Co-Offensive Coordinator/Running Backs Eric Studesville
(I know everything this week you’re focused solely on this opponent. But if you can just for a minute, from a human side, having an opportunity as co-offensive coordinator after a very distinguished career as an NFL assistant, is it meaningful to you personally?) – “Every game is. Every game is. I think it’s an honor to coach in this league. I’ve enjoyed it, I’m humbled by every opportunity I get to do it. Every game that I get to be a part of, regardless of what role that is, is am awesome thing.”
(Since it’s a good story this week, when Head Coach Brian Flores first told you about this opportunity, was there any joy at all? What sort of emotion was there to be a offensive coordinator?) – “I think the first emotion was you realize the increase in responsibility and the opportunity that you’re given, and you appreciate the fact that ‘Flo’ entrusted that in you. That was my first thoughts in there. It wasn’t anything other than, ‘man, there is a lot of work to get done. We got to get on this, George (Godsey) and I got to get on this pretty quick.’”
(What do you want this offense to be? What would be your hope of what this offense is known for? One that keeps defenses on their toes, one that is consistently productive? What in your words?) – “I would say yes to those things for sure. I think we want to be known as a tough, physical group that’s smart, that we’re going to execute at a high level whether that’s run or pass, protection and everything we do; and that we play with great effort in what we do. Everything is centered around what gives this team the best chance to win. It is an unselfish concept; but yet there is a high level of accountability and responsibility for each and every one of us involved in the offense. That’s what I hope people see when they look at us.”
(The offensive personnel that you and Co-Offensive Coordinator/Tight Ends George Godsey have been given, what do you like especially about this group of offensive players? You obviously have the speed element among others.) – “I think the biggest thing I like about this group is how they work. These guys come to work, they are unselfish, they are willing to take on other roles – smaller roles, larger roles, different roles, moving from positions, whatever that we feel is best. This entire group of offensive players is trying to come together and create something that gives us the best chance to win. I think that comes with an open mindset, it comes with a tremendous work ethic and then it comes with a commitment to each other saying, ‘if we all get in and do this, we’ve got a shot.”
(Who taught you to coach?) – “I’ve been very fortunate. I’ve been around a lot of great coaches. I’ve taken something from each and every one of them. I had an opportunity this summer to sit down and have breakfast with my very first coach, my little league coach Will Smith in Madison, but Bob Berezowitz and Bruce Bukowski at University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Everywhere that I’ve gone, there have been coaches in my life at all different levels that have impacted me. I take something from each and every one of them.”
(What did you take from your little league coach?) – “A love of the game. I learned some things about him this summer that I didn’t know. His passion for building a little league program in Madison, Wisconsin is now over 50 years old and still running, he started when he was in high school and basically gave up his high school career to start the Southside Raider football program. To have been a part of that and knowing that in hindsight now is a really cool thing. I have a lot of respect for him for doing that.”
(Was this level always the goal for you or was there a point in life where you would’ve been content with being a high school coach, a college coach?) – “I had no idea I was going to get into coaching. I had no idea. I don’t want to say I stumbled into it, but I was looking for something, and this found me at the same time I needed to find it. It was a great fit for me.”
(What’s that story? What had you been doing at the time?) – “I was in graduate school at the University of Arizona, way over my head academically (laughter) and trying to figure out what I was going to do next. I just missed the game of football and Dick Tomey, who was the head coach at the time at the University of Arizona, who I have a tremendous amount of respect for, he gave me an opportunity to see if this is what I wanted to do. He opened up that door and it became more and more and I decided that this is what I wanted to do. Since 1991, that’s all I’ve wanted to do.”
(What non-football career had you been mulling in college?) – “In college, I wanted to be a college professor. My master’s degree is in exercise physiology. I wanted to do research on the body and how it affects sports and performance. I just went a different direction.”
(Your first regular season game as an offensive coordinator with George Godsey is against one of the best coaches of all time with a defensive … is that a challenge you relish this weekend?) – “Absolutely. I relish every opportunity we get to go out and play games. We spend a lot of time and effort getting our team ready to go and how we plan as a coaching staff and our preparation, any chance we get to go up against somebody else, that’s the competition. That’s why we all do this. You love the competition of going against somebody else, and particularly the best at doing something. If you don’t want to go against the best, than why are we doing this?”
