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Thursday Transcript: Defensive Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo

Eric from BBI : Admin : 12/17/2015 5:11 pm
Defensive Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo

December 17, 2015

Alright, pretty good week so far. The week’s a little bit different with the Monday night game, the guys are grinding through it and we’re on to Carolina. And with that, I’ll just open it up and let you fire away.

Q: A few of the guys said how important it is to keep Cam Newton in the pocket and make him a pocket passer. How hard is that to do though?

A: That’s tough. And look, even when he’s a pocket passer, he’s pretty good. He’s a big, strong guy. He makes all of the throws. And they do a really good job, I think, of protecting. They’ll keep however many guys they need in. Where I think they’ve really progressed--because I’ve played against them, I can’t remember how many years—he sees things, he may change protection, he gets them in a favorable play. I think they do a lot more of that, checking at the line, than they had in previous seasons.

Q: Does he remind you or anyone else you’ve played or is he just that different?

A: Not many guys are that big and strong. They really put it together. Look, they run the ball really well, it allows him all the play action pass you see. I’ll tell you what they do, I think they push the ball downfield more than most teams. Even in typically a third and four, third and five, teams are navigating to get the first down, you’ll see them push it downfield and usually it’s a positive play for them. That’s pretty impressive.

Q: But if you’re able to keep him in the pocket, how important is that?

A: Well, when the guys are talking about that it’s because we’ve talked about how dangerous he can be when he gets out. When he gets out, the guys on the backend are in a bind. Do you stay in coverage, and he runs for a number of yards? Or do you come out of coverage and try to tackle? Then he has a tendency to dump the ball off or get it downfield, what I was just talking about him pushing it downfield—he does that a lot when he scrambles. Better if we just play the percentages and keep him in the pocket and have some tighter coverage downfield, we think that might be helpful. Now really, keeping him in the pocket means we’d like to finish it and maybe get a sack or a knockdown. Look, the guy’s a quality quarterback. We’ll try to mix it up a little bit and hopefully we’ll get some success on the front end with the pass rush.

Q: Good to have Barry Cofield back?

A: Yeah. Yeah, it was great to see Barry. He came in here a couple weeks ago and he worked out. It was great to see him, brought back old memories. He’s obviously rusty, got to knock the rust off. And the one thing about coming in this time of the season is when do you do this? There’s no preseason games. It’s not like we line up in pads and tackle, so it’ll be a little bit different. But it is good to have him. It’s great to have the veteran leadership.

Q: He said he reached out to you and to Robert Nunn to kind of facilitate this whole thing?

A: Yeah, I guess somewhere along the way, I don’t remember when it was—and I’ve been in touch with those guys even in years when I wasn’t here—there was probably a text shared. It was good to have him in, he was in great shape when he came in and worked out. Have you guys had a chance to see him yet? And again, I go back to he’s an intelligent football player and the leadership, I think, is great to have. We’ll see where he is playing-wise.

Q: Are there enough similarities between what you guys were doing back then for him to pick this up?

A: Probably. I don’t know where the wording is and the verbiage is right now because it’s probably changed more than I even realize. But playing defensive tackle, there’s a lot of common denominators—a double-team is a double-team, and a reach block is a reach block. So hopefully that will all come back to him real quick because it’s been a while since he’s played.

Q: Cam pushing the ball downfield, is that almost a rarity in today’s game? It seems like so many teams are throwing shorter and shorter and shorter.

A: Well look, he’s got a strong arm. He’s got receivers that are getting open down there and he’s having the time to do it. I just think it’s impressive the way their offensive line is functioning. They’ve got a center that’s really intelligent, he’s been doing it for a long time. When you sit there and watch the end zone copies of the film, the coaches’ film, you see a solid unit just taking care of business, and the quarterback can sit there and throw it. And they’ll keep a guy or a back or a tight end if they need to protect, and I just think the way it’s functioning right now has obviously been very effective for them.

Q: Across the league, though, are you seeing more short? It seems like the pick plays are in vogue.

A: I think so. Yeah, there are teams that are spreading the ball out.

Q: How hard is that to defend, particularly the pick play, for instance?

A: That is tough. We’re not supposed to call them pick plays because a pick is illegal. I’m sure Ben (McAdoo) doesn’t call them pick plays when you guys talk to him. That’s where I think offenses have progressed. They see you’re in man in certain ways, they get indicators. They try to get information and they have these layers of pick routes we’re talking about. And you’re either fighting through them or you get out of the man coverage and try to play zone, and that’s the cat and mouse game, the game within the game. Sometimes you’re able to guess ahead of them and get out of something, sometimes not. And if not, the game is still you cover a man, the guy has the ball, and you play football. I think the way a lot of offenses function right now makes it tough.

Q: Barry Cofield was obviously here in 2007 when you guys didn’t really get it together until late and went on a run. Can he be a help in a leadership way and kind of remind guys what’s possible?

A: Well, I hope so, yeah. Yeah, we’re in a unique part of the season right now. Now look, I’m not sure how many guys—I think JPP was here when Barry was here before, I’m pretty sure maybe his rookie year. But other than that, there’s probably not a lot of familiar faces for Barry other than mine and JPP’s, a couple of coaches.

Q: Craig Dahl.

