Latest / Press Pass / Press Pass | New DC Ryan Nielsen on Defense Identity, Roster Impression
Transcript
- 0:02Speaker 1: Ryan, could you just you know, other than wanting your
- 0:06Speaker 1: unit to give effort all the time, what is most
- 0:10Speaker 1: important to you in terms of stressing what you want
- 0:13Speaker 1: out of your unit.
- 0:14Speaker 2: Yeah, good question. So first of all, we're going to
- 0:16Speaker 2: be kind of the overview of everything is is we
- 0:19Speaker 2: want to be attacking and aggressive in everything that we do.
- 0:22Speaker 2: How we fit the run, how we attack blocks, how
- 0:25Speaker 2: we play coverage. We want to be a forward, leaning, forward, running,
- 0:30Speaker 2: going forward defense. And you're gonna say, well, what about
- 0:33Speaker 2: in the secondary and backpedaling now of that, but when
- 0:35Speaker 2: we make our break, we're coming out of that break
- 0:37Speaker 2: to go hit you. And so that's kind of the
- 0:40Speaker 2: you know, the two things that every day that the
- 0:42Speaker 2: players come in we want to stress. There's some things
- 0:46Speaker 2: fundamental things that tackling takeaways, ball disruption in pursuit. And
- 0:50Speaker 2: that's what we're going to be about. Tackling takeaways, ball disruption.
- 0:53Speaker 2: You know, you have to be a good tackling defense
- 0:55Speaker 2: to be a good defense. Takeaways are the number one
- 0:58Speaker 2: way to limit points. Ball disruption is making the offense
- 1:02Speaker 2: play not on time. You know, we're taking away a
- 1:06Speaker 2: running lane or making a ball balance or disrupting the
- 1:08Speaker 2: quarterback and then pursuit, you know, keeping the ball inside
- 1:12Speaker 2: proper angles, you know, running and hitting, and so that's
- 1:16Speaker 2: what we're gonna be about. That's what we're gonna stress.
- 1:18Speaker 2: That will be the first thing we talk about with
- 1:19Speaker 2: the guys before we even start talking scheme or you know,
- 1:22Speaker 2: stance or anything like that. We'll start at That will
- 1:25Speaker 2: be our foundation and we'll go from there.
- 1:27Speaker 1: What made this an attractive landing spot for you.
- 1:31Speaker 2: A lot of things. So really, you know, when when
- 1:35Speaker 2: you start looking at an opportunity, you look at the
- 1:37Speaker 2: people in the building, You look at the head coach.
- 1:41Speaker 2: Coach Peterson did not know him personally before this, but
- 1:45Speaker 2: you do your research and you talk to people that
- 1:48Speaker 2: I've worked with him. Noam was fortunate to be on
- 1:51Speaker 2: a staff that had a coach that had worked for
- 1:53Speaker 2: Coach Peterson before, and he said some unbelievable things about him.
- 1:58Speaker 2: And then you started around just a couple of guys
- 2:01Speaker 2: just you know, you want to check and it's so
- 2:03Speaker 2: important that you work with good people. And we're so
- 2:06Speaker 2: close in this thing, and we spent so many hours
- 2:08Speaker 2: a day away from our families with these men in here,
- 2:10Speaker 2: and you want to be around good people. And so
- 2:13Speaker 2: that was the first thing. And then Trent, you know,
- 2:16Speaker 2: you hear the same things, you know, and so you
- 2:18Speaker 2: start working your way down, uh, mister Khan the owner,
- 2:21Speaker 2: I mean, you know, what's the organization about? How is
- 2:24Speaker 2: the owner? And then didn't know that they built the
- 2:27Speaker 2: facility and then you start doing the roster research and
- 2:30Speaker 2: you kind of know a little bit. But then as
- 2:31Speaker 2: you start digging into this thing, you're like, you know what,
- 2:34Speaker 2: this is a great place. This is a place that
- 2:36Speaker 2: we want to bring our family to and be a
- 2:38Speaker 2: part of. This is a place that we want to
- 2:39Speaker 2: help take the next step. And so, you know, when
- 2:43Speaker 2: we kind of looked at the whole package and everything
- 2:45Speaker 2: that was going on, it was there was no doubt
- 2:47Speaker 2: this is.
