Darren Rizzi – October 5, 2017
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Thursday, October 5, 2017
Associate Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Darren Rizzi
(The thinking last week in WR Jarvis Landry returning punts instead of WR Jakeem Grant and is Jarvis now your primary punter returner moving forward?) – “Is he our primary punt returner moving forward? No. We have two punt returners. Kind of like I said all along, there’s really no story there. It’s just a thing that we’re going to do every game based on an individual basis. Last week there was one of the reps that Jakeem was going to get, but he was getting re-spatted – his ankle was getting re-spatted at the time, re-taped. He was up on one and it just happened to be one of the ones they punted. One was a game plan thing. We knew Jarvis was going to play on that particular call during the week, all week; and then one was just a coaching decision. It’s still going to be an individual basis. There’s really nothing that doesn’t … We don’t go into, I don’t go into a game, saying ‘Hey, if they have six punts, Jarvis is going to get four and Jakeem’s going to get two; or Jakeem’s going to get four or Jarvis is going to get two; or one guy is going to get six.’ It just worked out in that particular game that Jarvis got three and Jakeem got zero, but there’s not, again, it’s going to be a little bit more of a … It’s really as the flow of the game is going on and the call that we have, game plan, all of those different things factor in. It just happened to be coincidentally that Jarvis got three last week and Jakeem got zero. There’s no indicator of my confidence of anybody, lack of confidence of anybody. There’s really no story there. It’s just going to continue to be a committee deal. We are fortunate to have two guys that can do it and I have confidence in both of them.”
(Some might have watched that and thought well maybe it was because WR Jakeem Grant fumbled the punt late in the game against the Jets. Was that any bearing at all in incorporating WR Jarvis Landry more into the punt return game?) – “He did fumble one, but that wasn’t part of the decision. Honestly, Jakeem was going to take the very first one and was getting re-spatted, and the trainers had come to me and said ‘Hey, right now he’s temporarily down,’ and it just coincidentally happened to be that they were punting the ball, so Jarvis went on that first one. Then like I said, the second one was a game plan and one was just my decision. That was it.”
(If I’m not mistaken, K Cody Parkey has had three plays in the last two games. A kickoff, extra point and a second half kickoff.) – “That’s an accurate statement.”
(Is there such a thing as kicker rust and do you worry about that?) – “Those guys obviously get a fair amount of work in the pregame, which is great, and then obviously they have their work days during the week. They’re a lot like – I kind of liken them to pitchers. They have a five-day rotation, you kind of have your work day, your game day, your work day and your off day. So what we’ll do in that situation is make sure he’s getting a little more work on the days where – like a practice day like yesterday for example – was his work day on Wednesday. So if he’s not getting those reps in the game, we’re going to try to simulate as many as we can. So he maybe got a little bit more field goal yesterday than he had been getting. Obviously we hope we get many more attempts with him and hopefully he’s playing more in these next coming games; but that’s a legitimate question. We just have to adjust his week as his week goes. It would be like a starting pitcher getting – in baseball – getting 40 pitches instead of 90. We’re going to get him more during the week. So that’s basically how we (do it).”
(Did anything or anybody stand out on special teams against the Saints?) – “I though Walt (Aikens) had his best game of the year. Walt Aikens I thought really played well. He obviously missed that preseason time and so, not that he played poorly in the first two games, but I saw the Walt in this game that’s kind of the Walt from the second half of last year. I thought he really had a dominant second half of the year last year and I saw that guy again on Sunday. I thought he really played well. Bobby McCain plays a limited role for us, but he’s really played well through three games. Whether it’s the field goal block or once in a while he’s a gunner or a jammer, or kickoff – he made a big open-field tackle on a kickoff. It was a really nice play. I thought he really played well. Terrence Fede I thought had a good game. Those are the three guys come to mind.”
(I believe your 28th in the NFL in net punting. What needs to improve?) – “After a three-game body of work, I really take very, very little credence in the stats right now. With where the league is, other teams have had one more game than us as well, and so the rankings right now, whether we’re really good at something or really bad at something, I don’t really put a lot of stock into the stats right now. The one thing we need to do a better job of, I will tell you this, is there’s been times where I thought we should have gotten the returner on the ground quicker. Like last week, I thought Teddy Ginn had a few more yards than he should have gotten on the one return in particular. Again, I think there’s a combination of things. It’s not putting your finger on one thing. I thought Matt Haack, for the most part, has punted the ball fairly well. There’s probably one or two punts he’d like to have back; but he’s had really good hang time on the ball and enabled our coverage to get down the field. We’ve got to do a better job of open-field tackling. As I tell our guys all the time, on special teams and your coverage, they can’t get a hat on everybody. In this league, the free players have to get the guy on the ground. If you’re not blocked in this league, it’s the same thing with defense, the unblocked player has to make tackles. Period. If your unblocked players don’t make tackles on coverage and defense, it’s going to be a long, long day. That’s one thing we harp on. We had a couple of instances so far where the unblocked guy didn’t get the player on the ground. That’s what we’ve got to do a better job of.”
(Both LB Stephone Anthony and CB/S Jordan Lucas will be active on special teams this week?) – “It remains to be seen. We’re going to kind of see how the practice week goes here. They’re both working. Again, it’s my job, as you guys all know, to get everybody ready. Both of those guys are actively taking reps in everything that we’re doing and rotating in. We have some decisions to make here at the end of the week on who the actives are; but both guys could potentially be in there for sure.”
(In your role as associate head coach – I asked you this last year when you were 1-4 – now that you know Head Coach Adam Gase even better, what’s the best way to help him do his job the best way?) – “I think the best thing for me to do is making sure I have an overall sense of the entire game and what’s going on. Obviously as the play caller, the one thing I can do for him is help him out with decisions during the game whether it’s penalty enforcement or time outs or time management – whatever it is – so he can really concentrate on that role as a play caller. I try to take that off his plate as much as I can. We’re constantly communicating through the game. Obviously whether it’s all of those things that could come up, different challenges or replays or like I said penalty enforcement or the time outs, I’m just trying to always stay one step ahead in those instances – the game management stuff – so that he doesn’t have to. So he can be thinking about the next set of calls or the next down or talking to Jay Cutler or the quarterbacks or whatever it might me. I think that’s the biggest thing I can help him with.”
(As far as the saturation that’s hit the field this week, with the punting and kicking, do you use longer cleats or anything like that to try to make up for it?) – “Yes, I’d love to tell you I know what our stadium looks like but we haven’t been there in a couple of months. (laughter) Yes, it’s no different than this past week. When we played in London, a lot of the guys ended up going with seven-stud cleats when you have a wet, soggy field. A lot of guys, what they’ll do is they’ll go out, they’ll have two or three pairs of cleats in their locker on game day, and you see a lot of guys running around early on in the game. A lot of times, that’s what most of them are doing is testing out their cleats. I know a lot of our guys did the same thing in London because that field is known to be a slick field with not great footing and hopefully we get some dry weather here in the next few days and it dries ours out. I would like to think it should be in really good condition. We haven’t been on it, and the University of Miami hasn’t been on it much either. Hopefully it will be in really good shape.”
