Clyde Christensen – October 20, 2016
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Thursday, October 20, 2016
Offensive Coordinator Clyde Christensen
(What is the verdict on the offensive line and having them intact? You guys rushed for 200 and didn’t have any sacks … all due to the offensive line being intact?) – “It sure helps. Continuity is huge. Those guys are tied together so it sure helps. I don’t know that you can ever predict a 200-yard rushing game in this league but it sure came at a good time for us and we’d sure love to see more of them. The more those guys play together, the more that’s going to happen. I do think just getting those guys together and the shower mats in the team hotel helped. (laughter) All those things contributed, I think a lot of those things contributed to it.”
(T Branden Albert said he really liked what he saw but he doesn’t think the team really found an identity just yet up front) – “I do think it’s an ongoing process. I think he’s probably right. I do think we’re moving towards one. I do think even for (Head Coach) Adam (Gase) as the play caller, you just see what guys do more. Again, we’ve talked 100 times about reps and the more reps you see guys and you see what does Jay Ajayi do well, what does our line do well, what can we be, what are we? It’s always fluid just because of injuries. This week, again, we’ll go in and probably be shorthanded at tight end. You have to adjust, but I do think systematically that you do just keep getting a feel for what guys can do and what you can be good at. How does it complement your defense? How does it tie in with everything? I do think he’s probably right on that but … We’ve committed to being an outside-zone team, so it’s good to see some of that pay off. Some of the things we’re trying to be, some we’re tweaking and some are improving. The continuity goes for the plays as well as the players. The more times you do it with the same guys over and over and they learn what Adam (Gase) wants, etc., what Coach Gase wants, etc., then the better it gets. Hopefully that’s a step forward in the right direction towards all of the above right there.”
(Speaking about T Branden Albert, how well has he been able to bounce back from the illness?) – “He’s been really good. He’s been excellent. I haven’t seen … I think once that was gone, unlike some of these other injuries, once it was gone, it was gone. I haven’t seen any residual effects of that, so that’s been good.”
(You mentioned RB Jay Ajayi, how helpful is it to have a running back that … things aren’t necessarily blocked up according to plan but he’s still able to generate yards and get positive yards) – “Absolutely. It’s a must, because in this league, it would be nice to say, ‘Hey, double teams are going to knock guys back 5 yards and you’re going to have a body on a body.’ That just doesn’t happen in this league and even when it does happen, there’s an extra guy in the box usually. You can’t play running back in here if you can’t create a little something on your own, whether it’s running over somebody, spinning off somebody or putting a move on somebody. Even if you get them all blocked, these guys are so good that they have an extra guy in the box anyway. So yes, you just have to have the ability. You can’t play running back in this league – that would be one of the quick disqualifications – if you can’t make that extra guy miss, then you’re going to have trouble playing running back in this league.”
(Can you talk about the difficulties of playing a Rex Ryan defense, especially considering they have the guy leading the league in sacks right now) – “That’s a good question. In our introduction to the team, it’s really unbelievably similar to last week. It’s a really hot team. It’s a really hot defense. It’s an established defense that has been doing the same thing for a long, long time. They’re statistically very, very good. It’s going to be the same thing. This team is playing extremely good defense. They’re in the top five in about every single category. They have good players. They have a scheme that they know. It’s the same scheme that they’re familiar with. They’ve been in it for a long time. They’ve drafted to it; they’ve signed to it. They’re always a problem. It’s an aggressive defense. They’re going to give you some different looks. They’re a little bit like Pittsburgh and New England in that you’re always going to get something that you didn’t bargain for so the system has to kick in. You have to be able to handle things on the run and see what kind of game it becomes. They’re very, very good.”
