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BB: I know we have a little break
here for a few days, so what are you working on?
Q: After seeing you make your debut on
"Rescue Me," any chance we'll see
you in The Rock's movie?
BB: No, you won't see me anywhere near that movie. I just do comedy.
[Laughter]
Q: Is [Heath] Evans a versatile player, maybe more than the
average fullback?
BB: Yes, I think he is. I think there
are some similarities with Heath and Marc Edwards, who we had here a couple of years ago. He's a big guy. He's
built kind of like a fullback, but he's really a running back. He ran the
ball in college and we used him as a running back here last year in several
games when we were a little short at that position. He's also a very good
pass receiver. He's been contributing for us on special teams and in the
kicking game, both in coverage and on the return units. He's a smart guy.
He's good on blitz pickup. He's a very good, all-around versatile player,
like I said, who can run, who can block, who can catch and play in the
kicking game. It's kind of hard to find guys like that, because like I said,
his role last year was probably more as a runner and less as a blocker. This
year, it's probably been a little more as a blocker and less as a runner,
although he does both and can really do all three – run, block and catch.
Q: Is he similar to Mike Alstott?
BB: I've never coached Mike. Mike played quite a bit of tailback really,
but then they did use him as a fullback. There are some similarities. I
think there are some similarities. Heath is smart and that enables him to
pick up a lot of things quickly and [he] has some versatility to do
different jobs. You start getting into pass protection and pass routes and
all of that. There's a lot of moving parts there, special teams, there's a
lot of assignments, but he's very good at sorting them all out. He doesn't
make very many mental errors.
Q: The evolution of the fullback has changed. Why is that?
BB: I think that the prevailing philosophy in the National Football
League, and to a degree in college, was that you wanted to get the ball to
your best runner, instead of trying to find two runners and two blockers.
You'd try to find one runner and make the other guy the blocker. It really
started with the I-formation where the fullback was primarily a blocker for
the tailback. When I started in the league, and looking back at the 70s,
there really wasn't a lot of I-formation. There was very little I-formation.
There was a lot of two-back sets and the fullback was a ball carrier and so
was the halfback. You can go back to Penn State when they had Lydell
Mitchell and Franco Harris, when I was at Baltimore and we had Mitchell.
Teams had a fullback and they had fullback plays. They had a halfback and
had halfback plays and everything was pretty much a two back set, but once
you went to the I-formation, which obviously started with primarily with [O.J.] Simpson at USC and then that came into the league, whether it was [John] McKay in Tampa, or actually Simpson in Buffalo and then it started to catch
on a little bit. But you still had a lot of true fullbacks like Franco
Harris like John Riggins, guys like that really were fullbacks like Jim
Brown and Jim Taylor and those kind of guys were back in the 60s. As the
game became more of a one back spread out game like [Don] Coryell and those
guys made it or a one-back I-formation game, then that's where you really
got the one runner and the one blocker. So now that blocker, the fullback,
is probably closer to a pulling guard in a lot of cases than he is a
tailback. You can go back to the single wing days. That's really what the
quarterback was in the single wing offense. He was really a pulling guard
lined up in the backfield and was at the point of attack on most plays. For
the most part a fullback is at the point of attack in most of the plays now
in a two back set in the running game.
Q: Are fullbacks harder to find coming out of college?
BB: I think the colleges that use them, use them same way that the teams
in the NFL use them, but a lot of colleges are those spread offenses. You've
seen them. Four and five wide receivers and one back in the backfield, no
backs in the backfield. Everybody is spread out and just kind of has one
runner. Even some of the teams that have a couple of good backs, they just
keep using those backs in the same roles as opposed to putting them in the
game at the same time. The Minnesota situation with [Marion] Barber and
[Laurence] Maroney. The Auburn situation with [Carnell] Williams and Ronnie
Brown. There were a few teams that used two guys, but even say at USC where
they had [Reggie] Bush and [LenDale] White. A lot of times they weren't in
there together, or if they were, Bush was really a wide receiver. He played
as a wideout. They didn't use much of a two-back set. With those two guys in
the backfield, it was one or the other. I think that the colleges are kind
of seeing it philosophically the same way that a lot of teams in the NFL are
seeing it, which is, you have a good runner, make him your runner. Get a
blocker and make him your blocker. Don't try to ask the blocker to be too
much of a runner. Don't try to ask the runner to be too much of a blocker.
