Steve Gregory – December 22, 2022
Download PDF version
Thursday, December 22, 2022
Safeties Coach Steve Gregory
(In recent weeks, we’ve seen especially with S Verone McKinley III getting more time, we’ve seen S Jevon Holland kind of take on a different role and I was curious about where have you seen the most growth? Because we’re seeing him spend a lot more time close to the line of scrimmage.) – “There’s definitely that. Obviously with guys getting hurt and different guys being up and having to play, you kind of move those guys around a little bit. And it’s definitely expanded his game as playing down as a strong safety a little bit, down in the box, covering the tight ends, fitting the run and putting him in some of those roles. I think when you do that as a safety or as a player, when you play multiple positions and you get a lot of experience at playing those positions, it kind of helps you see the defense as a whole and it helps you understand where all the different moving parts are, how the linebackers are playing, what the d-line is really doing on a down-to-down basis. And that just helps him as a player understand what the whole picture looks like.”
(And in that, there’s also been a lot of growth from S Verone McKinley III. Just where have you seen him go from when he first came in as an undrafted rookie to now starting out of necessity, oftentimes?) – “Yeah, no doubt. I think one thing that it definitely does is build confidence for the player. Obviously there’s always the unknown. As a player, you want to play. But when you’re not playing, you’re just doing it in practice and you’re getting a few reps here and there in a game and now him having to go out and play an entire game and accumulate that many reps, it helps build his confidence and make him realize that he can play at this level. He can play an extensive amount of time and be productive and there’s still things that have to improve. There’s areas of his game that need to get better. There’s growth that he needs to make as a young player and those things will come with time, but I think he’s done a really good job of being a mature player, understanding the situation that he’s in and trying to go out and execute at a high level and communicate and do things that we need to do to try to win football games.”
(When CB Justin Bethel was brought onto the team or I guess right before Week 1, I mean, did he come in as cornerback or a safety because we’ve seen him play cornerback and then after some of the injuries, he was playing some safety.) – “Yeah, I’d say he came in as a DB. He’s a versatile player. He’s an experienced player in this league. He’s been around for a while. He can play corner, he can play in the slot, he can play as a safety as we utilized him a little bit last week. And he’s a smart football player so each week, as the season has gone on, we try to encourage those guys, especially guys like him that have the ability to play multiple positions, to make sure they understand the game plan from all the different positions across the group, in case something like that happens in a game where you’ve got to get a guy in. That’s what creates so much value for someone like him, to where he can step in and play a lot of different spots.”
(Have there been times this year where you and Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer have thought, “Boy, I wish we could blitz Jevon more, but we just can’t afford to because we need him in the defensive backfield”?) – “I don’t necessarily know like you’re wishing you can blitz a certain guy. I mean, obviously, Jevon (Holland) has a certain skill set. He is a good blitzer. We try to cater a game plan towards what we think is going to be the best thing to execute to try to win the game. So if that’s a situation where we have to blitz Jevon, then then we’ll gear it up that way. I don’t think it’s something that we just shy away from. I think we are calculated in picking and choosing our spots on where we want to send certain people and all of that stuff is something that’s a process throughout the week. It’s not out of the realm to say that we just can’t blitz him because we need him here or there. I think it’s just something that we tie together throughout an entire game plan.”
(What have you liked most this season so far about S Jevon Holland?) – “Honestly, I just like the maturity that he’s shown. His growth as a player, as a leader, as somebody that holds guys accountable, somebody that communicates, somebody that’s continuing to grow and understand what offenses are trying to do conceptually to attack certain coverages, attack certain looks, how they try to attack certain fronts and different things that we do schematically, I think that has been really impressive behind the scenes at some of the stuff that he’s grown of as a player. Also I think some of the man coverage stuff that he didn’t get an opportunity to do a lot last year being more exclusively in the middle part of the field, I think you’ve seen some of that. He’s an athletic, big safety that can cover guys and we’ve utilized him a little bit that way. So just the overall, call it, collaboration of his game, being able to do different things on a down-to-down basis, I think has really shown up.”
(Quick follow up, if I may, based on what S Jevon Holland did last year, I think there might have been an expectation that he would have, like, really big, big numbers in terms of splash plays. Was that a little bit unfair in terms of basically the opportunities have to present themselves or have there been missed opportunities?) – “A lot of people get caught up in saying that you have to have so many picks or a certain number of sacks or a certain number of tackles. The game of football honestly, it just doesn’t go that way. Some of these guys that lead the league in picks, half of them might be just tipped balls and overthrows that just happen to fall into their lap. So if you really go back and you study the tape and you look at it schematically of what the player is doing is, is he executing his job? Is he doing the right thing within the defense? Is he a disciplined player? And is he doing exactly what we need him to do on a down-to-down basis to execute and win? And he does do that. He does play within the scheme. He doesn’t go outside the realm of trying to do too much because the perception is I have to have numbers. Those numbers will come if you do your job and you play within our scheme. The numbers will come if the plays come to you. You got to make the play. So don’t really try to get caught up in that too much. Obviously everybody wants to have 10 picks and lead the league and all that stuff. Yeah, I get that. But if you get too caught up in trying to chase that, you end up being a worse player.”
(What was your honest reaction in Buffalo, when already being down S Brandon Jones and you don’t have S Eric Rowe, DB Elijah Campbell and then S Jevon Holland has to come off to the sideline. What was your honest reaction in that moment?) – “My honest reaction? Where’s the next guy. Let’s go. Like we’ve got to get somebody out there on the field and you’re thinking like, hopefully we’ve prepared these guys enough to where they can go out and execute and you can put them in position to where they can go play and execute their job. And we do a lot of work throughout the week with all our guys making sure that they know the game plan and preparing them in case something like that happens. ‘Hey, there’s a chance you can go play this position, there’s a chance you might have to go play this position. So study, be ready.’ And when that moment comes, like it did in the game and (Justin) Bethel had to step in, he was ready to go and it’s a credit to him and the process that we go through throughout the week.”
(I was curious if you saw the interception in the Chargers and Titans game in the end zone when the guy tipped the ball back into the endzone? Did you see that? On Sunday a player caught a ball out of bounds yet threw it back in-bounds for the interception. I just was curious if you saw it, if you had a thought…?) – “No, I did not see that. But back when I was playing with the Patriots, we had a play like that to where we had a corner – he kind of jumped out of bounds and just batted it back in and I think (Devin) McCourty picked it off. Or McCourty was the one that did that. So I’ve seen something like that happen before, but those are incredible plays…”
(Is there a way to coach that or is just…?) – “No, I think that’s probably just a natural reaction by a player. I don’t think in individual we work on that. (laughter)”
