00:00Just in the last hour, hour and a half, the coordinators both have talked.
00:05It's coordinator day, defensive coordinator, offensive coordinator, both talk on Thursdays.
00:10The head coach doesn't.
00:12We'll get something from the head coach tomorrow.
00:15Durante Jones obviously did not have a great day, or his defense, I should say, did not have a great
00:23day.
00:23And so hearing from him is something I was interested in listening to.
00:30And we've got a few cuts from Durante Jones, who spoke first today.
00:34This was Durante Jones on evaluating his secondary issues.
00:41With the secondary coverage and all that, obviously, I'm sure there's some breakdowns, whoever's the blame is whatever.
00:47But when you look at that, how are you evaluating what you're asking them to do?
00:51And maybe is at times you wonder, are you putting in too much too soon?
00:55Or is it just a matter of maybe getting a couple of things cleared up and it's going to go?
00:58Yeah, I think it starts with the communication, obviously.
01:02And looking at the communication and why is there breakdowns in the communication, obviously, looking at, okay, what do we
01:08have in?
01:08How do we limit that?
01:10Let's take some of those things off our guy's plate so that they can just line up and play fast.
01:15But regardless of what you have in, you know, little or a lot, the emphasis on the communication has to
01:23be there.
01:24And that's what we've been preaching this week in terms of the urgency and getting that communication there.
01:28And so that communication, as you know, between cornerbacks and safeties are very much like a center guard tackle, offensive
01:37line communication.
01:38And when there is a breakdown of that communication, negative plays can occur.
01:42And that's what we had last week, unfortunately, too many times.
01:45All right, there was a follow-up to that on who's making, you know, or where the communication breakdowns are.
01:54That's 0-3, Max.
01:55Play that one.
01:57Hey, Durante.
01:58With regards to the communication.
02:00Yes, sir.
02:01Is that more like when the call is coming in, relaying it to everybody?
02:05Is that as you're seeing what the offense is moving out to line up, recognizing where we need to move?
02:11What is the aspect of the communication?
02:13It's more the layers within.
02:15And so the call goes in, guys get the call.
02:18And then within that, it's, okay, what communication do we make amongst each other?
02:23So it's not really so much, hey, what's the call?
02:26Like it's not the overall call communication.
02:28It is the layers within the call.
02:30So if we're playing a form of cover two, you know, who's in the squat, who's in the deep half,
02:35that type of communication.
02:36If we are playing man-to-man coverage, for example, what man tool are we working?
02:41Are we locking it or are we working it in and out?
02:44Those layers are where the communication lacked.
02:50I don't know if you guys followed that.
02:54But cover two, who's got back and who's coming up?
02:59I mean, with the two safeties that have played, Nick Cross isn't going to play.
03:03They've run a lot of what they call inverted cover two.
03:06We've seen a lot of that in the NFL in recent years where they actually don't show cover two.
03:12We saw Jeremy Reeves on a play Sunday as an example where he's at the line of scrimmage.
03:19And then pre-snap, he sprints back.
03:22Now, Dak saw it, and it wasn't the most subtle.
03:26But it's the same thing that Harrison Smith in Minnesota would do.
03:30You'd see him at the line of scrimmage and then pre-snap, he'd sprint back.
03:35So they actually have, they're not in cover two, but then pre-snap, they flip it and they are with
03:42a safety going backwards.
03:44You can do it the other way as well.
03:46The man thing, I forget the term he used, in and out or locking, I think.
03:51Locking is, you're staying with one guy.
03:53In and out is, for the lack of a better description, you're switching.
03:57You know, like you would in basketball on a pick.
04:00So, they have had, he's telling you, and certainly it was very obvious in the Dallas game.
04:08They were having communication issues.
04:11I have a feeling, he didn't name a player there.
04:15I have a feeling there were a couple of things at work.
04:19Suter pointed out that Chennaul had some issues in communication.
04:24And maybe Lou Vu would have been a better fit there on Sunday in Dallas.
04:30But he's not, you know, he may not play Sunday against Seattle either.
04:34And then Suter pointed out, he said, Nick Cross is outstanding in the box.
04:40But he is struggling in coverage.
04:44And then he talked about Sandra Still and Douglas and some of the others.
04:47He actually, I think, likes Amik Robertson.
04:50This was Durante Jones on, you know, is there a leash that shortens up with players, lineup changes?
04:59I don't know who asked this question, and I haven't heard the question.
05:01But I'm assuming it's, you know, when do you finally make the decision to kind of pull somebody from the
05:09lineup?
05:10I know you guys have a lot of substitutions for different personnel reasons.
05:13But when it comes to performance, what's the threshold for you when it comes to potentially making lineup changes, even,
05:18you know, going into a game, but also during a game if there's a player that isn't performing to the
05:22level that you need?
05:24Yeah, that's always a touchy topic.
05:28And because you're, you got to, one, assess why are those mistakes occurring?
05:34And is it, maybe he's just out of it that particular game, or maybe there's a communication aspect of it.
05:40So what may appear to be this player's fault could be some underlining factors involved.
05:45And maybe there's a communication breakdown.
05:47Maybe he was playing what someone else gave him or things like that.
05:50So you got to first dive into why is it happening.
