Clyde Christensen – January 5, 2017
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Thursday, January 5, 2017
Offensive Coordinator Clyde Christensen
(With RB Jay Ajayi gashing these guys last time you played, what do you think the Steelers reaction will be both tactically and otherwise?) – “I think every week everyone goes in to try … Offenses want to run the ball and defenses want to stop the run. So it will be the same. There are only so many guys you can put up there. If we block well and run well, then we’ll have a chance; and if we don’t, then we won’t. This week we didn’t do as well. We didn’t run the ball well against New England and we’ve got to get that back going. Everything builds off of that. I don’t think they’ll do a whole bunch different. They are who they are and they do what they do. That’s kind of … At this point in the season, people aren’t going change a whole bunch. They’re going to get their extra guy in the box. I’m sure (Steelers Head) Coach (Mike) Tomlin’s stressing shedding blocks and tackle and we’re stressing finish blocks and break tackles. I do think it’s just more that than it is surprises or new fronts or, for us, new runs. There’s not going to be a whole bunch of that.”
(What is the challenge about going up against a guy like Steelers LB Ryan Shazier who has tremendous speed and versatility?) – “He’s really a good player and he’s kind of fun to watch. One of the challenges with him is that he’ll freelance and he’ll take some chances and you don’t know what they are or when they’re going to be. He’ll run through a gap and he’s hard to get to with your center. He’s hard to get to with linemen, because he runs so darn well. So you’ve just got to try and keep him off balance a little bit with your misdirection and your play action and some of those natural things. But he’s really a good player. He hits like a ton of bricks and he runs extremely well. So he’ll be a big challenge for us. He’ll be a big challenge to control. But he’s a little bit of a freelancer in the sense that he’s hard to predict. It’s hard to say, ‘He’s going to play this gap.’ That’s always a little bit of a challenge, and then you hope it’s also a two-edged sword that you hope you can get him out of position a little bit and do some things that way. (He’s a) fine football player and a big challenge for us.”
(We got the news today that QB Matt Moore will start on Sunday.) – “Yes.”
(What was the conversation you had with him when you let him know it would definitely be him. What was that like?) – “It was more really that he’s our starter and the other’s been going on kind of on the side, and I think it would have been more of a discussion if we felt like Ryan (Tannehill) was ready to go then we would have had to … He knows. He knows he’s our relief pitcher and we try to make the decision extremely early in the week because you get in a situation where it’s hard to get two guys prepared. But I think that more than the conversation for telling him that, it was more he assumed he was doing that and then if Ryan (Tannehill) all of a sudden had a miraculous recovery at the beginning of this week – which we all hoped for and hope is coming – then it would have been more talking to him about the reverse of that, that ‘It looks like Ryan’s (Tannehill) going to be ready. We’re going to try to get him ready in practice.’ But that wasn’t case. So I think he’s just continued to prepare as a starter as he has for this last three or four weeks, and there wasn’t a discussion like that.”
(Have you seen your receivers grow as a unit this season and do you consider them a game-changing unit?) – “Yes I do. I consider them a game-changing unit. I consider them growing. I think I’ve said to you several times, we need them all hitting on all cylinders every week. It’s a hard position to play because you don’t know when your reward is coming, and I think I talked to you about that last week. The great ones can do that. The great ones can just keep going and run through stretches – un through stretches of games, run through stretches of plays and still keep humming and keep winning, and then all of a sudden the ball starts coming their way and there comes their little streak of several catches in a row and big plays in a row. So yes, I do think … I think all of the above; but I still think we’ve got to get a little more consistency, a little more attention to detail. It showed in the game last weekend. We got outplayed at home by a team that was more detailed and on their stuff more than us and protected the ball better than we did, which is, as of right now, they’re the standard in the league. They’re playing at a high level and we have at times; but it has to be every single week, and it will be the same thing this week, that if we don’t, you’re not going to go into Heinz Field and play the Pittsburgh Steelers and all their Terrible Towels and all the traditions and all the ghosts that roam around there. If you don’t play good football, you’re not going to come out of there with a win. So we know that. We have to go in there with great effort but great attention to detail also. Effort won’t carry you once you hit the playoffs. Too many teams are playing too good of football. It has to be the details to go along with the effort. I think we’re learning that slowly but surely as a team; but we’re not there yet. We have a lot of guys who haven’t been in playoff games and a lot of guys who probably don’t understand fully yet what it’s like to go to Pittsburgh and play a playoff game. That’s as good as the AFC has to offer for an environment for a playoff game and tradition and tradition of great playoff games and playoff teams up there. So it will be a great challenge for us and it will be a really, really good test for us – more than a test – to see where we are and see if we can rise to that level and play that kind of detailed football and be on all the details and cross our T’s and dot our I’s and give ourselves a chance to win that thing in the fourth quarter.”
