Clyde Christensen – December 14, 2017
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Thursday, December 14, 2017
Offensive Coordinator Clyde Christensen
(WR Kenny Stills and WR Jarvis Landry have combined for 14 touchdowns. They’re approaching Mark Duper and Mark Clayton who had 21, I think, in 1986, whatever it is. Does it seem like they’ve been that successful? I know it has been a strange year. You’ve changed quarterbacks and traded RB Jay Ajayi. Does it seem that they’ve stood out in that way?) – “It has. It has felt that way even though I would say that I just think it could’ve even been bigger that all those games where there were 50 snaps and 52 snaps – a lot of that stuff, which we don’t stress much – but a lot of it is based on snaps and how many opportunities you get. They’re good players and they’re going to be open. The more snaps we get, the better chance they have of having big days. It does feel like they’ve had nice years. I think probably I would have a feeling toward myself that they should have bigger numbers. They should have bigger numbers and a lot of that has been the snap (numbers) early and just not being great and sharp on third down.”
(Since the Baltimore game, you guys are averaging 24 points per game. I know you probably didn’t know those numbers. What do you think is the correlation there in terms of the upswing in points?) – “I don’t know. I think we are playing a little bit better. It wasn’t real hard to improve. It feels like we improved, but we started from so far back. So, I do think we’ve gotten a little bit of momentum. I do think that … A ton of things – Jay (Cutler) playing with these guys longer, the system, all the above, just doing things better. I think we’re still working on the turnovers. We’re still working on the penalties, stuff that just kind of stops drives and help keep you from scoring points. We have been pretty efficient in the red zone. (Quarterbacks) Coach (Bo) Hardegree has done a good job. He’s the lead dog in the red zone; so we have been efficient in there. That has helped a little bit. I think probably a little bit of all those things. I wasn’t really aware of it (averaging more points), but I know we’re playing a little bit better, and it’s a little more fun, trust me.”
(So Quarterbacks Coach Bo Hardegree is responsible for the red zone success?) – “No, I’m just saying that we’ve gotten in the end zone and scored touchdowns. We’ve been better at that. Players are responsible for all of it. Trust me. Players. Players. But that has been part of it. We’ve been pretty good when we’ve gotten in there and the same thing, we just haven’t been in there. There was a point I think where I looked at it and in fact, I think New England had 23 more red zone possessions than we did. It might have been 28. It was an enormous number. That came up the first time we played them a couple weeks ago. That shows how well they were playing and how we have not gotten down in there. I think that’s part of it. We’re cashing in. We’re getting in the red zone a little bit more and getting ourselves a chance to score points.”
(So many players that are as versatile as they are on offense when you’ve got WR Jarvis Landry who can line up in the backfield, WR Jakeem Grant and guys like that, you’re basically changing personnel without substitution at times. How important is that to an offense and isn’t that something you can build on going forward?) – “It really help if you can do it. We’ve always had an intention to do it. Sometimes we’ve shot ourselves in the foot. It can backfire, because maybe you don’t get a … The downside to doing that is you don’t know what look you’re going to get, you don’t know how they’re going to line up, you don’t know what defense they’re going to play – all of those things. And the upside is that you do give them some looks where their regular calls and keys and tips and reminders don’t match up, because they hadn’t seen that. There’s a tradeoff. You kind of try to keep them to a minimum; but you want them to be effective. They were effective the other night, Monday night, and that helped us a little bit just moving those guys around. Jakeem gave us a couple big plays and had a heck of a chance at another one. It does help; but again, it’s not Madden football. It’s not quite as easy, and it’s hard to get it practiced. It’s hard to get it executed and then all of a sudden they come with a blitz and you go, ‘Well, who was supposed to pick him up?’ So, it’s more complicated maybe than just, ‘Let’s put Jakeem here and let’s put Jarvis here and we’ll move ‘11’ (DeVante Parker) over here and stick this guy in the backfield and this and that.’ But we need to. We have versatile guys. You love to use their versatility. I’ve said all along Damien (Williams) and Kenyan (Drake) have a chance to be really good receivers. They’re very skilled at it. They have very good hands and then they love running with the ball once they get it in their hands. You’re always looking for Jarvis as a versatile guy. He can throw the ball. There has got to be a pass coming out of here one of these days out of him. You do, you’re constantly looking for that. It’s sometimes harder than … You think it’s easy and it’s hard, but it is good. It’s a good problem to have.”
