Pat Flaherty – February 15, 2019
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Friday, February 15, 2019
Offensive Line Coach Pat Flaherty
(This offensive line is going to go through a rebuild of it’s own, at least on the inside. What are your philosophies on the offensive line and moving forward and helping this team go through what it needs to go through?) – “The most important thing that we need to do as a unit is be the most physical unit on the field each and every game. I want to be able to will our power on opponents and be able to run the ball and pass protect and don’t let the quarterback get hit. And that takes five guys working together.”
(What are your thoughts on LT Laremy Tunsil?) – “I think Laremy is a good football player, I really do. He’s still a fairly young guy and he has, like most guys his age, has some improvement to make. He has a high ceiling and we feel he’s going to get better and better each year.”
(A lot of people thought he had a Pro Bowl season last year. I think it was 14 – 15 games without a sack. He seems to be a building piece, I would imagine?) – “He is. He has potential to be one of the best, if not the best, in the league, at his position. He still has some work to do to separate himself into that category. I really like the things he does.”
(I know T Ja’Wuan James is the right tackle. He is a free agent. I imagine if T Laremy Tunsil is protecting the blindside for a right-handed quarterback, the right tackle will protect the blindside of a left-handed quarterback? If you guys could retain T Ja’Wuan James what would that do for your offensive line?) – “I think it keeps the continuity there, if we’re able to retain him. We sure hope he does. He’s a good football player. I’ve had an opportunity to go back and watch every game from 2018. He’s a fairly young guy also, so he has some things technique-wise that he can get better.”
(To get a rookie at any o-line position, if you do that in the draft, particularly right tackle and particularly with a potentially left-handed quarterback, how difficult is it to get those guys up to speed? It’s a yearly thing. It’s hard.) – “It’s a day-by-day process. I’ve coached rookies at those positions before. You just want to make some progress because I always tell them it’s a process and you have to trust the process to make progress. Those guys are going to have to get better every day. It’s going to take some time for those young guys. Even though they’ve played at a high level in college, they’re not seeing the same type of player. You’re seeing a really a skilled player at this level.”
(Who are some rookies that you’ve coached along the way?) – “I had Cam Robinson just recently, the left tackle for Jacksonville. Cam was a prime example. I felt each and every week he got better; but early in the season, he took his lumps.”
(Who are some of your favorite players you’ve coached over the years?) – “It’s funny because I get that question a lot because of the success we had in New York. I really have to say the mark that the five guys in New York set – starting 38 straight games – really is something that I don’t know will ever be matched again. The right tackle Kareem McKenzie, Chris Snee (at right guard), Shaun O’Hara at center, the left guard was Rich Seubert and the left tackle was David Diehl. Then we had some really solid six or seven men like Kevin Boothe and those type of guys. But those six guys and five of them starting 38 straight games, if you can get that done, where they can have that continuity and play week in and week out, you’re going to build success.”
(Was that around the Super Bowl years in New York?) – “It was, yeah.”
(Who was the running back at that time? It wasn’t RB Tiki Barber, right?) – “Tiki was there the first couple of years I was there and went to the Pro Bowl. Then we had Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw.”
(Please tell me about this nickname, ‘The Big Toe.’ Who gave it to you again?) – “Kareem McKenzie. Really, it transpired through … It’s all the players. We were able to be the leading rushing team in the NFL and they asked Kareem and I guess my name was mentioned, so they came up with ‘The Big Toe.’ It’s comical. (laughter) I’ve always credited the players. As coaches, we try to guide them in the right direction and hopefully stay in that direction but it’s the players and they are the ones that should get the credit.”
(A lot of coaches are coming in with experience, a lot of assistant coaches on this staff are coming in with experience. You have a first-time coordinator, first-time head coach, first-time defensive coordinator. How do you go about helping the other coaches really excel in these new roles that they have?) – “We’re working together as a team, as a coaching staff and as a team. We all interject because we’re putting the playbook together right now. We’re just giving our ideas and experiences. Chad O’Shea, the offensive coordinator, has done an outstanding job thus far of bringing everybody together and listening to everybody’s thoughts. We’ll stir it up and come up with a good plan and a good offensive philosophy. We know what the philosophy is going to be because it starts with Brian Flores. He has a philosophy of being a smart, tough, physical football team.”
(I’m sure there will be an emphasis on running the ball and Patriots principals like running backs out of the backfield and things like that?) – “You would think. We haven’t gotten that far yet from that standpoint, but I think when everybody is on the same page – coaches and players – (you’ll see) the philosophy and passion and the vision the head coach has.”
(I like that this staff has a couple of Patriots ties, a lot of guys have worked for the Patriots together, but you’re one coach that has helped stop the Patriots at their highest point. Is there anything to read into that? You were part of a team that was able to stop one of the best franchises in the history of football on two occasions. Do you think that gives you a little bit of insight on how … where holes might be and certain things or how to fill holes or identifying weaknesses you guys can improve on as coaches?) – “The New England process is something that is special. All you have to do is look at the track record. To be able to stop them twice in the Super Bowl really goes back to the players. They had confidence in what they were going to see and how they were going to block it from the standpoint of offense. Those games came down to No. 12 (Tom Brady) throwing the ball on the last play of the game. It’s always scary when you’re standing on the sideline and that ball is in the air, whether it’s to Randy Moss or anybody else. It was exciting for me to work with Brian (Flores) and Chad (O’Shea) and (Assistant Quarterbacks Coach) Jerry (Schuplinski) and guys that are new on this staff because I’ve always had respect for them. It’s really difficult in this league to do what those guys have done. I’m really excited to see what goes on behind doors of that franchise.”
