Outside Linebackers Coach Austin Clark
(I just wanted to clarify with you, that beyond LB Andrew Van Ginkel, and LB Trent Harris who exactly is in your room and if you could comment on those guys and how they’ve looked? Not those two but the others?) – “I would say I work with whoever they ask me to work with. It’s not really a room or position or anything like that. Day-by-day I come into work and fired up about all the guys on our front.”
(I wanted to ask you about LB Tyshun Render and how you’ve just kind of noticed his progress so far through training camp. He won some awards in college about best effort, best hustle guy. I’m curious to get your take on him and if you’ve seen that same effort here in camp so far?) – “I would say those awards are accurate. He’s a grinder, he’s a tough guy. He plays really, really hard and I would say that’s probably his best attribute. I love the kid. I think he’s getting better each day. Got a lot of work to do, but I think he’s on the right track.”
(Coaching philosophy question. I know that you guys – one of the big things you do is find like opponent weaknesses and find matchup advantages. I’m kind of curious in general, what’s the best way for a coach to help a player and a player on his own to identify advantages that mgiht help them in a game?) – “I would say the first thing and we’re big on this here and I personally believe technique and fundamentals are the most important thing that goes into any front play, any defensive play that you do. As a coach, identifying what we want them to do and how we want them to do it and holding that standard each and every day. So there may be a time where they make a great play doing it wrong. You say hey, ‘that’s a hell of a play right there. Here’s how we want you to do it and if you were going against an All Pro here that might not work.’ So I would say the biggest thing for me personally is technique and fundamentals. As far as matchups and different things that you could use depending on an opponent scheme or what they’re showing or what they’re doing; I think that goes into it as well, and I think film and background, I think what we have here with our head coach and defensive coordinator especially in the division and their background with opponents, and even players. With some of the players we have that have backgrounds with a lot of these teams we’re playing is big.”
Wednesday, September 2, 2020
Defensive Backs Coach Gerald Alexander
(From the 10 practices we saw, it looked like the young corners competing for jobs all had their moments with CB Breon Borders, CB Tae Hayes, CB Ken Webster, CB Jamal Perry – how difficult a call is it when you talk to General Manager Chris Grier and Head Coach Brian Flores in terms of deciding who to take from that group if you don’t have room for all of them?) – “I think that obviously we’ll take everybody’s body of work throughout camp. Those guys really did do a good job competing in camp. It’s a good problem to have – to have some good young talent out there showing what they showed in camp thus far. It’s a decision we’ve got to make as an organization to kind of figure out what’s the best personnel that we feel like we’re going to be able to go into the 2020 season with. We love what those guys have done on tape and obviously that’s led us to some tough decisions to make.”
(I wanted to ask you about the two draft picks. Obviously CB Noah Igbinoghene has been in a prominent role basically Day 1 since we’ve seen him. How has he progressed as a player when you first got your hands on him I guess a couple of weeks before we did. What did you see, what traits did you see in him then and how has he developed? With S Brandon Jones how comfortable would you be playing him from scrimmage if needed?) – “As far as Noah (Igbinoghene) – you started to see over the course of camp him get more and more comfortable in his role as a perimeter corner out there competing. You see the competitiveness that he has as a player – things that we thought we saw as a college player. He’s still pretty fresh at the position. He hasn’t been playing corner for that long in his career, obviously being new to this level, but you start to see a guy who is developing technically out there on the perimeter and look forward to kind of getting the chance to kind of see what he can do throughout the course of this season. As far as Brandon (Jones), I would feel just like anybody in this building, we just haven’t had the chance to see it live yet. Unfortunately we haven’t had the opportunity to see these guys play in games – these young guys for the lack of the preseason based on what we have seen so far in practice. It’s going to be an opportunity for him to go out there play in a real game that I would feel comfortable with and then just going out there and getting a chance to learn from there. He’s going to be a guy that has to learn from experience out there on the field – whatever that role is big or small. I’m looking forward to see what both of those kids can do in a real game.”
(I wanted to ask you about having time together, experience, communication, and things like that. You often hear about that for example on the offensive line, and you hear about it in the secondary. Given that, we have not seen for obvious reasons CB Xavien Howard on the practice field with the other guys in the secondary. How concerning is that for you and how much time will be required before ‘X’ can get on the same page with the safeties and with CB Byron Jones?) – “I think ‘X’ (Xavien Howard) has handled himself as a professional in the midst of obviously his coming back and being on the field with those guys. One of the things that he’s done is to make sure that throughout the meetings and out there on the field if he is not taking the physical rep, he’s taking the mental rep. He understands the communication that’s going on with those guys out there on the field. So when he does insert himself into that role on the field there is some familiarity even though he hasn’t take the physical rep as much as some of the other guys given the situation. I’m not too concerned about it. I think that he understands the terminology. He understands the responsibility that comes with certain calls and certain communication, but it’s just about, again, getting that on-the-field experience and practicing it and obviously once we get into game time, being able to execute the things that we need to execute on the field.”
(I wanted to ask you where is your comfort level in the guys that you have playing nickel cornerback? I know CB Jamal Perry has been in the a lot, but I saw CB Noah Igbinoghene was getting some lessons in there, or some reps in there as the nickel spot. How difficult do you think that is to play in this era of the league?) – “That position is so valued now. That nickel role with the amount of spread personnel formations that you see offensively, and you’ve got to have a guy in there that can cover in space, that can tackle in the run game, that can maybe add perimeter pressure off the edge. Those guys are invaluable in today’s league. As far as Jamal (Perry) and guys like Tae Hayes and Noah (Igbinoghene) getting some of those reps – through practice and through training camp those guys have showed flashes of making some splash plays and having tight coverage on the slot. Those guys have done a good job, so I’m – based on what we’ve seen so far going into the season – my comfort level is high on them, them getting into the game. But obviously there’s got to be some improvement as we continue to develop in the secondary and especially at that position because it’s such a valued position.”
