Safeties Coach Ephraim Banda (1.2.26)
So as you head into this finale, what are you looking for specifically from your group? You’ve had some really nice seasons from Grant (Delpit) and some of your guys, but what are you hoping for in this finale?
“Appreciate it, Mary (Kay Cabot). You know, the biggest thing I want to see them do is finish, that’s it. I mean, we came in this thing in offseason, camp, and training camp, and we talked about putting good stuff on tape, about getting better, about reaching personal goals. Unfortunately, didn’t reach all the team goals. I want to see this group just finish the way we talked about. And I thought we did a good job of that in the last game. You know, just kind of starting the process of finishing and we did that last week. I thought Grant played lights out. Rocket (Ronnie Hickman), another solid game that he’s five tackles away from hitting the 100-tackle mark for the first time in his career. And I thought Rayshawn (Jenkins) played really good. So that was the start of the finish. I want to see us finish.”
Before the season, Jim Schwartz talked about Ronnie Hickman, and he said in the past he was good at putting out fires, but now you guys need him to make more plays on the ball and just be more of a playmaker. What have you seen from the growth of Ronnie and how he’s been able to kind of step into a bigger role this year?
“Yeah, no, and that was a big point of emphasis this year for Rocket. You know, problem solver is number one. You can’t start them – for sure, you can’t start them. But you got to be capable of putting them out, which he’s proven he can do – in terms of communication, getting guys aligned, fast calls, the right call. You know, offenses get paid a lot of money. Coaches get paid a lot of money to create problems and throw hard questions out at you and he’s done a good job of answering those. In terms of making plays, I thought he did a good job this year when we had the opportunities. Those types of situations, they’re different for every team in every situation. For us, when we had opportunities to make the plays on a ball, or a team was getting after it in that situation, I thought he did a good job coming up with the situations and being there to get the ball when it came.”
And what specifically does like solving the problem, putting out fires from the back end, what does that look like?
“You know, it’s an offense presenting a problem. When I say problem, I mean, like a question to the defense that we have not covered in the meeting because it’s new. That’s their job. They’re going to do something different. And that’s when you got to be able to go out there and say, ‘hey, you know what? I got the tools to fix this. Let’s use this tool and let’s do this right away.’ It could be, maybe something happens where a guy isn’t where they need to be, or maybe he saw it a different way. Can you immediately fix the thing and get us right and get us aligned or get us in the right check or call or just like, ‘oh okay, he went there. I got this.’ And that’s what it looks like for him. And Rocket is a highly intelligent human being. And more importantly, he’s a very quick processor. Like that guy, whatever the newest phone stuff is now, like, he’s got that.”
Ephraim, what about Rayshawn and what he’s added this year? It seems like, you know, stepping into that role that Rod (Rodney McLeod Jr.) used to have for you guys. And what has he brought?
“You know, just the vet presence, the OG presence that we needed in that room, that I felt like going into this year we were going to have to replace with losing Rod. He’s been amazing. It’s been a blessing for me just coaching him in his senior year, 10 years ago to now. It’s just been one of those fun things in coaching that I’ll never forget. He’s brought that. He’s also brought a physical presence to our defense in that spot that I felt like we needed. You saw that last game, he played really well. He played great in the Miami game. Anytime we’ve asked Ray to step in and get extra snaps and be a factor, he’s done it. And he did exactly what we needed for this team this year – his vet presence, his attitude, his mentality. You guys don’t get to see him in the meeting room, like, the sharing knowledge with guys like Don (Donovan McMillon) and Chris (Christopher Edmonds) and even Rocket. So he just was everything we ever needed. It’s a blessing as a coach to be able to coach him again. It’s been awesome to see the man he’s grown into, the father, the husband and the player.”
Has Grant had to take on a little more of that, too? Kind of that OG role, even though he’s still kind of a young guy?
“No, that was the biggest thing for Grant going into the season. It was just, ‘let’s take the next step in that space. Let’s be…’ – Rocket always says, ‘Grant, lead us.’ That’s kind of the quote in that room. And he’s done that. He’s done it really well. You know, it’s been different than the two- three-year league Grant to where he’s at now. And he’s growing more and more into that, you know, vet type safety and providing more vocal communication. Like, even today we were talking about a technique and he’s like, ‘Nah, nah, this.’ And ‘I’m like, yes, that’s what I’m looking for.’”
Did you think the taunting call was warranted last week against Rayshawn?
“Look, at the end of the day, the league is… it’s funny. The league’s different now. What they used to call and what they want called now is different than it was three years ago. And at the end of the day, it’s not whether what I think or what you think or what anyone thinks. At the end of the day, it’s what the league wants. And it’s our job to adjust to that. So that’s just how things work. When things change, you can have a feeling about it, or you can just adjust to what’s changing and operate in the way that they ask you to work. And that’s all it comes down to.”
As you head into this final game, there seems to be an air of uncertainty about what the future is going to be like for everybody, really. And so just wondering, how are you approaching that? Maybe not knowing exactly what’s going to happen with Kevin (Stefanski) or anybody, really.
“Coaches have an innate ability to focus on what’s right in front of them, probably better than most humans in the world. Our ability to just lock in on what’s right in front of us, which is Ja’Marr Chase, Joe Burrow, Tee Higgins and that offense, a divisional rival. That’s what we’re focused on. That’s God’s gift to us, our ability to focus on right now. And that’s what we’re doing. We’re completely focused on Cincinnati, a divisional opponent, and finishing what we started and whatever happens after that, happens. And we’ll focus on that, when it’s time. But right now, it’s all about the Cincinnati Bengals.”
(Mike) Tomlin was talking yesterday about, you know, one of the big things that going from a player to a coach and dealing with that and blocking out that noise and everything was just kind of staying off Twitter, staying off social media. When you’re in college, I mean, you kind of have to, because of recruiting and everything, a little bit beyond there a little bit more, maybe. Does it help that when you’re in the NFL, you know that stuff? I mean, is it much easier sort of to kind of lay off social media?
“I understand the question. I see it differently. I think you’re blind if you don’t know what your players are seeing. It goes back to my kids. My kids are on social media, so therefore, I better know what they’re doing, what they’re looking at, what they’re seeing. If I’m not, then I feel like you’re being a blind parent in a sense. Now, it doesn’t mean you need to believe it all, and it doesn’t mean it needs to direct you. And that’s where the discipline of understanding and controlling your emotions has to come into place. But with that being said, to answer your question, I think you got to know what’s out there and what’s going on. If you’re not, you can kind of somewhat be blinded a little bit to some things, but it also helps me guide my children. It helps me guide my son and my daughter to what is out there and how to handle it. And I feel like, again, that’s different, maybe for me, because I came from that world, and I understood if you do turn a blind eye to it, what the issues could be to that. But if you also pay attention too much to it, what it could be. So I may be cut from a different cloth in that space. And I don’t know if that’s the right or wrong answer, but I also know that’s the today answer. Appreciate you guys. Thank you for all the time this year. You guys are amazing. Have a great New Year’s. Have a great 2026.”
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