Frank Smith – September 19, 2024
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Thursday, September 19, 2024
Offensive Coordinator Frank Smith
(Some of the pundits who have to fill time on these evening shows have said maybe the best thing for QB Skylar Thompson is if you and Head Coach Mike McDaniel basically limit your offense to a certain number of plays, a percentage of your offense, just the things he does best, don’t use perhaps as much as you would with QB Tua Tagovailoa. Do you agree with that philosophy? Or do you think you need to go into the game with everything available for QB Skylar Thompson that you would use for QB Tua Tagovailoa and make it available – not just available but use it?) – “I think every week, that’s your goal as a coach is you try and put your players in the best position possible to execute a gameplan to be successful. Each week, the opponent is going to give you certain areas that you want to attack, so our job each week is just to take what is the defense, how do they operate, how do we use our players to attack their defense and then put them in positions to be successful. So I think ultimately every week that’s what we do, regardless of the quarterback. I think it’s everyone – where tight ends are, where halfbacks are, where the receivers are, what are we doing with the o-line. I think every week that’s our challenge to do that.”
(So no dumbing down of the offense is needed, just to use one of those clichés, not the best phrase but…) – “I wouldn’t say that’s a cliché that we ever look at; we just look at each week, we’re going to do what we need to do to be successful, put our players in position to be successful to execute what we want to do to attack the defense.”
(In what areas would you say QB Skylar Thompson has improved since you first met him?) – “Well, he dresses the same so attire hasn’t changed, haircut is similar. (laughter) But overall, I think it’s just kind of knowing yourself, knowing how you want to play, really when you get the opportunity to play as a rookie and then go through last year and you get to observe, the biggest thing I think in all life for all of us is when you get perspective. So when you go from playing and hear, you get to see a lot and you get to have conversations and dialogues, so now you get to apply it again. I just think his really understanding of himself, how he needs to play to be successful and knowing his teammates, knowing how to communicate to them and reach them, I just think overall you grow. The hardest year as an NFL player is your rookie year. Same thing as when you’re a freshman in college; you don’t know where anything is or where I need to go. Each year, things start to make a lot more sense and I think that’s been Skylar (Thompson). He had a great camp and really excited for this Sunday for him and all the guys to get out there and play.”
(We saw T Terron Armstead battling last week. When you make the decision whether he’s going to play this week, do you leave it mostly up to Terron or do the doctor’s have a bigger say? And do you consider the long-term having him in December also into that decision for Sunday?) – “I think the biggest factor, especially with a veteran and a guy like Terron (Armstead) – he knows himself better than anyone. So you naturally listen to the players giving you the feedback, how he’s feeling and all that, where he’s at for the game, and I think ultimately, you’re working that process with a player because everyone else will have an opinion on certain things, but player has got to be the one that’s got to go out there and play. So with Terron, I have the utmost confidence with him and the communication process all the way to the game.”
(When you’re seeing the shift of obviously QB Skylar Thompson came in at the end of the game against the Bills, but did you see a shift now knowing that he’s that he’s the starter? Is there anything that you’ve told him personally? I know it’s cheesy but saying like, “You got this,” because it is a big change from “Hey, you’re going from backup to now starting the next four games or so.”) – “What always happens is is that everyone is always giving those messaging and stuff like that, it’s just what are the things that you’ve learned, for me in 15 years in the NFL, that you can help someone with. But ultimately, the biggest thing is you’ve just got to trust yourself and trust your process – it’s gotten you here. You can’t all of a sudden (say), ‘Now, that I’m in this position, I’m going to do this.’ That’s why it’s so important for everyone that’s on the roster and coaching as well every day you treat it like it’s the most important thing, each moment, and then if you put that deliberate intent to each moment of what you do in everything, therefore what changes when you change the environment around you. Because if you’re in the meeting with that intensity every day as you’re the backup of your playing the moment like you’re the starter, now all of a sudden it changes and you’ve been already taking the reps for it. I think just biggest thing is trust your process and just knowing that it’s not you versus the Seahawks – it’s the Miami Dolphins, it’s all of us. I think that’s the most exciting thing is when you play a game on Thursday the way we did, we’re excited to play this game with all of us together.”
(How do you plan on preparing for the sound in that stadium?) – “It’s a loud place? (laughter) Back there when I was with the Saints, we played there in 2013 and we played there on Monday night, too. At night, it was something else. We work through that in training camp and we have our ways that we know we can effectively operate in noise. It’ll be a good challenge. Like all the places on the road, every place is challenging with the noise, so it’s stuff that we’ve been working on and we’ll make sure we’re ready for it on Sunday.”
(Yesterday, the NFL announced the modern era nominees for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. On the list was Wide Receivers/Pass Game Specialist Wes Welker. Could you make the case for Wes Welker being in the Pro Football Hall of Fame?) – “Yeah, tough, reliable – his career, man, it was really awesome to watch him. Especially to kind of take his role and really build upon setting the standard in many ways for slot receiver play for so long. You watch how he ran routes and you’re still teaching off that tape. Just natural instincts to leverage, recognizing space, communication with the quarterback, all things that he applies as a coach. Yeah, totally could see it happening and hopefully it does for him.”
