Clyde Christensen – September 22, 2016
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Thursday, September 22, 2016
Offensive Coordinator Clyde Christensen
(On if it is unrealistic to expect TE Jordan Cameron to have the same kind of production in this offense that he had in Cleveland in 2013) – “I don’t know that. I don’t know the answer to that. I do see the improvement that you’re talking about and (he) made a big catch and helped us get back in that thing last weekend. He just keeps improving. The one thing that’s been amazing to me about him is he works. He works. He’s a steady worker. Things just haven’t gone smoothly for him here and he just keeps working. I’ve been really impressed with that. One thing probably all coaches, but me especially, if you stay out there and you keep practicing and you keep working, you get better. You do get better. That’s the rule of thumb and I think that holds for him. He’s playing a lot better than when we first got here. We’ll see how far he comes. We’ll see where the ball goes; you never know how that’s going to happen but we’re in desperate need of playmakers. He’s one of them who is a good matchup and we’ve got to get big plays out of him, which we did. We got one the other day. It’s important. That’s really important.”
(On how he feels about QB Ryan Tannehill running and lowering his shoulder as he did in the fourth quarter of the New England game) – “I start holding my kidney. It’s a recurring nightmare. It really is because it’s the hardest teaching, working with quarterbacks, and especially with guys like Ryan (Tannehill) and Andrew (Luck), and of course you didn’t have that problem with Peyton (Manning). It’s hard. No, you don’t want to see that. You appreciate him throwing his body around. You love that. It’s a hard teach because it’s what they do (as a football player). That’s what you sell. ‘Throw your body on the barbed wire and let’s go.’ But then you’re also grabbing them, ‘Hey, let’s be smart when we do. Let’s not try to hit the middle of the barbed wire.’ There’s a qualifier on the thing. I think the take is, we have a better chance to win if he’s healthy. You have to play the percentages. Sometimes on third down, you take some extra chances. That’s how I’ve always sold it. Goal line (and) third down, sometimes there’s a time to take a chance. But overall, the bottom line is we have a better chance to win if he stays healthy and you have to be smart with that. One thing I do know also, from experience, is you start running around these defenses in this league and it’s a matter of time. They’re going to get you. I mean they’re going to get you. They’re too fast. They hit too hard and sooner or later, they’re going to get you.”
(On if he is worried about the run game) – “I wouldn’t use the word worried yet; but I feel anxious that we get it going. It makes everything easier. It’s really, really important. It’s important for our defense. I think we have not supported our defense. I know (Head Coach) Adam (Gase) said the same thing to you, but you almost can’t judge the defense in the fourth quarter because we haven’t done our part in the first three quarters to keep them rested and fresh so they can play that fourth quarter. That’s where the team concept comes in and the bottom line of these first two games is we haven’t done our part on our side of the ball. I talk to you guys a lot about keeping people fresh, keeping a player fresh, having them in the fourth quarter, having them in December, (they are) really, really important concepts and even on a smaller basis than a game – just having the defense fresh. We haven’t done that part of it. That’s where the run game is a huge part. It takes some time of possession. It gives them some rest. Third down has been a problem. We improved a little bit last week. We have to keep improving on that thing and you have to stay on the field. You just have to have an ability to stay on the field.”
(On if his mindset has changed from having a workhorse running back to a running back by committee) – “Yes, it probably has by necessity. It’s just kind of been an odd deal between injuries and different things coming up. I still think there’s nothing like continuity. We all know you have to be able to plug people in and go; but I think it still starts with continuity. The more guys can play together, the more looks I think a running back – kind of like a hitter in baseball – the more looks you get at it, the more you get in a game – the more throws a quarterback gets, the more into it he is. I think right now it is going to be by committee. We have a bunch of guys who have a unique set of talents. Would I love for someone to jump out and have a huge game and just grab the position and grab the lead role in that thing? Sure. That would be the ideal thing, I think. I am thankful that we do have some depth and it showed up last week. The rookie (Kenyan Drake) had to go in there and he made a couple of big plays and a couple of runs. That is important too. But I think the ideal thing would be continuity and someone to emerge as the man.”
