Vance Joseph – December 29, 2016
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Thursday, December 29, 2016
Defensive Coordinator Vance Joseph
(Some of your statistics, the yardage, the rankings, I’m sure not what you ideally want but the bottom line is 10 wins, maybe 11 this week. Can we just throw all the stats out the window with this unit?) – “No you don’t have to. You can keep them. (laughter) You can keep them all. You know, I think this: I would hope for better numbers; but obviously it’s not the case. We track four or five major stats and we’re pretty good at those – yards per pass play, takeaways, sacks. Those things we track – red zone. Obviously the yardage stats, it can come from a lot of different things as far as plays played. We played 94 snaps on Sunday. But again, we care about winning and the stats are the stats. I’ve been on a team where my last year in Houston we were 2-14, but we were No. 1 in defensive stats. So I’ll take this.”
(Where does the big make up come, you think? Turnovers have been very good since the 1-4 start I noticed. Is that the biggest thing you think, the takeaways?) — “I think takeaways, third downs have been pretty good. Our sacks been pretty good since the 1-4 start. Those are the major stats that I can identify that has helped us turn it a little bit.”
(You guys have obviously struggled against mobile quarterbacks this year. Is there a sigh of relief there’s none of them left on your schedule?) – “Absolutely. We’ve had real struggles with obviously the kid in San Francisco (Colin Kaepernick) and Tyrod (Taylor) and the kid at Tennessee (Marcus Mariota). That has been a major issue for us, containing those guys in the pressure game and in four-man rushes. It has been impossible. Obviously, we’ve got to do better there. We’ve got to get to the spring here and reboot it and make it better.”
(Losing S Isa Abdul-Quddus, what is the impact of that on the defense do you think?) – “Well, we are kind of used to losing players. As far as the impact, I mean he’s been a guy that’s been a great leader for us in the back end. He’s been a guy who’s made the calls for us the last two months without Reshad (Jones) being back there. But again, Michael (Thomas) has played. He’s a veteran player. He’s a smart player. It’s been that way all year, so I expect Michael to fill in and play well. Michael played his best game of the year, in my opinion, on Saturday. So I think Michael will play well. (Bacarri) Rambo will play more base (packages) now and we’ll move on.”
(S Michael Thomas had 11 tackles at Buffalo? Is that right?) – “Yes.”
(Where they the kind of tackles from S Michael Thomas you want to see? I think I remember at least one behind the line, or were they down the field, thank goodness he was there type tackles?) – “Yes. He made impact tackles in the pressure game and in run-fits being the down safety. Michael played his best game Saturday, so that’s a good sign. Obviously he’s going to be a full-time thudder now, so we need Michael to play well.”
(The back seven has just been crushed with injuries. I know you’re not going to use it as an excuse, but you are going to have some tight ends you’re going to have to cover in the postseason and the middle of the field has been kind of open. How do you fix that?) – “Well, you fix it with different coverage – answers basically. We can’t be in one coverage where we expose someone to an awful matchup. So we have to have some coverage variations so we can help guys with those big tight ends down the seam.”
(Along those lines, we know Patriots QB Tom Brady gets the ball out very quickly. What do you say to your pass rushers here? Is it be smart or is it keep attacking? What do you tell them?) – “Well, keep rushing. Keep rushing because it starts with the coverage. If the coverage is tight, you can make him hold the ball. If the coverage is soft, the ball’s going to be out, it’s going to be a catch, it’s going to be a ball for a first down or for a positive gain. So keep rushing up front. It starts with the coverage, but we’ve got to have tight coverage to make him hold it, and then eventually once he holds it, we can get there. But it’s frustrating for those guys when the ball is out so fast. That’s the new trend in the NFL. It’s shotgun. It’s catch-and-throw. It’s been that way all year, so just keep rushing.”
(What is your level of concern as far as lack of depth now in the defensive backfield with CB Byron Maxwell not practicing yet obviously, two starting safeties down? How worried are you and also second part is S Walt Aikens equipped to play defense if he needs to?) – “Well, we’ve got some young guys that are going to be backups this week obviously. Concern? I wouldn’t say it’s a concern. Obviously when you lose starters and you’re playing with backup players, you’ve got your young guys that are backups now and it’s a concern but it’s the next guy up. Everyone’s in the same meetings. Everyone’s practicing the same system, so we expect guys to fill in and do their job. So is it a concern? Absolutely. But is it a big, big worry? It can’t be. That’s who we’ve got. Walt Aikens is a guy who’s been here three years now. So if Walt has to play, I’m comfortable with Walt playing. He’s been a valuable (special) teams player for us, obviously. He’s a big athlete, so physically he has no problems. It’s just experience. If Walt’s playing, I’m fine with Walt.”