(One of the big topics of conversation around here has been QB Ryan Tannehill at the line of scrimmage. How much of Sunday was him at the line of scrimmage getting them into where they needed to be) – “(It’s the) same thing. I’d kind of tell you that we’re evolving into a little mix – that he has some flexibility and (Head) Coach (Adam) Gase gives him some parameters. But he has some freedom. It’s not complete. What percentage was it this week? I don’t know how I’d say that other than just that he does have a lot of freedom and that he did a couple of good things at the line of scrimmage that kind of helped us out of some bad plays. We have tried to clean the thing up to where there’s less communication at the line of scrimmage and that guys know what they’re going to do. I think we’ve benefitted from that a little bit too. The huddle – that takes a little bit of stress off of him not having to communicate to everybody everything. We’re going to just keep working between them and mix in the tempo stuff. He’s done a good job with it and I know Coach Gase is trying to be really smart with how much of what and when. But it is a quarterback-driven offense and it’s an advantage-based offense. You’re looking where can we get an advantage and we’re going to always have the freedom for the quarterback to get us an advantage on a play.”
(Can you give one example where QB Ryan Tannehill got you into something that really worked?) – “He took a couple of those runs. One thing with Pittsburgh and these guys is that they come off the perimeter and there are some things you have to get an extra blocker to the perimeter; there’s some things you have to run away from it. There were a couple of times where he got us away from a perimeter pressure. There were a couple of times where he got us into a perimeter pressure but with something that we had a chance to block the extra guy with. That would be an example. It’ll be the same thing this week, when they do bring the extra guy – Pittsburgh loves to bring their strong safety and an extra edge player – that’s going to fall on the quarterback, picking his times where we run into it and what we run into it with and picking his times to run away from it and what to run away from it with. That did happen in the game and he handled it well.”
(Last week after the game, QB Ryan Tannehill said he saw a couple of their linebackers puking on the field – his words – and there is a video of Steelers LB Lawrence Timmons down on one knee and he’s throwing up. Was that weather or was that tempo?) – “I don’t know about that. I’d hate to speculate. It actually was on the film. It’s kind of an interesting league that it’s family television at its best. (laughter)”
(Can you guys take advantage with tempo?) – “Who knows what it was. A lot of guys play through some flu symptoms and these guys are tough guys. The Steelers obviously are tough guys too. I don’t know what was going on with him but one of the things we’ve tried to sell is that it has to be our advantage playing in this weather – being used to it, and then getting teams down here early when it’s really hot, the tempo and then playing at that tempo is hard to replicate and then playing at that tempo at humid, high temperatures is extremely hard to duplicate and simulate, especially coming from Pittsburgh or Buffalo. Those things have to be an advantage for us. I don’t think we’re fully ready to exploit them yet, just with us; but we have to. That’s what we’d like to get to. That’s what we’d love to be able to get to and gosh, you have to dread when you come down here because you know how many snaps you’re going to have to play – you’re going to have to play 90 snaps and it is hot and humid and these guys are on their stuff. That’s where we’re headed hopefully, but we’re not there yet. But it does need to be an advantage, sure.”
(Did [the heat and humidity] get a couple of your linemen last week? G/T Laremy Tunsil? T Ja’Wuan James?) – “Yes. I think more of ours is just some guys have missed some practice time and then all of a sudden, that same thing. Sometimes it can get you too. The humidity is … the cold in Green Bay gets them too. There is some of that; but you do hope there is an advantage that you’re more used to it than anybody else. For us, all of a sudden our snaps went up 30, so they weren’t used to that. That’s our own fault for us to cramp because we’ve only been playing 50 snaps a game and it jumped up to 70 so I’ll put that in the self-inflicted category. We haven’t trained enough in long-snap games.”
