George Godsey – August 9, 2021
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Monday, August 9, 2021
Co-Offensive Coordinator/Tight Ends George Godsey
(How would you describe your experience of dealing with COVID?) – “It’s just part of what’s going on. I’m just happy to be back here and happy to be going through the grind with everybody else as opposed to remote.”
(You’re vaccinated correct? So were you experiencing symptoms?) – “Yeah. I don’t think we need to get into all of these discussions about COVID really right now with us. It’s kind of football, with all due respect, kind of where I’m going to take this conversation.”
(But just being able to get back with the team?) – “Yeah, I’m thrilled about that. I missed these guys. I told them they look a lot better on video than they do in person. (laughter) It’s good to kind of get back into the camp mode; which we’re trying to spend a lot of time together as a staff and then obviously as a unit, and build that type of relationship that gets us through a long season.”
(What kind of indicators do you get with the offense in joint practices with the Bears?) – “Well, this will be good practice against another unit – another strong defense. We have a lot of respect for their defense. For us, it’s applying our rules, going against a different scheme and making sure we follow those rules because we’ll see some things that are unexpected that they’re getting ready for for the season. It’s a good test. I know our guys are going to be excited to see a new group, too.”
(As a coaching staff, how are you going to get used to this whole co-offensive coordinators? Do you need the preseason games to see how this is going to work exactly? Do you have a plan?) – “As an offense, we do everything as a group. We just got done meeting with each other. We’ve been in there for a couple of hours. We take our 30 minute break to go eat and then we’re back in there. We look at it as one big family in there anyway. Whether it’s co-coordinator, tight ends coach, quarterbacks coach, receivers coach, line coach, assistant, those guys have voices too and we think that everybody’s voice should be listened to. Then at some point, we make a decision.”
(Somebody has to call the plays. So is preseason going to help you guys figure all of that stuff out?) – “Yeah, that will be part of it. I think we have a plan for the whole season, and that’s really kind of what we’re getting ready for in training camp. It’s hard to just say ‘this particular game is going to be exactly like this,’ because we’ll do our own checks and balances to make sure that’s exactly how we want it, and then we’ll go from there.”
(What do you want to see from QB Tua Tagovailoa over the next three weeks?) – “He’s continuing to improve. His leadership is improving. His communication is improving. Not just on the field but off the field. He knows that every day is a chance to get better and he’s done that. There’s certain parts of his game that we want to continue to improve. He knows that we’ve never reached our ceiling. That’s kind of the way we look at it. So we’ll go travel to Chicago, we’ll see some different stuff, we’ll have to make some corrections I’m sure and then we’ll go from there.”
(Do you notice a difference in QB Tua Tagovailoa’s arm and the way he’s getting the ball out?) – “I think a lot of it – there are some positives that we’re seeing that we can apply … I think right now there’s some parts of our offense that we’re checking to see if that’s something sustainable or if we need to do something to improve on to help Tua, to help the offense out. He’s throwing the ball well. We chart everything so we’ll stay on top of that.”
(Could you sort of go over the differences in responsibilities in your new role and how you’ve handled that?) – “I think for each year, you build your own role. Eric (Studesville) and myself are in a position where at some point we’re going to have to make a decision on if this is the direction we want to go as an offense. But we’re continuing to try to put more on each other’s plate in that room as an offense – not just myself and not just Eric. It’s always a process and we’re going to try to arrive at a point here pretty soon right before the season.”
(Can you speak to the development of the tight ends in this camp and what you’ve seen?) – “Yeah, we’ve got a lot of them out there and they’re all getting a lot of reps. That’s really what this time is for – building a base in the run game, blocking, communication with the edge players with protection and blocking and then getting out there and getting open. They’ve all had their plusses and minuses. We’ve got to keep continuing to grow because there’s a good group there that’s flexible and versatile and that’s how we want it. We want to be able to use everybody in the same similar role.”
(We’ve all observed QB Tua Tagovailoa speaking to his teammates after practices and that’s an excellent example of how he’s stepped up in the leadership area. Can you kind of take us behind the scenes and give us another not-so-obvious example of how he’s exhibiting leadership with his team?) – “I think when we speak as coaches, we give the 30,000-foot view on how we feel like the play should be run and how we want it executed. But ultimately that player that is running that particular route may run it a little bit different than another player. So he’s taken that to go ahead and talk to those individual players and how they run it. Right now it may be DeVante (Parker) or somebody that may have not repped that play; but he’s capable of running the play so there’s got to be communication that can continue to grow to make that play work. That’s what happens – the players make the plays work, so they have to go ahead and take ownership and take it as their own and grow from there.”
