Darren Rizzi – September 20, 2018
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Thursday, September 20, 2018
Associate Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Darren Rizzi
(It occurred to me that the first kicker drafted in 2016 – Roberto Aguayo – obviously to this point hasn’t worked out. The first kicker drafted in 2018 – Daniel Carlson – was just cut. People might look at this and say ‘why isn’t necessarily the best kicker working?’ In regard to you thinking outside the box with some of your kicker selections – Andrew Franks – obviously this year with Jason Sanders, who came out of nowhere to some, so is evaluating kickers simply more than looking at who had the best percentage and the biggest name in college kicking and thinking that would translate?) – “Yes. The answer is absolutely yes. I’ve mentioned this before, we talked about Jason and us bringing Jason in, drafting Jason, and certainly with Greg (Joseph) as well – neither of those guys had necessarily great field goal percentages in college but there’s so much more to that position. The short answer is number one, it’s a very hard transition at the position from college to the NFL, maybe more than people would give it credit for. It may be one of the hardest transitions aside from quarterback because of many reasons. The hashes are different, the football is different, the yardage that you hold the spot of the (kick) from the snap is a lot of times different – another yard. There’s many factors that factor in. Your operation changes – you have a different holder, a different snapper. There’s a lot of variables that go into it. So yes, a lot of times there might be a guy that ‘on paper’ that might seem like the best choice, but when you dive in deeper and you’re looking for guys that transition better from college to the NFL – and I think that’s what we try to do here – is kind of look for the best fits there. I think that’s why sometimes you see maybe the named guys sometimes don’t pan out, because of that transition. Those guys you mentioned are very talented. It’s not just talent alone at that position that gets it done. There are a lot of other factors that go into it – mindset, the accuracy, all of those things that I mentioned earlier. It’s a difficult task for those guys a lot of times to transition from the college to the NFL game.”
(When you have a situation like P Matt Haack, where he gives you such great field position, how unique is that to get from a punter for an entire game?) – “It really was. He was lights out. He just had a fantastic game. I think going in, obviously we felt like that was going to be – and it’s every game, don’t get me wrong – but we made actually a big deal last week about the field position and certainly the quarterback we were playing against last week and trying to make him go with some long fields and things like that, and Matt was a weapon. Sometimes, you get two or three shots inside the 20 and he had five in one game. Really, it was six. Statistically it’s not six; but he had six punts, and all six of the drives that the Jets started off the next possession, all started off inside the 20. The sixth one was a penalty and Walt (Aikens) got blocked in the back right in front of the returner there, so they actually started the drive I think inside the 15-yard line on that one as well. He was really 6-for-6 – statistically he gets credit for five – but just a really good job. There’s a lot of game plan that is involved with the punt game – the direction, the hang time, the location, the distance, all of those things. He just had a really tremendous game. The incredible thing about Matt Haack – I’ve said this before and I’ll continue to say it – I actually think that he still has room for improvement. As good as he’s been and as good as he was last Sunday, he’s a guy that’s really, in my opinion, still just scratching the surface. He’s a very talented guy. The finer points of his game, I think he really improved on in the offseason. We’re kind of seeing that and last Sunday is kind of evidence of that.”
(What’s the next step for P Matt Haack? Just consistency?) – “Yes. We talked about this a little bit. Last year, I thought he started the season really well. It’s a long haul for rookie punters. Those guys really punt for about 18 months in a row because they’re training, they’re getting ready for the Combine and they really don’t have a break. So, I thought he hit a wall a little bit last year. I don’t want to call it a dead leg, but he lost a little bit of juice, if you will. This year, the training regimen is a little bit different. His annual process was a little bit different and certainly the consistency. I think what we’ve seen so far, from training camp until now, he’s been much improved in that area.”
(I wanted to ask you about what I call the dreaded trio.) – “(laughter) Let me guess – ‘34’ (Senorise Perry), ‘35’ (Walt Aikens), ‘38’ (Brandon Bolden).”
(Yes. Very important guys in terms of the roles that they play. How much do you rely on them to sort of be the guys that make things happen on that unit?) – “Obviously Walt has certainly been a leader for us these last couple years. He kind of leads the charge of that group. Senorise is a guy that really came on a lot last year. He was a guy that really played solid football, very consistent football. He’s fast, physical. Then you add Brandon Bolden to that mix. He’s a guy that’s obviously had a lot of background. We talked about that last week, (that he’s) a consistent player and a guy with a really good background in that area. Those three guys, all in their own right, give us some different job; but they all give us productivity. All three of those guys are a very integral part of what we do.”
