Darren Rizzi – December 8, 2016
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Thursday, December 8, 2016
Special Teams Coordinator/Assistant Head Coach Darren Rizzi
(Is S Michael Thomas a Pro Bowl caliber guy and why or why not?) – “I would say he is. I think the level that he has played at – Michael Thomas has played at this year – he’s been consistent through 12 games. Again, not a surprise to me only because he’s played like that for the last few years. Not only does he provide leadership in the building, but just the way he goes out there and plays. If you just watch the film and look at this guy and the way he plays in all the four phases that we ask him to play, he plays well in all of them. I think one of the things that gets unnoticed with sometimes is special teams guys in the return game. He’s a good blocker. I think everybody kind of just makes notes on who makes the tackles, and he certainly does a good job doing that in coverage, but here’s a guy that is also a really good blocker. And then the off-the-field stuff, which people don’t see, as well – in the meeting rooms and with the young players and the mentorship and the leadership that he provides – I mean he’s really, again to me, a poster child of a guy that you want to be as a special teams captain. That’s why he got voted again by his peers. I’m sure I said last week I’m biased, but through all of the special teams film I watch, I wouldn’t trade him out for anybody.”
(How does a guy like S Michael Thomas get noticed? Because I’m sure, at least when the players vote, they probably just vote for Matt Slater in New England. How does S Michael Thomas overcome that?) – “I think the one good thing is we play Matt Slater twice a year. I think when we match up against him, as I mentioned to you last week about what Slater said to me every time we play those guys, but it’s hard. I know there are … I think there’s two slots for that position. You know what? I think Mike Thomas has gotten to a point where maybe the two years prior to this, people kind of were like, ‘Who’s that 31?’ But I think by now, people kind of know him. I think when people play us, you can watch how people attack us and game plan against us. They kind of know where he’s going to be on the field, and that’s why we try to move him around a little bit and put him in different spots to try to combat that. I think by now, when people play the Dolphins, they kind of know who ‘31’ is and know where he’s at. I think he’s kind of made a name for himself by now.”
(I was thinking about LB Mike Hull might get a chance to play a lot this week. In your experience, how can special teams, the things you see there, translate to identifying players who might have success on offense and defense?) – “That’s a great question because, one of the things that goes, I know it’s special teams, is all the area that you have to cover and the speed of the game. And usually, if you can make plays on special teams in the open field and all the different things you have to do – the speed of the game and the spacing like I mentioned – usually it can translate to offense or defense. More defense. More defense than offense, I would definitely say that. Mike Hull is a football player. I can remember standing here in the preseason and saying before we even picked a roster that this guy’s making plays in the preseason. The guy makes tackles. So it doesn’t surprise me that he’s had success. It doesn’t surprise me that he’s had success on special teams. It doesn’t surprise me that he had success when he went in last week on defense. I go back and remember watching him play in college, and the guy just made tackles. That’s what he does. I think sometimes people can get caught up and look at height and speed and size. If you look at the guy, you might not pick him out of the lineup at the Dunkin Donuts. They might not know he’s an NFL player if he walked in there, but when the guy is on the field, he just makes plays. I go back to a conversation I had with James Franklin and his coach when I went up there – actually it was on a tour with my daughter. I went by the football office and Mike was here as a rookie last year and exactly what James Franklin said he was, is exactly what he is. He said you are going to love this guy. Do not get caught up in his size. Do not get caught up in his looks and his height and his weight and arm size. Just watch him play. Put the film on and watch the guy play, and it’s exactly what’s happened with him.”
(CB Lafayette Pitts keeps showing up every week. What’s he been doing well and is he guy who could become a core special team’s guy?) – “You know, right now he is. The last two weeks he has been a core guy. He’s been on all four units of the core team. He’s actually on our field goal blocks. He’s actually on five units now. I remember the first week he played, we said ‘Alright, we’re going to give him a little bit and see how he does.’ He performed well so we gave him a little bit more. Every week, we’ve given him more, and it hasn’t been too much to handle. He plays fast. He’s physical for his size. He’s a smaller guy in stature, but he’s really put together well. He’s in great shape. His speed – his play speed – has showed up for sure. And his play speed showed up in practice (which) is one of the reasons we put him on the active roster. We thought that, ‘This could translate to games. We’re going to have another guy that can help us here.’ That’s all he’s done. He’s been a guy that, the last four weeks, has really played well, like you said.”