(When the locker room was open, I learned something I didn’t know – this was two years ago of course – that QB Ryan Fitzpatrick used to drop in on the linebackers. I didn’t know that and it’s probably more common than I think and I should have known that; but how does a player become a leader – not just on offense but eventually, like Fitz, of the whole team. Someone respected by everybody – every coach, every player, offense, defense, kicker. How does one do that?) – “That’s a very complicated question just because leadership is partially earned, too. When you’re young, there are a lot of steps for a young player that you have to step over to be finally what we envision. It’s not just Tua (Tagovailoa). It’s a lot of our young players. We ask for a lot of those guys to be leaders at their own position too. I think it’s one day at a time for him and those strides that you’re talking about, speaking to the team, those aren’t easy to do after a bad practice or an average practice. It’s easy to do after a good practice. But we know in this game there are ups and downs and he’s going to have to confront his teammates on how he saw things, how we can as a unit get better, and we appreciate what he’s doing after practice in regards to that.”
(You and I think Co-Offensive Coordinator/Running Backs Eric Studesville and maybe Head Coach Brian Flores have talked about how the offensive playbook is like a living document. I don’t remember if that was your phrase … But to what extent have you guys been able to gain a lot of input from the quarterback? How much is your starting quarterback involved in choosing what’s going to end up in there?) – “It’s hard to run a play without making sure that not only everybody understands the design of the play but that they believe in it and they know the ins and outs and can make the play work like we’ve talked about. So we run things by the quarterback and we like their feedback. Sometimes if the feedback isn’t necessarily 100 percent positive, we can ask him ‘what part of this play do you not understand?’ And that’s where we see each other as colleagues. We want to go out there and win together. That’s our main goal. So when we can speak together, speak the same language and really understand what we’re trying to do, then that will be the biggest benefit to those plays.”
(So my coverage area now is Palm Beach and QB Jacoby Brissett is a Palm Beach kid, so I can’t get enough Brissett. Is there anything you can share on Brissett that’s sort of been surprising to you or has especially pleased you?) – “I mean Jacoby is as good of a professional to be around, regardless of just being the quarterback. He’s a good communicator. He comes into practice and work every day with a great attitude. We love him. He’s good for Tua (Tagovailoa). He’s had some game experience. He’s won in this league. This is a hard league and he knows that. He takes his job seriously and at that position, it’s a good example to set. I can’t say enough good things about Jacoby.”
(You’ve probably been asked about this a little bit before but in general, the co-coordinator alignment, your thoughts on how that’s working out so far?) – “Yeah, it’s kind of similar to the spring when we talked about this. Eric (Studesville) and I have been together here for the last couple of years, so this is going on our third year. We know each other very well. We talk a ton. We do everything – whether it’s co-coordinator, quarterbacks coach, receivers – we do everything together. So when we’re in there, everybody’s got a voice. If they see something, we tell them to speak up and we’ll address it. At some point, Eric and I will come to an agreement on what direction we need to head and obviously Coach Flores helps with that too. To us, it’s been fun. We really enjoy working with each other a lot. I think his phone rings and my phone rings a little bit more with each other calling. Like I said, that’s been pretty fun.”
(When did you first meet Co-Offensive Coordinator/Running Backs Eric Studesville? Was it before you were on the staff together?) – “Well, I’ve known of Eric and when I came here, he was already here. He’s great. This is when we first started getting to know each other.”
(Are you going to be upstairs or downstairs?) – “We have a plan for that; and it’s preseason so hopefully that original plan sticks. If not, then we’ll make adjustments. We’re not set. I’ve been upstairs; I’ve been downstairs. We’ll kind of take that in stride.”
(Where will you be Saturday for example?) – “We’ve got to get there first. Once we get there, I think it will be pretty easy to tell if I’m up or down during the game. (laughter) We’ll all keep that anticipation going. I’m sure that’ll grow.”
