Speaker 1: We were presented by win Back Betty is a team
Speaker 1: of sport put together at win Bat. Eric Allen here
Speaker 1: at one Jets Drive, joined by Jets Cornerbacks coach slash
Speaker 1: defensive assistant Senior defensive assistant Tony ODNTO. So great to
Speaker 1: have you up here.
Speaker 2: Five. I appreciate what's going on. How you doing?
Speaker 1: I'm doing great. Hey, let's take this back to nineteen
Speaker 1: ninety nine.
Speaker 2: Goodness ninety nine nine.
Speaker 1: Tony Odin the head coach of Army's JV team.
Speaker 2: Uh, that's right, that's right. Now, what was that experience like? Oh,
Speaker 2: it was phenomenal. The year before I was the defensive
Speaker 2: coordinator for it on the person that had the head
Speaker 2: coach roll before moving on. So I was elevated for
Speaker 2: that year. But it was phenomenal. I tell people all
Speaker 2: the time talk about my experiences at West Point. It was.
Speaker 2: It was precious. I felt like you were a part
Speaker 2: of something special. You know, you got the future leaders
Speaker 2: of the world there. But they're normal guys. You know,
Speaker 2: before I went there, I thought they were gonna be
Speaker 2: all was normally laughed it jumping it. There are us,
Speaker 2: there are brothers or sisters there us, But It was awesome.
Speaker 2: It was a great opportunity for me to look at
Speaker 2: things from a global perspective as opposed to a position
Speaker 2: specific perspective, you know, trying to bring everybody together, talk
Speaker 2: to them pregame, uh, halftime, you know, making slight adjustments,
Speaker 2: communicating with the offense during the game as well as
Speaker 2: the defense. So it was great. But it's fun, you know.
Speaker 2: It wasn't a lot of I put pressure on myself
Speaker 2: because you want to do well, but it wasn't like
Speaker 2: it was on TV or anything like that, you know,
Speaker 2: so the pressure wasn't as high as it is in
Speaker 2: the higher, higher stakes games. But it was unbelievable perfect.
Speaker 2: I loved it. I loved What Point. I love it.
Speaker 1: How different is it coaching man at West Point who
Speaker 1: everybody is going to have to when they're done go
Speaker 1: and serve well.
Speaker 2: Fortunately, when I coached there, we weren't at war, you know, so,
Speaker 2: and we hadn't been for a while, so it wasn't
Speaker 2: one of those things that was on the foremost in
Speaker 2: front of their minds. You know. Obviously they knew it
Speaker 2: was always as possibility those things could happen, but you
Speaker 2: just felt like you're a part of something special. It
Speaker 2: made me a better coach because of their work ethic
Speaker 2: that they have to have internally before they even come,
Speaker 2: and also the work ethic that they're taught while there.
Speaker 2: They're very very intelligent, they're forward thinking, they're problem solvers.
Speaker 2: So I always had to have my meetings right. You know,
Speaker 2: if I said something in the meeting room, I better
Speaker 2: back it up on the field. They would call me
Speaker 2: out in a minute in a good way. So but
Speaker 2: it makes me made me become a better coach, more detailed,
Speaker 2: be able to develop an economy of words when coaching,
Speaker 2: you know, not rambling and those kinds of things. But
Speaker 2: it was it was awesome experience, priceless.
Speaker 1: Priceless, and then your career took off. Obviously those are
Speaker 1: the early stages of your career. But what did you
Speaker 1: like about the position being the coach, being the guy?
Speaker 2: It was? It was good, but you know, there was
Speaker 2: nothing that I was doing, or we were doing, or
Speaker 2: the coaches before me who had that position that was
Speaker 2: anything different than what were already doing. You know. Uh,
Speaker 2: in that role, you want to make sure you're complimenting
Speaker 2: what the our varsity guys were doing. So their defenses
Speaker 2: were the same calls were the same, but it just
Speaker 2: felt different being in front of the room when all
Speaker 2: odds are on you. You know, it's totally different. It's different
Speaker 2: when you're in the backing room as supposed to in
Speaker 2: front of the room, when they're listening to you for
Speaker 2: motivation and looking to you for answers and looking to
Speaker 2: you for game time decisions, you know, accepting penalties and
Speaker 2: those kinds of things. But like I said before, because
Speaker 2: it wasn't a uh high pressure game, even though I
Speaker 2: put pressure on myself because I wanted to do well,
Speaker 2: I didn't feel it externally, right, you know, which adds
Speaker 2: a whole nother variable to it, you know, But it was,
Speaker 2: it was, It was excellent. Like I said, it was
Speaker 2: a prices experience for me to have the opportunity to
Speaker 2: do so. It was. It was. It was also.
Speaker 1: Some would make the argument that Robert sala is not
Speaker 1: in this seat right now had it not been for
Speaker 1: too in two thousand and five. Can you talk about
Speaker 1: that specific experience with you and Robert early on in
Speaker 1: your NFL coaching careers.
Speaker 2: Right Well, first of all, say he probably would because
Speaker 2: of the man he is, he probably would be in
Speaker 2: that seat. He was just probably had to find a
Speaker 2: different avenue. It wouldn't have been in that instance. But
Speaker 2: I was coaching college after I lest West Point a
Speaker 2: couple of years found myself at Central Michigan. When I
Speaker 2: was there, he was already there as a graduate assistant assistant,
Speaker 2: and I believe I was in two thousand and three
Speaker 2: at the time. Going into the two thousand and four season.
