Clyde Christensen – December 21, 2016
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Wednesday, December 21, 2016
Offensive Coordinator Clyde Christensen
(With RB Jay Ajayi’s declining rushing numbers, have there been any cases where he’s just not hitting holes as well as he did during his great streak?) – “That has not been the case. It absolutely has not been the case. The funny thing is, a lot of times he’s doing a lot of things better than even the 200-yard games. Sometimes the 200-yard games, those things come gushing out. The hard ones are when there’s not much there. I said last week, those 2-yard runs could be minus-2-yard runs. I think he’s running the ball better at this time of year than at any time during the season. I think that’s where the stats can be misleading. Defensive fronts – we’re getting heavy, heavy fronts and heavy boxes. The young man is banging it up in there and (has) done a great job. He has stayed fresh. I thought he’d be beat up. It’s his first time, really, having that many carries in the NFL. Sometimes it’s hard to have your body prepared for that if you haven’t done it before. I think what he has done is unbelievably impressive. You can’t refer to him as a rookie, because he’s not a rookie, but as far as his first time, really, with this many carries and 1,000 yards, I think (it has been) really a great year. (He) has not declined. He’s actually playing better right now than at any point. He’s protecting better and doing a lot of things he didn’t do early (and) doing them really well. I think he’s really playing good football. A lot of things happen, but the biggest one … I think I told you that it seems like a good idea to have your name plastered all over that ESPN for 200-yard games except that it goes up in everyone’s locker rooms and defensive meeting rooms, too. (Laughter) You get a little more resistance, so that’s the downside of it. But (he has had a) really, really great year. He has got to do it this week. I really believe that the way he has protected the ball and the way he ran, he was a big key in jumpstarting this thing when we were sitting there at 1-4, and I think he’ll be a big reason if we have success in these last two games, especially in Buffalo. Speaking of this game, he’s going to have to bang up in there on hard turf, and they’re going to have a little hate on, and he’ll have to be big this week again. It’ll be hard sledding again.”
(Were you surprised that RB Jay Ajayi, WR Jarvis Landry and T Branden Albert were left off the Pro Bowl, and are any of those guys alternates do you know?) – “I think Jarvis and Jay are first alternates. I thought they had Pro Bowl years. I was surprised. I was disappointed for them. I do think that, again, I’m probably more disappointed than they are, just because this thing has been a team year. It has really been a good feeling, team feel to this whole thing. You haven’t felt anybody … Which is very unusual in this league, where it has been anything personal, and those two guys have kept plugging along. I think they’ve had Pro Bowl years. I think one of the things that (stands) out to me is we have to keep going and getting the respect for this franchise, this team, and get that back to where a lot of that, unfortunately, is how much you’re in the bag games on TV, what you do in December, playoff games – all those things. We have to get these guys … We have to keep going the way we’re going and get this thing back where it has a level of respect where those guys should be … They should be in the Pro Bowl in my opinion. Absolutely.”
(T Branden Albert, is he an alternate at all?) – “I don’t know that he is. I don’t know that.”
(WR Jarvis Landry’s hit on S Aaron Williams, after that you talked about technique issues. Did Jarvis address those? Has that been corrected?) – “Yes. He hasn’t had a penalty of that kind since. We said that we love the aggressiveness, we just have to lower our target on the thing. I think any coach would appreciate that. But, yes, he has. We certainly teach being within the rules, and we certainly don’t want to hurt anybody, but you certainly want aggressive guys. To find wide receivers who will go downfield and throw their body around is rare.”
(Are you happy with the balance WR Jarvis Landry strikes?) – “Yes, I am, especially between the whistles. I think we did get a post-play penalty since then, but we’re working to keep those down. We didn’t have any this week. We had two the week before. Those are important. Stuff is going to get critical, especially this game. They’re leading the league in rushing. Everything would point to a short game, and you can’t stop a drive with a 15-yard penalty. You can’t stop a drive with a holding call. You can’t give them an extra possession with the football. The way they’re playing right now is pretty darn obvious. I think (they are) 31st in passing and first in rushing. They’re playing short games (and have) a defensive head coach. I think that’ll be really, really a big factor in this football game. We’ve stressed that we can’t have any dumb penalties. We can’t be first-and-15. We can’t have third-and-3 and have it go to third-and-8. Those are big ones if it becomes an 8-10 possession game, which it could. It could up there.”