(You’ve coached in a lot of playoff games. What words of wisdom can you impart on the younger players who haven’t experienced what you’ve experienced?) – “Yes. It’s hard. It’s kind of like raising your kids. Some things you try to tell them, but they have to learn on their own. I think the biggest thing is that you have this misperception that you have to do something different in the playoffs. You really don’t have to do something different. You just have to – as I said – you just have to do what you do to win a football game. Don’t turn the ball over. All the clichés, they still apply. It’s not all of a sudden you start running faster and jumping higher; but the margins get extremely tiny. You’re playing the teams that have played extremely good football so every time you don’t take care of business it’s more likely to cost you and it’s less likely to give you a chance to win the game, the more mistakes you make. That’s the only thing. We’ve been trying to sell that the whole year that it’s about us. It’s not about the opponent, and that part of it doesn’t change for a coach. But I do think you do hit it with … your off that skill. Let’s just keep improving every week and we’ve got to win this football game. Now it is a do or die situation. I think our emphasis has been ‘Study, rehab, practice, catch, throw, run, like it is do or die.’ Because that’s what it is. But you still win them the same way. You still win them the same way and we’ve had some where we’ve gone into games with great momentum and laid an egg in the playoffs and we’ve gone in where, the year we won the Super Bowl, I think we went 1-3 in December and weren’t playing very good football and then all of sudden started playing good football. So it’s just kind of new season and you wash it clean and you’ve got to go; but the way you win it, the formula stays the same. The keys for winning, we like to say around here, stay the same. Makes sense?”
(If you’re not grading on a rookie curve, how do you assess G/T Laremy Tunsil’s first season? Do you think his pass blocking is ahead of his blocking?) – “Yes. And you’re just saying just compared to the other 32 left guards in the league? Yes. I think he’s kept improving and I think he’s playing at a good, solid starter level. I really do. I think there wouldn’t be anyone that doesn’t say – and again keeping in mind that he’s probably out of position, play the position he hasn’t played – but I think he’s held his own in there. He’s had his moments, but he keeps improving and I think we kind of say the same thing every single week that he really played well and then there might be three plays that jump out at you where there was a surprise or something. But I think he’s playing really good, solid starting guard football right now for us and probably better than that pass protection-wise. If you just isolated it into pass protection, he’s obviously a very gifted pass protector. But he’s been good. He’s done everything we’ve asked him to. He keeps improving. We haven’t been talking about him. That’s probably a good thing that he hasn’t done things where it’s a story, and that’s good. Sometimes a non-story with offensive linemen is the best story and I think that would be case with him, that his story is that he hasn’t been a story and it hasn’t shown up in … So we’ve been really, really pleased with him.”
(When you see a guy like Tyreek Hill and what he’s doing in Kansas City, do you see that as more of something that a guy like WR Jakeem Grant can do or a guy like Kenyan Drake?) – “Both. I think both. They have a little different skill set, but I think both of them. Darrius Heyward-Bey last time when they came in here, all of a sudden he runs the reverse and hits a 60-yard touchdown on us. I see those kind of guys – those specialists – that you look for little roles for them and then you say, ‘Give us a big play every third week.’ That’s kind of Darrius. All of a sudden you’re rolling, you say, ‘He’s not a huge part of the offense,’ and then all of a sudden there’s two gigantic plays. I think that’s what those two guys are in their relief role, in their limited role. Hopefully that increases, increases, increases as time goes, because they’re both … It’s hard to get big plays in this league. It’s really hard, and those are two guys who have a natural ability to do that. They make big plays. You look for little situations where you can get them in and give them a chance. We ran a reverse to Jakeem. They played it well last week. The more times you can do that and then if all of a sudden, bang, here comes a 50 yarder. They’ve been on special teams more than offense probably so far this season, but I see that continuing to increase. I see it as really important for us and even in the playoffs. It’s hard to make big plays, and those two guys have an electricity to them that you hope pops out and shows up, so you try to give them as many opportunities as you can within the framework. You’re still going to give Jay (Ajayi) his carries, so it’s not easy, but those guys, they’re a big part of this thing. You see it every week on the highlights. There’s a play that jumps out at you and it’s a part-time player or a role player, and all of a sudden he gives you a big lift with a shot – gets shot out of a cannon – and makes a big play.”
(How would you evaluate C/G Kraig Urbik’s work at center?) – “He has been solid. I think he has stabilized us a little bit in there. He has been good. He has been solid. I characterize it as good, solid play. (We) would absolutely love to have (Mike) Pouncey like we played them the first time (and) played extremely well against these guys. There’s a uniqueness to how fast Pouncey can run. Urbik can try hard, but he’s probably never going to run quite as fast as Pouncey, nor am I. (laughter) We can want to all we want to, but it’s not going to happen. You miss his speed on some of those things, but ‘Urb’ (Kraig Urbik) has done a great job filling in. (It is) not easy. It’s a hard position. It’s a quarterback-ish position. You have to communicate. He’ll be big here going up to Pittsburgh in that kind of atmosphere. The communication, the veteran presence is really big I think – especially with how many new, young guys we have playing – and helping Matt Moore, frankly. That helps him also.”
