Clyde Christensen – November 22, 2017
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Wednesday, November 22, 2017
Offensive Coordinator Clyde Christensen
(When you factor in the way T Laremy Tunsil has played, obviously the 10 penalties this year are part of that, where is he now compared to where you as a staff believe he should or could be?) – “I think we probably believe – and I’ve said to you all along – that he can really be a fine player. The consistency should come. It hasn’t yet, but it will. Hopefully it comes last week. The sooner the better. Some you can’t hurry. I don’t think they’re … It’s not because he’s not practicing hard or doing those things. I think he would be the first to say it can’t happen, you just can’t have that many penalties.”
(Some of the penalties that have occurred have been over and over and over, how do you preach accountability?) – “It’s hard. We’re addressing it in the meetings. Obviously, we addressed it in practice. We’re addressing it hard in practice. We’re trying to pull guys out of there if they jump offsides. We’re trying to do everything possible; but so far it hasn’t helped. That was probably the worst week we’ve had. It’s unexplainable. It’s unfathomable to me that it happens this late in the season that you pass the half way point and you’re still having issues with procedure penalties. Some of the other ones maybe you can understand, but not procedure penalties. That’s bad ball. There’s no other way to say it. It’s bad ball on all of our parts – everybody.”
(With WR Leonte Carroo … Obviously, Head Coach Adam Gase said with WR Rashawn Scott it was a function of working good in practice. With WR Leonte Carroo at this stage of his career – the team gave up two mid-round picks for him. You have three veteran receivers – that’s a factor – but is there something more that he needs to show the staff?) – “For him, I think that’ll be a constant competition. They’ve been in a competition since they’ve been here. It’s kind of a good thing because whoever is playing better will be up. A lot of it will come down to special teams. I think the answer to your question is special teams. The guy who excels at special teams, that fourth and fifth receiver, have to get their spot. (Special Teams Coordinator/Associate Head Coach Darren Rizzi) ‘Rizz’ probably has the final say on the fourth and the fifth receiver just because the special teams is so important and it’s not a huge number of snaps offensively. The special teams would be the answer to your question. Those guys will have to compete and you hope one of them just plays well. That’s what I always tell (them is), ‘Don’t give your spot up once you’ve got it. Play well enough that people can’t live without you.’ So far that hasn’t happened.”
(In practice, does WR Leonte Carroo get separation from corners consistently? Is that an issue?) – “No more than everyone, no. He’s never going to be a speed burner, so he has got to be on his technique and all of those things; but I don’t think it has been as much that as … The times he has been in there he has gotten open and made a couple big catches. Again, the special teams is a huge factor. It’s a bigger factor than probably even the offensive practice snaps.”
(When you look at last week’s game, it’s easy for us to say QB Jay Cutler was the quarterback in the first half, QB Matt Moore was the quarterback in the second half, that’s why there was so much better performance in the second than in the first, is that fair? Why do you think you played so much better in the second half?) – “I think we didn’t turn the thing over. We didn’t fumble the ball. I don’t know why. We played better. We just played better. I don’t think that’s a reflection of one position as much as just the unit played better. I think sometimes you get the momentum going. Our team has always been one that it just snowballs one direction or the other. Those penalties, the turnovers, we’ll go some periods where it snowballs and we’re rolling and the second half happened to be one of those upturns. The first half is about as bad of ball as we’ve played. I think it was all around. It wasn’t just the quarterback. It was some other things, too. Matt (Moore) didn’t do everything right. He did give us a chance to get back in the thing, and gave us a chance, but we missed some red zone opportunities. (We) missed some red zone opportunities in the second half that would’ve made the thing not a tie at the end. We had tons of opportunity to win that game before the end of the game and we didn’t. The pick penalty that was questionable. There were four or five things in the red zone where really we’ve got to finish those drives and score touchdowns and we got field goals and (it) ended up biting us in the rear at the end of the day. I don’t think it would be one guy as much as the whole deal, the whole unit. We can’t turn it over. I don’t care who … I don’t care if you’re Jarvis (Landry) or if you’re the quarterback or whoever – DeVante (Parker). We can’t turn the ball over. There’s no breaking even on that. That’s so severe and so significant to football games. You can make five big plays and a turnover still outweighs it. That’s how big they are in this league. For us to even have a chance and be minus-five in the turnover ratio in that game just shows we still play hard. Playing hard hasn’t been a problem. You’re just not going to win many games where you’re minus-five in the turnover (category).”
(How much of a concern was WR Kenny Stills’ injury going into last week and how did he come up with a career game given that injury situation?) – “(Allen) Iverson might’ve been right: practice is a little overrated, I guess. (laughter) That’s what I said to him today, ‘How do you feel?’ It wasn’t as much an … I guess you could call it an injury, but it just kind of locked up and tightened up on him. I think some modern medicine and then some just loosens up with the adrenaline going in the game. I don’t have a clean answer for you, but it happens. It’s one of those things where he locked up a little bit and probably could’ve practiced, but we just wanted – at this point in the year – just him resting and getting that thing back loosened up is a big thing. He obviously got it loosened up and was rolling there. He has had some problems in the past, so I do think there is a benefit that he does know how to deal with it. He knows that he will get the thing loose come game time and that it’ll loosen up as you play. Sometimes it’s not worth the risk of heavy reps in practice to give the thing a chance to settle down and loosen up some.”
