CLINT HURTT: Hello, everybody.
Q. How you doing?
CLINT HURTT: Good. Ready whenever you are.
Q. What has been working the last couple weeks, eliminating the explosive plays in the passing game?
CLINT HURTT: A combination of two things. Guys do a great job of understanding techniques, know when the shot plays are coming. Tackling has been better. Generally you want to be in single digits for missed tackles. Every game we've done that in the last few weeks. Those always help.
Don't give up the big stuff, stay on top on the deep end of the field. When the ball is thrown or run, break the line of scrimmage, make sure we get on the ground. The missed tackles lead to explosives. So guys have done a really nice job of that the last two weeks.
Q. (No microphone.)
CLINT HURTT: I believe for the Philadelphia game, it was seven missed tackles, and this Tennessee game we had it at six.
Q. Do you have any guesses as to why that clicked in the last couple of games?
CLINT HURTT: Been playing longer. Obviously always taking a look at reevaluating your drill work, what you do in practice. There's tons of different tackling drills and things like that we do.
The biggest thing is obviously physically hitting something that has the weight that provides resistance. Some people call it a vertical sled, whatever. I won't use a term I use for it because it might be politically incorrect right now. But it's a heavier sled for guys to be able to hit and drag their legs. It's a little bit more similar to striking a ball carrier. They have to sink their hips, drive for five, wrap up as well. We've done that the last few weeks. If it isn't broke, don't fix it.
Q. Is that where you hang a vertical chain?
CLINT HURTT: No. It's something like that, but it's on the ground. You really have to get your pads down lower to get underneath it.
Q. Have you seen any signs that there's some catch-up to Devin Witherspoon having to get back?
CLINT HURTT: I don't know that I would say that. I mean, he even missed a ton of time in the springtime, training camp. He hit the ground running when we started the season.
Like I said, guys are really smart and sharp and they see football from a little bit of a different perspective as a young player. There's always going to naturally be some sort of rust, but I think he'll catch up pretty fast.
Q. If Devin Bush has to play more, what has he shown to you?
CLINT HURTT: Another guy that sees the ball really well. Can get downhill. Good at striking blocks, getting off. That's a part of his game he wanted to improve on since he got here. Good feel in the passing game, as well. He's been a violent striker when the opportunities have presented themselves.
He's done well. Obviously a tough transition, a guy that's played a lot of football, then here he comes into a situation where Jordan comes back earlier maybe even than expected. He goes into a backup role. But he's handled it like a pro.
Now the opportunity present is itself again, based on where Jordan is at. He's done a really nice job.
Q. How did you see (indiscernible), comes back and plays the whole game? How do you see him?
CLINT HURTT: Great maturity. Sometimes it happens with young guys. Things happen. Whether you look at it like you got to grab the attention of a player. Obviously he's kind of got to get some things figured out along the way. I would say that he has, and handled it really, really well. Commend him for that.
Whenever those situations arise, sometimes young guys, you have a hard time accepting constructive criticism. I'm not saying that was Tariq in any instance. But when things happen, how do you respond? It shows the true character of a person in tough times.
He responded really, really well. Proud of him for that. He's played good ball.
Q. How impressive is what Julian was able to do last week?
CLINT HURTT: I think it's way overblown. He didn't do anything. His wife did it at all, all right? Let's get that straight. She's the one that was in labor. She had the baby. You're just along for the ride. I got two kids. I didn't have to do a damn thing. Just stay out of the way and don't make any dumb-ass comments. That's all you got to do (laughter). He's getting way too much credit.
Honestly, no, unbelievable to be ready for the game. Smart. On top of his stuff. It was great to have him out there. Obviously excited for him being a new dad. But she needs to get all the credit, not him.
Q. How did Devin Bush handle the adjustment?
CLINT HURTT: Yeah, D Bush has been handling both roles, playing dime backer, the nickel spot. We like to dual train guys. You don't want to get knocked out of a package just because you lose one particular player. You want guys to learn multiple roles.
He's done a good job of being able to handle both spots, if that's what you're asking. There's carryover in both spots. Not like there's a far departure in terms of run techniques and run fit responsibilities that tie into that. He's done a nice job.
Q. If Jamal Adams comes back this week, where does he fit?
CLINT HURTT: Same role as he's been in terms of playing in the big nickel spot and potentially dime. We'll see where he's at. He's still in that role. He can be a dominant factor on the line of scrimmage.
Q. Run defense the last few weeks, what can you do to clean up some of the...
CLINT HURTT: Like I said, the Philly game, we were willing to concede some stuff to be able to protect the edges and not give anything up deep down the field. That was definitely not the plan going into Tennessee. We just had some things in terms of alignments and not losing leverage on the football, playing some blocks better at the line of scrimmage to be better.
It always starts edge setting, knock-backs, then obviously guys have to be able to take their shots, their gaps, get things on the ground. When a guy like we just saw, he poses a little bit of a different challenge. You want to make him stop his feet. We didn't do a great job of that within the game.
The first half of it is really where the mess was. Way too much in the yards per carry. I want to say like seven in the first half. Second half I want to say they had 16 carries for 46. 3.5 or 3.7. We got it fixed in the second half, but the first half left a bad taste in our mouth. I think there's like another 30 yards in scrambles. One of them was a big conversion. Not a very good play.
