Buffalo Bills defensive coordinator Bobby Babich addresses the media ahead of Wednesday's practice in Orchard Park. (Courtesy of the Buffalo Bills)
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00:00How we doing?
00:01Great.
00:02How are you?
00:03Oh, I'm wonderful.
00:04Fall's already hit in Buffalo.
00:06It's windy on Sunday.
00:08Is it?
00:09That's typical fall in Buffalo.
00:10Three days at 50, and then you hit 90.
00:14The story this week, kind of locally, especially with Joe, right?
00:18Yeah.
00:19I figured you knew.
00:20You've asked about him.
00:21Yeah.
00:22What has allowed him to be able to be successful,
00:26at least from what we saw on Saturday?
00:28Can you kind of describe what you see in his game?
00:31You know, Joe's a guy who he doesn't say much,
00:35but it's just when anybody gets an opportunity
00:43to really prove themselves, right?
00:50And I think I said it before, but it's that working while you wait.
00:54He didn't get a ton of reps in training camp.
00:59You know, obviously now his reps have picked up, you know,
01:03with player availability at that position.
01:06And, you know, when he has had his opportunity, it's been solid.
01:14And for a guy that came from his, you know, upbringing in football,
01:25and to be a tryout player and to go into that situation that he was in,
01:31I mean, he was going against NFL starters.
01:33You know, it was just really cool to see.
01:35I mean, I think you just see the professionalism in him, how smart he is.
01:40And, you know, obviously he showed some things in that game, you know.
01:45But it's one game.
01:46It's one game.
01:47And, you know, the true sign of a pro is consistency.
01:50So, you know, that's what we got to see out of all our players.
01:53Bob, what's it like for you this week?
01:55You know, as a sports fan, I mean, this story is awesome
01:58and everybody's rooting for him.
01:59But you're also one of the guys that has a big hand in deciding eventually,
02:03potentially, that this guy's not one of our best number three
02:06or this guy's not one of our best 69.
02:08What's it like for you to deal with that?
02:10You know, we're going to do, in the end,
02:12our job is to do what's best for the organization.
02:15You know, we care for all these guys, but there is a business side of things.
02:19You know, and I'll be honest, it sucks.
02:23It sucks.
02:24You know, when you get to those moments in our calendar
02:28where you have to part with people.
02:30It's never easy.
02:31You build relationships with these guys.
02:34You know, but just that whole aspect of things,
02:39not one coach in this building would tell you they enjoy that.
02:42You know what I mean?
02:43But, in the end, the bottom line is we got to do what's best
02:47for the Buffalo Bills to achieve our goals and have success.
02:52As Cole gets wrapped up now after a long layoff,
02:56how quickly will you be able to tell whether he's kept up mentally?
02:59We've been able to do a couple things, you know, here and there
03:02to, you know, and Joe Dana does a great job.
03:05He does a great job.
03:06And, you know, we've used some different, you know, resources
03:12and things of that nature, different ways we can test him mentally.
03:16But, you know, when the bullets are flying, you know, on game day
03:20or even in practice, for that matter, it's different.
03:23So, you know, it's a day-by-day process.
03:26And, you know, he's got to continue to grow and part, again,
03:30going back to being part of a pro is finding ways you can grow
03:32when you're in those situations.
03:34You know, and that can't always be the coach forcing you to do things.
03:37And Cole's a fairly mature football player that knows he's behind the eight ball.
03:44It's not like he's like, oh, I'll go in there and be fine.
03:46He knows he's got to be, you know, up to snuff with the rest of the guys.
03:50So there's a lot of things going on with him as far as us keeping
03:54that mental side, you know, sharp.
03:58You've been playing as Matt now for a while, a linebacker.
04:00What kind of – you know, what was that to the staff, you know,
04:03when you're playing for him for so long?
04:05To the staff?
04:06Yeah, because you're going to recalibrate.
