Defensive Coordinator Jim Schwartz (10.31.24)

Jim, when you look back on that (Baltimore) Ravens game, what did you think the key was on that final stop?

“We could have made life easier on ourselves, not giving up contained to the left, which is, I mean, it’s easier said than done. You have probably the most elusive quarterback, [with] all due respect to Fran Tarkington and Michael Vick, maybe in the history of the NFL. So that makes it a little tough. But we try to stress don’t jump when it comes to getting him in the open field. You got to tackle him like a running back. And we jumped and just gave him a free shot at it. But our coverage did a good job plastering down there. I mean, when it’s all said and done, you got seven guys back there, they got five receivers, and you just got to sort it all out and we were able to get that play made. Doesn’t make it easier on coaches when it takes so long for it to go. But I’m sure our fans were the same way.”

 

Philosophically, obviously Baltimore has Lamar (Jackson) in their offense, but is there similarities between the two Harbaugh’s and the kind of offensive football they want to play? 

“Yeah, and a lot of the DNA left over from Baltimore was Greg Roman, who’s now the offense coordinator with (Los Angeles) Chargers. A little bit of an old school approach, it’s try to get first downs, old school play actions, power running game. There’s a lot of teams where, I mean, maybe a couple years ago, I don’t know if went the whole season without seeing 21 personnel, fullback and two wideouts, or even the big packages. And that’s just sort of standard for those guys. It’s just sort of a throwback a little bit. But run, play action, play action doesn’t necessarily mean it has to be a home run shot. A little bit of old school. Just leak somebody to the flat, keep the chains moving, run a lot of screens, those kinds of things. They get in field goal range, don’t take a whole lot of chances, get their field goal backed up, don’t take a whole lot of chances, punt the ball is fine. It really is, it’s an old school way of playing it. So, there are some similarities that way. But there’s still a lot of challenges with it, too. I mean, the quarterback has maybe the best arm talent in the NFL and he’s now getting healthy with his mobility, runs the offense really well, tough scheme. They certainly are playing well and they’re going to take our full attention.”

 

You’re a little light at linebacker right now, so how do you compensate for that against a team that likes that smash mouth?

“Yeah, I mean, we got guys that have to step up. Mohamoud (Diabate) stepped up last week, played an outstanding game for us. It wasn’t a perfect game by any means but made a lot of plays for us and allowed us to execute. When it was all said and done last week, stopped the run, win on third down. And on third and fourth down we did a really good job. That team was number one in the NFL and third down with a bullet and held them to about 20%. So that was mission accomplished. And even our run game didn’t look real good, I think it can get skewed a little bit with the scramble and then the one big play to (Derrick) Henry. But we didn’t allow them to consistently move the ball and keep churning the sticks with the run game. I think you just wipe those two plays out, all the quarterback runs, designed runs, all the Derrick Henry plays, everything else, somewhere in the neighborhood of like 20 plays for 60 yards. So, I thought that had a lot to do with it. The linebackers had a lot to do with that portion of it. Jeremiah (Owusu-Koramoah) played a really good game until he went out. Mohamoud stepped in, played really well. But we got some good contributions. Nate (Nathaniel Watson) stepped in, had some good contributions, Win (Winston Reid) played a little bit. We’ll need just a little bit more from those guys.”

 

Off of that, how tough was it to see Jeremiah and then what have the conversations been like with him? Have you gotten to talk to him since that and how’s he feeling?

“Yeah, I’ll let him speak on that thing. I’ve had that in my career a couple different times. I was in Philly and Avonte Maddox went down with the exact same injury. That was back in 2020, I think we were playing Green Bay. And I saw that happen to Ray Lewis early in his career. It was a training camp practice; I think it was his second year in the NFL and they brought a helicopter in for him. He was strapped to the board, and he had no feeling for about two minutes or so and then started getting it back and things like that. So, I have seen that a couple times and hopefully Jeremiah has the same recovery that those two guys had.”

 

How do you think the cornerback group played with Denzel (Ward) going down and how do you think they’ll be this week if they have to lose Denzel? 

“Yeah, I mean, we played good enough to get a win. We’re all 2-6. So, I think that’s probably part of the thing. I thought one of the big factors in that game was Denzel stepping up and thumping the fullback on one of the first runs of the game. They forced your corners to tackle and make those guys play like strong safeties. And weren’t perfect in that. We missed the tackle further on down the line and things like that. But those guys battled and it’s tough. Sometimes you got to cover for a long time when Lamar Jackson’s back there. But we did enough to get the win.”

 

Do you keep a running total on dropped interceptions? 

“No, because it would depress me too much.”

 

How do you correct that as a team? Is it just bad luck? 

