Matt Burke – September 13, 2018
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Thursday, September 13, 2018
Defensive Coordinator Matt Burke
(How challenging was it to go through the rotation at defensive end with the five guys you have and getting enough snaps for all of them?) – “It was fine. I didn’t really feel it was an issue. Obviously there was a different rhythm to the game. I’m not sure that was a typical way we’d go through things with the starting and stopping and that sort of thing. It was kind of an odd rhythm. Not just the breaks, but we had some short drives and some long drives. It was kind of a weird deal. I didn’t really feel like there was an issue. It was pretty clean.”
(All nine defensive linemen ended up playing the first series. Was that planned if it was going to be a longer series or is that just the way it worked?) – “Nope. That’s just the way it went.”
(The media told me that DE Robert Quinn and DE Cameron Wake were going to be on the field and going after quarterbacks together and stuff like that. How often did that really happen?) – “I mean they were on the field together a pretty good amount, I think. I couldn’t give you hard numbers on that. Really, I think in terms of our rush numbers, I don’t think we really had much of an opportunity to rush, if you look at true drop-back passing game. I thought one of the areas that we have to get better at was our first- and second-down defense. Really, our second-down defense. We made some plays on first down and kind of got them behind the chains and then we were kind of not as good on second down. So we didn’t have a third-and-longer-than-6 until the fourth quarter. So it’s hard. The ball is coming out quick when you’re in third-and-2, third-and-4, third-and-3, third-and-4. We were always on shorter down and distances. I’m pretty sure we had our first (third-and-long) on a third-and-9 almost in the fourth quarter, late in the game. So the first six to eight third downs we had were all sort of six or less yards to go, so they weren’t giving us opportunities. But that’s our fault. It’s not like it’s up to them to give us opportunities. We have to do a better job on the early downs to put us in those situations. It wasn’t really until towards the end of the game when we got a little bit of a lead and had a chance and knew the drop-back passing game was coming out. Before that, it was screens, quick-game, the ball’s out quick, boot(legs). I just felt like we didn’t really have an opportunity to truly pin our ears back and rush. Those guys were on the field together and we were rolling our groups and trying to get into some of that. You limit yourself in third-down defenses in what you can do when you’re behind the sticks a little bit.”
(Optimally, third-and-long, those are the two guys – DE Cameron Wake and DE Robert Quinn – that you want in there?) – “Absolutely.”
(What do you like best about what your defense did? Did anything stand out, any unit?) – “Well, I think probably the biggest contributing factors to us winning the game were obviously the takeaways, number one. That’s something we’ve been emphasizing and having the three picks, (they) were kind of timely interceptions. A couple of them were after those breaks to kind of jump start us a little bit to get us back into some things. Not a total lack of but I would probably say the second factor is a lack of explosive plays against us. By our count, we only had five of what we’d consider truly explosive plays, and really nothing over our heads. We had one where the tight end kind of sneaked out of the back side of us. So limiting explosive plays and obviously getting the three takeaways was huge, so I was happy with those things. We didn’t really have any balls go over our head in the passing game. Again, a point of emphasis this year was in terms of takeaways. I think in terms of on-the-field stuff, those were two critical factors for us and then I’m sure it’s probably said by a lot of people this week, but the resiliency and mental toughness those guys showed was awesome. Every time we were in the locker room, it just didn’t feel like there was any panic or any worry or anything. Everyone was really relaxed. When it was time to head back on the field, they mounted up and went back out there. For that second (delay) to come, sometimes that can be kind of demoralizing. I did think we got a little sloppy after that second break. That’s kind of where a lot of our missed tackles came and some of that stuff. We got a little looser in the run game. But I think that was just a hard, mentally-tough game to go through and they showed a lot of resiliency battling through a seven-hour game.”
(What’s your definition of explosive plays? You said there were five.) – “Yes, usually any run over 12 (yards) for us. That may be a little bit stingy for us but any runs over 12 (yards) – like we had the 26-yard run that busted out late on us – and passes over 18 (yards). So kind of in that realm. Everybody has their own definition but we’re usually right around there.”
(How would you rate S Minkah Fitzpatrick’s play in his first regular-season game for you?) – “Solid. He made some plays; he left some plays on the field. I’d love to see him finish that game off with a pick, obviously. He had a couple of other things. Again, a lot of times with him or any of those younger guys that are playing for us, there’s just some stuff they haven’t seen; but he obviously made a huge play for us on the goal line. That’s a great play for him to push through on the fourth-down play, and he had a couple of other stops before that. A lot of times in that role, with him playing inside a little bit more and then the nickel role, you didn’t really notice him on a lot of stuff, which is good. He wasn’t giving up plays. He wasn’t targeted. He didn’t miss a lot of stuff. He made the plays that came to him. He made a couple of really good plays and like I said, he left a couple on the field that could have solidified an even better day for him. He’s just … I think the more that he plays and the more he sees some things that he just hasn’t seen before, and he just keeps growing through that, he’s just going to keep getting better and better.”
