Ted Karras – September 16, 2020
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Wednesday, September 16, 2020
C Ted Karras
(I wanted to get your thoughts on how you would evaluate the performance of the offensive line in the opener and the kind of challenge the Bills defense will present Sunday?) – “I thought it was a good start for the o-line – a lot of challenging looks and obviously every NFL game, the o-line is going to come back wanting a few plays here or there. But I think we went toe-to-toe in a tough battle, had a chance to win and just got to do little things better. This week, a lot of good players on the opposite side of the ball. A lot of up-field, quick players and we’re going to have our work cut out for us. We had a good start today in practice and we’re going to continue working, get ready for Sunday afternoon.”
(I was wondering what you thought of the two rookie linemen not giving up a sack in the opener, a combined one pressure I think between those two – G Solomon Kindley and T Austin Jackson – how impressive was that to you and were they confused at all during the game in your conversations with them or did they have a firm command of what you all were doing?) – “I thought they had great command of what we were doing. I think the o-line as a whole, going in there with all the looks that we had, did a great job from Jesse (Davis), Ereck (Flowers), Solomon (Kindley), ‘A.J.’ (Austin Jackson), Rob (Hunt). We’re pleased with that but didn’t do enough to win obviously; but a lot of good things to build on and looking for a lot of improvement here in Week 2.”
(I know you guys didn’t have any preseason. I wonder how much were you guys able to I guess skew from your bread and butter? How expansive were you able to go into what you want to do offensively?) – “I think that we had some good looks. Obviously I’m just running the play called and whatever we get looks-wise, we have to execute. It’s a little bit more of a traditional style of defense here this week and we got a good start on our game plan this week, and really looking to just keep moving forward, keep elevating our play every day.”
(You mentioned some more traditional defense this week in the Buffalo Bills. One player on that defensive line who’s not traditional is DT Ed Oliver because he’s big and athletic. I’m just curious what you’ve seen on tape from him so far and maybe how you kind of go about approaching and getting ready for a player like him?) – “They have a lot of great players on that front seven. Ed Oliver’s been a really, really good player since the moment he stepped into this league and a guy that we’re going to have to really prepare for and look at, and obviously all of us are going to have to step up. They’ve got (Quinton) Jefferson as well, (Harrison) Phillips, (Justin) Zimmer. They’ve got a whole – (Trent) Murphy – they’ve got a really, really good front with (Tremaine) Edmunds and (Matt) Milano right behind them, so it’s going to be a big-time game and as an o-line, we’re going to have to come through to be successful for this team.”
(What were your impressions if you watched any Bills film? It seems to me like they’re a team that’s ready to kind of take the next step and get back to the playoffs.) – “The impression I get – everyone wants to make the playoffs. I think they’ve been obviously really good for a long time. This division obviously got shaken up a little bit this year, so there’s a lot of people vying for that spot. They’re coming to town in our first home opener at Hard Rock (Stadium) and we’re going to need our best performance when it counts the most Sunday afternoon.”
Kyle Van Noy – September 16, 2020
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Wednesday, September 16, 2020
LB Kyle Van Noy
(I guess it was a little surprising that you didn’t play every down last week. Was that because of the hand injury? Was there a reason given to you as to why you weren’t in there every play?) – “I’m going to let you come up with a story on your own on that one.”
(My question is about the challenges presented by the zone read on the offensive side, as you are kind of trying to read your keys. How much can that little delay as the quarterback rides that mesh point out impact your ability to make those reads on those keys?) – “That’s a good question. Obviously everyone thinks they are a football coach nowadays and thinks they know what your assignment is; but I was playing my assignment, taking my responsibility away in the game. Obviously it switches depending on what way they are running, and I just was trying to do my best. I think the more and more we go over it in practice and the guys get on the same page, the more and more we’ll get better at it. Cam Newton had a little success and I feel like we took it away but then there were other runs he started to create a little bit more. Hopefully we can limit those this week against Josh Allen, because we know that they are going to probably do it because it was successful against us. We’ve got to do a better job as a group. I’ve got to do a better job and hopefully we can get this QB run taken care of.”
(Will it help to have fans in the stands Sunday even if it’s only 13,000 people?) – “I actually like the fact that fans are going to be allowed. I hope that fans in the stadiums that NFL teams are at can go back to a more normalized – obviously I want to be safe and wear masks. But just to have that for them and for us. I think it’s going to be cool.”
