Dowell Loggains – May 12, 2018
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Saturday, May 12, 2018
Offensive Coordinator Dowell Loggains
(Opening Statement) – “I’m excited to be here. Obviously I feel good about being in the situation I am with (Head) Coach (Adam) Gase and the offensive staff, with what we got going. I’m really excited to get rookies in here and be around these guys. We don’t do a whole lot on the field, but getting them set up for next week when they start entering practice with the vets and you get to see how bright these guys are and how excited they are about football. We’re early in the offseason program. We’ll go into the Week 5 starting next week. It’s been really good to get these guys out here and see guys like Ryan Tannehill and Kenny Stills lead. The throwing sessions … You don’t get to do a whole lot. We’ve only got to get on the field two or three times. It’s been impressive to watch Ryan really throw the football and the command he has of the offense. The 2016 season, he had such a good year. For me, the first thing I did was turn on the OTAs and the training camp right before he got hurt and got to watch how much improvement and how much jump he had taken in Year 2, and it was unfortunate that he got hurt because obviously the offense was affected by it. I’m really excited about some of the additions we’ve made to the roster and how we’re going to use these guys. We’re really early in the process of trying to figure out how we’re going to use each one of these guys, and find out their strengths and weaknesses and go through that process. So any questions you have, I’m open.”
(Have you fixed everything yet?) – “We’re in the process of it. (laughter)”
(What are the specific areas that you think you could most help Head Coach Adam Gase on game day and leading up to game day?) – “Just the process of game day and getting through game day and going through the game-planning process. We’re really familiar with each other. And with the staff. Adam and I have worked together, (Offensive Line Coach Jeremiah) Washburn and I have worked together. We brought in a great addition at running back coach with Eric (Studesville). (Quarterbacks Coach) Bo Hardegree and I have worked together. (I just want to) help clean up and get to game day with some of those things and obviously helping the quarterbacks room as much as I can.”
(How important is it that you have Head Coach Adam Gase’s total trust? Because he has told us that you have that? How important is that in this ongoing relationship?) – “I think it’s really important for everyone that walks in this building. Really, you live by the philosophy of I walk in and give advice when asked and outside of that, I’m fulfilling the vision of the head coach and I hope that everyone on our staff and everyone in our building is doing that.”
(When you were talking about QB Ryan Tannehill, can you teach us a little bit about what you saw? You said you were sitting there watching OTA tapes and comparing that against game tapes from the previous season.) – “Yes. You guys know in Year 2, a lot of players take huge jumps, especially in the same offense. Ryan’s had to go through a lot of different systems. He’s a really intelligent guy. He works his tail off. The one thing that I didn’t know about Ryan until I got here is how much he loves football. He throws the ball really well. I was excited to see that. You see the tape and you’re like, ‘Hey, this guy can sling it around a little bit.’ He’s done a really good job of overcoming that stuff. You just see the growth in the offense from Year 1 to Year 2, especially in OTAs and training camp, that second year going into it before he got hurt … Just his command at the line of scrimmage and his ability to fulfill (Head Coach) Adam (Gase’s) vision with the offense and getting in and out of good and bad plays. You start taking command because you have confidence. The first year, you’re learning the system. The second year you’re going in and you’re making the ‘Mike’ (middle linebacker) points and you’re controlling the line of scrimmage and checking and signaling and doing all of those things. Some of those things in the offense in 2017 didn’t get going that way we would have liked to get going that way because when you lose your quarterback, you lose a huge part of your offense.”
(The past few years has not been the offense that Head Coach Adam Gase wants to run. If things were working this year, what does it look like? What is this offense supposed to do?) – “We’re still in the process of trying to figure out what each guys does well. I think that’s when you go back and you look at Chicago and you look at Denver, the one thing that I’ve always been impressed about with Adam is his ability to get guys in position to be successful and by doing what they do well. He takes a lot of pride at that and he works really hard at that and hespends a lot of time at night studying not just the game, but studying individual players to know that Albert Wilson does this well, DeVante Parker, Kenny Stills, Jakeem Grant, they all do … This is their skillset and then building around number one the quarterback, number two the offensive line and then the skill guys and getting those guys in position. Obviously we want to run an up-tempo, no-huddle offense. That’s what Adam has done in the past and that’s where our vision is and we’re trying to get going that way.”
