Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer
(How concerned are you about stopping the run this year? Obviously everyone loves to do that. But you guys actually were 16 against the run and 23rd against the pass last year. So obviously you’ve been stressing that a lot stopping the run. Tell me a little bit about what you’ve been putting on your players about that?) – “I think any time you can make your opponent one dimensional, obviously you put yourself in an advantageous position. I would say when it comes to stopping the run, we need everybody involved and we’ve got to defeat blocks. Guys have to use the fundamental techniques that we’re teaching and I think guys are working hard to do that. I think a lot of times, if you’re able to get leads and play good complementary football, teams are apt to throw more. That’s somewhat where the passing yards come from. I think obviously you want to be good at everything. You’d like to defend the run well; you’d like to defend the pass well. I think the passing yards, stats and stuff like that doesn’t really – when you look at it, it doesn’t really correlate to winning or losing. I think if you can do a good job against the run and make teams one dimensional and you know what’s coming at you, then you set yourself up in a better situation to defend the pass.”
(When you analyzed last year, what jumped out at you? Was it something that was unexpected that you noticed?) – “I think what we’re always looking for is constant improvement. You look at some of the things we struggled with – whether it be situationally or maybe it’s a certain call. I think you always look at it as if there is a better way to do it. And if we believe in what we’re doing and how we’re doing it, then what’s a better way to get it taught? I think those are the things we look at. When we look at the offseason, you’re really being very critical of play calls, techniques, fundamentals and then obviously the main goal is to put the players in the best possible position to succeed as you possibly can, so those are the things we look to do there.”
(What pleased you the most about the defense and your performance in your first year as a defensive coordinator?) – “We’ve got great guys. They work hard. They are constantly striving to get better and they play with great effort, so I think those are the things you’re always pleased with. As far as myself personally, I think it goes back to the critical stage of how can I get better, how can we get better as a defense? I think those are the things that you look at and you probably spend more time on the things or situations that you feel like you can do better in and try to improve those so that you have a better well-rounded group.”
(I want to ask you about LB Jaelan Phillips. We haven’t seen him out there much at all. Where do things stand with him, what is he picking up even when he’s not on the field and what can you tell us about his progress?) – “I think he’s working very hard to be out there on the field. I think it’s a day-to-day process for him. We push him in the classroom and he’s working very hard to get better. Obviously the more we get him out there, the more we’ll be excited to see the things he can do. But he’s working hard at it and all of our guys are. I wouldn’t just point one guy out individually. I think we’ve got 10 good days of work here and we’re real excited to go to work in Chicago and practice against them.”
(Last year, obviously you guys lead the league in turnovers, and that sort of was the catalyst for your defense. Turnovers are so random. How do you build off of that?) – “I think the things that we stress is how to force them and to take advantage of opportunities when they come up. We spend a lot of time on it, we believe in it, we work hard at it. Sometimes they are not so random, and when they do become random – tips, overthrows – you’ve got to make sure you make those plays. If it’s a bad read or a miscommunication from a receiver, you’ve got to have those. But when the opportunities come up to attack the football, whether it’s a quarterback in the pocket – a sack is great but if we can get a strip-sack here, that’s a chance to get the ball and recover it. We spend a lot of time on forcing turnovers, how to force them, situations that they come up and spend a lot of time on recovery because even if you force fumbles and you don’t recover them, it’s not a good deal. Our guys work hard at it, they believe in it; and ultimately we’re trying to is get the ball back to the offense. If we can do that with a turnover on one play, it’s playing complementary football, which I think our players know and understand.”
(The deep balls, I have never seen this many deep balls in the first 10 days of practice. Great for the offense, great for QB Tua Tagovailoa, it’s nice; but as a defensive coordinator you’ve got to be looking at it like why is there so many balls going over our heads?) – “I think each one of them is unique and you kind of go back and you look at the situation. Again, talking about playing complementary football, I think we’ve had a competitive camp and obviously as a defense, there is a part of you that says, I don’t want to give up anything. But there is also another part of you that says we’ve got an offense that can make some plays too. But the things that we can’t have is we can’t have mental errors and busted coverages, which we’ve had some of those. If guys are using our fundamentals and our techniques and we make them make a hard throw and they make a great catch, that’s going to happen, that’s football. The thing we can’t do as a defense is we can’t make it easy on them. We can’t give it to them. Those are the ones that – then really a lot of times at practice, situations are controlled. We want to look at the rush that’s going on but no matter what the rush is, we want to allow the quarterback to have an opportunity to get the ball down the field because a lot of times as a DB, you’ll work individual drills and you’ll get a couple of deep balls in practice and you get them in individual, but there is nothing like getting them in a team situation. As many deep balls we can see, I think is good for us. I think it’s been great. I think it’s been very competitive. I think it’s good for the offense. I think it’s good for the defense and obviously the ones that they are able to complete, we go back and we look at those and it’s ‘are we competitive on it, are we where we’re supposed to be, are we playing with our fundamentals and techniques?’ And if the answer to that is no, those are things we’ve got to fix immediately. That’s kind of how I look at those.”