(Does it help when you’re going against a similar quarterback back to back in terms of building on what you guys did right and wrong last week?) – “I think anytime you get a chance to see how a quarterback runs and does certain things and certain plays, you get a better understanding of how to defend them and how they were attacking us. I think we’ll be ready for all of those these week because we got a good challenge the first week, and Josh Allen is just as big a problem as Cam Newton running the ball.”
(You’ve been in the AFC East before, so you’ve played QB Josh Allen a few times. What are some of the similarities and differences of defending Josh versus defending QB Cam Newton?) – “I don’t want to get into comparisons. Just, Josh’s growth each and every year has been big. You can see his strides. His reads are getting better. Everything about his game is getting better. (Offensive Coordinator) Brian Daboll and (Sean) McDermott, they’ve done a really good job with his growth and development. I continue to see that after Week 1 this year. We’ve just got to do a good job. They ran him a lot. He actually threw a bunch too. I think he threw 46 times against the Jets, which was a lot, and he also made plays on the ground. He’s making strides.”
(I think you’re kind of aware of the criticism this defense has taken since the Patriots game. A, Do you think it’s warranted? And B, why are you convinced we won’t be writing the same thing in a week from now?) – “We gave up 217 yards rushing, so we should get criticized. That’s not good enough. We’ve got to do better and I hope we do better, practice better, do everything better this week and put a better performance out on Sunday for the fans, which they deserve, and for each other because we hold each other to a high standard.”
(In the past against the Bills, you’ve had some success sacking Josh Allen. You’ve had success forcing Josh Allen to fumble. He’s a guy who will fumble. He fumbled twice in the first game. How aware are you and your teammates of which quarterbacks are more susceptible to fumble and does that approach how do you attack the ball?) – “I think you want to attack the ball as much as you can playing any quarterback. They usually have one hand on the ball, so you want to put the pressure on every quarterback when you get the chance. Josh Allen is a target for that and we’re going to try to do everything we can to get the ball back into the offense’s hand.”
(We were unable to ask you about the postgame interaction with QB Cam Newton after the game. What happened there? It seemed like you were trying to mediate. You were a little more cordial than other players. What happened with the situation there at the end of the game?) – “Yeah, it was just ‘good game, keep it moving.’ They won.”
Brian Flores – September 16, 2020 (Conference Call)
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Wednesday, September 16, 2020
Head Coach Brian Flores Conference Call with Buffalo Media
(You’ve gotten a chance to coach against QB Josh Allen now since he came into the league. Obviously when you were in New England and then last year when you were in Miami. What have you seen from his growth from that rookie year until now?) – “I think he’s made incredible growth from the time we first saw him until now – from an accuracy standpoint, just an overall presence and game presence. He’s got command of the offense. His leadership, you can see it really on a play-to-play basis. That team rallies around him. But just as a quarterback, he’s more accurate. Obviously he’s always been able to extend plays and pick up yardage with his legs. He’s more of a dual-threat as far as throwing the ball downfield. He just has an overall – he’s more comfortable. He’s coming into his own. I actually met him last year. He’s a great kid. I can’t say enough good things about him. It will be a great challenge for us. They’re a really good football team, well coached. Sean (McDermott) has done a great job there and this is a challenge for us.”
(There’s going to be some good cornerbacks in this matchup – CB Tre’Davious White, CB Byron Jones, CB Xavien Howard. What makes a good corner in the league today?) – “I think guys who are smart, can tackle, and I think offensively, to try to create situations where they’ve got two or three guys moving at the same time and can you and your other defensive backs get it handled? Tre White and Levi (Wallace), these guys do a good job as far as from a communication standpoint, along with the safeties there, of kind of getting all of that hashed out. Quickness, length, instincts – I think Tre has all of those things and so does Levi. These guys are good players. We’ve got a couple of good corners also. I think the guys who are competitive, the guys who tackle and the guys who make plays on the ball, to me that’s what makes a good corner in this league.”
(You’ve been in the AFC East for a long time. What impressed you about the way Offensive Coordinator Chan Gailey operated the offense in Buffalo?) – “Chan was definitely someone, whether he was in Buffalo or with the Jets, that there’s a lot going on in the offense, from a personnel standpoint – 11 personnel, 10 personnel, 21 personnel. You never knew from a game-planning standpoint what you were going to get. He’s obviously a very good teacher. I heard that just from players, from other coaches. Just his offense, from my experience, brought a lot of – not issues, but they created a lot of issues. We’re happy to bring him in. He’s done a really good job so far and we’re just going to continue building and try to get better and improve; but we’re up against a pretty tough defense this week. They fly around, they play well together, they’ve played together for a long time so you can see the rapport and camaraderie that’s been built. This will definitely be a tough test. I think (Defensive Coordinator) Leslie (Frazier) does a great job. Leslie combined with Sean (McDermott), they do a great job defensively. We have to play well to move the ball against these guys.”
