Frank Smith – September 14, 2023
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Thursday, September 14, 2023
Offensive Coordinator Frank Smith
(Now we know that Coach Mike McDaniel gets here at 3 a.m. or whatever, some ridiculous time, What time do you get here?) – “I high-five him on the way out. (laughter) I’m more of an evening fellow. Actually, sometimes it bleeds into it. You think about your career, and it’s like, I don’t know how you guys look at it, but the days where you’re probably writing something, you’re really feeling it, you’ve been putting so much work into it and there’s no time. It’s just you and you’re doing the thing that you love to do. There’s some days where it’s funny. I forget to eat. I don’t know what time it is. I might’ve slept an hour or not. You’re energized from what you do. You could be like two days without it and I look like this. Well, fortunately, Zach Miller, who I coached in Chicago, told me you’re the only human I’ve ever met that looks the same showered and cleaned up as you do for two days of looking like a grungy person. (laughter) So I’m like, it’s part of my chameleon. Yeah, Mike’s a morning (guy), but I’m a night (guy) and it’s fun. When football comes together, it’s why you do this.”
(So right now, I can’t tell which one of the two you are.) – “The greatest illusion right now. I can’t give it up. I can’t give up my secret so quickly.”
(I talked to WR River Cracraft yesterday and he was talking about the role of the blocking receiver in this offense. He said he watched some film of WR Mohamed Sanu from Atlanta. What is the importance of having a receiver who can block in this offense and how does River fulfill that role?) – “Well, coincidentally, I think it fits into just the criteria of what we’re looking at in all positions. Tight ends who have the ability to have a complete skill set. There’s wide receivers that we’ll use in different roles like we use the tight end. I think it’s important, one for guys to understand, because it’s not like Jaylen (Waddle) and Tyreek (Hill) don’t block. They’re very willing to get in the mix, too. For when we use guys in multiple roles, it just comes into what are we seeing from the defense? All right, what are they going to be stressed on? Then having guys with the right makeup and the right skill set. That’s what we’re always striving for. It’s like our running backs, some weeks you’re using them to run the football and other times you’re using them out in space to block. The only position that really doesn’t have a blocking emphasis would be Tua (Tagovailoa) and his crew. But they block in other ways through appropriate keeper fakes and everything, so we’re all connected in that sense.”
(At what point did you as a coaching staff kind of view WR Erik Ezukanma as like a possible moonlight running back, kind of in a Deebo Samuel role? And what does he bring? What elements does he bring when you line him up there?) – “I wouldn’t say necessarily it’s like, when did we do that? Or is he in that role? It was more of, when we’re doing different things with guys throughout training camp, we try and use them in ways that best fit how they can contribute. Obviously you guys saw the run he had in the preseason, right? Coming around the horn. With the defense and what they presented, we thought we saw an option to do that. Then at the same time, we also did it with two halfbacks. I’m sure at some point you’ll see FB Alec Ingold getting the ball from the gun like an 11-personnel running back. Ultimately, we put our receivers in the backfield, running backs, tight ends in the backfield. We use guys in a multitude of ways because ultimately, when you have guys that have a broad skill set of different things, our challenge is to put guys in situations to do what they do well. I think the challenge will be continuing to grow in all that.”
(What’s the significance of what I’ve heard described as “for love of the game routes,” where maybe you’re late in the progression, you might not get the football, but you’re still running at maximum effort to help create space and make the offense function?) – “When you understand the concept and what we’re trying to do and how you fit into the timing of the play and what the defense, what look they gave you, I think it’s just the understanding of all routes are live at all times. When you have a quarterback like Tua (Tagovailoa), who distributes the ball so well, the minute that you think that you’re not getting the ball, you will. So you have to run everything with intent. Because you might think that you’re running a vertical and next thing you know, they drop coverage because we’ve got guys moving different spots. I think it’s just our guys’ commitment and that’s why the way we practice is the most important thing. It’s trying to make sure it’s deliberate and put ourselves in the game so that way when Sunday or Monday comes, we’ve already practiced it.”
(What stands out in the postgame film session after you give up zero sacks with the o-line against Joey Bosa, Khalil Mack and those guys?) – “It comes out and you just see guys that we feel more of like guys who really took their week of practice to the game and challenging ourselves to work together, because a zero-sack day isn’t just necessarily the o-line. It’s obviously a collection between the runners, tight ends, quarterback, wide receivers – it’s a full offensive commitment. It’s awesome to see our guys really excited for Game 1 with the challenge we had to block. So now after you watch the tape, we go, ‘Alright, next game, we’ve got to do it again.’”
(How did OL Isaiah Wynn do? The LG 1 as we found out.) – “I think overall, the line did very well for what we’re trying to do. There’s obviously things that we need to get better at, plenty of things overall for the offense that we know where we can grow, because Week 1 to Week 2, is where you can get your biggest growth. For us and the guys and where they’re at, it’s cool. Like today is going to be awesome, a chance to go out and practice, because the mindset downstairs, guys are hungry and ready to work. So it’s going to be awesome.”
(I wanted to know, what is the difference that you’ve seen not just physically but mentally from OL Austin Jackson this season?) – “Again, like we talked about the other week, it’s just opportunities. Early in your career, you’re over here, you played a different spot in college, you move around and then you have injuries. It’s just consistency. Offensive line, everyone is always into results-based now. A lot of guys, they have to come into the league and they grow. Rashawn Slater was in – for him to be a rookie All-Pro, that’s not the norm. There’s a lot of guys it takes a year or two or three before they get the consistency, and they really understand how they need to play and what they need to play. We all felt it’s never been really a confidence thing or anything mentally with ‘AJ’ (Austin Jackson), it was more just an opportunity to develop the consistency. Because I think we can all attest, we’re not professional golfers, so when we go out and play that slice, we should probably take not as serious as we do, where we think we’re going to hit it every time. It’s the same thing of like, ‘OK, you’re hurt here. You missed half the season with that,’ it’s going to come with consistency. And that’s why he’s fully committed with (Offensive Line Coach) Butch (Barry), and it’s been awesome.”