(Personnel wise, they ran a lot of 11 at times. Do you see that continuing? Obviously you have the personnel to go four-wide if you want?) – “Yes, we do. We’re deep at wide receiver. It goes back to the statement of we want to do whatever our guys are good at. Obviously, going into it, before the draft, I was like, ‘We’re going to be an 11 team. We’re going to be a 10 personnel team. We have really good wide receivers, we’ve got depth and great competition.’ Now, all of a sudden you come out of the draft, or as the draft is going on and we’re a best-available-team but all of a sudden a position need … We were able to take two guys that happen to meet up with a position need and how the board fell. Now that gives us the flexibility to be in 13 personnel and 22 personnel and 12 personnel and do those things that creates multiple personnel groupings that makes it hard to defend you.”
(When you talk about up-tempo, no-huddle, they’ve tried that here before and for whatever reason, it hasn’t worked. Are there two or three keys as far as recognition or quarterback being able to communicate to the other players or the receiver’s knowledge?) – “It’s really the quarterback and the play caller getting on the same page that way, and then the quarterback being able to communicate everything at a very fast pace to the wide receivers, the tight ends, the running backs and the offensive line.”
(Can you talk about what this opportunity means to you personally?) – “I’m just excited to be here. When you walk into the building, I didn’t really know much about the Dolphins outside of Dan Marino and the history they had and competing against them a couple of times. But when you walk into the building, (General Manager) Chris Grier, (Executive Vice President of Football Operations) Mike Tannenbaum and (Head Coach) Adam Gase, the support staff that they have from the equipment room to the video guys, the video room, everything is top notch. Everything they do, you can see with (Owner) Mr. (Stephen) Ross, it starts there. He wants to win. And you feel that when you walk into the building. Then you get to come and work with a guy that you’ve worked with and have a common belief with. I believe in his philosophy and how he’s trying to do things. That creates a connection automatically when you believe in something and you can coach it and everything you do, you believe in what you coach. I think that’s a big part of why things are good fits for some people and some people it’s not, because I believe in what we’re doing here.”
(You’re very familiar with G Josh Sitton. What kind of difference can he make with on the offensive line?) – “He’s a really good player. You guys will get to meet him. He’s really surly. He speaks his mind. You guys will have a lot of fun with him. He’s really intelligent. You drop a really smart player into that room, with a young room and it’s a talented group of starters, and all of a sudden guys like Ja’Wuan (James) and Laremy (Tunsil) can really lean on him and his veteran experiences. He’s bright. He’s really, really intelligent. Put him with Daniel Kilgore and the interior offensive line has gotten a lot better. You guys know this. I’m not telling you guys anything you don’t, but being able to protect from the inside out, that’s something (Had Coach Adam) Gase really wanted to do and get better at, and give Ryan (Tannehill) the ability to climb the pocket and do those things. That’s what Josh does really well. He’s really good at outside zone, he’s a really good pass protector and just the intelligence. He’s not a vocal leader. He’s a lead-by-example guy and there’s certain things, like the way he finishes in drills and stuff. We’re early in the process, two weeks in, but you start to see some of these younger guys watch him. He doesn’t talk a lot but they start to mimic what he does and how he finishes. Those are the type of leaders (we want), like Danny Amendola and Albert Wilson. What they’ve really brought … They’re not vocal guys. You don’t hear them a lot, but all of a sudden you see Drew Morgan trying to copy something Danny did or DeVante (Parker) watching something Albert did or what Danny did. I think he’s a lead-by-example guy that’s really intelligent and really good at those two things we mentioned.”
(When you watched tape on some of the skill players that you have, that you brought back and some of the free agents. Was there anybody that just struck you immediately like, ‘Oh my gosh, I can’t believe they have this guy. I can do some things with this?’) – “All of them. (DeVante) Parker, (Kenny) Stills, Jakeem (Grant). Those guys … When I walked in, that was the thing … I probably could have answered better, but the thing that got me exited was the skill guys. All of a sudden you’ve got two tackles and all of a sudden you’ve got these skill guys that can run. They all have different traits and different qualities. I think they’re a fast group that, as their knowledge of the offense grows, and going back to no huddle, they’ll play faster. Knowledge builds confidence, confidence allows you to play fast, but the thing that showed up was speed.”
(You mentioned the willingness or wanting to go no huddle. How important is position flexibility, guys who can do multiple things?) – “(It’s) huge. Every spot on the offense, defense is very important. Running the offense that we run, you have to be intelligent. You have to be able to play multiple positons. Sometimes we’re flipping the receivers from left to right and sometimes they’re moving with formation. All of a sudden when a concept is called, DeVante (Parker) has to know, ‘Hey, sometimes I’m going to be the Z and (Kenny) Stills is going to be the X.’ You’ve got Jakeem (Grant) and Albert (Wilson) and all of these other guys that are competing for spots. You have to be able to move around. That’s when you throw these two new tight ends into the group with a group we had and all of a sudden you have position flexibility to do a lot of different things and do things that are different and appear different to the defense, but they’re the same concepts to us. We’re just moving pieces around.”
(Obviously, QB Ryan Tannehill’s knee was the storyline of the season last year. When you watch the OTAs, did you watch how he moved and have you compared to just the casual throwing out here and is there something you could share with us about how the knee looks?) – “I didn’t pay too much to that. Unfortunately I’m a coach and not a doctor. I trust our medical staff here, they’ll tell us everything we need to know about that with (Head) Coach (Adam) Gase. We’re in the process of putting together a good plan for him coming up with OTAs. What I’ve been able to see from him is that he’s a good thrower that can make all of the throws. He can attack you 53 1/3 (yards across the field) and push the ball down the field the way we need him to do. There’s not a throw he can’t make and we’re just in the process of cleaning up the communication things. There’s some fundamental stuff that we’re working hard on. As far as throwing, I haven’t seen any limitations in anything.”
(You said you’re already completely sold on him?) – “On Ryan Tannehill? Absolutely, absolutely. I’m really fired up to work with him.”
(The two tight ends you drafted. What jumped out on tape to you about them? And considering that you guys want to run an up-tempo style and no-huddle, will they be able to make an immediate impact?) – “I hope so. Any time you draft people, you expect them to come in and make an impact early on. The one thing that stuck out obviously with Mike (Gesicki) was his athleticism and his ability to be flexed out and do things that (Head Coach) Adam (Gase) has done in his past with the tight ends flexed out. The thing with Durham (Smythe) was he’s a really intelligent guy that can play and block at the point of attack and stuff. I think that both of them are really good players on their own, but I think together, in the rotation of tight ends, they complement each other very well.”
(How do you feel about your red zone possibilities? It seems like TE Mike Gesicki would be a valuable weapon and WR Danny Amendola perhaps?) – “Yes, you said it. There’s a leading question with what we expect in the red area with Mike, because he does have the ability to play above the rim. I’m sure you guys have all seen the YouTube dunk video. If that doesn’t get you excited about the red area then something’s wrong. We do like the option to be able to have him down there and obviously Danny has done it at a very high level in the red area – in Super Bowls and in big games. (We are excited) not only about what he’s going to bring down there, but what he’s bringing to the offense and to the team in the wide receiver room.”
