Darren Rizzi – August 4, 2017
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Friday, August 4, 2017
Associate Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Darren Rizzi
(In your role as associate head coach, how are these injuries, how is the team dealing with these injuries? Is it the same as last season, regular season? Or are they more accustomed to it now?) – “You’re trying to butter me up with my title, huh? (laughter) That’s a good way to start. I like that! You know what? I think everybody realizes in this day and age in the NFL, our team no different, injuries are going to happen. This time of year, it’s the first time you put the pads on. You don’t get to put the pads on in OTAs with the new rules and the offseason rules. So you’re looking at not only the Dolphins, but if you’re looking across the league, every day something pops up. Every team has 90 guys in camp and that’s one of the reasons. I think our guys have handled it very well, like every other year. I really don’t see a difference. I think our guys have always had – it doesn’t matter what the injury is, it doesn’t matter what position or who the guy is, it’s next man up and let’s go.”
(In your role as special teams coordinator, I haven’t seen K Andrew Franks miss one single kick. Are you seeing extra confidence in him? Is there a change technically?) – “We worked on some things in the spring with him. Just some technical things, some things we saw on film from the season. In the spring time during OTAs, he was a little bit hit or miss there; but I thought he’s really had a good start. He had a really good start this week. He’s kind of right back … We have a thing around here called beginner’s mentality. (We) kind of go back to the drawing board and it’s something I got from Michael Jordan’s book way back when. In his book, he talks about beginner’s mentality every year – starting training camp and learning how to hold a basketball. We kind of take that same approach. So with Franks, we kind of went back to square in (and told him) listen, this is where we’ve had success. We haven’t taken a lot of long field goal attempts just yet; but so far in the shorter distances and the PATs and mid-range stuff, he’s been good so far. You may watch him warm up and he tinkers with some things, but so far so good in the team periods. Really, it’s just that beginner’s approach mentality and that’s really what we’ve seen so far. Hopefully that will translate to the games. We’ll see. As you can see, he’s not up every single day. A kicker is a lot like a pitcher if you will. There are going to be days where they’re on, like a guy in a five-man rotation – you’re going to have your day that you’re up and then another work day. So we kind of handle it like that. So the days that he’s up, we’ll try to get the most out of him. He’s been good so far.”
(How has WR Jakeem Grant been in training camp?) – “So far in training camp, we’re trying to put him in a ton of difficult situations. We’ve talked over and over about how much he works at it and his work ethic with the return stuff. The thing I’ve noticed, just from my angle, is really I’ve seen a big difference from him on offense this year. Obviously, I have a little different perspective on the practice because I get a chance to step back and watch the team periods, not as an offensive or defensive coach. I’ve seen him show up a lot more on the offensive side of the ball. Special teams wise, we’ve tried to put him in a lot of difficult situations. We’re kicking him all kinds of knuckleballs purposefully and all kinds of different things and trying to make it as difficult as possible for him. He certainly hasn’t been 100 percent but I’ve seen a major improvement between this camp and last camp.”
(Returning punts, RB Kenyan Drake, how has he done?) – “So Kenyan we’re trying to get him in a position where that’s another role that he could maybe do. He’s obviously a very athletic guy and very good – we know what he can do with the ball in his hands. We saw that last year on kickoff returns and certainly on offense. So he’s just another playmaker and just another option. As I’ve talked about with you guys before, as many options as we can have, the better. So he’s just another guy. He by no means is a finished product. He did a little bit of it at Alabama, not a lot, so we’re trying to … He’s a little bit of a work in progress. There are some other young guys who have worked there too. You guys have seen Jarvis (Landry) back there time and again. He hasn’t really gone full go on it just yet but we’ll give him some work to keep him fresh and some of the younger guys. We’re trying to work as many bodies back there as we can.”
