| December 21, 2020 Opening Statement: “This week, we’re off to a short week. Today really is a Tuesday for us, so our coaches and myself were all in there grinding on (the) Tampa Bay Buccaneers, just trying to move ahead. These next few days – so tomorrow will be a Wednesday, then Thursday, Friday, for our schedule. So Friday will actually be a Saturday for us, and we’ll be able to spend a little bit of time – kind of pushed the schedule back and let the guys spend some time with their families and on Christmas morning. So it works out to be a good schedule for us this week. “I’m sure as you all know, earlier today we relieved Brayden (Coombs) of his duties here as the special teams coordinator. It was a decision that was made as an organization and something that we thought was best for the team. So we’re moving in that direction. So with that, open it up for questions.” On why Brayden Coombs was relieved of his duties: “As I started this job here three weeks ago, I talked in terms of – for me, it was a five-game audition, and for each and every one of us, it was an opportunity to show our best selves, show who we are, play together as a team. Everybody had the opportunity to be evaluated – like I said whether you’re being evaluated here, whether you’re being evaluated for somewhere else, so it’s part of the evaluation. Obviously the decision yesterday that was made in the game was not a correct decision. I thought long and hard about it last night. I ended up talking to Rod (Wood, President & CEO), and told Rod what my thoughts were and then Rod and the rest of the leadership group made a decision and held me in that decision.” On if the decision to fake the punt was not communicated to him and if a lack of communication was occurring when Matt Patricia was the head coach: “For the last part of the question: I can’t answer what was going on with the communication when coach Patricia was here. I can answer (on) the communication that we have – there’s clear lines of communication. There’s basic protocols that we use each and every game. So going into a game, we’ll have had meetings to determine our parameters on things that we would like to do in a game, whether it be offense, whether it be defense, whether it be special teams. We communicate in terms of the parameters, and then those parameters may change during the game because of situations. So for example, as we’re going through a drive, as we were in that drive there in the fourth quarter – there’s 12:34 to go in the game, we’re down two scores, Matthew (Stafford) had just been hit on second down on the little fumbled snap, he had just been hit on third down on the next play. So just assessing the whole situation, the communication that we have, it can change each and every drive. We’re communicating whether we’re in minus territory, whether we’re in positive territory, and always trying to stay on top of situational ball. So yes, there’s a decision to be made there. The decision for me was – I have to assess everything. I’m assessing that the quarterback is not in a good way, so also with the score and where we were, we had three timeouts left plus the two-minute warning, and Jack (Fox) is punting really well. I thought it’d be best to flip the field and keep us in the game there, down two scores. We get the ball back, you saw how the offense was going, with a really good chance. If I’m going to go for it there, I’m going to leave the offense out, and I’m going to trust Matthew with the ball. That didn’t happen in the situation, and there’s some things that could be different – like I would be standing in a different spot, could have made really good decisions in that, and not knowing what was going on, lead to bad things happening.” On if he told former Special Teams Coordinator Brayden Coombs to punt, but Coombs decided to go with the fake instead: “Yes.” On if there was consideration for a less severe punishment: “To be honest with you, it was an agonizing decision. It’s something that was really hard for me. I thought it’d be really important to think on it a lot. I really thought about it, basically all night long. I ended up getting a hold of Rod (Wood) and talking it through with Rod. There are some things that you can do, and I feel like you can come back from, and then I think there’s some decisions that – you don’t make those decisions. There has to be repercussions because there’s a lot of people that are making similar decisions or – in different ways. Again, I’m just trying to do what’s best for this team and put this team in the best situation to be able to win.” On former Special Teams Coordinator Brayden Coombs’ explanation to calling the fake when he was instructed to punt: “To be honest with you, I would like to just keep the communication that we had private. I hope the best for Brayden. It’s just a decision I felt I need to make.” On if other things occurred with former Special Teams Coordinator Brayden Coombs that lead him towards dismissal or if it was focused on that one moment: “I think I’m just going to leave it at that moment and not really get into all the behind the things stuff. I don’t want it to turn into this big thing. It was a decision that I thought was best for the team. We’re going to continue to move forward.” On who made the final decision to relieve former Special Teams Coordinator Brayden Coombs of his duties and who was responsible of telling Coombs: “For me, just like I said, with the interim tag, I totally understand my situation. I understand that I have five weeks to be able to do this for now. I’ve been