Josh Boyer – October 13, 2022
Download PDF version
Thursday, October 13, 2022
Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer
(So you guys have faced a lot of high quality receivers. You get Vikings WR Justin Jefferson this week, what makes him so tough?) – “I think his body control, his ability to catch the ball from all angles, he has very strong hands. He has a very quick, I would say, release. He’s sudden at the top of the routes and he does an outstanding job of tracking the deep ball.”
(RB Dalvin Cook, same question.) – “Dalvin Cook, he’s a dynamic runner. He’s very strong. He does a good job of pressing blocks and he can take – if space is available – he can take a play and make it a big play in a hurry and he’s been very good at that. He’s very physical, he’s very big, he’s very fast and he presses blocks well. He has great vision so he’s able to find seams in the defense and he’s been an outstanding player for him. They also use him in the pass game when there’s space there, and that presents an issue, too. And we’ll have to guys to close to him quickly.”
(What was your evaluation of how CB Noah Igbinoghene did in his first snaps on defense?) – “I thought there were some really good clips out there. I think there’s some things that we can improve on and I think especially, I would say all of us, you internally look at yourself; and I would start with me and things that we could detail and coach a little bit better. But I did think he had some positive clips out there, for sure. I thought he had some good ones and I think there’s some things that we could probably detail and coach a little bit better and get him a little bit better on, but I thought it was a good start for him.”
(Through the first three games of the year, you guys had one of the best fourth-quarter defenses in the league. Obviously that slipped down after Cincinnati and New York. How big of a topic of conversation has that been? How big of a concern is it for you guys right now?) – “I think when you look at the past two weeks for us, we look at a lot of different things and things that continue to be issues, and then you make an assessment of okay, are we coaching this? Are we stressing this? Is there a different way to do it? Is there a better way to detail it? And I think that’s kind of the process that we’ve kind of taken this week going into it. If there’s some better ways to do some things that we’re struggling with, that we need to implement that and we need to get it done in a hurry. And we have a great group of guys. We have a great challenge this week, so it’s an awesome opportunity and it’s very humbling when you come in and the majority of your coaches, and the majority of the players; everybody looks at it as ‘it’s my fault.’ So the accountability is huge and the work ethic, and I would say the dedication to get it right, has been an awesome thing. So this has been a really exciting week for us and we’re really excited for the opportunity this week.”
(To follow up, what are some of those things that you guys might not be executing as well in game situations as you did the first three weeks of the season?) – “Well, I would say there’s things even in the first three weeks that I would say are still ongoing things that we need to improve and get better without going into scheme or specifics on that. But I would say there’s things that we’ve kind of pinpointed that we need to probably detail better – that’s probably a good adjective to use, on how we approach it and the amount of progress that we need to see on that to be really the defense we want to be.”
(I remember last year when we asked you about some of the early season struggles from the defense and you talked about having to evolve and how teams catch on to what other teams are trying to do. At this point in the season do you think that the defense has evolved enough to stay on its toes or to keep opposing teams on their toes?) – “Yeah, I think we’ve definitely had a variety of different things. I think the way we detail and execute things, I think can be better. I think there’s been certain situations that we obviously can get better. There’s a lot of things – and without getting into specifics on every single thing, because I think that would give you a schematic disadvantage if you went into all those – but I definitely think we’ve had a high volume of defense in a lot of different things that we’ve thrown at people and I think that us executing better, communicating better and detailing it better as coaches, and I would start with myself on that, I think that will allow us – and like I said, I’m really excited because our players, they’re accountable, they’re dedicated, they’re working hard and we’re really, really excited. That’s the beauty about sports, especially we’re talking about, you know, Game 6 here. So when things don’t go your way and then you’re presented with another great opportunity in front of you the following week, it’s a great opportunity and that’s what we’re looking forward to.”
(What led to LB Channing Tindall’s first two defensive snaps of the year on Sunday and do you want to weave him in a little bit more?) – “Channing (Tindall) has been making great progress in practice and obviously physically, there’s a lot of things that we like that he does, and I thought he did well with the snaps that he was in there. And obviously, you’re always trying to work ways to get guys involved, especially if you think they can excel or succeed at those. And it’s like all of our guys, I was excited for his opportunity. Just like Noah (Igbinoghene), I was excited for him to get an opportunity. And when guys go out and they execute, you try to create more opportunities for them just knowing and understanding that you always want to put them in a position that they’re comfortable with, that they can handle and that gives them the best opportunity to succeed.”
