Vic Fangio
Q. OLB Jonathan Greenard, do you think he’ll be ready to go and how confident are you? (Pat Gallen)
Vic Fangio: It’s day by day. He hasn’t practiced a whole lot yet, so we’ll be careful with that.
Q. How’d he look yesterday? (Tim McManus)
Vic Fangio: Okay. Did okay.
Q. With a player like that who has a body of work in the league, but you haven’t seen him play a ton in practice, how do you balance those things when you’re coming up with a plan for him? (Dave Zangaro)
Vic Fangio: I mean, there’s a minimal amount of practice, real practice, that you have to go through, especially for a guy coming off an injury. It’s like [DT Aaron] Donald with the [Los Angeles] Rams. He’s just coming off rustiness, no injury and wasn’t ready this week. So, we’ll see.
Q. New coordinator, basically similar to Offensive Coordinator Sean Mannion, couple years off his playing career, Commanders Offensive Coordinator David Blough. When you don’t have a history with a guy, how do you approach that in week one? (John McMullen)
Vic Fangio: It’s a little different than normal. You really don’t know a whole lot about the offense either way, what it might, might not be. You make the assumption, right or wrong, that they’ll still do some of the stuff that [Commanders QB Jayden] Daniels was good at and comfortable with. They’ll do some stuff that the new guy wants to do. It’s a little bit of a crapshoot.
Q. Do you have a starter at safety? Is it S Marcus Epps? (Martin Frank)
Vic Fangio: Yeah, Epps will start.
Q. What did you like about the way he won the job in training camp and everything? (Martin Frank)
Vic Fangio: He was just solid the whole way through, but we still like [DB] Michael [Carter], and we have the ability to play him some there too.
Q. I know we’ve talked about DT Moro Ojomo in the past. Everybody thinks he’s poised for a pretty big season. What’s your take on Moro and the kind of year he can have? (Ed Kracz)
Vic Fangio: He’s played well for us the last two years and [we] expect more of the same and maybe even, hopefully, a little uptick. He’s already been a good player here. We expect that and maybe even a little more, but I don’t think he has to go out and prove anything.
Q. Where do you feel LB Jihaad Campbell is in terms of being in his consistency for week one? (Brooks Kubena)
Vic Fangio: He’s coming. He’s coming along. Not where we want him to be as a final product, but him missing the last two off seasons and being with the injuries stuff has set him back some, but he’s getting better and better every day.
Q. What are the things that are missing from the final product? (Jeff Neiburg)
Vic Fangio: Just repetitions and play recognition, et cetera.
Q. [Regarding possible OLB rotation upon OLB Jonathan Greenard’s return] At the point OLB Jonathan Greenard’s healthy, is he a Carolina Panthers OLB Jaelan Phillips replacement in terms of playing time or do you do that rotation differently? (Zach Berman)
Vic Fangio: It’s going to be a while before he’s game ready for a full load. It’ll be a pretty good rotation.
Q. With CB Riq Woolen, you mentioned maybe the consistency from snap to snap is not always there. How do you feel he’s improved heading into Week 1? (John McMullen)
Vic Fangio: Good. He knows he’s has to not have a lapse or two here and there. He’s good. I like the guy, I like the attitude and he’s working good at it.
Q. Given that you’re going to have a rotation there on the edge, what’s your comfort level with guys like OLB Arnold Ebiketie and OLB A.J. Epenesa dropping back into coverage? (Jeff Neiburg)
Vic Fangio: Good. Yeah, they’ve made a lot of improvements from when they first got here, which is credit to those guys and Wash [Defensive Ends/Outside Linebackers Coach Jeremiah Washburn] for getting it done with them. I feel good about it.
Q. How valuable is it to have a piece like DB Michael Carter who can back up at multiple spots? (Dave Zangaro)
Vic Fangio: A piece?
Q. Well, a player. (Dave Zangaro)
Vic Fangio: I hate that word piece. [Laughter.] These guys are humans. They’re players. I hate that word piece in today’s sports vernacular. It’s good. Michael’s very versatile, can play nickel, can play dime, can play safety, and we plan on using him.
Q. As you self-scouted, how do you think you guys handled mobile quarterbacks last year? (Zach Berman)
Vic Fangio: I don’t know. You might overall do a good job, but it’s those ones where you don’t and they make a big play out of it, stand out. I don’t know how we would rate on that. Maybe PFF has some phony stat you can look up. It’s a problem when you play scrambling quarterback and [Washington Commanders QB Jayden] Daniels obviously is excellent at that.
Q. Is that one of the reasons you like S Marcus Epps starting there and not DB Michael Carter because then you can use Carter in a bunch of different roles when you need him instead of kind of moving everyone around? (Reuben Frank)
Vic Fangio: No.
Q. Speaking of, I don’t know if it’s a phony stat or not, but how important is having the most light boxes in the NFL to what you do? (Jeff McLane)
Vic Fangio: That’s a credit to the front guys because if that is true, we’re holding up good enough to be able to do that. There’s been times in certain games where it’s hurt us some. There’s pluses and minuses to everything you do. The minus is you’re stressing your run defense a little bit, so we have to be able to play to run when we’re not having a safety down that linebacker depth in the box.
Q. Is it as simple as that you just, given the choice of run versus pass, you’re willing to give up a little more on the ground versus the air? (Jeff McLane)
Vic Fangio: As a general statement, probably.
Q. It’s been a while since these guys have gone 70 plus snaps in a game. Is there any, I don’t know, maybe thought of rotating a little bit, especially up front early in the season? I think Sunday’s going to be warm. What’s your thought on that? (Ed Kracz)
Vic Fangio: To me, it depends how the game’s going. But yes, the answer to your question is yes. But I t really ultimately is defined by how the game’s going. If they’re having a bunch of drives where they’re going eight, nine, 10 plays and in between those drives, our offense is going three and out, that stresses it more. The personality of the game will play a major part in that also.
Q. How do you see DT Jalen Carter as far as his health and fitness compared to maybe this time last year? (Reuben Frank)
Vic Fangio: Yeah, his health is good. His attitude’s been good. Fitness I think is better than it’s been, but I still think he can get there even a little better.
Q. Even though LB Jihaad Campbell’s not a final product, where do you feel maybe best about him right now in terms of, I guess, his growth, if there is an area that you feel most comfortable with him? (Cayden Steele)
Vic Fangio: He’s good in the open field. He’s athletic. He can run, but I feel good about him. I don’t want to give the wrong impression here, but I got spoiled early in my career. Do you guys ever hear of the Dome Patrol? The bar is high. The bar is high for me.
Q. I asked you earlier in the training camp about what’s changed recently with offenses and you mentioned the increase in motion. How do you stay ahead of the trends that you think may happen over the course of the season that has kind of given you the edge? Is it a waste of time to guess a little bit, or do you have to go upon what you really know actually has happened? (Jeff McLane)
Vic Fangio: I think it’s more [about] not staying ahead, but adjusting quickly. You see something that somebody’s doing, and because it’s copycat league, guys will copy things that they see as successful, particularly offensively. They will do that probably more so than defense as well. And it’ll make you think and you got to be ready to adapt and adjust. I feel good about our system, the way we play, that it’s very adaptable.
Q. What’s the best defense you’ve ever coached? (Zach Berman)
Vic Fangio: Oh man. You’re going to have ex-players some happy with me and a bunch of them unhappy with me if I answer that question. There’s been, in recent history — I’ll eliminate the first 20 years of the 40 years. We were really good in San Francisco. My last year in Chicago, we were really good. Obviously in ’24 and ’25 here, we were good, really good. That’s eliminating the first 20 years.