(I want to get your opinion on the RPO offense from a defensive coordinator’s perspective. Obviously it’s about trying to get extra guys in the box. When you see it, is your goal to stay back or not get your defense to bite?) – “I think it depends. Obviously, it depends on what kind of defense you’re in and who is responsible for what. I think in each defense that you have, you have to have guys responsible for the pass element, for the run element, and it’s not necessarily always easy. They make it hard. There are sometimes in this league they’re not going to call a lineman that might be going up on a linebacker because it happens so quick. It’s a hard thing to see. So we’ve got to do a really good job playing good assignment football for the guys that are responsible for the pass element and the guys that are responsible for the run element. A lot of teams do it in this league. It’s not an uncommon thing. It’s definitely something we prepare for. It doesn’t necessarily make it easy but the easiest way to defend it is to play good assignment football.”
(How much is it growing in this league?) – “I would say – you’re going to have to forgive me here, this is Year 15 or 16 for me? I would say when I first came into the league, there wasn’t that many of them. I would say pretty much all teams do it now. I think the league evolves. You’re seeing a lot more of the – call it jet, missile motion, you see a lot more of that. I would say it’s evolved quite a bit over since the time I’ve been in the league.”
(Going back to LB Jaelan Phillips – he was defensive end primarily at UM, or at least that’s how he is listed, and now he’s listed as a linebacker. The thought process that went into that and how much should we read into it?) – “Again, I think Jaelan – I think there are a number of things I think he can do for us. Obviously we’d like to get him out there and see as many things as we can. I think it’s not just unique to him, it’s all players; and we try to make them as multiple as possible. I think the more that guys can do from a position flexibility standpoint, it makes you a little bit more multiple as a defense and it gives them more value as a player. If he can do a couple things that are end-type responsibility and do a couple things that are backer-type responsibility – the other thing is it allows us to be multiple. You don’t necessarily know where guys are gong to line up play after play after play.”
(I was going to ask you about that and how much of it is getting in the quarterback’s head? “Ok where is LB Jaelan Phillips going to be this time kind of thing?”) – “I think we try to do that with all of our guys. We are always trying to put pressure on the offensive line, trying to put pressure on the quarterback, which in turn hopefully puts a little pressure on the offensive coordinator. I think if you consistently line up in the same thing and run the same thing over and over again, the coaches in this league and the players in this league and the offenses in this league, they are just too good. Eventually they’ll get you.”
(I know you don’t get into the negotiating part, the business part. But as a defensive coordinator for about a week or so, our team MVP was hanging in the balance. What’s that like for you?) – “You coach the guys that are in the room. I would say, I’m assuming you’re referring to ‘X’ (Xavien Howard –, ‘X’ has been great in the meeting rooms. He’s really been in-tune, he’s been paying attention. The opportunities he’s had to get on the field, he’s been good. He’s been a good football player for us and again, our job as coaches is to make him the best possible player that we can. That goal hasn’t changed. Nothing is really personal. All of that stuff is on the business side and from the coaching aspect, our focus is making him the best version of himself as we possibly can.”
(So you weren’t sweating it out a little bit?) – “No. You coach the guys that are in the room and where the chips fall, they fall. That’s kind of how you approach it.”
(I know it’s a collective effort on the defensive side. I’m not going to say Head Coach Brian Flores is a defensive coach, but he’s been a defensive coach. Can you imagine having to share defensive coordinator duties and what that would be like when you think about your counterparts on the offensive side?) – “I think it’s just a collective group effort. ‘Flo’ (Brian Flores) obviously has a defensive background. He’s coached on offense, he’s coached on special teams, he’s coached on defense. Obviously I’ve been with him in defensive meetings for a handful of years, a number of years actually. We rely a lot on each other. We rely a lot on our assistants on our staff. Everybody has input and our players have input. They’ll tell you things that they are comfortable with or not comfortable with. Obviously the goal is to put them in a position to succeed and make plays. I think it’s all a group effort and I’ve said this a thousand times, it’s amazing what you can accomplish when nobody cares who gets the credit. I feel like we have a bunch of coaches on staff that their egos are very small, so I feel very fortunate coming into a work environment that’s like that. We’re all trying to do the same thing. We’re all trying to win games. What the titles are, who is doing what really doesn’t matter at the end of the day. We’re just all trying to put a good product out there and win games.”
(That signifies the type of player – I know you’re real close with Head Coach Brian Flores. Do you see this team taking the same personality that he wants?) – “Yeah. I think it starts with you bring in guys that love football, put the team first, they are mentally and physically tough – which ‘Flo’ (Brian Flores) embodies all of those things, and they really have a humble personality or mentality or however you want to look at it. I think ‘Flo’ embodies all of those things. I think a lot of our guys embody all of those things. Yeah, I would say it takes a little bit of his personality for sure.”
