Washington Commanders defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr. addressed the media before practice on Jan. 2. Here is a full transcript of the press conference.

Opening Statement:

"Just talk about last week's game just for a second, then we'll get going. Got some meetings I got to get to, so let's see if we can get this thing quickly. It was good to get the win. Didn't necessarily start it the right way, but made some adjustments and got the guys playing better in the second half. Like I said, it's always good to get the win. It would've been better, and I sort of sounded like a broken record a little bit, we didn't get it, that fourth and 13 in the call that we wanted to get into. The ball should not be able to be thrown, in the interior two, the ball should have to go outside. Quarterback made a hell of a throw, alright. Tight end made a nice catch and so, we got to make sure we play it better. But 11 wins, that's where we are. See if we can get 12 this week against Dallas. They came in here a couple weeks ago, that's our last loss, and they beat us. They played hard and they came in and did what they needed to do. So, hopefully we go down and make sure we take care of our business and do what we need to do."

On the impact DT Jonathan Allen made against Atlanta:
"Yeah, in the second half, that's the first thing we did. We used the three tackles to shore up the run. We needed bigger bodies out there and that's what we did. The d-line, they played up and down from the standpoint of our aiming points and hitting our blocks and being aligned where exactly the defense tells us to be aligned. So, I don't necessarily want to talk about JA [Allen] in particular, but as a group that's what we got to make sure we do."

On the defensive players who aren't big time names but playing well late in the season:
"Yeah, we talked about from day one rolling with a deep crew and as a coach, and I think back to my first time really coaching when I was coaching at the Citadel, receivers. And I had a true freshman walk-on that played. I don't care about who gets paid what and where you come from, as long as you're on the team and if you produce and you practice better than the other guy, you're going to go out there and play, alright. Unless somebody comes and tells me, 'Hey, this guy's going to play.' And that rarely happens. And so, Noah's [CB Noah Igbinoghene] played well, [DT] Sheldon [Day], [DE] Jalen [Holmes], those guys. [DT] Carl [Davis], when he had his opportunities, I thought he really hit blocks and the run production was lower when he was playing. He had thought he played really well. And so, we rolled with a deep crew and that's the reason. And everybody that goes out there has a role, and they're owning their roles."

On the cornerback play without CB Marshon Lattimore:
"It was, I guess about like the D line, it was a little bit inconsistent. We're going to work a rotation this week and if we have Marshon, that'd be great. If we don't, we'll have a couple guys that we'll give a look to and try to do some things coverage wise. But like I said, until you stop the run it's hard to do things outside from a coverage standpoint. And we got to do a better job of stopping the run and that will help everybody else."

On how surprised he is that the run defense is still an issue:
"Now I don't know about surprise, but I'm not happy about it. I'll tell you that. We need to get it fixed. Playoff football, you have to stop the run. You have to run the ball and stop the run."

On Igbinoghene's play this season: *"Noah played really solid all year. I mean, he's played physical. He's sticky in coverage. He has a couple fouls that he has to get out. He grabs sometimes when he doesn't need to. He's always been in good position. He had the interception taken away last Dallas game and then he should have had another one, probably that game as well. But I think he's played really, really well inside. And he's given us the ability to keep [CB] Mikey [Sainristil] outside as well because of the physicality and how he's played."
* On how LB Frankie Luvu and LB Bobby Wagner's time off the field has helped them on the field:
"Well, I think they play as a unit. Those two guys play off each other. They can look at each other and understand what they want to do. Especially with all the pit games and the different ways that we run them. I give them the freedom to, on some of our pressures, if they want to change who shows down and who's going to pick and who's, I give them the freedom to change it up. And they do a nice job. And so, they're not selfish because the guy that will be getting free for the sack, they switch that up. They're never selfish about who that person's going to be. So, they work as a tandem."

On his main focuses to improve the run defense:
"The main focus, making sure that we are aligned exactly where we supposed to. We're staying in front of blocks. If we're getting swap runs, we understand if it's going to a two by two to a three by one, we're in our gaps. We're not allowing fast motion to get us out of our gaps. And then on the edges, if it's a crack replace, we're replacing, we're not staying back there deep. We're coming up with great eye control. So, it is not that difficult, we just got to get it done. We got to get it done. We got to play the run like we've been playing the pass."

On what he's seen on tape from Dallas' offense:
"Oh, I mean, they've put [Dallas Cowboys WR KaVontae] Turpin in CeeDee's [Dallas Cowboys WR CeeDee Lamb] role. Turp is, you saw what he did on the kickoff return against us last time. He's fast, he's tough, he can run routes. I thought he's a guy that, when we were there in the past, that could be used more. I like Turp a lot. And now you get, they didn't have [Dallas Cowboys WR] Brandin [Cooks] last time. They have Brandon. He's a guy that's very fast and can catch the ball right now. Run screens, get vertical, can stretch the defense. So, they have those guys on that, on the perimeter that can do those. And then, Rico's [Dallas Cowboys RB Rico Dowdle] running the ball really, really hard. He's running hard, running violent. They have [Dallas Cowboys G] Tyler Smith back who I think is one of the best guards in football. He's back, he didn't play against us last time, so they pull him a lot. And then they're able to get Rico behind him. So, they're going to come in and run Mike's [Dallas Cowboys Head Coach Mike McCarthy] offense and do what they do. We don't know which quarterback we'll get, but we will figure it out when we see him."

On if he believes in gaining momentum with a win in Week 18 heading into the playoffs:
"Yes."

On how important the momentum is to him:
"When I was fortunate enough to win a Super Bowl, we won our last two games and then we went on and won. I think it's important, but at the same time, when you get into the next tournament you'll handle each game at a time, but you always want to go in with a win. Like you just, positive vibes come with winning, you know what I'm saying? And so, I think it's important for us to do that."

On the balance of getting players healthy for the playoffs and wanting to win against Dallas:
"Oh, that's not my job. That's Dan's [Head Coach Dan Quinn] job. He's the one that handles that."

On how he'll call the defense on Sunday:
"I'm going to call it the win, I mean, we need to win this football game, period. That's what it is, it's a divisional game. It's the Dallas Cowboys, we keep the six seed, we need to win this football game. So, everything else doesn't really matter. From my standpoint, we're going to do everything we can to win this football game."

On working with Dallas Cowboys QB Trey Lance and on the possibility of facing him on Sunday:
"Trey's a high pedigree guy and he's really a good dude. I like being around him and if he comes out, we know that he's going to have the ability to use his legs a little bit more than [Dallas Cowboys QB] Cooper [Rush]. And that's what we may have to make sure we're going to prepare for. The pass game's going to be very similar if it's Cooper or Trey. But the ability that Trey has with running the ball, he makes it a little bit more difficult for that standpoint."