Brian Flores – August 12, 2021
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Thursday, August 12, 2021
Head Coach Brian Flores
(On the advantage of having a base four guys in the secondary working together throughout training camp.) – “Well it’s good to have all of those guys working, working together, working on the communication, fundamentals, techniques. I think we feel good about that group. But we feel good, really, about everyone on the defense, on the offense, etc. We’re excited to get another good day here against a good team and just keep building.”
(What are your thoughts on LB Benardrick McKinney since you’ve had him in camp?) – “Tough, physical, downhill player. Smart, good communicator. He’s done some good things. He’s gotten better over the course of training camp and hopefully he continues to get better.”
(Reviewing yesterday, what are some of your thoughts about how the defensive linemen performed as a group?) – “I thought they did some good things. I think in this type of environment, it always comes down to fundamentals and techniques. In some instances they were good; in some instances they weren’t good. The results normally play out as you think they would when they’re good and conversely when they’re not good. We made a lot of corrections yesterday. Hopefully we’ll have another good day today. Again, it’s good to see a different opponent, different schemes, different skillsets from the receivers, from the linemen, from the tight ends. It’s good for us. We need that and that’s what it is in this league. It’s different every week.”
(We saw T Liam Eichenberg pulled at the end of team portions of practice. Was it performance based or did he get hurt a little bit? What happened?) – “Yeah, Liam got banged up a little bit so we pulled him. He’ll be out today. But I think it’s day-to-day. He’s already working to get back as soon as he can. I think he’s done a good job for us so far to kind of get over this and hopefully we’ll get him back as soon as we can.”
(Did anybody who did not practice yesterday who will be back today?) – “I don’t have the full list in front of me but Will Fuller will be out, DeVante (Parker) will be out, Albert (Wilson) will be out, Hunter Long will be out.”
(S Brandon Jones?) – “Brandon Jones will be out. Again, if you’ve got a name, I will let you know.”
(Regarding S Jevon Holland, he seems to be around the ball quite a bit. The ball seems to find him. How much of that is just natural instincts?) – “I think he’s doing a lot of good things from a communication standpoint, from a fundamentals and technique standpoint. He’s a hard-working kid. It’s showing up a little bit on the practice field. Look, I don’t evaluate and judge people off of three or four plays. There are – he’s had 500 plays over training camp. I’m not going to judge him on four of them, either way, good or bad. We’ve had this conversation and I’m not going to go through it again.”
(With the physicality that the Bears bring on the defensive line, is that good for this offensive line to see that kind of play and practice against for a couple of days?) – “Yeah, absolutely. That’s what you see on a weekly basis in this league. I would say this is a good front too. It’s great for us to see it. It’s great for us to feel that. It’s great for us to – as coaches – talk about things we would do against a front like this, which I would say we practiced some of them yesterday. When we did it correctly, when we had good fundamentals and technique, we were ok. And when we didn’t – it’s a good front, so that’s how it goes in this league. It’s good for our offensive line to see. We talked about that. That’s the speed, that’s the power you see on a weekly basis. It’s good work for us.”
(QB Tua Tagovailoa kind of mentioned yesterday or when we spoke to him that when you were engaging with him after a series of reps, that maybe you were focusing with him on how you would like him to approach certain situations. That’s kind of vague. Is there anything that you can kind of share with us about when you engage him in practice and the kind of things that you might try to impart?) – “I mean look, I normally keep my conversations with players with the player. But there’s coaching points I give every player – fundamentals, techniques, communication – and it’s normally in that ballpark. And I know that may be kind of vague for you but I try to keep those conversations between me and the player.”
(There was plenty of change yesterday going outside, back inside and back outside. How did you feel the team handled the change and the disrupted schedule you dealt with yesterday?) – “I thought it was great for us. We get lightning in a game, we’ve got to go in and we’ve got to wait until it passes and then we come back out. It was another rep at that. For us as a team, as coaches, how we would handle that, we came in here and we huddled up, we’re going to do this when we go back out, another delay, we’re going to wait a little bit, we’ve got to stretch them this long, we’ve got to stretch them a little longer, we’ve got to do some individuals. Then I thought we went out and had good energy, good juice and finished practice out. I think it’s a good rep for us. You guys all know in South Florida there’s sometimes delays and we’ve got to be ready to adjust, be flexible and still perform.”
