Opening Statement:
"Thank you guys for coming and let's open it up for questions. I appreciate you guys being here."
On where the defense stands right now compared to where he thought they'd be:
"How the guys have taken on the ownership and the communication is kind of improving and we're much further than where we were in the spring, which is good. Guys have taken accountability and to see the progress has been encouraging."
On what sticks out to him on the field:
"Just the improvement of the fundamentals and techniques that we as coaches have been stressing and how those guys are going about their business on a day-to-day basis."
On the standard he set for this defense at the start of training camp:
"Definitely again, stressing the fundamentals and techniques, tackling, defeating blocks. Elite communication is one of our standards. Everyone's been on the same page, trusting in their brother next to them. And so, looking at that is what we've been, that's our standard and that's what we're working on, working towards."
On switching up their alignments and what it adds to the defense:
"It just gives a different front structure. So, your four-three, you have four down, and your three-four, you have your five down possibility. You can even show some reduced front structures with that. Just kind of trying to change the math upfront. There's five offensive linemen, so you don't wanna give anybody a playoff possibly, but that's just the thought process of it. Just occupying more gaps up front."
On the progression of some of the younger guys like LB Kain Medrano and LB Ale Kaho:
"Let's start with Ale. Ale's been good. He's made some plays out here, and as a young player, you can see how he's growing and maturing in his way. And the role that he has and how he's improving day-to-day has been very encouraging for him. And with Kane, you know, Kane missed the first part of camp. So, him having a different role, playing inside and outside for us, showing some versatility for us has been good for him and his development."
On OLB Joshua Josephs:
"Josh is, he's picking up the tutelage of [OLB] Coach [John] Pagano. But then also, he's surrounded by some good guys in that room. With [OLB] KC K'Lavon Chaisson and 'Doff' [OLB Odafe Oweh] and [DE] Dorrance [Armstrong], they're in his ear. He's watching those guys, he's learning from those guys. So, he's in a good group where he can kind of fast track a little bit some of the maturation process, but I like where he is so far."
On what he's looking to see from the one-on-ones:
"One, the technique and fundamentals. And I say that because we know that certain drills can be geared towards either side of the ball, right? And so, for the one-on-ones, it's really at a disadvantage. But what we're looking for our guys is the one to be close competing, having the proper footwork, great eye placement, not playing with their hands, but playing with their feet. I challenge them to just, if they're close enough and still competing in a one-on-one, but then you throw 20 other guys on that field, the timing changes. Maybe it's not a perfect throw and you have an opportunity. The biggest thing is I don't wanna see them winning without using technique. I wanna see them winning with technique. So, we're still stressing the techniques and fundamentals."
On players who have exemplified elite communication:
"There's always times when you see guys going in from, you know, we have some checks within the defense, and you can see guys communicating, getting us into one call, out of one call based off of what they're seeing and having that flexibility. But to do that, you gotta make sure everyone's on the same page. So, we call it the communication hub has to be in line with each other so that everyone gets to communication and on the same page. It's been good for us."
On players picking up what Jones is teaching them in the film room:
"As a coach, you just want to look at the progress, and see are we ascending in the right way when it comes to that? And again, it's not perfect by a long shot, but it's much better than where we were, so that means there's progress in that way. From a coach perspective, that's one of our evaluations in terms of where were we in the spring compared to first week of training camp to now? And from coaches, we wanna see that ascending course, so to speak. As long as we're not going backwards and we continue to move forward, then we're on the right path to getting to what we want eventually."
On how to correct a mistake:
"Oh, that's easy. You correct it, you make those corrections. You help the players understand why, right? A lot of what the teaching that you're referring to is those guys understanding why. Why am I making this call? Why does coach, why is coach making this call? What do we wanna get done? What are we trying to take away? And that helps us in the long run."
On if he wants to see LB Sonny Styles taking more chances:
"100 percent. You know, I thought, we've challenged him in that way. And you can see that times where he cuts it loose and you can really see that speed on tape. And that's just what most guys who are, one, young, right, and they're kinda still playing kinda tentatively a little bit. But then, letting that just let this go. I'd rather you go full speed and make a mistake than to be too slow and be right. [Laugh] You know? But that's just something that all young players, really any player has to learn their range of what they can and cannot do."
On the benefits of playing against an offense with a lot of motion:
"I mean, our offense is doing a great job giving us a lot of shifts in motion and we try to stress to our players just defensively, you know, football 101, motion causes emotion. And so, all that is trying to get the defense to kinda get rattled, get nervous. But if we just understand that motion causes emotion and our ability is to stay ahead of a call, that allows us to calm things down and be slower in our processing."
On his approach to teaching a new system:
"Yeah, that's actually goes back, I would say I would attribute that to my teaching in the Louisiana High School system. And so, in doing that and doing a lesson plan, when you create a lesson plan, you have to pretty much hit on everyone's learning style because everyone learns differently. And so, whether I'm an audio learner or a visual learner or I'm a read and write learner or kinesthetic learner, you gotta be able to tap onto each person's learning style within that lesson plan, so that everyone feels connected. And so, we try to do that as coaches so that you're hitting on every player in that room. And then you get out and you walk through and that's our process."
On if creating a system that 40 to 50 guys with different learning styles can understand is difficult:
"Yeah, of course it is [laugh]."
On which edge rushers have surprised him:
"Yeah we talked about, well, obviously you got KC and you got Doff, those guys. I don't know if that's surprising or not. There's some expectations there with those two guys. And then getting [DE] Dorance [Armstrong] back has been great for us as he continues to work his way back through. We talked about [LB] Josh [Joshua Josephs] earlier. I think that he's showing some things, but I would like to just, I think [LB Javontae] Jean-Baptiste has done a few things the last couple of days that's really caught your eye, and you can see his athleticism. And so, that room is continuing to grow and kind of like the depth in that room right now. So, I'm excited about the competition that's flowing in that room."
On what he likes the most about having joint practices:
"It goes whether it's another team or our, or our offense. You can never lose sight of the physicality of the game and the fundamentals of techniques. And so, what we'll be looking for as a staff is making sure our guys don't lose their mind and lose their techniques because there's another colored jersey across from them. That's where the time on task will come in and the maturity of our guys come together and just, 'Hey, listen, we don't know, we don't care who's in front of us. It's about what we're doing. Our assignments, our alignment, and our execution is what's most important'.
On his mindset heading into the joint practice and preseason game:
"Just want to see guys with great effort, guys competing and all while doing so with great effort, great technique, fundamentals is what we're looking for. The competition's gonna be there, so that'd be great for us to see. And just see who can do what, you know? It's not gonna be all this. We just wanna see, 'hey, who can line up, just play football, show some physicality' and that's a great, it'd be a great evaluation for us from a personnel standpoint."
On if he wants the secondary to have more takeaways during the joint practice:
"Well, that's a mindset, even if they're sitting in the locker room talking. [Laugh] We wanna have that creative, create takeaways in both practices. Our practices against each other, joint practices, games. It doesn't matter if you're on the grass, you gotta have a create takeaways mindset, no matter who you're going against."
On the competition at the linebacker position:
"Oh, I'm enjoying it. I'm enjoying it. You got guys of all ages, all experiences, and guys are just fighting their butts off, giving great effort, talking on the football field. And I love where that competition is in the room right now."