(What have you learned about DT Akeem Spence since he’s been here?) – “As a person, he’s a very gregarious kid. He’s very outgoing, very personable, always has a smile on his face, very happy. He just loves being part of the team and loves playing ball. He’s fun to be around. Obviously having a history with (Defensive Line Coach) Kris (Kocurek), he has a good understanding and is a good conveyer of the message. He has a good understanding of what Kris wants from a technique standpoint and how we’re trying to play some things up front. He’s done that before. He’s obviously had a history in that scheme, so for him to help those other guys out in terms of trying to help get them caught up to speed on what we’re looking for. So he does a good job with that, doubling down on the message and having been through it for a season before this. He’s probably more ahead from a technique standpoint just because he’s been repping it and practicing it and training in that system for a year. So he helps a lot with the other guys and stuff. He’s got a big personality. I think most of the people in the building took to him instantly. He’s always fun to be around. I like being out at practice with him. He loves playing ball so it doesn’t matter whether it’s slogging through the heat at a practice or on game day, he’s always up and energized and he’s a good personality to have for the team.”
(Titans Head Coach Mike Vrabel had some words for DE Andre Branch. Did you have any issues with that hit?) – “I mean, no. We just try to coach our guys on what the league tells us. I don’t know. There wasn’t a flag on any of those plays, so I can’t respond to what Coach Vrabel’s thoughts are.”
(Do you take personally when teams or other coaches might question…) – “Nope. I don’t take anything personally.”
(Is there a sense of pride that this team plays clean though, for you?) – “Yes. Like I said, we try to coach within the rules. We have constant dialogue with the NFL league office and what we’re trying to tell (our guys). I have no problem with anyone who wants to question my coaching style and my coaching abilities or techniques. I’m an open book and I’ll tell you exactly what we’re telling those guys. I don’t see that at all. Again, it’s a hard game to play; it’s a hard game to officiate. A lot of stuff is happening fast. The hits that have been questioned, neither one of them were flagged. I can just go off that and if they change that and want to come back to us and tell us this is not something that we’re looking for, then we’ll adjust what we’re telling our guys to do.”
(How do you understand the NFL rule on the RPOs [run-pass options] with the quarterbacks?) – “My understanding is that if the quarterback carries out a fake or continues the action of running, then he’s eligible to be contacted. He’s still in a running mode. If he shows his hands or steps back away from things, then he’s not eligible to be contacted. That’s what we teach our guys. If you’re defending RPO-type games, there’s always somebody that’s on the dive and on the quarterback or whatever the other elements of the option are there. Again, that’s my understanding. Until someone tells me otherwise, that’s how we’re going to keep coaching our guys.”
(You mentioned the resiliency of coming back after a couple of long breaks. Who is – what players are – making sure that everybody does that, gets together, stays together, plays together?) – “Honestly, it was … I never … I know it was talked about. Maybe Ryan (Tannehill) talked about it. There were kind of two different ways the breaks approached us. When that first one came, it was sort of like they just kept pushing it back. So we were kind of always on call waiting. We came in and they were like, ‘Hey, it’s going to be a half an hour and everything is going to pass.’ Then they come back in and go, ‘Oh, it’s going to extend another 15 minutes, another 15 minutes, another half an hour.’ So we were never … It was kind of a weird deal. Everyone was kind of waiting. Every time we thought we were about to head back out, they’d come back in and say ‘Nope. We have to wait’ however long the time break was. So that was a little different because we were a little bit kind of on edge. Everyone was kind of waiting. They thought we were getting back out there sooner than we did. The second one, they kind of told us right away ‘Hey, this is going to be a stretch here.’ They told us it was possibly going to be up to a couple of hours. At that point, you didn’t want to keep guys on edge for another two hours locked in. So we kind of just let them do their own thing. But every time I came back … We have our own (coaches) locker room that were kind of doing some things and making sure that we were on top of what we wanted to adjust to. Then every time we came back out, those guys were hanging out together, which was cool to see. There was just a … I was just at ease. I didn’t feel any anxiety. I didn’t feel … I wouldn’t say there was one person calling guys up or anything like that. I think it kind of became a point of pride, just as that thing extended and went on and on. It was like, ‘Hey, when we get back out there, this is what we have to do’ type of thing. It was just … I wouldn’t say there was necessarily one guy that was rallying the troops per se, but we just really collectively … There was no panic. There was no anxiety. It was ‘Alright, hey. This is what they’re telling us we have to do to win the game today. That’s what we’re going to go through.’ We all left the locker room together and got it done.”
