Cowboys Defensive Coaches on Season So Far | Dallas Cowboys 2025

Cowboys Defensive Coaches on Season So Far | Dallas Cowboys 2025

You got your guy? Yeah. How cool is it? And have you talked to him yet? Yes. Uh he’s here today doing his uh doing his physical Nick and um getting acclimated with everything. I think he’s about to get a workout in. Um I’m excited. Um obviously we have a history together. Um and it was a good history. Um and he’s a phenomenal person, a phenomenal player. Um he’s a hard worker. He’s like he’s, you know, I I was telling coach that he’s probably the most like humble and hardworking like top three pick I ever been around in my whole life. He just he just comes to work every single day. Hard hat mentality. And so I think that’s like as exciting as anything is the the type of person you get on top of the incredible talent. Where were you when you find out? Uh I was here and it was in between um um our kind of finishing up watching the game meeting and heading to the team meeting. So you you mentioned like telling coaches and stuff your thoughts on him. What’s that like for you? I mean you told the front office, “Hey, Don Ezrau, he’s he’s pretty good. We should get him. They draft him. Solomon Thomas, they bring him in. Williams, they bring him in.” What’s that like for you to kind of see your feedback turn into immediate moves like they have now? Well, I mean, I I think those are those are cool isolated ones. There’s, you know, it’s they I just give them the information and then they make the decision based on what it is. It’s it’s cool like for me when it’s a person that I know and I have history with like Solomon or like Quinn. But, you know, the the biggest thing is just giving them the information that I have to help them make the best decision possible. And, you know, it it works out some cases, some cases it doesn’t work out, but these have been two two great examples of that. What information about Quinnon do you have from your personal experience that maybe not everyone would know just from watching him tape? Oh, what what Nick and I were just kind of going back and forth about is just um you see him make plays like everybody sees him make plays. The guy’s been to Pro Bowls, he’s been an allp pro that’s on that’s on display, but just behind the scenes knowing how he works and how he approaches the game, I think that’s a a window that I had, you know, for four years that not everybody else had. How does he fit in with Kenny and Osa and the rest of those guys? Where can you kind of find a way to balance using all three of them together? Well, I I think Tommy because we we rotate enough um that all those guys get starter reps. It’s not like it’s not like, oh gosh, what are we going to do now? It’s just it’s a good way for us to keep the mix going, keep the flow going. You have some different and then you have some different type of players playing next to one another. Now it’s like Quinnon next to Sie feels really different than uh Kenny next to Quinnon and Sie next to Osa feels really different to the offensive line than Osa next to Jay, you know, stuff like that. So like it’s a it’s a real it’s a really nice way to have options and have a mix and and do some different stuff with those guys. You guys were in some five down stuff this past game and also talked about how much he liked it. Yeah. When you have that kind of success with that, then you had Quinnon Williams. What can I do for that kind of look moving forward? It just same thing. It gives you options, you know, gives you options. So, there’s there’s ways for us to look at that moving forward. Like, are there any adjustments we make to it or we do keep it the same or do we It gives us options, you know what I mean? We’re getting get good football players on the field. Are are you having fun this week um without having a specific game plan to do like going into a lab in your mind and say, “Oh, we could do this and this or we could switch these three guys.” And I think it’s a fine line. there’s uh there’s some stuff that you can do, but you also you always have to stay true to your identity. Like what is our identity? Who are we? And when you’re especially when you’re in year one in a defense, if you just start making up a different defense every week, then we’re never going to get good at anything. And I go back to um 2021 uh my first year with the Jets. We we really stayed true to our identity and we just kind of kept doing things that and we tried to get better at what we were doing and we took a lot of criticism for that. But then in year two, you know, the defense took off. Of course, that was a that was some addition of some players that was but there was a lot of the same pieces there, but they got comfortable at doing what they’re doing. It’s like for for any of the folks in this circle and me, my first game coaching, it was probably not that great. Your first article that you wrote or your first interview you did, you go back and look at it