Thursday, August 20, 2020
Tight Ends Coach George Godsey
(In terms of over the past few days, it really seems like TE Adam Shaheen has at least stood out or made a few plays, or maybe even just to us he looks like a big guy out there whenever he’s on the field. What have you thought of just what he’s done over the past several days?) – “He’s gradually grasping the offense. Unfortunately for Adam, he wasn’t here in the spring, so to be able to digest that amount of time that we spent in these virtual meetings, he’s put a lot of effort and it’s really commendable on catching up honestly from a mental standpoint. And then physically, there’s obviously history of him not being out there on the field. He’s been working hard in the training room and to get out there, continue to improve his reps and then continue to show some production from especially a blocking standpoint. It’s hard in the preseason to get everybody the ball. He has definitely some touchdown background, let’s call it, in the NFL; so we know he can catch the ball. But when you’re trying to evaluate an extra group of running backs, some extra receivers, all the different quarterbacks, trying to rotate that; it’s complex in getting the ball distributed to everybody, so we’re going to take it one day at a time, but you bring up some good points as far as him improving day-to-day and we’ve got about two more weeks for that to keep going before it’s season time.”
(I wanted to ask you, it seems like you have guys that may not necessarily be in your room full-time but maybe play some H-back or some move tight end – maybe like a WR Mack Hollins or like a FB Chandler Cox. How do you work with those guys who like I said may not be in your room full-time but maybe play some tight end roles?) – “This is a very complicated thing with really every club. It’s the hybrid players and being able to, let’s say ‘adapt’ to another role. So potentially could Chandler Cox carry the football? So he’s got to learn some running back stuff from a protection standpoint, from a running back landmark standpoint and then the tight end role, obviously there’s on-the-line. There’s extended as a – technically they’re tight ends in the media guide, but they could be extended and played as essentially a receiver or detached eligible position. And then as a tight end, does he get off the ball and get into a position to block as a fullback. so it takes obviously a lot of extra time and when we’re talking about being physical, obviously the fullback and the tight end – those two positions – have a lot of merging roles, so those two guys essentially – or those two positions – are in this room and it’s something that I say: I might be talking to Chandler, but I’m really speaking to the whole room, so that they hear the point because something I always bring up is you may get up to bat and face three straight fastballs; but at some point you’re going to face the curveball, and if you’re not listening to a correction that was made to another player, then we’re not going to be ready for that pitch or that defense, so to say. It’s definitely a burden for those guys when they’re sitting there in the meeting room and you’re really addressing a certain player, but for them to process that information, put them in that spot, that’s how that whole room improves from a toughness or a physical standpoint, especially in the run game.”
(We’ve spent a lot of time talking about the things that TE Mike Gesicki needs to do to be a better pro and then we’ve talked about things he’s now doing to be a better pro. What about TE Durham Smythe? What’s next for him?) – “The whole room is essentially a young room; so I see those guys improving in all phases every day, and there’s a certain degree in the run game that if we’re speaking to Durham specifically, that he’s able to provide for us. Maybe a little bit differently than Mike, so to say, and then there’s also some things that he can do that maybe Mike can’t do. He’s concentrating on some of the weaknesses from last year and improving those; but from a professional and mental standpoint, this guy is as sharp as anybody in our offensive room. He understands defenses. He understands technique and again to (the previous) question, when you’re blocking all those different angles, inserting as a fullback, on the point of attack as a tight end – that’s not like a one-stop shop. To process that and understand what exactly what those players are doing, I tip my hat to Durham because sometimes it’s a thankless job because it doesn’t show up in the stat book, ‘eight catches for whatever yards;’ but he’s a big part of us being successful in the run, play-action and when the ball is thrown to him and he gets his opportunity, he’s got to take advantage of it, which he’s shown a little bit of that here in these first few days with pads on.”
(I want to kind of continue that theme of the way TE Mike Gesicki and TE Durham Smythe kind of balance each other because we saw the versatility last year with Mike playing a lot out wide in the slot, in line and I’m curious when you’re in 12-personnel there with two tight ends, how important is it to have some type of balance in both play style and body type in those two tight ends on the field?) – “It’s extremely important. You don’t want a loaded box is what we say when everybody just comes down there and plays the run, and if you’re facing a defense that wants to respect your ability to threaten them vertically essentially in the passing game, then we need to have hands on hands or hats on hats from a blocking standpoint to be able to allow us to run for some yards; so the tight end position, it’s a threat initially because we’re on the line of scrimmage for the most part and we’re able to get into the defense. It’s a little bit different from a fullback position because we’re now at, let’s call it level 2 or level 3, in the backfield depending on exactly the position. The tight end position is a wide open position to providing that pass and run threat, so it’s extremely important for both of those guys to excel at both run and pass, albeit they’re blocking different players at certain times, sometimes DBs, sometimes defensive linemen, and that’s our job to put those guys in positions where we feel like they’re most effective versus that defense.”
