Thursday Transcript: Defensive Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo

Defensive Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo

October 22, 2015

We’re onto Dallas. We’re finished with Philadelphia; hard for me to go back to that one, but any questions you have I’ll answer. Looking forward to the Dallas game, obviously in the division still. Looking forward to getting out there and playing a divisional game. With that, I’ll open it up.

Q: How much do they change with Cassel?

A: Hard to tell because we haven’t seen him play out there, obviously. But I won’t imagine they will venture too far from who they are and what they do. I don’t think they changed all that much from Tony and when Weeden was in there. They’re a good football team, they got a good offensive line, it all begins there. They still pose some threats that we certainly faced the first time, I think we’re going to face again.

Q: Coach Coughlin mentioned going back to the tape of him in New England.

A: Yeah that’s going way back and then there’s Minnesota.

Q: What can you get from that?

A: Well, you see guys set up and throws with a strong arm, he’s a big guy. Actually C.J., our running back coach here, coached him in Minnesota so you have a little bit of background with him. So there’s a little bit of information there. But look, the guys play the game and we go out and try to coach them. Again, I don’t think they’ll change the scheme too much. It is a bye week for them, so you can throw a wrinkle in there that you wouldn’t normally be able to do, so we’ll anticipate that. We don’t know what that will be, but I think they’re well established in who they are and what they do. I think Scott does a great job with them and we’ll try to defend what they’ve been doing.

Q: Your thoughts on Damontré, the penalty in particular? How do you coach a guy and get through to a guy with that kind of talent?

A: That’s a double-edged sword in my opinion. You love the high motor, you love the fact that he loves to play the game and he plays it hard. Look it, the flip side is there are a number of plays that happened this year where his hustle and determination and going full speed all the time has helped us. He’s made tackles down the field after rushing the passer and certainly in the run game. But having said that, I think Damontre realizes that really hurt. That’s the kind of penalty you can’t afford. It’s hard to stop anybody in this league in three downs, and when you do it you want to get off the field and be proud of that. However, when you do have to go back out—I’m sure all our defensive guys have probably talked about this—all you should be looking at is a maximum of another three plays, it shouldn’t be a 60 or a 70 yard drive. So that was disappointing, too. Yeah, we’d like to be off the field on that.

Q: Do you think he can get it together?

A: Yeah, I do. Look it, everybody progresses and grows at a different speed. Damontre isn’t out there all the time so he doesn’t have the reps some of the other guys do. But we’re hopeful, we’ll keep plugging away.

Q: How much do you need him? Your pass rush is what it is at this point, you have seven sacks I believe it is. How much do you need him because of that?

A: Well, we need them all. We’re not going to be able to do it with one guy. There are things pass rush wise that we certainly need to generate a little bit more of in a four and three man rush is a little bit tougher, but certainly four. And we have to generate a little bit out of a five man and bring a few more pressures. This past game, we stayed away from certain things because of the type of offense that you’re facing so it was dictated by that. I would like to get back to doing a little bit more pressuring. I don’t know if we’re going to do it in this game or not, but we need them all. Whoever is out there, we need to affect the quarterback.

Q: Speaking of things you need, Uani wasn’t out there today, Jon wasn’t out there today, Devon is coming back from the hamstring, Jonathan has been bothered by a neck.

A: Status quo for the defense, right? Things as normal, hasn’t changed. Look it, everybody is going through that in the league I think. It’s that time of year past game six. Guys getting dinged up and sometimes you got to take some time off. The hope is you get them all back for Sunday, sometimes you do, sometimes you don’t. But it’s tough, it’s difficult when you can’t get the reps under their belt and certainly have them ready for the game. What it does is you have to pull back on some things you might want to change because you can’t change things if guys aren’t out there working on it. It affects us.

Q: What would it take to get Nikita Whitlock more snaps on defense?

A: Got to get him off that other side of the ball is what we got to do. No, we’re working him in there, hoping to get him more. Again, what I just answered here, he doesn’t come out and practice with us on defense. So go out there and do it. He’s done a great job with that not getting a lot of reps. When he goes out there and say, “Okay, this is the menu of calls you have,” that shrinks. We haven’t been able to steal him too many times in practice. When we’re able to do that, we’ll expand the menu a little bit.

Q: It’s been a long time since you’ve had Robert Ayers available in the game plan. Has your confidence gotten high this week?

A: Yeah he looks good out there right now, knocking on wood here because those are fragile things those muscle pulls. Hopefully we’ll get him to the game. It would help us a lot.

Q: What kind of dynamic does he bring?

