BB: It's pretty much a normal
Thursday for us. We're working on third down. We certainly need to work on
that. It's something that we worked on during the bye week. Hopefully we can
make some improvements there. That would help our football team, if we could
do a better job in that situation.
Q: How does Buffalo's third down package compare to Miami's?
BB: They run a lot of four wide receivers. They're one of the few teams
that does a lot of that. Pittsburgh is another one, who it looks like that's
kind of their base third down package. That always puts a little more stress
on your coverage. Defensive linemen like to see it because that tight end
isn't…they do use some tight end, too, tight end and three receivers. They
use a lot of four receivers. They have four good ones. Actually, they have
six good ones. They use those guys a lot. So, it just changes your matchups,
puts a little more speed on the field in the inside part of the passing
game. You just have to make a few coverage adjustments because you're
usually dealing with a little faster player in there at that inside spot
than you are with the tight end. Plus [Willis] McGahee is always a threat
when he has the ball, whether it's in the running game, which they mix him
in there some, or check-downs or screens or things like that where they
slip the ball to him. You have everybody chasing those receivers around. He
can hurt you, too.
Q: Can you talk about some of the things that Daniel Graham does well for
your team that doesn't show up on the stat sheet?
BB: Well, Dan does a really good job for us in all phases of the game –
running, pass protection, the running game pass protection and in the
passing game. That includes a lot of different routes because Dan is fast.
He can get down the field. He caught a couple of vertical passes for us this
year. He's done that every year. He's also good after they catch on some of
the shorter passes, like screens and things like that, where he's able to
gain some extra yards after the catch. In terms of pass protection in the
running game, those are part of the tight end's job in our offense and he
does a really good job of them. I think he's, along with [Mark] Bavaro, I've
had a chance to coach a couple of tight ends that blocked pretty well. Those
two guys are both really good blockers where they can hold up against
defensive ends and not just linebackers. As much over front as teams are
playing these days, that is the job for tight end, but Dan does a good job
of it, again, both in pass protection and in the running game. It's a tough
duty. It really is.
Q: Troy Brown is pretty close to breaking Stanley Morgan's receiving
record for all-time receptions as a Patriot. What are some of your memories
of Stanley Morgan?
BB: Fast. Really fast. A big play guy. He had a high yards per catch. I
don't know exactly what it was, but it was pretty high. He was a big
vertical threat. A good run after the catch guy. He's a guy you really had
to be aware of on the field, especially when he played with [Russ] Francis.
He usually played opposite of Francis, but in any case, those were two guys
who were hard to cover. They had a good offensive football team. They could
run it. They could throw it. They could throw it deep and could score in a
hurry. He's tough. "Steamer." When he was running those posts, those free
safeties had to really get on their horse and get back there because he'd
get on top of you in a hurry.
Q: He averaged over 19 yards a catch for his career. Why does it seem as
if that number is shrinking for receivers these days?
BB: I think you see teams doing a lot of those, call it, look passes – plays in the running game when the defense moves up the blitz or takes
the run away and the quarterback just raises up and tosses it out there.
There's a lot of guys that are catching five to 10 passes on stuff like
that. Teams like Cincinnati, Miami, those teams use it a lot.
It's an
effective play, I'm not saying that. It's not those conventional,
intermediate and deep routes that a lot of teams run in the passing game. New England was a big play action team back then. Historically, play action routes are
going to be a lot deeper than the shorter drop back routes. By the time you
run the play fake and try to separate the defense and give those guys a
chance to run those in-cuts and post patterns and over-routes and stuff like
that, if you hit them, you're going to gain a lot more yards on those
shorter, quick-drop timing type of throws, which there are a lot of in the
West Coast offense [that] a lot of teams are running.
Q: [On the receiving game in the past and what it says about the
receiver's ability to get down the field].
BB: Thinking back, there were a lot of good receivers back then. There
were a lot of good football players because there were fewer teams and it
wasn't watered down quite as much. Yes, but there were some physical corners,
too. And you're right, they could jam them. I remember Pat Fisher and those
guys when I first came into the league. They were actually able to cut the
receivers on the line of scrimmage and they were backed up over the top with
some kind of safety help and that type of thing. It was a little different
game out there.
Q: Do you ever show some of those old films to your receivers?
BB: Sometimes. Yes.
Q: How do they respond?
BB: I think the receivers kind of like the passing game the way it is
now. I don't know about the quarterbacks, though. Back when I came into the
league, if a guy had his hand on the ground, he was rushing. There was no
blitz zone. They didn't line up down and drop out and bring a DB and a
linebacker and drop out a couple of defensive linemen and get the same
coverage. There was very little 3-4. There was a little bit of a 5-3 defense
that [Bill] Arnsparger ran, but not very much really. The big thing to the
quarterback was you knew who the seven guys in coverage were and you knew
what the combinations were and that's all you had to read. Whereas now, a
lot of times you're frequently seeing nine guys in coverage. Some
combination of seven of nine or six of nine, however they do it. That makes
it a lot tougher on a quarterback. Sometimes it's more than that. Sometimes
it could even be 10 guys in coverage, teams that drop the nose tackles out
and stuff like that. It doesn't happen very often, but as a quarterback you
have to be aware of it. You don't want to throw it to him.