(Do you think Wide Receivers/Pass Game Specialist Wes Welker would get open if called upon to play slot receiver on Sunday?) – “(laughter) I think so. Man to man, vice, that might be challenging, but zone I think he definitely knows where they’re going to be and how to find the space.”
(RB De’Von Achane went into the game as questionable and wound up being sort of your workhorse back. Now I know RB Raheem Mostert was out of the game, but what are you seeing out of De’Von and how much more do you see the team leaning on him as the season goes on in terms of him earning opportunities?) – “You talk about a guy from his rookie year to his second year, the growth, the understanding, knowing himself, really having a tremendous offseason. So everything he’s done so far really has been a testament to him and his work with (Associate Head Coach/Running Backs) Eric (Studesville) and the extra time he’s put in. I mean, it’s just his natural instincts, feel as a runner. When you’re able to now expand upon certain things – because really at (Texas) A&M, you could see his receiving skills too. I mean he made – it wasn’t as much but you could see he could see the ball in the air and he could go find it. So it was on his college tape, and his ability as a runner was on his college tape, so really, it’s like him now knowing how he needs to play, how he fits in the offense and his timing and his understanding of stuff, and I think that all goes into his process and his work ethic. So yeah, I’m very excited with what he’s done and really look forward to Sunday and the rest of the year and seeing how he keeps growing throughout the whole season.”
(Regarding OL Aaron Brewer, I don’t know how to judge offensive line play, but I think that I’ve seen really good things from him at center. What have you seen from two games from Brewer?) – “Yeah, same thing – the athleticism, the range, the bend and coil, his run blocking. He’s extremely quick out of his stance; his ability to man reach and get on level two, his range in pass protection, working with others. I think it plays into a lot of the guys that we have; when you have versatility on the line, it gives you perspective. Clearly, you can tell I value that, because the hardest thing is when you get put in one thing, ‘I do one thing only, one that,’ it shapes your mind a certain way. But the minute you have to do multiplicity, ‘Oh, this is how it fits in,’ especially for a center once you know how the guys next to you play. In high school, I played left tackle and then played center in college and left guard in college, playing across the line – it helps broaden you and you understand, ‘Oh, OK,’ why that’s important or how I help here or how I need to block something to help my teammate. So I think that’s what he really understands, and I think his athleticism is pretty clear on tape too.”
(This morning, I think Mel Kiper may have lost his mind calling for the banishment of the two-deep defense. I don’t think there’s a team in the league that would benefit from that more than the Dolphins. Your thoughts on all the two-deep that you guys have seen? I think the Bills were in Cover 2 like 38 percent of the time, you saw a Zone defense like 80 percent of the time on Thursday. What does this team need to do to crack that Zone defense?) – “I think again, it’s us collectively executing each play and time out together, because football is a game of – there’s 11 guys that got to operate together at the same time to get something accomplished. One guy may do something great, but you still got to count on everyone doing it collectively together. I think that at times we’re operating well and other times where it’s like – we understand why, where we need to clean up things. You’ll get certain things until you’re able to build consistently to make them get out of it. That’s why this week has been great for us, great learning lesson last week that can use yesterday and today to keep getting better on, so on Sunday we can learn from what we needed to improve on from Buffalo.”
(People do say playing two-deep against this offense is the golden key to shut you guys down. Is that fair or do you think no, it’s more on what you’ve been doing?) – “I don’t think it’s ever really just – it’s never as simple as ‘it’s because of this, therefore it’s that.’ I think it’s more of, ‘OK, if they’re doing this, well, we need to make sure if we’re operating well and connected, we’re doing what we need to do.’ So I think that’s the biggest thing from the game is collectively us just making sure we’re operating well together and whatever the defense is doing, if we understand what we’re trying to do so we can maximize what play we’re doing as we’re attacking it.”
(I think TE Jonnu Smith has nine touches and off the top of my head, some pretty creative ways. What has he added to the offense so far?) – “It was the same thing he said when he came in in his visit in free agency; he understands his fit inside of the pieces we had and how a complementary piece he can be obviously with the rest of the skill. So using him in different areas to get the ball fast and more down the field and to use his run after the catch and his physicality. I mean that’s just one thing with him when you watch his career; it’s like you get the ball in his hands, he’s violently going forward and fast.”
(There’s a popular adage I’ve heard constantly from Dolphins fans that this offense is so good that anybody can run it. I personally don’t agree with that. How do you feel about that assessment?) – “Well, let’s go find a youth football team and go to work on it, see if it’ll happen. Oh I did, last spring. The other spring I went and coached my son’s youth football team and we scored 35 points. (laughter) To me, nothing’s ever as simple as. I would love to see certain people try and do everything, because for us to operate the way we need to do, it’s a process to get to where we go. And it starts in spring, it goes all the way through training camp and as guys come in and come out, it’s a process to get everyone connected on the same page. Because whatever offense you run, the biggest thing is the communication and the execution and understanding of what you’re trying to do and what you’re trying to be.”
