Vic Fangio – January 10, 2024
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Wednesday, January 10, 2024
Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio
(With LB Melvin Ingram and LB Emmanuel Ogbah and LB Justin Houston and LB Bruce Irvin all in their 30s, would your hope ideally be to play all of them to conserve their energy on Saturday night?) – “Yeah, I mean we’ll just see how it’s going. Again, it depends upon the flow of the game – how many plays are you playing and how short a time span.”
(What role did you play in making the decision or maybe co-signing their additions?) – “That was Chris (Grier) and his department handling all of that.”
(When he comes over to you and he says, “hey, we’re thinking of signing these guys,” do you say, “I’m all for it” or…?) – “I said ‘good, we’ve got to have somebody.’ (laughter)”
(What was the challenge for you with so much not just new, but you’ve got backups in other roles. What’s the challenge for you in figuring out who can do what?) – “I think the biggest thing is not to try and do too much because the worst way you can play is to beat yourself – not knowing what to do, not being in the right place at the right time. So you’ve got to be careful not to do too much, but we’ve got half our starters out there and they’re yearning for anything to help win the game so you’ve got to balance that.”
(I wanted to ask you about LB Channing Tindall. He does have some edge kind of athleticism, skillsets. Could he potentially help you out there at the edge or is he…?) – “No, I don’t think so. We’re keeping him focused at ILB.”
(What do you think worked well last time in defending Chiefs TE Travis Kelce?) – “I just think it was one of those games where it kind of happened. We did pay him some attention, which helped. Probably kept a couple balls away from him, but it wasn’t like it was every play. Just sometimes games work out that way.”
(We hear a lot of criticism about the Chiefs receiving corps and what they don’t do well, but what are a couple things that do stand out on tape as good?) – “I think (Rashee) Rice has really emerged for them. He’s really a good runner after the catch. He’s shown good hands. (Justin) Watson has really emerged here the last part of the season and really gets down the field. He’s fast with good speed and you can tell Mahomes likes throwing to him. (Marquez) Valdes-Scantling has always been a good receiver. They’re still one of the top offenses in the league and they can explode at any moment with Mahomes at quarterback.”
(How hard is it not to know how many snaps S Jevon Holland and maybe S DeShon Elliott can give you on Saturday as far as preparation?) – “It’s just up in the air. It’s one of those things you can’t control. It’s the injury situation. I know they both want to play and are trying to do everything they can from a treatment standpoint. I think DeShon (Elliott) showed his toughness and want-to by playing in that game the other night.”
(How has S Brandon Jones done in terms of filling in?) – “Good. I think Brandon (Jones) has done a good job. Like I’ve said before, in a weird way, the season has worked out good for him. He’s gotten a lot more playing time than he probably thought he would and it’s come in intermittent pieces, which was good because he had no training camp and offseason. I think he’s done well.”
(Any other team you’ve been around where you’re going into a playoff game with half the starters replaced and you’re bringing – any comparison that you’ve had?) – “No.”
(I know it was a few days ago, but there was a moment against the Bills where I think with 15 seconds left you guys played more prevent coverage instead. I guess what was the thought process behind I guess calling that?) – “Because at that point in the game, at that point in the first half, they were out of timeouts and it just felt like they had to go to the end zone. They got a seven or eight-yard gain I think on the play and tried to score again and came up short and the half ran out so the sequence worked out good for us.”
(Are you familiar with the Taylor Swift hit, “Shake it Off?”) – “No.” (laughter)
(It’s a good song, “Shake it Off.”) – “The highlight of my day is driving home at night and I listen to the 70s on 7. And I don’t think Taylor Swift has any song on there.” (laughter)
(I know you’re always forward thinking about the next game, but has there been a moment where you’ve said I can’t believe how injury-ravaged our unit is?) – “Yeah, I mean it’s a lot all at once. Some of it is at one position in particular, outside linebacker and safety in particular. There’s no woe is me in this business. Everybody looks at this as kind of Madden on PlayStation and they all expect results. Is that what they, used to say in the maternity ward, don’t tell me about the pain, just show me the baby? (laughter) You can’t say that anymore, but everybody is expecting a good performance from us and we’re going to do everything we can to do it.”
(We’ve seen more of DT Christian Wilkins lining up farther from the ball at defensive end. Are you looking to do some of that to supplement the losses on the edge?) – “No. Christian has had a hell of a season inside. We don’t want to weaken ourselves there. He had two great plays the other night. I mean two all-time plays. That’s one thing you have to be careful of. You don’t weaken yourself somewhere to patch a hole somewhere else.”
(How did you, with what you guys went through on Sunday, hold Bills QB Josh Allen to 14 points? What was it?) – “Well we hung in there. We got some takeaways in the red zone. We gave up a lot of yards, but we didn’t give up the points. They are a great offense. They’re going to move the ball on everybody. So you have to come up with some plays and our guys battled and we got some plays. It was under duress. They had a lot of plays. Our guys just played really good overall.”
(Is that kind of the blueprint for Saturday?) – “You hope. We’d like to not let them drive it as long as Buffalo did, but they’re obviously very capable of that with (Patrick) Mahomes at quarterback and the talent they have on offense. I mean, I think if we hold them to 14, that would be good.”
(Do you recall LB Justin Houston or LB Bruce Irvin having an impact on any of the past years’ games that you were involved with?) – “I know Justin. Those two guys have been good players in the league for a long time at different places at different levels. I really don’t because when you’re a defensive coach, you really don’t watch the other team’s defense unless you’re studying them in the offseason and I never really did.”
(This is a housekeeping question. Have you ever had say in what defenders you bring in or do you just leave that to front office?) – “Every place is different.”
(What’s the coldest game you’ve ever been a part of in your years of coaching?) – “Well, we played in Green Bay in 1996 – actually it would’ve been 1997, but the 1996 season (NFC) Championship game. Carolina against the Packers. That wasn’t the record but it was in the top five. Then we played in Green Bay for a playoff game when I was in San Francisco. Really cold. I think there’s one other one. Those are the two that come to mind.”
(I think the first touchdown you gave up Sunday night, the tipped pass, are there any coaching points for that or is that one of those plays where it’s like?) – “Yeah, that’s a little bit of buzzard’s luck. Eli (Apple) could’ve kept competing because once the ball is tipped, there’s no more pass interference. But it happens that fast. They had linemen down field on the play clearly. I mean way down field because it was an RPO. Unfortunately, the officials didn’t catch it.”
