Defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr. addressed the media before practice on Sept. 12. Here is a full transcript of the press conference.
Opening Statement:
"So, I'm going to start with talking about the last game and then I'll transition to the game that's coming up. Definitely didn't start the season the way that we wanted it to start it. Alot of our ills came from the inability to get off the field on third down. There's three major reasons that, that happened. The first one, losing leverage in certain situations. Then the times we did get to the quarterback, we didn't get him down. And then we had some communication issues. And all those areas, it's my responsibility to make sure that they don't happen. So, from a leverage, I got to make sure that they understand the leverage that with the defense that we call in the scheme. We get to the quarterback, we got to drill it better to make sure that when we hit him, hey, he goes down, he doesn't scramble and escapes and finds people. And then any communication errors, like I've said from the jump, it's our jobs as coaches to make sure that the players are not thinking, they're playing fast and they're on the same page. So, our inability to get off the field. We didn't create any turnovers. We had one real opportunity at one. We have to make those splash plays when we have them. And then towards the end of the game, I just didn't feel the speed that we talked about as much. And that's our responsibility to make sure we do a great job of rotating. We said we're going to roll with a deep crew, and we have to do that. And so going from week one to week two, transitioning to New York. Once again, you have another high pedigree quarterback, a guy that can really create with his feet, get outside the pocket and make you have to worry about him running and throwing the football. You look on their outside, they have real speed on the outside, a number of guys that can take the top off the coverage. 17 [WR Wan'Dale Robinson] in the slot. He's just really, really good. They use him in the back field, multiple ways. Trying to fill some of that with [Philadelphia Eagles RB] Saquon [Barkley] left, okay. They have a really good left tackle that can block anybody in the league. So once again, we have our work cut out for us and we have to make sure that we do our job. We make sure that we communicate at a high level, that we run and hit that when we have opportunity to make the plays, we make the plays. So, it wasn't the way that we wanted to start. And I'm not going to get into one game out of 17. You only have 17 opportunities, and we can't waste any opportunities. And so let's, let teams beat us. Let's not beat ourselves. We worked hard this week to get it corrected and that's what we're doing."
On if a slow defensive start is normal:
"I don't, I don't expect them, okay. I don't expect to have the communication mistakes that we had. We hadn't made them. I don't expect them. The standard is the standard, it's game one, game 17. We talked about putting them in stressful situations, which we have, and when we get in game stadiums, 'Okay, we got to communicate the same way that we do in the practice field.' So, I got to do a better job of demanding it and I hear it the way that it should be said in the walkthroughs and in practice. And then hopefully that translates to the game because that's the only thing that matters. We did it really well in practice, in the walkthroughs. We didn't do it in the game, so I have to do a better job of making sure that they do it in the game."
On if the lack of speed is based on players not being quite sure how to react to a play:
"No, no, no. We knew what they were going to do. That's when I said, make them beat you and not beat yourself. And I give all the credit to Tampa, alright. They executed, [Tampa Bay Buccaneers QB] Baker [Mayfield] had a really good game and all that. But the mistakes we made, and not completing some of those plays helped them along with how the score got to where it was. So, make them beat us, alright. Don't give them any help. They don't need help."
On how to improve in-game communication:
"Just like I said, demanding it. And the walkthroughs, making sure I stood way back. The walkthrough we just had, and I told them, 'I'm way back here. I got to hear it. So, you have to scream, it has to be loud.' I don't want to have one player to say I didn't get it. So, communication is sent, received, and acknowledged, okay. It's not only, 'I said it' is not good enough. You have to make sure he's received it, he's acknowledged it, and now we're on the same page. That's the key part of it's just making sure that we're doing it, and not taking anything from granted, which we didn't. But when you don't get the results that you're expecting or you have to look at what you're doing to make sure that you're doing the right thing. And we definitely didn't get the results that we were expecting. The first thing I did was come back and looked at our process, look at myself and how can we help these men go out there and play better? And that's our job."
On the cause of the leverage problems:
"It was a myriad of things. It was sometimes we slightly lined up the outside when we should have been inside, or let a guy cross our face where we shouldn't have in certain defenses. So, if we have outside leverage defense, all right, they can't beat us outside. We have inside leverage defense, they can't beat us across our face unless it crosses the center. I'm not going to get into the details of the coverages, but at the end of the day we have to be where we're supposed to be, and that's my job."