(I know we’re a couple weeks away from it, but maybe if you could take me a little bit into whenever you get around roster cut time and whether it’s the third tight end or maybe even fourth tight end versus keeping like a fourth or fifth running back – how is that in the rooms? I know probably Special Teams Coordinator Danny Crossman has got a role and then Head Coach Brian Flores does, but how are you maybe advocating for someone you may feel like is valuable versus another position coach in another room?) – “Obviously it’s a complicated equation. Shoot, I’d be on a boat right now if I had that for every coach; but it goes with the special teams and it also goes with, let’s say depth. It could be if you lose this tight end, who’s the next player that can provide that vertical threat on the line of scrimmage or from (Offensive Coordinator) Chan’s (Gailey) vision, are we better off with maybe it’s another running back or another fullback or could it be a heavy tight end? So all of those factors – vision of the coordinator, special teams depth, how we’re going to utilize certain personnel (groups) – all that factors into it. I think the way I look at my job in training camp for that room, is let’s provide everybody a shot to make this team; and those tough questions, I’m happy that at the end of training camp we have those discussions because those guys earned it. I think everybody in that room to a degree is going to put us in that position, so I take a sense of ownership because that is the tight end position; but ultimately for the team, head coach, special teams coordinator – those guys definitely will have a vision for how they want to play the game and then it kind of falls in place from there.”
Thursday, August 20, 2020
Wide Receivers Coach Josh Grizzard
(I wanted to ask you about WR Isaiah Ford and a comment that QB Ryan Fitzpatrick made last December about his knowledge of the offense – went as far as to call him “special” in the way he prepares and studies. Can you tell us what you see from Isaiah Ford in terms of a preparation standpoint and how he’s able to really absorb the offense so comprehensively?) – “Isaiah is a very, very smart football player. He completely understands not only his job, but the guy beside him. He might even be able to tell you what the o-line is doing. He might tell you what the protection is. He knows that because he studies it. He loves the game. I could see this guy coaching one day down the line, and he does have elite knowledge of what we’re doing, what his role is and he’s just a joy to be around because he understands it from our level.”
(I was talking to my editor yesterday. I said, “what do you want me to write about? More Tua? More DeVante Parker?” He goes, “no, I need a story on WR Mack Hollins’ hair.” So I need your assessment, your evaluation, of what Mack has going on up top.) – “(laughter) That’s also an elite – I don’t want to categorize it into something – but it’s special. I don’t even know how he really puts the helmet on once we get out there. (laughter) It’s like an added layer of cushion. We have these spaced out desks and things in the wide receiver room and from my angle, I can’t even see him, but I can see the hair above his little cubicle-type deal. It’s pretty cool, but whatever floats his boat.”
(I don’t have a hair question, but on WR DeVante Parker, obviously you got to work with him in your role last year and now you’re running that room. We get to see him – I know health has been the big thing for him and now it seems like as he’s pushing past that plateau, what’s your next focus on him and reaching I guess that next level? I know he wants to be great, but what’s that next focus once you get past staying healthy?) – “The fact that he was healthy last year and had all of that success, it’s beautiful to see this year that he’s now more vocal. You can tell that’s coming along. The first couple weeks of camp – really the same thing – and guys gravitate to that. The young guys that are around, they see that. They see the way he works. He now understands I think more than ever that not only is your job to get open and catch the ball, but if it’s a concept that you need to go get doubled or you need to be in this spot to open it up for the next guy, he understands that side of it, too. I think he understands defenses more than ever; so just seeing him take those strides has been good.”
(Now that you’ve seen WR Matt Cole for a few days, could you talk specifically about the skillset there – what does he do well? And then when you’re done with him, if you could address the same question with WR Gary Jennings please.) – “Matt – it’s been good to actually get a chance to work with him and get to the point where we’re putting the pads on. What you see from Matt is Matt is a strong player. He’s an explosive guy. He can get in and out of breaks quickly and we’ve been able to see that over the last few practices on the field. Just seeing that in person and really the same thing of going from talking about this thing on Zoom to getting on the field and doing it has been good. Then to Gary, Gary is a tough player. He’s physical. A lot of the same things where sometimes he’d rather run through a guy than around him, so it’s good to see that aspect of the game as well.”
