Assistant Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Chris Horton
Q: How about the kicker battle?
CHRIS HORTON: (Laughter) You want to start at the kicker battle? It's two young guys that are doing very well. Both guys' leg talent is there. Both guys, where they are right now from where they were during this spring, I mean, it's been tremendous growth just watching these guys go out and compete against each other. They know that they're in a competition, and they come out every day and they work hard.
Q: We haven't seen (kicker Dominic) Zvada miss many, but obviously he struggled last year. Did you guys make any changes, or did he come to you and fix whatever those issues were?
CHRIS HORTON: We talked about it a little bit. We say, okay, we watched the tape. You watch him, you watch his form, you watch him at the combine, and you just ask him what do you think led to those missed kicks? And it was a lot of things, he talked about it being a lot of things, and then we just tried to find a ball. We tried to find an operation that fit him, and we changed a couple things, and then he's kicking the ball straight.
Q: From your experience, both of them being so young, how much do you trust both these guys? It seems like it's a lot to ask of them, but seeing that they're meeting that moment, so how impressive is that for them as young guys to, hey, it's either one of us, and we don't have a lot of experience, but they're managing pretty well?
CHRIS HORTON: Trust is a big thing, right? Trust comes with a lot of responsibility, and I think it's easy. It's not because they're young you have to find a way to trust them. It's what they do when they're out there. You build trust through your work. You build trust through your preparation, and the preparation that both these guys are bringing every day, we're trusting them, right? We're trusting them, but we're going to have to trust them in the big moments, and we try to put them in those situations so when they go out there, we feel pretty good about it.
Q: At some point is it, I don't know if a leap of faith is the right word, but at some point all the great kickers have to start somewhere, and the coach didn't, and the special teams coordinator maybe didn't know if they could do it. (Former NFL kicker) Morten Andersen wasn't a great kicker from day one, I think, I don't know. But it wasn't proven, so at some point you settle, you pick a guy, and you say, okay, we hope we're right, and we hope we can do this.
CHRIS HORTON: That's 100% correct. We think about how we all started, right? When I got up to be a coordinator for the very first time, there were things that I needed to learn on the job, and so it's just like any other position, just like any other thing, that we all got to start somewhere, right? Somebody's just got to be willing to give you an opportunity, but that opportunity, like I said, comes with the process, and once you go through the process, and you follow that process, and you believe in yourself, everything else takes care of itself because it comes with discipline and consistency, right? And for the kickers, consistency is making kicks, and a lot of that has to do with, I've got to give a lot of credit to (punter) Jordan (Stout), too, right? We've got a lefty and we've got a righty. It's a little bit difficult to switch sides and watch both these guys kick in practice, but he's been outstanding holding for a lefty and holding for a righty.
Q: With the kickers, it made me think of that, any young player you're going to have to wait, have to show some patience. But with the kickers though, because they usually come into the league, guaranteed money is very minimal. It's the idea of you have to fight the urge, I would imagine, to say, let's just move on to the next one, let's just move on to the next one because getting rid of that player is not necessarily going to cost you the way you would have to get rid of a first-round pick or a second-round pick if they didn't do the job right away.
CHRIS HORTON: That's true. I try to look at it as, hey, if you think about it as every position player, I know they don't, their position is very valuable, right? And people, they're judged on makes and misses, right? That's how people see them. And sometimes you've got to go through a couple things to get yourself out of those things, right? And it's a lot easier, and to answer your question, yes, to say, well, let's go find the next guy, but then you're starting all over with the next guy, right? The next guy's on the street because he had the same issues that probably one of these young guys had. So, you just try to go through the process. You weed out all that stuff, and you say, okay, what's the standard? What's going to be our standard? And as long as we uphold that standard and we're consistent in what we do, we're going to be fine.
Q: How good of a special team's player is (wide receiver) Braxton Berrios?
CHRIS HORTON: Oh, unbelievable. I mean, you watched him before the injury. I mean, this guy was playing at a very high level as a punt returner, as a kick returner. All those guys out there, man, they're doing well, but he's very good at what he does.
Q: I know it's not your call to how the 53 comes together, but you look at the end of the depth chart, let's say wide receiver, does the fifth or sixth wide receiver need to play special teams to have a spot on the team, you think?
