Darren Rizzi – December 14, 2017
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Thursday, December 14, 2017
Associate Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Darren Rizzi
(P Matt Haack seems to have been playing pretty well over the last few weeks. What’s been the key to his turnaround?) – “I don’t think it’s really just a turnaround. He had a couple of bumps in the road a little bit during the season but for the most part, he’s been pretty much the same guy all year. He had a couple of bad punts early; but I think I said this last week, Matt’s a really talented guy. He’s got a really, really good demeanor for the position and I think the last maybe month on so, he’s starting to understand the game plan a little bit better in terms of field position. I think sometimes you get a young punter and all they want to do is drive the ball and hit big balls and get numbers and all of that, and I think one of things he’s been doing a really good job of is ball placement – the ball inside the 20 – and understanding the field position battle. I think he’s got like nine punts inside the 20 in the last two weeks. So that’s really been huge for us. The field position battle the last two weeks in particular, we have won that battle and that’s not a coincidence that the result is good for us as a team. I think he’s starting to understand that a little bit. We missed on our target a few times in terms of directional, that he’s going to work on, but for the most part, I’m really, really liking what he’s doing.”
(I don’t think anybody’s expecting the eight inches of snow Buffalo had last week; but if there is snow on the ground, how does that affect the kicking game?) – “It’s interesting. Watching last week’s game, just watching how those guys handled it, the one thing we’re always going to talk to our guys about with the inclement weather is the ball is the first priority. So whether it’s the operation, the snapper-kicker-holder, or it’s the returners … It was funny last week, a lot of times the ball was landing on punts, just landing on the ground and sticking, because there was so much snow. But the operation, you look at a guy like (Adam) Vinatieri last week who I think only missed one field goal coming in and he misses two – a short one and a game winner. That certainly is going to be something that is hard to replicate in practice. There’s not much you can do. So when we get up there and see what we have going on, that’s just going to be something we’ve really got to work on, just taking care of the football and the operation. We’ve played up there before in inclement weather and a guy like John Denney’s been around for a while and Cody Parkey played in Philadelphia and Cleveland, so he’s been through it as well. We do have a couple of experienced guys and we’ve just got to see what it’s like. It’s just really taking care of the ball. When you do end up punting the ball or having field goal attempts, those are going to be really critical in those types of situations.”
(Last year special teams had a huge hand in beating Buffalo up there last season. Sort of a similar question, but does it heighten the importance of the third unit of special teams in that kind of game when weather could be an issue?) – “It does. It certainly does because we all know that if you do get inclement weather, that the field position battle is even more important. It’s harder to drive the ball in long distances in those types of conditions. Your decision making could end up being different on whether it’s a punt or field goal attempt or go for it. Things like that. So whether you have four downs or you’re going to try to pin your opponent deep – we hit a long field goal last year that ended up being obviously a monster play at the end of that game. I talked before about Matt Haack and the inside the 20 punts. Things like that really become premium in those types of games. Again, we’ll see what we get. Not that they’re not important every game, as they are; but certainly when you get some – whether it’s rain or snow – bad weather, it’s hard to drive the ball for long, long distances and long drives. That field position really becomes huge.”
(The onside kick last week that New England attempted. It looked to me as though it traveled like 8 yards. It looked like it was short. In that situation, do you tell your guys wait on the ball or attack the ball?) – “It’s a really interesting situation. So I’ve seen that before a couple of times. Basically what New England did was they came out and they didn’t even have a tee. I don’t know if you realized the ball was on the ground and so what you’re trying to do on that play is you are trying to make the ball go just about 10 (yards). I wasn’t sure live whether or not it was going to travel 10 (yards). Looking at it, the second view on it – hindsight’s always 20/20 – it probably was going to go just about 10 (yards). So (Stephen) Gostkowski actually kicked a pretty good ball for what they were trying to do. So if you’re Mike Thomas in that situation, Anthony Fasano, the guys we had there, essentially what they’re trying to do is they’re trying to put you in a bad spot of indecision, and so if you let that ball travel the 10 (yards), now it’s obviously a slow roller, now they’re on top it. Now once it gets to 10 (yards), now it’s anybody’s ball. Number one, I thought Mike Thomas played the play very well. He’s got to make a split-second decision on whether or not he thinks that ball is going to travel 10 (yards) and if he does think it’s going to travel 10 (yards), then he’s going to get on it before they have an opportunity to get it as well. So, it’s definitely a little bit of a unique play for sure. It is something we have talked about. It’s one of the onside kicks. We go through a variety of onside kicks with our guys and the hands team and the different options we can get. It was a very interesting formation. As you saw, they put one guy out on each side to be legal outside the numbers. You’re supposed to have three guys outside the hash on each side. They were very close on that one; but as far as the decision-making goes, you’ve got to make a split-second decision. I thought Mike Thomas did a good job. Obviously once he touches the ball, even though it doesn’t go 10 (yards), then obviously it’s a live ball for everybody. I thought he did a great job of recovering it.”