(Buffalo Head Coach Sean McDermott has basically changed this culture in drastic time – him and General Manager Brandon Beane. Around the NFL, you’re receiving that same type of buzz right now. Can you tell us what was the mindset on changing the culture in Miami when you got there?) – “Well like you said, Sean (McDermott) and Brandon (Beane) have done an incredible job. I think it’s about bringing in the right types of people. I think in any business, it’s about the people. In his case, he’s got the right people in place from a scouting standpoint with (Assistant General Manager) Joe Schoen, Brandon Beane. They’ve got a great staff over there. It’s the same thing from a coaching staff standpoint. They’ve got a great staff from that standpoint. And then bringing in the right types of players. They’ve certainly been a model. Sean – they’ve done something that I’ve definitely looked at and said hey, if we’re going to build something, we want to model it after a program, that’s certainly one that we and I referenced as we’re trying to do some things over here. Now we have a long way to go. There’s no doubt about that. But we know it’s going to take hard work. It’s going to take everyone kind of pitching in and doing their specific job or role and wanting to do that role and wanting to be great in those roles. There’s a lot of humility that goes with that. I know I’ve seen that from Sean and his staff when we’ve come across them. (Offensive Coordinator) Brian Daboll is obviously a great friend of mine who I’ve spent a lot of time with. He just fits the mold of everyone else that’s over there. They’ve done a great job and you can see the fruits of their labor over the last few years.”
(Obviously it was a tough matchup in Week 1 against QB Cam Newton with a dual-threat ability. How much does that prepare you for a second straight matchup against a similar-style quarterback?) – “From that standpoint, as far as dual-threat from a run-game and running quarterback standpoint, yes we have seen some of it a little bit; but this team offers some other issues. When you’ve got two outstanding receivers on the perimeter, it’s hard to load up on the run game when you’ve got guys like that on the perimeter. They do a good job really in all areas – the tight ends, the backs, the scheme. I don’t think it will just all run or quarterback runs or all pass. There’s a great mix. We’ve got to do a good job of trying to defend it all. Good communication, good fundamentals, technique – we’ve got to compete for 60 minutes and play a tough, physical game.”
Brian Flores – September 16, 2020
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Wednesday, September 16, 2020
Head Coach Brian Flores
(You’ve got a stretch of two games here in the next, I guess, nine days or so. Is there any thought of possibly sitting WR DeVante Parker out the next two games to nurse his hamstring injury or are you guys going to try to manage it to see if he can go on Sunday?) – “We’re just taking it one day at a time. He’s been rehabbing. He’s been in treatment, so we’ll see what this looks like today and instead of making a decision for the next two games, we’ll just try to take it one day at a time. Sometimes guys turn around quickly. If it takes more time, then that’s what it is. We’ll just try to make the best decision for DeVante (Parker) and obviously for the team.”
(What do you think about how QB Tua Tagovailoa processed the game from the sideline with QB Ryan Fitzpatrick and listening with the hat on, on Sunday? Did you get any feedback from him after the game?) – “Yeah, we talked about just the game and from the sideline, what he saw. I think he’s trying to play every play in his own mind, so that experience was good. It’s a different atmosphere. It was a different atmosphere for everyone and it’s no different for him. It was his first live look at a game from the sideline. I thought he did well from that standpoint.”
(Offensive Coordinator Chan Gailey basically said that a lot of the base runs weren’t as effective as you would hope. What were some of the issues? Was it just the defense that they were running or just execution stuff?) – “We’ve kind of made all of the corrections from the game. I’m sure you’re talking about Sunday. We made the corrections from those games. We’ve kind of moved on to Buffalo. That’s where our focus is. There were a lot of issues in the game. We tried to get them all corrected and we’re going to go out and practice today and try to make those corrections on the practice field. We’ve moved on and our focus is on the Bills. There’s a lot to focus on there. They’re a good team.”
(How much catching up would you say WR Lynn Bowden Jr. still has to do to get to the point where he’s ready to contribute?) – “He’s been here two weeks, three weeks – somewhere in there – so he’s worked extremely hard. He’s been meeting one-on-one with ‘Grizz’ (Wide Receivers Coach Josh Grizzard) trying to get caught up; but when you’re a rookie, you’re young, you need reps. So we’re trying to get him as many reps in practice as possible, but as far as getting caught up, there’s going to be, I think at best for a young guy in that situation, a couple packages, a couple things he could feel comfortable doing and maybe get him out there; but I’m not sure we’re there yet, so we’ll see.”
