Josh Boyer – October 6, 2020
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Tuesday, October 6, 2020
Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer
(CB Noah Igbinoghene – what can he do better to prevent what’s been happening from happening again in terms of receivers getting open behind him? What can he do differently or better?) – “I think a lot of it starts with just more attention to detail, a more focused practice. Like I’ve said before, practice is the closest thing that we get to game action, so I think when things become habit and you do it over and over again, and your focus to detail from a play-to-play standpoint – which Noah, he’s a diligent worker. He’ll come in and put a good day’s work in and hopefully things will improve and we ask that of all of our guys. The things that aren’t going so well for guys, we work hard to try to improve that and the things that they’re doing good, we try to build on. So I think a lot of it goes to practice and really just focus on a play-to-play basis.”
(You’ve had some good plays from your defensive tackles. You’ve also had some runs up the gut that have gained sizable yardage. Would you say your defensive tackle play has been good, average, below average?) – “I would say it’s like all positions, whether it’s the defensive tackles, defensive ends, linebackers, safeties, corners – I think we’re looking for improvement. We’ve had some good plays. We’ve had some plays that you’d like to play better. I think our thing is a play-in, play-out consistency, and I think when you can build that over time, that allows you to be a pretty good defense. I would say we’re striving for improvement in all areas, and it really comes down to consistency in our play.”
(I wanted to ask when you guys are playing zone and CB Noah Igbinoghene has a player – a receiver – that kind of runs right by him, maybe even rubs him a little bit, is he supposed to stay in his zone area or is he supposed to trail off with that runner and follow him? And do you think his ability to maybe switch from man to zone from play to play needs some work there?) – “Again, I think you try to be multiple in all things that you do; so whether it’s from a front standpoint, whether from a pressure standpoint or a coverage standpoint, we’re going to ask guys to be multiple in what they’re doing, and then obviously we’ve got to have all 11 guys working on the same page. I would say that starts with me. I need to continue to improve. I need to get our guys – all 11 guys – to be on the same page and know and understand the calls. That’s what we’re working towards.”
(On a similar topic, we talked to S Eric Rowe yesterday and I asked him about what was happening at the back end. He talked a little bit about communication. He talked about checks at the line and when guys go in motion, there seems some communication issues going on. What do you see and how do you solve that?) – “The offenses that we’ll face – and we’re going to see another one this week that motions as much as anybody in the league – so there’s always going to be communication whether it’s from the front or the back end. Again, a lot of that starts with us in practice and I wouldn’t say all of the errors that we’ve had have not been communication. Some of them are just basic stuff that it’s a focus thing from play-in, play-out from multiple players. Obviously for us to good consistently on a down-in and down-out basis, we have to be able to handle motion, we have to be able to know and understand our calls and then once we can get to that point, we’ve shown spurts or flashes of playing good defense from time to time. But on a down-in, down-out basis, we’re all striving to improve; and like I said, that starts with me and that’s what we’re working to do.”
(San Francisco 49ers QB Jimmy Garoppolo is dealing with a high-ankle sprain. He may or may not play and 49ers QB C.J. Beathard came in after 49ers QB Nick Mullens and led a touchdown drive late in the fourth quarter that Monday night game. I wanted to ask how do you prepare for three quarterbacks instead of maybe one or two and do you think it’s a schematic thing with 49ers Head Coach Kyle Shanahan’s offense that will maybe make it a little bit easier for you guys?) – “I think Kyle (Shanahan) does an outstanding job with his offense. We will prepare for all three quarterbacks just like we’ve prepared for everybody that’s on the roster. So you go in week-in and week-out, sometimes you have a better idea that this guy’s going to play a little bit more than the next guy from the quarterback position, so we’ll make our guys aware of all three guys and we’ll be prepared no matter who plays. Like I said, Kyle does a great job with his offense. There’s so many explosive players that they have. Their offensive line is really athletic, so it’s a big challenge for us.”
(How would you describe the challenge of trying to deal with 49ers TE George Kittle and what’s the best way to go about trying to minimize the impact he can have on the game?) – “Again, I think they do a very good job with their scheme. They’ll move him around. They’ll use him in multiple facets. They’ll hand speed sweeps to him. He’ll be a focal point in the passing game. He’s a guy that we’ll obviously need to know and most everybody will need to know where he is and what our plan is on how to handle it, and I don’t think it’s just one way that you do it. Obviously he’s a really good player and I know he’s had the injury, but he didn’t miss a beat last week. So we’ll definitely – and again, they have a lot of other good explosive players. These guys can hit home runs from anywhere, so we’re going to have to do a good job making sure all 11 guys for us defensively are on the same page and we know where their skill position guys are and we know that they’re going to move. We just need to be ready to defend what’s coming at us.”
(I really enjoy watching this DT Zach Sieler. He kind of opens my eyes. He’s all over the place. What are some of the things about his approach that you really like?) – “One thing, and I would say one thing that makes the job enjoyable, is that we have a lot of guys that put in a great day’s work. They come in and they work as hard as they possibly can. They’re constantly striving for improvement. I think Zach (Sieler) embodies that. I think when you watch Zach on the field, he plays with great effort, and that’s probably what sticks out most. Obviously you love and respect that about him, and he’s constantly in coaches’ offices trying to get better, trying to watch more film and then he goes out and practices as hard as he possibly can; and then he’s going to play as hard as he possibly can. And like everybody else, there are some things that are good that he’s doing and then there are some things that we’re working on to try to get better; but Zach is a hard, hard worker and he’s a high-effort guy. He’s really a joy to be around and again, I do, I feel lucky that most of our guys are like that. They’re very highly motivated and they’re very diligent workers. We know the task at hand in front of us and we just need to keep striving for improvement and try to get to a point where we can play down-in, down-out consistently football.”