CHRIS HORTON: Yeah, I think every guy contributes to special teams. It doesn't matter your role. We talk about this all the time in our room. When I first got here, the standard's going to be the standard. And if we're here to win games, like we all say we're trying to do, then anybody's going to want to go out there and play, right, because it's football play, and it doesn't matter, and we're going to need all those guys at some point, right? It could be the first string wide receiver. He'll play on the hands team, right? We're going to need him. We're going to need him out there when the game's on the line. It could be the guy that's fighting for the roster spot, the sixth wide receiver, the fifth wide receiver. All those things, and we're going to need all those guys. So, it doesn't really matter where you fit in the puzzle. When you get placed in the puzzle, you're going to be required to live up to the standard and play our brand of football.
Q: I think back to the spring, we asked you about (Dominic) Zvada, but obviously (kicker) Ben Sauls, too. Back in the spring, he was missing a lot left, and I think (Head Coach John) Harbaugh said something. We found something we think we can fix, and then from the first day down in West Virginia all the way through, it was right down the middle. So, I assume you found that technical flaw, and how was that process figuring out to get him back to where he wanted to be?
CHRIS HORTON: Just watching Ben at the start, it was kind of okay, just watching him, watching him, and all his balls tailed off to the right, right, because he's a lefty. So, they would all tail off to the right, and it was a combination of how you hold the ball, the movement on the ball, where Jordan (Stout) should seat the ball, the kind of lean and all those things, so the ball matches up to the foot a little bit better. And you're right, since he left this spring, he left, he came back, and he's just hitting balls, straight balls, straight balls, and that's what we want to see, right? I mean, the guy kicked well last year. He was 8 for 8, so he kicked well.
Q: What's it like coaching special teams for John Harbaugh when he's literally hands-on in a lot of these drills? What is that dynamic like?
CHRIS HORTON: It's been great. I mean, I couldn't ask to be in a better position because I know what special teams means to the team and working for a head coach that has a special teams background. You know that you're going to get your time. You know that the standard is going to be the standard, and I love having him in the room because when he's in the room and when he is hands-on, guess what? The players see that, right? The players see the head coach. The head coach is involved. The players see how important it is to the team and to help the team maximize our wins. So, having him around has been a blessing for me, and just to be able to follow that track has been great.
Defensive Coordinator Dennard Wilson
DENNARD WILSON: Having a great day, great practice. It's been a great camp. A lot of guys out there making plays, flying around, playing together. So, I'm excited.
Q: What did you see on that (inside linebacker) Arvell (Reese) interception and then just overall, what have you seen from him at camp?
DENNARD WILSON: That was a nice play by him. We were in a softer coverage down there. Two went to the flat, he pushed to the flat, and just you saw his length. He was in the window from a seven cut in the flat concept, and he saw the quarterback throw it, and he went up and made it a play. He's been impressive, not to put too much on a kid's plate, being a rookie, but he's picked up everything from a defensive structure, the calls, the adjustments, and he's running around playing fast and physical. The thing I love about him is if he messes up, he's not a repeat mistake offender. So, he'll correct his mistake, learn from it, and if he makes a mistake, it's something that he doesn't know. So, it's been outstanding to watch this young man grow.
Q: It seems like your defense has really taken to heart stopping the run. At least so far through two weeks they've been doing what you're asking them to do. How are they stopping the run consistently so early?
DENNARD WILSON: Well, we're connected up front right now. We're playing with good, vertical knock back. We're setting the edge. I think the defensive ends and outside linebackers have been outstanding in setting the edges, and we have some linebackers that fill gaps. They come downhill with a sense of urgency. They're big players. They're aggressive, and everybody's playing with their hat in hands. The biggest thing is just their eyes. They know what they're looking at, and they're fitting accordingly. And if we have something that we mess up, we correct it, we make it right, and then we come out and execute again.
Q: (Cornerback) Colton (Hood) looked like he had a good practice, too, on top of a bunch of passes that went in his direction. What have you seen from him, the progress kind of that he's made the last week or so?
DENNARD WILSON: Well, he's another rookie. Every day is something new that comes up. Yesterday we were in a certain situation, and he got beat, but he corrected it today. They tried to throw the same move at him, and his eyes were right. He's doing a hell of a job. He's spending a lot of time with the coaches, and I give kudos to my DB coaches. (Defensive Passing Game Coordinator/Secondary Coach) Donald (D'Alesio) and (Defensive Backs/Cornerbacks Coach) Addison (Lynch) are, I think, some of the best two DB coaches in the National Football League, and he's taking the coaching. He's running to the coaching every day. He's spending extra time, and when he gets out here, he's doing what he's asked to do. And the new things that pop up with him is just stuff that he's never seen at this level. But he's willing, and I think his growth still, he's just stacking days, stacking days, and getting better.
Q: Obviously, you have some injuries there, but how do you look at that competition there at that position?
DENNARD WILSON: Well, I think the whole team is competition. You know what I mean? It's competition at every spot. I always say this, man, if you're (un)comfortable when you have competitions, you're going to sink. But when you have competition and you play hard and you're resilient, you're normally going to come out on the winning side of it. And a lot of these guys are embracing competition. And we talk about it all the time in the room, never compromise for competition. So, I mean, they're stacking days, and nothing's given in this game. I learned this a long time ago, every time that you line up, no matter if it's a play, the next year, the year after that, you've got to prove or reprove yourself. So, guys are out here trying to prove themselves. And if they don't, it's an opportunity for somebody else to play.
Q: With Colton (Hood) a little bit, is he a touch-the-stove-and-get-burnt kind of guy? Because it seems like he wants to go through things, and then when he does something, he realizes, okay, I know I can't get away with that in coverage. The next play, he's kind of fixing whatever's going on.
DENNARD WILSON: No, I don't think he's a touch-the-stove type guy. It's the attention to detail. It's about being disciplined in what he does every play. When he's lined up and he's disciplined and he's in press and he has the right footwork, his hands, the right base, he's a pretty good player.
When he goes out there and his legs stop and his feet stop, that's just like any corner in the National Football League. If you're not playing with the details and fundamentals, you're going to give up a few plays. But he's not a high-risk, high-reward type guy. He's sharpening his tool bag, and he continues to progress and get better. I like where he's at.
Q: What has stood out to you about (cornerback) Deonte Banks?
DENNARD WILSON: Deonte has come in, he's another guy that's running towards coaching. I think the buy-in to the culture change, I think the buy-in to playing more aggressively, and then just going out there. All the coaches, like I say, the DB coaches have poured so much love into that room. And I think he's embraced it. So, he's out here, he's fighting every day. He's trying to get better. He's not a guy that's trying to be comfortable out there. He's trying to go make plays, and every day he's showing up and I like where he's at right now, too. It's a healthy group of DB's, and they're all playing well, in my opinion.
Q: Is he in the mix for a starting role?
DENNARD WILSON: Everybody's in the mix to start. Even if you're not one of the first 11, you're a starter on this defense at some point because you're going to play, and we also have packages for people to play. So, anybody that makes the 53-man roster or the 48, I consider them starters.
Q: And how about (defensive lineman) Darius Alexander? What are your thoughts on him?
DENNARD WILSON: He's growing, too. The big thing with him is being able to play the run and playing it consistently. (Defensive Line Coach) Dennis Johnson is another hell of a coach that we have. Every day, if you watch the D-line, the discipline in terms of their hands, their feet staying connected, playing with the vertical knock back, he's been doing a good job of that. And then, obviously, we all know he can rush. But we want him to be an old, dirty bastard, a tough guy all the time, and that should be on his mind first because if he does that, he can grow into a really good player.
Q: What have you seen from (outside linebacker) Abdul (Carter)?
DENNARD WILSON: Abdul, the big thing with Abdul is this. I spent a lot of time with Abdul last year coming out in the draft, being a high pick. Abdul was a hell of an athlete, and he played like a hell of an athlete last year. Right now, what Abdul is doing is he's mastering the technique and fundamentals. Abdul is trying to be a technician on the football field. It's no more just pass rush. It's about being a true end, and he's embracing it every day. He comes out here and works. He's coming down the line, and they're running flash blocks, and he's trying to go meet it in the A and B gap, and then he has the ability to convert. I think just like all players, man, it's not the first year. it's the second year. It's the maturation. It's them growing as players, growing as men off the field, and you see these young guys growing every day because it's the second go-around or it's the third go-around. It's a new opportunity. It's a new staff. They're being embraced from a coaching standpoint, and I think they all love being around each other in the room, and you're seeing it on the field right now. We just hope it carries over in the season and carries over in the games.
