Josh Boyer – September 15, 2022
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Thursday, September 15, 2022
Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer
(What are the difficulties you find in preparing for a team that maybe you’re playing for the second time this season that you’ve played in close proximity before?) – “Yeah, I think every time you go into a game plan, you always take into account whether it’s a coordinator from a different team, or whether it’s the same coordinator, the same team; I think you always look at the ways that they tried to attack you, the ways that we thought were good going into it, and then the results and the things that actually happened in the game. I think each game is different. Sometimes the games have a different ebb and flow to them. I think there’s always an element of adjusting going into the game. So I think every team in the league would do their due diligence and always study past games against the same opponent, same coordinator. I think those things happen on a week-in and week-out basis.”
(On if he believes in pounding an opponent with something they haven’t proven they can beat versus being ahead of them in making adjustments because you’re preparing for them to counter) – “Yeah, I think there’s a balance there, for sure. I don’t think you want to be predictable in anything you do. We see that defensively. If there’s things that we struggled with, we definitely prepare for that and anticipate that it will show up again the next week. But I think there’s a balance of giving them a little bit of an element of surprise and then really just trying to put your players in position to succeed. Ultimately, that’s what it really, really is about. It doesn’t necessarily mean this coverage, this front. It’s really what you think is best for your team to succeed and really get off the field and get the ball back to the offense.”
(I’m sure that in any given situation, you love having the element of surprise, but I wonder in something like a Cover 0, is the element of surprise that much more important or just the same? How does that work do you think?) – “Sometimes when you line up, obviously you can kind of tell what’s coming defensively. We try to disguise things as best we can so that all looks don’t look the same. But I think it comes down to execution. I really do. I know you guys keep referring to the game from a year ago, but even in some of those zero blitzes, they had some good answers, but it really came down to execution. And that’s in any defensive scheme or any offensive scheme. They have good coaches over there. They’re going to be well prepared. We know and understand that. We’re working very hard to put together the best game plan that we feel going into the game and we’re looking forward to the competition on Sunday.”
(How much, if at all, does George Godsey being on their staff this year impact the game plan?) – “The NFL is really a small, tight knit community. So I mean, usually, you’re always going to have players that are on the other team that you’ve coached or have been in your system or coaches. Last week obviously there was a massive amount of familiarity – I would say us with their offense and them with us defensively. I think each week that you go into it, there’s going to be somebody that you probably know or has worked with somebody. Ultimately it comes down to really game planning and execution. I mean, that’s really what it comes down to. I don’t think that – do they know the ins and outs of what you’re doing? Things are different from year to year. It’s kind of like I talked about last week, once you leave the building of somewhere, you really don’t know everything that’s going on, if that makes sense.”
(One reason that CB Kader Kohou mentioned he signed here was the interest that you took in him and how you all cultivated a relationship during the process. Do you remember was there a day where you were just looking at tape in February or March of him and you saw something that you liked that you told General Manager Chris Grier about? How did that play out with him?) – “I remember it very well. It was actually the day before the draft, if I remember correctly. Usually – there’s a lot there’s a lot of players that you look at going into the draft, and for me, I usually always save the corners for last. I spend a lot more time on the front and then I go to the ‘backers, off the ball ‘backers, on the ball ‘backers, spend time with the rushers, then I go to the safety group and then usually the corner group is the last group that I hit. And I believe that was right before an OTA session, if I’m not mistaken and I saw him on film – and I’ve got a list of every position and then you just start moving guys up and down your list where you got him – and I saw him and I was like, ‘I like this kid and I need to talk to him.’ It was a matter of could I fly out there before or could we just do it on Zoom, and we had a Zoom conversation. It was very clear to me how I thought he would fit in this defense and we had a good conversation. I had a good conversation with his agent. Then it came to the process of talking to our scouts, who they all have their evaluations and talking to Chris (Grier) obviously. In fact, I mentioned something to Chris, out on the field, when we were – and Chris has got a lot going on. I mean, he’s got thousands and thousands of guys. I mean, he’s looking at the other side of the ball, too, before the draft. So he’s probably looking at me like, ‘Hey, who are you talking about?’ But no, Chris was awesome. And he goes, ‘Okay, I’m going to get on that.’ And then really, (Assistant General Manager) Marvin Allen did an awesome job when it came to post-Draft, to make sure that we were able to secure Kader (Kohou). So it’s a group process to get things done. Obviously, we’re happy that he’s here and we’re looking forward to working with him and hopefully he can grow and get better as we move forward. But yeah, that’s usually how the process works. You basically, you evaluate a bunch of players, you kind of move them up and down where you see fit. And then it’s really important to make contact. If you haven’t, I would say – over the years, a lot of guys – Keion (Crossen) is a good example. I actually went to Western Carolina to work him out. And it was one of those deals that I had a good meeting there and then we ended up drafting him late in the seventh round. And some guys, you just do the workout, some guys you call and talk to. Nik Needham would have been a guy that really a lot of that talk was with his agent. And sometimes when you find out that there’s not a lot of interest there, you’re going, ‘Okay, we’re probably the best offer, then.’ So everybody has a different story, a different path, I think there’s a lot of guys that do their due diligence of going through and looking at guys. And it’s always, I think, just a little bit better when you can evaluate a guy and put him in your system, and then that checks out with the guys that have already evaluated him. So it makes that for a little bit smoother process. I know that was kind of a long-winded answer there, but that’s kind of what happened.”