(Every coach with an offensive background who rises to head coach obviously has some level of creativity that helped get them there. But with Mike, obviously that’s one of the things he’s known for. Do assistant coaches, including in your case the OC, feel an extra, I don’t know if the word is incentivized or motivated, to present Mike with wrinkles every week that could you know, catch defenses off guard because of how creative he is?) – “Interesting question. No, I don’t think you really look at it like how creative or what new thing I can do, or he would like this. I think it’s more of a starting point. You start with the defense and how do they play? What techniques do they use? The starting point is always your opponent, and you’re looking at what’s their philosophy and how do they play? So Mike laughs at me sometimes when I’ll bring up a play that there’s no one moving, and we just line up and do this. And he looks at me, and I’m like, ‘Because it works.’ And we have those in our game plan where we line up and do different things where we don’t move as much. I think ultimately, when you’re bringing up plays, it’s about what’s the intent? What’s the process to it? And it always starts with your opponent, and then how do they play? What’s their style of defense? What are they trying to do? And then now, you build in that with your people and how do you move them to deploy them correctly?”
(Where does RB De’Von Achane stand right now with the offensive coaches?) – “Awesome. I don’t think there’s really any guy right now that we’re sitting there going like, ‘He needs to do this.’ I mean, it’s like the opera. It’s a long season. His opportunities will come. We have zero reservation about his ability to help us in a game this season.”
(What’s the process for you in coming up with new plays?) – “I think we spend our time more of, how are our guys progressing and what do we need to do to help them within the framework of the techniques they need? And who’s the opponent we’re facing and how do we go through it? Because if every week you have a game plan of 40 new plays you saw someone else run because it worked, you’re always then chasing results. As opposed to for us, we have core concepts that we execute that we’ve executed since the spring. And it’s our ability to execute on core things, because then that way you have the consistency. So I think that the majority of our time is spent on how do we help our group improve? What do we need to do in our week of practice? And then how do we continue to maintain our core philosophy and build upon it. The season goes, you just kind of want to always be tightening and tightening and tightening and tightening. You’re getting better at your details and stuff like that, not creating more stuff. It’s centralizing and knowing what to do. And I think the first half of the season, I think we talked about that last year, the first half of your season, you spend really, who are we? What do we do? And the faster you can get to that, the faster you’re going to know what your identity is and what you’re going to be successful at the rest of the season.”
(What are some nuances of playing tight end in this offense that have allowed TE Durham Smythe to become worthy of seven targets? I know you werne’t here but that would not have been in the thought process when he was a rookie.) – “If you guys watched how he practiced, you wouldn’t be surprised on Sunday. Because, again, it’s about the work you put in. The one thing about him, and after coaching tight ends for six years, he’s what you’re looking for in the mindset, the makeup, how he goes approaching it. He’s a detail-oriented guy. He does everything the right way. As the season goes, he’s a pro. He’s available. And he knows the intent of the concept and he understands the timing in which he needs to be there. And he recognizes defense very well. I think like we talked about with tight ends, you have guys with skill sets that can block and though he’s the blocker, well the blocker catches too. So I think ultimately, when you say he’s this or he’s that, you create an absolute. I mean, that’s not anything that we do, as opposed to the question was talked about. We’re going to use our offensive personnel in the best manner we can to use their complete skill sets to attack the defense. So saying a guy does one thing would be inaccurate. We’re going to, throughout the course of the season, use their skill set to whatever we need to do to find a way to win.”
(With Durham, I remember you guys had an orbit motion on one play. Usually I feel like that’s reserved for a speedy, fast guy. I don’t know if you can give state secrets, but what was the reasoning on that?) – “State secret man. (laughter) Move them around, where is he going? What was the complementary play? I don’t know. You only saw one version (laughter). I mean the reason why we move people the way we do – I wouldn’t say it’s state secrets, but we have a purpose for everything that we do. When coaches would say, ‘Hey, that’s window dressing, that movement.’ That’s not the way we operate. We move people for a reason. Everything is for our attack of the defense. Whenever we move someone one way, we have a complementary play for another reason. Our job is to see the defense. What do they present? Attack it with our personnel and be unrelenting in our approach. And you might move different people at different times.”
(That motion, you guys do a lot of effective motion. What are maybe the difficulties or intricacies that we don’t see about teaching that motion?) – “Well when you try and motion just on Sundays, what are the variables? But that’s how we practice. That’s how we play. Everything we do is with intent. And as you can see when you watch us through all the offseason, training camp and preseason, we motion with a purpose. We just don’t do it to do it. We do it with an intent to get a reaction out of the defense. And then when we don’t get the reaction out of the defense that we were anticipating, that’s where we have to figure out why and maybe is that good? Or how is that going to be challenging to the complementary plays that are off of things? So I think it’s just the way we practice. The guys own it and they understand why we do it. So that’s why they do it so well. And then the quarterback’s used to it. I think when we don’t move sometimes is when they’re all just like, that’s it? Like yeah, sorry (laughter). Don’t worry. We’ll get you on the next play. (laughter)”
