Monday, October 14, 2019
(Opening statement) “I spoke to the team yesterday after the game. I told them, I said there’s some frustration obviously at all levels. We played four games into the fourth quarter this season, and it’s early, with Houston, Denver, Carolina and New Orleans and playing two good teams. We’ve got to work; we’ve got to get all three phases working in sync. There are things we improve upon and then maybe we take a little step back somewhere. So those are the things that I’m talking to the team about, of hanging in there and continue to work like you’ve been working. And let’s play a clean game where we are focused on ourselves in all three phases and make plays in any one of the three phases. And that’s something that we didn’t do yesterday on offense, and frustration’s not going to and we can control our attitude. It’s early in the season and we’re going to have to fight our way out of this.”
(On the injury updates for TE Geoff Swain, TE Josh Oliver and WR Marqise Lee) “[Geoff] Swaim is obviously in the concussion protocol; he also has an ankle sprain, so we’ll see where he is. I think last week Josh [Oliver] had a good week of practice, no setbacks. We’re going to try to make sure we can progress him through this week and I really do believe that if nothing happens during the week then he’ll have a great shot to play on Sunday, which obviously we would probably need with Swaim in concussion protocol. Marqise [Lee], they had him in a boot afterwards, he was walking around. They told me it’s going to be week-to-week and I’ll probably have a much better feel when we talk on Wednesday.”
(On at what point he would consider placing CB Jalen Ramsey on IR) “Like I said before, my hope is to get him back on the field and [to] continue to progress him. I’m going to continue just like I would with anyone and take it one day at a time. I think those IR decisions are more doctor oriented, where you have to have at least a six-week or eight-week injury, I’m not sure the exact terms of it. So, for me I’m just going to continue to keep working, trying to get him out there, the trainers and Jalen. He had treatment today, he’ll have treatment tomorrow and we’ll just see where he is on Wednesday.”
(On if only having two penalties called against them yesterday is proof for progress in that area) “That’s kind of what I was trying to talk about in the opening statement, where we go ahead and we focus on things, and we focus on a lot of things, but really put a big point of emphasis on it. And then all of a sudden, we’ll start moving in the right direction, and then you take a look back and it’s something that you felt good about that you maybe fell off on. So that was something that we’ll look at as something that we’ve improved upon and it’s something that we want to continue down the road. The consistency, that’ll be a test of whether we’ve gotten through or not and being able to do it game to game and that’s going to help us. Even the two yesterday, they hurt, they always hurt. They’re never anything that – nothing good really ever comes out of it.”
(On how much losing the field position battle in games is contributing to winning or losing those games) “That’s something that I probably put more into than maybe other coaches because I look at it from a standpoint of scoring position, percentage of scoring based on where you’re starting drives. Yesterday, again I’m going to use that word frustration comes in again, because the field position, New Orleans, their starting field position was the 32 [yard line] and ours was the 18 [yard line]. Early on you felt the flow of the game when we give 10 back, 10 back, and I’m thinking to myself, ‘OK, hey, the first first down, first first down,’ that’s my mentality when you get the ball back there, to get it out and convert some of those third downs so you can flip the field. Obviously, you want to score every time you touch the football, but there’s a point where you want to be able to move the ball enough where you can flip that field and get that field position. I think we’ve done a good job on our net punting. I think yesterday we had the tough one coming out of our end zone, was a short punt, and would up giving up three points there. But that starting field position’s a big thing. A lot of that sometimes has to do with the turnover situation. The ball’s been out, we just haven’t been able to get it. And you’re correct, the starting field position to me – I always look at turnovers first where you look at our games and the two games that we were plus in the turnovers we won, the other ones we were minus, and we’ve lost. And then the next thing that I look at is I always go ahead and I start looking at starting field position.”
(On how concerned he is with the lack of defensive interceptions) “It’s something that we want to get our hands on balls and I think it’s a combination of a couple of things. One, getting that quarterback off the spot, affecting the way he throws the football, that’s one. That’s always a really good indication of interceptions, that usually happens. In today’s quarterbacks there’s obviously a high level of accuracy. Two, being able to maybe get the underneath coverage to a point where that quarterback has to kind of get that ball in the air a little bit, and loft it in the air, keep it in there to some point in time where now all of a sudden you have the ability to either gain leverage or be able to get to the ball. And the other thing, is that when that ball’s coming in, to be able to – obviously we all know that you can just go ahead and grab it and make the play, but to get that ball up in the air, whether it’s a tip at the line of scrimmage, tip at the second level or even a tip in the third level with someone coming back. So when you start seeing that, that’s when I think you start seeing a lot of interceptions and obviously that’s something that we’re going to continue to work on and keep trying to do a better job of.”