(What specific trait of CB Kader Kohou’s jumped out at you?) – “There’s a lot of things that you look for. I think that he was physical, he had a great play style. I think those are the big key things. And then you – especially when you’re looking at guys that are free agents or late round picks, there’s usually something that’s going to be looked over whether it’s level of competition, height, speed. All guys have different things. So I think there’s an element of things that you look for in those guys and then really, you need to find out what motivates them, what drives them, because it’s going to be an uphill battle and they’ve got to come to work every day, and they’ve got to focus on getting better every day. So, I think those are the things that you really kind of look for. That’s why I think it’s important to make contact with the guys and get in touch with them. And I would say Kader in particular, talking to him, if you guys ever get the opportunity, I mean, he’s an impressive individual.”
(You’ve had a lot of success personally finding some of these UDFAs – JC Jackson, Malcolm Butler, Nik Needham, all these guys here – is there a common theme that you found? I know all these guys aren’t the same, but is there a common theme and I’d imagine that rate is not very high across the league in finding them, but you seem to have…) – “I do think there is a common theme. I’m not so sure that I’m quite ready to share that. (laughter) But I do think there is a common theme. I mean, there’s definitely a specific thing that you look for that I would say whether it’s Malcolm Butler, Justin Coleman who was undrafted out of Tennessee – I mean, we had to end up getting him from Seattle because he ended up going to Seattle, and then we put him on the roster, but there’s characteristics that you look for guys that I think – they’re all different, like Nik is different than Malcolm Butler. Kader’s different than Jon Jones. I would say there’s one characteristic that really kind of stands out that’s common among all of them. And I’ll probably just keep that to myself. (laughter)”
(S Jevon Holland makes a lot of headlines from the safety position, but to have a guy like him and S Brandon Jones together on the field at the same time, what kind of luxury is that for you? And what really jumps out on tape when you watch them?) – “I think with all 11 of our guys that we put out there, the thing that we stress the most is to get everybody to the ball and play with great effort and attack the football. And I think those two – Brandon (Jones) and Jevon (Holland) in particular – they do that. They give you an opportunity. Usually if you get turnovers, and you guys have all been doing this for a long time, so you know and understand turnovers usually correlate most to winning than any other statistic you could throw out there. So obviously, those are things that we stress and then usually if you’re around the ball, good things are going to happen. I think that’s the thing that we stress with our guys and obviously, there’s thousands of fundamentals and techniques. I feel very fortunate, we have a very good coaching staff that that’s very good at implementing and teaching and showing how we want things played. And the fundamentals and techniques, that’s obviously an element of it, but I think any time that you can put guys out on the field that are going to get to the ball and get after the ball, I think that’s a good thing defensively.”