(It seemed like the first three weeks, this team really did well at playing complementary football, P Thomas Morstead’s punts and nailing people inside the 20, you guys with the stops, the offense with the big plays. It seems that that hasn’t happened so much the last couple of weeks. No. 1, is that accurate? And No. 2, how does that affect the defense when you, I guess it makes you have to work a little harder?) – “Yeah, I mean a lot of complementary football is really kind of field position based. So you kick the ball off, if they get a decent return, that puts you a little bit behind the eight ball. Or if you start on defense and you give up a couple of drives – even if you do get them off the field, and they punt, now it’s a plus-50 punt and your offense is backed up. So all the yards are important as you go down and that’s really how you kind of play a complementary game. If the offense turns the ball over and you’re able to get a stop on defense – you could go through the games, and I would say all three phases, we’re working hard to make sure that we can play a more complementary game. And I think there’s always, from opening kickoff, there’s always opportunities for each team to play complementary football. So if you kick the ball off and you pin them down and you’re able to get a three-and-out or call it a four-and-out or you’re out in the first series, then you’re not punting it at midfield, your offense is not backed up, and then they have less field to go. Or the same thing, if you can create a turnover defensively, then you’re putting your offense usually in better field position. Now if you create a turnover in your minus territory, then you’re really preventing points there, and then it’s the offense, okay, they get a couple first downs, now they can put the opponent in a, call it, poor field position starting point.”
(Not to pin everything on one guy but with the pass rush, DE Emmanuel Ogbah has been the impact pass rusher the last couple of seasons and this year he’s got one sack in five games and we’re not really necessarily feeling him all that much at least from our vantage point. What do you see happening with him this season?) – “Again, I start with self-reflection. And that’s not an easy thing to do. I don’t know how anybody else feels about that, but when you look at things, and you have to sit there and tell yourself, ‘hey, this isn’t good, this isn’t good,’ that’s not a fun thing to do, but I do think that we can detail things a little bit better. I think he’s a dedicated player for us. I think he works hard. I think we can put him in some better situations from time to time and I know it’s important to him. And like I said, that’s why I feel really blessed to be here and be around the guys that I’m around because those guys – all of them are like, ‘Oh, this is my fault. This is my fault.’ He’s accountable, but I do think we can detail things and put him in a little bit better spot and then I’m really excited for his opportunities coming up. And I know you guys have heard Mike (McDaniel) say this a lot that adversity is an opportunity. And that’s really the way we look at it. And I know that we’ve kind of approached things, I would say, tweaked a little bit different this week just on the things that we emphasized or detailed and our players are working hard at it, and hopefully we’ll see those results on Sunday.”
(How much of an emphasis have the missed tackles been and how much do you think this can kind of clean up some of the problems that you faced in recent weeks?) – “Again, it ties all in together with complementary football, detailing things that we want to work at and get better at. And again, I would say any time that we can eliminate yards after catch or yards after contact, it’s going to do two things. I mean, really it puts the offense behind the chains, which sometimes narrows down the plays that that you can see. And the other thing that it does is it saves you field position. So it’s definitely something that that we’ve emphasized, and it’s definitely something that – and again, you can say something like, ‘hey, we need to be better at this,’ but like, okay, what are you doing to get better at it? And are the things that you’re doing to get better at it, are they helping you? If they’re not, then what you need to do is detail it a different way or take a different approach. And I think that’s the great thing. Nobody’s complaining, nobody’s making excuses, nobody’s quitting. Our guys are really detailed in what we’re trying to get done. And like I said, we’re really excited to go out there and play a really good football team this Sunday here at home.”
(We’ve all seen how effective your defenses can be with Cover 0 over the past few years. Not having your top two corners for either the whole game or part of the game at least 100 percent, how much does that factor into how reluctant or willing you might be using Cover 0?) – “I think when you’re talking about call it, and again, there’s different ways to go about pressure. I think when you when you factor all that in; one, you look at the offense, what what’s available to them and then what’s available to us defensively. And I think anybody that you see us put out on the field in any call that we make, we’re very confident in those guys. And I think we have a lot of guys that we’ve been able to play on defense that we’re pretty confident in. I don’t think it so much changes. It’s more like what do we think puts us in the best spot against that offense? And again, obviously, you’d like to have every player that’s available to you. When you don’t, you adjust and you don’t want to really put players in, call it a disadvantage. But I don’t think it really has to do with so much the player who it is. It’s really basically what the offensive structure is, what they’ll do to it and then our matchups. That’s really kind of what it comes down to.”