05:53And then if it's become a player like, hey, this guy's just, you know, not doing what we're asking him
05:58to do, then you may have to make a personnel change in that regards.
06:03And so that's always a flowing situation.
06:08And it could change case by case and person by person and situation by situation.
06:12So it's one of those things you got to assess that throughout the game and see, do we need to
06:16make a change here?
06:16Is this guy struggling? Can we help him struggle in one's way, shape, or form?
06:21And if the help and all that still doesn't, then you have to make a personnel change.
06:24But that's also part of that evaluation through the week and in the game as well.
06:28Especially because you're basing off of what you saw during the week.
06:32He's like, okay, this guy has it. He's doing these different things.
06:34Or it was a communication.
06:36But then you got to also assess that throughout the game and make the decision.
06:39I mean, obviously, Mike Sanders still is on everybody's mind as that question is being asked.
06:45And we talked about it was exactly a week ago, I think, based on Durante Jones talking about Sandra still.
06:51And, you know, it certainly wasn't a leap.
06:56But there was almost zero chance that he wasn't going to be reduced in snap count, which he was.
07:04You know, he played basically every snap but one against Philadelphia.
07:09And then against Dallas, Sandra still played fewer snaps.
07:17He was out there for far fewer snaps than he was in the Philadelphia game.
07:22So, and we saw more of Douglas getting snaps in the game.
07:28No Fabian Moreau snaps.
07:29But Sandra still was 10 or 11 snaps short of what he was last week, percentage-wise and otherwise.
07:36So, we'll see what happens this week.
07:38You know, you have to have solutions for a player that's not playing well.
07:43Like, there's got to be, the solution has to be better than the player you're pulling.
07:49And they don't have a lot of options right now.
07:53Fabian Moreau's been in the system.
07:55But they haven't played him one defensive snap in the first two games.
08:00He's played special team snaps.
08:03Let me just see how many special team snaps he played last week.
08:09Yeah, he played four special team snaps.
08:13No defensive snaps in the game.
08:17You know, really, if you look at where the snaps came from as Sandra still got reduced,
08:24probably as much from Quan Martin as it was with Rasul Douglas.
08:30But they don't have a lot of options right now.
08:33It's Douglas getting more snaps.
08:37And Suter didn't think he played very well on Sunday.
08:41Or it's Fabian Moreau getting more defensive snaps.
08:46This was Durante Jones on the challenge of Jackson, Smith, and Jig.
08:53And to go from facing a couple of really good receivers that Dallas has to now facing Jason,
08:58what is sort of the challenge that poses him?
09:00And what do you see in Jason that makes him really difficult to cover?
09:04Well, he's special.
09:05You know, he has a way to catch the ball all over the field.
09:09In terms of he can obviously take the top off the coverage.
09:12He's led the league in explosive last year with 29.
09:15And so he provides that.
09:17But he also provides a level of finding space and underneath the coverage.
09:20And so premium awareness is one of the things we're harping on.
09:23And you've got to know where these guys are at all times.
09:26And everyone, not just secondary, defensive linemen, linebackers,
09:29everyone has to know where he is because he can break the game wide open.
09:32And so just been focusing.
09:34That's part of the communication.
09:36Hey, where is he?
09:37Let's try to find out where he is.
09:38And so guys can communicate accordingly.
09:41And then, again, helping with that.
09:45Having the attention of it can also, you know,
09:48maybe have the coverage aspects like, you know, where is he?
09:51Let me work a little bit wider.
09:52Let me get off my spot a little bit more just so I can insulate that a little bit better.
09:57I'll tell you what, man.
09:58On paper, this does not look like a favorable matchup for Washington.
10:02You know, their best offensive player against our biggest weakness defensively.
10:08The secondary.
10:10And then with Marcus Mariota in the game against, right now, one of the best defenses in the league.
10:18And good defensively everywhere.
10:21This has to be a step-up game defensively.
10:25They've got to figure out.
10:27I'm assuming they're going to double the crap out of JSN.
10:30And try to take him away from Drew Locke.
10:35But the thing is, if it's Drew Locke or Darnold, you have got to get pressure.
10:41Have to get pressure this week.
10:43You know, Darnold's never done well with pressure.
10:48With relentless pressure and hitting him.
10:51He did better last year.
10:53He did.
10:53But remember some of the issues in Minnesota he had the year before,
10:56especially in the playoff game against the Rams.
10:59And then Locke, you've got to make him feel you.
11:03This has to be a game in which you're able to hit the other quarterback over and over again.
11:08Because if you're doubling JSN, well, then it's Shahid.
11:14Then it's their backs.
11:15Then it's tight ends.
11:17That game last year, my God, people were so wide open.
11:21Those back-to-back games last year against Seattle and Detroit were truly some of the worst defensive games in
11:28franchise history.
11:29In terms of consecutively.
11:31I mean, they just couldn't get the other team off the field.
11:36Man, it's hard to run it against Seattle this week.
11:40The quarterback's going to have to be quick, too.
11:43It's going to have to be coming out quickly.
11:47I think they can do it.
11:49Sure, why not?
11:49It's the NFL.
11:50But, man, this isn't one of those matchups where it sets up for a shocker.
Comments