Josh Boyer – September 21, 2020
Download PDF version
Monday, September 21, 2020
Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer
(Just wanted to ask what went into the thought process of keeping CB Noah Igbinoghene on WR Stefon Diggs when CB Byron Jones went out of the game? We just want to know the reasoning why CB Xavien Howard stayed on his assignment on Bills WR John Brown.) – “There’s a lot of factors that go into matching guys up. One, the routes they run. Two, the type of receivers they are and really three, the amount of movement that they do within their scheme. We always put guys in spots that we feel will be best for them and that’s why we made the decisions that we made. Obviously we’ve got to coach it better and we’ve got to play it better, but that’s what went into those decisions.”
(I went back and looked back at the gamebook. I think there were three plays – pass plays – of 46 yards or more allowed. Those explosive plays obviously were the difference in the game. What happened? How much of that is player performance? How much of that is scheme?) – “Again, one of the things that we need to do as a defense is one, we need to eliminate the big plays, and we need to get off the field on third down when we have opportunities to do that, which limits the offense’s chances. So again, I think we could coach it better. I think we could play it better, and those are things that we need to work on and we need to do, and we need to eliminate those big plays for sure.”
(On that final touchdown drive there for Buffalo, they were trying to run some clock it seemed like, but then they started throwing the ball on that third-and-9 play that resulted in a touchdown pass. I was just curious, is that something that was a surprise to you guys? Were you looking for a run there? What went into that third-and-9 call?) – “On the series before – the first-and-10 – they actually ran the ball and then on the second down they threw it. Then they got a first down again, and it was another run. The second down we were actually expecting pass on that. Then the third-and-9, we were definitely expecting them to throw the ball.”
(I appreciate the thoughtful answer on why the matchup as you had it yesterday with CB Xavien Howard and CB Noah Igbinoghene and early on with CB Byron Jones, but once you see it not working in-game, why not change at that point?) – “Again like I said, the factors that go into that and obviously like I said, we can coach it better for sure. We don’t always have to be in the same calls and we can help the players that way, too; but again, fundamentally there’s some things that we did that we can do better. From a coaching (standpoint), putting them in better position; and then we can do better from a player standpoint just executing. There were a lot of routes I would say that they hit us on that were similar routes that one, we can do a better job adjusting as coaches, and that’s on me. That’s not on anybody else. That’s on me. And I would say there’s some things fundamentally that we could do from an execution standpoint that will help us from a player aspect, too.”
(I’m sure you’re not pleased so far with your pass rush. What are you going to do to improve it? How far are you from getting where you need to be?) – “I think again, it’s just the same things that are working for the offense that you need to find ways to fix and stop that; the same thing goes for things that aren’t working for you on defense. You need to find different ways to do it and fix it that way. I know our guys are going to work hard to do that, and there’s always a fundamental element when you have a quarterback with the ability to scramble, that kind of hinders rush from time to time. But we need to find ways to improve it. We need to coach it better. We need to adjust better, and we need to execute better.”
(Obviously when CB Byron Jones goes out on the first series, that’s not ideal and I’m guessing that the plan would have been to use Byron, CB Xavien Howard and CB Noah Igbinoghene in sort of a rotation. So with Xavien having to play 60 snaps, that’s obviously probably an unexpected result. Is it fair to say that even though Xavien is healthy enough to be on the field, that he’s not yet fully back? That’s what I see. Is that a fair assessment?) – “I would say if we don’t feel like a guy is healthy enough to put him out there, we would not put him out there. So we feel like he’s healthy. We feel like he could go. We feel like he could play. That’s why we had him out there and we have confidence that he’ll be able to play and play well. So I would say from that aspect, we feel like he’s healthy. We feel like we could go and if we didn’t, then we would manage the rep count.”
(I wanted to ask you about your evaluation of your play that you’re getting from the nickel position. We saw a change made in CB Nik Needham playing over CB Jamal Perry last week. I don’t know if that was matchup-related, but how would you assess what you’re getting from that nickel position?) – “I think it’s like a lot of positions. I think we need more. And again, a lot of things go week-to-week for us based on matchups, based on calls, based on things that we feel like that are good for us. I would say that some of those things that we’ve done, again, we could coach it better and we could play it better. I would say we’re still looking for better not only from the nickel position but from a lot of positions.”
(Oftentimes after a game like yesterday, we’ll see lineup changes the following week. Is that something that’s under consideration?) – “I would say again, it’s under consideration every week. Obviously Week 1 things didn’t work out for us. They didn’t work out for us the last week; but we’re always going try to do what we think is best and again, I think it really fundamentally – I will tell you, it starts with me. We can coach it better. We can put guys in better position and then for the players, we need to execute and perform better. That’s really the bottom line. We need to get off the field on third down to limit the number of offensive plays and we surely can’t give up big plays like we did at a clip yesterday. We had a lead in the fourth quarter with a chance to win the game. We couldn’t close it out.”
