Patrick: "We Had Some Physical Moments"
NC State defensive line coach Kevin Patrick talks about several members of his position group heading into the Georgia State game.
What have you seen from Larrell Murchison?
There’s a video clip that we have with the war daddies and the war daddies are the four guys we had drafted. There was a play in the spring of Larrell in his stance and his movement. It was something that we laughed at, just to see where he’s come from, he’s really changed as a player.
I always believe you can be the best coach in the world, but a guy has to have something about him to grow. I think he’s done a heck of a job buying into what I talk about, what Coach Hux talks about, and what the team talks about. He’s done a phenomenal job. He’s turning into a good player and has the ability to be a great player as he keeps growing.
What did you see from Ibrahim Kante in his first game?
He did a heck of a job. He’s one of the more physical guys we have, not afraid of contact. He’s learning to play that position again after we had pushed him inside. In the long run it’s made him tougher, it’s made him stronger, it’s made him better. He does some good things.
In his first game he missed some things, but he got a sack -- first sack of the year came from him. He bowed up on everybody and that’s good because he doesn’t usually blink or make a sound.
Was the physicality where you wanted it to be?
I’m always going to say no to that. I’m an old-school guy, I want it to be better and better each time. I want to come out the next game and [hope] it’s a little better.
We had some physical moments; E was very physical, Larrell was very physical. Alim was physical, Roseboro was physical. We’re always searching for a perfect game and we’ll keep pushing for that every day. We have to push the bar higher and higher.
How did your group do against the running game?
I thought we did alright against the running backs. We just have to keep the quarterback in the pocket. It’s really the front six, we missed a couple lanes and Dinucci has done that to everybody he’s ever played against.
Those quarterbacks [do that] to everybody. That’s one of our biggest areas of improvement, keeping him in the pocket. Looking back to last year, we played Lamar Jackson and I thought we did as good a job of anybody of keeping him in the pocket. He’s kind of the gold standard. That’s one of the biggest areas of improvement this week and it’s because their quarterback had [his] yardage, it kind of made me sick.
Is it ideal that Georgia State is the next opponent and they have a mobile quarterback?
Nowadays, we face that with all quarterbacks. You don’t face too many who can’t do that, extend plays. We’re going to treat all the son-of-a-guns the same way, it’s going to be a focal point because if we let anybody out we give them opportunity.
We have to own that 20-yard box, ten yards behind the line of scrimmage and ten yards behind us, that’s our land and we have to own that. That has to be the standard.
How was the quarterback pressure considering the quick passes they had?
I’m not a big stats guy, but a stat I do believe in [is] production ratio. They threw the ball 29 times and we affected the quarterback as a front with two sacks, one pressure and 2 PBUs. One out of every six attempts we affected him. He didn’t have many long passes. He only had one long pass, everything was out hot.
We’ve come to expect that, especially after last year. The average time they held the ball last year was 2.1 seconds. When you get rid of the ball quick, you can frustrate the defensive line. I thought we had missed opportunities where we could have gotten him down and he started scrambling. If we had gotten those, it would’ve been a superb weekend.
When you’re affecting the quarterback one out of six or seven, it’s not bad. We have to get more PBUs; we missed some opportunities to get our hands up, we only had two.
When you see the strategy is short passes, do you change your strategy as a defensive line?
Part of the technique of rushing the quarterback is your eyes have to be on the quarterback. You’re prepared to counter or get your hand up. As a young group, we’re still trying to do a better job of that and playing with our eyes so we don’t bury our eyes on a move. We need to have good vision so we can counted and get him on the ground.
What was your impression of James Smith-Williams in his first start this year?
I love James, I love all the guys, but I love James. James is a talented guy. He does as good a job as anybody of anchoring down blocks. He’s extremely fast. I was impressed with him; there’s a lot of room for growth. His shiftiness, his quick change of direction instead of being straight line, like Chubb was.
James is doing a heck of a job. He’s been battling. This is important to him, the team is important to him, the defense is important to him, the defensive line is important to him. He’s a model.