Washington Commanders defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr. addressed the media before practice on Nov. 7. Here is a full transcript of the press conference.
Opening Statement:
"Alright, let's start with the last game and then I'll talk about our new addition and then we'll answer any questions. Get into with the Giants. I thought we started off the game correctly. I think we've started off the last couple games, the right way. We're not giving up a lot of points. The first quarter, first half, second half, they hit some plays on us. We gotta shore up the run. The one disappointing play was at the end where the tight end hit the ball up the seam. That was a check where Baltimore hit the same touchdown, I think [Baltimore Ravens TE Mark] Andrews up the seam. Same check. That won't happen again because I took that check out because apparently, we don't execute it well enough. Alright. So, and it was just, it was frustrating that happened. The points should have been at a minimum. And we let them get seven there where they shouldn't have. The guys, the style that we want to play is still run and hit, and that did come to life. I thought [S] Jeremy Chen just played an outstanding football game. He was all over the place. It was needed. And, so now, we have to transition to Pittsburgh and as we transition to Pittsburgh, everybody knows we have [CB] Marshon [Lattimore] with us now. And we're excited to have him. Man, I've watched this guy since he came outta college. He's just, he's a dog, right? And I watched his interview yesterday and he talked about his dog mentality and that's what he is. He goes out there and fight. He get up there and press, he'll challenge anybody. So, he is a great addition. And then also what's been just a really nice thing to see is the other guys in the building be excited for him to be there. I didn't know if I was going to see some guys with their heads down because you bring in a talent like this, some other guys might say, 'Well, I'm going to lose opportunity'. And they might be saying that, I don't know, alright. But that's the business, but nobody's acting that way. And so that's a credit to DQ [Head Coach Dan Quinn] and AP [General Manager Adam Peters] and the brotherhood and the culture that's being set here. That everybody is bringing them in, helping him, teaching him, talking to him. And as soon as we can get him out there, we will. When that will be, I don't know. Okay. So, please don't ask me because I don't know when that will be, but as soon as we can, we will with that. Any questions?"
On the challenge of incorporating Lattimore's play style into the defense:
"Well, that's part of what we want to do. We want to be a hands-on, get up and challenge, lower his completion rate. But the difficult thing for him because he's what, eight years in the league so far? He's played, he's been with a lot of coaches. He's been with [Jacksonville Jaguars Defensive Backs Coach] Kris Richard, he's been with [Detroit Lions Defensive Coordinator] Aaron Glenn, [New Orleans Saints Defensive Coordinator] Joe Woods, great coaches, now he's with [Defensive Pass Game Coordinator] Jason Simmons, okay. And so, it's really the terminology. Learning a different terminology. Scheme is scheme, right? People play cover three. You got your zone cover three, your three match, alright? Your zoning, your pressures or you're matching your pressures. It is, it's all the same. It's just the terminology. So that's really, really has to get to. And then some of the just final reduction checks that might be different in each place."
On the trickle-down effect of adding a talented player like Lattimore to the defense:
"I'm, you know, how it affects other players, I tell you each week we're going to play the guys that gives us the best chance to win. So, I'm not worried about a trickle-down effect there. We put people in position each week. Let's say Marshon's not here, it would be the same way. So, from that standpoint, the style that we want to play, we want to play an aggressive style of ball. And that's what he is. And I just like the mentality that he plays with, what he brings to the room from a mindset of, 'I'm going to get after you. I'm going to get up and challenge you. If you beat me, alright, you going to have to beat me again'. He's never going to, back off. That's what I really like. And I think that's what will add to that room where we do have some young players that haven't necessarily been in some of those hard battles. He's battle tested against really good players."
On Lattimore's impact on the pass rush:
"Well, let's not neglect what the guys that here have done, okay. Alright, I think the only thing that we haven't done is intercept the ball, okay. I think we're fifth in pass defense, those guys that have been covering, and the sacks that we've had, yes, we've won some uptime. But some of them are cover sets, so let's not act like [CB Benjamin St-] Juste, and [CB] Mikey [Sainristil] and [CB] Noah [Igbinoghene] and [S Jeremy] Chinn and those guys haven't been playing solid ball, alright? They have, so one guy's not going to come and just change all that. He's added to what we're doing. He's not going to make us be what we're going to be. He's added to the group and we're excited to have him, but I'm not going to sit here and, and discard the guys that we have, I'm happy that we have. Alright, so let's not do that."
On DT Jer'Zhan Newton and on his progression moving forward:
"Yeah, Johnny's just each day, man, he's getting better. The explosion is really what you see, the power for a guy that you might not think is as big. He has power, he has not back. He's a sponge. He listens to everything that [Defensive Line Coach Darryl] Tapp and [Assistant Defensive Line Coach] Sharrif [Floyd] and [Assistant Linebackers and Pass Rush Specialist Coach Ryan] Kerrigan give him. So I think you're just starting to see, and he's really getting his legs back under him into really football shape. So hopefully we can give him a little bit more plays or we like to keep those guys on the pitch counts just so they're fresh in the fourth. But, he's, I've been pleased with where he's going."
On how Sainristil and Igbinoghene's positions will change when Lattimore is healthy:
*"You know, and I thought about that as soon as I found out that we were acquiring him. And then I said, why even worry about it right now until he gets out there, right? Because somebody could get injured, somebody could play really, really well. Some, you never know what might happen. And so, once it gets to the point where he's going to be out there, we'll put him where he needs to be and then we'll adjust the other guys where they need to be."
