JONATHAN GANNON: Okay, just recapping the game, thought we did a good job in the run game for the most part. Known pass, I thought that we executed the plan for the most part. Couple plays he got out.
And, you know, I thought that we played pretty violent. Had the one takeaway. You're always trying to strive to win the takeaway battle, which they won, so our guys got a chip on their shoulder about that.
Ready to go to Dallas.
Q. What went into the decision to have Avonte split time at safety, and is that all you or is it something he comes to you and sort of...
JONATHAN GANNON: No, I mean, we always have pairs and spares, if this happens, what if this. We got a bunch of different plans to go about, and the head coach, you know, does a really good job. He forces us to talk though those things and be ahead of those things, which you what you want to do.
I thought it was a good job by D-Will and DK to get them caught up. You know, the nickel position, you guys hear me talk about, that's a thinking position in the defense, as is safety, and those skillsets really in our system kind of match up. They're very like positions for us.
That's how we decided to play, and Avonte did a rally good job with that, because any time you're playing safety and base, there is a lot of mental stuff going on. Then when he's got to slide inside and sub, there is a lot of mental stuff going on.
He's obviously a very smart player for us he handled it well and he played extremely well for us. I liked where he was at.
Again, good job by the DB coaches, and we'll keep moving forward with different ways to deploy people versus different people because of what they do.
Happy where that was, though.
Q. (Indiscernible.)
JONATHAN GANNON: Good. Good. He's going to get out there today and go. He's not limited I don't think, so we'll get him back into the mix and get him going.
Q. You always talk about slot and safety being somewhat mirror in your defense. Is that for everybody, or do you have to have sort of that savviness that Avonte has?
JONATHAN GANNON: Yeah, that's a good question. Yeah, they are mirrored positions, but it is a little bit different skillset, and typically when you have a guy that can do that, he usually has a unique skillset.
So the skillset that we're looking for at nickel, a lot of that can translate to safety, hence Chauncey. That is a good example there. Played slot his whole year and comes and plays safety and plays really well at safety.
Again, it's kind of player-unique, because I've been around certain guys that probably couldn't slide back and play safety. Certain guys can go inside and kick outside to corner; certain guys can play all three of them; certain guys can go to nickel and kick back to safety.
We honestly just took advantage of Avonte's skillset with who we had up and deployed him that way.
Q. You mentioned the run defense. The last three weeks have been very good. What do you attribute that success to?
JONATHAN GANNON: The consistency of being in the right spot, playing blocks the correct way, good pad level. It's always going to come down to technique and winning your one-on-one battles, so I think we have been doing a really good job in the run game.
We got to continue to do that because this team that we are going down to play, they run it extremely well. That's a big part of the game on first, second down, because if you're letting them let get six or seven a pop and they're playing the game in second and three all day, it's a tough way to go on defense.
That's got to be at a premium all the time, especially this week with how they're moving the ball down the field.
Q. They'll have Dak this time. What have you seen from the offense since he's been back in the lineup, what kind of different challenges?
JONATHAN GANNON: Yeah, they stay on schedule. They can create explosive plays. They stay ahead of the sticks is what I mean by stay ahead of the schedule, which to me, then that's what we talked about to our guys, they are playing on their terms for most of the game. You don't want to let them play on their terms.
They got a really good O-line, two good backs, quarterback plays at a high level, they got skill guys everywhere. They do a good job on third down to keep the chains moving, and they score points in the red zone, so this is a big time offense and a big time challenge for us.
Q. What are some of the keys to be so successful with stunts...
JONATHAN GANNON: You know, on pass downs? Just I think couple things go into that. One, we always look up when we set up the game plan and known pass is matchup first. So our people versus their people, and you heard me talk about scheme versus people and scheme versus scheme.
I think our front has a pretty good feel for when to use certain tools. We set it up in a way that we say, hey, here is your tool bucket and you can apply these tools when this happens. We got a smart room. Those guys are smart and they've played at a high level and they've played a lot of ball.
And then using those tools is one thing, but executing those tools is another thing. I think what you're seeing is our guys -- that's why when you see sacks and thi9ngs happen like that, Sweaty makes the sack. Well, Grave set him up, because he really made that stunt go, what Grave did to the guard and what in turn that does to the tackle when Sweaty is looping around there.
We just got to be smart. You don't like to do that too much because you can get out of whack at times, but I feel like our guys know when to apply their tools and do a good job executing those tools. The more that they do and that they're with each other out there, then they got a good feel for it and know how the timing of those things and how to execute them, and they're doing a really good job with it.
Q. JG, 29 sacks all least year. You almost doubled that this year. How much of a priority coming out of last year was -- you got Reddick, BG back, but how much of a priority was fixing or helping that position coming into this year?
JONATHAN GANNON: Yeah, I mean, it's always a priority of ours philosophically to affect the quarterback. You can do that a lot of different ways. We came out of last year knowing that we got to do a little bit better in this area, and it's not a winning stat to me but it does -- you do want it affect the quarterback.
I think that being the second year in a system for those guys, I think that adding some pieces, getting BG back, adding Haas, you know, the players are making a bunch of plays.
I think also what goes a little bit people overlook is the back end, because rush and cover, cover and rush, that does make a difference. So you saw earlier in the year the rush is getting to them and the quarterback is throwing the ball before he really wants to throw the ball, and we're taking it away.
Well, now he's holding it a little bit to see stuff come open because he doesn't want to throw it without being on time or late, and the rush is getting to him. So those things go hand in hand just like run defense, pass defense. It's all 11 out there.
