Robby Brown – August 8, 2020
Download PDF version
Saturday, August 8, 2020
Quarterbacks Coach Robby Brown
(My first question is about the collaboration of the diverse backgrounds of the offensive staff and the experiences you guys have both at the college and pro level, as well as the different titles and different grouping on the offensive side. Is that kind of the same thinking with the coaching staff that Head Coach Brian Flores has for his players and guys that are versatile and multiple?) – “I think if you have a ton of different experiences, I think that helps you in anything that you do, no matter what line of work you’re in. As players, yes that helps if a guy can do two things. It always does. Some guys can and some guys can’t. But yes, it does help if you can do more than one thing to keep what you’re trying to do away from everybody.”
(I wanted to ask you your initial thoughts when the name QB Tua Tagovailoa was announced on draft night, and how much have you been impressed by him over the last few months?) – “Well, as you know, everything has been virtual and walk-throughs. He hadn’t gotten on the field yet. I hadn’t seen him live and in person throwing the football. It’s a deal where he’s just like every other rookie. He’s just got to come in and learn. What we’re trying to do first, the first thing you have to do is learn what you’re doing as an offense and then it expands to ‘okay, what’s the defense trying to do to us,’ and that kind of stuff. But he’s just like every other guy – a rookie trying to come in and learn that, and learn it as fast as possible. Of course, it’s a little bit accelerated during this training camp. It’s a different process than it would have been had you had OTAs and all of that stuff.”
(As a coaching staff, you guys have three guys between Defensive Backs Coach Gerald Alexander, Outside Linebackers Coach Austin Clark and Linebackers Coach Anthony Campanile who are now in the NFL with no prior NFL experience having gone straight from college. With you having gone through that transition before from college to the NFL, what do you think are some challenges those three might have to navigate as a coaching staff, and how you’ll be able to help them adapt?) – “I think it’s different for every guy, it’s different for every positon. Like me, I came in as a quality control in New York and then went back to West Virginia last year. It’s different for every single position. If I’d come in from college and jumped straight to the quarterbacks in terms of what offense I’d been in, that would’ve been different. So it was good for me to go through the quality control process. I don’t think it’s the same at every position. I think every guy is different, every position is different, and some people can make the jump better than others. It definitely is a transition – or it was for me, I can’t speak for them – but it was for me in 2015 when I made that transition.”
(I know you mentioned earlier that accelerated offseason with the quarterbacks. Obviously that position seems to have to know more than every other group. How much is realistic to ask for a guy like QB Tua Tagovailoa when you first get him on the field, and how quickly can you go through that process given how unusual this offseason is?) – “I think – again the same answer as before about the different coaches moving – every guy is different. It’s really hard to tell until you actually get on the field and go through the practices, see how much they have retained from the virtual OTAs to the meetings now, to the walkthroughs, and then you kind of adjust it as you go. It’s really hard to tell. Some guys pick up certain things quicker than others and some guys catch other things a little bit slower. It’s really hard to tell until you get out there and the bullets start flying, and you see how much a guy retained mentally. Guys learn differently. It’s really a different process for each individual until you get out there, no matter who it is – whether it’s a rookie quarterback or a rookie DB, it’s different for every guy.”
(As a young coach, what was your reaction to Offensive Coordinator Chan Gailey coming out of retirement to take this thing on?) – “(laughter) I’ve known Coach (Gailey) for a long time. I’ve gone through the whole process with him. I was a walk-on quarterback for him at Georgia Tech and then I stayed there for a little while as a volunteer-type GA person, because there wasn’t a spot on the field. Then I got a GA job, then I worked for him as a quality control. So I’ve kind of lived the whole professional life with him. He’s been a mentor of mine in a lot of ways. He’s never changed as a person. I had no clue that, that was a possibility. I was – I wouldn’t say shocked, because he is a football guy, he’s always loved the first down. I wouldn’t say shocked, but I had no idea it was coming or that he was going to do that.”
(This is the second time in four years that you’ve been the coach of a top five quarterback coming into the league. QB Sam Darnold obviously back in 2018 I think. What did you learn from that experience that you can apply to this one?) – “When we had Sam, I had moved to defense as a defense quality control. I did watch that process and like I said, every guy is different. I don’t know how much you can compare Sam Darnold to Tua (Tagovailoa) or their experiences. That is something you’d have to ask Sam, who is in year three. But seeing him come in, there was a lot of hype around him and I think you have to manage each person differently. Like I said, the first step is learning what we do offensively and that’s what we’re trying to do with him now. That’s what we’re trying to do with Josh Rosen – learning our offense. That’s what we’re trying to do – learn what we do then learn what everybody else is doing. That’s the first thing you’ve got to do as a quarterback is know what we’re doing and what each individual on the offense is doing. I don’t know how much you can use those two comparisons. I wasn’t very close to the situation with Sam because I was on the defensive side of the ball.”
