FOXBOROUGH —With defensive coordinator Terrell Williams still dealing with a health issue, inside linebackers coach Zak Kuhr will once again be calling New England’s defensive plays against Carolina this weekend.
On a rainy Thursday afternoon at Gillette Stadium, Kuhr downplayed the complexity of that task. Williams was also sidelined during OTAs and minicamp, so Kuhr has gotten plenty of reps at the helm in practice, and this will now be his third straight game calling the defense.
“I just press a button and talk to (captain Robert) Spillane,” Kuhr said. “Same thing as it was in the spring, so nothing different. I wouldn’t say anything has really changed from that aspect.”
Asked how one learns the skill of calling defensive plays, Kuhr pointed at a pair of apprenticeships, working under Jim Schwartz in Tennessee and Shane Bowen with the Giants.
“It’d be experience from being around Shane Bowen. Being kind of like his assistant. That was a big influence,” Kuhr said. “Just being around, seeing the process, how he prepped, the flow of how he called it. Another big influence was Jim Schwartz. I still reach out to him from time to time. I feel like we have a good relationship and he’s helped me a lot.”
Mike Vrabel has mentioned that he’d like more consistency with the defensive operation, and earlier this week was asked whether he’d considered moving Williams to an advisory role rather than the play-calling one.
“I don’t know if I’m ready to say that yet,” Vrabel said. “I’m just making sure that, one, his health is first and foremost. That’s critically important. Again, just making sure that the consistency is there so that we know what to account for and plan for. I don’t want to say that it’s fluid, but we’ll see where things are, and if he’s going to continue to help us. I just don’t know, based on the availability, what that’s going to look like.
“So, the communication and everything that we’ve been doing over there has been good. His ability to help us has been really good. But I also don’t want to go back and forth. I don’t think that that’s good for anybody either. So, appreciate you asking about Terrell, but right now we’ll just kind of, I would say moving forward, kind of be where we were last week. That’s where I would anticipate it being this week.”
Though Williams isn’t calling plays on Sunday, Kuhr said he’s still a major piece of the Patriots defense.
“T is always a big part of what we do,” Kuhr said. “I just want him to know that we’re always thinking about him. (My wife) Jenny and I are always praying for him each and every day. But us as a staff, us as a defense, he has a big impact and he’s a big part of that.”