Browns Defensive Coordinator Jim Schwartz fields questions from the media on December 21, 2023. Schwartz noted that the Browns will be ready for whatever quarterback the Texans end up starting Sunday, including CJ Stroud, Case Keenum and Davis Mills.
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00:00 Okay, this week Kevin said that miles should be the defensive player of the year this year.
00:09 Do you agree?
00:10 Of course.
00:11 You know, I think I might have said that may have said this before, but in my mind, the
00:18 definition of a great defense or a great player is when an opponent starts their game plan
00:26 with we're going to take care of this guy, right?
00:31 Like we're not going to let this guy beat us.
00:34 And he's still able to be effective and he's still able to, you know, to play at a high
00:39 level.
00:40 So there are a lot of guys that can make plays when they don't see attention and things like
00:44 that.
00:45 But, you know, in my career, I've really seen it from three players.
00:49 I've seen it from miles.
00:51 I've seen it from Calvin Johnson.
00:53 And I was a young quality, but it was only the first three years of his career.
00:59 But I saw from Ray Lewis also guys that every week the opponent said, this guy is not going
01:05 to beat us.
01:06 And every week that that player still made plays.
01:09 So you know, miles fits in that category, affects the game, helps other people make
01:15 plays.
01:16 You know, you could, we could have a two hour press conference of the ways that he affects
01:22 the game.
01:23 I think Kevin alluded to that last year is we just tied the game up.
01:28 We go out the very first play, they try to get a crack toss to mile side and he gets
01:32 a tackle for, I think, a six yard loss, which really won that series for second and 16 is
01:37 tough for any offense.
01:40 You know, and maybe if that was a drop back pass and he got a sack, there would have been,
01:45 you know, a lot of tension.
01:47 Miles' sack sort of wins the game or sets the Browns up for the win.
01:53 But because it was a tackle on a run play, you know, I think maybe it sort of gets lost
01:58 in the shuffle a little bit, but those plays continue to affect or continue to help our
02:02 team.
02:03 And we're really glad to have him here.
02:06 And like I said, every, every opponent, when I, when I was in Detroit with Calvin, it didn't
02:11 matter what people did the week before, didn't matter what they, you know, how they covered.
02:16 It was like, okay, they're going to have a Calvin plan.
02:18 Miles is the same way.
02:19 You know, like we, we sit around a lot of times, okay, what did they do on protection
02:23 on third down and how did they do this?
02:25 And it's like, right, it really doesn't matter what we saw on tape.
02:28 We're going to get a different plan for, for Calvin.
02:31 I think, you know, in some ways we also saw that recently from Aaron Donald and I've been
02:36 on teams that, you know, offensive coaches say like, Hey, our number one goal was to
02:40 keep him from making plays, still make plays.
02:42 So.
02:43 We just talked to a couple of Ventron.
02:45 He said that Miles is the best player in football, hands down.
02:51 Do you agree with that assessment?
02:53 Yeah, of course.
02:54 I mean, I'm a little bit biased because I'm here, but you know, again, for all those reasons
03:00 that, you know, that we just said, you know, it's, it's really a pleasure watching, watching
03:06 him play and watching him affect games.
03:10 And I mean, say, say whatever you want about sack numbers and everything else.
03:17 You know, we're, we're the best third down defense in the league by a pretty good chunk,
03:23 I think.
03:24 And he has everything to do with that.
03:27 Our corners, all three are really, really high in their coverage percentages.
03:35 Every single one of them can, can attribute some of that to, to Miles Garrett.
03:42 We know what the Texans lose with CJ Stroud, what did they gain with Keenum?
03:51 Well, I'd like to say this about CJ Stroud.
03:54 First, I've been very, very impressed with him as a rookie player.
03:57 He doesn't look like a rookie out there.
03:59 And you know, you see some young players, it takes them a couple of years to get really
04:03 good command of where to go with the ball and the game sort of slows down for him.