(There was a little bit of a holding pattern for Coach Flores as he was finishing the season in New England. What was that like where you were negotiating for a new job and he’s holding out. What’s that process like?) – “For me it was … I went and spoke with other teams about jobs. I was really impressed on the phone and visiting with Brian on a few occasions, just to see which direction he was going. I have a lot of respect for what he did. I had an opportunity when I was in Jacksonville in 2017. We practiced a week up there, so I had an opportunity to be around him a little bit. I was just really impressed with the man himself.”
(So 2017, Jacksonville and the Patriots.) – “We went up and played in preseason. We spent the week working against them.”
(Was that the first time you ran into Brian Flores?) – “That was the first time I really had the opportunity to visit with him, yeah. We played them when I was in New York in preseason all of the time. So I had a chance to say hello and so forth.”
(Did you know back then that he would be a head coach now? Did you see him as a leader back then?) – “Absolutely, there’s no question about it. He’s got all the traits that you need to be a good leader.”
(How do you guys go about this whole rebuild?) – “I guess the famous words are reload or rebuild. I’m not sure which side we fall on here because we really haven’t had the opportunity and we won’t until we get the team together and get out there and practice and see where we’re at. But in the NFL, obviously this team won some good games last year and lost some tough games. There are good players here. We just have to be able to gel them together.”
(Did you really recruit Tim Duncan to try to play football at Wake Forest?) – “Well, when I was at Wake Forest, the basketball players had to come through the coaches offices upstairs to get to academics. So Tim would stop in and I had like the first office. So he’d stop in and just sit in the chair. I had one chair, a chair for myself, the desk and he’d sit in the corner and put his feet up on my desk. He was a great guy, just a really great guy to talk to. So I always said to him ‘You’d be an outstanding tight end.’ There were times he’d stop in and say ‘I’m ready to play tight end.’ And I said, ‘Alright, go tell Coach (Dave) Odom that.’ He was the basketball coach. (laughter)”
(So you and Tim Duncan would just talk in your office all of the time?) – “Yeah, he’d stop in and we’d chat.”
(Do you still keep in touch with Tim Duncan?) – “Not on a regular basis. Last year when he was retiring, he came to play the Nets and actually my son was a big Tim Duncan because he was just a little guy when Tim was playing. So he said ‘If he’s going to retire, can we go over?’ So we went over and we were able to, after the game, go back to the locker room and visit with him. It was a thrill. It really was.”
(Any other NBA guys you failed to recruit to football?) – “(laughter) No. I have a good friend that I grew up with that was the first general manager of the Orlando Magic – John Gabriel – and then I had another classmate that was a basketball coach. So I had a little flavor of the NBA with those guys.”
(Is it true that you had colon cancer?) – “I did. Yeah, that’s true. Yeah, I’m a cancer survivor.”
(It was 2004 right?) – “Yes.”
(Have you gone into remission or anything like that?) – “I did.”
(Since 2004 has it flared back up at all?) – “No, not at all. That’s behind me. I never look back. I always look ahead. I recommend that to anybody who is going through something like that. I had a lot of support from the doctors in New York and the New York Giants organization. Wellington Mara was unbelievable at that point in time that I was going through it. Really, it was pretty easy. It really was, to go through it with all of the support I had.”
(How do you go through that? How do you get that news?) – “It’s shocking. It really is. Especially when you are just getting the one spot. Of course, I asked the doctors if I could wait before I could get the surgery and they said ‘You won’t be around if you wait,’ so I said ‘Let’s go,’ because you have the best doctors in the world. The thing with anyone going through it is the support coming from your family is the most important thing, and you’ll get through it. We’re kind of built for that type of thing as coaches.”
(What’s most important for you when you’re teaching young offensive linemen where you might have some inexperience coming from where you’ve been to the Miami Dolphins? What are some of the things you focus in on to try to teach young linemen in the National Football League?) – “I think you have a core of techniques, especially when they are young. When you get them when they’re young, I’ve always referred to it as you have one time to teach them the right way. I think that college coaches do an excellent job, I was one of them at one time. We do change some of the techniques that we need to execute and be successful in this league. The important thing is find out how much the rookie has been in a two-point stance and how much he’s been in a three-point stance, from that standpoint. You have to be balanced and we are in the NFL. You have to be able to execute both stances. I think that’s the number one thing with the stance, and it is just a variety of the type of drills that you have to work each and everyday.”
(What appealed to you when you had this opportunity presented to you to join this staff of the Miami Dolphins?) – “Brian Flores really appealed to me because I got to know Brian in 2017 when I was in Jacksonville and we practiced against New England. Just the passion he has and the drive that he has as a young coach. I knew that he was going to bring that into his head-coaching role. I was really excited about that.”
(When you take a look at what’s in front of you with the offensive line here with the Miami Dolphins and guys that are currently on the roster, what excites you about it and where do you think you’re looking to improve on that?) – “It really does excite me because I think we have a good foundation of players here. The personnel department has done a good job from that standpoint. It’s like most places each and every year that you’re at. There are pieces you have to fill in. I’ve watched all of the games from last year so I know the Dolphins of 2018 and had the opportunity to, when I got here, go back and look at the games. There are some things we have to maybe fit in. I’m not sure where we’re at, at this point, with that; but we’ll find a way.”
(What excites you about guys that are more notable on the offensive line like T Laremy Tunsil or T Ja’Wuan James? Have you been able to take a peak at those guys?) – “They are young guys and they have a high ceiling. When you have a high ceiling and they haven’t arrived yet, they’re pretty dang good and when you have that type of caliber of player, as an offensive lines coach you get fired up. You really do. I’m excited for those guys.”
