Washington Commanders defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr. addressed the media before practice on Nov. 21. Here is a full transcript of the press conference.
Opening Statement:
"So, I know we've had two games since I last been up here. I'm just going to discuss the Philly game and if you want to talk about Pittsburgh, we will. The Philly game, it's disappointing that we played, defensively, well for 53 minutes, but it's a 60-minute game. And so, we talk about finishing [in] winning moments, and we didn't get that done. And it is disappointing. I know people want to say that we got tired. Well, that's why we roll with a deep crew. I don't believe in excuses. We're here to win and we gotta win, okay? And so, I thought the men did play hard though. And they executed the plan the way that we wanted to go. They ran and hit and for 53 minutes it looked the way that it's supposed to look. And now I gotta do a better job of getting us to play 60 minutes of football. And hopefully with this next opportunity that we have with Dallas, we'll get that done. Talking about Dallas a little bit, had the history there being there the last couple years. Have a lot of respect for the men in that room. Coaches, players ownership, front office, everybody. It was a good place to be. And then, I know how hard those players in that locker room work and how they prepare and how they get ready. So, this is going to be a very, very hard game. Lot of respect for [Dallas Cowboys QB] Cooper Rush. We won a number of games with him as our quarterback when we were there, so I know he can play winning football. And so, this is a game that's a divisional game, alright, it's the next game. That's why it's a big game. It's not a big game because of any other reason than that. It's the next game, but we gotta do our job, alright? And let's play 60 minutes of hard-nosed football and get back to, not get back to, get to turning this ball over. And so, we can get back in the win category. Alright, with that any questions?"
On examples of winning time plays he wants the defense to make:
"Well, when we didn't get the fourth down there, they hit the explosive pass. Well, we had an opportunity, we got the ball out. We should have picked that ball up, okay? The two big runs that they hit late in the game; we were in run defenses. I know a lot of people say, 'Oh, we're trying to protect the corners.' We didn't protect the corners at all this game, alright? Those guys went out there and covered, [CB] Mikey [Sainristil] played a heck of a football game. [CB Benjamin St-]Juste and [CB] Mike Davis, they played good football games. They went out there and covered. We didn't protect them. We were in the run calls and the runs got out. So, we gotta play them better. We were in the calls that we wanted to be in. So, that's where I'm disappointed. Because we hit it early, but it's 60 minutes."
On what makes Dallas Cowboys WR CeeDee Lamb special:
"Well, CeeDee first he can play every position from the receiver standpoint. You put him in the slot, he's quick. He can beat you over the top. He is great, not good, run after the catch. He's, I mean, just excellent. So, that's why they put him in the backfill sometimes and toss it to him. He's a good screen runner. He can catch the ball on different locations and different planes. He can contort his body. I think he's just an excellent, excellent football player and he's tough, I mean, he's just a tough individual. I used to like to say there was only two of those guys, him and Turp [Dallas Cowboys WR KaVontae Turpin], that really would come over there and come in the defensive room. Because defensive guys are a little thrown off and he would come in and sit in there and go back and forth with those guys. And so, I have a lot of respect for CeeDee, like him a lot. He's a good dude."
On if the familiarity on both sides makes this games easier or more challenging:
"Probably more challenging, because I was with [Dallas Cowboys Head Coach] Mike [McCarthy] for a long time, 11 years in Green Bay, three years [in Dallas]. We've had a lot of conversations. We do this thing called cross the hall there, where the defensive coaches go work with the offensive players. And so, I've gone back and looked at all my cross the hall meetings, what have I told them that's difficult? And same thing with [Philadelphia Eagles Offensive Coordinator] Kellen [Moore]. He sort of hit us on something that I said in one of those cross the hall meetings was difficult, but I knew it. We already knew that was going to come, but he hit it. And so, that's part of it. When you're at an organization and you're trying to win, you're not trying to hold anything back. But when coaches start going to other places, information goes with him. So, that's part of the NFL football."
