Tony Oden – October 1, 2019
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Tuesday, October 1, 2019
Safeties Coach Tony Oden
(S Steven Parker, how he’s played.) – “He’s doing well. He’s adjusting, getting used to our verbiage, our techniques, our calls and working with the other guys. He’s doing well.”
(What’s a skill there with S Steven Parker that you guys like?) – “He’s tall, he’s long, has good range, is a good communicator – which is good – and he’s smart. If you put those things together, you’ve got a chance to have some success.”
(We’re at the quarter-mile pole of the season here. From the safeties standpoint, obviously there’s been some shuffling. You lost one. How would you see that progress has been from the opener to this past Sunday in that group as they’ve settled in?) – “It’s been steady. I would say steadily ascending, trending in the right direction. Guys are getting used to playing with each other. Obviously, we had some guys in and out there, but these last few weeks guys are starting to gel a little bit and getting used to communicating and talking to each other. That’s one of the bigger components of putting new pieces together, just learning to play and communicate, knowing the calls, knowing what the other guys’ strengths and weaknesses are and how to help them when they need help in plays within the series. The guys, they’re working hard to together. They work hard in the meeting room. They work hard at practice. So, that part is trending in the right direction, for sure.”
(Your two most experienced guys back there are obviously S Bobby McCain and S Reshad Jones. You’ve got a guy like S Walt Aikens who’s been around mostly on special teams, but now he’s getting in there and CB Chris Lammons. To get that chemistry going again after going through a whole training camp, what has that challenge been like for you?) – “From Day 1, we try to coach and teach all those guys like they are the starter. That’s the thing a lot of people don’t see, because they may not play together on Sundays all the time; but in practice, we’re always rotating guys in, so guys are learning how to work with and communicate with different people. Now, they may work more with a particular group or particular person, but it’s not totally foreign to them when that opportunity presents itself. We try to facilitate that, start that from Day 1. It has been an interesting challenge, but guys have done a good job of getting ready for it and preparing for it. It’s been good though.”
(Specifically when it comes to S Reshad Jones, obviously he’s coming back from injury, got back in the game on Sunday. He’s known as one of the top level in-the-box safeties. What does he need to do to make it more well-rounded as a safety in pass coverage?) – “I wouldn’t necessarily say he’s one of the top box safeties; I would say he’s one of the top safeties. Reshad does what he’s asked to do. He’s been a good pro. We just have some strengths in other areas that people are asked to do different things and play different roles, but he can do it all. He’s done a good job preparing and studying what his role is for that particular week. We don’t know what our role is going to be from week to week until we look at the game plan and see the matchups that we like. Sometimes he may be back in the middle of the field playing the post, sometimes he may be playing the half. Last week he covered the tight end, he covered the back. There are just so many different moving parts and that’s been a challenge; but that’s a good thing as well, because week to week things are going to change. It keeps everyone focused, it keeps everyone fresh, because they know they have to come in and say, ‘Okay, what are we doing this week?’ That’s an exciting part about it.”
(Obviously the opposing quarterback, that’s going to play a big role. I know S Reshad Jones talked about on Sunday being disciplined on QB Philip Rivers when he thought he was going to run on one play. Whether it’s a quarterback like Rivers or QB Lamar Jackson, it’s a real threat to run. That’s got to be tough, ‘When do I decide to come?’) – “It’s always a fine line. Sometimes as quarterbacks, they run the ball and you’re not real sure where the line of scrimmage is and those kinds of things. That was an unfortunate play. He wishes he would’ve stayed on his coverage a little bit longer, maybe one or two more steps and then it would’ve been perfect. That’s part of the game. It’s an imperfect game played by imperfect players and coached by imperfect coaches, but that’s why you learn. You live and learn from those scenarios and situations. If it happened again, I would bet that outcome would be a little bit different.”
(What’s the most important thing on your agenda to accomplish during this bye week now as you head into the second quarter?) – “The first thing for me is rest. (laughter) Let’s start with that. We want to obviously rest our players and heal them up. We want to look at ourselves and see what we’ve done well, what we need to improve on, evaluate all our positions and if we ask people to do the right thing, put them in the right place to utilize, to accent their skillset based off what we need in our defense. You get a jump start on Washington; but this week is us, who are we and what are we doing and how we can focus on getting back to our technique and fundamentals and those things because at the end of the day, no matter who we face next week, it’s still about us and what we’re doing. Now is an opportunity for us to refine that and get back on track to who we are.”
