Matt Guerrieri Week 5 Press Conference
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00:00 Matt, in terms of, I asked Tom about this and he said you know you got to get more
00:04 players to play on defense just because you know nature of the game the snap
00:07 counts higher but 80 plus snaps too many guys. What's the kind of, how does that
00:12 not happen? You know like how what's kind of the, is that a function of not you know
00:17 each guy being in charge of their own position does kind of send guys in like
00:20 how does that happen kind of in the game where you know maybe you guys have too
00:23 many players playing 80 plus snaps? Yeah for sure. It's a great question. You know
00:26 so it first just starts with players earning the right to play right from a
00:30 practice standpoint. We've had a number of guys do that and then it's from a
00:34 coaching standpoint saying okay I'm gonna commit to you know pre-planned
00:37 rotation no matter what happens game flow wise right. So what happens
00:41 sometimes is a game's tight and you leave one guy in there for too many
00:45 snaps you know because of one score game but yeah we have to commit as a staff we
00:48 talked about a lot but there's guys who have earned the right to play and need
00:51 to be in there for sure. Morning coach how you doing? Good how are you? Hey I want to get
00:58 your thoughts on Tagovailoa especially. He turned 23 in February you know he's
01:03 not only an experienced guy but he's an older guy. How does his experience and
01:07 just overall physical maturity impact the number of things he can do on a
01:11 Saturday? For sure. I think experience you know familiarity with a system and then
01:15 has seen a lot of different defenses too you know so that I think guys are harder
01:19 to rattle you know when guys have played a lot of snaps from that standpoint but
01:22 really talented guy you know he could throw it he can run it he's off schedule
01:26 scrambling I mean you do a bunch of really really good things you know so
01:29 regardless of how old young from there you know he is a really talented football
01:33 player that's played a lot of snaps.
01:36 Matt when you came to assess the issues with Irons being able to be as
01:44 productive as he was out running the ball, what diagnosis did you come
01:50 up with and what fix and how do you apply it though to the next quarterback
01:54 with when Tagovailoa can keep the unlike Irons he can keep the play
02:00 alive with his feet behind the line of scrimmage which is a different
02:03 element. How do you kind of apply that lesson? For sure so it starts with
02:08 design right so what's the intention of a game plan going in and what is the
02:13 amount of pressure and risk involved at times versus not right so that's as a
02:19 staff we talk about that right so if you look at from the game there were times
02:22 that we took calculated risks to create pressure and it resulted in takeaways
02:26 there's times that we did that as well and we weren't as disciplined as we need
02:30 to do from a rush lane standpoint right and then you don't have eyes on him from
02:32 there so we always take full responsibility for everything right
02:36 what's the design and then how well is it executed to get the result that you
02:40 want you know and we know we've got a big challenge on our hands this week
02:42 from a quarterback that can create off schedule you know and he can run the
02:46 ball he can throw the ball and then he can do both those things you know what
02:49 it when it all breaks down so yeah we have to be really disciplined with the
02:53 way that we're containing the quarterback for sure so obviously late
02:59 in the game Lorenzo Lingard rips off that 71-yard run that happened I gave
03:03 some kind of a two-part question just first like what kind of specifically
03:06 happened on that play where he was able to break that in this two weeks in a row
03:09 where defense played pretty well but had a few problems with explosive plays
03:12 Jamari thrash against little Lingard against Akron so what can you do to kind
03:16 of just solve that issue yeah for sure that can't happen and that's it you 17
03:19 10-4 minutes left right with your defense out there expected to get a stop
03:22 you know we were in a one gap control defense and and we lost a gap and we
03:27 weren't able to get the ball on the ground you know so that's simply put
03:29 that's what happened right so when you're in those one gap control defense
03:32 everybody ever has a responsibility to do their job and if it does break
03:35 through then that's when you have secondary pieces to be able to down the
03:39 ball and we obviously did not do that in that situation so we address it head-on
03:42 and we make sure it doesn't happen you got two guys in Andre and Aaron that I
03:49 think are tied for the lead and tackles for loss in the Big Ten through the
03:52 first four weeks I recognize that there's an extent to which you would
03:55 have expected that you've seen them through the offseason but but what opens
03:59 up maybe what needs to open up defensively especially as you get back
04:03 into Big Ten play when you've got guys that can be that disruptive for the
04:06 wider scheme. For sure yeah it's about players not plays right so you could say
04:11 hey I got this scheme I really like it whatever but it's got to fit those
04:15 pieces right so you have disruptive players in Andre and Ace and it's our
04:18 job to put those guys in position to be able to utilize their skills right so
