Frank Smith – August 20, 2024
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Tuesday, August 20, 2024
Offensive Coordinator Frank Smith
(I, of course, wouldn’t ask you about who in your view is leading the backup QB battle. I would never ask you that, but I would ask you this: is the margin between the two, do you think extremely slim or do you think one of them is graded a little bit of distance over there?) – “I don’t necessarily know if you’re saying it’s this or that; I think it ultimately comes down to what we’re looking at in training camp. Each day, what are we trying to accomplish? How are we trying to get better? How are we trying to execute what we’re trying to do? And I think that’s where it’s like you look at this time of camp and you really want to make sure that you’re maximizing each day especially when installs go down, we’re repeating a lot of the similar concepts. And I think that with the guys the next couple days of work are going to be really vital and we’re excited to practice today and get to Tampa and finish up training camp.”
(Yesterday Head Coach Mike McDaniel was talking about the benefits of the approach you’re using with the backup quarterbacks more or less making life as difficult as possible for them. What are you seeing as the benefits in helping you judge who is the man for the job?) – “I think it just ultimately when you’re like what are you trying to get done in practice? Like what are you trying to get done at this time of year? You want to put guys in challenging situations and put them in situations where they feel uncomfortable so you can simulate game performance as much as you can. So ultimately with every position as we’re looking at it, we want to make training camp situations – we have to problem solve, we have to work through things – so that way we’re trying to make sure that we prepare them or guys just in general for the season and what comes and the challenges that come especially at quarterback. There are many layers to playing that position.”
(How much have you enjoyed getting to use TE Jonnu Smith in all these different ways and can you just speak to how much he can add to the offense being able to get creative with him?) – “Just our tight end group in general, guys that have physicality, who really enjoy playing the position of the blocking, play-action passing game, everything that we ask them to do; they do a great job. And Jonnu (Smith), it’s funny for me to see him because I coached him at the Senior Bowl on the team he was on, so to watch him and see how his career has gone has been awesome because when you work with those guys at that time, you’re kind of like, OK. And him, you knew, this guy is going to be a good pro and he’s going to have a long career. So to have him on our team and using his skillset, it’s been awesome and just seeing how he’s fitting with the guys, knowing what he’s going to be able to bring. He’s really excited for this season and so are we.”
(Is OL Isaiah Wynn someone you can even plan at this point for having early in the season? Is he someone that is part of the calculus or is it just hey, when we get him back, we’ll get him back?) – “When guys are working through stuff, they’re on their process to get better. Ultimately, it’s like they focus on their daily process to get themselves ready, but ultimately it’s like we just always have to base it on today and what we have available now and then the contingencies and stuff like that are things that we worry about at other times especially after we get through training camp when you start weighing out what things can play out with different guys and where they’re at. But ultimately he’s working his butt off like he always does and when the day comes, we’ll factor that in, but right now we’re just excited with the way the rest of the group has been playing and how they’ve been developing from spring all the way through camp to today.”
(Quick follow-up on TE Jonnu Smith. What was it you saw in him at the Senior Bowl that told you, this guy is going to be a player?) – “The way he went about his business. He was just locked in. He was attentive in meetings; he would take emphasis points to the field. Route running, you could just see when he was coming out of FIU certain things were new to him, but he was just a guy who got football. He got it fast. You can always tell when guys are coming out of college when you’re explaining things and they go, ‘Got it.’ And he had that. Then you could just see he’s a very confident guy. You can just see – like back then, ‘Yeah, I’ll figure that out.’ And you were like, ‘Shoot, I’m sure you will.’ You could see a real confident who understood football and no surprise he’s had the career he’s had.”
(On the TE Jonnu Smith jet sweep pop pass Saturday, it looked like the defense kind of followed QB Tua Tagovailoa’s action to the fake handoff. We hear a lot about his ball handling, but I’d love to hear from your perspective what his ball handling does to kind of accentuate this offense?) – “I think that’s just ultimately something we try and do in different phases of the run game, different actions we do. Their ability to see the ball and play the ball are things that we try and utilize to use in all the plays we use whether it’s run game, play-action pass or different things we use like that with Jonnu (Smith). So I think ultimately our ability to do multiple ball handlings helps a lot because I think in the run game that’s how you can manipulate defenders and try and create space to attack, and it’s great to have different guys to be able to use in different ways to really challenge the defense and make them defend the whole width of the field.”