So as much as we stay connected and play the right way, guys are going to have individual production because their teammates are doing their job.
Q. On the scout team in particular, what stands out in particular about Gardner when he is on the field?
JONATHAN GANNON: What I love about him from the quarterback position being a defensive guy is he plays extremely fast. He makes fast decisions. He get the ball out of his hands. He knows where to go with the ball. He knows how to checkmate you by what coverage you're in.
He's a very smart player and he's accurate, and he does a good job for us on scout team. If you go out on that grass when we go twos versus ones or twos versus twos or ones versus twos or cards or whatever it is, you got to be on it or he'll make you look silly out there.
Q. With Haasan dropping the coverage, and I think he almost had an interception there, just what does it say about him just always being around the ball?
JONATHAN GANNON: Yeah, that particular play, that's a hard play for him. He was in the right spot and understood where he had to get to on that particular play. It was a good job by his coaches, because actually we put that play in walk-through and he did a good job.
So it's good to always see -- you get something, a lot of times it's hard to match up what you get in the game versus what you're calling, and the coaches said, hey, we need this play for Haas to get this in, and I wasn't going to put it in and we put it in, and sure enough he got the play.
He obviously has a very unique skillset, like our the overhang players do, and when we ask him to drop a little bit, because you need to have them drop a little bit, they need to be in the right spot, which he was in the right spot and almost picked it off. It was a good play because it sent them back behind the chains.
Q. Is CeeDee Lamb as dangerous a deep weapon you'll face.
JONATHAN GANNON: Yeah, he's a good player. It's one of those receivers I always talk about they can beat you multiple ways. The more and more you watch of him, obviously he's very good route runner, he has elite ball skills, he can beat you over the top, he can beat you underneath, but what really impresses me about him the more you watch him is he's very strong at the catch point and he's actually pretty hard to tackle.
You know, I don't think he weighs a ton. He's probably around 200 pounds or whatever he is, but he's a very strong player. So we got to do a good job at the catch point because he wins a lot of 50/50 balls. That's why his volume is so high.
And he creates a lot of yards after catch, yards after contact, because guys don't wrap him up and bring him down. So that's part of his skillset, and our guys are prepped for that and we got to do a good job on him?
Q. What does the phrase earn the right to rush the passer. A, what goes into it, and, B, how much of an emphasis is that in the meetings?
JONATHAN GANNON: It's always an emphasis. You know, you're always trying to get the offense to known pass. A lot of times how teams play us, even when it is known pass, they don't pass the ball or give you some different concepts.
So our guys, really what that means, Zach, is we got to do a good job on first and second down to get the game on our terms on either second down or third down, and that really just comes down to alignment, assignment, key technique, and violence and winning your one-on-ones.
If we can continue to do that, then hopefully we play the game on or terms.
Q. What's been the reasoning for Jordan not playing much at nose tackle?
JONATHAN GANNON: He's getting back into the fold. He is going to continue to play. We got to keep getting him -- he's playing some different spots for us now, so I look forward to what we're doing with him this week. He'll be up and playing.
Q. Is it just having Linval or...
JONATHAN GANNON: We've got six guys up, so sometimes the snap counts, it's hard to get everybody a bunch of snaps. I like that we have six guys up because it keeps that room fresh. We can rotate, get certain matchups we want to have. He's ready to go.
Q. Haasan always brings up when he talks to you that you want to listen to the players. You've told me that before. There are different ways to get things done, different techniques, and you want them to be comfortable. Where is that line where you want to listen to the players, but you want them to get done what you want done?
JONATHAN GANNON: Yeah, when we set up the game plan it's always with our players in mind. As we sit down with the coaches and, hey, here is how we want to defend people and this is what we want to do, and here is our staples and our bullets so to so speak.
In-game, you know, I like to talk to everybody, because they're the ones in between the white lines. If I thought that this stunt was going to be good because we saw all week this is how a guy was setting. Well, they could be setting different because of who we have out there.
I can't really feel that in real time. The players can feel that real time, so we always check in with the players. We decide how we want to do things, and I always listen to the players because they're the ones playing and they ultimately make it go. It's not the call that comes out of my mouth, it's the 11 out there playing.
They've been doing a good job and I appreciate that feedback, because it does help me in-game.
Q. (Regarding decision to switch the rooms.) Have you seen the difference with that over the course of the season?
JONATHAN GANNON: Yeah, I think -- and they meet together a lot, too. That front meets separately at times and meet together, just like the back end does. I think that time on task with -- I'm going to butcher this word because we always laugh about it when I say it -- specificity, the more that you have of that, typically the better.
I relate it to when I was a DB coach. You're coaching all five on a certain play, but if you could only coach two, the detail that you can get in is a little bit more when time is a constraint.
So I like where we did that. That was really the head coach. That was a really good adjustment by the head coach moving into this year. You can see both of those rooms collectively and individually are playing at a high level. Kudos to the head coach and kudos to the coaches.
Q. Been a lot of talk about complementary football this season. With the uncertainty at quarterback for Saturday, do you feel that you have to basically do a little bit more than you normally do?
JONATHAN GANNON: No. That's a good question. We always try to do enough on our end to put our team in position to win the game. Obviously when we sit down with the head coach and Shane and Clay we talk about how the game is going to go.
If it gets a little off script, this is what we'll have to do, or whatever the case may be. I'm always concerned about playing good defense no matter who is out there, good, clean physical football, and keeping the score down.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports