DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR ANTHONY CAMPANILE
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
TUESDAY, AUGUST 12, 2025
(On what the defense can improve on after Saturday) “I think we’ve got to do a better job
with communication. I think that’s probably the number one thing. That’s just everywhere.
Even the sideline operation, all that stuff. So, I think a lot of that stuff, first game,
preseason, you see stuff like that, and you get better at everything. That’s what we’re
focused on right now. I think the guys have done a great job of that last two days. So,
working hard and getting that right. They did a lot of good things, too.”
(On his first time calling NFL plays on the sideline) “Yeah. Did it in college a bunch, when I
was at Boston College, but it was good. It was fun watching the guys compete. We didn’t
give them a whole lot. It was kind of a small menu, what we did. You go back like every
other game. Correct what’s incorrect. Try and get it right. Walk through it. Get out here and
practice it, and that’s kind of what we’re doing in the process of everything here with camp.”
(On the positives taken from Saturday) “I thought the positives probably were I thought we
did a good job in the run game overall. We were physical in the front. The four-minute stop,
that was good to see at the end of the game. Thought the guys kept competing that way.
Three-and-out early in the game was good. A lot of things to correct, but definitely some
positives there. Like I said, I thought the run game, we did a pretty good job overall.”
(On preparing for the tempo of the offense this week) “I think we’ve done a good job
preparing for that. Like I said, a lot of that is communication. Just getting your cleats in the
ground ready to go. So, I think guys have done a great job with that in the last two days, so I
think we’ll be ready for that.”
(On if the communication was more of a problem than he expected) “I mean, I thought
some of it, I wanted it to be better than it was, if that’s what you’re asking, for sure. Got new
guys out there and a new system, and we’re working on that. We’ll get it right.”
(On CB Christian Braswell) “He’s done a great job. He’s competed really hard the whole
camp. I thought today he had a good practice. He’s been physical. So, pleased with his
effort to this point.”
(On LB Dennis Gardeck) “Been great. He’s a high-effort guy if you’ve ever watched him play.
He practices physical. He had some really physical reps today. I think he brings a lot of
good traits out there on the field with him. He’s a good pass rusher, physical in the run
game. So excited to have him out there.”
(On WR/DB Travis Hunter progressing at cornerback) “He’s doing a good job. He’s
progressing every day. Like I said, he’s done a great job with splitting time on offense and
defense. So, it’s a tough task, but he’s handled it really, really well. Like anything else, there
are things to correct, but some things he did really good the other day.”
(On how to prepare the practice schedule of WR/DB Travis Hunter with no precedent) “I
think Liam [Head Coach Liam Coen], like I said before a couple of weeks ago, did a great
job just laying that out, and he had total clarity as to how he wanted to do it. He really
presented it in an easy way for all of us to understand, and he’s managed Travis’s time
really, really well out here every day. So, he really was kind of the guy that drove the process
on that, and I think he did a really good job with it.”
(On the performance of the current interior defensive line, considering injuries) “They
competed hard. I thought Smoot [DE Dawuane Smoot] had a good game the other day. The
guys inside, I thought, played pretty well overall. Like I said, in the run game, they played
physical. We got some knockback and were grinding blocks, but like everybody else, it’s a
process. We’re looking to improve every day with all these guys.”
(On DL Austin Johnson) “He’s been great. He’s a total pro. He fit right in coming in the room.
He’s been working his ass off every day. Really good dude. I’m happy to have him here.”
(On playing tighter coverage on third down after Saturday) “I think some of that is
situational awareness. You want to be tighter on guys, especially on the third downs. You
can’t give them that space that we gave them on a couple of reps the other night. Part of
that is some young guys and getting that right over the course of the game and correcting
those things when you come back in, and that’s where we’re at in camp right now. Still
working, still a work in progress, and got to do a better job with some of those things.”
(On if preseason is long enough to prepare all aspects of the defense) “I think the beautiful
part of football is you’ve always got to understand time is the enemy. Time is the enemy.
That’s what you’re working against. So, every walk through, every meeting, if you’re not
paying attention, if you’re not dialed in on all your reps, your opportunities out there,
however many they may be, you’ve got to make them count. I know that’s cliche. Everybody
says, oh, don’t count the reps, make the reps count, but there’s not enough time to not be
locked into what you’re doing. So, if you don’t do that, sometimes you’re learning on the fly
and I think we’ll learn from that last outing out there on the field.”
(On LB Ventrell Miller) “I think he’s a physical guy. I think if you go back and watch the tape
the other night, I thought he played very, very physical, played downhill. He’s really, like I
said for a couple of these guys, he’s learning it, processing it all right now, and I think he’s
picked it up pretty well. He’s had these last few weeks, he’s been pretty darn good, and I
thought he played well in the game. So, we just want to see the uptick in progress, with
what he’s done to this point, and his production was pretty good the other night.”
(On S Darnell Savage) “I think he’s done a really good job because he’s moved around. He’s
played nickel, played safety like you said. You have to be a smart guy to do that, and you
need smart players and he is certainly that. Over his career, he’s done that. So, he brings a
lot to us as a defense, a guy that we can count on. We feel like he does a good job when
he’s back there at safety, and he’s done a good job at nickel. Like everybody else, he’s got
some things to clean up from the game, but he’s working his ass off, too. We expect him to
be ready to go here when we play the Saints.”
(On Steelers TE Darnell Washington’s touchdown catch on Saturday) “On that one, we just
had a little bit of an M.A. [missed assignment] there in the coverage, something we’ve got to
clean up, which we cleaned up when we got back in the next day, and that’s really what
happened.”
(On if the injury to CB Tyson Campbell made WR/DB Travis Hunter more aware of his
opportunity) “He’s been pretty locked in the whole way, though. I think he’s been really
serious about doing this and playing at a high level on defense the entire time. So, he was
kind of steady Eddie as far as that goes the whole way. He’s been locked in the whole time,
and I wouldn’t necessarily say I see an uptick, but he’s been pretty disciplined and detailed
with it the whole way through.”
(On CB Jarrian Jones) “22 has been competing. He’s doing a good job. I said this last time I
was up here. I thought he did a good job throughout the summer coming back knowing the
system, and he’s competing with our receivers every day, which is helping him get better.
He’s playing against good guys out there. He’s doing a good job.”
(On altercations beginning in camp) “That’s a good thing. I think I think it means guys are
usually competing. You don’t want guys fighting all day and wrecking the practice. There’s
not time for that, but sometimes tempers flare. Usually, that means there’s emotion out
there, and I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. We don’t want them fighting each
other all practice, but the guys are getting heated and competing. I think that’s a good
thing.”
(On if players should throw punches at guys with helmets) “You don’t want to do that. You
don’t want to do that. You don’t want to be throwing punches at all, but it’s football. It’s an
emotional game. Nobody’s worth 15 is what we say. Nobody’s worth 15 yards. So, we don’t
want to do that, but in the heat of the battle in camp, I’d be hard pressed to say I was ever in
a football camp where there wasn’t some emotion and then guys pushing and shoving and
all that. So, it’s kind of status quo.”
(On competition at safety) “We’re just going to keep assessing that the whole way through.
Guys are going to compete every day in practice. They’re going to compete in the games.
They’re going to compete all the way through the last week of the season. That’s the way I
see it. I think that’s the best thing for a defense is to always have competition, and I think
that drives the culture of the room. When guys are constantly competing all the time, that’s
a good thing. We want high effort. We got that today. Thought we had a really physical
practice, good communication, and high effort and finish from all the guys, safeties
included. So, they’re going to be competing the whole way through.”
