Frank Smith – September 5, 2024
Thursday, September 5, 2024
Offensive Coordinator Frank Smith
(If I’m not mistaken, a Ryan Nielsen defense you’re going to get a lot of twist and stunts up front, right? Does that make the communication more important among offensive linemen or is it still mano a mano? How do you view that?) – “I don’t know if it’s necessarily as much communication. I think it’s more being fundamentally sound and making sure you’re on set plans, how you’re looking to work together with each other. Ultimately, the offensive line just understanding rush patterns, games, all of that goes into the preparation. I think the biggest thing when you’re trying to pass off stunts or pick up pressures is just making sure that you’re fundamentally sound and you’re communicating with each other set plans on what you’re looking to do versus certain looks.”
(You guys could’ve spent money outside of the offensive line. You obviously brought OL Aaron Brewer in, but by in large, you’re running back the guys you had last year. What back in February or March when you were putting this plan together made you think these guys were ready to take the next step and they can handle this?) – “I think ultimately, it’s the makeup of the guys, their willingness to improve. You see the growth. With offensive line, a lot of times you could immediately get stuck in currently where they are at, as opposed to when you see growth sometimes it’s going to move at a different level than maybe a skill position where you see immediate production. For offensive line, it might be moving in different ways, and ultimately, we felt with the guys we see it’s the right resolve, the right makeup, consistency of our system, consistency of the coach and just you see guys that are hungry to get better. They’re working together, getting more in tune to their fundamentals, how they’re going to work together on what they are doing. Ultimately it goes into a big part of it is you look at the entirety, and then you look at knowing each guy every day is going to get better. We were very pleased with the growth we saw and then this offseason has been great when we’re looking at the group, and we confident in how they performed and how they’ve grown in the offseason and all the way through training camp.”
(With OL Liam Eichenberg, he’s played every position on the offensive line. Why is right guard potentially the home, the right fit for him?) – “I think the one thing you guys know is our versatility with the group is something that we always want to make sure we’re strong with, just because the NFL season is long. You just never know what contingencies will pop up, so we’re always working with guys making sure we have a broad skill set as opposed to, ‘You’re here. You’re here only.’ With things that especially happened in the offseason, with guys that are maybe in or out with an injury or not going to be here just with whatever is going on, it allows us to work with all of these different scenarios. With Liam (Eichenberg), you can’t say enough about him as a person. He’s a team guy, his willingness, his growth over our time here has been tremendous, so just ultimately with him or all the guys, it’s just when they are able to move around, they really gain a perspective of how each part – because with the offensive line you say left side, right side, what’s the difference? There is a difference, because it’s just your body movement, body mechanics. It allows them to really understand themselves and where they feel comfortable at and have better scheme, understanding of what’s going on on one side or the other or the body movements and how challenging it is. Overall, the o-line and it’s versatility is something that we’ve stressed here.”
(Do you think OL Aaron Brewer will be ok?) – “Yeah, he’s been doing a great job. This week, he’s real excited with how he’s been working, and we feel very confident with all the guys just in how they’ve been getting ready for the game. The greatest thing you have when you have guys in and out is it forces communication, because you’re playing next to a different guy. The one thing we’ve seen a great growth in is our communication as a group.”
(In what ways have you seen OL Robert Jones grow?) – “The confidence in what he’s trying to do and knowing himself. The hardest thing in playing offensive line is when it’s new, you’re trying to just make sure that you understand the concept, the scheme and where you fit. But then as you gain the consistency and the confidence you know kind of, ‘OK, here’s how I need to play to be successful.’ You can really see him understanding how he needs to play to be successful, how he fits in combinations as he’s playing with different guys. So just ultimately you see the confidence growing and the knowledge and understanding where he needs to play and how he needs to play to be his best.”
(We asked QB Tua Tagovailoa about his confidence in the interior offensive line a couple of weeks ago. He said I get the ball out quick anyways. How much is that a mindset for this offense and approach for this offense regardless of who you have and how much they have grown?) – “I think it’s a foundational principal of just everything we do. Just pass protection is understanding the timing of the play, launch point, area we’re protecting, whether it’s a drop back pass, quick game that changes, play pass that changes, movements that change. We make everyone understands what the play is, what we’re trying to do, the timing of which they are going to occur. It’s the same thing in the run game, where’s the aiming point, how we’re pressing combinations. It’s just a part of our process to make sure guys understand not just where you fit, but how you fit with the other 10 guys. I think it gets lost at times in making sure that everyone understands how they fit and how we all work together to get each play maximized and to be at its best.”
(Do you see T Terron Armstead having to work his way into form given the lack of reps he had during training camp, or does his experience make that a moot point?) – “His experience and communication of knowing himself and having his process to where he needs to be when we get ready for NFL Sundays. Then him and I going all the way back since he was a rookie in New Orleans, it’s just his communication, his knowledge of himself and what he needs, it’s top notch. With him, he’s very open with his communication and I know he’s in a great place right now. I’m really excited for this season with him.”
