Matt Burke – December 21, 2017
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Thursday, December 21, 2017
Defensive Coordinator Matt Burke
(I was asking Head Coach Adam Gase about guys going back home and playing. DE Charles Harris is doing that this week. Gase said sometimes it matters, sometimes it doesn’t. Do you think it will matter to Charles Harris?) – “Maybe. You’d have to ask him. Obviously any time you’re playing in front of family and friends and have some extra people there, it ups your emotional level a little bit and maybe brings a little juice to things; so yes, maybe. Hopefully.”
(How has DE Charles Harris handled the biggest challenges of the year, when you look at guys that he’s gone against?) – “I think with Charles, we’ve tried to take sort of a long-term approach. I thought he actually played fairly well last game. He played with a lot of energy, was running around and chasing. It was a big game for him – obviously with some faster guys in terms of quarterback and running back and those sorts of things – for his athleticism to show. We’ve just been trying to have Charles progress and progress and I think he’s done that. It’s another, obviously, big challenge this week with the offense we’re facing and I think he’ll be ready to play.”
(What’s your thought process defensively in the red zone? When an opponent gets down in there, it’s almost certain they’re going to score one way or another. What is a success for you down there?) – “It’s two different things. Obviously, you’re trying to not let them down there. That’s the best thing.”
(Once they’re there, though.) – “Once they’re there? One of the things we just talk about is, again, especially if they’re close inside the 20, at that point, like you’re saying, you’re at least conceding a field goal attempt. So our focus is basically saving 4 points. I tell those guys, ‘If you get a third-down stop in the red zone, that’s a 4-point play.’ If it’s third-and-goal on the 8(-yard line), and you get a stop, you’re earning 4 points back for us, at a minimum. Who knows what happens on field goal attempts. I think at that point, the process is, ‘Hey, we’ve got to get a stop.’ Obviously, we haven’t had success in whatever measure to let them get down in the red zone. The goal there is then, ‘Hey, let’s get a stop and save 4 points.’ In a big picture sense, you hope that over the course of a season or games, that field goals aren’t going to beat you consistently. If you’re holding teams to field goals or field goal attempts, that 3 points over the course of time, those are still going to balance out; then if you can clean up your stuff, the issues that got your down there in the first place. Really, we just talk about really trying to get a stop down there and basically save 4 points once we get in the red zone.”
(You’re 28th in sacks. Is that a surprise to you and how do you explain that?) – “Again, we’ve talked about this. I think our guys have been disruptive. It’s disappointing, sure. I obviously would like to see some more success there in terms of finishing some of those plays. Earlier in the year, we talked about some of the situations. I feel like lately we’ve missed some opportunities, which has been the more disappointing part. You look at the first drive of last game, which was extremely disappointing – I’m not sure if I’ve gotten over it yet – we missed a sack opportunity to get off the field there, which we can’t do. We designed that up to literally go exactly how it went and then we missed the opportunity. Yes, we haven’t had numbers there in the success we’ve had. There’s some other stuff where we feel we’ve had some disruption and those things; but it’s kind of like interceptions were for us, in terms of finishing some of the plays that were getting to the quarterback. Last week we had a few where, obviously, we let (Bills QB Tyrod) Taylor out of the pocket and didn’t finish on those things. Yes, obviously we’d like to see some more success there.”
(Is there schematically things you could do differently or just make those plays, like you said?) – “I don’t know. We got Cam Wake free at the quarterback. I’m not sure how much more you can scheme up besides that. Again, there are some pressures we’ve had that we’ve had some success with. We examine the best things. Looking ahead to this week, it’s a fine line with the weapons they have. Any time you pressure and bring more people, you’re exposing your coverage a little bit and the way you do those sort of things. Schematically, I don’t feel like we’ve been hindering the rush with our scheme. We’ve just got to make those plays. I think our great players have to make plays when we put them in an opportunity and put them in a position to do that. I think they have to continue to finish those plays.”