right now, you’re like, “Oh my gosh, I was terrible.” But then you get more comfortable. You get you do the same thing over. You get your process right and then you start to get into that comfort zone. So like I don’t we’re not going to sit here and say we’re just going to totally change the whole defense and do everything. But are there some wrinkles that we can add that fit into our identity and our structure? I think there are. And how do you define that identity right now? How close are you? Well, our identity is is very clear what what uh coach Fus talked about the hits principle. um our our structure of our front and probably the top three or four coverages that we play on a consistent basis, which you could just look at the tape and everybody would know what that is. That’s our identity. And now what can we throw some flavors in there of do that aren’t too far away from that or match up to that, excuse me. Um and and still bring that same mentality of the hits principle with our top front and our top three or four coverages. Quinn has had success against several teams. Yeah, you have a guy that not only can have success against it, but kind of magnetizes it. What does that do for the rest of your defensive? Well, it’s just it frees other folks up. Um, and then you just got to figure out how they’re protecting that. Are they going to add are they going to uh there’s some teams whose philosophy is to get more people out in the pass so they can get rid of the ball quick and other teams philosophy is we’re going to add blockers. So, does that mean now that they’re going to bring six or seven in or eight in to protect and then now we got to find ways to get those blockers off or are they, you know, do you go back to the tree of coaches who says like uh like I remember Philip Rivers, he never wanted extra blockers. He always wanted options and so like now we got to go, okay, who are we facing this week? Do they want more options or they want more blockers? Peron Winfrey’s um coming back, imminent return. What uh what can he bring, man? Uh, you know, Christy Perion and I have such a great relationship and a and a history too. He was with us at the Jets, but I originally um the way that we kind of got to know each other was the Senior Bowl. We coached the Senior Bowl when he was there, and I just love his energy. That’s the number one thing. Like, we’re we’re taking football aside, his energy, his passion. I think everybody in here probably saw it in the preseason. The guy’s fired up to play football. I mean, what do you not love about that? So, um, the besides the playmaking ability, because the guy’s a playmaker and he’s a good football player that’s going to contribute, his energy, his juice, his his desire, um, is is such a is such an amazing X factor to add into the group. Was there any extra layer that Quinn was able to unlock going into that 2022 season that helped him rattle off those three straight Pro Bowls and and being in the building? How can you see that also translate here? You know, I think I think Nick, that was a young man who works his butt off, who’s talented, come to fruition, you know, um when when he first got to New York before, and it had nothing to do with me, but before I was there, um he took a lot of criticism as a rookie for, hey, this guy’s the third overall pick. He’s not doing this, he’s not doing that. Like, like I said, all of us in here, it took us some time to like master our craft and really get good at what we’re doing. And I think he was trying to find his way. He’s trying to understand the league. It was a very different like the defenses going from college and then um to the Jets his first year and then to our defense. They’re all three really different. Not wrong, nothing’s wrong with any of them, but they’re all three really different. So, I think once he found his stride as a professional and then got comfortable in what he was doing, you saw the the work ethic and the talent pay off. You know, would you walk us through, if you would, the 48 hours? I don’t want you to think you’ve walked into a psychologist’s office or anything, but you know, you got it by the Monday night win and you come back and you just picked up Quinnon Williams. Yeah. And where are you today with I think I think where I’m at, um, babe on that is number one, um, I know Quinnon really. I mean, we spent every day together for four years, you know, basically except for the summer. So, I know him. I know what he brings. So there’s there’s not a lot to think about in that in that situation. I think my soul my sole focus right now is what do we need to do to get better? And that’s kind of what I’ve been focusing on since the end of that Arizona game. And that’s how you do every every after every game is what we got to get fixed, what we got to get better at, how can we make how can we put these players in a better position? Like what am I doing in my coaching process to make sure that these guys have the information they