(There was almost a little bit of a scuffle at one point yesterday. WR Allen Hurns took a hit. I think you were able to get in there kind of before it got into anything deeper than that. Is that just kind of two teams seeing someone else for the first time?) – “Yeah, I was the bouncer on that play. (laughter) Look, it gets chippy. It’s football. For me, it was a 2-minute situation and it was hopefully a learning tool for our team. You get in there and I’ve got to call timeout, so we wasted a timeout in that situation when we could just go back, forget about the play, move on and kind of keep our poise in that instance. I know (you guys) are probably writing that I said I was the bouncer. You can put that out there. (laughter) I’m just trying to keep practice going and not have any issues. I thought the tempo yesterday was good – really good. I thought we got good work from the Bears and they got good work from us. Everybody stayed up. We’re trying to keep guys healthy and that’s kind of been the conversation I’ve had with Coach (Matt) Nagy and our coaching staff. I’ve had conversations with their players and I know Coach Nagy’s had conversations with our players. We’re all just trying to get better and compete. There’s really no place for that in my opinion, so hopefully we have another good day from that standpoint.”
(Is LB Jaelan Phillips on a modified practice or is he full-go at this point?) – “When a guy is coming off – it’s like if I just threw you in there and said go for 70 plays, it would be hard. (laughter) When a guy is coming off of something, we try to ramp him back up. That’s normally how we do it. I think for a lot of reasons, for conditioning purposes and then he’s just not ready yet – he hasn’t had enough snaps. I think that’s generally how teams do it. We’re no different. But Jaelan had some good snaps yesterday. Hopefully he gets a few more today and then we’ll hopefully build off of yesterday and ramp him up over the course of days, weeks, etc.
Jevon Holland – August 11, 2021
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Wednesday, August 11, 2021
S Jevon Holland
(You’ve been finding the ball a lot lately. Is it just your understanding of the defense or just reading things different?) – “Yeah. When you work your technique and do the things that the coaches are asking, in and out of the play, reading your keys, the plays find you. You don’t necessarily have to go to the ball. That’s just a product of doing the TNTs (takes no talent).”
(I didn’t actually see everything that happened on the interception on Bears QB Andy Dalton. I think it was in the middle of the field. Can you take us through what happened on that play?) – “Yeah, so I was just going through my keys on that play, basically reading the quarterback in the middle of the field. Then as I was breaking to the post, I read his eyes and he let the ball go and I happened to be there, right where we planned on me being there. It worked in my favor, that play.”
(I know it’s only a practice but as a rookie trying to earn a starting job, how significant was it to get a pick when you’re practicing against another team?) – “I think it’s important. It just shows production and things like that but like I said, plays in practice and in the game, they’re going to come when you do your technique and you work the fundamentals that we practice every day. That’s just a product of that, and I’m going to harp on that and I’m going to stay focused on the fundamentals. If you make a good play, just like if you made a bad play, you kind of go to the next play. It’s in the past and you can’t really control it. I’ll just keep moving forward, doing the little things.”
(I know you’ve got one more practice to get through, but what do you think it will be like to kind of suit up in an NFL locker room and in an NFL stadium, to play a different NFL team on Saturday?) – “I think it’s going to be dope, man. I think it’s going to be freaking amazing, honestly. I’m having a blast right now. We’re practicing against Andy Dalton, Nick Foles, Jimmy Graham. I was watching these people play. Andy Dalton was on Cincinnati on the Bengals, and Jimmy Graham was going crazy on the Saints. These are some of the people that I grew up watching as a kid, so to be able to practice against them and sweat, grind; it’s kind of surreal for me. I put a smile on my face going out there and playing the game I love.”
(You mentioned reading the quarterback’s eyes and going to the football. How much do you and QB Tua Tagovailoa and the quarterbacks kind of communicate as far as what you see defensively and what they see offensively?) – “I actually do go and pick their brain a little bit, especially Jacoby (Brissett). He’s a vet and has been in the league. I try to ask him what he’s looking for when we’re trying to show disguise and things like that. Same with Tua. Tua gives me great insight. He’s a great dude. All of them are great – Reid (Sinnett) too. They give me insight on what they’re looking for and their keys so I can try to play to my advantage and try to confuse them before the play.”
(We spoke to Defensive Backs Coach Gerald Alexander the other day and he told us that you know what’s going on but he always reminds you that you have to make sure that you let everybody else know what’s going on and you do it vocally, loudly. Tell me about how that’s going?) – “It’s just a plus-one communication. That comes with learning the defense, being more comfortable with that. It’s coming along. I’m trying to get little things out of my head and into the field of play, making sure everybody is on the same page. But that plus-one communication is how a secondary, a defense, takes the next step. That’s something I’m really working on along with continuing to focus on the plays and the techniques and the things like that. It’s coming together but every day I try to push and be better than I was the day before.”
