Clyde Christensen – November 17, 2016
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Thursday, November 17, 2016
Offensive Coordinator Clyde Christensen
(We obviously got the word about C Mike Pouncey having the setback he has had. If he can’t go – you’re already without T Branden Albert – what’s the plan for the offensive line?) – “It would be (Anthony) Steen would come back in at center and (Kraig) Urbik would go to (left) guard. We’d have to look at the backups. You always with the center have to make sure that we’re set in case of a catastrophe. That would be the starting point, and we’ll keep messing with the lineup a little bit. We’ll see. The way this year has gone, we still got a couple more showers we’ve got to take and stuff, so there still could be more changes. Who knows? (Laughter) You thought it was coach talk that first week when I said we’re going to have some versatility with our offensive line, because we got guys we’re going to have to play them in different positions, and that has turned out to be the case. We’ve banked some deposits on guys playing different positions, and I think people have to step up and go, whoever that is.”
(You were on such a hot streak with that offensive line – all the starters playing together. How do you try to keep this momentum going?) – “Hopefully, from (Head) Coach (Adam) Gase has set the tempo … The philosophy has always been, ‘Next man up,’ right? It has always been that whoever goes in has to keep playing. That’s the way it is. We have to rely that … I really do think – I tease, but I do think – that those deposits we made playing a lot of people at a lot of different positions, that was frustrating to them and to you (the media) and probably to everybody, but there’s going to be some dividends from that. It’s not a shock that our (left) guard will go out to (left) tackle. He has been playing out there. We repped him. We kept him honed up in there. Urbik and Steen have played both guard and center in there. I think that it’s not ideal – it’s a curveball – but it’s the hand we got, and we’ve got to go. I really do think we’ve prepared that way mentality-wise with Coach Gase and also practically by playing all those guys at all those different positions.”
(C/G Anthony Steen has been banged up. His ankle, he’s listed as a neck. I think he has had a leg. How do you feel about where he is health-wise and ability to perform at a high level?) – “My confidence is really high. I think he has been treating that thing. He’s sore. I really hope that it’s just like every offensive lineman in the NFL in Week (11) that (in) the second half of the season, you’re not going to feel good. That’s part of it. You’re not going to feel good again until February or March, and that’s the way it is. This will be live bullets again for the first time for him in a while, so hopefully it won’t aggravate it. Hopefully, nothing shows up there. But my confidence level right now is extremely high that he’s going to be fine (and) that he has been treating the thing. I think it does fall in the soreness category that almost everybody has something right now. I don’t discount it – it’s real – and hopefully he won’t aggravate it going up against the ‘Fearsome Foursome.’ (laughter) You guys are too young. You don’t remember the ‘Fearsome Foursome?’
(The L.A. Rams, right?) – “Yes. I grew up out here, so I grew up with the ‘Fearsome Foursome’ and Roman Gabriel and Merlin Olsen. Deacon Jones. Lamar Lundy. Rosey Grier. There you go.”
(G/T Laremy Tunsil at tackle – not much of a worry there?) – “No, there’s always a worry. Don’t get me wrong, we’d love for everybody to still be in their position and this group stays right where … We had gotten some momentum. We did have some good things going on, and we can’t get derailed. We’ve got to go. That’s the only way you can look at this thing. I have complete confidence in Tunsil. He’s a confident guy. He’s a smart guy. We’re really fortunate that he has such great football IQ that he can go back and forth, which we talked about throughout the year, that he’s really a bright guy, especially football-wise. He really does get it. I really think he’ll do a good job. This is a heck of a line to get tested on. These guys are for real. They are really good, and they’ll move people around, and they rush the passer. They like to rush five and they all turn them into one-on-ones as much as they can. So, it’ll be a test for whoever, whatever five we have out there, it’s going to be a test. It’ll be a great challenge.”