(Coaching philosophy question. What would you tell a player separates good from great?) – “Good from great – I think it’s really about routine and then understanding. What I always tell those guys is that understanding leads to control. When you get a chance to understand your responsibility – not just yours as a player – but the entire big picture of what we’re trying to get done as a secondary, and what we’re trying to get done as a defense even though you’re one of an 11 piece puzzle; if you understand what your responsibility is and how you’re going to be attacked, that can give you an opportunity to do great things. That’s controlling the field and then personally what do you do to prepare yourself throughout the year, throughout the weeks, throughout the day to make sure you’re going to be able to perform at your highest level on any given day. It’s tough. It’s just like anybody else in any business who is dedicated to their craft. It takes more than being ordinary. It takes doing extraordinary things all the time and that’s what I would say from a player. That’s why there are few great players in this league. Something about those guys – not just the physical part – has made them stand out in their career and shown their body of work when it’s all said and done.”
(You’ve got cut-down day on Saturday. I know this is your first time as a coach in the NFL, but you’ve lived the NFL life before. I’m just curious to get your take on the challenges of cut-down day and kind of how that is from a player’s perspective and a coach’s perspective?) – “This is fresh for me obviously from a coaching perspective. I think obviously these are tough decisions you’ve got to make as an organization to make sure that you’ve got the best 53 guys going into the season that you feel like you can win with. As a player, I know it’s taxing. It’s emotional. I’ve lived kind of both sides of it. Made teams and got cut from teams and so I understand the situation that the players are going through. For some of these guys the cut down may be their last opportunity to get a chance to play in this league. It is a huge accomplishment if you do make a roster. I understand really both sides of it. I’ll get a chance to obviously experience this side as a coach. But that’s the reality of this league. It’s a very competitive league. I tell guys all the time, even when I was coaching college ball: to stay in this league is harder than getting here. And it’s really hard to get to the NFL and play at this level. That’s the reality of the business, and we’re going to go about our business as we normally do and just look forward to the 2020 season with the guys that we decide are going to be Miami Dolphins.”
(I appreciate you bringing up that point. What do you remember from cut-down day when you were a player? You bounced around so much as kind of a journeyman. What was it like to get fired?) – “It’s a hard reality. You don’t know if your playing career is over. You don’t know if that opportunity is going to come, but if you continue to want to play at this level, you have to make sure that you are physically prepared to take on any call from any team and go try out and all of that. I remember just being in that mindset of trying to continue to hold on and then I also remember when the reality hit me where the opportunity to play in the National Football League was over. It’s a tough deal emotionally as a player and as a person, you’ve got to kind of look forward to really the next step in life if that situation is a reality for you as an NFL player. I’m fortunate enough to have found a new passion obviously with what I’m doing as a coach. But it took a while and it was scary. It was scary being a 27-year-old about to be married, and about to have a kid on the way and not know what my next step in life was going to be. Through actually volunteering at my high school as a coach I found a new passion in coaching and I pursued it, and now I’m here today.”
Wednesday, September 2, 2020
Offensive Line Coach Steve Marshall
(G/T Jesse Davis told us yesterday that he’s primarily a right tackle for now. Have you decided and I don’t expect you to share with us who it is even if you have decided, but have you decided if G Solomon Kindley will be your right guard or if T Robert Hunt will be your right guard?) – “That process is ongoing. We’re pretty close to making that decision and we’ve got a long way to go to the Patriots, so there’s really no reason to make any decision right now; but we’ll go from there. Jesse – like you said – he’s been at right tackle, he’s been at left tackle, he’s been at left guard, he’s been at right guard; and he’s got a lot of versatility, and he’s had a really good camp. We’ll see where it all kind of shakes out here.”
(Where is G Michael Deiter in his development as a center?) – “Mike (Deiter) is a guy who came in here last year, played left guard. He has center in his background. He’s working basically every day. I’ve been very pleased with what he’s done at center, and he’s multi-position learning. He played center at the University of Wisconsin when he was a sophomore, so it wasn’t unfamiliar to him and it’s just like Ted (Karras) and all our other centers – Keaton Sutherland – that we ask those guys for a lot, and there’s a lot of things. Every day’s a new adventure for them; but again, Mike has competed extremely hard and I’ve been very happy with his development.”
(I know you mentioned G/T Jesse Davis, but it seems like overall in the unit there’s a lot of young guys on the o-line as a whole. Are you comfortable with maybe the lack of veterans, kind of having a young group as a whole?) – “We are young, that’s for sure. Jesse (Davis) is one of the old graybeards. I think he’s 28, 29 or whatever he is. Ereck (Flowers) has been in the league four years and he’s still 26. Ted Karras – 27. So there’s a sense of – yeah, there’s guys that – the only way this league is so different as we’ve talked before, this league is so different than college football as far as the speed of it and the mental aspect of the game, and some of that stuff only comes with playing and experience. The young guys that we do have, we’ve just got to get them in there and see where they are and put on top of it no preseason games, where they could get a little taste of what the speed of the game is. We’re going right into the first ballgame. It just happens to be the 12-4 football team that’s the Patriots. It’s a big task; but again, it’s been a great camp. We’ve had a lot of competition. There’s been a lot of good. We’ve had our hiccups, but I’ll tell you one thing – the guys have fought their tails off and are working hard and like I said, we’re anxious to get this season rolling.”
