Josh Boyer – November 23, 2021
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Tuesday, November 23, 2021
Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer
(How would you assess how DE Emmanuel Ogbah has been playing and how important is he to what you all do defensively?) – “I would say Emmanuel has been a good leader for us. He leads by example. He comes in and puts a good day’s work in every day. He’s been able to be multiple for us and he’s been able to have some production for us. I would say the things that he’s doing for us over the course of the season, I think that’s been consistent. The things that he needs to improve – he’s worked really hard to improve some things that maybe haven’t went his way. I would say that we’re seeing production from him out on the field.”
(Heading into this matchup, a lot of people naturally look at the quarterback you are facing QB Cam Newton and draw a quick comparison to QB Lamar Jackson and say that you guys can replicate the same gameplan. When you look at the Panthers’ offense and that scheme, what differences do you see compared to what you faced against the Ravens?) – “I would say the similarities are they definitely have the quarterback runs that Baltimore has. There is a little bit of a different flavor to it. All three of the backs that Carolina has used are dynamic players, headlining that with (Christian) McCaffrey. But (Chuba) Hubbard and (Ameer) Abdullah, those guys have all made explosive plays as well in the run game. It’s just a matter of how they choose to play. They have some – call it normal runs. And they also have their quarterback runs that they can implement, which they’ve implemented a little bit more in the past two weeks with P.J Walker and Cam Newton at quarterback. But they’ve run some of that stuff earlier in the season with (Sam) Darnold too, so it’s not foreign to them.”
(If there were certain keys that you would want your defensive players to keep in mind when they faced QB Lamar Jackson and his dynamic style, what are some keys towards handling QB Cam Newton and the kind of power that he presents when he takes off running?) – “When you’re talking about a quarterback run scheme, I think it’s very important for us defensively to make sure that everybody plays good assignment football and you try not to do more than your responsibility. That’s when you can get in trouble and that’s when you can put yourself in bad position, and somebody like Lamar can make you miss or somebody like Cam can run through you. When you’re talking about a quarterback in the run game, it really starts with assignment football. That will be our focus going into the week.”
(I wanted to ask you about your four interior guys who seem to play all over the place with DT Raekwon Davis, DL Adam Butler, DT Christian Wilkins, and DT Zach Sieler. I think the obvious question would be how much does those guys being able to all play significant snaps and stay fresh help them out, but was that the thought process building that room out was to keep all of those guys fresh? Is that something you guys talk about how to keep fresher legs as the game goes along?) – “I would have to go back to (General Manager) Chris (Grier) and ‘Flo’ (Head Coach Brian Flores) on this and those guys building the roster. I think you want good depth at every spot that you have. You want to feel comfortable when you put guys out on the field that they are going to know what they are doing and they are able to execute. I think all four of those guys up front, there are some multiple things that they can do. It really boils down to the simplicity of trying to put guys in the best position to succeed within the structure of 11 guys being out there and a total team defense. With each of those guys, even though they may play the same spots, at certain points you may try to highlight a little bit different things that they can do or do well, even though they are playing the exact same position. You kind of tweak it a little bit to highlight their abilities. I would say the good thing is they are all good players. They are all good workers. They come in and they compete every day. They are really a joy to be around.”
(I wanted to ask you about the structure of your defense and I know you guys didn’t create this defense out of nowhere. It’s built off of what you all did in New England. How important is it to have two cornerbacks that can hold their own on one-on-one coverage when you’re doing a lot of this exotic stuff and blitzing the safeties? Could you do this defense without having those two guys?) – “I feel very fortunate that we have the two guys that we have. I feel pretty comfortable with the guys that we have behind them. That’s the nature of the position. I’ve coached that position for many years. There are going to be times, regardless of your scheme – the majority of the teams you see when it comes to third down, red area, you’re usually at some point going to get a version of man, whether that’s blitz coverage or man with help. When they go out there, we ask them to do a lot of things, but at the end of the day, you’re responsible for covering a guy that we need you to cover when we ask you to do that. We feel very fortunate about the guys that we have and I think (Cornerbacks) Coach (Charles) Burks has done a good job with those guys. They work extremely hard at their craft. I’ve always compared it to being in martial arts. It’s a skillset and if you don’t practice your skillset, your skills are going to diminish, and those guys work very hard at that every day. it’s not a really easy thing to do. We feel very fortunate about the two guys that we have and we feel very fortunate about the spots that we can put them in. Those guys have done a good job for us.”
(With CB Noah Igbinoghene being inactive again, I wanted to know what he could stand to do better and what do you tell him in that regard?) – “It’s probably good advice for everybody, and myself included. You need to try to control the things you can control. That is come in, put in a good day’s work, do the best you can and keep improving and keep working at it. When you get opportunities, make the most of them. We’re pretty fortunate. Chris (Grier) and ‘Flo’ (Brian Flores) have done a good job putting the roster together. We’re pretty fortunate to have good depth at that position. Just keep doing what he’s doing and working hard and keep improving. I think those are the things that he’s doing and that we encourage him to do.”
(When you play that zero pressure look and there is no help over the top, what’s the coaching point or the weighing of the risk versus reward in terms of taking chances versus playing off and being more willing to accept underneath completions?) – “One, it’s a philosophy thing. I think Coach Flores has hit this point many times, whether it’s in the kicking game, offensively or defensively, we’re going to be aggressive. I think you’re always looking for spots when you feel it’s best to do and when it’s advantageous for us as a defense and when it coincides with putting your players in position to succeed. It’s one of those things, do I sit back or go after them? I think there is always a good mixture, but I just think from a philosophical standpoint that we tend to be a little bit aggressive.”