Q: What is the excitement but also the challenge of using so many versatile weapons down in and down out, guys like (Arvell) Reese, Abdul (Carter), as players that can do a lot?
DENNARD WILSON: It's very exciting. I mean, we built a system here. Not just the coaches but the players as well. We put in a system that's in place that the system has a lot of complex things to it, but the system is easy for them. It looks complicated to others, but it's easy for them because it's conceptual teaching. So, the joy of being able to get guys to move in different spots, they're running the same thing over and over. You just don't know where it's coming from. First of all, (outside linebacker) Brian Burns is a pleasant surprise. I mean, he's an excellent player. I love being around him. He is a pro's pro. (Outside linebacker) Kayvon Thibodeau is the same way. He brings excitement to the room. He brings guys, you can see him work with the young guys. (Safety) Jevon Holland I think is one of the better safeties in the National Football League, and it's his opportunity to come out here and prove it. And the list goes on, (cornerback) Greg Newsome has been excellent. He's a guy that's a glue guy that's taking these young guys under his wing. Just being in The Greenbrier, seeing him sit at the lunch table with them the whole time and just communicate and talk, talk ball, talk life. It's so many young men. (Inside linebacker) Tremaine (Edmunds) has been a bright spot for us, manning the green dot in the middle of the field, talking to Arvell (Reese) every play, trying to help him out from his eight years of playing in the National Football League. So, for me, it's just exciting to see these guys grow together, exciting for them trying to be detailed and disciplined every day and coming out here and flying around and flying to the ball as fast as they can.
Q: What about Burns has been a pleasant surprise?
DENNARD WILSON: I remember when he came out, he was just a skinny kid coming out of college and getting here and seeing, he's a big man now. He's a pro's pro. He is disciplined in everything he does. And you mix that discipline, you mix that leadership with the skill set that he has. It's like the young guys have to follow, right? And he's a guy that if he doesn't see something right, he's going to address it. He's going to take the bull by the horn and move the room. So, it's been outstanding being around him. I enjoy my time with him every day, our small conversations about things other than football. I mean, he's an interesting guy and he's a hell of a football player.
Q: (Safety) Tyler Nubin, you didn't mention him but Tyler Nubin?
DENNARD WILSON: Yeah, Tyler Nubin is getting better, his biggest challenge right now is just looking at the right things. When he looks at the right things on a consistent level, he makes plays. So, that's been his focus, but he's flashed. He's made plays. He's been good in the run, good playing in space. We're moving around a little bit and he's going to he's keep progressing and keep progressing and I'm excited about him as well.
Q: You sound like you love this defense.
DENNARD WILSON: I love this defense. I love the New York Giants.
Offensive Coordinator Matt Nagy
Q. What's the balance of fitting what works well for (quarterback) Jaxson (Dart) to what you guys want to run? How do you meld those two things together?
MATT NAGY: Yeah, it's a great question for us. It's the number one question we talked about when we got here with Coach Harbs (Head Coach John Harbaugh) and how we saw this thing. You go through it, every team, every new coordinator, every new head coach, every new quarterback. You've got to decide what's best for that player and for our offense. But at the same point in time, we want to also look at schematically where do we see this thing going, and then trying to fit everything together. That's been the process for us going through this that started way back in February and March, and now it gets to this point where we're just trying to load up as much film as possible, as many plays as possible for us to put on tape to evaluate and try to see, "Okay, what do our players do well and how do we accentuate their strengths and make us the best team possible?" As we create this identity of what and who we're going to be.
Q. Obviously, it looks a lot different than what they did last year. How do you think he has made that acclimation to this point?
MATT NAGY: Jaxson?
