Josh Boyer – January 5, 2023
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Thursday, January 5, 2022
Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer
(I know, obviously, everything’s focused on the Jets. You’re not looking back at all this year. But just one sort of backward looking thing if you could answer, what one or two things come to mind, if I ask you, what did you think you all would be better at as a defensive unit this year and haven’t? What’s the first thing that comes into your mind?) – “I just think that from a week to week thing, usually when we don’t have success, the first place you start is usually on third down because third down gives you an opportunity to get off field, get the ball back to the offense. And a lot of times in the red area, we’re getting them to third down and those become four-point plays. So if you get off the field, statistically you’re given the three points on the field goal that’s over a 90 percent make when you’re talking about 15 and in. And we’ve gotten to third down in those situations, and obviously if you stop them there, like I said, that’s a four-point play. So those are the areas that’s a stress point for us each week. And usually when we’re successful there, then good things happen. And then when you’re not, drives extend, and they can become scoring drives. A lot of times we’ve made offensives go the hard way. We’ve been competitive play after play. But, when we have opportunities to get off the field, we need to do that. When we have opportunities to eliminate points in the red area, we sure need to do that. And obviously we’re working hard on that, and we do each week. That’s kind of how I see that.”
(For the past four games, your defense has been on the field giving up sustained drives late in games. I know, those drives are all different for various reasons. But if you could change one aspect of your team’s execution, in those situations, what would be?) – “Get off the field on third down.”
(I was curious, on the Patriots last touchdown the one yard pass to WR Jakobi Meyers, it seemed like there was some miscommunication. There was nobody lined up over Meyers and LB Duke Riley ended up running over there. From your perspective, what was kind of the miscommunication there?) – “I would say there was definitely miscommunication. And again, to me, that starts with me. Obviously it didn’t get communicated well enough on what we should be doing. We weren’t aligned correctly and there were guys trying to make it right. It didn’t happen. It was miscommunicated. So again, at the end of the day, that’s my responsibility, and that’s the way I feel about it.”
(How do you think your defense played overall last week, and I know you didn’t win, but without LB Bradley Chubb and without CB Xavien Howard. You hold them to 16 points. They had the pick-six. How did your defense play overall?) – “I think always our guys play hard, they give good effort. The first drive ends up scoring a touchdown. The very first third down of the game, when we have an opportunity to get off the field there, we get a penalty. We get a penalty later on third down where we’d have an opportunity to get off the field. And then really, talking about those four-point plays, we had a third-down play down there in the red area that I’d say we didn’t execute it the way that we needed to, to give ourselves a chance. I think, when you do those things, I think we’ve done a lot of good things. We’ve forced offenses to drive the field. I think when you have the opportunity to get off the field, we need to make the most of those.”
(You spent a lot of years in New England, just how coincidental is it that you now need the Patriots basically to lose to help you guys get into the postseason?) – “Whether you go back four weeks from now, or four weeks ago or now, the focus isn’t on what anybody else does. It’s what you have in front of you. Like our focus is on the Jets. And then however things shake out, they shake out. We’ve had opportunities to keep things in our control, and it’s not. But what is in our control, and the things that we can control, is our preparation for the Jets. And we’re going to focus on that today. I think that’s where all the mindset and all the energy and time spent is on the Jets, and whatever happens, happens. I think that’s just kind of the way we approach it and look at it.”
(CB Kader Kohou has been very impressive as a rookie this year. One thing that’s kind of been an issue is the defensive holding penalties. How do you address that so it doesn’t continue?) – “I think all three penalties that we had last week I think were very obvious penalties. Kader’s was basically hooking, and really it’s a top of the route position thing. Most of the time he’s in pretty good shape on that, and a lot of times – the college game is officiated a little bit different and as the experience goes on, I think you get a better grasp of things. I think for the most part, he’s done a pretty good job at the top of the route. I think sometimes when you get to the top of the route and you get in a little bit of trouble, your natural instinct is to grab or hook. Sometimes it gets called, sometimes it doesn’t. But I think those are obvious defensive holding, DPI (defensive pass interference) penalties depending on whether or not the ball is in the air. I think those are techniques and things that you continue to work on and you work on ways when you are in trouble, how to combat that. It’s no different than if you’re pass rushing and a guy sets up a certain way, and then you have to counter that rush. It’s the same thing when you get to the top route. If you think it’s one thing but it’s actually another, there’s different ways without grabbing to try to recover.”
(Hopefully, obviously, you’ll be in the playoffs, and hopefully we’ll be talking to you next week. But if we don’t see it for a while, I want to ask in all candor, how much is not having CB Byron Jones, S Brandon Jones, CB Nik Needham, and DE Emmanuel Ogbah hurt you in terms of things that you ordinarily would want to call, would want to do, in terms of how limiting it’s been? Candidly, how hurtful has it been for you?) – “I don’t really approach it that way. You see what’s available to you and what you think’s best that week. Like I said, I think it’s crushing for all those guys. We were talking about Brandon and Nik earlier in the year, and Ogbah – all of them, go down the list. You know how much time, effort and energy that they put into it. Obviously those guys were out there for a reason. They have a certain skillset that you like to use, and there’s certain things. Then other guys that are put in other positions usually don’t have the same skillset. Again, just week to week, you go into the week and you prepare and you try to put the guys that you have available to you in the best position to succeed. I don’t think you sit there and go, ‘Oh, well, woe is us.’ Your focus is really on what’s in front of you and what you can control. I think that’s probably the best way to approach – it’s easier said than done. I get it. But I think that’s the best way to approach life. Worry about the things you can control and all the other stuff is just noise.”