04:09The first part with Matt is obviously I have a relationship with him,
04:15coached him for two years, been around him since 2017.
04:20The personal side is the hardest side, you know, for someone like me
04:25that has a relationship with him because you see a guy that works so hard,
04:29you know, from last year to get back and really, really was, you know,
04:34finding his groove and those type of things.
04:37It's tough, man.
04:38It's tough from a personal side.
04:40Like football, we'll figure it out.
04:41That's our jobs, you know.
04:43That's what all our jobs in this building are.
04:45But the personal side for me with Matt was hard for me.
04:49It was hard for me.
04:50And, you know, Matt's as tough as they come, as resilient as they come.
04:54Really, I think if a lot of young guys would want to model their approach
05:00to the game and the way they attack, you know, attack the whole process
05:07of being a pro football player where there's taking care of your body,
05:10what you eat, your attention to detail, your love for your teammates,
05:14you know, Matt's a model of that.
05:17And that really to me is what sucks.
05:20It's not only we all know who Matt is on the field,
05:23but it's just his presence and his professional approach to the game of football.
05:32They can rub off on everybody, you know.
05:34So we'll figure the football stuff out.
05:37That's our jobs.
05:38So for me it's more about the personal side of things.
05:41From your side of the ball, you lost Micah and Jordan.
05:45Team-wide, you know, six of eight team captains from last year are no longer here.
05:50How do you feel like that leadership void has been filled
05:54or is going to be filled for the team this year,
05:57and, you know, specifically on the defensive side for you?
06:00Yeah, I mean, I think what you're seeing, and I talked about this before,
06:05is you're not – like we're not going to force anything.
06:09That's got to be kind of an organic process as far as just –
06:14it'll play out the way it's supposed to play out
06:17because there's a lot of things that go into leadership.
06:19There's a lot of things, and the first thing is credibility.
06:22And if you're not a credible person that's trying to lead, you're not a leader.
06:27No one's going to follow you.
06:30You know, so I think we're seeing leadership traits in a lot of guys
06:36that were probably there already,
06:40but we had a lot of guys that had already kind of established themselves
06:45in that role, right?
06:47And, you know, these professional athletes know that we lost,
06:55and you could call it a little bit of a void in that leadership,
06:58but there's guys that'll step up.
07:00I already see some people stepping up.
07:02And, you know, it'll really take form if it hasn't already.
07:08It's going to take form when it's ready.
07:12And it's working that direction, and we'll be just fine.
07:18Who's emerged in that regard?
07:20And has anyone emerged that maybe you wouldn't have expected?
07:22Yeah, I'm not going to mention any names,
07:25but there's a couple guys that have emerged.
07:28You know, I don't want to put any expectations on players
07:31or anything like that.
07:32Like I said, I want to let it happen organically
07:34and just kind of let the chips fall where we need them to.
07:41You know, not try to force anything on anybody.
07:43So there's a couple guys that are doing some good things,
07:46and, you know, there's different types of leadership, right?
07:48Like vocal, lead by example, and we have a lot of different people
07:57in those ranges of leadership that are stepping up.
08:01In Matt's last full season, he had 99 tackles, 12 tackles for loss,
08:05seven quarterback hits, three interceptions, 11 passes defense,
08:09one and a half sacks, two fumble recoveries, and a touchdown.
08:12So how do you figure that out?
08:17How do you figure out?
08:19That's a lot to figure out how to replace that, right?
08:22Well, the first thing I'll say, I figure out that he overcame his coaching.
08:27I mean, look, the NFL is a league that's got great players everywhere,
08:37and your job is to put yourself in position every play in the event
08:44that a play reveals itself to where I've put myself in that position
08:49and you make plays.
08:52We're not coaching to every play intercept the ball.
08:59We're coaching using interceptions as an example.
09:02We're coaching them that if the ball shows up, now it's your opportunity.
09:07If we blitz you, there's an opportunity there.