(In your coaching career, have you ever had a backup quarterback like QB Matt Moore? Does he remind you of anybody?) – “He does. He has always reminded me of Matt Hasselbeck. From the day I walked in this building, I’ve always said, ‘This guy is Matt Hasselbeck.’ He could start for a bunch of teams. He can play starting, good football. He’s accomplished. He has won some big games. He has got a magnetic personality, and he’s kind of a live wire. He’s a Pied Piper. The players like him. Scout teams like him. Hasselbeck had those same traits, which was really nice. I think they’re great, quality backups. They’re starters in many senses of the word, and then all of a sudden, you hit a hiccup. I think last week, the question was, ‘Are you worried?’ and I said, ‘I’m not worried a lick about Matt Moore.’ I was more worried about the backup – the backup at the No. 2 position going into the game – not having enough reps under his belt. But I have zero worries about him. I saw Hasselbeck do the same thing last year. (Matt Moore) really reminds me of (Matt Hasselbeck) – a veteran presence, but one of those personalities that people like. He loves football. He loves his job. There’s something extremely attractive about a guy who loves his job, and Matt Hasselbeck loved being a football (player). This guy loves football. This guy loves practice, meetings, games, scout team, routes versus air. He likes that stuff. I think if you were asking to compare him to someone, that would be my comparison. (They are) very, very similar that way. (They are) live wires and (they) have the ability to just keep going even when you may not play for, in this case, 12 games in a row. Not that many people can keep concentrating.”
(Five years for QB Matt Moore.) – “Yes, five years; and the guys who backed up those guys in Indy for a long, long time. You can go long chunks when you play behind a durable guy. That’s a unique characteristic to have to be able to do that and still keep yourself sharp, which I think we talked about last week at this same time, that he had kept himself sharp. I watched him out there Friday. He’s working, doing his due diligence. I watched him in meetings. I watched him there late at night at nine o’ clock in the evening. Not that many backups are (saying), ‘I’m not going to play anyway. Why am I going to miss dinner with the family and miss tucking the kids in.’ Even when he wasn’t playing, he was always around this building in the evening, doing extra work, making sure he was up on it. He probably did more than you do as a starter, because you have to. You’re not getting those reps; you have to manufacture them somewhere. I think that’s a great characteristic to have. It paid off for him, which was neat to see, last weekend. Sometimes hard work doesn’t necessarily pay off, but we all like to believe that in the end, it does. For him, it was quickly. I don’t think anybody inside there was surprised at what happened. (It was) great to see him get that (AFC Offensive) Player of the Week. That’s great stuff coming off the bench, on the road. That’s great stuff.”
(Regarding QB Matt Moore, the term gunslinger is associated with him, but it seems like in a way it does him a disservice, because he’s not a guy who takes chances throwing into tight windows and double coverage. At least that’s what I find. He likes to throw downfield, but it seems like he takes care of the ball. Can you talk about his decision-making? Does he throw any of those passes where you go, ‘Oh my goodness, where is he looking?’) – “He completed that one over there to Dion (Sims), and really, the read took him completely (somewhere else). We have teased him a little bit about street balling out there a little bit. (laughter) I questioned when Coach Gase started the read meeting this week. I said, ‘Do we really want to waste a meeting on reads? We throw them out the window.’ (laughter) But I did say that, ‘Why are we wasting time going through reads. This guy is going to throw it to the open guy.’ So, we teased a little bit about that. I think gunslinger is a complementary phrase – and to me – that he doesn’t have fear. A lot of guys who haven’t played in four years, five years – whatever it has been – would come in there tentative and start taking check downs and would come into the second half of the last home game and take check downs and be conservative and not want something bad to happen. When I use the term gunslinger, it’s a guy who comes in and goes. It’s not that he takes stupid chances. It’s not a derogatory (term). He walks down the main street of the Western (film), and he doesn’t have any fear. He walks down the main street, and the guy shows up and they have at it. (laughter) That’s the mentality, I think, of with gunslinger, not that you’re careless. It’s not a negative term, to me. It’s a positive term. There are a bunch of quarterbacks in this league that come into those situations that he has come into scared – not necessarily scared – but scared to make a mistake and checking the ball down and being over-conservative, not wanting to get hit. They don’t throw that ball up to Kenny Stills at the last home game and take the shot with the guy bearing down on him. That Cover Zero post that he threw – which was huge in the Jets game up there – they don’t do that. They want to start slow. If I gave any indication the term gunslinger was careless or derogatory, I wouldn’t mean that. That definition of gunslinger would be ‘unemployed,’ for me. (laughter) Those kinds of gunslingers are dead; they got shot. (laughter) Those guys are all extinct and three feet under now.” (laughter)
(With the sets where you had T Sam Young in as a sixth offensive lineman, have you gotten enough from that statistically where it offsets, obviously, the predictability element of teams thinking you’re going to run?) – “Yes, because we do … We throw the play-action. It’s not really as much … It’s really for personnel. At this time of year, those active spots are hard, and you have to manipulate them around, and (Head) Coach (Adam) Gase has to make some decisions, and he has got (Assistant Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Darren) Rizzi in his ear, he has got the defensive guys, he has got us. Everyone wants their guys up, but you have to … It really was almost more because we couldn’t get the third tight end suited that it came up more than for the game plan. It’s pretty easy nowadays to balance it out, because you got the play-action on first and second down and you got the runs. Especially short term, I don’t think there’s a huge tip-off there. I’m sure defenses have a little something that they do, but there’s also a tradeoff that you do have a big ol’ body pass protecting. You have a big ol’ body in there at the point of attack on some stuff. Sam has done a good job. Sam has really done a nice job with it. I don’t know if I could back it up with statistics or not. I don’t think there have been enough snaps, really, of it, yet. At the end of the year, we’ll take a good, hard look at it. But a lot of it depends on if you have a guy you’re comfortable with and if he gives you a little better point of attack than maybe your third tight end. The biggest thing for us has been the roster spots, because of the injuries, because of some guys being down. Who are you going to activate and who are you not? That was really more the decision for us.”
