Saints defensive coordinator Joe Woods talks about preparing for the Falcons and the dominate performance against the Bucs.
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00:00 Happy New Year.
00:01 I made it.
00:02 What did you point to most, I guess, without giving away strategy, but that you guys didn't
00:07 do effectively enough to stop Atlanta from running game in the first game?
00:16 This really has come down to gap control.
00:19 You know, guys, whether it's up front, maintaining your gaps, whether it's the linebacker, secondary,
00:25 fitting their gaps, they do a good job with their run game. Obviously, that's what they want to do.
00:30 But you really have to adjust because they give you a lot of motions, a lot of shifts.
00:35 So you really have to have your eyes in the right spot, and you really have to make sure
00:39 you're adjusting the right way based on what they do.
00:41 How much of the physicality you guys were talking about last week can you translate to back-down control?
00:47 Yeah, that's what you hope. That's what you hope happens every week.
00:51 But you have to control the line of scrimmage.
00:53 Anytime you play a team that wants to run the ball the way these guys do, you have to control
00:57 the line of scrimmage up front.
00:59 And that's something we emphasize all the time.
01:01 For us, it worked out last week, and it has to be the same way for this game.
01:06 Joe, what do you think about the play of Brian Fizzini?
01:08 He kind of got distracted out here.
01:10 He's good. I mean, he's growing up every week.
01:12 He's learning how to become a pro.
01:15 It's a little bit different than in college.
01:17 Week in and week out, you're always going to go against really good personnel.
01:21 So he's in there, he's trying to win those battles with the hard double teams, things of that nature.
01:26 But I definitely thought he's getting better each and every game.
01:29 Is that a position that's kind of hard to make the leap from college to pro?
01:33 That's a period of time?
01:35 No, I mean, it's probably more like case-by-case basis based on the player.
01:40 Because a lot of things you do, you've done in college.
01:44 It's just that talent level, week in and week out, is always going to be the same.
01:48 You're going to go against really good players.
01:50 He's talented. He's big. He's athletic.
01:54 He provides things for us, not only for second down run games, but also as an inside pass rusher.
02:00 With a player his stature, I mean, he doesn't see a lot of 6'5" attackers.
02:05 Is it hard for him to play low sometimes?
02:08 No, I mean, we talk about it a little bit with all those guys up front.
02:11 But you definitely have to play with pad level.
02:13 But like I said, he's an athletic player.
02:15 I think he's going to continue to do that.
02:17 Like in a situation where he doesn't have to be as low, he can pass him down and stuff like that?
02:23 No, he's going to be low all the time.
02:27 Does he come on as a run defender?
02:29 Yes.
02:31 Very strong, quick. He can go up the right way.
02:35 How much joy did you get out of Jonathan Abrams' performance?
02:41 It was good.
02:43 I mean, we showed up and we played well, especially in the first half.
02:47 He had to step up for us due to where Holland was at.
02:52 He made plays. He had the force vulnerable.
02:55 He had the interception. He's always prepared.
02:58 He's the guy that's in the meeting room always talking, calling out tendencies, things we're doing coverage wise.
03:04 So it was good to see him get that opportunity and be productive.
03:07 Who are you impressed with?
03:09 I'm impressed with Demario.
03:13 Hey, get down. Don't turn it back over.
03:17 He probably played some running back in high school.
03:21 No, it was impressive.
03:23 The two games where you held the opponents under 100 rushing, I know you guys are playing ahead.
03:33 How much do you think of that situation? How much do you see on the film that it was better?
03:41 More assignments down the line, better?
03:43 It always comes down to that.
03:45 When you look at some of the better games, we're better up front just in terms of gap control.
03:51 We're better at fitting the run.
03:52 A lot of it comes down to mishaps too.
03:54 So for us in the back end, if something does break clean, we have to get it done on the ground.
03:59 So in some of the games we get up some yards, we didn't do those things very well.
04:03 But when we do do them, we play pretty good.
04:05 How much does the Atlanta scheme factor into that control being more difficult versus your standard running?
04:11 It's tough.
04:12 Like I said, they have multiple personnel groups.
04:15 They line guys up all over the place.
04:17 All types of shifts of motions.
04:19 And it's really just to get you out of position, get your eyes out of position.
04:23 Just to get you out of your gap.
04:25 And they do a great job with that, and we're really going to be on it just in terms of playing together.
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