Speaker 1: Because it does feel a little bit different to him.
Speaker 1: All right, Okay, what can I not answer this year? Um?
Speaker 1: What is it about their offense that made them difficult
Speaker 1: to do it? Well? I think in the first game
Speaker 1: we particularly struggled with stopping the run and big plays.
Speaker 1: Second game we did a much better job. In the
Speaker 1: run game, we still gave up a couple of big plays. Um,
Speaker 1: two big plays that I can remember. One, Um, Deshaun
Speaker 1: Jackson beat us for a big play and another one
Speaker 1: I think Crowder got us down to scene late in
Speaker 1: the game that that put him in that situation. So, Um,
Speaker 1: you know, it always comes down to the same things.
Speaker 1: Stop the run, no big plays. Um. You know, a
Speaker 1: couple of guys gave us some trouble last year, particularly
Speaker 1: Pierre Garson made some key catches in both games. Um,
Speaker 1: I'm not I'm not sorry to see him gone. Um
Speaker 1: you know Deshaun the same way. You know, they've replaced
Speaker 1: those guys and moved up roster or moved up draft
Speaker 1: picks and things like that. But um, you know, I
Speaker 1: think that I'm not going to be disappointed not to
Speaker 1: see those guys on the field. How would you rate
Speaker 1: Kirk Cousins quarterbacks. Um, you know, it's it's about winning.
Speaker 1: He threw for almost five thousand yards last year through
Speaker 1: twice as many touchdowns as interceptions. UM. You know, quarterbacks
Speaker 1: like UM, like coaches, are ultimately judged on on wins.
Speaker 1: So I think, you know, just in this small microcosm,
Speaker 1: he was too and oh against us, so that certainly
Speaker 1: has our respect. Yes, he also I think he also
Speaker 1: made a couple of big plays with his feet and
Speaker 1: both of those games, and he's sort of sneaky that way.
Speaker 1: I think if you ask around in the league, they
Speaker 1: wouldn't you wouldn't put him up there with some of
Speaker 1: the classics scrambling quarterbacks. But that's also something we're gonna
Speaker 1: have to be on guard for because he did make
Speaker 1: a couple of key first downs with his feet and
Speaker 1: UM in those games. There's so many new pieces in
Speaker 1: the secondary. How do you think the process is going
Speaker 1: to kind of turn it into a unit from a
Speaker 1: bunch of new guys from from the start. OT still now, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, I like where we are. I mean, UM,
Speaker 1: I think I've told you before. I think that Jalen
Speaker 1: Mills is one of the most improved players on our team.
Speaker 1: UM has really settled into the outside corner spot, played
Speaker 1: the deep ball very well. Um, you know, he's he's
Speaker 1: that quintessential take a big jump to second year guy.
Speaker 1: At least he has been so far. I mean, we've
Speaker 1: we're judging training camp in preseason games. Obviously, the proof
Speaker 1: is in the putting um over the course of the season. Um,
Speaker 1: you know. Adding some veteran guys in like Patrick Robinson
Speaker 1: and Corey Graham, both of those guys have some multidimensional skills.
Speaker 1: Can play inside, can play outside. Um, you know, Corey
Speaker 1: gives us a lot of confidence to be able to
Speaker 1: move Malcolm down to Nicol at times. Um. You know,
Speaker 1: I like, I like, there's a lot of different ways
Speaker 1: we can play. Well. Well, we'll probably have six different
Speaker 1: personnel packages that we can play in this game, which
Speaker 1: is a little bit more than we carried last year.
Speaker 1: And I think a lot of it has to do
Speaker 1: with some of the flexibility the guys have in the secondary.
Speaker 1: The starters took seventy to seventy last year, with more
Speaker 1: death there this year. To expect a more balanced rotation,
Speaker 1: I would, I would hope. So, I mean, over the
Speaker 1: course of my career, whether it's been Tennessee or Detroit.
Speaker 1: We've always been a rotational group, and I think we've
Speaker 1: always been at our best when we've been UM close
Speaker 1: to fifty fifty. Um. You know, keep guys fresh and
Speaker 1: keep them I know you guys get tired of it,
Speaker 1: but keep throwing fastballs out of the bullpen. Um. But
Speaker 1: you know that being said, over the course of the season,
Speaker 1: you also have to reward production and UM. But here's
Speaker 1: the here's what I the way I sort of approach
Speaker 1: it is, UM, particularly early in the season, rotation can
Speaker 1: help you get too later in the season, UM, you know,
Speaker 1: and hopefully that's where where we are late in the
Speaker 1: season and meaningful games in December and January and maybe
Speaker 1: even February. And there's a lot of different layers to rotation.
