Josh Boyer – November 10, 2022
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Thursday, November 10, 2022
Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer
(I know you’re looking ahead to Cleveland, but just to wrap up one thing on Chicago – do you exit, and I know you give a lot of thought to things, but do you end that game thinking next time we face a running quarterback, maybe we do something differently in terms of a spy every play or something different?) – “I think the things that we look at are, okay, obviously, we could have done a better job. And that starts with me. I’ve got to put the players in better position. And then how you detail what you’re doing with a guy even though a guy is responsible for him; how everybody else and their play affects the guy that’s responsible for him. I think you go back and you detail that in that manner. Obviously we need to do better. Again, I think that comes down to me just putting the guys in better position and I think that when you look at it, you always reflect and go, ‘Okay, if this comes up again, this is probably the route to go.’”
(I know you said a couple weeks ago you’re not really focused on any particular like stat or number or anything. But if there’s one just facet of the defense that you’d really like to hone in on and improve on the second half of the season, what would that be?) – “Get off the field on third down. There were a lot of good things in last week’s game, and I think we had plenty of, call it, ample opportunities to get off the field. And when you do that, it kills drives, it kills points. It gives you an opportunity to play complementary football, get the ball back to your offense, put them up in a good field position, gives you an opportunity to rush a punt. So I would say that’s the thing that sticks out to me, that we have a really good opportunity. Especially when you’re putting yourself in those situations and you’re talking manageable third downs. You’re not talking third-and-1, third-and-2. I mean, you’re talking third-and-5, third-and-8, third-and-10. I think those and really just tying the rush and the coverage together and making sure that we kind of get those things. Obviously that will be a point of emphasis, and like I said, there’s a lot of good things that are going on there and there’s a lot of encouraging things from the game. And then there’s obviously like you mentioned, there’s things that you reflect on and you want to get better at. But you definitely want to build on the things that are good and then take advantage of when you put yourself in good positions to get off the field. Definitely take advantage of those.”
(All-encompassing question here. The acquisition of LB Bradley Chubb, what does it do on the field? What does it do off the field? What does it do for you? What’s the message from the front office to you and the players?) – “Yeah, I think obviously we’re very excited to have a player of his caliber. I think kind of what he did for us last week was commendable. He flew back from London, flew from the West Coast out here, was able – I think he played like, 54 snaps in the game, if I’m not mistaken. He took a lot of snaps for us. He’s still learning some things and nuances. And there’s obviously some things that you put him in a situation that you’re just kind of relying on him to know and understand from playing the game and kind of how it relates to what we’re doing. I think he’s getting a better grasp of it. He’s an extremely hard worker. Like he’s in here early, leaves late. It’s important to him. He’s a phenomenal person, too. I mean, like, immediately I would say he’s a charismatic individual immediately. Guys in the locker room, he just has that that demeanor about him. Love everything about what he’s been since he’s been here and then obviously we’re working very hard to put him in positions that he can succeed.”
(How do you overall view the effectiveness of the running game when, for the most part, it’s been really good. But there also have been some long runs like Lamar Jackson, Justin Fields and then Dalvin Cook as well?) – “So obviously the Lamar (Jackson) and the Justin Fields runs; so they had five designed quarterback runs in that last week game, and then there was 21, call it, early-down runs or traditional runs with the back and stuff. Obviously we feel good about a lot of those. The Dalvin Cook – the 53-yarder was kind of an outlier of, it was a call that we’ve been in many times, a good run call for us, but we just didn’t really execute it the way that we needed to. And it was a good run by him. I don’t want to take any credit away from Justin Fields, Lamar Jackson, Dalvin Cook. Those are three premier players in the league and you really have to be all 11 in-tune to make things happen. We’re going to have a huge challenge this week. I would say Cleveland’s as good as anybody, call it, on traditional runs with the back. They’ve got two really good backs. Obviously, Chubb’s their lead back and I would say he’s an exceptional or premier talent. And then Kareem Hunt does a phenomenal job, too, as well. And they are extremely well-coached. And I mean, you just look at their staff. Obviously with Coach (Kevin) Stefanski and then Alex Van Pelt who’s their coordinator. Bill Callahan does an awesome job as the offensive line coach and scheming runs and has for a long time in this league. And obviously, they got Chad O’Shea on staff who’s a phenomenal coach and I spent a lot of time with Chad, when I was coaching DBs in New England. He was coaching receivers. They’re going to be well-coached and they got good players. They got good scheme. So it’s going to be a big challenge for us. We do feel like that the traditional run game is something that we’re doing well, that we can build on. And obviously when there are breakdowns, there’s usually, either we’re out of our gap or there’s a missed tackle or there’s something of that nature. But I would say, and it really starts with our guys up front which I think those guys have done a pretty good job all year. There’s just other things that we need to handle within the game that can allow us to be the defense that we want to be and if we get that done, I think we’re all going to like the results there, but we have a huge challenge. We know that this will be a very competitive game this week. These guys are coming off a bye and they’ll be ready.”
