Patrick Graham – February 15, 2019
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Friday, February 15, 2019
Defensive Coordinator Patrick Graham
(How does someone from Yale become the defensive coordinator of the Miami Dolphins?) – “(I’ve been) very fortunate to meet some good people in my coaching career. I got a chance to learn from some of the best. (I had) some good alliances with guys like me and (Head) Coach (Brian) Flores. We worked in the same office for a long time. We got to know each other. We had some common background stuff, both being from the Northeast, the Tri-State Area. Yale, I went to school there, played football there and fell in love with the game even more. After graduating, I got into coaching and found my calling.”
(What did you major in at Yale?) – “Sociology. I started off with chemical engineering. That didn’t go too well, so I had to switch it up. My dad told me, he said, ‘Listen, if you change from engineering to sociology, make sure you’re not living here when you graduate.’ I said, ‘I think I’ll be okay, Dad.’ (laughter)”
(What were you going to do with a chemical engineering degree?) – “If you go back and dig it up, there’s film of it. My senior year in high school, I wanted to get a chemical engineering degree and go into the CIA. That’s what I wanted to do.”
(Does that dream still live inside you somewhere?) – “No, no, no. (laughter)”
(This is a different career path.) – “Way different, but I found out early on when I got to school, chemical engineering wasn’t for me and the CIA wasn’t going to happen either. (laughter)”
(As a defensive coach, what are your core philosophies?) – “A lot of stuff that Coach Flores has talked about. We want guys who are selfless (and) guys who are willing to work hard. I think when you get into, not necessarily the schematics, but just looking at the player and what we’re looking for, aside from the character traits, you want guys who play with their hands and are heavy-handed. You want guys to play with good knee-bend and good leverage, and you want guys who have good eye discipline. As Coach Flores talks about, trying to get 11 guys to trust each other on the field, you have to get 11 guys to have their eyes in the right place to build that trust. When you look at it, football position, eyes, hands and feet, that’s how I see it, in terms of defensive players when I’m evaluating. Heavy-handed, active hands, eyes in the right place? When misdirection comes, are your eyes in the right place still? Are we able to go from one spot to the next and have a progression with that? And then the feet, a good base and good leverage all lead to good football plays. (That is true) especially when you watch the championship plays that take place championship weekend, Super Bowl weekend. You can just watch the sideline copy and really get a feel for that.”
(Where does heart factor in?) – “In terms of the toughness, I want to have a way to measure the toughness. To me, you measure the toughness as a defensive player and what we’re going to talk about to those guys is can we stop the run and can we stop the run when we know they’re going to run the ball? Are we contributing to the coverage units on special teams? We can measure those things to determine toughness, as opposed to just talking about them. And then the hard part about it is guys who are selfless and put the team first. That’s a big decision for someone to make, because by nature, a lot us, we want to take care of ourselves; but we’ve got to make sure we put the team first. That’s why this game is so beautiful, the lessons that you learn from it, because I know for me, personally, it’s helped me in my life to become more selfless and to understand to put the team first, put my family first, put the organization I’m with first. That’s so key and been such a good thing as I’ve grown as a person, now that I’m 40 years old. It’s been really huge in my life.”
(Here is the question people down here want to know – a 3-4 or 4-3?) – “Yes. (laughter) Multiple. This is what we’re going to do. We’re going to do whatever Coach Flores wants us to do that week and what we’re going to try to do is try to teach the guys the concepts of the defense, what the coverage is, what the rush is – whether we’re rushing three, four, five or six, it doesn’t matter. How we deploy those guys in different spots and the outside looking in, you guys see it, it’s going to look multiple. It is going to be multiple. Are we talking in terms of 3-4 or 4-3? It’s just going to be multiple. We’re going to do what we’ve got to do that week and that game. We’re going to try to win that situation, whatever we have to do. If it requires all 11 guys to be on their feet, it requires all 11 guys to be on their feet. If it requires all 11 to be down in a three-point stance, it’ll look weird, but we’ll do it if that’s what we think is going to win the game.”