(Are you taking K Cody Parkey to Hard Rock Stadium in the next couple of days?) – “We were going to take him today, so that’s not going to work out too well. (laughter) We’re going to probably get him down there early, whether it’s tomorrow or get him down there early obviously on game day. We’ll kind of see how the weather goes. We had planned on this being the day that we got into the stadium but I think it’s going to be a little bit of a wash out here. We did get some good work in the rain yesterday though. I know that seems maybe like a small thing but specialists obviously, you see a lot of times in these rain games or wet games where the special teams things really swing games, and so our operation between the snapper, holder, punter and all that stuff, we really got some good work out here. We stayed outside yesterday in the rain and got some really good wet ball drills and didn’t have to simulate it. A lot of times we simulate it. We bring out a bucket of water. We didn’t have to simulate. We had the natural rain, so we got some good quality natural work.”
(What kind of latitude do you give your returners as far as returning balls out of the end zone? Because obviously WR Jakeem Grant returned a kick and it kind of cost you about 15 yards there. So what do you exactly tell your returners when the balls are in the end zone?) – “It’s a really good question because I think it really depends on the … There’s a bunch of factors because I think it depends on the situation of the game, the time of the game, where you are. I’m very confident in our two guys. My problem last week was not with them taking it out of the end zone. When I watched the game with them, I made that perfectly clear. My problem was not that we took the ball out of the end zone, I had about three or four other problems with that play. Our communication was poor. We had a couple of missed blocks and all that, and if you go back and watch the play on film, we actually had a play there. So do I want a guy taking a ball out from 9 (yards) deep in the end zone with a high hang-time kick? No; but that ball was a line drive right at us and I thought that’s a ball that we should have returned. I had no problem with it. It was more of the breakdown of the play and the way we blocked it and the communication. That’s where we weren’t good, on that aspect. I probably, to answer your question specifically, I probably am a little bit one of those guys that’s probably down the middle somewhere. I’m not really strict that you’ve got to say in and I’m not that I want every ball to come out either. I’m probably somewhere in the middle in terms of special teams coaches; but those are opportunities for us to make plays. We had two guys back there that have proven they can make plays with the ball in their hands. We have a bunch of guys that can block and so I have no problem in the right situation, the right time, bringing the ball out of the end zone.”
Mike Pouncey – October 4, 2017
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Wednesday, October 4, 2017
C Mike Pouncey
(Where do you think the offensive line is playing now as far as where it is compared to where it’s maximum potential could be?) – “We’ll see. Obviously as a unit, we’re not playing the way we need to be playing. We’ve got to rush the ball, we’ve got to run for more yards in the first half to give (Head) Coach (Adam Gase) confidence in us. I think we’ve got a ways to go, but it’s still early in the football season. We went out today, had a really good practice and (we’ll) just keep building off that.”
(How good is it to have a ‘normal week’ and be back and be home?) – “It feels good. I can’t wait to go out there and play in front of our home crowd. Obviously we can never use that as an excuse. We got dealt this schedule and we’ve just had to deal with it; but it feels good to finally be able to play in a home game.”
(That smile came out as soon as I said you finally have a normal week.) – “(Laughter) It’s just good, man. It’s good to be at home. Everything’s a little bit easier. You get to go on cadence. You don’t have to really worry about the crowd. We’re just excited to go play in front of our home crowd. We’ve been all over the world these past couple of weeks and it’s been a fun experience, but it’s definitely not the record we want to be at right now. We kind of put ourselves in a hole and we’ll dig our way out just like we always find a way to, and get better week by week.”
(Talking about digging yourself out of a hole, does last year’s slow start give you confidence that you can get out of this hole?) – “Just any season, it’s a long football season. We’ve only played three football games so far. Obviously we lost to two teams that we thought we should have beat. Those games right there add up at the end of the year when you’re trying to make the playoffs. That’s why I said we’ve got to dig ourselves out of this hole. When you’ve got teams that you’re expecting to beat, you’ve got to go beat those teams. Right now, we didn’t do that these last two weeks. We’ll work on that. We’ll get better as a football team. We’re excited to go against this Tennessee football team. They’re really good on defense. They get after the quarterback with their two edge rushers and they play the run really well. It’ll be a good task for our offensive line and we’re ready for it.”
(Is it attention to detail, just little details that you guys are screwing up?) – “Yes, I mean it is one thing on this play, another on another play. We’ve just got to start playing as a whole unit and once we do that, we’ve seen what that turns into, and that turns into our offense looking really good. We’ll get back on track this week and look forward to running the ball a lot more.”
(What do you have to do to try to get the running game going?) – “We’ve just got to stay on schedule with it and whenever we get there, whenever we get the calls, we’ve got to make sure we do really good at it to keep (Head) Coach (Adam Gase’s) confidence high in us running the football. Obviously if we’re losing three or four yards when we run the football, then he’s not going to go back to it. So it’s something we’ve got to do as an offensive line and pay attention to. Especially early in the football game, we have to run the ball really well.”
(What would you say the atmosphere has been like this week? Has there a lot of anger about the way things have started out?) – “Yes, obviously guys are mad. Any time you lose a football game, if you’re not mad, something’s wrong. I think that shows that you have a really good football team, guys that really care when they come in and they’re pissed off about a loss. That’s pretty much been the attitude this week. Guys are just very disappointed in how we played last week, especially on the offensive side of the ball. The defense has been playing really well these past couple of weeks. We’ve got to do a better job of keeping them off the field, stop going three-and-out and keeping those guys fresh, so that in the fourth quarter they can win some football games.”
(Did you sense that in practice today too?) – “Well you can’t ever get that sense. We’re running maybe 25 plays in practice. In a game, we’re running 60-70. I think today, we did a good job running the football during our run team periods. We’ll look at it on film, but we’ll have a lot of confidence going into this football game.”
(The attitude more, though, like the mood and the approach in practice today.) – “Like were guys wanting to be out there in practice today?”
(Well like you were saying, you guys were angry from last Sunday.) – “Yes, guys are pissed. There were fights today at practice. If that’s what you’re asking, yes. Guys are mad that we didn’t play well this past weekend, so we’ll do a better job of that.”
(What do you remember most from the Tennessee game last year when you faced those guys?) – “That we were down three starting offensive linemen before the game. This year we’ll have all of our guys. Last year we had a few starters out and we had some other guys in. We’ll see how we do against these guys with our starting group.”
(On running plays that have been bottled up at the line or behind the line, do you think it’s been mostly the individual linemen being beat physically by their guy? Has it been a little bit of communication stuff?) – “You can point out anything. At the end of the day, it’s just not getting the job done. What I think we’ve got to do is do a better job in the first half of football games to run the ball well. That gives (Head) Coach (Adam Gase) a lot of confidence. It opens up our offense a lot more. We can do play action and stuff like that. We’ll get it rolling this week.”
