BB: Watching Houston here on the
goal-line, they're the second-best team in the goal-line area offensively. I
think that's really a good quality for a team to have, to be able to get the
ball in the end zone. It's a good offensive mentality, about finishing
drives and certainly running the ball down there is a big part of it, and
they do a good job of that. They have a lot of good, complementary plays to
go with it, just like they do in their regular field running game, with
boots and play-actions and stuff like that. They're doing a good job there.
Again, I think one of the big challenges in this game for us is going to be
special teams. These guys are right at the top of the league in punt and
kickoff coverage, and their return game has certainly picked up in the last
few weeks, particularly with [Jerome] Mathis being back. Special teams will
be a big factor for us here. Of course, they have an excellent kicker. Those
are a couple areas we have to continue to focus and prepare for this week,
because they are some of the things Houston does extremely well. They do a
lot of things well, and those things are right at the top.
Q: Do they throw a lot on the goal
line?
BB: They mix it up. They mix it up. They keep you off-balance. That would
be the best way I could put it. They keep you off-balance.
Q: [Eric] Moulds has hurt you a lot in the past when he was in Buffalo,
but he hasn't seen the ball as much.
BB: He's killed us.
Q: Do you expect to see a little bit of a difference there because of
what he's been able to do in the past to you guys?
BB: I'm sure that Moulds can't wait to play against us. He's had some of
the best games of his career against the Patriots. He's had a great career,
but I know he has to be well over 1,000 yards. I'm sure if he could play the
Patriots more frequently, he would have even bigger numbers. He's a good
player. He's big. He's fast. He's physical. He's hard to tackle. He can
definitely get open. He's a great compliment with [André] Johnson. You have
those guys outside and that opens up the running games and the tight ends
inside and the tight ends have gotten a lot of balls and the backs have
caught a lot of balls. Teams are playing a lot of two deep coverage against
them and try to roll up on their outside receivers and that's created
opportunities for the running game and for the tight ends inside. Those
tight ends have a lot of passes. Part of it is just because the safeties are
either deep or they're extended and worried about the receivers and what you
have to do. With Moulds and Johnson, you have to be concerned about them.
Q: One thing about [Gary] Kubiak's offense, you get different looks.
They're very multiple. It seems like the last few weeks they've tightened it
up a bit. Is that not the case?
BB: I think that through the course of the game you're going to get a lot
of different looks. They're going to give you two backs in the backfield,
one back in the backfield, one receiver, two receivers, three receivers,
some three receivers and two tight ends with no backs. They do those things
in all different downs and distances. You see a lot of teams on third down
with certain personnel groups as their third-down grouping. You're
definitely not going to get that out of Houston. They're going to give you
all of their different groupings on every down. So they really don't have a
third-down offense per se any more than they have a first down offense per
sé. You could get what we normally think of as third-down plays on first
down and first down plays on third down and all in between. They're hard to
prepare for from that standpoint. And it really makes you defend every
situation to the false degree as opposed to being able to boil it down and
segment it into what they're only going to be in, three receivers and a back
on third down, but that's not true. They're not a shotgun team, so the back
is almost always behind the quarterback. That's where all of their runs come
from. They're not afraid to run it on third down. They're not afraid to get
three receivers and throw it on first down. So you have to defend the entire
offense pretty much on an every down basis. That stretches you. It really
does.
Q: When you have a returner like Mathis, I'm assuming he is similar to
[Devin] Hester with blinding speed...
BB: I'd say they're different players. He's fast. Probably not as strong
a runner as Hester is, but fast and has really good vision.
Q: When you're facing a player like that, do you cover kickoffs any
differently when a guy can just flat out run by everybody?
BB: Well, it depends on the running style and the type of returns that
they have. It's like defending against different running backs. You play
them different to try to take away the things that they do the best and make
sure that they don't hurt you with those. Just like playing offense and
defense, you play the different blocking schemes that they have and you try
to fit so that you have good leverage on the ball. It's the same thing on
the returns. You try to have the right fit on the return so that they don't
block you in such a way that it just opens up the coverage. It's a
combination of playing the scheme and then also understanding who they're
playing against, the type of runner that returner is or the running back is.
Q: Do your cover guys have to get off the blocks quicker against a guy
like that just because when you're facing more of a tailback type of
returner, a bigger returner, maybe there's not that heightened sense of,
'Okay, I have to get down. I have get off my block and I have to make that
play if he comes close to my lane?'
BB: But there is that sense, it doesn't...
Q: Well I'm just saying do you have to get off quicker?
BB: No, I think you have to be careful about doing it too quick because
when you're up against a quick guy, as soon as you jump off of something
then he's on the other side of it and he's in the gap that has been vacated.