(With DeVante Parker, you guys have seen him flash spurts, a healthy Devante Parker. Where is he from a talent standpoint when he is 100 percent?) – “We think he can be one of the top guys in the league. We’ve always liked him. He shows enough … you guys get an extra opportunity, you see some of it at practice and in training camp. We see it every day, a big catch here and a big catch there. A big thing is his health, and keeping him healthy, and keeping him up at full speed, and just the consistency. We need a consistent DeVante Parker, where it’s week-in, and week-out where people fear him. He took over the game in his way last week and gave us a huge lift with that catch, and even earlier in the game. We’ve said it all along, I think he is really key to us going from solid to good on offense. I think he’s the guy, his big plays. Those are the plays that take you to whatever that next level is, one notch better. And minus those big plays makes it harder. I think we all have felt all along that if we get the running game going and then now your play action (is more effective). Jarvis (Landry) is going to make his plays – he makes them every week – and then all of a sudden now, you’ve got the two guys outside that can really run and DeVante jumping up and making a big catch. Now you’ve really got something; you really do have something. You’ve just got to get all the parts functioning at the same time and working at the same time week, after week, after week. Then we’re going to get this franchise … this offense, where we want it to go. You see bits and pieces and you see how it should happen and that’s kind of encouraging. That’s encouraging. I do think it’s helped us that all of a sudden the players, you kind of see it work. You kind of see ‘Boy, here’s what they’ve been preaching; this is what (Head) Coach (Adam) Gase has been preaching.’ We’ve all seen that this team has come together and rallied and developed a little bit of confidence that we didn’t have those first four weeks and through training camp and the offseason. It all kind of feeds off each other and we’ve kind of got to keep that going – get to where we can do it every day. That’s what pros do. You do it every single day at a high level. It doesn’t matter who you play, where you’re playing, what the weather is or any of those things. You just keep doing your deal, but we’re not there yet. We’re going to fight to get there.”
(We saw earlier in the season, when the offensive line was together, they played well, and when it wasn’t, it didn’t. Where’s your level of confidence that it’s going to be different this time?) – “I don’t know that it was the offensive line as much as we just played some bad football early. It wasn’t just them. It was the whole unit. they were certainly a part of it but they weren’t any worse than any of the other parts, any of the other components of this thing. None of it was good early. None of it. There was some bad football played. I don’t think it was them, and hopefully now everything is a little bit better. We are a little more mature. We’ve gotten (10) weeks (into the season), a few more months in this offense, where people understand what we’re trying to do. That’s huge. When you insert a new offense – I know I’ve said that to you before – but it does take time. Hopefully, there is more of a maturity level as football players (and) there’s a deeper knowledge of what we’re trying to do. I think there’s also a deeper knowledge by (Head) Coach (Adam) Gase of what everyone can do, what we’re good at, what we can be good at, when we can be good at it. So it goes both ways. I think players learning, ‘Hey, here’s what Coach Gase wants to do,’ and then Coach Gase going ‘Hey, I didn’t know we could be such a good outside zone team or this guy can do that.’ I think both of those two things together are really important. It’s both. It’s not just the players learning the offense but it’s the coaches learning what the players can do also.”
(How important is it regardless of who you put out there on the offensive line, that RB Jay Ajayi gets his touches and you don’t just give up on the run game?) “Critical, critical. We won’t change what we’re doing I don’t believe. We’ve got a good game plan, and we know it may be the best defense we’ve played this year. We won’t change the philosophy. That part of it won’t change. Guys got to jump in and they’ve got to do their job. We’ve got to be on our mess and if we are, we’ll be right in this thing, and if we’re not, we’ll be out of it. We’ll have trouble with them. We won’t change that; that game plan is in. We’ve practiced it. We’ve had really good practices here. Guys have … it’s been not surprising, because I expect that; but it’s really been great. With the time change, we haven’t gotten worn down. There’s good energy. Coach Gase has given them a lot of free time and they’ve managed it well, responsibly. We come out there yesterday and they were humming. So we’ve had two good, fast, high-energy practices. That’s really encouraging. It’s the same as every week. We play good football, it doesn’t matter who the opponent is, and we’ll be in good shape. If we play bad football, we’ll be in some trouble no matter who the opponent is. That’s kind of how we’ve approached it.”
(Do the issues on the offensive line put more of a notice on QB Ryan Tannehill to be sharp with his decision making?) – “I think so, yes, and I think this game does. We know that, that ball has got to come out quick. We know how they rush the passer and we know their philosophy is to get their guys rolling up front. We know that we have to protect him well. He has to be a part of that protection process and get that ball out (or) pull it down and run. (He) had a huge run last week and that continues to improve slowly, but surely. Sure, we have got to get the ball out of his hands, absolutely. The best way we can do that is to run the ball well, where we can call the play-actions, where we can have the manageable third downs and don’t have to drop back there seven steps and pat the ball twice while we try to get past the sticks.”
(How would you describe C/G Kraig Urbik’s game? He’s gotten some reps this year?) – “Yes, I think he’s gotten better and better. He’s gotten more comfortable. He’s learning the offense more. We’ve moved him around. He’s played some center; he’s played some guard for us. I think he’s the steady veteran we were looking for. The good thing about these guys … (Anthony) Steen the same thing. He’s been at Seattle opening day, right? So it’s not going to be too big for them. That’s huge. That’ll end up being a blessing in disguise that he’s got some reps under (him). All of a sudden this happens and he’s got to jump in and go. But he’s been in some huge games. He’s been in some huge games for us already. Urbik the same way, he’s gotten some reps here and there, and we’re kind of into this thing. I think he’ll jump right in and really do a nice job, I really do believe that.”