On how CB Benjamin St-Juste and CB Emmanuel Forbes Jr. have reacted to their performances:
"This is going to be continued, win, lose after we flush it we don't hang our head on it anymore. You can't let one loss, or one situation beat you twice. So, I haven't talked to them about any of that, just to be honest with you. We're professionals, they're professionals. I expect them to get into this New York game plan and make sure that the same mistakes that we made in the first week can't show up this week. And if it rears its head, because I will say this, the plays that we gave up and the guys' got to understand this, when you put that on film people are going to test it. And so we got to make sure it's sured up or we're going to keep seeing it."
On if the level of tackling in Week 1 was to his liking:
"No, it wasn't. It wasn't. We missed more tackles than I was anticipating. We were a step short. And that's one thing that we're talking about, take the extra step. There was a play on the sideline. We had two of our real good players miss a tackle, and it shouldn't happen. I mean, we got to take an extra step and when I say it shouldn't happen, that means we have to do a better job. And practice these days you don't go to the ground. So, we have to make sure we're getting our bodies in position, every practice running to the ball, getting the bodies in position to get people on the ground. So no, it wasn't to the standard."
On his process evaluating tape following a game:
"The first thing when we get on the plane, I just go through the game. Thinking about the calls, were the calls appropriate for the situations? You're never going to necessarily be perfect. Were there any calls that went in there slowly or not? And then you go back, and I watch it a second time, and I'm watching the levels of, 'Alright, how's the technique being played within the call?' And then come back again, watch it before I watch it with the other coaches and the performances of the players. And then I'll watch it with the coaches, and they'll tell me what they thought of the performance of their players. And then we get with the players, and we have what we call "tell the truth Monday." And I'll start with myself, 'Alright, I might have missed this call, I might have done this,' whatever. Whatever it was, we're going to tell the truth and then I'll ask them, 'Alright, what leverage did we say we were going to play here? Alright, why didn't you play it? Okay, what technique did we say we're going to do here?' And it's an uncomfortable meeting, because we got to get to the bottom of it and it's been that through my whole career. And hopefully we get to the bottom of it."
On how he got to that process following games:
"It's a little bit refined over time, but like I said last week I learned a lot from my dad, and I think you just be upfront and be honest with players and they will respect that. And I don't really go for getting into separate rooms. We do it all as a group, the whole defense. And when you get in separate rooms, the [defensive line] will say, 'Oh, it was a secondary's fault.' So, the secondary will say it was linebacker's fault. No, we're all in here together, we're all listening to everybody's mistakes. Because we went out there and put that out there together, right? We didn't do it separately. And so we listen to it together, we talk, we make sure we're all on the same page. If there's any issues, we try to hash it out and then we move on to the next opponent. That's how we do it every week."
On his communication from the box during games:
"Well, we have a number of coaches on the field that I'm always talking to them. First is, how's the energy on the side? That's what I'm always asking. 'How's the energy? How are they doing?' Even when they hit a play or we make a play, and then if I see that a mistake was made or what was said, what was communicated, we have the phone, we can call down or we can put the headset on. So, whenever I want to talk directly to a player, I do. I'm constantly talking to [LB] Bobby [Wagner] through the headset. So that's how the communication, that's how it works. And we have a good system from that standpoint, really trust the men that are on the field. [Defensive Pass Game Coordinator] Jason Simmons does just an outstanding job of disseminating the information that I want the players to get from that standpoint."
On WR Malik Nabers:
"Well, I've seen him not just this one game, but he's a just a really talented young man that can stretch the field. He can get in and out of breaks, he can bend, has a really good catch radius. So, he's a good player. He's going to be a challenge."
On if the speed decrease in Week 1 was more mental or physical:
"I think it wasn't mental. I don't think that we wilted or anything like that from that standpoint. I think that we just have to do a better job of getting more bodies in there and roll the deep crew that we talked about."
On bringing his success in Dallas against the New York Giants to Washington:
"Oh, we just have to do our job running the defense. And the defense is not exactly the same that we ran in Dallas, but some calls do translate, and we just have to make sure when he is ready to escape, we know where he wants to escape. We know how we're going to pull him up, we can send him, where we want to send him and if we execute the calls properly, we should have good results. If we don't, we will be in the same place that we are right now."
