Frank Smith – September 15, 2022
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Thursday, September 15, 2022
Offensive Coordinator Frank Smith
(QB Tua Tagovailoa seems more polarizing and discussed by national pundits than anybody. Was there a time where you were on a treadmill in the last eight months and happened to have ESPN or FOX on and you see that the nonstop debate on Tua, what do you make of that? Do you think it’s unfair scrutiny or does it come with the territory?) – “I’d imagine it just comes with the territory. If you play quarterback in the National Football League, the performance is always going to be the most scrutinized position – over, under, too much credit, all the blame. So I think he handles it extremely well, especially being around many different quarterbacks from Drew Brees to last year, Justin (Herbert), Derek Carr, Jay Cutler. I’ve been fortunate to see the gauntlet myself, and Mike (McDaniel) with his experience and really our whole staff. I think overall, just the hardest thing I think is to just take it as a compliment. They’re talking about you because the minute they don’t talk about you, it’s probably because you’re not playing.”
(There is some uncertainty this week on the line with OL Austin Jackson kind of dealing with some things and T Terron Armstead. How does that change your guys’ game prep and the possibility of not having one or both of those guys out there?) – “That’s a good question because I think it ties into last week when we’re talking about how do we plan for contingencies on the line? And how do you build continuity? So I think that the reality is you saw this last game, an execution of (Offensive Line Coach) Matt Applebaum working those contingencies that we had talked about, that maybe you guys didn’t see in practice, but we had worked in walkthroughs and our individual (periods). So ultimately, you always want to create consistency upfront through guys playing the position and communicating with each other. And then when injuries occur, you just basically are moving through plan ABCD, all the way up until ‘Ok, we don’t have anyone left at the position.’ So I think this week, we’re operating under one context with a thought that the next couple contingencies or things we have talked about, we do have flexibility with. But ultimately, everything’s a day-by-day situation just because of the way these guys recover, how quickly, how much pride they put into their performance and to the recovery. We’ll basically just make sure that each day, we’re up to date with our training stuff, with (Head Coach) Mike (McDaniel), (General Manager) Chris (Grier), that we understand who will be available, what is our plan from it and we adjust like we did. That’s a credit to Matt (Applebaum) and Mike (Person) and ‘Lem’ (Lemuel Jeanpierre) for working the drill as they did all throughout training camp.”
(You mentioned contingencies. One of them was moving OL Robert Hunt outside during the game last week. I’m curious your thought process of moving a guy’s position versus bringing guy off the bench. I know you talk about continuity, but how do you balance that element of it? Moving a guy outside versus just bringing a guy in to replace another guy?) – “Sure. I think when it comes to lineman, I think it really goes down to what stance you’re playing in. Sometimes it’s easier to stay on your side as opposed to switching across the ball. Like last year in LA, our contingency plan was Matt Feiler was our emergency right tackle if we would have had one or two injuries. So he would have been our left guard to right tackle. We practiced it. We did it more in individual. You hit it on late in the week, just because it’s an opposite stance. I don’t think it’s necessarily is a guy in the game as opposed to a guy out of the game. It’s more of you’re always evaluating what is your best group, your best combination, your best – who’s communicating what, who’s doing what. I think you’re always working multiple variables. It’s a credit to – I learned that lesson from my second week in the NFL, I think. Or second month. It was a long time ago. But I was fortunate enough that I drove around – Howard Mudd was consulting with us at the Saints and I had to pick him up from the airport and drive him around. And he was very blunt and direct – my memories of him. He used to always say ‘Every day, when you’re a coach some day, every day you’re responsible for your group, and knowing that if that guy goes down, what’s your next plan? What are your best five?’ And then also at the same time when you’re making cuts in training camp, who are the guys? So you’re always evaluating your group and knowing them and that’s a lesson I learned and always stuck with me because Aaron Kromer kind of put it into my head too. So in turn, now you make your progression and you go to talking with Matt (Applebaum), we discussed that and he’s really embraced that and he’s always on constantly on it. So I just think ultimately, to answer your question, it’s basically we’re always evaluating what’s the variable going on, and who do we believe are the guys. Sometimes it might not be the combination that would be the most obvious but to us, it’s already been drilled and practiced.”
(Head Coach Mike McDaniel said that the gameplan going in against New England was to get TE Mike Gesicki getting more involved than he was. Will there be a focus on that?) – “Well, I think the some of the touches we were trying to incorporate them on, the game of football played the way out it did. So on the opportunities that we’re trying to get him the ball, something didn’t go the way it allowed us to, to operate with getting him the ball on time and the timing of the play. I think always we’re trying to make sure that we get our guys the matchups and the opportunities that we want in the course of a game. That’s always the hardest thing is just what’s going to happen on that play. I think it takes all 11 to make sure that Tua can get the ball out on time, get it to Mike (Gesicki), get it to Jaylen (Waddle), get it to Tyreek (Hill), whoever it is. But ultimately, we want to get him involved. And obviously, that was a goal of ours and the game just didn’t work out that way.”