Speaker 2: I had a chance to talk to him and watch
Speaker 2: some of the things that he did from a preparation
Speaker 2: standpoint in that supportive role. I thought it was pretty
Speaker 2: sharp and innovative. I learned from it. I used some
Speaker 2: of the things that he taught me on the computer,
Speaker 2: and then I I got an NFL with the Houston
Speaker 2: Texans for that year, and to make a long story short,
Speaker 2: I replaced two people, so I had a heavy workload.
Speaker 2: So the next year they allowed me to bring someone
Speaker 2: else in, and there was no other person that I
Speaker 2: wanted to bring in other than him because of the
Speaker 2: impression that he left on me just within that two
Speaker 2: or three months that I was there with him at
Speaker 2: Central Michigan. So he came in and obviously did an
Speaker 2: awesome job down there for us as a quality control
Speaker 2: coach in two thousand and five, like you mentioned, and
Speaker 2: then I left to go on to New Orleans Saints,
Speaker 2: and he stayed there and got better and better and
Speaker 2: better and exposed to more people, other coaches, other family trees,
Speaker 2: so they were able to see what I saw and
Speaker 2: what other people saw before he even got to Central Michigan
Speaker 2: that he wasn't starting to making.
Speaker 1: Head starting to make in What was he like in five?
Speaker 2: Because we say guy really energetic like Ford things, thinking,
Speaker 2: very progressive in some of the things that he would do.
Speaker 2: You didn't have to ask him to do much because
Speaker 2: it was already gonna get done. If he saw a need.
Speaker 2: We had questions in the staff room about doing certain things,
Speaker 2: he was going to research it. You come in the
Speaker 2: next day and it was done, you know, and done
Speaker 2: in such a manner that you didn't even think it
Speaker 2: could be done that way. Yeah, you know, that's what
Speaker 2: you what you look for guys that are problem solvers,
Speaker 2: and he was that still energetic, understood his role and
Speaker 2: very supportive and did that to the to a great extent.
Speaker 1: How insanely competitive is Robert Because I look at him today,
Speaker 1: if he's approaching mid forties, I'd say ninety ye right
Speaker 1: around there, Yeah, right around there, and he's about two
Speaker 1: hundred and twenty five pounds rocked up, rocked up, less
Speaker 1: than ten percent body fat, and a guy who on
Speaker 1: the golf course. He's a maniac, without question, a maniac.
Speaker 1: As far as whether it's peloton or inside the weight room.
Speaker 1: Can you talk about his competitive nature?
Speaker 2: Every morning we have a little coaching workout group in
Speaker 2: the mornings and six fifteen, so he would get in
Speaker 2: there and then Cosarla comes in here. He doesn't work
Speaker 2: out in our group because he has his own special workout,
Speaker 2: but he's over there. He's over there competing against himself. Yeah,
Speaker 2: you know, trying to trying to do better than he
Speaker 2: did before or the week before he just had. He
Speaker 2: has a competitive spirit and he wants to do better
Speaker 2: each time. Like I talked about before, we have projects
Speaker 2: or things of those natures. He wants to do it,
Speaker 2: but he wants to take it to the next level. Yeah,
Speaker 2: but that I think that permate permeates all parts of
Speaker 2: his life and his life, whether it's his family, whether
Speaker 2: it's his coaching, whether it's coaching style, coaching staff. You know,
Speaker 2: he's always pushing to get better? How can we get better?
Speaker 2: You know? And I think you see that passion come
Speaker 2: out a lot of times on the field, you know,
Speaker 2: which is which is awesome? Which is awesome?
Speaker 1: So you just talked about the Saints. You're working on
Speaker 1: Sean Peyton's staff. You ended up winning a ring there,
Speaker 1: we did, we did. What did you take away from Peyton?
Speaker 1: What did you learn.
Speaker 2: From Oh man, I don't think we have enough time
Speaker 2: to say that, because it's it's it's a ton of
Speaker 2: things just from a and he leaned on others. That's
Speaker 2: one main things that I learned that he would always
Speaker 2: talk about the people that he reached out to, some
Speaker 2: other championship coach, coaches that he had spent time with
Speaker 2: in his career, and he would always bring some of
Speaker 2: their ideas into us. So I learned from that it's
Speaker 2: okay to go outside with your mentors and ask how
Speaker 2: did you do this, and to be able to be
Speaker 2: transparent and say I learned it, all right, we're gonna
Speaker 2: do this and I learned it from this person. And
Speaker 2: here's the why, you know. I think that is one
Speaker 2: of the one of the main things, along with a
Speaker 2: ton of other things that I brought in that I
Speaker 2: try to use as well. That I don't have all
Speaker 2: the answers. I'll never have all the answers. And it's
Speaker 2: okay to use the resources that you have, you know,
Speaker 2: because there's a lot of people we're not reinventding will
Speaker 2: football's football. You know, they run the ball, we tackle them,
Speaker 2: they throw it, we knock it down or in accept it,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean. That's not gonna change. So
Speaker 2: some people have done that before us. So it's okay
Speaker 2: to ask those questions, you know, and now you take
Speaker 2: it and you modify it based off of what you
Speaker 2: can do. And another thing one of many, once again
Speaker 2: that I learned from him, is using your pieces, your
Speaker 2: players that you have, and what can they do best,
Speaker 2: you know, and not ask them to do things that
Speaker 2: they don't do well. Not that you're not gonna work
Speaker 2: on those things, but you're gonna maximize what they do
Speaker 2: best right now while you bring them up to speaking
Speaker 2: on those other things you know, and then use them
Speaker 2: in that way, you know, and try to find different
Speaker 2: ways to do the same thing, but make it look
Speaker 2: different to defense, make it look different to the offense,
Speaker 2: but you're doing the same thing. You know, using that
Speaker 2: guy's skills, you know. So it's a lot of things
Speaker 2: I learned from a lot of them. Winning is another
Speaker 2: one I learned from.