(CB Kader Kohou was mentioning that your approach to him is a large reason why he chose to come here. So what was it in your approach to him? What did you tell him and how satisfying must it be pretty personally to see a guy from Texas A&M Commerce make the roster and then had the effect he did on Sunday?) – “Well again, it’s one game and hopefully we can continue to get better. I think the one thing is when you talk to players, you always need to be honest and upfront. And I think when you’re talking to players, you have to have a vision for what you see them doing and their desires, skillset, kind of have to match that vision. And when that’s matched, there’s an element of getting the best of that player, whether it’s Kader (Kohou), whether it’s Zach Sieler. Like it could be anybody, but I think when the stars align, when you have a vision for them, and sometimes that vision can change based on growing of skillsets. But I think from a starting point, with all young guys and all rookies that are coming in, you bring them into your program, you want to have a vision for how you see it going.”
(You are a really smart guy so you don’t need advice on how to identify traits that you want. That being said, were Bill Belichick and Brian Flores helpful to you in being able to identify traits you like in young guys who were NFL projectable?) – “To single out two guys, I don’t know that would be the case. I think you learn from everybody. I really do. I mean, I’ve been very fortunate, obviously – I believe this is my 17th year in the NFL. I’ve been around a lot of really good ones and whether it’s – Scott O’Brien is a guy that is probably not a name that rings a lot of bells with people, but he was really good special teams coordinator in the league for a long time. And he was a very good evaluator and I got to spend some time with him. Guys like Matt Slater and Julian Edelman – those are guys that I would say Scott was probably very influential in getting to New England. Like Dante Scarnecchia, as a position coach, as crazy as it sounds, I was a corner coach modeling being a position coach after an o-line coach and spent as much time with Dante Scarnecchia as I possibly could. Like I said, I’ve been very, very fortunate over the years to be around a lot of good people, a lot of good evaluators. You always work on things that you think that you could be better at. Again, there’s a reason that I leave the corners for the last because I think sometimes you need to spend a little bit more time on positions that you don’t, that I would say, over the years, I hadn’t had those responsibilities or had to be that familiar with them. I think you always work on things that you can get better at. And I think things that seem to come easier, natural to you, you just put those at the end. But at the end of the day, it’s all work. I’ve tried to learn, whether good or bad from everybody that you come around, which is what we try to tell our players – so if you can have the humility to understand even if you’re put in a bad situation and you can learn from it, you’re making progress. It might not feel like it, but you’re making progress.”
(I was looking at the Ravens personnel splits yesterday and they ran almost everything out of 12, 22 or 21 personnel. How challenging is that in a league where it’s all about 11 personnel and these spread attacks to adjust to a team that goes so heavy all the time?) – “I’m glad you asked because I get really excited. Watching the Ravens and the job that Greg Roman does, I really feel like this is an unsung coach in the NFL. He game plans the run and uses multiple personnel groupings. He game plans the run game like most people game plan the passing game, and he’s done it for a long time. I believe he’s been in the league for 25 years, if I’m not mistaken. I know he’s been in Baltimore for eight. But I would say that – he’s done it with Colin Kaepernick at San Francisco. He did it with Tyrod Taylor in Buffalo. Lamar Jackson, who is a special talent, he can run, he’s physical, he can throw, he can make the reads. I would say Baltimore and what they do, schematically, I’ve stayed here late. I’ve been here real late for the last two nights, for sure. They make it hard on you. They can do a variety of different things out of all personnel groupings, and they have every run known to man. They really do and they execute it well, which again, whether you run blitz zero, or you run all the runs, ultimately it comes down to execution. That’s what it comes down to. And they’re going to be really well-coached. They’re going to be really well prepared. They’ve got good players across the board. It’s a real big challenge for us this week and we’re looking forward to it.”
(Speaking of the Ravens run game, there’s a chance they get JK Dobbins back this week. What does he maybe add to their run game and as you try to prepare for the possibility of…?) – “He’s a very dynamic player. He can take a 4-yard run and make it an 80-yard run in a hurry. He has great vision. He’s got good – I mean with his vision, he has the athletic ability to cut on a dime, if you will, and he can be physical. He’s got a good stiff arm. He’s definitely somebody that we’ve been watching this week and anticipate him being out there. I do think he’s a very good back in this league and I think he probably will be for a while. So again, it’s a huge challenge for us – run, pass, scheme. They do a very good job over there. Like I said, nothing but the utmost respect for the job that (John) Harbaugh does running the team and then obviously, Greg Roman on offense, and then the talent that they’ve amassed over there. Like I said, it’s going to be a big challenge for us this week, and we’re really looking forward to it.”
