Jerry Gray, Nate Ollie & other Atlanta Falcons defensive coaches speak with media | Press Conference

Jerry Gray, Nate Ollie & other Atlanta Falcons defensive coaches speak with media | Press Conference

We got a chance to see, you know, guys communicate. We put in a couple of defenses and see who can relay it back to us. And it was good, you know, get a chance to see. So those guys were kind of like, I’m the leaders right now cuz there’s no veterans in. So you can see the personalities coming out, but then soon as the veterans come back, they like they kind of shy back down. Are there any of the rookies who caught your eye maybe a little extra? Well, uh, you know, we got a couple of guys that that are doing a good job, you know, and don’t want to start naming a bunch of guys, but I think all our young guys are doing well, especially mixing in with the veterans. So, we kind of intentionally put a young guy with a veteran in a competition uh uh deal, and we want to see how they compete and see if the guy’s going to like, oh, that’s AJ, you know, I can’t go hard. So, we kind of look at that and that kind of gives us a gauge of what is he doing? What is he going to do? Is he starruck? Is he not? Is he ready to go out and compete? and and and we’ve seen some guys not really look at AJ as AJ. It’s like, oh, he’s another guy, even though they know he’s a good player. So, so that kind of lets us know that he’s not going to be starruck when he get out on the football field. And when it came to the competition level, how did they pair up even? Like I know AJ is a veteran and obviously more experienced, but sometimes rookies can rise to the occasion really early. Well, to me, I think that’s what we’re kind of looking for. We’re not really looking for AJ to go out and and and just demolish a guy. We looking for AJ. Like I said, when we put veterans with young guys, we want to see what are you going to do because that’s the that’s the pure the thing that we get out on the football field. So, if you got to go cover Jamar Chase, you got to go cover any of the one of the top elite receivers. What are you going to do when we put you out there? Are you going to be that video guy? It’s, oh, I really love them. Or, you know what, this is my job now and I got to go compete. So, that’s that’s the stuff that we’re trying to compete, you know, do here. And that’s we can we we can make that up in our group and it’ll start off, you know, in a couple of weeks that we’re getting ready to go against the offense. So cuz we’ve never been against them. So how how do they act when they go against Drake? How do you act when you go against Mooney? So So that’s the stuff that we got to create these two weeks in order to get them ready for the next week. Are you happy with what you’ve seen so far? Yeah, I am. You know, I I think our guys are doing a really good job. They’re doing exactly what we asked them to do. Of course, you know, you can’t do the pads and stuff like that. So, we’re we’re asking guys to be more athletic and thinking and you know what are you doing when you get on the football field? You’re talking, you’re doing those things and those guys are doing a good job. How do you assess that competitive nature prior to the draft? Well, you know, the first thing you do is like I always look at three things. This just me personally. I look at a game early in the year. I look at a game late in the year. And then I look at their rival game because to me the NFL every week is a rival game, you know? So, of course, if I’m looking at Georgia, I’m looking at Auburn. I’m looking at, you know, those top h how are you going to play when it’s time for you to play every week. So now, if I can get a guy playing at his best against their rival game, you’re pretty much going to do that when you get ready to go here because I’m telling you, every week is your rival game in NFL. So I look at Billy, I look at uh like, you know, what did he do when he get ready to play against Texas, you know, cuz I know that’s a big time rival game. I look at uh Notre Dame, what did you do when you playing against Stanford and those guys because it’s not it can’t be just another game. So, when I’m looking at those guys, that tells me how they compete. And then you look at the stats and say, “What do they do in those games?” Because now that they play their best game in the rival game. Well, it’s going to show up over here now cuz you could find some guys that play against less competition, they have great stats, but when they play against a rival game, you’re like, “Okay, what happened to him?” Well, what’s going to happen is when they get to this level, you’re going to be thinking, “What happens to him?” So, the competition in your rival game is always like that cuz you generally know people that that’s at other schools. So that helps you actually prepare. On that note, what did you see from the rookies in that regard? Yeah, pre-draft I seen guys competing. You know, when I looked at Xavier, I looked at uh Jaylen, I looked at uh James, you know, you you watched uh Billy, those guys competed at a high level. You know, when when their stats came out, you you talking about, you know, being the best linebacker, being one of the best defensive lineman, being