Speaker 1: Yeah, how fun is it going to be for you?
Speaker 1: Week five? You go to Denver and Peyton's calling plays
Speaker 1: across and you guys are going to be going to tell.
Speaker 2: It's not our first time, you know, it's been been
Speaker 2: many many times before. Actually when I left there, I
Speaker 2: went to Jacksonville and our very first preseason game was
Speaker 2: back in the dome, you know, and we won that
Speaker 2: game game, but we want it, and I think it's
Speaker 2: probably fifty to fifty in the games that we've played,
Speaker 2: even when Drew was there, we still we had some success,
Speaker 2: and obviously they had some success as well. I'm kind
Speaker 2: of used to that part, you know, kind of detached
Speaker 2: myself from that. You love to see beimfore the game,
Speaker 2: shake his hand and obviously check on his family and
Speaker 2: those kinds of things probably reminisced on some of the
Speaker 2: tough times that we had early early on there. But
Speaker 2: it's it's gonna be awesome in that aspect. And it's
Speaker 2: a funny story. When I was at my last year
Speaker 2: in Miami, head coach there the last preseason game, he
Speaker 2: will pick someone to be the defensive coordinator. So I
Speaker 2: was a defensive coordinator for that game. And that's from
Speaker 2: day one. So right after our third preseason game, we
Speaker 2: take it over. So we we did the meetings, we
Speaker 2: did all the game prep we did, we did, we
Speaker 2: did everything, and it was challenging because you still had
Speaker 2: to coach a position, you know as well. In that
Speaker 2: game was in the Dome against New Orleans when Sean
Speaker 2: Payton's calling the plays, you know, so I'm like, once
Speaker 2: he knows I'm the quarter, I know he's gonna try
Speaker 2: to light me up.
Speaker 1: Did he try to light you up in the preseason?
Speaker 2: No, you know, we we we win winning, that's first thing.
Speaker 2: But I knew how the game was going, so I
Speaker 2: knew at some point he's gonna put the tricker and
Speaker 2: push the ball down the field, you know. So I
Speaker 2: kind of had the guys ready for that moment. He
Speaker 2: did try to push it down the field. He had
Speaker 2: a I think we either wanted or tied it. I
Speaker 2: know we didn't lose it. I do know that. Yeah, yeah, that.
Speaker 1: So you mentioned breeze before. Now you're going out there
Speaker 1: in the practice field. And you guys have Aaron Rodgers blessed, yes, special,
Speaker 1: both of those guys special. Can you and you faced
Speaker 1: Rogers before?
Speaker 2: I know that many many times, many times.
Speaker 1: But can you talk about the similar between those two guys?
Speaker 1: I mean, and then we could talk about obviously there
Speaker 1: are obvious differences, but the similarities, what kind of kind
Speaker 1: of things they bring to the table.
Speaker 2: That's a really good question. Don't want to compare them
Speaker 2: too much. I would say the things that I compare
Speaker 2: the most to both the quarterbacks, all right, they both
Speaker 2: know how to win. They both want Super Bowls, all right.
Speaker 2: The biggest thing I would say, one of the biggest
Speaker 2: things I would say, is that they have a presence
Speaker 2: about them that you really can't put your finger on.
Speaker 2: They are both leaders of men, and it comes naturally
Speaker 2: to them. They don't have to strain to lead. They
Speaker 2: lead by example. They lead by just their presence and
Speaker 2: how they do things, you know, and people naturally gravitate
Speaker 2: to them and they watch them, and they're okay with that.
Speaker 2: They're okay in their own skin, you know, being them
Speaker 2: and being able to lead in their way. Definitely different
Speaker 2: types of leader leadership characteristics. They have but they're both
Speaker 2: are very positive, great teammates. Obviously I wasn't their teammates.
Speaker 2: I wasn't Drew's teammate, but watching from a coaching perspective,
Speaker 2: all those guys love to play with and for him,
Speaker 2: they play hard for him. Yeah, you know, and the
Speaker 2: same thing, just with my limited experience watching Aaron right now,
Speaker 2: it's the same thing many he walks in. It's obviously
Speaker 2: instant credibility because of who he is, but it's just
Speaker 2: his presence. It's a very welcoming, engaging presence that it
Speaker 2: is permeated through the building, is permeated through the offense
Speaker 2: and also through the defense. You know, he comes up
Speaker 2: and they ask questions of the defense, ask questions of
Speaker 2: our guys, and is willing to share that information. You know.
Speaker 2: Some of the biggest lessons that I learned from a
Speaker 2: secondary standpoint was talking to Drew really, you know, and
Speaker 2: some of the things that he looked at. And I
Speaker 2: use him every year with our guys, you know, same
Speaker 2: thing when I was with Stafford. Stafford was the same
Speaker 2: way in regards to being a great communicator and help
Speaker 2: me out grow as a coach. Helped me out a
Speaker 2: lot growing as a coach in regards to some of
Speaker 2: the things they're they're doing, some of the reads they have,
Speaker 2: some of the whys, you know, and that to me
Speaker 2: will make the teams grow that willingness to share that
Speaker 2: information because it's critical. We're all trying to win, we're
Speaker 2: all trying to rent win, and uh, you know, those
Speaker 2: are some of the similarities.
