Vic Fangio

Q. A little about your run defense; looked like especially in the second half. What are some of the issues defending the run? (Ed Kracz)

VIC FANGIO: Yeah, on the long run they had for the touchdown, we didn’t quite fit it right and got the guy in the open field, and we missed a tackle there, which is tough when you’re in the open field. So that was one there. Then their first scoring drive, which I think that one was the final one, we had a couple there that we could have played better. I could have been in a better call, et cetera.

Q. What do you think about CB Quinyon Mitchell, his first obviously action, playing outside especially? How do you think he handled it? (John McMullen)

VIC FANGIO: Good. I thought he played good. They caught some balls on him, in front of him. Made a great play on the deep ball they threw early in the game on him. I thought he played well.

Q. How did the footing affect the way you called the game? (Bo Wulf)

VIC FANGIO: Well, it’s always hard to factor that in totally. It obviously had an effect on the game for both teams. I didn’t let it really change the way we called it.

Q. What went into the decision to have CB Avonte Maddox over CB Quinyon Mitchell in the slot? (Jeff McLane)

VIC FANGIO: Well, because with [CB] Isaiah [Rodgers] out, our next best combination — because they have the good outside receivers, threw deep to [Green Bay WR Christian] Watson a good bit. We wanted Quinyon out there.

Q. When you got LB Zack Baun in here, what did you see to make you think he could play inside backer, and how did you think he did? (Dave Zangaro)

VIC FANGIO: Well, first off, he did good. Just when I watched his play in New Orleans, like I think I said to you guys before, the way they adjusted their defense in New Orleans, on occasion he would end up as an inside linebacker, not very often, and from those few plays, I thought he could do it. Was I going to bet my life savings on it? No, but I had a good feeling that he could do it. And he can. And he’s got the versatility to — from his experience of being an on-the-line guy, to use that with him, also. I think he’ll just keep getting better and better.

Q. How do you feel like LB Zack Baun’s versatility helps you disguise what you’re trying to do and maybe confuse the offense a little bit, as well? (Olivia Reiner)

VIC FANGIO: Yeah, it can have that effect, definitely. The more versatile guys you have, the better off you are.

Q. How close is DB Cooper DeJean to being able to — he got a few snaps, but being able to handle a bigger workload after missing so much time? (Reuben Frank)

VIC FANGIO: Yeah, we’ve just got to keep practicing him a bunch, get him comfortable be. He basically missed all of training camp except the Minnesota week, so he’s behind. But we’re trying to catch him up.

Q. Could there come a time when your best combination is DB Cooper DeJean in the slot and CB Quinyon Mitchell outside? (Bob Brookover)

VIC FANGIO: Possibly.

Q. What was your assessment of the pass rush? (Tim McManus)

VIC FANGIO: We didn’t pass rush good enough overall in the game. Did the field have something to do with that? Yeah, it obviously did. But overall we could get better there.

Q. Do you think LB Nakobe Dean did enough to start again should LB Devin White not be ready, or will he start even if Devin White is ready? (Ed Kracz)

VIC FANGIO: No, Nakobe is the starter.

Q. With DE Bryce Huff , his usage would suggest that you don’t think he’s there yet, but the run playing ability, you talked about that at the beginning of camp, where do you think he is in that process? (Jeff Neiburg)

VIC FANGIO: He’s improving. Obviously we all had a play or two, I had a call or two that could have been better. But he’s improving in that area.

Q. With DE Brandon Graham’s ability to stop the run, you mentioned he’s not going to be on a pitch count. Is that sort of philosophy of him — I think he got a few more 1st down reps than DE Bryce Huff. Is that sort of the philosophy? (John McMullen)

VIC FANGIO: Yeah, Brandon is still a good player, and I’ve told him several times, he’s not on any ceremonial last-year retirement parade. He’s going to play. He’s still playing good.

Q. The Packers had a lot of yards rushing before contact. What did you make of that from the defensive front? (Brooks Kubena)

VIC FANGIO: Yeah, sometimes I wasn’t in a good enough call, sometimes we didn’t fit it early enough correctly, and particularly the long run there, the touchdown run.

