Matt Burke – October 5, 2017
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Thursday, October 5, 2017
Defensive Coordinator Matt Burke
(There was a report this morning the CB Byron Maxwell ‘failed to play defenses called by the coaching staff.’ How often was that occurring?) – “I can’t address any reports that I don’t know about, but ‘Max’ plays what we ask him to play. All of our guys do. We just made decisions on what we thought were the best matchups for the week. I can’t address stuff that I don’t know about.”
(What were some of the factors that went into the decision to make a change at corner?) – “I liked the way ‘Tank’ (Cordrea Tankersley) had been practicing. You guys know that I wanted tighter coverage and wanted some of the things that I just didn’t feel like I was seeing, so we just felt that that was a better opportunity for us to try to move forward last week.”
(How has CB Byron Maxwell responded? He’s been through this before.) – “He has. He’s been good. No one likes to be benched or replaced or to lose playing time, however you want to look at it. I wouldn’t expect him to be happy about it. He was upset and we had some good conversations, him and I and (Defensive Backs Coach) Lou (Anarumo) talked to him a bunch, about what we were doing, and he’s responded well, honestly, as well as you can expect. He’s getting some scout team reps now. We’re moving guys around and he’s been working hard and he says, ‘Alright, I’m just going to keep trying to show you that I’m ready to play and contribute to the team.’ So as long as he keeps on that track, again, it happened last year, it happened a couple of times, and he’s earned his way back in to where we thought we were ready to play him some more. If ‘Max’ continues on that track, then he’ll have an opportunity to get some more time.”
(If CB Xavien Howard can’t go, is CB Alterraun Verner the next man up for this week?) – “There’s still a lot of issues going on there – factors. I know ‘X’ is kind of day-to-day, so we’re seeing where he is. Honestly, we’re just getting all of those guys ready. Special teams will be a factor in terms of who’s active and who’s not, also. It’s just going to be how it fits for the team and what (Head Coach) Adam (Gase) decides to play in terms of who they’re keeping up and who’s going. We’re getting multiple guys ready to play and we’ll make that decision based on health and those factors.”
(Would you say that this is still a man-press defense?) – “I would say those are our base principles, sure.”
(Do you play it a lot, because people are asking why not more?) – “(Laughter) Schematically, I don’t want to say we’re a man-press team; but all of our techniques, even when we play what we consider our zone defenses, they all have man principles in them, and techniques, especially on the outside part of the field, those corners, they should be pressed. Again, depending on certain route concepts and what’s coming at them, they should be in man-oriented coverage.”
(Do the corners get to decide how far off the line of scrimmage they work?) – “No.”
(So they should be closer?) – “In certain calls. Again, the calls and formations dictate technique. So when we make a call, they should have an understanding of, ‘Okay, depending on splits or formation, this is the technique I have to use.’ Sometimes it’s dictated that you should be pressed, sometimes we can’t press in certain splits or certain formations that they have to play off or have to do some different things. The call dictates one thing, but then what the offense gives us dictates something else. There are certain times where they should be pressed, absolutely; and there’s sometimes they can’t be depending on what the offense is showing us.”
(I know it’s a small sample size, just three games thus far; but your rush defense is allowing just 3.1 yards per carry. Why is it so much better this year than last year? What’s different?) – “I don’t know. It’s a new year. We’ve got good players. We made an emphasis on it. I don’t know. I can’t tell you what’s different. I just think the guys are taking pride in it. It’s a point of emphasis from the top down, from me, from everyone else. We’ve been fortunate enough to have some success so far, but it is only three games.”
(How much of a factor is S Reshad Jones being healthy in improving that running defense?) – “Obviously he’s a great player for us. He’s a great tackler, probably our best tackler in the back end; so when you lose a guy like that (it hurts the defense). I thought one of our issues last year, again, was a run breaks out and Reshad gets it down for eight yards or 10 yards and it doesn’t look as bad and we can regroup and fix whatever happened, whereas if we miss a tackle back there and it goes for 40, all of the sudden it’s like, ‘Man, we can’t stop the run.’ Also, he’s been a good blitzer for us in run pressures, and (we’ve been) utilizing him around the line of scrimmage and stuff, too, and giving some different fronts, so he’s a huge factor in what we’re doing in the run game for sure.”
(Going back to what you said based on what you said about splits of the wide receivers. If they’re in close proximity to one another and you have one off the ball and one on the ball, your cornerbacks have to be at different levels to avoid being picked, so that takes away your ability to get hands on receivers.) – “Correct. Any team that is known as a press coverage team or wants to work out of press, that’s what offenses are going to try to do. It’s hard to press stacks and bunches and those types of splits and those things, so teams are going to try to work to get us off press. They don’t want hands on their receivers either, so we worked on it all spring. That’s what (Head Coach) Adam (Gase) tries to do to us every day in practice. That is one of the ways that teams try to get us off press.”
(How would you assess CB Cordrea Tankersley’s first game?) – “I thought he did a good job. He competed. As expected, he was challenged, which that wasn’t a surprise to any of us. There were some rookie mistakes and some things that he’s got to clean up; but I thought that his approach to it, his confidence, and the way challenged guys – he wasn’t backing off from anybody – trying to do what we asked. He was really into it and when he did have a couple of grey area things and we cleaned them up on the sideline, he was very responsive. He was good. It definitely wasn’t too big for him and he went the other way with it.”
