Anthony Weaver – September 10, 2024
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Thursday, September 10, 2024
Defensive Coordinator Anthony Weaver
(I wanted to ask you one minor housekeeping thing just because fans ask a lot about this. Was CB Storm Duck active ahead of CB Ethan Bonner because he had a better practice week last week?) – “I think Storm (Duck) has done a lot of things throughout camp that you kind of get excited about. It’s not necessarily anything that Ethan (Bonner) hasn’t done, we have the utmost faith in him to go out there and execute for us at a high level. The Storm kid is – I think he’s played himself into that role, so that was something that was certainly earned.”
(How would you assess how you guys played in the second half on Sunday?) – “I mean, don’t give up any points, you’re usually pretty happy about that. I was excited just to see what we’ve been talking about since Day 1 come to life. We’re constantly preaching play the next play, that plus response equals outcome, control your response. And the guys did just that, we didn’t flinch. Regardless of what happened, I was preaching like, every football game is a boxing match, it’s not a UFC fight. It doesn’t end after one takedown. So we took some punches early, got up off the mat and threw a couple of our own, and fortunately, the game was long enough we were able to come back and win it.”
(I have several questions about LB Jaelan Phillips, but I think I’ll just narrow it down to the end of the game with the sack. Can you just kind of take us through what that meant for him to be out there and make that big play coming off of 10 months off the Achilles injury?) – “How incredible is that. There were times obviously when I was in the league when you think about an Achilles injury like, ‘Oh man, is he going to come back? How long is this going to take?’ For him to come back, look how he did, be as impactful as he was, just so incredibly impressed by him, the man he is. It’s just his sheer fight, I saw it in his rehab and then for him to come back out there and just have the production he did and play the way he did. I call him Mariano Rivera; he is the closer for us and he did that in that game.”
(How did LB Jaelan Phillips and CB Jalen Ramsey come away with their snap count limitations, maybe going a little bit over what maybe the team projected, but now with the quick around also before Thursday?) – “Both of those guys, you can have a plan and set a number, but if we know anything about them, we know the competitive spirit in both of those two players is second to none. So when that game was tight, particularly in the fourth, there was no chance they weren’t going to be in the game. Obviously, we’re a better defense when both of those guys are out there. As they continue to play, to rehab from injury and they start to feel better, obviously those snaps will increase, but just so excited about their role, both as leaders and as players on this defense.”
(Going back to what happened Sunday morning between police officers and WR Tyreek Hill, DT Calais Campbell and TE Jonnu Smith, what did you tell your players? What were those conversations like? And I guess what can you say to them in situations like that?) – “Truthfully, the day of, didn’t quite know the severity of what had happened. I, in particular, was just very much locked in on the plan, kind of got some whisperings through the locker room, but again not really knowing what exactly had happened. So there weren’t really a lot of discussions about it. Having now seen the video, obvious it’s triggering for a number of reasons, but the one thing I do know is I know all parties involved on our end from my football family and just know who they are as men. These – how my judgement and my feelings about them isn’t formed through opinion, it’s formed through experience and daily interactions with them. I have the utmost faith and believe in who they are as people and as men. It’s an unfortunate incident. I know there’s a lot of really good people in law enforcement. One of my best friends, John Graves, works for the Cleveland Police Department – he’s one of them. So I think each of these cases has to be judged on a case-by-case basis, and I’m just going to let the law take care of itself and let it play out.”
(Could you have ever envisioned a scenario in which DT Calais Campbell is in handcuffs?) – “Not the (Walter Payton) Man of the Year. Certainly not the Man of the Year. I’m actually surprised they had cuffs big enough for him. Not in a million years would I have ever expected going into that game that scenario to occur.”