(The multiple look defense, the way you guys do it, it looks like a shell game. You’ve got to have guys like that right? You can’t have stubborn guys that say I only do this or I only do that?) – “Yeah, for sure. I think the more multiple you can be, the more position flexibility you can have, the more multiple it makes the entire defense. It just makes it harder on the offense. I’ve said this before, If we just lined up in the same thing over and over, the offensive coaches and the offensive players in this league are too good. They’ll be able to pick you apart. We try to apply pressure to the offensive line, apply pressure to the quarterback and we try not to make it easy for them.”
(LB Jaelan Phillips, how much are you itching to see more of him out there?) – “Whether it’s Jalen or any of our guys, I’m itching to see because our defense is going to evolve and it will evolve over time. Exactly when it will be, I’m not real sure; but I’m excited to see these guys get out there and work. I’m excited to put guys in different spots and see how that looks. I’m real excited to go to Chicago and practice against them. We’ve been hitting our guys for call it 10 practices if you will. I think our guys know and understand we need to play a complementary game and we’re excited to go out there and compete against Chicago as a defense, offense, special teams. I’m excited for it all.”
(I know it’s an advantage for the coaches to go and practice against another team. But at the same time, how much do you want to show going against the Bears and then the Falcons for those two practices. You don’t want to show too much, but you want to see a lot of guys.) – “I think there is always a fine line between – again, it’s still an evaluation period. You’re evaluating guys on are they doing the fundamentals and techniques that we are teaching. But also there is an opportunity to try some new scheme things here and there. As it comes to practicing against other team, it doesn’t – it’s not like a lot of this stuff gets out one way or the other. It’s not like we’re doing this or we’re doing that. I think it’s a great opportunity for team building. We’re real excited about it. I’m excited to see guys in different spots and doing different things against a different opponent.”
Assistant Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Danny Crossman
(I know that you are one of the coaches most excited about joint practices because you get to use a lot of guys on special teams. How big is it to have joint practices with two teams this preseason?) – “I think obviously any time you have joint practices it gives you a lot more opportunities and most importantly, you see more of what you are going to get because the focus is going to increase. The natural competition of playing somebody besides yourselves that occasionally comes with training camp, we are going to get two good weeks of what we consider more high-level focus from the players and hopefully then you are going to see their best product.”
(The way that Coach Brian Flores has done in the past with personnel, you guys rotate personnel a lot. You rotate a lot of guys. Are you getting to a point to where you got the guys who you think fit your system the best?) – “Well, it’s always a changing landscape – year-to-year, month-to-month, week-to-week and day-to-day even. Especially during training camp with injuries. Obviously the last two years with COVID. That list and that view really has to be a big broad viewpoint in this day and age.”
(How much do you have to fight for certain guys if maybe he is just a special teams guy?) – “I don’t think fight is the right word. Performance dictates what we do. We all want to win. If you play well, you’re going to make it hard for us to not want you here. When guys produce and they produce at a high level on a consistent basis, you don’t have to fight or have a fight.”
(Tell me about your punting game. Your punter Michael Palardy is a local guy, he’s got a lot of experience and talks about pinpointing and stuff. I see you guys practice a lot, pinpointing where you want the ball to be. How big is it to have a guy like that, that is a veteran guy who understands that?) – “Any time that you have a guy that’s done it before in the National Football League on game day, on the biggest stage, there’s always a little more sense of comfort. But now we have to do it this year, we have to do it week-in, day-in, play-in, play-out and then see where we’re at. It’s nice and we like where he’s at right now.”
(The type of player that Head Coach Brian Flores has brought in, very smart guys and they have to be able to play different positions and move around a lot. How much does that help you in special teams as well because they are athletic guys that move?) – “I think any time when you see the flexibility and the different attributes certain players have by seeing them do certain things offensively, defensively, it may give you some advantages in the kicking game or some things you may want to do with that particular player.”
(How comfortable are you throwing a rookie back there to return punts?) – “I’m comfortable with anybody as long as they do it day-in and day-out in practice and fortunately now we have preseason games. Anybody that performs in practice, you’d like to believe they’d perform in games. That’s why it’s so important that you do it every single day.”
(A guy like WR Jaylen Waddle, the speed that he has shown, the shiftiness. Is he as good as advertised or when you saw him on tape in college?) – “We’ll see. He hasn’t played a game yet. (laughter)”
(But in person, was it different?) – “He’s a very talented kid and we have several very talented guys. I’m anxious to start competing.”
(I wanted to ask you a little bit about the return game and how close you might be towards getting some answers on who your return men are going to be?) – “We still have over a month before we play games. We have a lot of opportunities to keep evaluating guys. It’s going to be an ongoing process.”
(What do you see out of WR Jaylen Waddle as far as his return capabilities?) – “As of this point, we’ve seen in practice him catching the football. But again, against other people in more live and or competitive settings, that’s when things are going to determine themselves.”
(The injury risk for a guy who’s one of your better players, how do you judge that? How do you weigh risk vs. reward?) – “That never enters the conversation. You are trying to win. I am trying to win. I want the best players on the field to win the game and that’s how we should look at it.”
