DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR ANTHONY CAMPANILE
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2025
(On Colts QB Phillip Rivers) “Yeah, I thought he looked good in both games. Obviously,
super sharp guy, one of the best of all time obviously, and he’s really got command of
everything out there. It’s a tough guy to prepare for and to play against because it’s like
you’re playing against a coach out there too. A guy that knows football as good as anybody
and can get the ball out really, really quickly and knows where he wants to go with the ball
immediately. So, it’s a real challenge and I think he’s done a hell of a job so far.”
(On if he watches film from Rivers first stint in the league for preparation) “Watch a little bit
of it, yeah but I think primarily what’s going on right now with what they’re doing and
obviously with how he’s playing and their current team. So that’s the best vantage point to
look at it from, I think.”
(On what has made this season’s defense so special) “I just think we have a lot of selfless
people in here in this organization and really on our unit. And I think what Coach Coen
[Head Coach Liam Coen] did here in this whole process, the thing that stands out to me the
most, is we practiced very physical to get to this point. We practiced as physical as you can
in the summer, and I think that really helped create the culture of what we’re trying to do
here. It’s a credit to the players and really a credit to him because his vision of what he
wanted this team to be, I think had a huge impact on any of the success that we had. And if
I could attribute it to anything else, I would attribute it to the selflessness of the players and
the toughness they practiced with.”
(On what he is referring to with the selflessness) “Yeah, I think when I talk about, even in the
pass rush, it’s a team rush mentality, where it’s a do your job culture, if you do your job it’s
going to help the whole, it’s going to help the entire unit. I think guys have been really
selfless in terms of doing that, doing what we’ve been asking them to do. Obviously you’re
always working on that, you’re trying to improve it, but everything we’ve been asking our
guys to do, we’ve been getting that from them. Because I think the bottom line is they all
have one thing in common. They want to win; they want to win together because they care
about each other. So that’s been the coolest thing to watch, not knowing them. And then,
when I got here, obviously them not knowing me and them, not necessarily, maybe not all
of them knowing each other and watching that kind of grow has been really cool.”
(On if the staff was watching the Indianapolis-San Francisco game last night) “Everybody
was kind of working on the next game but had the TVs going in their office. So, working on
prior games from them. And then everybody had the TV up with the current game rolling
last night. So, I think everybody was kind of on the same plan.”
(On the reaction to San Francisco’s win in the building) “Yeah, for me it was just keep
working (laugh). That was great. I’m glad that happened, but honestly, we’re so focused on
this current game and maybe that’s a bad answer, but it’s an honest answer. It didn’t affect
what I was doing at the time and I can’t speak for all the other coaches, but I can assume it
was a very similar experience for them too, because we’ve been trying to grind it and get
this thing right and get ready, prepared for this next game but definitely fired up about the
opportunity to go ahead and continue playing.”
(On if there was yelling and cheering) “Oh yeah, there was definitely that. You’ve got that all
the time. Yeah, there’s probably just me yelling most of the time for no reason (laugh). But,
but yeah, that’s old hat around here. That’s what it usually is. But guys were fired up for
sure. And I think everybody was excited, like I said, for the opportunity to continue playing
and everybody was for sure still working, grinding on this next one.”
(On the difficulty of playing RB Jonathan Taylor) “Yeah, I think anytime you’re playing against
him, everybody better be doing their job. Everybody better have great gap integrity. This isn’t
a guy you freelance with and you delve in your artistic interpretation of what everybody
should be doing. This is everybody do your job and do your job to the best of your physical
ability because he can make you look bad in a hurry. I think he’s done a tremendous job,
obviously the whole year. Everybody knows that about him. But all it takes is one guy not
executing for him to make you pay and, to your point, you watch him in their stadium, if he
gets out, he can fly. So he is as much of a challenge in the run game as anybody will play
the entire year.”
(On CB Jarrian Jones) “He’s really done a great job for us and the thing with Jarrian is
somewhat like [S] Antonio Johnson, I was talking about last week, Jarrian wears a lot of hats
for us on the back end. So, there’s even positions he’s prepared for that he hasn’t played in
games. We’ve been able to move him around and he’s really got a good understanding of so
many positions in the back end, whether that’s corner dime, nickel, even safety in some
certain situations. So, he’s really kind of a glue guy because he’s got position flex. And it’s
so genuinely important to him, knowing him and being around him every day, it’s so
important to him and he wants to be a great player. I think he’s done everything that he
possibly can to progress and become a better player and become a really good player for
us. And we’ve been leaning on him and he’s done that. He’s played great football for us. And
I love coaching the guy, honestly, like he’s a hard guy not to love if you’re around him every
day, he’s got great energy. And he’s another guy. I was just talking about people that want to
win. He just wants to win, he wants to win and whatever it takes, however physical it’s got
to be or whatever you’re asking him to do, he’s willing to do it.”
