of them that stands out. I think he’s shown a lot of growth, especially probably in the last six weeks or so and has played really well for us. Even last week with Kiko (Alonso) not being able to go for us, stepping into a nickel role and doing some of those things and kind of expanding his world a little bit. We had the microphone on him and those sorts of things from a leadership standpoint. Really, from a run game standpoint, he’s been really good. Obviously I know his tackle numbers have been up and those sorts of things but just fitting runs and being stout and playing square and those sort of things, I’ve been really, really happy just from an overall package with Raekwon, for sure. That’s been good to see. Really, both of the young linebackers. ‘Bake’ (Jerome Baker) has been another guy. He kind of gets to it a different way sometimes from a running and hitting standpoint and that sort of thing, but I think Raekwon has shown a lot of progress throughout the whole season, from start to finish, and especially again, the last month-plus. I’d probably be remiss if I didn’t point out Jalen (Davis), getting some work last week for the first time. It was really the first extended play that he’s had and he was productive and energetic and in the right spot and stuff. That was really cool to see and brought some energy and juice. Maybe in a different sort of way, but Mike Hull, I want to point him and what he did last week playing 40-plus snaps on the spot. We didn’t really know until about 20 minutes before kickoff that he was going to go and that’s really the first defense that Mike Hull has played in a long time and he had a great game. He played really good, so I was really excited for him to step in and do that. Just from last week and those two performances, I really appreciated the efforts of the guys – Jalen, who hadn’t had a lot of work all year and got to get in and get some playing time, and Mike Hull, who was kind of put on the spot at the last minute and really performed well. I think all of our young guys, just in general … Any time you’re getting reps and getting work and getting game-time action … Minkah (Fitzpatrick) having to flip around a bunch of different spots and do that as a rookie has been impressive and what he’s been able to go through. I think Charles Harris getting a sack last week and (he) is starting to play a little bit better and play faster. I think a lot of our young guys … (Davon) Godchaux kind of hit a little lull in the middle of the season and in the last month has been good. All of our young guys, I think again, the more they play and the more experience they get, they’re all sort of showing that progress through the season. I’ve been pleased with … We’ve had to play a lot of younger guys at times and they’ve all kind of been progressing to a point where we feel pretty good about them.”
(We asked you this last year but how do you explain the sacks and the number? What’s your explanation for why there isn’t more?) – “Probably the same as what I told you last year. (laughter)”
(‘It’s not about sacks, it’s about pressures.’) – “There you go. It’s the same thing. (laughter) Look, we’ve been disruptive. We’ve tried to cause turnovers and those sorts of things. We’re not chasing sacks. We’re trying to be disruptive. Sometimes even disruption for us, I think I mentioned it last week or the week before, disruption for us sometimes is them having to keep extra guys in to block on offense and not getting extra guys out in the routes because they’re worried about our ends and those sorts of things. We’re not trying to chase stats and worry about where our rankings are or what the defense is in this. It’s what an offense is trying to do to us and what are we trying to do to take away what they do best and how that goes. I feel like our defensive ends – Cam (Wake) and Robert (Quinn) and (Andre) Branch and all of those guys – are threats to an offense. If you talk to a lot of guys we play after games, that’s all they talk about. ‘90’ (Charles Harris), ‘91’ (Cameron Wake), ’94’ (Robert Quinn), those guys, they’re all worried about them. Obviously offenses are accounting for our rush and that affects how they play. I think that just shows up for us in other areas. Sacks are an easy number. I’m not saying that we don’t want sacks. I probably said that last year too. I’ll take the sacks. But it’s not something that we’re like chasing or worrying about how they impact the game.”
(Back to DE Cameron Wake for a minute. Because of his age, folks pay attention to level of play. Have you seen a consistent level of play and do you see that continuing into maybe next year?) – “I don’t have a crystal ball. I’ve seen a consistent level of play from Cam. He’s been good in the run game, throwing his body in there and setting edges for us. Obviously he had production last week in the rush game. I haven’t seen any drop-off from him. I can’t predict what Cam wants to do or what’s going to happen in the future but he’s been a productive, steadily productive, player for us this whole season – age or not – probably because we’re helping him with some of his snap counts.”
(Would you want DE Cameron Wake on a Matt Burke defense?) – “Yes.”
(To clarify what you said earlier, you said DE Cameron Wake indicates to you where he’s at, so Cam can decide when he goes in?) – “Mhm.”
(Is CB Jalen Davis almost exclusively like a slot/nickel guy or could he maybe one day play outside?) – “I don’t know. That’s where he’s been focusing for us obviously right now. He played outside a little bit in college. Obviously he’s a little on the shorter end, so whatever issues that may show. I can tell you what: he is a competitive, tough kid. It wasn’t too big for him. It hasn’t been too big for him. He’ll go in there and bite your face off wherever you put him. Just from an attitude and approach standpoint, I wouldn’t count him out from anywhere. I think that showed when we got him some action last week. Hopefully we can keep developing him along that way.”
(You’ve got guys maybe aren’t an ideal fit for what they’re asked to do. How do you go about putting guys who may not be a fit for your scheme with what you ask them to do?) – “Honestly, I’ve always been a believer that as a coach, it’s our job to put the players in the right spots. It’s not like ‘this is my scheme and you’re not the right player, so you can’t play in my scheme.’ To me, that’s not good coaching. To say that they’re not a scheme fit … What we try to do is say ‘Okay, these are the skillsets of the players that we have available. How can we deploy those guys and utilize them to our best advantage?’ To say that guy is not a scheme fit, to me that’s lazy coaching. For me, it’s to say, ‘these are the guys that we have. How do we use them?’ I told you guys last week, I try not to come in here and make excuses and say ‘This guy is this’ or ‘We got screwed by this call’ or ‘This happened.’ That’s not what we do. We say ‘Man, we’ve got these guys up on game day and how can we win a ballgame with them?’ So all of our guys, we try to utilize them in those roles and play and put them in the right spots to win a ballgame and be successful. I think it’s our job to utilize our players’ skillsets as much as fitting them into a scheme.”
(And free safety is the best spot for S Minkah Fitzpatrick?) – “He’s been pretty good there. It’s a good spot for him.”
(I like S Minkah Fitzpatrick in nickel.) – “Okay. We’ll put that into the offseason decision-making process. How’s that? (laughter) I’ll make sure I tell those guys.”
(Would you say you run a class Wide 9 still?) – “Classic Wide 9? I’ve never heard of that before. (laughter) We utilize Wide 9s. We have a lot of different fronts. If you watch some of the stuff that we do, we probably have a lot of fronts that people don’t realize. That’s an element of what we do, for sure. Obviously that’s a foundation of where I started with Jim Schwartz and that system. But again, we have to change fronts and do different things whether it’s players to fit what we’re trying to do or for a certain scheme or runs or fronts that we’re playing against. Yeah, there are elements of that but we’re a multi-front defense.”
