Clyde Christensen – September 14, 2017
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Thursday, September 14, 2017
Offensive Coordinator Clyde Christensen
(How did the hurricane impact you from a preparation standpoint?) – “It’s just another distraction, and we’re going to sell it as being … It’ll be a positive. That’s this league. This league has curveballs all over the place. If you think everything is going to go smooth … That has been kind of our selling point that I think it’ll end up in the long run being a positive that it’ll give us a toughness that we couldn’t get it everything went smoothly. I think it’ll give us a little togetherness that we’ve all kind of scrambled and pulled together and got out here and reassembled. Now we’ll spend a good four or five days out here together. I think there will be some positives in this thing. Who could measure them, but I really do think there’ll be a silver lining to this thing for us as a unit and as a team.”
(What is the biggest challenge of playing 16 straight games?) – “Again, I’ll take a positive side. I’ve always thought the off week, the players love it and I do enjoy it – it’s good to get a couple days to regroup – but there’s something that throws you out of rhythm with an off week. The positive to playing 16 straight games is we get in such a routine. Everyone gets in the same routine. You do the same thing every Monday at this certain time, Wednesday at this time we do this. So there is something that stays in rhythm with playing 16 games. I think the players … The mental part of it for the players is that they won’t have that break where they can get out of town and get away from it and let their bodies recover. I think the positive – I really do believe it’s a legit positive – (is) that there’s a rhythm to the thing. Sometimes the off week kind of messes you up. It’s kind of like the (playoff) bye week. The bye week has some positives in the playoffs, but there’s something to keep playing. You always see that team with the bye week struggle to get their rhythm and get back in sync. It’s funny, but these guys, everything is kind of on schedule. When you mess with that schedule, it messes with them a little bit.”
(What is something that has surprised you about QB Jay Cutler?) – “I hadn’t been around Jay much. I think probably the thing that surprised me is how natural he is with the no-huddle stuff. He’s an even-kneeled guy. He picked up things so quickly. I thought it would take a little bit of a while just to get back in rhythm; but again, it just shows he has done it for so long, and he’s a veteran guy. How smoothly he came in and picked up and went with the thing, I don’t think I would have anticipated it being quite as smooth and efficiently transitioned as it was. That’s probably the surprise.”
(You guys tried to run that no-huddle early last season and then had to sort of pull it back. How much can adding that to your arsenal assist the offense?) – “I think it can. I think that’s what (Head) Coach (Adam) Gase’s intention from the beginning has been to be up tempo. It’d be important this week that we can play some up tempo and keep those guys breathing hard, those outside rushers. I think that has always been his intention. We’ll have to see how far we can get with it; but we have wanted to play with tempo. Last year, we kind of pulled it back and felt like at a point with some of the ways things were going, that we were better off huddling at times. But his intention is to be an up tempo, right on the line of scrimmage guy.”
(What’s going to be the key to limiting pressure and keeping him safe in the pocket with QB Jay Cutler this week?) – “I think handling those two outside guys (Melvin Ingram and Joey Bosa). It’ll be all hands on deck for those two outside guys. We’ve got to know where they are, what they’re doing. I think the other thing is we’ve got to stay on schedule. We can’t put ourselves in second-and-11 and third-and-12 and those kinds of things where they can tee off. We’ve got to make them play the run and stay on schedule where we’re still a threat to run the ball on third-and-short or third-and-medium there. I think all those things – the tempo also – just to not let them get rested and tee off there. Those two guys, they can wreck a game and they’re really, really good players. They have a great motor, and we’re going to have to match their energy and intensity, and it’s going to take everybody. It’ll take the quarterback getting rid of the ball, it’s going to take the line handling them. Our tackles are going to have to play well and our backs are going to have to know where those guys are. Receivers can’t mess around getting open. We’ve got to get open and make something happen fast, because you don’t have all day back there.”