04:21 that's the first thing for me is okay what do the pieces do best and we're
04:25 trying to design you know each week to that way so I think we've been
04:28 successful obviously the numbers would say that from a standpoint of trying to
04:31 get those guys activated but continuing that and based on what you're getting
04:35 each week too you know but say hey these are these guys talents let's make sure
04:39 we can cut these guys loose. Yeah Matt when you look at the Lou Moore and the
04:44 way he's played, progressed coming from a receiver background initially to now
04:49 you know assess the way he's played and what what do you see the ceiling with
04:53 him? Yeah you saw the receiver skills obviously right the ability to go get
04:57 the ball and then the return capability you know and Lou to me from you know my
05:02 initial time here was not a starter in the defense right and continued to earn
05:06 that over time you know and to me has been a guy that's been on the
05:11 rise and I expect him to play the way that he's playing and improve in the
05:15 areas that needs to improve as well. Yeah similar subject with with with Philip
05:21 sorry leads the league in interceptions right now currently I'm curious your
05:26 initial reaction upon meeting him you know March, April kind of throughout the
05:31 entire spring and then how would you kind of evaluate his you know first four
05:35 weeks so far? For sure yeah so the first thing is you meet these guys you're able
05:41 to watch the film that you have in the talent you can see the talent right he's
05:44 got length, range, athleticism, ball skills he has those things right what
05:48 needed to improve and I've said it before to you guys right is the
05:50 consistency from that standpoint and he's earned that again not a guy that
05:53 was a starter at first right and has earned that because he's been consistent
05:57 at practice so like if you talk about a Lou or you talk about a Philip like the
06:00 performance doesn't surprise me because it's what happens at practice right so
06:05 there's a breakdown of practice there's a breakdown of the game right if there's
06:07 good things at practice normally good things at the game you know I mean so we
06:10 can predict from that standpoint but those guys have been productive on the
06:12 football throughout camp and those are probably the guys that have the most
06:15 interceptions in you know are every one of our practices from our defense right
06:18 and so that's that's happening games. Looking back to both the Louisville game
06:24 and then Saturday as well you mentioned that in the Louisville game there were
06:28 some individual breakdowns that kind of brought down the entire unit with a
06:32 couple specifically in the defensive backfield facing a pass heavy offense
06:37 like Maryland has what has the film shown as to why some of those breakdowns
06:40 are happening and how can they be contained? From our film? Yeah. Yeah so
06:45 yeah I think you have to be very objective and call everything out for
06:49 exactly what it is with the guys you know I try to be a truth teller in their
06:52 life with everything and you say okay the only way you have great defense is
06:56 you have 11 pieces functioning as one you're operating like a machine right
07:00 any breakdown you know in a car and whatever it is then it doesn't function
07:03 as well as I can right so effort covers up some of those mistakes there's
07:07 mistakes on plays that look like successful plays right but there's
07:10 effort and there's swarm to the football and mentality and that can cover some of
07:14 those things but you can't have breakdowns every man has to be doing
07:17 their job to the absolute best of their ability and and you call those things
07:21 out and then it's our job from a schematic standpoint what we're asking
07:24 guys to do hey what's the functionality of that right so we take we take all the
07:29 responsibility for every every little bit of that trust me it's never put on
07:32 those guys you know we're demanding of those guys but we own it as a staff and
07:35 anything that happens it's it's me you know and I tell those guys on game day
07:39 they own their attitude and effort I own every single one of those mistakes you
07:41 know if it happens because we have to get ready for the show obviously you
07:44 know and so we call those out and we keep addressing it and we keep getting
07:47 better every single day in what we do.
07:51 Coach with Andre specifically as you think back to the player that you saw in
07:55 the transfer portal in last winter just is there anything that's kind of
07:59 surprised you with what he's been able to produce so far this season?
08:02 No to be honest with you right so you saw a disruptive guy you saw a big
08:08 physical guy he was here before I was here so I can't take any credit for any
08:11 of that you know that was a great job by Coach Allen and defensive staff but you
08:15 saw a guy that to me is a special human being that cares you guys know him from
08:19 interviewing it right I was a special guy who's going to give you everything
08:22 that he has but is a big strong dude between the white lines right so you've
08:27 been able to see that and you've seen the physicality and the negative plays
08:30 that he's able to create so no it doesn't surprise me from there and I
08:34 think the biggest thing for us is you know how we continue to put Dre or
08:38 whoever is on our defense in the best position to be successful.