(A couple of cornerback questions. How well equipped do you think CB Nik Needham is in the slot at this point in your nickel packages if you could talk about the choice to use CB Jamal Perry over Needham in that role, and also why did CB Ken Webster leave the practice squad?) – “Ken (Webster) – he got an opportunity to go to another team and he did that. We had a good conversation on that. We felt like it was best for him and I support that decision. Nik Needham versus Jamal Perry – Nik has practiced well, Jamal has practiced well. Nik spent a little bit more time on the perimeter over the course of training camp. Jamal was more inside, but we have a lot of confidence in both guys and obviously they’ll both go out there and practice and compete this week and we’ll see how it goes.”
(I wanted to ask just about the running back situation and how do you balance wanting to use an explosive player more like RB Matt Breida, incorporating him more into the play-calling while also rewarding a player like RB Myles Gaskin, who has had a very good camp and continues to practice well?) – “We try to play the guys who are productive and if we’re going and getting positive plays; but we’re game plan-specific and guys we feel like give us the best chance to have a productive play or a productive series or are best in the situation, those are the guys we’re going to stick in the game. That’s offensively, defensively and in the kicking game. It’s really specific to the play, specific to the situation; but the guys who are in there who are productive, I would say more times than not, are going to continue to play.”
(I wanted to ask you about CB Xavien Howard. How is he feeling having played in the first game? How did he come out of that?) – “I think he came out well. It’s good to get in there, get some snaps. It’s been a while since he played, so he came out well. I thought he did some good things and we’ll continue to move him along and get him more reps this week and see how it goes.”
(I wanted to ask you about the receivers that the Bills have. The boundary guys didn’t get challenged much against New England. I’m assuming you’d expect a little bit more action on the outside this week?) – “Yeah. This is a very good group of receivers, really a good overall offense – receivers, backs, tight ends, o-line, (Stefon Diggs, John Brown, Cole Beasley. This is probably as good of a group as there is around the league. This will be a great challenge for us as a defense to go along with the quarterback, who has the ability to scramble, who has the ability to fire the ball down the field. He’s been more accurate. They pose a lot of issues. We have to do a great job with our communication. We have to do a great job with our fundamentals and technique. We have to do a great job across the board to try to limit this offense. They are good.”
(QB Ryan Fitzpatrick throughout his career has had good games and bad games like any player. In your conversations with him this week, what makes you confident that he’s going to bounce back and have a good game this week?) – “He’s a competitive player. That’s what makes me confident. He’s a competitor. He’s had success in this league. He’s bounced back before, like you said. Hopefully – he played a tough game. I think everyone feels like they could’ve played better, feels like it could’ve been better last week. We’ll just go back to the drawing board, go back to work, do a good job in the meetings and the walkthroughs and the practices and try to be better this week. That’s ‘Fitz,’ that’s everyone else on the team as well, myself included. I have confidence that he will play well and the entire team will do everything they can to play well this week.”
(I wanted to get your take on S Brandon Jones and the game he had on Sunday. What did you see on film and if you think he can continue to have such an active role in the defense?) – “For his first time out, I thought he played well. I thought he tackled well. He showed good speed. A lot of things we saw in training camp – this kid is fast, aggressive, he tackles well. It wasn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination. There were some plays I know he wished he had back that we talked about it on the sideline. I would say they were in some of the critical moments of the game. Hopefully he learns from them. Every play for these young guys is a learning experience. Hopefully he comes out and plays better this next week.”
(When I watched the Bills game on Sunday, I noticed the quarterback Josh Allen fumbled twice. I’m curious, what’s the approach you want your players to take relative to just get the guy on the ground versus here’s an opportunity to strip?) – “I think that’s something that’s talked about extensively really on every team. You want to tackle well, you want to get him on the ground. There are opportunities. If there is an opportunity to knock the ball out, when to take those opportunities, and for anyone who is played – do I try to knock it out, do I make the tackle if I don’t knock it out, if I don’t knock it out and I miss the tackle, I’m going to get yelled at, if I knock it out then I’m everyone’s favorite player. That’s kind of the conundrum every player is in. At the end of the day, we’ve got to be a good tackling team, try to eliminate yards, try to force turnovers. Some players have a knack for when that opportunity presents itself and they take advantage when it does present itself. We practice it every day and try to show them instances where those opportunity present themselves, when to try to take advantage, and hopefully we get some opportunities to do that and we can knock the ball off a couple of guys.”
