Darren Rizzi – October 13, 2016
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Thursday, October 13, 2016
Assistant Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Darren Rizzi
(On the DT Chris Jones blocked extra point and how much tinkering did they do to get to that) – “First of all great, great effort by him – individual effort. We had a little bit of a schemed up rush on, and the one thing I’ve said about that unit so far this year is we’ve gotten credible effort out of that unit. Not only have we blocked two in five games, but we’ve come close on many, many others. Chris Jones is just one of many guys on that unit that has really given phenomenal effort. If you watch the play, Chris Jones’ hand is here and Jason Jones’ hand is right behind it. I think actually statistically, they initially gave it to Jason Jones and have since changed it. But it looks like Jason Jones might block that if Chris Jones doesn’t. Really, kudos to that whole unit on the effort number one. Number two, again on the scheme part of it, again Chris Jones just gives great effort. It just goes to show you that he’s not the tallest guy in the world – he’s 6’1” and change – and he got himself three yards back into the backfieldn great penetration and then got his hand up. Just really timed it up. We’ve really done a good job on that unit this year of getting our hands up, getting into the peoples backfields. Great job by (Assistant Special Teams Coach) Marwan Maalouf who really handles the front guys in that group. Great effort by the guys in that unit, and again, hopefully we can continue to have success in that area.”
(On how would assess P Matt Darr this season so far and his roughing penalty against Tennessee) – “I’ll start with the roughing penalty. I’ll start with the bad and go to the good. We can’t have that. That can’t happen. I think Matt (Darr) was probably a little bit frustrated (with), maybe, the way the game was going or maybe his bad punt or whatever. Regardless of what he was frustrated at, it’s a bad penalty. It doesn’t matter if it’s the punter, d-tackle, quarterback, receiver. It doesn’t matter who it is. We got to be smarter than that. Matt knows that. (I) talked to Matt about that. We’ll get it corrected. Again, was it frustration? Looked like it to me. I probably was at the time. Things weren’t quite going our way. He probably wasn’t real happy with the result of the return and got to the sideline, got in a little scuffle. I think specialists in particular are a little bit touchy, feely with the physical stuff. So, I think he was a little … He got caught up in there. But the bottom line is we can’t have that. That’s the bottom line. (We) can’t have 15-yard penalties after the whistle. (It) doesn’t matter who it is. It doesn’t help the team. As far as (how) Matt’s season is going, statistically he’s obviously having … If you look on paper, he’s having a really good year. He has been a really good situational punter so far through five games. He has got some really good going in punts, plus 50 punts. We’ve had a lot of punts down inside the 20 (yard line). Something he really tried to improve on this year from last year was some hang time and location. I think we’ve done that. Not every ball has been exactly where we want it, but he has really improved in that area. Kudos to our coverage team so far. Knock on wood. That’s been a pretty good group right now. (We have) got some guys giving phenomenal effort in that group as well. You look last week at guys like Walt Aikens, Bobby McCain, Mike Thomas in particular getting down the field, Mike Hull. (We have) a lot of guys around the ball, and we’re going to have to continue to do that throughout the year, particularly this week. But overall, again, I think Matt is a guy that has been pretty consistent throughout – since the time he got here, from his first preseason last year, right up through this year. In every game we kind of know what we’re going to get. Again, kickers are humans, too. Punters are humans. Every kick is not going to be exact, but again, I really like his approach. I really like how he prepares for games. I really like how he handles himself in practice. He has got a great routine for a young player. People forget he only punted one year in college. He only had one year as a starter at Tennessee, because of their competition there and all that. So, you’re talking about a guy that hasn’t had a great body of work since high school, and that’s pretty impressive.”