*On LB Dante Fowler Jr and on his comfort level in Washington: *"Dante, I was in Atlanta with him, Dallas, and now he's here with us. He's a guy that I just knew if you gave him the right opportunities, put him in the right spots, he can produce at a high level. He's a guy that has tremendous bend and balance around the corner. The thing that we've talked about going into this year is finishing on the quarterback. The past couple years, his sack numbers haven't been as high. He's won, he's beat the tackle, he just hasn't controlled and finished on the quarterback. And I give all that credit to [Assistant Defensive Line Coach] Ryan Kerrigan. He's done just a heck of a job taking Dante, and once you get past the tackle, control to the quarterback and finish. That's really what he's worked with him for a long time and it's showing. And then the production that Dante's having. So, that's all Ryan right there."
On if he took notes in the cross the hall meetings:
"I have my whole presentations. I have every presentation since I was in college, so I went back and looked at the presentation. I have everything, yeah."
On if he looks back at his presentations regularly:
"When I'm playing somebody that I know, yes. Because I know, like if I've coached with you, I want to know exactly what I've told you. So, if you're going to try to hit me on it, at least we can prepare for it, you know? And so, like Kellen [Moore], let's put for example the sack that Uce, Frankie Luvu. Everybody asks me who Uce is, that's Frankie, okay. San Fran hit the same, go back and look at it. San Fran hit the same, they tried the same trick play last year and beat us. They scored a touchdown on it, alright. In the same area against the fire zone. Well, I ran a fire zone right there, but I ran a different one and we sacked him because I figured he was going to copy that play. Well, he did the same thing. So, it's just a chess match back and forth. Sometimes I get him, sometimes they get us. That's just what it is."
On if he learned that study strategy from someone:
"It's just being in NFL football. I mean that's just, it is what it is. That's why, like [Pittsburgh Steelers Head Coach] Mike Tomlin said, that's why we get paid what we get paid. It is what it is."
On what's impressed him the most from CB Mike Sainristil and on how his play will affect the defense when CB Marshon Lattimore can return:
"Mikey is just a high-level competitor. That's what's impressed me the most. He doesn't shy away from anybody that's in front of him. We ask the young man to play inside and outside early and for the betterment of the defense and say, 'Okay, we're going to put you to the field, all right, and you're going to stay there.' And he's made it at home. And he just looks really good, comfortable, understand the checks. He's not playing like a rookie, and he doesn't communicate like a rookie. If you've talked to the young man, he's very polished, he's very mature. And so, but just the way his competitive spirit is what I'm most impressed with. With Marshon, when Marshon comes then we'll make those decisions right there. I haven't thought about that until he's been available."
On how much of advantage there is to the defensive line knowing Dallas' offensive line tendencies:
"I think it gives us some of advantage, because [DE Dorance Armstrong's] lined up and played those guys. He knows how to work them and what they like, what they don't like. So, it gives them an advantage."
On what he's seen from the pass rush over the last few weeks:
"The pass rush, like I said, they rush as a unit and that's what I really like. When you add Frankie to the rush with Dante and DA [Armstrong], [DT Daron] Payne, all those guys, they rush as a unit. There's not a selfish guy that's getting out of his rush lane just because I think I can win. And the times that that has happened, we haven't won. We've let the quarterback out. And we point that out that, if you're going to be selfish, the blitz is not going to work because it's put together in a way that we want to put a wave at the quarterback. We don't have independent contractors. If that's the case, we'll just rush four, and now you can just cut it loose and go."
On areas the defense has to play well to be successful:
"Well, the main thing that we have to do, the two things that we have to do on defense to get to where we want to be in December, January football, February hopefully, it's we gotta stop the run. Like that's the number one thing that we have to do. Not shying away from it. We looked at the process over these last couple days of, 'Alright, how can we be better with it?' What do we need to do from a coaching standpoint, player standpoint, from a practice? How we're implementing the techniques, just back to the basics because you can't give up, I think we're at what, 150 yards a game? You can't do that and think that you're going to win in December football. That's just not how it happens. So, we have to shore that up and then we have to start producing the ball. I think we're covering the past really well but we're not producing the ball. And so, I don't care if it's fumbles, interceptions, what have you. We need to produce the ball."
