Dowell Loggains – October 11, 2018
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Thursday, October 11, 2018
Offensive Coordinator Dowell Loggains
(How do you look back on your three seasons with the Bears?) – “Like it’s over and I’m in Miami. (laughter)”
(Nothing stands out?) – “It was enjoyable. It was a good three years. I really enjoyed it there. (It was a) good spot. I enjoyed working for John Fox. (It’s a) great city.”
(What typifies a Bears Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio defense, a guy you worked alongside with?) – “I got to see it come along where it started in 2015 to where it is now. Coach Fangio is a really good coach and he put those type of pieces that, the talent they have now, he knows how to use them and knows how to call a defense and does enough to cause a lot of problems.”
(If you don’t have T Laremy Tunsil on Sunday – we’ll see obviously – options T Zach Sterup and T Sam Young. Do you think Zach might be a little bit more of a natural left tackle. Sam is obviously a very good right tackle, and has had to play left a lot. Is Zach maybe a more natural left tackle than Sam?) – “We’re letting those guys compete and figure out what’s going on with ‘78’ (Laremy Tunsil) as the week goes on. But we’ll go through the week of practice and (Head) Coach (Adam Gase) will do what he thinks is best for the team.”
(Obviously, I know you have a lot of wide receivers, but what does this offense look like with WR DeVante Parker and what are you missing?) – “The one thing I’ll say about DeVante is, and it showed up in the Oakland game, is the length. We needed that go route and I don’t know if we win that game if he doesn’t catch that go route for us. You miss the bigger body. That’s what he brings – a bigger body with speed that does a good job getting off press. Sometimes when you don’t create as much separation, your length allows you to still be open.”
(Head Coach Adam Gase said – I wrote it down – he said ‘Dowell has a way of calming me down when I get a little too juiced up.’ What’s the secret to that?) – “It’s the same thing as with your players. It’s knowing you personnel and, being in that moment, what needs to be said to the team or finding a way to fill a gap and try to help and be part of it.”
(I wanted to ask you about third downs, which we’ve talked about for the past…) – “Six weeks?”
(Yes, six weeks. If you know that getting third-and-manageables is the issue, if you know that we can’t have penalties, how come they keep happening?) – “I thought we did a better job in the first half last week. For two and a half quarters, we played the way we wanted to. It was a lot of second-and-1-to-6s. We did a better job in third down until 5 minutes left in the third quarter and then we kind of fell apart fundamentally. We didn’t execute the way we should’ve. It always goes back to fundamentals most times when penalties happen. It’s someone not moving their feet or not fitting their hands the correct way. Those are things that we need to get knocked out in practice on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays and in individual. It’s important that you go out and that’s why practice is so important, because if you don’t take individuals (for) 20 minutes really serious and fix the fundamental flaws you have or bad technique, then they show up on Sundays. We always talk about it around here, practice execution becomes game day reality. We’ve got to clean that stuff up and it needs to happen now.”
(When RB Kalen Ballage gets a couple plays from scrimmage, I imagine it’s not because RB Frank Gore and RB Kenyan Drake are exhausted. Is it just because he shows you things in practice where you want to inject him a little bit?) – “Yes. Ballage has done a really good job to this point of becoming a pro. He’s not there yet, but he’s starting to learn how to practice. It takes a while as a rookie to come in and learn the system. We’re starting to feel comfortable with him; he’s starting to feel comfortable with the system. As he continues to grow, his role will grow. And sometimes it’s going to be there’s going to be plays that get called in the game that are for him and sometimes you don’t get to them, but you have them. As long as we can have him active, he’s doing his job in special teams and he can help the offense, we’re going to try to find a way to use him.”
(What do you guys do with QB Ryan Tannehill to get him prepared for times of chaos like we saw in the fourth quarter on Sunday?) – “It really comes back to doing your job and going back to the fundamentals. A big part about quarterback is the other 10 guys doing their job around him. That’s how you get good quarterback play. When things are going bad and we get beat inside and about to give up a sack, you need to eat it and not turn the ball over and be smart with it and understand that if you end this series with a punt, sometimes that’s what you have to do in those situations. But you can’t let someone else’s mistake become yours. Just rely on your fundamentals.”
(What did you think of the RB Kenyan Drake block on Bengals DE Carl Lawson? I remember Lawson used to battle with Tunsil in the SEC and then Drake on the screen pass a little chip block, but he did more than chip, right?) – “He did. We talked about those chip blocks. Obviously, that’s going to be a big … We’re playing a team with good pass rushers like we did last week and every week. When I first got here, I started watching tape and started studying these guys and that was one thing that stood out with ‘32’ (Kenyan Drake) is he does a really good job in pass pro. He stuck his face in there and he’s aggressive when he has a chance to chip and do those things. He does a good job with those. You’re in third-and-16 and most times you’re just trying to call a play not to put your quarterback in a bad spot and he does a great job chipping, getting out and making a heck of a run after the catch. It’s a strength of his game. He takes pride in being part of the protection unit. Sometimes sacks happen. It’s not always just on the offensive line. It can be on the quarterbacks, receivers and backs. He takes a lot of pride in being part of that protection unit and being a strength for us.”
(Obviously, T Ja’Wuan James has a tough matchup this week in LB Khalil Mack. What improvements have you seen from him and what improvements would you have like to seen from him moving forward?) – “Consistency. I think he’s played well to this point. He’s done a solid job. Just the fundamentals, making sure he’s playing with a base, not getting too narrow. He is a leggy athlete, so you’ve got to make sure that you’re sitting on things, especially versus guys that have speed to power and those things. That’s the biggest thing he needs to continue to work on. He has and he’s done a good job with it, but we just need a little bit more consistency.”
(When you face a matchup like that, do you see more focus in a player? Obviously, every week is a big week, but not the week you’re playing the best pass rusher in the league.) – “When these things come up, it’s really like the game-plan specific things. We need to be working on those techniques and fundamentals every week – Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, every day. But you do stuff in the game plan to help those players and make sure that … There’s going to be times where you’re going to have to block that guy one-on-one and you try to do as much as you can with that guy to hopefully give him a bunch of different looks and different things. At the end of the day, you just have to rely on your fundamentals.”
