Josh Boyer – November 3, 2020
Tuesday, November 3, 2020
Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer
(Congratulations on having a No. 1 defense in many statistical categories. I’m sure you’re not looking at it that way, but how do you maintain playing at the efficiency that you guys are right now? I know you always talk about sacks come in bunches and turnovers come in bunches. How do you keep getting those bunches?) – “I think each week it all starts with evaluation; so you go back, you look at some of the things that we’re doing well. You look at some of the things that we left out on the field that we could improve on. And I think it’s the constant theme of week-in and week-out that we’re striving to improve and we’re striving to get better. The things that we’re not doing well, you try to eliminate those the best you can or mitigate them to a certain extent that they are not detrimental to you having play-in and play-out success.”
(One of the defensive statistics that is not going the Dolphins way is allowing yards per carry. I think you’re in the top five in most yards allowed per carry. How do you try to stop that especially with Cardinals QB Kyler Murray leading the NFL in that category on Sunday?) – “I think the thing for us is we try to be good against the run. We try to be good against the pass and statistics, numbers – all those things – ultimately what you’re trying to do is win the game. They don’t give you points for yards. I know that. But we’re not okay giving up yards either. Everything that we do has a rhyme and it has a reason, and obviously we’re trying to improve like I said, the things that we don’t do so well; and the things that have done well, we try to build off of that. As far as the numbers go and all that stuff, ultimately what we’re trying to do is win the game. We’re trying to keep the point totals down and get the ball back to the offense. That’s really what we’re trying to do, and we’re trying to improve on a week-in, week-out basis.”
(Again, going back to the statistics with CB Byron Jones on the field and without Byron Jones on the field are staggering. I’m sure a lot more has gone into it than just that, but is it that? Is it just a matter of when you have your best players on the field, you guys are a really good defense?) – “Well as always, we’d like to have all of our players available to us, and I think – it’s not a one-man show and what it comes down it is we’ve got to get all 11 guys working on the same page and our communication’s got to be at a high level. Our knowing and understanding of our opponent has to be at a high level. We’ve got a great challenge this week. The Arizona Cardinals are loaded with skill players. They have a very athletic offensive line. Those guys do a good job working together. They’ve got two Hall of Fame receivers. Their other cast of receivers are very good, too. The quarterback is dynamic and Coach Kingsbury (Cardinals Head Coach Kliff Kingsbury) has done a phenomenal job, so we’ve got a big challenge in front of us this week and that’s kind of where our time, effort and energy – all of that stuff – is focused on.”
(I know Head Coach Brian Flores likes to say every game is different, which I can certainly appreciate; but watching Sunday’s game, I couldn’t help but reflect back to the Super Bowl – Rams-Patriots. I’m wondering how much of your game plan was similar to that game. Did you review that game to get ideas? How much of your play calling was very similar to what Flores called in that Super Bowl?) – “I would say going into a week, we’ll go back as far as we need to go back on a particular opponent, a quarterback, with any familiarity that we have with them. We’ll look at things that we’ve done – some things that worked, some things that didn’t. Like I said earlier in the week, Coach McVay (Rams Head Coach Sean McVay) does a tremendous job. He makes it extremely hard on the defense with his tempo. I would say there’s always elements of some things that we’ve done in the past; but again, from the very first time that I talked to you guys, I told you that our defense will evolve over time. I’m not exactly sure where it will go from here, but there’s a lot of things that go into that. Obviously Coach Flores has a very strong defensive mind. Our assistant coaches – those guys do a very good job and then ultimately, the players that we have available to us and the things that they see and the things that they’re comfortable with – that kind of shapes how we approach each week and what we feel is best to attack opponents.”
(You mentioned earlier about Arizona and what they’re really good at. I’m curious about Cardinals QB Kyler Murray and his legs. Early in the season, Patriots QB Cam Newton and Bills QB Josh Allen had a little bit of success against you guys running. How does it change maybe your aggressiveness that we’ve seen over the last few weeks when you’ve got a guy that can dice you with his legs and his speed like Kyler can?) – “I think you’re very aware of the things that he’s capable of. And he’s got it all. He’s the total package. He’s quick, he’s fast, he has a strong arm, he’s got a quick release. He can make plays in the pocket. He can make plays out of the pocket. We’ve got a big challenge in front of us this week and like I said, each week is different – how we approach it, how we attack it – ultimately what we’re trying to do is to put our players in a position to succeed. We’re working this morning very hard to make sure that we can do that.”