(How do you figure out what is the best role for each of them?) – “It’s a week-to-week thing, a lot of times with the game plan. Special teams overall is a little bit more of a matchup game than offense and defense. You’re matching up one-on-one situations. The good thing about all three of those guys is they give you a lot of flexibility. They can give you a lot of position flex. You can move those guys around, which we do in all the phases. Especially in the kick game, the kick return game and the punt block return game, those guys can be matchup nightmares for the opponent at times, if you put them in a good position. And by the same token, it can work in your favor in the blocking schemes and they can match up on different types of bodies. Having that position flex, especially in that aspect of special teams, is a huge deal. Not being a one-trick-pony, if you will.”
(So you go into a game and you kind of use CB/S Walt Aikens like a chess piece?) – “Really, every player. Every player from that aspect is like a chess piece in terms of making matchups and trying to figure out number one, how we are going to defend our opponent, and number two, how we are going to tackle our opponent; and trying to get those guys in a position where they can make the most amount of plays. A lot of times, we’re not locked into one spot. If you use the kickoff game for example, a lot of times you’ll see those guys line up in multiple positions based on maybe where our opponent is lining up, what their scheme is and things like that. It’s definitely a bit of a chess match, for sure.”
(How did CB Cornell Armstrong do and how is WR Tanner McEvoy doing?) – “I’ll start with Armstrong. That’s a unique situation we have going on right there at corner. Week-to-week, it’s kind of a competitive deal we have going on to see who’s going to be active. I thought last week he got a chance. I think I mentioned it here, I thought he was one of the most improved players throughout training camp from when we started back in the spring. He got his first shot the other day. I think he played 14 or 15 snaps and really, he graded out pretty well. I thought for a guy to jump in there for the first time and his first real NFL game, not counting the preseason games, I thought this guy graded out pretty well. He played fast. It didn’t seem like it was too big for him, so that was a really positive step. McEvoy is another guy who can play a lot of spots and has played a lot of spots for Seattle the last couple of years. You saw he had a tackle last week on the one punt that got returned. He was the guy down there making the tackle. He’s a guy that came right in and kind of quarterbacked our punt team those first couple games as the ‘P.P.’ (personal protector) – that’s the guy kind of making all the calls. He’s a guy we’ve also moved around. Again, he’s another guy that is going to wear a lot of hats and that’s kind of why we brought him here.”
(How did RB Kalen Ballage grade out on special teams in the preseason?) – “Obviously he missed a couple games in the middle, so it was Game 1 and Game 4. In Game 4, he actually played very well on special teams. We had him play multiple positions in that game on purpose because we hadn’t seen him in two games and kind of wanted to see what he could do in different situations. He does have a little bit of a special teams background. He’s one of those players that is a rare kind of bird because he’s a running back that played special teams in college. There’s not a lot of those, especially coming out of the Power 5 conferences. You don’t see a lot of running backs playing on core teams, especially in the coverage. So he did have a little bit of a background. His college special teams coach is a former NFL coach (Shawn Slocum), a guy that coached as a special teams coordinator in the NFL for the Packers, so he’s a guy that had a really good background coming in. We’re very happy with him. He’s in a position right now, obviously it’s a very competitive position. I know we mentioned some of those guys – (Brandon) Bolden, (Senorise) Perry – that are gives us special teams reps. Certainly, he’s done nothing wrong. It’s just a situation where he just has to stay on top of his stuff and eventually, just like Cornell (Armstrong), he’s going to get an opportunity here whether it’s this week or moving forward. I expect big things out of him because he really has a good foundation.”
(On the CB Cornell Armstrong-CB Cordrea Tankersley dynamic, the week of competition, does that also include how they perform in practice on special teams or is it who’s the better cornerback and then that person will play special teams on Sunday?) – “It’s definitely a combo. Obviously, you look at our cornerback position and ‘X’ (Xavien Howard) and Bobby (McCain) and Torry (McTyer) and ‘Tank’ and Cornell – certainly the guys that are three, four and five – their special teams roles are definitely a huge part in that. It’s also a constant conversation with the defensive staff with what they’re doing game plan-wise. It’s definitely a combination. We want to make sure that if they need to go in on defense or if they’re playing on defense, we’re giving them the best shot and certainly on special teams, we’re giving ourselves the best opportunity, too. The good news is it’s a competitive deal. It’s not like you have one guy who’s so deficient in one area and not the other. It’s not that kind of thing right now. It’s a close battle, it’s a week-to-week thing, and I think it’s healthy to be honest with you. The competition makes everything better, so I kind of like where we are at that position.”