I think you have to be more disciplined about staying in the area that you
have and in the leverage that you have until you're sure that the runner
can't get to that leverage. Once you've secured that, then you want to
adjust your coverage to help as much as you can somewhere else. I think you
have to stay longer in your area of responsibility because that's what the
guy is looking for. He has vision on the whole field on a kickoff return and
he's starting one place and as soon as he sees it start to overplay, then
he's able to adjust and he can get to it. Whereas a lot of guys, they might
see it, but by the time they get there you have more time to recover. You
have to defend the whole field with him now. He can go sideline to sideline
and anywhere up in between.
Q: Is [DeMeco] Ryans one of those guys that fits the 4-3 defense but not
necessarily the 3-4 because of his size?
BB: I think he's a good enough player to play in any defense. I think
size is a little bit of an issue, although I think that he plays strong and
he has good quickness. He's able to take care of himself in there. If you're
playing inside linebacker, it doesn't make any difference what system you're
in, you're going to have to deal with those guys in the interior of the line
and he does. His way of dealing with them is a little different than maybe
somebody else that has a different physical makeup. He's quick. He's
instinctive. He plays with good angles. He uses his hands well and he's a
good tackler. He knows where the ball is. He's instinctive and that's
probably the most important thing for a linebacker is instincts, because
then if you can just get half-a-step ahead of where the offense is expecting
you to be, then you have a chance to kind of scrape off of those blocks and
not have to deal with them full force than if you're kind of a
step-and-a-half or a half-a-step behind.
Q: Could he fit in a 3-4 at all though?
BB: Sure. I think he could fit in any defense.
Q: Did anything jump out at you from the [Oakland] game about him? He was
really active and productive in that game.
BB: He's had a lot of production. He's had a bunch of sacks. He's had a
lot of production. He had in that game. He's pretty much had it in a lot of
games. You don't have any problem seeing him make plays because he makes
them every game. But they played well against Oakland defensively. Obviously
they played well. They turned the ball over. They were the difference, that
and the return game, that was the difference in the game.
Q: You talked about Moulds having a lot of production against you. In
your experience, I'm sure you've had other individuals like that, guys who,
even if they changed teams, it just seems like they have your number.
BB: He definitely comes to mind.
Q: Ricky Proehl, I guess, would be a guy that you've talked about like
that—not to the extent of Moulds.
BB: We've only played him a couple of times. Moulds has definitely been
in a lot of different systems. He's been with several different quarterbacks
in Buffalo, several different offensive systems, going all the way back to
[Doug] Flutie and Rob Johnson. He's probably been with five quarterbacks
there, [Drew] Bledsoe, [JP] Losman, [Kelly] Holcomb. Even though he was with
the same team, he was in a lot of different offensive systems and he was a
problem.
Q: In your experience, when you have a guy like that, does it seems like
it doesn't matter you just hate to see him?
BB: When they make enough plays against you it does, that's right. It's
hard watching him. You've seen him in 80 for so many years and now you're
seeing another 80 that's just as good and you have him in 84. Watching 80
catch the ball, and you're thinking there's Moulds and it's no, that's
[André] Johnson and there's Moulds over there. Those guys are big and
they're tough. They're two tough guys to play against. They really are.
Q: Their offense has struggled though, you talked about how good they are
in the red zone and goal line, but they don't get to the goal line that
often.
BB: Yeah, but nobody has stopped them on the goal line. They are 15 out
of 17 down there. The only team that is better is San Diego. When you go
through a team sequentially, like we do in the preparations, and you look at
first down and third down and red area and two-minute and goal line, I'm
just saying that the goal line jumps out at you. Every time they have the
ball down there, they finish in the end zone. They're hitting passes.
They're running it in. I'm just saying that they're good down there. You can
say that they're no good, but they're 15 out of 17. Everybody that gets San
Diego would like to have that percentage, believe me. They do a good job and
it's like Denver. Denver does a good job down there, too. Obviously, it's a
lot of the same scheme and it's good players making good plays down there. A
mobile quarterback. Good runners. One-on-one out there with André Johnson,
just lob it up there to him. You have a lot of things to defend. It's tough.
Q: If you look at the distribution of their sacks, their linebackers have
a high number of them. Are they a pretty heavy blitzing team?
BB: Yes. They blitz a lot.
Q: Are you going to see a lot of the Denver type of blitzes with 11-up?
BB: No, they don't do that much. In fact, they really haven't done it at
all, a play or two, but no. If you were going to take one word to describe
their defense, that's what it would be, pressure. They're a pressure team.
They blitz zone. They man zone. They mix in enough coverages so that it's
not all blitz, but they're going to blitz. That's what they do. The more
it's a passing situation, the more they're coming.
Q: Do they blitz a lot? Are you going to see a lot of them overloading
one side?