Try to get the guys who do what they do best and let them do it. I think,
again, you go guys back to guys like Chuck Muncie, one of the first ones I
can remember who was a true one back back in Coryell's offense. Those are
the kind of guys that it really started with as opposed to the I-backs like Simpson and Earl Campbell and those guys. I'm getting these Friday history
questions. I know it's Wednesday but it's kind of fun thinking about that
stuff.
Q: Is Evans kind of in between that?
BB: Yes. I think he is. There are some fullbacks that you would say are
more of a guard in the backfield. Then there are other fullbacks more in Heath's style and Alstott and some of those other guys that we've mentioned,
that can carry the ball or have run the ball productively, whether it be in
college or at times in the NFL, who have a little more versatility. There
are other guys who have a little more versatility. Then there are other guys
who are fullbacks that are probably more like Patrick Pass, who is probably
more of a halfback playing fullback than a guard in the backfield. The kind
of guy where you could throw it to him or use him as a third down sub-back.
As a tailback he's pretty elusive. He is probably a little undersized for a
fullback, but can still go in there and competitively get the job done
compared to some of the bigger guys who are less elusive and are more of the
battering ram type of runners, kind of like Heath is. He's a strong, inside
power runner. He doesn't have probably the elusiveness that a guy like Pass
has running the ball, even though they both play the same position. Denver has gotten a lot out of those kinds of fullbacks. Like they had Ruben Droughns who played fullback out there for them, for a year, a better part
of the year, or two years, whatever it was. He's one of the better running
backs in the league. Same thing with Mike Anderson. Mike Anderson was a
fullback for them, but he was really kind of a running back playing fullback
a little bit. Again, kind of more of in the Patrick Pass type of role. I
think there's a place for those types of players, it just needs to be in the
right system and the right offense. The thing that those guys are really
good at is putting the ball in their hands occasionally and also getting
them to block out in space. One of the problems that you run into with the
guard in the backfield fullbacks is when you try to extend the play and have
them block the corner or block the safety out on the perimeter, some type of
sweep or something, it's a long way for them to run to make a block in the
open field versus lining them up in the backfield and having them wham in
there on an inside linebacker four yards away. That's a whole different type
of a block. Some guys are better at the extended blocking. Some guys are
better at the in-line blocking. Some guys are better runners. Some guys you
don't want to throw the ball to. Other guys you do. It's a little different
style of player in that position. I think it obviously depends on what
you're looking for and what you want the guy to do.
Q: McKay, I know, was the innovator of it. Was it Lou Saban that brought
forth the concept and idea when they drafted Simpson?
BB: He innovated what?
Q: Having a fullback who was kind of a pure blocker, right?
BB: I wouldn't say he was an innovator. He ran the I-formation, but the
I-formation was in football 20 years before that. But he had a lot of
success with it.
Q: But it was Lou Saban?
BB: Right. They had Simpson. They had [Jim] Braxton who was a fullback.
He was about 275. He was truly a guard in the backfield. They had [Paul] Seymour, who was a tight end, the kid from Notre Dame, he was about 290. It
was really like an unbalanced line because the tight end was like another
tackle. The fullback was another guard. If you played them…then they had a
couple of good receivers. They had [Charley] Ferguson. They had a couple of
good receivers, like J.D. Hill. It wasn't like they couldn't throw it. You
talk about a running game, now they added some big fellas in there. Even
looking back here. Like [Sam] Cunningham and [Andy] Johnson, here with the Patriots. That was another big fullback that could run who was really an
I-formation tailback out of USC, at least part of his career out there.
Q: How is Troy Brown's preparation different from other players?