(I know you’ve talked about obviously how your running backs all work very hard. Do you think this group of backs has been under-appreciated? I know they have to show it on the field this year, but in terms of their body of work and what they’ve shown? I say by the public, not by you as coaches.) – “There are opinions on lots of different things. I have a tremendous amount of respect for this group of running backs that I’m working with. I think they are going to determine how people view them based on how we perform going forward. That’s the opportunity we have to play games. That’s why we do it. They’re going to determine how people view who they are, what they are and how productive the are.”
(What does RB Myles Gaskin do best?) – “He works. I think it’s an under-appreciated skill. He comes and he works and he tries to improve and learn and take care of his body. Everything that he is doing as a professional, he does to the utmost, and I think it’s very impressive to be around him.”
(How smoothly has the process worked in the exhibition season – plays being called … the offense. Has it gone a lot better than you expected? About as well?) – “I think it’s gone well. I think it’s gone well. There are always things we can do better. We’re always evaluating that after a game and what we could do better and how we should streamline things or make something cleaner. We are always trying to improve that process. I think it’s gone well so far. We’re going to continue to find ways to make sure it goes well because that gives us a chance when it does.”
(I know all of the offensive assistants are involved in game planning as both you guys have said. How many times do you and George Godsey meet a week?) – “Every day. We get together every morning. It starts out every morning and then there are times throughout the day where he comes in my office, I come in his. We talk about things. We talk multiple times a day about many, many, different topics.”
(If you have a play that you think is going to work for this particular week, will you write it on your desk on a Post-it note, just to remember to talk to George Godsey about it later?) – “Sometimes you get up right from your desk and go in there and draw it on his board. Sometimes he comes in and draws it on my board. There are drawings everywhere on the boards, in the staff room and things like that. We’re constantly sharing ideas and talking through everything, bouncing ideas off of each other.”
(What is the process of figuring out this offense between you and George Godsey? If you see things differently, how are you able to work through that and come to an understanding?) – “It’s not just me and George, it’s the whole staff that does this. We’ve got good football coaches on the whole staff. We get input from everybody. It’s a collaborative effort in how we build it, how we talk about it and how we throw ideas out. We work through all of those ideas all the time. It’s not just George and I sitting there and kind of throwing things at the staff saying ‘this is how we’re going to do it.’ We talk about, ‘this is what we like in this area, what do you guys like, lets throw ideas out, and let’s talk about what’s best for us as an offense going forward.’”
(What has RB Myles Gaskin worked on, or what have you worked on with him over the last couple of years that’s really paid dividends? I know you’ve talked about his work ethic.) – “I think the biggest area that Myles has improved in is pass protection and route running. Those two areas from when he first got here – he could always run the ball and doing things well. I think he’s really put time and effort into becoming a better pass protector and a better receiver.”
(What does that entail?) – “Work, study, film time, understanding dogs and blitzes and things that are happening to us. Then seeing different routes and going in and actually working on catching balls from quarterbacks and doing things.”
Co-Offensive Coordinator/TE Coach George Godsey
(I know all you’re thinking is on New England and this game but if you would be kind enough, just sort of a human question for you, getting your first opportunity to be a coordinator again since 2016. Is that meaningful to you at this point in your life?) – “I don’t think it has anything to do with this week to be honest with you. We’re just working towards the Patriots. Unfortunately I don’t have an answer for that one.”
(When you were a coordinator last time in the National Football League, how has that helped prepare you for what you are going to do on Sunday? What did you take away from your past experience as a coordinator?) – “Every day as a coach, I have taken something out of it. I think all of us have, so we try to use those experiences to help us for this week. It’s very hard to put everything from one year before into the current situation. There’s different players, different coaches, different teams and different opponents. The teams are the same but it’s a completely different roster. It’s very hard to make it apples to apples if you will.”
(Not giving away anything strategic, what do you, Head Coach Brian Flores and Co-Offensive Coordinator/RBs Coach Eric Studesville and all the offensive assistants want this offense to be known for?) – “Our job as an offense is to move the ball and score points. That’s the bottom line. We’ve got to be efficient, eliminate bad football and make plays when we need to.”
(I know WR Mack Hollins and others have said the offense is very similar to Offensive Coordinator Chan Gailey’s system, how compelled have you and Co-Offensive Coordinator/RBs Coach Eric Studesville felt in terms of adding your own nuances to make it a little different and make it harder for opposing teams to prepare for?) – “There’s some new pieces and we are trying to make them all fit into a game plan. Everybody has a role whether it is normal downs, third down, red area, two-minute, four-minute – everybody has a role. We’re trying to maximize everybody’s abilities as much as possible.”
