Darren Rizzi – January 5, 2017
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Thursday, January 5, 2017
Assistant Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Darren Rizzi
(At what point does the football become a rock when it’s 9 degrees outside, and does that really have an effect on the kicker?) – “We talked about the ‘K’ balls before. They’re hard to begin with, so those balls, they definitely become hard in the colder weather. There’s only so much you can do in this kind of weather to practice. We actually put balls in the freezer, believe it or not, and try to do some of those things. But you bring them out here and five minutes later they’ve thawed out. So, there’s really not much you can do in this weather. We actually had our K ball bag in the freezer yesterday, and we’ll do that today, and try to simulate as much as we can. But I think the pregames are really important for specialists in these cold weather games. They have to get out there real early and get as much operation time as possible. Even if you’re not kicking the ball, just handling the ball – obviously John Denney and the holder, Matt (Darr). All that is going to be really, really important any time you go into the cold weather and to the northeast this time of year.”
(Does that field have a reputation for being tough on kickers even in good weather? I’ve read things in the past that there’s something about Heinz Field that makes it more challenging.) – “That open end has been … If you look at percentages – this kind of stuff we do in the offseason. The special teams coach … we look at all this stuff – but that open end of that stadium has been traditionally one that has been tough to kick at regardless of the time of year, to be honest with you. You look at August, September, October even. That’s an open end. Obviously, the river is back there, and there’s a wind that always comes back through there. So, that particular end has been difficult. We had a wacky play the last time we played there, if you remember. We kicked a field goal before the half in the snow game and (Caleb) Sturgis kicked one up short, and they actually started running one back, if you remember that crazy play they had. We’ve had some experience at that end ourselves. Yes, that has been a tricky end. I know they’ve redone the field there in the last couple of weeks, so again, that pregame we’ll get out there and see what it’s like.”
(Will you be that much more cognizant of which direction – whenever you have the option – which direction?) – “It’s really going to depend on what’s going on the day of the game. You could end up getting a … Usually in that stadium there’s a particular direction of wind, but you have to get out there and see it, see whether it’s blowing through the open end or it’s blowing towards the open end; and that’s really every week. Even in our stadium, the wind can get a little tricky, believe it or not. I think a lot of people come down to our stadium and are surprised that in a warm weather climate that sometimes the wind can be tricky in ours. We’ll get out there early on and see where it’s going. Definitely that’ll factor into a lot of things – direction, defer. We’ll have to make all the decisions later in the week – what we do with the coin toss and what we do in terms of direction, which quarter we take the wind and all those things that come up every week.”
(With WR Leonte Caroo being scratched the last two weeks, I asked him about it and he said he needs to be better on special teams. What are some things that Carroo can do as his career progresses to be better, and how has WR Rashawn Scott done?) – “I think the one thing that has come out of this thing is we’ve created a culture here with some of the younger players that has created a really competitive environment. So, I’ll go back and talk about (Lafayette) Pitts for a second, because I think a lot of the younger players saw Pitts really – and I’ve mentioned this before – but his practice work ethic and the way he performed on a weekly basis got him moved up to the 53 and now the 46, and he’s active on game day, and he’s played well. I think guys like Rashawn Scott, guys like Carroo, these guys have created an environment – A.J. Hendy – some of these young guys are starting to see that this is a way I can get myself onto the field and become a factor for the team. Carroo got the chance out of the gate. He was active for a lot of weeks. He was mixed in with special teams. I’m not going to say he performed poorly, but we needed him to be a little bit better. And again, self-admittedly, I guess he said the same. Rashawn Scott had been really practicing well along the same lines as Pitts. We just felt like we’d give him an opportunity a couple of weeks ago. The last couple of weeks, we’ve given him some plays, some opportunities and he has actually done pretty well. We all got to get better, obviously every player, but he has actually performed pretty well. In terms of some of the things, there’s a bunch of … I can sit here and talk for 20 minutes about the individual little things he has to get better at. In every phase there’s going to be certain techniques and things like that; but Rashawn has given us a little bit of a lift at that spot. He has played the last two weeks, he has played well. We’ll see what we decide here again there. But what it has done is create a competitive environment in practice for those spots. It’s not given anymore (that), ‘You’re going to be active this week.’ It’s kind of, ‘Let’s see how the week goes. Let’s see how hard you guys practice. Let’s see who does the best.’ A lot of those guys play the same position, so at the end of the week, (Head Coach) Adam (Gase), myself we’ll of sit down and say, ‘Listen, these guys are going to give us the best chance to win this week.’ That might not be the same next week or the week before, whatever. I like it like that. I love the fact that you have a bunch of guys fighting for the 45th and 46th spot on game day, because it creates a competitive environment in practice. We practice harder, and it creates a better situation for the game so. I’m pleased with where we are right now. I know Carroo is disappointed that he has been inactive the last couple of weeks, but hopefully he continues to get better and practice harder and keep fighting for that spot.”
