Defensive Coordinator Jim Schwartz (12.24.25)
The first and second half of last Sunday’s game with the run defense, what was the difference between first half and second half?
“Yeah, I don’t think it was limited to the run game. I mean, those first three series were just awful, awful football. We sucked in about every facet, not just run game. Missed tackles, dropped coverage, lost contain on the quarterback. And I think originally, particularly the first drive, we had a difficult time adjusting to the speed of the game, particularly James Cook and then also Josh Allen with the scrambles. And when we made that adjustment, guys started getting a little bit more comfortable. We started making some of those plays. No excuse for the way we started the game, though. But I look at it more in that regard after that first series, and I’ll give you an example. The play they scored the touchdown on 44 yards, Mohamoud (Diabate) misses a tackle on that, and then we don’t get him down after that, but he’s unblocked in the hole. Tough angle, Cook cuts back and makes that play. Later in the game, the exact same play, almost the exact same defense, same thing – Mohamoud comes across and just lays a big hit on him and makes the tackle in the hole. So, we did adjust, but it was just too late. I don’t think I’ve ever been around a turnaround as drastic as that. Like, we gave up 200 yards on three drives. The only third down we got him to was the third and two quarterback run, we just couldn’t get anything right and had to make some adjustments and things. And the last drive of the first half and then the second half, I think it was like 50 yards total, and they couldn’t get a first down. Guys were covering, guys were playing the run and things like that. But reminded me a little bit, early in the season, (New England) Patriots were playing the Bills, and somebody asked Vrabes (Mike Vrabel), ‘hey, who do you have giving a look for James Cook on the scout team?’ And he sort of deadpans like, ‘hey look, I can assure you, if we had somebody that was capable of giving a look for James Cook, he’d be playing’. And that was sort of what happened. I mean, the guy’s a great back, Josh Allen’s a great quarterback. And I think another thing, I’m on the soapbox here, but if that game flips around and you say…I mean, we gave up three touchdowns, and then the other field goal we gave up, it was two yards on the drive to give up the field goal. But if you said we had given up 90 yards rushing and 160 passing, that might have been all, ‘oh wow, great job.’ But rushing yards are different. I talked about this the other week, where rushing yards have a psychological effect on your defense, and I was proud of the guys, the way they turned it around. They kept fighting, coaches were battling on the sideline, make some adjustments, things that were taken advantage of, took those away – and it was a little bit too little, too late. But we made some stops late, couple of fourth down stops, played good on third down, not enough. We got to come out faster this week. Just like I said, the opening drive, it wasn’t just run defense. We dropped coverage on man, lost containment on the quarterback – things that you can’t do in a game like that, particularly with a player like Josh Allen. And we paid the price for it.”
Jim, what did you make of the scoring change that New York made on that one sack at the goal line? They originally gave it to Mason Graham, who touched Allen, then they changed it and gave it half to Alex Wright and half to Myles (Garrett).
“Yeah, I think when a player goes down or goes out of bounds, there’s like a lot of discretion there and they judge who the person was that most, like, forced the guy to either go down, give himself up or to go out of bounds. I don’t worry about stuff like that. I just coach and leave the stats to other people.”
Jim (Schwartz), Denzel (Ward) was voted to another Pro Bowl. We talked to him yesterday, and he’s committed to coming back and playing these last couple games despite everything. So, what does he mean to you and that defense?
“Well, certainly when you have a guy that can cover the way that Denzel can, it opens up a lot of other things on defense. And I would say this, I mean, Denzel tried really hard to come back and play that game, and he was certainly willing to be able to go. But in his stead, Sam Webb came in and played some good football for us. He had one bad play. They faked a run, looked like the wide receiver was cracking a safety, took his eyes to the quarterback – cardinal sin – and then the guy beat him across the field. But the rest of the time, I mean, he was playing sticky coverage, he was challenging guys, and I thought that was a good sign. But there’s nothing like having a guy like Denzel. And Denzel gets voted for the Pro Bowl not because he has gaudy interception stats, it’s because people respect what he does on tape and they respect the fact that people stay away from him, offenses stay away from him. And a lot of times some of those positions are just like, whoever has the most interceptions, or whoever has the most sacks or whoever has whatever. And when you really look down, I think there’s been some Pro Bowl corners that might have gaudy interception stats but didn’t really play well overall. And one of the reasons they had a lot of interceptions is offenses were willing to throw at them a bunch. So, it shows the respect that teams, that opponents and people like that have for Denzel. We certainly respect him, and hopefully we’ll be able to get him back on the field. I know he’s willing, so hopefully we can get him back on the field soon.”
One more on the run defense. Jaylen Warren, what challenges does he present you this week?