(How do you balance creativity and ingenuity with this is what we do best and we are going to do this a lot?) – “That’s the job. We’re trying to, like I said earlier, move the ball and get first downs. There’s a little bit of everything that has to play into that by series. We’re going to try to do what we need to do to move the ball and then at times, if we get the opportunity down there in the red area, try to punch it in and limit ourselves from field goals and score touchdowns.”
(Not only is this your first game as the Dolphins offensive coordinator, but you’re going up against an all-time great NFL coach with a defensive mind in Head Coach Bill Belichick. Does that make the experience even more interesting? Is it a challenge that you like going up against a coach of that quality?) – “This is a tough league and there’s good coaches, good players and every week is a challenge. This is the first challenge of many. We’re going to have to be – especially against a quality opponent, divisional opponent, good coaching staff, good players that we are going against so we are going to have to be sharp and execute right off the bat. Even though it is game one, that is our expectation.”
(Head Coach Brian Flores has said the team is preparing to go without T Austin Jackson on the COVID list. How do you feel about the depth at the offensive tackle position and the options including T Greg Little, T Liam Eichenberg and G/T Jesse Davis?) – “I think last year’s experience was helpful for everybody to realize that this could happen at any point. It could be a coach, it could be a quarterback, could be a running back, lineman or receiver. Everything is real and when that happens, it’s the next man up. That’s what the NFL is. We prepare all during training camp for situations whether it is injuries or in this case, a COVID situation, so that the next man is ready. It’s not a roster like college where you have so many different players and the next guy can just run in and you have unlimited depth. Those players, those pros know what their responsibility is. If it comes to that, then the next man up.”
(I know you don’t have WR William Fuller V this week, but how helpful overall do you think the speed you have on your offense at receiver and running back is going to help? Is that something that you absolutely have to maximize and exploit over the next 18 weeks?) – “Like I said earlier, as far as each player’s individual talent, we have some guys with some speed and hopefully we can get those guys the ball in space and make plays. They know that their responsibility isn’t just them getting the ball too. The more we can create plays that can change field position, the better off we will be. If we have to move the ball and we are not able to get explosive plays, then we are going to have to make sure we get first downs and continue to hold on to the ball.”
(There have been some really good quarterback rooms in college and pro, thinking USC, Michigan where Michigan had Brian Griese and Tom Brady and maybe even a baseball player. USC had Mark Sanchez and Matt Leinart. What do you think it would have been like as an offensive coach to have Tua Tagovailoa, Mac Jones and Jalen Hurts all in the same room?) – “It’s interesting to think about. I don’t spend too much time thinking about that just because we have a lot of things that we are working on right now. Obviously, those guys had good college careers and really excellent college careers. We’re moving on to this level and their roles now.”
(Who taught you the most about coaching?) – “When you coach this long, I think everybody has got a part of it, even the lowest level to the highest level. I’ve learned a lot from every coach I’ve worked for and I’m still learning a lot. Assistants, the other side of the ball, listening to special teams coaches. As a coach, you always try to take something from everyone.”
(Going back to Houston, you served as the offensive coordinator but I don’t get the impression that you called plays based on what I’ve read, correct or not correct?) – “Not correct, no.”
(Okay, so you did call plays. What does this opportunity provide for you to be an offensive coordinator?) – “I just really worry about the current day and what the job is. I don’t really look at the big picture like that. We all have responsibilities here and we work together as a unit. That’s how it’s always been wherever I’ve been, whether I have been an assistant or the coordinator level. We’ve got another game coming up here and this is an important one because it’s the start of the season and we want to get off to a good track. Right now, there’s really not much thought into that, to be honest with you.”
(With the Patriots, I’ve always looked at their scheme, before you guys started running them, as very complex because there is so much variation in terms of what they do. How much does it help that you actually face that type of defense and this is something that is familiar to you guys?) – “Yeah, they’re a divisional opponent so we study these division teams quite a bit. We try to familiarize ourselves with them as much as possible and knowing that they are the first game of the season, just like they know us, there is a lot of time to prepare. That part of it is an important part because we are going to face them again; but right now is the most important thing on all of our radars.”