(When you face a team with a new defensive coordinator in the first game of the year, you don’t really know exactly what you’re going to get from a play style standpoint. About how long do you think it takes to get a feel for what they’re going to do and making the adjustments you have to make for that?) – “There is some nuance to when you’re facing a new coordinator, but the hallmark of Ryan’s (Nielsen) defense last year in Atlanta and just his time as a defensive line coach with the Saints is playing with consistent fundamentals and techniques. Good against the run, obviously aggressive in rushing the passer, so there’s consistencies you can see that you just know will translate to the players in the new scheme. Ultimately with them there are challenges because there is not as much information that you’ll normally have, and that’s you it’s just making sure that when you’re facing something new, you make sure you’re on what we need to do and we understand what we’re trying to accomplish, what we need to do inside of the scenarios of what we think are going to happen. Ultimately with new things and variables, the most important thing you can control is yourself and making sure that we’re all on the same page connected together.”
(WR Tyreek Hill said that he was happy that you added some size with WR Grant DuBose. Obviously, the lack of size at that position hasn’t stopped you guys offensively. Do you believe the size of the receiver position truly matters?) – “Not necessarily, it goes into ability to – when you think about route running, where do you create separation and space for yourself? Off the release and at the top of the route. When you’re running a route, if I can’t get a release or I’m not good at the breaking point, I’m going to get covered. That’s why you guys can see in our individual all the time, Wes (Welker) starts off with releases. So we’ve got to make sure that if you want to get separation on a route, it doesn’t matter if you’re 6’5 or whatever height you are, it’s all about your release and it’s about how you control the top. Because the defender, if he can control the release, he’s controlling the space and then now he’s controlling the space, he’s closer to you. So now at the top, if I didn’t get space off the release, now the top is going to be tighter so now I got to really be on it. But if I win on the release, create space, get vertical in the route, now that’s where things can work. I think ultimately when you look at it, you’re not necessarily saying height; you’re saying guys who can play with proper fundamentals and technique and have ball skills so that when the ball is in the air, they can go get it. I think that’s the most important thing we look for.”
(A lot have been said about the TE Jonnu Smith package. How much have you enjoyed putting that together with Head Coach Mike McDaniel and the creative ways you can get that incorporated?) – “It’s awesome, just the versatility we have with the guys and looking for guys with skill sets we can employ in different ways. The great thing about him is his willingness to maybe do different things that he hasn’t done in other places, but ultimately his physicality and his style of play. Like you said earlier, saw it early on and not surprised about it now. Just glad that he’s here and being a hometown guy, it’s even more important to him to be successful here and bring out the best for his team.”
(We’ve seen RB De’Von Achane and RB Raheem Mostert play some wide receiver and they’ve talked about the pass catching, adding more of that to their game. How has your philosophy changed on maybe running backs playing receiver as you’ve gained more of those skill sets in your room?) – “I don’t know if it’s really changed. I think it’s more of as each year changes, what are different way you can employ your guys and challenge the defense to defend the width and the length of it. With the backs, just like the tight ends, everyone has a different skill set that bring out a nuance to the offense. Them especially this year, they wanted to grow in the offense really working on pass game stuff, so I think for us it really hasn’t changed. It’s more of each year, you’re evolving towards challenging guys and seeing what they can do. I wouldn’t say that it’s changed in any way, I think it’s just this offseason it’s something that we’ve been working on with them and they’ve done a great job with it. It’s the same as tight ends – line up in the backfield or line up out wide or running reverses. It’s always you’re trying to look at your guys and how you can use them to maximize what the defense is trying to take away. Now we can make sure they are having to realize that a certain group is in and they can line up everywhere, now it creates stress on the defense for, ‘OK, it’s not just one personnel group. This is how they play. They’re in 3 by 1; they’re in 2 by 2. OK, now they’re in this. They can line up in different variations of it.’ I think that’s ultimately what we’re trying to do is trying to make sure that we have a complete skill set with our guys and we don’t just say, ‘Hey, running backs play from the backfield, tight ends play from the line. That’s where now the defenses react because they don’t know where everyone can line up or play.”
(I don’t think Jacksonville had DT Arik Armstead much at all in the preseason. He had the surgery in the offseason. What are you expecting from him? Is he definitely going to be inside on passing downs do you think? They have DE Josh Hines-Allen and DE Travon Walker; what do you think they will do with them?) – “All of those things. Year 1, Game 1, new guys, not entirely sure of how they’ll use him and maximize his ability. Just know he’s a tremendous player, obviously familiarity with him from San Francisco with some of the guys. They know the type of player he is, know he’s going to be a very good addition for them. They could a multitude of things that we’ll have to react to, but ultimately if we’re on what we’re trying to do and executing and we’re on the same page together, that’s the most important thing when you go into Game 1.”
