Press Pass: Bill Davis

of settled into the passing game. He's not making the mistakes, He's taking what you give them. Uh, and he's moving the ball a little bit. And he did a great job on a las driver Seattle him. Are most of his runs designed the first and second time they are? I think he makes more of his scrambles on third time. He spied him last year when he was less than a hundred percent correct, Yeah, yeah, I think no matter what percentage he is, you spied. Yeah, Well, you move

in and out of it. You can't just sit in a three man rush all day inspire him. You want to go four and fives and you just have to be real disciplined that you're blitzing as a group and people are in the spot they're supposed to be in, because even the blitzers are designed to have a nice little pocket that we keep them in. But he's such a playmaker and he had the plan of keeping them

in there. But the athleticism kicks in and then it's about a bunch of effort trying to get them and taking good angles and he's going to make his plays. Athletes like that make their plays, and we have to keep it to a minimum. It's the first quarterback that you face this year and obviously got a lot of high notary of front, but is it more challenging the first time you face one of these guys in the sea. Yeah.

The bonus that we have is that what we practice against all offseason, so the read option, the triple option, all the different variations of the run game that they have. We at least as a defense work on it and have the conversations in the off season. Now we haven't had it in six weeks, so we've got to dust

those conversations off and focus on it. But it helps us in that sense that we's not brand new to us, like a lot of NFL teams I've been with, all of a sudden, you hit this offense and it's it's a brand new conversation that you didn't have in the off season. So at least we've had it in the off season in that role. Well, we mix it up, Zach. We don't try to just let him know what. But

Connor's a good, big athlete. So one thing about Cam is you can spy him and run with him, but then you can you tackle him because he's so big. So Connor's got a good mix of size and speed and athleticism and it's good matchup. So we did spy him last year with Connor, and it was because of the how big he is. Bill Cam is on bas to be sacked the fewest times in his career. I think the offensive line has really played every single game together. Do you think the continuity of the line is really

help in the situation. Yeah, they are, and it's a little bit different line. There's only two guys from the offensive line that we faced last year, so they've got some new faces in there. They do a great job of protecting him. I think he's got a better feel of the protections you know, as you move. I think Mike Schuler does a great job and done a great

job bringing him on. And the old line is again we talk about it a lot of weeks, but when an old line play together and they kind of plays one unit, you kind of count the old line is one position, not five individuals. These guys are playing well together, and they're very strong in a run game. When you get thirty two rushes per game, they're number one in the NFL at the attempt. I think they're three or four in the rush yards. I think one thirty three.

But it's because old linemen can move people and it's gonna be a big challenge for us. What do you design linebackers? Well, we're going to test the waters with Michael and Keiko that they're gonna get a little bit uh. And that's just kind of saying, okay, where are we H. So they'll get out there a little bit uh this week. UH. Don't really anticipate them. It'd be a you know, it's a day to day thing. So hopefully they surprise me,

but I don't know if they will. The key thing is them getting healthy and getting healthy at the write pace and their body allow them to sort of challenge present excusing What sort of challenge does Greg Olsen presented? Oh, he's a he's a probably one of the best past receiving tight ends in the league. And he is a big target of theirs. Uh. He runs great routes, he's a primary and a lot of their rod patterns UM and he's he's playing at high level in Cam's that's

kind of his comfort zone. Getting it to him and finding him and you throw it anywhere near him, he catches it, so he's really hitting his stride and is one of their top targets. Really, how does Jordan Hicks compared to some of the other rookies that you've coached as far as been picking things up as quickly as he has, He's he's he's up there at the top of the list. He really is. He's a he's been an I want to say, a surprise, but you never know.

When you get a rookie, you know you have an intelligent and we knew when we drafted him he was a highly intelligent, high football IQ, good athlete, solid inside backer. What you don't know is how they respond to the NFL games. UH. In a lot of times that's where they kind of hit a wall. And even though you have a smart guy, it takes him a year or two to be able to do it on Sundays when it's when it's going fast and and Jordan the piece.

It's kind of very that's not surprising, but it's it's exciting that on game day he's as calm as a veterans. If you remind you of anyone that you've not not veterans, he reminds me of veterans, but not not so much a rookie. Most rookies are kind of in that backup role. Uh. And don't shine like he's he's done so far well that Carol interception? Did he have outside zone there? Did he just jump the pick? No? We we we actually

sat in a two deep zone. We we we hadn't run it all year and uh, and we knew because of our quick game that we wanted to throw some cover two in there, the hard zone cover two. Uh. And you know Eliza, right, he saw mostly two man from us the whole time. And then right about that that time and the game we put the hard two. And then the guys been working hard at it all week and Corey and the guys did a great job of ruling out all the quick game and he threw it

right into where we were hoping he would. Uh, so we stole one there and it was it was fun to have the plan worked that way to jump switch really fast to get out there too. Yeah, he did a great job. I mean, it's the way we read

it. It It kind of starts as a man, but then as as two goes out, Malcolm did a great job of hollering out out out because Nolan couldn't visually see it, so he's yelling out out out nolandrit knows to drop it then and the safety's over the top of the number one and Nolan, did you know, just stepped right and made a big play for us. It's just I mean, yeah, I know you get asked us what, but like, are you kind of surprisingly how many of you guys have been getting it so far? It is a high number.