(How do you feel about CB Byron Maxwell and LB Jelani Jenkins playing this week?) – Byron’s probably not going to play. He’s still very sore. The same with Jelani. He’s still very sore. Hopefully those guys kind of heal up this weekend and get ready for the playoffs in a week here. But they’re not going to play this week, those two.”
(When it comes to playing assignment football with some of these more mobile quarterbacks, what are some of the things that need to be done to tighten that up and kind of make sure that the yardage is minimized there?) – “Most of it is really physical. As an outside blitzer, you’re coached to stay outside and he circles you. ‘I’m outside coach. But he circled me.’ So it’s not a mental thing. It’s not a compliance thing. It’s a physical thing. Most quarterbacks don’t run like that, so when you’re even with the quarterback … If it’s Tom Brady, it’s not a concern, but if it’s Tyrod Taylor, if we’re even he’s leaving. It’s no different than ‘Shady’ (LeSean McCoy) playing quarterback. So it’s not a mental thing, it’s a physical ability thing. That’s the issue.”
(I saw LB Neville Hewitt, he took a dive, you know make the play on Bills QB Tyrod Taylor there. What are you seeing from him and his progression and are you liking some of the things you see?) – “Neville’s had a great season in my opinion. As a backup Will ‘backer, he’s played at a high level. He’s been our base starter for about a month and a half now. He’s played really well. I can’t name a game where Neville hadn’t been productive, even last week. But Neville’s (Hewitt) a young player who can run, so as a Will ‘backer, if you’ve got speed and you can tackle, you can play in this system and Neville’s (Hewitt) done well.”
(In what area of the game have you seen the most growth from LB Neville Hewitt?) – “Probably the mental part. He’s, again, a second year player in the spring who struggled with his assignments but now he’s doing things right. Again physically he has no problem but mentally he’s grown a lot.”
(Do you have a general philosophy about playing players who might be a little sore in a game like this? Playoffs looming and has experience taught you that one way is better than the other?) – “We’re playing to win. If a guy’s ready to play, he’s going to play. Obviously if a guy can’t play this week, he’s not going to play. We’re not sitting guys who are borderline healthy enough to play this week. If you’re healthy enough to play, you’re going to play. If you’re not, you’re not going to play. This is a big game for us. Now obviously and going forward obviously, it’s an in-division opponent who’s won a division for numerous years, so for us it’s a big game going forward. If you’re a player and you’re healthy you’re going to play this game. We’re playing to win.”
(And the risks of that?) – “I think the risks of it are football. Every game is a risk. But again, it’s a bigger picture for us here than one week. It’s moving forward with this football team versus a division opponent who’s dominated this division over the years, so it’s a big picture issue for us.”
(A specific play question. There was a 53-yard completion to Sammy Watkins in the last game. I think it was the third quarter. It looks like it involved at least CB Xavien Howard and S Bacarri Rambo? What could have been done better there?) – “Well, first of all, there was a four-strong pressure and we had Kiko (Alonso) free inside and Bobby (McCain) was the edge blitzer and Bobby (McCain) ducked inside and Tyrod (Taylor) circled it, so it started there with the pressure. The coverage is a zone-man coverage, so when Sammy went vertical, ‘X’ (Xavien Howard) should have been on Sammy but he squatted and kind of let Sammy run behind him. So as the play … It broke down. He got behind ‘X’ and Rambo’s on two, so he kind of saved us by overlapping back towards Sammy. So it was a pressure issue and a coverage issue on that play.”
(I know that snaps always don’t come out exactly as you would envision because of the length of drive, etc. That said, did the fact that DE Terrence Fede and DE Nick Williams played more than DE Mario Williams, was that a reflection of they were better at practice recently?) – “Well Mario has not been healthy and Fede’s played well, so he’s earned a right to play more reps. So going forward, until Mario gets totally healthy, I think Terrence has earned a right to play in that role, so to speak. If he’s playing well and he’s playing hard for us, he’s going to play. Until Mario gets healthy, it won’t change.”
(The way you played in overtime, where does that come from? Is that the veteran leadership mostly or what would you?) – “Well I think the entire team believes. We didn’t think one second on Saturday that the game was going to be not won. So I think it comes from our total team culture. And obviously having guys who can rush and make plays on the ball always helps in overtime. If you make two or three plays, it’s probably good enough in overtime. We had a belief that someone was going to make a play eventually and we did.”
