Frank Smith – December 5, 2024
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Thursday, December 5, 2024
Offensive Coordinator Frank Smith
(It had been such a good running team last year and for much of this year – 2.96 yards per carry the last four weeks. Has the quality of the blocking you’re getting, not just from the offensive line but other positions, diminished considerably during those four games?) – “I don’t think it’s diminished considerably; I think that we’re close. We had an explosive run called back. Ball got outside and ‘Reek’ (Tyreek Hill) lost leverage on the corner and he got called for a holding; otherwise that was going to be an explosive run, and normally what happens is once you get one of those runs going, things get going. That’s where you build the momentum. You get in your groove blocking, and I just think that’s where we’re trying to get back to. It’s just get that groove, that rhythm and what we’re doing; however ultimately for us it’s that how do we maintain efficiency and score points? That’s ultimately what we’re doing. Defense presents different variables that we have to adjust to and as long as that we’re maintain our efficiency and gaining yards to score, that’s ultimately what we’re trying to do.”
(I meant to ask Head Coach Mike McDaniel yesterday and I forgot. That fourth – four-down series against Green Bay early in the fourth quarter, why wasn’t WR Tyreek Hill on the field?) – “We were down inside the tight red zone and once we got in there, we liked our heavier personnel groups trying to invite a defense to run on and we just didn’t execute. We were close on two of the plays and then the last one we just didn’t execute well. I think that’s the thing that when we look at from the game, is that you can’t talk about many different things, however, it’s execution. You change four plays in that game, outcome could be drastically different and that’s what we need to improve on.”
(It looked like WR Malik Washington missed a block there in the first run?) – “Yeah, it was the angle of like the way he thought the safety was going to trigger on the run, he stayed back so it changed his angle. He had to change his angle to get him so it’s like when you think he’s in run-fit safety, you think that he’s going to see the run and trigger so your angle is going to have to be flat at first. He kept backing up and then when the ball bounced, you’re now out-leveraged. So he played it more like it was (inaudible) and he was backing up almost like kind of two-ish, so it just changed his angle and it’s the difference between getting the ball down inside the five and scoring. So it’s a learning lesson, but it’s not the first time it happened. When you’re anticipating the corner’s run fit, then he backs up and you’re just out-leveraged. So if we were in the open field, say we’re on the minus-40, there’s more space to it, but when you get low in that, when you cut into it, that’s where all of a sudden, he has room to catch up to you.”
(But WR Tyreek Hill isn’t a part of the in close package, the red zone package or…?) – “Yeah, he’s in there. It’s just that play, that one, he was out. And then when we got in there, we were going heavier personnel groupings that he just wasn’t in there. It wasn’t anything intentional. It was just the grouping for what we were doing.”
(I wanted to ask you about this week’s practice. Obviously we know T Terron Armstead is on a very low practice, limited snap count for the moment. But now you’ve got T Kendall Lamm with the elbow injury. T Patrick Paul, obviously you need him at left tackle because Terron is not there, but I’d also view him as viable starting option at right tackle. How do you balance that work in terms of if you need him at right tackle to come from that need you have?) – “You balance it through individual periods, scout team. You use all available tools in the practice day to make sure that all the variables are getting done, so you can do one variable and then in scout team you can do another variable and individual, you can do another variable. So I know Butch (Barry) and the guys, they make sure they’re always constantly using all the time available to make sure we’re all the work, plus walkthroughs and stuff like that.”
(You’ve coached that position. How difficult is it for a tackle to from left to right?) – “Not as easy as you think, but at the same time you get used to the versatility unless you – when you’re the starter it’s a little bit less, but ultimately at the end of the day, to play that position, being versatile and being able to do both sides is helpful. I was a left guard for three years and I was at center and tackle before all that, and once you get into a routine of certain things, that was three years, then it was all of a sudden like you go to the other side and it’s kind of like, what do I do over here? So that’s why we were trying to maintain versatility constantly with the guys.”
(With T Patrick Paul, where would you say he is in the evaluation and the assessment? Because he got a starting opportunity earlier in the season and then everybody didn’t have glowing reviews of him. Where is he in that development right now?) – “I think the greatest thing about your rookie year, it’s always the hardest and your expectations; you go out, you get an opp and then you learn, you grow, stick the process. For us right now, we’re seeing really good signs with his development and we’re really excited for his future with us.”
(I wanted to follow up on the question about the four downs opportunity on the Packers goal line. On the fourth down, it was some bad luck where FB Alec Ingold kind of tripped over T Kendall Lamm’s foot that took him out of the play. In your opinion, did QB Tua Tagovailoa maybe have a chance to pull a trigger on TE Durham Smythe or was he covered too tightly on that play?) – “Potentially. It was one where the variable of what we anticipated, they kind of gave us a little bit a different look, but ultimately that whole sequence is something that we really think if we could’ve executed that better could have helped us in the game. So to your guys’ point, when you look at it you can say certain areas, but we look at just a couple drives of final execution; if we could make sure that we improve upon that, that’ll be the thing that’ll help us going forward.”
