Jevon Holland – November 20, 2023
Download PDF version
Monday, November 20, 2023
S Jevon Holland
(We were asking DT Christian Wilkins about having CB Jalen Ramsey back there. What are the two or three things that Jalen Ramsey brings to this defense?) – “Extreme playmaking, and a veteran presence. Very calm. Always going to do his job. You can rely on him 100 percent of the time.”
(Talk to me about having WR Tyreek Hill on offense, the two or three things that he brings. I’m doing something on having CB Jalen Ramsey on one side of the ball, and Tyreek on the other side.) – “He is the fastest player in the league. He can make a play at any point. Just changes the game. I think that covers everything. And he’s hilarious. That’s cool, too.”
(On the shirt, I see CB Nik Needham in there. I know he’s mainly a cornerback but he’s played some safety, so you guys kind of take him in as well? You said the shirt is mainly safeties right?) – “Nik plays all positions. Nickel, dime, corner, safety – he plays all of them. We can put Nik wherever. So yeah, we put him on the shirt too. He’s on the corners one too, I’m pretty sure.”
(Now that you guys are healthy, the way you played last month makes you look like one of the best defenses in the league. I’m wondering if that is something you guys collectively talk about, wanting to be one of the best defenses in the league?) – “Yeah. If you are not really striving to be the best, then you’re kind of just out there for no reason. Obviously the goal is to be the best and with our execution and how we’re playing, we’re continuing to try and build on each performance week in and week out, and hopefully we put together a complete game in the near future. That’s our goal is to play a complete game of football.”
(What’s the single biggest area of improvement as the season has gone for this defense?) – “I honestly could not tell you because that’s not my job to know. That’s the coaches’ job to know and for them to deliberate. I know what I want to focus on and how I want to improve, and how my unit has improved. But it’s just about getting comfortable. This is our first year in the defense as a collective. A lot of the time, when the offense is new, people give them time to adjust and expect defenses in new processes to just get it right away. But you’ve got to have live bullets. You’ve got to be in the defense for quite a long time – not necessarily a long time, but you have to see it in live speed against actual opponents. It takes time for people to adjust to things. I just think that’s kind of where we are now. Things are filling out.”
(I know Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio didn’t want to make big adjustments or excuses, but was that always in the back of your mind that we are going through injuries and we do have to get comfortable, and after a while we might hit our groove?) – “Naldi’ (Renaldo Hill), and (Joe) Kasper and Vic (Fangio) have all been in this defense and coached in this defense and they kind of said the same thing. ‘You guys are making great strides, just stay at it.’ We don’t really need to make any crazy adjustments because eventually you start trusting your teammates and them being in positions, and them starting to trust you. Then everybody flows in one motion.”
(In a game where very little went wrong for the defense, what happened on the WR Devante Adams touchdown over the top? What was the breakdown there?) – “Just small vision errors. It’s about having your eyes right. When it comes down to it, you got to make the plays that come to you. Being in positions that the gameplan designs for you to be in, that’s the only thing.”
(You guys had stops on nine consecutive possessions in which it was a one-score game yesterday. I’m wondering what the chatter was as you guys kind of kept being put in spots where you guys had to hold the lead at the point. What was the conversation like in the huddle between you and your teammates?) – “My message to the defense is that our one job is to give the ball back to the offense. We don’t have any control of whether or not they score or what they do with the ball, because our job is to stop the other team and get the ball back to us. Regardless of where we fall, or however we get the ball, whether it’s a turnover or a fumble or a sack or whatever it is, if we’re on our one-yard line, we’ve got to stop them and hold them to a field goal. That’s just the case that it is. If it’s a sudden change, then you got to go out there and execute.”
(Did QB Tua Tagovailoa use the durag you got for him?) – “I had to go to this little Korean BBQ spot, and there was a little beauty supply store there, so I went in there to get myself some durags. They had the silk ones, which are like really high luxury. I was like, ‘you know what, Tua might need one.’ So I hit him up, and he was like, ‘yeah, let me get one.’ I knew he had one for the game, but after the game, I was like, ‘yeah, that’s going to be sweaty.’ Got him a black one. Got to take care of my man.”
(I was casually talking to one of your cornerbacks a couple of weeks ago about toughest people to cover. WR Stefon Diggs, WR AJ Brown etc., etc. He said WR Garrett Wilson. What are your thoughts on Garrett Wilson and what makes him tough? Where does he rank against guys that you guys have seen this year?) – “He’s up there. He’s a hell of a talent, honestly. I haven’t looked at anything too deep. It’s Monday after a game. But he’s a hell of a talent. He’s very special. You see him with a lot of crazy catches, especially early on this year. He’s as good as any elite receiver we’re going to face. It’s going to be fun playing him.”
(You’ve played a lot of snaps with three good safeties the last three years with S Brandon Jones, S Eric Rowe and now S DeShon Elliott. How much of an adjustment is it for you to change safety partners, and what does DeShon do especially well?) – “That is a great question and it’s a difficult question to answer because I honestly forget. Like playing with Rowe was completely different from playing with Brandon. And playing with Brandon is completely different from playing with DeShon. So I kind of forget how it feels to play with Rowe and Brandon – not so much Brandon because he’s gotten in a couple of games (this year). But it takes time to get in a rhythm with people. Playing with DeShon is cool because I enjoy his level of intensity. He and David Long are kind of the same. They are high level, high energy (guys). You see them flash a lot on tape. Very physical players. So I enjoy that. I enjoy being able to switch positions and manipulate our looks. I think playing with DeShon has been fun this year and he’s got some special abilities to him. I’m excited seeing him going out there and doing his thing.”
(You mentioned LB David Long, and S DeShon Elliott as high intensity guys. Those guys are both new this year. Do you think that was intentional in terms of how this defense is constructed with guys that have that mentality under Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio?) – “I think the way that the offseason played out, we needed to bring in guys like that. I don’t think that we didn’t have that last year. I think this defense is built around edge rushers and safeties, and the linebackers have to be able to do a lot of different things. They are put in really difficult situations, and ‘Bake’ (Jerome Baker) and David (Long) and ‘Gink’ (Andrew Van Ginkel) and Duke (Riley) all do a great job at executing those. I think that all four of those individuals are both like-minded and indifferent at the same time. I am definitely confident that bringing David in was a huge sparkplug for us because he brings a lot of fire during the game.”