BB: He basically spends one day on offense and then one day on defense,
and then on Friday he kind of splits time between the two of them. Of course
he still has his responsibilities on special teams, too. Most guys when
they're out on the field, let's say they're an offensive player, when the
offense is out there, they're in on everything. Then, when the defense is
out there, then they go and either do a little running on their own or do
stretching or maybe they'll work on the timing of some particular play or
something. Whereas with Troy, he goes from offense then to defense and then
back to offense and back to defense. It's sort of like being a head coach
really because every period that is out there, I feel like I'm right in the
middle of. If you're an offensive or defensive coach, when you're group is
up, you're right in the middle of it. When it's the other team's turn,
you're kind of servicing them. Troy is pretty much in there on every play
and needs to hear every call and needs to be a part of everything and then
he splits time with the coaches during the week to try to make sure that he
is prepared for everything. The good thing about Troy is he knows our
offense, maybe other than Tom [Brady], probably better than anybody. He's
knows it and he's been here all the way back since 2000 when Charlie [Weis]
came and I came in here. He's knows it cold. So things that we put in
week-to-week there's a couple of minor tweaks and adjustments here and
there, but it's not like Troy has too many, 'Well, what do I do on that
play,' type of questions. He knows it and he is football smart. He
understands concepts, so when you do make a little change, he understands
why you're making it and what you're trying to get done and he fixes it up
pretty quickly. He's picked up defense remarkably fast, even the last two
years where he really hasn't spent much time on defense in training camp
when we moved him during the regular season. It didn't take him long really
to get back where he was back in the '04 season when we first made the move.
Q: So it's a combination of athletic skills and smarts?
BB: And just being instinctively a smart football player. There are
some players that are really smart intellectually, but football, the
concepts of it, don't come that easily to them, and vise versa. There are other
guys who maybe wouldn't do that well on some type of test, but football-wise, they really understand concepts – why a certain blocking scheme works, why it doesn't,
why it should be here, why it shouldn't be there. They know
that and they can see it. But he does all of those. He's smart. He's
instinctive and he has good skills for both sides of the ball. Some players,
their skill-set is much more defined for one role, whereas Troy has the
skill-set where he can play in the kicking game, he can play offense, play
defense, he's tough, he's strong for his size, he's quick, he has good
playing speed. He has the toughness to tackle and take on people and be
physical on offense as a blocker, on defense as a tackler. He has enough
speed and quickness to stay with other skill players, players getting away
from him or covering him. He has a good skill-set – return kicks – he can do a
lot of things.
Q: Will you get away from football this week at all?
BB: I'll try. I'll try. Yeah, I'm
sure we'll find a few things to do. I'm a little behind, as you always are
during the season. You just get so caught up in all of our preparation – games and everything – and you get a couple of
days to sort some other things out that have been backing up. I'll
try to iron some of those out.
Q: When you look at your opponents run plays against you, do you
generally find that they run to the opposite side of Richard Seymour?
BB: I think generally speaking most
offenses run to their right more than their left – generally speaking – regardless of who they play. We see
that quite a bit. I think there are a number of reasons for that. That's
just pretty much the way it is and I think that when you see a team that
runs more to their offensive left than their offensive right, or our right
defensively, when you see more there, I think that's the first thing you say
to your team is, 'Hey fellas it's a little bit different this week now. This
team runs more to our right than most other teams that we see.' You might
say that once a year. Twice a year. Very seldom do you come in there and
say, 'These guys are really balanced. They're going to run just as many
here.' It's just not like that for most teams.
Q: Why then would Seymour, who is a four-time Pro Bowler, not be on that
side if that's where most teams run more?
BB: He could be over there. He has been over there. Ty [Warren] does a
good job over there on the left side. I think Richard is more natural in a
left-handed stance and is more naturally comfortable playing on the right
side. He's played on the left side. He could play over there. I think Ty is
more comfortable playing on the left side. Not that he couldn't play on the
right, but I think he's more comfortable playing on the left. This isn't 100
percent true, but basically, whichever dominant hand or whatever dominant
side a defensive lineman has, you basically want that on the inside. If a
guy is really a right-handed player, he's better off playing on the left.
He's a left-handed player, he's better off playing the right and being more
naturally comfortable in that stance and also playing with his inside hand,
which is where most of your power comes from in the interior. Again, I'm not
saying you don't play with the other hand and all of that, I'm just
generally speaking.
Q: The practice squad transaction, how much of that was done to give Josh
Miller's leg some rest in practice?
