Ty McKenzie – November 21, 2022
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Monday, November 21, 2022
Outside Linebackers Coach Ty McKenzie
(What’s most impressed you about LB Bradley Chubb, just being around him for a couple for a weeks, from a person standpoint but also from a skillset standpoint?) – “From a person standpoint, his willingness to get better. One thing about him when he came in, he had a couple things on his mind of areas of focus that he needs to improve on and I had mine, and we kind of put it together – his willingness and work ethic to want to get better to really maximize his potential. On the field, I would say things that we saw on tape, his ability to bend, to attack, to find edges, to work edges on offensive tackles. And I think that he’s just only going to get better, just keep working with him. It goes back to one thing that I love off the field which is just his willingness to get better every day.”
(LB Bradley Chubb played 54 snaps in that first game and started four days after he arrived. Is it safe to say you can open up the entire playbook for him now?) – “Oh yeah, we’re not – I think one of the things that we try to do here as staff is we just try to get these guys caught up as fast as we can, because you never know – injuries can happen, anybody could be traded, obviously with Bradley (Chubb) being traded here or some guy off the street. So, you know, we take a lot of pride as a staff of being able to keep the same playbook and just let it roll and get the guys up to date on the playbook. It goes back to Chubb, him preparing that week when he first got in. I think he was here for four days or so and then he played in the game. That entire week, we had multiple meetings with him, extra meetings doing extra things with him and he just wants the willingness for him with a good work ethic. We got him up and running and he’s here to play. As a coach, that’s what we’re here to do is get them on the field.”
(What’s the process of coaching a player such as LB Bradley Chubb? He comes in and then do you watch film and then you talk to him about what you see that he needs to work on to fit in on this defense? How does that work?) – “I think one of the biggest things with certain players in the league is the alertness – alertness to always look at themselves with an open eye of how they can improve. So when he came in, he already had that alertness of just watching his own game. Then we sat down and watched the cut up and kind of went over a couple of things from my perspective, and we see things the same. This guy’s got a good football mind, and he likes to improve every day so he’s been great.”
(How advantageous is it just to have the sheer number of outside linebackers and edge rushers that this team has?) – “It’s a week-to-week basis, because we have these guys now. We had (Emmanuel) Ogbah last week – poor guy, he was really ascending and gets injured. So we’re just kind of week to week and just whoever is out there, whoever gets dressed for the game, whoever is going to be our starters out there, those guys are the right decision or the team and are going to give us our best opportunity to win. So it’s very exciting just to have anybody out there – that can be ‘Gink’ (Andrew Van Ginkel), that could be Cameron Goode – who knows. Every week to week, we’re just making sure those guys are prepared and ready to go so we can win a game.”
(What do you see in how multiple guys were getting to the quarterback at the same time for hits and then also all three sacks last game were split sacks with multiple guys getting there?) – “Yeah, that’s exciting, and that goes back to those guys’ work ethic – preparing during the week, knowing their opponent, at the same time, the stuff we worked back in OTAs all the way until now. We talked about earlier, months ago, with Jaelan (Phillips) getting to the quarterback and he’s getting the pressure rates and all that. Now he’s got a chance to get a sack. So it’s just finding different ways to affect the quarterback. That may be coming in sacks, it may be coming in hurries, it may be coming in pressures where we’re getting hits on the quarterback, or maybe batted balls or interceptions. Whatever we can do to affect the quarterback. It was exciting that we got a chance to really get after the passer in the game. That really goes back to the team for the secondary doing their job and the guys up front, rushing and executing the plan. It’s exciting as an overall defense.”
(If you have LB Bradley Chubb, LB Melvin Ingram and LB Jaelan Phillips in there together, what is it that sets that unit apart? Is it speed? Feet? Hands? What is it that makes them special? – “I mean, everybody has their own individual talent that they bring to it. With things that we’ve worked on since OTAs, and (Bradley) Chubb getting caught up and working on (things) that he’s working on his own, now we’re here working on – those guys bring the elements of talent and of play to our defense. If we can get our best players on the field, that’s always the plan. If we could get 11 DBs, then it’s 11 DBs, 11 OLBs, 11 LBs – whatever our best 11 is in that situation to help us win.”
(But there’s not one characteristic or trait that sets them apart?) – “I’m probably going to keep that in my back pocket. (laughter) I can’t give you everything.”
(How much do you and Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer and Defensive Line Coach Austin Clark and the staff talk about where, as far as those three guys you just mentioned, where’s best to line them up to maximize them as far as LB Jaelan Phillips on one side, LB Bradley Chubb on the other? You’ve done some of both with LB Andrew Van Ginkel and LB Melvin Ingram, too.) – “Just in general, it goes back to Xavien Howard or (Bradley) Chubb or (Jaelan) Phillips or Christian Wilkins – everybody on the defense, we’re always trying to put those guys in position to have success because the more successful they are, the better we are as defense. So just stuff that you discuss every week to week and just try to help those guys maximize their potential. And that goes back to OTAs, goes back to individual drills, when you guys are out there watching us in (the individual period), we’re doing things that are solely focused on players’ individual traits that we can enhance and some things that we saw in the game plan that we need to kind of focus up on during the week.”
(What do you recall from having LB Brennan Scarlett the first time in the offseason and training camp, and what are your thoughts on now getting him back?) – “I’m excited to have him, excited to have him back. He was out in the West Coast, hanging out, working out, getting in shape and staying in football shape ready to go. So I’m excited to have him. We talked on the phone about less than a month ago, I was kind of checking in on him and he sent me a video of him working out an empty gym. I was like, ‘Alright, are you showing me walls or are you working out?’ (laughter) But he’s been training and he’s ready to go. Whatever role we have for him, whatever it is, he’s going to take advantage of it and work his tail off. So I’m excited to have him.”
