Darren Rizzi – November 3, 2016
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Thursday, November 3, 2016
Assistant Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Darren Rizzi
(Opening statement) – “One thing I just want to start with, obviously having had some time here – and the week off and the bye week – it’s just a great time to kind of reflect back (on) what we’ve done so far this season. Obviously, you evaluate all our different phases. The one thing I think that sometimes we get – and I’m the victim of this as well – sometimes we get kind of lost in using special teams, one broad stroke and you just kind of say, ‘Specials teams this, special teams that.’ I think the one thing we do in this bye week is kind of break … There are six major phases of special teams. Obviously, punt, punt return, kick, kick return, field goal, field goal block and then there’s obviously the situational stuff – your hands and onside and that kind of stuff. (You) really break it down – each phase – and then look at those throughout this last 10 days or so. It has been interesting what we’ve done so far this year. We played winning football in a lot phases. Our kickoff team has done real well. Our punt return game, we played winning football in those phases. Our punt team has had some peaks and valleys here and there. We’ve got to get better on our kick return phase. Our field goal block has been real good. We’re only one of four teams in the NFL right now to have blocked multiple kicks. I think when you look at it, our field goal team certainly has left a couple of plays on the field. Our kick return team has left a couple of plays on the field. But when you go back and you watch the midyear point – watch the season so far – I’m very pleased in a lot of things we’ve done. I wasn’t really pleased with the last game that we played, but overall – just from a broad sense, from the general sense – so far at this halfway point, I’m very pleased with a lot the efforts we’ve gotten out of a lot of the phases. (We are) obviously looking to improve on some of the stuff we haven’t done well, but certainly there are some positives. I think sometimes you get – and like I said, I’m the biggest offender of this – you get wrapped up into the last game and not look at the entire picture. We’ve got some great efforts from people, guys like Mike Thomas, Mike Hull, Neville Hewitt. Those three guys in particular have been really, really strong core players for us this year. We’ve obviously had some good specialists play from Jakeem Grant, Matt Darr (and) obviously John Denney – guys that go unnoticed. I know (Andrew) Franks, people talk about the couple of field goals that he missed, but so far on the year, he has done a great job of kicking the ball off situationally, directionally and things like that. So, I’m very, very pleased with the direction we’re going, and this was a good week to reflect back on that.”
(How much does getting LB Zach Vigil back help your core special teams unit?) – “The thing about Zach is he got a lot of experience last year. Obviously, he has only had a little bit of practice time so far. So what I’ve seen so far, he has kind of picked up from where he left off, hopefully. The one downside, unfortunately (with) guys in situations like Zach’s is they never got the preseason games and things like that. The guys that go on PUP and all that, they don’t get preseason games. So, this will be the first live action he has played in since last year. But getting a guy back like that certainly is a boost for the special teams, no question. He’s a guy that played a lot of plays last year for sure.”
(What have the numbers from kickoff returns told you about you guys through the first seven games – field position as opposed to bringing it out as opposed to taking the knee – and will you change anything for the last nine games?) – “Our kickoff return team has been the peak-and-valley unit as well. There have been a couple of times early in the season where we made some bad decisions. (We) had a couple of young guys back there, obviously with Jakeem (Grant) and Kenyan (Drake). There are a couple of times we probably shouldn’t have brought the ball out there (and) we did. So, I’m just speaking specifically about us. We have had some positive plays here. We were really, really close in this last game – when you really look (and) go back and break it down – we’re one guy away from having two huge plays in the last game against the Bills. We get out there, and we’re one block away from really springing a huge one. And we’ve been really, really close, and that has been the rallying cry for me to our team and our units is, ‘It takes every guy.’ We call it one-11th. It takes every guy doing their job and getting their blocks. Now overall, so far from what I’ve seen in the NFL, is a lot of teams are purposely kicking the ball short. One thing I might have mentioned in one of these press conferences before is a lot of teams are kicking the ball right to the goal line and making it hard and making those decisions hard on the return team. You’re seeing a lot of that. You’re seeing a lot of teams doing that. I think as we move forward here, you’re going to see that touchback percentage – as the weather starts to get cold in the north and things like that – then it’s going to start even going lower and lower and lower. Teams are going to start even playing with this rule (with) even more high and short kicks.”
