Defensive line coach/run game coordinator DeMarcus Covington
On first impressions of Micah Parsons:
Smart guy. Loves ball. Very high football IQ. A guy obviously with God-given talent, unbelievable talent. That’s my first impression with him. He fits right in with the room, he’s building a relationship with the guys already and then obviously he’s a hard worker, trying to learn the playbook as much as possible and he’s willing to do whatever you ask.
I’m proud of him and the performance he put together since OTAs. Even the scrimmages against the Colts and the Seahawks, I thought he stacked some really, really good days in the run game and pass game. I think he became a combo player for us. For him, he’s been consistent, he’s been dependable and then obviously he’s tough and he’s smart, so those are the things we’ve been looking for, and he’s really answered the bell for us. Hopefully we get that this season, that’s what we’re looking for him – for him to answer the bell and hold down the spot for us.
On facing Lions RB Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery:
You’ve got two dynamic backs. You’ve got a two-headed monster with those guys. It’s going to take everybody as far as all 11 of us running to the football, defeating blocks, getting off blocks, not staying blocked, straining, finishing, tackling. Those two, they run well together, they get downhill real fast. They attack the C gap. They do a really good job spinning out of tackles, stiff-arming defenders. It’s going to take more than one guy to just go in and tackle those guys.
Linebackers coach Sean Duggan
On Quay Walker getting back from his injury in camp:
Quay’s been really impressive. When he’s come back, you can see he’s playing faster. He’s really confident on the field right now, which is awesome. I was really impressed with the way he handled being a little delayed getting back on the field. If you watched practice, he was back there. Every rep he took mentally, he put himself in that position, so when he came back, he was able to pick up where he should be. Really excited for him this year.
The biggest thing with Hop is his confidence. You can see he’s not thinking so much out there, right? He’s anticipating, and when you anticipate you’re able to play faster and make plays. He’s putting himself in good spots, and just the confidence out there, I think that’s so big. When you’re playing fast, you’re playing confident, you’re making more plays, then it just continues to build and build, and then you look up and you had a good practice.
On expectations for Edgerrin Cooper:
Mine is he’s going to continue to work hard and put himself in positions where Sunday he can just go let it rip, and play fearless and play fast, and go do what he naturally can do. My expectations of him are to continue to just work. Study film, put in all the work during the week so Sunday you can go have fun.
He’s really confident out there. He knows the call, he knows exactly where to line up, what his job is, what people are doing around him, so now he can play without even thinking about what he’s doing. It’s instinctual now, and I think he has great instincts. He’s a guy that’s going to play a lot of good football for us this year.
Defensive pass game coordinator Derrick Ansley
On Parsons’ impact on the secondary:
We got a hell of a lot better. This guy, in my opinion as a secondary guy, he’s a game accelerator. He speeds everything up – run or pass. We’re happy to have him. He’s been great. You see his personality with the guys, already affecting those guys. It’s been good.
He did a good job of training with his brother and working on the DB mechanics. He’s grown a ton from where he’s started to now. He plays the game the right way. Very physical, very fast. The thing you see on special teams, the thing you see on the offense, him blocking and straining, is the same thing you see (on defense). He’s done a really nice job of diving into it and trying to master that position. Hats off to Keisean (Nixon) and Carrington (Valentine) being two guys that had really taken him under their wing and really helped him go through.
I got history with CV, back when he was in high school and I was at Tennessee, so we go way back. He’s a great dude. Great guy to be around. A lot of energy. A lot of juice, and he actually came alive today at practice and he was on one of those three-or-four in a row where he was barking and making plays. He brings that kind of energy to the room which is good. But any time you get your hands on the ball that’s contagious. It’s a confidence boost. He’s still a young player, still growing. Now he’s fully healthy and he’s ready to go play.
Defensive backs coach Ryan Downard
On the importance of disguising coverages:
Why it’s so valuable, we want to make the quarterback read the defense post-snap. If he can read it pre-snap, it’s a lot easier for him. There’s a lot of good quarterbacks in this league, I remember when Kirk (Cousins) was in the division, if you give him a particular look and you play that look and that’s what you do the entire game, he’s going to dissect you. Like, if the picture shows up like it does in the textbook when he’s learning, it’s going to be a harder day for you on the back end. As opposed to, if you can line up in a look, play that look, (then) line up in a look, play something different and keep mixing that, I think that gives you an advantage and gives your defense an advantage because it buys you a click of time.
On how to get good at it:
Try to bang in those guys’ heads that we want to be the best disguise team in the NFL. And so that takes teaching, that takes a commitment to learning, that takes time on task. You’ve got to invest into it. So we can build it into calls, we can tag it, we can teach it into certain different calls or looks that we want to give, and then you’ve got to teach them the why. I’ve been places where it’s not emphasized as much and you kind of just leave it up to the guys out on the field and I don’t think that’s the right way. If you emphasize something, that’s what you’re going to get.
On S Xavier McKinney‘s mindset:
Me pulling him off the field to spread reps around and hit rep counts and he’s coming off the field, not happy with me. So it’s been a process there. That’s what you want from a player, you want to be out there all the time and then he’s carried that into Year 2, because that’s just how he is. It wasn’t just a thing that because he just got in and he’s new, he wants to take every single rep. We give him as much as he can handle and keep in mind keeping him fresh. He’s worked on different parts of his game and he’s trying to get better and better.