Tag: Joe Danna

Bills hire Joe Danna as safeties coach

#Bills hire Joe Danna as safeties coach:

Joe Danna was named the Buffalo Bills’ next safeties coach.

The team announced the update on Thursday. Last week, the Bills fired safeties coach Jim Salgado.

Danna has spent 15 years coaching and was most recently the safeties coach with the Houston Texans. Prior to that, Danna was assistant secondary and safeties coach with the Jacksonville Jaguars for four years.

Danna entered the NFL with the Atlanta Falcons (2008-09), followed by the Miami Dolphins (2010-11), a return to the Falcons (2012-14), and the New York Jets (2015-16),

Last season with the Texans, Houston’s defense was 10th best against the pass and allowed the fewest touchdown passes in the NFL (15) despite a 3-14 record.

In addition to his experiences coaching in the NFL, Danna has also taken on the college game.

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Safeties coach Joe Danna ‘can’t say enough’ good things about Jalen Pitre

Danna told reporters all about Jalen Pitre’s development in the #Texans’ Thursday press conference

Jalen Pitre has been one of the Houston Texans’ most impactful rookies in their failed 2022 campaign, and the league is starting to take notice. He notched his third interception of the year in Week 13 against the Cleveland Browns and managed to secure 16 combined tackles in the effort.

This outsized production from the rookie safety is no surprise to the team’s safeties coach Mike Danna, though, and he told reporters on Thursday just how impressed he is with what Pitre has been able to do this season. When asked about the safety’s development, Danna was complimentary of what he had seen and emphasized the work ethic and tenacity that got Pitre to this point.

“I’ll just say this, can’t say enough about how much he, as a rookie, works at his game, studies the game, takes care of his body,” Danna explained. “He takes the coaching. The credit is to him. We try to coach everybody the same. He works at it. It’s important to him. It’s just good to see he was able to reap the benefits of some of that work.”

Houston’s defense is starting to turn a corner late in the season after their impressive performance against the Browns, and Pitre has played a large part in their recent success. It’ll take consistent effort to keep up his level of play to help the Texans secure a second victory before the year ends, but under the watchful eyes of Danna and the rest of Lovie Smith’s coaching staff, Pitre should continue to grow into a starring role heading into the team’s 2023 rebuild.

For now, both Pitre and the defense at large are focused on their challenging matchup against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 14 and are hopeful to replicate the no-fly zone they enforced against the Browns to give Houston a legitimate chance at success despite being totally outmatched against their intrastate rival.

Safeties coach Joe Danna on containing Raiders offense: ‘We’ve just got to try and execute’

#Texans safeties coach Joe Danna is looking forward to the challenge of playing Las Vegas on Sunday

The Houston Texans will take on the Las Vegas Raiders in Sin City on Sunday with absolutely nothing to lose. Their 1-3-1 record is reflective of the pitiful season they’ve had so far, but somehow they’ve managed to outdo the Raiders, who currently sit at 1-4.

Even with the half-game advantage in the AFC standings, Houston is sure not to be satisfied with its current position. A one-game swing in their regular season record would put them just one win from the .500 mark and could boost the Texans’ momentum ahead of their mid-season push.

Their safeties coach Joe Danna spoke to the media on Thursday and told reporters that the challenge of playing Las Vegas is not one that he takes lightly. Asked specifically about the threat presented by Davante Adams, he made it clear that the Raiders’ entire offensive cast will be a tall task for his unit to match up against.

“He presents a lot of problems,” Danna said of Adams. “They’ve got plenty of good players, not just him. That’s why they’re such a good offense. In every defense you play, there are strengths and weaknesses. Everybody’s got a job to do in each defense. As we go into Sunday from the safety position, we’ve just got to try and execute our job the best that we can.”

