Patrick Graham – December 17, 2019
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Tuesday, December 17, 2019
Defensive Coordinator Patrick Graham
(You played a couple of new guys in the secondary. How do you think they held up?) – “They competed. Obviously we didn’t do anything good enough coaching-wise, and playing-wise we could have done better, but they competed. They’ll just continue to keep growing and we’ll get back to it tomorrow.”
(I think one had one week, one had two weeks of time within the system. How much were you able to do with them, and is it a matter of just saying, “okay, go play Cover 2 and we’ll we handle the front end?” How does that work?) – “(laughter) The beauty of the game to me, to me, is it’s pretty simple. If you can tackle, that’s one. It’s not like wherever they were before that, they weren’t asking them to tackle, so that’s one thing. Two, can you cover your guy and play the right leverage? That’s the same thing that others team were preaching to them so that’s what we try to do, and then from there just be tough, be disciplined. That’s really what we’re asking them to do. It’s nothing different than what they’ve been asked to do in different places. The call might have been called something differently. Maybe there’s a few technique things here and there, but to get guys ready, our coaches do a great job of getting guys ready to go within a short period of time. This is still football. It’s still tackling, defeating blocks, covering, using your leverage; so that stuff is stuff that they’ve been doing for a majority of their adult life.”
(From our perspective it seemed like – your defense is obviously multiple and you use guys at a bunch of positions – it seems like it would be harder to pick up than if they…) – “I get that, but I think the beauty of what we try to do is we try to – especially this time of year – we try to keep it focused on the fundamentals. Again, it comes down to tackling, block destruction, playing your leverage; so if we can keep it within that vein right there, that’s what we try to do with the guys. Yeah, it might have a different name and the call might call for something different, and it might seem more complicated, but it really gets down to the reason why we’re going to win games is because we’re going to be good at fundamentals. This week when we’re playing Cincinnati, we’ve got to play our leverage, we’ve got to set the edge in the run game, we’ve got to tackle, we’ve got to get off blocks. It all comes back to the same thing.”
(Last week DE Charles Harris was inactive. What does he have to do to get on the active roster and to improve in terms of creating pressure?) – “I think just in terms of the game plan, that’s how we determine who’s going to play. Charles will just continue to keep working hard and whether it’s pressure – it depends on how you define what that pressure is, but I think that’s a collective thing whether it’s the call, whether it’s the group in terms of making sure the setup is right. Very seldom is it a one-person show. That’s not how we’re set up. He’s just got to keep working hard and keep grinding.”
(With this season you guys have 18 sacks in 14 games. Obviously that’s not a favorable number because you’re last in the league in sack production. Is it talent? Is it play-calling? Is it poor execution? What has been the issue with that?) – “The measure – I’m not a big stat guy in terms of that – but in terms of sacks, we look to see how we’re affecting the quarterback, so there’s different ways to do that whether you drop eight, you rush six, whatever it may be – pressures, hurries, whatever it may be or just having people in coverage. Again, whether we need more sacks or less sacks, I don’t know. I would prefer more wins. That’s the main thing I’m focused on. The thing is, obviously I could coach it better. That’s where I’ll start and that’s where I’ll end it with. Obviously I’ve got to do a better job coaching it.”
(How would you say you’ve done this year?) – “In terms of?”
(Job performance. Coaching the defense. You, how would you say…?) – “We don’t have enough wins right now, so not good enough.”
(What’s one thing this offseason you’re like, “man, this is one thing I really need to focus in on and get better on?”) – “I’m not worried about – the offseason coming up, you’re talking about?”
(Yeah.) – “I can’t – I’m worried about Cincinnati.”
(What’s one thing so far this season – I imagine getting pressure on the quarterback you wish you had more?) – “The thing I’m focused on right now honestly – and I don’t look too far in advance – is how to limit the running game for Cincinnati, how to take away (Tyler) Boyd in the passing game. That’s what I’m focused on. Anything down the road in terms of my personal development and all of that stuff, I’m trying to get better every day. That’s continual, so it doesn’t matter what (season). I’m not even thinking about that. Right now my focus is on Cincinnati and putting our guys in the right spots to be successful against them on Sunday. That’s my focus.”
(Regarding Cincinnati, you’re once again facing a veteran quarterback in Andy Dalton. Are there similarities – Eli Manning one week, Andy Dalton the next, or is it a start-over type thing?) – “Every week is different. He’s a veteran. He’s seen a bunch of stuff, so you obviously take that into consideration whether it be disguise or just what you want to throw at him and what our guys can handle and things of that nature. Every week is so different in the NFL, so the carryover – they both are good. (laughter) I’ll give you that one. They both know how to get the ball to the playmakers. That’s what I look for. They’re doing a good job of that and getting them in the right calls in terms of the run game. You know you see the ‘check with me’ at the line of scrimmage. They’re getting into the right calls. (Joe) Mixon has run for over 125 yards the last two weeks, so obviously he’s doing something right there because when you’re dealing with a veteran quarterback in my opinion, where they really gain the edge is when they’re able to check the run game against favorable looks. When they do that, that’s pretty good by those guys.”
(LB Vince Biegel had the pick against the Giants on Sunday. What have you seen from him in terms of consistency week-in and week-out?) – “I think he comes into work. He’s a diligent worker. I think he works at it. He’s open to coaching. He works hard on the practice field. I don’t know if he takes any reps off, not that any of our guys do, but he understands – I think he’s really bought into that practice is the most important thing we do during the week leading into the game, so he does a good job of maximizing that out there on the practice field because it’s the closest we get to game reality, so the better you do there – if you make your mistakes there and you get them corrected, the more confidence you’ll have going into the game. So I think he’s done a good job with that along the with the other guys on the team.”
(Has LB Vince Biegel’s production surprised you at all or are you pretty much getting…?) – “No. He’s a hard worker. When you put in the work – and it doesn’t always work out, I understand that – but he’s put in the work and you love to see guys get rewarded for their hard work. Am I surprised? There’s very little stuff that surprises me. I’ve seen production from guys nobody thought we were going to get production (from) and guys who were supposed to be productive not get production. It’s just about putting the work in and hopefully everything falls in place.”
(Do you feel like you have a defensive lineman or edge player that can disengage from an offensive tackle and get pressure on the quarterback?) – “Yes. Yep.”
(Who?) – “We’ve got several guys. Starting with (Andrew) Van Ginkel, (Vince) Biegel, Charles (Harris), Taco (Charlton). All these guys have shown the ability to do it – Sam (Eguavoen), he’s been able to do it. (Jerome) Baker’s gotten plays. So yeah, I feel like we’ve got guys that can make plays against the offensive tackles. As long as we play with our hands, play with good pad level, you’ve got a chance against any of these guys. As long as we do that, we’ll have a chance against any of these guys.”
(I guess the question is why don’t we see more of it then?) – “Why haven’t we seen more of it? I don’t know how you want me to answer that. I’ve got to do a better job. I think I’ve made that clear. I’ve got to do a better job. We’ve got to be more consistent with our pad level. We’ve got to be more consistent using our hands, so that starts with me.”
