Sean Desai

Q. We obviously saw DT Jordan Davis’ forced fumble and the half sack that he had, but what was your assessment of how he played against the run? (Jimmy Kempski)

SEAN DESAI: I thought he did a good job. He was physical at times for us. Really for everybody on defense right now, it’s just about building consistency, rep in and rep out, and being as dominant as we want to be in all of our matchups.

I thought he did a good job. Had a good start. There are still things we have to improve upon, not just with him but with everybody. I thought he came out and did a good job and tried to be physical consistently.

Q. What is your plan for replacing LB Nakobe Dean? (Jeff McLane)

SEAN DESAI: We’ll go with some of the guys that we’ve got up. We feel really good about them. A lot of them, like you guys have asked all camp, we’ve been rotating guys and putting guys in different spots. That’s part of the reason. That’s the NFL season, guys get injured, so you have to have plans in place.

We’ve done a good job through training camp to prepare different guys in different spots. We’ll be able to roll that out there. We feel good about the guys we’ll be able to put out.

Q. Who will take green dot responsibilities? (Dave Zangaro)

SEAN DESAI: I think we’re going through that here in the next couple days. We had a good plan in the game, too, where [LB] Christian Elliss became that green dot. We’ve got some other guys that will be able to do that.

I think in these last couple days we’ll kind of keep messing with those combinations because the biggest thing is making sure the guy that has it, one, he and I have a rapport of how he hears the call and what I’m saying and the tips I’m giving on the headset, then him being able to communicate that clearly in terms of the huddle call to the rest of the guys.

Q. Does that always have to be a linebacker? (Jimmy Kempski)

SEAN DESAI: It could be anybody. I don’t know if you guys noticed, but I think [S] Reed [Blankenship] had it in the two-minute there, as well. Yeah, we’re kind of open-minded to whoever it is.

Q. On the topic of DT Jalen Carter, a handful of veterans were saying after the game that he was itching to get out there. Is that the sentiment that you felt? (Josh Tolentino)

SEAN DESAI: I think we like to rush in waves and send a lot of guys out there. I think all those guys are chomping at the bit to get out there, which is a really cool thing as the coordinator to have that mentality up there. It’s really fun to see those guys go out there.

He did a good job in his opportunities. Still, there’s still ways for him to keep getting better and improving. We’re excited about that, to keep growing him.

Q. With CB James Bradberry in the concussion protocol, very short week, are you comfortable with CB Josh Jobe stepping in? (John McMullen)

SEAN DESAI: Oh, yeah, I’m extremely confident and comfortable, really all the guys that we’ve prepared out there, and Josh being one of them. He’s had a really good camp. We’re looking forward to him doing well. He did a great job in the situation he was put in in the game. Really, he showed kind of his mentality and his approach, which is a thing we really like about him.

Q. Philosophically, what’s your view on traveling a cornerback with a specific wide receiver? (Zach Berman)

SEAN DESAI: I think we have to do what is best for our matchups and our players that gives us the best chance, that doesn’t hurt us. We’ve got to make sure it systematically fits.

We’ve done it. I’ve done it in my history. I think it’s a good tool to have when you need it. I’m sure we’ll do it throughout the season at different spots if and when we need to.

Q. CB Darius Slay had a pretty good performance against Vikings WR Justin Jefferson last year. I guess as you prepare for that matchup, what did you see on that tape? (E.J. Smith)

SEAN DESAI: Yeah, obviously he did. Really the whole Eagles defense and the whole team played really well in that game. It’s a credit to all those guys that were on that field. They really took to dominating their matchups and their one-on-one situations, and winning in rush and coverage.

A lot of that stuff is going to carry over in terms of our philosophy, what we want to do from a front perspective and disrupt things, and from a coverage perspective win. We always talk about owning that hard hat. To Slay’s credit, he’s done a bunch of that grunt work in the back. That always helps when you have a guy that wants that hard hat.