(I asked Quarterbacks Coach Robby Brown this question. I’m going to ask the same of you. You were born in 1990, I believe…) – “Yes, sir.”
(When you look at Offensive Coordinator Chan Gailey and the wealth of experience he has – and he was actually coaching in the NFL before you were born – when you see him, do you see an energetic guy that just loves this game?) – “Absolutely, and the wealth of knowledge that he has, as coaches, we just sit around every time we’re watching film or we’re going through players that he says something, I’m writing it down, I’m adding it to this list or that list, ‘oh, that’s a great point’ – because what he has an innate ability to do is take things that are complex and say, ‘this is exactly how we want it.’ And so being able to then pass that along to the players, I think is invaluable; so the times that I’ve been around him over these past, let’s call it seven or eight months, has been invaluable, being able to again, pass that back on to the receivers. He clearly has a passion for the game and has had a ton of success. He’s great to be around day-in and day-out.”
(Obviously your unit took a little bit of a hit when WR Allen Hurns and WR Albert Wilson opted out. Where do you feel like you are depth-wise with this group once you get past WR Preston Williams and WR DeVante Parker?) – “I think we’re in a good place. These guys – the ones that have had to fill that void – as of now we’re still moving guys around; but again, I think that we’re in a good spot. I coach the guys that are there and we prepare them for each practice, as we work towards Week 1. It’s something that right now, we can move guys around and see what the best fit is, see where – does this highlight what he does well? Or okay, that didn’t look great so let’s move around to the next guy; but I’m happy with the group. These guys work. They’ve been blocking in the run game and that’s always great to see as well, so I’m happy with where we’re at.”
(We got a taste last year of WR Preston Williams and it was exciting to see him play when he was playing for those seven games before the injury. Now we’ve seen him again. Where do you think his development is at this point going into the 2020 season?) – “I think that he’s really just focused on the last few months of just getting back to where he was and now that he’s working towards that, it’s how can I run this route slightly differently or if I’m seeing this coverage – same thing to the point I was making about DeVante (Parker) and really the rest of the group – it’s not always me, ‘I’ve got to go beat this guy, but let me be in this spot so that this play is effective so the Dolphins move the ball down the field.’ I think he sees that more. He’s seeing more defenses. He’s just putting that in his mind on cataloguing like, ‘okay, I can reach back to this some point down the line on I’ve had that experience.’ He’s done a good job with that and just getting that feel for it has been his main thing.”
Thursday, August 20, 2020
Quarterbacks Coach Robby Brown
(I find the personality dynamic in that quarterback room pretty intriguing and my question here is sort of two-pronged. One, how are those personalities meshing and do you find yourself not just teaching but also kind of learning from the cerebral guys you have in that room there in QB Ryan Fitzpatrick and QB Josh Rosen and QB Tua Tagovailoa?) – “The room does have a lot of personality. It’s fun to be in. Most quarterback rooms you go into, you’ve got to be on your toes because they’re witty. You’ve got to know what you’re saying, be ready for all kinds of comments and things like that; so it’s a lot of fun being in there and being around them. It’s fun watching them interact together, learn from each other and yeah, obviously you’re going to learn something from every single guy – how they see things, how they process things; so it has been a good time learning, seeing, teaching all three of those guys.”
(That was me asking about the wealth of experience and all those years that Offensive Coordinator Chan Gailey and Offensive Line Coach Steve Marshall have.) – “’Wealth of experience.’ Well, I’ve been around both of them for a while, so I’ll make sure and use those terms. (laughter)”
(You were not even born when Offensive Coordinator Chan Gailey started to coach in college. What is it about him that you have seen that just keeps him going to be around young people and to keep coaching? What have you seen?) – “First of all, he’s always – kind of playing off the last question – he’s always trying to learn. He’s always thinking through things for you. When I haven’t been with him, I would text him with questions and just the way he thinks through the game, the way he thinks through people; he understands how people operate, he understands the game. So I would say that that’s the biggest thing, is just how he processes that information and meshes it together is pretty special, ever since I’ve known him, to be honest.”