Q. In looking at the Falcons’ film, is Atlanta Falcons QB Kirk Cousins healthy in your mind, and are you expecting a package involving Atlanta Falcons QB Michael Penix? (Rob Kuestner)

VIC FANGIO: No, I’m expecting to see Cousins, and I do believe he’s healthy enough. If he wasn’t, they probably wouldn’t play him.

Q. With LB Nakobe Dean the starter now, where does LB Devin White fit in, and have you talked with him about Nakobe being the smarter now considering he took so many first-team reps in training camp? (Eliot Shorr-Parks)

VIC FANGIO: Yeah, obviously we talked to him [LB Devin White] about it. He’s still a good player. Tweaked his ankle last week. He’s still a part of it and will be a part of it.

Q. What went into the decision to have LB Nakobe Dean as the starter? What did you see? (Tim McManus)

VIC FANGIO: I just think from the start of training camp to the end, he won the job.

Q. What did you see from DE Bryce Huff? It seemed like he only played like 45 percent of the snaps. (Martin Frank)

VIC FANGIO: I think most of our guys, if you look at it, we had five guys up and they all played about similar rep counts. We’re just rolling those guys.

Q. Is that the way you envision that rotation going throughout the season, or is that more attributed to the beginning of the year? (E.J. Smith)

VIC FANGIO: I’m not sure. It’s both. Could be both.

Q. Your red zone defense so far, you guys were able to stop the Packers especially deep in the red zone. Why was it so effective even going back to the preseason? (Chris Franklin)

VIC FANGIO: I don’t know. It’s just something we’ve always placed a heavy emphasis on because it’s an important part of the game. Obviously it surfaced really early in this past game with the two turnovers deep in our end, and it’s a very important part of the game. We emphasize it a lot. We practice it a lot.

Q. What’s DE Bryce Huff need to do to play more? (Zach Berman)

VIC FANGIO: You know, just separate himself from the other guys.

Q. With CB Isaiah Rodgers being out factoring into where you organize the secondary, where is CB Kelee Ringo in terms of how you feel about him in those match-ups? (Brooks Kubena)

VIC FANGIO: Yeah, we have confidence in him [CB Kelee Ringo] . We’ll see how it shapes out the rest of the year. But Kelee, Isaiah, if they’re playing at corner, it won’t change the way we call the game.

Q. Head Coach Nick Sirianni said tackling was a problem, something to work on. How do you go about doing that this week? What do you do? Is there something extra you think needs to be done? (Bob Brookover)

VIC FANGIO: Yeah, we just need to improve on our approaches and not be so wild. Some of the missed tackles were due to the leaky run defense that let good backs get in the open field or a good wide receiver on that one run, and it’s hard to tackle good players in the open field. We can’t let a guy carrying the ball be in that big of an open field.

Q. DT Jalen Carter saw a lot of double teams as you would imagine. What is your message to him so that he remains patient and still maybe beats some of those doubles? (Jeff McLane)

VIC FANGIO: Yeah, same message as always when you have a good player that the teams are going to pay attention to. There’s going to be times where it’s not there, and you’ve got to be ready. You can’t get discouraged. You can’t let it affect your play, your mindset, because you never know when you’re going to have your opportunities, and you just have to keep grinding.

Q. What kind of insight did you give the offensive staff on Atlanta Falcons S Justin Simmons this week? (Bo Wulf)

VIC FANGIO: They haven’t asked me anything yet.

Q. As far as the red zone defense, that’s what Green Bay Packers Head Coach Matt LaFleur said was the key to the game. What stood out to you about the way you guys played? (Zach Berman)

VIC FANGIO: We played good down there. We played tough. You have to be able to play the run down there. I know our run defense wasn’t up to par. Other places in the field down there it was.

It was a big part of that game. After everything that happened after three series, we were up 7-6 instead of down 14-0 or 10-0. It was huge. It really was.

Q. S Reed Blankenship made a big interception, LB Zack Baun looked like he got underneath pretty well, but Reed in general, what does he mean to this defense? He seems to have been very consistent. This is your first year with him. (John McMullen)

VIC FANGIO: He’s [S Reed Blankenship] a smart player. He plays with a calmness that is important in the safety position. You need a guy that’s able to quarterback the secondary, and many times that involves the linebackers, too, and he does a good job of that.

I just think he’s a confident, smart, instinctive player, and you need guys like that.