Q. Hall of Fame college basketball coach Dean Smith often said that there comes a time in every game when the clock becomes the opponent. How do you want your defense to play when you have a lead and the clock has become the opponent?
A. I don't want to get too passive. I'm not a proponent of prevent defense. You know, we've done certain things up to that point in the game for us to have that positioning that you mentioned. Generally, my posture is to not change our approach to business. I'm not a guy who gets passive schematically. I don't want our players to get passive and not risk-take as individuals. All with the understanding that we've got to keep a lid on it, and you can't give up easy things. But I think you better caution yourself against taking your foot off the gas.
Q. How do you react schematically so that you don't become passive?
A. By maintaining the same schematic posture that I've had to that point, and sometimes you can send a message by blitzing, for example. The key is that the guys know, and sometimes you can relay it verbally. If you're not getting what you're looking for in terms of that, then you relay that messaging schematically by the nature of your calls.
Q. So if it's a zone coverage situation, is there a difference between soft zone and tight zone?
A. We have tags like "loose" that will loosen up zones based on circumstance. Everyone does. That's not anything earth shattering or groundbreaking. Zone concepts are zone concepts. Usually, there are tags like "loose" that coordinators and defenses use to loosen it based on certain circumstances.
Q. A couple of weeks ago I asked you about replay assist, and one of the things you said about it was, "They cannot add a penalty. They can help take an egregious or erroneous penalty flag off the ground." In last Sunday's game, it seemed like replay assist was used to call an intentional grounding penalty on Russell Wilson. What happened there?
A. It seemingly looked like it, but I imagine if you ask those guys, they were looking at certain other parameters of the play, and not necessarily the grounding component. There's some communication about eligibles, about where the quarterback was in the pocket, but the technology itself as a tool, those are the guidelines prescribed. If anything happened other than what I just mentioned, I wouldn't be in the know.
Q. You have explained how kicks get blocked in the NFL and how longer kickoff returns happen. I'd like to ask you now about kickoff coverage – what goes into effective kickoff coverage, or looking at it the other way, what are common kick coverage mistakes at the NFL level?
A. You want to reduce the amount of space that the collective is playing in. You don't want to play in the 53-and-a-third-yard wide field, if you can help it. And so setting edges contains people. The less space that you play in, the less room there is for individual error. If you play in a confined space and a guy misses a tackle, the next guy is right there. And so I think the first thing is your ability to reduce the amount of space that people play in, and a secondary thing is to make sure there's a distribution or a net that's appropriate. If you're running behind the same colored jersey, chances are you're making yourself an ineffective component of the play. And so I think those two parameters really position you to have effective kick coverage. By the same token, those two parameters in a negative way are going to really put you in harm's way. If you don't reduce the grass that people play in, there's going to be too much space. If you're running down behind someone on your team, then you're wasting yourself. And so a constricting net of people and playing in a reduced space gives you a chance to have excellent coverage.
Q. I am old enough to remember the time when it was a penalty to assist or push or otherwise aid a running back. As a member of the Competition Committee, what was the thinking behind allowing the play known as the Brotherly Shove that the Eagles have used so successfully to continue?
A. Most rule changes are based on injury risk or injury data, and there's no injury data that shows that that is a dangerous play in any form or fashion. And so as a Competition Committee, we generally proceed very slowly in terms of taking the ball or the strategy away from someone who came up with something that might be innovative or effective. The things that usually push us to action are things that create an added risk to the player from a health perspective.
Q. What's the defensive strategy for that play?
A. To push as well. If they have people behind the ball carrier pushing, then generally you're going to have linebackers behind the defensive line pushing to level that playing field. But again, there's a hidden ball component of it, too. You could be a linebacker that's pushing, and if that ball spills out on the perimeter because they handed off on a jet, then that push is inappropriate. And so the bottom line from a defensive perspective is that you better stay out of those circumstances. The vast majority of offenses are going to win the vast majority of those short-yardage plays, whether they're using the tush push or not. That is a high, high percentage conversion rate for offenses. And so before I get caught up in the weeds of all of that from a defensive perspective, I generally talk about winning first and second downs definitively when that's less of a discussion. If we're in more than one or two of those a game, chances are we've got other problems that are more significant, like they're running the ball at an efficient rate.
Q. In talking about Elandon Roberts' Pro Day, you recalled talking to his parents in the parking lot for about an hour at the University of Houston. What did you learn from that conversation?