(You talk a lot about execution. You’ve got teams who know what you’re playing or what you’re calling but it’s really about execution. Early season for offenses, they generally need to get a little flow and get a little rhythm. How do you feel like execution has been so far in terms of what you guys want to achieve offensively?) – “I think through training camp, you have some good days and you have some bad days. You’re going against a lot of the same guys for the majority of it. We had some good experiences with other teams but preseason is one thing and this is the regular season. We know that they are going to give us their best and we want to make sure it’s competitive and at our best every snap. We need to be on blocks when they are called and we are asked to do it and we need to find the open guy, deliver an accurate ball and catch the ball and get yards in the passing game. Running backs need to run hard. It’s not a complex formula but going back to your original point; we talk about technique, fundamentals and they’re well coached. There will be guys in position and it’s up to us to block them, get open, catch the football and deliver an accurate ball.’
(This question is for me because I was a big QB Joey Hamilton fan. Was there crossover between you two?) – “Yeah, we were roommates.”
(Could he have played in today’s NFL?) – “If you talk to him, yes. (laughter) I actually talked to him last night. We’re still close. I think he can play in any year. He’s accurate and a good leader, that’s for sure.”
(That was my introduction to football as a quarterback, so it’s like I fell in love with him as a quarterback and then I followed you as well because I was a Georgia Tech fan. I always thought he never really got a good shot. I know he played in the CFL for a long time.) – “Yeah, he played in the Arena League and played for the Bucs some. I love him. He’ll love that you asked about him. You know he’s on the radio in Atlanta?”
(No, where is he?) – “790, or I think it’s 680 now.”
(Okay, that’s good to know. Big fan, that was one of my first fanhood.) – “Yeah, he got some yards each game.”
(We’ve heard a little bit about the RPO. What in your view does that look like…) – “There’s a lot of advantages to it and then there’s some things offensively that we have to make sure that we keep that advantage. I think it’s a part of the game just like any form of offense. Whether it’s a two-back run or a one-back team or an empty team, motion team, it’s just another tool that an offense can use. That’s how we look at it. I don’t know if that really gives you a lot of clarity on that but certainly some things in all of those different phases that can cause defenses problems, that’s why they’re all used. It’s up to us an offense to be able to execute them.”
(I know when QB Tua Tagovailoa was coming out, there was a lot of talk about him because he was really good in that part of the game. I guess when you see that from him and go back to watching that, how much can you pull from that … how much can that realistically be part of your offense?) – “There’s a lot of variables there. He was pretty good at a lot of different phases in college, as far as executing for that team – play action, regular boot game. That was part of the reason we looked at him and liked him. This is obviously a jump in personnel and who’s playing and strategy. A lot of those variables play into that more than it does actually copying and pasting, if you will, a play. That’s a little bit harder to do.”
(Let me ask you about the tempo. You talked a lot about that last year … When you add tempo, what do you view as …) – “It’s another way to play the game. Even in, I’d say every offense I’ve been in at some point, you either use it for a certain amount of plays, you may use it for more in another game, you may not use it at all in another game. There’s a lot of factors in that. I would just put that in the same bucket as an empty play or an RPO or that type of bucket more than anything. It’s just another way to play the game. I don’t think you can live in any one way and be successful at this level. If you watch most of the teams, they have a lot of different modes that they play the game in offensively. You’re trying to create your offense to have as many as possible in case the defense takes away one. At some point, so much film and so many good coaches and players that you are going to have to have a variety with that.”
Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer
(As you prepare to game plan for the Patriots, obviously you’re getting ready to face a rookie quarterback. What differences do you see kind of facing a rookie for the first time in the season, in the opener, compared to a more established veteran?) – “I think the preparation is pretty much the same. You look at as much film on them as you possibly can whether it’s a 10-year veteran or a rookie quarterback. So I think the process of what you’re trying to do is the same. You try to watch a lot of film. You try to study the coordinator. You try to understand some schemes based on their personnel grouping. I don’t think it’s just the quarterback. I think you’ve got to look at what their offensive line grouping is, their skill players, how they’ll use them. I think there’s a lot of components that go into facing whether it’s a quarterback – you kind of look at the group as a whole and you take into account the coaching aspect of it and kind of stuff that they’ve done over the years and ways that they might use them. But being opening day, there’s a lot of unknowns going into it.”