- 2:48Speaker 3: Where we wanted to be in Disney World.
- 2:53Speaker 4: Yeah.
- 2:54Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 2:54Speaker 2: So so the first time the slip came in it
- 3:00Speaker 2: was denied. That's a whole nother story, but that's a
- 3:03Speaker 2: good story. And so we decided that, you know, we
- 3:07Speaker 2: had a little time off and that they were going
- 3:08Speaker 2: through their process and interviewing and things like that, and
- 3:10Speaker 2: so we took the family down. We took them down
- 3:14Speaker 2: to Disney World and we were on the Small World
- 3:17Speaker 2: and eventually the slip got granted permission for the slip,
- 3:23Speaker 2: and so we're sitting one and I've got our kids
- 3:25Speaker 2: and my wife's on the other end, and we just
- 3:28Speaker 2: sat down on the boat and got a text from
- 3:30Speaker 2: coach Peterson basically said hey Ryan as coach and we
- 3:33Speaker 2: would like to talk to you, you know that type
- 3:35Speaker 2: of deal. And I looked at my wife and I'm like,
- 3:39Speaker 2: how long is this going to be? Like I got
- 3:42Speaker 2: to make a call, right, And so you don't realize
- 3:45Speaker 2: I was on I can't remember last time I was
- 3:47Speaker 2: on a Small World, but it seemed about half an
- 3:49Speaker 2: hour that ride and eventually got off and it worked out.
- 3:52Speaker 2: But yeah, so that's how it all. And then we
- 3:54Speaker 2: were down there and it was really easy. Came up
- 3:57Speaker 2: for the interview and kind of went from there. So yeah,
- 3:59Speaker 2: it was pretty pretty interesting how it all worked out.
- 4:02Speaker 3: Who are some mentors who have really helped you get
- 4:05Speaker 3: to this point to view credit?
- 4:07Speaker 2: Yeah, so played and worked for at Osroon. He was
- 4:12Speaker 2: a huge influence. Pete Jenkins defensive line coach for a
- 4:16Speaker 2: long long time. I have to give credit to Pete
- 4:20Speaker 2: Carroll my senior year at USC, he was the head coach,
- 4:25Speaker 2: and then there's been coaches and players over the years
- 4:28Speaker 2: that you know, it can't there's so many people that
- 4:31Speaker 2: you'd you'd want to mention one way or another, but
- 4:35Speaker 2: have been very blessed in that have been around Monti
- 4:38Speaker 2: Kiffen and Norm Chow, Alex Gibbs, like all these guys
- 4:42Speaker 2: over the years, and just you know, when I was
- 4:44Speaker 2: a younger coach, I really didn't I guess understand at
- 4:49Speaker 2: the time I was so young kind of all the
- 4:53Speaker 2: knowledge that when we were at Ole mess and and
- 4:55Speaker 2: these guys were coming in with you know, Ojeron was
- 4:58Speaker 2: the head coach and that man, it was just a
- 5:00Speaker 2: football education, and you kind of really didn't until years
- 5:04Speaker 2: later you went back into your notes and you're like, man,
- 5:06Speaker 2: that's you're very fortunate to be at a place at
- 5:08Speaker 2: that time. I wish we could have won a few
- 5:11Speaker 2: more games, but just for the football wise and football
- 5:13Speaker 2: IQ is so that's kind of where the school. But really,
- 5:18Speaker 2: you know, even with the Arthur Smith last year, Sean
- 5:23Speaker 2: Payton in New Orleans, you know, you pick and and
- 5:25Speaker 2: you bring things that you like from everybody and learned
- 5:31Speaker 2: a lot from those guys and and Sean was huge
- 5:34Speaker 2: in the first opportunity and coaching in the NFL, and
- 5:38Speaker 2: so I'd be remiss not to mention him. But yeah,
- 5:42Speaker 2: I mean I could go on and on. There could
- 5:44Speaker 2: be an hour conversation, but that's kind of where the foundation.