(On Jones’ hurdling the running back on the sideline) “Yeah, I actually was going over that
with him the other day. I taught him how to do that. I did it backwards though. I kind of like
flipped when I did it (laugh). No, but that was pretty impressive. I saw that on the TV copy,
and I was like, wow, that was pretty impressive.”
(On if he shows it to the team) “We may have to show that. We may have to show that as
long as they don’t show me attempt or something like that, it’d be all good (laugh).”
(On the impact of Secondary Coach Ron Milus and Defensive Backs Coach Anthony
Perkins on the secondary) “Yeah, the one thing I’m going to say about the staff and those
guys, especially Ron and Anthony, they’ve been grinding since we got here. It wasn’t an
easy off season for our coaches either. They were working every day and we were working
long hours to try and get it right and hit the ground running and they’ve done that every day
since. They’ve prepared a bunch of different guys for different positions, which they’re
always trying to do extra with the guys, whatever it may be, even in the post practice or
you’ve probably seen in the pre-practice whatever they can do to help these guys out. And I
think they do a great job with all the guys in getting some of the younger guys ready,
especially.”
(On who epitomizes being vocal and energetic on the defensive side of the ball) “Man,
we’ve got a lot of guys like that. I think we’ve got so many guys with great energy. Yeah,
there’s so many guys like that man. Foye [LB Foye Oluokun] is such a great guy and he’s
such a professional, but you hear him before the games, talking to the team and it means
something when he speaks to the guys and he speaks from his heart and you can feel that.
You usually have a great feel for people’s energy and there’s a lot of good energy in that
locker room. There’s a lot of people who bring great energy to our team. There’s so many
guys, I think [CB] Jourdan Lewis, what he’s done coming in here [S] Eric Murray who are two
new guys and I think they’ve helped establish the culture that they want in the defensive
back room. And so many of those other guys, they’re just the same way, I think a Buster [CB
Montaric Brown], they all care so much. I think the number one thing that that jumps out to
me is how much these guys really love each other and love playing together. It’s a cool
thing. It’s a little bit like a high school locker room, a high school environment and having
coached in high school for a long time, like I see that in these guys. I think football, when it’s
at its best, is that way. And then you have something you have something special when
that’s the case, if people don’t want to let each other down and the more you care about
each other, the less that’s going to happen. I think when somebody makes a mistake,
they’re genuinely upset about it because they want to do right for the guys around them.
And I think that that energy and that culture is evident in a lot of guys.”
(On what made him want to utilize DE Travon Walker inside on third downs) “One of the
things, if you go back and you’re looking at just even I would say probably since the bye, but
Tra’s been in there inside a little bit that was something we had done in other places I’ve
been, but you’re just trying to get the best matchups possible. And if there are some things
in the protection that you feel like you can take advantage of or a matchup you can take
advantage of, that’s very game plan specific. But I said, I think I said this last week or the
week prior to that, Travon’s really a special guy because he can play from a three technique
all the way out to a nine technique. Like we do stuff with him where we drop him and he can
cover it from an athleticism standpoint, like a linebacker. So, he’s got a really special
skillset. There’s not a lot of people who are capable of doing what he’s capable of having
done. And he’s really done a good job for us playing inside when he plays out on the guard
and he plays as a three technique and then as a 4-i on the early down, he does a bunch of
that. So, it’s really his ability that gives us the opportunity to do that. And hopefully we’re
looking to put him in the best possible situation when it comes to those pass rush
situations.”
(On teaching the defense to punch the ball out while also securing the tackle) “Yeah, you’re
always securing, before you do that [punching the ball]. That’s the most important thing is
securing the tackle. And as a whole, I don’t think we had one of our best tackling games and
that is evident in, we gave up a big run the other day. And big runs usually come, obviously
oftentimes they come from poor contact or poor tackle entry. And I think on that run, we
had some poor tackle entry. We had one little—we essentially had a misfit on something
and then we really didn’t get the guy on the ground, obviously, as you can see stating the
obvious. But I do think to your point, when you’re talking about striking the football, there is
a way, time and place to do that. And I think there are sometimes in the game as I watched
it, where we can enter into tackles better. And we may have given up position to do that,
striking the ball a couple times, but we’re always going to go after the ball. We’re not going
to apologize for attacking the football. That’s something we’re always going to do around
here.”