(Is there a greater risk on special teams or is that just perception?) – “I know I have my feelings and I am not going to share them. (laughter)”
(What about P Michael Palardy? You added him this year, what’s the feeling so far?) – “He’s been consistent, which is where it all starts. We’ve got to be good every single day. He’s talented, he’s got some experience so I like where we’re heading. Again, we’ve been at this for 10 days and we just got the pads on, so we have a long way to go.”
(Any change in K Jason Sanders?) – “Hopefully we’ll be better.”
(Better than All-Pro?) – “Hopefully he’ll be better. (laughter)”
(The next couple weeks, cross-training with different weeks and getting your squad ready with one less preseason game, how important is that?) – “Again, I think any time that you are competing against other clubs, other players, seeing different things is always an advantage. These next couple weeks are going to be great. I’m excited. Hopefully the players are excited after not having preseason last year and now you couple that with the games along with the practices so it’s an exciting time.”
Co-Offensive Coordinator/Running Backs Eric Studesville
(So how is the co-coordinator situation working out so far?) – “It’s been good. George (Godsey) and I get along great and working with him has been fun and interesting. We’ve got a lot of challenges and a lot of work to do but it’s been good.”
(Have you by any chance talked to any other football coaches who have been in a co-coordinator situation before?) – “No. I think George (Godsey) and I have spent a lot of time talking about it. We’ve worked with each other for the last couple of years. We’re going to figure out what works best for us and not how somebody else does it. Just communicating with each other is how we’re going to do it.”
(So the burning question is whose voice will QB Tua Tagovailoa hear on the headset?) – “I’m not sure about that one yet. We’re still working on that. We’ve got a plan for it but we just don’t want to talk about it yet.”
(Is there a competitive advantage to not revealing it, I wonder?) – “Potentially there’s a competitive advantage if you know any information, right?”
(Yeah, I suppose. Earlier this spring, RB Myles Gaskin was talking about the playbook and he talked about how different and how many changes were made – in generalities. He described it as a very different playbook. When you and Co-Offensive Coordinator/Tight Ends sat down to put together a playbook, what was your main objective other than the obvious of scoring points? What were some of the things you really emphasized that you wanted to do?) – “I think you want to have enough flexibility and diversity that you can utilize different things for different skillsets in your players. Our first thought when we’re game planning is how can we put our best players in position to make plays? So you have to have a variety of plays and schemes in the run game, blocking schemes on the offensive line, protection schemes to do different things to protect the quarterback; so you have to have a diverse set of activities all grouped together. Then from there, once you start getting your players in and you figure out who does what well and what do we like and what are we comfortable with, what fits into what we want to do in our scheme, then you start drawing from those things. But you have to have a big encyclopedia, if you will, at the beginning of it.”
(How much thought was given to opening up the offense and stretching the field and all of that?) – “Well, a lot of it because (you want) to score points. We want to have explosive plays and we want to create explosive plays. But at the end of the day too, we’re thinking about running the ball in effective times when we have to do that. We’re thinking about throwing the ball in effective times when we have to do that. So explosiveness, that’s all part of the equation.”
(Seeing RB Myles Gaskin and RB Salvon Ahmed and the other backs in the passing game, the other day Head Coach Brian Flores mentioned that you guys will also kind of jump from room to room, that it’s more of a collaborative process. I’m wondering with the players – receivers, tight ends and backs – how much do they spend kind of learning the entire grasp of the offense in the sense of like your running backs, are they spending time with the receivers and learning that aspect of the game? Does that translate over?) – “More so probably with the running backs with the offensive line. We watch different periods of practice where we go in with the offensive line and watch them. We’ll have periods of practice that we watch with the quarterbacks, the tight ends, the offensive line and the running backs all grouped together. So we call them ‘pods’ if you will, different things that we get together. Then we’ll watch it and then we’ll split up. So we don’t watch the whole practice like that, but we watch segments that relate to a given topic that that group is involved in.”
(Do you find that kind of encourages more communication between a guy like the running backs and the offensive line? How do they kind of interact?) – “I think it does increase the communication. I also think it increases the knowledge of what we’re trying to get out of a particular run, protection or whatever because not only are the players talking to each other but they’re hearing the coaches making – the offensive line is hearing what I’m telling the running backs. ‘Hey, this is why you have to do that. This is why we want you to do that.’ So I think that’s beneficial for everybody.”
(Do you think that’s unique to this coaching staff?) – “No. We’ve done that – I’ve done that in past other places I’ve been. When you can do it, it is beneficial.”
(The biggest area of improvement in the offense that you’ve seen through the first whatever days of training camp, where would that be?) – “I don’t know if there’s one area. I think the offensive line is doing a great job. We’ve had some really good days where we’ve run the ball effectively. The defense has gotten after us a couple of days too. I think my group, the running backs, those guys come on and they’ve worked hard. They’ve done a lot of good things. I thought they’ve run the ball hard, I thought they’ve protected well so far in camp. They’ve caught the ball well running routes. I think our wide outs are explosive. I don’t know that there’s one area – our tight ends, I like our tight end group and what we’re doing there. I think we have blockers in there; we have receivers in there. I like where we’re going. I’m not far enough along on this to say that this group has made the biggest improvement. I think everyone out here is trying to keep moving forward and improve.”