(Can a short yardage situation – not just that one – but let’s just say fourth-and-1 at midfield, if you want to go for it and you want to keep the ball on the ground, which running back do you most have confidence in to get that yard whether the blocking is there or whether he was the move the pile himself?) – “Which one specifically? ‘Which child is your favorite, Frank?’ (laughter) I think we have confidence in all of our guys. The way we build the packaging, it’s not necessarily, ‘Hey, it’s him over him.’ It’s that we try to go into games and knowing that all right, in certain areas, we want to make sure we’re giving the guys and spreading the adequate reps. So I have confidence in all of our backs to be able to do what we need to do in critical moments like that.”
(Is there any team in your mind, besides Philadelphia, where it doesn’t matter what defensive look you’re getting on third and one, or goal line from the one or two-yard line, “We’re going to run the ball no matter what look you give us,” – does it work, you think well, for anyone against Philly or is it unwise to force your will physically certain defensive looks?) – “I don’t know. Philly does their sneak thing and everyone tried to implement the same thing and they’re really the only ones that have had maintained success with it. I think ultimately, it’s like there’s certain elements of core concepts and principles that you believe that you can execute versus all things, and there’s other plays that you want to use to attack the defense and the variabilities and the structural conflicts that you think you can get. I think it’s a balance of core principles that you believe in that you want to get done, like we want to be able to run strong side outside zone and we want to be able to run complementary runs off of those principles. We want to be able to run play(-action) pass off of the same thing and make sure we distribute the ball. So it’s like there’s principles that start and point the drive out that you’re saying, ‘We need to do this because it’s our core beliefs and convictions,’ so I think that’s your driving force in anything you do and then each week you have your variables for the attack of the opponent.”
(What keeps you up at night about the Jets’ defense? Is it the defensive line? The secondary? What specifically?) – “They have a very good front. There are guys who’ve played together in the same system for a while. They’re very versed at their coverage system. They have played really good defense and they’re extremely disruptive. So I think there’s certain – I mean obviously it’s easy to say their rush because they are very talented, but overall, their defense, they’re a challenge. No opponent in the league is anything that you can ever say, ‘Hey, it’s this.’ It’s going to be an opponent that’s ready to play for us, and I think all areas of their defense, when they work together, is obviously very formidable – that’s why they’ve been an upper-level defense. So I think it’s never one thing, it’s all things because you got to weigh in all of the areas as far as your plan for the game planning.”
(What went into the decision to make QB Tyler Huntley the backup quarterback, or the primary backup this week – or moving forward, I don’t know what the answer to that question is.) – “I just think his overall, the way that – you’d say when he came into the game, if we didn’t have turnovers in the Indy game, we feel like that game could have gone into our favor because of the way we were running the football. A couple little miscues, but ultimately when ‘Snoop’ (Tyler Huntley) was in there, we were operating efficiently. His ability to execute and distribute, we just feel like was a good addition and that’s why we felt like that’s the route we wanted to go.”
(What is the hope for QB Skylar Thompson moving forward?) – “We still have confidence in Skylar (Thompson) and we know it. We just felt like with Snoop (Tyler Huntley) right now, with what he’s able to bring and a certain area of also his mobility, playing outside, extending plays was something that was always good. Especially when your starter has a certain skill set in the pocket and your backup has a different skill set. That’s a challenge on the defense when all of a sudden, your game plan goes towards pocket passer distribution, there’s another who has extending plays and has mobility, having that balance is also because it changes a gameplan for defensive coaches.”
(Overloaded offensive line, this team has short yardage issues. Why isn’t that we haven’t seen a sixth offensive lineman work on the line in those situations yet?) – “For us, it’s we like using our tight ends and we like the versatility that tight ends give us. In my time in New Orleans, we used heavy offensive linemen a bunch, and when I was in Los Angeles we used heavy offensive linemen a bunch. It’s like, ‘OK, what do you do?’ It’s either run or action. A few teams use linemen and do things outside of the conventional norms, so we like the ability of having tight ends with – as we view it – a complete skill set that allow us to do our full offensive output. But it’s on us as coaches to make sure we put them in positions where we run schemes that are complementary to their skill set. Because most times, guys when they bring in the sixth offensive lineman, they all run the same play. They run power, no puller and try to mash it up in there, and we don’t run that stuff. We run outside zone. So it’s like you’re going to put a sixth offensive lineman who’s going to man reach a nine-technique playing in space that’s on the edge, that’s better for a tight end’s skill set, that’s what we try and do.”
(Would you consider using QB Tyler Huntley in short yardage now that he’s active?) – “I mean it’s an option as we go through each week and just what’s the defense and how does it present itself. It’s not outside the realm of possibility, ultimately though, we’re just going to use the guys that are available and what is necessary to make sure that – core principle, maximizing efficiency of our offensive production to score points. So all options are always on the table.”