(I was hoping you could go a little bit more in detail about those three rookies that you have – the three draft picks – something quick on each one of them for me?) – “Rob Hunt – he’s the (University of Louisiana-Lafayette) Lafayette kid that came out and came in here and has done extremely well. We’ve asked a lot of him as we have ‘AJ’ (Austin Jackson) – Austin – and Solomon (Kindley). They’re multi-position learning. So that on top of just learning a new league, going against the d-line that we’ve got, has been a big challenge for them. Every day like I said before, every day with Rob Hunt and Solomon and ‘AJ’ has been a new adventure. They’ve got to learn and one of the things I think they’ve learned where they were the big dog at their college game, in practice it’s highly competitive every single snap. You’re going against (Shaq) Lawson. You’re going against (Emmanuel) Ogbah. You’re going against Christian Wilkins or any of those guys on the d-line. It is a battle every day; and that’s the thing that I think that young guys coming into this league – and ours are no exception – that hey, every game, every practice is a highly fierce, competitive practice. And that’s where they’re learning every day a little bit better as far as handling that kind of pressure or competitiveness – whatever you call it – and then obviously the chance that they’re being thrown in the mix or potentially thrown in the mix if they go. That’s kind of the whammy; but hey, they’re talented young guys and like I said, we’ll kind of see how it all comes out. They’ve learned a lot in a very, very, very short period of time and they’ve gotten better every day, and I can give you that right there.”
(I’d like to go to an offensive line coach convention one day. I think that’d be fun…) – “I don’t know – they’ve got them – I don’t know if you – Bob Wylie used to (do them). I haven’t been in a few years, but they have one in Cincinnati every May where eight or nine of the o-line coaches go and talk a little football and do a few other things there. It’s become so big. When I started college coaching, (former NFL coach) Jim McNally and some of the older guys – Hudson Houck – some of these (guys) used to have it. I have great memories of those type things. Yes, that would be very entertaining for if you wanted to learn kind of that world.”
(My question was – you’ve done this for a minute – so I’m curious how would you describe your own style? What’s your approach?) – “I’ve been asked that through the years. I don’t know if I have an approach. It’s hard to kind of – I’d love to say that I’m a teacher of it – and part of being a teacher is learning from an o-line spot, there’s a tremendous synergy – I don’t know if that’s the right word, but I’m going to use it anyway – that between, hey, you play with a lot of fire, you play with a lot of intensity, but you’ve also got to play with a sense of smartness, a sense of ‘under control.’ There’s a fine line there. I think that’s kind of – the line coaches that I’ve learned from through the years and I’ve taken away a lot of things from that, is where I see great coaches can get guys to learn things where their mind is clear enough, where they can play at the optimal speed. And I think you know what I’m talking about there and that’s really the fine line, and that is truly – as you’ve heard the word through the years – a process to get a young guy from one level to the next and a lot of it is just pure repetition. A lot of it is having the type of offensive system from a call standpoint where they can come up to the line of scrimmage and their minds are clear and they don’t have to think about a thousand things and they can go play ball. And that’s the fine line between getting them to be where they need to be to win in this league.”
(I don’t know how I can top the offensive line convention part of it…) – “That’s hard to top. (laughter) That would be hard to top. You guys would like that stuff. Now, it goes Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It’s a three-day deal, now. It’s not like a two-hour deal. (laughter)”
(I’ve got nothing on that, but what I would like to ask you – earlier on you had mentioned something to the effect of we’ve got some time before the Patriots game. Just to clarify – even if you’re not going to tell us what your five will be – what is your timetable for deciding that five and how confident are you that those five are going to be your guys for a while, not just one or two games?) – “You never know what the future holds. I think we’re really zeroing in on really not the five because you really can’t zero on the five. You guys, again, think about who the starters are, but we’re really zeroing in on the eight or nine that are going to be there because you’ve always got to take in the what-if factors. What if a guy gets hurt? What if one of our guys goes down? Who’s the backup? Who’s got to play two positions? So I’m more focused on that as we get ready to start into the season because again, those guys have to play multiple positions and you’ve got five starters, but you’ve also got – if we travel with seven – if we have seven up on game day or eight up on game day, okay, one guy goes down and who’s the position? Now if you lose two of them, then you get into do we need an extra tight end or what have you because it’s really more of – that’s kind of my job. I think as we go forward, we’ll have a pretty good plan on going into it who is going to get the ‘starters’ reps and who gets the backup reps. So it’s more from my standpoint because I’m right there every day, getting eight or nine guys ready depending on how many I get on game day. I think there’s a new rule now that you can take eight guys to the game. And so that’s my focus, is getting not only the starters but the other guys ready to go, too.”
Wednesday, September 2, 2020
Wide Receivers Coach Josh Grizzard
(I’m trying to get a sense for coaching philosophies and coaching approaches for all the guys who are in a new role for the first year, so I guess the one I would ask you is what do you think are the keys to helping a player reach his potential?) – “I would say to make sure these guys are consistent and find ways to motivate each guy; and I think the key to that is you can’t coach one guy the same way that you can coach another guy. So does that mean you can be hard on them on the practice field or the meeting room, or do you need to pull him aside and know that he doesn’t really appreciate being called out, but he’d rather, ‘just tell me on the side what I need to do.’ And being able to figure that out from my end, I think then helps them because it allows them to maximize their potential. And just making sure they’re stacking good days back-to-back, making sure that if there is a bad day that you don’t come back with another bad day; so finding ways to improve what you did the day before. Again, each guy is a different story.”