- 5:47Speaker 3: Look that you had a chance to look at the roster.
- 5:48Speaker 3: What are your first impressions of the players you'll be coaching.
- 5:51Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that we're talented. We've got a talented group.
- 5:55Speaker 2: We've got some really good players in that. That's what
- 5:59Speaker 2: was excited intracted us about the job here. But look,
- 6:04Speaker 2: talent only gets you so far, right, and so we're
- 6:06Speaker 2: really excited to get to work with these guys. They
- 6:09Speaker 2: seem very eager. You know, you try to reach out
- 6:10Speaker 2: and just introductions, Hello, how you doing, you know, introduce
- 6:14Speaker 2: yourself things like that, and the staff and the guys
- 6:16Speaker 2: are seem very eager and to get going. Obviously, a
- 6:19Speaker 2: season just ended, so we you know, we need a
- 6:21Speaker 2: break and we're just getting going here staff wise. So
- 6:24Speaker 2: this is a good time. But it is a really
- 6:26Speaker 2: good time to start building relationships, which is really huge
- 6:29Speaker 2: what we do right, it's about relationships and people, and
- 6:32Speaker 2: so this is a great time that a couple of
- 6:33Speaker 2: these guys are just coming up, Hey coach, you know,
- 6:36Speaker 2: introduce and put a face with the name, things like that.
- 6:38Speaker 2: So it's been very positive.
- 6:40Speaker 5: Do you have any early thoughts at this point about
- 6:43Speaker 5: how you would like to use Trayvon Walker?
- 6:46Speaker 1: Obviously he's been mostly.
- 6:47Speaker 5: On the edge very I think there's like maybe ten
- 6:51Speaker 5: to a dozen plays last year where he moved inside.
- 6:55Speaker 5: Do you do you feel like he might be best suited
- 6:58Speaker 5: playing more inside or or he not really gone really
- 7:02Speaker 5: thought that through yet.
- 7:03Speaker 2: Here's kind of our philosophy with the players is we're
- 7:06Speaker 2: gonna put the player in a position that he can
- 7:09Speaker 2: have success first over the scheme, and so we're gonna
- 7:12Speaker 2: evaluate everything that he does well, and then if he
- 7:15Speaker 2: can rush inside, then we'll put him inside, Gene. If
- 7:18Speaker 2: he's more of a better outside rusher, we'll keep him outside. Yes,
- 7:21Speaker 2: we've evaluated those things, but ten snaps is not enough
- 7:23Speaker 2: to say that, yes, he can do that or he
- 7:26Speaker 2: can't do that, and so we'll identify that once we
- 7:29Speaker 2: get to OTAs and then you know, and so the
- 7:32Speaker 2: process is never ending, you know, and we'll put our
- 7:36Speaker 2: guys in the best positions for them to have success
- 7:39Speaker 2: and then ultimately we will have success on defense and
- 7:41Speaker 2: as a team.
- 7:42Speaker 6: You guys just mentioned it, but how important is it
- 7:45Speaker 6: for you to sort of mold, not necessarily mold the
- 7:48Speaker 6: players to your scheam, but maybe vice versa. And how
- 7:51Speaker 6: much did you learn sort of from going from New
- 7:53Speaker 6: Orleans with those type of players and going to Atlanta
- 7:55Speaker 6: with a different set of players. How different is it
- 7:58Speaker 6: and what.
- 7:58Speaker 2: Can you bring here that process? It was a really
- 8:01Speaker 2: good process. First at collaboration with the coaches that we
- 8:03Speaker 2: had brought in in Atlanta, and we got in there
- 8:06Speaker 2: and it was one of my favorite times coaching in
- 8:09Speaker 2: that we threw up a template and said, hey, this
- 8:12Speaker 2: is kind of what's been done before, let's make it us.
- 8:15Speaker 2: And that's the process that we're going through right now.
