Josh Boyer – December 1, 2022
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Thursday, December 1, 2022
Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer
(Do you like the 12-team college football playoff?) – “Yeah, I used to – growing up right outside of Columbus, Ohio, obviously college football was big. I always enjoyed watching that. I enjoyed the tradition of the traditional bowl games. I would say a lot of the national championships were probably mythical because teams didn’t play. I think is probably good to have a tournament like every other (sport) does. I’m not smart enough to figure out what the exact – I think you should have to win your conference championship to get in a tournament, though. I do think that. But that’s just me personally. I would say, obviously, I’ve been so focused on the NFL game over the years, I don’t really watch much college football until it gets to the draft. If there’s two games that I would ever check out, Ohio State-Michigan would be one and then Army-Navy, I always enjoy watching the Army-Navy game. But the other games, whether it’s the national championship – I’m sure I’ll see all those games when it gets to the draft and stuff. But yeah, I don’t really – I definitely don’t have the answers on the formula for that, for sure.”
(As you’re preparing for the 49ers, how much film have you looked back from that 2020 game and what are some big changes that you may be seeing in the 49ers offense since then?) – “Yeah, I think you definitely do your due diligence and try to check out as much as you possibly can. Obviously, we’ve looked at that game. I think there’s some subtle differences that they’ve done. You look at really schematically how they’re trying to attack you in that game, things that were good for them, things that were good for us. Then you look at their personnel that they’ve got now and the personnel that they had then, so you kind of take all those things into consideration. It’s like what we were talking about a couple of weeks ago, that’s what you do – you put all your time into as much information as you can. We’ve looked at a lot of stuff that through OTAs and training camp that we may have seen or done against our offense that may be similar concepts that they do. Obviously, we’re putting in a lot of work each week, but you try to do your best to put the guys in the best position to succeed and make it simple for them, so they can go out there and play fast. I think that’s the goal each week. Sometimes things don’t go the way you want them to go, but I think that’s kind of just an every week thing for us.”
(Have there been some private moments between you and Head Coach Mike McDaniel when you look back on that 2020 game where either you tease him about it or he tells you, “Oh, you really got me that time?”) – “No, I think some of those plays come up in passing conversation from time to time. Obviously, guys that were there and obviously at least three of the guys on our staff were there, so you can ask them specifically of their game plan, their thought process, the plays, why. I think that’s been good, but I do think there’s a lot of banked reps of us. (Head Coach) Mike (McDaniel) has been a great resource the whole season, not just this week, of things from an offensive perspective, how he sees things and the way that he perceives that we’ll be attacked, or things that we can do that will help us, or philosophically, things that he sees that may be a little bit different than what we were used to. So I think from that standpoint, it’s been awesome. But, yeah, we definitely – And you know that you always have players that have played on other teams that you’ll ask, ‘Hey, is this this? This is this?’ But at the end of the day, it’s really (that) you’re just trying to put the guys in good position and trying to get that information to them, because all of us, you can only retain so much. So you try to get what you need and what’s important and get that to the guys and try to put them in the best position to succeed.”
(From my vantage point, LB Melvin Ingram has really come on the last few weeks. No. 1, am I correct in my assessment? No. 2, what would be the reasons for that?) – I think ‘Mel’ (Melvin Ingram) is a true professional. I think he works at his craft. I think whether – forget about result-driven at the point, but that’s why in the early part of the season you’re always stressing, (that) we need to constantly be improving, because when you get to this, call it post-Thanksgiving football, it’s when you really need to be playing your best. It’s when games become bigger as you go, and each week, I would say ‘Mel’ has really worked on a lot of things. I think that we’ve put him in some positions to succeed and he’s definitely done that. I would say that over the course of the season, I think you kind of find your niche, and players start working off players and players understand what other players are going to do. I think there’s a constant – trying to put them in the best position and not make everything all things, I think is one of the things that Mel has done a really good job. He’ll do anything that we asked him to do. I think when you kind of get his role to what it is and the fact that he is comfortable playing. He understands his opponent, he’s going to do that every week. But then he’s going to understand, ‘OK, this guy is going to play this way.’ Then you just get – it’s like building chemistry between teammates. I think that just gets better and I think he’s been a big part of that, of us defensively. I do, I feel like he’s playing his best ball right now and I think it’s only going to get better.”
(I’ve got a question about DT Jaylen Twyman, who might be the most babyface looking player in the NFL. But obviously, Minnesota the team he comes in with, he gets released. He was shot four times. Mentally and physically, that seems like a lot to come back from. What does he do well on the field and what have you noticed about his mentality?) – “He really wants to be great, and he works extremely hard. He’s one of the first guys out to practice and one of the last guys to leave. It’s important to him. He gets along with everybody and he is a great teammate because he’s willing to talk to anybody, find out about anybody. Then really, all the coaches, he really wants to – he’s looking to soak up information is really what he’s doing. He’s done a great job for us. I know he works hard on the show teams. He works hard when he gets his opportunities in individual periods. We really like where he’s at and I’m glad we have him.”
(Coming back from that, your first team releases you you’re recovering from being shot four times, I mean, how tough is that to recover from mentally?) – “He would probably be a better guy to ask than me, but I would say it definitely exhibits his mental toughness and probably has changed – I mean really, I would ask him, because it’s probably changed his outlook on a lot of things, I would imagine. But he’s been awesome for us, for sure.”