being like the DBs we got, we got lucky, I thought. You know, you look at it, they’re number one and number two the last two years in interceptions. So, they’re not just throwing the ball to them. You know, I mean, I know sometimes you get a what we call a punt thrown to you, but for the most part, these guys were working for plays and they were going against good competition. You know, when uh especially Xavier, you look at they run the last couple years, they’re playing against everybody in the league. You know, they playing against some SEC teams, they playing against everybody. So, even though they didn’t win it all, to me, I thought they did a great job of competing against other competition across the board. This season already the emphasis for the defensive front is the pass rush. What’s the emphasis for the back half? Well, to keep covering, you know, to me, I think rushing coverage always goes hand in hand. And I know we’ve always talked, you put a lot of emphasis on the pass rush, pass rush. But if the quarterback can throw the ball before the counter two, pass rush is none, boy. It’s not going to get there. I don’t care what nobody says. So, our job is to make sure we make them hold the ball. Keep keep devising schemes to make the quarterback hold the ball so the pass rush can get there. And then another thing that I I think that you know just me personally I think that we can really really improve on is our fanfare of understanding when the opponent is out on the field. Make a lot of noise. The quarterback cannot be able to hear the play call and then also that helps us with the snap count and then that’ll help you with your pass rush because if the offensive line can’t hear, there are some things that they do and that gives us tips that this is what they’re going to do and here’s a snap count. So that helps the pass rush. Also, you mentioned Xavier. What are you looking to see from him this season? Well, really, you know, you want to see him go in and compete and do the things that he did at uh at at at Notre Dame. Now, is he going to is it going to be a little bit tougher for him? Of course. You know, he’s he’s over there with Jesse and he’s over there with DeMarco and Kevin and all those guys, right? So, to me, he has to go out and say, “Okay, I know what I did at Notre Dame. I know who I am and this is not just a one-off. I I can go out there and compete against anybody in the country. And now they may not have given me a job, but now I got to go take a job. I think that’s when you that’s when we’re going to get the best of Xavier. What do you expect out of DeMarco this season coming back from the injury? Well, to me, I I expect DeMarco to be the physical guy he was at Alabama. You know, we got to get him back to that mindset. I know it’s a hard when you have a year off and then now it’s like what are you expecting out of me? You got a new defensive uh staff. You got a new defensive coordinator. But I think at the end of the day, DeMarco just need to be what he was Alabama cuz that’s why I liked him. You know, he’s a physical football player. He’s going to hit you. He may be doing some other things for us, but be Alabama DeMarco, you know, and and I think there’ll be enough. How difficult was it for him because he was having such a good training camp from what I remember and then to have the injury and just stall that momentum that was building from his rookie year? Well, to me, I I think the biggest thing that he helped himself with is coming to the meetings all the time. And now he still understands that the football part is still football. Let me get let me get healthy. Let me get over the injury. And now when I get back on the football field, it’s I don’t have to do two things. I don’t have to get healthy and learn defense and learn the offense. So he he was really engaged this uh last year of watching the meetings, understanding, taking notes. Now I just got to get back on the football field and just go play. Do you see a lot of position battles unfolding in this training camp? Oh yeah. To me, I I think that’s when you’re at your best on defense. You know, when there’s guys not giving jobs and they got to go compete for a job and then that guy that’s underneath them or next to them, make them better. Guess what? You make our defense better. And then that’s when you’re really good. I mean, every great defense I’ve ever been on, there’s been a lot of competition. And because if one guy, you know, knock on wood, that gets injured, that next guy steps in, he’s like, I’m never going to let my other brother down. So, there’s not going to be a let down in there. And that’s when you good, right? Because I feel like the conversation is always, who’s going to be opposite AJ? Who’s going to be opposite? And that’s still even this year is kind of open. Yeah. Yeah. And and that’s what I’m saying. You want that competition. You want three or four guys saying, “I can be that opposite guy.” And when you have that, that means you’re going to have three or four guys that if you have to stack them, then they’re not going to take a backseat to anybody. For what you’ve had in the past, what is it in players that kind of lead from from that, you know, leap in the year one, year two? Uh, man, it’s