A: And Craig Dahl. I think any player with a wealth of experience can be helpful in December when you’re in the thick of things. Hopefully that is a plus for us.

Q: Where do you stand at your safety positon at this point?

A: Well, you’ve got Coop (Cooper Taylor) and Craig (Dahl) and Landon (Collins) right now. And Mac (Trumaine McBride) goes back there to help us out. But really we’re functioning with those three guys and a corner that slides over once in a while to play safety, and we’ve done that in practice. We keep our fingers crossed and hopefully we stay healthy. Coop has kind of progressed pretty good. He doesn’t get a lot of reps in there. I remember back in ’07 when Corey Webster somewhere during the season was deactivated, still on the roster. Sometimes that generates a little bit of energy and they come back and play with a little bit more inspiration, and Coop’s done that. I think he’s done a really good job, so that’s good to see, and it’s been helpful.

Q: When you say he’s progressed, in what way? His energy, is that sort what you’re getting at?

A: He’s been in the system. I think the intelligence part of it is coming around. He feels more comfortable. I thought I saw a more confident football player when he came back, I will say that. And I see him out there and now functioning really well, and that’s great to see, love to see guys do that. It’s helpful.

Q: Obviously, Owa Odighizuwa was back today. I imagine that was exciting for you?

A: Yeah, some fresh legs. Yeah, and it’s tough when you’re a rookie. Because early on, I forget them all, but he wasn’t in OTA’s the whole way, then in training camp…it’s been a struggle for him. He had a period there where he was kind of down, but he’s picked himself back up and fought through this whole rehab thing. Now he’s out there playing a game he loves and we’ll see where that progresses, too, but it’s great to have the fresh legs out there.

Q: Is there any concern for a rookie to kind of handle a short-term IR situation? He has to stay focused on coming back at some point.

A: In some ways, that’s good. You go on IR and you know you’re not playing, you kind drift. But he has stayed in tune, he’s in tune in meetings. He’s been out there for the walk-through even though he’s been injured. I think he’s handled it pretty good.

Q: I think he redshirted for a full year, medical red shirt. Do you think that helps guys handle these short-term IR’s?

A: Maybe. Yeah, because it’s similar, right? I don’t know what the rules are when you redshirt whether you can practice. I think they still can practice can’t they?

Q: But he was a medical.

A: Okay. So it might have been very similar. I’ll tell you, Owa, what I’ve learned about him, he’s a very prideful guy. He’s a perfectionist, he wants to do things really well, he wants to please. So when that wasn’t happening for him, I think he was a little bit down, but he’s come around and bounced back. It was great to see him out there.

Q: I’m sure you’re happy with what you’ve gotten from Jason Pierre-Paul. Do you sense any frustration from him though that the sacks haven’t come?

A: I don’t know that. We don’t talk a lot about sacks, we talk more about pressuring and hits. Obviously would love to have sacks; it’s not like you don’t want it. I don’t know that. I think he’s enjoying playing football right now. Of course, having the big club with a wrap is a little bit different for him, but he’s working through it.

Q: He seemed to have trouble wrapping up a couple times in that game. What do you say to him as a coach? Is there a way that you can improve that or is that just sort of something you have to deal with?

A: It’s a little different for all of us when it’s wrapped the way it is. Although he’s got two fumble recoveries. The guy with one hand has got two in the last two games. The reason it made me think of that is because today we were talking about that in the defensive meeting. Yeah, he’s going to have to adjust. It’s obviously wrapped around with arm, he’s not grabbing cloth—we talk about grabbing cloth tackling. So he doesn’t have that with one hand. Look, he’s going to adjust his game to what he’s got going on. If he keeps progressing like he has, I think he’ll be good for us.

Q: Is he still a difference-maker in your mind, when you look out there and you look on tape?

A: Yeah, it’s hard.

Q: Different level?

A: Yeah, I don’t know. Look, he’s a good football player for us. I think you’d have to ask him more about that, but I think that would be tough for any player, especially a defensive player where hands are something that you use. Look, there’s enough plays out there where he is helping our defense be successful, so I’m glad we’ve got him.

Q: Has tackling concerned you?

A: Yeah, it did in that game. We talked about it right on Tuesday, whatever day, Wednesday. That was a little disappointing. That’s a good running back and we talked about this, I just thought we could have done better tackling, especially in the first half.

Q: How much do you need tackling to be better Sunday?

A: How much do we….?

Q: Need the tackling to be better.

A: When you’re grinding away trying to get to the playoffs, if your football team is not tackling well, your chances go way down. We addressed that and talked about it right off the bat on Wednesday. There’s not a lot in terms of actual tackling we can do. We have talked about, in practice, even though we’re in shells or just have helmets on, you can put yourself in a position to tackle without actually tackling. And that’s what we’ve been concentrating on all week.

Q: How much is that an isolated thing or is this something you’ve seen building up?

A: I don’t know. I felt it in the game and we addressed it at halftime. I do think we tackled better in the second half. And I’m hopeful when we begin this game, we’ll be a good tackling unit. Because I don’t think it will be good for anybody, our whole football team, if we don’t tackle well.
Didn't Spags in the 2007 playoffs  
mattlawson : 12/17/2015 9:51 pm : link
Emphasize fundamentals like tackling the entire time?
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