(How do you kind of analyze the second half of the Texans game? Obviously, you pitch a shutout in the first half. But then you gave up 15 points and the Texans were able to move the ball a little bit. Do you kind of just chalk it up to maybe playing a little conservatively? How do you kind of look at that second half?) – “No, you go back and you (say), ‘why were you giving up yards?’ So I think those are the things that we look at. Give them credit that they hit the plays that they hit. Obviously, I would say we corrected the things that we think that we needed to correct. I think it was one of those things that I don’t think there was a let up or anything like that. There are certain points where you get to where (you say), ‘OK, maybe you wouldn’t be as aggressive.’ But I don’t think it was like, ‘OK, we’re just out here playing, let’s get through the half.’ I think we go back, and we look at, ‘OK, well why did this happen? Why did this happen?’ I think there are some things that we definitely could have coached better and executed better. Obviously, anytime that we can execute anything better, let’s start with me and getting it coached better. I think that’s the way we look at it. So I don’t think it was vastly different. I just think there were some execution things, like I said, that we could coach better and execute better.”
(You were there in New England, obviously, when QB Jimmy Garoppolo was drafted. How have you seen him kind of grow from that point of his career to where he is today?) – “I can kind of remember that. So that would have been 2014, I believe, and we opened up with Washington in the preseason. We traveled there. We practiced against them that week. Obviously, I was on the defensive side, but we had some back and forth, where their offense versus our defense, or our offense versus their defense, so obviously you can build a little bit of team camaraderie there, cheering for your team going against another team. I know Jimmy (Garoppolo) had a rough two days in practice and then we went out to – I believe that was his first preseason game, and I mean, he lit it up like he was a gamer. He was always a good teammate. He was very young and eager and willing to learn when he was there. I’m not surprised by anything that Jimmy does in a positive light. So he definitely is – he’s a worker. He can make all the throws – he definitely can. That’s the thing that I remember, because you’re like, ‘Oh. What was going on in these first two days?” Then we go out in that preseason game, and he really played well. He really did. Then youre like, ‘OK, he’s a gamer.’ Then obviously, for everybody, whether it’s a coach, player, when you first get in you, there’s a lot of things for you to learn and do. You can’t buy experience. I’m sure everybody – I mean, if you guys go back and probably look at your first story, you’ll probably look at it now going, ‘Oh, man, that wasn’t great.’ Or maybe it was, I don’t know. (laughter) But when you’re coaching and you’re playing, it’s the same thing. I do remember (he was) extremely competitive, and there was a lot for him – that was his rookie year. There was a lot for him to learn. He was learning a whole new offense, play calls, getting guys lined up and stuff, audibles, checks. And he had a guy in front of him that done it for almost 20 years. I think he’s pretty impressive. It doesn’t surprise me the things that he does in this league. We’ll have our hands full this week for sure.”
(I wanted to ask you about My Cause My Cleats. I know you’re supporting the Parkland cause in that. Can you tell us a little bit about your inspiration behind that? I think, if I have the timing right, you were not in South Florida at the time of the tragedy.) – “I was not, no. I live in the Parkland community, and I would say really the thing that – My Cause, My Cleats is something that I would say I really haven’t probably participated in. I don’t – if you guys ever see me on gameday, I pretty much wear the same thing all the time. So whether it’s Crucial Catch or Salute to Service, there’s a lot of things that I would say my wife and I support. This one really struck me and what struck me probably the most was the trial and the verdict and the disappointment, for me personally. And then I would say the beauty of the human spirit and the families of the victims, the way they were able to compose themselves, handle themselves and articulate their feelings, their wants, their desires, I thought it was a beautiful thing for the human spirit. I really did. So it was one of those things that I talked to (our communications staff) about it, and obviously, my wife and I, we’re going to support their cause. My father is an educator. My mother-in-law is an educator. My sister-in-law is an educator. I obviously have nieces that go to school. I think our children should be safe at school. But I would say more than anything, the families of the victims and their human spirit to handle what they’ve had to handle and articulate the way that they have to feel and do it in such a beautiful manner, to me, it’s encouraging for the human race. It really is. So that’s kind of what made me – I know (some of you) live in the community, I do too. It’s a great place to live, it really is. There’s a lot of good people there and I think the families of the victims are some of the most beautiful people on the planet, because, like I said, to me, it was really inspiring. It was the lowest of low to see the verdict, and the highest of high to see the human spirit. And again, I’m not a political guy. I’m not getting any of that stuff, but like I said, to me, that was awe-inspiring, it really was.”
(Being in Parkland, have you met any of the families along the way?) – “I would say not directly affected. Obviously, I’ve met families with kids that were in the school. Some of the things that – there’s more victims out there, too. There were kids that were in the school that have since committed suicide. It’s a very tragic thing for that community, but the fact that they’ve banded together to try to make things safer for other communities, I think is awe-inspiring. I made it a point to watch and listen to every single press conference of family members speak after the verdict, and to me, it was awe-inspiring, because there was a lot of well-thought, articulated very well of how they felt and what they felt should be done. So to me, it was just – again, we’re all different. Everybody’s different, and you always look for the best in people. I think I saw the best in people at probably their worst time. So to me, that was pretty, pretty cool.”