(Speaking of the tight end group, I have to ask you about TE Hunter Long. What can you tell me about him?) – “I think Hunter is coming out and he’s worked hard. He’s getting better every day. I think he’s going to be – the sky is the limit for him; but he gets better every day and he’s finding out what the NFL is all about. He’s going to fit right in, in time.”
(Is TE Hunter Long going to be able to work this week in Chicago?) – “I don’t know. I don’t know that yet. I don’t think we’ve determined that yet.”
(TE Hunter Long seems like a guy with a lot of promise.) – “He’s a great young man and he’s passionate about it. He’s tough. He’s trying to be physical. I think it’s going to work out fine if he just keeps working.”
(How is T Liam Eichenberg coming along?) – “Liam is doing a nice job inside. We’re excited about him and what he’s brought. Again, another young guy that works hard, that’s passionate about it, that’s competitive and that wants to be good and doing whatever he can.”
(WR Will Fuller is a guy who has not been able to work as much as CB Xavien Howard and the other guys, to put it that way. How far behind is he and when might we see him?) – “Yeah, I don’t know when we’ll see him. We’ll see him when he’s healthy – when he’s healthy enough to be back out there. We kind of just keep moving and we get them back when we get them back. I know Will is doing everything he can to get back on the field. But as far as being behind, he’s in meetings. He’s getting all of the things – the information. He’s a veteran player so he’s done a lot of these things. It’s not so much a matter of what it is, it’s what we call it. He’ll pick it up just fine.”
(Is it more pressing when a guy like WR Preston Williams, for example, who is not as seasoned as WR Will Fuller is?) – “It’s pressing for all of them because there’s urgency in what we do. But we’ll get them when we get them and they’ll get it at the pace they get it and demonstrate what they can do. That’s what we’ll use – whatever they can do well, that’s what we’ll do with them.”
(For you, two weeks out here, what stand out to you most about the offense and what you’ve seen?) – “I think how hard they work. This group has come – they came back in good shape and they came to work. It’s competitive out here every day. They fly around, they get after each other and once we got the pads on, that continued. It’s good to see those first four days of pads and I’m looking forward to continuing as we go next week into Chicago.”
(Where are you guys, I guess, on the install? This new offense – I know you’ve had some OTAs but in camp and pads, do you feel comfortable with where you’re at?) – “Yeah, we’ve got most everything in. There’s still some outlier things kind of hanging out there but we’ll get those in. But the core of what we want to do and what we have the ability to be flexible with is already in. We’re just going to keep tweaking that and trying to find out what our guys do best with what kind of plays, what kind of routes, what kind of protections and then we’ll do those things.”
(Where are you I guess with Co-Offensive Coordinator/Tight Ends George Godsey? This is a new experience. How have you all learned each other in these new roles?) – “I think it’s been good. We have a lot of open communication. We talk the first thing every morning and multiple times throughout the day. Then one of the last conversations I have at night is seeing him before we leave. We’re always talking about things. We’re sharing things about what we see and what we think about things. But it’s not just me and George (Godsey). It’s a collaborative effort with the whole staff. I mean we need everybody on the staff. ‘Lem’ (Lemuel Jeanpierre) is involved in that, Charlie (Frye) is involved in that, ‘Grizz’ (Josh Grizzard) is involved in that. It’s truly a group effort, a cooperative effort, for one goal.”
(Obviously collaboration is important but at some point, you’ve got to know where your focus is, where his focus is. Do you feel like you guys have a good understanding of that going into a game week or going into a practice week?) – “Yeah, because I think the communication is there.”
(What do you hope to see in this first preseason game? I know it’s a week away, but just kind of this week, the joint practices leading up to the game? What’s the number one thing you’re looking for?) – “The number one thing I’m looking for is competitiveness, effort and then trying to do the things that we’re teaching. That’s the main things we want to come out of this game with. It’s the first time in pads, it’s going to be against somebody else. Now we’ll get a little bit of a prelim because we’re practicing against them, but we want to see their competitive nature. We want to see them try to execute the things that we want done – the techniques, game speed, game spots, all of those things.”
(You were talking about your relationship with you and Co-Offensive Coordinator/Tight Ends George Godsey. You were working together and now you’re Co-OCs, but this past week you were the one OC. What was that like and what did you learn from that experience…?) – “Everything is a new learning experience so there are a lot of things going on during that week. But again, it’s a collaborative effort with the whole staff. The staff picked up and we all did things together and everybody picked up a little bit more. Then when George came back, we picked up right where we left off and he slid in seamlessly. That’s what this is. It’s a group effort. Everything that we do is a group effort. It’s not just on one person.”
