George Godsey – August 23, 2021
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Monday, August 23, 2021
Co-Offensive Coordinator/Tight Ends George Godsey
(Good to see the growth of the tight ends under your old job which is still part of your new job and how effective they’ve all been. Is it possible do you think to play four tight ends in an NFL regular season game because the question is going to be with TE Hunter Long obviously, can playing time be created for him or will that be a challenge no matter where Hunter is in his progress…?) – “It’s a position where there’s got to be a lot of flexibility and so whether there are injuries, a guy gets dinged up, like to use another guy at a certain position; they’ve all got to be ready to go. And my experiences coaching that position, it’s hard to keep all of them healthy through a normal season, including preseason, which it’s been a physical preseason. We’re going to get to that point in the regular season and if we can use them as many times as we can, we will – including goal-line, short-yardage. So the more they can absorb, then the more opportunity they give themselves to get on the field.”
(It’s been reinforced less in this camp – the value of the skill of RB Salvon Ahmed and RB Myles Gaskin as receivers out of the backfield. Is that something as co-coordinator you hope to exploit this year?) – “Those guys have a good skillset receiving the football and when you throw it to them, we don’t always just want to throw a checkdown and if they can get out there and do some things that maybe a receiver can do but go against a linebacker or go against a player that we feel is a matchup advantage, then we want to utilize that. It takes a lot of time though because a lot of those routes when the plays get first put in are in the backfield so they’ve got to spend some extra time with the quarterbacks getting those routes outside – what we call extended routes – getting the chemistry with the quarterback.”
(There have been so many areas we’ve seen improvement in QB Tua Tagovailoa from last year to this. What’s the first thing that comes to your mind if I ask you where is the most improvement?) – “He’s been in communication with each of the position groups. You can’t play the position without communicating to each one of those players on how they either run a certain route or what he’s expecting them to run or where to be and that takes a lot of conversation. And we’re here a lot so he’s been able to jump out and ask those questions which are going to help his anticipation when the ball is snapped.”
(I wanted to ask you your thoughts on how the transition has gone for C/G Michael Deiter. Obviously second year at center, but the first time really playing and G/T Robert Hunt to right guard. Have those gone smooth? Seamlessly? Are you guys pleased with those two?) – “Both those guys are smart players and it’s another position where there’s only really eight of them active on game day so they’ve got to have some flexibility and it’s nice for Michael (Deiter) to have played guard for a year now knowing what it takes from a center with that communication. Same thing with Rob (Hunt) with the guard and tackle. So all of that works together. I wouldn’t say it’s an easy transition for anybody at any level or at this level for any position, but those guys have done a good job of trying to stay ahead of all the install.”
(And T Austin Jackson – how would you assess how he’s done in the two preseason games and camp?) – “That position – left tackle – at this level is one of the hardest in sports and it’s one of the hardest on the line. You’re going against a premier pass rusher on every snap and he knows it’s one play at a time. We’ve got to make sure we help both sides out with chips and tight end presence, but Austin (Jackson) has been nothing but a pleasantry out there at tackle because he knows the offense, he run blocks well, he’s aggressive. He enjoys being out here every day. He’s doing a good job, too, of communicating with the guards, who’s playing left guard and we know that there’s been some movement there so that’s part of his leadership on the line.”
(What does G Solomon Kindley give you on the line now that obviously he had the chance to start Saturday night? His presence gives you what?) – “He’s got some experience as a rookie playing there a lot of snaps and then he also is a run blocker – north, south, downhill, inside run blocker. He can pull, he can double-team a zone block and he’s got, like I said, familiarity with going against some pretty top-level players last year. So again, all experience helps at that position.”
(Two last things for me. With T Liam Eichenberg, when you and Offensive Line Coach Lemuel Jeanpierre and Co-Offensive Coordinator/Running Backs Eric Studesville and Head Coach Brian Flores are in a room – I know obviously you think Liam can play guard and tackle – do you have a sense of where he might be better as an NFL player?) – “It’s the same thing with the amount of guys on a roster on game day. He’s going to have to play multiple and learn multiple spots and based on the dynamics in that room, whoever is active come the first week of the season, which we’ve got some time, there needs to be some flexibility to be able to play inside and outside. We know that that’s a hard role and as each week goes on – going against another opponent this past week playing another spot – it’s going to help him grow and we want that to be fast as possible.”