(On trying to get WR Chris Conley more involved in the offense) “Looking back after watching the film, we wanted to go to Chris [Conley] on a go [route] and we didn’t go to him, we went to the other side; I think things of that nature with matchups we’ve got to do a good job of. Chris is doing everything he possibly can. We had him [at] three targets yesterday, which is not that many, and he’s had 14 receptions overall, so we want to get everybody working. It’s not just one, especially when they start doubling guys. They doubled Dede [Westbrook] early, they doubled DJ [Chark Jr.]. I’m talking about Dede early in the season, DJ yesterday at times. And then we need to make sure that we’re able to go with Chris. And then having those guys step up. Chris does a lot of things for us outside of just the receptions, a lot of things that go unnoticed. He’s been great. I mean, he’s a true pro. He was hurting after the game, he wants to be involved, and wants to help us and that’s where we come in. And I think from a coaching standpoint we have to be able to do a good job making sure that we have enough things to him, and then when those things present itself, we have to make sure that we’re going to him with the football. So, we’ll continue to look at ways of getting him the football as we progress during the season.”
(On if DJ Chark Jr. being double teamed in the Week 6 game vs. New Orleans was a surprise and if he expects to continue seeing it going forward) “Yesterday they played us in more two-man [coverage] which they really haven’t shown a lot on film. And getting to read the way they disguised some of their coverages, we have to do a better job of that, there’s no doubt about it. I think that when someone does have success against you playing in coverage that you have to make sure that you do a good job, because this is a league that if they see something being successful against you, they’ll do it again. And I think it’s something that we’ll do a better job of. I think that Gardner [Minshew II] will be able to recognize it. It’s something that has happened before to me, even with veteran quarterbacks, where they’ve switched it. And the faster we can make those adjustments from coaches, myself included, the better opportunity we’ll have to make plays. So they did do something other than what they’ve shown on tape, but that happens quite a bit in other areas, run game, and protection and we try to do the same thing defensively. We played a little bit more coverage yesterday than we have been in the past and we were able to catch them on a couple things. But that’s where it gets into that chess match and we have to always try to stay one step ahead.”
(On how he thought the run blocking was in the Week 6 game vs. New Orleans) “For our guys I think that up front we’re playing physical. I think that one of the issues is that when we have someone that’s on the edge it’s not – when we break down, we don’t break down all together. If there’s a breakdown it’s a single breakdown where the guys up front are doing a good job, but when they have a breakdown, it’s a crucial breakdown. And I think it’s one of those things where I looked at the tape, and I saw the overall performance, there’s some really good things that we can build on and go on, but hey listen, when we miss something, that really hurts. I thought Leonard [Fournette] ran the ball hard. He had 72 yards on 20 carries. He had the one big run taken away or else he would have been over four (4.0). It’s something that I think we can continue to get better at, and I just think that it’s something that we’re going to strive for more consistency on each play. And I think when we get that we run the ball extremely well and we’ve got to just stop with the breakdowns.
(On if he has experience correcting breakdowns in the offensive line because of his experience as an offensive line coach) “What happens, it’s interesting. You need everyone to do their job. And then sometimes if someone misses something maybe the back can make you right and you could overcome it or there’s a missed tackle. And we haven’t been able to overcome that. And all of a sudden, if one guy doesn’t win, or dominate, you’re not getting the gain that you would want. And that’s always the goal. Sometimes you can go in there and you can say, ‘We’re really playing awful, we’re not playing well and we can’t run the ball,’ and I think early on in the season we weren’t playing as well, but I think now we’re doing some good things and we have to build on it. And it’s always that goal of that consistency every single play wherever you are, front side, back side. Every single block is critical for it to be a positive play. And usually when you’re not running the ball, usually it’s multiple breakdowns. But it’s a little bit more frustrating when it’s just one [breakdown] from a standpoint of you’re so close. But in the other way, you’re thinking you’re so close for it being consistent and we can do a much better job.”
(On what he’s seen from LB Najee Goode and if he sees him remaining the starter at WLB going forward) “I said it after the game, I thought he played well. I think you’re always going to want some plays back, especially early on in the game. You look at the first half and we really struggled early on [on offense] and I think the first half we gave up 11 yards rushing. So, that second level, and being at the right place and making sure that we handle our gaps is important. I thought he made some good plays in space; he made some nice open-field tackles. I thought he did a very good job. So again, we’re still working with Quincy [Williams]. We’re still going to keep bringing him along and we’ll just take it week-by-week and a lot of it depends on what’s in the game plan and what we’re trying to get accomplished of who plays.”
(On what stood out to him about the play of QB Gardner Minshew II in the Week 6 game vs. New Orleans)
“I think it was just things got tough, I think the coverage a little bit, and I think we’ll learn from that and we’ll get better. There are a couple things that we can do coaching-wise to help him out and implement that in the plan. I think overall, starting with me, we all have to do a better job. He’s a young player, he’s had a lot of success early on. I think you get to a point, just like the receiver, where you have some success [and] people are going to start taking that away. And then when you start playing people are going to start changing things up and testing you coverage-wise to see where you can go. He’s a smart kid, and he’ll learn from it, and we expect him to be able to bounce back and have a good game and play well this week. And we’re going to prepare him for everything that he might see.”