(I had a question for you in your role as assistant head coach. You guys are outscored 110-41 I believe it is in the first quarter. I’m wondering about the coin toss [and] if you guys discuss that, ‘Every time we win, we will take the ball,’ as opposed to deferring in an effort to score first? Do those discussions happen? Do you know stats on it?) – “We definitely talk about it every week. We’re not one of those that’s going to be, ‘We’re doing the same thing every week.’ I know there are other coaches that do that (and say), ‘No matter what, whatever game, we’re going to defer,’ for example. Some teams do that. We talk about it all week. We look at a lot of the percentages. We look at the first drive of the opponent. We look at our stats, how they relate to that; the wind factor, obviously. Sometimes the wind plays a big factor in whether you want to defer and have the choice in the second half. It’s really a week-to-week thing. It’s not one thing (where) we’re steadfast, feet in the ground, we’re doing this. It is a week-to-week type of thing. I think there are some ways we look at it and say, ‘If we win the toss, we’re going to take the ball.’ And there are some weeks we say, ‘We’re going to win the toss, we’re going to defer.’ I think there have been some weeks where we’ve lost the toss, and we’re going to take the ball, so it may come out on the statistics that the last few times we’ve won, we’ve done this; but it’s a little bit skewed, because we didn’t win the toss (and) we lost maybe that particular week. It’s an ongoing conversation. We’re always looking at stats on that. I think a lot of it has to do with how you feel about one side of the ball going in versus another, giving the other team another possession. I think one thing that gets lost is one of the things – and there are a few teams in the league that do it really well – is the end of the half, the last possession of the half, first possession of the second half. If you look at last week’s Patriots game, we were down, scored under a minute to go (in the first half). Unfortunately, we had a kickoff from 20. Obviously we weren’t trying to squib kick it there. Andrew Franks fell down. We weren’t trying to give them the field position. But we end up getting the ball back, second half, go down (and) score, make it a one-score game. That sometimes gets overlooked. I know we haven’t really played in the first quarter probably, collectively, as a football team, the way that we’ve wanted to, but a lot of times we’re trying … We’ve been pretty good at the end of the half on 2-minute drives and then getting the ball back for the second half. So, that plays into it sometimes as well. Some people call it the double whammy – there are all kinds of different names for it – but that kind of last possession of the first, first possession of the second, you can swing the game a lot of times that way.”
(You’ve known obviously QB Matt Moore for years. He’s going to be the starter on Sunday. What’s one thing about him that we don’t know?) – “There are a few things about him you don’t know. (laughter) First of all, he has got a great sense of humor. I don’t know if that comes across. Matt and I came here … We’ve been a couple of guys who’ve been around here for a while. The thing about Matt is he’s a really – and this comes across probably to the people that watch the games – but he’s really just a competitor in everything. If you walked into the players’ lounge and played ping pong, he’s going to treat it like it’s the ping pong championship of the world. He’s just one of those guys. I think what has shown really for Matt is that for a guy that has been around here for a while – and he had a large window of time where he didn’t play – to come in and play after all this time where he was inactive, if you will, and not playing in games and to watch what he has done and step up like (that), he has picked up right where he left off. It seems to me (from) when he was the quarterback – whenever it was 2011 or 2012; I’m losing my years here, but you know what I mean. The other thing I love about him is off the field we talk about family a lot. He has got a lot of kids like I do, so we’re always talking about children and things like that. He’s, again, just a competitive guy. If we were out here picking whiffle ball teams, I’d probably pick him first. If we were playing anything, playing kickball. He’s one of those guys where he’s kind of a gym rat. He loves the competition. He’s one of those guys you want on your side.”
(Have you played pickup basketball or anything against QB Matt Moore or competed against him?) – “I’m too old. (laughter) I can’t be playing pickup (basketball). I play, I don’t play against him, though. No, I’ve done other little things. We’ll play around in the bubble. Him and I are usually two of the first guys out for practice every day. What’s he doing? He’s over here throwing the ball at the net. He’s over throwing the ball at the goal post. Like I said, they call him a gym rat kind of guy. He just loves to be around the game. I think one day when his career is over, he’s a guy that could be a fabulous coach, because of his personality and the way he loves the game. He’s passionate about it.”
(Is QB Matt Moore a trash talker?) – “Is he a trash talker? Again, I think he’s one of those guys you want on your team, not the other team. I’ll leave it at that.” (laughter)
(How puzzled have you been by WR Jakeem Grant’s fumbles being an issue? They weren’t in September and October, obviously more so November, again last week. And how are his hands as a returner?) – “You look you at him as a receiver, he has got good hands. I think I’ve said this a number of times, that punt return thing is probably one of the hardest things to do in football. I think it’s one of the things that gets overlooked the most, and it’s one of the most challenging things. Again, for a young guy, I’m not puzzled because he didn’t have … This is a guy that doesn’t have a boatload of experience doing it. This is his first time going through it. (There is) a lot of learning curve like anybody else that has done it for the first time. Again, I’ve thrown you guys out stats before about great players that have done it in the past and have had trouble – peaks and valleys – with the ball and the security and all that. Again, I know the head man has talked about this as well, but he’s a guy that gives us a chance to make a big play when he has the ball in his hands. It’s my job to make sure he secures it. He’s going to continue to get opportunities back there and continue to grow. I think I see you guys walk through there a lot of times. You guys, you see him out there. It’s not like he’s not working at it. He’s a guy that’s out there every day – pre-practice, post-practice – all the time getting the work in. Again, there’s nothing like game experience, so that’s why you’re going to continue to get it, because we feel like especially this time of year, those plays are going to be huge.”
(How much of it at this point is just confidence and WR Jakeem Grant not thinking about it, just catching the ball?) – “That’s with everything though – the confidence level with every position – and that’s no different. No doubt. Again, you see what he did at the end of the game. At the end of the game last week, he got a plain one, he got a good play action. We were about one block away from making that a really big play if you go back and watch it. That’s what he brings to the table. I think it has been great to have Jarvis (Landry) with him as his sounding board all year, because Jarvis has had the same experience. I think we’ve been fortunate to have both guys to be able to do it, and we’ll continue to do that.”
