Josh Boyer – September 15, 2020
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Tuesday, September 15, 2020
Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer
(I was wondering when you reviewed the film, what was the biggest issue you guys had with defending the read option?) – “There were a number of issues. I’d say some of it was individual technique, getting all 11 guys on the same page. Then some of it was just overall, in general, we were in some different things on different things, and it came up versus various fronts and options. There were just a couple of corrections that we needed to correct on each play. Obviously we could coach it better, we could play it better. That’s kind of what happened there.”
(I wanted to ask you what led to Brandon Jones getting as much playing time as he did in his first NFL game, and how you thought he did overall?) – “A lot of things go into playing time. All of it is earned and I would say the other things that come up with playing time is the consideration of what we’re trying to do defensively, players’ health, a player’s amount of time at practice. All of those things go into play, and all of those things go into consideration. Obviously week-by-week, we’re going to do what we feel gives us the best chance to be successful. Brandon had a solid camp. He did some good things, did some bad things and obviously we need to build off the good things and the things we need to correct, we’re going to try very hard to get corrected.”
(I wanted to get your assessment about how DE Shaq Lawson did in his first game as a Dolphin?) – “I think Shaq and all of the guys in general, I think there were some good things out there and again there were some things that obviously needed some correction. I think the thing that will help us defensively – whether it’s coaching, playing – is just being consistent on a play after play basis. It really comes down to everybody just doing their individual job, so collectively as a group it’s coordinated and we’re doing that well. I would say there were some good things and there were some things that we need to correct. We’re all going to work hard to make sure we get that corrected, because it’s going to show up again this week. We’ll see things that we struggled with last week this week, for sure. We’re all putting a lot of time and effort in to make sure we get that corrected.”
(You mentioned individual jobs there. I guess from what we saw on the read option, it looked like DE Shaq Lawson and I guess DE Emmanuel Ogbah too had some struggles on making a decision on which player to defend – the quarterback or the running back. What do you ask your edge guys to do when they see the read option? What’s the decision there for each edge guy?) – “I would say a lot of it depends on the particular scheme. It may not actually be the same every time we do something with our edge guys. I would say look, first of all, it starts with me. I’ve got to put the guys in better spots. I’ve got to coach it better. Everybody has to understand and know what their responsibility is within each and every call. It can vary from call to call. It can vary where they are in the defense, what defense we are in, which I think ultimately what you want to do because if you line up in the same thing over and over again, that makes it really easy for the offense. All of that, basically it starts with me. We’re going to work hard to get it corrected because like I said, we’re going to see it again this week.”
(A couple of questions ago you mentioned some of the similarities you’re going to see with some of the offenses you’re going to face in Week 1 and Week 2. I’m just curious as you guys turn the page here, what can you learn from that first game to kind of apply to another athletic quterback that’s pretty big like Josh Allen?) – “I think the focus starts with us and correcting the mistakes that we made and making sure we have things solidified as a unit. Buffalo, they have very talented offensive personnel. They have a very good play caller, who for sure is going to test us on things that we struggled with in Week 1. He’s going to test us on things that he perceives as our weakness from a year ago. They’ll do it in a variety of different ways. It won’t look exactly the same. We’ve got to work very hard here this week to get the things corrected where we made mistakes. The good news is it’s all correctable. It’s just going to take a little bit of effort, a little bit of work in getting everybody on the same page on some things; but it’s all correctable. We’re working hard to do that.”
(I noticed that sometimes at the line of scrimmage, there was maybe a numbers disadvantage where the Patriots had six guys on the line or maybe seven guys near the hashmark and the Dolphins had maybe four or six. They were at a numbers disadvantage there despite the linebackers being four or five yards back. Did that numbers disadvantage hurt you guys trying to stop the run? And the things you want to correct, is that a quick fix you can handle in three or four practices this week?) – “I’m not sure exactly what you’re talking about specifically. Fundamentally, a lot of things that we lined up in, we were pretty sound. There could be some movement things on some things. There could be some missed execution on some things. But as far as that goes, like I said, I think everything is correctable from a week ago. I would say that we are all working hard to get that done. We know we’re going to get tested on it and the guys – we had a good week of practice last week. We plan to have a good week of practice again this week. We’re going to correct the things we need to correct and keep improving and building on the things that we’ve been doing well.”
(How do you think CB Xavien Howard and CB Byron Jones performed in their first game together and coming back from their injuries?) – “They weren’t always out there at the same time. I thought both of them competed. I thought there was some really good things that they did, and I think there are some things that we can work on and improve, and I think they will. We’ve got a good group of guys here. They are going to work hard to get things corrected and like I told you guys a couple of weeks ago, our defense will evolve over time here, and obviously there are things we need to correct and we’re going to do that. The play itself will kind of evolve over time. We’re going to see different things from different offenses, for sure. We’ll prepare for that and be ready for that.”
(It was your first time calling plays in a while. I’m curious how it went and what was the communication like?) – “Again for us as a coaching staff, there was a lot of guys that it was their first time with, kind of call it live action. There was a little bit of a process there. The communication was pretty smooth. We were able to get the calls in. You’re never going to call a perfect game. No player is ever going to play a perfect game. There are going to be some ups and downs there; but from a communications standpoint, it was pretty smooth. There are a lot of things that we can work on as a staff in between series and stuff like that to make it a little bit more of a smoother operation. Again, coaches, the play caller, whoever it is, we’re always looking for improvement going from one week to the next. Everybody is working hard to make sure that we get that.”
(I think the Patriots last week ran the ball 2-to-1 over the pass game. Obviously this modern day NFL is more nickel and dime. How does that kind of affect you as a defensive play caller where you may want to be in those nickel and dime packages but they’re running heavy at you?) – “Based on the game plan, based on the week, we could be in different packages. We were in a little bit more big people than we’ve probably been in. The game is going to kind of dictate itself a little bit by what they do personnel-wise. We’ve got to be ready to adjust obviously, and like I said, it all starts with me. I need to do a better job of making sure that we’ve got the right groups in there and that all 11 guys out there – and our different groups – know what they are doing and do their jobs to the best of their abilities. Like I said, we’re going to work very hard to make sure that we have that down.”