(So WR Jakeem Grant is still No. 1 punt returner and kickoff returner?) – “Our kickoff returns, we can do a bunch of different things. We could have as many as three returners on the field. You saw last year we did it a few times with Jakeem, Kenyan (Drake) and Damien (Williams). We had a bunch of different guys out there. As far as I know, right now, we’re going to get Jakeem work in the preseason games for sure. As a young player, he still needs as many reps as we can – some live reps. There is nothing like those game reps. So right now, he’ll go out there and he’ll take the punt stuff, start off and we’ll go from there.”
(What is the plan for WR Jarvis Landry as far as returns? Do you want him out there? Do you consult with Head Coach Adam Gase on that?) – “It’s something we definitely communicate about all of the time – Adam and I. He’s great about it. He’s great in terms of ‘What do we need to do to win the game?’ That’s something that we’ll explore. Listen, we all know what Jarvis can do back there. He’s a proven guy. He’s a guy that we’re very comfortable putting back there. So whether we approach that situationally again like we did last year or have one guy do all of them, that kind of remains to be seen. We’ll see how these next four games go and we’ll make a decision from there.”
(With your rookie punter – P Matt Haack – how difficult is it to evaluate him in practice when there are not a whole lot of punting situations?) – “I don’t know if you guys have noticed; but basically, what we’ve done with (Matt) Darr and Haack is they’re on like an every other day schedule. So we have punt and yesterday Haack was up, the day before Darr was up. They’ll both get a little bit of work tomorrow in the scrimmage. But so far with (Haack), he’s getting as much work as Darr in terms of reps. He’s a very talented guy. It’s great for our returners to have a lefty in camp, as well, a lefty kicker because the ball comes off different. We play teams like the Patriots for example, who have a left-footed punter. So it’s a different deal for the returners but he’s been very impressive. He’s been very impressive. He’s done a very nice job. He’s had good hang time on the ball. He’s very composed. He’s been a really nice addition to the team right now.”
(Have you gotten any idea of how DT Vincent Taylor will do at field goal block and kick block? And I think DE Praise Martin-Oguike? Was he the other one that had some success in college? Can you talk about those two?) – “Yes, so we work those guys and they’re going to get a ton of work in the preseason here. That’s one thing that we don’t really work a lot of live drills on. We don’t do a lot of live field goal, field goal block. We’ll do individual work and we’ll work the techniques but that’s not something we’re going to do (often). We don’t go live field goal versus live field goal block, so it’s a little bit hard to tell. Certainly both of those guys have a really good foundation with what they did in college. They’re definitely going to get some work. But just in our drills? Both guys are explosive. They both have a really good knack for it. There’s something to be said for a guy that has a knack for blocking a kick or a punt. There is something to be said for that. There are certain techniques that go with it. I like what I’ve seen so far from those guys.”
(How has CB Jordan Lucas done special teams-wise? Because it seems that’s going to be a huge key to him being on the 53.) – “’Luc’ (Jordan Lucas) is a guy that is very versatile. He can do a lot of different things, so he has kind of got that jack of all trades. On punt for example, he’s a guy that reps at ‘PP’ (personal protector). He’s a guy that reps at gunner. On the return team, he can play a bunch of different positions on both return teams. On our kick team, we move him around. That certainly helps his case for this team. I’ve seen a big difference in him. A lot of those first-year guys, it’s all new to them. They’re very green. And a guy like ‘Luc’ I’ve seen a guy with a lot more confidence. He’s moving a lot better. Today we did a couple of live drills with the punt return stuff. I think he was real physical out there. I’m really excited to see him in these games, I really am, because I feel like he’s taking a step from where he was last year. We got him some reps last year in live action, so he did have some game reps. But I think this year, you’ll see a more confident guy. He has been through it once already. I’ve seen that with a few guys.”
(The same for CB Lafayette Pitts. What’s the next step for him?) – “Absolutely. And again, he has really had a strong first week here. Anything we’ve done with live competition, he’s really … Again, a lot of confidence. I’ve seen that from a lot of the guys that were rookies last year. Everybody talks about that Year 1 to Year 2 should be your biggest jump, and I’ve seen that. I’ve seen guys like (Jordan) Lucas, like Pitts, like (Leonte) Carroo – those guys just pop into my mind – like Jakeem Grant, guys that were in that class last year. Even a guy like (Kenyan) Drake has taken a big step forward in terms of having a lot more comfort level with what we’re doing, have a lot more confidence in terms of the way they’re playing. That has been real positive.”
