Clyde Christensen – September 6, 2016
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Tuesday, September 6, 2016
Offensive Coordinator Clyde Christensen
(On the decision to start RB Arian Foster) – “We felt like we wanted a veteran presence in that room – and certainly in this kind of game on the road like that – was why we found a veteran presence. We had a bunch of young guys – we ha a bunch of up and comers – but we did want a veteran guy in this kind of game. It fits him and fits why we went and got a veteran guy. We felt like, obviously, he gave us the best chance right from the get go. I think especially (with a) road game of this magnitude and that kind of place, that’s what he’s here for.”
(On what he will tell G/T Laremy Tunsil going into Week 1) – “’(Have a) short memory, great effort and be on your stuff.’ There’s going to be some growing pains. He’s going to have some mistakes, and that’s a pretty darn good defense he’s starting out against in a new position for him. He has worked hard. He earned the position. He earned it the hard way, which we thought was really important. I think probably the biggest fear you have is … Understand there’s going to be some negative plays in this thing. You’re not going to go knock them around the ballpark for 75 plays and pancake people and not miss any twists and all that stuff. I think the biggest thing is just (to) keep playing. (If you) have a bad play – you get beat – turn the page, next play.”
(On how G/T Laremy Tunsil earned a starting position) – “We didn’t make any decisions. A lot of times you take that first pick – especially a high first pick – and you declare him the starter. I think (Head) Coach (Adam) Gase was adamant right from the get go that, ‘We’re going to play the best five. If he’s in that best five, great. If not, he can back up at left tackle.’ We could do a lot of different things. There were a lot of different scenarios. There were a lot of guys we looked at. We really gave them equal time, probably as long as you possibly could without (limiting) some folks and then being unfair to them. He kept improving. He’s not great yet, but he sure is a talented guy. He sure works hard. He keeps improving, and that’s all we’re looking for – keep playing hard and keep improving. There’s going to be a few negative plays. There’s a reason (the Seahawks are) so darn good at home. They’re a good football team.”
(On G/T Jermon Bushrod earning the starting right guard position) – “Same thing. Almost the same answer as (Laremy) Tunsil. Same thing: he earned it. He did it the hard way. We made him switch sides, which is really hard. We made him switch positions. He has really been a left tackle, so (we) made him (switch and said), ‘Here’s the roles we need you to work at, and here’s the opportunity.’ The opportunity was in a position (that) wasn’t his natural position – it wasn’t his natural side – and it took him a while. It took him and Tunsil a while, but we felt like at the end of the day, they gave us the best chance. They earned the starting jobs, and it wasn’t easy. It wasn’t easy. The easy thing would be to put them at their natural position and let them compete. That’s the easy answer (to say), ‘Let them do what they know how to do,’ but it wasn’t the best thing for the football team. It wasn’t the best thing for the unit. We felt like we had to do that, and if it backfired, it backfired. We know they’re both in a good veteran position – good veteran players at that position – but at their own position. But the best thing was to get some versatility. I think – I’ve said all along – I think that versatility will pay some dividends before this year is out. You hope you get lucky and have the same five all year. (It) doesn’t happen at very many clubs. That won’t happen many places this year, and I hope it’s us. But if it isn’t, we’ll have some reps and deposits made on some of those other positions.”
(On whether WR Justin Hunter knows enough of the offense yet to fill the third wide receiver role) – “The answer is, no, he probably doesn’t know enough to fill the role yet, and it’ll have to be by committee. (We can) use those tight ends a little bit in there. The thing is to get Hunter as far as we can get him (and) see how much of the package he can get and then by the end of the week, make sure he knows something. You may have to give him a limited call sheet, and he’ll have to learn it that way and obviously hope you don’t lose somebody where he’s thrust into action before you’d like to have him in there. (We want to) make sure he knows something. That’s the key: make sure he knows something. If that’s 10 plays from the right wide out and the quarterback walks over and tells him what to do, we got to make sure he knows something that if there is a catastrophe and he’s in there that he can function.”