- 8:18Speaker 2: And so all the coaches are havingn input on what
- 8:20Speaker 2: we're doing, and so it's all of our defense. So
- 8:24Speaker 2: that's a really cool process. And then we've studied the
- 8:27Speaker 2: roster in that we have a pretty good idea of
- 8:30Speaker 2: where that we'll start with our players, you know, and
- 8:32Speaker 2: some of the techniques that we would like to teach them,
- 8:36Speaker 2: and then and then we'll start moving them around to
- 8:39Speaker 2: see what else they can do well. And so there's
- 8:42Speaker 2: that process that we just did is we're kind of
- 8:44Speaker 2: doing it again. Some similarities and some differences, but the
- 8:49Speaker 2: ultimate is this is going to be Jacksonville's defense. This
- 8:53Speaker 2: is gonna be our defense of Jacksonville. Our players, our coaches,
- 8:56Speaker 2: our staff like that type of deal, and so it's
- 9:00Speaker 2: not any place that anybody's been. It's a collaborate effort
- 9:03Speaker 2: of all of ours together, and that's what you'll see
- 9:06Speaker 2: on Sundays.
- 9:07Speaker 6: I'm curious because everyone seems to think this defense is
- 9:10Speaker 6: man orient and everyone talks with the man the man
- 9:12Speaker 6: pressed man scheme that you deploy. Could you just walk
- 9:15Speaker 6: us through that it is? Is that the case or
- 9:18Speaker 6: what's the nuance there?
- 9:19Speaker 2: Well, we'd like to, as one of our coaches would
- 9:23Speaker 2: like to say, nothing cheap and nothing deep. And so
- 9:25Speaker 2: when you're press, you take away the quick game and
- 9:28Speaker 2: we like to play shell, which everybody you know, when
- 9:31Speaker 2: you look at us, we you know, take away the
- 9:32Speaker 2: deep throws. It may look man man or man ish
- 9:36Speaker 2: at times, but sometimes there's some press bail and some
- 9:40Speaker 2: nuances in the coverage of that. It actually is zoned
- 9:43Speaker 2: with tighter coverage outside and so that's actually good that
- 9:48Speaker 2: you see it like that, because if we're viewed like that,
- 9:51Speaker 2: then we drop in the zone. It could be advantageous
- 9:54Speaker 2: for you know, for us on defense. So yeah, we're
- 9:58Speaker 2: gonna be mixing a action. We play a lot different
- 10:00Speaker 2: coverages and and mix and matches our coverages and and
- 10:03Speaker 2: again that's what we did then and it may be
- 10:06Speaker 2: different now. And so that's what the process that we're
- 10:09Speaker 2: going through with the players. But we definitely we have
- 10:13Speaker 2: everything in there is just what what are we going
- 10:15Speaker 2: to start with? We know where we're starting, what's the ending,
- 10:18Speaker 2: what's it going to look like when we end? Because
- 10:21Speaker 2: the new coaches and the new players together and we
- 10:23Speaker 2: want to do what's best for everybody.
- 10:24Speaker 3: What does this team still mean that you see when
- 10:27Speaker 3: you look at what you guys are bringing and.
- 10:29Speaker 5: What you want to do.
- 10:31Speaker 2: Yeah, really, like we talked about in the very beginning,
- 10:33Speaker 2: you know, we want to be an attacking, aggressive style
- 10:36Speaker 2: of defense that runs the ball, you know, that goes
- 10:39Speaker 2: and hunts the ball, you know, and just put the
- 10:42Speaker 2: pressure on the offense. You know. That's just what that
- 10:44Speaker 2: that we feel that we can bring. That's just the
- 10:45Speaker 2: style that we want to play and so we feel that,
- 10:49Speaker 2: you know, when we talk to to coach Peterson and
- 10:52Speaker 2: you know, compliments what we're doing on offense, and we
- 10:54Speaker 2: want to be very complimentary to the other side of
- 10:57Speaker 2: the ball, and you know, get them the ball as
- 10:59Speaker 2: much as possible and Trevor and you know, because they've
- 11:02Speaker 2: got a lot of talent over there and they're very
- 11:03Speaker 2: good and so look, we just want to do our
- 11:05Speaker 2: job and get the ball back to them as many
- 11:08Speaker 2: times as possible, and when we do that, we'll win
- 11:09Speaker 2: a lot of games. So really that's kind of the
- 11:12Speaker 2: you know, just keep giving the ball back to the
- 11:14Speaker 2: offense and in good field positions and and it'll be
- 11:17Speaker 2: good in the end.