(While not divulging what was said in this meeting, I was curious about this – did you, Co-Offensive Coordinator/Tight Ends George Godsey and Head Coach Brian Flores have a meeting at any point over the last few months, just the three of you, where you discussed how this is going to work with co-offensive coordinators, to sort that out?) – “We’ve had lots of meetings. We talk all the time about things so the three of us are in meetings, yeah. We talk about lots of different things but not necessarily specifically about the games yet and how we want to do this. We’ve got so much other work to do right now. We’ve got to get this team ready and get the playbook in and get techniques and fundamentals done and get all of those things that we’re working on out here. We’ll get to the rest of it in time.”
(I wanted to ask you about RB Myles Gaskin. He asked to us about two weeks ago now about how his biggest goal is to just be available and be healthy for his team. How have you seen him kind of change things in his lifestyle and his rehab and his day-to-day to just stay healthy?) – “I think Myles is awesome. I do. I think he’s awesome.”
(RB Myles Gaskin thinks your awesome.) – “Well, I appreciate him saying that. (laughter) Because I love who he is and how he comes to work and doing everything. He’s so passionate about this. I hated him getting hurt last year. It was such a freak deal – the last play of the game, he gets hit on the side of the knee and who knows what happens if that doesn’t happen. But it did. What I think Myles learned from that is to not take anything for granted. Every day is precious and you only get the one opportunity of that day and make the most of it and I think that’s what he does every day. He walks in this building and he gives you everything he has the entire day. That’s why it is fun to coach a guy like that because you know he’s not holding anything back and he just wants to do great.”
(What’s RB Malcolm Brown been like to work with?) – “Yeah, Malcolm has been great in the room. He’s a little bit of an older guy because it’s a relatively young room. He’s brought leadership. I like who he is physically that I’ve seen so far, and what we’re doing in the run game and in pass protection. I think he’s a great addition to what we’re trying to do.”
(Since you’re working more closely with QB Tua Tagovailoa now, I wanted to ask you what strides you have seen that he’s made in any aspect of his game?) – “I think he just continues to improve in every area, like hopefully all of the players are doing. We want them all to continue to improve and not to be the same version they were last year. I think he’s put in work not only physically but on the mental side of the game too, learning more and doing more, seeing more on the field. I think he continues to improve and he will improve even more.”
Co-Offensive Coordinator/Tight Ends George Godsey
(How would you describe your experience of dealing with COVID?) – “It’s just part of what’s going on. I’m just happy to be back here and happy to be going through the grind with everybody else as opposed to remote.”
(You’re vaccinated correct? So were you experiencing symptoms?) – “Yeah. I don’t think we need to get into all of these discussions about COVID really right now with us. It’s kind of football, with all due respect, kind of where I’m going to take this conversation.”
(But just being able to get back with the team?) – “Yeah, I’m thrilled about that. I missed these guys. I told them they look a lot better on video than they do in person. (laughter) It’s good to kind of get back into the camp mode; which we’re trying to spend a lot of time together as a staff and then obviously as a unit, and build that type of relationship that gets us through a long season.”
(What kind of indicators do you get with the offense in joint practices with the Bears?) – “Well, this will be good practice against another unit – another strong defense. We have a lot of respect for their defense. For us, it’s applying our rules, going against a different scheme and making sure we follow those rules because we’ll see some things that are unexpected that they’re getting ready for for the season. It’s a good test. I know our guys are going to be excited to see a new group, too.”
(As a coaching staff, how are you going to get used to this whole co-offensive coordinators? Do you need the preseason games to see how this is going to work exactly? Do you have a plan?) – “As an offense, we do everything as a group. We just got done meeting with each other. We’ve been in there for a couple of hours. We take our 30 minute break to go eat and then we’re back in there. We look at it as one big family in there anyway. Whether it’s co-coordinator, tight ends coach, quarterbacks coach, receivers coach, line coach, assistant, those guys have voices too and we think that everybody’s voice should be listened to. Then at some point, we make a decision.”
(Somebody has to call the plays. So is preseason going to help you guys figure all of that stuff out?) – “Yeah, that will be part of it. I think we have a plan for the whole season, and that’s really kind of what we’re getting ready for in training camp. It’s hard to just say ‘this particular game is going to be exactly like this,’ because we’ll do our own checks and balances to make sure that’s exactly how we want it, and then we’ll go from there.”
(What do you want to see from QB Tua Tagovailoa over the next three weeks?) – “He’s continuing to improve. His leadership is improving. His communication is improving. Not just on the field but off the field. He knows that every day is a chance to get better and he’s done that. There’s certain parts of his game that we want to continue to improve. He knows that we’ve never reached our ceiling. That’s kind of the way we look at it. So we’ll go travel to Chicago, we’ll see some different stuff, we’ll have to make some corrections I’m sure and then we’ll go from there.”
(Do you notice a difference in QB Tua Tagovailoa’s arm and the way he’s getting the ball out?) – “I think a lot of it – there are some positives that we’re seeing that we can apply … I think right now there’s some parts of our offense that we’re checking to see if that’s something sustainable or if we need to do something to improve on to help Tua, to help the offense out. He’s throwing the ball well. We chart everything so we’ll stay on top of that.”
