Eric Studesville – October 26, 2021
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Tuesday, October 26, 2021
Co-Offensive Coordinator/RBs Eric Studesville
(Who do you think has blocked particularly well pass-blocking wise on the line? Who stands out to you? And from a run-blocking perspective, who has stood out to you in that area?) – “I think in the big picture of it, we all need to do a better job in that area. We’ve been good at times, we’ve had some success in pass pro. It was a little bit better last week than it’s been, but it’s a group effort. Pass protection involves the offensive line, it involves the backs, it involves the tight ends at times, it involves getting the ball out on time, it involves the receivers running routes. We’re all involved in it and I think the better we’re all combined in executing an individual play is going to tie into how much better we are run or pass in those things. I think the guys are working hard at it. It’s important to them. They are continually trying to do things, but it’s an area we’re still working on.”
(We’ve seen success last week in terms of running the ball. I don’t know if it was the amount of attempts or just the opponent. But what do you think led to your second 100-yard rushing performance?) – “For me, we’re always trying to run the ball efficiently and effectively. Up front I think they did a nice job against Atlanta. I think the tight ends did some things good there. I thought the backs ran well at times, but too inconsistent. I think we left some yards out there on the field, there were some more out there for us. We’ve got to go back and look at those things. We’ve got to work on our angles and some of the things that we’re doing up front. We’ve got to see things better in the running back room so that when there are run lanes, we get in the right spots and put the ball there. The wide receivers have to block. There is more out there for us in the run game. We’re continually talking about it, working on it, pushing it because we know it’s an important component for our offense, and that helps everything out. When we can run the ball, it helps us. We’ve got to be able to do that. You’d love to have some of these big plays down the field, but the reality is we just need to stay on track and help the offense be efficient and move down the field. When we’ve done that, we’ve helped our offense on a given series be successful.”
(Against Atlanta, you were 20 for 132 on the ground. When I looked it up, those were more carries against Atlanta than you’ve had the previous two weeks combined. I’m wondering if there was a moment where you guys as a coaching staff sat down, and just re-dedicated yourself towards putting together a running attack?) – “We put together the running attack with the intentions of trying to run the ball every week. We know that’s an important component to our offense. We want to do that. But again, as games change and situations change in the game, if we don’t run it as much because we’re throwing it better or situations dictate that, then we may not run it as many times. Against Atlanta, we were running the ball better perhaps then we had, so we tried to get some more runs in there, and it was going. I think the guys did a good job with some of the things we were seeing out there. But every week, we’re trying to put a run game in. We don’t just go in and say ‘this week, no run game meetings because we’re going to throw it the whole time.’ Because we’re going to need that at some point in time. You never know how a game plays out. We have multiple personnel groupings that we’re working in, we have multiple plays and things that we’re studying and working on, trying to make sure that we have a plan that gives us the best chance to run the ball every week.”
(How does all of that work out now that you’re down to two running backs with RB Malcolm Brown out?) – “With the guys that are in there, that’s a great opportunity for them. So whoever that is. I think Malcolm started out the other day and we lost him after I believe it was nine plays. Then Myles (Gaskin) came in, and Salvon (Ahmed) played more than he has and he did a nice job when he was in there and had to be ready to go. That’s what this is. There is going to be an opportunity for somebody. You hate that it’s injury related, but it’s an opportunity for the next person.”
(QB Tua Tagovailoa has shown the ability to lead this offense on 75-yard touchdown drives, 80-yard touchdown drives. But do you think that some of the explosive plays in this offense is missing and do you think that it’s required or necessary for this offense given sometimes the offense’s inability to maintain drives back to back?) – “We’re constantly talking about how to develop and create explosive plays. We want those explosive plays. We’ll attempt to get those. Sometimes those come with the distance that a ball is thrown or somebody breaking a tackle and making a play, how those plays happen. We can’t always control that, but we want those explosive plays. Those plays make the drive better. They change things that the defense has to do. So we want to get those explosive plays. We’ve got to continue to work harder to get them done and accomplish and execute them.”
(In the last two weeks, your third-down percentage has nearly doubled from 35.4 percent the previous games to 64.3 percent. I was just curious why you think that might be, why you guys are having success in the money down?) – “I hope it’s the increased emphasis in it, which we are talking about all the time. Coach (Brian Flores) talks about that with the team, that that’s an important situational football parameter for us to address. We constantly talk about that. He talks about it, he addresses it and we spend a lot of time on third down talking about what we want to execute, how we want to do things on third down. I think then it becomes a credit to the players where they are studying and buying in and they are executing when we call those things. I think it’s a whole philosophy that starts with ‘Flo’ (Brian Flores) all the way down to everybody that we understand the importance of that third down situation and we have to be better, to stay on the field and get more plays to continue drives.”
(I wanted to ask you about the RPO. I know that’s a major element to this offense. When it comes to the run game, the fact that there are limitations on the offensive line, does that prevent them from teeing off on guys and resetting the line of scrimmage?) – “Yeah, that’s an interesting question. I think there are different plays and different things – there are techniques that go into each individual concept, kind of run play that we put in and things that we’re doing. Different plays have different techniques, have different things that we need to adjust within them. The RPOs are no different. What we try to do is we try to have a mix of things so we’re not living strictly in one world, in that the players do have the ability to come off and get the ball moving at certain times. Then at other times, they may not be able to do that or it may be a different scheme that changes that a little bit. We don’t want to live in one world exclusively because again, we’re trying to find things that maximize what we can do best on offense.”
