Frank Smith – October 24, 2024
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Thursday, October 24, 2024
Offensive Coordinator Frank Smith
(Can you tell us how much QB Tua Tagovailoa’s return helps you do your job? Can you put that in terms for us?) – “I think his return – just the familiarity with two years, knowing how he plays, knowing how his preparation, everything that goes into his ability on game day. I just think when you have a guy that has been such a leader for us and such a big part of our offense, obviously it’s great to have one of our captains and our leaders back in the mix and we’re excited for Sunday.”
(How important is it to not sort of abandon the run game which has gotten the past two games with QB Tua Tagovailoa coming back?) – “I think it’s ultimately maintaining the balance of the offense and maintaining the attack. The last two weeks we made an emphasis in the run game to improve on our efficiency and our efficiency in different areas of the run game, allowing guys to really play with technique and fundamentals and attack certain elements of their game. Credit to the guys, we improved in those areas and I think that’ll be important for us as we go forward because our ability to have balance in the run game allows us to attack the defense in a manner to which they have to adjust. So it’s a credit to the guys the last two weeks because they’ve really been working hard at it.”
(How much has it been a confidence builder for the offensive line? I mean you guys went in with this belief that what we have is good enough and now they’re able to show, from a run game standpoint, that it seems to be working.) – “I learned early in my career when things aren’t going right, you look at what are we doing, who are we asking to do what and you don’t simplify, but you get back to the core principles. It’s not like you go back to spring or training camp, but you go back to the things that you think are important to you for resetting to go forward and I think that’s a real credit to the line and Butch (Barry) and the guys, ‘Embo’ (Jon Embree) and the tight ends, Eric (Studesville) with the backs – all the core, responsible men because we really drilled it extra hard, put in extra work to get back and fundamentally where they want to be, and that’ll be the exciting thing going forward to build on it.”
(How much time do you think it’ll take for QB Tua Tagovailoa to get the engine of the offense revving at full speed again?) – “I don’t know if – I mean, it’s not necessarily all on him. It’s all of us together to take in the gameplan for the attack and making sure we’re all connected on where we expect guys to be and how we see the defense and the timing at which we’ll operate and then connecting ourselves together. So I don’t think it’s necessarily just him, it’s now all of us because each gameplan is different for the defense. I think that’ll be the whole part of the offense, just getting the communication that is necessary for us to work together to accomplish something.”
(I should have been more specific about like timing, accuracy, touch – rust factor. Is there a rust factor?) – “I don’t know if you would say there’s a rust factor. When he’s going through his process to return, he’s working out and doing everything he needs to do to be ready. So I think right now with him it’s just getting into the gameplan, getting him ready to go and seeing the defense. He’s Tua, so I know he’ll be ready to go when the game starts on Sunday and be ready to go here in a couple of hours.”
(In the eyes of the coaching staff, has RB Jaylen Wright made the case of playing more?) – “I think that all the backs this year are showing that we have a very deep room, and they all have the ability to help us at different parts of the gameplan. But yeah, he’s done a great job, just really, really working at all the little things he’s had to do. Because coming out of his college system, very much do certain things over and over again, to now being asked to do a wide variety of things, it’s a credit to him and Eric (Studesville) because they’ve worked really hard to get it done. I think ultimately, all the backs allow us versatility to play the game the way we want to play with versatility of them playing everywhere.”
(It had been so long since this offense had a touchdown from a tight end. How gratifying has it been to open up that package of plays for TE Jonnu Smith?) – “Yeah, it’s been great. It goes to, like again, when you’re going through tough times, guys working hard. He’s really working with ‘Embo’ (Jon Embree) on the side and then also doing stuff on his own. To see him to have success and help this offense, it’s only going to be that much more important for us as we go forward.”
(Going back to the run game and how well RB Jaylen Wright has played, is there a benefit – one way or the other, maybe it’s not – of going deep into your running back room on a weekly basis versus just putting that duty on one every down back that can do everything?) – “I mean, I think we have the – I don’t know if you’d say luxury, but we have the ability with multiple guys that are able to give us different skill sets, so it allows us to play a lot of the room. As you go through a game, certain guys getting their ops, that’s the challenge when you got a room that’s got multiple guys that can play, and that’ll be what we make sure we focus on going forward as making sure we get the balance of the guys in the attack or having multiple of them on the field on the same time to be able to be versatile in what we want to do – similar to some of the stuff that we did last year with De’Von (Achane) and Raheem (Mostert) and Jeff (Wilson Jr.) and stuff like that.”