(I wanted to ask you about WR Jakeem Grant. Obviously with WR DeVante Parker not being completely healthy, Jakeem will get a lot of reps in practice. Do you have to have a Jakeem package or do you look at him as just another normal flanker?) – “He’s a receiver. Receivers have to get good releases, do a good job with their route technique, do a good job at the top of the route. They’ve got to recognize coverages, is it man, is it zone. There is no package. A receiver is a receiver is a receiver. Jakeem’s an explosive guy, so we want to try to get him on some things when he’s on the move and can make people miss. Yeah, we see him as a receiver. That’s his position. He’s a receiver, he’s a returner. No package. Just run the plays. If it’s a post, run the post. If it’s a slant, run the slant. If it’s an out route, run the out route. If he’s open, try to get it to him.”
Robby Brown – September 15, 2020
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Tuesday, September 15, 2020
Quarterbacks Coach Robby Brown
(Overall, what was your impression of how QB Ryan Fitzpatrick handled the game?) – “I think we all know the bad part; but I think he never really got in a great rhythm. He had some good things that he did really well. We have some things that we can improve upon. That’s the way it is every game, but we just need to try to get in a rhythm and get it going. I think he did some good and some bad, just like we all did.”
(I just wanted to get an idea of how you go through a week with QB Tua Tagovailoa as the backup and how do you teach him maybe some of the things that you’re teaching QB Ryan Fitzpatrick while he’s not necessarily the guy?) – “I think that’s a really good question. I talked a little bit about it when I was asked about coaching philosophy, but I’ve talked with Tua (Tagovailoa) a lot about, ‘hey, we’ve got to figure out what works for you, how you learn.’ He’s in a unique situation in that he’s got a 16-year vet in front of him that’s tremendously willing to help, that he can learn a lot of the game from. He’s got an offensive coordinator that’s been around the game a long time. So my job is to kind of try to figure out what is working that he’s learning, try to be a translator so to speak, because you’ve got two guys maybe speaking a language that have been together for a long time in Chan (Gailey) and ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick) and then I’ve been with Chan several times. Then I kind of try to figure out what’s working for him and then go from there. But he sits in every single meeting that ‘Fitz’ does. He goes through – you try to get him mental reps because you don’t get a ton of reps during practice, but you try to get him the mental reps and then narrow the game plan each and every day like, ‘hey, okay let’s learn this part, this part, this part,’ and he did a really good job last week. That was the first time, so we’ll try to improve upon it each and every time and get him more and more in-tune to what we’re trying to do. But we’ll try to get better each and every week and fine-tune it as we go.”
(When you have a young quarterback like QB Tua Tagovailoa, is it more about getting him packages that he’s comfortable with or personnel that he’s comfortable with? How do you get him to take that next step in his development?) – “I think it’s both. You have to get him comfortable and there’s some things that he’s very comfortable with that he says, ‘oh man, I’m great with that.’ And then there’s some things that it may take him an extra day to learn; but it’s the same way with ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick). You may put a play in and ‘eh’ and then they really like it 24 hours later after they run it in practice. I think it’s a little bit of both, but it’s the same way with the starting quarterback, too. What personnel does he like? What plays? That kind of thing. That’s Chan’s job and he does a really good job at that – at figuring out what they’re good at – but it’s both and I would say that for the starter, as well.”
(A little bit earlier today, we were talking with Offensive Coordinator Chan Gailey and it came up as far as what QB Tua Tagovailoa was doing on the sideline Sunday, what he was understanding, what he was asking questions about. What did you observe? How did he comport himself during the game and what did he take away from that learning experience?) – “I think it obviously with no preseason games, it was his first one, so he’s got the hat on listening to the call, those types of things. Then we come over and get him into the tablet, listening to what ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick) is saying about the tablet. ‘Hey, we’re getting this or that. We’re getting this front. This guy’s going here. This guy’s going there,’ and realizing how fast those decisions are made I think was very good for him. He was very in-tune. He knew the game plan well, so he was in-tune to what we were doing and he knew what we were saying. There was never a time where he was like, ‘what are we talking about?’ But it is a learning process and it’s a learning process if you used to be in the box coaching and now you’re on the sidelines and trying to make those adjustments. So it’s a learning process for everybody; but I thought he was very in-tune to what we were doing and like I said in his preparation, we’ll just try to get better at that each and every week and see how much we can absorb and how much we can learn.”
