Press Pass: Jim Schwartz

looking to improve the team. And I think that's the commitment we make to the locker room. That's commitment we wait make to the city. That's the commitment we make to the organization that we're always going to try to look to improve. But um, I think we added a couple of good players in the off season and we've been happy with the progress. There's always gonna be time as you need more depth, There's always gonna be time

things that come up along the way. So um, you know, as we're out here coaching, those guys are always keeping their eyes on, you know, different opportunities to add to the team. And I think that's the same for you know, thirty one other teams in the NFL, also the ociate of the media games. And combine all the information that you've taught this weep of guys over the time frame, compare to other places you did. How have these guys

grasped the information you give me. You know, every team is a little bit different, and your your pace is a little bit different because your offense is a little bit different, you know. So, um, you know, I think I think they've made good progress. I wouldn't compare them to any other team. I wouldn't compare them to you know, any other player. Everybody's going to do it at their

own place. I think the one thing we've kept in mind is, um, you know, the home the home openers a long way away, and and our eye is toward improving every day and you know, correcting little things, not getting too far ahead of ourselves. So I think the same could be said. We could get a little too far ahead of ourselves if we try to compare them to other guys. But I've been pleased with the effort to the guys have shown. I've im pleased with their

ability to communicate and the ability to pick it up. Um, you know, we're not rocket science. Now, we're not trying to. We're not trying to you know, reinvent anything. You know, we won't. We won't put guys in a good position, UM, communicate well, play what fits them. All those things are important to us, not you know, trying to you know, set a record for being difficult. So many different defensive over the years. Can you tell a disappointment a wise

but a talent level you have? Have you done that before we place it's right or wrong? Disappointing? You know, I think that you can, Um, you can make mistakes if you do that because it let's be honest, we haven't had pads on yet, you know, and the football is meant to be played with pads. And you know, you can have a guy in the right position and it look good out here, but if you can't make

that tackle and scheme didn't mean anything. So you know it it's a cliche, but it does come down to blocking and tackling and you know, those kind of things. And that's stuff that you know, we'll be determined over the next six weeks. That's the stuff that you know, training camps about. UM. You know, I think that from a from an adjustment period. Sometimes it's a little bit easier for the guys that fields a little bit smaller here. Um,

it's a little there's a little less movement. You know, those guys can run toward the line of scrimmage more than one guy can be in motion. It feels longer, it feels wider. You know, I wouldn't want to call it arena football, but they come down here and it's almost like, you know, it's almost like going to arena football. Um. Aaron's a smart player. He's multidimensional. He's played outside, he's

played nickel. Um just because our numbers are always playing a little safety, but that's just because he knows what to do. Um. He's shown he's shown a good confident attitude. You know, you can't you can't cover many guys if you're worried about getting beat. And he's had that confidence to go up and challenge guys. And I think that experience shows the fact that he has played in a professional league. And he's a little bit different than most of the other guys that are out here now because

they're both they're just off of college. He does have a little more confidence from his professional experience. You know, obviously to be one of the you know, he made good progress through the off season. Um, you know, we took it slow with him again, sort of falling into our same mantras. You know, our game we don't open until September, so we didn't need to rush him. He's a veteran player. He was excellent in the meetings, um, and he was a good mentor for the younger guys.

They're always picking his brain. He's smart player, had a really good year last year. So um, you know, we don't want to we don't want to get ahead of ourselves with him or take him out of his comfort level. But he took a little bit of individual at the end of our mini camp and OTAs and actually took a couple of team snaps in there, a couple of seven or seven I can't remember which one it was. So he was able to get a little confidence feeling like, hey,

I can I can get up to speed. This is important for him now, you know, it's it's a good opportunity for him to come back before um, you know, the full club gets here, just to sort of test it out and see how he's feeling. You know, you don't want to judge too much and he might need a day here or there. Um, it helps that he's a veteran player. It helps that he's experienced, and you know, I think that he's able to make a lot of reps that he's not out there, you know, mental reps,

so to speak. Um, he can learn and learn by carryson through the other guys. He's done that. Why you seem to do a little more than most? Why have you gravitated towards towards that the ball? Really a lot of times it just fits the personnel that we have. Um, you know, I think that we've done with a little

different flavor each stop along the way. You know, it looked a little bit different with Javon Curse and Kevin Carter when I was in Tennessee, and I looked a little bit different with Kyle Van Debosch and Antoine Odam when we got to Detroit. It looked a little different with Cliff Avril. Um, you know, it looked a little different with Ziggy Onza Um Buffalo, it looked a little bit different with Mario Williams and a guy like Jerry Hughes.

All those guys have different skill sets and um, you know, it's all about trying to put them in a position that you know they can execute the scheme, but within the scheme they can technique wise execute. I think it's some things that probably fly below the radar from just an alignment standpoint. But there's there's a lot of differences between what we're doing right now, what we did in Buffalo, what we did in Tennessee, or or to Detroit who

hadn't played before. UM and then you three four. Yea kinda did a lot of this when he was a Houston early in his career. UM. And Connor's a smart player, He's multidimensional. I think it fits the guys really well here. And UM, you know, I think if you ask them, UM, you know they'd rather attack than read. Um. It puts us in a little better position to rush the passer, puts a little bit a little bit better position to

set hard edges. UM. It's been our philosophy. And I think if you ask offensive coordinators they would tell you the same thing. Um, if you can get there with four, you have a big advantage on defense. If you have to blitz to get pressure, UM, you can be at a disadvantage. The offense could take advantage of you. You know, when you can rush with four, it allows you to blitz on your own terms rather than jeez, we got to get pressure. We have to blitz, um, you know.

