Vic Fangio

Q. With DB Cooper DeJean, when you have a game like that with a veteran receiver, how much do you think that helps him moving forward? (John McMullen)

VIC FANGIO: Every game is a learning experience. Every play you see is a learning experience, and he’ll be better for it.

Q. When you look at this upcoming game against the Steelers, you’ve got Steelers QB Russell Wilson, a veteran quarterback who’s also pretty mobile. How do you balance trying to put pressure on him while also trying to protect against him in pass coverage? (Chris Franklin)

VIC FANGIO: It’s always a delicate balance. Ideally. you want to get good pass rush with the four and be able to play the coverages you like. Sometimes with these mobile quarterbacks, that’s not always possible. You may have to add a guy or two. And play.

Yeah, he’s mobile still. Really playing good. It will be a challenge. It will be very similar to what we just had a couple days ago.

Q. How do you assess CB Darius Slay’s season? He’s been in and out with some injuries in game and obviously missed some. How has it affected him in his performance? (Jeff McLane)

VIC FANGIO: I don’t think it’s affected him a whole lot. I thought he played good the other day. He did get beat on the one, but he ended up making some real critical plays for us throughout the game. I think his play has been good.

Q. Are there any concerns – against the Ravens, they had the last drive with Ravens QB Lamar Jackson getting down there. And then in this last game against the Carolina Panthers, they almost got it with Panthers WR Xavier Legette if he had caught that ball. Are there any concerns about late game defense? (Chris Franklin)

VIC FANGIO: Yeah, the game changes in those situations. Offenses become more aggressive. They’ve got a ‘nothing to lose’ mentality, and you’ve got to go four and out, not three and out, or get a takeaway. We need to do better.

Q. With CB Quinyon Mitchell, it seems like teams just don’t target him very much. Is that surprising to you, knowing that he’s a rookie? (Dave Zangaro)

VIC FANGIO: A lot of times it’s due to the coverage we’re playing too. Where the quarterback is, his reads take him other places. But [CB] Quinyon [Mitchell] has been playing very well from day one. I’m very, very pleased with him.

Q. S C.J. Gardner-Johnson took that big hit early in the game. What does it do for the defense? (Jimmy Kempski)

VIC FANGIO: Number one, it got us off the field because it was third down. But any time you can get a big hit, it jacks people up.

Q. How much have you had to alter the way you coach those types of situations in terms of hitting? Because it’s different. You can’t lead with your helmet; you can’t even hit a certain way versus when you first started coaching. How has that changed, and how few are those opportunities are there for the secondary? (Jeff McLane)

VIC FANGIO: We always look to teach that. And any time we see it on tape, we show it to the players. ‘This is how you can do it. This is not how you can do it.’ And keep trying to drive that point home.

He did a good job on that play. That was a big hit that was 100 percent legal. Kudos to the officiating to not fall to a big hit and just automatically throw a flag.

I know this is a few years ago, but when I was at San Francisco, we had a couple of big hitting safeties, and they got flagged like six or seven times for wrong hits, unnecessary roughness. And every one of them came back as bad calls. So I think the officiating has improved in that area.

Q. Guys talked at training camp about how you showed the reel of the hits that are clean hits but on the edge, hard hits still. Does S C.J. Gardner-Johnson’s make that reel for next summer? (EJ Smith)

VIC FANGIO: Yeah, it possibly could.

Q. How did S Tristin McCollum hold up? (Reuben Frank)

VIC FANGIO: Good. He missed a couple tackles that I think he can make. But overall, he did a good job.

Q. I think Steelers WR George Pickens is back. Is he one of the most dangerous receivers you’ve faced? (Merrill Reese)

VIC FANGIO: Yeah, because a lot of his catches are down the field. And he’s really good at those throws, and he’s also good catching short and running after the catch. Yeah, he’s one of the top receivers in the league for sure.

Q. How did you feel overall about the performance against the Panthers? Do you feel like you guys are still an ascending defense? Do you view that to be the case? (Bob Brookover)

VIC FANGIO: We definitely could have played better, but I do think Carolina deserves credit for making the game the way it was. They got a bunch of four, five, six, seven yard runs against us, which is what they do really well. That’s a really good [running] back.

So I do think the negative part of that game, you have to give Carolina some credit for it. And they’ve been playing very, very well lately, as you guys have noticed.

Definitely, we could have played better, should have played better. But I do think you don’t want to make light of the good things Carolina was doing and is doing.

Q. Panthers WR Adam Thielen seemed to be a pretty good test for your young secondary, especially DB Cooper DeJean. How do you think he held up when he was assigned to Panthers WR Adam Thielen? (Ed Kracz)

VIC FANGIO: Well, he gave up the one, the wheel route, which we had to emphasize. So that was a good learning experience for him. I thought overall, he did okay. All the balls he caught weren’t on [DB] Cooper [DeJean]. It’s the NFL, and you need learning experiences. Luckily, he got a few in a W.

Q. How much of the evasiveness, especially late, was stress on a three-man rotation for the edge rushers? (Brooks Kubena)

VIC FANGIO: Just on that last drive, when they’re going no huddle and going real fast, that’s when it could happen whether you’re having three or four. Because sometimes you can’t sub. It’s hard to get them in and out. But overall, I don’t think it was a problem.

Q. As you’re looking at playing time distribution, is your focus more on the volume or the percentage? (Zach Berman)

VIC FANGIO: How does one go without the other?

Q. Meaning the total number of snaps they’re playing or the distribution – (Zach Berman)

VIC FANGIO: I think most of that depends on the flow of the game. We only had eight series in that game. And if a bunch of them are 10, 12 series, your rep count is going to look different than if you’re having three-and-outs, five-play series, six-play series. So the flow of the game will dictate a lot of that.

Q. In the case of someone like DT Jalen Carter, are you going into a game expecting him to play X amount of snaps, or is it just based on a percentage at that point? (Zach Berman)

VIC FANGIO: It’s based on the flow of the game.

Q. Did you feel like their one touchdown was a pick play. If so, how do you coach that? What do you tell your players if you thought they were picked? (Bob Brookover)

VIC FANGIO: Well, we should have played that better. That was a disappointing play, and that ended up being a seven point play. We should have played that way better than we did.

Q. How do you play it better? Just try to go up front, or – (Bob Brookover)

VIC FANGIO: Yeah, we’ve just got to play it better. We should have played that play better. To answer your question, there was no pick.

Q. LB Zack Baun, since early when you looked at him and said you think he could be an off-ball linebacker, going back to when you started with that, did you envision the instincts he has to play in that position? (John McMullen)

VIC FANGIO: I never want to put a limit on a guy. I do think, when I watched him, that he displayed some instincts, which is a big part of the equation in evaluating an off the ball linebacker. So I thought he had them. But he’s done very well in that area, and that’s why he’s playing good.

Q. Where does his season rank up with some of the off-ball linebackers you’ve had? You’ve had some good ones. (Jeff McLane)

VIC FANGIO: Like I said, I don’t like to compare people because someone ends up feeling slighted. I still have a lot of respect for the guys I coached, even though they’re not playing anymore, some of the ones you’re alluding to. But [LB] Zack [Baun] is playing really good, and we’re thrilled to have him.

Q. How do you feel about cameras in the coaching booth? (Bo Wulf)

VIC FANGIO: Yeah, I don’t like them. First off, who the hell wants to look at my face when it’s right there? (laughing) I don’t like them.