Chan Gailey – December 1, 2020
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Tuesday, December 1, 2020
Offensive Coordinator Chan Gailey
(How is QB Tua Tagovailoa feeling and how difficult was it for him not to play last week?) – “I think we all realize how competitive he is. I didn’t really get a chance to talk to him after the game about how he felt but just knowing him, I know he wanted to play. I don’t know until we get back into the office Wednesday exactly what the status is, but I know he’s working hard to get ready. He’s a tough guy.”
(I wanted to ask your thoughts on slot receiver. I know WR Antonio Callaway only had about a half-dozen catches out of the slot in Cleveland. Do you view him as a viable slot option for the rest of the season? Where is WR Lynn Bowden Jr. in his development? And your thoughts on RB/WR Malcolm Perry, who seemed to be playing well obviously before getting hurt?) – “Yeah, we’ve got some options there and obviously we have to be able to use everybody at our disposal here. We try to not pigeonhole too much where guys are going to be. We know that DeVante (Parker) has been more of an outside guy, but we have played him inside and we can still do that. He’s good in there. He’s done it and he can go make some plays inside in the slot. We try not to pigeonhole guys, but I think as the rest of the season unfolds, we’re going to have to use these other guys in different and varied ways to be able to move the football in the best way. We’ve got to use them all. Malcolm has come a long way, Lynn has come a long way, Antonio is learning as he goes; but it’s going to take everybody.”
(We know that QB Ryan Fitzpatrick has a good mastery of this offense and has the ability to alter and change plays. Does QB Tua Tagovailoa have that same level of mastery and same ability to change plays?) – “Not to the level of ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick). Very few people have that ability. He’s an amazingly smart guy and Tua hadn’t been in the offense six games yet. It’s like comparing apples and oranges. Is he where ‘Fitz’ is? No, he is not. But has he come a long way and is he making progress? Yes, very definitely.”
(What is the identity of the offense right now?) – “I think it’s week by week. We’re one of those offenses that tries to take what the defense gives us. I don’t want to pigeonhole who we are offensively. I think we try to run the ball effectively, we throw it when we need to throw it. We’ve got to be more consistent with what we’re doing. If people are going to stack the box and we have to throw it, then we’re going to throw it. If they play soft and let us run it, we’ve got to be able to run it effectively. It gets back to execution and being consistent with the things we’re trying to get done. I don’t like to worry too much about identity. I just want to make sure we’re being consistent and moving the ball on a consistent bases.”
(In light of what happened in Denver – obviously all the quarterbacks missing the game – some teams are separating their third quarterback from meetings and all of that. I’m just curious did you guys take any precautions like that beyond the normal mask wearing and all of that?) – “The thing about it is right now in the situation we’re in, we are all separated. We’re doing all of the meetings at home. We’re spread out at practice. So it seems like a moot point at this time to talk about that because we do try to keep them separated at practice where they’re not standing huddled together without proper precautions. Meetings from home are kind of handling the separation there.”
(I wanted to revisit a topic we talked about last week at various points about contested catches and the quarterback having the confidence to trust his receiver to make a play. We saw QB Ryan Fitzpatrick do that with TE Mike Gesicki and WR DeVante Parker on Sunday in New York. Where is QB Tua Tagovailoa now in his development in terms of having that confidence, and how do you bring him along to get him to make those throws that the receivers have to make the play?) – “I think there are a couple of things involved there. I think one, ‘Fitz’ had last year with all of these receivers, so he knows what to expect, how to read them and how to read body language and know break points and things like that. Tua has had four games with these guys. I think there is a learning process that goes on there, that you have to get a feel for it and you have to understand that. Is Tua at that point yet? No. But I think we will get there at some point in time. I’m hoping it’s sooner than later. I think he’s getting a better idea of it. He threw a couple of balls in Denver that were sticks right on the right side to DeVante that was like that, where he’s not just standing wide open and you’ve got to throw it and give him a chance to make a play. I think we are getting there, but we don’t have that kind of experience yet with these receivers with each of the guys yet to be able to do that.”
(You guys have had a lot of guys leading your backfield throughout the season for different reasons. It seems like you guys are getting close to getting RB Myles Gaskin and RB Salvon Ahmed back. Do you anticipate Gaskin presuming his previous role? How do you think that’s going to work out not that you have had different guys in the backfield?) – “I think it depends on everybody’s health. I can’t answer that question today. I think we’ve got to see how healthy everybody is. Somebody like Myles who has missed three weeks, what’s his conditioning level? There are just so many things up in the air right now to try to answer that question. I think that’s a question for maybe even all the way until Sunday before we really know what’s going to happen on that.”
