Washington Commanders defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr. addressed the media after practice on Sept. 26. Here is a full transcript of the press conference.
Opening Statement:
"Alright, let's get going. Just want to talk about the last game first, and then we'll transition to the first game like we always do. We always want to get the win, which we did on the road, which was good. We're still not playing the brand of ball that we want. And that's my responsibility and we'll get there. We're closer than people think. And the communication, that's picked up. The physicality is there. Now, the play making needs to be there. This last game they hit the one over the top early. We got into some Cover 2. We played a lot of shell after that. We really didn't stop the run out of the shell. And so sometimes we tried to get back into a heavier box, and they hit us over the top a couple more times. But I just got to do a better job of, if we're going to be shell, make sure we can stop the run. And if we're going to stop the run with the heavier box that we made sure that we win our one-on-ones outside. That's my responsibility. So, going into this game, a dynamic young quarterback, he's not young anymore. He's been here for a while, but with my son being in Texas and he's just a Texas legend, the guy has tremendous arm talent. He can throw it from any plane. He's faster than you think. He doesn't necessarily scramble to actually run the ball. He scrambles to throw, but it's hard to catch him. That dynamic backpack there, [Arizona Cardinals RB James] Connor. I mean, he just runs hard, have a lot of respect for him for a long time. Young, talented receivers. The offensive line, they've had some guys in and out. But I coached [Arizona Cardinals Head Coach] John Gannon in college, so I know he'll have an answer and a plan for that. But just a lot of respect for this team, a lot of respect for who they are because like I said, the relationship I have with Gannon, and I know how he's going to have his team ready. So, any questions, I'm ready to hit him."
On why he believes the defense is closer than people think:
"Well, we talked about the first week there was some communication issues, and we shored that up. We simplified some of the, well I'm not going to say simplify, we tweaked some of the coverages from the standpoint of reductions. Now it's just, it's still really the third down where, alright, sometimes we got to understand the leverage and make the plays. Now it's to the, 'Alright, how can I help him make the plays and get that done.' So, hopefully this is the week that we played a full brand of what we want do."
On WR Marvin Harrison Jr.:
"He's a guy that has a big catch radius, has the speed. But they put him out there at the X, he can make you do things and tilt the coverage. And now that frees other people up. They have a dynamic tight end. I'm not sure if he's going to play or not because of the concussion, but he really opens up because of you can't really double both of them on early downs. But he's a good player, he's going to have a really good career, and we have to make sure that we stay on top of him."
On DT Jer'Zhan Newton and on the defensive tackles as a whole:
"I want to see more of it, and hopefully we will. It gives us the ability to get a little bit more stouter in the run. We're going to be heavier up on some techniques in there. Johnny, getting some more exposure, he can play outside. We have [DT Daron] Payne more out that as the big end, Johnny can do that as well. So, we have a couple more packages that we're going to use with those three and with two traditional ends as well. So, we're just putting together."
*On QB Jayden Daniels' performance on Monday: *"Just the same thing that we've said about the young man he whole time. His poise. There's nothing really too big for him. And you don't want to put somebody too high on a pedestal too early, but the kid, it's not too big for him. He has poise. He can make the throws; he can get out of danger. He slid, which was important [laugh.] I mean, he got down. I mean, he's the guy that's going to be the reason that we win, and we know that. And so we just have to make sure that he's always available."
On the balance of playing Cover 2 and trying to stop the run:
*"Well, this last game we knew that this was the first time that they had [Cincinnati Bengals WR Ja'Marr] Chase and [Cincinnati Bengals WR Tee] Higgins and [Cincinnati Bengals QB Joe] Burrow. So, all three of them. You had to go back to a long time ago where they had all three of those guys. And so you really had to try to put a hat on. We rolled to Chase a good bit or played Cover 2. And so with the ability where we were getting up at the field a little bit and they were trapping us and whamming us, and getting some explosive runs. So, when we tried to tie that down a little bit, they hit us over the top. And we knew they were in shot situations; we just have to play them. I got to do a better job of getting the guys to understand, 'Hey, this is a shot look, alright, they have to beat you somewhere else. They can't beat us over the top.' And that's what I got to do a better job of making sure they understand that."