So there's a lot of different reasons that we do. One of what the biggest is that, you know, we try to match the talent that we have to the techniques that we're asking guys to play. And even here, um, you know, some of the stuff that um, you know, Brandon is doing is a little different than what what Vinnie's doing, you know, and I think that's you know, that's that's up to the coaches and Chris has done

a really good job. They're trying to tailor package for each guy to the corners how open obviously time, how open you know, and even even where it appears as though we're set. We're always looking for good players, and we're always looking for guys that can, um, you know, that can execute the scheme, Guys that can make a play within the scheme, Guys that can be trustworthy. Um. So we try not to go in with any any prejudice toward anybody, whether it's an undrafted free agent or

a ten year event. Um, it's going to be fun to watch the corners compete. We have some guys that can cover. We have some guys that, um, you know, have a great opportunity here and um, you know, if if they'll get up and they'll challenge receivers. Like I said before, you know, if you can cover, you can't cover many people. If if you don't want to challenge guys,

you know, I mean, there's God's honest truth. I could I could play the deep ball I get, I get my ass fifty yards deep and you couldn't get one over top of me. But I couldn't cover anything else, you know, So there's a there's a fine line in there. And um, the fine line is you have to you know, you obviously have to play the deep ball in this league. But if that's the only thing you're worried about, you're not gonna cover anything. And I said, and you what's that, Well,

I wasn't. I wasn't. I wasn't. Yeah. Um, but you know, just with the blend of veteran players, you know, a guy like Nolan Carroll who we talked about, Leotis McKelvin, some young guys that have some opportunities. Um, you know, Jalen has done a nice job for a rookie so far, and from Brooks is is going to have an opportunity. Um, you guys coming off injury, you know, like like Ship who's been out here. I think it's going to be

exciting to watch those guys. And you know, if they show, if they show the ability to cover, and they show that you know that that they will challenge guys, then we'll find use for all of them. Kind of make picture to describe your philosophy and defensive approach because obviously this is a new staff to a lot of the folks here fans here in Philadelphia, Can you just describe what you want to accomplish defensive Um, yeah, it probably takes a lot of time. Um, in a nutshell, we

want to allow less points than our offense scores. I mean, hey, well you know ranking stats. The only thing that matters in this league is wins and losses. And you know, I'll take a forty two or forty one game. I might not sleep well afterwards, but I'll take it. I'd rather have that than a you know, than a seven to three game that you that you lose. So we keep our eye on that. We want to be an attack defense. We want to put pressure on the quarterback um.

You know, we want to like anything, it's it's very difficult to defend the entire field. So what we're want to try to do is defend um, you know, defend the things that are easiest for the offense to capitalize on and try to make them do what is most difficult. And also we've got to we got to be multidimensional enough that we can change from week to week. There might be some weeks we play a lot of eight man front we have a good running team. There might

be some weeks we play very little eight man front. Um. We have to have smart enough and multidimensional players enough that you know that we can that we can you know more from week to week. Lack of better lack of a better tournament defense, do the linebackers standard to fast more second level blocking from a place of blind in your scheam or is it really not much different

than depress the two gaps. That's a lot different than two gap because when when you're playing two gap, I don't want to get too technical with you guys, but when you're playing two gap, you're generally building a wall along the front guys are sort of falling back and linebackers are generally shuffling laterally more because your defensive linemen are going laterally. When you play an attack front up front, your linebackers have to come downhill. They have to plug

those holes. We're probably more you know, we attack in levels, and I want to bore you guys, but you know, back when I was playing high school football, to coach would always say, everybody's stay in your lane. Everybody's stay in your lane. Nobody covers a kick that way in the NFL anymore or college football, because one guy's out of this lane, it's gone for a touchdown. You attack in levels, you have guys that are disrupt There's guys that attack, you know, the blocks, and other guys that

play leverage off of them. If we're going to play attack up front, we are because we're gonna put those guys in position to be able to rush their passer and play their run on the way to the quarterback. The linebackers have to be tied and the safeties have to be tied in. There's techniques within that that you know, they need to be able to play off the guys

in front, and they need to. When they see a hole, they have to step up and fill because, like you said, if you don't, if you're lateral, you can create some gaps in there. So if our linebackers are playing well, if our safeties are filling well, you're going to see those guys attacking downhill rather than waiting and catching blocks. There's something you look for and one time defenders. Are they just like the third or fourth quarterback. No, it's

it's a little different skill set in there. You know, it's a lot different covering on the outside part of the field than it is the inside. You know, you got to have some miniature linebacker in you. Um, you got to enjoy the briar patch a little bit. You gotta have the courage to throw your body up in there against two hundred and forty pound running backs and you might have to take on a you know, pulling guard from time to time, or you know, a tight end.

So there's a little and a lot of times you're covering in a shorter area. It's very rare that you're getting, you know, um, the same routes you're you're not getting the same routes from the slot as you are from outside. So there's a different skill set. Some guys can play both, some guys can't. Um, you know, so it's our job to determine over the next six weeks, you know, where all the guys fit in that himlech Cox obviously final player pro bowler right now smack in the middle of

his career and his prime. Do you think there's one more level he can take it to where he has the chance to be a defensive Player of the year kind of got you know, I think that his eyes should be on, you know, improving every day and you know, I mean those things are for the end of the year. Um, he fits our scheme. Um, I think we'll have some things for him that will fit him well. Um, he's a tough matchup. Um he's he's tough matchup versus guards.

He's tough matchup versus some tackles. You know. And I like some of the stuff that you know that they did with him here last year, moved him around him a little bit. Um. You know, they're all going to know what number he wears, so sometimes it's hard to find him. But you know, it's our job to create some matchups for him. M's he's very skilled there. He's a good run player, he's got great hands and you

know I've said this before. He was drafted for a scheme similar to this, so it'll be good to get him back to that and really see, um what he can do. We expect great things from him. H