Fangio on Rodgers: “He’s Brees with great scrambling ability and a stronger arm.”

SANTA CLARA – Here’s the full transcript of Vic Fangio’s Thursday press conference, courtesy of the 49ers. Fangio praised Aaron Rodgers and Marshall Newhouse, and confirmed that Perrish Cox is the No.4 cornerback.

As a defensive coordinator, when you know you have more than four months to prepare for one team, the next team on the schedule, how do you approach it?

“Well, me personally, we get right into it and we’ll do a scouting report by the middle of May, have a full scouting report done. We’ll start meeting on it in May, just as if we were playing them soon. And then we kind of put it to rest until late in training camp. So, there are some people that believe, hey you should work four weeks on an opening day opponent. If you need four weeks to work on an opening day opponent, then you’re in trouble for the next 15 weeks. So, we spend most of our time in training camp until the end of preparing for the season. Like I told you guys many times before, we’re working on things we know we’re going to see throughout the season, things we’re going to need throughout the season. And then we get a little extra work in on Green Bay towards the end of training camp. Like last week, we did some work on them, etc.”

 

What does Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers that gives more people problems than other quarterbacks?

“Well, a great way to explain him is he’s [New Orleans Saints QB] Drew Brees with great scrambling ability, and actually a little stronger arm. And the guy right now is at the top of his game and many people think he’s the best quarterback in the NFL. The most amazing thing about his season last year was, for how often they threw the ball and how aggressive they were throwing it, he only threw six interceptions, which to me is probably the most amazing stat when you’re looking at these guys.”

 

It’s been just a few days, but what have you seen from LB Clark Haggans and how quickly he’s been able to pick up what you guys do?

“He’s done well. Obviously he’s a veteran. He’s had some experience in systems similar to this. When I say ‘similar’, the structure of it, how we make some calls, communication on the field. The systems aren’t the same where he’s been, but he’s had some background in the structure of how we do things on defense here and that has helped. So, his experience, both as a player and within some similar structured systems, has helped him.”

 

Based off what you’ve seen from them last year and you guys matching personnel, would you figure to be in nickel most of the time?

“Well again, that’s up to them. They decide what they put on the field. They have a complete two-receiver offense when they only have two receivers on the field. They have a complete offense when they have three receivers on the field. And then they have some offense where there’re four receivers on the field, or even five. So, they’ll dictate what kind of game it is from a personnel standpoint, but we’re prepared to match their personnel with our people. And we’re a little different than some people in that we will keep our base defense out there some against three wide receivers.”

 

Last year, you guys had, when you went to your dime, or whatever you call it, six DBs, you had three safeties, three corners. This year will you be more apt to go four corners and two safeties?

“That’s a possibility with [CB] Perrish Cox being the fourth corner in the game, yes.”

 

They have a new left tackle, T Marshall Newhouse, who was in his first season as a starter last year. Can you tell anything from the preseason how he’s progressed in his second season?

“He’s improved this preseason from last season. They give their guys a lot of help, too. In particularly, their back, they do a lot of chipping. But their offensive line, their tackles, are young guys that have played well for them, and we’ll see if we’re up to the challenge. But they do chip some on the outside.”

 

Is that, when LB Aldon Smith and DT Justin Smith are running stunts, do you generally see those guys occupy more than two blockers ?

“Well, it could. But the standard way that they protect, and a lot of teams, is there might be a back on that side, or the center might be sliding that way. So, they’re a big six-man protection team and they can slide the center whichever way they want, or put the back wherever they want. But, I don’t think they’ll vary much from what they do.”

 

Did you watch the game last night?

“I saw bits and pieces of it.”

 

Did you notice anything from the replacement refs, or any differences?

“No, I didn’t.”

Comments are closed.