really all about the first of all, it’s what mommy and daddy give you, right? It’s all about the talent. And then two, like a lot of guys that put in that put in that work, right? And Brandon is a guy that he puts in work and really saying taking that year one to year two is going to be a big step for him. You talked a lot last time we got you about the attack style from how would you describe that to someone that’s just watching tape for the first time. What are they looking for in your defense? Oh, when you saying that, we talk about a lot about repping our style. Okay. Repping our style. And I say if you don’t know anything, okay, if you don’t know anything about football and you just watching that screen, okay, you watching that TV screen and you see everybody running in that dark, we tell guys you want to run in a dark room. You know that blue, you know that blue line of scrimmage line that you see on there? Mhm. You just want to see make sure everybody you crossing that line and you getting off on the football. If you don’t know anything, you just see that. So it’s not reading anything. You just want ball snap attack. Think about envision yourself running in a dark room. And that’s what we tell the guys what they want to get off the ball and run in a dark room. Explain the dark room a bit to me because I’m feeling lost in a dark room then. That’s what it is. Okay. It’s like you you ain’t thinking about nothing. Don’t turn them lights on. Like you going in that dark room, think about you running in a dark room and no fear. Like you might run into something. Anything steps on your line, you mess it up. Do you want them running as a wave or is it just everyone go as hard as they can? Everybody go as hard as they can. That’s what we kind of talk about that running that dark room mentality and we talking about no weak links. Okay. No weak links when you out there, right? Think about how to wear the style. We’re going to ask these guys to play. We ask you to go, like I said before, we throwing haymakers, haymakers, haymakers, haymakers. Well, think about it. You can’t do that for 60 plays in a row. So, we’re going to need everybody, right? Talking about no, if you in there, we need everybody running in the dark room. Everybody getting off on the ball. Everybody throwing a haymaker. Think of if I’m a boxer and like Mike Tyson style, we throwing a haymaker. Hey, maker. Tag next guy in. Hey, mmaker. Hey, maker. Tag next guy in. Hey, maker. Hey, mmaker. Man, you probably going to win that fight right there. You know what I’m saying? So, that’s the style of play that we want to play with. And then the waves will be to keep everyone fresh. the ways to keep everybody fresh so we get tired. So it to me like you should we should be playing our hair on fire every single snap, right? Everybody attacking, getting off the ball, running in the dark room. And if you tired, you go run down the ball. You go run and chase a play down 20 yards. Hopefully ain’t got to chase you 20 yards, but if you do, all right, you get out next guy in, right? That’s why we need everybody collectively. How many different lineups are you looking at? Because the list of people who can rush the passer is so long right now, man. It’s it’s great. We was I can’t give all the sauce. I can’t go on the sauce, but we was we was sitting there talking about it. Uh this is very deep. This probably the most I’ve been a part of just deep of of rushers, right? Just having a lot of rushers. And I keep talking about these games are one or loss in the game in two minute, right? Two minute at the end of the half and two minute at the end of the fourth quarter. So you’re talking about you got a wave. Voom voom. You rushing. Okay. Damn. The next wave comes in. Okay. So you talking about two minute really closing out games this year with the guys we got. There’s so many objects. cuz I was watching some of the Houston film to kind of get an idea of what you’re preaching and to like see what it looks like on the field. And I was like envisioning who Falcons players could be. And I was like, “Okay, if you have uh Doris and Rrook and Morgan and David Anuma, but then you’re not even mentioning Jaylen and James and Arnold and so many options. We can we can evolve and stuff that we did in in Houston and we can evolve it so much more with the different body types that we have around even like um even like I think Ken Ellis is a good rusher right I think he can rush Walker I think he can rush like right there from the I don’t want to say too much but like those guys right there is we can evolve it’s a lot of ways of different ways we can get to the quarterback and do you think because the attack style is I don’t want to say simple but an idea that you just go makes it easier where you have a bunch of options then Yeah, it makes it easy. We tell the guys, man, you think you sting, right? You just we want you to get off the ball and go make plays, right? But this front is built for is for the defensive line attack to flop the ball into make plays. Want you to make plays, hit your career highs, right? Since I’ve been in this front, not I ain’t invented tactile, right? I didn’t invent it. Just I’m just convicted on it. Been in it since I’ve been in the league. Since