(All of your NFL experience coaching in Houston and Detroit and here – can you remember being around a position group that’s going to require tougher decisions than receiver with this team?) – “It’s a good group. The thing that jumped out to my mind right away is just how many guys have caught an NFL touchdown or caught an NFL pass. A lot of times there are guys who have never played an NFL game that are battling for a spot and how there’s a lot of experience at that position. We’ve had some guys that have missed some practices, but we’ve also had some guys that we know can contribute at that spot. It’s going to be hard and those guys have done a good job making it hard. That’s what their job is, but they’ve all created value for themselves and it’s going to be a tough decision.”
(I wanted to ask you about QB Tua Tagovailoa – the progress he’s made – obviously he had a great game this past Saturday. So just the progress you’ve seen from him from the start of camp through these two preseason games.) – “I’d say the biggest thing that we’ve noticed is the communication from quarterback to each position group. We think that there’s got to be very fluid conversations within our unit, offensive line, quarterback, quarterback-tight end, quarterback-receiver and backs. We utilize the backs a bunch of different ways along with the tight ends. He’s made strides from that perspective and it’s not easy to do all the time and point out when you’re right or when you’re wrong and that’s what we asked him to do at the start of camp and he’s done a good job at it and that’s what has enhanced his play-to-play efficiency.”
(With the tight ends we saw TE Mike Gesicki do Gesicki things that big catch over the middle. Are you also seeing progress in his blocking for example? I know that’s always kind of what people say about him – he needs to improve in that area?) – “There’s a lot of things that Mike (Gesicki) does well and there’s some things that he knows he can improve on and just like every other tight end in the league, too. So we’re working on that day-to-day, but when he’s in there on third down and we need a catch, he needs to get open and catch the ball. He knows that’s our standard in that room and he’s working his tail off. He missed some days with the COVID situation, which to his credit he came back, worked hard to get back in shape and we’re seeing things back where we know them as.”
(What do you think of just the overall depth of that group – the tight ends?) – “We have depth at that position just because through the course of a normal regular season, it’s hard to get through multiple games back-to-back with all the contact, the reps that those guys play, without injuries taking place and so the more we can have at that position that really can be flexible, play run and pass, then we feel comfortable going into each game. Hunter (Long) is catching up as far as his learning. Obviously it’s his first camp and had a little bit of setback there, but he’s back out there playing. We saw some good reps from him in the game, so the more he can do, the more we keep challenging each player in that room to improve their skillset.”
(What do you think about the structure of the offense and how – you talked tight end depth – but as far as the whole offense goes, how do you think you guys are equipped to be able to make that week-to-week adjustment to gameplan for instance like opponent as opposed to “this is what we do so we’re going to do and nothing else is going to change that?”) – “We don’t really think the latter. We don’t really think that way. We do have some core plays that we believe in, but we want to utilize all of our talent that we have on offense. So running backs, there’s a different type of skillset with inside, outside, versatile, being able to do both, protection. Then from the tight end perspective, there’s a bunch of different players there and then in the receiver room, there are some guys who have got to get healthy that we’ve got to catch up from a chemistry standpoint, but that’s what the NFL is. Played a lot of games where maybe the best receiver didn’t practice all week because he was nursing an injury and then goes out there and performs. That’s kind of what we expect from those guys. They’re professionals. And then we expect to put those guys in the best position from a coaching standpoint to succeed on game day.”
(How do you think QB Tua Tagovailoa’s skillset really accentuates that approach?) – “It’s got to be versatile from being able to check the ball down when it’s not there and get the ball in the hands of the backs or notice a matchup in a man-to-man coverage, whether it’s a tight end or a running back, and being able to know the skillset of each receiver. They’re all different. Some are tall, some are short, some are pretty fast and quick and others are good contested ball receivers. We’ve got to know when to put the ball up in the air for the contested ball receiver and we’ve got to know when the receiver’s going to separate from a route runner if you will.”