(On how important the first play of the game is) – “When you’re calling the game … (Head) Coach (Adam) Gase came in today and he said, ‘Put some thought into this first play of the game.’ Probably the truth of the matter is it’s one of 75 (plays). The feel of the thing is, ‘Gosh, we want to get off to a good start,’ and you go back and forth. I’ve lost more sleep over the first play of the game. (We can say), ‘Let’s get a shot. There’d be nothing like juicing everybody up with a 50-yard shot, but we can’t have a sack on that first play of the game. How about a plus route? Let’s not take a chance of a minus-yard run.’ It is one of those you wrestle back and forth with. The truth of the matter is that I can’t remember many first plays of the game in the whole 21 years (of my coaching experience). They really are insignificant. I think we hit one first play for a touchdown against Pittsburgh. They busted something, and it went or something, but that was 10 years ago. You do toss and turn (and ask,) ‘Do I take a chance? Do I not take a chance? Do I get aggressive? Do I not get aggressive?’ I think some of that’ll be (about) the center and who’s at center and who are those people (starting on offense). With this team up there (in Seattle), you do want to hang around, and you’re going to have to take some chances to win the game, because it’s hard to beat them there. But you do want to make sure that you’re in this thing in the fourth (quarter). You want to make sure that you don’t get that crowd all geeked up early and you got your hands full. If we can hang around, and then we all know what happens. You hang around in the fourth quarter and the home team starts to feel some pressure and puckering up a little bit. We got to play some good football and not lay an egg, and let’s see what happens there in the second half of that thing. That’s a long answer to a short question, but the first play feels a lot more significant than it probably really is. But it was funny, because Coach Gase (said), ‘Put some thought into that first play of the game.’ We just have to pick one out (play) of the 150. That’s why we put them in the game plan. We feel like they’re good plays, and if we block them it’ll be a good play, and if we don’t block them, they won’t. That’s the truth of the matter.”
(On what the offense needs to do in order to move the ball against Seattle’s defense) – “I think it’s, ‘Get into a flow and not self-destruct early, not do crazy stuff and jump offside and end up in second-and-20 and get a holding penalty. Don’t make a bad read and throw one up to No. 25 (Richard Sherman) when you know he’s such an exceptional player. Don’t play bad ball. Avoid the bad ball, especially early and then hang around and see what happens.’ I think that’s the No. 1 thing. No. 2 would be that crowd. You got to be able to function with that crowd. We’ll have some young players in there. It’ll be a new offense. We just got to go do what we do (and) play our game. Don’t worry about the opponent, the scoreboard. Don’t worry about the scoreboard or the opponent, just worry about the Miami Dolphins and playing good football. Then let’s look up and see where we are at 6:30 with a half an hour to go in that thing. Let’s look up and see where we are. Don’t worry about that scoreboard. Don’t worry about that crowd. They don’t have anything to do with us. Let’s make sure we play good football. That’ll be my message.”
(On offenses communicating in loud environments) – “You have to keep stressing that it’s hard, but … Especially young guys, you start concentrating on your own thing … That thing has to get passed around. It can’t all fall on Ryan (Tannehill), because Ryan can’t tell all 11 guys what to do. He can tell the tight end, the slot (receiver) and the center. The center has to do a great job of getting it communicated to the guard, and the guard is probably going to have to tell the tackle, and the tackle is going to have to tell the tight end. Tight end is going to have to tell the wide out. It’s everyone. If we leave it all on Ryan, that is really, really a hard job. Everyone has to do their part of the communication. Some guys are natural at it, and some guys are kind of quiet guys and they tend to just worry about themselves and doing their job. In an atmosphere like this, everyone has to communicate. We have to keep the plan simple enough that we don’t have miscommunication. Miscommunication would be fatal up there. We have to know what we’re doing to have a chance to win the football game.”
(On keeping QB Brandon Doughty as a third quarterback) – “It’s really a hard question, this third quarterback thing. I think the league is split about 50-50 (on keeping a third quarterback). The Jets have four on their 53 (-man roster). I saw (Arizona Cardinals Head Coach Bruce) Arians has a couple practice squaders. Probably the biggest thing … I’m all conflicted, because I went 16 years and never got to a backup. That guy (Peyton Manning) never missed a snap. And then all of a sudden last year, you’re on about your sixth one. You just don’t know. Our guy (Ryan Tannehill) has been extremely durable, but it’s a hard one. And then all of a sudden you get someone snatched from your practice squad and then you have to train someone. So, you need a third one trained. That’s one thing we all know: you need a third one trained, whether he’s on your 53 or whether he’s on your practice squad. It’s going to tend – I think – to be kind of both. There may be some weeks where you got to get a corner up (to the active roster), and the quarterback becomes a practice squad guy. I don’t think that that’s a permanent (thing). You don’t know that that’s a permanent position, so to speak. But you do know that you got to have a third guy trained, because if you do get to him, you can’t train someone in a week. I tried that last year; it’s not much fun. We looked at it hard. Both those two No. 3 (quarterbacks, Brandon Doughty and Zac Dysert,) had played some good football, had done some things that weren’t so good and they were similar. I think it fell on (Head Coach) Adam (Gase to ask), ‘Which way do you want to go on this thing?’ and we ended up going with Brandon and feel like he’s a good, young guy. He’s got a long way to go, but (we) had to make a decision. There wasn’t any big factor on that.”