“I mean, it’s just keep working, just keep trying to be in position trying to put the players in position. The guys have been doing extra when it comes to the Jugs machines and things like that. But we just got to start coming down with our fair share of those. We have a lot of PBUs, but PBUs don’t necessarily change the game. INTs are what changes the game. We had our hands on a couple. Now the one that Grant (Delpit) had, we stopped them on fourth down like a play later or two plays later, whatever it was so that one sort of got out. But Denzel had two hands on the ball right there. And not only if we get that, but we also set our offense up in good scoring position and that could have made life easier on us. So happy to get the win. But when it was all said and done, there’s a lot of things we can do in that game to make life easier on ourselves. You’re not going to make all those plays, but we need to start making our fair share.”

 

Do you feel in this game, I mean, yesterday Kevin (Stefanski) said Denzel is day-to-day.

“Aren’t we all?” (laughing)

 

But do you have plans as if you will not have him?

“Yeah, I mean you always do. You prepare for him to play, you prepare for him not to play, the same we do for any other player. It does change the game plan at times. That’s just life and life in the NFL. You try to use the guys that you have and do what they can do well and try to do what they do well that takes away what the opponent does. And it’s no different with a corner as it is with a linebacker. Different part of the game, but you just try to make the most of what you have available to play. When like, you guys know me, a baseball fan and everything else, and I fret a lot more about injuries on the baseball teams that I root for, right? It’s, “Oh, my gosh, so and so’s out. What are we going to do?” Coaches, we don’t spend a lot of time — we very rarely — It’s just like, “Oh, He’s not out there? All right, next guy. How do we plug and play him? What’s best for him?” And we don’t have a lot of hand wringing or lamenting or worry. It’s just part of our business. You always want your best players out there, and hopefully we’ll be able to get him back out there.”

 

Is Za’Darius really comfortable in this defense this season? It just seems like he’s really found his rhythm getting to the quarterback and playing really well there off the edge.

“Yeah, I mean, he’s another guy that had a couple missed opportunities in this game, but he’s been slippery in the pass rush. He’s been playing with great effort, and he’s always been a super tough guy that understands football and those kinds of things. I don’t necessarily think it’s second year more comfortable as much as it is. He’s finishing some plays that last year he didn’t necessarily finish. And had sacks that sort of slipped out of his grasp or he made a great rush, and the quarterback had just gotten rid of the ball. I think if you just sort of just compare what happened on the play, it’s been very consistent last year to this year.”

 

It’s been a quiet year for Quinton Jefferson. He’s been inactive three games. What’s going on there? 

Yeah, I mean, we’ve got some good defensive tackles. We got Mo (Maurice Hurst) back from the injury from early in the season and same time we got Mike Hall back and we’ve been getting really good production out of Shelby (Harris) and Dalvin (Tomlinson). Those guys have clogged up. I mean, I think our rally and stopping the run and again in this game, I consider that all but one play and the guys inside did a pretty good job on the play that we did give up in the run game. Those guys have a lot to do with it. So, it’s really just a numbers game. You got four guys active, Shelby, Dalvin, Mo’s been playing well, and Mike’s given us a spark, too and Mike has rushed the passer. There’s going to come a time when Q’s (Quinton Jefferson) going to be out there, and he’ll be ready. He’s a veteran player and he did a nice job for us early in the season.”

 

I know sacks obviously aren’t everything, but it’s been four games for Myles (Garrett) without one, I think. So, what’s he doing to still disrupt opposing teams and what are maybe some of his missed opportunities? 

“Well, he had a couple missed opportunities in that game. And again, I mean, is it a missed opportunity when you got a one-on-one with Lamar Jackson? I mean it is for a guy like Myles, but that’s tough duty there. I think you just go and look, people run away from him. His ability in the run game continues to impact our team and then it’s hard to hold a team that’s number one in the NFL on third downs to 20% unless you’re getting contributions out of guys like Myles. So, we just keep our eye on those things, and we want all our players to be successful and to get stats and those kinds of things. But when it’s all said and done, we’re just trying to stop the opponent and he’s helping us in a lot of ways doing that.”

 

Not specific to the Chargers, but when you’re game planning, do you put more of an emphasis on nullifying a strength or exposing a weakness?

“I don’t know. Probably, yes. I think it probably, just philosophically, I don’t want to get too deep in the weeds with this, but if a team is one dimensional but their one dimensional is really strong, well you take the approach of let’s take their strength away because the other things they have to go aren’t necessarily enough to beat you. But if you look and you say, “Hey look, this team’s multidimensional you can take one thing away and they can still do a lot of other things.” Then you sort of play it that way. You look at everything. You look at the players that you have, what you do well, how that matches up. I mean, it’s all a big Venn diagram. The things you do well versus things that take away what the opponent does well, and things that you can execute. You have a lot of stuff that you can bring to the table, when it’s all said and done, the intersection of those Venn diagrams pretty much determines your game plan.”