Panthers’ DC Ejiro Evero talks 49ers offense | Carolina Panthers

Panthers’ DC Ejiro Evero talks 49ers offense | Carolina Panthers

Obviously, this is exciting opportunity for our team and organization. Going back to for me and my wife and family, going back to the Bay Area is a great opportunity for us uh to see family and friends. A lot of those who are formerly Niners fans that have been converted to Panthers fans. And so we’re excited about all of the festivities, but more importantly, um, a great opportunity on Monday Night Football against a very, very good football team, outstanding coaching staff. Um, and, uh, I have a lot of dear friends there in organization from my time coaching there as well. So, um there’s a lot of cool things that are going to be happening on Monday, but um we’re going in there with the mindset of playing our best football as a defensive uh uh staff and uh defensive uh unit and uh looking to play our best and uh continue to build on what we’ve been doing. All right, we’ll kick things off with Mike K. K. David Newton. Hey, coach. Uh what’s what’s the uh challenge of stopping Christian McCaffrey versus other good backs you’ve faced? Well, definitely he’s he’s one of the best runners in this league. So, whenever he has the ball in his hands and the run game, he’s got great vision, he’s got contact balance, he’s got speed, change of direction. So, all all the qualities that you look for in an elite runner, he’s got those things. But, uh obviously the separation is the receiving ability. this guy can line up at the exceiver spot and run routes versus corners and win. Obviously coming out of the back field as well. And u their staff, coach Kyle Shanahan and his staff, they do a great job of deploying him. And so it’s hard to get a beat on exactly where he’s going to align. And so um the skill set uh the diversity in the skill set and al obviously the uh the way that they deploy him makes it very very challenging. Appreciate it. Jeff Hawkins. Uh good morning coach. Good morning. Hey, on uh Treble’s a 54 yard catch and run, um the defender Brooks had him lined up for a tackle for about a 14yd gain, but just attempted to punch the ball out and Trumble went on to set up the game field goal. Um including Smith Wade’s sideline effort versus New England. As a defensive coordinator, how do you balance wanting to create a big play with the punch out and simply making a basic tackle and going on to the next play? Yeah, no, that’s a good question. And we always talk about the first man in has got goes for the tackle. Uh because most of these runners in the league are are hard to tackle one-on-one. And so um there are very few people in the history of this league. Um you know, Peanut Tie is probably one of the ones I could think of off the top of my head that can go in there and they have that play strength and the uh the ball awareness to attack the ball at the same time and make the tackle. So we always talk about we coach up uh first man in tackles, second man in, third man in could go for the ball. And I just want to follow up with with Thornton on uh on his first start. He had a a high coverage grade. How did he do and uh is he in line for for another start Monday? He did a great job. Yeah, he was uh he um very effective. He uh knocked out the one fumble. He made the play in the deep part of the field uh um uh in one of the last third downs of the game. He um was active in terms of throwing his hands, being physical on the edge versus blockers. good coverage snaps and so he did a really really good job. Uh the one thing uh about Corey though that uh since day one since he got here, his preparation habits have been uh second to none. I mean veteran habits um in the classroom, in the on the field, in the training room, in the weight room, how he takes care of his body. Um this guy is driven. He’s on a mission. Um he’s not going to be denied and uh he’s really just done a heck of a job. And so it’s great to see uh when a guy has those type of habits and preparation uh uh habits when those things come to life on the game. And so uh yeah, he’s going to have a lot of opportunities moving forward. Hey, thanks. Good luck on Monday. We’ll go with Darren Gant followed by Mike Star today. I I was also going to ask you about Corey. What is it when you’re looking at a young player who’s developing? What’s kind of that trigger moment that kind of convinces you, okay, he’s ready for this now? And when did you see that with Corey? Well, it’s pretty funny. I was talking to one of our coaches about this the other day and we’ve had these moments really like all through the year and it’s just like you just, you know, you’re always nervous um with a rookie and getting them out there the first time and all that. Um how are they going to respond um under the bright lights? But since day one, I mean, he came in here competitive, uh, not afraid to cover anybody. Uh, you know, when JC was u injured during training camp, uh, he was taking a lot of reps with the first team group, made a lot of plays, um, and didn’t shy away from the moment at all. Did a really good job in the preseason games as well. Um, and just even through the season, uh, the way he works in the pra on the practice squad or in the look teams, um, this guy was just in everything he does, he’s preparing to go play the game and, uh, so he’s just, uh, in all of these moments, he’s excelled and his confidence has really shown throughout the whole thing, this guy, and that’s always the big thing. Some guys have to go out there and have success to gain the confidence. He didn’t have to do that. He’s he had it built in. And it’s it’s not an ego or or uh uh overconfident type of thing. It’s just this guy is just has true belief in his ability and I think a lot of that comes from the way he prepares. Good morning, EJ. Uh going back to the the McCaffrey piece, uh Derek Brown told us yesterday that the thing to do with CMC is to keep him in front of you. Now, that sounds like a really easy plan in theory, but Christian doesn’t really play like that. Is this is this another week where hats do the football becomes that much more premium when he’s got it? Oh, no question. Yeah. I mean, just like last week, you know, Bejian Robinson and very similar this week, you’re not going to have a good day if you’re asking a uh asking guys to make a lot of one-on-one tackles against these runners. And so, we’ve got to get population out there. And