(What is your level of confidence in TE Mike Gesicki as a blocker?) – “Yeah, I think he’s been improving since the day he got here. And I think the greatest challenge is just getting those ops in a game. So it’s trying to always constantly put your guys in the best position to maximize their skill set. So I think that we’ve been pleased with what he’s been doing so far. And we’re continue trying to get him opportunities with the ball in the game.”
(You’ve been around FB Alec Ingold obviously a couple years with the Raiders. Not every fullback can go out on a third-and-1 for a downfield passing play like he can. Is there any unique skill that he has different from the stereotypical fullback? What’s appealing about him that makes him an asset?) – “Sure. Yeah, I was fortunate to be there when we drafted Alec in Oakland the year before Vegas. And we had him at the Senior Bowl. Getting to know him, you just understand him as a person and his high school coach was my high school coach. I’m from Wisconsin. So the exposure to who he is as a person kind of shows who he is as a player. So obviously being new into the system, coming off his injury, he’s done a fantastic job. He was a high school quarterback. Guys who were high school quarterbacks have normally a great understanding of the game and they understand more than just their position. So as he’s been now assimilated to the offense, I know Mike (McDaniel) and Eric (Studesville) both feel we’re just scratching the surface on what we’d like to do with him this year. And you saw it at the end of his time in Vegas with what they were asking him to do. You can see him playing all over the field.”
(I noticed this past game that WR Tyreek Hill in particular was used in motion a lot to get him on the move. From a broad picture and schematic standpoint, what’s the advantage for him in particular, getting him on the move when you’re running some of these plays?) – “I think as far as the advantage, it also is more of what is what does that movement do to the defense? And what is their adjustment? I think you deliberately have to – some people might just do things to do things. We look at when we do something, what reaction are we trying to get? Like, what do they do? So whenever we try to do things, we’re trying to attack a component of the defense and we’re using our skill in a way to use their reaction to our advantage. So I think always you’re seeing and studying and you’re realizing, ‘Okay, if we do this, here’s the reaction we anticipate.’ If we don’t get that, then it’s probably this. So now at quarterback, you’re thinking here’s your progression and you can see now how you teach a passing concept. So we try and use everything strategically when we’re moving people. That’s why we move people so often. I don’t think it’s just relegated to this offense. I think that the history between Mike (McDaniel) and his time with Kyle (Shanahan), and their time in San Francisco, wherever they’ve been, is understanding how motion creates challenges to the defense and then using it to our advantage. That’s really what we try and do. It’s not necessarily like, if we did this with him. It’s like if we use him in this capacity, what reaction are we going to get? How can we use that in our attack to build strain on them? I think that’s the overall when we try and do stuff.”
(QB Tua Tagovailoa mentioned yesterday that his timing was off on a couple plays. Do you think the lack of continuity maybe in the offensive line in game one had something to do with that? Or is it just maybe just not seeing the receiver in time?) – “To answer your question, it’s never just as black and white as one thing. A couple times, that did play into it. Other times, we got a reaction from the defense that we didn’t anticipate. I think you look at a couple plays in the game and you realize that you can practice things all week or even when you play an opponent in the opener, you can sometimes over-prepare for certain things and then you run that play more times than you would naturally in the normal course of a week. And then all of a sudden when the variable hits you, you’re like, ‘Oh.’ So I think some of that comes into its Game 1 for us coming together as an offense. We’re learning from it. We’re learning from the reactions. I think sometimes when you’re an outcome-based organization, you just A, you should have done this as opposed to ‘Ok, what happened at that moment? What were you thinking? Why did you do what you did?’ And then you start teaching them their reactions. And then I think as a player, you’re ultimately trying to realize was my action correct? Or does my reaction maybe need tweak or improvement? I think it takes all 11 on offense to be working together and that’s our goal through the course of the season. This should be – and I know Mike (McDaniel) hit it – it’s just constantly, I think, a great message overall for us as coaches and fans. That game should be our worst game because as we work to grow, it’s a race to improve. I mean constantly, you’re worst football you hope is in September and your best ball is coming in December as you’re making your push for January. So I think overall, some timing things would come down to reactions of the defense, maybe who was in there and understanding what we’re trying to do. I think that’s all going to improve as we get more experienced together. And then you can understand the reaction he’s going to have when the defense does this, or when Tua is giving a reaction, off of what he’s saying, you can anticipate this. I think all that growth is going to come, as Mike said, the more we play together as the months go by in the season.”
(The Ravens were in dime personnel almost half the time in the game on Sunday. I was curious, how challenging is it to attack a defense that will stay in that sub package for almost half of the game?) – “I think that you just – every defensive personnel group has complexity to it. You’re just trying to see what is their goal inside of that package. So what are they trying to do? What are they trying to do and how do we attack it? So I think that the big thing was like this last game with New England, around this second half, we kind of were able to see what their plan of attack was and communicate it. Communication improved in the second half. After halftime, we painted a better picture. So I think ultimately, when you’re getting whatever personnel grouping, whether it’s dime, base, nickel – whatever the defense is, I think if we have an understanding of what that means and how we’re trying to attack it, that helps us as an offense. So I think that overall, we just have to improve in our consistency and communication and us as coaches delivering the information to help our guys know what they’re trying to do.”