(Could you sort of go over the differences in responsibilities in your new role and how you’ve handled that?) – “I think for each year, you build your own role. Eric (Studesville) and myself are in a position where at some point we’re going to have to make a decision on if this is the direction we want to go as an offense. But we’re continuing to try to put more on each other’s plate in that room as an offense – not just myself and not just Eric. It’s always a process and we’re going to try to arrive at a point here pretty soon right before the season.”
(Can you speak to the development of the tight ends in this camp and what you’ve seen?) – “Yeah, we’ve got a lot of them out there and they’re all getting a lot of reps. That’s really what this time is for – building a base in the run game, blocking, communication with the edge players with protection and blocking and then getting out there and getting open. They’ve all had their plusses and minuses. We’ve got to keep continuing to grow because there’s a good group there that’s flexible and versatile and that’s how we want it. We want to be able to use everybody in the same similar role.”
(We’ve all observed QB Tua Tagovailoa speaking to his teammates after practices and that’s an excellent example of how he’s stepped up in the leadership area. Can you kind of take us behind the scenes and give us another not-so-obvious example of how he’s exhibiting leadership with his team?) – “I think when we speak as coaches, we give the 30,000-foot view on how we feel like the play should be run and how we want it executed. But ultimately that player that is running that particular route may run it a little bit different than another player. So he’s taken that to go ahead and talk to those individual players and how they run it. Right now it may be DeVante (Parker) or somebody that may have not repped that play; but he’s capable of running the play so there’s got to be communication that can continue to grow to make that play work. That’s what happens – the players make the plays work, so they have to go ahead and take ownership and take it as their own and grow from there.”
(When the locker room was open, I learned something I didn’t know – this was two years ago of course – that QB Ryan Fitzpatrick used to drop in on the linebackers. I didn’t know that and it’s probably more common than I think and I should have known that; but how does a player become a leader – not just on offense but eventually, like Fitz, of the whole team. Someone respected by everybody – every coach, every player, offense, defense, kicker. How does one do that?) – “That’s a very complicated question just because leadership is partially earned, too. When you’re young, there are a lot of steps for a young player that you have to step over to be finally what we envision. It’s not just Tua (Tagovailoa). It’s a lot of our young players. We ask for a lot of those guys to be leaders at their own position too. I think it’s one day at a time for him and those strides that you’re talking about, speaking to the team, those aren’t easy to do after a bad practice or an average practice. It’s easy to do after a good practice. But we know in this game there are ups and downs and he’s going to have to confront his teammates on how he saw things, how we can as a unit get better, and we appreciate what he’s doing after practice in regards to that.”
(You and I think Co-Offensive Coordinator/Running Backs Eric Studesville and maybe Head Coach Brian Flores have talked about how the offensive playbook is like a living document. I don’t remember if that was your phrase … But to what extent have you guys been able to gain a lot of input from the quarterback? How much is your starting quarterback involved in choosing what’s going to end up in there?) – “It’s hard to run a play without making sure that not only everybody understands the design of the play but that they believe in it and they know the ins and outs and can make the play work like we’ve talked about. So we run things by the quarterback and we like their feedback. Sometimes if the feedback isn’t necessarily 100 percent positive, we can ask him ‘what part of this play do you not understand?’ And that’s where we see each other as colleagues. We want to go out there and win together. That’s our main goal. So when we can speak together, speak the same language and really understand what we’re trying to do, then that will be the biggest benefit to those plays.”
(So my coverage area now is Palm Beach and QB Jacoby Brissett is a Palm Beach kid, so I can’t get enough Brissett. Is there anything you can share on Brissett that’s sort of been surprising to you or has especially pleased you?) – “I mean Jacoby is as good of a professional to be around, regardless of just being the quarterback. He’s a good communicator. He comes into practice and work every day with a great attitude. We love him. He’s good for Tua (Tagovailoa). He’s had some game experience. He’s won in this league. This is a hard league and he knows that. He takes his job seriously and at that position, it’s a good example to set. I can’t say enough good things about Jacoby.”
(You’ve probably been asked about this a little bit before but in general, the co-coordinator alignment, your thoughts on how that’s working out so far?) – “Yeah, it’s kind of similar to the spring when we talked about this. Eric (Studesville) and I have been together here for the last couple of years, so this is going on our third year. We know each other very well. We talk a ton. We do everything – whether it’s co-coordinator, quarterbacks coach, receivers – we do everything together. So when we’re in there, everybody’s got a voice. If they see something, we tell them to speak up and we’ll address it. At some point, Eric and I will come to an agreement on what direction we need to head and obviously Coach Flores helps with that too. To us, it’s been fun. We really enjoy working with each other a lot. I think his phone rings and my phone rings a little bit more with each other calling. Like I said, that’s been pretty fun.”
(When did you first meet Co-Offensive Coordinator/Running Backs Eric Studesville? Was it before you were on the staff together?) – “Well, I’ve known of Eric and when I came here, he was already here. He’s great. This is when we first started getting to know each other.”
