Vic Fangio

Q. Hey Vic, how can DE Brandon Graham help? (Dave Zangaro)

Vic Fangio: We’ll see. You see what kind of shape he’s in, what kind of retention he has from last year. Shape comes in two forms. One, just your conditioning, but in football shape to contact shape. So hopefully, the sooner the better.

Q. Has this been an ongoing conversation with him? Have you been in communication with him throughout the course of the season or? (Tim McManus)

Vic Fangio: Well, all the way from the start I was teasing him not to retire all the way back to last February or March. So yeah, I mean I’ve run into him, we’ve talked when he’s come by. I always tease him about it to try and light the fire.

Q. But the retention part, your experience with him last year, does that give you confidence that it’s going to be pretty good or- (John McMullen)

Vic Fangio: Yeah, it does. It does.

Q. Vic, what’s your assessment of how LB Jihaad Campbell performed off the edge this week or last week? (Andrew DiCecco)

Vic Fangio: I think he performed basically like I thought he would. It’s new out there. Particularly, the packages he was going up there earlier were different than this week, this past game. So there’s a lot to learn. There’s a lot to get comfortable with. The more he’s up there, the better he’ll get at it.

Q. How will DE Brandon Graham’s addition impact the other edge rushers? Will he carve into some of their snaps in the rotation you take early on? (Cayden Steele)

Vic Fangio: Well, yeah it would. There’s only so many snaps. You answered your own question.

Q. CB Jakorian Bennett is eligible to play now. Do you anticipate having him next week or Sunday and when he is healthy, when he is playing, what kind of role do you see for him? (Reuben Frank)

Vic Fangio: Again, that will be determined by practice. He hadn’t practiced. You can’t practice when you’re on IR, so once we open up his window and get him on the practice field, see where he is at, I can answer that better. But obviously, he’s a guy we’ll take a hard look at.

Q. For somebody coming out of retirement, what’s kind of a realistic expectation? How many snaps they could offer you? (Brooks Kubena)

Vic Fangio: I don’t know. Now he’s coming out of retirement and he’s older. But when I was in Chicago, we traded for [Chargers LB] Khalil Mack who had missed the entire training camp and the fatigue police said, ‘Hey, he can only play about 20-22 snaps in this game’, because we got him the week of the first game. I said, okay. He played about 45, so I don’t know.

Q. What factored into the way you used the linebackers in this game? Having LB Nakobe Dean fill the role he did and LB Jihaad Campbell play the way he did. (Zach Berman)

Vic Fangio: Yeah, I just wanted to get Nakobe there in spot duty. The plan was base for Nakobe and you never know how much base you’re going to get in a game. Then we played him some in Nickel too, and I think he got about 30 plays, which I think was a good number and the way they came was good too. It wasn’t like he had 10 in a row, I don’t think. I thought he did well, and I think we did the right thing not playing him the week before, even though we technically could have.

Q. It looked like LB Jihaad Campbell started off with nickel. Was that an in-game shift or was that the plan? (Brooks Kubena)

Vic Fangio: No, that’s just what I said. [LB] Nakobe [Dean] was going to play base, Jihaad was going to play nickel.

Q. Why was that the right decision not to play in the week before? (Tim McManus)

Vic Fangio: He didn’t have enough practice. Practice is important. It would’ve been negligent on our part to put him out there without practice.

Q. Did LB Nakobe Dean play more because of OLB Azeez Ojulari’s injury? Meaning that you had to put LB Jihaad Campbell at edge rusher. Was kind of the plan all along regardless?

Vic Fangio: No.

Q. Do you expect to have OLB Azeez Ojulari? (Martin Frank)

Vic Fangio: I don’t think so.