(Is TE Thomas Duarte doing much on special teams?) – “He’s going to in these games, for sure. This is something that he has got to do. He knows that. This is a role … That tight end position, I really like that group of guys – all of them. It’s going to be a lot of it that third, fourth, fifth tight end, whoever ends up making the team, they’re going to have special teams value. We know MarQueis Gray last year played a lot of reps for us on special teams. That’s a position where if you’re going to make this team as a third or fourth tight end, you’ve got to have value there. He’s going to really be a guy that gets a lot of reps in these games, and we’ll see what he can do.”
(Among rookie draftees, has anybody caught your eye special teams-wise? I know you mentioned DT Vincent Taylor.) – “Just kind of going through the guys in my head position by position – (Raekwon) McMillan is obviously a guy that has a lot of value both defensively and on special teams. He has really been a guy that I’ve been really, really impressed with – his work, his demeanor, his physical-ness, everything – really the whole package there. He has been really good. Defensive back-wise, a couple surprises there so far. Again, we’ll when it translates to the game, but (Torry) McTyer has been good, ‘Mo’ (Maurice) Smith, ‘Tank’ (Cordrea Tankersley) all those guys, those rookie DBs. So far, our drills are probably a little far ahead where most rookies are at this time; but again, we’ll see how that translates to the game. Even some offensive guys, there have been some guys that have stood out a little bit. ‘D’ (De’Veon) Smith the running back from Michigan, he has been a guy that has been right up there with those other running backs. Again, all those guys are going to get … I’ll have a much better feeling after a couple weeks of these preseason games when we’re live action. But I’m very pleased so far. I do have to say this, I think one of the reasons is our veteran guys – the guys like Walt (Aikens), Mike Thomas, Damien Williams, guys who’ve been around, Mike Hull and Neville Hewitt – they’ve really laid a nice foundation. Their work ethic has been outstanding. Those guys have no choice but to follow those guys. It has been great. I’ve been really, really pleased with this first week and our work ethic, our approach and all of that. Now let’s see if that translates to the game.”
(You mentioned WR Leonte Carroo. He had some difficulty with special teams last year. What has been the difference for him this year?) – “I think first thing is he’s moving better. He’s moving a lot better. I don’t know if it was conditioning or whatever. I’ll stay in my lane on that one. I don’t really know exactly what it is, but you can see him moving better. He definitely has more confidence. We had a couple of live drills where it looks like he’s really running well. He’s more physical. He obviously has a better understanding of what we’re doing. He’s a guy when we brought him here, I really thought he had a lot of special teams value coming in. He had some peaks and valleys last year. I think everybody knows that. But he has really had a nice start here. Again, he’s another guy. All these guys you’re mentioning are all these guys that are going to get a lot of work in these games. It’s up to them at this point. Once we get to Thursday – Thursday night – they’ve got to go out there and they’ve got to make the plays.”
(Can you guys afford to go live tomorrow? High-speed collisions obviously on special teams. Can you afford to do that, or do you wait until Thursday?) – “Special teams is a little bit different than offense, defense. Special teams, we’ll go live. We don’t necessarily go to the ground. It’ll be live block, everybody kind of staying up. We’re not going to go live punt return and get the returner. It’s obviously to avoid injury there. But everything is going to be live to the ball. That’s what we call it – live to the ball. We’re just tagging off the ball carrier, trying to keep people off the ground. At the end of the day, it’s very, very hard to simulate special teams full go in practice. That’s just the way it is. Whether it’s field goal against field goal block, whether it’s kick, kick return. It’s something that’s very difficult. We try to keep the speed the same, but just in terms of finishing blocks and getting the ball carrier on the ground, we’re going to have to see who can do that in games, for sure. It’s very difficult to simulate.”