(I guess when we first saw RB Malcolm Perry out here, he was still transitioning to receiver and now we’ve seen a few highlight plays from him already through practice and scrimmages. Where have you sort of seen his kind of evolution and where is your comfort with him playing receiver at this point?) – “He’s done a nice job and it’s a testament to him that he just works his ass off all the time; so for him to be able to come in here and make that transition from playing quarterback has been – it takes time to get a feel for routes and coverages and things like that, but what he does a good job of is not making the same mistake twice. So if you see something wrong on one play, ‘hey man, you didn’t do it quite how we wanted it,’ he does a good job of walking through it on his own and coming back the next day and improving on that and then filing it away for, ‘okay, this is how this needs to be done the next time.’”
(I did want to follow up again on RB Malcolm Perry. At what moment did you realize during training camp that hey, this kid may be a player from what you’ve seen so far?) – “I don’t know if one thing stuck out during training camp, but I actually coached down in the East-West Shrine game back in January and had a chance to work with him down there. I was working with the quarterbacks. He was of course playing receiver, and just to see his attention to detail and commitment and knowledge and smarts; and you could tell that it was a guy that had a passion for the game. So for a lot of the same reasons we were talking about earlier on – not making the same mistakes again twice – you can just see that he’s very serious about getting better from day to day. Guys that really enjoy the game, that’s easy for them because they can come here and work and he kind of epitomizes that.”
(As you know from working with Adam Gase and Clyde Christensen, they both believed – and Adam articulated to us – that WR Jakeem Grant is better on the boundary than in the slot. Do you agree with that and are you using him more outside or inside?) – “Really what Jakeem (Grant) and the rest of our guys – they have the ability to play outside, they have the ability to play inside. It depends on a week-to-week thing. It depends on a matchup for who we’re going against. I see Jakeem as a guy that can do both. We all see the ability that he has. Does that mean playing on the outside and taking advantage of his skillset there or moving into the slot based on matchups, he can do that as well. So he really has the flexibility to do both.”
(I was wondering do you have a good QB Ryan Fitzpatrick story?) – “I do. So unfortunately when I was at Yale, we did not beat Harvard one time, so five years – brutal – again, not happy about that. But I can’t remember who we were playing. I feel like it was the Jets or somebody and Yale was playing Harvard, and I had the pleasure of watching it with him on his phone as Yale beat Harvard, so that was a highlight of time spent with him.”
Wednesday, September 2, 2020
Running Backs Coach Eric Studesville
(As you guys studied RB Salvon Ahmed in the draft, what did you think about him when you looked at running backs in the draft and what has he shown you the first few days?) – “In the draft, I thought that he did a nice job up in Washington. I think it was very similar to what Myles (Gaskin) did when he was up in Washington. He ran the ball (well). He uses speed out in space. He made a lot of plays up there. He’s just an exciting young player.”
(I know RB Malcolm Perry has been doing a lot with the receivers but obviously he could be used in your room as well. How do you kind of use a player like that who may not be with you full-time but may see some snaps out of the backfield at some point?) – “We’re always trying to create and come up with new things like that and you have a player who’s got a unique skillset. Obviously his productivity at Navy was unbelievable last year and we’re just bouncing ideas off right now; but we don’t know what to do with it right now. We’re still trying to figure out what the running backs can do before we can do anything, and he’s got a big job ahead of him learning all the special teams stuff and the wide receiver stuff, which is new for him, too. So the possibilities are out there, but we haven’t spent a lot of time with that at all yet.”
(Speaking of possibilities, how much are you campaigning to get your hands on LB Elandon Roberts in the backfield?) – “(laughter) It’s a nice possibility of having him be able to go both ways and come over there. Obviously he’s done that and done it successfully at New England, but at the same point in time, we’re really happy with I think some of the things that Chandler (Cox) has shown and done so far in camp, too; so the chance of having both guys there and two people that can do similar-type job descriptions if we need it is a nice issue to have.”
(I wanted to ask you about carving out specific roles for your tailbacks. I know everybody has this vision of RB Jordan Howard as a power back and RB Matt Breida as a guy in space, but obviously that telegraphs things when you put them on the field. How do you do that – go about carving out roles without telegraphing what you intend to do?) – “I think they carve out the roles. They’re going to determine what they can and can’t do. I think the thing that I try to do with them is to expose them and show what they can do in all of the different runs. Don’t just isolate one guy to say, ‘hey, he just runs all the toss plays’ or all the outside plays or this or that. They all have to be able to do it and you expose them to the whole variety – our whole menu of plays – and then they kind of determine, ‘hey, I’m a little bit better at this one than the other ones’ or this is what their strengths look like. I think that’s kind of how we develop and create those roles, but I think the main thing is that you can’t – it’s easy to fall into a trap of just making them do one thing and saying, ‘hey, he’s good at this’ because you’re a broken shoelace or a chin strap away from a guy that you’ve now pigeonholed into being able to do one thing to really handcuffing your offense to what you need to do. So I try to expose them to everything. We’re going to emphasize what they do best, but at the end of the day, if we’re calling something and it’s working and those kinds of things, then they’ve all got to be able to do it.”
