S John Johnson III (11.11.21)
On defensive coordinator Joe Woods talking about the unit being more aggressive recently and if that could be the case moving forward:
“I think so. There is more than one way to skin a cat. As far as early in the year, you kind of have to feel your way through things. You need games like this, trial and error and see what works and see what does not work, especially with so many new guys on defense. Whatever works. I feel like different weeks require different schemes and different techniques. We have the guys to do it. (CBs) Greg Newsome (II) and Denzel (Ward) have shown they can cover pretty much anybody, challenge pretty much everybody and compete with anybody. Moving forward, we just have to keep our foot on the pedal and stay in attack mode.”
On LB Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah and Owusu-Koramoah’s ability to deal with the adversity of missing time on the field since training camp:
“He is one of those guys it is just put him out there, and whatever spot you put him, he is going to make plays. He is like a heat-seeking missile. He is going to pursue to the ball relentlessly. That is the biggest thing that jumps out to me. Athletically, he is second to none at that position. He is strong. He is fast. He knows how to tackle. He has good angles to the ball. He is just one of those guys you put him on the field, and you can’t go wrong. He has had the injuries and stuff like that, and he is a rookie and had to deal with things like that, but it just shows how he was brought up and his Notre Dame situation. A complete player. A great talent. We just need him out there to make our defense a whole lot better.”
On how Owusu-Koramoah looks in practice this week:
“He looked good. I think he did not want to over-do it. He is definitely full speed. I feel like he can play. He looks good.”
On how his role on defense has changed in recent weeks:
“We change up things a lot of different ways. Sometimes I am to the field. Sometimes I am to the boundary. Sometimes I am with the nickel. Sometimes I am away from the nickel. Sometimes I am rotated down. In certain disguises, we want to have gray alignments to throw the quarterback off. They feel like sometimes I am better off in that position because they do not know where I am going to play. (S) Ronnie (Harrison Jr.) is usually down so if you put me in a gray alignment, it is hard to tell if I am going to be down or deep. Usually, they expect me to be deep. There are a whole bunch of different ways to do it, but just moving pieces. Myself, (S) Grant Delpit and Ronnie, we just do a good job of being versatile enough to move us all around. When plays present themselves, we all have to cash in. Lately, I have been doing it. We just want to keep it moving. Anywhere they place us, we just have to find a way to make plays, and that is what we have been doing.”
On if that type of versatility in alignment makes him feel more involved in the defense and if it is more similar to what he did with the LA Rams:
“I feel like there are plays all over, honestly. The name of the game and how teams attack us, I feel like being in the mix a little more does help a little bit. With the Rams, I played like the dime position. I have not really played any dime here yet. It is a little different but kind of similar in the areas of the field that I have to cover. Position specific, I have not played any dime here so it is a little different.”
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