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Speaker 1: It's interesting you just mentioned Stafford, because as soon as
Speaker 1: you did, I started thinking about these great quarterbacks, Tom
Speaker 1: Brady if they were running New England. He goes to
Speaker 1: Tampa and wins the Super Bowl. Peyton, Peyton, manny as
Speaker 1: this unbelievable run in Indianapolis, goes to Denver.
Speaker 2: Keep talking, wins the super Bowl, keep talking, Matt Stafford, Let's.
Speaker 1: Puts up big numbers in Detroit and never experience that success.
Speaker 1: But then year one wins the championship.
Speaker 2: That's pressure.
Speaker 1: There's presidents here as president's. I mean, this has happened,
Speaker 1: This can happen, right.
Speaker 2: It's not how pathetical it's happened. We've seen it, and
Speaker 2: we've seen in recent years. But you know, one of
Speaker 2: the things we talked to our guys about, and I
Speaker 2: talked to our group about, is that where's gonna We
Speaker 2: can't worry about that right now. You know. We just
Speaker 2: have to win today, you know. And before that, our
Speaker 2: smaller goal is to win this meeting, you know, and
Speaker 2: it starts with me. I have to win when I
Speaker 2: go into that room as a coach. You know, I
Speaker 2: have to have a winning attitude. My meetings had to
Speaker 2: be done, and I have to prepare like I'm a
Speaker 2: winning coach so they can have an opportunity to learn
Speaker 2: from what I'm saying, all right, so they can win
Speaker 2: that meeting. And then after that we chalk that up
Speaker 2: and then we go out and win. I walk through
Speaker 2: from a communication standpoint and execution standpoint, a competitive communication standpoint,
Speaker 2: and then we go win that period, you know, and
Speaker 2: then you add that up at the end of the day,
Speaker 2: and then you do. You earn the right for one
Speaker 2: more day to go out there and do it again,
Speaker 2: and you just keep doing and you just keep doing it.
Speaker 2: Then success happens and then we go have fun on Sunday.
Speaker 1: Have you fellows about your rank with New Orleans?
Speaker 2: They know, I don't talk about it.
Speaker 1: You don't talk about goodness.
Speaker 2: About the now. You know. Now, sometime I may go
Speaker 2: back and make reference to it. Someone else may make
Speaker 2: reference to it, but it's it's so long ago. Some
Speaker 2: of these guys, you know, may have been in middle school,
Speaker 2: elementary school.
Speaker 1: Not long ago.
Speaker 2: For me.
Speaker 1: I remember that.
Speaker 2: You remember, I remember too, Miami, that's right.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it would be a pretty good player, pretty good
Speaker 1: team right there.
Speaker 2: It was kind of funny because we we were winning
Speaker 2: and we get an interception, we ran it back for
Speaker 2: a touchdown. We're up by two scores and everyone's celebrating
Speaker 2: is in the fourth quarter, and I'm like, listen, congratulations,
Speaker 2: that's a good job right there. But we got it's
Speaker 2: Peyton manning over there. Can I celebrate too long right
Speaker 2: now because he's gonna go back down there. He doesn't care.
Speaker 2: You know, he can go down and score again. I
Speaker 2: can go score again and they win. So we got
Speaker 2: to celebrate it, be happy about it. Good job that
Speaker 2: plays over. Let's move on to the next one. You know,
Speaker 2: we gotta we gotta get him back off the field.
Speaker 2: We don't want him with the ball in his hand
Speaker 2: at all.
Speaker 1: What can you tell us on camera as far as
Speaker 1: how you celebrated that win.
Speaker 2: Well, it was pretty subdued because it was really it
Speaker 2: was kind of a numbing feeling. I would say that
Speaker 2: I just remember being on the field. My wife came
Speaker 2: down the field and celebrate, and you know, you kissed
Speaker 2: the kiss the trophy. First of all, I'm like a
Speaker 2: mini German pobe, you know. So everyone's kissing his trophy,
Speaker 2: but I didn't care. I kissed the trophy too, So
Speaker 2: I let my guard down. But I tell you what,
Speaker 2: with aught of pomp and circumstances that were involved with that.
Speaker 2: It really hit me when I got in the locker room,
Speaker 2: and even the celebration in the locker room initially, and
Speaker 2: you know, there was some liquid being poured on. People
Speaker 2: won't say what kind of liquid, but you know they
Speaker 2: shaking the throat, you know, you know maybe kids watching,
Speaker 2: they don't do it twenty one years old, all right.
Speaker 2: But it's when I started to take a shower. I looked
Speaker 2: up in the corner and they had a TV up
Speaker 2: there and it says new all the Saints. It was
Speaker 2: Sports Illustrated. I believe you have won the Super Bowl.
Speaker 2: They were selling like the Memoravillia and the memberships to
Speaker 2: the Sports Illustrated, So you have won the super Bowl.
