Tony Oden – December 3, 2019
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Tuesday, December 3, 2019
Safeties Coach Tony Oden
(The defensive guys, how do you guys get along? How has the staff come on and for yourself, joining some guys who have worked together previously, how has that been for you too?) – “It’s been good. We have a few guys who have worked together before kind of like you mentioned. They’ve helped us out – the guys who haven’t been there – so we can kind of hear it in different terms. The good thing about it, all of the guys that have worked together, they have worked together on different levels on the back end, the linebackers room, and the d-line room. So it’s kind of helped us, all as a staff, kind of gel. Sometimes if you have one guy that has expertise on the back end, or one guy on the front end, that they can’t always express that to the staff. But for us it’s been great, because all layers are covered from the previous staff in our room. We have guys that have coached in the room already in the league, so that kind of helps to kind of bring some things to the table. It’s been a good experience.”
(What’s been your early sense of what you have with S Adrian Colbert?) – “He’s doing a good job. He’s an excellent, excellent communicator. We can start with that. He has some good physical characteristics. He works hard. Once we pair all of those things together, it’s been a good experience. I’m glad we have him.”
(What physical talents there make S Adrian Colbert someone you’re going to take a look at? Obviously he had 12 NFL starts in San Francisco.) – “Like you said, he’s not green in regards to that. The game’s not too big for him. He’s got some decent size, he can run, he’s got a physical component to his game, and also he has a cerebral component. Then when you put all of that together, he’s a great communicator. When you put those things together, you have an opportunity to have a solid player. He works hard too. It means something to him. He’s a passionate young man, which is excellent. He’s an excellent addition to our room.”
(I was going to ask you about S Steven Parker as well, and what you have in him. Do you have enough body of work to be comfortable with what you have from him?) – “We’re still building it. The same thing with – we’re still building it all together. Those things are going to show themselves over time. The thing right now is that they are all gelling together. They’re all learning the strengths and weaknesses of the guys in the room. We’re learning as a staff the strengths and weaknesses of what those guys can do within our scheme. It’s still a learning process, but we’re happy with the direction the guys are going.”
(Can you just talk about some of the young guys – CB Ken Webster, how CB Chris Lammons played last game. Just talk about how they are performing for you.) – “Well, I’ll just talk about them as a group. As a group, they are doing a good job talking in the meetings. I think it all kind of starts with that. Before we can even get out to the field, the tougher part is the mental – do these guys know how to line up? If they know how to line up, can they communicate? Can they anticipate the shifts and the motions the offenses are going to give us? Before you can execute the play, you have to get lined up, you have to communicate, you have to make sure you know what the guys are doing next to you. All of those guys, because we have so many moving parts in there, are getting used to communicating with each other and getting used to knowing the strengths and weaknesses of the guy that he’s aligned next to and learning how to play off of that. Do I need to communicate a little more with this person? With this person do I know his body language to where I can tell what he’s going to do based off of that? As a collective group they are still learning each other, but each day in the meeting room, each day at practice, it’s all coming together more and more for them. Because we’ve had some guys that were playing that were out and now are coming back, it’s starting to change again a little bit. But this past game was a good start for them. This will be a big week starting tomorrow with practice for them gelling together again. We’re excited for the progress of all of them. We don’t want to single out any one individual because it’s a collective group for all of them. They are all learning together and we’re excited about it.”
(Not to mention anybody individually, but when I said CB Ken Webster it was because he was leading the defense in tackles with seven last week. CB Nik Needham leading the team or tied for first in passes defended. Is the game slowing down for these guys, do you feel like they are getting it?) – “Sure. Just like with anything in life, the more you do it, the more comfortable you get with it. You hit the nail on the head: the game is definitely slowing down for them. It slows down for them and it builds their confidence that they can do it, they can tackle, they can make a play on the ball. Now we want to continue the progression of that. Knocking the ball down, now we’re intercepting the ball – anticipating those kind of things. Those guys have done a good job of tackling and defending the pass. We want to continue to grow and take the next step with those guys, whatever the next step may be for them. Each one is a little bit individual in regards to that, but we’re excited for their progress. They are still young. They still have a lot of football to learn. They are obviously by no means a finished product and they know that. They don’t practice that way. They practice and prepare like they are hungry and they want to get better at it. They are pointed in the right direction.”
(How important is it for you guys as coaches to let your personalities show out and have a joke here and now, or lighten the mood when you’re around each other for 12 hours at a time. How important is it for you guys as a staff to come together like that?) – “We spend more time during the season with each other than we do with our families. So you definitely develop and have a good rapport with the staff. To me, it’s all about being who you are and being yourself. If you’re a serious guy, be serious. Don’t try to be something that you’re not. If you like to laugh and joke around, you have to pick and choose the times to do that obviously. You just have to be who you are as people, just like in the meeting room with the players, or talking to you guys, because you’re true self is going to come out at some point. So you might as well just be that. I definitely like to have a good time when it’s appropriate because life is too short to be all tense and tight. The games are stressful enough. You don’t always want to bring that stress into the meeting room. There are some times where there has to be some stress to grow. That’s part of it; but we’ve been doing good as a staff. We work well together. We’re from different paths in life, from different walks of life in general, and different walks of life where we come up from in the game. I think when you put all of those things together and do things for the greater good and not for the individual position, not for the individual coach, you have a chance to be successful.”
(What’s it like looking down the table and seeing if Head Coach Brian Flores is joking or not?) – “He has a much better since of humor than people may give him credit for. He’s a good guy, good person, a good humble man, a man of faith and that shows. He cares about people. He cares about growing the player as a man, as a father, as a husband, as a brother, as a son. He cares the same way about his staff. I think if you do your business or if you do your job, you see more of that. The more comfortable you are with what you do, then you can step back and see how relationships are formed or bonded, and it’s all sincere. He wants to win first and foremost, but he wants to do it the right way. He wants to do it with men of character, men who are good in the community and just build it and do it the right way. No short cuts.”