(I know you mentioned it’s kind of right now just getting the basics taken care of, but I am curious because last year you guys ran plenty of direct-snap Wildcat type of stuff and a lot of times it was RB Kalen Ballage in that package. I’m just curious, generally speaking, what is it to you that makes a good back when it comes to taking direct snaps out of that Wildcat package?) – “The ability to get the play started is a huge plus. That guy – like the quarterback – he’s touching the ball every play. I think that’s something that Kalen (Ballage) obviously had a background in that before he came here and did that in college and did it successfully. He had what, eight touchdowns in one game doing all that stuff? I’ve had different guys over the years do that, but it takes time to develop that skill. It’s not something that they just inherently do, so it takes time to develop that and to do all of that. Some guys are better at it than others.”
(I know you haven’t had any preseason games to actually see the live action of it, but I guess how comfortable do you feel with your backfield now to maybe this time last year?) – “I’ll be honest with you, I don’t know that I can remember what I felt like last year. I’m so focused on what we’re doing right now. I like this room. I do. I like these five guys that we’re working with and I think they’ve all done a good job of coming and working, competing, trying to showcase what they can do, trying to determine – just like we talked about a moment ago – what their role and function is going to be on this team. They’re competitive. They’re serious. They want to be good. They’re hungry. They’re able to be pushed and I think – I just like the whole room, the dynamic that’s going on with all of them. So every year I’m excited. I feel the same way every year though at the end of the day because I think we’re going to – we do exactly what we think puts them in the best position to be successful and we’re going to try to continue to do that. And I like where we are right now. If there’s anything that I don’t feel comfortable about, then I need to get on that here in the next week and make sure we get it set before next week because we’re running out of time.”
(Oftentimes last season, a running back would get the ball and they would be met immediately by some defenders. I think maybe RB Kalen Ballage got an unfair shake for the 1.8 yards per carry average because of that. What are some things that kind of went wrong with Kalen’s time here, especially with last season?) – “I think that’s unfair for me to go back and look at all that right now. I’m really – I love that kid. He did everything I asked him to do and I just think right now going forward, I’m so focused on trying to get this group of guys ready to play in two weeks that I’ve looked at so little of last year recently and gone back over it. I’m really focused on what we need to do to move forward. I’m focused on moving forward.”
(Has the fact that RB Patrick Laird been slowed by the shoulder in the last week, has that been hurtful in your evaluation of him or do you pretty much know what you have with him?) – “It’s obviously decreased his reps and things, and he’s done a great job to this point in time; but injuries are part of what we do. That’s part of this, so that’s an opportunity for somebody else to step up, get some more reps, demonstrate what they can do; and that motivates Patrick (Laird) to get back on the field, too, and he’s done a great job with that. It’s part of our game. Losing time is part of our game, but that’s what we have to overcome. That’s constantly what we’re adjusting and moving pieces to do at every position, not just mine. And we are evaluating, but we’re evaluating how they handle adversity, how he handles this little setback that he’s gotten into right now and it’s always part of the evaluation process of everything that happens to these guys during this time that we’re trying to pick the team.”
Wednesday, September 2, 2020
Linebackers Coach Anthony Campanile
(Last year, LB Sam Eguavoen coming from the CFL – mostly used in pass coverage early on playing inside, then used more of a pass rusher role late in the season and played well. Your vision for him would be what – a guy who you think is good at both, a guy you think has pass rushing upside and how has he looked in camp?) – “I think he’s done a great job in camp to this point, and he’s a guy who’s been able to – he’s really done a good job with everything we’ve asked him to do. I think that’s been his – what you saw of him last year as well. He’s an awesome guy to coach. There’s nothing that he won’t do for the team. He’s a team guy – a guy you love to coach – and like I said, has a great skillset. (He) can do a bunch of things.”
(I’m going to resist the temptation to ask you about your Sunday menu and instead if we could address the LB Raekwon McMillan trade. He filled some roles for you last year and I’m wondering what you saw from this group of linebackers that enabled you to part with McMillan. Who’s going to take over those roles and what are you seeing from those guys?) – “I think all the guys – like I said last time we talked, I guess a few days ago – everybody’s really done a good job. Everybody’s been a total team guy. Great room. Been able to fill a lot of the roles and things we’ve been asking them to do throughout the summer, and I said this a few days back – I loved coaching Raekwon (McMillan). Great guy. Great kid. And I think he’s a really good player in this league and I think he’s going to have a lot of success – continue to have success – but some of those decisions are obviously the organization and I think he did a great job. I think everybody here thinks he did a great job, so I enjoyed my time coaching him and I think all the guys in our room have been awesome the whole way. They’ve done everything we’ve asked them to do throughout the summer, like I already said. So I’m really, really excited to get started here.”
(I wanted to ask you about LB Elandon Roberts. He has come in and seemingly been sort of one of the more vocal players on that unit. How many spots can he actually play and what are the skillsets that he brings to your group?) – “Somebody asked me something similar last week. I think he’s really a physical guy. He’s been that way throughout his career. A lot of fun to coach. You had just alluded to his communication skills, his leadership skills. I’ve really enjoyed being around that. I think the guys on the team and the guys in the room have enjoyed being around that; so to me, that’s the type of guy he is. He’s a real throwback football guy, high character person. You can see like I said, the guys the room, myself; everybody loves being around this guy, so I’ve enjoyed my time coaching him and he’s done a great job for us as well this summer.”