I’ve been in the lead, been in the tactile defense. And you just see the uh the way that guys make plays, the way that guys just get out to the ball and and the mentality, the mindset, and it’s going to really unlock a lot of stuff. A lot of like a lot of stuff these guys got in his body that you’ll take in any any attack style system. Is there a way to prevent the screens that come out from the offense when you do the attack style? Yeah, that’s when you practice it and you know, I’m saying we we running in the dark room. We got to have a little awareness now. A little awareness. That’s when the game plans and things go on when you have to make sure you’re disciplined and you dialed in on certain things and that’s that’s our job as coaches to do that to make sure they’re disciplined and dialed in. But man, like you got your issues on any front, right? Any front and that’s what that’s uh that’s the case. But man, they want to rep our style and run in that dark room. How excited are the guys in the room, man? They really excited. I think excited cuz it’s new. Uh it’s something new for them. Uh man, like who don’t like flying off the ball, right? If you’re a defensive lineman, like you love that. Like you live for that, right? So, I think a lot of guys excitement, a lot of excitement, a lot of competition out here on the field, a lot of guys getting off on the ball, a lot of guys having fun. It wasn’t passed today, and this is a hard skirt. Sorry, should have prefaced it, but it wasn’t passed today. The tush push um isn’t going to be banned. What are your thoughts on that? Uh, man, if it’s if it’s legal, you know, it’s it’s our job to defend it. Interesting, too, because it’s in that as well. I feel like you have some guys across the defensive line that kind of can do a little bit and according to what systems in play like someone like a Zach Harrison um or even Brandon Dorless like these are guys who I think could be like Zach Harrison like a big D end like but he played primarily inside last year. Um I’m curious kind of where he fits into what y’all are doing and and what you like about him. Kind of like you just said he fits everywhere. Yeah. So he’s um he’s a classic player who’s a chess piece. I like to call, you know, the guys on defensive are chess pieces. The more you can move the pieces around kind of, you know, to your advantage, the more you know, percentages you have of doing things very well on that play or whatever we’re asking him to do. And the thing about Zach that gets you really excited, he’s a smart football player. Obviously, you know, he’s coming into more and more years where he’s gained a lot of experience and he has been moved around and played a lot, Doris and all those guys. I think when you have a lot of players who chess pieces, you can deploy them in a lot of different ways in your defense strategy wise, scheme wise, when you’re game planning and doing things like that, which not only just going to help and make us better. Um, so we’re ultra excited about Zach. Um, obviously as a front, like I said, we all get to work together, but you know, I am kind of hands-on. We’re working with some of those guys and trying to help their game out, you know, as far when it comes to techniques and fun. Because that was going to be my question. Oh, sorry. was just kind of like where he fits and how he fits cuz I know that it can kind of go back and forth a little bit with him. So that that’s good to know. Sorry. You go ahead. Thanks, man. Appreciate it. No problem. Raheem said that he could see Jaylen Walker being a future captain. How have you seen him step into that role even through Penny Camp? Yeah, I think um you kind of, you know, once you see him walking around the building, you kind of see other rookies kind of walking around. So he always he already has kind of been showing that leadership quality or you know even at practice like where I’m messaging something I’m saying something you can see him in the back kind of talking to the other guys whether it be younger or older just talking through things and you know he has an infectious spirit where people want to be around him. So he has a you know great leadership qualities that we all saw before the draft and it’s been nothing but you know exceptional since he’s got here. Yeah. You mentioned before the draft what’s a moment that you notice that infectious personality? Uh, I think more so, you know, once we got a chance to actually see him, you know, in the meeting room. I think the first impression that he made on me when he walked in, um, into the combine, man, he was sharp. He was on it, man. You know, he was precise. You know, he’s a guy that really works at his game. Um, and you could just tell that he’s going to gravitate, man. He had us all had this aura about him when he walked in that all of us were just kind of jaw-dropping, you know what I mean? But, uh, he’s he’s been doing a great job.

The Atlanta Falcons defensive coaches reflect on the excitement coming out of rookie minicamp as the team prepares for training camp in July.

00:00 – Jerry Gray – Assistant Head Coach/Defense
08:07 – Nate Ollie – Defensive Line
13:26 – Jacquies Smith – Outside Linebackers

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