(Speaking of S Mike Thomas. That was one of the first plays he made this year that really stood out to everybody. What kind of year has he had on special teams?) – “Another solid season. I think the one thing that gets lost since 2014 is that Mike Thomas leads the NFL in special teams tackles. This season is no different. He’s our leading tackler right now on special teams. I think a lot of times he may not make those flash plays, those plays that are noticed to the average fan; but he does a lot of grunt work, a lot of dirty work. He’s obviously our personal protector on ‘PP’ (punt protection). He does a heck of a job recovering punts, he does a heck of a job covering kicks. He’s obviously our vocal leader. He’s our leader on the field, he’s our quarterback, if you will, of special teams. Not only has he been productive on the field but his off the field role that I get to see on a daily basis is just as important, in my opinion. We have a lot of young players, a lot of young guys the past couple of years that have played special teams for us and he’s a phenomenal mentor, not only from a physical example; but in the classroom, leading those guys and helping them out. I have nothing but positive things to say about Mike. I thought he’s played well this year.”
(Do you think he’ll make his first Pro Bowl?) – “I wish I had the magical answer to that. I’m certainly a guy that’s thought he’s played well enough to make the Pro Bowl the last few years. You can never predict the voting. We know how that goes. I certainly would, he’s got my vote.”
(When it comes to the offseason and you guys make decisions. How much do you get on the table for a guys like S Mike Thomas, WR Matthew Slater, WR Steve Tasker, who might not see a down on base defense but you need them but you need them for that part of the game?) – “I think the one thing you see more and more of now in the NFL is that a lot of teams are keeping players like that. A couple of guys you mentioned, a guy like Matt Slater who, to use him as an example, he’s probably played less than 100 offensive plays in his career; but he’s a captain, he’s a leader and he really handles all of their special teams stuff. Mike Thomas does a lot of the same things for us. He’s been voted captain the last few years by his teammates. They see it, I see it; he’s a great mentor like I mentioned. There’s a lot of teams that are keeping a few of those guys around. Not only are you keeping one, but if you look through the NFL, there are teams that are keeping there or four guys on their roster to be those veteran type special teams players. That’s what Mike Thomas is for us.”
(Going back to the onside kick, obviously because it’s New England, everybody is going to say they get credit for being innovative and bringing it to the forefront first. You said that you’ve seen it before, what else have you seen?) – “I did. In fact I think the guy that’s the special teams coordinator in Tennessee – Steve Hoffman – I think he ran a similar play when he was in Kansas City. I’ve seen him do it before with I believe it was Ryan Succop, their kicker. I want to say it was three or four years ago. I’ve also seen it in college a few times. So I have seen it. A lot of teams will also use the same type of play with a tee and sort of do the slow bunt; but obviously you can get a little bit of a slow roll if your ball is on the ground. I go to my kids’ Pop Warner games all the time. You should see some of the onside kicks that they have. They find new ways every week. I don’t think they kicked the ball deep once this year. I’ve seen a lot at the 11-U games in Cooper City and Davie. (laughter) But yes, I have seen it before and we have looked at it in the offseason. We try to keep a collection of onside kicks in the offseason and what we’ll do is try to evaluate as many as we can and show our guys as many as possible. We’ll bring up clips and we show our hands team, we’ll bring up clips from three or four years ago because you never know when those are going to pop up again. That formation, that kick is something that we’ve looked up before.”
(Because it places everyone in such a bind, why haven’t we seen it more consistently?) – “I think you’ve seen the one with the tee a bunch. A lot of people call it a bunt. We’ve seen a lot of people do it with the tee. I just think a lot of people are apprehensive and very, very cautious to do it without a tee because if you mis-hit the ball and it doesn’t go 10 (yards), you don’t give yourself an opportunity. Obviously they have a quality kicker in (Stephen) Gostkowski and they probably practiced it enough they felt like they had a good (chance to get it). Onside kicks across the league, when you know they’re coming, it’s a low percentage play. So I’m sure in their mind, that’s just as good of a chance to recovering that one as any other ball.”
(When you saw there wasn’t a tee, you had to have an idea that something was up?) – “Yes. The thing that I was very proud of our guys for is (not getting caught off guard). What New England did was they tried to make it look very nonchalant, like they were they just standing around, hanging out and I think they tried to catch us off guard a little bit. Our guys were on top of it. As soon as they hand the kicker the ball, he’s obviously able to … Once the official goes out, they’re able to kick it, and our guys were on top of it. The one thing is, New England’s done a bunch of different, I don’t want to use the word oddball; but abnormal onsides kicks over the years. They’ve had Nate Ebner rugby kick on off the ground, they’ve had (Stephen) Gostkowski swing and miss on purpose and Ebner hit it. We were prepared for something that they hadn’t done. I kept saying to our guys all week, ‘When we get in that situation at the end of the game, it’s not going to be a play we’ve seen. It’s going to be something that’s going to be innovative or new. They’re not going to try the same thing because we’re going to be prepared for those.’ That’s usually what they do, so that’s why we go back and look at a bunch of plays throughout the league and try to figure out and make sure we’re as prepared for as many as we can; but I knew it was going to be something out of the norm.”
