Gerald Alexander – December 8, 2020
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Tuesday, December 8, 2020
Defensive Backs Coach Gerald Alexander
(I’m curious, do you guys have like a trophy or something waiting for CB Xavien Howard if he breaks the team record in interceptions?) – “I don’t know about all that, but I would love for him to just continue to do the special things that he’s been doing this season as far as getting his hands on the football. One of the things that he does so well is put himself in position to give himself that opportunity when they try him. We always talk about when technique and opportunity meet, that’s when splash plays happen. He’s having a special year and we need him to continue to play at this high level that he’s been playing all season.”
(You might have heard the end, but I asked Outside Linebackers Coach Austin Clark and Linebackers Coach Anthony Campanile about being collegiate coaches going into the NFL. I’m curious from your perspective, as you see maybe the offenses evolve more to collegiate, how does your experience in the college level maybe help you teach some of these players how to stop these offenses?) – “To be honest with you, I think that my path – and I can’t be thankful enough for the people that have kind of helped me into this coaching profession. Going through the college ranks and being with some of the individuals that I got a chance to work with, I believe gave me a great foundation to be prepared to have the opportunity to do what I’m doing here now. That’s kind of the way the game has really kind of filtered up. Seeing some of these pre-snap across motions, missile motions, orbit motions and the things that Kansas City is doing and the things we saw against the Rams and just the way that football is right now, it’s kind of reflecting the collegiate game. It’s giving me a great understanding and a foundation to be able to do what I need to do now and that’s teaching these guys how to defend these particular attacks and putting our players in the best positions possible to have success on Sunday. I can’t thank the people enough to put me in this position.”
(Kind of continuing that theme of I guess learning as a coach, I wanted to ask about CB Byron Jones because every time we get him on, he’s so articulate and well-thought-out in his responses. I know you’re very in-tune to the process of learning and finetuning your craft. I’m wondering how Byron’s ability to both process and communicate has helped you grow as a coach and then obviously the ultimate impact that has on the defensive back room as a whole.) – “Byron (Jones) is a very, very smart player. I think that from myself to Byron to (Coaching Assistant) Charles Burks, who works with the corners as well, all of us in the secondary really kind of challenge one another and being able to, especially for us as coaches, to be great teachers and give these guys the valuable information and the useful information that they can apply on a game day or a specific rep to put themselves in positions to make plays. I think that that’s kind of led to the success that we’ve had as a secondary and as a defense, and that work is only going to continue to ramp itself up, starting with this week and really when you get into the month of December. They remember December and we’re just doing everything we can as coaches, as a secondary, as a crew, to put ourselves in the best positions possible for Sundays.”
(I wanted to ask you about CB Noah Igbinoghene. What are some things that he has improved on since he got a chance to play earlier in the season and how did you see that translate to the field in the second half?) – “Noah (Igbinoghene) has done a really good job. Noah is in a very unique situation; he’s a high-round draft guy playing behind two of the more elite corners that are in the National Football League, that are playing at a high level. So he’s able to really kind of lock in and get valuable practice reps. I think the things that he’s improved on over the course of the season is, especially as a corner, is just his foot work. This is still a guy who was a very athletic prospect coming in, but doesn’t really have a lot of the banked reps as a corner as a guy that’s asked to play at this level right now. Something as small fundamentally as his patience and his footwork at the line of scrimmage, which he works diligently on every single day and being able to take practice reps against DeVante (Parker) and Jakeem (Grant) and all that stuff. So when he gets thrust into action like he was on Sunday, those are the things that he’s been working on. It’s been a long time since that Buffalo Bills game, but now he’s kind of worked himself into continuing to develop as we had planned for him all along. This guy was always going to be a developing prospect with great skill.”
(Obviously the Chiefs bring what they bring to the table on an offensive standpoint. I wanted to ask you, what are some things that you’re confident about on the defense that lets you know you guys have a chance to slow them down on Sunday?) – “For us, we’ve just got to play our brand of football and obviously this is a very talented offense, really on all levels, whether you start with the quarterback, the tight end, the elite speed of the receivers. We understand the challenge that is being presented when you have the reigning Super Bowl champions coming into town; but we love the fact that we have the guys that we have. We like our matchups. We like our secondary and what our defense has done throughout the course of the season, which doesn’t guarantee any success on Sunday, so we know that this week is a great week to work and get familiar with these guys and know what they’re trying to do and how they’re going to attack us; and on the flip side, how we can attack them and how we can take advantage of maybe some things that we feel like that are strengths on our part, and we like our matchups there. So we know we have a lot of work to do between now and Sunday when we kick off, and I think that everybody in the building is very excited for the challenge that this Sunday presents.”
(I wanted to ask you about Chiefs WR Tyreek Hill. When you have a guy that moves around so much pre-snap and in the formation and you definitely have to give him extra attention, probably double cover, how difficult is it and can it lead to breakdowns when he’s just everywhere?) – “I think really to be honest with you, with a guy like that who’s an explosive target who moves all around, I think it really challenges your communication and where guys need to be and having an understanding of where he is. Maybe one movement in and out of motion across the formation can maybe change a matchup or change a call or change a rotation or something like that. I think that’s where you could really – you’ve really got to lock in throughout the week and that’s where the hard work of figuring out where he’s going to be, how is he going to line up, how are they going to move him and how does that directly affect us? And making sure that regardless of where he’s going to be located pre- or post-snap, that all 11 individuals on defense have an understanding of where they’re supposed to be and how this puzzle is supposed to fit. Again, it’s just another challenging thing that we have as a secondary, we have as a defense, and obviously there’s other guys that move around. There’s (Mecole) Hardman who also presents the same elite speed that Tyreek presents, and we know that blade of grass will be attacked with ‘15’ (Patrick Mahomes) at the point of the engine that drives the car, so we look forward to it.”
