Linebackers coach Jason Tarver (9.16.23)
How good was it to see Sione (Takitaki) and A Walk (Anthony Walker) back on the field making plays on Sunday?
“Oh, that’s awesome. It’s great to see those guys. Proud of them. They’ve put in so much work. They’re in the buildings as much as us coaches, rehabbing their injuries, working together, how well they communicate. They communicated really well in that football game, and we expect that and need that from them again. You know number six (Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah), he changed his number. He had been out for a little while too, so it’s good to see all three of them.”
A Walk (Anthony Walker) talked during the week about (how) it’s almost a year from the injury. It’s Pittsburgh, it’s prime time, and it brought up some emotions for him. Have you seen that out of him this week?
“A Walk is the same every day. So, he is locked in. We just finished our meeting and he was the first one to answer a lot. And it’s a competition in that room, and that’s how we like it. So that’s who he is all the time. And each one of these [games], our goal is to go 1-0. So, the motivation to play each week in this league in that room, we’re getting it going. It’s where we need it to be, which is be the best we can be each week whenever they blow the whistle and put the ball down and start playing.”
What’s his (Anthony Walker) leadership style?
“Anthony, he’s amazing. He’s the son of a coach, so he’s been around coaches his whole life. So, what he has is a unique ability to talk to any human with any background. He’s special. So sometimes it might be pulling somebody aside one-on-one. Sometimes it might be to the whole group, ‘Hey, we’ve had enough of this. Let’s go.’ He’s got it all.”
Said he’s never blitzed that much before. I guess. Obviously, you guys like him in that role. So what makes him effective as a blitzer?
“Well, all our guys, what we want to do when we blitz is we want to get to their backfield as fast as we can. Like a lot of the things you’ve heard from Coach (Jim) Schwartz, what’s great about this defense is how fast and how direct we can hit things. And that’s our job. So, whatever’s on our line that we’re running, it’s our job to wreck whatever’s on that line, so to speak, with our hands and make plays. So, whenever we get the opportunity to rush as linebackers, we got to take advantage of it, because if we don’t run our line and wreck stuff, then Coach Schwartz is probably not going to call the call again. So, for all our guys, we need to make sure we’re attacking. When our number is called, we need to go and that’s the beauty of this defense is the number. We can be we can blitz from just about anywhere. It just depends on what Coach Schwartz pushes the button on. So, when you get your turn, you got to take advantage of that. And that’s fun as a player and as a coach to watch of course.”
JOK (Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah), in minicamp, you kind of challenged him a little bit, and you set forth some things that you wanted and needed him to do. Did he step up and meet that challenge?
“Yeah, there were two big things. The number one is get strong. He’s gotten stronger. His process of preparing his body is much better. And then the next thing is to be the same every day and really [to] be focusing on his craft every day. His notes have improved, his attention to detail on and off the field has improved, and his ability to make corrections between series on the sideline is going up. So hopefully – and we think he will stay on this process because where he is right now is exciting to watch. He’s playing fast, and he can even play faster as he continues to improve his process.”
A little surprised how quickly (Sione) Takitaki has gotten back and has been able to play so effectively.
“Like those guys, Anthony (Walker) and Tak, they’re amazing how hard they work. They make you happy to be associated with them as a person and as a coach, because everything they do is about getting back and getting their bodies ready and their minds ready to help their teammates make plays. And they’re both totally unselfish as well. So surprised not by how hard they work. They’re pros. The word is proud and just can’t wait to watch them play one week at a time and focus on it that way. So we like where they are and where they’re going.”
Talk a lot about Anthony’s (Walker) leadership, but how has (Sione) Takitaki grown in that realm?
“Well, we’ve talked a little bit. You’ve heard from me over the past – whatever year and a half, about how his progression is just amazing. When we got here, Sione’s rookie year was filled with injuries, right? So, when we got here and then we had the COVID offseason, so we’re on FaceTime and Zoom and all those I don’t even know if I know how to use Zoom anymore – no, I’m kidding. But just to watch him where he was really a Sam Will [linebacker] and just grew into being able to handle any position and being able to focus on any of the spots, and it just went like he just got better and better at it. And last year got his opportunity to be the full-time Mike, so now he can do all of it. And it’s really cool how he’s learned how to do that because in this and in anything when you’re learning, you got to figure out how you learn. Every person learns differently. And our job as a coach is to just help these guys. And what’s been cool is to watch Sione figure out how to lock in. It’s amazing. And when a person in any field learns how they learn and can lock in, then they’re ready for greatness. And Sione’s process, that’s been really cool to watch and help him along as good as I could.”