04:08 All those things that we talk about, you know, from early in the season, he had that.
04:15 So he was playing at a really high level.
04:19 Certainly wish him best for his career.
04:21 Concussions aren't something to, you know, mess around with.
04:26 If he's able to, to play, we'll be ready for him.
04:30 But, you know, he made accurate throws.
04:33 He used his legs, had great command of what they were doing offensively, recognized coverages,
04:40 recognized blitzes, all that, you know, they're, they're top five in passing yards and the
04:45 least amount of turnovers in the league.
04:48 Sometimes that doesn't go hand in hand.
04:50 Sometimes you ring up the scoreboard a little bit with a lot of pass plays, but you're also
04:54 throwing interceptions and that kid hadn't done that.
04:59 Chris Keenum has been around for a long time, has all the experience in the league.
05:03 Obviously he was here.
05:05 He led the Vikings to an NFC championship game.
05:07 I was in Philly when, when we played him, you know, a true vet that has seen everything.
05:16 Very accurate passer.
05:17 He does it a little bit different than CJ Stroud, but, you know, led him to a win last
05:23 week and, you know, when it's all said and done.
05:27 Head coaches and quarterbacks are judge-all wins and, you know, Case Keenum's a winner.
05:33 So we're going to play our very best against him.
05:35 Our guys know him a little bit.
05:38 Some of his strengths and his weaknesses.
05:40 So again, whatever the Texans do at quarterback, you know, we're prepared.
05:45 We're prepared not just for, for them, but for Davis Mills also.
05:48 And what are you thinking on during that AOMA meeting?
05:52 What are the coaching points about if you would want you guys to do anything different?
05:55 Yeah, you know, actually the play before we were poor on, well, first of all, they should
06:01 never even get in position for Hill Mary when it's 30 seconds.
06:05 Like, you know, we are probably our worst play, our worst play of the game was gave
06:10 up that chunk when they were on their 25 and it put them in a position to take shots.
06:17 And you know, we, we just assumed the guy was going to run out of bounds and that's,
06:21 that's a bad, that's bad business to be in.
06:25 But the play before we were really protected sideline and the end zone and you know, they
06:31 didn't make the play, but we could have played that a lot different and could have put ourselves
06:37 in better position there.
06:38 We have some tools in our toolbox to be able to handle it.
06:41 You know, anytime they're throwing at the end zone, there's so much of randomness that
06:46 goes into it.
06:48 Right.
06:49 You know, we talk about, you know, guys getting up and driving the ball down, getting the
06:52 ball on the ground.
06:54 And we talk about guys putting bodies on guys and boxing out.
06:58 You know, and I thought we had good bodies on guys and our jumpers did get the ball down.
07:04 So happened to go to a guy that was laying on the ground, you know, and in all your coaching
07:09 points, you know, like, you know, as you're covering a lot of things, guys going for the
07:12 back tip guys for the front tip, who's going up, who's going down.
07:16 I don't think the coaching point is ever included when a guy's laying on the ground, you know,
07:22 so you know, and he had been going up and Greg was Greg was on him and sort of body
07:28 them out.
07:29 That just goes to show you in those situations, anything can happen.
07:33 And I think the coaching point and the lesson learned in that with our guys is don't don't
07:38 get them in that position.
07:39 You know, if we play better, you know, better sort of fence defense, you know, earlier on,
07:48 you know, they're doing razzle dazzle, you know, throwback and you know, that kind of
07:53 stuff as opposed to taking shots at our end zone.
07:57 We did put ourselves like when they did get there also now we're protecting field goal
08:01 too.
08:02 We had a couple of good snaps to keep them out of field goal range, but we got to do
08:05 better.
08:06 We got to do better to keep them from getting in position where randomness can cost you
08:11 the game and it almost did in that case.
08:13 Minor point, but why was it to kill for that play when it was on the first half?