(We saw the other night QB Tua Tagovailoa had RB Salvon Ahmed motion out and the linebacker takes a shot at him. It didn’t go complete but it was a good throw. How much does he have kind of autonomy at the line to make that throw, make that check to say “I’m going to go to that guy” or just make changes at the line?) – “The quarterback’s got the ball in his hands every play so we give him the ability to make the best decision for us and for the team on that situation so if he felt that matchup was what he wanted, which we were able to hit that practice – we don’t fault him for making that decision. We’d like to see it caught, but we’re going to keep working at that to make sure that the next opportunity we get at that we hit it home.”
(TE Mike Gesicki and the rest of those of the guys in the room try to fleece you for more targets yet?) – “I think there’s a lot of guys that are trying to get as many targets as possible. We’ve got one ball so unfortunately it’s only one at a time there.”
(I’m curious the last – I guess the last couple months of last year, you did a little bit more with QB Tua Tagovailoa after Robby Brown went down. What did those maybe two months do for you and Tua’s relationship I guess building until now?) – “It was just more communication, figuring out maybe how he was seeing things and what his key was before the snap and what it was post-snap and what he’s looking at during the play. Sometimes the more you can get on the same page of what he’s seeing – he can correct it or work off of it. So that was big. Then the situational work just for a rookie, that’s hard. We’re trying to get that early as far as making sure that the situation that he’s watching – maybe he’s not playing them, but he’s learning from the other quarterbacks, especially the veterans.”
(You mentioned situations. I think if I remember at this last game, there was a two-minute drive and at the end of a series that was something that I felt like last year maybe he might not have been as advanced on that. But this year, at least on that drive, QB Tua Tagovailoa had the comfort to lead the team and know what he’s doing.) – “It was well-executed. We were able to get a chunk to get us close to field-goal range and then get a ball out of bounds and then get potential points before the half; but you’re right, that’s not easy to do. There’s some things defensively that they know what’s about to happen so it makes it that much harder. But we thought it was well-executed from an offensive standpoint putting us in a position to get points before half.”
(I guess looking on the outside, we only see what we see; but where have you maybe seen QB Tua Tagovailoa’ biggest jump? Is it situational stuff? Is it something else that you’ve seen?) – “We were talking earlier about just the communication from room to room. You have to drop the shield as a quarterback and you have to admit to when you’re wrong and basically you’ll get the praise when you’re right; but the players respect that. The other thing is that those players need to understand what he’s looking at, too. So whether it’s tight ends or receivers, if he expects those players to run a route at a certain depth and be in a certain spot versus a certain coverage, then the tight ends, receivers, the backs – they all need to hear that. So he’s been able to do that, go into each room, have a lot more of a face-to-face communication, not necessarily a coach coming in there and saying, ‘Hey, this is what the quarterback wants.’ So that part of his game has taken a huge step.”
(Sounds like QB Tua Tagovailoa is taking ownership of the team and the offense.) – “It is. You’re judged on how you perform and in order to perform at your highest level, everybody’s got to be on the same page. He understands that and I think he expects the players that are executing that play to see it through his eyes.”
(I know that the team got some wide receivers back and also added some in free agency and the draft, but as a person who’s still a tight ends coach and along with co-offensive coordinator, what can you say about the value of having multiple tight ends and being able to put multiple tight ends on the field to kind of keep a defense honest in terms of where they have to defend the run?) – “Usually a receiver is in the game to catch a ball and run a route and the running backs are usually in there to run the ball; so when you’re talking about the skill makeup of the five skill guys, those guys pretty much define what they’re doing. The tight end has a role that’s both run blocking and receiving that can merge both of those aspects of run and pass, play-action and create a lot of more difficulty for a defense to prepare for that. You don’t want to have all tight ends out there. You don’t want to have none out there from our perspective and having a good depth in that room provides us the ability to stay fresh, be healthy – if one guy is down, another guy can take that role. But also give a lot of run-pass conflict to the defense so that it’s not just all their run defense players in the game or it’s all their pass defense players in the game. We want to make them play that game a little bit.”