(I heard that the NFL is considering allowing artificial crowd noise to be pumped in to kind of create the advantage for the defense when it’s in their stadium. In your experience, what’s the relevance of noise?) – “There’s a lot of different things that you practice and try to do to, I guess, eliminate that. You can never really eliminate that, I guess, as a factor in the game; so if it is loud, you have to be ready to communicate, get the message to everybody, you have to be able to make sure that everybody knows what they’re doing and what we’re doing. It could be an issue, but I don’t know exactly how that’s going to work yet. Hopefully they won’t turn it up too loud when we’ve got the ball. (laughter)”
(Yesterday, QB Tua Tagovailoa escaped the pocket, got outside and then decided to end the play with kind of a half-slide, half-kneel type of thing and it looked bad. It really looked bad. So are you guys working with him on sliding and I guess that includes, ‘Dude, don’t get hit. Slide’?) – “It’s not just Tua. That’s a learning situation for everybody. I obviously remember the play. If you were out there, you saw it. That’s a learning situation for everybody. It’s not just him. Obviously he’s the one that did it. Had it been ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick) or Josh (Rosen), we would have done the same thing; but you’re always talking about pocket presence, knowing when to throw it away, when to give up, when to get down, and it’s a feel thing. You’ve got a guy that’s a however-many-year vet ‘Fitz’ is. He talks through that. Josh talks through it. Tua talks through what he sees. (Offensive Coordinator) Chan (Gailey) talks through what he sees in the meeting. But that’s always a process and it’s more about when to give up, when to throw it away. It’s not just Tua. Every quarterback lives through that. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you are in the process. That’s always a decision and you’re a competitor, so it’s always a decision of what to do and when to do it.”
(Like you mentioned there you’ve got three guys in that room with different experience levels. QB Ryan Fitzpatrick has been forever and two are younger guys. At some point obviously Head Coach Brian Flores is going to name a starter. How do you plan, I guess, to divvy up the difference between the present while still developing maybe the other two guys as the season goes on?) – “I would say the good thing in my position right now – in my point in my career – is that’s more of a decision that (Offensive Coordinator) Chan (Gailey) and (Head) Coach (Brian) Flores have to make. My job, at this point in my career, is to kind of go out there and when they say ‘this guy’s going here,’ is to try to help them and get them better and help the other two – whoever that is – learn from what that guy is doing; so I would say I’m going to coach all three of them just like they’re going to go in the very next play, and let Chan and ‘Flo’ make that decision of how those are divvied up.”
(The last time we talked to you, you said that you hadn’t really see QB Tua Tagovailoa throw in kind of like a practice-type atmosphere. Now that several are in, what do you think how the ball is coming out and just also just his movement and everything of the like?) – “I did say that and I think that after seeing him go through practices – and I know I keep saying this, but it’s true for the other two guys as well – you see some good, you see some throws that they wished they could do better. And that’s the way practice is, and that’s the way games are. Every NFL quarterback is extremely competitive; so if they’re 59-of-60, they’re worried about that one. It doesn’t matter if it’s Josh (Rosen) or ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick) or Tua (Tagovailoa) or whoever it is; but I’ll tell you, it’s just been fun to get out there and be on the grass and see all three of them throw – to see a practice go. I’m sure it’s been fun for you guys as well, but we’ve just got to try to get better each and every day, and all three of them, in every aspect, whether it be calls and throws, footwork, everything. Just trying to improve every single day.”
(Not much has been said or talked about in regards to QB Josh Rosen. From our untrained eye, it seems like his throwing motion has tightened a little bit. What have you seen from Rosen’s development? Obviously you weren’t here last year but what have you seen from him ability-wise?) – “I would say, for me, that he has come in mentally, really trying to learn the offense, understand the offense and just like the other two guys, he’s made some good throws the past few days. He’s made some not-so-great throws the past few days, but his effort to improve every day has been really good – improve mentally, improve his throws, improve his footwork. He’s always thinking through those kind of things and I think really, the mantra that ‘Flo’ (Head Coach Brian Flores) has put out – ‘hey, let’s go out there and get better today.’ I think he (Josh Rosen) is really trying to do that and living by that rule.”