Q. Yeah.
MATT NAGY: Yeah, he's done a great job. There's going to be highs and lows through this process. We talk about it as a staff, like you can't – we have to make sure that as we go through this journey, we never get too high and we never get too low. Today was an average practice, maybe below average. It wasn't good enough. He knows that. We know that. We'll put it on tape, but we also talk about success through struggles, and that's kind of – there's going to be some struggles as we go through this now in training camp and during the season, but how do we react? When you can get it on tape and evaluate and try to show them what they're doing right and what they're doing wrong, it happens quicker. And I think that Jaxson, per se, one of the most impressive parts of his game right now is the volume we've given him to get in and out of the huddle and some of the things we're doing, and he's aced that. Now, there's other areas that he needs to get better at, but we need to help him as coaches too and do our job.
Q. How long does it take a young quarterback – you're teaching him new footwork, new offense. How long does it take a QB for it to start slowing down mentally so they can play at the speed that they want to?
MATT NAGY: Every quarterback's a little bit different based off of what you're doing in the offense. I would say, if we're evaluating Jaxson, which we are, and you sit there and you look at – I just go back personally to OTAs and when we were first teaching this thing, we spent phase two just kind of trying to teach this thing ground up in buckets and phases, and not necessarily plays. So, we spent several weeks of just teaching the concepts and teaching, whether it's run or pass, circles. We called it musical chairs, not positions. So, everybody had to know the concept. So, we weren't running plays. So, we spent some time for them to understand, "Hey, if I'm in this spot or this spot, what do I do?" That's how you understand the basis of an offense. And then, now we get to the phase three, and you take it to training camp, and now we're running plays, and we get to see, "Okay, not only are we doing what we do, but now we get to see a crazy defense with (Defensive Coordinator) Dennard (Wilson) and what he does." So, you put it all together, and I think that every quarterback's a little bit different, but my biggest thing with him was being able to get through these practices and get in – it sounds simple, but be able to get in the huddle, call the play, get up to the line of scrimmage, see the defense, and play fast. He's calling every play. He's seeing it when he says it. He's not just listening and memorizing it. When you can get to that point and you start seeing guys talk like this in the huddle, they're speaking to the person, he's there. So, he's aced that part. Now we've got to get it to the part of seeing the defense and taking it to the next level, because the kid is super talented.
Q. What is it about Dennard's defense that you call crazy?
MATT NAGY: Well, I mean, he – I've always had a ton of respect for Dennard, and now to come here and get to meet him and see what he's about, how he ticks and what his staff is about, they do a lot of good stuff. So, without getting into scheme, I'll just say that it's a very challenging defense, and it's something that for sure is going to make us be better in the long run as an offense. Even though it's going to look at times like it's not very good, we've got to balance that and understand (that) that's okay, and that he's going to give us some difficult looks, whether it's protection, whether it's run game, whether it's a coverage, back end, disguising things. So, that's the nature of the beast. We've got to stay patient, and our message with Jaxson right now is just stay right here. Just stay even keel, never get too high, never get too low, and just be yourself.
Q. Why do you think he – I mean, this is just by look – you haven't been able to hit a lot of passes downfield early in camp. Is that part of the learning process for Jaxson? What do you make of that?
MATT NAGY: No, well – you know, most of these practices are scripted, so there's an intentionality of being able to – like we started out trying to protect their legs a little bit for the first probably three or four days, and there was probably a little bit more possession throws, so there's not even chances for downfield throws early on. But then when you do get an opportunity, whether it's play action or drop back for those throws, again, it's never going to – they're still learning this offense. They're learning it. There's things that they're familiar with, and there's things that they're not. There's things that our staff is familiar with and things that they're not, that I'm not. You know, we're growing together in this process, and that's the beauty of all of this. So, I just have a lot of trust in our offensive staff. I have a ton of trust in Coach Harbs, and I know he has a plan. I know internally what he wants, and now it's growth every day. And so, if it's a big shot, if there's one or two of them, great. But when you do get a chance, you've got to make it.
Q. Can a young quarterback being under center in a new offense be helpful for him?
MATT NAGY: Absolutely. For sure. Yeah, absolutely. I think most people will tell you – I played quarterback my entire life, and having a run game is the friendliest thing in the world. I mean, you want to be able to run the football. Everybody says it, but you've got to be able to do it. So, being under center is going to protect you with some of the play actions and different things you do, but I would say absolutely. And Jaxson's had no issue with that. I mean, we're doing a bunch of different things with it.
