Vic Fangio – January 4, 2024
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Thursday, January 4, 2024
Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio
(Do you envision having one guys picking up the brunt of the load with LB Bradley Chubb out? Or do you envision a fairly even split of playing time between DE Emmanuel Ogbah and LB Melvin Ingram?) – “Yeah, it’s going to be by committee, for sure.”
(What’s the strengths of each of that committee? What does DE Emmanuel Ogbah do well that maybe LB Melvin Ingram doesn’t and vice versa?) – “(Ogbah) is a good pass rusher for the most part. Mel’s a little more well rounded in the OLB position, the ability to drop and stuff like that.”
(When you have a guy like DE Emmanuel Ogbah, who’s more of a traditional defensive end and is not extremely versed in that dropping back into coverage, do you have to call things differently? Or scheme things differently for him?) – “At times, yes.”
(Could you talk about last week? I know we’re moving on to this Sunday, but you guys seemed to play more man-to-man. There were some communication problems. Maybe I’m wrong there, but just from watching.) – “Yeah, it wasn’t that much more man-to-man than usual. Yeah, we had some execution problems. But I think one of the biggest problems was I just didn’t call a good enough game, really.”
(Has anything happened at corner in your mind that’s made you rethink essentially what has been obviously CB Jalen Ramsey, but then CB Eli Apple and CB Kader Kohou in whatever order. Have any of the other corners done enough to make you rethink that? Or do you go with the guys you’ve gone with in CB Xavien Howard’s likely absence?) – “Yeah. When ‘X’ (Xavien Howard) went out early last week, we went with Eli and Kader stayed at nickel. I think that’s the way we’ll move going forward.”
(When you say you didn’t call a good enough game, do you mean calling stuff that maybe you saw from Baltimore that you didn’t expect? What do you mean by when you say you didn’t call a good game?) – “No, just that the calls didn’t work out.”
(Do you look it as because the calls didn’t work, you didn’t do a good job? Or do you kind of view it more process-oriented? Like if you’re process is rooted in what you think is sound, you can live with the call. How do you kind of rationalize your calls after the fact?) – “I’m not sure I follow you totally, but just the way it turned out, some of the calls put us in tough situations that we didn’t handle well enough. Usually that doesn’t happen. But you have to give Baltimore credit. They’re a well-balanced, good offense and they can do that to you.”
(How different is Buffalo now than the last time you played them? New offensive coordinator obviously.) – “They’re different to some degree. They’re really running the ball well right now and when you are running the ball that well, the play-action game is opened up. So that’s really helping them. They are really talented on offense. They have two really good tight ends. Everybody knows about (Stefon) Diggs. Their slot’s a good player. (Gabe) Davis is a good player. (James) Cook is the best back they’ve had in Buffalo maybe since Thurman Thomas. Their line is doing a good job and obviously everybody knows about Josh Allen and his ability. They’re highly ranked in most offensive categories and when you watch the tape, you can see why.”
(When you guys used CB Jalen Ramsey to shadow Jets WR Garrett Wilson, how did the rest of the secondary handle their different responsibilities? Would they be comfortable doing it again?) – “Yeah, they handled it well that day. I think if we want to do it again, I think they’ll handle it well again.”
(I wanted to get your thoughts on how LB Bradley Chubb got hurt later in a game that was kind of out of reach. Do you regret having him out there at that point?) – “Obviously you do knowing what happened now. But I think Mike (McDaniel) addressed that earlier after the game or earlier in the week, and I just stand on what Mike said.”
(What does CB Cam Smith need to do either the rest of the year or headed into his second season to take a positive step in his career and be a more likely contributor?) – “Just improve in all areas – assignment, technique, execution, know how. Just a little bit in all areas.”
(LB Jerome Baker is returning to practice. If he can return to game action, what difference would that make?) – “It would help. We’d be able to have a better three-man rotation there with him, David (Long Jr.) and Duke (Riley). It would help for sure. Bake’s a good player, we’ve missed him. I think today’s practice will be telling whether he can make it back or not.”
(All five Buffalo offensive linemen have played over 1,000 snaps this season. What does that continuity do for an offense? And how challenging does it make it for you guys to attack an offense that has that kind of o-line continuity?) – “Yeah, it’s unusual for that to happen as witnessed here locally with our offensive line. And they are good players too. When you put continuity with good players, good things happen. They pull a lot of their linemen. They do a good job scheming their run game. I think that’s attributed to continuity also.”
(What did you learn from the couple of games – you’ve been so good for most of the season – but the couple of games where it’s kind of gotten away from you, has there been a common thread?) – “The two games I think you’re alluding to I think are last week and the first Buffalo game. Yeah, we didn’t play well early and things snowballed. It wasn’t one area that was letting us down. It was basically all phases, both run and pass. I think when that happens, you get not back on your heels playing wise, but it makes you feel that way a little bit.”
(Is there a similarity, different styles of quarterback, but between Ravens QB Lamar Jackson and Bills QB Josh Allen, they both run, they both pass. Are they similar threats?) – “Yeah, they are very similar. Different body types, different running styles. But the same problems for sure. Allen is just a beast of a guy, a physical specimen like John Elway was in the mid-80s to the mid-90s. This guy is the new John Elway on steroids. And I don’t mean he’s taking steroids. (laughter) He’s just bigger, faster, cannon for an arm, tough. He’s a dude.”
(Have you gotten any lobbying from CB Jalen Ramsey about shadowing? Any good nature lobbying from him in general or this week about shadowing Bills WR Stefon Diggs or whoever?) – “Occasionally. Occasionally.”
(What gives you confidence in CB Eli Apple?) – “I think Eli recently has played better than he did earlier in the season. He’s a veteran. There’s know how. He knows his limitations. He knows who he’s covering. He knows the strength and weaknesses of whatever we’re playing and does a good job adjusting.”
(You’ve mentioned before you’re not a huge fan of the corners traveling.) – “I never said I wasn’t a huge fan of it.”
(Maybe there’s not a lot of situations you’d do it in a normal game plan. Is that fair?) – “I’ve done it a couple years in my career a lot every week. But when you have two corners that you think are pretty good, than you’re less likely to do it.”
(So I guess that was my question. Is it the talent of the corners or something schematically that gives you an advantage of showing your hand in that perspective?) – “No, I don’t think it matters schematically that much.”
(I wanted to ask about shadowing quarterbacks like Baltimore QB Lamar Jackson and Buffalo QB Josh Allen. When you have a guy who specifically is assigned to shadow, I don’t know if it’s every down or specific downs, what does it take away from the defense?) – “Well, a lot of teams will do that. To me, the biggest question is, is that shadow guy the fourth rusher or the fifth rusher? And then that affects what you’re doing coverage wise.”
(Does it matter if the shadow guy is closer to the line of scrimmage? Is he pretty much out of the play? If Buffalo QB Josh Allen passes the ball, that guy is pretty useless right? If he’s further back, he can at least play some defense. Is that a correct assumption?) – “It is. But if he takes off, you’re farther away from him.”