(How has the Week 1 – opening week – for RB Jay Ajayi different this year than it was last?) – “It’s fun. It’s kind of fun to look back a year ago. We kind of walked back through some of those things. Last year, Week 1, Jay Ajayi wasn’t even on the trip. No one knew that he was on his way to having a heck of an All-Pro caliber year. Last year at this time, there were a lot of things that have changed. DeVante (Parker) wasn’t healthy. No one knew that Kenny (Stills) … There are a lot of guys who are better players in this year. There are a lot of things that have changed. We know what we’re doing more. Everyone is a little bit more comfortable. I think we’re a better football team – a better unit – by far than we were last year at this time. (Mike) Pouncey being in there and that thing kind of being a little more stable than it was. A lot of things have changed. It’s hard to believe it has just been a year. It feels like longer than that, but it has.”
(Have you seen maturity in RB Jay Ajayi?) – “I have seen a maturity in Jay. I think I told you last time – last year – that there’s no way to prepare yourself for 16 games at the running back position. It’s too violent; it’s too physical. Now for him to know how to train, to know what that feels like, to know what you feel like on Monday morning when you wake up, all those things I’ve seen him kind of say … I saw him have some success last year and really enjoy it and hit the accelerator in this offseason and work even harder, take it more serious. Really, I think he caught a vision of what he could be, and I think he had some fun with the success. I think that’s a great thing for all of us.”
(You mentioned C Mike Pouncey a little earlier. With him in the lineup, what’s your confidence level…) – “Let me regress real quick. The other thing I think is that (Jay Ajayi) is taking some ownership of the team. Last year, I think everyone was feeling their way. The other thing with Jay is I think it kind of threw him into a leadership position. He’s one of our good players and that put him into a leadership position also that I think he has embraced, that he has to take some responsibility for the room, the leadership, the unit – all those things – and he has done that. I think your question was maturity and I think to not talk about his leadership and how last year was really just him trying to get on the field and trying to find himself and what he was, he has become one of the leaders on the team.”
(My question was you mentioned C Mike Pouncey and with him in lineup what’s your confidence level with the offensive line?) – “High. He makes a big difference. He’s one of the two best at his position in this league. And just his maturity, especially with Jay (Cutler). I think for us to have some stability there for Jay. Last year, if it was at this time and all of a sudden you had a new quarterback also, and we were rolling some different people through the center position and all those interior positions. I think he’ll give him a stability there. He’ll be able to give him some side boards, if you will, that will help him. He knows what we want to do. He’s got a year in this thing – two years in this thing, a year and a half in this thing – and so he’ll be great for Jay that way I think.”
(You mentioned C Mike Pouncey was one of the top two centers. The other is?) – “Probably his brother (Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey), yes. That would be certainly my opinion of it. Any time you get that caliber guy, and it’s not just that he’s a good player; but how he does things. We’re still a young unit. We still have a lot of young guys. We’re still stressing what a pro looks like, and he is that. He knows how to walk through. He knows how to take notes. He knows how to study. He knows how to be ready to go. He has his fun when it’s fun time, but when it’s football, the guy’s all business, and we need that. We need that on our unit and more and more guys are starting to fall into that role, Jay (Ajayi) being one of them; but he’s really, he’s critical for that.”
(Is the goal to see this offense line mature together?) – “Yes. The goal would be to see them all stay together and play together and if they do that, they’ll mature together. Yes. That would be the dessert, right? We kind of always make our plans for … History would say that you’re going have some curveballs again, if you will, and some change ups and have to adjust. So I think we talked about it a lot last year that, that was one of our strengths that those things happened. Those things happened and we just kind of kept going. And that’s the mentality that Coach Gase has brought and we lived it out. We always tease … Of course we’re evacuating after … That’s the way we do things. That’s how we function best is off the seat of our pants and just adjusting and then going. But the truth of the matter is that that’s what successful teams have to be able to do, because that’s going to happen, whether it’s in the component of just the game and then all of a sudden a quarter goes bad or a half goes bad, or three quarters go bad, or whether it’s a four game stretch, or whether it’s a December where things aren’t going … A team has to have that resiliency and a little mental toughness that they can adjust and keep going.”