given the authority to manage the coaching staff, to work with those guys. So first, it was my decision to start, but obviously, it was one that I cannot make by myself. I do have a boss as well. So I took it to Rod (Wood), and then I waited to hear from him what they thought was best. So I would say, clearly, it was an organizational decision, not one that I made on my own, but I did have input in the decision.” On if the fake punt was within some of the parameters before and if miscommunication was accounted for: “It’s a good question. I do think it’s really important to talk about that without giving the specific parameters away. So yes, there’s a lot of communication on each and every drive. I mean, it takes a lot to manage the game situationally. Every single drive, we might start the drive and say, ‘Hey, as soon as we have the ball,’ as I’m a play-caller for the offense, but then as well, trying to manage those situations, we might say at the beginning, ‘Hey, we score here, this is a two-point drive,’ or we might say, ‘Hey, we’re starting here, we get to here, it’s four-down territory. If it’s this distance or shorter, or this distance or shorter when we move to here.’ So there’s communication that is given to me through our talks during the week and the parameters, as we’re moving along in the game. But there is also very clear communication to when we’re doing things, so that there is not a miscommunication there, you know, specific words, so where it’s not caught up in the conversation, if you know what I mean. ‘Hey, are we doing this, or are we not doing that?’ “Obviously we have – I know you guys have been at practice – we’ve had fakes up for at least the time that I’ve been doing this, that we thought would have a chance to be successful. Sometimes the parameters come up during the game, sometimes they don’t. There’s opportunities – obviously I want to be aggressive. I’ve gone for it on fourth down. We’ve done those things. So want to make those decisions and make them soundly. But also, hopefully I’m answering this clearly, but the communication has to be clear as well – so that there’s not – on the headphones when things are getting chaotic in those moments, that there can be a miscommunication. So there’s clear protocols, there’s clear communication of words to make sure that that happens.” On if he’s telling former Special Teams Coordinator Brayden Coombs that it’s a punt situation as the punt team is taking the field: “Yes. It’s either kind of leading up to it. It’s kind of hard to explain it a little bit, but during the drive, obviously, I like it quiet on the headset when I’m calling the play. But as soon as the play’s called, there might be a, ‘Hey, fourth down this drive. If we get it to fourth-and-this, we’re going to do this,’ that kind of communication. So that may be on second down. It did happen, probably like, at least three times during the game, where we were in a third-down situation, where we were within the parameters that I would need to make a decision. Obviously I’m watching the play and I’m like, ‘OK, I have a great play here,’ and we ended up getting the first down. So the parameters at that point became moot, so we didn’t have to do it. But in that situation, clearly as I explained, what the situation was at that moment with timeouts, time of the game, score, Matthew (Stafford’s) situation – it was a situation for me to punt and that didn’t happen.” On why it was important as the leader of the team to make the decision now: “I do think it’s important as a leader. As hard as the decisions can be, I think it’s important that I have a philosophy and I have a belief in things that I am trying to instill in the team, instill in the coaching staff and instill in the program. When things happen that are outside of it, then there needs to be something that happens. If something doesn’t happen, then really, you lose some credibility. I always feel it’s important, I tell our coaches all the time, we need to do what we say we’re going to do. If we tell these guys something, we need to be able to come through. Now sometimes, gameplan situation can change. Obviously we’re saying, ‘Here’s the gameplan,’ and they understand that some of the parameters that can change within a game. But if we’re going to say, ‘Hey, we’re doing this,’ then I feel like it’s important that I come through with that. Sometimes when it goes the other way, there’s moments that you can really help yourself or hurt yourself, and I thought this was really an important moment.” On if he was able to communicate this decision with players: “I haven’t been able to speak to every member of the team. I have spoken with some of the members and talk to them. But the players’ day is off today. I’ll get a chance to speak to them tomorrow in the team meeting.” On the player reaction of who he has spoken to: “I’ll leave those between me and them. I let them speak, but then also told them basically what I will tell the team tomorrow, and we went from there.” On if Special Assistant to Chairman and President & CEO Chris Spielman was involved in the decision: “I cannot comment on that. I don’t know that.” On if former Special Teams Coordinator Brayden Coombs wasn’t a culture fit: “I just really want to stick to what we’re talking about here. I don’t want to get into that. I don’t want to use those words, from me. We’ll just move on from here.” On if this was an isolated incident: “Again, I don’t really want to continue to dwell on it any more than I have to. It was a decision that I made that I think was important for the team.” |