(You talk about running multiple schemes and everybody tries to run multiple schemes but it’s a lot more complicated when you talk about building a roster for it. What is the key to building a roster to run a multiple set like that?) – “I believe it is identifying the traits that you hold valuable in terms of building a defense. It’s kind of like what we talked about earlier, with some of the physical traits. We’re looking for guys to play with their hands, guys with good eye discipline, guys that play with a base and good leverage. You take that and as you start to spread out to the different positions … When you’re talking about someone who’s covering, someone who’s taking on the lead block or someone taking on someone at the point of attack, all three of those things come into play. That’s what we’re looking for. Guys that can do that, and then you get some of the measurables, and things of that nature. But that’s really what you’re looking for. Guys who play with good football position and breaking it down to those sub-categories helps lead to being a multiple front scheme team.”
(If you have a 3-4 scheme and you’re looking for bigger players that can hold the point but then a 4-3 requires smaller and a little bit more athletic guys.) – “I’m not disrespecting what you’re saying, but I don’t necessarily agree with that, per se. A 3-4 or 4-3 to me is how your spacing is on the field. Whether a 3-4 OLB is a defensive end, it’s really the same spot. To me, I don’t necessarily get into that, in terms of how big this guy has to be. It’s multiple in how we deploy them. It can be different on any down and distance, any play, any call, any situation. I would agree to disagree on that, if that makes sense.”
(The other thing that would seem difficult about that beyond just building a roster is having a finite amount of time, not only to figure out what you’re trying to do as a defensive coordinator but what everyone is trying to do. That seems like a pretty seismic task to try and figure out for every situation exactly the right defense and have prepped it in only a span of nine months whereas all of these guys from the Patriots, they’ve built it over 17 years. How easy or difficult will it be to try to figure out all of those things in a space of six months?) – “The beauty of this game and our job is it’s very difficult. And it’s usually in pressure-filled, packed moments, that you have to make the right decisions. But that’s kind of why we got into it. I love being in it. So is it hard? Absolutely. Absolutely, it’s hard. But that’s why you put in all the work. That’s why you started off as a graduate assistant, got bumped up to a position coach, came to the league, became a QC (quality control), grinded doing this and that, putting in the extra hours, the offseason, the study. (It is) to be able to get you prepared to handle these moments and learn from the people you’ve learned from before, whether it’s learning from Coach Flores or learning from other guys I’ve worked with. It’s not easy – this job. I’m not saying it’s as hard as a single mom that has five kids to raise. I’m not saying that. But it’s a hard profession, it’s a hard job and it’s challenging, but I love to be challenged. And if you talk to the guys on the staff, they love to be challenged. I embrace it. I embrace it and I look forward to it. We’ll have it right. We’ll have it the way Coach Flores wants it and hopefully it leads to winning some games.”
(Coach Flores had a lot of success in New England with the sub package, having the fifth defensive back on the field. It was almost a base defense at times. Do you feel like that could be part of the package as well?) – “I think what you’ve got to do is you’ve got to look at what the offenses are giving us, right? Whether it’s creeping in from the college game or what have you – however people want to look at it – there’s a lot more three-receiver sets going on. The NFL is all about personnel and matchups. That’s a huge part of how you defend the field out there. So if they have three receivers out there, a lot of times you’re going to need that extra defensive back out there. We’re going to do whatever we think is best to win the game that week, but I can see how the sub package has grown more into the base because it’s reflective of what the offense is doing. If the offense goes with being 22 personnel or 21 heavy personnel and having an extra lineman out there as a tight end, then I’m sure we would combat that a different way. It’s based on what the trends in the league are and how they’re going.”
(You said you shared an offense once upon a time with Coach Flores?) – “Yes, sir.”