(Assuming C/G Anthony Steen is still first team this week?) – “Yes.”
(What were the contributing factors to go with C/G Anthony Steen?) – “You know what, he really had a nice … two things. One, he really had a nice camp and two, we had to balance a couple of other guys at all the different positions and we really didn’t probably give them a fair, equal chance at some of the positions. A lot of the guys had to play some different positions and one week they’re right tackle, one week they’re right guard, one week they’re left guard, and it’s hard to compete that way. So we talked a lot about it but we really didn’t have any options. So we had a couple of guys who probably would have competed, but the bottom line is he really had a nice camp. He really played good football. He’s got a year under his belt playing a lot of snaps; but some of it has just been because of the movement of people around through the camp. We haven’t been able to give them a fair shot. Look, it just doesn’t happen. You’d love to be able to say ‘We’re going to let you two guys compete for the left guard.’ But then all of a sudden someone else goes down … ‘Well you’re going to have to go fill in over here.’ And then the next thing you know it isn’t kind of a pure competition as we would know it.”
(Who do you consider the third tackle right now?) – “We would have a couple of guys, right? We’ve got Sam (Young) who did a great job last year and then Eric (Smith). Probably more ‘77’ (Jesse Davis). Jesse’s the guy who probably got the short end because we asked him to play a bunch of different positions and didn’t give him a chance to just compete for one. I think probably if you were Jesse, I’d be saying ‘Just let me sit at one positon and see if I can earn that job.’ We didn’t have the luxury of doing that; but he’s been a great surprise in camp. He’s really played well. He gives us some versatility. So him and Sam give us a third and fourth tackle and Eric I think is more of a development guy. He’s a ways (away). He’s still a rookie and he’s got a long ways to go; but he had a nice enough camp to make this football team and he’ll get better and better and better and we know how this thing goes, right? It could be Week 3 and he’s starting in one of those positons, so he’s got to get himself ready to go.”
(Are your contingencies at center and left guard just straight forward sub for sub, or do you have guys if you’re moving someone to another positon and then … What would be your plan at backup center right now?) – “Yes, the backup center thing would be … you know we’ve got a couple of guys. The thing that’s always hard is to have that third center dressed, right? It’s a little bit scary to go into the game with only two guys dressed. So you’re always … Who do we cross train? Do we take ‘Bush’ (Jermon Bushrod)? Do we take Jesse (Davis) who might as well? He’s played every other position. So that third guy, and the key … The tricky thing isn’t having enough centers. The tricky thing is getting them up and dressed and active, because it’s a really scary thing. We’ve done it a couple times where you have two dressed and then all of a sudden the first guy goes down and you’ve got a tight end in the locker room trying to snap at halftime, just in case, to get you out of a game. So the tricky part comes with having the third guy dressed. Who’s your third guy in the game who can go in and get you out of a game?”
(Who is the second guy?) – (C/G Anthony) Steen. Steen would be our second guy. So Steen would probably slide in and Mr. Versatility (Jesse Davis) would slide in there at left guard and then the third guy is the adventure. That third guy gets a little more adventurous. A lot will depend on – who Coach Gase – who management decides is going to be active in this game and may not be a problem. You may be scrambling to make sure we have a third guy; but that’s always the tricky part. I think Steen right now would be our second center if we had a problem.”
(Who is the tight end you had snapping?) – “I think it was Dave Moore back in Tampa Bay. Dave Moore was kind of our Mr. Versatility. He was our long snapper, but we have had some where you know, you’re just scrambling. Funny stuff happens in this league and especially because you don’t have that many guys suited up. All of a sudden a couple of guys on special teams – opening kickoff – someone on kickoff return and you lose your backup center gets dinged because he’s on the wedge. Now all of a sudden you’re going oh boy, now we’ve got 59 and a half minutes left and we’ve got one center. So it’s always an adventure.”