(I want to ask some of the first-year guys on the staff about their coaching philosophy so I wrote down what are the keys to helping a player reach his potential? I know it’s a very general question, but I’m kind of interested in coaching approaches. What are the keys to helping a player reach his potential?) – “I think one of the things that is often overlooked in coaching but is certainly very, very important, is I believe a coach’s job is to organize information so that the player can process it and play faster. I think that’s our job, so organizing the information so the guys are thinking in sound bites, not sentences; and they can play fast. I think good football players and good football plays are made with anticipation so you’re trying to take away all anxiety because anxiety – obviously you’re in fear or unsure of what’s going to happen in the future, whether it be in the next few seconds or the next few weeks. Anticipation is you have a pretty good idea, ‘hey, this is probably one of two or three things, not one of 10 things.’ And I think guys that have great anticipatory skills when they’re playing; you can take a guy that maybe runs a 4.7 (40-yard dash) but he looks like he’s playing at a 4.4 (speed) and vice versa. You can have a guy that is a 4.4. (speed) running the wrong direction; so I think our job as coaches is to get that progression down because your eyes, feet and hands – I think it usually goes in that progression each play. My eyes are going to tell my feet what to do. My hands are buying me time. And a lot of information is sent from the eyes to the brain, telling your feet what to do each play. So I think that’s a big role in terms of the schematics for our job as coaches.”
(I wanted to ask you, you guys have that multiple feel with the defense. You’ve got players playing – some guys playing d-line, some guys playing linebacker. I wanted to ask how you kind of go about coaching some of those guys – the DE Shaq Lawsons, the DE Emmanuel Ogbahs – who in some fronts may be with Defensive Line Coach Marion Hobby and then on some fronts may be with you?) – “I think one of the great things about this organization and ‘Coach Boyer’ (Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer) and ‘Coach Flores’ (Head Coach Brian Flores) – I may have mentioned this in the past – everybody really gets an opportunity to coach all the guys the way practice is set up. There’s no egos in our defensive room, so everybody, really, it’s a collaborative effort. And that’s really a lot of fun. I think you get a great feel for all the guys on the unit and you really get to kind of spend time with players from all different groupings on the field. So that’s been awesome. It’s a great – I think philosophically – it’s something I’ve really enjoyed as well, and I’ve enjoyed getting the opportunity to be around all these different guys every day. They’re awesome. It’s a great group of guys.”
(Maybe this is a question for Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer or Head Coach Brian Flores, but I’m curious because typically the player that wears the green dot – the communication helmet – comes from the linebacker unit. I’m just curious, last year we had LB Jerome Baker wearing it. Now you’ve got some more guys that can probably communicate the defense as effectively. I’m curious what goes into the decision to who wears the green dot – the communication helmet – on defense?) – “I think what you’re striving for is to have a bunch of those guys on a unit that can do that, and that goes back to communication. Do you have players that are – obviously you want to built your unit full of smart, football guys who have a relatively high football IQ and we feel like that’s the case here. We’re fortunate to have a bunch of guys who love football. It’s not only their profession, it’s their passion. So the more guys you have like that who kind of understand the inner workings and schematics – the front, the back end, how they work together, what the offense is trying to do – that affords you more of an opportunity to find players who can step into that role on Sunday. And we felt the guys throughout the course of the spring and summer have done a very good job of that.”
(It’s Sunday dinner question time. Favorite time of the interview, baby. All right, tell me about the best lasagna you ever had and what makes a great lasagna?) – “That’s my mother’s (lasagna). That’s my mother’s. But you don’t want to take that right out. You can’t take that right out. You’ve got to let that sit a little bit so then everything kind of hardens up. It’s all got to kind fit together for a little while. So the people that take right out (of the oven) and serve it, I think that’s a huge mistake. You can’t cook it too – like to me, you get the macaroni done, then when you throw it in the oven – you’ve really got to know what you’re doing there because you can mess up lasagna. You can easily mess that up. That’s not an easy one. That’s a great question though. (laughter)”
Wednesday, September 2, 2020
Tight Ends Coach George Godsey
(Obviously you don’t coach the quarterbacks. It seems even defensive players, even the tight ends, everybody has been sort of impacted in some way by QB Ryan Fitzpatrick. That’s sort of what I was driving towards. Your tight ends talk about how he drops into the tight ends’ room just to check on them and maybe go over some detail or something. Can you kind of give us a since of your impressions of Ryan and what he means to the whole room? Obviously in the light of him going through a hard time right now.) – “Playing quarterback and knowing Ryan really since 2014 when I specifically coached him in Houston, the most important thing about that position is communication and communicating to everybody on the team. When the ball is in your hands as a quarterback, everybody sees it through your eyes and how a defender is playing you, he may expect something that maybe another quarterback wouldn’t have expected at the top of the route to look a little different. Getting on the same page, that’s hard to do when you’re not together and have already experienced it in OTAs. So now that we’re in training camp, it’s that much vital. Just personally, Ryan means so much. He talks to us daily at all of the positions. Our heart aches for him, and I think I’m speaking for everybody on the team when I say that.”