(When it comes to RB Kalen Ballage, what gets you excited about him and wanting to work with him. It looks like he also may have some positon flexibility.) – “He does. When he walks through the door, that’s what they’re supposed to look like. He’s big, he’s put together and he’s a really smart kid. We’re excited about trying to tap him out and make sure his head is hitting the ceiling. He’s got size, he’s got height, weight, speed. Doing those things, we’ve got to figure out what he does well and find out quickly with that stuff because he does have good hands. He can move around and do different things. He’s got the size to sit in there on third down and be in pass protection that way. He’s a guy that shouldn’t have a lot of limitations and limitations, we’ve got to figure out those quick and we’ll put him in spots to be successful.”
(Is he a running back or an H-back?) – “He’s a running back because of his size and sped and the ability to catch the ball, he can play all three downs. But you guys know this, on third down, you’ve got to be able to protect – to sit in there and block linebackers and do those things and release and catch the ball. He’s got all of those traits.”
(With WR DeVante Parker, other than health, what’s one thing you’ve seen that has limited him, that has held him back a little bit?) – “Just obviously injuries. Just being able to get out there and be consistent through his career here. The one thing that’s really impressive about DeVante is for a long-cut guy, he can get in and out of breaks. That’s been really impressive to watch on the field. To run those comebacks and be able to drop his hips, a lot of long-cut guys struggle with that. DeVante has the ability to do that. I had the advantage of seeing some of the OTAs and training camp cut-ups that we go through and the first cut-up I turned on was Day 1 of training camp and he’s playing above the rim and catching a red-area touchdown. We’ve got to make sure that we max out his potential because it’s there. We’ve got to get it out of him and I think familiarity with the offense, being in it for another year and playing with Ryan (Tannehill) consistently and just his (fourth) year, that the light comes on and he’s the player we expect him to be.”
(Do you see anything specifically though besides health? Do you see anything on the field where this is one of the main things you want to work on with him?) – “Just consistency. Just the fundamentals here and there, that he hadn’t gotten to really master because he’s been limited. It’s been impressive to see him fight through some of the stuff that he’s overcome – being banged up, being hurt and doing those things. Once he gets healthy and plays consistent with Ryan (Tannehill), I think that his production will go up and be the player we think he can be.”
(Head Coach Adam Gase said that RB Kenyan Drake is a guy that has breakout potential this year. What have you seen with him so far?) – “On the tape, the same thing (Gase sees). When we were going through the draft and if you had three Kenyan Drakes, you’d be really excited because he’s a guy that can play all three downs. I’ve been sitting through some of the special teams meetings and you don’t realize how good he is on special teams, as well. He’s a complete football player. He can play on first and second downs, run outside and inside. On third down, he’s big enough to protect and catch the football. We’re really excited about that room and with the addition of Frank Gore, the rookie (Kalen Ballage) and the things that these guys can do, we should have good competition.”
(RB Buddy Howell is another running back. What do you see out of his game and how he will fit in the offense?) – “It’s been early, so we haven’t been able to see a lot outside of what he did in college; but I’m excited about him. I’m excited to get him on the field during OTAs and it’s going to be interesting to how we drop these guys into the competition. For running backs, it becomes a little bit more difficult because they flash in OTAs and you go off of their college tape but until you really put pads on and see these guys, it’s limiting that way. We’ll get them up to speed as quick as we can and see how he fits in the competition.”
(Was coaching something that you’ve always wanted to do? What was the genesis of that? As a player, did you look to that, or how did you get involved?) – “Since a very young age, I knew I wanted to coach. Every decision I made, where I went to school … I was a high school quarterback at Abilene Cooper in West Texas. Then when I got done with that, I decided I wanted to walk on with Arkansas because I knew I wanted to coach. I had a couple of smaller school offers; but I knew I wanted to coach. I thought I wanted to coach at the collegiate level, so I decided to walk on at Arkansas and ended up playing in 50 games and earning a scholarship and doing some of those things. I went there because I knew the connections that I would make there – it was where I always wanted to go – but the connections I made there would help transition me into coaching and is something I’ve always wanted to do. I’ve been really fortunate and around a lot of really good people at an early age. I’m excited about coaching for the Miami Dolphins.”