*
On the leadership Chinn brings to the secondary as a whole:
"A good question. I think he, with him playing for [Defensive Pass Game Coordinator] Jason Simmons in Carolina there, Jason already told me what the guy, what he was. And so, and I saw that initially early. He's smart. He's quiet. And so, I had to get him to be more vocal with the calls because he is so smart, he can help everybody around him. Now what you're seeing is the ability to help the people around him and play fast and make plays himself, which he did in the Giants game. So, I've been pleased with what he's doing and the ability to cover the tight end. The ability to, we're going to send him in rush. He's tackling well. But when did I actually see it? It's probably the last three or four weeks where he started to really come out vocally and say, 'Hey, this is my secondary and you guys have to follow me'."
*On his impression of Lattimore early in his career and on how his game has evolved: *"It was pretty much the same. I thought he was a guy that because I think they had another guy, was it [Former NFL CB Gareon] Conley? And then [Cleveland Browns CB] Denzel [Ward] was the year behind him. And so, it's so long ago. But he was just a guy that got up there and challenge and that's what I, and then Green Bay, that's all we did. We pressed all the time. That's all we did. We got up and pressed and challenged everything. And so, that's what he is. And I like the fact that in this league, you're going to get beat at times. And then if he does get beat, he does not shy away. He gets right back up there, and he does it again and he does it again and he does it again. And that's what it takes in this league to be a really good corner and just have that dog mentality, and he has that."
On any specific moments of Lattimore's dog mentality:
"I can't really pinpoint any of them other than just his style of play really, I think is an all-encompassing of what he is. He gets up there and you see him fighting, you see him challenging, tackling all aspects of being a complete corner. Yeah."
*
On how the return of Pittsburgh Steelers C Zach Frazier impacts the Steelers' offensive line:
*"I think it's going to help. I was looking at some of their interviews yesterday and him being healthy, and they do a nice job of knocking people off the ball, and they get, they do so much 13 personnel, I think more 13 personnel than anybody in the league. So, our big people are going to have to play big and physical. One thing we like to say is it's going to be a physical game for the only reason because we're in it, but that's how they think too. I know how [Pittsburgh Steelers Head Coach] Mike [Tomlin] thinks. They want to be a physical bunch, so it's going to be fun. But they're going to try to knock us off the ball and we're going to attempt to do the same thing."
On the balance between focusing on the Steelers' tendencies and anticipating what Pittsburgh Steelers WR Mike Williams brings:
"Well, and them coming off a bye, so there's going to be some out scouted looks because they did some self-scout stuff. And the always, when you come off a bye, you have some new wrinkles. He gives them somebody opposite 14 [Pittsburgh Steelers WR George Pickens that can go vertically up the field. And so now boom, its shots on both sides for [Pittsburgh Steelers QB] Russell [Wilson]. And what does Russell do best? He throws the deep ball really, really well. He has done that for a long time. Just throw the ball outside the numbers and now they can put guys, they can go 12 personnel and put guys outside, block it up and give them shot opportunities on both sides where there's 50-50 balls. And that is, that is a problem."
*On the strengths in Pittsburgh's offense at quarterback: *"Well, Russell for a long time, he's a guy that plays on time, okay. He can get outside of the pocket. He can, he doesn't run as much as he used to, but he still can create and get the ball where he wants to. Like I talked about, he's very accurate outside the numbers. He understands the run checks and how to if he sees a look that he doesn't like how to get them into the right run. So, he's a smart quarterback. [Pittsburgh Steelers QB] Justin [Fields], he's smart as well, very athletic. They can, they probably pull him and run him more like the Giants did with [New York Giants QB] Daniel [Jones]. You have to really concern yourself with his feet. But it's really a whole offense that [Pittsburgh Steelers Offensive Coordinator] Arthur [Smith] wants to run. They're a run first play action, let's shoot the ball up the field and control it and play to their defense. They were really good defense."
On shoring up the between tackles runs:
"Well, the runs that really have hurt us, I'm not going to say necessarily been necessarily right in between the tackles, it's been really pull schemes where they're pulling or tossing or cracking and getting the ball on the edge. So, what we gotta do is play it like we have been playing the screens, okay? You have to set the edge, you have to have a funnel, you have to have inside support, inside pursuit coming. And we have to do a better job of that across the ball. And then you have to up the block in front of you also. And so schematically, we could put more hats in there, which we have. But at sometimes when you have a top receiver on the outside, [New York Giants WR Malik] Nabers, I know he still had nine catches, I believe, but I think it was like for 59 yards or something. He didn't have the ride at the catch. You gotta have a hat on a guy like that. So sometimes that lightens the box. And, when we do lighten the box, we have to whip a block."
*On if the Steelers game gets him more excited from a game style perspective: *"No, I get excited for every game. I mean, this is an opportunity that we only get seven of these guaranteed opportunities. And so, we look at every week the same as championship week, right? So, this is the game, this is the show, this is what we're all about, this is how we're going to get down. So, it's fun because it's the next one."
On the advantage of listening to other teams' press availabilities:
"I think I said that when I first came up here, when we first took the job. When you listen to other people, they might give you something. And so that's why I'm cautious of what I say here, because I don't want to give them something. And so, but I always, I've listened to Mike Tomlin one because he's been a big influence for me. I watch his Tuesday every year, right? And then the opponent that we're playing, I watch the players to see what they say, watch the coaches, the offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, see what they say. He might get something, or you might not, but it's part of it. It's part of the process."