- 11:18Speaker 4: Long are you with putting together defensive staff?
- 11:25Speaker 2: Okay, coach put that on the time.
- 11:29Speaker 1: They're getting close.
- 11:31Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's we have the pieces in place. It'll
- 11:35Speaker 2: be announced here uh soon. And so excited what we'll
- 11:38Speaker 2: say that's excited about the guys work with some of
- 11:40Speaker 2: them haven't worked with other coached a few and so
- 11:43Speaker 2: it's just it's a great group of guys that have
- 11:47Speaker 2: been very close to know that first and foremost good men. Secondly,
- 11:51Speaker 2: really good teachers, teachers of the game. And so when
- 11:55Speaker 2: you put those two things together, you know they're they're
- 11:57Speaker 2: eager and excited. We see a lot of things similarities.
- 12:01Speaker 4: When you were talking to the guys and introducing yourself,
- 12:04Speaker 4: did you get a sense from them that they are
- 12:06Speaker 4: eager to get back just to kind of really get
- 12:08Speaker 4: that taste out of their mouth after their way to
- 12:10Speaker 4: face kind of ended and kind of just turned the.
- 12:12Speaker 3: Faith on that.
- 12:13Speaker 2: Yeah, I think so, like you know, they need a break,
- 12:16Speaker 2: you know, and and so that's that kind of the
- 12:19Speaker 2: process now. But when you talk to them, they seem
- 12:20Speaker 2: very eager, asking good questions and what are we going
- 12:23Speaker 2: to be about and things like that, and you're kind
- 12:25Speaker 2: of gearing the conversation more towards the relationship pard and
- 12:29Speaker 2: really breaking the ice and getting to know them than
- 12:31Speaker 2: the football exits and know stuff, which we'll have plenty
- 12:34Speaker 2: of time to get to, you know, once OTA's and
- 12:36Speaker 2: the guys come back around and things like that, and
- 12:38Speaker 2: so don't want to start with that, and and we
- 12:42Speaker 2: have plenty of time for that later. It's more, you know,
- 12:45Speaker 2: getting into the families and things like that where they're from,
- 12:47Speaker 2: and you know, talking to them really and really getting
- 12:51Speaker 2: to know each other. I know you're mostly focusing on
- 12:53Speaker 2: their offense, but what'd you kind of learn just leading
- 12:56Speaker 2: up to when.
- 12:57Speaker 1: You guys faced them last year?
- 12:58Speaker 2: You really about this team some of the guys at that. Yeah,
- 13:00Speaker 2: we'll start with the quarterback, right, I mean, guys are
- 13:02Speaker 2: really good football player, big athletic, you make all the throws.
- 13:05Speaker 2: He runs well, physical offensive line skill in the receiver position,
- 13:09Speaker 2: tight end runs well, the heck of a back. Now,
- 13:13Speaker 2: a couple of backs, you know. So when you put
- 13:15Speaker 2: it all together, as we were looking, that's one of
- 13:18Speaker 2: the pieces and why we wanted to come down here
- 13:20Speaker 2: and be a part of this is they've got some
- 13:22Speaker 2: talent over there and some really good players, and so
- 13:25Speaker 2: we were talking about earlier, let's just give them the
- 13:26Speaker 2: ball back as many times as we can.
- 13:30Speaker 4: You mentioned teaching when putting together your staff.
- 13:32Speaker 3: That's one of the things a lot of your former
- 13:33Speaker 3: players have mentioned when talking about you.
- 13:35Speaker 1: How good of a teacher you are.
- 13:36Speaker 6: How important does that for being a coach in the
- 13:39Speaker 6: NFL these days?