(On who is the best run blocker upfront) – “Who is the best run blocker up front? I don’t know that because we ask them to do all different things. Who is the best run blocker on double teams? Who is the best run blocker pulling? Who is the best run blocker on base blocks? They all kind of have some different strengths. They’re all asked to do different things. We ask the center to reach nose guards and the tackles may have down blocks. I don’t know. I’d have a hard time answering that. (Mike) Pouncey I think is the best at his position in the whole league. When he is healthy, I don’t think anybody does it like Pouncey. If you pin me down and said, ‘Hey, by position, where are they rated?’ I’d probably say Pouncey is the best run-blocking center in the league, or certainly one of the top three or four in the upper echelon. But it’s hard to say because we ask them to do different things. Who (are) they (going) against? Some weeks you’re going against a guy who is extremely difficult. The nose guard this week will be a hard guy to block. (Anthony) Steen will have his hands full with him. That’s probably dodging the question a little bit but I don’t know the answer to that. I don’t know.”
(On if you can make an offensive line a good run blocking front when you have three current or former left tackles playing across the line) – “Sure. I would say this, what trumps it is, if you’re a good football player, you’re a good football player. You could stick Andrew Luck in at right guard and he’d figure out a way to do it. Football players play football. I don’t think that you could over-qualify it that far on that thing. I don’t think that’s the case. (Laremy) Tunsil is going to end up being a really good run blocker. Is he going to be a talented left tackle? Sure. He’s very agile and all of those things. And he’ll probably benefit from having played left guard because all of a sudden, he’ll take that aggressiveness and tight quarters blocking and carry it on. It may benefit him that way.”
(On if saying that three left tackles on an offensive line makes it difficult to run block would be overthinking it) – “Yes, probably a little. It’s probably a little bit hard to put it in a clean box and say that left tackles aren’t good run blockers and guards are real good run blockers. You could have a right guard that is a really good pass protector but that doesn’t make him a left tackle just because he is a good pass protector. So I would be a little careful on boxing them up quite so clean.”
(On a study that showed RB Jay Ajayi had poor blocking on the majority of his carries last year and if that is the case this year or if Ajayi needs to make the most of it) – “I think one of the things that I sell, and it’s kind of like receivers and defensive linemen are the same thing, you don’t know which one it’s going to be. One thing about the NFL is you’re not going to have a game where there’s gaping holes for the whole game. It’s hard to run the ball in this league. I think (Vikings RB Adrian) Peterson, I saw his statistics and he didn’t get loose before he got hurt. So it’s hard. But I think the guys who do it well are the ones who you don’t know, and it’s hard to do. It’s hard to keep running routes and you’re going to play 1,200 plays and get 75 catches but nobody told you which 75 players it was going to be or else you’d rest those other ones. (It’s the) same with a running back – you don’t know which one is going to pop. I do think that you just have to keep banging up in there and the good ones just keep doing that and don’t get off the reservation and start trying to do something that isn’t there. I think that’s the biggest thing that we’re stressing. I think the biggest thing with the run game right now is just opportunities. This last week, we’ve run the ball decent. But there hasn’t been a game that’s just went conventional where you’re converting some third downs and you’re getting enough snaps. The biggest problem is the snaps. If you’re playing 52 to 55 snaps, it’s a lot harder to get your runs and get some continuity in the run game than if you’re playing 82 snaps. Now you just have a quantity of reps available where now all of a sudden, you have extra carries and guys can get into a rhythm. Everyone can get into a rhythm. The play caller can get into a rhythm and you’ve got more snaps. All of a sudden you shrink that down and I think the two first halves we’ve had extremely low numbers of snaps. (It’s) self-inflicted but (it’s a) low number of snaps. And now all of a sudden, everything is tight because every run, every pass, it’s hard to call plays that way. It’s hard to play football that way because you don’t have enough to get yourself into a groove. I think that’s probably been our biggest problem. Jay knows that he can’t lay it on the ground. That’s the first drive of the last preseason game and the first drive of the second half of this game. Those are big drives. Those are deflators. Those are turnovers plus. There’s no good time to have a fumble but the first drive of a game and the first drive of the third quarter, as the young guys say, a buzz kill. They are a buzz kill.” (Laughter)
(On if RB Jay Ajayi is making the most of his carries aside from the fumbles) – “I do. I think he is. We haven’t looked and said, ‘Boy, he’s missing the hole,’ or ‘he’s taking a play off.’ The answer to your question is yes, I think he has made the most of his carries. I think he’s just kept humming and the same thing, nobody is getting enough carries to get themselves going. Again, that’s self-inflicted. That’s our fault as a unit. No, I haven’t thought that. I haven’t thought ‘Gosh, there’s stuff there. He hasn’t gotten out of the situation or the play.’ I have not thought that. I think we’ve felt like he’s running well and when he gets his opportunities, he’s running well.”