(Your third-down efficiency has been very good. Why would you say that that is and is there something beyond that that you are zeroed in on that you definitely need to improve on this defense?) – “Third-down wise, we spend a lot of time on it. I do think some of the rush things, that factors into play in those situations. Again, if it’s third-and-longer and guys are worried about our rush and getting rid of the ball quick, then we can get off the field. Those help your efficiency numbers. Obviously we weren’t very good last week but big-picture wise … We spend a lot of time on it so it’s a chance to do some different things. We’ve talked in here about rush opportunities and those types of things. Obviously when you’re taking a run factor out and you know you’re getting a pass most of the time in those situations, we can do some different things and get some exotic stuff going. We’ve been pretty multiple on third downs. We do a lot of different things week to week, depending on what we’re getting. I think that probably helps. I know (Head Coach) Adam (Gase) looks at some of our stuff for me and does some cross-scouting for me and I know he’s talked about ‘Man, that would be hard to prepare for because you do a lot of different things.’ Again, we’re going to try to do … We take things week to week so we try to do things, like that week, what’s going to help us? It may be totally different from what we did last week and stuff. We really try to hone in on the challenges for the week and I think the guys do a good job. Today is Thursday. I think we’ll spend half the practice doing third downs today. That’s something that we do well with. The other side of it is when you talk about red zone. The other half we basically do red zone today, and we haven’t been good there. Obviously we’d like to be better. Overriding philosophy stuff, we’re about getting stops. That’s how I was raised. ‘Yards don’t matter; points do.’ Red zone stops are one way to get them, third-down stops, turnovers. The ways you get off the field are what keep points down. We’ve been pretty good on third downs but we haven’t been very good on red zone. Those are always areas we’re going to focus on, as a defense, getting off the field without giving up points. We’ve been streaky with the turnovers. We had a little stretch there where we were kind of rolling and then obviously didn’t get any last week. I think in terms of improvement, those are things we’re constantly stressing. That’s the disappointing thing, to be honest with you, is that those are things that we stress. It’s one thing if something is going on or whatever but for us to spend so much time in the red zone and to stress takeaways so much, that we haven’t been able to really see the results from that (is disappointing). Those are things we need to continue to improve on.”
(Last year, Defensive Coordinator Vance Joseph said – as everyone noticed with their own eyes – there were highs and lows with DT Jordan Phillips. He said at his best he was very good and at his worst, he put us in problems. Has he become a reliable player in your eyes where you can assume you’re going to get quality work most weeks?) – “Yes, I believe so. His snap count was a little down last week, more just some of the things we were doing. We ended up going to some three-man fronts and some different things with not being able to get to the quarterback and things; but he’s been really good. I would say the two weeks before that in the two wins we had, he was probably the best he’s been in a long time and everyone is seeing it. I feel like he’s definitely been more consistent this year and to a point where I’ve had some conversations with him, even pre-game and things, like ‘Hey man, you’ve got to be a guy that’s kind of one of our leaders now.’ He’s kind of an energy guy. I think he’s kind of found his way a little bit. Even last year, he wasn’t as outgoing as he’s been this year. I think he’s sort of just feeling himself a little bit more. I’m trying to encourage him to – I don’t know about his sack dances (laughter) – but just be more of an energy guy and get into it. Part of that responsibility comes with being consistent and being reliable. You can’t be a leader and can’t be out there and bring energy one time and not making plays or being in the right position the next time. I think with him feeling himself being more consistent, the energy and the leadership and the emotional part of it is coming out in him even more so, as well.”
(Two guys you’ve injected in the last month, LB Stephone Anthony for about four weeks ago and DE Cameron Malveaux for the last two weeks. Can you share with us how Malveaux and Anthony have graded out?) – “They’ve both been good. Sort of our decision-making to getting those guys active and going has been what we’ve seen on the practice field from both of them. It’s kind of a parallel tale of really good energy and motion and young bodies that are kind of flying around and what we want as part of our identity. It’s probably as much as anything a testament to them, their practice habits. Those were two guys that, to me, stood out in practice in terms of their energy, their speed, play tempo and those sort of things. We’re like if it looks good there, why can’t it look good on Sundays? When they’ve been given their opportunities, they’ve both performed very well for us.”
