We had two great days of practice this week. Exciting to get down to the fifty three. I feel like we know we're moving in the right direction, Excited about the guys that we have on the defensive side of the ball, and definitely prepping and getting ready for the Stealers. So I know you guys have some questions with that open it up.
At what point did you start really honing in on the Steelers and start formulating some ideas of how you want.
To approach them?
You know, I think this week is just a bonus for us. You know, we've already looked at a few things, just giving our guys an opportunity to try to settle in a little bit, you know, particularly with first and second down things, just watching them on tape. We've been doing that for a while as a coaching staff. So those guys are playing well. I think the quarterback, second year guy, he's looking phenomenal. He's taking that second year leap,
doing some great things. They have the veryical threats down the field that can make things happen in any moment, and they have a very impressive solid run game. So we definitely got our hands, you know, feel work with these guys coming up next week.
Are in camp.
You talked about learning the forty nine ers and forty nine ers way not your way. What have you learned now that you're through sort of a full camp. What have you learned about the way the forty ninitey defense works and why it's been successful last year.
I think it's just really sort of geared with our front seven and how we play. And it's certain schematic things that that we do here that I probably wasn't used to in the past, and I'm not gonna indulge in that part, but we do it well, you know, and and Fred being one of the lead guys with that, and when you have those caliber guys, then in their plan you see exactly why we play it certain ways.
So I've definitely come accustomed to that, and I think complimenting what we've done on back in this particular spring leading into training camp in preseason, I think we've improved and gotten better there as well. So I'm excited where we are once again.
With Nick Bosa that whenever he arrives, you just plug him in to do what other guys have been doing, or is he unique in the sense that when he gets here you can ask him to do different things than what you already have from a defensive end.
I think we all know that he's unique. I think you can definitely do different things with him as we've done in the past, particularly on third down and certain things that you want to try to free him up.
But he's stolid all the way around. So I don't think.
Once again it's going to be issue when that time comes, so hopefully as soon.
Yesterday and expressed some concern about the run defense of the preseason, but he did qualify that by saying, it's the preseason. Not a lot of the starters are playing. Well, where do you stand on that spectrum about when we're looking at the.
Preseason Well, number one, you never want to give up as many yards as we have during preseason, you know, talking to the coaches that were here, you know, I had one of my moments coming out one of the games and they referenced last year against the Texans. I think it was one to fifty something as well. But you write a lot of the starters don't play, which is no excuse. My concern is it's not some of
the basic fits. We can correct that. You know, you look at some of the young linebackers that just got out of their gaps off of basic fit right there that turned into an explosive play.
Those things are correctable, you know.
As I told the players coming out of this previous game, I take full responsibility for the Zonne read stuff. You know, I think it was an equipment of maybe fifty six yards that the quarterbacks got.
I always tell the.
Coaches as well as the players, I'm never going to hold you accountable for something that we didn't emphasize. And I didn't emphasize that that week. It was playing on the schedule for this week. I knew we were going to see it because as Russell Herd is on it, But as you alluded to, I was had a schedule of certain things I wanted to implement and get in. So, uh, we're definitely gonna be better with his own read, you know.
I know that's something that we put on taping and people are going to try to expose us on, but we'll be better with that.
When he was playing at Tampa Bay, he was an established Pro Bowl player, and Mike Tomlin came in hears as a first as you know, your first year defensive backs coach and challenged him and said you can get better, you will get better. Curious whether you found that with Warner to see, you know, is he okay with you? Know you because he's an established player also, but you're coming in and saying, Art, lest's.
Try it this way.
I think all those guys I've take that approach with him. I have a phraser of saying, you know about stan Green and you got to continue to learn this if you don't know. And I believe in challenging those guys and always telling them the truth, you know. So uh, great players like John Was as well as Fred Uh, they want to be challenged, they want to be told
the truth. So uh, I think we constantly do that as coaches, you know, to try to put our guys in certain situations and constantly challenge those guys on the details and the basics of the of the techniques and the things we asking them to do.
That step, how how do you make this defense better? So that was been top five the last four years. I believe in totally you And is that sort of an emphasis or a place this defense can improve or take a step forward?
Uh? Yes, I think we've improved there.
And I think the difference has been and you guys have wrote about it for the last couple of years.
How great we are up front.
You talked about Bosa, Eric, we got a hard grave, you talked about Fred green Law. But I think you know, the difference is is how we play on the back end and and how we hold up. Cause you can have a great defensive line, but if we're not doing our job back there, it's you know, it can still be a difficult time for us.
Uh.