(Can you set the scene a little? Were there a lot of coaches in the office?) – “It was me and ‘Flo’ (Brian Flores). The main thing I remember … It was me and Flo and it was not about another coach being in there. It was about the printer being in there. The printer being in there and everybody coming in there to get the stuff off the printer.”
(So it was just you and Coach Flores in the office?) – “Yes.”
(Where was this?) – “When we worked together prior in New England.”
(And this allowed you to get to know each other very well?) – “Yes. We got to know each other.”
(So when you look back at that time, it most have been valuable to you?) – “Oh, it was valuable. Coach Flores, to me, and I’ve told him this – especially when I left and went other places – to me, our friendship and our professional relationship has been so valuable to me because he’s always been honest with me, whether I was doing it right, whether I was doing it wrong, if I said it right, if I said it wrong. He would interject where he needed to. That’s what I value from him. He’s been an example for me in terms of consistency. If you ask me about Coach (Flores), he is selfless. All of this stuff you talk about with the team, he is selfless. He puts the team first above all else. And the fact that he’s so consistent with it, I admire it, because by nature, I’m very moody. My wife says it’s because I’m an Aquarius. Whatever. (laughter) If there was a picture of an Aquarius, you could put me next to that picture. (laughter) I had to fight that because of the examples I’ve seen. I’ve always admired his consistency and how he’s able to be able to be consistent every day, and that’s something I learned from him.”
(So you knew in that room early on, Coach Flores had a chance to be a head coach?) – “Coach Flores is an impressive person. That’s all I can tell you. He’s an impressive person. I’ve always thought that about him. Even in those days when you spend all that time together, I’ve always thought about Coach Flores, that he is an impressive human being. From the first time you meet him, you realize there’s something different about him.”
(And the Patriots only had one printer?) – “No, no. (laughter) There just happened to be one for our side. There were just a lot of people in there. But it also ended up being fun sometimes too.”
(When you say something is different about Coach Flores? What do you mean? The presence?) –“The presence. The ability to be consistent. He’s a great listener. He holds you accountable. You could tell he was a leader. I mean, I could. Just through his actions and through his words, he’s always been consistent with me professionally and in a friendship role.”
(When you say Coach Flores is consistent, what do you mean? A demeanor, advice, attitude?) – “However you want to look at it. I think I’ll keep that private, but to me he has just been consistent in how we’ve interacted – demeanor, professionally and off the field. It’s been great. He’s someone I call when I make a decision about football, someone that I call when I have a question about family stuff. It’s been a good relationship.”
(Do players embrace that consistency from Coach Flores?) – “You’d have to ask the players, but his players play hard for him and they know what they’re going to get from him.”
(Did Coach Flores call as close to a perfect in the Super Bowl as you can get?) – “I mean, I don’t want to live in the past, but it was beautiful.”
(Not a lot of coaches leave New England to go work somewhere else. What made you say I need to try something different and branch out?) – “It’s something I’ll keep it personal. It wasn’t anything bad. It was just time for a change and it worked out for me. It’s been good and I learned a lot. Nothing groundbreaking, (or earth) shattering. It was time to make a change. But that’s my football home. That’s where I learned the game through Bill (Belichick), Pepper Johnson, through Matt (Patricia), through ‘Flo’ (Flores).”
(When you say you learned the game, what do you take from your time in New England?) – “Put the team first. Mental toughness. Doing the things that you don’t necessarily want to do at first. Put the team first, mental toughness. The main thing, the main thing is to try to get better every day. Any time I come into that building, I make it a point to try to get better at my football job every day. That’s all I worry about.”
(What makes you ready to become a defensive play-caller?) – “I hope all of these hours of work and just trying to have an idea of how the offenses are trying to attack us and having my thoughts in line with Coach Flores and being ready. It’s going to be from the preparation. That’s all I can tell you: I’m going to prepare to be ready and when the time comes, it comes. I’m going to be prepared to be ready. That’s how I know to get ready. Any other situation I’ve gotten ready for has been through preparation.”