(We heard from FB Alec Ingold last week. There was a quote that stands out where he said you guys are pushing the limits of what this offense can do and I know it’s kind of an open-ended question, but what does that look like for the No. 1 offense from a season ago to keep pushing the limits to what it’s capable of?) – “I think it comes down to when you have – the guys understand more of the core principles of what we’re looking to do and then now when we’re trying maybe a different movement to execute the similar things we’re doing. So they understand the core principle of what we’re doing, but now if we add different wrinkles, understanding of how this can impact a defense’s reaction and be able to execute what we’re doing. So I think as you understand what the play is and how you fit and then now, OK, what if we move to it from this way or if we line up in this formation and try and do it this way so the defense’s recognition of us might be different; I think that’s the big thing that they can understand now because they understand – when you’re first learning an offense you’re trying to figure out, OK, where do I need to be, what are we trying to do? In your second year, OK, I know where I’m supposed to be, kind of know what I’m supposed to do, but now I’m really kind of taking that next step of really understanding it. Now is they know where they need to be, what they need to do. OK, what if we try and attack this way? They go, ‘Oh,’ because they already know those baselines because they can see this next layer and how it fits and then they can own their element of, OK, I see where it fits so if you guys want to move from this formation to try and do that concept, OK, I see the reaction because they’re beyond looking at their part of their puzzle. They’re not seeing the reaction of, oh, I see now what the defense is trying to do and how we’re trying to manipulate it, so that’s the layer and that’s what you get through the consistency of being able to get into Year 3 of the program and the guys are – we have a group that’s really hungry to, hey, let’s challenge the threshold. Let’s make it hard now so that way when we get to the season there’s more carryover of things we’re doing as opposed to trying to limit, like hey, this is new, maybe in October as opposed to now, hey, we’re pushing the envelope, we’re trying to make it new now so it’s just more repetition as we get into the season.”
(Just to follow up real quick, it sounds like it’s a natural progression of when you’re able to implement the same system three years in a row. Is this kind of a rare stage to be in in the NFL because it doesn’t feel like a lot of teams get three back-to-back-to-back years of having the same core staff in place?) – “I don’t know if I’d use the word ‘rare,’ but I think it’s the benefit of Year 3 and I think it’s also the benefit of having the guys we have that are hungry to do the same thing over and over again. OK, and at the same time, how do you make training camp challenging? Well, we push the envelope with things because some things, hey, we do it and didn’t necessarily play out the way we thought so, OK, we see that maybe that wasn’t as good. OK, this did. OK, everyone see it, connect everyone together of how we can utilize it. So it’s like a lot of times you can experiment and really see what will work and that’s what we try and use training camp for. It’s like you get through your installation but then now, OK, how can we take these core principles and make it look like it’s something different but yet it isn’t. There’s carryover to us, but the defense might see a whole other recognition of things going on.”
(I wanted to ask you about short yardage. I think you had four chances on that first drive of third or fourth-and-short, three runs, some success but you had the touchdown on the pass. How would you assess running the football in short yardage on Saturday night?) – “I thought ultimately, we understood the situation. We understood our emphasis and execution. Ultimately in training camp there’s a little bit of like, we’re installing core principles. There’s game planning, but it’s not to the layers of – because you don’t know when you’re going to get hit with the situations in camp and who will be in – but as far as like overall when you look at short yardage or red zone third down in the preseason, you’re looking at execution of the group, understanding the situation and what we need and you can see the intent with the guys, the purpose of the runners, everyone trying to execute. So we felt good about it, but ultimately, we know where we can clean up in the blocking schemes and stuff like that.”
(I wanted to gauge your mindset as far as WR Odell Beckham Jr. I’m sure you are excited to get him out there. Are you more of the I’m patient, it’ll happen when it happens; or are you kind of the opener is three weeks away, I want to experiment and tinker with what we’ve got here?) – “I think it’s ultimately when you’re dealing with guys that are working through their process you ultimately have to be patient, because what happens is, especially with veterans, they know what they need to do to be ready to go and it’s that communication between them and the staff that’s the most important thing. Because the worst thing you want to do is say, ‘I’m good…’ Stick to the process in each day and each day it’s about OK, what is the work that needs to get done today to keep us on the journey we need to, to get where we need to be?”
(I’ll ask you one on the young receivers. Obviously, you’re down to two unless WR Jaylen Waddle is able to come back to practice today. WR Tyreek Hill and WR Braxton Berrios are your only receivers who are healthy who really have much NFL playing time under their belt. Do you think WR Erik Ezukanma and WR Malik Washington from what they’ve shown you can help you come September 8 if needed and why, if so?) – “I think that’s the great part about training camp, is guys are coming in and out. They’re working through things. Guys get opportunities to show where they are at and what they can do. So with camp this year, opportunities for different guys, it differs at positions. You can see they’re maximizing it and at the wide receiver, the next couple days will be really great opportunities for the guys to show what they’re going to do. As far as Malik (Washington) and Erik (Ezukanma), they’ve had good camps. You can see – it was great to have Erik and to have the production we had in the game the other night. So ultimately when you look at it, it’s a body of work and then now, OK, what do we learn from that body of work for the next couple days, because there’s a lot to get done in the next three days between our practice today, with Tampa and the game that we can really factor. And just can’t say enough about just the guys in general and all the work they’ve put in and really their emphasis to get better each day especially the wide receivers.”