What kind of matchup issues does (Pat) Freiermuth present, especially for the linebackers?
“He’s strong and he’s got strong hands and he’s big and he’s got a good feel for where people are zone or man. So that can be where he can get into some things and maybe stop a route at a certain point in time, maybe sooner as he feels where people are and then he’s big enough to become a big target. So that’s really the challenge, is understanding how he sees coverages and where he’s going to move and know where we are on those coverages and then be able to break on the ball. We’ve worked a good amount of that against all tight ends, but also this week. So, say we’re in a zone, we got to know where he might stop. And then the quarterback, of course, has the ball. So, he takes us to it, but we’ve got to feel where he is. So that’s the challenge.”
With (Diontae) Johnson out. Do you expect that he’ll become an even more pronounced part of that passing game?
“They use both – three wide receiver groups with one tight end on the field and one back, and they also use a good amount of two receivers with two tight ends. And they drafted a tight end, so they have a few more tight ends. So, we expect to see both sets of those personnel groups and then moving people around because they do a good job of moving their people around.”
What are you concerned about with Kenny Pickett?
“He’s gotten better and better at his decision making and he knows how to read coverages and he’s played a lot of football. He’s an experienced guy, so he’s seen a lot of both. I’ll give you an example, of feeling where guys are in the pocket, he’s got a lot of reps of that. Sometimes quote, younger or less experienced quarterbacks don’t feel the pocket as well. He’s played a lot of football, so he’s got a good feel for those things. So that’s really the challenge is making sure that whatever the scheme is, whether we’re blitzing – don’t get me excited and talk about blitzing again – but whether we’re blitzing or whether we’re in our zones, we got to understand who he is, what he looks like on quicker throws, what he looks like on those things, and be ready to execute within the schemes.”
It’s going to be a challenge when obviously Pittsburgh did not play its best game against the Niners, right? So you guys are watching that. Is there any danger in just seeing that game and, oh my God, there’s all these flaws when you know that they’re probably a lot better than that?
“It’s Monday Night Football in Pittsburgh. What’s better than that? You know you’re going to get your best from every human that steps on that field. Players, coaches, officials, everyone. So, what happens in this league is next game, you got to play each game individually, okay. We need our passion on defense that we play with to even go up a level and our communication to go up a level each week. I mean, that’s the goal. But in this environment, we’re going to have to bring everything we got, alright, to play for as long as they tell us to play. So, I don’t think any of that really matters. It’s the Browns and the Steelers. We got to go. And we’re excited about it.”
How do you get to that level without a Juju Smith-Schuster or Ja’Marr Chase, you know, throwing a little log on the fire?
“Yeah. It’s about us. So internally, that’s where we really have to go to get where we want to get as a football team is to be able to bring that every single day. We’re about to go do our quote Friday practice on a Saturday, right? Because we’re on Monday night. And you can tell right now I’m getting ready to bring whatever we got each day. I think we’re learning how to do that. I really want to be able to prove that we’re better at that day in and day out, as a defense, as a linebacker core, as everything. But that’s the challenge. And when you reach that, then it’s just about yourself completely and how you prepare. And as I’ve been here for a while now, that’s the challenge here and that’s the challenge weekly. So, you’re hitting it on the head. I know that’s a coaching answer, but that is it. It’s how well you can direct your brain to focus on what you need to do each day as a unit and tie everybody together. I think we’re closer, but we need to go do that weekly.”
Do you agree with the run fits against Cincinnati and how important is that going to be? Because we talked a lot about (Kenny) Pickett and the passing game, but Najee Harris is also very capable.
“Oh, yeah. I don’t remember the stats, but he’s up there with missed tackles and things and he runs hard. He’s very patient. They do a really good job of picking guys to fit their scheme and who they are throughout their history. And he’s a patient runner and he’s big and he’s strong. So, to answer the first part question, fits last week, you’ve heard this from coach (Jim) Schwartz, you’ve heard it from me as well. The D line’s job or when we’re blitzing is to mess stuff up, right? And the job of everybody else behind the line of scrimmage is to fix it. We fixed most of it. We had a back-to-back series where a couple of runs got out, so of course we practice the heck out of those. But we need to better this week and that’s our goal is to better, making who’s ever rushing correct and working together to do that.”
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