Steve Marshall – December 1, 2020
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Tuesday, December 1, 2020
Offensive Line Coach Steve Marshall
(Fans and some media think differently than coaches in this sense. I think when you look at your three young offensive linemen, fans and maybe some of us will think after watching them for a couple months, “oh, maybe the Dolphins have solved it, maybe we found three young starters who could be long-term starters.” The last couple weeks obviously there’s been issues in pass protection – not just for them but veterans as well and obviously G Solomon Kindley was out last week. Has anything that’s happened in the last three weeks – I don’t want to say shaken your confidence, but are you still of the belief that T Austin Jackson, G/T Robert Hunt and G Solomon Kindley can be good long-term NFL starters? Has anything changed your mind about that?) – “No, none whatsoever. I think they’re – obviously as you go through your rookie season, doing all the things you have to do and all the different challenges they’re brought up with and each and every game is a little bit different. The reason I say that, they’re work-ethic guys, they’re football guys and they’ve got to continue to work and see different things and we put them in different positions to get done; but I’m very excited about those three young guys like I have been all along.”
(What was the difference in that final six-minute drive that you guys had that killed the clock against the Jets? What was different about the execution from the offensive line standpoint?) – “Different from what?”
(Past prior games where you guys struggled to kind of gain yardage.) – “I don’t know. It’s hard to compare. Like I said, each game – we work in those scenarios each and every week on trying to win the game on the field if we have a lead. If we’re fortunate enough to have a lead, to be able to finish in the four-minute, six-minute mode on the field and we happen to hit a couple good runs, we hit a couple good passes to continue to keep drives alive and be successful at it. Sometimes you’ve just got to keep pounding that rock. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Everybody in the NFL is tough and the Jets were no different. That’s kind of as you move forward, we work on those scenarios each and every week and we happened to be successful at it this past weekend.”
(Specific to T Austin Jackson, obviously a developmental player. Obviously he missed some time due to injury, but can you give us a little bit of insight into for him specifically, some points of emphasis, some coaching points that he’s really working hard on to refine so that he can reach all of his potential?) – “As we do every week up front – win, lose or draw – the fundamental part of playing in the National Football League is utmost, especially at the tackle position. Some guys are talented enough inside to kind of do what they need to do to get the job done, but out there when you’re going every week against the top-of-the-line rushers to that side; it’s fundamentals, it’s bending your knees, it’s the same scenario every week in how we get those done. And that’s with Austin; but it’s no different than Rob (Hunt) or Ereck Flowers for that matter. The young players that we have keep doing the fundamental thing – learning something new every week. Am I in balance? Are my hands in the right spot? Each and every week, my game plan going into every week against specific rushers – all that is something that we work on every single week in an attempt to get a little bit better each week with that. And to say specifically, that is specific each and every week on, ‘okay, we’ve got such-and-such guy, here’s the moves he’s going to try to put on you. All right, here’s what we think your game plan and let’s talk about that and work on these things each and every day starting on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and try to refine them going into the game.’”
(I guess I’m curious a little bit. When you’ve got guys on the right side in G/T Robert Hunt and G/T Jesse Davis, who can both play right guard and right tackle, what is sort of the determination on who plays which spot and why you feel more comfortable with Jesse at guard and Hunt at tackle instead of vice versa?) – “I feel comfortable because Jesse (Davis) has had more experience in there than Rob (Hunt) has. Does Rob have the skillset to move in to play guard at one point? Sure. But Jesse has, in his career has played all – I think I mentioned to you last week – the guy has played every position on the o-line other than center in a game. Those kind of guys are invaluable in this league. It’s a long – it’s a season of attrition. We’re in Week whatever we’re in and Jesse, he can move and adapt a little quicker with the experience that he has had as opposed to Rob and some of the younger guys. Rob has a good skillset, whether it’s tackle or guard, and there’s going to be a time in his career I think where he can move around and play different positions. I don’t think that’s quite the time to do it and really Jesse has proven to be a very, very solid guard as he has been a very solid tackle. He’s kind of – I always tell him, ‘man, you’re my MVP; you can play left, you can play right.’ And from a mental standpoint, he knows the whole offense and does it and those young guys are continuing to grow and improve, and I see Rob in that vein down the road. I don’t think he’s quite there yet, but he’s working as hard as he can and he’s working extremely hard. I’m real happy with Rob and obviously Jesse.”
(Offensive Coordinator Chan Gailey was on here a couple minutes ago as a voice of reason kind of explaining QB Ryan Fitzpatrick’s experience obviously with 16 years and QB Tua Tagovailoa with four games. How do you think the QB’s experience plays a role in how the o-line performs and develops from a week-to-week basis?) – “You can analyze all that you want; every guy has their own job to do up front. On any specific protection, any specific run, from that standpoint; it really – and I think I know what you’re getting at – one guy is experienced, one guy’s not experienced but the bottom line is we’ve got to do our job up front. We’ve got to do a great job in protection, we’ve got to do a great job in the run game, and mesh with whoever’s going to play. Tua is a top young prospect. ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick) – there’s nothing ‘Fitz’ hasn’t seen in his 16 years and various roles in the league. And both of them, we can win football games with and that’s our bottom line right there, is winning football games. So we’ve got to do our part up front and keep trying to improve each and every week.”
(We’re coming up on Game 12 and I think you’ve got three rookies. I think at one point this team started seven rookies altogether. Is the rookie wall real? Is that something that’s a real phenomenon and how do you kind of guard against that when you’re going to need your rookies to play?) – “I don’t know. That’s a great question. I hear it all the time and I’ve been around it all the time. I don’t know. I’d say if you had four preseason games and we had extended time and we’d be in Week 16 as opposed – I don’t know. I don’t have time to worry about the rookie wall. We’ve got to keep working. I don’t want to hear – that’s irrelevant. We’ve got to get better. Those young guys got to learn. Those guys got to learn to fight through it. College football now, the seasons are longer. These guys play all the time. I don’t put much stock in that stuff, but it doesn’t matter. We go out there Wednesday practice – the big thing is we’ve got to get a little bit better. We’ve got to get a little better on Wednesday, then Thursday, then Friday and go onto the weekend.”