(Obviously I know you said you look at the group as a whole, but late last week the Patriots cut Cam Newton and kind of named Mac Jones as the starter. How far were you guys in your preparations for New England when you kind of found that out?) – “I think you prepare for everybody that’s on the roster. So when you start in the preseason or you start last spring, you prepare for all the quarterbacks that are on their roster. We were preparing for Cam (Newton), we were preparing for Mac Jones, we were preparing for Brian Hoyer, we were preparing for (Jarrett) Stidham. And you just kind of see how it shakes out. I think you have a preparation plan that goes into place for all of them and then once it kind of gets narrowed down and fine-tuned, you have to prepare for everybody that’s on their roster.”
(How much of a chunk was Cam Newton involved in that earlier part of when you were preparing for all those quarterbacks but then guess you moved once he was cut? He’s very different than the others.) – “I think that goes along with the week of preparation. When you start preparing for teams and you prepare for the quarterbacks that are on their roster and the differences that there may be and I think when you get down to the end of the week, it’s ‘okay if it’s this guy, we probably like these things a little bit better than others.’ And if you get down to the end of the week and you go ‘okay, these are calls that we like against whoever,’ we’ll carry those and if something happens in the game and the game changes and the quarterback changes; then you kind of just adapt and adjust to that with the set of calls that you like going into that.”
(Is your approach to the first game different at all from let’s say Week 10 with regards to those adjustments because the likelihood for something new you haven’t seen to come up maybe might be a little more increased? Is that different at all or is it the same approach?) – “I think we’re guaranteed to see something that we’re not preparing for Week 1. I think that was the case last year. I think that was the case the year before. You prepare for a lot of things and you look at a lot of history, a lot things that they’ve done with certain personnel groupings; but there’s always an element of unknown going into it. So I think you just have to be ready to adjust and be ready to adapt, when we’re playing on Sunday, to get things handled that you weren’t quite ready to see.”
(The Patriots did add a lot in terms of the skill positions with wide receivers and tight ends. From some of the film that you’ve seen in the preseason, what do you expect from them? What have you seen from the type of offense that they want to run?) – “Again I think it starts with, you look at their personnel group as a whole even with all their additions. I think you look at the coordinator and the things that he’s done with certain personnel groupings and you try to relate that to guys that he’s had in the past and how he may use them. There will be an element of unknown to it. I think we’ve prepared for a lot of different scenarios. In the preseason, they didn’t have everybody available to them that they’ll have available this Sunday; so again, there’s a little bit of a guess on that. I would say it’s an educated guess. We’ve spent some time on what they’ve done in the past, but there’s also going to be an element of unknown that we’ll have to handle and be ready to prepare for. What we do know is they’re going to be very well-coached, they’re going to play hard, they’re going to play for a full 60 minutes and we’ve got to be ready to match that and we’ve got to be ready to go.”
(Just curious going into Week 1, you’re facing a rookie quarterback – if at all do you even look at some of the stuff that Mac Jones did at Alabama just knowing that they may want to do stuff that makes the quarterback comfortable?) – “I think you work extremely hard especially going into Week 1 to leave no stone unturned. So I think whether it’s watching guys that are on other teams or college teams or watching years past where the coordinators used certain personnel that you think is similar to what he has now; I think all those things go into consideration and I think that’s just part of the preparation process.”
(LB Jaelan Phillips – obviously the way you guys list the depth chart you have three linebackers with Phillips listed as third-team. Is there some motivation aspect that goes into it? Or when you guys do run traditional base with a front seven do you envision him obviously being higher?) – “With all of our players, I think our defense will evolve over time. It’s one of those things that kind of remains to be seen, what we’ll be on defense. It’s exciting but it’s also a process. Hopefully we’ll be good at certain things. Where guys are listed or where guys end up, I think how you start the season and how you end the season will be two different things. We’re excited for all of our guys. Any guy that we march out there on the field on Sunday, we’ll have confidence in, and we’re looking forward to getting ready against a well-coached, a very talented opponent this week and we’re all going to need to be at our best.”