Speaker 2: And it finally hit me. I was like, wow, we
Speaker 2: won the Super Bowl, you know. And that's when that's
Speaker 2: the moment I remember the most. My wife celebraking with
Speaker 2: her on the field and that moment, you know, and
Speaker 2: then looking at our places eyes, the moment, the feeling
Speaker 2: of relief, accomplishment, you know, all the blood, the sweat,
Speaker 2: the tears, and that's what I want for our guys here,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean, I want because I have
Speaker 2: done it before. Ou I want another. I got a
Speaker 2: bunch of fingers, only one ring and my wedding ring
Speaker 2: in that one, all right, I want it, but I
Speaker 2: want it for them, you know. I want them to
Speaker 2: to remember these hard days in May, the hard days,
Speaker 2: that the hard nights, the soreness, and to have them
Speaker 2: have that success. A coach told me a long time ago,
Speaker 2: he said, we're gonna walk together today, but we're gonna
Speaker 2: live together forever. And that's what those moments bring. You know.
Speaker 2: That group of guys when we see each other is
Speaker 2: instant love. You can never take it away, you know.
Speaker 2: And that's what I want for our guys, you know,
Speaker 2: that's what I'm that. That's a driving force to me.
Speaker 2: That's a that's a passion that I want them to
Speaker 2: have the success. I want them to be able to
Speaker 2: provide for their families, live their dreams, be financially provide
Speaker 2: for their families, all right, But but to win it
Speaker 2: is something totally different. It's an extra sauce. You know,
Speaker 2: it's special.
Speaker 1: Speaking of sauce, man, inside my head is that you're
Speaker 1: inside my head right now? How cool is that for
Speaker 1: you as a coach to watch Aaron Rodgers invite Sauce
Speaker 1: out for a night on the town New York City
Speaker 1: to go to a fancy dinner and then they're sitting
Speaker 1: by Jessica Alba court side of the next game.
Speaker 2: Right, yeah, he is. The course that he's on right
Speaker 2: now is kind of really unprecedented in a lot of ways,
Speaker 2: just because where we are in society in my opinion,
Speaker 2: in regards to like social media and just being available
Speaker 2: to people all the time, you know, and to have
Speaker 2: the success that he's had as a young person within
Speaker 2: that media market, this media market, and within the social
Speaker 2: media aspect of things, that elevates it more so. It's
Speaker 2: a lot on his plate, you know. But he's still
Speaker 2: a young man that's still experiencing life. So to be
Speaker 2: able to see him have those moments to experience life
Speaker 2: as a as a young man, not a Sauce gardener,
Speaker 2: but as a young man. Now he's had that experience
Speaker 2: because he Sauce, you know, he was in that seat
Speaker 2: and with Aaron Rodgers because he's Sauce, but still have
Speaker 2: a young man experience with people you don't know, like
Speaker 2: new things, you know. That's interesting and fun to watch
Speaker 2: him grow as as a young man and he is.
Speaker 2: He's a phenomenal young man, and all our guys are.
Speaker 2: We have our room, our organizations have done a phenomenal
Speaker 2: job with the guys that that that they selected and
Speaker 2: brought into this building. They brought good people, good men.
Speaker 2: So all he's a reflection of everyone in our room,
Speaker 2: everyone on our defense, you know, and all the guys
Speaker 2: we have on our team. Just in general. He just
Speaker 2: one of the guys who've had some success that everyone's
Speaker 2: kind of kind of gravitated towards. But he is a
Speaker 2: wonderful young man and as a phenomena upside, And I
Speaker 2: keep telling him people think they know what he is,
Speaker 2: and they think they've seen how good he can be,
Speaker 2: but they have no idea yet. Okay, we're just scratching
Speaker 2: the surface.
Speaker 1: Why do you two hit it off immediately? I'm talking
Speaker 1: pre draft process, so I'm not talking about when you're
Speaker 1: on the staff. I'm talking about the whole process. Yeah,
Speaker 1: after pro day, he points to where you guys went
Speaker 1: for breakfast after his workout. Can you talk about you
Speaker 1: knew he was a special player, but there was more
Speaker 1: than that.
Speaker 2: Well, when you talk to people, obviously we were selecting
Speaker 2: high and everyone of every coach in the building is,
Speaker 2: you know, hoping that they get their player picked at
Speaker 2: that time. So I know, when you select a guy
Speaker 2: with that type of pick, it has to be the
Speaker 2: right person, all right. Obviously we know about the athleticism
Speaker 2: and what he has to do from a performance standpoint,
Speaker 2: but that person has to be the right person for you.
Speaker 2: As a coaching staff. We have to have a good
Speaker 2: connection and always say we're entering into a relationship right now,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean, kind of like a marriage almost,
Speaker 2: you know, I mean, We're gonna have to be able
Speaker 2: to work together. I'm gonna have to be able to
Speaker 2: work and talk and coach you, all right. So when
Speaker 2: we have those meetings as informal as it was for
Speaker 2: going to breakfast, we need we need to learn more
Speaker 2: about each other as men. You know, you know some
Speaker 2: of the things that he wants out of life, the
Speaker 2: things that I want out of life. Because if all
Speaker 2: those things are aligned, we know about the talent, all right,
Speaker 2: you have to have that, and you learn more about
Speaker 2: the man, you know, because the man is right, the
Speaker 2: football is gonna be right if you get this the
Speaker 2: right person, all right, and he is right on the
Speaker 2: field and off the field, all right, the football is
Speaker 2: gonna fall in line. So it's important. It was important
Speaker 2: for us, like it is for all coaches. Not that
Speaker 2: my philosophy is ain't different than anyone else's, but it
Speaker 2: was very important for me to get to know him
Speaker 2: as a human, get to know his family, get to
Speaker 2: see him around other people in this building and how
Speaker 2: they respond to him, how he responds to them, you know,
Speaker 2: how he treats them, because we want to bring the
Speaker 2: right person in the building. You know, I want someone.