(S Budda Baker, very smart safety, 100-tackle guy quite often – what do you have to worry about with him? What does he do for their defense?) – “Yeah, he’s an outstanding player – high effort, physical. Plays the game really the way it should be played from that position, so it’ll be a challenge. A big thing for us is just knowing (and being) connected to where he is because as he has the versatility they have in their system where he can play kind of rovering around different spots, it’ll be just our identification, getting connected for when he’s in different spots, making sure the corps knows when he’s dropping into spots that they’re responsible or he’s out playing safety, receiver spots. So I think ultimately, it’s our communication and building the plan so we’re very aware of where he is at all times.”
(What are some of the things WR Odell Beckham Jr. can stand to do in order to take better advantage of his opportunities?) – “I think it’s just, like everything, as you play in multiple systems, timing is different. How, maybe, you run a route and attack space is different, so I think just getting connected with what we’re asking to do on those things and that comes with playing and opportunities and maximizing them. I think (he’s) extremely coachable, he loves getting better, working at things. I think that’s going to come just with the repetitions of playing, getting more opportunities as the season goes along.”
(I think the Cardinals have two of the most interchangeable safeties in the league with S Jalen Thompson and S Budda Baker. How does their ability to be in different locations at any give time challenge your offense?) – “With our communication and conceptually, what are we trying to do in our attack, because you could easily put yourself in a tough spot if it’s in the run game with identification. If you try and be too diverse and the options in which you identify and try and target their defense. And then the passing game, just making sure we’re distributing the field correctly and the timing. But yeah, they have a very challenging backend, and they play really hard. They’re the hallmark of the defense, how they play and the standard which they play, so it’ll be a good challenge for us Sunday.”
(How much have you and Head Coach Mike McDaniel, about this week specifically if at all, talked about getting the ball to WR Tyreek Hill in other ways when teams have cloud coverage, two-high safeties, any one of the number of things that prevented him from being utilized as much the past month?) – “I think it’s always on our mind, trying to make sure that we get our guys involved. Tyreek (Hill), he’s the ultimate competitor and ultimately with him, he says winning is the most important thing, not the statistics that come along with it. But ultimately, our ability to win is our ability to get him the ball to help us. Yeah, we’re obviously very disappointed we didn’t get him the ball more, but at the same time it’s not just one guy. We’ve got to make sure that we’re all executing because when you look at the game, our ability to – we rushed well, but then improve our rushing in the red zone and then making sure that we don’t give the other team opportunities with turnovers. So there’s areas that we want to make sure that we improve on and making sure that our key guys get the balls obviously – it’s always important to us.”
(With those turnovers, obviously they came from two guys that most of us in this room would view as the pillars of what you want from players. Is there a teachable moment in that?) – “Absolutely. It’s like when bad things happen, it’s our ability to not let it get compounded. Alec’s (Ingold) one down in the red zone, it’s when the ball carriers getting corralled, get to the ball. We had an opportunity where we could have gotten there first if we would have moved to the ball, especially when you feel like our ball carrier is getting slowed down – get to the ball. Good things happen when you run to the ball, so very teachable moment for that. With ‘Heem,’ (Raheem Mostert) it’s just like sometimes the guy you can’t see is the one who can get the ball. So after that, then you learn when it comes out fast and they pick it up fast, how do you make sure that you don’t let a return or a ball on the ground result in yards, or in the worst-case scenario, points. So you can talk about how you rally to the ball and at the same time, defensive ball carriers aren’t used to carrying it as much and now’s an opportunity to create another turnover, which is an instance of many offensive players, because you can get it out. But good things happen when you get to the ball, and that’s just the emphasis of, ‘Hey –’ because if you look at that one run we had, I think De’Von (Achane) got fronted up but we got to the ball, pushed the pile for another four yards. Like New England, there were a couple of runs where we got fronted up and we were able to push the ball for another four yards. So those instances of positive, that’s where it could have helped us in those situations, and I think those are the teachable things we want to make sure the guys understand.”
(In going back and watching this game, I think I saw some moments of WR Tyreek Hill blocking very well, very enthusiastically. Is that accurate? And how is he as a blocker overall?) – “Yes, it is accurate – him and our receiving corps. Taking on the challenge of when the offensive line and the backs have to block for you to get the ball, and in turn, when they get the ball, it’s your turn to block. So they take on the challenge well and they really are always – Tyreek (Hill) and (Jaylen) Waddle are always talking about, ‘We’re good blockers.’ So they take a lot of pride in that because being a good teammate means doing the things you got to do to help your teammates, and they always accept the challenge.”
(Have you guys gone over with QB Tua Tagovailoa ways to protect himself out on the field? Encouraging him to slide and things like that, is that on-going conversations that you guys have had?) – “I think he’s very aware of things as he’s reflected on stuff. So I think ultimately for us, each week we’re always making sure the guys know in the gameplan how we want to attack what we’re going to do, and for him, he’s always just such a conscientious guy. The time away gives you perspective, and I think he has a lot of perspective and he’s excited to approach. So knowing him and all of us together, we’re all very excited to have him back in knowing that he has worked his tail off to get to this point.”