Next to Brian Westbrook, Jim Johnson may be the Eagles most valuable person so far this year. His defense has been effective and consistent. Yesterday he talked to the media about the Bears offense and Eagles who have stepped up.
Defensive Coordinator Jim Johnson Press Conference
10-18-07
On how the Bears offense is different with Brian Griese at quarterback:
“I think the thing you see right now is a lot of big plays out of Griese, a lot of big pass plays. He’s won a couple of games- actually came back last week against Minnesota with some big pass plays. [QB] Rex [Grossman], to me, always was a playmaker, too. Griese has all of a sudden become a playmaker, as far as getting the ball down the field and making some plays. That’s the difference. The guys are catching the ball, and making some plays downfield with the passing game.”
On whether he’s concerned about KR/PR Devin Hester at wide receiver:
“Well, of course. Anytime you have that kind of athletic ability, we’re going to pay attention to him. We’ve talked about it, and there are some things we’ll do. But, yeah, you’ve got to pay attention to him. He’s got unbelievable speed. There are other receivers we go against, too, with great speed, but we’ll know when he’s in the game.”
On whether Hester runs passing routes well:
“I don’t think he’s had enough experience at running all those routes. When you see he’s a natural athlete with speed out there, that’s his strength. Unless they spend a lot more time with him, I think that’s hard to do- reading coverages, as far as a wide receiver.”
On whether they want to put more pressure on Griese than other quarterbacks they’ve faced:
“I think you want to pressure all quarterbacks. I don’t think there’s a quarterback you don’t want to pressure. Some guys, hopefully, can get there quicker and better, but we’re still going to pressure him. We’ve got to play coverage, too.”
On whether he’s surprised at how quickly the Eagles defense has gelled:
“Not too surprised. I felt as long as we could keep the front [defensive line] healthy and active, I thought we were going to be alright. Even with our secondary, I had a lot of confidence in [CB] Will James and [S] Quintin Mikell coming in. So, it doesn’t bother me. I knew they’d do a good job. We’re getting good pressure. We’re getting consistent pressure up front, and the guys are staying healthy.”
On the play of LB Takeo Spikes and whether he sees Spikes as a leader:
“He’s played well, and the thing about Takeo is, the more he’s around here, the more leadership you’re going to see. I think he’s still, and he’d probably admit it, learning some things with the system. He’s feeling his way a little bit, but he’s gaining more confidence, and has great leadership ability. I think you’ll see more and more of that as the year goes on.”
On how the defense will change with the return of CB Lito Sheppard:
“Nothing different. Lito’s a playmaker. Hopefully we get him in there enough times where we’ll see how he’s going to play. Will James will still be playing in there sometimes with that first group, but Lito will be in there with the nickel situation, also. So, nothing will change. We won’t expand, or anything like that.”
On what role Sheppard will play:
“We’ll see how it goes. Right now I see him playing quite a bit. I don’t know what kind of shape he’s in; we’ve got to see. Game shape and practice shape, when you’ve got to play 60 or 70 plays, it’s a little different in practice. We’ll kind of see how it goes, but Will James will play a lot, also.”
On whether CB Joselio Hanson’s playing time will be reduced with the return of Sheppard:
“It will be reduced somewhat, there’s no question about that.”
On whether CB Sheldon Brown has stepped up as a leader:
“I think he’s always been that kind of quiet leader. I think he’s playing at a good level; I think he’s playing with a lot of confidence. He’s been very consistent in about every game.”
On Sheldon Brown’s toughness:
“He’s a tough guy. He plays in pain, doesn’t want to come out of the game. There are some guys that get a few nicks and can’t handle it, but he’s one of those guys that’s mentally tough and bounces back pretty well.”
On the play of LB Chris Gocong so far:
“I think he’s okay. I still want to see, like last week, he had a great chance for a sack, but wasn’t quite there. I tell Chris all the time, ‘You need to make a couple of big plays. You need to get that confidence and spark.’ But, he’s sound; he’s solid. I’d just like to see more production out of him. That’s just being honest with him, too.”
On how good the Bears tight ends Desmond Clark and Greg Olsen are:
“Very good. Two good tight ends- probably the two best tight ends we’ve faced so far this year and probably will be [facing]. They’re both excellent receivers, good blockers, and they’re complete tight ends.”
On how often Clark and Olsen are on the field together:
“They’re on the field quite a bit, maybe 50% of the time.”
On whether the Bears defense is just a hair off:
“It’s hard to say. I know a lot of times a defense can be off because of an injury, guys working with other guys you don’t know. Maybe you’ve got a tackle or an end that haven’t worked together for a while. So, those things all play into it, the consistency. Like I said, the most consistent thing you like to do is keep that defensive line healthy because those are the guys that have to communicate so much, as far as stunts and things like that. So, that’s always been a problem. If you’re banged up there more than the other positions, then you struggle.”
On what is different about the Bears running game this season:
“It’s more of a power-type run game, inside running game. Last year with [Jets RB Thomas] Jones, it was more of an outside running game, more downhill running. [RB Cedric] Benson’s still a good back. I’ll tell you what’s happened a little bit is, they’ve been behind and had to throw the football. Last week, they’re behind 31-14, they’ve got to throw the football. It’s a team you want to stay ahead of because they’ve still got a good offensive line and a nice, big back. You don’t want them controlling the ball.”
On how he plans on rotating the defensive tackles:
“We want to keep [DT Mike] Patterson and [DT Brodrick] Bunkley on the field as much as possible. We’re going to rest them a little bit with [DT LaJuan] Ramsey, and possibly [DT] Montae Reagor, but we still want to keep those two guys [on the field]. Right now, we take one of them out in nickel, as far as putting [DE Darren] Howard inside on the tackles. So, those guys are going to play most of the time. If we get Ramsey in there for 10 or 15 plays, I’m fine with that.”
On the job DE Darren Howard has done and whether he plans on activating DE Victor Abiamiri:
“We want to see Victor, there’s no question about it. I don’t think we’re necessarily going to make that switch for Howard. Howard is still our starting tackle on nickel. I think he still can be an excellent rush-tackle in our nickel defense. He’s got the nice size and good athletic ability. You’d like to see him get some more sacks up the middle, but besides that, just some pressures and knockdowns. But, we’re not going to make that switch.”
On what has limited Howard’s production:
“I think it’s consistency that you can talk about for anybody. Sometimes I see it; I saw it against Detroit, and we talked about it. I think you’ve just got to be more consistent. It’s tough. It’s not always easy to get that inside rush for a tackle. It’s tough, especially when you get the center blocking, then a double-team, and all of that stuff. So, it’s tough sometimes, but it comes down to effort and working on his techniques.”
On how comfortable he is with LB Omar Gaither:
“I’m comfortable. He’s handled the defense well. He handles the front well; he handles the two-minute situations. He’s done a good job as far as that. I think he can be even more productive and physical, but as far as the overall handling of the defense, he’s done a really good job.”
On whether he’s concerned he may run out of options at safety with FS Brian Dawkins hurt:
“Yeah. All of a sudden when you get one guy injured, your depth hurts a little bit. [S] J.R. [Reed] has to be ready to go in there. Hopefully we keep those safeties healthy and we don’t have to make any moves, but that’s always a concern when you’ve got a safety down. We’ve got three safeties, and hopefully we can make it through until Dawk gets back. He might get back anytime, who knows