need, the technique work that they need, they get the reps that they need to be successful in a game. So now it’s an extended version of that. Now I got more time to really dig into that. And it’s like anything that we do in this world. Sometimes when you take some time to really step back and have a clear look at something, like more of a bird’s eye view than like, all right, on to the next opponent, on to the next thing, you can really get some like some good answers out of that. So that’s kind of where my brain’s been after that because it’s it it’s different in a sense of where you trade for a player and you don’t know him. It’s like I got to hurry up and get to know this guy. It’s like riding a bike. I mean, we were we were split up for eight months, right? Can Can we assume that you became a better coach to say? Yes. Every time we get a good player, I become a better coach. That’s just how that’s how the how it works is like this it’s a players league. Players play. I want to never cross the white lines. Those guys deserve the credit. Can you talk about your relationship? Like obviously it gets intense on the sideline. We’ve seen everyone’s seen the clip. Oh yeah. But did you guys get even closer because of that and more of a respect thing about two guys trying? The the funny part about that clip is I always tell everybody uh I’m assuming you’re talking about the one we’re screaming at each other on the sideline. Um is uh the funny part about that is the the cameras made sure to turn when we were hugging it out right afterwards. You know what I mean? And so, um, it’s a passionate game and we’re both passionate competitors and we both won the same thing and we started out that game and it wasn’t going the way that we all wanted it to go and it was a like a misunderstanding and we’re both fired up and then we like we’re just we’re in the same mode in the middle of a game and it turns out and it comes out in that passion and sometimes it comes out in frustration but it was like it was all love like 5 seconds later. So, you didn’t look scared, you know, blowing up. I mean, I I probably wouldn’t have ended good for me, but I was just at least, you know, at least at least they know I was ready to go. What’s the next step for Asaraku and how can this move help benefit the edges as well for more one-on-one opportunities? Um, what’s next for him is you have to continue. One thing about um one thing that I’ve been talking with him about a lot, Nick, is when you’re in college, you and and you’re better than the other guys, you could just kind of go up and show up and you probably beat them one-on-one pass rush pretty pretty often. These guys in this National Football League, everybody’s good. You know what I’m saying? Everybody was the best football player, basketball player, wrestler, and track and field athlete at their school. Everybody was. So, you’re not different than those guys. So now, week in and week out, Donovan has to learn what it’s like. The great ones learn that I’ve got to I’ve got to adjust what I’m doing every week to the other team strengths or weaknesses, how this guy sets me, what their protection is. Like all that is completely different than like, hey, I’m just going to show up against team X, Y, and Z, and I probably never look at the tape and I can beat this guy one-on-one. He wasn’t like that in college, but there’s a lot of guys who are and they get to the NFL like, “Oh, wait. I’m not winning like I used to.” Like I used to just show up and beat everybody like this league ain’t like that, you know. In that respect, was it good or bad for him to get my lotto right out of the shoot? Um, like I said, everybody’s good, you know. So, that’s a diff So, you’re rushing my lot is totally different than rushing a smaller athletic tackle. So, you’re just learning that process of of weekly looking at who you’re playing against, what their strengths, weaknesses are, and then how it ties into how they protect, what their philosophy is, how many blockers they have, how do they tied into the run game, like all that stuff. That’s a that’s a completely new picture every week. Brian Shanheimer talked about how Java Clowny’s really kind of come on and gotten comfortable for you guys. What have you seen from him and what are your thoughts on his play going forward? I mean, my thoughts are like, I’m really good at doing like this. Hey, man, great job, dog. Um, he uh I think the biggest thing was for him, and this was self- admitted. Um, is, you know, having no having no training camp, it just takes you a little bit of time. Like the way the way you get better at playing football is playing football, not like you can train all you want. That first team period in training camp, like you feel like somebody ripped your lungs out. It’s just how it goes. and he um he worked really hard the whole offseason. He came in in great shape. There was nothing nothing wrong. It’s just like he started to get his legs up underneath him. He started to get