| Saturday, July 27, 2019 (Opening Statement) “So, today’s our third day, and I’ve been very happy with the first two days. We have the ability today to go out in full pads, but one of the things that we’ve been trying to say is we’ve been trying to build this—build up and keep ourselves working to get ourselves ready for the season. So, today what you’ll see is we’ll be in helmets and shoulder pads, we won’t be in full pads, and then tomorrow will be our first day in full pads. I think that yesterday you probably were able to observe our team getting into some situational football, and I think it’s important, because I think when I look back in the last two years I haven’t been—I don’t think we as a team, our players, our coaches, have been happy with where we’ve been situation-ally. Meaning that we want to be a smart football team, we want to do better, and I think that’s an emphasis that when you look in the past, we have made mistakes that we shouldn’t make. Whether it’s what we’re calling situations or whether we’re executing those situations, so those are the things that when we do bring those up in practice, we really feel that we can make tremendous improvement in that area. Outside of that, I think you’ll see we are doing a lot of rotations of players, whether it’s the second quarterback position, the offensive line, the DB’s, there’s a lot of things that are kind of going on right now that you might point and say, ‘What’s going on,’ and it’s nothing strategic, or schematically, or depth chart-wise that’s really going on right now. We’re just trying to give ourselves a pretty good look to give everyone an opportunity. I think as we get into probably right after that second preseason game is when you kind of just start getting them ready to go in those positions, but I’ll be more than happy to answer any questions in regards to that. We’re just trying to put the work in. I’ll open it up for any questions.” (On if LB/DE Josh Allen being limited in individual drills is part of the progression of bringing him back) “Yeah, we haven’t worked with him. Yesterday he got a couple of reps, today he’ll get more, so you’ll see that building up for him.” (On if Allen’s knee is healthy) “Yeah, he’s full. I should say this, we’ve limited him because we’re building up his rest because we haven’t seen him on the football field as coaches, so it’s more us than it is his physical ability. And like I said before, he’ll run with us after practice, he’ll do full individual. He took a couple of reps yesterday and then now we’ll engage it and then get a feel for—now it’s helmets and shoulder pads, get a feel for tomorrow and then obviously we feel he’ll be full.” (On how he thinks the players have embraced this year’s training camp structure) “Well I don’t know, I didn’t really ask them. It’s more of an education that I received I think. I didn’t have a lot of the information of the injuries within 10 days. I didn’t have a lot of information on what we talk about as far as exposure, like helmet exposure. And then, being part of some NFL discussions, really wanted to take a good look at we we’re doing and then obviously after the season was over, and we sit down with ownership, and you’re asked a question as a coach, well going into last year we had a crazy amount of injuries, what are we going to do differently. And I think it’s—I don’t think, I know, it’s my responsibility to make sure that we do the right things for the players, so with the information that I have, that’s why we’re doing what we’re doing. Now, in the same sentence, how do we get everything in that we need to get in to be a good football team, and at the same point, make sure of everything player safety-wise. We’re still getting the same amount of work in. I just like to say that we’re working smarter.” (On if he’s considered changing his approach to preseason games given injuries in past seasons) “It’s a good question. We’ve had long discussions on that. I think there’s so many things that go into that as far as—first question you’re going to ask yourself is, ‘What does this player need? What does he have? What is he going to need to be ready for the season?’ That’s the number one priority. I think a great example, Curtis Martin, who obviously I have a ton of respect for, well early in his career Curtis would play. Later in his career when I was with him I was in staff meetings where we’d say, ’Well he just needs about six carries and he’ll be ready for the season.’ Of all the preseason. Every one of us has the same anxiety of the preseason. When I say that I’m talking about us as coaches, right here in this building, when we put a player out there. Such a fine line to have to get someone ready for the season, but all of us are sitting there and in the back of our mind we’re thinking the same thing. You do not want to lose anyone to injury, but in the same sense, I feel like that in practice, too. Where you’re always—it’s part of the game, it’s out there, and you’re trying to do everything you can for safety and it’s something that will be discussed. But I would never sacrifice a player maybe not being ready for the season because we’re saving him in the preseason, does that make sense? So I think that’s the first way I look at it. Then after that, you could become more cautious depending upon maybe it’s a little banged up, a little bit of depth here, maybe there’s depth in the position that you don’t feel like—God forbid if something does happen. So I think there’s a lot of factors that go into it and that’s what we’ll look at when we start, and I think that’s why I’ve always liked the practicing against another opponent for a couple [days]. Normally I would like to get two the first two weeks, because you can get a lot of work done and it’s a controlled environment. Then maybe you don’t have to put them out there as much in those preseason games which has been my philosophy. So the first one, our guys will get a lot of work, and if we want to play the cautious side we could. We have that ability because they’ve gotten a lot of work in during the week, and then we just have to make decisions as we go. I think it’s case by case, though.” (On how much caution he applies with Cam Robinson when trying to get him ready for the season) “I think each player it’s a little bit tougher. My background, my experience—I think when you have a veteran player, from a technique standpoint, when he first comes back from being off for a long period of time, you’re going to see it’s going to take him a while to really hone in on the technique. It’ll be, for lack of a better term, he’ll be very loose in his technique, and you kind of have to tighten it up and that takes some time. And obviously, the more experience you have in that technique, the easier it is to come back. But there is going to be a period no matter who you are. I always go back to what my college coach Dick MacPherson, god bless him, would always say. He said, ‘You miss once, I know. You miss twice, your teacher knows. You miss three times, the world knows.’ He was talking about a famous composer, pianist, and that’s kind of like the same thing. I think the player knows that he has a lot of work to do, and the coach, when you miss a lot of time it’s going to take more time. And the younger you are, I believe, it’s going to take you a longer period of time. So, I don’t think you know until that player goes out there, of where you are with them, but that’s—I guess that’s the anxiety. You don’t really know where they’re at until they come back there from a standpoint of technique and playing condition. If you feel good with where they are obviously they wouldn’t be on the field if they weren’t healthy. But there’s more to it in this game then obviously just being health. You’ve got to be ready to play and you’ve got to be able to perform, and sometimes if you’re not technique-sound it’s going to put you in a position where you can re-injure yourself. That’s the other thing that people I don’t think talk about enough, when you come back. If you’re not real tight and all of a sudden your body’s not in a position it’s normally for in your mind you think you should be in, I think that creates injury also.” (On if the cautious approach is why the team isn’t having a scrimmage) “We are [having a scrimmage]. Everything is the same. When I talk about cautious approach – I don’t like using words like cautious. I really just think it’s smart with exposure and drills and things of that nature.” (On if he has a plan with Leonard Fournette for the preseason) “We wait [until the preseason]. My experience is all that stuff has always changed meaning that you are watching and evaluating practice and they can change as they go.” (On if Leonard Fournette is one of the guys he may worry about more than others because of his injury history) “No. The only people in my past that I have had are the 12 or 13-year veteran guys that you know are done. I’m very confident in that ability and it’s proven. I just want to make sure that we can get him through a full season, which is difficult. Everyone else though, I pretty much … I don’t try and look at that way because of the same thing … [I think], what is best for us to get them ready to play during the season? It always goes back to that – what is best for the team?” (On if he feels like his message got through to Leonard Fournette) “I think we are going to see. I think we are going to look at as a whole. As far as what is going on right now, I’m pleased with everyone. I’m pleased with everyone at that position. I think they have been working hard. I think they are good on their plays. Again, as I said before, I don’t want to jump ahead of myself, but I don’t want to disregard the work. Everyone has come back in shape. Everyone has come back at the right weights. As of right now, we are on the right path, but in order to have great high-level performance and be an outstanding football team, you need that consistency to work like that every day.” (On if he’s hesitant to say there has been a maturity jump in Leonard Fournette) “No. I just think it’s always … It’s tough when you are standing up here and you are the coach and you get a lot of questions. Someone wants your answer to their question based on a small point of evidence. You jump in and you get that answer and then something comes up in a couple weeks and then you stand up here and … I’m not saying any one of you guys, but sometimes people can go ahead and make you look like a fool. I’m just very cautious with any question like that about anyone. I think it’s very difficult. That’s why I want to say – where we are at right now, I’m extremely excited. As far as answering that question in full – with everyone, let’s get through this season, let’s see how we are and let’s see how it goes. Then we will feel more confident to answer the question in a sense of whole instead of just a part. I’m going to answer it just in this part, but then when something happens, I’m going to have to answer it as a whole.” (On how different Nick Foles is in how he conducts practice than other players he’s seen in his time in the league) “I’ve been fortunate … When you talk about my time in the league, you can talk about the time as a player, but let’s talk about coaching. From Vinny Testaverde to Chad Pennington to Drew Brees and those guys and obviously here with Blake [Bortles], I think Nick is a guy that is more on the highly communicative side. I’m not saying that makes it any better, Vinny was great with the players. They loved him, they played for him. He communicated with them, but Chad was maybe a little bit more [communicative]. That didn’t make it better or worse. We had production with both quarterbacks. I look at as more how it is probably more natural with what you see around the league at that position. The quarterbacks I have been involved with, they are conscious with tempo of the practice. They are conscious with what the players are doing around them. They are not only worrying about themselves. They are coaching everyone else. You see constant communication with the people in the huddle. You see constant communication with the coordinator. I think that is more natural and more what goes on when you look around the league. To answer that question, yeah, I think you would be the other way. If you weren’t seeing those things, I think you would be concerned because what it shows is that he’s not really sure of himself. That’s in any position. All of a sudden when you are coming in there, you are working with people around you and what to do and what you are looking for, you pretty much know what the hell you are doing and you’re trying to make sure and trying to get everything worked the right way.” |
