Tony Oden – November 5, 2019
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Tuesday, November 5, 2019
Safeties Coach Tony Oden
(On CB Eric Rowe, has he been in your room over the last three weeks now that he’s playing safety or does he go back and forward between you and Defensive Pass Game Coordinator/Cornerbacks Josh Boyer?) – “We are all intertwined. None of that stuff kind of changes from day one. They are in everybody’s room because we all have a different expertise, we all have different things we can share with them. We kind of move them around – it’s the same thing in practice. They’re in this drill, they’re in that drill. That’s one of the things that ‘Coach Flo’ (Head Coach Brian Flores) has brought to the staff, just the versatility of things. We all have to know how to coach all different positions, we all have to know what the other position is doing, and they have to know it as players. That way, whoever’s room they are in, we can hit the same coaching points and say it the same way.”
(How has he CB Eric Rowe played at safety?) – “He’s getting better. It’s a new experience for him. The play entry is different, the physicality of the game is different from a tackling perspective, and from a block-destruction perspective. He is improving every game for sure, getting more comfortable.”
(With the secondary, you guys have had so much personnel change. Why is it working? You’ve been fairly effective.) – “One thing is that from Day 1, you coach them all like they are starters. The first guy in the room, the first guy on the roster, the last guy on the roster, at some point in the year, they’re going to have to play. You hold them all accountable in the meeting room and on the field in regards to the information that they have, the routine – the study routine that they are establishing. So when and if the opportunity presents itself, they are ready from that perspective. You still have to go out there and physically do it, but at least the mental part of it is there. The other thing is that we preach playing different positions all the time. When we talk to guys – when we talk to a safety about playing the flat, the corners are in there and they are hearing it as well. So, they don’t tune out and say ‘Oh, he’s only talking to them’. The way we phrase it, we say ‘Gey, the person that is playing this position, here’s the technique they are playing.’ It could be anybody in the room. So when you do it that way, you’re asking questions about that and it forces them to stay locked in and stay focused because you never know when the question is going to come. Then lastly I’ll say that ‘Coach Flo’ and (General Manager) Chris (Grier) have got the right players in here that can play multiple positions. I think that’s probably the number one thing. You can have the greatest player in the world, but if he’s only locked in at one position, that limits what you can do defensively. But if you can get a player that is smart and has good work ethic, you can kind of move them around and have some moderate success as they grow into the position.”
(Is that kind of what’s going on with CB Eric Rowe?) – “Yeah. He’s been in the system for many years. He came from New England, so there is some familiarity with that. So the things that we are saying, it’s definitely not the first time he has heard it. It’s just a matter of him going out there and doing it. He’s getting better every week. He’s smart, he can tackle, he understands the games and formations and things like that. He’s getting better and better every game, it’s just a different type of game he has to play now. When you go out in the perimeter, your play entry is different, your tackle angles are different, the physicality of the game is different. When you’re coming downhill, now it’s a little bit of a different ball game now.”
(CB Eric Rowe is in the box a little bit now?) – “From time to time, from time to time. He has the potential to be in there. The way we play our guys, sometimes the corner ends up in the box based off of what we are doing. We try to teach them all the same – try to use the same verbiage, the same communication. We talk to the corner just like he is at strong safety because you never know when he’s going to be in there in that position and have some familiarity with it when it happens.”
(A lot of times when you hear the word continuity, it’s towards the offensive line, the offensive line has to be together. What about the secondary? Individual talent, is that good enough? Do you need to know the whole defense to know how everybody moves?) – “Talent helps, for sure. I think what overcomes that is if you know the defense, then you have a greater idea of what the offense is trying to do to you by situation and by formation. I think if you have that, you have a better chance of being successful, then if you just have a great athlete that doesn’t have a great big picture of it. The continuity, you always want continuity. That always helps. Continuity in life is good. The more you get a chance to talk to someone, you know his strengths and weaknesses, you know when he has a good look in his eye and he doesn’t, you know his communication. You don’t even have to say anything. You just look into his eye and you already know what he’s thinking. Obviously the more you get that, the better. Until you get that, and as you build that, the more guys who understand what our defense is and where guys are supposed to be, and what the offense is doing situationally and formationally, as you create that continuity, you have a better chance of having success.”
(I know you can never keep a whole group healthy. If I’m not mistaken, in October you brought in CB Ryan Lewis, CB Xavier Crawford, and CB Ken Crawley. How does that work? Have you been through that? You probably have.) – “If you coach long enough, it happens. But, that’s why to me, it starts in the offseason with the guys you do have to make sure they are able to play multiple positions. Then when you get into that situation, bringing in guys that have that versatility and have a little bit of football knowledge as well. So you’re not starting from Day 1. It’s not like you’re bringing a rookie right out of college at this point. The guys that you are bringing in have some football awareness, and you may have some background on the player already in regards to his intellectual abilities, physical abilities, and just trying to bring in the right type of guy. Not just a guy, but the right type of guy is probably the most important thing.”
(Head Coach Brian Flores talked about this team needing to learn how to win. You got a win under your belt. You may not have learned that whole entire process on how to win just yet but what can a win do for this team going forward?) – “It’s no different than what it can do for any other team. It builds confidence. Coach (Flores) has talked about this being a process from Day 1. We’ve been learning the winning process all season. We were close a couple of times and it finally came through. You can get confidence in it, but it’s not a false confidence. We understand we still have a long way to go. Our next game is our most important game because it’s our next game. Our most important practice has to be our next one. It’s all a building process. What does it build? It builds confidence. It validates some things. But it also lets us know we did it, but we still got a long way to go. So when you put your foot on the gas pedal, you can press down a little harder right now. You hold on to that steering wheel a little bit tighter, take that curve a little bit stronger. Keep going, keep going.”