(Can you ballpark how many different onsides kicks you’ll see over a season around the NFL if you watch film? Didn’t former Dolphins K Caleb Sturgis do like a behind the calf kick? Like how many? Would you see a dozen?) – “I’ll give you a backtrack a little bit on it. A lot of teams started going to that spike kick. You line up and spike it. What happens is, finally people start to get good at defending that play, so then people come up with new ideas. ‘The spike kick is not the new thing. What can we do to come up with a new one?’ In the course of this year, we watch, I’ve watched, every onsides kick from the season. I’ve probably seen, through the 14 weeks, 25 to 30 different (kicks). There’s different variations. There’s different motions. You guys have seen us do the one with two kickers out there. You’re trying to keep the hands team off-balanced. You don’t want them to be lined up and they know one specific thing is coming and they’re able to defend it. There’s very good coaches in this league and if they know what’s coming, they’re going to have a way to defend it. So you’re trying to keep that team off-balanced in that situation.”
(Can you tell us the names of the onsides kicks?) – “There’s spike, there’s swing back, there’s bunt, there’s dribble, there’s slam.”
(Are you just making these up?) – “(laughter) No. Smash, pooch, mortar.”
(Smash-pooch is one?) – “No. Smash, comma, pooch, comma, slam, comma, swing back, comma, spike, comma, bunt. I’m trying to think if there’s any others.”
(You said dribble?) – “Yes, there’s dribble. Now, obviously, there’s all of those in both directions and then there’s a rugby kick out of your hand. You’d be surprised that even, and we don’t see this situation often; but we almost had it the week before against Denver. If you get a safety, a lot of people don’t think about this, if there’s a safety and the other team is in a position where they have to onsides kick it … So say Denver the week before, we got that safety late in the game, if they wanted to onsides kick it, they cannot use a tee. They don’t have the option. The NFL is different than college. A lot of people don’t realize that because it’s a very rare play. We call it an onside after a safety. You have to come out there and if you want to onsides kick it from the 20, you can’t bring the tee out, so you don’t have a choice. So you’re going to see a play like New England. You’re going to see a drop kick. You’re going to see something out of your hand. When we blocked the punt a few years ago against Minnesota late in the game, they did one with Blair Walsh. They did a spike and he drop-kicked it to his left, our right. We had a 2-point lead with less than a minute to go. These are all situations that a special teams coach has to cover, and you never know when they’re going to come up. They can come up once in 10 years; but these are things that we do in our Saturday meetings, our weekly reminders and things that we have to cover, because we have to be prepared. You never know.”
(But once in 10 years could cost you a game.) – “That’s exactly right. I’ve been here nine and we’ve only been a part of that post-safety onsides kick twice – once in Buffalo my first year and once in Minnesota – where we were on hands team and they were onsides kicking it from the 20. It was twice in nine years, but we have to be ready for it every week.”
(So you could punt a kickoff if you wanted to, just a normal kickoff, is that correct?) – “You can punt a kickoff (if the ball hits the ground before you kick it, like a drop-kick). Yes, you can do anything you want on a regular kickoff from the 35 (as long as the ball hits the ground or is on a tee). After a safety, you can do anything without a tee.”
(I didn’t realize it didn’t have to be on the ground for a kickoff.) – “Yes, you can have the ball in hand and you can (drop it and) kick it off the ground (like a drop kick). As I said, that’s one of the things New England has done in the past.”
(So off of a flag-football game, you can have someone throw it 60 yards, 70 yards into the end zone.) – “I misunderstood your question.”
(You said you could have the ball in hand. Can a person throw it?) – “No. And just so we’re clear, on a regular kickoff, you can have the ball in hand, but it’s got to hit the ground before you kick it. On a post-safety, obviously now you don’t. You can kick it right out of your hand. You can drop-kick it from the 35 on a regular kickoff, but the ball does have to hit the ground. Yes, just to be clear. You can’t just wing it or throw it. These are all things. We didn’t get into the fair catch kick question yet. We’ll save that for next week.”
(Is that why they call it a kickoff, because it’s kicked off the ground?) – “Yes. Did anybody know that after a fair catch you can kick a field goal? You get a free kick after a fair catch, but you never see it; but we’ve got to be ready for that every week, too.”
(What’s the onsides kick called that K Cody Parkey did where it just bounced along with him and then he recovered?) – “The one against the Raiders?”
(Yes, is that the dribble?) – “Yes, we just call that a bunt. Some people call it a dribble. There’s 50 different names. If you’re talking to 10 different coordinators for special teams, they will give you 10 different names.”
