George Godsey – January 4, 2022
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Tuesday, January 4, 2022
Co-Offensive Coordinator/TEs George Godsey
(I wanted to ask with obviously the game didn’t go the way you wanted on offense, especially in the elements – a lot of mishandling of the ball. I was curious how much of the gameplan going into the game was dependent on and had taken the weather into a factor? As the rain progressed in that game, how much did the gameplan actually change?) – “The weather is always going to be a factor. We know it down here. We didn’t execute. Probably could have called some calls that put our guys in a better position too. I think a lot of those we’d like to have to have back the way that we executed or called the game.”
(I know you have another game left that’s your focus but we’re probably not going to be able to talk to you again until July, so I was going to ask you if you’d be kind enough to take a minute to explain in your mind what you regret this season? What you wish you would have done more of, collectively as a group. What you personally wish you would have done differently as a play caller if you’re willing to placate us and share some of those thoughts.) – “It’s really hard right now just because of how the life of a football coach or the team is. We kind of take it day by day. Really on normal downs with New England, they’re a good team. Really not ready for that. But obviously every game we’d like to perform enough to win. There’s some games that we would liked to have perform better. We’ve got another opportunity, which New England is a good team, so we’d like to finish on a good note.”
(In the second half, the fact that RB Duke Johnson didn’t have a carry, was that a function of the score of the game feeling like you needed to be pass-heavy trailing by double figures?) – “Yeah, I mean that’s how the game ends up playing. We’re pretty balanced. We’d like to take out the third downs, the two minutes and really look at normal downs as far as a balance standpoint goes. Then we got the ball and really had five minutes of time of possession backed up to start and we were able to move the ball with a couple of those actions. We left it in that mode and kind of sputtered out right there around field goal range. At the point where in the fourth quarter we’re down multiple scores, there’s really only one way to get back quickly. I don’t think it was a factor of not wanting to give him the ball, that’s for sure. It really was just how the game ended up playing out.”
(Just wanted to ask you about something QB Tua Tagovailoa was talking about after the game. He said that it was your intention to push the ball downfield. Was that more just the gameplan heading into it or was that something you tried to stick with even as weather conditions worsened?) – “I don’t know exactly what that meant. Was it every play? First play of the game we were able to get a good chunk. That was kind of our game plan going in. We ran the ball quite a bit against New Orleans and it worked out in the start. Then we kind of go from there play by play. I think we needed to do more than just hand the ball off like we showed against New Orleans. I think that’s kind of really where we were getting at with that.”
(The decisions to use QB Jacoby Brissett in short-yardage situations, was there ever a thought – if the plan was to throw the ball downfield, was there ever a thought to use QB Tua Tagovailoa in that situation instead of Jacoby? What was the process behind using Jacoby instead?) – “There’s a lot that goes into that process, whether it’s quarterback sneak or a fumble snap on a previous play that we had in the short yardage. We have plays for Tua and plays for Jacoby. I’ll kind of leave it at that.”
(Through 16 games, the team is 29th in yards per play. I wanted to ask you about that statistic, it’s obviously been discussed throughout the entire season. Is it actually not as relevant? Are there other statistics that are far more relevant or do you think that for an offense to score more points, the yards per play would need to increase?) – “I think that there’s probably some teams that have a good yards per play number and maybe in the red area do not. I would have to dive into that a little bit deeper. I know the one score – we want to be ahead at the end of the game and we’ve done that half the time and we haven’t the other half. There’s a lot that we can improve on, I think, as a unit and we’ll look at those here after this next game.”
(The other thing that I wanted to ask you about over the 16 games was you are 13th in the NFL in third-down efficiency. Now obviously Sunday was not a very good game in general, but over the course of the season, do you sense reason for optimism relative to what you are seeing from QB Tua Tagovailoa on third down?) – “Well, you know last game, it was pretty noticeable that you pointed that out because we had been good on third down. Our yards to attain the first down has been a lot lower than it was on Sunday. We had quite a bit of third-and-eight-plusses and we weren’t able to convert those. Thus, we weren’t able to stay on the field and we weren’t able to run it more. A lot of these questions that are asked revolve around staying on the field and staying on track getting first downs. When you’re third-and-long, it’s hard and we showed that on Sunday. The more manageable we can get, the more we can attain those and hang onto the ball and really turn those drives into points.”
(Now getting about a full year to evaluate TE Hunter Long as a rookie, how do you think he fared? What are the strengths you see in his game and where do you think he can still improve?) – “Like any rookie, there’s a lot to learn. From personnel to technique to our design of our plays and how we want to get open in the passing game and block. I think tight end is really a unique position because of all the different responsibilities. We’ve got a good group in that room and a lot of those guys have played and those guys have played each game. That room has been relatively healthy too. I think Hunter has learned this year from those guys. We expect him to continue to improve.”
(I also wanted to ask about TE Durham Smythe. He’s getting more involved in the passing game this year. How did you see that growth come about?) – “Durham is reliable and we’ve seen that in practice so it doesn’t really surprise us. We try to be a little more balanced in that room with Mike (Gesicki) obviously carrying a big load. He’s performed pretty steady the whole season.”
(To that point about your tight end usage, you wound up with more 12-personnel or you have more 12-personnel than anyone else in the league by quite a long shot. I was curious if that was one of those things coming into the year that was the plan or if that’s one of those situations where that kind of is how the gameplan offensively develops as the year goes along?) – “It’s starting the season and how we finish, there’s probably a lot of variables that come up whether it’s injuries, especially at the receiver position in and out of the lineup. Obviously, we’ve had some injuries there too that people have played. Those guys, like I said, have been a healthy group for the most part and are able to do multiple things. They are able to block, they are able to block in-line, they are able to detach if we need to and it’s a pretty reliable group from an assignment standpoint. As much as we can use those guys, we’d like to.”
(There have been eight games this season where you guys have produced less than 300 yards of offense. Obviously, the hope is that would be a little bit higher in terms of the production level. What do you feel has been the issue that has hindered the offense from a yardage and scoring standpoint this year?) – “I think it’s maintaining the ball, time of possession. Look at those games where we were under 30 minutes, it’s usually probably going to equate to that amount of yardage. We didn’t really perform well in the two-minute scenarios either. We had three of them on Sunday and we didn’t get any production out of it. There’s a few of those situations – third down, two-minute – where we just didn’t perform up to our standard. Holding on to the ball will help us get more yards, get us into the scoring range, get more points and get us into the red area where we’ve actually been above average. That’s kind of the goal as far as moving the ball.”
(I was curious as you look back at the year, how much does having a young offensive line that struggled early in the season affect your play calling? Might you have been able to be more aggressive downfield if the line had been older and more experienced?) – “That’s where most of the passing game starts is protection. Whether it’s a matchup that we can do better on or it’s executing our job as a protector – whether it’s a back, lineman or tight end – that group has got to give the quarterback enough time for the receivers to get open too. If we’re having to get the ball out of our hands because we’re getting pressure, then we can’t get the ball downfield. A lot of that plays into how the game is being played and how the matchups end up being. We had some guys in there moving around a little bit, Liam (Eichenberg) is learning and improving each game. Austin (Jackson) is going inside. We’ve had some rotation going on at center. The right side has seemed to be pretty consistent as far as health-wise. All those variables take place when calling a play. We want to make sure we give our guys the best opportunity to execute that play. Protection, depth of route, pattern, options for the quarterback and all of that goes into any play call or play design.”
