Defensive Coordinator Shane Bowen
October 17, 2024
Q: We've never had to ask a Giants defensive coordinator what it's like to game plan and face (Eagles running back) Saquon Barkley. So, you're the first.
SHANE BOWEN: Yeah, I've had experience in playing with him. Explosive. You give him space, he finds it. He's made teams pay already this season on that. Got the ability to make the home run, hit the home run every time he has the ball in his hands. So, we've got to be disciplined. We've got to do a good job. We've got to get hats to the party. It's going to be tough bringing him down with one guy. Big challenge for us.
Q: You weren't here, obviously, but do you at some point address your players and kind of … do you want to tell them it's personal or do you want to tell them it's not personal?
SHANE BOWEN: No, it's status quo for us. It's week to week. It's another good player that we're playing. They've got good receivers on the outside. It's another team, another big challenge for us. We've got to be ready to go regardless of who it is. Obviously, they've got their history with him here, but I'm trying to do my best to keep them focused, keep us focused on the job at hand and us worrying about us and doing our job and being prepared and ready to go.
Q: Just to go back to Sunday night, can you just take us through the play call on the (Bengals quarterback Joe) Burrow scramble and what broke down after that?
SHANE BOWEN: Yeah, I shouldn't have called it. It's on me. I should have made a better play call there, third and long. Kind of that fringe field goal territory. Tough call. He got out, ran 47 yards. We didn't catch him before he got to the end zone.
Q: What did you see from (outside linebacker) Azeez (Ojulari) on Sunday?
SHANE BOWEN: Yeah, he did a good job. That's the expectation. These guys, they get their opportunities and make the most of them. Be ready to go day in, day out. Never know when that opportunity is going to arise. I thought he showed up. He made plays for us. He was active. He was winning. He was getting off the ball. I felt his speed out there attacking the line of scrimmage. Really pleased with him and being ready to go and showing up when we needed him.
Q: What do you feel has been the key to your guys' progress on the defensive side of the ball?
SHANE BOWEN: I think we're continuing to learn, continuing to improve. Guys playing with each other. We have some continuity now finally for the most part. Early on it was shuffling deck chairs a little bit, especially in the back end. But guys are working. They're working hard day in and day out. Big emphasis on fundamentals. I see those improving week to week. Continuing to play the next play. I think there's a lot to it. But the guys are playing hard, and they're making plays when we need them to make plays for the most part. They're showing up. So hopefully we can continue that.
Q: What's the key to defending the tush push?
SHANE BOWEN: I don't know. There's been a lot of different attempts at it, and I don't think many people have been very successful. So, I think the key is to not get them in third and one.
Q: Is the key to have (defensive lineman) Dexter Lawrence (II)?
SHANE BOWEN: Hopefully that helps.
Q: What have you seen from the rest of Philly's offense this year beyond Saquon?
SHANE BOWEN: Yeah, (Eagles wide receiver) A.J. (Brown) missed that time. He's back now. Obviously, that's a big part of their offense. He showed up last week against Cleveland. I think the quarterback, the ability to run the football is always there with him. You’ve got to do a good job there. Obviously for us, we've struggled with some of these guys running the ball on us. On critical downs and third down, we're going to have to do a good job trying to keep him in the pocket and hopefully he doesn't get out and hurt us with his legs in the passing game. But they're talented. They're going to find ways to get the playmakers the ball. They got a lot of them over there. We're going to have to do a good job being locked in. It's a little bit different animal because of the run game, what they can do in the run game, how they're structured up front. Obviously with Saquon and then you add in those guys on the perimeter, it's a little bit different animal than some of these other teams we've faced up to this point.
Q: Do you have to rush a guy like (Eagles quarterback Jalen) Hurts to contain rather than pin your ears back?
SHANE BOWEN: Yeah, that's a thought always with some of these guys. You rush four, there's usually two gaps open. You rush five, there's usually one gap open. You rush six, you got them all filled for the most part. So, I mean, that always goes into the thought process a little bit of it. I think just the coordination, being able to feel off guys, make guys right in their rushes, making sure we're not just running behind them and opening these big B-gap escape lanes and putting stress on the inside guys to kind of handle two gaps. I think just the coordination, the execution, those guys being able to play off each other is a big part of it when you're rushing four.