Speaker 2: I look for someone that if my daughter's around him,
Speaker 2: I feel comfortable with that, if my wife is walking
Speaker 2: down the hall, I feel comfortable with that interaction, you know.
Speaker 2: You know, and he checks checks all those boxes. But
Speaker 2: we hit it off well. Brought him here and he
Speaker 2: had dinner with us and with one of our coach's son,
Speaker 2: and just to watch. We were at dinners and coach
Speaker 2: Obrid the son came and to watch them connect and talk,
Speaker 2: and he gave him genuine attention, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: It was a one on one. I'm watching this, I'm like,
Speaker 2: that's a guy. That's a real guy. He wasn't like
Speaker 2: he was just like, you know, pacifying him talking to him.
Speaker 2: He was talking cause he was interested in what he
Speaker 2: had to say. You know, this is a high schooler,
Speaker 2: you know, so I knew we had the right guy.
Speaker 2: It was no doubt in my mind that he was
Speaker 2: going to be successful and we won't work well together.
Speaker 1: So what's next for him? Because I know that was
Speaker 1: a problem moment for you in January when he gets
Speaker 1: the Defensive Rookie of the Year. Not only does he
Speaker 1: get that he's a pro bowler, he's the first team
Speaker 1: All Pro. I mean, he had all these three boxes,
Speaker 1: he checked them all. But what is next for him?
Speaker 2: Well, I think with him and we've talked about it,
Speaker 2: So I'm not going to say anything on here that
Speaker 2: we haven't talked about. The guy's the limit for him.
Speaker 2: This s guy's a limit. But we got a couple
Speaker 2: of secret things that I can't tell you. No, it's
Speaker 2: just I know.
Speaker 1: One thing he's talked about is interceptions, and and that's
Speaker 1: something that Roberts talked about as well as that he
Speaker 1: led the NFL PD He's incredible, that's right, But now
Speaker 1: it's he coming down with a few more.
Speaker 2: Of them, right, And it's to me when you have
Speaker 2: a young player that's that's that's playing in general, all right,
Speaker 2: especially uh one that's playing at a high level. You
Speaker 2: don't want to tweak his technique too much, right, you
Speaker 2: know what I mean, because when you tweak something, there's
Speaker 2: a learning process and a learning curve in that, you know.
Speaker 2: So I wanted to make sure we that I sentuated
Speaker 2: the things that he can do well once again, not
Speaker 2: the things that he has to work on in those moments.
Speaker 2: And we still worked on those things throughout the season,
Speaker 2: but we want I want to make sure I refine
Speaker 2: that technique to make sure the number one job for
Speaker 2: corners not to have them catch the ball. That's the
Speaker 2: number one job, pier point blank. Now the the extra
Speaker 2: meat on the bone or the icing on the cake,
Speaker 2: all right, is the interception, you know, And that's what
Speaker 2: we're gonna. We're gonna, We're gonna get to those, But
Speaker 2: it's it's so many other parts of his game. That's
Speaker 2: one thing, you know, that's that's gonna come. There's no
Speaker 2: no doubt in my mind, zero doubt in my mind
Speaker 2: that those things are gonna happen if they continue to
Speaker 2: throw over there. But there's so many other things that
Speaker 2: we can work on. That's why I said that people
Speaker 2: think they saw a great player last year. If he
Speaker 2: continues to trend and put the work in that he
Speaker 2: is doing that we expect him to do, there's gonna
Speaker 2: be a little something extra in there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, could certainly get the Drell Revas treatment because he's
Speaker 1: he's so good that people are gonna stay away from you.
Speaker 2: Never you never know and something. But that's a that's
Speaker 2: always definitely. Don't want to compare those two guys because
Speaker 2: there are different and I coached Drell for one year
Speaker 2: down in Tampa. They are very different human have a
Speaker 2: different skill sets, you know, uh, very different skill sets
Speaker 2: where they both are are very very good obviously at
Speaker 2: what they do. So he's gonna he's gonna continue to
Speaker 2: grow his game, you know, learning football, splits, formations, situational things,
Speaker 2: getting stronger, giving more tools. I always talk about giving
Speaker 2: guys tools and a two belt. Rookies usually have. I
Speaker 2: may give him two tools. You know, you got a
Speaker 2: hammer and the and the and the uh Phillips headscrew driver.
Speaker 2: That's it. That's it. And you mass that hammer, you
Speaker 2: master that Phillips. Hey, Okay, now you got a fat hole.
Speaker 2: Now you got a wrench. You know, okay, you're gonna
Speaker 2: you're not using that wrench. Well, give me that wrench
Speaker 2: back for a while. Let's go back to these three
Speaker 2: tooths that we can use. Now, you can use that one.
Speaker 2: It's a slow burn. I think you have to take
Speaker 2: your time and teach the technique and get guys doing
Speaker 2: it to correct way first before you throw everything at him.
Speaker 2: You know, you master some things. You got that, Let's
Speaker 2: move on now. Some people can master it faster than others,
Speaker 2: so you have to be able to accelerate some of
Speaker 2: that growth in some of those techniques, in those tools.
Speaker 2: I got a bunch of toos in in my two
Speaker 2: box over here. I'm ready for him to use it.
