George Godsey – December 28, 2021
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Tuesday, December 28, 2021
Co-Offensive Coordinator/TEs George Godsey
(Yesterday or last night, staying true to the entire season, you found some really creative ways to get WR Jaylen Waddle the ball. I was just curious as you look back at all the film from this year, how have you seen defenses adjust to covering Jaylen?) – “He’s definitely created some positive plays for us by getting open at all spots on the field. We know that going into each game there’s going to be a plan for him and then it’s we want to make sure that the defense has to adjust. We try to find as many different ways as we can to get him the ball. Inside, outside. Last night it was from the backfield. We try to do as much as possible.”
(It seems like your play calling, especially in the red zone, is uber-creative, whether it’s rolling QB Tua Tagovailoa out or whatnot. When you reach that red area, what goes through your mind as a play caller? Obviously, it’s a more confined space but what are you thinking of in terms of dialing up the best possible plays to get in the end zone?) – “Yeah, that’s it. Just trying to find some type of edge to get in there. We know that those four points, the difference between a field goal and a touchdown, are really big. The more you can pop it in there for a touchdown, the more pressure it puts on the opponent.”
(I know you try to exploit the most favorable matchups every week. But with WR DeVante Parker last night, were there plays that you had called that just didn’t materialize because of QB Tua Tagovailoa audibling or how the defense lined up? Would you like to have gotten him the ball a little more? Does it ultimately not matter because you won?) – “Yeah, I think all of our guys are happy with the victory. We’d certainly like to spread the ball out of we could as evenly as possible. There’s probably some plays that we left on the call sheet that we could have called. The way the game transpired, we kind of played it a certain way.”
(At running back, of course a little bit of a change in terms of how carries were allocated with most of them going to RB Duke Johnson and RB Phillip Lindsay. I know that’s no indictment of RB Myles Gaskin who has played a lot of snaps, but were there things you saw from Phillip and his one game a couple of weeks ago and practice after he came back from the ankle that made you guys want to give him a more expanded role last night?) – “That group is a real cohesive group and they work well together. They’re not really, they don’t really care who gets the ball. At some point they all have their roles and we expect that whole group to perform. Sometimes they’re the same, sometimes they’re different. In last night’s game, it ended up being a little bit more of Phillip, a little bit more of Duke, but that doesn’t mean that Myles’ chair isn’t there. Probably kind of similar to DeVante question.”
(Last night was a little bit more of a conservative approach given what the defense had going but I wanted to ask you about the sequence where things kind of opened up in the third quarter, back-to-back plays with the deep pass to WR Mack Hollins and then going with the flea flicker right after. What opened up there to be able to make those calls and convert those plays back-to-back?) – “it was a good drive by our unit. We were backed up a little bit and it ended up being an 80-plus yard drive. There were a couple of plays there in a row and then a good execution down there in the low red. We call plays to win the game so sometimes they end up being a little bit more explosive as everybody says than others. We felt good about the way we were playing as a team and ultimately, the defense played well and was able to keep them out of the endzone.”
(With this quick turnaround, your early impressions on this Titans defense and what is important to stress to QB Tua Tagovailoa and the rest of the guys?) – “I would say everybody has got to jump on this film pretty soon. This is a good defense. They know what they are doing. They are sound. They are obviously playing well at all three levels from level one with the d-line, level two with the linebackers or the nickel and level three with the secondary. These guys play well together, they communicate well, they’ve got very quick reactions to what they see and they’re in the right spots. We’re going to need to execute for four quarters here for this game.”
(What can you say about WR Mack Hollins and his knack for making big plays with limited opportunities? What can you say about that and is there a part of you, I know there is only one ball, but is there part of you that wishes he had more opportunities?) – “He’s found himself in a role where he’s helping on all four downs. He’s helping in the special teams area. He did that last night and then from down to down with a lot of the misdirection, motions. Those receivers end up shuffling in and out. They all have their role on normal downs and on third down and at some point, like it happened last night, somebody is going to need to make a play that the defense maybe honing in on Jaylen specifically on that play. We had some leverage issues on some of the route concepts and that was the correct player to throw the ball to. He won the route and he came down with a great catch for a big play that really turned the field and that created a positive scoring drive. I would say that that play really ignited that drive, obviously because we had two really zero-yard plays right before that.”
(You had mentioned putting together a game plan to win the game. I think you’ve spoken recently about the offensive collaboration that you guys all come together for the gameplan. I was curious how much collaboration there is with the offensive side and the defensive side when it comes to putting together a cumulative gameplan. How does that work for the offensive side of the ball?) – “The head coach does a good job of putting us all on the same page and understanding each side, including the special teams roles in the game. When we develop a gameplan, you don’t really necessarily know how the game is going. The game may end up being one way or the other. Last week against the Jets, we’re down 10-0, so our gameplan goes to when you’re down 10-0 as far as calls go. We got up 10-0 in this game so that’s kind of how the calls go from that standpoint. I think it’s really hard to predict exactly how the game is going and how it will go. You want to have enough calls for however which way the game ends up unfolding. Fortunately for us, we maintained the lead for the whole game so we ended up playing a certain way.”
(I wanted to ask you to assess your offensive line play last night and how it can impact play-calling in certain occasions where rushers are getting to the quarterback quickly?) – “Yeah, I think early on in the first series, we had a pressure on a third down where we had Myles (Gaskin) coming open across the field. I think our guys would like to have that back. Shoot I’d like to probably have that back from a protection standpoint of how we called it. There’s some ebbs and flows of the game. I know the environment created some issues for us like all road games do. There are certain things there that are probably a little bit easier in a home atmosphere. That’s part of the league, that’s how the schedule is and we’re going to have overcome those again this week and do a better job from a play call to execution.”
(Brian Griese made a bizarre comment last night citing a conversation with you and suggesting on second and third and longs, you would just assume punt which I know cannot be precisely what you said. Do you remember that conversation and the point that you were trying to get across?) – “I didn’t hear his comment. I think for some downs, third down and very long, that’s a tough situation and it’s really not fair to a unit, the quarterback, the line, to put that much stress on those type of players. I don’t remember that exactly being the comment but I’m sure that’s really what we were alluding to that sometimes some of those situations are so unfair to that – now we put ourselves in that situation, let’s not forget that. But when you get yourself in third and extra long in this league, those percentages of converting are very low. If we got to have it at the end of the game, we’ll go for it and we’ll try to test the waters so to say. But we don’t want to make a living there in those situations at all. I think Brian knows that as a former quarterback too. That’s kind of how that conversation went.”