(What have you seen from WR Kenny Stills aside from the deep routes? I’m talking about blocking downfield, short and intermediate routes, practice habits.) – “I think Kenny probably is (the) most improved guy since I’ve been here. I’ve said it to you before that when I got here, and in that first offseason, I don’t remember ever coming … I don’t remember a day coming in the building (where) I didn’t see the guy. I just think that he is the epitome of committing himself to being a good player and did everything – offseason, how he trains, how he works in individual, all those things – and I think it’s paying off. I think he’s a really, really good all-around receiver and I think beyond, way beyond when we first got here. I think he can be a top-flight … I think he is a top-flight receiver. I think he can be a really top-flight receiver, especially if we can get this passing game going more consistent. I think he’s taking the blocking. He’s throwing his body in there and maybe something he didn’t quite do as much when we first got here. He has gotten more physical inside there. His technique has just gotten better. I think his catching, his hands, he has made some one-handed catches this year. He has always been able to run, but I think all the technique that goes with this, he has paid the price to do. It’s fun as a coach to see it pay off for a guy. There’s no guarantee of that. Sometimes you work that hard and you have an injury or something; but his has paid off and he’s really a good, all-around receiver. He does everything well. His breaks are a lot better. His hands have improved. His blocking has improved. His route running has improved. And he still has a deep ball threat, still always a threat to run by you.”
(We see the potential, obviously, with RB Kenyan Drake and those two long runs in two of the three weeks since he’s been more involved. If you had to point to one or two areas where you think growth is most needed, the next step for him, it would be what?) – “Yes, I would tell you that he’s growing in his attention to detail. He’s growing on the ball protection side. His first start, so to speak, he gets that ball popped loose and it crushed him, which is the right reaction. It should crush you, and it did. I do think that he’s improving in his alertness, his paying attention, his meetings, how he does things as a pro – his fines are way down from that rookie year – all of those things. He’s just doing things more like a pro and I think he’s into it. The test will come after about your sixth game getting whacked. It’s a physical position and there will be a point toward the end of this year that would be like the midseason if you were starting from the beginning of the year, and there’s going to be a point where you have to practice, play, pay attention when your body’s in rebellion. It doesn’t want to do it anymore, doesn’t feel like doing it, doesn’t feel good. I do think that we’ll get a really great evaluation of him in these next (six) weeks, and it’ll get harder and harder, because playing week in and week out has its advantages. You’re into it, you’re in the flow, you’re excited and all of those things; but also now I’ve got to deal with tight muscles, a tweak here or there or a twisted ankle or something. That’s part of that job. That’s why it’s a hard job.”
(What are some of the reasons you think the Patriots organization has been so good for so long?) – “I always have a high respect for continuity. When you stay in the same system and you do the same things, you keep your veteran core players together for a long time and then they obviously do a great job also; but I think the continuity is a huge thing. I don’t know how many years I’ve been going up there but it feels like forever. It’s been 20-something years and it’s the same coach, it’s the same defense, they still play with great leverage, they still (play) two-gap. Maybe they change a face. Maybe it’s not (Willie) McGinest, but the next guy comes in and plays exactly the same way. It looks the same. He shoots his hands, puts his head on the right side, crosses faces. They just do a great job that way of having a system, recruiting to it or signing to it and then they obviously do a good job teaching it because they look the same. That’s probably the highest compliment I could give someone. For a long period of time, you are … For 15-plus years now, they play very good defense and they’re fundamentally really, really good.”
(Does it make a difference who is under center for the offense when it comes to things such as cadence, depth of routes, where they like the ball and handoffs and things like that?) – “Yes. I think certainly cadence-wise – the rhythm, how they call the plays, their tempo and how they handle those things – that certainly does. I think the other thing would be that they all have their favorite routes. Matt Moore comes in there and zings that one in on a big third-down conversion to Kenny Stills on the in. You just know that’s one of his roundhouse throws and if he gets a chance at it, he takes it. I do think that everyone has their favorite things that you know, ‘Hey, he will let this one fly.’ Each quarterback is a little bit different that way. (Matt) plays fast. He plays extremely fast, sometimes too fast. This week, there were a couple in the red zone that maybe he was too fast; but the ball is going to come out of there, his mind works fast, everything’s moving fast, so I think that’s probably a little bit different as far as the tempo of that goes, which is sometimes an advantage, sometimes a disadvantage. But yes, I think there is, certainly in the procedures of how he calls a play, how he checks a play, how he works his cadence, how he uses his hard count, all of those things certainly changes up between quarterbacks.”
(What would be the plan if G/T Jermon Bushrod can’t go?) – “If he doesn’t go, we’d probably slide Jesse (Davis) in and put Sam (Young) outside. We’ll work all of the contingencies. Right now we’ve got a couple of guys sore, but that would be one of the, certainly, leading contingencies. Don’t hold me to it if it doesn’t come out that way, but that’s our thought right now, how we ended up the game last week. That would certainly be the starting point. I had to take a double-take on the first name, we’ve just called him ‘Bush’ for so many years. I had to go ‘Jermon, who is that?’ (laughter)”
(Does C/G Ted Larsen seem like himself physically or has he struggled coming back from that?) – “Yes. He’s getting there. He’s not back, but he’s getting there. It’s a fast track to get him back, throwing guys in there at guard in the NFL against 320 pound guys; but it’s getting there. Again, the same thing that I haven’t noticed him, which is a compliment. I’m not talking about him, which is a compliment. He’s holding his own in there and he’s going to get better and better and better. He certainly has the veteran presence that we needed and is helpful and we’ll continue to need.”
(Was that definitely pass interference on TE Anthony Fasano?) – “I don’t know. I sometimes don’t see it quite like them. I can’t afford to give away any of my Christmas money. (laughter) Too many grandkids. I’m going to need that Christmas (money). I don’t know. Just sometimes it gets inconsistent. That’s the only thing as coaches, you just want them called consistently. Then you can teach and adjust from there; but when there’s inconsistency, then it’s hard. It’s difficult. We could have done a better job selling it but sometimes it’s from crew to crew on that stuff.”