(Can you talk about WR DeVante Parker and how you would assess him after six games?) – “I really think he’s coming on. I have the advantage that I see him in practice and he’s just getting better and better and better. He looks like a pro. He’s really a smooth, good athlete. I just get more and more impressed with him every single week and he’s a guy who can tip these games and can give you a big play – same as the run game. Sometimes everybody is covered and you have to have somebody jump up and make a play. He certainly has the ability to do that. I think he’s going to have some big moments down the road through this thing. You never know how games are going to go or when it’s going to happen, but I’ve really been impressed. He’s working. He’s bought in. He’s really been excellent, especially this last month. I think he’s just coming into his stride and I think some of these guys are just learning it. It’s just starting to get second nature. It’s hard to play fast if you are tentative and you’re not 100 percent sure what you’ve got. I’ve said all along, we’ve been throwing a lot of volume at them and I would hope that every week you see us play faster and faster and faster, and it’s not that we’re getting faster, it’s just that we know what we’re doing more. We can run faster without thinking about it. As soon as you start thinking, everything starts to slow down and people slow down. I think he’s a case of that, but he’s getting more comfortable with what we’re doing. He’s been healthier; he’s getting a chance to practice more. He’s been really, really impressive the last month.”
(It seems like G/T Laremy Tunsil lived in the second level of the Steelers defense last week. Was that kind of by design or was some of that because of the alignment of the Steelers?) – “I think probably both of those and then I’d add a third one, he’s getting more comfortable each week playing guard. Both those two guards, I thought it was the best week we’ve had of them just pulling and getting up to second levels and getting on to second-level players and just doing it more and more. Those are two guys who are tackles by trade. They haven’t played inside a bunch so they’re getting more and more comfortable, plus the two things you identified. But just playing guard more, I think we did see some benefit of it that hopefully there’s some momentum that we are getting better at some of these things just by doing it more.”
(Where is TE Thomas Duarte in his development?) – “He’s rolling right along. We knew when we drafted him that he was a developmental player and he needed it both physically and mentally. He needed to put on some pounds, he needed to put on some strength, he needed to get the technique of playing in-line, which he didn’t get at UCLA much. He’s developing. We’re pleased with his development. Is he ready to go block the Buffalo Bills and the Pittsburgh Steelers? I’m not sure quite yet he is, but he’s coming. I said I don’t know when that time will be yet but maybe we’re an injury away from it. It might be this afternoon but I sure hope it … Our plan would be that it will be down the road, it’s next year. Our plan in drafting him was that, ‘Hey, this guy is going to need to get into the weight room. He’s going to need to put on some girth and some size and get some experience inside there. The ideal thing would be for him to have a full redshirt year. Sometimes it doesn’t work out quite like that but I think the ideal, the optimal would be for him to get his full redshirt year in.”
(Is this willingness there for TE Thomas Duarte as far as a blocker?) – “Absolutely. That was the No. 1 question, because you hadn’t seen him – it was all a projection – we hadn’t seen him inside. Probably the biggest –not surprising thing because we didn’t know – but the thing that was really good for us was that he’s willing (to block). That was evident right from the get go. He’s willing to get in there and mix it up. He goes against our three defensive ends every day and he’s gotten thrown out of the bar so to speak – a couple times – physically. You see him go in and then you see him come out head first, which is perfect for him. That’s what he needs. All of a sudden I said to him the other day, you look up and (Ndamukong) Suh, (and) ‘Cam,’ (Cameron Wake) threw him out of the bar, so to speak. I told him to just go right back through the door and you keep going and then all of a sudden, you stay. That’s really the case with him. That’s part of it. Hopefully he gets this whole year. Hopefully we can just keep going. He’s on kind of an extra weight, extra eating, extra calories (plan). We’ve got a good plan for him. They’ve got a good plan for him. Everyone has a good plan for him throughout the building. The plan is good and hopefully we don’t have to do something premature with him but this is football and we all know how that can change really, really fast. But yes, he is (willing to block). Going against these ends … That’s what I keep telling him, if all of a sudden you find yourself locked up with these guys and you’re holding your own, you can play. There’s nobody in the league who is bigger, stronger, more explosive than these three guys he goes against – or four – all of those guys – (Andre) Branch and all of them. Those are big, physical guys.”
