Chan Gailey – October 13, 2020
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Tuesday, October 13, 2020
Offensive Coordinator Chan Gailey
(Head Coach Brian Flores said he was happy with the running game in the second half of the game on Sunday. I was curious if there was one or two things that you can specifically point to that you liked that you saw in the running game?) – “We had a couple of bigger runs in the second half, especially when we were trying to run some clock and get it down the field with the running game instead of trying to throw it all over the park. We did a couple of things that were good. It was more of our counter game than it was of our just straight zone game. We’ve got to work on our zone game, that’s what we got to work on.”
(We’ve heard you talk a lot about QB Ryan Fitzpatrick here, but he had probably one of the better games that you’ve seen him play, I’m guessing. What comes to your mind when you see him play as well as he did Sunday?) – “He does things with this offense that we have that are truly amazing to me. He really does. He sees things – we’ll call a route and he’ll change one guy because he sees something, and he’ll change one little wrinkle to it and be able to take advantage of the defense. The other day, he saw the defensive end’s stance, so he knew the coverage, so he changed one route and we get a touchdown. It’s little things like that, that he’s amazing with. He knows what the defense is doing and how to beat them. He’s a special guy, very special guy, in that respect.”
(How big of a step in the right direction did WR Preston Williams take and what do you think this can do for him moving forward for this season?) – “It was just a matter of time, in my opinion. He’s been practicing well, he’s been working on his routes, he’s doing some good things. When you’ve got several good players, everybody doesn’t get the ball. This is one of those times where he got the ball, took advantage of it and made plays. To me, that does nothing but help our football team. Now they’ve got to worry about him, they’ve got to worry about ‘D.P.’ (DeVante Parker) on the other side, Jakeem (Grant), Mike (Gesicki). They’ve got a lot of things to think about. I was glad we were able to get him more involved. Now it just creates more open opportunities for everybody, now that he’s back on track. I hate to use that term because he wasn’t off track. It just hadn’t happened for him yet.”
(What went into the decision to insert G/T Robert Hunt in at right tackle, and how did things look on the right side of that line with the two rookies when you broke it all down?) – “Our plan all along had been to work Robert in at right tackle if something happened. (Offensive Line Coach) Steve Marshall does a great job of getting guys ready in case we get an injury, and he had been working Rob at right tackle. Jesse (Davis) had been working a little bit at left tackle. We just work those scenarios. ‘Flo’ (Head Coach Brian Flores) told us to start working that back – three weeks, two-and-a-half weeks before the first ball game. We’d been working that, so it wasn’t a spur of the moment decision. We’d been planning if something happens, this is the direction we’re going to go. The players knew it. It wasn’t like it was a shock to them either. And he did a good job.”
(I’d like to follow up on QB Ryan Fitzpatrick. I talked to TE Mike Gesicki yesterday and he called him his favorite teammate he’s ever played with. I’m just curious what it’s like for you knowing him so well to coach with. How would you describe him among the players you’ve coached?) – “Wow. That is a tough question because you hate to ever label anybody your favorite, because there then there are a bunch of other guys you’ve been close to through the years that might get offended and I wouldn’t want to offend anybody. But I’ve been with ‘Fitz’ (Fitzpatrick) a long time. We’ve had some great times together and we’ve had some bad times together. I think I have as much respect and I like him as much, if not more, than anybody I’ve ever coached. He’s a great teammate, a great, great, great competitor, and he’s a lot smarter than me.”
(WR Lynn Bowden Jr., I think he started at receiver, and then took at least three snaps at Wildcat. How many options does him being at Wildcat give you? And how is his route-running and understanding of the offense coming along for the slot position?) – “I’ll answer the second part first. He’s learning. He didn’t get any of the preseason. He didn’t get any of the base stuff. Since he’s been here, we’ve been game planning, and that’s a little bit tougher to learn everything when you don’t get the base concepts down from Day 1. It’s been a longer process for him than somebody who got here the first day of camp. He’s learning though. He’s getting better. He’s understanding it, but that’s a lot to comprehend. And now we’ve thrown the Wildcat package on him, so that takes time away from some of the other (stuff). We’re trying to massage the situation where we get him to understand the slot receiver position, and get him to play the Wildcat, and keep expanding both packages so we can – and we try to play him in there on regular downs so they can’t tell if Wildcat is in or if Wildcat is not in. We kind of just don’t want them to know when it’s coming.”
(I wanted to ask you about the Jets. I think they are 29th, 30th, or 31st in points allowed. They are pretty bad when it comes to yards. Has what they’ve done been a reflection of not getting a lot of help from their offense and being on the field a ton? Or is there some part of the defense you guys can really attack this weekend?) – “I don’t know what the situation is. I only look at one side of the ball. ‘Coach Flo’ (Head Coach Brian Flores) can probably give you a better overview answer there; but what I see is a group on defense that is flying around. They’ve given up a bunch of big plays. That’s where the yardage and the points have come from is a bunch of big plays. There have been some drives down the field, but you have to fight for every yard against this crew. They are flying around the football field pretty well right now. We’ve got to take advantage of the opportunities when we get a chance to make a big play. If we don’t get those opportunities and they decide to go back and play it soft and not give you the big plays, we’ve got to be good enough and detailed enough to work it down the field and punch it in the end zone when we get down there.”
(When we saw the o-line got redone this offseason, I guess a lot of the assumption was that the run game will come along quicker than the pass game as far as protection and push. It seems to me early, it’s been the opposite. I’m curious as to why you guys have been so successful in the pass-blocking early and why it hasn’t translated as much in the run game as much as you’d want?) – “I’m going to go back and say what I said earlier about (Offensive Line Coach) Steve Marshall. He does a great job of teaching protection and concepts and ‘Lem’ (Assistant Offensive Line Coach Lemuel Jeanpierre) is right in there helping these young players especially, work on their techniques and their sets. We work pass protection a lot, and really the run game is more of a process of they are putting an extra guy in the box. So if they put extra guys in the box, guess what? We’re going to throw it. We’re not gong to try to run uphill. We’ve tried to force it a few times just to keep them honest and hadn’t made a lot of yards on it. I think we’re capable of it, and I think if people start taking away the pass, then we’ll start running it better. If they keep playing the run down there with an extra guy in the box, we’re going to keep throwing it. We just try to take advantage of what the defense is giving us.”
