Friday Media Transcript: DC James Bettcher

Defensive Coordinator James Bettcher
October 19, 2018
 
Opening Remarks: This week, a great challenge, an Atlanta team that’s moving the ball well, that as much as anything, a team that in the red zone is scoring at a really high efficiency rate, executing well on third downs. If we go back to Thursday night, one of the things we didn’t do well – two of the things we didn’t do well is we didn’t execute well on third down, we didn’t get off the field on third down, and we didn’t win in the red zone. Early in the season, those were the things we had done pretty well, and we’ve got to get back to doing those things well for us to have a chance to play good defense this coming Monday night. We went to the meeting room on Friday before we left for a couple days, and we talked to our guys when we came in after the break, we talked to them today about some things that each position group, what do we need to do better? Nothing to do with Atlanta. What do we need to do better at each position group? It’s like when sometimes you go to the doctor, you go see him, what do they give you? They give you a prescription for what you need. We look at it that way, it’s a prescription. Here are the things we need to do better at each position group, and some places, it’s individually, then what we focus on in our individual is we focus on those things. To play better defense, that’s what it comes down to. To execute better, that’s what it comes down to. To call games better, that’s what it comes down to, is focusing on the small details, the fundamentals, the techniques it takes to play good defense. That’s not coach talk, that’s what we’re talking about with our guys. That’s what we’re showing them on tape is things that we can improve on at each level – first level, second level, third level of the defense. I love that our guys are all-in on that. I love that our guys know that the game is won by executing and playing good fundamentally and just playing hard, and if we do those three things, we’ll be alright. We’ll make the plays that are necessary to win the game and to finish games. I do love that about this group. Great challenge this week, our guys are excited to play on a stage like Monday Night Football.
 
Q: How do you evaluate Landon Collins’ season? The tackles are there, but part of his career has been interceptions and sacks, game-changing plays that aren’t there this year. 
A: Sure. I think one thing Landon is doing really well is he’s playing with a ton of energy. You see him running around the field, you see him in position to make some plays, and he’s just got to keep playing hard and those game-changing plays are going to come, and they’re going to come in a bunch for him. We’re keeping him, and he loves being, close to the ball. Wherever the ball is, he wants to be close to it because he’s a playmaker who when he’s playing with great eyes and when he’s playing as hard as he has been, he is disruptive. I know this, I know that when he’s on the field, (other teams) recognize where he’s at, I know they recognize where he’s lined. He’s just got to keep playing hard and those plays are going to come. 
 
Q: Have you been able to be as creative with this defense as you would have liked? 
A: Any time you come into year one, and I think it was the same way when I was in Arizona, we build up in terms of whether it’s the volume or the type of things we do, we build up. That’s part of a building process, that’s part of building a defense that’s not going to be a flash in the pan, that you’re going to build something that’s going to stand the test of time. I think that’s part of it. The second thing is in regards to that, each and every week as a group of coaches and with our players involved, we’re going to put together a plan that we think is going to help us win the game. Do we ever short change ourselves? No, but I think there is a growth process when you come in year one and you’re starting, working through things. We want to build this thing on concrete ground. We want to build on playing with good fundamentals and playing hard. Those things are much more important than scheme.
 
Q: You were known as someone who does a lot of different things. The beginning of your first year, you’re bringing in things a little slower than maybe you’ve done in the past. 
A: Back to the two things I said, every time you start over and you’re putting a scheme in, you never go to Z before you hit A. You work through the process. Again, each and every week we’re going to have a plan that’s going to give us the best chance to play good defense and give us the best chance for our team to win that we can.  
 
Q: When you see (Olivier Vernon) play the way he played against the Eagles, is it ‘I can’t wait to see what’s next’ or is there also part of you that says you really could have used that the first five weeks?  
A: Never look back. I love the way he’ll trend, I love how he’s working, I love how he played during the course of that game. I think he rushed both with speed and with power, he had production but he also more importantly had disruption and changed the pocket a little bit. The first thing you said is what I look forward to, is what’s next, and I’m excited to see how he plays this coming Monday night. 
 
Q: Janoris Jenkins has shown an ability to take away a side of the field, really dominate. How do you explain a game like the other night against the Eagles, just seems so far away from what his top level is?
A: I don’t think there’s any one guy that I’ll ever stand in front of you and point that, ‘hey, this guy is not playing good football.’ The game is a team game on defense, and I think there is probably plays you might look at and you might say, ‘Oh, that’s Janoris’, and I might look at and say that’s someone else. I might look at it and say that’s the rush, I might look at the quarterback’s holding the ball too long, I might look at it in different ways. We all know the player he is and the player he has the capability of being, and the great thing about Janoris – and this is what I’ve found about special players that I’ve ever been around – no one has the expectations that they have for themselves. No one has an expectation that he doesn’t already have for himself. He has high expectations, he wants to be the best corner in the National Football League, he wants to be one of the most disruptive players on the perimeter in the National Football League, and if you have that, you have a chance to be that with his skillset. He’s going to keep working the process and working to play better, but there’s other guys around him that also have to play better, and we’ve got to play collectively better as a group. I’m not trying to cover him by saying that, but that’s the truth.
 
Q: What did you think of his game against the Eagles, specifically?
A: Specifically, I think just like all the other guys, there’s plays in the game where he’s playing well. He’s on top of deep balls like he needs to be. Then I think there’s plays in the game where he wants back, and he wants to play better, just like there’s other guys on the field that need to play better and I need to coach better.
 
Q: What are you looking for at that second linebacker spot, quality wise, that maybe you’re not getting consistently enough?  
A: To that fact, with Ray-Ray (Armstrong) being out, you will have a chance to see all three of the other guys – B.J. (Goodson), Nate (Stupar), you’ll see some Tae (Davis) there in the mix. Those guys are all excited to get some snaps and play. The thing you’re most looking for is whatever the job is, get the job done. Whatever the call is, get the job done. That’s simply put, and that’s how simple we are with the expectations of it.