Speaker 1: I know you do. And I don't want to oversimplify this,
Speaker 1: but the scouting report I saw us coming out was
Speaker 1: he's long, he's physical, he's great in man press. Well,
Speaker 1: what became clear during his rookie season under you, under
Speaker 1: all Brick, under Robert is that he's thriving zone. Why
Speaker 1: why is he able to do that?
Speaker 2: He's smart? He's smart. But you mentioned talking about like
Speaker 2: a West Point players. One of the things that they
Speaker 2: can understand formations because they are high level thinkers. You know,
Speaker 2: he is a smart player and he's also a problem solver.
Speaker 2: You know that's me. It's one of the things I
Speaker 2: look for. And the guys that would like the coach
Speaker 2: that are problem solvers because their offense is going to
Speaker 2: do something unscripted. They get paid money over there too.
Speaker 2: You know, they're pride forul too. They're not gonna always
Speaker 2: give you exactly what you've seen on film. Most time
Speaker 2: they will, but they're gonna have a couple of wrinkles
Speaker 2: every game. And who are the guys that can problem
Speaker 2: solve on the film, on the field and recognize things
Speaker 2: quickly enough before they get to the sideline, Because the
Speaker 2: good offenses aren't gonna let dbs get to the sideline
Speaker 2: for us to make the correction right, They're gonna do
Speaker 2: it within that drive. If you don't fix it on
Speaker 2: the field, that next first down or the next they're down,
Speaker 2: that same thing, or the play they're setting up, it's
Speaker 2: gonna come afterwards. It's gonna come next. So he can
Speaker 2: do that, he can problem solve, and he is smart,
Speaker 2: so he can't recognize informations and splits in the situation
Speaker 2: of the game and know that I'm not going to
Speaker 2: get this route because of the split, or it may
Speaker 2: be the same split right here, but he outside released
Speaker 2: as opposed to inside release. I know I'm going to
Speaker 2: get in this, so I'm not going to play all
Speaker 2: those other things that could happen. I'm gonna play the
Speaker 2: two things that he can do versus that release. You
Speaker 2: know what, that makes sense?
Speaker 1: It totally does. And I want to talk about a
Speaker 1: couple of your other guys, but you're a great coach,
Speaker 1: so you're explaining players and I'm digesting this. But one
Speaker 1: of the things that and tell me if this is
Speaker 1: the wrong way of viewing this, but one of the
Speaker 1: ways I viewed it last year with saw Us is
Speaker 1: that Stefan Diggs made a catch on you guys first
Speaker 1: play the game in matt Life Stadium.
Speaker 2: And after the game move I'll know.
Speaker 1: Yes, it stood out to me, said that's not what
Speaker 1: they do. They broke tendency there, and the more that
Speaker 1: he sees that over time like that will be another
Speaker 1: tool it that he has it as arsenal. But that
Speaker 1: just said to me that he knows exactly the way
Speaker 1: they're trying to attack you.
Speaker 2: And that's that's one of the things that the growth,
Speaker 2: his growth is going to continue pretty quickly because of that.
Speaker 2: And I learned this from I learned from ReBs. Actually,
Speaker 2: certain players get certain things. You know, generically speaking, when
Speaker 2: you look at the film, we always talk about, Okay,
Speaker 2: here's what they do in this formation, in this situation.
Speaker 2: Relatively speaking, it may be these two things in this
Speaker 2: maybe this these three things in this formation. All right,
Speaker 2: but it's only one thing when they do this this motion.
Speaker 2: That's very generic thought process and it's correct. But the
Speaker 2: other factor, the X factor of that is who is
Speaker 2: the individual that they're going against. All Right, certain individuals
Speaker 2: have a certain skill set that they're going to do
Speaker 2: certain things from. So even though you may have seen
Speaker 2: them do it on film, that guy's not gonna get that.
Speaker 2: Like Reevers wouldn't get Carol routes, slant routes because he
Speaker 2: was a very patient at the line of scrimmage, so
Speaker 2: that even though they may have done it a hundred
Speaker 2: times on film, he's not gonna get that route. Right,
Speaker 2: there were certain routes we had to identify that he
Speaker 2: was gonna get. And it's the same thing with Sauce.
Speaker 2: There's certain routes that he even though we may see
Speaker 2: it on film that he's gonna get because he has
Speaker 2: some length, They're gonna do certain things to negate his length.
Speaker 2: They're gonna do certain things, different things with the formations.
Speaker 2: They may have different emotions to it. They may try
Speaker 2: to use a double move to get him up off
Speaker 2: so they can try to create some space, you know.
Speaker 2: But the other factor is that is the player that's
Speaker 2: doing it. Not everyone can create space. Not everyone can
Speaker 2: create or have the speed to allow that separation on
Speaker 2: the double moves, you know what I mean. So that's
Speaker 2: part of the growth. That one of the many things
Speaker 2: that he's gonna get better and better and better at
Speaker 2: because now he's gonna be able to make book on
Speaker 2: certain players, certain coordinators. This coordinator attacked me this way.
Speaker 2: So even though maybe a different year, this is how
Speaker 2: he attacks me potentially.
Speaker 1: Yah, I have more chapters in that book.
