News

On the progress of the defense in the Detroit game: “I thought we handled some situations pretty well with the ball in the red zone. Defensively, we control how we get off the field, not how we get on the field. That’s one of the biggest things we preach to the guys. That’s one of the things we thought was a success. There are some execution things that we need to get cleared up. It’s not what you do, it’s how you do. That’s what we preach to our defense. It’s not what you do, most people have the same stuff, it’s how you do it. There were some situations in the third quarter with Shaun Hill and he made some plays. He’s a good player. I got to coach with him for awhile. I love Shaun, he’s a great player. He snuck around and got out of there and made some great plays. We have some execution things that we need to clean up, so that’s the good and the bad of the game.”

On whether the defense got the looks he was hoping for against the Lions: “Yeah, it was very good. It was good to game-plan that type of offense. They went no-huddle, and went right to the line of scrimmage. We got to work that process; how quickly we could get calls in and execute them. That’s what we want to see in the third preseason game. For the most part, we did that very well.”

On what Seattle’s offense does that will challenge the offense: “Seattle’s run game is very similar to our run game here, where they want to stretch you apart and cut it up the field. That’s a good test for our run mechanics, for our fit mechanics that we talk about. We talk about mechanics on how everything works together in the run game. This guy’s here, this guy fits here, the next guy needs to go here. That’s what it’s a great test of, especially for our young guys in the game.”

On LB Philip Wheeler: “Like I said before, one of our favorite things about Philip Wheeler is his position flexibility. I was fortunate enough to be coaching the Senior Bowl squad that had him that year when he came out. He did a good job in the pass rush drills and a lot of different drills for us there, so I did have some first-hand knowledge of how he moved. And he remembered me, so that was good and he kind of liked me a little bit so that was all right. He’s just able to do a lot of things and he loves playing football. You guys see it, he’s all over the field and you can see him a lot because his dreds are all over the field, too. He’s a good guy to be around and a pleasure to coach. He’s always looking to get better. He’s always asking the ‘next step’ questions, which as a coach you really like.”

On whether Demarcus Van Dyke improved from the second preseason game to the third: “He was better. He still needs to improve. He covered a little bit better in this last game. He needs to tackle a little bit better, but he’s working on it. He’s had a good week at practice. To add to that, I’m excited to watch him this week. Hopefully he plays well.”

On whether it’s an issue that Richard Seymour sits out of practice frequently: “The best thing you want, is you want the defense to learn to play together. That’s the part where you’d be excited if he was in there a little bit more. But, Richard is a pro. We walk him through a lot of things and he makes sure he’s paying attention in meetings. So, he’s doing a nice job of paying attention and asking questions. If he’s got anyissues, he talks to Coach [Terrell] Williams or myself. He’s a pro, and we’ll be excited whenever he’s back to get him in the mix with the guys.”

On not playing Seymour as many snaps because of depth on defensive line: “We are going to play our players. I was fortunate enough as a young coach to get a phrase from Mr. [Bill] Walsh, when I got into the NFL ,and he said ‘know your personnel and use your personnel’. That’s what Mr. Walsh lived by. So, we’re going to use them for what they can do, so they’ll all play.”

On Chimdi Chekwa: “He made a nice interception against Arizona and did some good things this week. He’s what a lot of young guys do: they see the same play and the first time do it right, then the next play maybe not so right, then the third time they get it right again. We have to get that middle one out of there.”

On if that means he is inconsistent: “Yes, but he’s getting better.”

On Jamie Cumbie: “Those are the guys you root for because he said, ‘coach, I’m going to be back.’ And Jamie plays hard every snap and comes back and makes a bunch of plays and ends the game with a tip-interception, gets a sack, and all of those batted balls. That was one of the things we emphasized against Detroit is getting our hands up, closing windows in the pocket, and the guys did a nice job of doing that. From the guys that came in first through the guys that came in after. You can see us work on our interception/turnover drill and we had a great example. That’s exactly how it happened. You make plays on tips and overthrows. That was a great example of a tipped pass, and then Christo [Bilukidi] making a great play. He’s got good hands.”