(Assistant Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Darren Rizzi said they’re putting the K balls in the freezer this week. Are you guys doing anything on offense?) – “We mess with the wet balls periodically all the way through the thing. No, we’re not doing anything out of the ordinary. We’ll get our wet ball work in every couple weeks and make sure we’re ready for whatever comes that way. You’ve kind of seen it all at this point. It’s a little bit hard to simulate Pittsburgh weather down here. Same thing – these guys … I used to think more so you had to simulate … But it’s amazing, these guys just play. They’re pros. That’s why they are pros; they just can play. They jump out there and play. It’s amazing to me. I remember when I first got in you always felt like you had to go to the (home) team’s stadium so you can get on their field and get the feel of this and that. I think it has probably gone the other way that these cats are special. They just go play. We do try to give them all the scenarios, obviously, that you covered everything. But once you do, they take it and go.”
(I’ve seen the reverses and things of that nature, but is it also possible to see WR Jakeem Grant in the backfield on your normal stretch plays and things of that nature?) – “Down the road I think as we go. Learning curve-wise, there are only so many things you can rep him at, and there are so few reps at this time of year that you have to be a little bit careful. But he would be a guy, I think, that down the road, when you have an offseason … Keep in mind those guys are rookies. They’ve got their hands full. He has had his hands full with the responsibilities we’ve given him. I don’t see anything really out of the ordinary showing up for him apart from what he has been doing. But I do future-wise think that you look at a guy who’s really, really fast and anything that we can find for him that gets him into the open field would be fair game, sure. That’s a fun offseason project: how are people using guys like Jakeem? How can we fit in into some of those things? Those are the fun offseason projects that you’re always looking for (like), ‘Let’s find some way to get him in a little 10×10 of space and that thing can turn into an explosive play.’ Sure.”
(When you think back on the three times this year the team rushed for 200 or more yards, what are some of the common denominators?) – “Getting started early. Sometimes your bigger plays come with the eight-man fronts. I think, same thing, sometimes you think the eight-man front, but eight-man front is probably harder to run against, but once you pop through the front, you get bigger plays, whereas Cover 2 might be easier – double safety stuff may be easier to pop the line of scrimmage – but it’s harder to get a big play, because you have two safety valves back there to get you on the ground. I think probably some of the common denominators are we’ve popped through eight-man fronts and gotten some big plays. Jay (Ajayi) breaking tackles has been a common denominator. It’s like everything … It ends up being your day. It ends up being a day where you get hot doing it. A lot of them were scores. All of a sudden the game again this weekend, we’re down 14-0 after three plays – after three offensive plays – and it’s harder to call your runs. Sometimes the score and being able to call your number of runs is really, really important. Having the lead in the fourth quarter and all of a sudden you’ve worn them down. Now you’ve got a quantity of runs called, so you’ve delivered some body blows, and then all of a sudden you’re ahead in the game, so you can keep calling them in the fourth quarter and that combination can lead to some big yards in the fourth quarter. All of them have a little different personality, but those will be some things that when you see that happen it’s usually because you got a lead you can keep or you’re right in the game – you’ve got the lead or you’re within a score of the lead – and you can keep calling those runs. You’ve got enough runs called in the first half where you’ve delivered enough body blows that you’ve got a chance for one of those things popping through. Those would be a couple things. The bottom line is those are freaky and the outlier. Jay messed us all up with a couple of them in a row there where the expectations got a little … The 200-yard games, they’re rare. They’re outliers. They are outliers.”
(For those that haven’t been watching as closely over the course of the season, where has the most progress been in the offense?) – “I’m thinking in just protecting the ball. If you said, ‘What turned this thing around?’ At 1-4, we were not playing very good football. We weren’t a very good team. I think probably Jay Ajayi and his physicalness – his physicality – and then the protection of the football and being careful with it. Those first games we were 32nd in the league in giveaways. Those get you out of a game real fast. It happened this weekend again. It popped its head up there, and we put ourselves in a bad situation early. I think those two things. I think getting the (offensive) line together at that stretch in the middle was a big thing that got us jumpstarted. And then all of a sudden you have a little bit of confidence. You learn how to win. You believe you’re going to win those games, and then it carries from there. But I think those would be things that jump started us and gave us a feel for learning how to win a football game, having the belief that, ‘We’ll win this football game.’ That will carry a long way. That’s really important.”
(Was there a key offensive line decision along the way looking back?) – “I don’t think so. We had that stretch where they all stayed together, which I think started at the Pittsburgh game, having ‘Pounce’ (Mike Pouncey) in there and having all the guys in their spots where we had planned for them to play. There really hasn’t been that for long stretches. That more than anything I think, sure. I think it has been a progression coaching staff-wise. We learned (a little bit) what guys do well and some of those things also. Getting on a little stretch was really important for us to learn, ‘We’re going to win these close games.’ I think I heard a stat that (we) set an NFL record for winning a game in the last drive five different ways – a return, an interception. Those kind of things are big, because you start believing, ‘We’re going to win these close games.’ Sometimes that’s hard to develop, and we got and accelerated course in it this year, and that was big. That was big. Sometimes it was defense, sometimes it was Kenyan (Drake) on that kick return. It has been all kinds of different things on that. It has been a run that popped. It has been all those different things. That has been really good for us.”