A. It's about gaining information about the young man, and oftentimes watching him interact with his parents, seeing the nature of their relationships that gives you an awesome insight about that young man, or maybe the relationship that he has with the game of football. It was obvious that football was a family endeavor for them. And you know, people who display that generally you can't break them. There's a commitment there, and that commitment has been displayed throughout his career in terms of the quality of it and the longevity of it. I'm not surprised by it. He and they were all in on football.
Q. Are parents usually forthcoming in those kinds of situations, or are they trying to promote their son?
A. I don't know that I'm looking for them to be forthcoming. Most of the time, to be quite honest with you, parents in that situation are seeking information from guys like us. They're not trying to trick us or to impress us. They realize that we hold information for them and their child that could be helpful to their child in terms of what he's pursuing. And so most of the time, there are good questions that come from those football families. And that was the case with Elandon's parents. They had really good questions about the business and what was ahead for him. It was a sincere thing, and you could just tell that he is well supported.
Q. James Pierre came up with a big interception vs. the Browns, and last Tuesday you said, "Everyone was happy for him to get an opportunity to make that splash play for us, because everybody sees the work that he puts in, how selfless he is, what a good teammate he is." How does James Pierre, and others in his situation, show selflessness?
A. This is not a patient man's business. I never ask guys to be patient while they wait for their opportunity. I ask them to work while they wait for their opportunity. Sometimes your opportunity is not given to you based on what you do. Sometimes opportunity is born out of the misfortune of others, whether injury or otherwise. And so James is a guy who works extremely hard every day. He's highly competitive, whether he is taking defensive reps or whether he's taking scout team reps. His mentality never changes. It allows him to get better. It allows him to position himself and sharpen his sword for performance. And so I don't know how many actual defensive reps he got last week, but he got legitimate reps on the service teams, and he made a lot of plays in that space. And I just think playmaking is habitual. You make enough plays, it becomes a normal state. And that guy positioned himself to make the play that he made in a weighty moment for us in that football game.
Q. You referred to Lane Johnson as the "bell cow" of the Eagles offensive line. What is a "bell cow" of the offensive line, and how does Johnson fit that description?
A. From what I heard about the man, he's not only a leader on the field, but he's a leader off the field. He has a unique approach to training over the course of a 12 month calendar. And a lot of guys – Philadelphia Eagles and non-Eagles – train with him. He uses mixed martial arts and things of that nature in his prep is what I heard over the years. And I just think that oftentimes a bell cow is just that. They know who they are, they know what their process looks like, and they're thoughtful enough to include and help others find their process. And they mentor. He's been doing it at a high level for a long time. I've heard that about him in terms of his teammates, not only in terms of the football or the in-game or the in-season, but over the course of a 12 month calendar. His relationship with the profession, how he positions himself to play as effectively as he does and has – he shares that wisdom and that approach as well.
Q. How would compare and contrast the running styles of Saquon Barkley and Derrick Henry?
A. Very different. Both guys are big-play capable because of their top end-speed, but Derrick Henry's No. 1 asset is his size, his ability to run through tackles, and his stiff arm. That free hand, that hand that doesn't have the ball, is a weapon for Derrick Henry. Oftentimes you'll see defensive backs running alongside him for about 10 yards trying to figure out how to negotiate that. Saquon has got make-you-miss. He's got lateral abilities in a tight space area. He's both fast and quick. His stop-start is elite. That's dramatically different than Derrick Henry. But obviously both guys are equally effective, and both guys are a problem. It's just a different set of problems. The thing that they share is that breakaway speed when they get in the open grass, and they can turn 20-yard gains into 70-yard gains. That's the common bond.
Q. Vic Fangio has had a 41-year coaching career, with 33 of those seasons at the NFL level. He has been a defensive coordinator for 20 of the last 24 seasons in the NFL or college. He also was a head coach for 3 seasons in Denver. What is his calling card?
A. He's an old dog. He's been around. He has a mode of operation. He never gives up easy things. He makes you earn it. He keeps a lid on it. It's illustrated by the yards per game that they give up, where they're No. 1 in the NFL. It's illustrated by the number of yards per game they give up in the passing game, where they're No. 2 in the NFL. And he's doing all that with two rookies essentially in the lineup at nickel and at outside corner. And so I think that's indicative of his reputation over the years. You better be ready to earn it. It's fundamentally sound. He's not going to give it up. You've got to operate. He's going to make you drive the football. He's not going to give you yards or plays or points via chunks.