“Yeah, I mean, it’s not just him, it’s (Kenneth Gainwell) too. Gainwell’s really increased his role since the first time we’ve played, not just in the run game, but in the passing game. And one of the things Pittsburgh (Steelers) does with Aaron Rodgers is they throw a lot of short RPOs, quick passes, little option routes to the running back, which are high percentage plays that are sort of an extension of the running game. And both of those guys are really good run after catch. A lot of short throws, a lot of quick throws and run after the catch, and both Warren and Gainwell give those guys…a little bit of a different style. You know, Gainwell’s more of a jump cut, glider kind of a guy, and Warren is just compact and vertical, a lot like the guy we saw from Chicago (Kyle Monangai), who, I know I butcher his name, and I respect that guy. And the Raiders guy, (Ashton) Jeanty and those guys, he’s a little bit more in that mode. They’ll use both of them, so we got to know which guy is out there, and then also just really work hard for tackling and allowing no run after contact, but also no run after the catch.”
What do you make of the way Aaron Rodgers has played the last three games?
“Nothing surprises me about Aaron Rodgers. I first went against him, 2008 I think, I was in Tennessee (Titans), it was his first year as a starter. Went against him a bunch when I was in Detroit (Lions). Super smart, been around forever, elite arm talent, good mobility, just a great, accurate passer, all those different things. And, he doesn’t make very many bad plays, doesn’t take a lot of sacks and things like that. But he’s also willing to challenge coverage – always been that way. We’re going to have to play our very best against him.”
Jim, when you look back at the film from week six and the at the pressure you guys were able to put on Aaron. The way that he hits the ball out so quickly, what do you need to improve in that area from that week?
“Yeah, the biggest thing in that earlier in the season, we give a couple big plays. Play down the sideline to DK (Metcalf), double move for a touchdown. That was Tyson’s (Campbell) first game. It was tough duty for him – he had two days of practice, short week, traded and everything else. Made a couple plays but also gave up a couple. And there were some things we did really well. And we talk all the time about how sometimes offenses can take the approach of wanting to throw quick and throw screens and things like that, and sometimes it can hinder their scoring opportunities – to hold the ball a little bit longer, to wait for routes and push the ball down the field, to make big play can…there’s a fine line there, and I think in general, our combination of rush and coverage just need to work together to be able to go. There were a lot of really good rushes in the first game, and we got balls out quickly and got off the field on third down. Wasn’t necessarily a sack, but it still had the desired effect of what were trying to do. So, it works both ways – if we can cover a little bit longer, we can disguise our coverages, we can take his quick answers away and things like that, and maybe we can make him hold the ball a little bit longer and buy time for our pass rush to get home.”
There’s an NFL films where I think the running back is next to Rodgers, and he’s like he just tells him, ‘go wide and run and go’, or…
“Yeah, motion all the way out.”
How tough does that make it for you and your guys when he can look at the coverage and then adjust whatever he needs to?
“Yeah, I mean, that’s a little bit of an old school kind of thing – the Peyton Manning’s and the Aaron Rodgers. I think I was watching Philip Rivers do a lot of the same kind of things. Guys that try to identify what’s going on and keep their guys, change the play, get guys in the best position. And the NFL has sort of transitioned to it, because defenses have become better at disguising and things like that, they transition to more progression stuff and try to take that out of the equation. So seeing a little bit less of it, but Rodgers just has that…he’d really be good as a point guard in the motion offense in basketball – it’s just free flowing, and stuff like that doesn’t always necessarily work out the way that it was drawn up. And when he sees things, he can take advantage of it. He liked his matchup with Gainwell out there on (Alex) Anzalone and gave him a chance to make a play. And that’s no different than him giving DK a chance or Jonnu (Smith) or any of these other guys a chance to make the play. They had a little bit of transition, but he’s got (Marquez) Valdes-Scantling, he’s got (Adam) Thielen, he trusts his tight ends a lot, including a guy that looks like an offensive tackle in (Darnell) Washington, I mean, he’s just huge. And you can tell the guys that Aaron has confidence in and is willing to throw to all over the field.”
Jim, do you just go ahead and forge ahead and plan for Aaron Rodgers and all the starters to play in this game, even though there is a chance that the Steelers can clinch on Saturday night, and (Mike) Tomlin said yesterday that there’s a world in which he will potentially change up some things personnel-wise?
“Yeah, I wasn’t aware of that. You know, we always get ready for backup players and backup quarterbacks – that’s part of our preparation anyway, knowing the skill sets of everybody that’s on the field. So, we’ll cross that bridge when we get there. We concentrate a little bit more on us and what our game plan is and how we’re going to play. And if that’s something they choose to do, then we’ll adjust accordingly.”
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