09:10So I guess the best way I can say it is that, like, we're not coaching.
09:15We're not results-based.
09:17We've never been results-based here.
09:18Are they excellent?
09:20Yes, good results are excellent for all of us.
09:22But we coach them first how they can put themselves in position if, for instance,
09:32the ball was thrown in my direction, what position do I need to be in?
09:35And then when the opportunity arises, now the second part of that is
09:39how do I intercept the ball?
09:41How do I force a fumble?
09:43How do I beat a backhand protection?
09:45How do I beat the left tackle?
09:47You know what I'm saying?
09:48Or how do I sack this quarterback?
09:50Because there's a mobile quarterback.
09:51So we're more – we're 80 – that's a bad percentage.
09:57We're 60% process and 40% result when it comes to coaching the result.
10:03We're not grading you on how many plays you made.
10:07We're grading you on how many opportunities did you have
10:10and how many plays did you make?
10:12How many did you capitalize on?
10:14Blitzing, I mean, Matt is a good blitzer.
10:17Tremaine was a good blitzer.
10:18But Dorian comes with a lot of force when he blitzes.
10:22Would you agree that he –
10:24I would not want to block Dorian.
10:27Yep.
10:29Me, I would not want to block Dorian.
10:31When you look back at the development – sorry, go ahead.
10:34Thanks.
10:35What have you seen out of Edifu on from, like, the time you drafted him
10:38through now?
10:39I know he's missed some time with injury.
10:40Yeah.
10:41Just what's his trajectory been like?
10:42Yeah, you know, it's unfortunate that he had the injuries he had.
10:45He missed a lot of reps.
10:46But I think he's just starting to get comfortable a little bit
10:48in what we're doing.
10:49It's hard, right?
10:50Like, he hasn't been out there for an extended period of time,
10:53if you go all the way back to the spring.
10:56You know, so it's – he's adjusting at the appropriate pace.
11:01You know, and there's a lot of room for growth and, you know,
11:03as there is for everybody on our defense.
11:05And, you know, he just needs to catch up as fast as he possibly can.
11:09You know what I mean?
11:10And we got to facilitate that for him.
11:12When you look back at the development of some of these young linebackers
11:15when they get here, 2017 it was Matt Milano, 22 it was Trell Bernard.
11:20What's been the key of being successful at developing these guys?
11:26Middle-round draft pick guys.
11:28Right, right.
11:29I mean, it's a little different.
11:30Tremaine Edmonds was –
11:31I think when you talk about developing, it starts with Brandon and his staff
11:34and the great job that they do identifying that.
11:36And then, you know, we talked about leadership earlier,
11:39and you think about Brandon, our GM.
11:43He could sit upstairs – he wants input from everybody.
11:46That's the sign of a good leader to me.
11:48And so we collaborate and in the end he makes his decision
11:54because that's his job.
11:56So I think it starts there.
11:57And then, you know, when you're trying to develop players,
12:06I'll never forget there's a player here and this is, you know,
12:10a positive and a negative.
12:12But there was a player here that was like,
12:14when I'm in the game I hear your voice in my head.
12:17And I'm like, oh, that's not good.
12:19That's not good.
12:20But when you constantly – when you don't let little things slip
12:24and you're – even we talked about making plays, okay.
12:27I'm on the backside of a play and maybe my hands in a run play,
12:30my hands aren't where they're supposed to be.
12:32Some people might let that go.
12:33But I think what we've done a great job here is all those little details,
12:36and it starts with Sean, is we don't let things slide.
12:40Because as soon as you start letting things slide,
12:44now it starts to become a habit.
12:46And that's not necessarily a good habit.
12:47So I think just the attention to detail – and it's hard on the young guys.
12:53It's hard on the young guys.
12:54I think I tell you, you create a lot of anxiety for these young guys.
12:59I think Terrell said the same thing.
13:00You create a lot of anxiety early,
13:02and then once it clicks where you're like, oh, I'm good to go.