Jay Cutler – October 4, 2017
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Wednesday, October 4, 2017
QB Jay Cutler
(The offense is struggling to score touchdowns…) – “That’s an understatement.”
(Do you wrestle with that or are you kind of business-like about it and kind of feel that it will come around soon?) – “I think today we were a little bit more positive and energetic and back to work. The last few days, you go through a lot of questions of what if we did this, what if we did that, and try to figure out answers to questions that you might not know. Now Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, we’ve just got to get back to business and try to get better each and every day. That’s the only thing we can do.”
(It seems like the Titans defense is going through some of the same things. What sort of opportunities do you see there looking at them?) – “I mean the way we’re playing offensively, I don’t think we can take anything for granted right now. We’ve got to worry about ourselves. It’s a really good front. They’ve got guys in the secondary that can make plays. Just like any other NFL team, if we flop it out there the way we have the last two games, they’re going to eat us up.”
(One of the positive plays from last week – I found one – was the zone read, a Jay Cutler’s zone read. Head Coach Adam Gase said ‘zone read always works.’) – “Well, in theory it does. I mean I think we got five or six (yards) out of it, so it’s an efficient play for us. I think that’s the biggest thing, first and second down be more efficient. Getting three, four or five yards (and) giving ourselves a chance on third down. We’ve had a lot of third-and-longs. The third-and-1 we did have, we didn’t convert that one, so that’s a missed opportunity for us. We’ve got to find ways to become a more efficient offense in everything we do.”
(Is there any sense of relief that comes from knowing you don’t have to travel this week? You finally have a home game.) – “Yes, I think it might be a little bit odd. We’ve got to put our suitcases away; but it should be good. Everyone’s a little bit more comfortable at home, that sense of security of being here. Hopefully it pays off for us.”
(Is there such a thing as lack of chemistry between yourself and your receivers or is it just lack of execution?) – “I mean you’re always battling against chemistry and knowing what your receivers are going to do. Being on the same page, that’s always a constant battle. That’s always a communication, a conversation you have with those guys; but if we don’t execute, we’re not even going to get to the chemistry part of it. We’ve got to execute, myself included. All 11 of us, we’ve got to figure it out.”
(Head Coach Adam Gase said that he feels he’s ‘wasted some good defensive performances’ the way the offense is play?) – “Yes, I think that’s fair.”
(How do you feel about that in terms of the effort level the defense is playing?) – “I mean I told them we can’t do any worse by the defense. We can’t put them in any more holes than we’ve put them in. I think we had six plays through the third quarter and nine plays after that. We weren’t helping them out at all, and they played well against a couple of really good quarterbacks. They went out there and they’ve played really good ball, so we’ve got to find a way to help them out.”
(I’m sure it’s no surprise to you that when the offense goes well, the quarterback gets a lot of credit. When it goes poorly, you’re going to get blamed. Are you insulated to the point where none of the criticism or the other stuff reaches you? Or do you see it out there?) – “I don’t see anything. I’m not on social media. Sorry I don’t read you guys’ stuff. (laughter) I mean I know what happens in this building. I know what we’re doing well and what we need to improve on. That’s offensively and personally. I know the temp and the pulse of this building. That’s kind of where it stops and starts.”
(The day after the game, Head Coach Adam Gase made it crystal clear that he has your back. Is that reassuring also?) – “Yes. That’s one of the reasons I came here. I knew that the quarterback position, he holds that relationship in high regard. You know he’s always going to have your back and he’s always going to do things game plan-wise and calling plays to help out the quarterback and the offensive line as much as possible. That’s never going to be a doubt or concern of mine.”
(You were seen throwing flat-footed quite a bit the other day. Is that a product of you trusting your arm or just not having a clean pocket?) – “A little bit of both. I think we’ve got to do some things upfront. I can help them out in the certain ways that I move. Like I said, it takes all 11 of us out there and that’s those five guys up front, me getting the ball out faster, me moving in certain situations. When it comes together, hopefully soon, we’ll clean up some things.”
(What’s your sort of general message to the offensive line knowing that you rely on them as much as the whole team relies on you?) – “Yes, they know that. They’re smart guys and they know when they play well; they know when they play bad. It’s important to them. They’re one of the first guys that help me up. They’re one of the first guys on the plane ride back asking me how I’m feeling, asking me how I’m feeling the next day. They take it personally. They’ve got a great o-line coach and (Head Coach) Adam (Gase) is doing everything possible to help them out. That group is one group I’m not that worried about. We’ll get that straightened away.”
(You said after the London game that there are, I don’t know if I’m quoting you accurately, different facets to the offense that maybe some people don’t understand. Based on what you know in your years in the league, are there things that you see that others don’t see on the outside?) – “I would think so. You wouldn’t agree with that? I would think so. I’ve been doing this for 12 years and the coaches in here have been doing it for … I mean some of the coaches have been doing it for double that. You guys don’t know what plays we’re running. You guys don’t know what (our) scheme is, what our protection is, what we’re trying to get done play in and play out. So on the outside it looks like all the walls are falling and we’re really bad and there’s no hope and no prayer for us; but in the building, we’re close. We’re right there. If we clean up a few things here, third down, we can be a competitive football team offensively.”
(When the opposing defense brings seven or eight players close to the line in the box area, how do you balance this desire to throw the ball down the field with one-on-one matchups and trying to keep the game honest knowing that how important the runs are too?) – “I mean that’s a question for (head Coach) Adam (Gase) because he calls the plays and he designs most of the offense. That’s something you can check with him on.”
(An obvious follow up. How much ability to change calls at the line do you have at this time in this offense?) – “We’ve got all kinds of stuff. I mean (Head Coach) Adam (Gase) has been around a while and worked with a lot of different quarterbacks. We’ve got straight audibles, we’ve got check with me’s, we’ve got run/pass options, we’ve got run-around options, we’ve got pass-pass options, we have some plays that are just call and run it. We’ve got it all. Obviously we’re not using it right though, or we need to execute better – one of the two.”
(My last one. I don’t think you’ve ever caught a pass in the NFL. Is that…?) – “That’s accurate and I’m kind of disappointed about that. (laughter)”
(There’s still time.) – “There is still time.”
(How much of a target were you in that Wildcat formation?) –- “Zero. (laughter) I don’t even think they knew I was out there. They told me that I created quite a buzz, but that’s what they told me to do. Sit there. Don’t get hit. Don’t touch anybody. Don’t move. I feel like I executed that one. (laughter)”
Jarvis Landry – October 4, 2017
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Wednesday, October 4, 2017
WR Jarvis Landry
(Head Coach Adam Gase was very strong with us saying mistakes had to be corrected and people have to do their jobs, emphasizing that. Was there even a stronger tone, impassioned tone from him today – not angrier, but firmer – or angrier for that matter?) – “Coach’s words are exactly what he has been telling us – things that we need to get corrected, things that we need to do better. We can’t hurt ourselves and put ourselves in third-and-12 and expect to make the first down. No matter what the call is, it’s going to be tough. Finding a way to get into third-and-manageable, not even get to third down. Our thinking (is) we want to get first, second down and move the chains from there. For us, we’ve got to find a way to do that, not have penalties, and when we get in the red zone, score. (It’s) that simple.”