(On how to block out the ‘noise’ of being mentioned as a head coaching candidates) “Yeah,
honestly, I don’t pay attention to any of it. I want win. I care about my family and this team
and obviously your relationship with God, those are the three things you better be focused
on and all the other stuff is I don’t care about it, to be honest with you. I want to win this
game and to me, I wake up and my feet hit the ground every day. That’s the number one
thing I’m concerned about is obviously taking care of my family and helping our team win.
So, we’ve got so many guys in here who are about the same stuff and go about their day the
same way. That’s the way we want to go about our work. So that’s all I’m really focused on.”
OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR GRANT UDINSKI
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2025
(On the intangibles of QB Trevor Lawrence that made him confident Lawrence could
master the offense) “Well, first it probably started with his passion for the game and his
care factor for not only learning the system, performing at a high level, trying to operate the
system out there, but his care for the teammates, the organization, and really the
betterment of everyone else around him. So, when you start with that foundation, you have
a lot to work with from there because you know those types of guys. Guys like Trevor are
willing to put in the work, they’re willing to spend the extra time, go the extra mile, do all
those things that can separate guys from good to great in terms of knowing what to do,
being able to play fast, being able to do all the things we ask of the quarterback position, so
that’s one of the things. Then you add on top of that the intelligence, the toughness, which
you’d see out there on Sundays more so than all the work behind the scenes. But a lot of
that goes into the way you practice, being willing to go out there when your body’s probably
not feeling great, you’re sore, he’s coming off of injury this off season and that physical
toughness, not just the mental toughness is a big part of your training, not just your actual
playing on Sunday. So, you have all those different intangibles, those things come together
with probably a laundry list of others that really made this offseason work, really stand out
and create an optimistic attitude, I guess really going into the season.”
(On the challenge of working on Lawrence’s footwork and when he noticed progress) “I
don’t know that there was specifically one point that you notice you crossed the line and
said, ‘okay, now he’s got it.’ It’s something that is going to take so many reps and when
you’re in it and when you’re looking at it day after day after day, you don’t always notice the
strides that you’ve made over the course of a month or over the course of the entire year.
So, it’s harder for us because we’re so granular trying to look at the improvement from last
rep to this rep or yesterday to today. And you know that over the course of the year, it’s not
going to be a straight line, it’s not going to be perfect progress the whole way. But I think
even when the outcomes were not what we wanted earlier in the offseason or even in
training camp, I always felt, I think he always felt, and the coaching staff always felt that the
trend line was always going in the right direction. So, there was never any let up from him,
never any let up from us in terms of that process and trusting that continuing to stick with
that process and putting in the work will yield positive outcomes, which I think he believes
it has. We believe it has. And we hope that it’ll continue to go in that direction as long as we
continue to work that way. And then the second part of your question, in season, even out
of season is incredibly challenging because he was coming back from injury, so he has
limited reps actually throwing the football. You only have so many reps throwing the
football, so you’re trying to emulate the throwing motion and practicing and going full
speed when you’re taking drops on air and you’re trying to have creative ways of practicing
that in the offseason. Then you get in season and you’re so time constrained because
you’re preparing for a game plan, preparing for an opponent and trying to study. You’ve got
all these different things to manage and you have limited practice time. Your receivers start
to get sore; you need to kind of reduce the player load in terms of how much running they
can do, so you’re not throwing as many routes, you don’t have full speed receivers to get
out there and work with. So, it takes additional effort kind of on his own, on our own to
make sure that we can continue to refine those things in order to improve because with the
time constraints and really a scarcity of reps, it does become an immense challenge to
continue to improve those things, let alone to keep them the status quo.”
(On what growth he has seen from OL Wyatt Milum) “Yeah, that’s a great question. Wyatt’s
one of those guys who’s probably been a little bit under the radar but has been working his
tail off in the background, not only to get ready to play tight end, but to play guard, play
tackle, wherever we need him. He’s embraced whatever role you’ve thrown him into and
he’s battled some of those injuries, but even amidst those injuries, he’s still studying and
preparing at 100 percent like he’s going into play. So, the mental aspect of being a rookie,
not getting a lot of reps and trying to juggle multiple positions is really impressive for him to
continue to work through that stuff. Then on the field, I think you see the aggressiveness,
the physicality and like the play style that he plays with. He attacks every single play, every
single rep, and he practices the same way, so to get a guy with those kind of combination of
factors and the way he approaches practice, game preparation and then his play style
makes him a special individual.”