(Are you going to be upstairs or downstairs?) – “We have a plan for that; and it’s preseason so hopefully that original plan sticks. If not, then we’ll make adjustments. We’re not set. I’ve been upstairs; I’ve been downstairs. We’ll kind of take that in stride.”
(Where will you be Saturday for example?) – “We’ve got to get there first. Once we get there, I think it will be pretty easy to tell if I’m up or down during the game. (laughter) We’ll all keep that anticipation going. I’m sure that’ll grow.”
(Something I asked Co-Offensive Coordinator/Running Backs Eric Studesville, and I want to get your viewpoint on this, there was a while ago where RB Myles Gaskin was talking about the playbook and he talked about how different it is from a player’s perspective, at least. When you and Studesville sat down to put this playbook together, what was the one or two primary objectives for you, outside of the obvious that you have to score points?) – “We’ve got a lot of talented players but they’re different and they all have different skillsets. That includes the line and their blocking. That includes the quarterback. That includes tight ends, receivers. Obviously the backs. To get that all together into a cohesive offense, that takes a lot of time. We’re still looking through practice to make sure that we have designed the right things. If not, we’ve got to change it. We’re a fluid group that kind of changes on the fly if we need to. I would say that the playbook is always working. We call it a working playbook. We’re not just going to take out the page and run that play. If it needs to get changed, we’ll change it. That’s, to me, the fun part of football; and the growing, every year you grow as a coach. We’re continuing to do it this year.”
(I assume it’s all – the playbook is not printed at all anymore, right? It’s all electronic?) – “Well, it’s both.”
(It’s both? So if you change it you literally have to tear a page up?) – “Yeah. We’ll tear it out. We’ll re-type. We’re both good at the computer. We’ll get those documents set. If not, we’ve got one of us that can do it.”
(When you talk about trying to tailor the playbook towards guys with different skillsets, does that mean the playbook may have been a certain size before and it’s a different size now?) – “I think it’s as big as it needs to be to make sure that everybody’s got a piece of it. What we don’t want to do is live in one world with a play, and the design needs to be – big picture design so if there’s an injury or a different grouping, those plays will either work with that grouping or we’ll move on to another scheme or another mode.”
(So is it bigger?) – “Oh yeah, it’s big.”
(Is there a danger in getting it too big?) – “No question. There’s always a fine line. The perfect answer for the perfect playbook is always told at the end of the year. Up until that point, we’re going to fine-tune each day, each practice, and make sure that we’re trending in the positive direction.”
(I wanted to ask you about the RPO offense and why it has taken root so much in the NFL and I guess all levels of football. Why is it being utilized so much?) – “Really, the rules of the game. If they allow a throw to be made with the linemen not getting to a certain distance downfield, then we’re taking advantage of the rules of the game. There’s a point where the penalty gets flag because maybe the linemen are downfield, so that part of it is a work in progress. But it’s hard to put a player who is in a run conflict also in a pass conflict defensively, and make sure that they’re taking care of both run and pass. That’s kind of where the RPO game is starting to trend in a more frequent level. A lot of times it’s been play-action where you hope to get the linebackers to come up on run and then you throw behind their heads. These guys are getting pretty good at seeing the difference between run and pass, so that’s where that mode is continuing to trend. Now there’s some things that defenses can do to take away from that. It’s our job to kind of see what’s going on from a scheme standpoint and then work the other way.”
(How much is the jet sweep an important element of that in terms of occupying a defender?) – “That’s part of it too. Sometimes against zone it gets handled differently than versus man. A lot of things are not seen on tape from an offensive perspective as far as how they’re going to handle it. That part of it is a little bit of an unknown sometimes to an offense, where we have to make sure we do enough studying where we know the possible options our defense may have to defend it and then adjust from there, if we’re going to use the jet sweep. It’s another element. A lot of times those guys have some speed, you just flip them the ball and they run around the edge. What we’re trying to do is have the defense defend both vertically and horizontally on each play and not just one or the other. Then you’ve got a lot of options offensively.”
(With the quarterback, what goes into that decision? It’s a split second where you have to decide hand it off or throw? Is it the reading before the play?) – “Some of it is before the play and some of it is post-snap. There’s some different versions. It takes a quick decision-maker and a quick thrower or a quick release from the quarterback too. Some of those are learned a lot earlier based on what colleges are doing right now. High school kids are doing it. Some of that stuff that can continue to carry on helps the quarterback. We think the quarterback has to be very diverse. At some point, one mode will get taken away by a lot of these teams. There’s some great coaches out there. We know all about them. So we have to have multiple modes to be able to attack the defense and not really just live one way or the other.”
(We saw the spread offense come from college to the NFL. Now the RPOs, is it coming from high school to college to the NFL?) – “Yeah, everybody likes good play. Good play works at any level. We’ll take a good play. Like I said, some of those are old-school plays. Some of those are new-school plays. We’ve got a mix of all of them.”
