Q. What's your biggest play calling regret about this past Sunday?
JONATHAN GANNON: Probably one of the red zone calls I'd like to have back. And then probably the last third down where I put the guys in a tough spot. The guy that was on Tyreek, not a very good matchup there. So probably those two I'd like to have back.
Q. The one to Tyreek Hill?
JONATHAN GANNON: Yeah.
Q. So have you done much dime this year? And if not, why?
JONATHAN GANNON: We're not really a dime team. We like to play on a four down and two linebackers. I'm not really going to get into the schematics of that, but I'd like that one back.
That particular formation forced us to check a call. And they got us in a mismatch. It was a good design by Andy.
Q. Can you tell us why you're not a dime team?
JONATHAN GANNON: I just don't believe in it right now with who we are. I like to play out of four down and two linebackers.
We feel like that's kind of the best way with second down and drop back and defending -- who we've defended up until this point. On third down, as well, to play with two linebackers in a game.
Q. John, on the practices; more drilling, is there something you got to do different schematically?
JONATHAN GANNON: Yeah, I would think -- we always first look at the coaches. You know, when we come in on Monday, critically, how can we help our players a little bit more to put them in better position to win the game.
I think we're all pissed off about the last two games. We haven't played great on defense. That's evident. And that starts with me and starts with the coaches.
And so it always comes down to self evaluation, Hey, what can we do to help our players, what do we say the three things are to win this game, did we get those three things done.
And the last two weeks, we have not done that. So I look at -- if we get these three things done, are we putting ourselves in a position to win the game? Are those the first things that we said, are they the right things?
And then from there, you look at execution and what we're asking our players to do and how can we help them and serve them better to put them in better spots. And that's from -- starts with me, to the coaches, right down to the players.
Q. Is there anything you can do to help Fletcher Cox be a little more impactful?
JONATHAN GANNON: Yeah, I think so. We always talk about ways, you know, to get our best players going a little bit. And that starts with first and second down, and then goes into third down, it goes into situational ball.
I would say Fletch is doing a good job right now. Again, he -- people know that we play with Fletcher Cox, so they do certain things that you typically don't see on tape. What we get, certain teams do not get because of our personnel.
So it's always a constant, Hey, let's try to find ways to, you know, free up Fletch or get Fletch going. But I thought -- he's playing good.
And, again, the production -- guys, we're four weeks through, the production will come. I'm not worried about the production from Fletch.
Q. Going back to the previous answer. Against Kansas City, what were those three things?
JONATHAN GANNON: I'm not going to go into that, Zack, honestly. Because that's kind of schematically what we talk about.
I do think that we had the right three things. I don't think we executed from the standpoint of myself calling the game once adjustments were made to get to some other things to help slow them down.
Q. As follow-up, in talking to us last week, you said you wanted to get them kind of in third and short situations, right? Or in the third down situations and force them off the field on third downs. What was the situation you found?
JONATHAN GANNON: Maybe I misspoke. You don't really want to be in third and short all day. Like, you know, you want to get to -- it's hard to, you know, when you're in third and one, third and two all day, and that's a direct correlation from first and second down, what's happening.
So we have to do a better job on first and second down. On first down, to get it to second down and manageable, to get it down to -- to get it to third down and some longer distances where we can get to some of our stuff and some of our packages to be successful and get off the field.
You know, the one play where we had the interception, if you look at that series, the first down, the second down, how we got it to third down and seven or eight, you know, that -- we played good ball on first and second down.
So third down defense, to me, is we got to get out of third and one, third and two. How do you do that? You play better on first and second down.
Q. You mentioned the red zone where it got caught, the play with Tyreek. Defense is kind of reactionary. So from your perspective, what can you do when you realize you're getting caught? Are there checks built in? Do you have to call time-out? How does that kind of work?
JONATHAN GANNON: Yeah, I'm not going to call a time-out, John. Nick handles that.
Yeah, it's always going into the game plan, All right, here's the call, what are the adjustments within the call, where is the soft spot of every call? And that one call takes away everything.
And what are we asking our guys within each call to do and who are they going to be on and can they execute that?
You know, that's a constant -- you know, we just met all this morning about Carolina. It's, like, All right, well, with these certain calls, who has the hard duty, where's the soft spot, where should the ball go? Boy, this call is really good against this and this, but if they give us this, it's not great. And that guy has a tough matchup for that down.
And, you know, from that, it's the standpoint from, All right, guys, here's the call, here's who have the hot spots of the call, here's what the call is for, and this is who has some hard duty. And they have to know when they have hard duty and how to do defend it.
Q. Is playing Fletch more as a three tech, what he's used to for most of his career, a way of putting him in a better spot?
JONATHAN GANNON: Yeah, I mean, he played three technique a lot last game. That's what he's playing right now for us. But, yeah, we like to move Fletch around.
You know, his skill set is one of that -- it makes it a hard matchup for different people to block him. So that's one of the guys that I think -- along with most of our guys, that's why we've trained them to play in different spots for matchup driven reasons.
And we got to continue to do that with Fletch, to give him the best matchup possible. But there's not a guy that lines up on Fletch, that in my mind, that he cannot beat.
Q. What is your certain level of patience with your team learning an entirely new scheme than what they've played before as opposed if this were year three or four with the defense.
JONATHAN GANNON: No, I don't really look at that. Because, you know, scheme -- from the jump -- you guys, I don't have a scheme. Like, we have to -- our scheme should be put our best 11 guys on the field in the best position possible to succeed.