Thursday, August 20, 2020
Offensive Line Coach Steve Marshall
(We saw G Ereck Flowers out there the past two days staying late after practice, specifically with the rookies. It looked like just chatting them up, giving them some advice. What type of leadership and that veteran presence can help, especially when you have so many newcomers and rookies in the unit?) – “Yeah, it’s huge. Not only Ereck and Ted (Karras) and Jesse (Davis) and some of the guys that have played in this league, it’s really guys like that that help guys because those young guys – they’ve had three weeks of work and it’s a whole different ball game. The speed is different. Obviously the size and the physical movement (is different); so yeah, every day that not only helps them. It may give them a little tidbit and help them do with fundamentals and technique and some of the things we’re asking them to do, and then that’s what o-line(men) do. That helps build camaraderie and all the different aspects that go into playing offensive line in this league.”
(I wanted to ask you about the three draft picks – T Austin Jackson, T Robert Hunt and G Solomon Kindley – and I wanted to ask you what has stood out about them so far from where you stand?) – “Those three guys are competing. As you guys know, they’re competing for a job. Those three guys have taken a role. They’re coming in and they’re learning every day. Every play is a new adventure for those guys. They were very good players at college level and they’re getting better every day. They’re bright-eyed and they learn and they’re competing hard. We’ve been pleased. Again, it’s just starting – three days of pads – and the hot Florida sun is a little bit of an eye-opener for some of those guys, but they’re fighting through it.”
(I guess for the common eye, it seems like offensive line is probably the hardest thing for people to understand because you can’t attribute stats to them. How – and maybe there’s no simple way you explain to the common person of how you dictate whether an offensive lineman is performing well or not?) – “It goes to skillset. It goes to smarts. It goes to toughness. Is he a team guy? And those guys usually are team guys because obviously as you know, there’s no stats involved with offensive line. They try to make them with all these different things; but at the end of the day, the best five guys that can block them, can do it intelligently and do it over a long period of time, are the ones that are very successful in this league, and that’s kind of what we’re trying to build with these guys. That’s the best I can tell you. They’ve got to have the skillset. It’s bigger, faster, stronger; but there’s a lot more that goes into it. O-line is all about intelligent, being able to work on your feet, being able to change – doing things quickly (both) mentally and physically.”
(Obviously we’ve seen that two of the rookies are being inserted there in terms of getting a chance to prove that they can handle the starting job in terms of G Solomon Kindley and T Austin Jackson. What do you want to see from them to understand that hey, this job is too big for them?) – “You can add Rob Hunt into that category, too, and some of the others guys; but what you see at the end of the day is that who are the best five guys that give us a chance to win? That’s really kind of what it is. They’re good young players, but – I can use the term ‘young’ – I think ‘AJ’ (Austin Jackson) just had his 21st birthday. That’s young for this league and it’s a day-in and day-out grind mentally, physically. We have basically four hours of meetings a day along with practice. So can they get in there and sustain it over a period of time from a physical standpoint, from a mental standpoint, to be able to make – because at the end of the day, we’re all here to win and my job is to make those guys do the best they can within the framework of the offensive line and go from there. But they’re off to a great start. All the rookies are. We’ve got great competition at every position and we’ll see where it all comes out in the end here in three weeks – because it really, in three weeks, that’s kind of our first game, but we’ve got a long season ahead of us and we’ll see how it all goes down.”
(On G Solomon Kindley what do you think are some things that he has the potential to do very well?) – “Solomon is a guy that if you went back and looked at him at Georgia, he’s a big man. He’s smart. He’s a smart guy. He loves to play the game and that’s the one thing I think that for a 21-year-old kid that left college early to come to the NFL, he’s got to want to be a very good player; but obviously he has physical attributes and a skillset that – my grandmother can see that he’s a big man, but the thing about Solomon is he comes to work every day so far. We put a lot on him. We want to see where he is and he has not backed down a bit. Every day is an adventure for him. He’s a guy that like I said, it’s a whole new thing for him – a whole new nomenclature, a whole new thing and as rookies do, they have good plays, they have bad plays; and my job is to eliminate the bad ones and keep making the good ones better. That’s really where Solomon is as is Rob (Hunt) and AJ (Austin Jackson) and some of the other young guys that are playing on the offensive line.”
(You and Offensive Coordinator Chan Gailey have a combined 79 years of coaching on various levels and various successes…) – “Are you telling me I’m old? (laughter) Is that what you’re telling me?”