Q. What do you make of the run game, especially the running back depth?
MATT NAGY: Yeah, well, the players, I like our room. I think we've got a good group of guys. Getting Skatt (running back Cam Skattebo) back and trying to get him healthy and getting him to where a point he's at. He looks really good. I think he's slowly, every day improving, which is great. And then Trace (running back Tyrone Tracy Jr.) back there, he's a super smooth guy that just does everything the right way. And you get (running back Devin) Singletary and these young guys in there. It's a great mix. So, we like where we're at there. You've got to have holes when you run the football. You've got to have some space. And I think that Coach Bloom (Offensive Line Coach Mike Bloomgren), G-Ro (Senior Offensive Assistant Greg Roman) and (Assistant Offensive Line) Coach (Grant) Newsome have done a great job with the protection stuff – with the run blocking and protection. It's been good. I mean, I like what we're doing. Again, we're halfway through camp right now. We have still two and a half weeks. We're halfway through our run install and halfway through our pass install, if it gives you any perspective. We still have a lot left, and we're trying to just figure out, "Okay, what do we want to do as we go through it?" And we think we have a good idea.
Q. How do you stay patient with it?
MATT NAGY: How do you stay patient with it?
Q. Yeah, you've been in a situation where that first game comes quick.
MATT NAGY: Yeah, well, we have – when I say that, we have an idea of what we want to do. I'm talking play-wise – big picture we know – play-wise, you start to build a little bit of a library of what our guys do well. We're not going to give them stuff that we just want to do because we want to do it. If we do something, it's because they like it and they do a good job at it in any phase of the game. So, putting all that together and cutting it loose, it's going to be here quickly. So, getting as much stuff – the one thing Coach Harbs does is get a ton of reps of plays. So, whether it's walkthrough, group install or competitive, we have a lot of stuff on tape right now that we're able to pull and look at and decide what do we want to do.
Q. It seems like (wide receiver) Malachi (Fields) has kind of made an early impression just with what everyone's saying he can do with his catch radius, his size. What do you make of his progression so far as a rookie learning this offense?
MATT NAGY: It's impressive. He's a kid that, literally every install that we do, run and pass, he's a kid that when you're walking up in front of the group and you're teaching, his eyes never leave you. Never. I mean, he wants to know everything. Then he gets on the field and he does almost everything right. And then he's talented. So, it's impressive. He's got to be able to do this moving forward every day in the games. But I think a lot of him, and I think (Wide Receivers Coach) Chad Hall's done a hell of a job with him.
Q. When you have a player like (tight end) Isaiah Likely, already you can tell Jaxson sees what kind of safety valve he is. How much of a weapon is that?
MATT NAGY: It's nice to have because Isaiah, he has some experience here, and so there's a comfort level of a guy that knows. There's a trust in this thing, right? So, there's a trust level of, you've done it. You've done these routes, and so now they're going to test it out and just kind of build their own library of what they want to do. But when you have that, that's special. And Zay's (tight end Isaiah Likely) done a great job. He's super smart, gets it both in the run and pass game, competitive. So, it's been good. I'm really, really happy with our guys, and I think that it's slowly, every day getting a little bit better and better, and I can't wait to get to it in games and on the field.
Q. I was just going to ask what you want to see from Jaxson next. You kind of mentioned that there's still areas that you want to see improvement.
MATT NAGY: Well, it'll be really good to get out there as we get going here with getting closer to these preseason games and just the prep side of it, making sure that he can take some of these things that we're finding in the process that maybe we want to get his eyes to a certain spot in the progression, and he's struggling to get to that point, finding those plays. Like if there's one or two plays where he might not be seeing it well, let's figure out why you're not. And if you're not, let's just get rid of the play. Let's go to a different play. We've got enough plays. And so, we're digging through that right now. We're filtering through that to figure out, "What does he like? What's he feel comfortable with?" And so, now when we find those plays and we figure out what that is, now you've got to go execute and make them happen on the field, and I think that's the biggest, probably, obstacle that we're going through right now, which is fun as a coaching staff.