(Is there anything else that WR Jakeem Grant can help you with other than returning on special teams?) – “When Jakeem first got here, we worked a lot of different things. Obviously, he can return. He can do punt. He can do kick. So, when he first got here, we worked him as a gunner – so to speak – around kickoff. When you’re going to have a guy active like that, he has got be able to play multiple spots. Now again, it’s one of those double-edged swords. Do you throw him out there as a gunner? Do you run him down on kickoff and risk injury or things like that? Then you lose a returner. But he’s ready to do those jobs, because as we know on game day, guys start getting hurt or things like that. You only have so many people that can do those things. So, he can do those jobs, and there’s stuff that he has been trained to do. He hasn’t done them in games yet, but on the coverage teams, we do have him mentally prepared to go out there and do those jobs if need be.”
(CB Chris Culliver, I don’t think that he plays special teams. If that’s the case there, you don’t try to get him ready for special … You don’t coach him up to get him on the 46 (active game day roster) do you? He’s a veteran. Is there anything you can do in this stage of his career?) – “The first thing I’ll say is I loved him coming out of college as a special teams player. I’ll start off by saying that. I remember watching his college tape and being really impressed with him. But he’s like everybody else. He’s in our meetings, and if he’s going to be on the 46 – if and when that happens, and that’s not up to me – but if he ends up being on the 53 (or) at the 46, he has got to be ready to play certain things. All those defensive backs are trained to be jammers and on the punt return team they’re all trained to be kickoff cover guys, whether it be a contained spotter, safety spot. Again, you only have so many guys at the game and you know everybody going to have some type of role. If and when Chris comes back, there’ll be something that he does. It might be just one or two things. (It) could be the field goal block unit, but all those guys are prepared to do certain jobs, for sure.”
(K Andrew Franks only has 12 field goals attempts this year. Is it tough for you to evaluate him since it’s not like a large sample or a large body of work there?) – “It is. It is and it isn’t. I think the one thing that has been different now the last couple of years is this new PAT rule. The way that I’m looking at it – and most special team’s coaches are looking at it – it’s opportunities now. It’s not just … So far, we look at the field goal stats (and) he only has 12 field goals, but overall, he has got – whatever it is – 25 kicks, because sometimes those field goals are going to be shorter than the PATs. Overall – I was actually just looking at the stats earlier this morning – there are only three guys in the league that have made every kick so far between PATs and field goal. There are only three guys, only three kickers. (Ravens K) Justin Tucker, (Colts K) Adam Vinatieri, and (Rams K) Greg Zuerlein are the only three kickers right now in the NFL that have made every field goal and every PAT. 20 teams have missed PATs. 20 out of 32 teams have missed PATs. So, my point is it’s not just the field goals to me anymore. You see all these PATs and all these kicks getting missed every week. It’s like three or four every week. To me at least – as his coach and a special teams coach – I’m clumping all those kicks together – all the field goals, all the PATs – and alright, we got 25 opportunities. If I’m not mistaken, he has made 22-of-25. That’s how I’m looking at it. Now, if it was the old rule, totally different. You know how they separate it. Obviously, you’re going to separate it statistically. So to answer your question, he’s getting evaluated on every kick. So really in my mind, he has had 25 opportunities not just 12, because some of those field goals have been shorter – like I said – then even PATs.”
(With RB Arian Foster now gone and you also have an injury to S Reshad Jones, that’s more reps, potentially, on RB Kenyan Drake on offense and then also S Michael Thomas on the defensive side of the ball. Have you taken the bye week to kind of reevaluate things and see what you want to do or develop a contingency plan? What do you want to do when these guys play counts get up there more than you’d like?) – “No question. Getting a guy back like Zach Vigil helps and a guy like Jordan Lucas has played more in the last couple of weeks. Players like that … Getting the new guy ready like Bacarri Rambo – all those things. If guys come off the PUP (Physically Unable to Perform list) and come back to the 53 (-man roster) (we are) really getting every single body ready so no matter what, whatever we end up having at the 46, whether it’s a running back – Drake or (Damien) Williams or any of those guys – really just getting the whole team ready, and that’s what I’m charged with. My job is to get every single guy ready to go and find the right formula week to week to make sure we’re playing winning football on specials teams, for sure.”
