Chad O’Shea – October 29, 2019
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Tuesday, October 29, 2019
Offensive Coordinator Chad O’Shea
(I guess there was one lineup change during the game, moving from G Shaq Calhoun to C/G Chris Reed. What was the thinking behind that and having Chris play?) – “I think that the one thing is I want to compliment the Pittsburgh Steelers’ front. It was a front that we had a lot of respect for going into the game and probably even more respect as we came out of the game. It was a great challenge for us in the game. We thought at the time to make a change, to put in Reed for Calhoun, was the best thing for the team. I think that Reed went in and performed well. He’s a player that’s always very well prepared and one that we consider a dependable player on our roster and we were pleased with his performance once he went into the game and replaced Shaq.”
(I know obviously with the roster move today with TE Nick O’Leary, it leaves you with two tight ends. Can you do everything you want in the offense with those two and how have TE Mike Gesicki and TE Durham Smythe played?) – “So what we’ll do now from a game-planning perspective is we’ll go and kind of work with the players that we have currently on our roster, and that might be to adjust some things personnel-wise. But certainly there’s enough that we have from a personnel standpoint that we can do the things that we want to do versus the Jets. There’s always changes during the week and this is just an example of another change that we’ve had. I think that’s one of the challenges we’ll have as a coaching staff, just putting together a good game plan. But we have enough personnel groups to be successful.”
(WR Jakeem Grant is getting a little bit healthier. Yesterday he had a couple of catches in the 15-17 yard range. Getting him out there and healthy, what can he bring to the offense?) – “It was great to see him get going and have a couple of the catches. Certainly he’s got a great skillset and his speed is one that’s part of that skillset that’s unique. It was really nice and a positive to get the ball to him some. I think he’s made some progress here in the last couple of weeks, especially with where his health is. He’s made progress and hopefully he continues to do that. And if he performs like he did last night and has the catches, he’ll have more opportunities as we move forward here.”
(I wanted to ask you about G/T Jesse Davis. He’s back at right tackle now after starting off at left tackle. Do you see any differences in him on one side as opposed to another? And all things being equal, would you prefer keeping him on the right side?) – “I think the first thing that I’ll say is the tackle position in general – whether you’re on the right or left, especially when you face the front that we did last night – is challenging. But there’s certain things about the right and the left obviously that are different, that we know. We think that’s best for Jesse right now on the right side and (J’Marcus) Webb fits best on the left. That combination has been something that we’ve had the last couple of weeks here and that’s something – the offensive line spot, as I’ve said all along, we’re continuing to evaluate every week, and do what’s best for the team. Some of that is based off of who we’re facing too, and what the personnel is from a lineup standpoint on the other side of these guys. That’s something that we’ll talk about today as a staff and see what’s best as far as the right combination for us – not only at that spot, but there’s going to be some other moving parts at some other position groups. We talked about the tight end with Nick (O’Leary) not being on the roster right now, and just some things we’ll have to juggle to put the best 11 out there for us.”
(When you and Head Coach Brian Flores and Running Backs Coach Eric Studesville talked on Sunday and Monday, was there much thought to giving RB Patrick Laird any carries last night? Or was the thinking ‘let’s just go with our two veteran guys on a Monday night game and maybe we’ll weave in Laird or RB Myles Gaskin down the road?’) – “Certainly Patrick – when (Kenyan) Drake wasn’t with us on game day – that definitely factored Laird into being a running back that could factor into the game. He stays well prepared and he’s always one that knows exactly what he’s doing, so we were very confident that if we had to put him in the game, he would know what to do and execute it at a decent level. As we’ve told all of the players here this year that are backup players or in those roles, we need to stay ready because at any time you can be put in there. Certainly because of the numbers that we had on Monday, he was definitely somebody that stayed ready and potentially could have played for us.”
(I know it’s way too early to know with the Jets because you just started, but is there any thinking about whether you’d like to see RB Patrick Laird or RB Myles Gaskin at some point as a third back or is it tough to give carries to a third back in this league?) – “I think that this is a challenge that we had when we had the three backs that were playing for us – (Kenyan) Drake, (Kalen) Ballage and (Mark) Walton – is it’s tough to have three. It’s a good problem to have, that you have three backs that can do some things in a positive way for you, but it’s also difficult to get them all in there. What we’ve stressed to those guys is obviously you have to back up different roles and stay ready and that’s what we’ll do. (Myles) Gaskin and (Patrick) Laird certainly approach practice (like) they’re playing and they’ve been good in the meetings. Again, they’ve stayed well-prepared so I think that if they have the opportunity to play, I’m looking forward to seeing them play.”
(You guys got a lot of mileage on all the quick slants to WR DeVante Parker and WR Preston Williams last night. How much does their size help with that play?) – “I think it helps greatly. To have a size wide receiver, which I think we have in both of those guys, is something that makes it hard on the defensive backs, and I think that they do a good job of using their size as a strength. Certainly there were some good examples of that last night. I just think that that’s something that you can’t replace, is size. Especially with – I think ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick) does a good job of throwing those tight balls, so whether it’s a slant or whether it’s a go route, they can utilize their size, so it really helps to have two size receivers on the outside.”
(What did you see with the turnovers on film as far as any common denominators?) – “Common denominators – obviously we don’t want to have any of them, but I thought on the first turnover obviously we had a drop. I thought ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick) made a nice throw and a nice read on the (Nick) O’Leary (play). That was a key play in the game. Then I thought on the second turnover, we almost looked at that as it was almost like a punt. It really was. Then the third one on the strip sack, obviously – like I’ve said – it takes all 11 to have good ball security and it’s just not all on ‘Fitz’ and we weren’t as good in protection as we would have liked on that play and put him in a tough position to be able to hold onto the ball. Then the (Mark) Walton turnover, I think that the one thing I respect and admire about Walton is how hard he plays and how much energy he brings. Certainly he was trying to make a play with the ball in his hands and giving great second effort and really playing hard like he always does to the bitter end and unfortunately, they made a good play from behind and the ball was out. We don’t want to accept turnovers. That was the difference in the game for us. It doesn’t matter how they happen. They’re turnovers at the end of the day and we’ve got to do a better job of eliminating those.”
(How would you assess how C/G Evan Boehm has played center since C Daniel Kilgore is injured?) – “I thought it was another good week of him being in a tough environment on the road. I always look at the center position and think of how is the operation first. How can you handle the snap count? How can you handle some of the things from a communication standpoint? And I thought he did another good job of that. I think so much of that position is making sure you get the other guys on the same page to your right and left, and obviously the quarterback’s involved in that; and again, it was a second week for him, it was positive and that the overall operation was good. We didn’t have many issues, especially on the road in a tough environment versus a good front of just getting in and out of the huddle and those things. I thought it was positive last night.”
(It was totally justified, but the degree of anger we saw from Head Coach Brian Flores on the sideline – you being around him for many years – have you seen him that angry ever?) – “Yeah, I think the word is ‘competitive’ (laughter) and obviously I’ve been around Brian for a long time and know him very well, and I think the one thing that I know is he’s highly competitive. That’s how he kind of approaches everything and that’s how he’s approached obviously our season and the game last night. This matters obviously a lot to him, a lot to us as a team. He’s a highly competitive person.”