(Everyone’s saying that in the last three games, the defense has played good enough to win a game. Would you disagree with that?) – “I would disagree. We haven’t won. I told the guys this, this past game for example. To me, we had five opportunities that I thought we let go by. We had two fumbles on the ground that we didn’t get on – one of them which was in our hands, literally. We had two interceptions that we had our hands on that we dropped; and honestly, for me, the biggest thing I felt was that last drive that we gave up, the last touchdown drive. We had them backed up on the minus-13, we’re only down 13-0 and we’re two scores (away). Literally, I was stalking the sidelines saying, ‘Man, this is just like the Rams game last year.’ If we get a stop here, we get them on a short field, the offense just takes one drive, then they get going, and now it’s 13-7. That’s how I was preaching it and we gave up an 87-yard touchdown drive, aided by some penalties and stuff. For me, that wasn’t a winning effort by our football team on defense. We had multiple opportunities to shorten the field for the offense, to flip things, get a turnover, whatever it may be, and I didn’t think we took advantage of those opportunities. We have one takeaway in three games and that’s something that we emphasize, so there’s plenty of work to be done. We’re not playing that game in my room. I can tell you that.”
(Part of that seems like you want more big plays, fumble recoveries and interceptions.) – “Yes, and it’s a fine line. What I think a good response to what’s been going on was is that our guys weren’t pressing to make plays, because that’s when we start getting in trouble. There’s certain guys that we have to caution against (that think), ‘Oh man, I need to take a play here,’ and getting out of his lane and not doing his responsibility, and then we’re giving up a bigger play. I don’t want the players pressing, feeling like, ‘Man, we have to make plays,’ but there’s always going to be opportunities within the game, and we have to take advantage. The urgency … We’ve had a lot of balls on the ground that we haven’t gotten on top of all season, so far, and like I said, we’ve dropped, off the top of my head, at least five interceptions this year. I mean dropped, had our hands on, had a chance to make plays. When those opportunities present themselves, we have to make those plays. We have to, if we want to be the defense that we are talking about that we want to be. I feel like we haven’t taken advantage of those opportunities yet.”
(Coaches might not look at it this way, but a fumble recovery. If you have your hands on the ball and it escapes, I can understand your point of view, but isn’t there a randomness to fumble recoveries?) – “Yes, there is. I’m sure there are some stats behind that; but some of the things we preach about always getting to the ball. We had that one, I think it was last week – I can’t even keep the days straight right now – where (Ndamukong) Suh had the sack and the ball squirted out and we have guys not … Kiko (Alonso) is the only one chasing after that ball that’s on the ground that they recovered last week in New York. In terms of us never giving up on the play and always running to the ball, good things happen when you have players around the ball. We had that one last week that’s squirting out and Kiko almost falls on it, it pops out and Cam (Wake) is (close). Do you know what I mean? If we have eight guys running to the ball, maybe one of them is there to clean that thing up or pick somebody else off the pile before they get on it, and that sort of thing. Sure, it’s obviously random how a ball bounces and who it goes to closer, but the more guys that we have getting in the area, the more guys around the ball, the more times we’re attacking the ball, whether it’s a ball carrier or in the air, the more opportunity we’re going to have to make those plays.”
(How eager are you to see LB Rey Maualuga in a game at linebacker and how can he help you?) – “I’m always eager to see all of the guys play. Rey, I’ve known for a very long time. He’s been working hard to get back and he’s getting closer. When that time comes … He’s a big man. He’s a physical player, in the run game, particularly. He’s probably one of the best I’ve been around at taking on offensive linemen because he’s such a big, powerful guy. I mean, he knocks offensive linemen back. In fact, I don’t know if I want to put this out here, he might get mad at me; but ask (Mike) Pouncey about it because when we first signed him, (Pouncey) told me we played them last year and he probably hit me as hard as anybody I’ve ever been hit by. He brings that element obviously with some extra beef in there in the middle.”
(Where is LB Rey Maualuga from a conditioning standpoint, in terms of being able to play let’s say 40 snaps a game?) – “Yes, that’s been part of the focus. Like I said, I think he’s close. I think it’s going to be a game-time decision by (Head Coach) Adam (Gase) and by what we’re doing, but basically all he’s been doing for most of the time here has been working, as part of the rehab and getting back healthy; but then also getting into shape. So it’s been an emphasis for him and I think he’s pretty close.”
(They have a couple of good offensive tackles there in Tennessee. How do they use that to their benefit in the run and the pass?) – “They do. Obviously, they feel good about being able to match those guys up. For an offensive line to have confidence in singling those guys up and not having to … We see so many chips and max protections and slides and stuff, so it’s a little different for an o-line to feel confident in terms of protections, where they don’t have to necessarily protect those guys against some of our rush players. They can get a few more players out in the pass game and those sorts of things because they’re not worried about having to protect (Taylor) Lewan or (Jack) Conklin or those guys. It’s a little different type of protection scheme then maybe we’ll see throughout the year. Then in the run game, it’s just their lifeblood of what they do. It’s their element. Obviously we know Lewan’s a tempo-setter for them and (has) attitude, and that’s part of their run game and part of their style and approach to what they’re doing. They’re two good players that we have to get after a little bit this week.”
(What are some of the specifics that you’ve been doing with S T.J. McDonald over the last few weeks? What are some of the things that you’re doing on a routine basis?) – “Again, he’s limited in some of the things he can do and he’s got some other things he has to resolve as he’s going through this process. He’s around in meetings. He’s allowed to do that, so when he’s in meetings, we’ve tried to just involve him in terms of being an extra set of eyes for us like, ‘Hey look at this cut-up or look at this play and maybe help some of the other safeties out with your evaluation,’ which keeps him involved in what we’re doing and the game plan stuff week-to-week. It gives him a way to contribute. When he’s available, he’s been around in meetings and just trying to help as another set of eyes and another veteran player that’s seen it, seen a lot of football and done it. He can help some of those other safeties and guys.”
(Is there any sort of simulation in terms of you showing S T.J. McDonald clips from the game and having him decide what he would do?) – “No, nothing like that.”