(I wanted to ask you about QB Ryan Fitzpatrick’s second interception to I think Adrian Phillips. It looked like the safety just kind of came down and robbed the route. He never saw him. I’m curious what you saw on tape and how you communicated that to Fitzpatrick and kind of the coaching point there for you.) – “I think ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick) answered it after the game. I can’t remember exactly how he answered it, but he said ‘I didn’t see him.’ I knew he didn’t see him immediately. Chan (Gailey) knew he didn’t see him immediately when he was coming off the field. I think that’s about knowing people and I’m not going to sit there and say ‘what happened?’ He comes off the field and he says, ‘I didn’t see him.’ So he answered that. I didn’t even have to ask him, but he said the same thing he said to you guys after the game. He didn’t see him.”
(If I could ask a little two-parter: I know you had mentioned earlier about QB Tua Tagovailoa’s learning style. What have you maybe learned about how he learns best? I know some people are visual learners or audio learners. How have you learned about maybe how he regurgitates information?) – “I think we’re still early in that process. I know that sounds crazy for me to say, but we’ve been at it really in-person just a little over a month. So I think we’re still early in that process and you just keep fine-tuning, keep fine-tuning and keep fine-tuning it. But to sit here and say, ‘oh he’s only a visual’ or ‘he’s only’ – I couldn’t tell you right now, but we’re trying to work through that and try to figure out. It’s just Week 1 in the game-planning stage, so we’ll just work through it and try to figure it out as we go.”
(I wondered if you attended the QB Reid Sinnett workout, what you liked about him and is there enough time during the work week to spend any time developing a second young quarterback?) – “That’s a good question. I did attend the workout and he did a good job in it; but as far as a new guy coming in like that and the time during the week of game-planning and all of that stuff, you kind of try to break it down into parts for him. ‘Learn this part, learn this part’ and give him little pieces to learn and then just build on it the same way you would with any young quarterback. You just try to accelerate it as fast as you can and I’ve been around him for a little less than 24 hours, but he’s working trying to learn it.”
Steve Marshall – September 15, 2020
Tuesday, September 15, 2020
Offensive Line Coach Steve Marshall
(Nice first game it appeared for T Austin Jackson and G Solomon Kindley. Can you please take them one at a time, rather than lumping them together, and talk about each did well, starting with Austin and also areas of improvement?) – “Well, it’s the first game. There’s a lot of things he’s going to improve on. The thing that I was really impressed with Austin was his competitive spirit. The guy fought hard. He’s a tough guy and really did some good things. Obviously we went back yesterday and looked at the tape and talked about what needs to get done here moving forward. Actually it’s the same with Solomon. Solomon is a big, strong young man as Austin is, and I really like where they are at this point. They know right now they have a lot of work in front of them and they’ve got a lot more challenges in front of them. We’re going to go back out on the practice field tomorrow and keep working on it.”
(I know that you don’t listen to a lot of the outside noise, but I guess going into the draft, there were questions with Austin about whether he was strong enough or ready enough to be a contributor in Year 1 As we saw in Game 1, he seemed ready for the moment. What did you guys do to maybe get him from where he was in April to being able to have a good game?) – “Well, in April he was in Zoom meetings. I didn’t know exactly what we had. We liked Austin coming out. Like all young guys coming out of college, there are a lot of things that everybody picks at; but again, the guy’s competitive spirit and the guy’s toughness – the college game, and I’ve spent a lot of time in the college game, is completely different from the NFL game. What you have to do as an evaluator and what I did, and I’m sure (General Manager) Chris (Grier) and (Head) Coach (Brian) Flores did, you see what you’re looking for. You look for what you think makes a good NFL offensive lineman. He still has the chance to be a very, very good player. He’s just getting started. A long way to go as far as what he needs to do to be a player that can play 10, 12 or however many years he can play, God willing and stay healthy. That goes true for Rob Hunt and Solomon, and a lot of the guys that are in their second or third year. We’ve got our work cut out for us this week against Buffalo, and those guys will too. It’s going to be just getting started.”
(Earlier today, Offensive Coordinator Chan Gailey mentioned that the Patriots ran some games upfront that gave you guys a little bit of confusion in the communication. I’m curious going from a team like that that does run so many stunts and twists and games and then going into Week 2 against a team like Buffalo that has so many good one-on-one rushers in DT Ed Oliver and DE Trent Murphy and DE Jerry Hughes. How does that change you approach on how you coach these guys in Week 2?) – “It doesn’t. It doesn’t change it one bit. You’ve got to prepare for all of it. Like I said, each week is a specific challenge but our fundamentals are the same. I’m not worried about what New England or Buffalo can do with these guys. I’m worried about getting them better and everything. It doesn’t change us one bit as far as what we’re trying to accomplish. Moving forward, it’s one day at a time, one practice at a time, one drill at a time. They both have their challenges. Jacksonville will present more different challenges too. But that’s the life in this league. As my approach, or any different approach, there is no different approach. We’re full speed ahead ready to keep rolling on them.”
