Jevon Holland – September 12, 2022
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Monday, September 12, 2022
S Jevon Holland
(Once Defensive Coordinator and Head Coach Mike McDaniel make a decision on this, it won’t be revealed publicly nor should it be. But how curious are you, heading into Wednesday, to see if Josh Boyer decides to blitz you and S Brandon Jones nearly as much as he did against Baltimore last year when he had 38 combined blitzes, the most by two NFL safeties in a game in many, many years?) – “That is a fabulous question that I am not going to answer. (laughter) I don’t have an answer. (laughter)”
(My question is not what he’s going to do. That’s strategic. My question was just, is it something you’re curious to know what his game plan is because last year’s was so unique.) – “Nah. I’m just going to do what the coaches tell me. That’s my job.”
(How was the game you saw from S Brandon Jones yesterday? He was able to do so many different things off the edge.) – “It was huge. It was awesome. Brandon’s electric. You guys see that throughout practice and throughout the season last year. He’s a dynamic player and he brings great energy to the team. So I’m super happy with how he played. It was awesome.”
(The defense got a lot of praise yesterday and rightfully so. After watching the film, what did what did you see? What do you think?) – “I think we played well. We’ve got some things to improve on going into next week. I feel like we’re going to capitalize on that in practice and then continue to grow.”
(Was there anything that you thought the defense did particularly well – turnovers, third downs, anything along those lines?) – “Yeah, I think turnovers. We won the turnover battle, which is important for us week in week out. But yeah, like I said, even with winning the turnover battle, we want to capitalize on that and continue to make that a trend throughout the year.”
(What did you think of CB Kader Kohou’s game yesterday and did you say anything to him before the game to make sure he was in the right mental state?) – “No, not really. I was just like go out there and ball and do what you do. Kader Kohou, he’s a hell of a player, even though he’s young. He’s a dynamic player. And I use that term a lot with a lot of our players because we really are. There’s a lot of dynamic abilities on his team and Kader is one of them. So I’m really happy with how he went out there and performed.”
(I was pretty impressed by your pregame fit, cowboy hat and everything. Is that something you’ve been doing for a while now or is that a new thing you got going on?) – “Nah, man. It’s not a new fit. I was just seeing Blake Ferguson wearing some cowboy stuff and I was like, I might as well throw on a little cowboy hat or whatever. I already had the suit – shout out to Indochino for the suit. But yeah it was something simple. Plus, I got the nickname quickdraw Jev, along with other nicknames.”
(When CB Kader Kohou first arrived in May, was there any particular skill you noticed with him that made you think, ‘Ah, this could be a guy who’s on our 53?’) – “He’s extremely fast.”
(An early look at Baltimore. You guys had success in that game last year. How much of that can translate to this matchup and how much more will there have to be adjustments?) – “That is for the coaches to figure out and me to just go out there and do it. In terms of the game plan itself, I’m going to let them do that. That’s a question for them, for sure.”
(Head Coach Mike McDaniel got a lot of credit, and people saying that he ‘out-coached Bill Belichick.’ But it seemed like Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer had the Patriots offense off balance. Did you notice that? Did it seem like the Patriots offense was a little bit off balance and didn’t know what to expect from that standpoint?) – “I’m not really sure about off balance or who outcoached who. I just know that we went out there and did our job and then it came down to what it was, we just ran to the ball and caused turnovers.”
(Can you walk us through the pick you had? I know, CB Xavien Howard obviously was a big part of that, but I noticed you flying to the football. It’s kind of a theme of this team, right?) – “Yeah, for sure. Running to the ball is one of our things. If you get to the ball, Johnny on the spot, good things happen when you are run to the ball. I know ‘X’ (Xavien Howard) is a hell of a competitor and he’s trying to grab every ball. And the ones he doesn’t grab, I’m going to be there to take them, which, as you saw, was one of those right there. He popped it up for me, so I appreciate ‘X’ for that. (laughter) And I might pop one up for him too later on the season. But yeah, I’m just running to the ball. Like Jaelen (Phillips) running to the ball getting the fumble recovery from Kader (Kohou)’s fumble. Or ‘Mel’ (Melvin Ingram). That’s just kind of the theme of how we play. Like the ball is the most important thing on the field, so why would you not want to be around it?”
(Your reaction to LB Duke Riley’s pass breakup late in the game makes me think you maybe thought you had a second pick coming?) – “Yeah, man. It was just the way that Duke was and his positioning. It was a hell of a play. He was he was hauling ass getting back there. I was like, screaming at him, ‘ball, ball, ball,’ for him to turnaround. But he was in good position and he was trying to play through the hands. I saw the ball and I was like, ‘Oh, I can get it.’ But then, I couldn’t get through him to get the ball and he was also right in the sweet spot. It’s alright. Another one will come, but damn, I wish I had another one. (laughter)”
(Do you happen to know if CB Xavien Howard was just doing anything he could to get his hands on that ball or was he trying to literally tip it to you?) – “Man, I don’t know. He probably was trying to grab the ball. I mean, ‘X’ (Xavien Howard) is trying to get interceptions at any point, so I’m going to just say he was trying to intercept the ball and he happened to hit it up.”
(Do you think you guys turned any heads around the league or in the division with your performance yesterday?) – “I’m not necessarily sure. Do I care? No, because I feel like regardless of what other people think, we know what we can do and we know what our ceiling is. We’re just going to put our head in the dirt and continue to work hard.”
(This is an offensive type of question but the fourth-and-7 decision to go for it there and get the big payoff and touchdown, how does that make you feel as a defense like as far as the confidence not just in the offense but also that we might put the defense in a short field here?) – “At this point, it is what it is. You go for it on fourth down, the defense is up. We don’t have to punt. It’s just the defense comes straight out. I was with it. I mean, going for it on fourth down, I’ll do it on Madden if I could. (laughter) So whatever. It is what it is. We trust him.”