(No, I’m talking about the wealth of experience both of you have. Has there been a light moment between you two basically saying, “look, we can’t believe we’re still doing this?”) – “Well, yes. Yes and yes and my wife says that all of the time. My brothers, my family – but it’s something I grew up doing. I love it. I don’t really think I’ve ever worked a day in my life. You don’t do this job if you don’t have a passion for football, for competing, for helping young guys get better, because it’s a grind. It’s a day-to-day process; but I’m so fortunate to have a chance to coach in the NFL. I had great jobs in college football and knock on wood, I’m healthy enough to keep doing this at – what you say – my age. (laughter) So I’m looking forward to this year and years to come.”
(I wanted to ask you about the communication and protection calls up front and seeing a defense like the one that Head Coach Brian Flores and Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer run with all of those fronts and different rush packages. Does that kind of help accelerate the growth of your young line up front?) – “There’s no doubt. It starts – not just the young line, but the whole group. You’ve got to be – as we’ve all documented – part of offensive line play is more of the pre-snap stuff than the post-snap stuff. You come out of the huddle. They give you a specific look. We have to make a specific call based on that look and especially in pass protection, but also in the run game; so yes, there’s a huge communication factor that we go through making sure that it goes from the guard to the tackle to the center to the guard to the tackle, and making sure when we get different looks like our defense does – they’re very multiple; they give you a lot of different problems – and it’s really part of the whole maturation process and learning process to get the line to come together. A lot of it is just time on the job. Over and over again and seeing the different things that we’ve got to see and be able to handle and pass protection and obviously in the run game, too; but pass protection is really where that’s the difference between pro ball as opposed to college ball – what the young guys have. Not only for that but for the Ted Karras’ and Ereck Flowers’ and Jesse’s (Davis) and the guys that have had – who are basically young veterans, that every year – again, the nomenclature and the different ways we say things and the different language that we use has got to be practiced in meetings and practiced in games to be able to handle all of the different looks and pressures you get.”
Thursday, August 20, 2020
Running Backs Coach Eric Studesville
(Obviously you’ve got a lot to figure out from the running back unit talent-wise, but what have you seen early from RB Matt Breida and RB Jordan Howard in terms of what skillsets they bring, when you’ve got them to the field?) – “I think the thing you see is that they’re both competitive people, which is one of the things we really want, is we’re looking for guys that want to come in and compete and work. Those guys fill those roles for us for sure. You see Matt’s bursting speed. We’ve seen it a couple times in the open. You see Jordan’s got really good feet in-line, vision in-line – all of the things that you expect. I think they both will be able to contribute as pass protectors. We’ve started to do some more drills with that in practice as far as rush drills, so we’re seeing that. We’ve got to continue to develop that. We’re just continuing to get them doing everything. I just don’t have enough of a feel for them on a big volume to know what exactly their whole packages are right now, but you love everything about both of those guys on the field and in the classroom. They’re smart, they understand football, they’re passionate about it, they want to be good, they want to work, and so we’ve just got to keep developing and building.”
(I know the o-line and the running game work so closely together in concert and it looked like – obviously there was a big turnover on the offensive line this offseason. You guys added a lot more beef. How does that help you guys in the running game, maybe getting bigger, more powerful up front?) – “Hopefully it’s going to help us overall as an offense. Those big guys, too – they’ve got to pass protect and those kind of things; so I think it’s going to factor into the run game as well as the pass game, and then hopefully we add some play actions in there, too. So the better we run the ball, the more we’ll be able to play-action pass off of it, and we’ll still be able to drop-back pass and do some things. We’ve gotten better I think in that; but again, we don’t know really how much better yet until we start doing some more things in pads. We’ve only had a few days in pads, so we’ve got to keep building this; but I like the direction that it goes. I think there’s a good mix with what the offensive line and the backs are figuring out from each other right now. We’ve just still got to keep working on it.”
(I noticed RB Myles Gaskin a little bit so how about Myles? What have you seen so far from him?) – “Myles has done a great job I think, so far in what we’ve done. I think he’s head and shoulders above where he was at this time last year. I think the work and the effort that he puts into the game and the passion that he has to want to work and to want to be good at this and to get everything, I think has started to really show; and he invested in himself last year, and it’s paying off for him now. He’s playing more confident, he’s playing faster, and I think we’re seeing some of the skillset that he’s had in the past. We’re starting to see now what really some of his potential is.”
(I want to ask you about Offensive Coordinator Chan Gailey. At age 68, does he act like a young coach out there, because he has a lot of enthusiasm?) – “Hopefully we all act like young coaches even if we’re not. (laughter) It’s a game and we love coaching and this is what we do; and I think that’s one of the things that Chan does bring to this. He loves this game. He’s passionate about it. He certainly has a lot of experience and when you have that, it’s contagious. It’s enthusiastic – his demeanor is – and I think that’s translating to all of us – coaches and players. If you don’t love doing this – if you don’t have a passion for wanting to come and do this every day – this is not the right thing for you, and that’s why all of us are in this. I think Chan exemplifies that.”