(We heard WR Tyreek Hill mention he heard the words of his uncle when everything was going on to put your hands on the steering wheel, follow their directions, listen to what they say. I’m curious, throughout your life, what conversations have you had with either elders or people in your life about how to interact with police.) – “My upbringing is unique, it’s not something I need to talk a whole lot about. But I’m going to say this; it’s unfortunate in this day and time when I had two boys – my wife is Mexican American – and both the times that they were born and they were light-skinned, there was almost a sense of relief in that they were going to have to avoid some of the let’s say issues that I’ve had to deal with throughout my life. It’s unfortunate in this day and time in the world that that still occurs. It’s out there. I think the majority of people are good people. Shoot, I was raised Christian, man, and I have faith in the story because I know who the author is. I have faith in this world and people in general. I like to give people the benefit of doubt, and ultimately, I think good always prevails.”
(If I could go back to the game, the fourth down stop to start off the fourth quarter, I guess what I want to know is the way you’ve kind of communicated how pleased you were with the defense in the film review? Because getting 11 guys on the wrong side of the numbers to come back to the other side of the field and make that stop, I thought was a pretty cool moment.) – “Man, that play in particular – there’s two plays, obviously, from our side of the ball that stand out to me and just epitomize everything we’ve talked about since Day 1. We walk in Day 1; we talk about uncommon effort. That fourth down stop, you talk about 11 guys, just a band of brothers, coming together and just hunting and doing whatever it was going to bring that ballcarrier down. That was on full display right there. And then Jevón’s play by the goal line – we chart shots on goal. We talk about how important it is to take the ball away. Not offensively them turning it over, taking it away, and he did just that. I am so incredibly proud of the guys. This game has and always will be, in the words of Clarence Brooks, about the players, and they made those words come to life. I’m glad they bought into what they’re preaching, because we have all the talent to get done what we need to get done as long as we just take care of the steps along the journey.”
(Take us back to January, February, whenever it was – how early in your time with Mike McDaniel did you discuss how to stop Josh Allen?) – “Knowing what this game means to the organization, there are some things that really didn’t need to be said. As soon as the schedule came out and you saw this game, particularly a Thursday night game, Game 2, is one you kind of circle. So it’s a short week – Thursday games aren’t easy for anybody, but this one’s going to be a little bit easier for our guys because who our opponent is. It won’t require a lot of motivation from me. These guys will be jacked up to play and show who we are in front of a nationally televised audience.”
(Speaking of motivation and being jacked up, do you still go into player mode when guys come off the sideline? Do you get a little – how long does it take to calm back down?) – “I try very hard to stay even keel. I try to stay calm in the chaos. Now, when we got that fourth down stop, I did not. All right, I was yelling. Now here’s where I made the mistake – my headset was still on. So my coaches that were in the booth, I’m pretty sure I blew their eardrums out with just my exuberance in that play. As an ex-player this is as close as you can ever get to it and people ask, ‘Why does so and so play so long? Why did Brett Favre play forever?’ Because there’s no other avenue in life where you can get that feeling. If you’re a basketball player, I can go play basketball. I can go play tennis as I age, I can play golf forever. I don’t have 21 other friends where we can meet in a park and go play football. That ain’t happening. Particularly with 80,000 people cheering for you. So now I live through these guys. I try to impart whatever wisdom and experience that I have, and when they make plays, it’s almost like watching your children make plays. I get that same feeling and joy out of it. So yeah, that excitement from when I was a player, it definitely comes out in those moments.”
(S Jevón Holland forcing that ball out, that had to be very rewarding as a coach because the way he did that so instinctively – it’s got to go back to something you guys preach and practice.) – “Yes, certainly proud of that, but that kid deserves all the credit. He has been the leader, by far, in our chart of shots on goals. So we had something like 1,266 shots on goal, I believe, in training camp, he may have had like 1,100 of them – some of them while he was hurt on the sideline. Man, I’m so incredibly proud of that kid. He is a stud both on and off the field and was excited to see him shine and be his brightest when the moment was there.”
(What are the shots on goal? What exactly is that?) – “Oh, so we always talk about when our offense or any opponent we played in the preseason or even in spring, as they were running by you, you had to take a shot at the ball. So a strip attempt – early on some of our guys were getting upset because we’re punching them and hitting them in the gut, but once they understood the big picture of why we were doing it, there was no flinching then either.”