- 13:40Speaker 2: It's very important? Right, I Mean it's you know, first
- 13:43Speaker 2: of all, there's a couple it's fundamentals, right, technique and
- 13:47Speaker 2: then scheme, and then putting it together. And so we
- 13:51Speaker 2: wanted men that are very talented in both aspects and
- 13:55Speaker 2: bringing it together. And also part of that is the
- 13:57Speaker 2: relationship part, like the players got to trust and what
- 13:59Speaker 2: we're we're saying and teaching and coaching them like that,
- 14:02Speaker 2: and so a lot of these guys have background of that,
- 14:07Speaker 2: and so I think when our players come in, they'll
- 14:09Speaker 2: be like, you know, look, this guy's done it and
- 14:11Speaker 2: this is our the system that how we go about
- 14:14Speaker 2: and teaching things. I think they're really gonna like that
- 14:17Speaker 2: with all the coaches in the room. And so I
- 14:20Speaker 2: personally am very excited about the group of men that
- 14:23Speaker 2: we're working with and getting them with our players and
- 14:26Speaker 2: starting this And the best time is on the grass
- 14:28Speaker 2: right with the players, and so you only can be
- 14:30Speaker 2: so excited. I'd go out there right now if I could.
- 14:34Speaker 2: But yeah, I'm really excited about that process and can't
- 14:36Speaker 2: wait for that to get going.
- 14:38Speaker 3: In terms of getting off the field on third down,
- 14:40Speaker 3: what are some core principles that you believe in?
- 14:43Speaker 2: Yeah, Russian coverage, right, I mean really you know, Russian coverage.
- 14:46Speaker 2: We have to be multiple. First thing we got to
- 14:49Speaker 2: do is affect the quarterback in that we can't allow
- 14:52Speaker 2: the ball to come out of his hand quickly because
- 14:54Speaker 2: then the coverage then the rush doesn't get there. So
- 14:56Speaker 2: if the coverage has holes holes in it or were
- 14:59Speaker 2: given easy throw, then it doesn't matter who we got
- 15:02Speaker 2: coming off the edge, you know. And we've got a
- 15:04Speaker 2: couple of good edge guys here, so we've got to
- 15:06Speaker 2: get the quarterback to hold it. The disguise as big.
- 15:09Speaker 2: We have multiple packages on third down, so we change
- 15:12Speaker 2: week to week or maybe we don't, you know, and
- 15:14Speaker 2: so keep them guessing. Really big early in the game
- 15:18Speaker 2: is we try to go out there and they're kind
- 15:21Speaker 2: of trying to identify what we're doing on third down
- 15:24Speaker 2: and then go from there not Hey, we're going to
- 15:26Speaker 2: be in this look and every single time, Hey, we
- 15:28Speaker 2: can make this throw. So we've got to be multiple
- 15:31Speaker 2: and keep changing. They're just too good on offense, you know.
- 15:33Speaker 2: The quarterbacks are too good offensive coordinators. There's so many
- 15:36Speaker 2: guys over there that can identify and so that's why
- 15:38Speaker 2: we've got to keep it multiple and keep changing up
- 15:41Speaker 2: the looks.
- 15:43Speaker 6: You mentioned edge. Just how much do you know about
- 15:45Speaker 6: Josh Allen and how important is he going to be
- 15:48Speaker 6: to the Stefens.
- 15:49Speaker 2: Yeah, maybe a lot of production, right, very important. And
- 15:52Speaker 2: so when you got a guy like that and and
- 15:56Speaker 2: you want them back and I think that's going to
- 15:58Speaker 2: work out. Would be really excited that works out. Uh,
- 16:02Speaker 2: really excited to work with him, nothing but great things.
- 16:05Speaker 2: Talk to Josh and and uh, and he's been he's
- 16:08Speaker 2: been fantastic, And so that'll get worked out. Get him
- 16:10Speaker 2: back and get him, get him going, and hopefully get
- 16:13Speaker 2: him into improve That's ultimate goal, right, just take one.
- 16:15Speaker 2: If we can just get that much better next year? Really,
- 16:18Speaker 2: what does that look like? That's pretty exciting, right, and
- 16:20Speaker 2: so that's kind of what we want to work towards.
- 16:23Speaker 3: OK, all right, I appreciate everything time