Q: When a team goes to four wide receivers, does that require that you
have to have six defensive backs on the field?
BB: No. There are a lot of teams, and Buffalo is a good example, of a
team that might have had six defensive backs on the field this year, but I
can't remember it. They're a nickel team.
Q: I was thinking more of for you against their offense; if they were
running four wides.
BB: Sometimes we stay in our regular defense with four DBs. Sometimes we
are in five. Sometimes we are in six. We have all of those combinations of
groups. There are some teams that just play nickel. They don't play with a
sixth defensive back. They play with two linebackers in there. We've done
that in the past, too. We play that against any multiple receiver grouping.
I think it just depends on your philosophy and then it obviously changes
your coverage package a little bit. A hard thing defensively is how many of
those groups can you get ready, especially if you're taking a guy who was a
linebacker in one group and then he's a defensive lineman in another group
and a defensive back is a safety in one thing but then he's really an
outside linebacker in another thing and then if it's four receivers, then he
really becomes like a middle linebacker. It changes that stuff around unless
you just want to play straight man, but then you're just in straight man.
You don't have all of the different coverage combinations. It's straight
man. It's not that hard for the quarterbacks to figure out. It's just how
much of that stuff you can get ready. It all is good and there's a place for
it. It's just how much practice time can you allocate to that, especially if
it's not your main deal.
Q: Can that be a man versus zone issue?
BB: Generally speaking, I would say that's the case. Yes, generally
speaking.
Q: Has Buffalo done anything different to get Lee Evans going?
BB: Yes, he's a good receiver. He makes a lot of plays and obviously the
quarterback has a lot of confidence in him. He can hurt you on everything.
He's glued onto shore routes. He's good after the catch. He can turn those
into long gains. He's a good intermediate route runner on comebacks and
in-cuts and curl patterns, stuff like that. He's good on deep routes,
whether it's just a go pattern, double moves. He's fast. He's quick. He has
good hands. He can go up and get the ball. There's the chemistry between the
quarterback and the receiver in terms of scrambles and kind of loose plays
like that, where he may not even be the primary receiver, but then as the
play extends, the quarterback scrambles and there is just a chemistry there
and the quarterback is looking for him and him being able to get open. He's
made some scramble receptions too. He's a tough guy to defend. Again, this
is a very good receiving group. [Roscoe] Parrish is tough. Obviously Peerless Price and [Josh] Reed. [Sam] Aiken is one of the best special teams
players in the league. He's a solid offensive receiver as well. They just
have some other good guys. André Davis is, as we know, a very fast,
physical perimeter receiver who has played quite a bit when one of those
other guys haven't been in there. To have that kind of depth at that
position and to even have a guy get hurt and still be able to run that with
quality players there, they have a lot of depth at receiver.
Q: Is it fair to say that when you have a passing game develop that the
tougher throw is maybe the one close to the sideline and down the field,
that those are the last ones to come along?
BB: Not necessarily. I know what
you're saying in a way, but on the other hand that kind of clears it up.
Those are the ones that sometimes may be the longer throws, so the ball is
in the air longer, but there's also the least amount of coverage out there,
so you don't have those decisions that you have on some of the inside
routes. Does the receiver keep going? Does he settle down? Does he go in
front of him or behind the coverage that is there? Is the quarterback going
to try to stick it in there? Is he going to have to wait for him to clear?
Stuff like that. There are a lot of decisions
the more people you have in there. Whereas, again, on the perimeter it's
usually pretty cut-and-dry. I mean if there are two guys out there, you're
usually not throwing it. You're coming back inside. If there's only one guy
out there, then you're just running the route off of that one player. In
some respects it's easier.
Q: What are some of the challenges that are presented when you are
throwing toward the sideline and down the field that just aren't there when
you're throwing inside?
BB: The challenges are, like you said, it's a longer throw. To throw
a 15-yard pass on the sideline, you need a really good throw. You need good
timing. You need a good route. It's a longer play than throwing a 15-yard
route inside. The ball is not in the air as long and you can drill it in
there. You have to throw it a lot further. You take a lot more risk by
throwing the ball, whatever it is, 50 or 60 yards out there for 15-yard gain
as opposed to maybe 20 yards over the middle for 15-yard gain. It's just a
little harder to execute. But again, all I'm saying is there's only one guy
out there. You're just running the route off that one guy.
Q: There is more of a chance of a flat-out miss, right?
BB: Right. Definitely. It's a longer throw and the timing has to be good
because the ball is in the air and if it's under thrown or it's back inside
or it hangs a little bit, they could be going the other way with it. You
could run into the same problems inside too if the quarterback and the
receiver are not in tune with each other. You could have trouble there, too. |