I mean we're in the top I think three in the NFL and taking it away. Uh, but it's it's something we focus on, and we don't focus on a lot, but we really this year we said we're gonna are turnovers. We're going for three game and We're gonna work hard on tackling and get our tackling better. And I think I'm probably more excited about the tackling we've been doing, uh you know, with two weeks ago in the Saints, those two running backs have been breaking tackles at the

league record, and they didn't break any on us. So we'll continue to focus on tackling. And turnovers are a big emphasis. Now. We have a huge challenge in Carolina because they're not turning the ball over. I think they're under one per game. So that's going to be a big part of the equation here is if we can,

uh you know, tackle well. Because it's a you know, it's a big boy game with a running thirty two times a game, We're gonna have to tackle well, uh and and try to create the turnovers, which is gonna be tough. Inner stage is gonna be out there. I don't know what Demko's out today. I think we may rest him today. He's another day to day gay. But knowing Demiko the way he handles injuries, I mean you expect him back because he is a warrior in that category.

And Michael A keyGo as the factor and effect that of the bays coming up. Yeah, it's not so much to buy because every week we need as many hands on deck as we can get. So they can go. They will go. But it's just a matter of their body and how you know where they are. You know, first is them healthy and getting back for the way him the rest of the season. But if they can go, they'll Goveries, you know, something from tackling and something you

can sort of design and planning. How much of it is just randomly well less we work on it at least once a week. We have a big turn and we have three pieces of that. We have a how to strip up carrier, how to attack the quarterback with he has a ball, and then how to recover a

fumble and we talk about it a lot. They are to recovering a fumble and then and the hardest part list is when you're on the bottom of the pile keeping the ball when the scrum's happening and those guys are doing a great job, and it matters how you're laying. You're laying on your side or on your back. You know, we teach you how to get in the fetal position on your side. It helps protect the ball. So there's a bunch of little things to go into recovering that

fumble and holding onto it after the scrum happens. Ship was singing biggers as praises yesterday. He said, he allows you the opportunity to do some things call wise. Can you expand on that. What EJ brings is a great quickness and speed and then his intelligence. Again, we're doing a great job of bringing guys with high football like he's into the building. And what he allows is he can play corner, nickel or dime for us at any given snap. So in every game plan we can go

into it with him and Malcolm both can switch. Now Malcolm can play anything, but the EJ's got the corner, nickel and dime spots down, which is a little bit different for an offense in their identification, in their protection. So that screws with them a little. And uh, the uh, the fact that he can go in and out of that helps us schematically and who we want to take away, who we give help to. So EJ has been a real big addition. Russion last name, what have you seen

him this year? I know he's kind of moving around positions a little bit, but what think, Yeah, we threw Vinnie outside wide a little bit with injuries hit us and then, but Vinny is always Vinny is always an explosive gap penetrating when when when it's a passing situation, the Vinny is disruptive every time. Now, he hasn't had the sack numbers till this game, but those sack numbers are coming for him. Anybody that has that kind of disruption in the in the passing game is someone will

continue to do that. So I was glad to see Vinny gets some sack numbers. I don't personally judge anybody by their sack numbers. I want to know how many times they're they're they're taking a double team, how many times they're moving a quarterback off the spot? What is the technique in the pass for us? Is he? Is he doing what we're what we're trying to do collectively as a four man pass rush, And Vinny's always right up there with us. He's at a a great season.

Just the sack numbers and they'll come, they'll come. But he's a solid uh you know. I love seeing him out there and rushing that passer and disrupting a quarterbacks. He makes a difference Marcus Smith twelve Snaps had any great album. He was good, He really was. Marcus is taking steps in the right direction. Again. That game went to all three wide receiver sets, which kind of takes us out of two outside backers in the game, which limits you know, we we'd like to get him when

he's active twenty to twenty five. But because I went, the game went, but he granted out fine, he saw he didn't make any big plays, but he was doing what he's supposed to do. The middle of it's in the same degree on the on the defensive line. And at what point did you realize that conclude that godson, you know, early on, but once they learned the two gap and how I as teaches it and and really

the fundamentals, and they rep it every day. You see him on the sled and uh then in the game, you know, you know, yeah, I always look at the wall. We create defense where they're like they're not blockers. They get off and make more plays. See, most people think two gaps just eat up the block and the backers make the play. Our guys not only strike and read the run, but they shed as well as anybody. And I think that's the component that you see over and

over again. You'll see all of them in a head on this side, and they'll shed and they'll come off and make tackles in a course. So not only are they building a wall not moving back, but they're able to shed, throw and go and make the tackle. And probably late in the first season, second half of the first season and then all that you knew what you had because they're they're strong, and they work hard at it.