(I have a two-part question about QB Jay Cutler: one, it seemed to us that his comfort level last week was as high as we’ve seen in this offense. Was that true, and if so, why? And I guess the second part was your range of emotions when he was almost sacked twice, got out of it and completed that pass, because we hadn’t seen that kind of mobility out of him.) – “That was three parts. (laughter)”
(I tried to condense.) – “Okay. I know how you guys are on the accuracy. (laughter) It was good. (Jay Cutler) played extremely well. I think the biggest thing is he took care of the ball. He threw it away when it wasn’t there. He really was in control and made good decisions. I think it helps. We had a huge emphasis … They had done a great job protecting the ball. You don’t want to give (Tom) Brady any extra possessions for obvious reasons. So, it was the number one point of emphasis last week that we had to take care of the ball with the quarterback and everyone who handled it. He did a great job doing that. The play he made in the red zone was outstanding. I’ve said all along that probably one of the most impressive things about him to me, who didn’t know him and hadn’t been around him at all, is he has a really nice knack in the pocket for feeling the rush, finding soft spots, some of those things. I thought that was one of them, coming from his backside and dodges him and makes a nice, accurate throw and picks up a big first down that led to a touchdown, I believe. I think that those are … My first reaction is ‘Why is that guy free? Who’s guy was he?’ That’s how you always think of it as a coach. And then you become a fan and say, ‘That’s pretty good. He dodged him and made a play.’ You enjoy that. That’s fun. That’s a third down maybe that didn’t go quite the way you drew it up, and that’s part of this thing. You see it every weekend that these quarterbacks just make plays or someone makes a one-handed catch or hurdles somebody and you need those. When you’re struggling, you tend not to get them, and when things are going right, when it’s your night, then they do happen. What was the third part of the question?”
(You got it all.) – “I got all three? Okay.”
(It was really only two.) – “I’m not sure. You said my feelings. (laughter)”
(I only have one question.) – “One, one part question?”
(Just one.) – “Okay.”
(I wanted ask about WR Jakeem Grant’s game the other night just in terms of what you took from that game, because on one hand he got into the end zone, on the other hand, he almost got in the end zone twice. What do you make of his overall performance?) – “I think it’s kind of what we all have been looking forward to and he has been champing at the bit to get and we just haven’t got them. We’ve given him a couple chances, but they’ve been hard ones. He was excited. He has been excited. He stays excited. I thought that it was just kind of a feel-good thing. We need him. He’s a big play guy. You need big plays out of him. Sometimes it’s hard to substitute. How do we get him? Who does he go in for? All those things. I thought it was great. You don’t want any drops. You sure don’t want any drops. We were actually teasing him. I told him, ‘Probably 15 million people had gone to bed on the East Coast by that time, so not everyone saw it.’ We were actually teasing him today that the whole 30 million didn’t see that drop at the end of the game. You don’t want that, but that happens. All you want is them playing hard, following the process, taking care of business in practice, go back out the (next) day and work on it, work on your deep ball technique, catch techniques and do all of those things. If they’re humming and you drop a ball, move on. That does not bother me. As long as the process is right, he’ll get that fixed. It was fun, he ran a couple really good routes. It was fun to see him get in the end zone. He would’ve loved to get that last one. That would’ve been neat for the kid. He’s one of my personal favorites. So, it was fun to see him get some opportunities. He’s an exciting guy. I’m like everyone else in the stands. He’s fun to watch when he gets rolling.”
(Not to make excuses at all for the drop, but as a faster guy, when you’ve got that much separation and you’re running as fast as you are, there’s a lot of disruption with the pass and things like that when you’re running that fast. Is it difficult to kind of corral a deep ball like that as a faster guy?) – “Yes, it’s hard. You get excited. The ball is up … It doesn’t matter how fast you are. I don’t know that speed has anything to do with it. It’s all relative. I’ve always thought deep balls, because you see them for so long and you have a chance to kind of tighten up, so I do think sometimes deep balls that look easy are harder, because you’re running, arms are pumping, head is moving and you have a chance to see it. Sometimes it’s easier when a ball is just on you and you just react. This one you kind of see and you kind of (ask), ‘When do I put my hands out? When do I extend? Is someone coming from inside? Where is the free safety?’ You have too much time to have stuff run through your mind. It’s going to happen. It happens to the best of them. We’ll go right back to work on it today and hopefully eliminate them and cut them way down.”