(There are 1,000 sacrifices every week by players, coaches. What’s one to get you to this point that really stands out in your mind – one player, one coach – that sacrificed a lot to really get you to where you are?) – “Yes, good question. I think Matt (Moore), I’ll put Matt in that category as a guy who sacrificed a lot by doing the extra work that I talked to you about. He sacrificed time at home, being here in the offseason when he resides in California. He would certainly be one. (Laremy) Tunsil would be one. Tunsil and ‘Bush’ (Jermon Bushrod) would be guys that haven’t played that position. They could’ve been resistant, and they could’ve built in some excuses, and said ‘you know what, it’s not my position, it’s not this,’ but they just chug along, and they played hard. They started at those two guards for most of the season. Those two guys have been extremely unselfish and playing positions that they don’t usually play. Tunsil, and then all of a sudden we’re sliding him out to left tackle in the middle of the year. I think those two guys have been extremely unselfish. I love how Damien Williams plays the game. He’s a guy who makes a ton of big plays. This whole unit, we haven’t had any of the whining, ‘I’m not getting this, I’m not getting that.’ I’ve really been impressed with this football team, I think that’s been our strength as we’ve gone on this little mini run, if you will. The guys … You haven’t had that; you haven’t had that. That’s rare in this league. It’s rare in a big-market city. It’s rare on a team that hasn’t had a huge amount of success and some of those things. I think that’s really been a strength. That’s probably what I’ve been the most proud of being a part of is that these guys just keep coming, and keep going. Our theme this week was just keep your head down. They haven’t talked about this or that, that’s out in the future or somewhere. They’re just taking one game at a time, and nameless, faceless opponent, and just kept playing. Those would be a couple of individuals that I think have been really good. I’ve been impressed with Jay Ajayi. All of a sudden you have those 200-yard games and they could be a curse because you get frustrated, and then you’re mad and this, and that. Then all of a sudden you lose ‘Pounce,’ (Mike Pouncey) in the middle of the thing. He just keeps banging up in there. That’s rare that you don’t see a guy get too off-track trying to make too much happen, or get frustrated and lash out at somebody. All of those things would be … I think Ryan (Tannehill) this week. Ryan was exemplary. There he is in a cast; he’s on the sideline risking getting run over, over there. He didn’t have to do that. He could’ve sat in the box, in the comfort up there. He goes out there in the cold because he’s out there with his buddies. In every single meeting, I don’t think he missed a meeting. He’s contributing, he’s got his notebook out. A lot of these guys you see after they get hurt, they disappear. They’re not in the building. ‘Why would I come over here? Why am I here all night helping QB Matt get ready when I could be at home with my new baby, and my wife? I’m not going to play this week anyway.’ Ryan would be another great example of that. I’ve always been impressed with (Head) Coach (Adam) Gase’s humility – the sacrifices he makes. He works a ton of hours. It’s tough both calling the game and being the head football coach, and it’s his first year doing it. He’s made a tremendous amount of sacrifices family-wise. I think there are a lot of guys who have gone above and beyond. The whole unit – that I can speak for – has done that. You guys have covered a lot of NFL football. It’s not easy to keep things at peace. It’s a full-time job, right? You guys try to make sure that doesn’t happen too often. You don’t like those long periods of peace. (laughter) You guys are afraid you’ll get fired if it’s too peaceful in there or something. No, I was just kidding. (laughter) But the truth of the matter is that it is hard to keep it peaceful. The teams that do, you’ve got a chance to go past the ones that implode. That’s what we’ve sold to our team. If we just stay together … I’ve told you guys all along. Those first five games, our sideline wasn’t healthy. It wasn’t right. It didn’t feel like a winning sideline. Since then, we kind of just sold all along that, ‘Hey, if we just stay together.’ This league is kind of funny that way. Everyone has injuries, everyone … But if you just stay together, you’ve got a chance to just, at the end emerge and have done something pretty darn special. It’s hard. It’s not easy; it’s not easy. We say that to the players. ‘I understand it’s not easy being DeVante (Parker).’ You want to have a 1,500-yard (season), and maybe you’re behind the numbers you want. It’s not easy. It’s not easy to just keep working and keep improving. It’s hard. Their bodies feel bad. All those things go into it. So it’s a long answer to a short question, but I really do think that there have been a lot of individual sacrifices. There has been a great, great chemistry that way. I think we’ve all seen it, that the sideline feels different if we get behind, if things aren’t going well. We started off slow a couple of games, where the defense had to keep us in this thing. It’s not like everything has just gone smoothly. Guys just keep plugging, the sideline feels 100 … Like a winning sideline. ‘If we just hang tough, someone is going to make a play and we’ll get back into this thing and we’ll find a way to win it down the stretch.’ The blocked punt this week. That’s been really cool. It’s fun to be a part of. That’s the kick I get out of coaching. That’s great stuff. That’s why this is the best of the team sports, of them all. That’s why I love what I do. It is a team sport. It really does, as I tell you every week, change all the time. It’s a challenge to keep this thing rolling and keep everyone together. That doesn’t happen just by accident.”
(You mentioned QB T.J Yates, where are you guys at right now? How much does he know after being here only a week and a half?) – “Yes, he’s worked hard. He’s a sharp, sharp kid. He’s played football. He’s played a bunch of football. You don’t know, because we haven’t been able to give him a quiz. You don’t know until you throw him in there. But I was really thankful that we’ve got now a full week with him again. Every week is a good deposit in this thing. I think he’s … We obviously think he can function; but probably if he had to play three quarters of last week, we would’ve all been holding on … and nervous. Each week that goes by now, there will be more of a comfort level. The hard thing for us is with him is you can’t take Matt’s (Moore) reps, because Matt needs those reps to get him ready. It’s not like if it was Ryan (Tannehill) and he’s got five years and you’re in the system for five years and he doesn’t need all the reps. Matt needs all the reps, so it’s hard to slip (Yates) a rep or two, here or there. He’s just getting it mentally. I think he’s further ahead than he was last week. Hopefully we won’t need him for … Hopefully we won’t need him at all. He’ll keep preparing and each week we’ll have a little bigger menu. We had a small menu for him if he had to go in there. (Head) Coach (Adam) Gase had kind of a separate call sheet, or a highlighted call sheet, that had what he felt comfortable doing. You find a lot of concepts that they know, that they’ve done a bunch of times, even though it wasn’t here. If it’s flat-curl, he knows how to throw a flat-curl, he’s comfortable with it. You may call it Charlie where it used to be Clyde. It’s a different name, but it’s the same concept, so they know those kinds of things. You just kind of find those comfort levels, and I think we can function, but it wouldn’t be ideal. Especially at the line of scrimmage, and getting those calls – communicating with the center – those are the things you can’t simulate. Who’s the center going to be? We can’t get a bunch or reps with (Kraig) Urbik right now. It’s just impossible because Matt needs the reps with Urbik. We switched centers last week, so there are a lot of dynamics there. So we just keep getting him as far as we can and then we’ll all find out at the same time how far he’s come when … if and when he has to go into one of these football games. I actually thought at the end of last week about mentioning it to Coach Gase. ‘Hey, do you want to stick him in, and try to get him a few snaps and just see.’ It didn’t feel right between road (and) weather. We all know how quick these games can turn, and frankly Matt needed some reps. (He) needed every rep we could bank. We’ll see, we’ll see. He’s done a good job. He’s a sharp kid; he’s a veteran kid. They pick it up a lot faster than you think. That’s one thing that surprised me. I think a lot of the teams do a lot of the same concepts but everyone calls them by a different name. They pick it up faster. I’m always shocked how fast you can pick up a guard and he can just go in and start playing. They may call a combination block a tag, and the next one calls it a B, and the next one calls it a babe. Everyone calls them different, but they are still a combination. A guard knows how to combination with a tackle and with a center, and pass block his guy. They get further along quicker than what your perception would be, and what I’ve expected. I’m shocked how fast they pick it up, and they’re pros. They’ve done it for a living. They’re pros, and it’s amazing how fast they do pick it up.”