(QB Ryan Fitzpatrick didn’t get touched much. He had one sack and there were a few quarterback hurries for the Patriots who are a handful; but overall, did you expect your offensive line to play as it did on Sunday?) – “We’re going out there to compete every week. These guys have – I expect a lot out of them. I think we’re a young, talented group. I expect a lot of them. I expect more as we get better and better and keep getting better. No. Like I said, we’re preparing to play well every week. That’s the goal of the NFL. There is no, ‘oh, we play a weak team.’ Every team is the same. I was talking right (before) there, every game is the same whether it’s New England, Buffalo, Jacksonville, Seattle Seahawks, it doesn’t matter. They’ve got good players. They pay those guys too. Every week we’ve got to continue to take the challenges that we are going to do upfront and keep getting better.”
(You are always looking for improvement. You guys obviously did pretty well in pass pro; but maybe run blocking didn’t go as well as you might have wanted. What stood out to you in that department?) – “I think again, you’ve got to take each individual situation. There was a lot of good things in the run game. We’re going to accentuate the positive. There are also things we have to continue to work on. We did some really good things in the run game. Up front, Ted (Karras) and Ereck (Flowers) and Solomon (Kindley) and Jesse (Davis) and Austin (Jackson) – we’re going to continue to improve on the positive. We know what we have to work on to get better. We’ve got to keep improving. Like I said, this is a – this is the first game that they’ve played. We’ve got to take it that way and you always keep improving. You always keep improving and try to get better. I’m very pleased – I will say that – with exactly where these guys are and the fight they have. For the first time together, this group, I thought they handled the situation well and I expect it to continue to get better and better as we go.”
George Godsey – September 15, 2020
Tuesday, September 15, 2020
Tight Ends Coach George Godsey
(How did you sort of grade out your group in Week 1 and what they were able to do?) – “It ended up turning into a lot of passing with Michael (Gesicki) towards the second half. He had a lot more reps than maybe the other three guys but I think when you’re talking about the run game, certainly the tight end position is a main part of that, including Chandler (Cox) as far as the fullback goes. We’ve got to open those holes up a little bit more and add a little bit more space for the backs to run. I think we made some of those corrections so we’re moving on to Buffalo; but certainly there’s some room for improvement. It’s Week 1. That’s what we have to do from Week 1 to Week 2 to Week 3 and so forth.”
(In terms of the expectations as in-line guys, do you feel like you guys did enough against the Patriots?) – “When we started out running the football, we were getting a couple of yards – two or three yards – where we’d like to have more efficient plays there. Can we get that done? I think our guys can. Did they win some plays and did we win some plays? I think it kind of went a little bit back and forth; but certainly there’s definitely some room for us to improve here going forward.”
(I know we talked about it a little bit I guess throughout the offseason about TE Mike Gesicki and his blocking and trying to improve in that area. We got to see a little bit more in that area than maybe I thought we were going to. Where do you sort of see his evolution, particularly with this first game, as a blocker?) – “There are some things that look encouraging from a years perspective, and then there’s things that we’ve still got to keep working on. From my perspective too, I’ve got to do a good job of rolling those guys and getting maybe a few more reps from Durham (Smythe) and from Adam (Shaheen) so we can get the very best from Michael when his number is called and so forth – get the very best of Durham and Adam. It’s kind of a full realm of things that we can do to improve those guys. I think we’ll see a little bit more of that this week.”
Eric Studesville – September 15, 2020
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Tuesday, September 15, 2020
Running Backs Coach Eric Studesville
(Is RB Jordan Howard still your starting running back after last week or in your mind is that job totally wide open and might RB Myles Gaskin emerge as your starter?) – “I don’t know that there’s a – the first guy out there is technically the starter, but it depends on what personnel grouping we use and how we think we want to attack. I don’t think that’s changed at all how we feel about Jordan (Howard). It’s going to depend on how we want to start the game and what we think is best for us to attack with.”