that like football win back and you see, you know, what he’s capable of. Thanks, brother. Appreciate it. It’s been tough cuz you had injuries to uh Malik. Yeah. You had injuries to do that you guys rely on now. And then why had the migraines and Malik’s been playing mainly special teams. How tough is it to to kind of get that group going the way you want to? Well, you know, it’s that’s that’s always a part of it and continuity is always a good thing and just the more they play and practice together, the closer they’ll get. Uh the unspoken communication is what we’re really talking about there and they learn and and grow from being out there together. So, I’m anticipating them, you know, all of them continue to improve and get back out there and when they can and and keep getting better. How important is it the communication aspect of it when you’re playing zone? Yeah, because some of the veteran corners say, “I want to play more man, but but your group’s got to stay back there, you know, line of defense.” Yeah. So, I think I think um it comes down to what’s best for the team in that moment, the matchups, the team, who we’re playing, there’s a lot of factors that go into that, but as far as communication, there’s communication in both. Soon as people start moving in, man, you know, you you got different calls you got to make, different adjustments you got to make, your alignments, who’s back, who’s up, all those type of things. And then zone has a different set of communications like when guys release and when they move in and out or in and under, deep, put, you know what I’m saying? So I think each of them have like their own set bag of communications. Um, but you just have to get good at all of them, you know, cuz you play a combination of both. And also to us, we don’t know the responsibilities of the corner, how far he’s going to carry a guy and then we don’t know what the safety is seeing. Yeah. You know, so how difficult is that part of it like? Yeah. for for the safety to say, “Okay, he’s supposed to do something the corner, but he doesn’t now. I gotta overcompensate sometimes.” Oh, yeah. Well, there’s a lot of like you have to read the stem and the releases of the receivers um that they study that a lot. And then what type of routes they run from certain alignments or certain whiffs and certain motions or who’s paired together with who. So, there’s a lot of there’s a game within the game there. And uh uh in both situations, the corner and safety have to play off of one another and have have good really good communication and non-verbal and verbal communication as well. Ready Stewart had to go help you out a little bit. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. How how how important was that just to say, “Hey, I can I can move you in a pinch.” Yeah. Well, what happens is, you know, just like anything else, the more you can do, the more valuable you become. and he’s a young man that’s always pride himself in kind of knowing multiple spots and doing multiple things and that’s kind of been his role and uh he’s done a really nice job of that being ready and available and getting a couple reps here, getting a couple reps there and just being versatile. That’s a skill in itself. How much have you missed uh Donno? Cuz Donald’s very quiet around us, so I assume he’s talking. How much have you missed him and Malik? Cuz those are two veterans who’ve been around. Yeah, I mean both of them uh veterans. Both of them have a wealth of knowledge. Uh both of them have played together, have great communication. Both of them um uh just they’re leaders on this football team, I think, spoken and unspoken. And uh and anytime you can get guys like that back and have guys, you know, around that have that level of communication and and work ethic and and leadership qualities within them, I think that just helps your team. Cool. Appreciate you, sir. Yes, sir. been all right. Yes, sir. You guys, you going to go anywhere for the bye? I’m I’m be chasing my kids around here a little bit. I got to do that a little bit, which is good. All right. Thank you. The secondary obviously uh dealt with a lot of injuries throughout the year, too, and and some inconsistencies, but where have you seen the consistency and and where’s this uh group heading right now? Well, the it’s good to get get the guys start getting the guys back, you know, coming back from the by-week and everything. can get some guys healthy. You know, you have your your leaders and communicators uh coming back to the defense, you know, and Hooker and Wilson, those guys, you know, it’s always good to have them in the room as they’ve been, but now have them back on the field, you know, um it adds extra calm to, you know, you have younger guys, you know, you have those experienced guys like a Malik Hooker that can, you know, uh fix a problem if there’s a problem. You know what I’m saying? He can he can fix things on the fly. So, it’s always good. No, you’re good. Uh the corners have said we’d