(Should a team with this many veterans have this many mistakes happening even with all the things you had to deal with – the game postponed, etc.?) – “Mistakes happen all the time. Sometimes teams throw in something that we may have not prepared for. Mistakes happen; but the minimum ones, if we can just keep it to a minimum number … I hate to throw a number out there, but we have more then we need to have to win the game. That’s not going to help us.”
(How do you like the idea of preparing this week and not having to hop on a plane Friday, Saturday or Thursday?) – “It feels good to be home. For us, we want to start this this train again. Start this train and find a way to put some games together that’ll allow us to create some momentum throughout the rest of the season. We’ve got to find a way to put wins together. Which better way to start it than at home?”
(You’ve playing in London twice, right?) – “Three times.”
(Three times. So, do you feel like there’s a way that it could be done that would be a little easier, a little more conducive? Like a place in the schedule it could go? Especially with it being fresh in your mind, is there a way to make it work better for the players?) – “I don’t know, and honestly that’s out of my control. I just play football. I can’t do nothing about that. I don’t know.”
(Did the time of day mess with you? The time of day that the game was, not the time change; but knowing that it was like 9:30 in the morning eastern. Did it mess with your…?) – “It was 8:30 in the morning for them, and they bust our ass.”
(I’m just asking you what you think about it.) – “I’m just saying it doesn’t matter.”
(What stands out when you think back to the Tennessee game last year?) – “Well, we didn’t start fast. We were behind the chains a lot – third-and-12, third-and-15, third-and-25. They’ve got a great d-line. Those guys set the tone for them. The other guys kind of play off of them. Overall, they have a great defense. If they get you behind the sticks – any team in the NFL – if they get you behind the sticks, it’s going to be hard to convert to get a first down.”
(I see Head Coach Adam Gase go and talk to a bunch of guys during practice. Is he talking details? Is that basically what you guys got to get straight, the details?) – “The details, ideas, concepts, what we’re thinking that we’ll get versus the formation – just little things. Trying to find a way to put us in the best position to be successful.”
(How specific does Head Coach Adam Gase get?) – “Oh very. To the ‘T’. He’s not trying to hide things. We want to be on the same page, so that we can be successful. So, to the ‘T.’”
(I know last year was different, but how does that slow start from last year give you … Does it give you a little bit more confidence that, ‘We can get out of this hole?’) – “We prefer not. We prefer not to have a slow start but it happens. I think the beautiful part about it (is) we have 13 more games left. For us, we’ve got to put our best foot forward, continue to stay together as a team and win one game, one game at a time. That’s all we’ve got to do.”
(Playing 13 straight weeks, what do you … Are you doing anything differently to kind of take care of your body and make sure you’re fresh for the duration of the run?) – “You have to. I try to look after (Ndamukong) Suh and (Andre) Branch and all those guys who do an excellent job of taking care of their body – Cam (Wake), a guy who has played a numerous amount of years – and just following their lead with seeing (Director of Sports Performance) Wayne (Diesel) and the guys in the training room as much as possible. The coaches are doing a great job of watching over us with our GPS and things like that as well.”
Ndamukong Suh – October 4, 2017
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Wednesday, October 4, 2017
DT Ndamukong Suh
(I think it was a third down play where, if I had this right, you and DE Andre Branch were in the middle of the defense and you were kind of standing and I think I saw you take like a running start towards the opposing offensive line from like three yards away. How much fun is that? What kind of advantage does that actually put you at?) – “It’s definitely fun. (Defensive Coordinator Matt) Burke and (Defensive Line) Coach (Terrell) Williams give us a great opportunity to stand up and make plays. At the same time, we’ve got to be prepared for people like the Saints, as well as Tennessee, who likes to snap the ball quickly. I think that’s something that is an advantage. They think we’re not set and we’re not ready but we actually are. We’re just standing up and kind of waiting for them to get going. Once you see the center with his hand on the ball, we’re ready to go.”
(Are you guys a good run defense or a defense that has played well against the run so far?) – “We’re a defense that’s playing pretty well in regards to the run game, if you want to look at stats and all of those different things. We’ve got a great test against Tennessee. Obviously they’ve got two elite backs, as well as an elite quarterback in (Marcus) Mariota and him being able to score touchdowns with his feet, as well as his arm. We’ve got an amazing challenge against us and I’m looking forward to it. To me, this is just like in college when I remember back being at Nebraska and playing against Virginia Tech. You know it’s smash-mouth football and we’re going to have fun with it. I enjoy it. I can’t wait to get an opportunity to play.”
(How much do you view last year’s performance against them defensively as sort of a humbling experience?) – “I think last year is last year. I think we take some things, watch that film obviously – it’s the same guys, the same o-line – and things we can learn from; but at the end of the day, they’ve got some new wrinkles and everybody in this league understands that people change and evolve, as well as do things that they’re good at. We’ve got to be able to look at that and understand what we’re going to get in the run game, as well as in the pass game.”
(Still a couple of missed tackles last week as a unit. Is that something the coaches talk to you about after the game?) – “I think it’s something that we all understand. We don’t have room for error and we can’t allow ourselves to miss tackles and allow that to create big plays. When we find a way to get that done and complete, we’ll probably be in a place that we want to be in, which is holding teams to whether it’s field goals or no points.”
(When the offense is struggling the way that it is on the other side of the ball, how have you guys kept your effort level high and maintained your focus throughout that?) – “I think we understand what our offense has as a unit. Obviously there’s trials and tribulations that get to different situations and what they’re going through right now. Our job as a defense is to continue to strive and do better. We haven’t played perfect, neither has special teams. Until we can play perfect then we can’t say much, if anything; and even then, if we do play perfect, we’ve still got to go back and get the ball for our offense and give them as many opportunities as they need. Really, when they are rolling and doing well as they have and they’ve shown great things – obviously the first series against the New Orleans Saints – we want to give them more opportunities to continue to do that and drive the ball down the field and score points.”
(As a captain, is there some way you can help bridge the level of love and trust and respect between offense and defense? Because sometimes it can seem like two sides of the room.) – “I think there’s obviously always going to be two sides. There’s always two sides in regards to practice and we push them and they push us. We talk trash. At the same time, it’s just like kids at home with adults and parents. We’re going to push each other but at the same time, we’re always going to love each other, so we’ll go from there.”
(Is there more on your plate for all of the defensive players this week because you’re looking at a team that has uncertainty at quarterback and the two quarterbacks who could play have such different styles?) – “No, I think at any point and level, we understand what any NFL team can do with multiple different types of players that they have. I think we understand what (Marcus) Mariota wants to do. We understand that their big horses are in the backfield and they want to really be successful in that particular game because that opens up their pass game. If we can make them one-dimensional, which is what we want to do – which is obviously stop the run and make them throw the ball – we’re going to be in a happy position, no matter who is at quarterback.”
