Josh Boyer – September 27, 2022
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Tuesday, September 27, 2022
Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer
(You’re about to face Joe Burrow. Just what are your thoughts on him and what you’ve seen out of him in his first few years here in the NFL?) – “A very tough competitor. He’s never really out of a game. He can make all the throws, he can extend plays with his legs, he can extend plays and keep his eyes downfield and make big plays. He does a very good job of having command of the offense, so we’ll have a big challenge for us this week.”
(Just wanted to ask you what LB Trey Flowers has added and do you like having him rushing from inside some? He seems effective with matchups there.) – “Yeah, I think when we signed Trey (Flowers), we knew we were getting a good player and we knew that he would have some multiplicity to his game. He’s kind of worked his way into, I would say game shape, which I think we’re all kind of doing. And it was good to see him out there this past Sunday and we got some production out of him. We’re hoping like all of our guys that we can continue to improve and get better as we move forward.”
(Just your thoughts on coming back on the short week after your defense played so many snaps against Buffalo in a lot of heat and humidity. Specifically, Jevon Holland played 92 snaps. I know a few others got up around 90 and into the 80s at least. Just the key over these three days in between game days?) – “We’re obviously excited for the opportunity to get out there and play again and I think one of the things that has been most impressive with our group of guys is the effort that they give and their mental toughness to handle any situation. I’m sure our guys are excited and I don’t think they blink at any challenge that’s put in front of them.”
(I wanted to ask you how involved you were in the decision to sign LB Melvin Ingram? Did General Manager Chris Grier ask you to look at tape and give your evaluation? What did you see? If so, what did you see from the Kansas City and maybe the Pittsburgh tape that made you think this guy still has something left even on the back end of 30?) – “That really was a group process. Mike (McDaniel) was involved, Chris (Grier) was involved, I was involved. Our assistant coaches, they were involved. I think when you look at him from a year ago, you still saw the explosion, the get off, the strength. And we just thought it was a good fit for what we do and what we ask our guys to do. He sure hasn’t disappointed. I know there’s a little bit of a learning curve when it’s a little bit of a new scheme, but a lot of things that we’ve asked him to do, he’s done in his career before, and he’s a true professional. He cares about the team and he works hard and he works at his craft and I’m glad we have him.”
(In the red zone, it seemed like it was kind of a tale of two halves. The first half, it looks like you guys blitzed a little bit and maybe left a guy open or a little too wide open. And the second half, it just seemed like something flipped, I guess. In the midst of that chess match, what kind of flipped for the defense in the second half, and especially on that last drive to keep the Bills out of the end zone?) – “Again, I think you want to be multiple when you’re going against offenses and a lot of times it comes down to communication and execution. And again, I think it’s a credit to our players to making adjustments and being able to execute, especially like in the second half of games, playing some of our better football there. And really the things that we can work on, like I did say this earlier, that I would say the effort that we play with defensively and the mental toughness of our guys has been outstanding. Some of the things that we can clean up a little bit is just our tackling. We will improve on that. And then the other thing is just with overall communication and when we are given opportunities on defense to make plays or balls are thrown our way, to take advantage of those. I think that will help us. And again, Mike (McDaniel) said it right after Week 1. We hope Week 1 is our worst week. We hope we’re getting better every week. There’s things to build on. There’s a lot of good things going on, but there’s a lot of things that we can improve to become what we want to become.”
(There have been a lot of things to like about this defense so far and I know you just mentioned effort and mental toughness, but what have you liked most about this defense at this point?) – “Those two things, really. It doesn’t matter what the situation is. It doesn’t matter how many snaps a guy’s had, whether it’s two snaps or 80 snaps. You’re going to get pretty much the same effort from all of our guys, all 11 guys that are on the field. And then I think our guys know and understand that if we execute at the level that we desire, good things are going to happen for us defensively and we’ll get the ball back the offense.”
(I know you’ve seen this maturation from S Jevon Holland, but has he exceeded expectations from the standpoint of leadership and being a vocal guy and where he is from where he was a year ago in that department in particular?) – “I think Jevon has done an outstanding job as far as leadership, communication, work ethic, production on the field. And as far as exceeding expectations, I think Jevon has high standards for himself. I think we have high standards for him as a staff and an organization. So I think we all see things on the same page. And I think he’s working to get better week in and week out.”
(One more thing for me, CB Nik Needham had said last week he wasn’t pleased with the way he was playing. He had struggled against Buffalo in the past, obviously he played only three defensive snaps in the second half last year, but instead of dragging his head, he responded with what appeared to be a really good performance on Sunday. How pleasing was that for you to see? And what does it say about Nik? And playing in the slot probably is something he’s obviously comfortable with more so than boundary time, just thoughts and all that with Nik.) – “I think we’re comfortable with Nik wherever he plays whether he plays inside or outside. A lot of it’s matchup based. I think Nik is an ultimate competitor. I think he works extremely hard. I think like a lot of our guys, we’re expecting improvement as we go. I don’t think you’re satisfied with – I don’t think any of us are satisfied with where we’re at. But I do think all of us know and understand where we want to be and where we want to go, and I think we know and understand the things that we need to do to get there. I think we’re all excited about that. We’re not going to hang our hats on one game here, one game there and we’re going to move on to the next one and we’re going to continually try to get better so we’re playing better ball this week than we were last week. And then when we get to December, we’re playing better ball than what we were playing in October, November. I think that’s kind of the goal and the mindset of our group and Nik embodies that.”
(I wanted to ask you, when you plug on the Cincinnati Bengals tape, what impresses you about Joe Burrow?) – “Again, I think it’s just his overall competitiveness. Like when the reads are there, he makes the throws. When the reads aren’t there, he can make things happen and improvise and make the throws. If you open up running lanes, he can take those. I think he has great command of the offense, and I think you can really just see the competitive juices flowing from this guy. I think what he’s done since he’s came into the league, it’s been pretty impressive.”
(I was just wondering what you have seen in terms of opponent adjustments to your blitzes – the times when teams are seeing it and reading it, right. Is there some common thread that you’ve noticed, and how do you adjust to the adjustments?) – “I think there’s multiple variables. People have done a lot of different things to us. Basically, I mean, you almost have 200 snaps of it over the last couple years on tape. I think a lot of people have done a lot of different things. We have different adjustments that we use and I think it’s an evolving chess match as it goes, and you’ve got to prepare for it all. So you’re not quite sure how people are going to approach it, but you have good ideas going in. Sometimes people will copycat what other teams have done, sometimes teams will do what they’ve done in the past. And then sometimes we see new stuff. And that’s just kind of the ebb and flow of probably all coverages, fronts and blitzes in general.”
(As the elevation of the season progresses and the level of competition improves week by week, what are you looking forward in this week’s matchup for your defense against the defending AFC Champions?) – “I think we’re going to need good execution. I think we’re going to need to be a physical team on the field and I think the fundamentals that I talked about earlier, we’re going to have to make sure that we do a good job of tackling, a good job with our coverage at the top of the routes, a good job with our rush. It really is going to come down to fundamentals and techniques and that’s kind of what we’re looking for this week.”