08:20 The first half Hail Mary was different personnel group and it was more just the zone get back
08:25 the last play the game.
08:27 We were in a different personnel package, a dime package.
08:31 But you know, I would say this about JOK where he's he's getting more and more involved in
08:37 all our packages.
08:39 His step as a young player was sort of mastering his own position first.
08:44 And you know, he had a little bit of ups and downs, but you can go progress.
08:48 He's played at a really high level last last month or so.
08:53 And we've made a big point to try to get him more on those things.
08:57 It's puts more on his plate having to do techniques that he hasn't done before.
09:02 Lead the huddle, do those kind of things that he hasn't done before.
09:06 But, you know, see only did a good job on that play.
09:09 See only did exactly what he's supposed to do.
09:11 And, you know, that's generally been Anthony Walker's position, you know, and then, you
09:17 know, a short week, well, not a short week, but when a walk couldn't play before the game
09:22 is probably a little bit too late to get Jeremiah in that role.
09:25 But you're going to see Jeremiah and some of those third down rolls.
09:30 It's time for him not to leave the field for us.
09:32 You know what I mean?
09:33 And, you know, it's going to it's going to be a little bit more ask of him.
09:38 And but he's up for it.
09:41 And, you know, he's he's an impact player for us.
09:44 And I've been really proud of the progress that he's made.
09:46 What's the messaging to the defense when you're going on the road, try to turn that record
09:50 around and get right so you can get those wins in the tough road environments?
09:55 Yeah, I think that, you know, you start off your game plan every week with the players
10:01 and the schemes and those things.
10:04 And as the week goes on, you know, it needs to after you get past that point, it needs
10:10 to go into more of the, you know, us against the world kind of mentality.
10:16 You're going into a hostile environment and embracing that.
10:20 And you know, that's that's another step that we need to take as a team and as a defense
10:26 is, you know, winning on the road.
10:29 You know, it's hard when you get December and you get January games mean a lot.
10:34 Winning on the road means an awful lot.
10:36 We haven't always played our best on the road and we've learned some lessons and hopefully
10:40 that will pay off for us now as we mature and we sort of, you know, learn, learn how
10:48 to deal with it.
10:49 What's at stake?
10:50 You know, we get a lot of energy from our home crowd, right?
10:54 Every single one of our guys will talk about that.
10:56 Right.
10:57 And, you know, how much the dog pound and everything else sort of helps us to have the
11:02 things that we value, right?
11:04 The effort and the personality and swag and, you know, the physical toughness, all those
11:09 things we feed off of our crowd.
11:11 But we got to manufacture it a little bit more on the road.
11:14 And the best way to manufacture it is to sort of create that us against the world, you know,
11:19 going into the Lions then kind of thing.
11:21 That'll be it'll be it'll be a great environment.
11:24 You know, Houston's battling for the division lead.
11:29 You know, we're all you know, we're all playing important games in December.
11:32 So we look forward to that challenge.
11:34 When we've talked to the players about surviving ups and downs of the season, culture is a
11:38 word that comes up.
11:39 What's important to that?
11:40 What does that word mean?
11:42 Yeah, I think I quoted Mike Vrabel before and Vrabes had a really good way of saying
11:48 culture.
11:49 I can't remember exactly the way it was, but it was culture is defined by how you are when
11:55 things are the worst.
11:56 I think I don't want to step on step on him.
12:00 But you know, like it's easy for culture to be good when things are going well.
12:07 Right.
12:08 I mean, it's sort of definition of being a front runner.
12:09 Right.
12:10 You know, hey, when things are going great, everybody can be, you know, first guy in the
12:15 meeting.
12:16 Everybody can be unselfish.
12:17 Everybody, you know, like all those things are easy to do when you're winning, when you
12:22 experience some injuries or you experience a couple of losses in a row or any of those
12:28 things when you don't have good culture, all of a sudden you start seeing guys that become
12:32 maybe a little bit selfish or guys start dropping off or, you know, you start you start getting
12:38 all the things we haven't seen from this team.
