Mike Nolan on his Cowboys defensive philosophy, turnovers, DeMarcus Lawrence and Sean Lee
Mike Nolan grew up in the Dallas Cowboys organization.
His father Dick Nolan was the team’s defensive coordinator for Tom Landry from 1962-67 before becoming the head coach for the San Francisco 49ers. The elder Nolan was also the head coach for the New Orleans Saints from 1978-80 before returning to Dallas as an assistant from 1982-90.
Mike Nolan, who has spent the past three seasons as the Saints linebackers coach, has coached with 10 NFL teams, including a four-year stint as the 49ers head coach from 2005-08. He takes over a Dallas defense that has struggled to force turnovers and finished outside of the top 10 in yard and points allowed in 2019.
Here are excerpts from a recent press conference:
Where do you think this defense can get to under you? It all starts with players. The things that excite me are the things we can potentially do down the road. The scheme is what you have to utilize the players. The opportunity to work with new guys and find out what their skills are, what they do well and try to use those the best you can.
How would you describe the type of mentality you want your defense to have? I would say you’d want it to look like a swarming type mentality. I believe there are parts of coaching that go into that. For example, the things you do with your players, the way you teach your players, everything from language to scheme I think are all critical factors in making it look like just like that.
How do you go about trying to force more turnovers? Look, as most things do, it does start with the player. I think a coach’s job is to work on that. That’s the No. 1 thing in winning football games, getting the ball for your offense. As a defense, that’s what we’ll strive to do all the time. Outside of that it’s trying to get your opponent to third down so you can get off the field. Some players just have a knack for it but the ones that don’t I think you can improve their skill.
How do you evaluate the roster you inherited? Obviously, there are some good players on our roster. There’s still a lot of things that have to happen through this process, through the draft and free agency who will determine the guys we actually work with. I think there is a good nucleus of guys on defense who are good building blocks for us going forward.
Thoughts on DeMarcus Lawrence? I was impressed as an individual goes. He’s bright-eyed, he’s excited. I imagine he’s been that way all along. They don’t just come in one day and change. We certainly want to look for people who are the same every day. As a football player, he’s an accomplished player and he’s a player who has done a great job getting after the quarterback.
How do you see the difference between playing a 3-4 and a 4-3? I’ve always believed it’s about getting your best 11 on the field. From there, whether that entails you call yourself a 3-4 or 4-3, you want to get your best 11 out there. After that, it’s just spacing. You can line up in 3-4 personnel and some teams do and it looks just like a 4-3.
From a coverage point of view, do you prefer an aggressive man-to-man or more of a zone? I think you do have to have a mix. If you peg yourself too much into one hole doing one thing that’s easy for the best quarterbacks to dissect and take advantage of so I do believe you have to have a good mix between man and zone. There are different types of man and different types of zone. That’s the process of getting to know your players, what you play more of and what you play less of. In a perfect world, if you could just play one everyone in the league would probably say I want to play man, it’s straight up and I have the better players you figure I’m going to win the down. You have to give the quarterbacks different looks, do different things. You have to have some sort of variety to be successful.
With a new staff, are you coaching the coaches right now or just trying to get to know them? It’s both. As a staff, we’ve spent eight hours a day just discussing things we’ll do and watching our current roster. You do your homework on guys and you bring them in, we didn’t just randomly pick guys.
Is it a good thing to be creating a staff from the bottom? There is a challenge involved in getting to know people. Just like them getting to know me. Whether they’re holdover coaches or not, I think you just want to create the best staff you can. Outside of players, it does go to coaches next. That’s probably the next most important thing when an ownership is trying to put their football team together. Obviously, the staff is critical.
What do you enjoy most about coaching? Just the camaraderie, I guess. The players and coaches both. I think that’s probably the biggest thrill you get. Outside of that, I’d say game day. The chess match you play in the role that I have.
Thoughts on Jaylon Smith and Leighton Vander Esch? They’re both very good players. I’ve watched them a lot and I’ve enjoyed watching them. I’m excited for the opportunity to get to work with them.
What’s the value for you to have a player such as Sean Lee, who has been here as long as he has? It gets back to the experience. He’s a warrior. He puts in all the time and effort and study. He’s a great example to young players. There’s just a lot of positives in that kind of pro. There are 10-year pros who don’t necessarily have the effect on young guys that he does just from an example standpoint.
What sort of memories do you have of the Dallas Cowboys? I have great memories. I remember going back, I had to be six or seven years old, and Don Meredith had me on his shoulders and he was walking me into the training room. As Don would do, he was jawing with everybody.
This story was originally published February 10, 2020 at 12:12 PM.
