Dowell Loggains – December 20, 2018
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Thursday, December 20, 2018
Offensive Coordinator Dowell Loggains
(Obviously, T Laremy Tunsil has had a great year. We talked about that this week. Who do you think has been your second-best offensive lineman this year from how you and the staff grades it?) – “I’d probably say Ja’Wuan (James) and Jesse (Davis) would be right there because those are the guys that’ve been in there week-in, week-out. Ja’Wuan missed a little bit of time. Those guys have done a good job playing. We do do a lot of things with protection that we’re very fortunate that you’ve got a guy like Laremy, because you can give other people help and send protection another way. Those guys have done a solid job for us.”
(In terms of snap counts for receivers, is that something that Wide Receivers Coach Ben Johnson, Head Coach Adam Gase and you discuss collectively? I was leading into the fact WR DeVante Parker with 19 snaps last week. If you could speak about some of the thinking with that.) – “It goes into a game with a plan of how you’re going to play each game personnel-wise. We do have different personnel groups. Even our 11-personnel package is three receivers that have Brice (Butler) in there (and) sometimes DeVante is in there. It really depends how the game is going, how we think those guys have practiced through the week. Obviously, a big part of it is the matchups. It changes weekly. DeVante was the guy in Houston that really had a big game for us and last week Brice played a little bit more.”
(How do you get the wide receivers more involved this week?) – “Number one, everything in the passing game starts with protection. We need to do a much better job than what we did last week. When you start talking about protection, that goes into everyone. The problem is when you put up a number like nine sacks, the first assumption everyone has is it is the offensive line, but it’s bigger than that. It starts with the coaches and then it goes to the offensive line, it goes to the quarterbacks, the running backs and tight ends, and the wide receivers getting off press. You’ve got to do a good job in the timing of the play. All of that stuff goes into it. We’ve got to protect better and obviously once we start doing that, the receivers get more involved.”
(How much can you solve in one week? There’s probably good reason to think that Jacksonville analyzed all nine of those sacks and maybe tries to copy it. How much can you solve in one week in that way?) – “Quite a bit, because a lot of it is stuff we can correct. We had four or five breakdowns in protection that we need to get cleaned up and it needs to happen fast. It’s not as much about (being) focused on what they’re doing but making sure that we’re on the same page of communication, visual and non-visual, and getting those things cleaned up on our end, not what our opponent is doing. It’s a really talented defense, without question, just like the one we played last week. (They’re) very similar in a lot of ways. The defense is still playing hard and is really good and if we don’t get our act together and get this stuff cleaned up and finish this week with a really good couple days, it’s going to be … It’s a tough matchup to begin with.”
(There has been a wide disparity in sacks allowed since Head Coach Adam Gase has been here. obviously, you’ve been here only this year – between home and road. Is there something going on the road in terms of silent counts not being used as effectively as they could be? Is it purely the opposing team gets more of an emotional boost with their pass rush at home? What theories do you have?) – “It’s a great question. It’s probably one that needs to be studied in the offseason hard. There are different things. Going to the silent count, like you mentioned, is obviously an issue. When you play in a dome and you’re playing really good pass rushers, sometimes it’s just that team. Minnesota is a really good pass rushing team. We all knew it. They were in the NFC Championship game last year. Those guys can get after you. The other thing is look at the situations of the game. I think we gave up six sacks in seven-, eight-man protections. When you’re at third-and-8, third-and-9, third-and-10, you’re playing on their terms. And when you start to play that way because you’re not efficient on first and second down, you make their job easier and then all the stress falls on the offensive line and the tight ends and the running backs and the protection unit. There are definitely things that … Sometimes that’s the symptom, not the problem, and you can’t put your guys in those situations. You’ve got to execute better on first and second down, be more efficient within the run game and go first down, second down, first down more. The theme right now is we need to improve on third down. You guys know it, we know it, our players know it. But we also need to do a better job converting first downs and getting explosive plays on first and second down.”
