Chad O’Shea – September 3, 2019
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Tuesday, September 3, 2019
Offensive Coordinator Chad O’Shea
(On other coaches he has learned from.) – “Obviously Josh McDaniels who I was with at New England does a great job with he offense there, so I was in a position as a position coach to see him work, and there have certainly been a lot of coaches, not only in the offensive coordinator position, but in the assistant positions that I’ve learned so much from that have really kind of prepared me for this opportunity.”
(Have you talked to New England Patriots Offensive Coordinator Josh McDaniels over the last eight months at all just for feedback?) – “I’ve talked to a lot of guys. Most importantly, I’ve talked to our staff here, and those guys have been so helpful. We have a staff that has done this position that I’m going to do this year, so I’ve really relied on their experiences, and it’s been so valuable to me to have those guys that I can talk with and continue to learn. It’s a daily learning process for me, and I’ve been one to definitely seek the help of our staff because it’s a strong staff.”
(Have you called plays at any level before?) – “I’ve had the opportunity to call plays in the preseason in New England; but that was the only experience that I’ve had in calling the plays, and then of course through the preseason this year. (Running Backs Coach) Eric (Studesville) did such a great job for us in the fourth preseason game, so I learned a lot from him that day. I definitely am very humbled, and I’m definitely learning every day, and I’ve been fortunate to have a lot of guys around me that are very good.”
(What is like – I take myself back 100 years where they had me calling plays in a high school scrimmage, and I realize that whatever amount of seconds you have to call a play, it’s so compressed. It’s shorter than you think, so what is that like for you – the speed of it, and also are you calling one or two or three plays in your mind at a time?) – “I think as we go through the week in preparation, that’s really where the call sheet is built, and what we try to do as a coaching staff is really go through every scenario that could come up. I would say by game day, the entire staff – I’m simply the messenger, and I’m the play-caller into the quarterback, but the work has really been done. We’re preparing and we’re putting those plays for those specific situations. And then there’s the element of adjusting during the game, that I think is so important to play-calling and offensive success – the ability to adjust once the defense may give you something slightly different than what you prepared for. That’s part of being good on offense, and our players know that, and our coaches know that the ability to adjust is going to be very important for us this year.”
(Speaking of adjusting, you lost your left tackle. You lost arguably your best wide receiver in the past few days. How does that affect the game plan? How does that affect your play-calling?) – “I think that one of the things that we pride ourselves on here together as a staff is using the guys that are in the room with us currently to their strengths, and finding things they do well. Certainly, that’s my job is to just walk in the room and use the guys that we have in the room – not worry about anybody that’s not there. Certainly, we have a lot of respect for the guys that are no longer with us as players and people, but our job is to use the players that we have, and that’s the goal every week. The guys that walk in the room that are playing for us that are active in the game, it’s our job to figure out what they do well and move the ball. We’ve embraced the change. We know that there’s a lot of change in the NFL on our roster and other rosters, and it’s part of the NFL. Rosters don’t stay the same, and it’s our job to figure out again what our players do best and move forward.”
(What does this offensive line do best?) – “I think that one of the things that we’re going to have to do is communicate well with each other here in these first couple weeks. These guys are going to be playing with each other for the first time, so I think that all of the things that we believe in fundamentally and all of the things that we believe in as far as the offensive line position and the other positions, we’re going to have to do really well in the first game. Good communication, good clean operation, good assignment – all those things are what we’re asking the guys to do. We have new players. I don’t know who’s going to be in there because we’re in the process of – we’re going to play the best five guys right now. By game day, we’re going to have the best five guys that help us win, and that’s true of all positions, too. We’re going to play the best receivers that give us a chance and the best running backs. We’re going to use different guys, and that’s part of our job as a coaching staff – to choose those guys that are going to help us on game day win. I don’t think anything’s changed for us as far as what we’re being asked to do as a coaching a staff. Regardless of who’s in the room, we’re going to do the best job we can of utilizing their strengths and trying to win the game.”
(Have you stressed in the past few days to QB Ryan Fitzpatrick and QB Josh Rosen getting rid of the ball that much faster?) – “I think there are certain fundamentals at each position that we’re stressing. What we’ve done is we’ve listed the core fundamentals at each position that we think that are the most important fundamentals at your position, and certainly with the quarterback position, there’s a number of things that we think are important. One is protecting the football. We’ve asked our team pass-offense-wise, not only the quarterback; but we’ve asked our team to try to play on time in the pass game. What that includes is the receivers getting open in a timely way, the offensive line giving a clean pocket, the quarterback having good anticipation and awareness of getting the football out. To single it and say that we’ve asked those guys to do one thing only, we stress that we need to play on-time in the pass game; but certainly, I would say all 11 are involved in that, too. Guys have to get open, guys have to protect, I have to a good job of putting them in the right play call. So I think that a lot of these things we see in the quarterback, they rely on so many other things to play the position.”
(I’m a little bit of a student of the game, and I’m wondering if you ever put in tapes of some of the more successful offenses through the years in the NFL to try to learn from that, or has the game changed so much that looking at Air Coryell or looking at “The Greatest Show on Turf” really no longer helps somebody like you?) – “No, I think that that’s something that we constantly do in the offseason and in-season. We’re constantly studying other teams offensively, whether it be college or NFL. We have a staff that kind of has certain things that they look for on a weekly basis of other things, other trends. We’re always trying to make sure we put our team in the best position to win, and one of the things that I think helps that is to have new and creative ways to do things. I haven’t hesitated to look at other things, whether it be in the past or in the present and say, ‘that’s something that could help us win.’”
(When Head Coach Brian Flores told us that QB Ryan Fitzpatrick would start, he said, “he gives us the best chance to win.” Why does Ryan Fitzpatrick give this team the best chance to win?) – “I think that Ryan (Fitzpatrick) – and this is just speaking of Ryan – he’s done a real good job with his leadership. He’s done a real good job with his communication. He’s an experienced player that has done a lot of the things that we want in a quarterback. He’s done well. I’m excited to see him play. I know that he’s going to rely heavily on the guys around him in this game, and they need to play well for him to play well. That’s important. It just doesn’t fall on him; but certainly, I’ve been impressed with his leadership and his overall consistency as a leader, and as a person, I think that that’s something – he’s had some ups and downs in training camp and through the offseason, but he’s really done a good job of having some mental toughness and being very steady in his approach and consistent in his work ethic. Those are things I think Ryan brings – great intangibles. I think that’s something that’s been really good to see in him.”
(What does QB Josh Rosen need to do to get on the field?) – “I think like all the players that maybe aren’t in the position they want right now as starters, or are in backup roles, what we’ve done with them here recently is we’ve sat down with them and said, ‘Hey, here are some fundamentals. Here are some things you need to improve.’ Obviously, it’s not just Josh. We have a number of players that are in that backup role. Josh is – as we’ve talked about – he’s still learning the offense. He’s doing a good job on all of the things that aren’t the physical the part of the game he’s improving on, whether it be his awareness on the field, his overall familiarity with the offense, his fundamentals that he needs to work on, just like all the other players need to work on. He’s in the same position a lot of other players are. There are just a few fundamentals we’re really concentrating on with him. There are some things that he can continue to grow and learn in the offense. I would say we’re pleased with his progress as far as that. He’s embraced our coaching. He’s embraced the offense. He’s trying to get better on a daily basis. He’s had a good week so far in his preparation and on the practice field, so that’s all we can ask.”
(Is it simple to say, we feel like QB Ryan Fitzpatrick is in a better position right now to lead this team to where we need to be? Is that fair?) – “What was your question? I don’t understand.”
(You mentioned leadership, intangibles being a huge part of it…) – “I think there’s a number of factors that go into that. I really do. I listed leadership as one of ‘Fitz’s’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick) strengths; but certainly, do I think that the other guy lacks it? I don’t. I think that that’s just one of the things that ‘Fitz’ does well. I think there’s a number of things – like I said at all positions – guys are working on right now, and it’s really a long list for a lot of guys. All we’re asking him to do is try to improve and certainly, we all know he’s got a lot of ability, and we’re excited about him being on our roster. I’m glad he’s here. I think that ‘Fitz’ has provided some things because of his experience and his overall exposures to different defenses and his familiarity to the offensive scheme and some other things that have been helpful in his development years being a starting quarterback.”
(How would you describe what Offensive Line Coach Dave DeGuglielmo has brought to the table in his new old job?) – “’Guge’ (Offensive Line Coach Dave DeGuglielmo) is somebody that I’ve worked with in the past. Certainly, I have a lot of respect for the job that he’s done when I was with him in the past and certainly in the role that he’s in now. He works extremely hard. He brings out the best in his players. He coaches whoever’s in the room. I’m excited about working with ‘Guge.’ I really think we’ve got a great coaching staff here. We’ve got guys that have had experience in the position that I’m doing now, guys that have had a lot of experience on different teams, so really we have a wealth of knowledge that I can kind of lean on, and it’s been very helpful.”
(What do you see as the biggest challenge for the offensive line at this point with the state of things?) – “I think that whenever you have change in the offensive line, one of the most important things is we say, ‘just get on the same page.’ Communication is required. I think that that’s probably like it is at other positions when you have new players. It’s just the players that come in and embrace the offense, work hard and learn the language. The language might be slightly different, but the techniques are all very similar to other NFL teams, so it’s just a matter of learning them. Learn the language and being able to communicate with each other – that’s important to that position and important to other positions as well.”
(Just a general offensive strategy is getting the ball quickly to your playmakers. With this offensive line needing to develop tremendously, how important is it for you guys to get the ball to WR Albert Wilson, WR Jakeem Grant and some of the running backs as well?) – “I think that one of the things that’s exciting about this offense is that we do have a lot of guys that we want to get the ball to. I don’t know if all offenses can say that – that there’s a list of skill players that we have that we really want to try to get the ball in their hands, so that’s very exciting. There’s a lot that goes into that, getting the ball in their hands. Obviously, a lot of guys have to do their jobs for those guys to get the ball in their hands. The quarterback’s got to execute his job. The offensive line has got to execute his. I have to do a good job, or the staff has to do a good job of putting us in the right play call. At the end of the day, though, we have guys that I think have the opportunity to make plays with the ball in their hands, and that’s exciting. Again, it’s our job as a coaching staff to scheme those ways and get it in their hands. Regardless of who’s throwing it, regardless of who’s blocking, the task is to get the ball in their hands.”