12:40 This team has been resilient, you know, particularly recently.
12:44 We've had to deal with a lot of injury situations.
12:47 We've seen unselfishness from from players, you know, so, you know, with with that in
12:54 and it's not like things are bad.
12:56 I say when when when you're at your worst or when things are the worst, how you are
13:01 is how culture is defined.
13:04 But I'd probably just shift that a little bit.
13:06 Your culture is defined by, you know, how you act when things are most challenging.
13:12 And we've you know, we've had some challenging times, you know, all season as a team, you
13:19 know, and when it's all said and done, you rely on your culture as opposed to, you know,
13:25 whatever a certain play call or, you know, certain personnel package or anything else.
13:32 And you know, that's one of the things we've been we've been preaching here probably since,
13:36 you know, almost a year ago when I sat up here and said the things that we value and
13:41 what we're going to try to emphasize, you know, and, you know, with schemes are transient,
13:47 you know, they come and go and, you know, all those different things.
13:51 But you know, I found with our guys, when you bring things to their attention, when
13:55 you when you ask something from them, they've responded really well.
13:59 And I think, you know, that's that's a good definition of, you know, or that's a good
14:05 indicator of how our culture has carried us this year.
14:07 Jim, I'm scared, was hoping that his postgame venting about the officiating might have sort
14:15 of a desired effect upon the game and perhaps get called out that way.
14:21 What are your thoughts on that?
14:23 What can you guys what can we do to, you know, to beat this sort of thing?
14:27 Yeah, he just he just keeps going out and doing what he does, which is play hard and
14:32 be relentless and not get discouraged.
14:35 And, you know, I think it was a couple of weeks ago we were playing Jacksonville, those
14:40 last couple of series.
14:41 I don't know if I've ever seen him rush as well.
14:44 And that was you know, he was, you know, wasn't getting the benefit of calls, but it wasn't
14:49 affecting his next snap.
14:50 He just kept on going.
14:52 And, you know, I think in in any of those things, you know, we're we're we're trying
14:56 to we're trying to concentrate on ourselves.
15:00 We play we let the officials officiate.
15:03 And, you know, I mean, hopefully, you know, they can see some of those things and, you
15:08 know, they can help them.
15:10 My biggest concern with miles isn't necessarily the you know, getting the flags, which, you
15:15 know, put them back 10 yards or any of that stuff.
15:19 You know, that guy that guy is so unusual when you rush to pass or you your body gets
15:26 in some in some tough positions, right?
15:28 You get that torque, you get that lean and those things.
15:32 And we protect ball carriers and a lot of things with like horse collars and face mask
15:36 and, you know, different things like that to try to keep them from being injured.
15:40 But you're very vulnerable as a pass rusher a lot of times.
15:44 And some things that don't look like much can, you know, can be can be tough situations,
15:51 can be dangerous situations for defensive players.
15:54 And that's that's probably my biggest concern is his his physical health when things like
16:00 that happen.
16:03 I make bad calls in the game.
16:04 Players make bad plays.
16:05 Official officials, I'm sure they're they're not happy 100 percent with the way the games
16:10 play out.
16:11 But, you know, with an eye toward player safety and things like that, when when guys when
16:17 guys get yanked or or torqued or turned, you know, you can see some of those, you know,
16:25 those muscle injuries or the skeletal injuries come to the forefront.
16:29 And, you know, I know our officials have player safety in mind and things like that.
16:34 But I think a lot of times we think about ball carriers when we think about player safety,
16:38 right, in defenseless players and some of those kind of hits.
16:42 But, you know, being a defensive coach, you know, those pass rushers are vulnerable an
16:46 awful lot.
16:47 And, you know, I think that that they deserve the same kind of protection that some of the
16:52 offensive players get.
16:53 OK.
16:54 Thanks.
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