(So it’s interesting because quarterback scrambles are, they go against your run defense stats, but they’re unique in that you start in a pass defense on most of those? So what are some of the concepts and teaching points that are constant when you’re going against traditional run game as opposed to scrambles and what’s different as far as what you have lay out?) – “Scrambles, there’s a lot of variables that go into that. One, are you in a traditional, call it, four-man rush defense? And then it’s going to come down to rush lanes. Obviously, there’s a lot of variables that go into the scrambles. Is it a traditional drop back? Is it a play-action where they’re moving the pocket? Are you dealing with a, call it, scrambling quarterback, a running quarterback? There’s a lot of different things that go involved into that as compared to, call it, early-down run defense. So sometimes it goes hand in hand, sometimes it really doesn’t, because a lot of those scramble plays, you’re probably more often than not set up to defend the pass than you are the run. And then some of them that occur off of play-action, there can be displacement based on the offense doing misdirection or move the pocket. So there is going to be a little bit of space. And then obviously it all comes back to the transition, rush lanes, if you’re in zone coverage, everybody’s got zone vision on it. So there’s a lot of different variables, I think that go into that.”
(I was thinking about DE Emmanuel Ogbah and CB Xavien Howard – two guys who throughout their career have put up big sack numbers, pressure numbers, turnover numbers, better metrics, in pass coverage. Not as good in the first half of the season. Maybe injuries, some other factors as both those guys playing through some stuff. Do you have cause for belief that there’ll be more of a regression to the mean and production performance of those two players in the second half of the season?) – “I have a very good cause to believe that we’re going to get better and we’re going to improve. And not just those two individuals. I think there’s some things that if we get done as a group, like I said, I firmly believe, because there’s a lot of good plays – and again, how everybody wants to look at stats, this, that. There was two plays over 20 yards in our last game, and one of them was a DPI penalty for 28 yards. The other one was obviously the 61-yard scramble, which that’s on third-and-5, and you don’t want to give that up in that situation. So there are good things that we’re building on there. But I just think as a whole, we have an opportunity to be a very good defense. There’s just some things that we got to get cleaned up. And I have the utmost belief in our players because they don’t flinch in big situations. I mean, I don’t remember what the time was on the clock, but sitting there at 35-32, and there’s no points for the rest of the game. So when you need them the most – give up 27 points in a half to Detroit, they don’t give up any points in the second half. You need an interception at Pittsburgh. So our guys are comfortable playing in those situations and we get some of our best ball at that. We just kind of need to put it all together and then obviously, I would say my job of putting these guys in better position to make plays or finish drives, that falls on me. And we’re all working very hard to do that. So I have great reason to believe that we’re going to get production from all of our guys. In particular 91 (Emmanuel Ogbah) and 25 (Xavien Howard), I feel very good about them. They’re working very hard. It’s important to them. They care about it. They’re team oriented, just like our other guys are. It’s no different than Jerome Baker or Christian Wilkins, Zach Sieler. They’re all kind of built the same way. I have great reason to believe and the fact that the work that we put in week-in and week-out leads me to believe that if we get things corrected that we need to get corrected and get it fixed, we’re all going to like the results.”