(After sitting out last year, what kind of apprehension, if any, did you have heading into training camp about how long it might take you to get back to where you were in 2019?) – “I’ve been training, working out and grinding for the past year; so I wasn’t just sitting on the couch during that break. I didn’t really feel like I had lost a step. Putting the pads on and putting the helmet on is different, but just getting my feet underneath me and really making contact and things like that – other than that, it doesn’t feel any different. I feel better than I have before and I’m excited to be out there repping that orange and aqua.”
Jaylen Waddle – August 11, 2021
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Wednesday, August 11, 2021
WR Jaylen Waddle
(How do you feel the offense performed overall today?) – “I think it was smooth, honestly. We got our flow going. It was good just to compete, really. It was good to compete against someone else other than our guys. I think it was a good day. Obviously it can get better. We’ll try to get better. It was pretty good, though.”
(What does it feel like, the ball coming from QB Tua Tagovailoa? Does your connection continue to grow this preseason?) – “It’s coming along well. I think we’re all just getting better as a team. We’re getting in, day-by-day, every practice – I feel like we’re making progress. It’s going good.”
(What did you notice was the biggest difference practicing against another team as opposed to practicing against your teammates?) – “It was just different just how pre-practice goes. It’s kind of similar; you’re just going against someone else so it was kind of like a game kind of, but not really. It was kind of weird. It was my first day, so the next day I’ll probably be a little more comfortable.”
(Did you enjoy it?) – “Yes, sir. Definitely.”
(Was there more juices flowing? And also, that’s a pretty good defense.) – “Definitely. Yeah, definitely the juices were flowing, just competing against someone other than our team. Definitely.”
(How much are you looking forward to suiting up in a professional football uniform and playing in a real game. I know it’s not a regular season game but playing a game in a place like Soldier Field?) – “It’s exciting, for sure. My first game. I haven’t really thought about it just yet but I’m pretty sure I’ll get more excited the closer the game gets.”
(A lot of the other receivers, guys that are battling for roster spots. Right now there are a lot of receivers that are out … what have you seen from them and their approach…) – “I think everyone is working hard day in and day out. A lot goes into it just off the field and on the field. I think everybody is just working hard and just trying to make a name. I think everyone is doing well.”
(Along those lines, when you’ve got three guys who are basically veteran guys who just aren’t practicing, what kind of an opportunity is that for guys like yourself and the other guys?) – “It’s always good just to get in and try to make plays and try to make a name for yourself. I think that just goes on with the game and just filling in, really. I think it’s going good. We’re waiting for those guys to come back.”
Mike Gesicki – August 11, 2021
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Wednesday, August 11, 2021
TE Mike Gesicki
(On returning to practice) – “It feels good. I’m happy to be back. Just being back around the guys, getting out there and competing, (it was) a good day. I’m just happy to go out and play some football.”
(Do you feel any lingering effects?) – “Nah. Honestly, I felt good. I kind of surprised myself how I felt. I’m ready to roll. I went out there, got the cobwebs off, made a few plays and all of that kind of stuff. It was good. A good day.”
(What did you see out of QB Tua Tagovailoa in this joint practice?) – “I thought Tua had a great day. I thought collectively as an offense, we had a good day. (We were) making plays, using the snap count to our benefit. Up front, I think they had a good day creating holes in the running game and giving Tua some time to get back and make some plays. The receivers, tight ends and backs made some plays downfield so it was good.”
(No easing back into practice for you. It’s straight into joint practices. Did you like that?) – “Yeah, absolutely. It was fun. It beats the heat down in Miami, especially after not doing anything for 10 days. It was good to just get back out there, get sweating and go make some plays, like I said. It was fun.”
(How did you stay in shape?) – “Well, there’s not much that you can do, honestly. You can’t really go out or anything like that. I was up in my apartment. I got an AssaultBike on my balcony. I rode that a little bit. I had some dumbbells in the living room. It was really just making it work for 10 days. It is what it is. You’ve got to follow the protocols and do what you’re supposed to do.”
(You didn’t look very rusty.) – “I felt good, honestly. I felt good. I had to go out there and catch a couple of balls before practice. Normally I catch a ton throughout the day on my own, so that was tough going 10 days without that. I was throwing it up and down to myself in my apartment.”