(The Titans are obviously a very physical team on offense. You’ve played against them. How physical are they? Are they among the most?) – “I think they’re a physical team but at the end of the day, put no fear in my heart. I know as well as any other guy on my team and looking at those guys and their eyes, nobody is scared of them being physical or whatever. We embrace the challenge. We look forward to it. Like I said, I think you can see it in my face. I’m excited about this game.”
(What did LB Lawrence Timmons bring to the defense last week?) – “Fury, fire and big hits. He’s a guy that obviously comes downhill. I love him and enjoy him playing behind me. I look forward to him continuing to progress in our defense and play off us as defensive linemen up front. Really, he’s just a seasoned football player. It’s as plain and simple as that.”
(How do you think CB Cordrea Tankersley handled his first start?) – “I think he handled it really well, in my opinion. Obviously nobody is perfect. He had some mistakes; but he was aggressive. He made great plays. He almost had a pick. It’s funny. I was talking to him during the game, before the game and after the game and he’s just excited to have an opportunity and is eager to continue to grow.”
(What was your message to CB Cordrea Tankersley before the game? Just chill, enjoy the game and play your game pretty much?) – “I’ll keep that private. Maybe if he wants to share it, I’ll let him share it; but at the end of the day, he’s a good kid. Obviously he’s been in big-time situations being at Clemson, so he’s – in my eyes and in my opinion – not scared of anything and he looks forward to the opportunity.”
(It looked like DT Vincent Taylor got penetration a few times. What do you notice about his skill set?) – “In my personal opinion, I think Vincent is doing a great job. He’s ideally what you want from, per se, a backup tackle, if that’s where he is right now, because he’s not a starter. What he’s doing is he’s taking and making the most of his plays when he’s in the game. He’s a guy that comes in and understands, asks a bunch of questions, is in the right places and really is making plays. That’s what we expect from each and every guy on this line. I’ve said it before, as we grow and as we become a better defensive line, we’re going to all be interchangeable across the line. Whether that’s playing multiple tackle positions or playing end or whatever it may be, we expect when you’re on the football field to go out there and make plays.”
(How aware are you that this is your home opener? Does it feel like it’s late? Does it feel like you haven’t played here in a while? Does that even occur to you?) – “It’s been two months. I kind of had this conversation I think randomly with some family or friends like a week or two ago. At the end of the day, we understood what happened with the hurricane and obviously us being on the road, we understood the challenge coming into the season was really going to be that way even if we did play our first game against Tampa. I’m excited to get back home and have an opportunity to play in Hard Rock (Stadium). It is what it is. I don’t think anybody is really paying too much attention to it.”
Adam Gase – October 4, 2017 (Conference Call)
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Wednesday, October 4, 2017
Head Coach Adam Gase (Conference Call with Tennessee Media)
(Three games in, what do you like that you’re seeing from your team and what are some areas you need to improve in?) – “I like what I’m seeing from our defense and our special teams. I think our defense has improved with really what our main focus was, which was our run defense. We’ve had probably some better games lately – I guess we’ve only played three, so the last two games have been better – as far as our pass defense. The first game we played a little too loose and (Chargers QB Philip) Rivers was able to do what he wanted to do. (We) really didn’t help our defensive line out. (On) special teams, we’ve had some impactful plays. We’re looking for more from that group. We invest a lot in that and spend a lot of time on and a lot of our roster on that area. Obviously, we want to be one of the top special teams in the league. Offensively, we’ve been terrible and we’ve got a lot of room to improve, to say the least.”
(What’s the problem on offense?) – “Really, at the end of the day, it just comes down to every guy doing his job. We haven’t been consistent in doing that. We’ve had too many breakdowns, whether it be mentally or physical. We’ve got a lot to clean up. This week it doesn’t get any easier for us, so we need to be on our game.”
(Have there been any positives that you can take away from the offense thus far?) – “I think that first game was really more what we were looking for. It was a shortened game. There were very few possessions. I think we had eight drives. We scored on five of them. We ended up kicking field goals mostly. We scored one touchdown, but we had two other opportunities for touchdowns that we missed out on with running a gadget play – we had what we wanted and didn’t hit it – and then Jay (Cutler) missed Jarvis (Landry) for a touchdown. That game could have been completely different for us, and really the last two games, we really haven’t had that same consistency. We’ve had a drive here and there; but, for the most part, we’ve got to get back to more of what we were doing in that first game.”
(How is QB Jay Cutler, overall? He’ll obviously get better in time, but what do you like that you’ve seen from him so far?) – “I think the fact that even though we’ve been, really it was one year being apart, you can tell when a guy gets older, he sees things from a different lens. I think the fact that he was out of the game there for a minute, I think that makes you enjoy your time getting back into football, especially when you enjoy the environment that you are (in). The way that I’ve seen him practice and how into it he’s been with everything, I think it’s been really fun for me to see that he’s enjoying playing football. Really, we’ve just got to keep trying to get on the same page and getting guys to do things right. He’s been a big help with that because he has experience in this offense. He knows my personality, he knows how to deal with me good and bad, and knows how to communicate with the other guys.”
(With you facing the Titans, obviously there’s a question mark about the quarterback. Are you preparing for QB Marcus Mariota or are you preparing for QB Matt Cassel, and how does that look in practice?) – “That’s the toughest thing when there’s an unknown here, especially with the differences in the two. You can’t just re-design a whole offense, but at the same time, if Marcus plays, it’s really an emphasis on one thing. If Matt plays, it probably changes for them. Marcus causes a lot of problems. Really it starts with him and then you look at the pieces that he has around him, it makes it very difficult to defend. You have to be very sound. One little slip up, and then next thing you know, he’s running for a 40-yard touchdown or you’re accounting for him and then when you’ve got two backs the way that they have, all of a sudden you’ve got two big guys running around free in the secondary and that causes another set of issues.”
(What is the biggest difficulty, obviously playing in London this past Sunday, having to play the following Sunday without a bye?) – “I don’t know if, really, it’s hit us that we were in London last week, because I think most of our team was pretty angry with what happened over there. Once we got back over here, like today feels normal for me, as far as how the players look, how they’ve been moving around. In the meetings, I don’t see anybody sluggish. I don’t think that our veteran players are allowing anybody to be sluggish because there’s probably a little anger there with how we performed last week, especially on the offensive side and there’s a sense of urgency there of, ‘Alright, we’ve had enough of the mental busts and the physical errors.’ It’s either get it done or we’ve got to get somebody else in there.”
(How much do you not allow your players to make excuses? You guys have been to L.A., you’ve been to New York, you’ve been to London, probably had to log the most miles of anybody. I know that can’t be an excuse. If you here any whisper of that, do you squash it?) – “I don’t think they’re going to say that around me because I really don’t care.”