BB: We only practice two-and-a-half
days a week – Wednesday, Thursday and kind of
light on Friday – so I don't think…it's not like training camp
where a guy is punting twice a day, day after day. I don't think the
practice load is that demanding. You always want to look at players at
different positions. We felt like we went into training camp with really one
punter and didn't have anybody in. A little bit of our thinking in training
camp was after we had a chance to look at some of these younger kids punt in
the exhibition season and see how they did, there might be somebody we might
want to take a look at on the practice squad. We've looked at a number of
guys and felt like this was a good time here, with this week, in the middle
of the season, to see how guys come in and how they kick around this time of
year. Again, it's one thing to kick a guy in August in training camp. It's
another thing to kick here in October, November, December. That's a little
different story. Especially guys that are from the South or kicked in
Arizona, California or Florida [or] whatever. It's a little different ballgame
up here in November and December. Just kind of trying to keep the depth we
can for our team and look at players that we think might have an opportunity
at some point to give us depth.
Q: When a quarterback gets a ball batted down at the line, is it always
his fault or are there certain situations when it's not the quarterback's
fault?
BB: Yes, well I think it's a combination of things. Offensively, the more
space you can give between the quarterback and the defensive linemen, the
easier it is to get the ball through. Obviously that's number one. There are
certain times where the route that is being thrown happens to be right where
somebody is. Sometimes that's avoidable. Sometimes it isn't. I think the
quarterback obviously has an awareness of where those guys are. Sometimes
you get it through there. Sometimes you don't. When a ball gets batted down,
the quarterback has to try to find a way to get it through there. The
offensive linemen have to try to find a way to get their hands down. In a
way, the receiver especially, depending on the route – now, you can't do this
with every route – but depending on what route is called, part of the
receiver's job is to find an opening where there is a clear lane, rather than
come in and sit down right behind where two defensive linemen are. Where are
you going to throw the ball? If that's where he is, then that really isn't
where he should be. It could be a combination of things. Sometimes it's a
good play by the defense. Especially if a guy doesn't have his hands up and
he's just rushing and then right at the last second the quarterback throws
and he sticks them up and we've all seen those plays. We've been on both
sides of them, where you get everybody on the defensive line and one guy
throws his hand up here and the ball hits it. Maybe one out of a hundred
[odds] that the ball would hit it there, but it did. And we've batted some
down that way and we've had some batted down.
Q: Should a quarterback shuffle in the pocket or maybe wait a second
before he throws it in that situation if the lane isn't clear? You can't
throw the ball, right?
BB: Right, you can't throw it through them. No, you can't throw it
through them. No. So he even has to wait until the guy clears that lane or
slide in the pocket and find a clear lane. But again, part of that is the
responsibility of the offensive line, which is to clear out the pocket.
We've talked the lot about how there is usually one free guy and protection,
unless they all blitz. If they rush four and you have five linemen, then
part of the free guy's job is to move those guys out of the way and do what
we call clean the pocket. Part of the receiver's responsibility in running
certain routes, again it depends on the route, but on certain routes, is to
find an opening, which means not only in the coverage, but so the
quarterback can find him. The worst thing that a receiver can do is hook up
or sit down behind defenders that the quarterback either has to throw
through, he can't find the guy, he just can't see him. So he needs to get to
a spot where, 'If I can see you, then you can see me. Well if I can't see
you, then you probably can't see me either.' That works hand in hand on
certain routes. There are other routes were the guy just has to go where
he's supposed to go because there are other people that are distributed in
relation to him. Again that's experience and execution in the passing game a
lot of times.
Q: Cardinals in 5 games tonight?
BB: I don't pick them. I'm just a Tony La Russa fan. That's all. I have a
lot of respect for him and I like him as a friend and a person. He's been a
great guy to talk to and get to know. I hope he does well. It's not that I'm
against anybody else or anything. I like Tony La Russa. I really have
learned a lot from our association, even though it's different sports and
all of that, I really have a lot of respect for how he approaches things and
what he does and I've learned a lot from him. I hope he does well. I'm glad
that they're in the NLCS.
Q: It's okay to say you're against the Mets here.
[Laughter]
BB: I'm for Tony La Russa. That's who I'm for. Like I said, I'm for Tony
La Russa. I'm for Billy Donovan. I'm for Pat Riley. I'm for guys that I like
and guys that are friends of mine. |
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