Vic Fangio – October 26, 2023
Thursday, October 26, 2023
Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio
(Looking at CB Jalen Ramsey, do you think that he’s ready to play on Sunday? If so, how does him and CB Xavien Howard change the defense?) – “It has yet to be determined if he’ll be able to go on Sunday. He is progressing well, practicing more this week. We’ll see how that turns out by Sunday.”
(How does having CB Jalen Ramsey and CB Xavien Howard change the defense?) – “Anytime you add good players to your team, it will change. It should be a benefit, both from their production and what it allows you to do schematically.”
(How do you think your defensive front held up against Philadelphia?) – “I think they did well. Philadelphia undoubtedly has the best offensive line in the league. I thought overall when you consider that, who we were playing, I thought that they probably had their best game against the run this year. I thought Raekwon (Davis) made good advances in his quality of play.”
(I know a lot of coaches and players talk about this being a process-oriented team. So from your perspective, when you look at that last game, you gave up 31 points but you also had two takeaways. How do you rationalize that?) – “Obviously they are one of the best teams in the league. We were ranked No. 1 in offense going in and everybody forgot they were No. 2. It’s a high-quality team. I thought we acquitted ourselves well. We had the touchdown. The strip sack by Bradley (Chubb) set up the other three points, so we kind of scored 10 points. We were a play or two away from having a great performance. We just let a couple of plays get away from us, but I was pleased with the progress we showed. I know it’s hard to fathom that when you allow 31, but there was good progress made.”
(What did you think of the LB David Long Jr. and LB Jerome Baker combination at inside linebacker?) – “I think David has been improving all along here the last couple of weeks. Hopefully he can keep doing that. And ‘Bake’ (Jerome Baker) has been playing better the last couple of weeks too.”
(If you don’t have S Jevon Holland on Sunday because of protocol, who among S Brandon Jones, DB Elijah Campbell and CB Nik Needham have a skillset best suited for Jevon’s role?) – “I probably would start off with Brandon and see where that takes us.”
(Have you looked at your defense and how it’s progressing here in Year 2 and where it could be in December?) – “I’m not a look-ahead guy. Like I told the players, you have 17 weekly seasons. We’re focused on Game 8. It’s a big-time team, divisional opponent, conference opponent. Hopefully we will keep improving. A lot of that is predicated on availability of players, and we’ll hopefully cross our fingers and keep free of the injury bug. I am encouraged and enthusiastic about where we can be.”
(It looks like LB Bradley Chubb has come along the last few weeks. Would you agree with that assessment, and if so, what has gone into it?) – “I think he’s played well all year. He made three or four big plays against New England in the first game that helped us win that game. He’s been consistently good all year. Lately, he has had some sacks, which is what everybody notices so they think the play is much better. But I think he’s had two or three sacks in the last two games. He played about 110 plays in those last two games. How did he do the other 107. He’s been doing good.”
(How does the trade deadline work for you and the defense? Does General Manager Chris Grier start asking you four weeks ago, or does he ask you this week? Do you tell Head Coach Mike McDaniel? How does that work?) – “Neither one of them has said a peep to me. If something happens, I might know a couple minutes before you do. (laughter)”
(Have you said a peep to them?) – “Nope. (laughter)”
(When CB Jalen Ramsey was signed, is that somebody you say … obviously you’re happy to sign talent. Was that any input from you at all?) – “No. As an example to what I just said, Chris (Grier) called me. I was in my car driving somewhere here and he explained to me what could happen. I said, ‘this is already happening, isn’t it?’ He wasn’t calling me to ask. I think I knew a half hour before you guys did on that one.”
(What was your reaction when General Manager Chris Grier told you that news?) – “It was good. I’m always in favor of great players. There are a bunch of coaches in the Hall of Fame. It’s just coincidentally a bunch of players that they had are in there with them. Good players make good coaches.”
(General Manager Chris Grier has been very good historically in taking input from his head coach on personnel. Is that something you sought clarity on from Head Coach Mike McDaniel or General Manager Chris Grier before taking this job, that you would have input on defensive personnel decisions and acquisitions?) – “No, I didn’t.”
(If you were asked for your opinion, would there be certain positions you would highlight?) – “If there was, I certainly wouldn’t say it here. (laughter)”
(When CB Xavien Howard and CB Jalen Ramsey are available, is CB Kader Kohou going to be the best option for the nickel or slot position?) – “Yeah.”
(You would also have CB Nik Needham or DB Parry Nickerson available as backups?) – “Correct.”
(You’re getting a lot of players back in the secondary soon. Have you ever seen anything like this before?) – “Yeah. Our secondary has been in flux all season, even during training camp. Hopefully at some time in the near future, we can get it iron clad, because it’s a group much like the o-line, you want continuity. Different guys have different skillsets. It definitely affects what you do schematically in the secondary. Hopefully we can get there, but it’s been that way almost from day one when I got here.”
(In terms of that, we hear about o-line consistency with five guys. You’ve got five guys in the nickel package. Is it just as important in the secondary than the o-line, or is it a little less? Do guys play a little independently of each other more in the secondary?) – “It’s just as important. It really is. Now they are spread out more. Those five o-linemen are right next to each other. But it’s just as important, and the inside linebackers are a part of that equation too.”
(How much of a dilemma has it been, if any, with DE Emmanuel Ogbah this year? Because he is a guy with a career body of work that is good. Obviously only a handful of snaps the other night. You’ve got great depth on the edge. In terms of usage of him, how much though have you given to that?) – “We’ve got a lot of confidence in him. Right now, when we’ve got the lineup we had the other night, with ‘Gink’ (Andrew Van Ginkel) playing primarily on the outside and (David) Long playing better inside, it just makes it hard to get a fourth guy in there some.”
(What’s your honest assessment of LB Channing Tindall?) – “It’s been so long since Channing has gotten any reps on defense. He’s doing a good job on special teams. I still think he’s a good player with good potential in his future.”
(You had mentioned earlier about inserting CB Jalen Ramsey and opening up what you can do schematically. Can you give us a better sense of how much of your playbook have you yet to open up because you don’t have Ramsey and CB Xavien Howard on the corners? And how much, if any of that, cooking up you did in the past year, the ideas you had, how much of that plays into having Ramsey and Howard on the corner?) – “It plays a lot into it. In many ways, not the only way, your corner’s abilities govern the defense. If you feel confident in them that they can play good outside the numbers on the routes you get out there, it has an effect on what you do defensively. There is no way around that.”
(You obviously played this team in Week 2. What have you seen change about this Patriots offense?) – “Not a lot. They had a really good game last week against Buffalo. The quarterback was on fire. They ran the ball good. They had a big two-minute drive to go win the game. I think much like in our case, in some places, the first time we played them, both of their tackles were out and now they’re back. It would be, just from that standpoint, a better offense than it was in that game. I think they are coming around. They’ve only won two games and they did have a couple of games where it got lopsided, but in all of their other games, the point differential is about seven points. They are a really good team that plays good defense. I don’t think we’ll have a Star Wars type game on offense. We’ve got to be ready to go play good defense to win this game.”
(There was talk before the Philadelphia game – obviously you were in Philadelphia. Did that help you at all?) – “No. Like I said, and I wasn’t kidding, they got way more out of me than I got out of them. That’s just what the setup was. I was giving them information. I wasn’t getting it from them.”
(With CB Cam Smith, what would you like to see out of him, what is the feedback on him on a week-to-week basis?) – “Right now, he’s nursing an injury. He had to leave practice yesterday real early. Don’t think he’ll practice today. He’s got to overcome that to continue his progress, but he’s been getting reps and doing better.”