Q. On the OLB Jalyx Hunt pick six, it looked like Vikings QB Carson Wentz stared down Vikings WR Justin Jefferson, S Andrew Mukuba was on him. Was that a man look and was that by design to have Jalyx drop into a situation where the quarterback might find a favorable matchup there? (Jimmy Kempski)

Vic Fangio: Yeah, but the whole key to the play was [DT] Jalen Carter. He beat the center quickly, got into the quarterback’s face, hit him just like we teach him to hit him and he caused the interception and Jalyx made a great catch.

Q. Is OLB Jalyx Hunt more natural at that aspect with his history obviously was a safety at one point in college? Because you often have edge rushers dropping. Is he a little bit more natural with that? (John McMullen)

Vic Fangio: You would think so, but not really.

Q. QB Jalen Hurts has talked a lot about the assists that you guys celebrate, plays like that pressure, where you kind of contribute to a big play. How much do you guys point those out in the film review to sort of incentivize that type of appreciation? (EJ Smith)

Vic Fangio: We do.

Q. I think a little bit of a throwback question for you here; Former Eagles CB Eric Allen is being honored at the game this Sunday. What do you remember about EA and the guys from those gang green defenses? (Christopher McPherson)

Vic Fangio: I remember him being a really good corner. He was sticky in coverage, quick, good change of direction, competent tackler, really good ball skills, good ball clock. I mean how many interceptions did he have– 58. That’s a lot for a corner. I mean to me that says it all 58 picks. You got to have elite ball skills, got to be able to find the ball, got to be able to be tight in coverage. He definitely was worthy of the Hall of Fame.

Q. Do you like the Kelly Green throwbacks? (Christopher McPherson)

Vic Fangio: I don’t know. I’ll have to see. I can’t remember them right now.

Q. You’ve seen the key to the defense’s performance was keep them to five field goals. What goes into effective red zone defense? (Zach Berman)

Vic Fangio: A lot of things. One, we got lucky. They snapped the ball over the quarterback’s head. That was luck. I’ll take it. Great play by [DB] Cooper [DeJean] in the corner of the end zone. Some other good plays. They’re tight end didn’t complete the catch, so it’s a little bit of everything.

Q. What do you make of S Andrew Mukuba’s season? Obviously, he’s made some big plays, he’s given up some big plays.

Vic Fangio: You said it.

Q. What do you make of his season? (Reuben Frank)

Vic Fangio: It’s uneven. The ability’s there, he’s just got to be more consistent.

Q. How do you feel CB Adoree Jackson did before he got hurt and then CB Kelee Ringo when he came in? (Cayden Steele)

Vic Fangio: Yeah, I thought Adoree was doing fine and Kelee did fine when he was in there. He got hit, but some of the completions he’s given up. Not all of them, but some of them have come on tough routes. So, I still think he can eventually be better than he’s been. His opportunities will keep coming, probably, and hopefully he’ll turn the corner.

Q. Given that situation, is there a chance CB Jakorian Bennett can get in the mix this week? (Dave Zangaro)

Vic Fangio: It all depends on his health. I think the first tell of that is if we open up his practice window.

Q. What did CB Jakorian Bennett show you before he got hurt? He didn’t play a ton of snaps. (Reuben Frank)

Vic Fangio: Yeah, incomplete. I just never felt like I had a good handle on what he is and what he isn’t. I just don’t think he played enough to answer that with definitive conviction.

Q. After having the chance to go up against New York Giants QB Jaxson Dart once already, what’s kind of the lessons learned about what you guys need to do better this time around? (Tim McManus)

Vic Fangio: One lesson is learned and the teams that need quarterbacks that bypass them, they’re going to regret that. Obviously [he’s] very athletic, an elite scrambler. I think their coaches have done a great job with him. They’ve developed the offense around him, [he] throws the ball very well, intermediate and deep, and he’s a good player.

Q. Is the scheduling quirk of playing the team twice in three weeks something you like? Is it something you dislike? What’s your thought? (Zach Berman)

Vic Fangio: It doesn’t happen very often. Be honest with you, I don’t think it matters a whole lot.