(Your team, are they pretty fresh for Week 4 despite all of the travel?) – “We don’t have a choice. These guys, if they do it right, they take care of their bodies, they listen to the people we have in this building that are telling them exactly how they need to eat, sleep, hydrate – those types of things – activate their bodies, how they work out, all of those things, if they listen to the people we have in this building, they’ll feel good on Sunday. If you don’t pay attention to that and you’ve got other things going on in your life, then there’s a chance that you’re not going to feel as good as the guys doing it right.”
(Which defense are do you expect to face and prepare for with the Titans? The unit that we saw against Jacksonville and Seattle or the performance against Houston that kind of showed some areas that can be attacked?) – “In my experience against this team, obviously last year wasn’t a great one. They’ve got a lot of good players. They’re very difficult to play because of that front they have. They added some pieces there on the back end. My experience with guys like Wesley (Woodyard) being in that linebacking corps, he knows my offense probably as good as anyone. He might know it better than some of my players. It’s a tough challenge. Getting these guys blocked to begin with is not an easy task. Then when you put Coach (Defensive Coordinator Dick) LeBeau on the other side, he always is going to have a tough scheme to go against. It’s a challenge for us. Last week was last week. Nobody will remember it if they come out and really do what they probably expect they can do against us. Every week is a different story so whatever happened last week, just like us, you go in, you correct it, and you move on to the next one.”
Adam Gase – October 4, 2017
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Wednesday, October 4, 2017
Head Coach Adam Gase
(It seems as though QB Jay Cutler has not thrown deep as often during the regular season as he did in training camp and preseason. Is that true and why is that?) – “I don’t know if that’s 100 percent true. When we look at our hit charts, about what we’re calling and trying to get down the field, I mean it is what it is sometimes. You only can make a throw if you’re upright. There has been a few times where we’ve called some things and we haven’t been able to get the ball off, whether it’s some kind of pressure issue or he’s had to escape from the pocket and he’s had to lower his eyes. In practice, it’s a lot easier because you’re not … A d-linemen runs by you and you just keep playing.”
(How often have you had a wide receiver lined up wrong or running the wrong route depth or not running the precise route, overall, in general, the first three weeks?) – “I don’t think it’s been anything that’s been extraordinarily alarming. We’re better than what we were last year but it’s … I know everybody wants to try to focus on one group. It’s just every play has a different story. We have to get a lot of things cleaned up. We have to just be more in sync with what we’re trying to do upfront, what we’re trying to do at quarterback, running back, tight end, wide receiver. We just need to be more on the same page and eliminate the mistakes of eight guys are doing it right and three guys are doing it wrong. It needs to be, if anybody’s doing it wrong, it needs to be down to one guy, to where we can still have success on the play. Right now, too many guys are having an issue here and there. That’s the main thing we’re going to get cleaned up this week.”
(The defense, at least in my opinion, has had three straight winning-caliber performances. How frustrating is that to you that you haven’t been able to capitalize on that?) – “Extremely. I mean that’s my side of the ball and when those guys are playing the way they are, I feel like I’m wasting really good performances. Between what they did against L.A. with Philip (Rivers), and then what they did against Drew Brees this last week, it’s disappointing because we’re at 0-0 (last week against New Orleans), and we’re looking to hold onto the ball at the end of the half so they can’t get it back. We do the one thing that we can’t do – we get a penalty. We have a good run and we get a penalty, (and the) next thing you know, we’re backed up to the point of now we’re just trying to eat up as much time as possible, because once you have a negative play like that, your drive is toast. We can’t have that happen. We’ve got to clean these things up and however the officials are calling it that game, it is what it is. We have to do the right things. We’ve got to make sure that we’re not getting these penalties that put us in a bad position.”
(Without getting to the extreme of you must bench your quarterback, what does QB Jay Cutler have to do better?) – “I think the biggest thing is we just have get him comfortable in the pocket. We’ve got to be able to let him set his feet. Really, that’s the No. 1 thing that we’ve just got to keep working on. I think if you ask any quarterback if they feel like they’re getting pressure and they’re trying to slide one way or the other and they’re throwing off balance, it’s going to be hard to be consistent on completions. We just need to get it to where we have a clean pocket and then when he does have a clean pocket, we have to make sure that he sets his feet and throws the ball the way that I know how he can throw it. He’s older now. He’s not 25 (years old) anymore so those off-balance throws, they’re tougher. They’re not going to happen like they used to, and he knows that, and we’ve talked about being able to find that soft spot in the pocket and set your feet and make the throw.”
(Are you a big believer in chemistry takes time to build or is it just lack of execution right now?) –- “The chemistry part, when you kind of start late like we did, I can see it taking some time; but we’ve had enough time. We’ve had enough time and we need to be better at executing what we’re doing and making sure that we have more guys doing their jobs than what we’ve had, and that’s how we can get things corrected on offense. At this point, the excuses are running out. There are no more excuses. It’s either get the job done or we’ll find somebody that can.”
(You talked a couple of weeks ago about scaling things back. Does QB Jay Cutler have a full grasp of the complete playbook?) – “Yes. He’s fine. That’s the last person I’m worried about.”
(How much of an advantage is it to finally be home?) – “It’s nice that we don’t have to get on a plane. When you’re traveling, the thing is for a coaching staff is that you’re going to work on the plane. It’s just a mobile office. For the players, the tough thing is for the guys that are banged up and flying, just what it does to their bodies. That’s what makes it to where that’s the challenging part of who takes care of their body, who hydrates right, who eats right. All of those little things, those matter. Some of the guys that struggle handling it, those are the guys that, they struggle when you play on the road. The guys that are true pros that know how to do it and do it right week in and week out, that’s why you don’t see a different performance whether they are home or away.”
(Last year it felt like TE Dion Sims and TE MarQueis Gray were very effective in the blocking game. How are your top two tight ends Julius Thomas and Anthony Fasano doing at run blocking?) – “We’ve been ok, but we haven’t been good enough. I know we can get better with what we’re doing. One of the main reasons that we really liked bringing Anthony in is because we felt liked that gave us an advantage in that area. He surprised me with how good of a receiver he is. I really enjoy being around him because he is the ultimate pro. He’s constantly trying to perfect his craft. Julius is a better blocker than he ever was with me before. I feel like the effort’s there. There are a lot of things there that are positive; but, we just have to do better.”
(How is CB Byron Maxwell handling the situation with CB Cordrea Tankersley and what do you expect from him moving forward?) – “You’ll have to ask him that specific question. He hasn’t shown me any signs as far as doing anything different than what he’s always done as far as working at practice and trying to find ways to get better. I know last week when we practiced, he came out every day and battled. He did both sides. He did scout team. He did stuff with the regular defense. That’s more of a question for him, but as far as what I’ve seen I haven’t really seen a change in his practice habits.”