(I know it’s just the early stages of you seeing these guys but when I look at I guess what RB Jordan Howard has done over his career, the numbers kind of speak for themselves. He’s been third in rushing and seventh in TDs. Is he a guy that you think may be overlooked in how maybe people perceive him, and you guys can get a lot more out of him than maybe people think?) – “’Overlooked’ – that’s going to be someone else’s evaluation of this. I think what we want to do with Jordan and what we want to do with our team and particularly my room, is that we just want to come out and work and do whatever it takes to give the team the best chance to win. If we’ve got to run the ball a lot, we’re going to do that. If we’ve got to pass protect a lot, we’re going to do that; and I think Jordan’s on board with that. All of the guys are on board with that. That’s part of what we’re selling and talking about in our room, and his production is going to be the opportunities that he takes advantage of and that’s every one of them. Whatever he gets, he’s got to do something with it and if he’s the guy that’s moving and doing things, great, and if it’s somebody else that day or we’re throwing the ball that day or whatever it is; but I think they’re all committed. Everybody in my room – the five guys that I have – the one thing you love about them is they’re all committed to whatever their role is, they’re going to embrace that.”
(I want to go back to RB Jordan Howard here again. You touched on his vision a little bit there in the first question. Is that something that’s just inherent in a back or can he kind of help impart some of that wisdom on the rest of the room and the way he reads blocks and sets things up?) – “A lot of it is reactions and what they do, but certainly we have things that we’re looking at as to how a play is designed. We talk about that a lot of times in meetings. ‘Hey, what are our eyes doing? What are we thinking here?’ There’s a lot of people that can know what the play should do and then there’s a difference in the guys that can make the play do what it’s supposed to do, and Jordan has that ability to find holes to create for himself. He’s got feet in-line. He has what we call vision and to be able to find things.”
Thursday, August 20, 2020
Offensive Coordinator Chan Gailey
(I’m wondering, does your plan with the quarterbacks include maybe mixing and matching them with different units? In other words, one quarterback that maybe is third-team right now playing first, the first-team guy playing second, stuff like that?) – “We try to get different guys – we have a quarterback rotation – and we try to put different people in with those quarterbacks rather than saying first group, second group, third group. We just have a quarterback rotation and we mix a lot of different people in when the quarterback rotation is, so that we know how many plays we’re getting with everybody.”
(I wanted to ask you when this whole process was underway for you to come back to the Dolphins, was it Head Coach Brian Flores that reached out to you or did you reach out to him?) – “We talked at the end of the year there, and they called me and wanted to know if I was interested.”
(I wanted to ask you about the communication factor here of the first week of padded practices. How would you evaluate the way calls are getting in and out of the huddle and communicated to the rest of the offense here in the first week?) – “It’s been good. It hasn’t been perfect. We still have some people not used to hearing the play call the way we do it. You have to listen in sequence. Linemen hear one thing, the next call in the huddle means something to somebody else, the next call means something to somebody else; so you have to listen to sequence and make sure you’re listening to your thing that you need to pay attention to. We’ve had more mistakes than we would have liked, but they’re getting the hang of it.”
(I read that the NFL is considering allowing teams to pump artificial crowd noise into their stadiums. I’m wondering what you think of that and how that might impact your offensive planning and also what happens for the offense on game day?) – “I haven’t heard any official word on that. I keep asking the same question, though. Is that what’s going to happen and then who controls the volume on that? If you get a homer that slips that volume a little bit louder on third down, I’m not sure I’m for that a lot. (laughter) You have to have that silent count ready to go if they start doing that, so we’ll get that going to make sure we cover all our bases before it’s over with. Who’s going to control that? That’s the key to me.”
(You expressed concern about communication from the offense. Is that just something that having no OTAs is creating an issue with and how long do you think it will take them to grasp this considering the season opener is 20-something days away?) – “I said we’ve had a couple of issues. If that was our biggest problem, I would be feeling really, really good right now. That’ll be one of the easier things to solve between now and game day than some of the other things that are going on and your next question will be, ‘well, what are those issues?’ And I’m not going to answer that, okay? (laughter)”
(It makes sense, it’s logical, that QB Ryan Fitzpatrick should be ahead of everybody else because he’s got a familiarity with the offense for a long time and he’s more experienced than everybody else. Is there any way that that advantage can be bridged between now and the opener?) – “By whom?”