Q. I think quarterbacks have more than a hundred yards rushing the last two weeks.
CLINT HURTT: Yeah. Quarterback scrambles, got to do a better job. Sacks, want to keep those going. We want to make sure that when we play a quarterback that's a nimble enough athlete to hurt us, we got to corral and keep him in there so you don't let plays get extended. Been a little bit of a Achilles' heel the whole year.
Q. Dre'Mont said you laid into them at halftime. How do you decide when to give constructive criticism at halftime or lay into them?
CLINT HURTT: I would say this is probably the weirdest, I don't want to say weirdest, but the hardest part of this role. When you're a position coach, a D-line coach, I can lose my stuff all the time. It's fine, get their attention, be ready to roll.
When you're in this particular spot, I kind of got to always catch myself and not do that so I can keep everybody on the same page, not go there. Sometimes it's warranted. That stuff happens.
They're grown men. It's getting their attention, like, We're better than this, what are we doing? But we get it figured out, get it worked out.
You have to have a little bit more of a calmer head, so to speak, more often when you have to deal with everybody 'cause coaching linebackers and coaching DBs is different than coaching the defensive line, how you handle it.
Pick and choose my spots. I don't like to go that route anyway with these kids. Makes you kind of calm some stuff down and rely on that.
Q. Do you think you may have more caché with the guys to do that?
CLINT HURTT: Maybe so. They know me. They know where I come from. Know situations.
Like I said, I'm not like that all the time. I think when you do that all the time, people, Okay, it gets old. But that's generally not my approach.
Yeah, I think the relationships, guys understand where I'm coming from and whatnot, so... They were supportive of it. We got it fixed.
Q. The way you guys have been able to get Julian's pick against the Eagles game, get off the field, how much did that help down the stretch that you finish more close games?
CLINT HURTT: All those things are great occurrences that happen in a game. Now you learned some things. You've been in those situations before, whether you got to come from behind in a game or finish the game in the end like you're talking about.
It's great for those guys to have recall because we've been in those moments and situations before, whether we finish with the pick or the rush. I say all the time, rush and coverage complement each other. So those parts of it are great.
Just want to see us hold the full thing together, which is be consistent with our run defense, and obviously third down is another big part of that. Makes things a lot easier when we get all those things tied together.
Q. You mentioned the tackling stuff you did. Is there a reason why you don't do that all year? Not practical, or...
CLINT HURTT: What you try to do is you create certain instances that happen. Like if you play a team that's a big perimeter screen team, they put the ball outside, there's things with sideline tackling drills, leveraging the football, incorporating tackling in that is what you want to try to emphasize and focus on. Different things, like I said, pertaining to who you play.
But really at the end of the day it was about us putting our bodies on people. Can't necessarily do it in practice. But to use a sled that has some weight behind it, to do that to kind of emulate that, we had to do. It's like, you know what, it's been great for us the last two weeks, let's keep it going.
We're getting ready to play another big back, big tight ends, big, physical guys. You have to put bodies on these guys. It's going to be a physical style of game. We're really aware of how they play, so got to be prepared for that.
Q. The hit that Julian put on the guy, knocked the ball out, pretty much every time you see a big hit like that, there's always a penalty. Was that a textbook example of how to do that cleanly?
CLINT HURTT: Absolutely. Lower your strike zone. Obviously always trying to lead with your shoulder. It used to be when you were taught how to tackle, you would always cross face. Now you cross face, you're leading with your head, even though that may not be your intention.
You try to get the near shoulder involved. As you see the player coming, he did a great job of taking the correct thing where he made it as a right shoulder hit, and his head didn't have to go across. If he was late on that route, and he does, refs probably look at that a little bit differently.
It's asking a lot because you know how fast the game was going. A guy has to process all that information in real-time. It was a great hit.
I thought Diggy's hit that he got flagged on, not trying to get fined, but I don't know if I agree 'cause he didn't have his head involved with that one. Made me wonder they threw it because maybe he pulled off. How do you know the guy is not in position to catch the ball? Those are all the split-second judgment things that I was a little curious about. Waiting to hear the response back from the league.
Q. The interference penalty (indiscernible)? Segued into officiating.
CLINT HURTT: (Laughter). A tough one. We knew that D Hop was going to be a guy that was going to draw and initiate contact. He wants to be physical at the top of the route. That's how you create separation. I think Tre could have played that one a little bit different.
Q. (Indiscernible)?
CLINT HURTT: The double pass. Christmas was good (smiling).
No, we work that because we knew they were a big gadget team and things like that. A couple double passes last week. Obviously we missed that opportunity. Should have been in the deep third. Good one to learn from on that one. He knew it as soon as it happened.
Q. How did you think Artie has played the last couple weeks?
CLINT HURTT: Artie has done really well. Artie, it's tough. When you get a veteran player that's been in one spot a majority of his career, nickel is not an easy position to play. To his credit, I think you extend your career because you can do so much more besides just playing a corner spot. He can play the nickel. He can play man-to-man. The fact that he understands all the run fits and the zones, his awareness, Artie has done a really nice job. We're really proud of him.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports