Chan Gailey – November 10, 2020
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Tuesday, November 10, 2020
Offensive Coordinator Chan Gailey
(Could you tell me what G Ereck Flowers means to that offensive line and where he’s at as far as his play currently?) – “He’s a veteran – one of the most veteran players we have up there. The one thing that’s great about him is his leadership and enthusiasm on game day. He really brings a lot of enthusiasm to the game every week. He’s excited about scoring. He’s excited about winning. That’s what you want out of those guys. He’s been a very good stabilizing force for us up there. He’s played well so far. I expect him to continue to play well and even improve on a couple of little things that (Offensive Line) Coach (Steve Marshall) has him working on.”
(When you were envisioning QB Tua Tagovailoa’s second start, I’m pretty sure you didn’t envision him going without three wide receivers, two running backs and his position coach; and yet, he went out there and played at a high level. What was the difference from Week 1 to Week 2 for him and how encouraged were you that all that he had to overcome as a player, he was able to do so?) – “I think probably the best answer for that is going to come from him. But from my perspective, as the game slows down, as he plays more – and I said this last week but I believe it’s the truth – as he plays more, the game will slow down and he’s able to see things better. He’s able to feel the game. He has a tremendous feel for the game. That allows him to see some things and do some things and throw the ball in some spots that other people might not do. I think that he just went out and played the game. He didn’t care who was there or who wasn’t there. He was playing the game and that’s what you like about him. He doesn’t think about adversity. He thinks about, ‘ok, how can we go be successful?’ That will carry a person a long way.”
(I wanted to ask about RB Salvon Ahmed. He led the running backs in snaps. What did you think of his performance? It felt like there were some plays there that showed some explosion that we obviously hadn’t seen before.) – “Yeah, he had some good plays and he had some things he’s got to work on. It was his first time out. He’s got some things that we’ll have to improve upon and talk about and get him better at. He does show what you just said. He does show some explosion. It was good to have that and be able to see a short run turn into a longer run with that burst that he has, to be able to get on the edge. I think he’ll improve. I hope that all of these guys that are playing for their first and second time, the second time they go out there I hope they improve and continue to improve. He was running the ball well in the first half so he played most of the second half.”
(We’re doing a story around the league on rookies at midseason. I wanted to ask you with no exhibition season and very little offseason, I’m wondering with rookies in general, do you think they’re still behind and will be behind all year? Or at this point, have they caught up in their development? What do you feel about that?) – “I think a guy that’s played in every game is pretty well caught up at this point. I think you get eight games into the season – halfway through the season – and you should be caught up if you’ve played in every ballgame. Those guys that haven’t, that are being thrown in there for the first time, they’re behind. They were behind because they hadn’t played early and they’ll be behind and it’ll probably take them about eight games to get fully aware of everything that’s going on and what they’ve got to do. If you hadn’t played in the first few, those rookies will be fresher at the end of the year because guys don’t realize a 16-game season, what that does to you.”
(What you said just now about playing eight games and being fully aware makes me excited about what you are going to see from QB Tua Tagovailoa the next six games. What do you think he has to prove moving forward and has to show? I also want to ask you about communicating with Tight Ends Coach George Godsey during that game? It seemed to me that he filled in for Quarterbacks Coach Robby Brown on the coaching staff there during the game.) – “That worked very well. We were fortunate in that Coach Godsey hadn’t been available earlier in the year, and that we had two coaches who had coached the tight ends so that (when) we needed George (Godsey) to come over and fill in for this, those guys had experience working with the tight ends to be able to deal with them on game day. So it worked out in a very good scenario for us to have George available to talk to me and to the quarterbacks and to do the communication. So that worked very well.”
(You said something about eight games in, players are going to get a lot more comfortable. What does QB Tua Tagovailoa have to show you more in the next six games? What are the next strides you want to see him take after Sunday’s performance?) – “The next strides are he’s got to see and understand defenses more and more. And that just comes from doing it. We worked against the same defense all offseason, so you didn’t have any preseason games to go say, ‘okay, this is what another team does, this is what another team does.’ He’s getting that on the fly. So I think just understanding defenses, what they’re trying to do, how they’re trying to attack you, what their strengths are, what their weaknesses are; those types of things will be the strides I hope he makes here in the next few weeks.”
(I guess with everything that QB Tua Tagovailoa’s been through I guess over the last year, do you feel like he’s back to where maybe you were seeing him on tape in college as far as his play-making ability?) – “It looks like it to me. I can’t see a real difference. Physically is the one thing you had the concern about and I think he kind of relieved all our thoughts about that the other night.”
(I wanted to ask you about TE Adam Shaheen. I know he had the extension a couple weeks ago and we saw TE Durham Smythe out in that 49ers game and then leave this past game. I’m curious to get your take on the impact he’s had in that tight end room and the confidence level you have in him to elevate him into a more prominent role if someone like TE Mike Gesicki or TE Durham Smythe is unavailable ahead of him.) – “I think we have a great deal of confidence in Adam (Shaheen) and what he can do. He’s come in here, he’s learned the blocking schemes, he’s blocked well. Everybody can get better at that, but he’s done a good job there, and he’s a very good pass receiver. He’s been a big plus to our tight end room and we have a great deal of confidence in what he might be able to do in the future for us.”
(I wanted to ask you about poise and maturity as it relates to QB Tua Tagovailoa being 22. He kind of feels like an old soul to me. Can you think of an example of on-field poise and maybe off-field maturity since you’ve met the guy?) – “It’s hard to me to talk about on the field on game day, but in practice I see the way he interacts with the other players on our team and you see a real maturity there, the way he handles his interactions day to day, on a day-to-day basis. So is that on the field or is that off the field? I don’t know which one that is, but he really has a great deal of maturity in how he builds relationships with other people on the football team.”