Tua Tagovailoa – August 11, 2021
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Wednesday, August 11, 2021
QB Tua Tagovailoa
(What did you think of TE Mike Gesicki after a bunch of days being out? He came right in like he didn’t miss a beat.) – “It was good to be able to have Mike back out here. I think he adds another dimension for us on offense. It didn’t work out the way we want it to with as many targets as he got today, but he did get open. We tried feeding him the ball every time we could.”
(Did seeing a different pass rush kind of help you get the element of a simulated pass rush … seeing another team out there?) – “Yeah. I think this defense is really good up front. When you’re hitting your back foot on your throws, they’re right there and kind of in your face area. But that forces us, as quarterbacks, to kind of move the way we need to; and it simulates game-like pocket presence for us. I thought it was really good today. We’ll take a look at the film. We’ll try to correct a lot of the things that we didn’t do well today and we’ll come out tomorrow and hopefully it’s a better one.”
(You seemed to have a good connection with WR Jaylen Waddle again today. How do you feel that … progresses as camp goes on?) – “I think today felt like a first day type of practice. It’s a new environment, new guys, new faces. It was just good to be able to go out there with all of the guys and work out the timing with them against how these DBs play, and then where to find the areas in their zone that we can kind of get going.”
(I noticed at one point that Head Coach Brian Flores was kind of animated in his conversation with you. Can you share anything about what he was encouraging you to do?) – “On the field?”
(Yeah.) – “Well, I wouldn’t say ‘Coach Flo’ (Brian Flores) was encouraging me to really do anything. It was more so coaching points, like ‘hey, if we’re in this situation, this is kind of what I’m looking at. This is what we’re looking for as a team.’ So it was just situational kind of deals today.”
(When did you get introduced to the RPO offense? At what level? And where did you grow most in it?) – “I would say probably in college. I did some in high school but not to the knowledge that I kind of know the RPO offense now. I’m very comfortable running it and reading whoever our conflict player is, and just trying to execute it.”
(How much are you looking forward to being able to participate in a preseason game?) – “Well, it’s a first. This is my first joint practice. This is a lot of – the rookie class last year, this is a lot of our first joint practices. I’m looking forward to it. I think it’s cool. Last year was a little weird for everyone but competing with your guys and not being introduced to what a game-like scenario would feel like, and just kind of being into a game, that first year – although I didn’t play – was kind of different.”
(Did you get to talk to Bears QB Justin Fields at all today? Do you know him at all? What did you talk about?) – “I don’t know him very well. I just got to meet him today. I introduced myself, he introduced himself. I’ve watched him play in college. I watched when he came in as a freshman to Georgia then when he transferred to Ohio State. He’s very athletic. He’s very talented. I wish him the best.”
(How do you feel today compared to the same time last year?) – “Big picture question. (laughter) I think it’s hard to look at the big picture when you’re just dialed in on what we’ve got to do to accomplish what we want right now. So for me, it’s really just going back to the film room, going back to the drawing board and kind of sitting down with our coaches, sitting down with the offense and the team and kind of talking through what we saw today and kind of get better from there so tomorrow is a lot smoother and we’re dialed in a lot more tomorrow.”
Brian Flores – August 11, 2021
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Wednesday, August 11, 2021
Head Coach Brian Flores
(Can you provide any information on the status of TE Hunter Long?) – “Hunter is day-to-day. He’s working hard to get back as soon as he can. He made the trip with us. But yeah, (he is) day-to-day.”
(Can you tell us which players did not make the trip?) – “Everyone made the trip.”
(Do you feel a little extra juice when you’re going into another person’s facility and do you get the sense that this is going to ramp up a little bit more?) – “Yeah, I mean we’re on the road. We’re in a different environment against another team. Different colored jerseys. Yeah, there’s definitely some energy, some excitement, to go out here and practice against the Bears. Coach (Mark) Nagy and their support staff, they’ve been very accommodating to us. Our support staff has done a great job. It’s not easy to bring a team, 90 players, coaches and support staff from South Florida out here to Chicago and get ready; so kudos to our support staff for making this happen.”
(There have been times where QB Tua Tagovailoa has talked about “Hey, I want to use this period of practice to work on certain throws and try things out.” Is this environment less a “try things out” and more simulating a game-day experience?) – “I think it’s a good opportunity, like always, for Tua and really all of our players to focus on their alignment, their assignment, their communication, their fundamentals, their techniques. And then obviously we want good execution. If you do those things, we expect to have good execution.”
