Defensive Coordinator Jim Schwartz (11.29.24)
You’ve gone up against Sean Payton’s offenses before, a number of times. What about his offense do you think fits the Bo Nix skill set the best and has allowed him to kind of really, kind of thrive as a rookie?
“Yeah, Sean’s always done a great job going back to when he was an offensive coordinator. When you have a guy like Drew Brees, there’s a lot of things that you can do. But I think that you look at some of Sean’s success when Drew Brees was hurt and Taysom Hill went in and played real quarterback for him, not just a spot player, and kept that production up and they won a lot of games. So, sort of does a good job of crafting his stuff to what the player does well and Nix has been one of those guys that’s just improved over the course of the season. He’s got very good mobility. It’s sort of sneaky, makes a lot of guys miss, scrambles for a lot of first downs. He’s elusive back there. Throws a really nice deep ball and they’ve done a good job of just sort of playing to his strengths and what he does ever — an offensive system is only, I say, is only as good as the quarterback that’s running it and I think they do a good job of melting a lot of concepts that Sean’s used in the past with stuff that Bo Nix has been good at. He’s been taking care of the ball and over the last few games, he’s been really hot.”
What went into the decision to kind of split time with Juan (Thornhill) and Ronnie (Hickman) at that safety spot?
“Yeah, two players we like there and two players that have also had some injury history. So, just try to lessen the load on both and try to mitigate their injury opportunity a little bit. We’ve been playing a lot of different safeties. I mean, we went through a spell where we had hardly anybody left, but now we got a lot of guys coming back, so I’m just trying to find ways to keep everybody contributing.”
What do you like about Ronnie’s skill set and maybe what he’s shown these past couple weeks with more playing time?
“Yeah, Ronnie just has really good range in the deep part of the field and even though he’s a young player, he’s a really, really good communicator, and I think I said that about him last year. He does a good job keeping everybody on the same page. I mean, I know a couple weeks ago he missed a key tackle, but his tackling has been drastically improved, and he’s just become a reliable player for us. But probably his strength is range in the deep part of the field.”
We were talking to Myles (Garrett), and he talked about the playoff hopes. Did you talk to your guys about there’s still a chance to make the playoffs?
“I mean, yeah, there’s a lot of things I talk about. I’d rather not talk too much about that. We try to keep our focus on what’s directly in front of us, but you just got to take each step one by one and worry about that game and if you do, then things like that will come into play toward the end of the season. So, we’ll just keep our focus on the (Denver) Broncos. But I do like Myles’ mindset with that. We know that our margin error is very, very thin, so puts more of an emphasis on what we do each week.”
Can you talk about Myles’ three sack game and just how he seems to have hit another gear over the past several weeks?
“Yeah, I think some of it had to do with being healthy, which I had talked about earlier. He missed a lot of practice time, had missed — and a lot of times early in the season really didn’t look like himself. He just continues to do stuff. His production is so high, even though he’s a marked man, even though every game plan starts with, ‘Don’t let 95 wreck the game,’ and he still finds a way to wreck games, even if it’s not sacks. It can be batted passes, it can be run game, you guys know the way I feel. Tackle-for-a-loss for four yards or sack for four yards, check. One of them gets more valued a little bit more in the stat game, but they both effect the game the same way. I think that he’s just done a good job of just being consistent and battling through some of the stuff that people do to him. A lot of chips and running away from him can cut a lot of productivity. But he still found a way to be productive even when the teams scheme against him.”
I think there’s eight guys in history who have had double-digit sacks for seven seasons and they’re all Hall of Famers. And then he’s got 98 and a half and he’s going to be like one of four guys to get there in their first 100 games or whatever it is. You’ve been around him now, does he belong in that conversation with those type of players of the Reggie Whites and DeMarcus Wares and LTs (Lawrence Taylor) and those kinds of guys he’s on the list with?
“Well, yes. I mean there’s really no other way to put it. Yes, he does. I think the biggest part of it is he’s still… I mean, I think he’s just starting to hit his prime. I think he still has a lot left in front of him. The sky is the limit as far as he goes. And when it’s all said and done, maybe he’s not comparing himself to — or you’re not comparing him to those guys, maybe you’re comparing other people to him. And I think that should probably be a goal for him.”
With the two new edge defenders, do you think you can give them enough of a crash course to be able to contribute on Monday?
“Yeah, we’ll see. You have to be determined, who’s going to be active in the game or not. But yeah, anybody that’s got a jersey has got a chance to get in the game. And we’re not super complicated up front, so we can get guys up to speed pretty quickly. And guys have played some version of some of the stuff we’ve played in the past. So that’s just what you do, get guys ready to play. And we’ve done it on shorter notice than this.”
What can you say about that Broncos receiving corps, including (Marvin) Mims and the different ways that they use him?
“Yeah, I mean, other than Mims, they’re like a junior college basketball team. You know, like every guy is like 6’4″, 6’5″, 225. So, they have really good height, really good length, really good strength. And I think they’re dangerous on deep balls, particularly (Courtland) Sutton, just because they’re so strong and go over the top. But Mims is a unique challenge — punt return kind of stuff, they use him in a lot of different ways. Put him in the backfield at times, line him up all over the place and they use him in a specialty package, plus, just as a normal wide receiver, a little different skill set than the other guys. We’ll be on the lookout when he comes in the game.”
Sutton, specifically, he had two touchdowns, I think, last year against you guys. But what about him? How has he been able to differentiate himself and then help Nix to have a target like that?
“We’ve said it before, we said it about (George) Pickens, where if he’s covered, he’s still open. That’s the way their offense looks at it. And I think Sutton is sort of the same way. Nix will put it up to him and just give him a chance. But not just him, all their wide receivers, he has a lot of trust in that they can go up and make those kinds of plays. It sort of reminds me a little bit of some of the guys that the (New Orleans) Saints had in the past with Sean (Payton) the (Marques) Colstons and Mike Thomases and stuff like that. Colston was a bigger receiver that could go hunt the ball. But we got to do a good job playing the ball on the outside part of the field. We got to turn those 50-50 balls into our advantage and not their advantage.”