(On whether he ran down the field with WR Jakeem Grant on his punt return for a touchdown and if that one play is really an indication of what Grant can do) – “I’ll start with me. Ironically enough – I know you’ll be surprised by this – I was standing still and actually he ran right by me. I had my feet in the ground on that one believe it not. I know that comes as a surprise to some people. As far as Jakeem (Grant) goes, the thing that when we evaluated Jakeem on college film – and I think I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again – for a small guy, usually little guys are shifty and quick and don’t have long speed. It’s just kind of the nature of those smaller guys. Jakeem in high school, if I’m not mistaken, ran like a 10.3 100 meter. He has got long speed as well. So on that particular play, I think he did a hell of job making the first guy miss and then obviously got around the corner. Now, we had some great blocking as well. I think people tend to forget that he didn’t do it by himself. But he did a hell of job once he got into the wall on the sideline of making those last few guys miss. Number one he made the first guy miss, got himself to the sideline. And then number two, the in-and-out cuts. One of the most impressive things I think about the play is his last burst. He makes the last guy miss and his acceleration to finish was outstanding. Yes, you kind of get the whole package here. You see a guy that can move laterally, can finish vertically. He’s still a work in progress. Again I think the one great thing … The one kick return we had later in the game, we should have had a lot more yards. There was a line drive that kicked right to us on the goal line, and he kind of misread that a little bit. So, there are still some things to improve on there. But I think from a talent standpoint – I think when you watch that play – you can certainly see.”
(On if he has ever coached a player with WR Jakeem Grant’s skillset) – “That’s a great question. I’ve been here … I guy like Teddy Ginn certainly was … When I first got here, Teddy won a game for us against the Jets with two kick returns in one game. Teddy might be the fastest goal line-to-goal line guy that we’ve had since I’ve been here in terms of 100 meter open up and run. But ironically enough, Jakeem is not that far behind him in terms of just straight-ahead speed. Now, Jakeem is more shifty and maybe has some more lateral quickness. A guy like Devon Bess was really lateral quick, but he didn’t have the home run speed. So, we’ve had some guys that have had the different skill sets, but Jakeem, again, kind of has that entire package.”
(On how he has helped Head Coach Adam Gase in his role as assistant head coach) – “That’s a great question. Number one I try to take as much off his plate as possible in terms of around the building. (I) try to help him out a lot in that stuff. I think people also forget that not only is he a head coach, he’s calling the offensive plays, so he’s our offensive mind there, too. We’ve had some great conversations throughout – not just this week – since he has gotten here about the daily duties and my thing. Again, I try to take some of that management stuff off of his plate, so he can really concentrate on the things that I think are important. I told him it doesn’t matter … I’ve been a coach – certainly not the NFL level, but I was a Division II head coach and a IAA head coach. The one piece of advice I gave him when he first got here I said, ‘It doesn’t matter where you are, what level – whether it’s high school or Pop Warner – there is a funnel that goes to the head coaches desk from the rest of the building, a funnel of crap, if you will.’ I’ll say it nicely. I think as a head coach when you’re a head coach for the first time – and it happened to me when I was really young at the Division II level – but you have to really do a great job of understanding how to divvy that out and how to delegate, especially in his positon. I think he has done a great job of that. (I am) just trying to help with little things like that around the building. Again, talking through, obviously, the football aspect of it is easy I think – the x’s and o’s and all that stuff. To me, I think, I try to help him with a lot of the other things in the building where he can concentrate on the football part of it and not have to worry about some outside stuff.”
(On whether they will use the defensive or special teams unit if Pittsburgh attempts a two-point conversion and whether it is difficult to include in the package) – “If they leave their offense on the field, that’s going to be the defensive unit. As far as the numbers go, overall statistically in the NFL, it’s still just shy of a 50 percent play, probably in the mid to high 40 percent. Pittsburgh did a hell of a job last year. They’ve done a hell of job when they have gone (for it). They are certainly ahead of the curve, and they’ve also done it more than anybody else. But usually that’s going to be, depending … I would talk to (Defensive Coordinator) Vance (Joseph) more about that. What’s the offensive personnel in the game? Who do they have in the game? You’re going play matchup there in that kind of situation. Usually – I’m not speaking for Vance (Joseph), but just generally speaking – usually people are going to have their red zone-type calls in that situation depending upon the offense’s personnel and things like that.”