(After RB Kalen Ballage had that long run, I think your next five drives netted -30 yards or something. How do you explain that?) – “That’s what the story of the game was because if you look at the game, it was 21-17. I think we had three series in a row where we might have gone three-and-out or four or five plays. That was the series of the game to me where we had momentum back, got it back close to a one-score game and we needed to do something, and we didn’t. We didn’t execute well enough. We didn’t coach it well enough in that situation. They did a better job than we did. They had the long punt return. The defense did a good job of holding them to three (points) and offensively, we didn’t put anything together. We need to go back to work and clean things up that we made mistakes on. It’s not one thing. It was a missed Mike point on one series and then an alignment issue, then a third-down play when you’re in third-and-11 or third-and-12. The percentage of those things happening are not good, or converting in those situations, especially versus a really good defense. That’s what it comes down to is being efficient and executing better.”
(What was that stretch like to experience for you as a coach?) – “You look for how can I help the group at this moment? How can I help the quarterback? What can I give him at this moment to help him? When it starts getting that way, you really have to go back and focus on your technique and fundamentals because there is the feeling of and the game of … As a player, as a coach, you feel the swing in momentum. It’s like ‘we’re back in this thing. We have to put a drive together.’ We had a chance to go take the lead if we put one together. Just the frustration and dealing with that stuff and making sure that the communication is there. Obviously it’s frustrating. That’s why you get back to work on Wednesday and you watch the tape. It’s hard to watch the tape because everyone knows what happened in the game, but you have to face the realities and tell the players the truth and accept the truth as a coach and where you need to improve, as well.”
(We’ve spent a lot of time this year talking about how RB Frank Gore and RB Kenyan Drake complement each other. What do you think of how RB Kalen Ballage and RB Kenyan Drake complement each other?) – “They’re actually a lot more similar. I don’t know if they complement each other but their skillset is similar to each other where Frank’s is a little bit different than Kalen’s and Kenyan. Frank did a really good job was the downhill runs, staying efficient, staying ahead of the chains and doing those things. These guys are … Kalen is a young player that’s explosive. You guys saw that when he hits it, he hits it downhill. He’s growing. We told him this week. He had a protection issue in the game when he was in there and we said ‘you’re not a rookie anymore. We’re deep enough in the season where you’re not a rookie. There’s no more excuses for you. Our expectations for you are to go in and play well when you get your opportunities.’ They’re probably more similar than separate. Last week, the packages were different – the last 13 or 14 weeks – with those two guys, Drake and Gore. But these guys, their skillset is closer to being the same.”
(In terms of going to TE Mike Gesicki on the first play, were you and Head Coach Adam Gase thinking going in that we’re doing this because of a matchup issue or was there a general mindset of needing to get him involved early?) – “Each week it always starts with the matchup. Always. They played a coverage that we felt like Mike might be able to get some more targets this week and if we can get them in their quarters coverage or zone, there’s a little more access into the defense. Some of these teams just play straight up man. That was the thought process in it. Obviously we’d like to get Mike more involved weekly. We need to continue to increase his numbers and he needs to produce.”
(I think a lot of people were thinking going into the season that a lot of the offense would be built around RB Kenyan Drake, as far as the running game. Obviously RB Frank Gore was carrying the load for a large part of the year. Now when Gore went down on Sunday, you turned mainly to RB Kalen Ballage and Drake finished the game with only one carry. Do you sense that Drake might be getting frustrated?) – “I hope not because I hope everyone on the roster accepts their role. Kenyan played the most snaps of all of the running backs. He had 28 snaps. The other guy had 26. Some of them, they were in there together. On the long touchdown run, Kenyan was running a jet sweep across to draw the attention obviously because of who he is. I hope not because I hope everyone accepts their role and puts the team first. Their roles are defined. They know going into it what we expect. Things can change inside a game but Kenyan is a big part of this offense. Whether he has 25 carries this week or one carry, he’s always going to be a part of the offense.”
(With WR DeVante Parker, we’ve seen him sort of get phased out of the offense or disappear from the offense. What has happened? Is it practices? Is it the shoulder? What’s going on there with him?) – “I think it’s a combination of a bunch of different things. I think it’s a combination of the injuries. It’s a combination of production (and) practice. When he puts good practices together and been healthy, he’s made some plays (like) the Houston game for us. He’s going to continue to be part of it and he’s going to continue to get his plays. When you have your opportunities, you’ve got to make the most of them. That’s how this league is. When you get those opportunities, if you don’t make the most of them, somebody else behind you is going to get an opportunity as well.”
