Anthony Weaver – October 3, 2024
Download PDF version
Thursday, October 3, 2024
Defensive Coordinator Anthony Weaver
(One random question that I get several times from readers asking about could LB Channing Tindall play the edge, obviously with LB Jaelan Phillips going down. Is there something about his skill set – knowing that he’s behind four veteran inside linebackers, is there something about his skillset that you and Linebackers/Run Game Coordinator Joe Barry have determined would not make him the ideal fit outside even though there is a need there, even though he had pass rush success at Georgia?) – “Particularly with how we view the outside backer position, it’s more just a physical attribute matchup which is why that wouldn’t work. He’s like 230 pounds, he’s relying on speed. We need guys that can set the edge and obviously have some coverage flexibility, but first and foremost their primary job is to set the edge in the run game, and that would be asking a lot of that kid.”
(You losing like a guy like LB Jaelan Phillips, so much stuff that’s happening – what week are we win? It’s been a lot, so how are you guys adjusting again to another, not necessarily setback because everyone is going to have to step up as usual, but how do you deal with that?) – “Well first off, heart goes off to Jaelan (Phillips). Just know the work he’s put in, the mindset he has, how important he is to our unit – you hate to see anything like that happen to any player, particularly one of that magnitude. For us as a defense, shoot, this is the National Football League. Last time that I checked, I don’t think I’m going to be getting any sympathy cards from anybody on the Patriots. It’s our job to collectively as a group, both coaches and players, to step up our game to fill that void with him not out there, and I think we got the guys that can go out there and do that.”
(I want to ask you individually about the guys that will be asked to step up – LB Quinton Bell, LB Mohamed Kamara, LB Chop Robinson. I don’t want to ask you to name a starter right now, but what exactly do you like form each one of them? What do they give you?) – “They all have their special skills and attributes that are each are kind of unique to them. I think Quinton (Bell) is very versatile in the fact that he can drop into coverage, you can rush him from multiple spots, he is a firm edge setter. I think he’s still trying to refine and figure out who he is as a pass rusher, but he does a lot of things well. The two rookies, they’re still trying to feel their way and trying to understand the league a little bit. Chop (Robinson) has obviously had more at bats at that, and you see his confidence growing with what we’re asking him to do weekly. Are there ups and downs like the stock market a little bit? Sure – it’s like that with every rookie. But where we need him – obviously when you lose a Jaelan Phillips where he needs to be most impactful, which is the primary reason we drafted him, is to affect the passer. Sometimes you don’t necessarily see that in sack production, but he needs to be there and that guy needs to feel him. Then Mohamed (Kamara), I see Mohamed like you want him to be an enforcer. He’s a guy that’s rugged, tough. You talk about he should be a firm edge setter, be able to reduce him to a three technique and rush him there if need be, but he needs to be like your topflight security of the world. (laughter) He needs to be the protector and be the enforcer on the field, and I’ve kind of tasked him with that since he’s been here.”
(A philosophy question regarding the play before the half with WR Tyler Boyd. You guys were kind of in an umbrella coverage type. What’s your thought on that specific play and general philosophy – is it better to rush the quarterback or sit back?) – “Situationally right there, obviously they had no timeouts. So you’d like to tackle them inbounds and ideally keep them out of field goal range. So what we did was we rushed three and we played a coverage with outside leverage where everybody was man with outside leverage, and you had two safeties sitting in that dig, dagger window which is where most offenses try to attack you. Our mistake, and this is coming from a coaching standpoint, instead of letting those guys play deep and then work up, we moved them up. Then what happens offensively they do some smart stuff. They dangle a little cheese in front of you which makes you move up a little more and then they hit the window behind you. So we’ve got to do a better job obviously in those special situations of winning there, both from a coaching and player mindset and going out there and executing. It’s certainly a situation we worked. Just in that particular situation, we didn’t execute the way we needed to.”
(Not to throw anybody under the bus, did S Jordan Poyer make the wrong decision there?) – “To me that is completely on us. We should’ve kept those safeties back deep and let them move forward as they saw it. We decided to move them up, which I think hurt us.”
(You mentioned the importance of setting the edge. Where is LB Chop Robinson in that regard and what are some of the teaching points?) – “I think Chop (Robinson) for the most part has done a good job when he’s been asked to set the edge. Where he can continue to improve is really in his hand usage, getting extension and then violently shedding blocks, and that’s normal for young college players. A lot of these guys – I think in some of the teaching is three points of contact, they’re loading up, they’re getting their head in there. Well in this league, when you’re getting your head in there and you’re like this, these 340-pound linemen, they’re going to grab you and they’re going to throw you all over the place. They’re not going to call holding and that is what it is. So you’ve got to play with extension so you can get them locked out, locate the ball and then shed these offensive linemen. I think if there was an area he needed to improve at in setting the edge, it’s now once you’ve got that point of contact, getting locked out, getting extension so you have time and distance now to find the ball and get rid of that offensive player.”
