DB Logan Ryan
September 30, 2020
Q: What’s it like playing in a game where you can’t get off the field?
A: It’s not good, it’s not the standard, it’s unacceptable. You just have to do better. Football isn’t easy but it’s simple. You have to get off the field. The best defense you can play is on the bench honestly. We just have to get off the field and give our offense the ball, more opportunities and improve our third down for sure.
Q: When you look back at what happened, was it little mistakes, was it big mistakes?
A: It was mistakes. It doesn’t matter if there were little or big, they can cost you in the National Football League when you’re playing good teams. Nonetheless, regardless of the size of the mistake , it wasn’t the players executing the game plan, it wasn’t us (executing the game plan). I hold myself accountable on that as a leader on the defense to tighten those up and get back to work. We were on the practice field today, the beauty of football is losses only count as one so not two losses when you lose really bad. It’s only one loss in the record book and we’re back to work on Wednesday. We have the best offense in football that we’re going to go see at their place. It’s going to make a big challenge for us, and we’re excited for it.
Q: As a veteran especially on a young team, you were talking last week obviously you have been on teams where it didn’t start great but then you turn it around. At what point does it get late enough in the year where you’re playing not good enough football where you press the panic button or you raise that urgency past just, ’hey we still have time’? When do you start running out of time?
A: I don’t know, not yet. Not now, we’re back to work. It’s the fourth week of the season, nobody is in their final form yet. Obviously, you want to win every week, we didn’t execute, we didn’t win the game. We didn’t play how we wanted, like I said it was unacceptable. There’s no panic button right now. The Rams don’t care what we looked like last week. It’s about how we practice, how we execute, how we clean up the things we did wrong and don’t let them happen week to week. We have to fix the mistakes, the self-inflicting wounds and go out there and play a good game against the Rams. That’s all that matters this Sunday.
Q: You guys started with a different defensive game plan as far as the personnel you were using. You were in the back, but then when Jabrill goes down you have to switch it up. Does game planning for one specific personnel set, especially when it’s different and then having to switch it back, does that have an effect in a game like that?
A: Yea it may. Jabrill’s a good player and he’s a starter. Any time you lose a starter, whoever you’re bringing in normally isn’t as good, that’s why that guy is a starter. There’s definitely an effect on that but the 49ers had a lot of guys go out the game as well. Jordan Reed went out the game and they came in and executed better. We might’ve had to change some things on our end but I pride myself on my versatility. If I have to move from one position to the other, that’s what the team brought me here to do. To bring position flexibility, bring leadership and to make plays regardless of the position. Whether that be strong safety, free safety, star, corner, perimeter, outside linebacker, I’ve played it all, I lined up at it all and I pride myself on being able to play it all. It’s just another day at the office honestly. I wish we could have executed better and we hope Jabrill gets back quickly because he is one of our better players for sure.
Q: You mentioned this is the best offense in the league. What makes this offense so potent?
A: It’s their balance. They have a really good running game. Obviously, their offensive coordinator and head coach is really good and talented. Their able to mask everything to look the same. Their passes look like runs, their runs look like passes. Similar to last week, they exploit your weaknesses similar to Shanahan. They have a very good play caller and they have very good weapons. Their receivers are really good blocking receivers so when you have receivers who are willing to mix it up in the run game, that’s more blockers you have to account for, for the runners. Their receivers are also able to run really good routes. I think they have really good receivers. I think they have a really good scheme and I think they have good balance where you can’t say okay this is definitely a run, this is definitely a pass. They line up in the same looks and run different plays out of it. It makes everyone kind of focus on doing their job, you can’t really tell too much what they’re going to run before the snap.
Q: I’m sure you still have a lot of pals back in Nashville. Have you been in touch with them since they had their Covid situation? How much of an eye opener is that for other teams around the league like this one?
A: Yea, it’s definitely an eye opener. I think it’s an eye opener for our whole country. This thing is still around, it still needs to be accounted for. I haven’t spoken to them too much, I have my own things right now that I’m busy with trying to accomplish here with the Giants. My family is moving up this week. We did find a house that is allowing our pit bulls, breed restriction is really lame. We’re happy to find a rental that is allowing my family to come up. I’m excited to see them. That will bring some extra juice that I need. Wear a mask, wash your hands. It shows you anybody is susceptible. It doesn’t matter your age, this sickness is definitely still around and can affect our season, it can affect our games. It’s a reality check to everybody for sure. I wish them the best of luck and tell those guys to wash their hands a little more and don’t come around me.
Q: You mentioned how well the Rams mask what they’re doing offensively. I’m just curious, how much do you have to pay attention to the pre-snap motion and things of that nature. It seems like they want to get your eyes moving before the ball is even snapped to kind of confuse you a little bit. How much time do you guys have to put in to making sure that you’re not getting rope-a-doped?
A: Organized chaos is what they do. They have a lot of things to make you look one way and run a play off and make you look one way and run the way they made you look and all that stuff. Any time you are playing an offense that’s averaging 29 points a game, you have your work cut out for you. We have to watch the film, we have to get a good feel of what they do and we have to execute our jobs, that’s really, At the end of the day football comes down to blocking and tackling. We have to get off blocks and make tackles. The team that does that better will probably win. You are going to hear it a lot here, you have to do your job, everyone has to do their one job. I can’t come out there and try to be superman on every play. I have to do what their asking Logan Ryan to do and count on my teammates to do their job. I have to beat the man in front of me, that’s what they pay me to do. We need more people beating the man in front of them and that’s how you play defense. They’re a good team , they’re going to make some plays. They have good players, they have a good coach, they have a system they have been running for a few years that’s averaging 29 points a game. We have our work cut out for us. After a performance last week that I said was unacceptable, there’s no better test and better challenge if you’re a competitor than to go against the best offense. That’s what I’m excited for and we had a really good practice today because we know the challenge that’s ahead of us and we believe with the guys we have in this building.