(On his reaction to clinching the playoffs via the 49ers win over the Colts) “I was in my
office, and I think the reaction is probably just to keep working on some of the run game
and some of the play passes. We have a lot of work to do and we’ve got our hands full this
week, so there’s not a lot of time for celebration right now, but when the time’s appropriate,
I’m sure we’ll sure we’ll celebrate, but right now we’re focused on preparation, so not a lot
of celebration going on, but definitely a lot of work to do.”
(On how critical ball placement is from a quarterback) “Yeah, that’s a great question. [QB]
Nick Mullens talks about how run after catch, I have to give him credit, he talks about how
run after catch is an accuracy stat, from a quarterback perspective that is. And there’s
absolutely some validity to that. You see [WR] Parker Washington had two huge run after
catches in the previous game, and a lot of that is due to his [Lawrence’s] accuracy. So not
only that placement on short routes, intermediate routes, but even some of those deeper
routes, if you can hit a guy in stride and they don’t have to lose their speed, that’s the
difference between one step, a DB catching up and closing the space, or a guy being able
to turn up and make a move on a defensive back, a linebacker, safety, whoever it may be in
that space, or the guy having to slow down, collect himself or reach back for the ball and
lose all of his momentum. I think as Trevor’s gotten used to and continues to create that
chemistry with the wide outs, the tight ends, the backs coming out of the backfield, I think
that that’s where you see a lot of the accuracy improve. Because we have such a heavy
reliance on timing, rhythm, guys being at the right spot at the right time, getting to these
certain spots, being able to see the coverages and being able to see how defenses are
playing you and getting to those spots. When Trevor’s on the same page with his eligibles,
that’s when you see an elite level of accuracy really come to fruition. I don’t think it’s ever
really been a question of the physical ability, it’s more so been a question of our execution
as an offense, which we’ve tried to improve, and I think you’ve seen it improve. There’s still
room to grow without a doubt, but that kind of manifests into what appears to be improved
accuracy on TV a lot of times.”
(On why the ‘quick snap’ was used against Denver) “Yeah, that’s another great question.
There’s a lot of advantages to that quick snap and we try to mix up those tempos as much
as we can. We want the entirety of our time of possession to be in attack mode. Now that
doesn’t necessarily mean that we’re going to be using tempo and going fast every single
play, but even when we’re coming out of the huddle, we want to mix up the way we’re
coming out of the huddle. We want to motion sometimes, sometimes we’re not motioning,
sometimes we’re snap it quick. Sometimes we’re hard counting. If we have the ball for 31
minutes of a football game, we want the defense to be stressed out under attack, straining
for all 31 minutes, might not all be physically, but sometimes it is mentally. So, we’re trying
to use some of those quick snaps, like you said, prevent the rush from getting set, prevent
the coverage from getting set, prevent them from making communication, maybe prevent
them from recognizing the formation. So, depending on the play and the situation, there’s a
whole bunch of different reasons we’ll use it. Sometimes it’s to dictate certain matchups
because they can’t identify matchups. In that case, there were certain plays where
certainly, you play a rush like Denver, you want to try to slow them down as many ways as
possible. And then you have cover guys like they had too. So, there were certain plays
where we’re trying to create matchups. So, depending on the play we were mixing it up here
and there and we have a bunch of different tempos that we’ll use out of the huddle that will
try to keep defenses kind of offset off balance. And I thought the guys did a great job
executing, you mentioned the nuance to it. There really is a little bit of nuance where the
guys have to understand the difference between tempo A and tempo B out of the huddle
and when the ball’s getting snapped and what am I doing with my feet and where am I
actually getting lined up, where can I realistically get to B lined up before this ball snap
because there’s no cadence on some of those. They’ve got to trust and Hainsey [OL Robert
Hainsey] when he’s snapping the ball or Jonah [OL Jonah Monheim] when he’s snapping the
ball, has to trust that that guy’s at the right spot at the right time and I got the green light to
go ahead and snap the ball. So, it’s great chemistry and great work for all 11 to really be on
the same page there. It’s something we try to work hard in practice and preach kind of the
details and discipline with those fundamentals when you do those things.”