like to play more man and I think you guys have adjusted to that. How do you help them say hey let’s get better at zone but let’s also play more man. Well you know in football at some point all coverages turn to manto man you know that’s just how it goes. But we have to uh when we game plan depending on what the other team does you know you have to make your adjustments from there. You know, maybe this is a a game where you have to play more man. Maybe this is a game you have to play more zone depending on the concepts they running. But also, what does the quarterback struggle with? You know, is he struggling with a cover two shell? Is he struggling with single high? He’s struggling with manto man. So, you have to take that in consideration when you uh game plan as well. Are they more receptive to that those adjustments? So, my guys are awesome. You know what I’m saying? Like the corn these guys like, you know, they they’re guys that just want to get better all the time. And I got to do a great job of preparing them for the games and making sure they are getting better each week. And that falls on me and that’s the responsibility I ask for. You know, when I’m the corner coach, my job is to make sure these guys are playing better and I’m going continue to work with them and they continue to work with me and we in this together. Been tough for Diggs and Blair because they’ve had some health issues and then they’ve been talking about the scheme changes and that kind of thing. Well, it’s definitely a transition and adjustment period for them. you know, doing things they’ve done for the last, like five years differently and coming to this, you know, it makes an adjustment, but I think they’re handling it well. Especially Don is doing a great job. Trayvon, we’re excited to get him back healthy. You know, that’s been good for him to get some rest and recovery that he’s doing. And he’s been in the meetings, you know, trying to get dialed in, learning all the things we’re doing, adjustments we’re making. So, it’s good to see that. How impactful is getting somebody like Quinnon Williams and how will that help you in coverage? Yeah. Well, I told Quinnon, you know, I said, “Hey, you make my job a lot easier.” You know, as a coach quarterback on his back, he can’t throw it. So, so, so no, but uh it’s exciting to have him in there because he’s a guy that’s going to garner a lot of attention. Revel obviously, he’s itching to get back, but and without putting expectations on him, what what can you expect out of him in in a year or what do you want to see from him the rest of the year? What I want to see from Van is just go out there and play with the energy that he has and the love for the game he has. Like, this dude is always on my coattails as me. I was like, well, I got to answer this other person’s question before I can answer yours. Like that. But that’s what’s so exciting about him is that his passion and eagerness to be out there. It it’s magnetic and it spills over to everybody. So, having him out there, having him at practice the last few weeks has been great as well. You see his movement skills are there and starting to come back, especially uh with him, you know, coming off of the knee and everything. So, he’s excited to be out there and I’m excited to get him out there. Is there anything about his physical traits that have shown up yet in practice? I know this practice. Yeah. No, no, you can still see it. I mean, this dude, he’s a big long corner that can run and you can see it. You can see it at practice and it’s good that he’s been going practicing going against George and CD every day at practice. So, he’s getting some serious work from some very very good receivers. How’s the acclamation process? How do you I mean, how do you plan to do that with him and how do you kind of break? Yeah, so he got here yesterday and had a couple of good meetings with him. So, just kind of get them uh caught up to speed as soon as we can and then uh you know, hit practice field on Monday and and go from there. when you’re thinking about trading for a guy like that one, what’s the conversations like with the scouting department and what have you seen from him? Yeah, no, I think there’s a lot of good open conversations uh with the scouting department. Um, you know, Logan’s been a really productive player. Uh, obviously he takes the ball away. I think he’s got the most interceptions uh for a linebacker in the past few years. So, uh, he’s really good at that. Um, you know, he’s good at getting to the ball. So, again, he’s just a a really good addition uh to get mid-season. Did he get better before he even got here with the addition of Quinton Williams and just just what that up front might look like for the linebackers? Yeah, I mean I think anytime you bring in a player like Quinnon Williams, it’s going to help the linebackers. Um it’s going to help everybody. It’s going to help the coverage players. It’s going to help the linebackers. Um so he’s an elite