Darren Rizzi – August 13, 2018
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Monday, August 13, 2018
Associate Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Darren Rizzi
(You see the intensity of training camp now that we’re getting down to the last couple of practices. Obviously, some of the players, I’m sure they’re getting tired of hitting each other.) – “Sure. You go through OTAs, you go through mandatory minicamp, you go through training camp and these guys are going against each other every day. So, (I think this is) typical training camp stuff. The guys are flying around today. We had full pads on and it got a little physical out there. I think that’s just kind of chalk it up to training camp. This is the time of year. The preseason games come at a good time, (so) we can hit somebody else.”
(What do you look for in the second preseason game now, after having a chance to look at the film from Thursday night?) – “Special teams-wise in particular, you’re looking for the younger players in particular to make big-time strides. You always hear that game one to game two analogy, and I think it’s true, but really for the younger guys. There’s a lot of younger players that haven’t played a lot of special teams before – forget about here (but) anywhere. So, you’re looking for those guys to make that jump, that next step in the progression. I think there was a lot of good efforts the other night from a lot of good younger guys, but I want to see improvement. We’re not there yet. There’s some younger guys that we’re really trying to evaluate, so that’s going to be the big thing for those guys.”
(Who stood out to you on Thursday night?) – “There was a bunch of guys that flashed. The one thing we have to be is more consistent. There were some guys across the board – there were a bunch of younger guys that probably made some plays in the open field. As I think through, the running back position, those guys – Buddy (Howell) and Kalen (Ballage) and Senorise (Perry) – those guys all played pretty well. Rashawn Scott and the receiver group did a good job the other night. On the defensive side, a bunch of younger guys, again, all flashed at times. It was a little bit too much of a roller coaster for me. I want to see some more consistency. No one is a finished product just yet at this time of year, so again, (I’m) just looking for that improvement.”
(Where do you assess LB Quentin Poling and his role on special teams?) – “Obviously, he’s a guy that came in and was a guy that can move around on film and can really flash his speed and ability. He’s a guy that played a lot of defense in college and not a ton of special teams. So, again, he’s a guy we’re evaluating. He’s one of those guys that falls right into that roller coaster. He had some good plays the other night; he had some plays that we can’t have on film. Again, we’re going to get him a lot of plays in these next few weeks. He probably had the most special teams reps of anybody the other night, so we’ve got at least a good evaluation on film.”
(As far as the adjustment to the new kickoff rules, how is everybody handling that, and how long do you think that will take you?) – “I have to be honest with you, I think it went pretty smooth. I had a chance to watch that Hall of Fame game to kind of see that first glimpse of it, then obviously with our game. I was a little concerned about some of the intricacies, but I thought it looked pretty clean. I think what you see now, if you look through, there’s a lot of returns in the preseason. It will be interesting to see how that plays out in the regular season, but I thought the dynamics, logistics of the play, I thought everything looked pretty good. I think it’s going to be a much more wide open play. A lot of faster guys on the field, not just us but around the league. I think it’s been pretty good so far.”
(What are you looking to see out of your kickers going into the second preseason game and third week of training camp?) – “The same thing with them as everybody else – just improvement. It’s good that they both got that first kick out of the way. Neither of their first rep was very good. Greg (Joseph) kicked the ball out of bounds and then although Jason (Sanders) had plenty of leg on that 53-yarder, he obviously pulled it a little bit. I think he was a little excited. The good thing for both guys is that they really bounced back the rest of the game. They played very well. It’s kind of like (they got) that first one out from under their belt and then both did well. Again, I want to see them have a better start to the game. I want to see both guys keep improving. I’m really happy with where they are the last couple of days. Both guys have had great practices, so I’m happy with their progression; but again, we have three more preseason games for those guys, so you just want to kind of see the improvement, steady improvement. You want to kind of hit your peak in the first week of the regular season.”
(Can you foresee one of those guys being a starting NFL kicker in Week 1?) – “They both have the talent to do it, there’s no doubt about it. I think you saw the other night, kind of like I said, once they got that first one out of there, that’s kind of what they’ve been throughout training camp. There’s no doubt that both guys have NFL ability. It’s just a matter of putting it together week after week, the consistency. I’m overall pleased with their first performance. I think both guys will kick in the NFL. I do.”