I've always emphasized, and I tell these guys constantly that you know, we're very talented defense, and there's times that we're gonna line up against teams and just be quite an honest to tell him, you know, on paper, we're gonna be better than those guys, but it doesn't really matter if we're not really fundamentally sounds so to me.
You know, people talk about it in the spring, they talk about at the beginning of the season, but week six, week thirteen, we still talk about the fundamentals and technique because to me, that's what separates teams, you know, the details, and that's what I think it's gonna be with us, that we can't get complacent the.
Run defense John kim Law spoke to us a couple of weeks ago and talked about him concentrating on flexibility, on leverage and trying to add you know, improvement to that aspect of his game. Has he been able to put that to practice. What have you seen from him in that regard in the preseason.
Well, I've seen him trying to emphasize and work on what you just talked about. He is a massive man, very tall, so we constantly talk about his pad level, you know, staying low.
This is a leverage game.
You know, low men win, so uh, being able to come off the ball and create a new line of scrimmage. We always talk about attacking, which we do a great job of, but also playing with valid hands and being able to say X off into your gap and make that tackle. So I've seen that improvement with him along with him with guys across the uh, across the front. So we're gonna need that next week for sure.
Were expect teams, you know, when he's on the field to go to run right at him.
Well, uh, not so much right at him.
I mean, uh, I think there's a lot of guys that that you can sit here and scheme against that we're gonna have up front. So, uh, what what teams get with us is, you know, they try to double team us and try to get to the second level. So we got to do a great job of maintaining, uh and splitting that double team and not allowing them to push on the linebacker. So that's where it's all about. Get off and guys really standing in the gaps we.
Do for safety situation.
Looking with Huff and Gibber working on the side and.
How you were coming in, Uh, they're they're fine. Uh.
I think you know, again with with in the number of years he's played mentally, he's where he needs to be from a physical standpoint. I think it's plug and play with him. He does a great job. And then you know, a Huff coming off his Pro Bowl year, I think he's gonna be ready as well. So I think once we get out, you know, I started eleven guys out there, they're gonna be in sync and doing the things that we're acting them to do.
A couple of little defensive linemen come in here and refer to Eric Armstead as Blueprint. That's his nickname, which I assume has to do with technique and fundamentals.
I'm curious.
He fought all last year against various injuries, and I don't know if he was ever really right. He has been so far this offseason. Is he a guy that now that you're here, you're appreciating more now that you're in the building and really get to see him work.
Oh yeah, I definitely appreciate Eric. I think he's had a great off season. He is the blueprint, as we call him. He sets his standard with those guys up front. You know, I talked to him another day. He wasn't practicing and just was talking about a few things. Are you ready? And I think k in a subliminal way,
I was joking with the coaching staff. He sent me a long, detailed text about everything in the run game with Pittsburgh, and I was like, I said, yeah, I fucking think he's ready, you know so?
Uh I it was.
It was definitely detailing everything that they're doing and and what we need to do to make sure that we attack it.
So very impressive.
It's from a.
Coordinator's perspective when you're facing if you were to face it an offense like the Niners, and they have how you and Samuel and McCaffrey and Kittle and you know, on and on. Does it? Maybe this is a stupid question, but is it we're shooting some ways to be more basic and just like, hey, we're not gonna go like double this guy all the time, you know, does it We're sure to kind of just simplify a game plan just because you can't focus on one specific guy too.
Yeah.
I I mean, I think we have definitely weapons and Caw does a tremendous job, uh, and in really trying to spread the ball around and create different looks. Uh, it's been great going against those guys cause it's prepared us for different things that we're going to see throughout the year. So you can easily get out of position based off what you think maybe twenty one personnel and they break the hud on all of a sudden, it
looks like eleven. So you've got to be very signed on what you're doing going against our offense.
Beyond the teams and.
X's and those we're talking about, what is it about this defense and some of the players. Do you think that's propelled them these last few years? Is there some personality trade or some thread between Fred and Nick or whoever that sort of elevates this defense above other.
Defenses around the least.
I think it's the culture that they've created. I talk about it all the time, coming in here and seeing exactly what we have established over the years. It's very hard for anybody to come in here and hide, meaning that you're gonna get very exposed in this defense if you don't practice at a certain level, you know, if you don't study at a certain level, because everybody in that room is doing it at a high level, oh
every day, you know. So Uh, the standard is the standard here and how we do things, and it starts with Eric Fred uh all those guys across the board. So again, excited where we are. Uh, and it's about taking one step at a time. So we're looking forward to next week.
Appreciate you guys, Thank you for