(In that preseason finale, LB Jaelan Phillips was asked to do a lot of different things so the staff really got to see him hand in the ground, standing up, one time dropping back. Your assessment of how handled different responsibilities and how he’ll be used in real games going forward?) – “I would say not unique to Jaelan (Phillips), but we’re all striving to be as consistent as possible. I think there were some good things out there. I think there were some things that we can correct. I think we’re all striving to be consistently good at coaching. We’re all striving to be consistently good at playing. I think that’s a work in progress for all of us and like I said, I don’t think it’s unique to Jaelan. I think we saw some good things out there. I think we saw some things that we could probably get a little bit better and the good thing about all of our guys is they’re diligent workers. They’ll come in, they’ll put in a good day’s work and again, our goal really hasn’t changed from Day 1 as we want to be better tomorrow than what we were today and then just carry that and try to string good days together.”
(I had a bit of a two-part question for you. I was looking at some stats on defense and some different packages and I think last year, your defense – only like nine teams were in base packages more. Could you just kind of talk about do you think that was more maybe because of situation just what was kind of going in games? As a defensive coordinator what kind of goes through your mind as you’re kind of subbing in players and trying to match with different packages to the offense?) – “I think it all starts with you consistently want to put players in the best position to succeed and I think week to week that can differ. I think a lot of it is based on the offensive personnel. Some of it will be based on our personnel and then really kind of their scheme and what they’re trying to do. But I think the underlying factor is really what you’re trying to do is you’re trying to put the players in the best position to succeed.”
(And then along those lines, how valuable is it to know that you can play heavy packages, heavy fronts with the defensive line, but you can also do a lot of dime and nickel with the depth that you have in the secondary?) – “I think regardless of who you are on the football field, if you can only do one thing, you better be able to do that one thing really, really well. Because it won’t take anybody very long to figure out what you’re doing. So I think any time that – we ask our guys to do multiple things and I think collectively from a group, when guys can do multiple things, it gives you the opportunity to run different looks. And again, it goes back to just trying to utilize everybody’s talent and putting them in a good position to succeed.”
(Question about the Pats tight ends. With the amount of money that they spent on that position and the skillset that those guys bring to the field, what are you expecting to see from the Patriots tight ends on Sunday?) – “I think it goes back to they have some talented guys at that position for sure, and I think they’re very good football players. You can go back and look at how the coordinator, Josh McDaniels, who does a very good job – you can go all the way back to Daniel Graham and Ben Watson. I think you try to look at how they’ve utilized their tight ends in the past. They’ve had good tight ends there in the past and how their skillsets are similar to some of the players that they’ve had. But again, like I said, there’s an element of unknown and we definitely expect to see the unexpected. We’ll just have to prepare and adjust for that as it comes up, but again, I think just when it comes to preparation that you don’t want to leave any stone unturned so you kind of study the player themselves and where they’ve been and what they’ve done and what they’ve had success with. And then you look at just from a philosophical offensive standpoint of how they may use them.”
(Traditionally speaking, and I don’t want to put anybody’s cards on the table, but traditionally speaking from your experience, how do offenses that are kind of tight end-heavy use that position to help a quarterback who might be making his first start or is just relatively inexperienced?) – “I think it varies from team to team and how they use them and again what the tight end’s skillsets are. I think obviously when you put a good group of guys and I’ll say this – it doesn’t really matter what the quarterback’s (experience is), whether it’s his first game or his 10th game or his 12th year – whoever Josh (McDaniels) is going to put out there on the field on Sunday, they have a lot of confidence in him and confidence that he can run the offense and he’ll run the offense well and he’ll make good decisions; and it’s going to be a big challenge for us to make sure that we know and understand what personnel they have on the field and what they’re trying to do to us and how we can best try to get them off the field.”
(Between S Eric Rowe and S Jevon Holland and DB Jason McCourty and the list kind of goes on at safety – what does having that kind of depth do for you throughout the game? Like was this just, okay, we’ve got guys to fill in when need be or is there a plan to just continuously rotate everybody in throughout the game?) – “Again I think a lot of it is – it’s the same thing. When you see guys out there for us on Sunday, we’ll have a lot of confidence in them and we’ll have confidence that they know what they’re doing and they can execute our game plan well. Not really getting into hey, we’re going to use this guy on this or use this guy on that. I think that would just put you at a competitive disadvantage, but we’re excited about all of our guys that we have on our roster and we’ve got to get everybody ready to go and we’ve got to get ready to defend everybody on their roster. So that’s kind of how we look at it.”