BB: Well the zone blitzes are overload blitzes. In other words, if you're
going to bring a lot of people off one side, then you can't put people over
there to cover. You kind of have to leverage a couple of receivers with a
guy inside and a guy outside. If you're going to man them, then you have to
come from a more balanced front and put people over where the multiple
receivers are and so the overload is created by the formation, not by the
blitz. In a zone blitz, the overload is created by the blitz, not
necessarily the formation. But they do both. They do both and they bring
their safeties. They bring their linebackers. They bring different
combinations. That's what you have to deal with, but you're going to have to
block all of them sooner or later. They're all coming. But the linebackers
come a lot, but the secondary, they blitz them as well, so it's not just a
linebacker blitz team, but they come a lot. They get good production from
linebacker blitzes.
Q: Is the relationship between the quarterback and the head coach the
most important relationship on the team in a sense?
BB: That's a good question. I think it's an important relationship. Let
me put it that way. I don't know. I guess it would depend on the makeup of
the individual team and the coach. Some teams where the head coach basically
is the offensive coordinator and calls the plays and runs the offense, the
dynamic of the team is a little bit different than teams that are structured
in different ways. I don't know. That's an interesting question.
Q: If there's some lack of trust there, doesn't it affect how you relate
to the entire team in a sense?
BB: Yes, well I don't think there should be a lack of trust anywhere. If
you're the coach and you don't want the player out on the field, then you
shouldn't put him out there. You should put somebody else out there that you
have confidence in, whatever position that is. I wouldn't limit it to
anything. What are you going to do if you feel that way about your tackle?
Let him protect the guy that you do feel confident in? Whoever it is, you
have to put players out there that you have confidence in and believe in. If
you don't, they shouldn't be out there. You should find somebody else that
you can feel that way about. That's an interesting question and it's a point
that comes up a lot. I'm sure every head coach deals with it. I certainly
do. In our case, you have 53 active players and you have another, probably,
15 guys at some point in the year between practice squad, injured/reserve
and PUP, or whatever. You're looking at 65 to 70 players on your team when
you include everybody. So your relationship with all 70 of those players is,
in some respects, the same, but in many respects is different. It's
impossible on a week-to-week basis to have a very close interaction with 70
people and still do the things that I need to do as a head coach in terms of
preparation with our staff and my personal preparation for the game. There's
some of that one-on-one interaction relationship. Some of it is done in a
team setting and some of it is done in a group setting or through an
intermediary group, like the captains, that may bring things to my attention
on behalf of the team or they may take things to the team on my behalf that
I would rather have the messages delivered in smaller groups rather than the
entire team. There are some different dynamics there and I think that there
is, again, in some respects the relationships are similar, in other respects
they're different. That's probably a little bit of a team-to-team thing. I
think if you could ask any player about every team that he's played for,
he'd be able to say, 'This is the difference between this coach and that
coach and that coach and the next coach.' Rather than, 'These four guys were
exactly the same.' I doubt I would get that.
Q: When you stack up your advantages over other teams in the league, it's
obvious that one of your strongest advantages is your relationship that you
have with Tom Brady. You have a take a guy that the entire team respects and
a guy that you can put anything on he delivers for you.
BB: Believe me, I've said many times, there's no quarterback that I'd
rather have than Tom Brady. I have tremendous respect for Tom and what he
does and how he does it. There's no issue there. I have confidence in all of
the players that are on the roster and all of the players that go into the
game. If I didn't, then believe me, they wouldn't be on the roster and I
certainly wouldn't put them in a game. That's just how I personally feel. I
can't really relate to that, 'Well this guy is on the team, but we don't
have confidence in him. We don't think he can.' I would never put him out
there. I just wouldn't. I'm not saying we have the best players in the
league, I'm not trying to represent that either, where a player that we have
is better than everybody else. But I think that every player we put out
there I feel like can do what they're being asked to do and they've worked
hard and they've shown us in practice or in the opportunities that they've
had, whatever they may be, that they can go out and do those jobs. If I
don't feel that way about them, believe me, they would never see the field.
Q: What do you hope and expect that Chad Jackson would learn from this
season and what he could take away from it?
BB: Right now the most important thing for Chad is the most important
thing for all the rest of us and that is Houston. It's a one-week season.
There are three days left in this week. I hope he gets the most out of today
and the most out of the next two days of our preparation, and the most out of
Sunday, whatever that is. Whether he's active, inactive, whether he plays or
doesn't play, how much he plays if he plays, I don't know the answer to any
of those questions, but whatever they are, I hope he gets the most out of
each of those days. And I'd say that for every other player on our team. Next
week is next week. It will be a one-week season then, too, so we'll start to
do the same process. That's the way I look at it.
Q: How about long-term and the bigger picture?
BB: Right now there is no big picture. There is Houston that's it. What
else is there? There is Houston. That's it. That's all we have right now.
That's the only thing we can worry about. So to waste time on a bunch of
other stuff, to me it's a waste of time. |