(Something I asked Co-Offensive Coordinator/Running Backs Eric Studesville, and I want to get your viewpoint on this, there was a while ago where RB Myles Gaskin was talking about the playbook and he talked about how different it is from a player’s perspective, at least. When you and Studesville sat down to put this playbook together, what was the one or two primary objectives for you, outside of the obvious that you have to score points?) – “We’ve got a lot of talented players but they’re different and they all have different skillsets. That includes the line and their blocking. That includes the quarterback. That includes tight ends, receivers. Obviously the backs. To get that all together into a cohesive offense, that takes a lot of time. We’re still looking through practice to make sure that we have designed the right things. If not, we’ve got to change it. We’re a fluid group that kind of changes on the fly if we need to. I would say that the playbook is always working. We call it a working playbook. We’re not just going to take out the page and run that play. If it needs to get changed, we’ll change it. That’s, to me, the fun part of football; and the growing, every year you grow as a coach. We’re continuing to do it this year.”
(I assume it’s all – the playbook is not printed at all anymore, right? It’s all electronic?) – “Well, it’s both.”
(It’s both? So if you change it you literally have to tear a page up?) – “Yeah. We’ll tear it out. We’ll re-type. We’re both good at the computer. We’ll get those documents set. If not, we’ve got one of us that can do it.”
(When you talk about trying to tailor the playbook towards guys with different skillsets, does that mean the playbook may have been a certain size before and it’s a different size now?) – “I think it’s as big as it needs to be to make sure that everybody’s got a piece of it. What we don’t want to do is live in one world with a play, and the design needs to be – big picture design so if there’s an injury or a different grouping, those plays will either work with that grouping or we’ll move on to another scheme or another mode.”
(So is it bigger?) – “Oh yeah, it’s big.”
(Is there a danger in getting it too big?) – “No question. There’s always a fine line. The perfect answer for the perfect playbook is always told at the end of the year. Up until that point, we’re going to fine-tune each day, each practice, and make sure that we’re trending in the positive direction.”
(I wanted to ask you about the RPO offense and why it has taken root so much in the NFL and I guess all levels of football. Why is it being utilized so much?) – “Really, the rules of the game. If they allow a throw to be made with the linemen not getting to a certain distance downfield, then we’re taking advantage of the rules of the game. There’s a point where the penalty gets flag because maybe the linemen are downfield, so that part of it is a work in progress. But it’s hard to put a player who is in a run conflict also in a pass conflict defensively, and make sure that they’re taking care of both run and pass. That’s kind of where the RPO game is starting to trend in a more frequent level. A lot of times it’s been play-action where you hope to get the linebackers to come up on run and then you throw behind their heads. These guys are getting pretty good at seeing the difference between run and pass, so that’s where that mode is continuing to trend. Now there’s some things that defenses can do to take away from that. It’s our job to kind of see what’s going on from a scheme standpoint and then work the other way.”
(How much is the jet sweep an important element of that in terms of occupying a defender?) – “That’s part of it too. Sometimes against zone it gets handled differently than versus man. A lot of things are not seen on tape from an offensive perspective as far as how they’re going to handle it. That part of it is a little bit of an unknown sometimes to an offense, where we have to make sure we do enough studying where we know the possible options our defense may have to defend it and then adjust from there, if we’re going to use the jet sweep. It’s another element. A lot of times those guys have some speed, you just flip them the ball and they run around the edge. What we’re trying to do is have the defense defend both vertically and horizontally on each play and not just one or the other. Then you’ve got a lot of options offensively.”
(With the quarterback, what goes into that decision? It’s a split second where you have to decide hand it off or throw? Is it the reading before the play?) – “Some of it is before the play and some of it is post-snap. There’s some different versions. It takes a quick decision-maker and a quick thrower or a quick release from the quarterback too. Some of those are learned a lot earlier based on what colleges are doing right now. High school kids are doing it. Some of that stuff that can continue to carry on helps the quarterback. We think the quarterback has to be very diverse. At some point, one mode will get taken away by a lot of these teams. There’s some great coaches out there. We know all about them. So we have to have multiple modes to be able to attack the defense and not really just live one way or the other.”
(We saw the spread offense come from college to the NFL. Now the RPOs, is it coming from high school to college to the NFL?) – “Yeah, everybody likes good play. Good play works at any level. We’ll take a good play. Like I said, some of those are old-school plays. Some of those are new-school plays. We’ve got a mix of all of them.”