(On blocking out the ‘noise’ when he brought up for head coaching vacancies) “Well,
thankfully it is relatively easy in the sense that we have a great challenge on Sunday, and
you hopefully can continue to have that every single week. So, it’s the boring answer that I
gave on how you celebrate the pick six or making the playoffs and those things. You’ve got
so much work to do that you really don’t have time to look up and see anything else and
that’s the way I love it. That’s the way the guys love it and we enjoy that. I wouldn’t want it
any other way so that type of stuff is flattering, but ultimately 100 percent of our effort and
focus is on Sunday every single week. So, it’s really not any more complicated than that.
Like I said, I know that’s the boring answer, but that kind of is the truth.”
(On OL Anton Harrison’s athleticism) “Definitely special. I love anytime we have the
opportunity to showcase those big guys’ athleticism, I love it. I know they love it. They love
getting out in space and reminding everybody that they are athletes and when you have a
guy like Anton who really is an athlete and the way he was moving this past weekend and
even two weekends ago on that one screen when he’s flying down the sideline, it’s cool and
exciting, not only for him and the O-line guys to see, but for the skill guys to recognize that’s
a guy with a lot of weight moving really fast down the sideline. That’s very special as you
said.”
(On his reaction when he heard OL Walker Little was going to go in at right guard) “Oh man,
I’m going to give you another boring answer. I’m really racking up the boring answers, so I
apologize. There was really no flinch when we had that moment, I think from the coaching
staff and definitely not from the players and I know that sounds like a cop out, another
boring answer like I said, but you guys had asked about why we had so many rotations in
the spring, why we had so many rotations in training camp. Part of that is knowing that
you’re not going to play the full season with the same five offensive linemen at the same
position for the full time. Part of that was also due to the fact that we had guys who were
really versatile and we have guys who played on the left, played on the right, inside,
outside. [OL] Cole Van Lanen’s done a phenomenal job playing basically every position but
center and tight end this season and really since the BYE Week, in a pretty short timeframe.
Same thing with our tackles, have both taken reps and played on both sides really. Walker’s
played inside and outside. So, because of what they’ve done in practice and shown their
ability to handle that from a mental and physical standpoint I don’t think there was any
flinch from the coaching staff for the players. For Walker to be able to go out there and do
what he did is still unbelievably impressive with all that being said, but really the guys kind
of took it in stride and just kept rolling with it.”
(On Little’s preparation) “Yeah, we had given him a couple reps, but like I mentioned about
even the quarterback position and the footwork, Walker had taken some reps at guard
during the week, but it’s very, very limited. You only have so many reps, you don’t have full
pads, you don’t have full speed practice reps. So even with the reps he took where he is
walking through or taking them at half-speed tempo, that’s not nearly the same. You can’t
emulate that game speed and that intensity, especially against a defense like that. So, to
say that he took reps is kind of a little bit of a farce, even me saying that because he
certainly has not played those plays at full speed against the real opponent at any point
during the week or probably even during the spring or training camp. So that’s absolutely
exceptional effort and ability by Walker to be able to go out there and execute at a high
level, such a high level on short notice with such little preparation.”
(On why Lawrence has been good against the blitz the last few weeks) “Yeah, another great
question. I think a lot of it has to do with, well there’s probably a couple different factors,
but a lot of it has to do with his recognition and his comfortability with the system and what
he’s doing pre-snap and how that relates to what he’s going to do post-snap. Earlier in the
year and when you’re first taking your first couple reps out there with the offense, it’s so
different. So foreign compared to what he’s used to. There’s a lot going on pre-snap. There
shifts, there’s motions that maybe you don’t have as much time, or you don’t have as much
mental space to devote to recognizing the defense and recognizing the blitz and what’s
going on. Now, I think that he’s gotten more comfortable and he is able to play faster. He
has more of that working memory available to identify what’s the defense doing, what am I
going to be able to do, what’s this blitz? Can I recognize what this blitz is? Can we figure out
what’s coming before it happens? And then maybe get into the right check or get to the right
play or just know what the right response is beforehand. So, I think a lot of that starts with
this recognition. And then secondly, it goes into being on the same page with the wideouts,
with the tight ends, whoever it might be. When you are facing the blitz, everything is going to
kind of be, I guess exacerbated in the sense that if you have a certain route that needs to be
at a certain timing or at a certain depth and it’s a little bit off, well you might have 0.2 less
seconds to get that throw off or 0.3 seconds to get that throw off. So, if it’s not exactly right,
then that’s the difference between a negative play and a positive play against the blitz. So,
it’s just that small margin of error of improvement that we’ve made with the wide outs, with
maybe the protection sometimes, with maybe recognition that can be the difference
between the numbers that you cited and maybe sometimes struggling against pressure.”