(You’ve done this with CB Byron Maxwell last year and now last week. How does he react when you’re delivering that to him that this is the decision you’ve mad?) – “My conversations with him, he’s told me that ‘I’m going to put my head down and work.’ That’s what he told me. That’s what I expect guys to do. Whatever decision that’s been made, those are the decisions and your job as an NFL player is to go practice. If somebody says that you’re up, be ready to be up.”
(On the other side, are you optimistic about CB Xavien Howard?) – “Yes, we’re just going to have to go through the week and see how he feels. It’s such a day-to-day deal with him right now. We’ll take it like that. We’ll just go one day at a time.”
(Will CB Byron Maxwell be an option if CB Xavien Howard cannot play?) – “I think everybody is an option right now.”
(Titans QB Marcus Mariota is questionable for Sunday. How much tougher is it to be prepared for two potential quarterbacks?) – “That’s a tough assignment for the defensive staff because they are different. There are similarities to what they do on an offense, but at the same time, it’s not the same guy. If you watch Marcus play, there’s not many guys that play that position that can run for a 40-yard touchdown and can run away from everybody. He causes a lot of problems and he puts a lot of options on the table for them. It really thins out the defense because you better be assignment sound (or else) he’s going to hurt you.”
(Wednesday, Thursday practice plan overall as far as work load and physicality with being on the road and everything, is it scaled back a little or actually step up a little?) – “We lost 20-0. We need to go to work.”
(You’ve had success in the past running the football against eight man fronts at times and this year even when boxes aren’t necessarily loaded, there’s still plenty of penetration there. What are the differences between having success last year and then now?) – “Just getting everybody to do the right thing. We know what we’re going to see most of the time. We’re not seeing different defenses no matter who we’re playing. We’re getting a lot of the same looks. The way I look at is we better start executing against some of the defenses we’re seeing or we’re going to keep seeing them. Defensive coordinators, when they see you have a weakness and you’re not doing something right, they’re going to do it and they should. Until you can show everybody that you can do it and put it on tape, you’re going to keep seeing the same stuff. “
(DE Charles Harris has been low key statistically. Have you seen improvement and, if so, where?) – “Yes, the last game I though he was disruptive, high energy. He was flying around the field. That was what we’ve been expecting. You can throw the stats out the window. That doesn’t mean anything to me. When the quarterback feels you and he’s getting rid of the ball because he feels like you’re creating pressure on the side of the ball you’re rushing from or in the run game, if you’re doing your job, which our defense has been the majority of the time, where everybody is playing team defense, that’s why the run game has changed.”
(Aside from the headphone malfunction, which obviously was a huge key early last week, any other factors for why the clock has gone to the final 5 seconds before snapping a lot of plays the last couple weeks?) – “That’s a tough one to explain. We’ve just got to get back to the huddle and get out of the huddle and get lined up and ready to go. It’s a big point of emphasis for us. It has been since the start of the season and really, it was last year with ‘Get to the ball, get back to the huddle, give us some time.’ That clock will go quick if you’re walking around and we’re getting into melees in between plays. The shot clock is going. The officials aren’t going to stop it for you. You’ve got to get back to the huddle, get the play call, get up to the line of scrimmage. Nobody should be asking questions. It’s not that hard. Line up and play.”
(What was the thinking, the reasoning, for throwing out the Wildcat?) – “It’s something we wanted to do against them. It was what they did and what we had planned to do, we thought we were good. We just didn’t do a good job of executing it.”
(How long did that take to … have you been saying that for weeks and months and years?) – “It’s the same play we run if the running back is back there compared to the quarterback. The running back or the quarterback, it’s the same play. Everything is the same. It’s not that hard.”
(I read what you said about that play on Monday and you said I think that QB Jay Cutler did what he’s supposed to do on that play?) – “Yes.”
(Do you mean QB Jay Cutler specifically is just to stay out of it so he doesn’t risk injury?) – “Yes. As soon as he steps forward, they can knock the … I won’t say it; but they can hit him. If he steps back or doesn’t move, now you’re looking at different kinds of penalties. Until you go through it where a quarterback steps off the ball and starts working downfield and you watch one of them get blasted … I’ve got a little experience. I kind of know what I’m doing.”
(Did you give QB Jay Cutler a hard time at all about his posture on that play?) – “No. You guys worry about a lot more things than I do.”
(Once again, you allowed 3.1 yards per carry, which is your season average. What has been the difference in the rush defense? It’s one of the top ones in the league.) – “They’re playing as a group. You don’t have guys freelancing. You’ve got guys doing exactly what they’re coached to do. That’s why they’re having success. Guys are playing hard. Have we had some change in personnel? A little bit; but for the most part, it’s the same guys. I think it starts with that front. I think Cam Wake’s done an unbelievable job as far as showing those guys how you should play the run and setting the edge. (Ndamukong) Suh is doing what he always does. He’s disruptive. They’ve got to put two guys on him almost every play, so we’ve got a lot of guys that are singled up.”
(You started 1-4 last year. Do you think having been in an adverse situation before helps you to convince the players to get your message across more?) – “It’s a different team. We’ll see. We’ve only played three games. We haven’t even finished the first quarter. Everybody else has except for us and Tampa. Every year is a different year.”
(It seems to us that just from the naked eye that RB Jay Ajayi is leaving no yards on the field. He’s getting as much as what’s blocked for him. Is that your belief that he’s maximizing the holes, the limited holes that are there?) – “Absolutely. It’s very rare that he’ll make a mistake with his run reads. There have been a couple of times that I wish he would just take what he can get to get us the first down. We’re constantly talking about let’s stay first down, second down, first down. Let’s stay out of third down. Like that short-yardage play, I would have loved to see him just stick it – even though we screwed up the blocking scheme – I would have loved to see him just truck that guy and just get us the one (yard). I think the more he does it and he kind of sees the flow of the game and how things have been going for us, he’s going to keep working to get that first down so we just get another set. It’s more plays for us.”
(On that Wildcat thing again, did you have a runner coming across the field as an option or no?) – “I can’t tell you exactly…”
(It’s on film.) – “That’s fine. They don’t know exactly what we’re doing. Maybe I had something off of that, that I wanted to call at some point, if we would have gotten back to the huddle. It’s very frustrating on that play, knowing what we had planned and what happened.”
(The zone read worked.) – “The zone read always works.”
Adam Gase – October 2, 2017
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Monday, October 2, 2017
Head Coach Adam Gase
(Things that stood out as you looked at the tape, what are the most critical things do you need to correct offensively? What were your top two or three?) – “I thought the defense and special teams, they did exactly what they’ve really been doing to start the season out. I thought the defense played really well. I mean they kept us in the game as long as they could. Offensively, we’ve just got to … We have to do what we’re coached to do. We have to be more detailed at what we’re doing, and that’s where we’re putting ourselves in bad situations because we’re just not, we’re not getting it done. We’re not doing things right.”
(When you say not doing things right, can you elaborate?) – “It’s everybody. Guys just have to do what their job is and a lot of things will clean up.”