Speaker 1: Of those is that it can keep guys durable and
Speaker 1: keep guys available for a long period of time. Boy.
Speaker 1: I think that's one of the things you saw last year.
Speaker 1: We had an injury at defensive tackle in the Redskins
Speaker 1: game first time, but we stayed pretty healthy at defensive end,
Speaker 1: and a lot of it had to do with our rotation.
Speaker 1: The key is is is trying to get the production. Wait,
Speaker 1: whoever it is out there if whoever's playing left defensive end,
Speaker 1: how what's the production of that? My experience has been
Speaker 1: if you get two guys that can stay fresh, you
Speaker 1: can have more production than one guy that's out there
Speaker 1: the whole time. Sort of. You know, addition, good with
Speaker 1: Derek Harnett, and we clearly showed that he can play
Speaker 1: at this level, perhaps even at a high level. Are
Speaker 1: you typically want to hold back on young guys like
Speaker 1: that because you don't know how they're gonna look come
Speaker 1: November and December? Or do you feel like you just
Speaker 1: got to kind of feed those guys because you don't
Speaker 1: want to you don't want to sit them back. In
Speaker 1: terms of their confidence, it's early confidence. I don't worry
Speaker 1: about his um his confidence. I mean he's first round
Speaker 1: draft pick. You know when you got to stand up
Speaker 1: on that stage and holding number one jersey, UM, you
Speaker 1: know you've already. If you're lacking for confidence, you're you know,
Speaker 1: you're you're probably the wrong guy. UM went against JP
Speaker 1: UM all the time in training camp. But that's that's
Speaker 1: some baptism by fire too. You know, we threw him
Speaker 1: out there a bunch and UM, you know, you guys,
Speaker 1: you guys widely reported him against Lane Johnson at times. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't worry about his psyche, um, but
Speaker 1: there is um you know, I probably I don't want
Speaker 1: to say in the back of in the back of
Speaker 1: our mind, but you know, over the course of season,
Speaker 1: we do want to try to keep him fresh and
Speaker 1: keep him on the field. And I think that, um,
Speaker 1: you know that that's an important goal of ours as
Speaker 1: well as being productive. But I'll say this, I mean,
Speaker 1: if if we got to play one hundred and fifty
Speaker 1: snaps in this game, and we got eleven guys that
Speaker 1: got to play one hundred and fifty to win this game,
Speaker 1: I'm you know, I mean, we will sell our soul
Speaker 1: to win a game. So you have to balance both
Speaker 1: of those out for sure. And you know, I think
Speaker 1: that the positives there is We've seen good production out
Speaker 1: of Derek in the run end pass game, and I
Speaker 1: think as a whole, wire defensive line has been very productive.
Speaker 1: And I think a lot of that has to do
Speaker 1: with additions of those guys, you know, like you know,
Speaker 1: Fletch was very productive, and some of that has to
Speaker 1: do with you know, having a guy like Journey get
Speaker 1: in there and him getting more one on ones, and
Speaker 1: you know, Derek getting some one on ones maybe because
Speaker 1: of Brandon Graham and you know, and um, you know
Speaker 1: all that. I think Vinny Curry also had an outstanding
Speaker 1: training camp. He was very good against a run end pass.
Speaker 1: He was as productive as I've seen him. He was
Speaker 1: not on the ground as much as he's been. I
Speaker 1: think he's a much improved player. I mentioned jail with Mills.
Speaker 1: I think Vinny has shown it. But again, it proof
Speaker 1: is in the course of the season four ends, though,
Speaker 1: did you kind of view it as almost like two lines?
Speaker 1: Do you want to kind of keep them taking the hockey? Yeah? Okay,
Speaker 1: all right, right, yeah I don't have as much hockey. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't have as much. You have to skip jacks. EHL.