Speaker 2: I don't know that happens, may or not happen. I'm
Speaker 2: saying those are factors, you know, But that's coaching. That's
Speaker 2: but we, like I said, we have so many guys
Speaker 2: that that like DJ read is unbelievable. He but he
Speaker 2: gets different things at times when they want to go
Speaker 2: over there and was going to get different things. Michael Carter,
Speaker 2: who is a probably one of the best problem solvers
Speaker 2: that I've ever been around, He's going to get if
Speaker 2: they want to go in that direction, they're going to
Speaker 2: do different things, different than if I was playing Nickel.
Speaker 1: You've been awesome with the time. We got to let
Speaker 1: you get going, but I I got it two quick
Speaker 1: ones you just mentioned I'm I'm see the second and
Speaker 1: also DJ. Did you know you guys knew DJ was
Speaker 1: a good player? Yes, yes, and you let you had
Speaker 1: high expectations for.
Speaker 2: Him, extremely high. Did you think he was gonna thrive
Speaker 2: that yeah, zero hesitation. I was with him for a seconds.
Speaker 2: Our room is built specifically. We have a smaller, quick, gritty,
Speaker 2: bite your face off, uh, DJ Reid, you know, who's
Speaker 2: highly competitive and serious, and we have another guy on
Speaker 2: the other side has a little length, mental speed, you
Speaker 2: know what I mean. So they compliment each other. You
Speaker 2: have MC as a problem solver, and he can do
Speaker 2: it all, you know what I mean. He can play
Speaker 2: big boy ball and make big tackles like a linebacker.
Speaker 2: He can cover like a corner. He can go out
Speaker 2: there and run the defense and problem solve it. So
Speaker 2: we have a very good mixture of human beings and
Speaker 2: then we have Brandon Echos and we Bryce Hall, you know.
Speaker 2: And the other guy that works back there we work
Speaker 2: hand in hand is Ricky Manning Jr. He's the guy
Speaker 2: who's played in the league, you know. So it can
Speaker 2: coach the nickel, you know, better than anyone else that
Speaker 2: I've I've been around, you know. So it's so our
Speaker 2: organization had done a good job of giving us the
Speaker 2: pieces to be successful, and now we just got to
Speaker 2: go out there and earn the right to do it
Speaker 2: one more time.
Speaker 1: Can you talk about the opportunity this is where we're
Speaker 1: gonna end, Uh, the opportunity. How do you as far
Speaker 1: as with the league is concerned there? Then I talked
Speaker 1: to Ron Milton about this before. They're three black head
Speaker 1: coaches in the National Football League. That's for a fifth
Speaker 1: consecutive year. The league is trying to do something to
Speaker 1: change that. Can you talk about the program that you're
Speaker 1: going to be a part of this year and what that.
Speaker 2: Means to you. Yeah, I'm I'm excited about it. It's
Speaker 2: Coaches in Front Office Acceleration program that we're going to
Speaker 2: pretty soon here and it's a way for us to
Speaker 2: kind of go and meet with the front office, you know,
Speaker 2: some owners and some general managers and and kind of
Speaker 2: find out and hear the process because we are in
Speaker 2: a lot of those meetings as assistant coaches, whether it
Speaker 2: be salary cap or just league business and those kind
Speaker 2: of things. So I think getting a better appreciation for
Speaker 2: those kind of things can get you in position at
Speaker 2: least have a better understanding. If you are afforded the
Speaker 2: opportunity to interview for one of those things and they
Speaker 2: ask you these questions, you can have a better foundation
Speaker 2: to speak on because you have heard some of that
Speaker 2: stuff before. The other thing is, I think it exposes
Speaker 2: and you. It's different when you shake someone's hand and
Speaker 2: you look them in the eye and you can get
Speaker 2: a chance to talk to them all right, they can
Speaker 2: get a pretty decent feel of the man that you are,
Speaker 2: the man that you can be, because now you have
Speaker 2: an intimate relationship with that person as opposed to just
Speaker 2: reading about it. So it allows some exposure. I think
Speaker 2: it's a phenomenal thing that the NFL. They're being forward
Speaker 2: thinking in that they're being very deliberate and exposing both
Speaker 2: sides to each other, you know, and obviously haven't gone
Speaker 2: yet before. I understand is great dialogue between the owners
Speaker 2: and the other front office. It's great sharing of information
Speaker 2: and ideas both ways. So we can't understand each other,
Speaker 2: we can understand the direction of the league, the direction
Speaker 2: of our society, and hopefully that will lead to other opportunities,
Speaker 2: whether it be for me or for the next person
Speaker 2: you know. To me, I think that I always look
Speaker 2: at things like if what I'm doing is obviously I
Speaker 2: want to be successful, and I want our players to
Speaker 2: be successful. But I want the person that's going to
Speaker 2: replace me one day or coming behind me to be
Speaker 2: successful because I have not messed it up for them.
Speaker 2: You know what I mean that I have carried myself
Speaker 2: in a certain way that makes it easy for the
Speaker 2: next person to make a long story short. So well,
Speaker 2: it works out for me, hopefully it does. But if
Speaker 2: it doesn't work out for me, hopefully I would have
Speaker 2: opened the door, or at least not let a door
Speaker 2: close for the next man behind me because of me.
Speaker 2: If that makes sense.
Speaker 1: We're gonna have to catch up after that program, and
Speaker 1: maybe at some point in training camp we can all
Speaker 1: get in the progress report.
Speaker 2: But t O.
Speaker 1: This was a lot of fun.
Speaker 2: No, I appreciate your time. Let's go j E t ets, jets,
Speaker 2: jets jets, let's go
Speaker 1: H