*
On what has to happen to be more effective on defense:
"Well, we've changed some of, not changed, but tweaked some of the techniques that could help it, maybe not get as penetrating up the field of sometimes. And that's why we're getting trapped and whammed. We can play some of those doubles a little bit thicker. But that's just easy with tweaking the calls a little bit. So, I understand people want to put things directly on players. I'm not going to do that. We're going to put them in a position and we'll have to get them to play better."
On the progress of figuring out the right group of cornerbacks to play:
"Yeah, once we get everybody healthy back, with [CB Emmanuel] Forbes coming back healthy, and then we can see exactly where we're going to put [CB] Mikey [Sainristil], where we're going to put Forbes and what we're going to do with [CB Benjamin St-]Juste. And then you have [CB] Noah [Igbinoghene] in there as well. So, it's still, it's fluid. Nobody's really said, 'Hey, this is where I'm going to be', and we're waiting for a couple guys to do that. And once that happens, we'll solidify exactly what we're going to do there."
On what Forbes' role will look like this weekend:
"What I expect each week, it's going to be different people and I'm not going to sit here and say who's going to be where each week because somebody could get hurt or what have you. But I expect whoever goes out there to play winning football, I do expect that."
On what Forbes can improve on:
"When he was last on the field, we all need to improve on making sure that we control the vertical throws. That when we give looks to own and understanding where we want to send the ball, if we're outside leverage, be that leverage. We're inside, just play the defense that's being ran. And at the same time, and I'm not talking about Forbes, alright, when it's an opportunity to go make a play, go make the play. Let's not see it and understand it and can talk in the meeting room. Let's go make the play when we see it. And so that's what we all need to do."
On the growth of Sainristil:
"Mike in training camp, we had Mike inside a lot and especially in the New York game. He was really sticky in the coverage and did a nice job. He has a lot of really good call command. We moved him outside because of the need and he got beat over the top on that one play. It was more of an understanding than just necessarily getting beat on it. But he's a young player that is coming and is still developing, and once we get everybody together, he might move back inside. That might be his home. But for right now we need him where we have him."
On the safety group:
"Starting with [S] Quan [Martin], I think Quan's played really good football. He's tackled really well. He's communicating at the level that we want. [S Jeremy] Chinn, he's coming in, he's given us a force of being able to communicate down low. He's a big body guy. I want to blitz him, actually, a little bit more, so hopefully we can. And then [S] Percy [Butler], he's tackled well as well. So, I've been pleased with the safety group, the range and the way that they've been playing."
On his thoughts on the players replacing Forbes last week:
"Right now, like I said earlier, that we haven't found the group that that's going to go out there each week. I'm still waiting on a couple guys just to say, 'Hey, I'm the guy that's going to just do this each weekend.' And I don't care who it is. It could be somebody that hasn't played yet. It could be [CB] Chig [Anusiem]. I don't care. I just want somebody to say, 'Hey, I'm the guy, let's go out here and play consistent winning brand of football right now.' And so that's what I'm looking for."
On S Darrick Forrest:
"Forrest has done everything that we've asked him to do. He missed some time early and I'm not down. I'm actually really high on Forrest and he's somebody that, when we can get more safety packages that first off we have to get up and then get him on the field. But he's done everything. He's a great teammate, he's a great human being, and now we just got to find a way to get him on the field in certain spaces."
On if he will lean on Offensive Coordinator Kliff Kingsbury given his familiarity with the Cardinals:
"We always talk to the guys that had history here. He's coached the quarterback. Couple of our offensive players have been in the room, [TE] Zach [Ertz] and [QB Jeff] Driskel. So, we always talk to those guys, but at the end of the day, our guys go to other places. [There's] only so much you really can get from the people, because you don't know what they're going to call, when they're going to call it. It's whoever has the chalk last really. So, you get a little bit from it, but you don't get as much as you think."
On the performance from the defensive ends on Monday with DE Clelin Ferrell being out:
"He's such a solid force up because he sets edges. He's such a leader. But I thought those guys did a solid job coming in and filling in for him and understanding their roles. So, I was pleased with them."
On if the defense has an identity yet and on what he wants it to be:
"Not the identity that we want to be. We haven't played the brand of football that I was hoping for up until this point. And like I said, that's on me. We want to be a team that produces the ball. We haven't. Now the hitting, I think we're hitting the way that we want to, but we talk about energy, there goes the phone again, creating ball. And we're not necessarily doing that all the way. So, this is not the style that I envision right now, but we're trending that way."