Speaker 1: We used to go just to drink beer and watch
Speaker 1: the fights. I think that's all anybody goes to the
Speaker 1: EHL for. But um um, yeah, I do think. I
Speaker 1: do think there is some shift change in there. And
Speaker 1: I mean, hock hockey is that sport. I mean, you
Speaker 1: nobody can play. I mean when Gretzky couldn't be out
Speaker 1: there every single time, I mean it's just impossible to
Speaker 1: play that way. So they do have to shift and
Speaker 1: you do need to rely on other guys. Well, you
Speaker 1: you mentioned four defensive ends. I'll take that further with five.
Speaker 1: I think Stephen Means is a quality player, whether he's
Speaker 1: active or not on a weekly basis, I know this much,
Speaker 1: he'll be ready for when his opportunity comes. Maybe it'll
Speaker 1: be because of an injury, maybe it'll be because somebody's
Speaker 1: not producing as much as they should. But I think
Speaker 1: Stephen Means is also a quality guy. I like a
Speaker 1: five man group up there that I did. I answer
Speaker 1: the question here to cut you off. Do you like
Speaker 1: to keep them together? I mean doesn't matter having no
Speaker 1: I think that m Yeah, it's it's hard to keep
Speaker 1: them together because everybody comes from a different spot. Like
Speaker 1: it's not just for new defensive linement. There are times
Speaker 1: where we do that, particularly in the middle of a series.
Speaker 1: But over the course of the game, you got to
Speaker 1: play with a lot of different combinations and even some
Speaker 1: potential rush situations. Um you know, not every team will
Speaker 1: allow you to sub guys on a situational basis, but
Speaker 1: um you know sometimes you can and to be able
Speaker 1: to get third down rushers out there. It's not as
Speaker 1: prevalent as it used to be in the NFL. But
Speaker 1: you know, there could be some opportunities to to work
Speaker 1: some rush groups out there also this year. And what
Speaker 1: do you need out of them? Well, just the same
Speaker 1: as everybody. We need consistent play. Um, we've got to
Speaker 1: be good against the run and the pass um, I think, um,
Speaker 1: you know, and and consistency has to do with a
Speaker 1: lot of things. Be able to do your job, being
Speaker 1: able to execute the scheme, um, you know, being available
Speaker 1: to like. But again, very encouraged by where where Vinny's gone.
Speaker 1: I think, I don't know if you guys notice it,
Speaker 1: but it's been well noticed with within our team, on
Speaker 1: our coaching staff. Um, the strides that he's taken. But again,
Speaker 1: none of that matters right now. I mean talk about
Speaker 1: you know, new guys we've added, talk about you know
Speaker 1: the Arby or or or Journe again or you know,
Speaker 1: improved players like Jalen or Vinny. None of that matters.
Speaker 1: If they don't produce them, we don't win games. So
Speaker 1: we know we have to keep our eye on that.
Speaker 1: Is he at the point now where he's been here
Speaker 1: long enough that you can do everything with him. Uh yeah,
Speaker 1: we don't hold anything back. Maybe the first week, like
Speaker 1: when we played Buffalo, there were some things that we
Speaker 1: sort of held back in some communication that the safeties
Speaker 1: were a little bit hesitant to give him. He's unencumbered
Speaker 1: when it comes to scheme. He was saying the other
Speaker 1: day that safeties with cornerbackground are part of the prototype
Speaker 1: that you give those guys as far as what to
Speaker 1: look for when they're when they're scouting safeties. You've got
Speaker 1: four of them on your team right now with that background.
Speaker 1: Has that always been the case with you or has
Speaker 1: the increasing tempo by teams made it more imperative. I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't think it's increased tempo. For me. It's more um.
Speaker 1: It's more wide receiver tight ends. You know the college
Speaker 1: guy and you know you've seen it. I mean, you
Speaker 1: know Washington's got Jordan Reid, Um, you know they've got
Speaker 1: There's there's a bunch of those guys around in the league.
Speaker 1: Whether it's Jimmy Graham or you know, whoever it is,
Speaker 1: they all line them up at wide receiver, and you
Speaker 1: have to be able to have that ability to cover um,
Speaker 1: being able to blitz. You know, a lot of times
Speaker 1: your safeties have to cover almost every offense is I
Speaker 1: mean probably sixty to seventy percent of our snaps this
Speaker 1: year will be against three wide receiver sets. So anytime
Speaker 1: you're blitz and that guy's not now just covering a
Speaker 1: full back or tight end, he's covering a skilled player,
Speaker 1: he's covering a wide receiver. And it gives you some
Speaker 1: you know, some flexibility to be able to handle those things.
