Anthony Campanile – September 15, 2022
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Thursday, September 15, 2022
Linebackers Coach Anthony Campanile
(What did you think of your group’s play in Week 1? I know you’re looking at Baltimore, but just looking back real quickly?) – “I thought defensively, overall, everybody played hard. We’re always looking to improve and the beauty of coaching guys who are always kind of looking to get better – coming off the field, I think they were just excited to watch the tape and I think there are some things we wish we did better and some things we’re really fired up about that we did. So like any game, any first game, too. But yeah, obviously I’ve been grinding away on these guys, but I thought overall a solid performance. Definitely room for improvement, just like most of the time.”
(Where are you and Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer right now in terms of your discussion about a package for LB Channing Tindall? Obviously, you’ve got LB Jerome Baker, LB Elandon Roberts, LB Duke Riley, who all need to play. Is that something you guys have talked about much? Does one exist?) – “Yeah, I think as you’re going through that, always with the roster, each game is different and guys have different roles in different games. So that’s one of the things certainly, in the NFL, it’s a long season. Every game is a little bit different and you’re kind of always talking about that every week, honestly, with all the guys in the room.”
(On the focal point this week) – “I just think, obviously like most games, it’s a do your job – every game to do your job game – but just obviously reading your keys, playing physical, things that we always talk about, because I just think those are the tenets of playing good defense. Running to the football, tackling well, being physical and obviously getting your eyes right, so you can do your job correctly all the time. Those are the things we’re often talking about, we’re always talking about, but certainly in this game as well.”
(Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer mentioned he’s stayed here late a few nights already this week. Is that just the nature of the business when it comes to facing Baltimore?) – “I think facing anybody – I don’t know if I’ve ever been here when it was not late. (laughter) But yeah, I mean football is a job like that. Coaching football, I think if you’re doing it right, you’re putting the hours in and you’re trying to look for every competitive advantage that you can get. So yeah, it’s definitely not much different than many other weeks, but you know, in here late burning the midnight oil, trying to get it right. And if you have the type of guys that we have, like defensively, the guys we get to coach, you want to do a great job for them. You don’t want to let each other down. I think players feel that way about players. Coaches feel that way about coaches. Players feel that way about coaches. And coaches feel that way about players. I think we always try to work towards just having guys that genuinely honestly, like love each other, want to do a great job for each other, never quit on each other. And if that means staying here late or whatever for 20 weeks, however long the season is, 25 weeks; then yeah, absolutely. Because we’re fortunate enough to coach guys that are about that and just good people. So you want to make sure you’re doing a good job for them.”
(What’s the challenge of preparing your guys to face the fastest quarterback in the NFL, just one week after facing possibly the slowest quarterback in the NFL?) – “I think each team presents their own challenges. So the beauty of football is you’re jumping into different schemes and defending different things every week. Camp is no different than that. You jump out of camp into a preseason game getting ready for an opponent or possibly playing with a team for a couple practices there. So you’re jumping in and out of schemes all the time, and hopefully the fundamentals that you’re practicing every day – OTAs, summer camp, in the season – that stuff’s got to show up for you to play well against all these different assortments of offenses and players. So really just – maybe I’m redundant in saying this, but doing your job, getting up, hit the ground running, play like there’s a hot stove on the ground and don’t ever stop running, attack the football and those are the things we talk about every day. And obviously, like I said, I’m going to keep going back to this; but if you care about each other, you care about the guys in the room, you love each other, you’re going to do your job well and you’re going to do your job to the best of your ability.”
(How much you have to drill into your guys – it’s QB Lamar Jackson back there so you’ve got to even more aware of the running threat because this is no ordinary quarterback?) – “I think anybody who knows Lamar Jackson as a player knows he’s an elite-level athlete and a great quarterback. And I think we have respect for every guy that we play that plays that position. It’s obviously a tough position to play in this league. But yeah, he’s an exceptional talent. I got to coach against him a couple of times in college, too. I learned that firsthand as a college coach. So, yeah, just everybody locking in and trying to do their job and I think you could see that on the tape.”
(I don’t think there’s any other team that ran more fullback snaps in the game on Sunday than the Ravens. How does that challenge your position group to have another back in the backfield so often?) – “I think fortunately, we’re just – our team, we played a bunch of that type of look in the offseason and in the summer. So I guess that’s an added benefit of being in our system on offense, but I think like anything else, you’re preparing for different looks every week, so you’ve just got to get your eyes right to play fast and play physical.”