(How does S Minkah Fitzpatrick’s personality, demeanor and maturity align with the idea that he’ll be playing in front of many family and friends going home this week?) – “I think he had a lot of family and friends down here last week too. I don’t think he thinks about any of that stuff. He’s all about ball. He’s like that in practice so on Sundays, I think he just applies what he does in practice to the field. When it’s time to play, I don’t think he’s thinking about who’s in the stands or who is watching on TV or anything else except for what (he) has to do to get his job done this week. I don’t think that even plays into anything that factors there.”
(Did the additional information you got on Jets QB Sam Darnold from Monday change your impression and game plan or was it about what you expected?) – “Well, we waited. Not necessarily just because of him but obviously there was sort of a lack of history between the coordinator and the quarterback altogether and doing all of that. So we waited to really get into our game-planning stuff until a bit later on Tuesday morning. I mean we watched all of that stuff, but we wanted to put that game into the cut-up. So it obviously factored into things. You never know. Obviously you watch preseason games and that’s kind of a little different element. I thought he had an impressive debut. I’ve coached in Detroit. I’ve coached Monday Night Football games in Detroit. That’s a loud stadium. That’s a hard place to play. I know the game kind of got out of hand as it went on but I thought he showed a lot of poise handling that and being on the road. Starting a game, obviously besides just being his debut, it was on the road in a Monday Night Football setting in a place that I know personally is a pretty loud environment. So I thought he showed a lot of poise and then, obviously, especially after the first play, he came back and didn’t show a lot of (being) rattled or anything like that. That’s going to be an evolving picture for us, just as we get to know him better. Obviously we’ll have to face him a couple of times a year most likely for the next however long. We’ll use that game to factor into some of the things that we’re doing.”
(How difficult is it to prepare for a quarterback who there’s just not that much film on?) – “Yes, I mean we obviously evaluate a lot of those guys through the draft and try to have some sense of what we feel like their strengths and weaknesses are. Some of it, you’re dealing with schematic issues in terms of whoever’s playing quarterback and what we’re doing. It’s hard. Well, I don’t want to say it’s hard but yes, there’s less information, so you’re sort of projecting some things and trying to anticipate what their answers are or what they’re trying to do to help him out to be successful. We’ve put a lot of stuff together again, just from college and what we had information on from there, through the draft process, and what we’ve seen on film in his preseason games and then the other night. Obviously we play them again, however many weeks down the road. So we’ll have a bigger, sort of, database of information to work of; but we’ve got to work off of what we’ve got right now.”
(Do you talk to quarterbacks when they come through here?) – “In the draft process?”
(Yes.) – “Some. It depends. I don’t make a point of it for me, personally. I’m usually pretty busy, but sometimes I mess around with them a bit. We’ll see. Usually I talk trash to them. (laughter)”
(One minor lineup thing. With CB Torry McTyer getting five snaps at cornerback last week. Was somebody hurt or did you just want to give him opportunities in a regular-season game at cornerback?) – “Yes. That was not an injury factor. At some point, down the road in this season, a lot of guys are going to have to play football for us. So when you have an opportunity to try to get some of those guys some work in real game action … We actually moved Minkah (Fitzpatrick) back to safety to get him some extra work there and bumped Bobby (McCain) to nickel. So guys that we’ve been working in a certain spot, now we can start playing around with making sure those guys are still getting some reps and some action at some other spots we may utilize them at. We had a little bit of a lead. Not that the game was in hand, but we just felt this was a good opportunity to get a look at some of those guys and give them some real, live action. You can’t simulate that in practice or anything. It was just a good opportunity for Torry to get some good game work for us.”
(Is there anybody that stood out to you that had a great game after you watched the film from last week?) – “Reshad Jones. Did he stand out to you? (laughter) Obviously he made two great plays. He does a lot for us. He was kind of back in midseason form. I thought Bobby (McCain) played pretty well for us too. (He was) kind of under the radar a little bit. He didn’t make a lot of plays per se or have a lot of stuff happen. He had that huge breakup for us on the goal line, the play or two before the fourth-down play down there. That was a huge play. He saved me a little bit of a scheme flaw there that he covered up for. He did some things like that, that maybe didn’t totally go recognized; but Bobby played really well for us. Obviously Reshad made some impact plays. I thought Kiko was flying around. He obviously had the pick but made a lot of other plays there, too. I thought it was a pretty steady game but I’ll be honest with you, I hate to be Debby Downer; but we were sloppy. I thought we were just sloppy. I was very proud of the resiliency and the toughness and stuff they showed, but we left some stuff on the field that we can’t leave on the field if we want to continue to win ball games. So that was one of the themes for this week was that there’s some stuff we have to tighten up. There’s some guys that played well but even the guys that played well, we got loose on a couple of things on stuff that wasn’t exposed necessarily in the outcome of the game or in things that happened. Again, as you move forward through a season, we can’t win ball games all of the time doing some of the things that we did. We have to tighten up the sloppiness and really detail out some of the things that you guys may not have noticed, or maybe didn’t impact this game, but they will impact future games. I think everybody has a lot of work to do.”
