Washington Commanders defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio was not shy Thursday to laud the abilities of safety Kam Curl, who missed Saturday’s 37-20 loss to the 49ers.
“Covering the tight end. Kittle ran free last week, couple times, like to see Kam on that matchup. He’s a guy that can do multiple things. We missed him, and we’re just getting ready to go for the next opportunity. Hopefully, we get him back soon. Until he does, we’ll next man up and keep rolling.”
Del Rio readily admitted the defense yielding some explosive plays really hurt the Commanders.
“We had opportunities to be much better on each of the explosive plays. It’s been corrected. It’s been addressed. We all understand it, and we’ll look to be better. We can’t have those kinds of explosives.”
What is it like preparing for games without Curl?
“Yeah, we work through it during the week. You’ve got the hopeful and then it’s not going that way and then it’s adjust and do the best you can. So that’s what we’ll do again this week. Look, be hopeful through the week and then see how we end the week and adjust as we need to. We’re trying to make that as smooth as possible.”
Del Rio was also quick to say he saw some real positives from his Commanders defense last week.
“We did some really good things in the game. We ended up being four out of five getting stops in the red zone, and the fifth one they got it on fourth down. So, to that point, they had three field goals and a turnover on downs. So, that gave us a chance to hang around and give us a glimmer of hope. So, without those stops, it would’ve turned into a situation where there’s no chance. So yeah, proud of that.”