(In terms of RB Matt Breida, what vision do you guys have for him because it was a little surprising to us that he didn’t get involved much against the Patriots and what do you want to see more from him?) – “What we’ve got is really a diverse room and a bunch of different guys in there. We started out with Jordan (Howard) and Myles (Gaskin) got in and started going a little bit. And then we got Matt (Breida) in there, too, doing some things, so the rotation was to get those guys in there. Myles started getting going a little bit, so we felt like we were getting some productive runs out of him. That’s why we stayed kind of with that path. But then when Matt came in, Matt had out of his five carries, four of them of were productive runs; and they both averaged about the same yards per carry. Again, it’s us trying to figure out with two of them being new that I’ve never seen before and played with before, feeling them out, what the game was like, how it went, what’s going on and I think that’s still an ongoing process. Matt is doing everything that we’re asking him to do. He’s prepared. He’s working hard. He’s into it and he wants to contribute whatever way we ask him to and we’re going to try to find more and more ways to do that.”
(I wanted to get your assessment on FB Chandler Cox. Obviously his first year here was last year, now in his first game into his second season. How did you feel he played on Sunday and kind of how he progressed from that rookie season?) – “I think Chandler’s done a nice job all through camp. We had a couple of really good plays – the goal line play – him one-on-one against (Ja’Whaun) Bentley on the one lead play – the second-down play – was a pretty big collision. That’s got to be kind of what his role is as a physical presence in the run game for us, and I think he wants to do that. I think he embraces that and I think he’s demonstrated throughout camp and at least in the first game here, that that’s something that he can do. We’ve just got to keep building on that and find ways to where we can get him in those spots that he does what he does best, which is kind of line people up and go hit them.”
(The two-back set that you had with RB Myles Gaskin and RB Patrick Laird seemed to really help you guys in the second quarter, especially with the ability to pass out of the backfield. Is that package interchangeable or are those two guys probably the best for that package?) – “No, it’s very interchangeable. We’ve got flexibility with all those things. Jordan (Howard) can be back there. Matt (Breida) and Myles (Gaskin) can be back there. it can be Patrick (Laird) and – it can be any of them – that could be Patrick and Jordan back there. That could be Patrick and Matt. We have the flexibility within the room. We have to have the flexibility so we don’t let one broken shoelace take us out of that grouping, which we like.”
(We talked to Offensive Coordinator Chan Gailey I guess earlier, and he talked about the reason RB Myles Gaskin maybe played more is because the base run game wasn’t working maybe as well as you wanted so you went to more of a spread game and that fit what Myles, I guess, his skillset was. Is it Myles’ I guess ability to do more as a runner and a receiver that makes him maybe the best fit for that package?) – “There’s lots of things that go into it. It’s what we have in the game plan. Sometimes it’s style of runs. Jordan’s (Howard) going to be able to play in that 11-package, if you will, where we’ve got three wide outs on the field. All of them have to be able to do all of it; but they all have different strengths and weaknesses so what we’re trying to do is we’re trying to find the plays and the packages that maximize their strengths and put them in position to do it. Jordan being the biggest guy, that’s why he goes in on goal-line. To me that makes sense, and why we utilize him in that sort of role; but they all can do the things that we need them to do. It’s what we put in the game plan and how we decide to use those guys as to what their strengths are that we really factor into it the most.”
(Going back to RB Jordan Howard for a second – 0.9 yards per carry – what went wrong?) – “The average yards per carry is more of a factor of so many things that go into it. There’s a lot of different things that you have to look at. The one thing that I think about Jordan (Howard) is that Jordan has vision. Jordan has good feet in line. You saw him on one play to the left where he makes (Chase) Winovich, as he pinches inside, he makes that guy miss one-on-one in the hole, which is what you need him to do. We can all be better at everything that is going on and I don’t know that to say what went wrong is on one group. It’s all of us. It’s the offense that we’ve got to get that stuff fixed to make those things better, and the backs have to do better. The backs have to find more places to run. I put that pressure on us to do more. We have to break tackles, step out of things, make somebody miss, run through an arm tackle. So that’s what we’re going to focus on – what can we contribute to this and get better from the process?”
(Kind of piggybacking off that what did you think of how the offensive line was able to create some space for you guys?) – “I think the offensive line did a nice job. There were some things there – certain areas – that we can all improve on. I go back to that same answer: it’s never going to be a perfect game. It’s never going to be blocked perfectly. Everything’s not going to be exactly like we draw it up on the board. That’s not how it goes. We’ve all got things that we can work on. Every group, every room has things that we can improve on from this performance. The thing is, are we going to be able to take what we need to improve on, go forward this week, work on that this week and get better as we get ready to play against Buffalo?”