(One reason I asked that is because one of the old tenets of how this defense was constructed by General Manager Chris Grier and the others who were involved is we’ve got two high-end cover corners, among the two highest paid corners in the league. We have one of the league’s best blitzing safeties. So to remove CB Byron Jones from that, to remove S Brandon Jones from that, I would have to think it would have some hurtful effect, and how you’re able to execute what the Miami Dolphins defense would like to be. True or untrue?) – “I think you have to adapt to what you have available to you. I’m sure there’s other teams that are dealing with quality players that are not there, and they have to adapt and deal with that. None of us are promised tomorrow. So again, I think that’s why you always try to focus on what’s in front of you, what you can control and the day that you have at hand. All the other stuff, worrying about that, I think you’d probably drive yourself crazy.”
(And despite all the adversity that your unit has faced, and I understand the season isn’t whole yet, how would you view the job you’ve done adjusting to everything that has transpired?) – “I would say it’s unfinished because the season’s not finished. And the reality of it is, our record, our stats, those are what they are. There’s a time and a place to go back and review and look at all that. Obviously, we self-scout as we go, and then we try to make changes that we think (need to be made). But all of our focus right now is on this Thursday, what we have in at practice and the Jets.”
(Looking back at the first meeting, the Jets had five rushing touchdowns. As it relates to rush defense, what’s something that you guys certainly need to do better or differently than the first match?) – “I would just say consistently with our techniques, and then sometimes there’s games that you go out there and things kind of snowball and I would say it was a pretty competitive game until the fourth quarter there. Then I think some things went downhill after that. Obviously we can coach it better, we can play it better. That happens. I mean, it happens every year to every team. There’s usually something that goes along like that. Give them credit, they executed and we didn’t. We’re going to have to be at our best to execute this week.”
(If we had gone back to July, and I were to tell you that in January, you and I would be in this room and CB Byron Jones would not have played a single snap in that time that had elapsed, would you be surprised?) – “The older I get, I’d say nothing surprises me. I think that’s kind of a way to approach things. We kind of had this conversation last week. I don’t approach things like that and I can appreciate – I understand what everybody’s trying to do, like a year in review, how’s this? I can’t really help you guys, to be honest, because my mentality is not that way. My mentality is, ‘hey, look, we got Thursday today. We got early down review. We got third down.’ Our focus is getting ready for the Jets. It’s not like what happens if you don’t have this guy? How did you feel about this on the year? It’s just not part of the mentality. It’s really not. And we do self-scout and we study things that we’ve done well and things that we haven’t done well. But I think it’s insanity to worry about things you can’t control. I think the things that you got in front of you – and the reality of it is, our record will be what our record is and our stats will be what our stats are. That’s what it is. As a coach, as a coordinator, all you can control is the things that you have in front of you. I think that’s the way we approach it. I think anything else is wasted energy and wasted time.”
(It’s very admirable that you don’t want to use those as excuses with us, even though they’re valid excuses – DE Emmanuel Ogbah, CB Byron Jones, S Brandon Jones. But when you sit down with Head Coach Mike McDaniel at the end of the year, as he reviews his coaches, would you not feel compelled to say, “Look, I had to put together a defense missing three of my top defensive backs, which cut basically at the strategy of what we’re trying to accomplish – two great cover corners, a top blitzing safety, I didn’t have that available to me. I didn’t have my top edge rusher available to me most of the year.” Is that something you would feel like you should at least raise to him in a season-ending review?) – “No. I don’t. Look, when I was born, I was born with a collapsed lung. The doctors told my mother I wasn’t going to live. From day one, you deal with what’s in front of you and you do the best you can. I’m very fortunate. I have a beautiful wife, who’s fiercely loyal. I have a beautiful three-year-old daughter who’s very strong willed and a sweet little girl. I have two great parents that I would say broke a cycle of poverty for our family. Hell, I even like my in-laws. I got great in-laws. (laughter) I get to come to work every day with guys that are highly motivated, that want to win, they work their ass off, and don’t really pay attention to ‘okay, we’ve had this, we’ve had this, we’ve had this.’ They just keep working. Like yesterday, we had a very – I would say deliberate, intent practice. I mean, they’re highly motivated guys. I don’t think about stuff that way. I think more of like Lou Gehrig on July 7, 1939. I feel like the luckiest man on earth. I do. And whatever comes my way, I’ll be ok. And whatever comes our way, we’ll be ok. But we’re going to keep moving forward. It doesn’t even matter if you’re a football coach, or whatever you do. Again, I understand like – I love history. I do. So I think you can learn from the past. But I just don’t think you can live in the past. And I don’t think you can worry about the future. I don’t think that’s a good way to live. And I really – I live, I would say with a fearless peace because I’m very fortunate for the things that I have. I’m very fortunate for the opportunities that I have. And whatever happens, regardless of right, wrong or indifferent, I’ll be ok. I think you try to teach that to your players. There’s a great saying out there: ‘the only person that I’m competing with is the man I was yesterday.’ And I think when everybody kind of approaches it that way, and you get guys to work, you get them to buy in – like we’re all we’re human. We’re all going to make mistakes. You try to learn from those and do the best you can.”