(You had mentioned earlier about LB Bradley Chubb that he played 54 snaps on defense, and yet he hit the ground here Wednesday morning. Can you kind of take us through a little bit of how you got him prepared in those few days? What was that crash course like for you and for him?) – “Well, I think it started with kind of, call it, game plan. Like how we were going to use him, what we’re going to use him for. And then I think obviously credit our coaching staff. Obviously Ty (McKenzie) spent probably the most time with him, being his position coach. And it’s a credit to the player that it was that important to him to get caught up and then again, you get here in the middle of the week, you had all those flights, there’s probably a little bit, call it, anxiety. New team, you want to do well, and we’re putting you in a situation where you’re out there playing. And then I think you learn as a coaching staff, you kind of learn and see, okay, this is this is what this is, we can build on this, maybe not put him in this. You’re buying information. It’s no different than if you’re a player out on the field, especially because defense is pretty much reactionary. A lot of it is. All your alignments, your stance, everything is to read your keys, and all you’re doing in that is buying information. It’s really no different as a coaching staff. When you see guys out there and they’re playing, you’re going ‘okay, we’re just buying information.’ And the key is as long as you can string wins together as you’re doing that and you have guys that are going to put in the work and continue to strive to get better, there’s always the belief in purpose that all right, we’re going to get to where we want to be.”
(You mentioned the caliber of player that Browns RB Nick Chubb is on the other side of the football. What’s the messaging this week to the defense about getting him to the ground for a player that I think leads the league in missed tackles forced and yards after contact?) – “We need to get everybody to the ball. We need to get everybody to the ball. This won’t be a one-man show. I would say Nick Chubb has proven time and time again. You can see there’s many instances when you watch him on film that somebody has him in the backfield and he’s able to break that and then he stiff arms the next guy and then he keeps moving. So we need to get everybody to the ball and I would say whether it’s the run or the pass game, hitting him on a check down or whatever route that they’re running. It’s definitely going to be important for us to get everybody to the ball.”
(What are the numbers, the statistics that you look at to gauge the defense’s health or performance or how they’re doing, how they’re playing?) – “Yeah, I think the first the first thing you look at is probably – I guess you start with wins. And then what situations are you doing well? Okay, and then what things do you need to work on? And then obviously to me, it comes down to really how are you doing on early downs? Is it a run issue? Is it a pass issue? Are you committing one way to defend something? Then you go to third downs. What are we doing on the third downs? And then a lot of times in the third downs based on what you’re getting from the offense or the down-and-distance, the distance on the third down kind of dictates a little bit of what you’re seeing and what you’re facing. Then you look at red zone and then you look really at two-minute. So I think when you look at all those things, it’s all-encompassing of self-scout. It’s really what you’re doing defensively, what people are trying to do to you, how they’re trying to attack you and then what they do offensively. Like I said probably a week or two ago, I’m not very good with math, so a lot of the numbers, they kind of run by me. Certain plays obviously stick out that you remember the yardage on those, but I think it’s really situationally that you look at and how you can get better at that whether it’s early downs, third down, red area, two minute and I think you kind of put them all in those buckets.”
(I wanted to ask you your assessment of the different safeties that have been used as S Brandon Jones went down whether it be S Eric Rowe last game, S Verone McKinley, we’ve seen some S Clayton Fejedelem and even DB Elijah Campbell as well.) – “Again, like we talked about when we lost Brandon (Jones), we felt like he was getting better. We thought he was a good player. He was a big part of what we were doing defensively. I think anytime you lose somebody whether it’s Brandon or Nik (Needham), you’re always going to be filling. It’s not usually just, ‘hey, this is the next guy,’ because everybody, again, if you try to highlight what guys do well, you try to put them in situations that are going to come up that you feel pretty good that they’re going to do well in those situations. And then again, like we talked about, I know Barry’s always asking me about (Andrew) Van Ginkel. (laughter) There’s always a special teams element, a roster element. There’s a roster management element that goes into each week of – we’d like to have every player available to you and sometimes there’s guys that aren’t available to us that if they were available, we would probably play them. You just pick and choose based on your matchup and you try to highlight what those guys do well and knowing that because there’s three phases of the game that – like, again, nobody wants to go to the game with one running back. Nobody wants to go to the game with two corners. There’s a roster (element) and then you got to have guys that play the kicking game. So I think that’s all part of it and I think we’re working very hard in individual. I’d give Steve (Gregory) and Pat (Surtain) a lot of credit. They’re working with those guys. They’re getting them up to speed on things that we’re asking them to do, and I thought when (Verone) McKinley was in there, I thought he did well. When Eric (Rowe) was in there, I thought he did well. I think Elijah (Campbell) is getting caught up to speed on some things. And then obviously ‘Fej’ (Clayton Fejedelem) when we’ve used him, I think those guys have – and again, it goes back to the type of people that we have on the defense, is it’s very important them. They work very hard at it. They care about the team. They care about the defense and they’re working very hard to get things right.”