Q. What are your big picture takeaways from your first game, what you liked, what areas need to be cleaned up? (Tim McManus)

SEAN DESAI: Overall, you like that you got the win as a team. I think that’s always the number one most important thing, right? You play to win the game here. That was always the most important thing.

Then I thought our guys really fought hard through all the situations that they were in. We had a little bit of adversity. We gave up some drives that we’ve got to clean up. But they came back.

I think the resiliency and the toughness and the character of our squad really showed there. Each individual player, they kept coming back and they kept being physical. That brand is something that we don’t want to get away from.

In terms of some techniques and fundamentals, that’s part of our job, right? They wouldn’t have me as a coach if we didn’t need to clean that stuff up.

We’re going to continue to detail some things, help our guys exceed even more in certain situations and with certain techniques and fundamentals. We’ll be better at that and we’ll be better as a staff. I’ll be better as a coordinator to put them in situations there.

I thought the biggest thing was their toughness, their resiliency, and desire, chomping at the bit to keep going. That was really impressive by those guys.

Q. As far as S Justin Evans goes, what is it about him that allowed him to earn that start? What did you like about him? What did he do to put himself ahead? (Ed Kracz)

SEAN DESAI: It’s been a constant battle – I hope you guys don’t take that as evasiveness – throughout training camp. But it was. It was day in, day out. He kind of earned it. He set himself apart a little bit with his physicalness at the point of attack sometimes. That we saw obviously in practice and in some games. His length and his ability to cover guys was good.

He did a good job in the game. He took a lot of command to his side of the coverage, the things that we require those safeties to do. He did a good job communicating out there and stepping into that role.

Q. Patriots QB Mac Jones completed nearly 80% of his passes in between the numbers for over 250 yards, two touchdowns. Did you see an issue there and what was it? (Jeff McLane)

SEAN DESAI: Yeah, they had a good plan. They did a good job. Some of our stuff, our coverages, we got to some answers that we needed to get to to take care of some of those middle-of-the-field drops.

I think they were intentionally trying to attack that with the rain, not throw the ball outside the numbers. We were trying to make sure we had enough depth in the defense, where we’ve got to improve there in the depth in the defense and rolling our coverages to certain front sides of some routes to help us there. We were tight on some. They had some good catches with some runaways and things like that.

It’s really about making sure that we’re packing that middle of the defense when we need to, having enough depth when they try to throw over the top of us.

Really the other part is getting them off that first read. I think that’s a big thing for us that you guys have heard me talk about. I don’t know the exact numbers, so don’t quote me on it, I think he averaged under 2.5 seconds a throw, which is fast. That’s fast.

We have to get him off of that. We have to get him off that structurally when teams are trying to do that, where there are different ways we can do that. It buys that extra tick for our rush. I was proud of our guys, they stuck with it in the rush and the coverage end of it.

Q. As far as the depth at linebacker, you guys only kept three obviously. Now LB Nakobe Dean is hurt. How do you feel about the overall depth at linebacker and whether you guys may or may not have kept enough? (Martin Frank)

SEAN DESAI: I feel really good. I think the plan that we had all along with [Head] Coach [Nick Sirianni], with [Executive Vice President/ General Manager] Howie [Roseman], as we build this roster and depth, we’re all in lockstep on it. I feel really good. We’ve had plans in place. We’ve always got plans. That’s our job, right, is to make sure we have contingency plans on anything that can happen.

Even in that situation, we didn’t miss a beat. We rotated right in. The green dot communication was great. We didn’t miss a beat. We’re going to continue with the plan that we’ve had.

Q. With all the star power you have on the defensive line, DT Milton Williams can sometimes get lost to outsiders. What has he done to distinguish himself? (Dave Zangaro)

SEAN DESAI: Man, he was so physical. I think you saw that in the game, striking people, knocking people back at the point of attack. That’s a good edge and a toughness that he brings because he’s so consistent with it.

Then he can convert, too, when it’s the play pass, and things like that, when he’s in there. He adds a little bit of rush element to win on it.

He falls right in line. But you’re right, he does get lost, and he shouldn’t, because he’s a physical player that we really like.