(On how realistic it is to see the second-half offense at New England for a real game) – “Yes. I really think it is. I think that’s what we’ve based the thing on. I think for the last whatever number of years that I’ve been in this offense – 15 or 16 years – that one of the neat things is that you’re never out of a game. That would be one characteristic of (Head) Coach (Adam) Gase in Denver and I think myself in Indy. You’re never out of it because that’s what you do – two-minute offense, getting up-tempo – that you can make that transition pretty darn smoothly. When you’re humming, there are periods of time in the first half that feel that way. That’s the ideal thing. All of a sudden you get into a rhythm in that first half and you play with a lead and give our defense a chance to play with a lead, which would be a pleasant change to be up 17-0, to be up 14-3. I think it is, and I think it is kind of what this thing is based on. There is a rhythm with this no huddle that makes it easy to jump out on someone, and if you’re functioning like we were in the second half, it also makes it so that you’re never out of a game. I’ve always believed that, that you’re never out of a game. There’s times when you are built a different way and all of a sudden you see someone down by 10 and you’re like, ‘It’s over. They don’t have the ability to score two scores in the last five minutes.’ I don’t think you’ll ever think that about this offense, past, present or future. I think that’s one of the real assets of the style of play that we’re trying to adopt here.”
(On RB Kenyan Drake in pass protection) – “I think he has come a long, long ways. I remember (Running Backs) Coach Danny (Barrett) had (to take a personal day) right at the beginning of training camp and miss, so I had the running backs for I think the first couple of live days of pass protection. So I can tell you first hand that Kenyan has come miles with that. He hasn’t arrived, but he has gotten better and better and better, and that room has adopted a little bit. I think we’re getting better there. That was impressive. It wasn’t completely clean, but going (with) a no-sack game at New England isn’t easy. You’re on the road, the snap count, all of that stuff, good defense, etc. That’s good. That’s a positive to grab from this thing. I think the (running) backs did a good job. That’s one of the hardest games on (running) backs because, as we talked about last week, it’s because those (Patriots line)backers are so big and physical that they’re a physical mismatch for a running back, and that’s part of their style. You don’t know which one of them is coming and it’s hard to hide them in that New England scheme. You’re going to end up having to block (Patriots LB Jamie Collins) or (Patriots LB Don’t’a Hightower), when he is healthy. Those are hard jobs. I think that was one of the positives that we did take out of last week, that the running backs are improving protection-wise, have embraced it, and are sticking their nose up in there, which is all you can ask.”
(On if it was willingness or technique that improved the running backs in pass protection) – “Both. I think the first ingredient of pass protection for a running back when a bigger guy is running at you is willingness. You see a 250-pound guy coming at you and you’re 210 pounds, you’ve got to have willingness. Otherwise you’re going to try to chop them or try to find some other way than stick your nose on him. You examine all of the alternatives before you go try and take him on with a running start. So I think willingness first, but I think technique always, always, always puts you above the crowd.”
(On where QB Ryan Tannehill needs to continue to get better at) – “We gave one up there (an interception) at the end of the half. It was kind of unit wide; it was the same symptom. We had the turnover. That was a big turnover. They’re all big. All of those possessions are big. So probably eliminating that, giving them an easy one and points at the end of the first half right there. Then, ultimately, at the end of the day, you have to find ways to win football games. That’s what we have to do. You have to win. You have to win games. You have to find some way. It’s not always conventional and it’s not always pretty, but we have to find some way to win games. That’s our job as coaches, that’s his job as the quarterback, that’s the unit’s job. Whatever it is, it doesn’t matter. I think that’s what we’ll all get measured by. We could lead the league in offense and if we don’t figure out a way to win football games, then what’s it worth? Then they’re just numbers. At the end of the day, you have to find ways to win football games. I think he’ll get measured just like the rest of us. ‘All of the rest of the stuff is okay, but did they figure out how to win? Can we get into the playoffs? Can we win playoff games?’ All of those things. That’s the bottom line measuring stick. It’s not yardage. It’s not leading the league in passing, quarterback ratings and all of that stuff. They’re all fun, when you’re winning, to look at; but they don’t mean a whole bunch if you’re not winning.”