(Head Coach Adam Gase has been hard on himself at times this year. What made Monday a good night for Adam as it relates to play design, play calling?) – “I think some of the things we were talking about like there were some unique formations that he hit on. I do think that it’s not an exact science. It’s a feel thing. Sometimes you get hot and sometimes you don’t and sometimes you’re dialing them up and just everything is working. He dialed up some good stuff at good times. I think that probably Jakeem (Grant), even the shot he took there at the end, is probably a little out of the box and aggressive. It was a heck of a call and we had a chance and we didn’t execute that one; but there were a lot of things that were kind of unique that hit, which is a credit to him and even more so the players who execute them. Did that answer your question?”
(Yes, I was just trying to say something nice about Head Coach Adam Gase.) – “By all means.”
(How did T Laremy Tunsil play Monday?) – “He played extremely aggressive. I thought he played well. I thought he played well. His pad level was down. He was really aggressive. He was into the game and those are good players on the other side over there. They’re a good, physical bunch, and I thought we challenged them. We challenged everybody to get our pad level down and to play as physical and play with as much leverage as they play with. I think they’re one of the best leverage teams in the league. So, that was a big challenge to get our pads down and play with leverage, and he did that. I thought he played pretty darn solid, pretty darn well.”
(Have you guys been challenging T Laremy Tunsil to play with a particular disposition?) – “No. He’s an aggressive guy. He likes football. He’s an aggressive guy. We just keep challenging him to just practice. Every practice (has) got to be a game. He’s at one of those positions that no one is going to notice the 68 plays you play (and) do right. They’re going to notice the two that you get beat. The only way to address that is that every play is a really important play all throughout the week. I think he’s learning it slowly but surely, and then to have a short memory that he has gotten better at, that if something bad happens, (you move) on to the next play. You can’t get it back. So, those would be the two things: just working consistency in practice and then the short memory that if something bad happens, move on. Don’t over compensate. Then all of a sudden you tend to try too hard or you try something new. Just stay with your fundamentals and your techniques and usually it’ll take care of itself.”
(Those things have already kind of turned or you’re still working on getting those things to turn for T Laremy Tunsil?) – “We just emphasize it. If we’re all doing it 14 years from now, you’ll still be talking about the same things. This game is kind of simple and for me (it) still comes down to fundamentals and technique and we’ll still be talking about inside hands and low pads and aggressiveness and practice habits from the beginning of time until hopefully … If he has good coaches throughout, it’ll still be 15th or 16th year after 10 Pro Bowls and a couple Super Bowls, you’ll still emphasize it. This game still comes down to those things. So, I think you never stop talking about those things. It’ll be a constant emphasis. But for him, especially as a young guy, just the consistency, that’s the big thing.”
(I know RB Kenyan Drake is fairly fresh and doesn’t have a big workload under him, but he has had 58 touches in the last two weeks. Do you have to monitor that or at this stage you just kind of let it go?) – “We’d like to get Damien (Williams) back healthy and get him in and split those up like we kind of talked about. I know ‘Rizz’ (Special Teams Coordinator/Associate Head Coach Darren Rizzi) would love it just because of the special teams ramifications on the thing. We’re trying to get Senorise (Perry) in there a little bit and continue to get him more and more practice reps. So, you’d love to. The other thing is you’re a snap away from the next guy up. Hopefully that doesn’t happen. It has been a heavy workload. It has been … It happened in a quick, severe way. So, that has been kind of impressive. The ball protection thing I’ve talked to you about and protection of the quarterback are two things we emphasize with him and now he’s playing a lot of snaps. Again, it gets harder. All of a sudden now you go play in a cold weather place and you’re on turf and now you’ve played all those snaps and you have a short week and how does your body recover? How do you handle that part of it? That’s a big emphasis this week, how we handle the off the field stuff – how you handle your rest, how you handle your rehab, how you handle your study. The short week brings up some unique situations for those things. We spent some time on it today just talking about how do you handle it in December when it’s unique. There’s a lot at stake and every little mistake gets magnified. Especially for young guys like Kenyan how quick can you get yourself right back going again?”