(On K Andrew Franks’ miss last week, was that a case where the mechanics were good and he just pulled it or was there more to that miss?) – “No. He actually hit a good ball. When you coach kickers and punters, I know the fans don’t want to hear this, but sometimes there’s a good miss and a bad miss. He actually hit the ball well. His aiming point was a little off – if you want to get real technical on it – his plant foot. He actually made really good contact with the ball. Listen, 46-yard field goals in December, the northeast, outside, you’re going to miss once in a while. Unfortunately, we have to have that one. We have to make those field goals. He knows that. But again, we’re not going to overreact. There have been 120 missed field goals this year and 55 missed extra points. That’s 175 missed kicks. We’re not going to overreact over one. But he knows he’s got to make that. Our confidence in him is still the same. I feel the same way I did this week as I did last week about him, and the week before that. We just have to make that kick. He had a great practice day yesterday and we’re right back at it this week with him.”
(You have a couple of cold weather games in New York and Buffalo coming up. Is there a certain range that you have with K Andrew Franks going into those cold weather games? Obviously, the weather depends on whether you decide to put him out there or not.) – “No doubt. Exactly. It really depends on the exact day when we get there, to be honest with you. The wind conditions … Sometimes the cold is a little bit overrated. It’s the wind. So we’ll get out there. And sometimes you’ll have a heavy wind behind your back. If you go to Buffalo late in the year, you could have a heavy wind one way and be struggling the other way. We could have a range where it’s 55 (yards) one way, and maybe going back the other way it’s only 40 or 45 (yards). It really depends on the direction of the wind, not to get too technical, and kind of exactly what the conditions are. But, those are tough games – divisional games up there. Not to look too far ahead, but it really depends on what happens on game day. The day before it can be 30 degrees and 25 miles per hour winds and you get out there on the day of the game and it could be completely different. So we kind of take it … Heck, I’ve had days up there … I remember one year in Buffalo, we went out there and I think it was with Dan Carpenter. We went out at like 11 o’clock to warm up, and I’m talking about there was like a 15 degree difference between 11 o’clock and 1 o’clock. The warm up was completely different than the actual game time, the way it worked out. The wind completely changed and everything. It’s kind of a wait and see approach with that, but his general range, he makes field goals in the 50s all the time in practice. Heck, he’s made 60-, 64-, 65-yarders in practice – things like that. He’s got plenty of leg strength. We have to make the kicks that are … He’s missed a couple of short ones this year. Those are the ones we have to make, for sure. It’s not the really long ones I’m concerned about.”
(Going back to CB Lafayette Pitts, he told me that he’s always felt like he belonged. What allows him to be as confident as a rookie undrafted free agent as he has been?) – “It starts with his personality. He’s a confident guy. I kind of liked that when he first came in. We separate the guys and we put them into groups and when the veterans showed up, he was a guy that wasn’t star struck and he wasn’t wowed by all the veterans. He just kind of got in the drills and he was going. He made some plays in the preseason. It wasn’t enough to get him on the 53(-man roster) initially but it certainly was enough, I think everyone in the building wanted him on the practice squad, because they saw that this guy had potential to move and quickly develop. He did a hell of a job in the practices. Since he’s been on the practice squad, he’s really shown up every week. But he’s just a confident guy. He’s got, like I said, a great physical stature. He’s a big weight room guy. He’s a strong guy. He can run. So those things usually translate to special teams, and that’s why he’s been able to have success so far with us.”
(Two things on punt returns. Has the decision been made pretty much that WR Jarvis Landry will be the primary guy over the last month? And also, RB Kenyan Drake had one punt return at Alabama. Only one. Did you see enough this summer to get any sort of gauge as to whether he’s a long term option as a punt returner?) – “Yes, (Drake’s) one punt return at Alabama was a deal where they had a couple of guys. But, they do those rugby punts in college, so the ball comes out different. It’s a whole different game. To answer your first question, we’re going to keep doing the punt return personnel the way we’ve been doing it all year, really situationally with Jarvis and Jakeem (Grant). It hasn’t changed. You saw last week, Jakeem was in on a going-in punt and Jarvis was in. So it really depends on the situation and the call we have in. That’s really what I’ve been saying all year. It’s going to still be a two-headed monster there. As far as Drake goes, we have worked with him on punt returns since he’s gotten here, and he’s kind of the third guy – if you will – if we got down that far. Hopefully we don’t. There are a lot of things Kenyan Drake can do. He has caught punts in practice. He did do it at Alabama a little bit, so it’s something that’s kind of a work in progress there with the punt thing with him.”
(DT Jordan Phillips doesn’t factor on returns?) – “Jordan Phillips? He’s one-for-one. (laughter) There are a lot of things he can do. If he’s back there in a game, you may want to double check the inside of my head somewhere.” (laughter)