Has these guys more work than most. Absolutely, I've been places where sled is in a corner that nobody ever uses ever training camp, and he's rusty and got cobwebs on it. Ours won't get that way. Ours break every other day because how much they use it. But it's a it's a great way that doesn't wear the player out, you know, and most guys go player to player when they work on those things, and you wear the players out.

So this is a way that we can get better what we do and really save the player's hands and

risk and all that. So it's a great thing. What was the miscommunication on the deck of touch shown the motion empty and what happened was it originally Demiko had help and he was playing outside leverage with inside help and then the motion empty happened and Chris left him to help over on the empty side, and Demiko, still thinking he had help, was playing outside leverage, thinking and even from the box, I thought we had it where that that that slant was coming out, thought Chris Marrigos

was going to step into it, but they had changed and he was actually helping on their number one with Nolan. So it was tough because we would have liked to keep that to a field goal. But the communication it was in the week fixed it right away and it was clear. But those things happened in the game. And I love the way our guys respond to be honest with you. I've been in a lot of places where those miscommunications happened and people turn on each other and

it's a huge argument. And our guys are really together. It's a tight unit because they knew mistakes made and there was real mad that the touchdown happened, got to the sideline. We figured it out, we solved it, and it didn't happen again, and it won't happen again. But it's it's really a testament to the really the camaraderie we have in the chemistry have on defense right now, the whole three, it's the top of the league. We really are setting our goals that you know, what's the

best that can happen in the league. And all our goals and the turnovers the three. Most people will be, hey, let's get one a game, you know, let's get two. Well we go into three and can we get there? And the guys have been almost we're almost hitting that mark. But we were just saying, where do you think that comes from? That? Um? So, you know a lot of teams kind of easy, the biddering, you guys throwed our arms up and all that stuff. Where does it come from?

Mental toughness? Mentally tough teams win the most games in the NFL in my whole career. You have a group a lot of times that's a veteran group because they're usually the mentally toughness. They've been through the most. Uh. But when your team is mentally tough and can take a punch, you know, with that first drive, a lot of oh my god, they fall apart. We didn't. We

had a lot of mistakes in that drive. We fixed them all and settled down and our guys are at that place now where you know, can you lose a game like the Washington game? You know that had hurt a lot because we wanted to step up and win that game and we didn't. Now, can you take that punch and come back to work and still believe in yourselves? And the guys did and after that, you know, we played a solid Washington game, but not a good last drive. So now we've backed it up with two solid games

and now the challenges can we hold serve? Can we keep at this level? You know this week it's all about this week and can we sustain it? And the mentally tough group can well. Yesterday Chip was talking about the continuity of having guys in his defense now for a third year, especially up fun and with the way the secondary has come together. Is it's the most comfortable, maybe the most trust you had with the steam and

the players orchestrating it. Yeah, when you're in your third year, the guys that have been here three years, you really can grow it. And the guys own it. They start owning it themselves. It's it's their defense, it's they know the tools, they know the answer to the problem. You know that they're doing this, or hey, hey, coach, we'll just go to this front, or we'll go to this stunt,

or coach, we'll go to this coverage tool. That's when ownership happens, is when you really take the step of being real strong is a defense and in the secondary. Although we have some new pieces, those guys are hard working, high football like you, guys that have a great understanding of it. And that's why you don't see guys running free through the zone. Even when we have a miscommunication. You know, you've got guys that are at least covering

it up and and and understand the scheme. So hopefully we're getting better and we've got a lot of growth to do in the second half of the season to make sure that all those things come together. But you know, we're we're excited about what we can Still, we've got a long way to go, and we can get a lot better with tightening everything down. Bill. You were in Carolina a couple stops ago. Yeah, uh, you know the

team went through that. People said, you know, this is a college area football, basketball, everything, and maybe because roots of professional football weren't his deed is like a place like this did that developer. Returning there, you getting gotten a sense that that team was really rooted there. Now I was are an expansion here, so we were at the beginning. Everybody's a Washington Redskins fan. That's what the air it was. So there was a lot of NFL

football fans, they were just Redskins fans. And then, uh, the city has grown. I mean it's a great city, great place to live, and it's grown a lot, and it's I think a lot of people are coming out of college and they're gonna find work. You got you know, it's just a beautiful weather. It's a growing city. I think banking is a big industry down there. But the football team hadn't gone to a super Bowl, and I

mean they've had some success there. So I think it's grown immensely since I was there, and that was wasn't ninety five, I think, yeah, all right, gots thanks