Speaker 1: You know, I I go back. I mean, I've been
Speaker 1: around a while. You know when when safeties were named
Speaker 1: you know, um, you know thumper and um. You know,
Speaker 1: I had a guy in Tennessee. First name was Tank,
Speaker 1: you know, and I joked to and and Tank was
Speaker 1: hell player, Tank Williams out of Stanford. But Tank was
Speaker 1: two hundred and thirty five pound safety. You know, we
Speaker 1: saw a lot of two back sets. You know, he
Speaker 1: was sort of an extra linebacker in there. Even though
Speaker 1: he was he was fast. You know, I don't need
Speaker 1: guy's name, Um, you know Hammer and and and Tank.
Speaker 1: I need guy's name swifty and and ball hawk and
Speaker 1: you know, um the glove. You know those are nicknames
Speaker 1: we're looking for more. Um. Now, he progress gap faster
Speaker 1: than you thought, like the course, no Um, I think
Speaker 1: we expected that from him. I think a lot was
Speaker 1: made with him being a bit of a one trick pony.
Speaker 1: He was a edge speed rush guy in college and
Speaker 1: he had such the ability to do that that I
Speaker 1: think he got labeled a guy that's all he could do.
Speaker 1: And I think we saw more in him than that.
Speaker 1: You know, he's, like I said, he's played tough against
Speaker 1: the run. He's been instinctive. UM, you know, he's he's
Speaker 1: he's he's been productive when he's been out there. We
Speaker 1: can only judge him on that. Um. But there's there's
Speaker 1: nothing that Here's nothing that that I just say, we
Speaker 1: haven't been surprised by that about him. I don't know
Speaker 1: the best way to put that. But this defense still
Speaker 1: top fift team defense last year. Now with what appears
Speaker 1: being bigger, better pleas of the player, better definite desicians
Speaker 1: because it possibly feel even more weight and more pressure
Speaker 1: on your shoulders. Well, there's always there's always pressure. I
Speaker 1: mean that goes along with this job. If you if
Speaker 1: you don't accept pressure in the wrong business. UM, please
Speaker 1: don't on my resume that I elevated this to a
Speaker 1: top fifteen. I mean, I don't know that that I mean,
Speaker 1: that's that's participation trophy in my mind, um, you know,
Speaker 1: And I don't want to um um split hairs or whatever.
Speaker 1: The stat that we care about the most is points allowed.
Speaker 1: I think we were twelfth in there. That's still that's
Speaker 1: still not as good as as as we can be.
Speaker 1: And I do I do agree with you, um, you
Speaker 1: know when paper were better. We have added, um, not
Speaker 1: only depth, but we've added some key components to the defense.
Speaker 1: It's our job as coaches, our guys, our job as
Speaker 1: players to be productive, you know. I mean that this
Speaker 1: press conference doesn't matter. We can say all the right
Speaker 1: things we can, you know, um, you know, have the
Speaker 1: greatest plans. It's it's we have to execute it and
Speaker 1: and the proof is in the pudding. And it's our
Speaker 1: job to do that. Over the course of a year.
Speaker 1: We're going to have good games, We're going to have
Speaker 1: bad games. When the when the season's over, we have
Speaker 1: to give us our offense or our team consistently at
Speaker 1: chance to win the game. And the best way we
Speaker 1: can do that is points. A loud hold, There's there's
Speaker 1: two things. First is don't allow very many points. And
Speaker 1: number two is set the offense up to score. That's
Speaker 1: one thing we were very good at last year. We um,
Speaker 1: we were Where were you guys? Where were we in turnovers? Takeaways?
Speaker 1: We were? Yeah, we were, we were. We were better
Speaker 1: than we set the offense up. Because it's one thing
Speaker 1: to say, yeah, we didn't give up very many points,
Speaker 1: but if the offense was on a long field the
Speaker 1: whole game, maybe maybe you could have done a little
Speaker 1: bit more. So I think when it's all said and done,
Speaker 1: after after sixteen week or after seventeen weeks plus, you know,
Speaker 1: hopefully more. I think if we can say that, um,
Speaker 1: you know we we we minimize points alloud, and we
Speaker 1: also gave our offense a chance, I think them will
Speaker 1: have been successful and any other ranking really doesn't matter
Speaker 1: to us. Okay,