player. He’s been an elite player in this league. So I think you know anytime you bring in a guy like that, it’s going to help you. Mentioned the interceptions. I think in one of the playoff wins had a forced fumble that got picked up taken back for a score. Um, Parcels used to call guys like that catalytic players. Yeah. Well, I think qualify as that. Yeah. You know, honestly, Logan did that in college. I think he had 10 takeaways when he was at Wyoming. So, he’s been a guy that’s really done that his whole career. And look, I think the first rule of any defensive system is get the ball back to your offense. So, for players to, you know, that’s how you change game on defense is you get the ball back. And, you know, that’s what he’s shown in his past. And hopefully he can bring that here. you guys ran some five down stuff. Um, seems like that might be something you might do a little bit more in the fold. What does that do for a linebacker perspective in terms I know the D line, but how does that affect linebackers? Yeah, you know, I think it’s it’s it’s a great way to change the pitcher. You know what I mean? Have go from four down to five down. I think going in a five down system, um, you create more singles up front. Uh, they can’t W because you get everybody covered up. So, you know, I think it’s good for the linebackers because they can run in space a little bit more. uh you don’t have uh guys jumping up on the second level as much, you know, but with anything you do, you know, there’s always the ying and the yang. Um it’s good in some regards and some other guards, you know, it’s it’s not as good. So, I think it’s just good to um have the mix of be able to do both. What confidence do you have in Logan in terms of um immediately stepping in from the communication factor? Is that Yeah. No, he’s played at a high level for the last six years. Um, so he’s proven um, where he’s been before that he can do it. So, you know, I think the biggest thing is us kind of mid-season getting him acclimated to what we do, our terminology, our system. And again, I think there’s going to be a lot of carryover for them. It’s just going to be different words. You buy into the fresh start mentality for some players. Maybe they just need a new scenery, new voice that can kind of jump start their career. Yeah. No, I think that’s real and I think it’s been uh over the time in the NFL like you’ve seen that happen before. Um but again, every situation’s different and we’re hoping that this one works out for us. Over, how excited are you to get him back? I’m sure he’s pitching behind the scenes. Yeah. No, really excited. You know, he’s been great. You know, he’s been in every meeting uh since we’ve been here in the offseason and uh just getting him on the field the past couple of weeks uh has been great for just our energy and I think he’s going to bring just confidence, energy, juice, and you know, just watching the tape from last year like he is a he’s a differencemaker. So, I think getting him in the fold is really going to help us. Has anything happened in practice yet where he’s really shown up or still trying to get back? Um, you know, you see him running around like on the show team. Uh, just the speed and the athleticism and the range that he has. I mean, he really jumps off off the field. Remember last year after the day after towards AC Hooker said he was smiling around the building. He just has a positive energy. In the time that you got to know him, how would you kind of just characterize the energy the and just his personality I guess? Yeah, it’s kind of like what you see on the field is what he’s like in person. there’s just I mean you see it when he plays there’s a lot of juice there’s a lot of emotion there’s a lot of passion so he kind of brings that to the to the meeting rooms too with the guys uh just his leadership um he’s positive but at the same time like he he can get serious and he’ll get after the guys when he needs to during this by week how much of it is picking up the communication side of things being the mic and and how much have y’all already started prepping yeah no I actually just met with him this morning so we’ve already uh met a couple of times and we’ll meet throughout the the week uh just getting him caught up. So, you know, I just wanted him to have a good foundation of what we do so when we practice on Monday uh we can hit the ground running. Is it is it too early to suggest that he might have green dot potential even as early as you know? I think I think that all kind of works itself out in practice. I think to sit here and talk about it um before we hit the practice field is unfair. Um so I I just think it those things work themselves out as you go through the week.

Dallas Cowboys defensive coaches talk to the media about how the season has progressed leading into the bye week.

0:00 Aaron Whitecotton
13:04 Andre Curtis
16:41 David Overstreet II
20:15 Dave Borgonzi

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