(You’ve obviously worked with Head Coach Brian Flores before you guys both came down here to Miami. Where can you say that he has maybe changed of evolved as a coach, and where can you say that he’s stayed the same and kind of kept the same values he’s always had?) – “The three years in New England from 2011 to 2013, we were both kind of making our ways as far as turning into position coaches. We would use each other as sounding boards. When he had a certain area on defense and I had a certain area on offense, we would always spend extra time at the end of the week reviewing on future talk, meaning how are we going to get ourselves better as coaches. We’ve stayed in touch since those days. He’s a good mentor right now, a good friend. He’s always been. As coaches, we improve every year. We don’t have all of the answers. Sometimes unfortunately we learn from mistakes, and sometimes we’re better. I’d say that his mind is always focused on what’s best for the team. With that mindset, you’re going to be ahead of a lot of things and that’s where I see us. I see Brian a lot of times a step ahead of maybe a question that’s about to arise. That’s encouraging not only from a coaching standpoint, but I’m sure they see that as players too.”
(It was interesting what you were just talking about with Head Coach Brian Flores. It kind of made me wonder, I know obviously you guys have a job to do now, but as a position coach, how do you balance wanting to ascend in your own career versus preparing for your day to day current task?) – “That’s a tough question because sometimes there is not enough time for that, to build and type something up because you’re worried about your current job. Usually when you succeed at your current job, it will show; and obviously it extends to what else you can do. If you’re given certain responsibilities and you’re able to overcome those, or let’s say go beyond those, and then provide more. We always think that your role is really defined on how you – what you make of it. Being efficient and being quick with your decisions, and being accurate, those will be the quickest things to put more things on your plate. That’s kind of where I individually start at. Just being like I said, efficient, quick and accurate as far as making decisions.”
(I wanted to ask you about TE Adam Shaheen, in terms of where his progression is now. Obviously when he first got here, he was behind the eight ball; but then we started to see him make some more plays during the second week of training camp. Where is he in the understanding of the offense? And skillset wise, can he be an inline guy? Is he a flex guy? What’s your vision for him?) – “Just the first question with Adam, daily there is some – it’s very similar to what I was saying, you usually make – sometimes as a player, you make some mistakes and then you learn from those. It’s a lot easier to sit back there in a meeting room and coach them up. A lot of times, it’s getting out there, getting those reps, and we’ve done a good job as far as everybody from a cumulative-wise on the offense is making sure we’re slowly adding more to the plate. For Adam’s sake, it’s not only just learning the offense a little bit more and spending more time on that; but also getting on the field for more reps. We put him in roles where he’s blocking. I feel confident about that. He’s got good range. Obviously when you’re a taller guy like he is, pad level is very important. That’s constantly something we’re working on. I’ve been a part of that in the past with tall guys. We kind of have a good plan on that one. Again, it’s showing reps of what he’s doing in practice and how those individual drills can transfer over. In the passing game, not only is he a good protector just with his length – he can match up with those defensive ends – but also the size matchup on a safety or a linebacker. He’s a big, athletic man. He has some basketball background, so he makes good decisions in space. We can improve that and I think he knows that too; but we’re trying to keep adding to some reps. He got 20 to 25 reps in the scrimmage. That’s a sign of good improvement from our standpoint.”
(TE Durham Smythe has really come onto his role in the last couple of years trying to do a little bit of everything. Where has he kind of taken this training camp?) – “I really think Durham’s a leader in that room. He does a good job of communicating when he’s right and when he’s wrong, but explaining exactly what he saw so as a group we can get better. He was put in a lot of blocking roles last year and did fairly well. He improved tremendously from his first year. He put on a lot of weight. I think we found a good spot at his weight. He’s in shape. He plays a lot of reps out there at practice. He’s hydrating. He’s getting his nutrition back so he’s maintaining his weight. He’s able to help in all three phases – whether it’s blocking, protection, or running routes. I feel really confident about Durham, and I really feel confident about putting him in any role and him knowing his assignment, which that’s the number one thing in a coach to player relationship. We trust him. Like I said, his leadership in that room is invaluable.”
(I was really impressed, as I’m sure you were, about TE Mike Gesicki and TE Durham Smythe showing the maturity to get together this offseason, even by phone, trying to work on their areas of improvement to become less predictable in terms of what teams anticipate you’ll run with both in the game. Do you have any way of knowing through about 12 padded practices if Durham is a better receiver now and if Gesicki is a better blocker?) – “The way that we kind of work things from a scripting standpoint, I like to rotate them all and make sure that – like right now we’re not specifically game planning something for one particular player. So in case something happens, during training camp there’s always something that happens whether it’s a slow pull here or maybe he needs to sit out a couple of reps because he took multiple reps. We put those guys in that role. I know we put Durham in a couple of two-minute situations where last year we didn’t necessarily put him in those situations. I could’ve did a better job at that, just preparing for maybe the what-ifs that occur. And the same thing with Michael (Gesicki), putting him in some situations where he does have to cut out Shaq Lawson, (Emmanuel) Ogbah. These are some good players that they are facing on the defensive end – Kyle (Van Noy). The list goes on and on. They are getting good work and they are kind of learning different roles. I appreciate them kind of leaning on each other, and that shows you the chemistry in that room. It’s not just those two guys. I know Adam (Shaheen) asks a lot of questions – Chris (Myarick). We rely on Chandler (Cox) too on some of his blocks, because obviously a tight end is going to do some of those roles. It’s a good room as far as communicating back and forth, and like I said, I appreciate the professionalism.”