(Biggest challenge – knowing Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick as well as you do – biggest challenge going against one of his coached teams, what makes him unique in terms of game planning against where you obviously have to be on your toes every week in this league but perhaps even more so with a Bill Belichick?) – “I think you start with the premise of it’s hard to win in this league. And every week, if you just try to slap it out there or roll the ball out there, the results are not going to be very good. You have to prepare very well each week. Everybody has to understand the plan and then you have to execute the plan at a very high level to even get into an opportunity to be in the game to win. And I would say this week, we know that this team is going to be very well-coached. They’re not going to make mistakes, they’re not going to beat themselves; and we have to match that. I would say our staff and our players, we’re all excited for the opportunity to go up there and play and we kind of understand that this is going to be a 60-minute game and we’ve got to play well the entire time we’re out there.”
(I wouldn’t ask you what for strategic reasons, but would you say there are a handful of meaningful strategic things that you learned from being around Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick that you’ve been able to apply as defensive coordinator? How much of his imprint has impacted how you do your job?) – “I do believe that you learn from everybody you’re around so whether it’s good, bad or indifferent you kind of take all those things. Obviously I spent some time there. I spent some time with Dean Pees who’s been a coordinator for multiple teams in this league. I think you try to learn from everything and I think there’s a lot of good things, a lot of good concepts, but I think the big thing is not so much who you’re learning from or what you’re learning; it’s really the process that you go about preparing and getting the end result which is execution on Sundays.”
(Did anybody give you a piece of advice that sticks out to you in your coaching career?) – “That’s a good one. Because I mean, my father is a high school coach…”
(Is he still coaching?) – “He is still coaching so yeah, he’s over 40 years and I’ve been around coaching since I could walk. Since I could talk, since I could hear. (laughter) So I’ve heard so many things over the years that have been so valuable. I think collectively what you do is you just kind of put all that stuff together and you kind of mold your own thing about it. And I would say the thing that for me personally that I enjoy about football is I think that it’s so much like life because there’s a lot of bad things – every day you have trials, tribulations – and football, it can knock you down from time to time and the only way to get through that adversity is to fight through it. The only way to get through a block is to defeat it. I think I’ve always enjoyed that. So I think one thing that somebody said over the years – it’s probably been an accumulation of a lot of things.”
(In the offseason, do you look at your dad’s tapes?) – “We have conversations just about on a nightly basis usually on my ride home which is a little bit longer now which is kind of a blessing in disguise. I really value that time that we have because a lot of things that come up at his practice, sometimes they may be similar to come up at this practice so it’s an enjoyable time and it’s definitely something that’s probably connected us throughout my life for sure, going all the way back to when he would take me to their practices. So that’s about, call it 40 years of us talking football.”
(Was he the coach for your school?) – “No, he actually coached our rival school.”
(You were helping the rival?) – “(laughter) Well actually I think the leagues have changed so much over the years. When I was playing it was a rival school. I’m not even sure that they’re in the same league anymore. So yeah, that’s kind of how that went.”
(When you drive, is the talk mostly just about football? Most of the conversation about football?) – “It’s mostly about football or it’s about being a father, which to me is the most important thing in the world. We talk a lot about my daughter. So those two things are the things that we really talk about in those conversations. But the good thing is, is usually on a daily basis, I’ll get about a 40-minute conversation with him. Like I said, the longer drive has kind of been a blessing in disguise for me for sure.”
Assistant Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Danny Crossman
(On WR Mack Hollins) – “Mack (Hollins) has carved out a niche. He’s been a guy who has carved out a niche in this league being a high-caliber special teams player and a quality leader. Those are the things that we expect from him and then obviously as you alluded to a year ago, he had to get a lot more involved offensively and his preparation – just like in the kicking game, his preparation offensively and just as a team player, he’s ready any time those opportunities present themselves.”
(Is there someone that really stood out to you this camp that made strides?) – “No. I think as a group, we have some quality players throughout the roster and we have some of those guys who we expect to perform at a high level and do. There’s always guys that step their game up some. But no one in particular.”
(Your thoughts on the camp that P Michael Palardy had?) – “I thought he was solid. I think you always want more. No matter who it is, no matter what player it is, we’re always trying to get more consistency and a higher level of production. But we’re happy with all of the guys right now and where they’re at.”
(On K Jason Sanders) – “Yeah, it’s a great weapon to have. We have a lot of confidence (in him). That’s one of those positions on the team that the pulse of the club sometimes gets tied directly to that guy. We feel very confident and more importantly, the team feels very confident when we jog Jason out on the field.”
