Josh Boyer – November 17, 2020
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Tuesday, November 17, 2020
Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer
(I’m writing about DE Emmanuel Ogbah today and his turnaround. His career turnaround, at least on the sack side, is pretty stunning, pretty remarkable. How important is he to what you do and how many different ways can you use him?) – “I think as we talk about Emmanuel, I think that the thing is he’s shown ability to be multiple and we can move him around in multiple spots. He does a lot of things for us. He can set the edge, he can handle double teams, he can rush the passer, he can rush the passer individually, he can do it with games. Like I’ve said numerous times, he’s a diligent worker and he constantly is striving to get better, so hopefully we can continue that, continue to do multiple things with him, continue to get some improvement. I know he works at his craft and takes it very seriously.”
(How much of your game plan every week is designed specifically to try to create confusion in the opposing offense?) – “Each week we look at it. We look at what we have available to us and we look at what our opponent’s trying to do. And as always, any time that we can put pressure on the offensive line, put pressure on the quarterback, which hopefully in turn puts pressure on the coordinator, just to get them a little bit off-balance; that’s always the goal. It’s easier said than done. There’s a lot that goes into that, but we’re always trying to make sure that we put pressure on the offensive line, put pressure on the quarterback. Some weeks that’s by scheme, some weeks it’s by varying fronts, some weeks it’s by varying coverage. Ultimately what we’re trying to do is just put our guys in the best position to succeed on a week-in and week-out basis.”
(I also have an DE Emmanuel Ogbah question. What has clicked for him this year? Why is he having a breakout season now?) – “Watching him on film at Kansas City and Cleveland, you obviously like some things that you saw there. Again, my experience with him has been this year and I think you always kind of try to go into a season with an open mind, regardless of what you’ve done in the past or haven’t done. I’m not sure how much different it is than years ago for him. Again, like I said, he works hard. He works at his craft. He’s constantly trying to get better, puts extra time in at it and he’s had some production out on the field. And like I said, there’s a lot of other things that he does for us that probably doesn’t get noticed and we’re going to continue to try to improve that week by week.”
(Two defensive touchdowns, special teams touchdowns. You guys are getting a lot of turnovers forced with CB Xavien Howard and DE Emmanuel Ogbah doing their jobs. Do you see your players really taking on being happy to see some success and striving for more because they have been successful in certain opportunities?) – “One thing is I would say we put a good amount of time into creating turnovers, forcing turnovers, scoop and score, cradle a fumble. There’s numerous different techniques and drills that these guys do. They put in a lot of time and effort at it and obviously we only get so many shots at it; and for all the time, effort and energy that they put into it, I’m sure that they’re gaining confidence in it and I’m sure they’re thrilled and excited. Our guys genuinely like playing for each other and they’re excited when guys make play,s and it’s kind of something that we stress. We’re trying to get the ball. We work at it and it’s showing up a little bit in the game and we need to keep continuing to work at it so it does show up for us week by week.”
(I wanted to ask you about DT Raekwon Davis. How did he do? How is he doing?) – “I think when you turn on the film, Raekwon, he’s been working extremely hard at practice and I think there were some good things. I think the thing that we’re striving for is consistency on a play-in, play-out basis. I think we’re working towards that. There were definitely some good things that he did on the game that I think we’re improving. There’s still some things that we need to work on to get better and he’s working hard at that, as all of our guys are. That’s really what you want as a coach, is when a guy is given an opportunity, you really want them to make the most of it. And I know it’s important to all of our guys because you see the work and the time that they put into it.”
(Yesterday we had DE Emmanuel Ogbah on and he talks a lot about the trust that has been developed between the players and the coaching staff and how he kind of has a perspective that he gives you guys to help you craft up plays for him and stuff and fill in behind him when he makes a rush or whatever it might be. I was just curious to get your perspective on how that trust works for you and the players – not just with Emmanuel but with the entire defense.) – “As a coach, there’s some things that you can’t see in real time or on the field or from the (Microsoft) Surface that you have at the sideline. You can go back when you watch the game film and you can kind of see it; but the players, they can give you some good information on the sideline and obviously when that’s confirmed and they’re giving you the correct information and if there’s things that they see that they can do that will help us, we’re all for that. It’s no one-man show. Everybody has input and ultimately we’re all trying to make sure that we’re successful as a group and if guys are seeing things and sometimes it’s not even an individual thing. A guy will say, ‘hey look, if I do this, this can open up this for such-and-such.’ It’s a constant battle to gain information and you’re looking for as much good information as you can possibly give and obviously when players give you good information, you can use that. I think they trust us, we trust them. I think that’s a good working relationship.”
(This is the second week in a row you went into battle without three of your assistants. I was wondering how this experience has been like for you personally with the kind of double challenge. One, putting together a game plan and executing it without guys that you rely on and two, coming into a place where the virus has been and how it’s been concerning for you. How has this experience been?) – “I think you just kind of take things as they come, and you kind of deal with them. It’s another challenge, it’s another obstacle. I think that’s the great thing about football. I think football has a lot of life lessons in it. It’s why I enjoy it and love it so much. I think it’s very closely-related to life. There’s plenty of ups and downs and adversity in the game, and whatever it is, you kind of deal with it. You don’t run from it and you just make the best of the situation, and I think that’s what all of us try to do in everyday life because problems always come up. I can see you’ve got blinds back there. The blinds at our house, they stopped working. So we’ve got to get those fixed. So there’s things that happen on a daily basis that I think you just kind of deal with it as it comes and I think live I’ve said time and time again, ‘Flo’ (Head Coach Brian Flores) and (General Manager) Chris (Grier) have done a great job of bringing guys into this building that are mentally tough, that can handle ‘hey, we’ve got to go through this protocol, we’ve got to do this, we’ve got to do that,’ and they don’t skip a beat because they’re focused on the task at hand. I don’t think you really reflect on it or think about it. You’re just like, ‘what do I need to do to get the job done?’ And I think that’s the way our coaches, our players, everybody in our organization – I think that’s the way they approach it.”
(You’ve had some, I guess, some ballhawk corners in your career from former Patriots CB Malcolm Butler to Patriots CB J.C. Jackson and now CB Xavien Howard. I’m curious for you as a play caller, how does that change what you do when you know you have a guy who can make plays on the back end?) – “I think ultimately, what you’re doing is – it’s for every position – is you’re trying to put the guys in position to highlight the things that they do well. So especially for guys in those situations, sometimes you try to put them where you think the ball is going or you try to put them on routes that you think that if they throw up a 50-50 ball here, it’s more than 50-50; we’ve got a chance. So I think it goes back to whether you’re a corner – a ball-hawking corner – or you’re a defensive tackle. I think from a schematic approach, you’re just trying to put guys in positions where you can highlight their talents and they can make plays because ultimately the turnovers help, the ball disruption plays help, the tackles for loss – they help – and I think that’s what goes into it. You’re just trying to put them in the best position to succeed. Obviously we’re not 100 percent at that and there’s obviously things that we can work on as a coaching staff to put guys in better spots, but that’s the goal and that’s what we’re trying to do. Obviously we’ve been fortunate to have some good players that have a good skillset and they’re able to make plays.”