(By anybody. You’ve only got two other candidates.) – “He (Ryan Fitzpatrick) does have more knowledge. As (Head) Coach (Brian) Flores says all the time, every position – we’re out there competing. Every position is being competed for and I think every one of them know that; but does he have more knowledge? Is he able to help explain things a lot better to some of the others player – some of the nuances of what we’re trying to get done? Yes, he has that ability and he has that knowledge and it does help him. Can it be overcome? Hey, anything can happen in our game and you know it. You’ve seen it happen. Anything can happen any year, so you never say never in the NFL.”
(You’ve got a guy in that room in QB Josh Rosen who’s had three or four offensive coordinators in the last three or four years. How do you teach a guy who probably has so much information coming in from different directions on how to play quarterback in the NFL?) – “There’s really only X-amount of plays in football, so what you’re trying to do is teach him a new language. How can quickly can he learn a new language and get to where he can speak it fluently rather than he’s memorizing what something means. So the biggest thing is to try to get him to put things in the past – terminology in the past – put it away, put it over to the side and grasp the new terminology. It’s okay in your brain to say, ‘that used to be called this, but now it’s called this,’ and use that as a reference. That’s a good thing; but not to get it where it’s clogging up – learning what new is going on – and that’s true with – Tua’s (Tagovailoa) got the same issue. He had three coordinators his three years in college. He’s got the same issue and the great thing about ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick) is ‘Fitz’ has put different offenses out of his mind so many times in his career, that he’s kind of used to it. It takes a while to learn to do that – put it all away and start something new.”
(I was kind of bored last night so I took out a calculator and I had your depth chart and I added up three of the new linemen – G Solomon Kindley, G Ereck Flowers, T Robert Hunt – it adds up to 1,005 lbs. which I thought was pretty good. I’m wondering how does that kind of size potentially impact the game?) – “There are a bunch of 400-lb. people around out there that can’t play football; so size is not the only factor. It’s like people used to tell me, ‘hey, you’ve got some great speed at receiver.’ Well, if speed was the only factor, we’d go sign the Olympic team to come play football; so size is not the only factor in offensive line; but the key is to get those guys using that strength and that weight going in the right direction, doing the right things, and that’s the challenge for us. Bigger is better, only if it’s better.”
(I know it’s still early but what have you seen from RB Malcolm Perry to make you think maybe it could work as a slot receiver for him and has any of your other really young skill guys impress you so far?) – “Malcolm is an interesting guy, having played quarterback in the option and he’s got some good quickness. He’s got a feel for the game. He’s played tag growing up. He knows how to make people miss and make them get out of the way. He learned early on how to do that – how to look at a guy and know when he’s off-balance or he’s got his foot in the wrong place and he can make a move the other way; so he’s got a little unique talent there and that’s one thing that gives me hope that he can play receiver for us because he does have a feel for getting people off-balance, finding holes, he understands the game pretty well. Probably playing quarterback helped him understand the game fairly well, so he’s an interesting guy to work with and the other guys are working. We haven’t had but, what, three or four padded (practices) – I don’t even know, they run into each other now – three padded practices. We’ve got a lot of work to do and a short time to do it in.”
(We’ve seen WR DeVante Parker for the last few years but this year he looks like he’s getting going early. I wanted to ask you, does his skillset remind you of anyone that you’ve coached in your past?) – “Gosh, I hadn’t had that one before and hadn’t had to even think about that before. No, but I think he has great potential, and it’s hard for me to think about other people I’ve had; but he’s got excellent hand-eye coordination. He’s got route-running skills. He’s got the speed and the size to make a difference on the football field, especially when he’s one-on-one. He can be physical with guys. I’m really looking forward to working with him and seeing what he develops into, and hopefully we can build on how he finished the year last year. Hopefully we can build on that.”
(You expressed concern earlier about, I guess, the offense. I know you’re not going to tell us what it is, but do you feel comfortable with the personnel that you have?) – “As a coordinator, you get excited about what guys can do. You don’t fret about what they can’t do; so you take the guys and you take their skillset and the things that you’re excited about, and you try to put them in position to be successful. I think we have a set of guys on our football team that give me some excitement about what we might be able to do with this group.”
