Transcript: Defensive Coordinator Shane Bowen

Defensive Coordinator Shane Bowen

Q. Very broad question, but how would you describe your base defense?

SHANE BOWEN: Yeah, that is a very broad question. I would start with our style, our fundamentals, being smart players, playing with great effort. Really being able to play with physicality and toughness and finding dependable dudes in terms of scheme. I think we're multiple. I think there is going to be multiplicity in the back end.

We're going to have some front variation depending on the down and situation. Ultimately, scheme for me is finding what fits our players best, right? We got to do a good job as a coaching staff figuring that out as we go, as we been through the spring and we can evaluate, and as we get into training camp, continuing that evaluation.

Something that never really stops as we go throughout the season.

Q. You've been working in some of the younger players. Can you talk about some of those who have made the jump from the start of the spring to where you are now?

SHANE BOWEN: Yeah, I think all those rookies, all those guys have done a really good job. I've seen growth from all of them. I think the coaches are doing a really good job taking advantage of the time we have with those guys. We get more time with them than the veteran guys.

But I've seen guys learning. I've seen them not making the same mistakes twice. Being able to turn the page and continue our teaching progression where we're not held up on 100 level stuff. We can progress to 200 level and at some point start to implement how offenses are trying to attack us.

It's more than just our defense, right? It's being able to take the next step and turn our focus, especially come September, to who we're playing against.

Q. So much talk about what was here before and the aggressiveness of the Wink Martindale defense. This defense will be less aggressive. I'm sure as a coordinator, less aggressive is not something you're going to have on T-shirts I would think. Is there aggressive but less aggressive but still aggressive?

SHANE BOWEN: Yeah, I think there is a fine line between being schematically aggressive and being play style aggressive. Like the play style ain't going to change. We're going to be physical, we're going to be tough. We've got a high standard for that.

We turn the tape on, we want teams to see us flying around, hitting people, not turning down contact, being decisive in our decisions, being aggressive with our breaks.

There is a lot of aggressiveness outside of scheme as it relates to defensive football. Then with the scheme, we'll see. Still a work in progress. Like we were a new defense nine weeks ago; we're the Giants defense now, right?

New is over. I told the guys this morning, like I don't want to hear new no more. It's not new anymore. We are still figuring it out and we're learning every single day and it's been great work this spring seeing things, but the Giants' defense is going to continue to evolve based on our personnel and what our guys do best.

Q. What have you learned about the players that you have out there now?

SHANE BOWEN: I think there has been a lot of growth with their understanding what we're asking them to do. As a coaching staff, coming together, collaborating, figuring out how we want to play things.

It's not the Shane Bowen way. There is no egos involved here. We are going to be a very collaborative group as a coaching staff. Hopefully we are that way as a unit: selfless players that put the team first.

And I think that's grown. As time has gone on and guys get an understanding of my expectations and my standard and what I'm looking for from certain things, they gradually learn and it gradually increases their ability to go out there and do it, right, and for coaches to teach it.

It's been good this spring. I feel like we've taken some big strides. I told them this morning, six weeks from now we got to come back ready to roll. The clock is ticking. Again, it's not new anymore. It's the Giants defense. We've got to be able to take the next step in the teaching progression, take the things from the meetings to the walk-through to the field, and ultimately when they start playing these other opponents, how our scheme and game plan is going to adjust according to personnel.

Q. What's it like to inherit a player like Dexter Lawrence?

SHANE BOWEN: Yeah, it's great. That's the one thing, Dexter, Bobby (Okereke), (Brian) Burns, these guys that have played at a high level in this league. They're not only great players, but they're really great dudes. They're great teammates.

I think there is a correlation. The guys that have success in this league usually are the ones that work the hardest, that want to take every single ounce of coaching that you give them, right, and they go and they apply it.

And there is a reason they get to the level they're at because of that. And having those as your leaders, guys that aren't afraid to be vocal also where it's not just show by example. That's a tremendous asset to me and a tremendous asset to our coaching staff, and ultimately to the younger guys we're trying to get ready to go.

Q. What do you make of your cornerback room with Deonte Banks and Cor'Dale Flott and that second corner spot?

SHANE BOWEN: Yeah, I think Rome (Jerome Henderson) has done a really good job with them this spring. There is some new things for them that have went in that they've been kind of working through and learning, but technique and fundamentals are technique and fundamentals. Cover that guy. How are you going to go about covering that guy?

Then there are some things we ask them within the scheme that we might ask of them just in terms of vision and eyes and where they're looking.

All those guys have progressed. They've challenged – my challenge to that group and really the majority of our group now is consistency. When we get back in training camp, I'm looking for those guys that are consistently reliable to go out there and do their job, play with the technique and fundamentals we're asking them to play with.

That's ultimately how they're going to win their one-on-one matchups. Bottom line: We need guys to start separating themselves. Maybe not the first week in training camp, but as we get going those first few weeks in training camp, we've got to start defining roles. I want to see guys take opportunities, grab them, and start to pull away.

It's the NFL. Like everybody has to earn it. Go do it.

Q. It's early. Has anyone done that so far?

SHANE BOWEN: Yeah, I've seen improvement. I would say not enough. Like right now this spring, I would say not enough. Again, it's 7-on-7 basically out there, and the rules and everything else that come into play, I think it's going to be more telling come August.

But there is a lot of positions within our defense right now where the competition hopefully will continue to drive that. But I want to see guys grab these opportunities and run with them.

Q. What does Tyler Nubin have to do to get more prominent snaps and make it a competition?

SHANE BOWEN: He's got to get better every day. My expectation for all the young guys and every single guy that we have in this building, undrafted, second round draft pick, first round draft pick, like it doesn't matter what you did, it matters what you do when you're here, right?

So my expectation for them: be better than you were yesterday. When the opportunities come, make the plays. They're going to earn their role. It ain't on us. We're going to coach the hell out of them and give them every opportunity they can imagine. We're going to try to get them in the best spots that fit their skillsets. When the time comes they have to make the plays and show they deserve more.