(Just asking you about TE Mike Gesicki, I know last year was kind of viewed like a breakout for him because of the stats he was able to put up. Is that like a realistic expectation of what could be in store for him this season? Or does the new offense change anything on maybe how he will potentially be used?) – “I just expect him to continue to improve. Like I said, I see all those guys as young improving players. I don’t think any of them have reached their ceiling. I think that when the ball is thrown to those guys, those guys have the ability to catch it. They work hard at their craft. They work hard at catching the football. Mike’s the last one to come off the field with the JUGS machine. He takes pride in that. The one thing I mentioned to him was if you’re a go-to receiver or tight end in this case and the ball is thrown to you, and you have a chance to catch it, it’s your job to pull that down. It’s not always going to be on the numbers and with separation from the defensive back. Those guys have started to understand that, and you understand that going from the first year to second year to third year. You realize that those opportunities are not as easy. They know that they continually have to work. There are new players that they will be going against this year. Defenders, they have to study their positives and negatives. I think that we’ve got them in a good position as far as learning to weekly prepare for an opponent and work on their craft at the same time, because it is constant and it is every minute of the week as we’re preparing for a game.”
Wednesday, September 2, 2020
Quarterbacks Coach Robby Brown
(How have you seen QB Tua Tagovailoa over the course of the last month? Where was he when you got your hands on him and where is he now as far as not just health but playbook and all of that?) – “He’s really – you come in day by day and try to get better each and every day. I think he’s done a good job at doing that. Just like every other quarterback in the room, that’s the goal. ‘Can we be better today than we were yesterday?’ Whether it’s assignments, communication, reads, whatever it may be. I think he’s taking that challenge seriously.”
(I wanted to ask about QB Ryan Fitzpatrick. Is there anything different about him than years past?) – “I don’t think different. He’s not changed as a person in any way, shape or form. He loves to play the game. He likes the mental aspect of the game. I haven’t noticed anything different but we haven’t been back together but really for a month here. Really and truthfully, he seems the exact same to me. He loves to play, he loves the game, loves the mental part of the game and loves to compete.”
(I know that guys haven’t made a starting quarterback decision but I want to talk about the backup role and maybe what you ask for in that player and having to be ready for that role and active on game days, and how you look at maybe what are you asking for or looking for specifically when you try to figure out if a player is ready for being the backup?) – “I think really in that spot, you’re always looking for a guy that’s competitive that really loves to play. It’s the same things that ‘Flo’ (Head Coach Brian Flores) always talks about. You want him to be mentally ready. It’s really the same thing you’re looking for in the starter. You’re looking for a guy that wants to come in and compete, knows what to do, when to do it, knows how to lead. It’s the National Football League. There’s 64 guys if you count starters and backups. You’re looking for the same thing and the differences are usually very small. You hope it’s as small as possible.”
(I’m asking all of the first-year assistants about their coaching philosophies and then kind of putting it all together into one story. I wanted to ask you what’s your approach as a coach to helping your quarterbacks?) – “We talked about it a little bit the first time but I think coaching any position, any sport, coaching anybody, is really about knowing people and knowing the differences – what makes them tick, how they learn, does this help you? Well if it doesn’t, let’s try something else. In my room – and really in the NFL in particularly but specifically quarterbacks – you have guys who are ultra-competitive, they want to learn, most of them are field house rats. So you’re really just trying to figure out what works for them and their personality and what makes them tick, I would say, because every guy is a little bit different. Maybe their strength is what you’re trying to find and how to play to that strength and how they learn. I think that’s the biggest key is their personality and how they learn.”
(All of the quarterbacks in your room, they didn’t sustain a significant injury like QB Tua Tagovailoa did. Are you surprised at how he’s progressed from a health standpoint? Did you imagine you’d be coaching him so early during your time here with the Dolphins? And what do you think of how far he’s really progressed thanks to his health?) – “I’ll be the first to tell you that I’m not a medical expert. I’m not a weight room expert. You can probably tell from my build that I’m not a big weight room expert. I’m more of a jogger-type guy for exercise. (laughter) I wouldn’t say I was surprised. I didn’t know what to expect. I’ve never experienced that type of deal. But from what I’ve seen on the field, he’s done well. He’s run around. To ask me the medical aspect of it, I’m probably one of the worst people to ask. I listen to what they say. ‘Flo’ (Brian Flores) helps make those decisions but that’s not somewhere that I’ve spent a lot of time. I sit in on those meetings and hear what they say, but that’s about it.”
(I wanted to ask you about the physical nature of the quarterback position. I know you don’t know the medical reports on QB Tua Tagovailoa, but would you feel comfortable putting a guy who just had his hip surgically repaired out on the field to potentially get hit by a 300-pounder 10 months after having the hip repaired?) – “Like I said, I know ‘Flo’ (Brian Flores) got asked this the other day and he said it plays into his mind and all of that kind of thing; but that really – really and truthfully that would be like the surgeon coming to tell me throwing mechanics or something like that. I don’t know. You’d have to trust those guys and that’s a decision that really is not my role to make. I’m not trying to avoid the question but it’s just really not – I sit in on the meetings and hear what they have to say but my job is to go out and try to get all three of those guys ready to play. If they say they can go, then that’s what ‘Flo’ has to make a decision on.”
(From a football standpoint, how ready is QB Tua Tagovailoa for the National Football League?) – “That is a good question. What I would say is – ‘Flo’ (Brian Flores) talked about it the other day for all of the rookies – you don’t know until they go out there and they see that level of competition and that speed. We haven’t had the preseason games. We’ve tried to I guess simulate that the best that we can and go through all types of situations. There’s a lot of situations that a quarterback has to be aware of – down and distance, time on the clock, matchups, all of those kinds of things. My goal has been to get him better each and every day and be better at those situations today than he was yesterday. Then when it’s time and coach makes that decision, we’ll go with it.”