(How would you access how CB Jalen Ramsey has played this year?) – “I think Jalen Ramsey is playing like Jalen Ramsey. There was a couple times where there was some coverage breakdown where he was – I don’t want to say he was vulnerable, but he was put in advantageous situation where he was expecting help and it wasn’t there and that reflected negatively on him. I don’t think those were his faults. But we’ve put him against their best guys the last two weeks, and when he was on them, shoot, he’s been who we expect him to be. We’ve got to continue to find ways to move him, tried to do that a week ago. I thought he affected the game, had some TFLs, blitzing from the corner position, blitzing at nickel. We’re just going to keep trying to find ways to move him around so he can affect the game.”
(Coming in with similar records with the Patriots, what are some things you’ve seen from them, but also knowing that a win on Sunday can be the difference maker, especially in a divisional game?) – “You hear the head coach and I think probably just culturally things are different within the building, but their play style is still very much like New England. They want to be big and physical and tough. They want to impose their will on you with the run game and then take their shots with some of the guys they have on the edge. We know what to expect; we know it’s going to be a knockdown, drag out fight. We like to think we’re built for that a little bit. We know we’re going to have to stop the run. We know from a numbers standpoint, yeah you can say it’s been our Achilles heel a little bit, but 141 (yards) last week and they had 40 attempts, 3.6 yards per attempt – that leaves you pretty good at the end of the year. We’ll take that. So while our numbers from a rushing total standpoint may not look good, when you’re talking about yards per carry, I think we’re trending in the right direction. We’ll just continue to improve in that area, and then see if we can affect this quarterback when we get them in predictable pass situations.”
(I was going to ask you about the run defense. We’ve talked about the one big run before. I think you guys played more eight-man fronts than you’ve played all year? Is that true and was the eight-man front affective?) – “I think the last team we played, they got into a lot of XL groupings, which kind of forced you to play some bigger fronts. So if we have, it’s more a product of what the offense presented to us rather than what we’ve wanted to do.”
(Was it affective?) – “Oh yeah. I think when they were in their big groupings, we had success. The one long run they had, I think they were in 11 personnel and it kind of squeaked through the B gap there and the guy was on his way. But shoot – you give me 40 cracks at it, I’m bound to break one too, like God bless them, good job. If that means that you’re a successful offensive coordinator where you run it 40 times and you have like one plus-10 gain, good job, hats off. We’ve got to stop them every time.”
(Other than his ability to catch the ball with his legs, what have you lied about LB Emmanuel Ogbah so far?) – “Oh man, how sweet was that? The thing I love about ‘Og’ is just one, his approach to work, he’s the same guy every day, and he’s essentially what you hope Mohamed (Kamara) grows into. Right now for us, he is that – he is an enforcer and you saw it multiple times in that game. He sets a firm edge. He can intimidate you with just his sheer size and will and his ability to stick his face in the fan. And then as a rusher, he’s not just a power guy, there’s a little finesse aspect and great hand usage to it, too. To me, he’s the perfect guy for Mohamed to watch and kind of see what he can take from him and then add to his game.”
(You just mentioned LB Mohamed Kamara, you didn’t mention LB Chop Robinson. Is it because of different skillsets?) – “Yes, just different skillsets. That’s all.”
(What are the reasons that the team is first in the NFL on third down defense?) – “I think it always starts with the players; it always starts with them. I think we’ve got a lot of guys that can do multiple jobs and that enables us to be multiple from a coverage standpoint. I think when you look at us defensively, it’d be hard for an offense to pinpoint by down and distance this is who they are. When you allow offenses to do that, shoot, these guys are smart. They’re going to out scheme you and they’re going to put you in situations you don’t want to be in. I think when you just look at us, if you tried to break us down, it would be hard to say we were one particular thing. Which I think then makes offenses more vanilla which allows you to attack that.”
(This team has had success over the years with undrafted corners with CB Nik Needham, and CB Kader Kohou. Was there a moment in the last few months where you and the other coaches, or Head Coach Mike McDaniel and General Manager Chris Grier said, “I think we have something with Storm Duck,” and how did he play on Monday?) – “I don’t know how fast we realized that; there was certainly some growing pains early but man, I’m so proud of that kid and just the strides he’s made since he’s been here. The one thing that I think works best in his favor is that he is completely unflappable. It doesn’t matter if something bad happens to him, next play he is the same guy. You never see him overreacting to anything. He just like, ‘All right, that happened. I’m going to win the next play.’ I think particularly at that position, that’s a mindset you have to have. The other thing you love about him is shoot, I think he’s physical out there for a corner. You saw it in the TFL he had where they tried to throw the ball in the flat, where he ran by the wide receiver and made the tackle. When you have those two combinations with thing – you have this athletic skillset obviously and you have a short memory at that position that give you a chance to be successful.”
(I was going to ask about CB Storm Duck, he’s this interesting mix to me. You talk about the physicality and going after it with the shoulder injury the other game. He kind of jump out to you on film as aggressive, but he also told me that he reads books, so he’s kind of cerebral. Tell me about his personality.) – “Guys – his name is Storm Duck, that shouldn’t surprise you. I’m sure he’s an interesting person. (laughter) He is a quiet kid. He’s a quiet kid, but you can see he’s very cerebral, he’s taking it all in. While that may not manifest itself like a Duke Riley per se, you realize that he gets it and it’s important to him. I love the kid and just look forward to seeing the trajectory of his career moving forward.”
