Saints defensive coordinator Joe Woods talks about the challenges the Rams bring to the table for Thursday Night Football.
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00:06 >> Joe, what kind of stands out about Kyron Williams, their running back?
00:10 He's putting up a lot of numbers lately.
00:13 >> He's a north-south runner.
00:16 I mean, he sees the old one cut.
00:18 He's getting vertical.
00:20 He runs behind his pads, very physical runner.
00:24 Also, he's becoming a target out in the backfield.
00:27 So he's doing it all for him.
00:28 >> How much sleep have you lost thinking about him?
00:33 >> Sleep?
00:33 Okay, no, it's on a short week,
00:36 defending this offense is a difficult task.
00:41 There's a lot of things they do just in terms of formations, motions,
00:45 where they align guys, how they're getting the ball, who's blocking, screens.
00:50 I mean, you name it, they do it all.
00:52 They do a great job, Coach McVay, in terms of putting the scheme together.
00:55 So we're really gonna have to be on it in terms of what we're trying to do and
00:58 adjust to everything they're trying to do.
01:00 >> How much of this offense, that offense too, is kind of maybe different than
01:04 the ones you've studied in the past from McVay specifically?
01:07 Has he gone about it different this year?
01:09 >> Back in 2019, I was with the Niners.
01:13 And I remember playing them the first game, and
01:16 then coming back the second game and just seeing how they kinda changed things.
01:21 They were one of the first teams with, you wanna call it jet motion or
01:24 turbo motion, they started doing more things off of it.
01:28 Throw back screens, running vertical routes.
01:30 Before in the past, you get turbo motion,
01:32 it's like, that guy ain't getting the ball.
01:34 And they changed all that.
01:35 And he's very much into scheme, attacking your scheme.
01:39 I think the second game we played him,
01:41 when I was back there he ran 21 boots in one game.
01:44 So again, he's changed, he's grown.
01:48 I think he does a good job scheming up what he thinks he's gonna get.
01:51 >> Joe, the Saints brought in Isaac last year before you were part of the staff.
01:57 Did you have any input, recommendations?
02:00 Have you told the DA about him over the years or anything like that?
02:03 >> At first, I didn't know.
02:04 I thought he was on the team.
02:05 There was a bunch of guys listed that weren't on the team, but I know I wanted
02:08 him, just from my experience with him, going back to the senior bowl in Denver.
02:13 I knew what type of player he was.
02:15 >> But you didn't, when he was out of work or anything,
02:18 and there's no pipeline where you're recommending him to other guys?
02:21 >> No, no, no.
02:24 Obviously, he had bounced around a lot between then and now.
02:28 Were you able to gauge pretty early that that hadn't shaken his confidence, or
02:32 did you have to pump him back up at all?
02:34 >> No, he's ready to go at all times.
02:37 I remember he was at the Giants, and we practiced against him when I was
02:41 playing, and he was going crazy getting into it with another guy.
02:44 He looked at me, he's like, I am coach.
02:46 I said, yeah, I know you are.
02:48 You know what I mean?
02:48 He's very competitive.
02:50 He's a guy that's not gonna back down from a challenge.
02:52 Like I said, he does everything we ask him to do.
02:55 >> I know you were, I think you were at the Vikings when Stafford came in to
02:58 the league, right?
02:58 So, I mean, the arm talent's still what it was maybe a dozen years ago?
03:04 >> He looks the same.
03:05 And back then, he was throwing the Kelvin.
03:08 He got a bunch of different weapons.
03:10 But the thing you see him do is go through the progression of the offense.
03:14 And maybe back in the day, early on, he was forcing balls and
03:18 did the tight coverage.
03:19 But now, he's making really good decisions,
03:22 putting the ball where it's supposed to be.
03:23 If it's not there, he's throwing check downs.
03:26 They do some things with their formations to try to ID what you're doing on defense.
03:29 And you can just tell he has complete control of what they're trying to do.
03:33 >> Joe, with Ike, I know it was other staffs that made the decisions when he got
03:38 traded, when he got released and stuff, but could you tell from catching up on his
03:41 career what was holding him back or what he had to do more consistently?
03:45 >> No, I had him when he was young, and he was still developing as a player.
03:50 But I knew what I liked was the turns of the side, the speed,
03:53 the aggressiveness.
03:54 So I knew it was just a matter of time if he kept developing.
03:57 So when he was here, I was like, man, I was happy.
04:00 If you have him looking at it back then, and he's like your fourth or
04:04 fifth corner, I said, I'm in good shape.
04:05 >> How do you feel about the second set performance?
04:09 How do you talk about it?
04:11 >> Try to do it again.
04:13 It was great to see.
04:14 I thought that we did a nice job just mixing in what we were doing with our
04:18 fronts, brought a little bit more pressure,
04:22 put together some good pass rush games, and the guys executed it.
04:27 It was good, man.
04:28 When you see that energy and guys are having fun,
04:30 you're gonna have to quarterback that makes it a fun day.
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