Q: On the back end early on in the year, like you said, the shuffling of the deck chairs, it seems like now, especially last week, you have a comfort level as to what the guys can do, even interchanging guys and sort of (cornerback Cor’Dale) Flott coming out, (cornerback) Adoree’ (Jackson) coming in on the outside seemingly on third down. How comfortable are you right now with what you've got going on the back end? Do you feel like you can be more schematically oriented because you have the pieces to kind of move around there?
SHANE BOWEN: Yeah, that's a good question. I think the biggest thing, obviously (Defensive Passing Game Coordinator/Defensive Backs Coach Jerome Henderson) Rome and (Safeties Coach Michael Treier) Mike have been working with those guys really hard day in, day out, but you've seen improvement, not just out here, but you've seen it on Sunday. Them going out there, making plays, not having the errors that get us in trouble, understanding the little things that come into play with playing those positions in whatever scheme we're in. There's a lot of details between playing zone, between playing match, between playing man that come into play for those guys that they've got to be able to handle. I think they're going out there and doing it right now, so my confidence is really high with them. They've got to do it every week. We've had a lot of big challenges here early, especially with them, and some of these receivers got, obviously, this week, too. But continue to come out here, work every day, be locked in in the meeting room, learn, communicate is a huge part of that as well, involving the safeties, involving the nickel. Again, with a young group, I think that's a piece that we continue that we have to push the envelope with us but got a lot of confidence in those guys right now, and hopefully they continue to play well for us and allow us to be a little bit more versatile with what we can do.
Q: Pretty much any defense or any defensive coordinator, at some point, if they think they're playing well, there's a game or two where the offense doesn't score a lot of points, and there could be frustration and things like that. You've obviously seen that in your career. How do you discuss that with your guys?
SHANE BOWEN: Yeah, believe me, we got enough in our house to worry about, I promise you. There's four plays that really changed the game for them that we gave up. Whether it was the 47-yard scramble or whether it was the third and 12, he got out of the pocket. Whether it's the very first third and six, and he scrambled for the first down. So, there's plays for us. We're always coaching, we got enough to worry about and focus on making sure our guys are ready to go and can play. And, again, just doing our part, make plays when they're there, find ways to change the game when we have the opportunities to change the game. And we got to create more turnovers. That’s a part of it, too. Create some turnovers, and, you know, we'll set some things up. But we got enough to worry about. Believe me, especially week to week with some of these teams we're playing, with this Eagles team we're playing this weekend.
Q: When you were in Tennessee with A.J. Brown, what's the reason why he is one of the best receivers in the league? How did he turn himself into that?
SHANE BOWEN: Yeah, he's strong. He's really, really good with the ball in his hands. He's tough to bring down. Probably one of the better catch and run guys in the league. If he has space and he's full steam ahead, it's tough to get him on the ground. The ball skills down the field, being able to adjust his body, find ways to shield receivers, really, really good hands. And I think just from year one to year two down there, he took some major strides in becoming who he is today, and he's obviously progressed even more in his time in Philly. But the thing that really stands out to me is just the play strength. That's something we got to be ready for. We got to be able to match and handle at times.
Q: You're obviously coming in new to this matchup. A lot of these players on your side have played against players on that side. How much did you go back to the past matchups to maybe borrow some things that were effective?
SHANE BOWEN: Yeah. You watch all that stuff, especially going back to last year. Again, it's hit or miss. I think they pulled a few guys early in that second game last year. But you go back, you watch all the stuff, see kind of what has worked against them, what has struggled against them, whether it's the Giants or whether it's any of these other teams. Just trying to get some ideas and see what could maybe fit us in terms of scheme, what fits us in that regard. But some of the personnel matchups, if there's some crossover there, some of the personnel matchups, I think that's something we study. Hopefully our players are studying that also.