This meeting between two of the NFL’s worst teams is set to be more influential on each squad’s sense of pride rather than outright competitiveness in the league’s pantheon of playoff contenders. The Texans will bring their young talent into Allegiant Stadium with the intention of keeping their collective boots on the throat of the floundering Raiders, and prove that despite all the adversity they’ve faced over the last few years, they can still put on a show against a team that some thought might take a step forward before the regular season.

Texans safeties coach defines how S Jonathan Owens is still a ‘young’ player

#Texans safeties coach Joe Danna explains how safety Jonathan Owens is still a relatively young player in the NFL.

It may be hard to fathom, but the Houston Texans’ defensive coaches view Jonathan Owens as a young player.

Although Owens has been in the NFL since 2019, he has only logged 19 games with seven starts to his ledger. In terms of a regular season, he has one regular season and two games under his belt.

Texans safeties coach Joe Danna detailed how Owens can still be viewed as s young player despite being 27 years old and in his fourth season.

“He’s young from the sense that he hasn’t played a lot,” Danna told reporters Thursday. “He’s a hungry player. He wants success in the worst way. He’s a sponge, he studies, and our whole group does.”

Owens has tallied 46 combined tackles and two pass breakups through five games, all of which he has started. The former 2019 undrafted free agent from Missouri Western is part of a safeties group that brings concepts learned in the classroom to the practice field.

Said Danna: “We’ve got a great room. He’s just a guy, you can’t give him enough information. He wants to study and he wants to be a great player.”

Owens’ 46 combined tackles are still the third-most in the NFL among defensive backs despite Houston being on a bye during Week 6.

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Texans hire Jaguars assistant Joe Danna to coach safeties

The Houston Texans have hired Jacksonville Jaguars secondary coach Joe Danna to coach their safeties.

The Houston Texans have made another hire to Lovie Smith’s coaching staff.

General manager Nick Caserio alluded to it on “The Jim Rome Show” on Feb. 15, but reports have confirmed that the Texans have hired Jacksonville Jaguars nickels coach Joe Danna as their new safeties coach.

Danna was a defensive assistant with the Atlanta Falcons under coach Mike Smith from 2008-09. From 2010-11 Danna was the assistant secondary coach with the Miami Dolphins under Tony Sparano.

From 2012-14, Danna went back to the Falcons as their defensive backs coach. When Smith was fired, Danna landed with the New York Jets as the defensive backs coach under Todd Bowles.

Since 2017, Danna has been in Jacksonville coaching the secondary in various capacities; from 2017-18 as the assistant defensive backs coach, from 2019-20 as the safeties coach, and in 2021 as the nickels coach.

Jags cornerbacks coach Tim Walton misses trip for personal reasons

The Jacksonville Jaguars will be short one staff member Week 10 as Tim Walton didn’t travel to Green Bay with the team.

When the Jacksonville Jaguars take the field against the Green Bay Packers Sunday, they will be without one member of their coaching staff in cornerbacks coach Tim Walton. Per the team, Walton didn’t travel to Lambeau Field for personal reasons not connected to COVID-19.

With Walton absent, the Jags secondary coach duties will be on safeties coach, Joe Danna, who has been with the team for three seasons but is currently in his 15th season as an NFL coach.

As for Walton, 2020 marks his second year with the Jags though he’s been coaching in the NFL for 11 seasons. During his time in Jacksonville, he’s coach players like Jalen Ramsey and A.J. Bouye in the past while also coaching the Jags’ current group of CJ Henderson, Tre Herndon, Sidney Jones IV, and D.J. Hayden among notables.

When looking at the year as a whole, the Jags’ secondary has struggled mightily, but the pass-rush hasn’t done them any favors either aside from a couple of games. As a result, Henderson (56.3) and Herndon (46.9) haven’t garnered favorable Pro Football Focus grades, though Jones has (71.3).

With Walton staying at home, the Jags’ secondary and Danna are going to have to press on against former NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers. With wind speeds of 24 miles per hour expected, the passing game could be limited, which would be a huge help.