um you know obviously the those opportunities when you have to make one-on-one tackles, you got to you know do the do a great job with your technique and have the proper leverage and strike at the right time and all that and wrap up, but you got to get population to the ball. And and following that, how how complicated is that plan in terms of your your uh defense when you’ve got Roseboom uh banged up and and question marks about Trevan and his return? you looks like you’re going to be a little little thinner at experience at that spot for this week. Yeah, we’ll work through the injuries. Um I don’t nothing is quite established yet in terms of the injury report, but at the end of the day, um you know, opportunity if somebody has an opportunity, you saw what Claude was able to do last week. Um I think that’s always what we try to preach to every player. Um you have to be ready and uh so many guys uh um you know, they don’t stay as engaged as they need to when they’re not playing a lot. and it’s a disservice to themselves. And so, um, at any moment your name can be called and the last thing you want to be do is un be unprepared. So, and then last one for me, the, uh, the part of the playing on Monday night, the national spotlight, that sort of thing. Are there butterflies for coordinators, uh, being in this spot because the whole, I mean, everybody sees everybody on tape and everything, but you get that spotlight game where everybody’s watching and, you know, you’re putting this is your defense that you’re kind of leading out there. I mean, is are there butterflies on a on a Monday night for for the coaches as much as there are for players? You know, uh my very first game, regular season game I called as a coordinator was, um 2022, um Monday Night Football, uh Denver Broncos versus the Seattle Seahawks. Russell Wilson is our quarterback. This is his first game he’s played as a quarterback outside of Seattle. And u so I wasn’t thinking about Russell Wilson at all. I was thinking about calling the first game. And I was I was I had butterflies for that game. Um and but as you know the cool thing about experience now is that doing it for four years now I don’t really look at it that way. Um I’m just looking to do the best job I can. Hey good morning EJ. How are you? Good Joe. How you doing? Good. Um when they were playing M. Jones he was pretty banged up and wasn’t moving real well with that knee. um still were pretty effective, but how different does this offense look with Brock Pury and basically a healthy quarterback versus a guy who was compromised? Yeah. Um the plays are the same for the most part. Uh even when you look back to Garopolo and all the different quarterbacks they had over the years, they haven’t really changed the flavor of plays. Um, and so, um, I think the one thing we’ll have to be ready for more boots and keepers, but aside from that, I I think, uh, we’re going to see the same flavor of plays. We always ask this question, uh, when you’re when you guys are playing someone who just was acquired by a team or, etc. Uh, is there anybody you’ve leaned on inside your building about McCaffrey who, you know, played with him or I don’t think you have anyone left who coached him. Jam Morgan was around when you know while he was here. Anything like that? Yeah. No, certainly the players that were with him, you know, guys like Derek and JC. Uh so we’ve had a couple guys have had that exposure, but you know the late the tape take tells a lot about uh what this player is and I don’t think it’s very hard to see how good of a player he is and um it’s going to take a team effort to defend him. Thanks. We have time for a few more. Mike K. Good morning EJ. Good morning, Mike. So, when you’re scouting an offense and you see certain tendencies, how do you balance weighing what they do with what you do? I know you’ve constantly said it’s about what you guys do, but when you see a very clear weakness, how do you not maybe fall into a trap of if they’ve, you know, they’ve kind of adjusted and then maybe it it leads to another weakness for you guys? Yeah. No, that’s a good question. I you’re you’re certainly right. It’s like we always want to look at it from the the perspective of uh what we do best. But at the same time like yes u our scheme has to be diverse enough to attack uh the weaknesses that we see or the uh uh the very uh obvious tendencies that another team may have. And so um we’re always that’s always part of how we uh put the plan together. Um what we do um what are the best things that we do that are going to attack the things that they do. And so, and that being said, that this uh you know, Kyle is one of the best coaches in the league in terms of like there’s not a lot of obvious tendencies. He’s obviously very detailed in how he um self scouts himself and um every play has a very uh similar counter off of it. And so, they do a great job from that standpoint and uh they really force you to uh read your keys and play disciplined football. Cass, hey EJ. Um Nick Scott was saying yesterday that that one of the overall tendencies actually of a 49ers offense is always how much they rely on the Yak and how that’s that’s the biggest thing you have to be aware of. Easy question with maybe a hard answer I guess, but like what’s the best way to prepare for that when when you know it’s maybe not necessarily something crazy or something deep downfield, but just knowing like you have to not let them get anything after the catch. Yeah. No, it’s it’s play style. That’s a big part of it. And and that’s big part of every game. But, um, you’re right. When you look at McAffrey and you look at KD and, uh, um, even the receivers, uh, these guys are hard to tackle, um, in space. And, uh, they’ve always done a great job with that. And so, um, you know, we talked about getting population to the ball earlier. That’s a big part of it. Um, everybody running to the ball. Um, everybody hitting and hustling. And then, um, leverage is a big part of it. or your helpers out. So, all of those things got to factor into our play and they’re so important this week. All right, coach. That seems to be all the questions we have for you this morning. Thanks for taking the time. You all have a great day. [Music]

Watch the Panthers’ defensive coordinator speak about the matchup against San Francisco’s offense, the run game, and slowing down Christian McCaffrey.

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