So we -- I have to do a better job of that. Because right now, it's not showing up where, Hey, like, are we doing that, you know, with what I'm calling and how we're playing right now, how can we be a little more successful?
And just because I like something or the coaches like something, if the players can't execute it or it's not the best thing for them, throw it away.
And that's a kind of -- you know, the first month of the season, we've -- you know, we've -- the last two games, we're continuing to figure that out, you know, as we go. And we need to figure it out fast. Because we can't keep looking like that. I know that.
Q. Just to follow-up. When you're playing two deep safeties or doing certain things with guys on the line, your line and depths, that's not your scheme -- you believe this personnel is best suited to do that?
JONATHAN GANNON: Yeah, a little bit of how I -- in my mind, how I think what we need to do to win the game. That goes into the three points, Zack.
And then that's a little bit player driven with who we have and what we have to get done within each call to be successful for that call.
Q. You spoke to third and short. How can you stop teams from getting six, seven, eight yards just running on first down? That seems to be happening a lot.
JONATHAN GANNON: Yeah, that goes a little bit into schematics and players and coaches. We got alignment assignment, key technique has to be a little bit better on some of those downs.
It's always going to come down to striking blocks, tackling, getting off blocks. You know, the run defense, that's -- just like pass defense, just like all defense, is it takes all 11 to execute at a high level to be successful for that down.
So, you know, when you look at run defense, like, we have to be in the right spot and we have to win individual matchups.
And from a coaching standpoint, what adjustments can we make and how can we position our guys to be a little more successful than what we've been so far.
Q. To follow up on the philosophy about the 11 -- getting the best 11 players, et cetera, what's your level of patience and what's your outlook on potentially switching up who the best 11 players are if you're noticing that maybe one is the weakest link or one is making the same mistake over and over again?
JONATHAN GANNON: Yeah, we don't really have a lot of guys making the same mistake over and over again. I think we continue to improve.
My level of patience, it's wearing thin on myself. Hey, Jonathan, let's get them in better position so we give our team a chance to win the game.
It's not really towards getting irritated at the players. That's how I'll always roll, that's how the coaches roll.
So, you know, when we came in here on Monday and sat down, I talked to the head coach on Sunday, on Monday morning, and then we'll talk to him, like, tonight.
And the patience for me is wearing thin, Hey, let's get competitive. Let's get in a game. Because right now, we haven't been in a game -- I know we were in that game, but from a defensive standpoint, like, we got to keep the points down, keep the yards down, get off the field to give our team a chance to win.
So where I'm most non-cool, calm, and collected right now is not with the players, it's with myself.
Q. What do you find is the biggest difference -- like, the first two games, obviously, you only gave up 23 points, the last two games, a lot different. Is part of it the teams you're playing, too?
JONATHAN GANNON: I don't look at it like that. I'm looking at it as, Are we setting up our players, you know, the best way possible to be successful? And then I look at how I'm calling the game.
And then it goes into -- like Zack's point is, Hey, you know -- when you develop, you know, a couple things that we say we need to get these things done to win the game, you know that there is certain -- when you do that, there is give and take to that.
So there is certain things that go on that I am okay with that to the -- you know, to the eye of the public, might be irritated at certain things. Well, they don't do this, they don't do that.
I'm not really concerned with that. I don't really care about the statistics other than winning and losing. So, you know, what we develop as a coaching staff and with the players, this is what we need to get done to win the game.
That's what I'm concerned with. And my level of patience is going down because we haven't done that for two weeks.
Q. Can you talk about something that you might care less about, then, what the public might think?
JONATHAN GANNON: I wouldn't really want to go into that. But certain statistics that, to me, don't reflect winning and losing football. That's what I would say to that. And that changes by who you're playing.
Q. Nick mentioned harsh conversations with you and the staff. And you mentioned your patience. How's his patience right now?
JONATHAN GANNON: Excellent. Yeah, he's really good with us. He's very demanding. And -- but, ultimately, he -- everything -- all the conversations that we have with the head ball coach is, How can we help this team win?
And so, that starts with, you know, Nick and I, when we talk about the defense, and then goes right into -- down into the position coaches.
So we're, obviously, talking every day how we're defending and what we're doing, and is it acceptable, and how we can get better.
Q. You mentioned that give and take, if you -- one defense gives you something, takes away.
JONATHAN GANNON: Yeah.
Q. You guys have been pretty successful eliminating big plays in the passing game. How has that affect the run support?
JONATHAN GANNON: Yeah, a little bit. Because when you're taking away big plays in the passing game or you're trying to take away people that they're trying to get the ball, there's -- you know, you're going to be light at times in the run game.
But, you know, the first critical thing for myself is, How can I call the game a little bit better at a little high percentage to say, Well, they're really not trying to attack down the field in these certain spots. Let's be better in the run.
But, again, that kind of goes into each week as a different game plan and you call the game differently each week. So, you know, again, it comes down to, Let's put our players in a little bit better position to be successful.
Q. If Davion Taylor stays healthy, is that a bigger role for your defense?
JONATHAN GANNON: Yeah. We're excited about DT. He keeps improving. He's gotten some snaps in certain games when he's been up.
We'll always continue to look at, Hey, what are the best guys in certain packages to be successful? You know, what we're asking DT to do, it might be different from another guy what we're asking him to do.
So we'll always look to -- whenever they're in a game -- whoever's in a game, we feel comfortable at executing at a high level to play winning football.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports