Vic Fangio – September 14, 2023
Download PDF version
Thursday, September 14, 2023
Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio
(I guess two of the surprises for us on Sunday was snap counts for LB David Long Jr. and S Brandon Jones. Seventeen for David, two for Brandon. Was that entirely gameplan-specific or was Brandon’s lack of preseason action a major factor in that decision with his playing time?) – “Yeah, as far as Brandon (Jones) goes, for sure. He’s been way behind in practice reps. Just didn’t feel he was quite ready to be out there yet, but he’s closing that gap and hopefully we’ll get to see him more here soon. And as far as David (Long Jr.) goes, he was the starter in the base package, (Andrew) Van Ginkel was the starter in the nickel package and we ended up playing more nickel in that game.”
(What made LB Andrew Van Ginkel the right fit in the nickel package? I know he’s got that pass rushing skill and various skills, but what made you go that direction?) – “We moved him there, tried him out there as you guys know starting in OTAs and in training camp, and felt that throughout that whole process, he kind of won the job on merit. So he’s been doing a good job in there and we expect him to continue to get better. Doesn’t mean that the other guys – David (Long Jr.) and Duke (Riley) can’t get in there some also, but it was just a job earned over time.”
(I did not have CB Justin Bethel blitz to help win the game on my bingo card. What made that the right time to have that guy blitz from that position?) – “Well, when you’re talking 1:45 to go and they have two timeouts and they only have to get however many – 40 yards – to get into field goal range to win, we had to get a negative play or two somehow in there. And that was a pressure that we hadn’t shown up to that point, so I just thought it was a good time to call it.”
(The blitz fascinates me. I just have to ask one follow-up. Some guys blitz 18 times a game. Some blitz seven. In all your years of experience, in your few years of experience, does it turn out that when you blitz less, the success rate is actually higher?) – “Probably.”
(Why?) – “Just somewhat of a surprise element. They don’t get over-protection conscious with the protections and keeping extra blockers in, so probably to a degree.”
(When you looked at the film, what was the biggest – what was the problem with the run defense in allowing over 200 yards?) – “I think most of that was basically my fault there. Just didn’t have the guys ready to play the type of game that I think they’re capable of playing and somewhere along the line, I didn’t do a good job of preparing them for the run game during the week, the 10 days of preparation because we started the week earlier. And somewhere along that way, I missed getting them ready for that.”
(I know kind of a staple of the defense that you have is playing with lighter boxes and players have talked about it being a little bit of an adjustment. I guess how much of an adjustment is it up front with maybe one less guy in the box, maybe some of the fronts you’re playing?) – “It’s not an adjustment for them. They still have to take on blocks no matter how many people we have up there. They’ve got to take on and defeat the blocks that they get whether it’s an eight-man front, nine-man front, six-man front.”
(How did you leave that game, just your general thoughts on it?) – “It was a W. We went into the game trying to focus on not letting Mike Williams have a big game and we did accomplish that, but we gave up too many rushing yards which led up to, I think it was four third-and-1s and four third-and-2s. And when you’re getting that many third-and-1s and third-and-2s, your third-down defense statistically isn’t going to be good.”
(S DeShon Elliott played every defensive snap, but what were your thoughts on his game?) – “It was a lot like a lot of us. He had some good plays, some not so. But for his first action as a starter – I’m really not sure how much he played in Detroit – I thought it was a good starting point for him.”
(From San Francisco, your defense right from the start, I think you were ranked second in the league your first year, the other ones took a year or two to get… is there any pattern here or just …?) – “No, in San Francisco we inherited five really good starters and then we got I think it was five or six other good starters through the draft or free agency that year. That was the year of the lockout and we quickly turned our personnel over. So if you’re doing good, the players are doing good and we had good players there. The other places, I don’t know. In Chicago, the cupboard was bare when we got there. Very bare. Even the cockroaches weren’t home. (laughter) And then in Denver, we inherited a pretty good group, but we had some injuries. We had Bradley (Chubb) and Von Miller ticketed to be there and I think in my time there, those two guys played like four games together. So every situation is different.”
(Last week you played a team that was installing a new system with Offensive Coordinator Kellen Moore. Now you get a team that has another new system in Offensive Coordinator Bill O’Brien. How much of an advantage is it to have one game of tape in that new system compared to going into it blind?) – “One is better than none, and particularly in this case, because Bill O’Brien has been in college the last two years, and prior to that he was the head coach of the Texans. They have a different style of quarterback with (Deshaun) Watson and his years there. New England has always had an offense that’s kind of their offense no matter who is the offensive coordinator. They had Josh McDaniels for a long time obviously. Now Bill (Belichick), last week it was a little different than was New England is traditionally known for offensively. One game tells you something, but it doesn’t tell the whole story, obviously.”
(I know before Week 1, you mentioned that you had planned on rotating corners and safeties. But S DeShon Elliott played all the snaps and I think CB Eli Apple played all the snaps in nickel. Was that a matter of CB Cam Smith not being ready?) – “I don’t remember saying that we would rotate them that much. But really, you play your guys. The defensive secondary is kind of like the offensive line. They stay in there.”
(You’re always wearing these bracelets. I’m always seeing them. Do they have a meaning to them?) – “Yeah. One is from Sam Mills, ‘keep pounding.’ He started that once he got his cancer, which was 15 years or so ago. I’ve had it on since then. One was for O.J. Brigance, who has ALS and works for the Ravens. That’s been on there for 15 years too, probably. The other one is for a trainer for the Bears. His daughter had cancer very young when she was one or two years old, so that’s for her. I’m happy to report she’s doing great now eight years later, or whatever it is.”
(What’s the Brigance once say?) – “’All things are possible. Brigance Brigade.’ I think he’s one of the longest-living ALS people. He was diagnosed in 2007 with it and he’s still alive.”
(The defense overall, how do you think they played? You mentioned WR Mike Williams, we talked about the blitz, the run defense. Overall, how’d your defense do?) – “Good enough to win a shootout, but not good enough to win a lot of games.”
(Is this a completely different offense? From our view, the Chargers have huge firepower all over. They threw 54 times. I’m sure they didn’t like that.) – “The 54 passes – you’re talking about New England right? They had in the mid-20s of those in two-minute situations. The 54 number is very skewed. We’ll see. It’s just a one game sample. What’s different is they don’t have a fullback on their roster and they used to carry a fullback a lot of times, and you’d get some two-back stuff. Right now, most of their stuff is one back.”
(Some of the players mentioned after the game that it takes time to adjust to a new system. I’m curious in your experience, how long did it typically take a new personnel group to adjust to your scheme?) – “I don’t know. I think that’s a convenient narrative. We should be adjusted. A part of it is I got to be adjusted too, and know what best fits, and what style best fits our players moving forward, and that could change from week to week depending on the opponent you’re playing. So I don’t put a lot of stock into that.”