(How would you assess CB Cordrea Tankersley’s first start?) – “I thought it was good. It was what we were hoping for. I know he was excited when we told him earlier this week that he was going to be starting. The biggest thing was we were … We wanted to be careful because he hasn’t played a game in a month. We thought we had a good plan going into it and obviously it changed right before game time.”
(Is CB Cordrea Tankersley the starter now?) – “Yes.”
(Is there something in particular about CB Cordrea Tankersley’s game, his style, that you really like?) – “He’s just really what we’re looking for. We like the tall, long corners that come up and press and play physical at the line of scrimmage.”
(What did LB Lawrence Timmons add to the defense yesterday?) – “I mean he did exactly what we were all hoping for. He came out there and played his heart (out). He gave everything he had and was flying around the field. He got his hands on balls (and) made tackles. He did what we thought he would do.”
(LB Rey Maualuga, are you encouraged about him playing this week?) – “Yes, we’ll see how practice goes this week; but the sooner we can get him out there the better.”
(What would you say the confidence level is right now on the offensive side of the ball?) – “It better be high because we’re … If we do our job, if we do what we’re supposed to do, we’ll be fine. If we keep throwing crap out there and not doing what we’re supposed to do, then it’s going to be what it’s been the last two weeks. We can absolutely clean this up very simply by doing what we’re supposed to do.”
(CB Xavien Howard left the game early yesterday. Any update on his condition?) – “Yes, I mean we’ll see how this week goes. It just is what is. It was tough that it was towards the end of the game when it was pretty much over. Seeing him go down … But that’s how he plays. He’s going to play from the start to the finish. We’ll see how it goes this week. We’ll make an evaluation throughout the week.”
(On CB Xavien Howard, it’s not long term?) – “I don’t think so. Unless you know something I don’t.”
(You said a lot of detailed stuff but after the way you guys started last year 1-4 and now 1-2, do you warn players, like don’t panic but don’t think we can just flip a switch?) – “If you’re panicking, then you’re in the wrong profession. Your job is to come out each week. It’s a new week. Start over. You had 24 hours to bitch and complain about everything. Now it’s time to go back to work. Really, everybody needs to look themselves in the mirror and realize do your job and things will go right.”
(Do you tell them don’t rest on the fact that we were able to come out of it last year?) – “Nobody cares about last year. It’s a new year.”
(What are the challenges of playing a week without having a bye week coming back from London?) – “It is what it is. I’m fine. They’re fine. We’ll come out here and we’ll get practice.”
(Things that are going on obviously. A lot of things offensively are beyond QB Jay Cutler’s control. How would you assess how he’s played and your confidence in him is based on your history with him, or what?) – “Well, I know where the ball is supposed to go. I know who’s supposed to do what on every play. If we protect him and give him a second to throw the ball, we’ll be alright. If he’s going to get hit from start to finish, I don’t care who you put back there. We need to do a better job of protecting him, being where we’re supposed to be. There’s some things footwork-wise that he’s going to get better at. He knows where to go with the ball. We’re going to keep working on doing a good job protecting the football when things break down in the pocket; but we can’t let him just take hit, after hit, after hit, after hit and then expect him to stand in there. It’s not going to happen.”
(Last week you were talking about offensive changes or possible offensive changes. Now you’re saying guys have to do what they’re coached. Are you confident you have the right personnel and they just need to do their jobs?) – “We’re just going to … Like last week, we played more guys this week. We moved some things around that a lot of people probably didn’t even recognize. We’ll find … I’ll put the guys in there that I think are going to do the job I need them to do. I don’t have to specifically name names. When we hit Sunday, we’ll go through the week. If I feel like I got to put somebody else in or play somebody else more, then we’ll do it.”
(Are you surprised the blocking hasn’t been better from your offensive line primarily?) – “Some of it is the defense does a good job and they win some one-on-one matchups. Some of it is we don’t get the ball out soon enough. Some of it is we didn’t run the right route. It’s something different every time. We can easily get this cleaned up if we get more guys doing exactly what they’re supposed to do play in and play out, and we’ll have more success. When we have all these leaks in the dam and we keep trying to plug all these holes, that’s when you’re going to get in trouble. If guys come out and do what they’re supposed to do, we’ll be fine.”
(Was there anything specific that led to WR Jarvis Landry being the one to return punts yesterday?) – “No. Would you want him back there every once in a while?”
(Sure.) – “Yeah.”
(Are you going to use the same sort of philosophy this week or will things change in terms of rest or going in pads at practice or anything like that?) – “I don’t know. We’ll see. I’ve kind of been looking at it, but it’s a possibility. You’re thinking one thing one week, flop out a 0-point performance and things change.”
(WR Kenny Stills’ right hand, I guess he’s kind of gutting it out being out there. It didn’t look like he’s able to cradle the ball or use it fully. Is that accurate?) – “I can’t speak on that. I just know when you go out there, you’ve got a job to do.”
(The QB Jay Cutler to TE Julius Thomas … The interception in the end zone. Can you tell us what went wrong on that play?) – “There are a couple specific coaching points that will be made clear when we meet with the guys that I’d rather see done differently. There are a couple of things that need to happen because Jay is throwing a fade throw, so we need guys to do things right – protection, the route, the way they played it, where we’re at on the field. It wasn’t really an ideal call that I wanted, but I had about 1 second to make that call considering (Cutler) had to come to me and run 40 yards (back to the huddle). (The call was the) first one I could think of. We just need guys to execute that play better. “
(You had some wrinkles yesterday, obviously – read option, you had WR Jakeem Grant in early in the game. You tried some new things. Any of those you liked in terms of how they worked?) – “There were a couple of things that I did like and I was a little disappointed that we busted on the Wildcat deal. If we run that right, that’s a good play for us; but too many guys screwed up what we wanted to do. It’s just listen in the huddle, hear the huddle call and line up right. I’m glad (Jay) Cutler did what he did because that’s what he’s supposed to do. Unfortunately nobody knows that.”
(Do you think people pick on the quarterback too much?) – “Yes, it drives me nuts. I heard when I got here Ryan (Tannehill) couldn’t play. That was wrong. The evaluation skills that everybody (has) about quarterbacks is really bad. I’m not going to listen to anybody else outside myself.”
(The penalties – how do you feel about them?) – “It is what it is.”
(Are they all correctable?) – “If there is something to correct, yes.”
(Third downs, is that more of a product of first and second down not going well?) – “We have … I don’t know how many third-and-10-pluses we had. We put ourselves in situations where we got third-and-1, one play we convert and we get called back on an offensive pass interference. Then another one, we had the right play; we bust a run. If Jay (Ajayi) had that one to take back, he would’ve just stuck it up in there, even though we had an unblocked guy and just went one-on-one and probably got the first down. I think he was a little surprised the guy was unblocked. We screwed that run play up and that hurt us, because right there, at that situation, we need to be right. You’re fighting and scratching for every possession. You’ve got third-and-1, you’ve got what you want – you’re in third-and-manageable – and we can’t have that bust.”