(When you have playmakers at three different levels for the Chiefs – wide receiver, tight end and tailback – how difficult is that for a defense, particularly the linebackers?) – “It’s everybody, to be honest with you. Our emphasis this week with that issue, if you will, is at some point, guys have to win their matchups at the end of the day. For us, I can’t double everybody and I can’t put 10 guys in the box to stop (Kareem) Hunt and leave nobody covering the tight end or nobody covering ‘10’ (Tyreek Hill) and those sort of things. You’ve got to mix targets. You’ve got to pick your spots. We’ll have calls to sort of help on each one of those guys in certain instances and we’ll try to mix it when we’re feeling it. That’s on me a little bit, to try to pick the spots where I think I’ve got to take away this guy in this instance or I’ve got to take this guy away in this instance. You can’t take away all of them. You don’t have enough guys on the field unless we go up to Canada or something. (laughter) For us, it’s going to be, at the end of the day, whether it’s our Pro Bowl safety (Reshad Jones) on their Pro Bowl tight end (Travis Kelce), he’s going to have to make some plays on him. Or, who we think is a really good linebacker in Kiko (Alonso), their running back (Kareem Hunt) makes a lot of his plays on missed tackles. He’s one of the best in the league statistically, even in terms of yards after contact and broken tackles. Our linebackers have to tackle this week. Period. Our DBs, we have to know where ’10’ (Tyreek Hill) is at all times. They do a lot with him. I don’t know if he’d win the fastest man – do they still do that thing anymore? I’m not sure; but he’d be in the competition. So we have to know … He can take the top off like that. They also obviously do some jet sweeps, they put him in the backfield and so we have to have awareness of him obviously our DBs when he’s on the outside part of the field but everybody has to know where ‘10’ (Tyreek Hill) is. I think call-wise, it’s going to be a little bit of just trying to pick the spots of where we’re trying to take away whom. Then, at the end of the day, if I put you on that guy, you’ve got to win your matchup sometimes. Everybody has their day in the barrel. Sometimes a call is this guy’s getting help but this guy’s not. The next time, that guy is getting help and that guy is not. The guys that aren’t getting help, you’ve got to win. That’s how it’s going to come down to. We feel like we have some good players on defense too. They’ve got to earn their paychecks this week and win their matchups.”
(You mentioned Chiefs WR Tyreek Hill. How do you take away a guy with that type of speed? Everybody is fast in the NFL but he ran a 10-second 100-meter in high school.) – “Yes, he’s fast. Again, we’re probably not going to necessarily leave him out on an island and say, ‘Here you go, go cover him.’ We’re going to have some things. We’re going to try to put our hands on him and give him some different looks. I think for some of us, our awareness of where he’s lined up and what he’s doing from certain spots; again, because they move him around so much and utilize him in a lot of different ways. There’s no hiding it. I mean, he’s fast. I don’t think anyone’s going to argue that. We’ve just got to try to put our hands on him a little bit. The risk/reward is if you’re putting your hands on him and you miss him and he gets a clean release, then obviously there’s some issues there. We’re working some techniques with some of the things we want to do. We’ll have some calls where we can kind of help on him a little bit and try to give him a little bit of a different look and mix some things up.”
(How did LB Kiko Alonso do on Sunday and in what areas do you think he can improve?) – “He obviously had a lot, statistically, a lot of tackles and was involved in a lot of plays. I think in general, this will apply to Kiko but also to sum up some of the other guys from Sunday, our good plays can’t – not take plays off – but can’t miss on plays. He missed a couple of tackles that he can’t miss, period. If we want to be the defense that we want to be and we want to win games that we want to win, he can’t miss a couple of those plays. Reshad (Jones) can’t miss a tackle. Cam (Wake) can’t miss a sack. That’s just facts. So Kiko did a lot of good things. I feel like one of our issues is, with a guy like Kiko, we say there’s 60 snaps in a game and he played really good for 55 of them but there were five that he didn’t. We can’t have those five. That’s the next step for Kiko and for a lot of the guys on defense, especially from Sunday. He made a lot of good plays. He had a lot of tackles. He was active – very active – but he missed a handful of plays that he can’t miss for us to be the defense we want to be.”