(When you create these joint practices, do you set up rules for blitz packages and things you guys want to see against each other from a coach setting?) – “Yeah, there are rules of engagement. Obviously no fighting. No cut blocks. Things of that nature. We’ve gone through them as staffs. I’ve relayed that to our players. He’s relayed that to his players. Yeah, there are rules of engagement. We want to get good work, we want good competition; but at the same time, we want to keep everyone safe, healthy and able to go tomorrow and really throughout the entire year.”
(How advantageous is this setting for you and the other coaches coming from an evaluation perspective…) – “Yeah, this is a great opportunity for us to see our players against different players, different skillsets, different schemes and concepts. I think 10 practices in, offensively our guys know what our defense is going to do. Defensively, we have a pretty good feel for what our offense is going to do. It’s good to see a new team, like we will every week during the regular season, with guys with different skillsets, different concepts on all three sides of the ball, and evaluate how guys adjust and can execute in that situation.”
(The Bears seem to have a lot of talented pass rushers in the front seven – guys like DT Akiem Hicks and LB Khalil Mack. What kind of a challenge do you think that poses to your offensive line?) – “Yeah, they’ve got good players on all three sides of the ball. It’s a good team. They’re well coached. It’s a great opportunity for us to practice our fundamentals, our technique and our communication against good players. That’s what you see every week in this league. This will be a great test for us. We’re excited to go out there and compete.”
(Do rookies like T Liam Eichenberg, S Jevon Holland, WR Jaylen Waddle – I assume LB Jaelan Phillips is not participating but the guys who are going to participate – being in this environment, what would be a good coaching message for them?) – “Alignment, assignment, communication, fundamentals, technique. If you focus on that, the rest of it normally takes care of itself.”
(So nothing different? You want to keep it the same approach here as in Miami Gardens?) – “That’s the approach.”
(With WR DeVante Parker and WR Will Fuller, if they’re here, how much will they work, if at all?) – “DeVante won’t be practicing. Will Fuller will not be practicing.”
(What about WR Albert Wilson?) – “Albert won’t be practicing either.”
(Anybody else not practicing?) – “I don’t have the list in front of me. Hunter Long won’t be practicing. I don’t have the list in front of me.”
(Have you made the determination of how much you want your starters to play on Saturday?) – “Guys will play. I think right now, with two days of practice against Chicago, we haven’t finalized exactly ‘hey, you’re going to play this much or that much.’ But yeah, we expect Tua (Tagovailoa) to play. Really, we want everybody to get some snaps in the game; but as far as how much, right now we’re kind of focused on today and today’s practice. We’ll kind of talk more about that as a staff tonight and tomorrow. Probably more likely tomorrow night.”
(Where is CB Xavien Howard relative to practicing today, tomorrow or playing on Saturday?) – “Yeah, he’ll be at practice. He’ll be at practice. Again, like we’ve said the last couple of weeks, we’re going to – I don’t want to call it modified but we’ll have a schedule and a process to get him ready to go, and that will include him taking more and more reps on a daily basis. We’re going to stay with that schedule.”
(With TE Hunter Long, was there relief that it wasn’t something more serious?) – “He’s day-to-day. He’s working to get back as quickly as he can. Again, we’re not going to get into specifics of what it was, but he’s working to get back as quickly as he can.”
(Will LB Jaelan Phillips be working?) – “Yeah, Phillips will be working today.”
(I shouldn’t have assumed. I should have asked.) – “You know what they say about assumptions. (laughter)”
(How much do you still emphasize the individual drills that really focus on those fundamentals during this period? Is it more about taking advantage of the Bears over there or are you still going to go through all of those fundamental type drills you go through?) – “Alignment, assignment, technique, fundamentals, communication. Once you get away from that, you’re getting away from how to have a good play. So yeah, that’s my message to the players on a daily basis. I believe that – I strongly believe in that. Again, once you get away from that, you start saying ‘hey, I’ve got an opponent in front of me and I just want to beat that guy’ – there’s a process to that. Alignment, assignment, technique, fundamentals, communication – that’s the process. We try to stick to that. When you go away from it, my experience has been you don’t have as good a play or don’t put yourself in as good a position to have a good play.”
Josh Boyer – August 9, 2021
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Monday, August 9, 2021
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.”
Danny Crossman – August 9, 2021
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Monday, August 9, 2021
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.”
