DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR ANTHONY CAMPANILE
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2025
(On his expectations for DE Travon Walker while recovering from a wrist injury) “I think he’s
been progressing. I see a little bit more. He’s just able to do a little bit more right now than
he was early on, and I know he practiced toward the end of the week when we played
Kansas City. And you could see like, alright, there’s going to be a little bit of a curve here for
him and he’s really done a good job progressing along since that point. So, it’s really just
trying to use him in probably similar ways to the way we did last week. And then, little by
little, we can get him in there more and more, as he gets back to normal. He’s done a good
job out here so far. A little bit more comfortable over the course of the last few days.”
(On his confident level in LB Ventrell Miller with the absence of LB Devin Lloyd) “Yeah, I
have a ton of confidence in him. I thought he had a great summer, a great spring and he’s
really just done a good job. He’s a pro’s pro in terms of staying ready and being aware of
everything within the system and the scheme. He’s a physical dude, man. I know you guys
have seen him play over the years. He’s just really a tough off the ball football player for us.
So, I’m excited for him. I’m excited for his opportunity to get out there and play a bunch and
he’s done a good job up to this point. He’s done a good job out here this week. And Ventrell
also, I think he’s got some really good leadership qualities too. The guys love playing with
him and we all really enjoy coaching him, love coaching him, so I’m excited for him.”
(On how to dial up pressure against a veteran quarterback as a defensive play caller) “Yeah,
there’s a fair amount that goes into that. We probably pressure that may not even have
shown up a little bit more on some of those early downs, whether we were firing other guys
in there. But I think there is always a little bit of a chess game with that, with the guys who
really do a great job evaluating pre-snap and do some good pre-snap indication stuff, which
I think the Rams do a great job of as well. But there’s always a cat and mouse with that for
sure. Hopefully, I’m answering your question but definitely I thought the guys did a good job
of that as the game progressed on. We were getting pressure as we were sending more
pressure to help the pass rush and stop some of the runs in there.”
(On the play of CB Montaric “Buster” Brown) “A few weeks ago, I was talking about Buster,
where I felt like he really had a good spring for us. He got hurt the first day of summer camp,
which was unfortunate, but we had been excited to get him back because he made a ton of
plays on the ball over the course of the spring. And he’s kind of jumped right back in where
he left off. He’s a really, really competitive guy and I said that about Ventrell, but he’s a pro’s
pro too, man. He really does all the extra off the field and really has great awareness and a
great football IQ. So, I’m really, really happy with how he’s playing right now.”
(On if it is beneficial for Head Coach Liam Coen to have familiarity with the Rams offense)
“I think anytime you’ve been somewhere and you’ve been in a system, it’s always a positive.
It’s advantageous to be able to sit and communicate with someone who’s been in the
trenches there and understands the system. And that’s always something that as coaches,
I think you try to utilize as much as you can when you have guys who have been in places
and have a familiarity. So yeah, coach is always super helpful with that and there is. A lot of
the systems there is some carry-over because that is a big tree where all these guys have
come from. Different places and they all kind of branch out and know each other a little bit,
so that’s always helpful.”
(On what he expects from CB Greg Newsome II) “I think anytime you just get to spend more
time, there’s more of a familiarity for Greg and he’s a really bright guy and he is working hard
at it. So, for him, really we’d love to see his progression and obviously get some more snaps
in there because I think he has a much better feel of it, obviously more than he would’ve
after two days (laugh) but he’s done a great job with that, man. He’s been in there with
[Secondary Coach] Ron Milus, [Assistant Defensive Backs Coach] Drew Lascari and Coach
Perkins [Defensive Backs Coach Anthony Perkins]. He’s been grinding and really with the
other players, the players have done a great job. And he’s been really, really professional in
doing a ton of work, so I’m excited about getting him some more ops too.”
(On how to prepare for Rams QB Matthew Stafford and his ability to manipulate defenses)
“Yeah, I think it’s hard to simulate that, but you really have to have some stuff queued up so
they can really get a feel and an understanding for how good he actually is at that. Whether
that’s TV copies, so they can literally see him doing that or just other instances or other
angles of him doing it because he could be like Magic Johnson back there (laugh). Looking
one way and dish it the other direction. So, he’s about as good as there’s ever been doing
that. Tremendous manipulating at it and obviously identifying coverage and then
manipulating people, moving them with his eyes and throwing the ball in the opposite
direction, which is super impressive to see.”
OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR GRANT UDINSKI
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2025
(On the offense without TE Brenton Strange) “There was certainly an adjustment period, so
it’s nice to have those reps to look back on and see what you’re missing from a game
standpoint. You have an idea of what you’re missing going into it, just because of how much
value he provides in the run game, in the pass game, play pass, all those things that we
talked about. But it’s certainly nice to get a feel for what the rhythm between the tight ends
is like actually playing out there from series-to-series of down-to-down. To have Hunter [TE
Hunter Long] in, Johnny [TE Johnny Mundt] in and those guys go back and forth and saw
Quintin [TE Quintin Morris] in there at times and really feel what it’s like to have those guys
take on that added responsibility. So, we evaluate everything, make the adjustments
accordingly, and I think those guys have really embraced the role. The added role really of
taking on those things that are missing now without Brenton.”
(On what makes Rams OLB Byron Young an effective pass rusher) “There’s a lot of things.
The thing that makes really all of those guys up front such good pass rushers is they have
such balanced attacks rushing. They can get off the ball, they can use speed, they can use
power, they’re great with their hands, so they really have a really wide toolbox and a variety
of moves that can attack guys up front. Then you add in the twist games that they have off
of that, whether they’re rushing one-on-one themselves or working with each other, they’re
well-coordinated in their rushes. So, it makes it difficult to manage in a one-on-one
matchup but then you add in the layer of there’s picks, there’s twists, they’re lined up in
different spots. That makes it difficult from a team perspective of trying to attack them in
protection.”
(On creating more plays where WR/DB Travis Hunter is the primary option) “It is a little bit of
a balance. There are certainly plays in the game plan that the ball might not go to him
where he was the primary. There are also certain plays in the game plan that you have
designed for him, that you don’t get to or aren’t able to call because the right situation
didn’t arise or the right coverage didn’t dictate getting into that look. So, I think it’s us really
trying to narrow down and find what are the things that he can do well, put them in the
game plan, then try to find a way to ensure that those opportunities arise throughout the
course of the game. We never want to force somebody the ball, but he’s certainly a guy who
can make things happen when he has the ball in his hand. So, we try to be deliberate every
single week about making sure guys are in the best possible position for success, whether
it’s a skill guy or an offensive lineman and he’s no different. So, we’ll continue to work from
now really probably through the end of the season, hopefully beyond, to try to make sure
that we have opportunities for him to touch the ball. And that we can dictate to defenses
those opportunities to make sure he’s getting the touches where we see fit.”
(On how the offensive line has responded following last week’s performance) “There’s
certainly opportunity to respond within the week when you just come in and evaluate the
film. And the accountability that guys take watching the film, looking at their mistakes,
looking at the areas that they can improve, which has been great to be able to get back to
work with those guys and see their attitude and effort. There’s a nice balance between that
as well where you’re trying to make those corrections and fix those mistakes and also move
on because you’ve got to start to prepare for a difficult opponent upcoming with the Rams.
So, we try to address that as much as we can, only really to learn from that and grow from
that rather than to dwell on the past. And the guys have done a great job of trying to take
those adjustments, learn from those mistakes, learn from the things that came up in that
game, and then improve from it moving forward.”
(On the trademarks of Rams Defensive Coordinator Chris Shula’s defense) “You see the
roots of the defense going back for the different coordinators that he was with in his time
there in L.A., but really over the course of these two years with him calling it, you’ve seen
that defense evolve, and it’s continued to evolve. Part of that’s probably due to the
personnel changes. They’ve had older guys that he was with in previous years when he
wasn’t the coordinator, and then they’ve gotten younger guys and new guys come through
there. And they’ve done a phenomenal job of really adapting and modifying that scheme
and that defensive structure to do what those guys do well. And I think that’s part of the
reason why they are such good defense is he’s continued to evolve, continue to find new
ways to attack offenses, whether it’s just in a coverage or front standpoint or whether it’s a
pressure standpoint. They see different things on third downs. They’ve evolved even from
the beginning of last year to the end of last year, from the beginning of this year to this
week. And I have no doubt they’ll have some new wrinkles and adjustments for us, and
probably will all the way throughout the entire season. So, there’s been some similarities
kind of in that structure from where you see how guys are lining up where you say it’s a base
three-four defense, but there’s so many differences when you look at the accumulation of
all the changes that he’s made and they’ve made as a staff over these past two seasons.”
