Brock Osweiler – November 7, 2018
Download PDF version
Wednesday, November 7, 2018
QB Brock Osweiler
(Can you talk about the importance this week of winning time of possession? For me, that would seem like an easy way to keep QB Aaron Rodgers off the field and that offense off the field.) – “You hit the nail on the head. Any time you play a quarterback that’s as special as Aaron is, you want to limit the amount of possessions that he’s able to have, because you know any time that their offense is on the field, they have a chance to score touchdowns. He has proven that over a very long period of time. We know offensively this week it’s very important for us to sustain drives, get first downs and try to be in control of that clock.”
(You had talked about your desire, like probably any player, to be on the field as much as possible. How are you approaching this game in terms of we know that QB Ryan Tannehill is possibly going to be back after the bye? So, what’s you approach to this game?) – “I really don’t have any focus on that. My focus is strictly week to week and within that week, making the most of the opportunity presented. This week, I’m the starting quarterback for this football team and I get a chance to play football against the Green Bay Packers and get another chance to go out there and lead the team. That’s where my focus is and making the most of that opportunity.”
(This offense is scoring offensively 18 points per game. Can you survive producing that little points?) – “It depends on how many points the other team scores. (laughter) Obviously as an offense, you want to score a lot more points than 18 points per game and we understand that. We understand that we’ve underachieved in some football games, but we’re working very hard to get that cleaned up so that we can score more touchdowns and we can score more points. This offense has very lofty goals. We set the standard very high for what we’re trying to accomplish every week and sometimes you’re not going to accomplish that. But I can promise you, it’s not from a lack of work ethic.”
(Do you know QB Aaron Rodgers at all other than watching him across the field?) – “I don’t.”
(Have you gone to T Laremy Tunsil and T Ja’Wuan James and say, “Be ready Sunday?”) – “Those two are great teammates. They’re great pros. They’re tremendous players. I’m sure they’re doing everything they possibly can to be ready to go for us. They’ll be good.”
(Has QB Ryan Tannehill helped you at all during this?) – “All of us quarterbacks work together –whether Ryan was on the field, whether I’m on the field, if David (Fales) is on the field – we’re all there supporting each other. Playing quarterback in the National Football League is not easy and the more eyes you can have, especially on game day, sometimes the better. We’ve all been very supportive of each other.’
(I’m doing something on a play you guys run where G/T Jesse Davis and T Ja’Wuan James pull to the left around T Laremy Tunsil and RB Frank Gore usually gets the ball. How odd is that to have especially a guard pulling that way but a guard and a tackle? It seems pretty unusual.) – “No, there are schemes out there where two guys pull on one play. If you really want to get into the X’s and O’s of the play, it’s probably better to ask (Head) Coach (Adam) Gase on those ones.”
(After looking at this week’s game compared to the last couple of weeks, what do you see that really changed offensively that wasn’t working this week – this past week – that was working before?) – “I think we just didn’t execute as players. When you go back and you watch the tape on Monday, you look at it and you’re like, ‘Our coaching staff put us in positon to have success.’ Now it’s up to each individual player on that play to execute his job at the highest possible point. When you look at it, there were just a couple plays where we didn’t do that. That’s enough to set you back. That’s enough to keep you out of the end zone for an entire day. Really, our focus in practice this week is do you job and do it better than you’ve ever done. Execute at a high level and have laser focus on every play, because when each guy is doing his job, we’ve shown that we can move the ball up and down the field and we can have some success.”
(I guess last week you said you hope you play well enough that you didn’t go back to the bench. Do you feel like you’ve done enough to at least make it difficult when QB Ryan Tannehill is healthy?) – “It’s really not up to me. It doesn’t matter what I think. At the end of the day, Coach Gase and our front office set the depth chart and they make those decisions and I fully respect whatever decision is made.”
(You know and you’ve said that on offense you have to score more points than the other guys. When the other guys include QB Aaron Rodgers, I assume there’s less margin for error?) – “You got it. You’re both hitting the nail on the head today. (laughter) When you play against a guy like that, there isn’t room for error, because that guy is usually going to be spot on more than he’s not. We know offensively we need to play the best game that we’ve played all year. We need to score points. We need to be ready to score a lot of points. I expect our defense to go out there and play a great game like they did last Sunday. But regardless of what happens, it’s our job as an offense to score more points than the other team.”
(You mentioned that it’s up to the coaches and certainly everything always is, but in terms of self-scouting, how would you assess how you’ve performed over these past couple of weeks?) – “I’m so focused on the Packers that I’m not looking back to Chicago, Detroit or any of that stuff. I think the time to reflect on those games is when the season wraps up. That’s when you really sit back and you look at your body of work and say, ‘What did I do good? What could I do better?” But right now there’s no time for that. You go in on Monday, you look at that specific game tape, you clean up those errors Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and then you’re done with it. In fact, you flush it from your memory. Most of the time you completely forget about it. Right now I’m not doing a recap of the games I’ve started. My sole focus is on the Packers because it’s going to be a great challenge on Sunday.”
(Changing gears totally, RB Frank Gore at his age, what was it 15 carries the other day carrying the workload? As a quarterback, what do you see out of him? What is it like?) – “It’s special. To be out there on the field with Frank and watching him play the way he does, it’s something I’ll never forget. He brings a great energy to this team and great leadership, his focus, how hard he plays, how tough he is and it’s more than just the run game. Frank had a couple tremendous blocks in pass protection. When you go back and you watch the film, it’s textbook stuff. All the young running backs out there should pull up some Frank Gore film, because he’s a special football player.”
(Are you glad you’re going back to playing in cold weather?) – “It’ll be fun. Going back, I’ve had the fortunate opportunity to play in Green Bay one time. Any time you get to play in a venue like that, it’s something special. It adds a little something extra to the game. I’m very excited to play at Lambeau Field. It’s a great honor. Bring on the weather, bring on the snow, whatever they have. It’ll just make the experience a little better.”