13:06You know what I mean?
13:08But while I was joking about that voice, it's like all that told me is two things.
13:12I don't want a player to have my voice inside their head.
13:15But secondly, it's like, okay, so those points are sticking with them.
13:19And I think, you know, obviously the talent that I talked about with Brandon,
13:24getting the right guys in here,
13:25and then making sure you hone in on the details,
13:28no matter how good a player is or where they were drafted.
13:32That's our job is every player from one to – what are we at now, 90?
13:36One to 90, that we pour into them like that.
13:39What has allowed Jamarcus to take a step every year?
13:45And I don't know if I mentioned this last time, but he's gained, I don't know,
13:5020-some pounds since he's been here.
13:53Strength has gotten – he's a lot stronger.
14:01Sal, can you repeat that one more time?
14:03My ADD kicked in.
14:04Jamarcus Ingram.
14:05Yeah, that's who we're talking about.
14:06But what was the final part?
14:07Just what has allowed him to take a step every year?
14:10Because really, he comes in, he gets some spot with me last year,
14:13and now he's in a position to maybe be a contributor.
14:16Yeah, and that's where I was going with it is that, you know,
14:19he does all those things when we first get him here,
14:21where he's truly like developmental.
14:23And it starts with his body and his nutrition and all those things.
14:26And I think what you've seen is his confidence,
14:29the more he's gotten comfortable here, it's that confidence that's grown year in
14:33and year out.
14:34And not only us pouring into him, but him, what we're pouring into him,
14:38he's using.
14:40You know, we can tell you to do things.
14:42We can drill things.
14:43We can do all those types of things.
14:45But if you're not latching on to those coaching points or those techniques
14:50and spending extra time doing it, you're not going to develop.
14:54You know, and he's doing those type of things.
14:56So, it's pretty cool to see, as I said before.
14:58Bobby, what have you seen in Greg Rousseau
15:00as he tries to elevate his game to the next level?
15:02Obviously, he's got a huge game in Pittsburgh.
15:05Greg's very intentional right now about what he wants his career to look like
15:11and how he wants to impact the game in the NFL.
15:15And, you know, yes, did he do some really good things against Pittsburgh?
15:20Yes, but it has no indication on what we do today in practice.
15:23And I think his intent, as I mentioned before,
15:27and his focus on what he needs to improve is at a high level.
15:33And anytime you can do that and you're constantly looking in the mirror,
15:36you know, there's going to be opportunity for growth.
15:39And, you know, it takes two, right?
15:41It takes two.
15:42Identifying that and the person that has to improve on those perceived weaknesses,
15:49you know, they continue to work on those, build on their strengths
15:52and strengthen their weaknesses.
15:54And, you know, I think Greg's very intentional right now about that.
15:58Matt was obviously limited all spring.
16:02He's there, but, you know, limited in terms of 11-on-11 drills.
16:05So that allowed Dorian to get a lot more maybe snaps 11-on-11
16:10than he might have not.
16:12You know, do you feel like how much has that helped him, you know,
16:17in his step up?
16:19Yeah, I mean, for any player on our roster,
16:24and you guys asked about Joe, right?
16:26Well, what was the reason Joe started the game?
16:31Availability.
16:33You know, so where, like I said, with Matt, I am, you know, frustrated
16:42and sad for him that this happened, and he'll be fine.
16:46I'm probably more upset about it than he is on the personal side.
16:49But, you know, any time you can get reps, you know,
16:54there's an opportunity for someone else.
16:58And, you know, Dorian's very clear on what our expectations
17:04and our standard are, and there's nothing more that Dorian wants to do
17:07than to meet those.
17:09So the reps are going to help him to do that, the live, in-action reps
17:13sitting next to TB and that communication and the execution piece.
17:18And, you know, working with corners next to him
17:21and working with safeties next to him, that's huge for his confidence
17:25and his continued development.