A: Yeah he’s a pass rusher. It’s not going to affect us that much because whoever is going to line up and play is going to play. We’re not going to change too much, we haven’t changed that much while he’s been out. But adding him in there, I think helps, it certainly helps.

Q: Do you look at this defense, with 10 games to go obviously the division is completely up for grabs, but you’ve had to work so many different parts, you don’t have everyone I get all that. What leads you to believe that this group can get better to where it’s making a key stop? I know you’re generating turnovers, but to really be a unit that can help lead this team.

A: Well I think getting everybody back “healthy”, 11 that we hope to have out there. I think that certainly would help. It’s not going to happen in every game because this is the NFL. But I think growth and reps and time in it, I think those make a difference. We went back and did a study of the pressures, they’re not really where I want them right now. As we talked as a staff, “Okay, do we give up on them and bail on them?” We all agreed, “No, let’s just keep grinding away and the guys will get better and better at it.” That’s the hope. Now, we’re running out of games to continue to get better, but we got no other way but to keep grinding at it and working at it. No other way to do it.

Q: Is it human nature that in a game that goes the way Monday’s does that the relentless meter takes a hit?

A: I’ll tell you what, and I told them this just the other day, I was really proud. I would go to war with these guys anytime. I thought we battle and fought, maybe towards the second half, that fourth quarter when it was the 79th play, it took our toll. But prior to that, I never sensed on the sideline that our guys were down about the fact that we weren’t scoring a lot of points or down about the fact that this was happening. They just went right back out there and battled. I don’t think, as the guy leading that group, you can ask for much more than that.

Q: Just one more question on Damontre. On the play where he drove Bradford into the ground, it struck us as a little bit odd that he said after the game, “I got to understand that’s not allowed.”

A: Look it, that particular tape, roughing, that’s shown every year. Now it’s shown all the way back in preseason. Look, I think Damontre again, he felt just as bad as anybody for doing it, but we can’t do that.

Q: Is there a part of him, you think, that thought that maybe Bradford still had the ball?

A: I don’t know that, you’d have to ask him that. I don’t know that. I would have used that. That would have been a good way to go. You should have told him to say that.

Q: You ever run a linebacker rotation like that?

A: Yeah, I have. In ’04 when I was in Philadelphia when we had a lot of different linebackers. You know what, to be honest with you, as many guys as we can play I think is better. Everybody stays in tune, everybody has a partner, everybody feels that they’re a part of something. Look it, all of us that have played sports or done something, nobody wants to be a backup, everybody wants to have a role and feel like they’re helping. So I think that works. Now, the hard thing for Jon, he’s been a guy that’s played all the time. We talked about it today, and yet it’s been in and out because of the injuries and the whole thing. We got some guys doing a good job. He understands that. Look it, Jon Beason is a pro, he’s a leader, he’s a team guy. I love working with him, I’m glad we got him. Just got to get him out there and let him roll.

Q: How did Jayron do? He stepped into a big role there. How do you view that?

A: He had the two plays I think he’d like to have back, we’ve talked about it. But I think he’s been really solid, I’m glad we have him. He went out in the Atlanta game and did a really nice job against those wide receivers. We talked a little today, I think he would have liked to tackle a little bit better. But he made some plays that you don’t notice. He made a pass breakup on an out pattern early in the game. I think he’s solid over there, we have no problem putting him in.

Q: Everybody says they want to look forward. Do you look back at the season opener and say, “How did we do that?” Or is that out of your mind?

A: How did we do that from the standpoint of?

Q: Having a 10 point lead and losing in the fourth quarter.

A: Nah. Look, the one thing about playing in your division, you get another chance at it, so that’s coming up this Sunday. Hopefully we can redeem ourselves.

Q: Do you plan on continuing that linebacker rotation?

A: I don’t know. We’ll see where we’re at the end of the week. A little bit of it depends on the packages we’re putting in. One of the reasons, you saw a lot of it this past game, is the speed of that offense was such that we said, “Look, let’s be as fresh as we can every series.” And I thought it worked out pretty good.

Q: With the Dez factor, obviously to us it seems unlikely that he’s going to be out there. What do you do?

A: Well, we’re planning both ways. You never say you’re hoping one way or the other. I remember 10-12 years ago in Philadelphia we played the Colts, I’m trying to remember the running backs name.

Q: Edgerrin James?

A: Yeah. “Oh boy I hope they don’t have Edgerrin James.” So he doesn’t play, in walks Joseph Addai. He ran for about 150 or something. So, he’s a good football player and we know he’s a challenge. So if he does play we certain things, if he doesn’t, we shift gears a little bit and we’re prepared either way.