Transcript: Eric Mangini, 12/23 - Wed, Dec 23 2009 at 4:19 pm
(Opening statement)- “Good morning everybody. One announcement, Josh Cribbs was named the AFC Special Teams Player of the Week. I think Jerome (Harrison) just barely missed the Offensive Player of the Week, maybe if he gets 300 [yards] he’ll get that. Today, what we’re doing is we’re working on third down. The Raiders, defensively, have been very good at third down and also good in the red area and improved in the red area. I think that’s been a big part of their success of late, is being able to limit the number of drives because of their success rate on third down. Then when teams have gotten in the red zone, they’ve done a nice job of limiting the amount of points. The other thing that they’ve done defensively is with the turnovers, similar to who was it that we faced, San Diego, [they have had] some well timed turnovers and they’ve gotten them in key situations, so that’s another challenge. Offensively, we’ve made some significant strides on third down, significant strides in the red zone, but they’ll present some challenges there. Defensively, we need to continue to focus on the things that we’re doing first and make sure that our communication is solid and make sure that our signals are solid, make sure that we’re in the right spots and that’s the starting point. That’s the starting point for us every week. After doing that, then being able to do the game plan specific things based on stopping the Raiders.”
(On what they have to do differently with Derek Anderson at quarterback)- “He’s been working in the no huddle, but nowhere near the volume that Brady (Quinn) has, so getting used to that for him. When I say getting used to it, he is able to draw on the experiences he had in OTAs, in training camp and we practiced it each week during the season while he was the starter. We may have not run it, obviously, with the same frequency, but he has a lot of familiarity with it. He just hasn’t done it of late with anywhere near the number of reps that Brady had done it. Getting back into that flow for him is very important. Often times, when you start that process you go through getting the formation, getting the call, that’s sort of step one. Then you want to incorporate the dummy calls, so you go through, you make your calls and then you make a bunch of other calls that don’t mean anything, because they hear everything we say, they can’t key on which is the live, which is the dead. The next step after that is coming up, assessing what they’re in defensively and being able to utilize some of the other tools like you saw Brady doing a little bit more each week, whether it be the box overloaded and throwing out the bubble screen or signaling out a fade versus press coverage, checking the protection, things like that. It’s kind of a step-by-step. I feel comfortable with it because he’s had a lot of reps in it, he just hasn’t had as many reps in it of late. He’s worked with a lot of these guys throughout the course of this whole process, so there is familiarity with him, even though more of their balls have come from Brady of late.’”
(On if it makes it tough to prepare for Oakland with all three quarterbacks having different styles)- “Yes, it does. I know that we’ve talked about what’s the value of not announcing who the quarterback is and it’s not usually looked upon very favorably when you don’t announce it, but I can tell you from a defensive perspective and trying to prepare for it, it makes it harder. You have to watch all three guys. You have to spend time working on all three guy’s strengths and weaknesses and it dilutes the amount of time that you can spend on each one. As I mentioned yesterday, you look for consistency within the offense, but each guy is going to have a different affect on how those plays are run. You’d like to know which one it is and then if it’s a question of two guys, that’s 50 percent. If it’s a question of three, now you’re at 33.3 [percent]. It just adds time, effort, work.”
(On if Oakland’s running backs having different playing styles is similar to their quarterbacks having different styles)-“Yes, it’s pretty different just because there’s the line of scrimmage mechanics, there’s the scramble pattern, how they hold the football, where their strengths are in terms of the deep ball, the short balls, who their favorite receiver is, audibles, which one will use more of those things. Because they control the whole offense, the affect can be more widespread, where with the running backs there may be variations to how they run the play, but they don’t control how the whole play operates.”
(On if he would have two separate game plans going into Sunday)- “No, it wouldn’t be that radical. It’s more a function of, ‘These are the things we like versus the system versus the things that they’ve shown.’ If it’s one guy, we may have specific things for him, but it won’t be a wholesale ‘We’re going to run this plan.’ You don’t have enough time. You don’t have enough reps. It’s too hard to try to learn a full plan for three different guys.”
(On Anderson’s strengths and weaknesses and how they fit into the offensive system)- “I think D.A. has a lot of strengths. I think he has the ability to stretch the field. He can put some balls in some really tight coverage. Now, that can be a plus or a minus, because when you have that ability you’re very comfortable putting it in tight coverage. Sometimes what looks really tight to me may look less tight to him. It can create some great plays and it can create some negative plays. You just want to make sure that when you’re taking chances, they’re always calculated, they’re always based on percentages. I think that’s a real plus that he brings.”
(On if he would kickoff to Cribbs as an opposing coach)- “Who do I have covering? [Tony Grossi: Your own coverage]. Yes, every time. If I could get that punter from Pittsburgh I’d be all set. (joking)”
(On if he is surprised teams still kick to Cribbs)- “The tough thing is there are not a lot of great options. You could pop it up, but usually that’s going to result in field position. You can squib it, that usually results in field position. You could try to kick it at an angle. Sometimes that goes out of bounds, the ball is at the 40 [yard line]. Overload, some teams will do that. We’ve seen a lot of different combinations of trying to defend it and some teams have done a really good job with it. I’d say I’ve liked the way the kickoff return team as a whole has improved too. Josh is, obviously, outstanding but I think those guys have done a nice job of executing the blocks. I think Brad Seely does a nice job of eliminating a team’s strengths and attacking their weaknesses.”
(On if he thinks they are just starting to scratch the surface of Cribbs’ potential)- “You know, he’s done a lot of things this year. I don’t know how many yards he has carrying the ball, but he has a decent average there right? Seven something [yards a carry]. He’s caught 20 balls, returned kicks, returned punts, made tackles. He hasn’t played defense yet, but I’d be open to that.”
(On if he would like to see Cribbs at safety)- “We’ve talked about that. It would have to be a specific package. Would I like to? Yes, I would, but I’m not sure if we’re going to be able to get it done.”
(On if there is a play he hasn’t been able to use in a game that he would like to get in these last two games)- “Usually if they’re my favorites they get in. (joking) I think some of the other guy’s favorites have been kind of put on the back burner. My favorite plays are the ones that work. Those are really good. We ran two or three plays last week that kept hitting over and over again, so there was no real reason to go to something else. I like the throwback that we did out of the Wildcat with Josh. I thought that had a good shot.”
(On how many guys from the kick return team are new from last year)- “I haven’t put together those numbers. There are quite a few new guys on this team. I think percentage wise, it’s probably pretty high. (Lawrence) Vickers is on it. J.C. (Jerome Harrison) is on it. Nick (Sorensen) is on it. Who else? Cribbs is on it. That’s what, four?”
(On if Vickers has as much an impact on Cribbs’ returns as he did on Harrison’s runs)- “He pancaked a guy on the first touchdown, pancaked him. In the running game, he had as a good a game as a fullback as I’ve been around. In terms of the running game this past week, he was killing guys. He was killing them. I’m not lobbying for him Pro Bowl wise, that’s just coincidence, but I’m telling you he was killing guys this week. I told him whatever he ate, share it and have some more.”
(On the offensive line’s performance at Kansas City)- “It was the same thing [as Vickers]. What I liked about those guys, their performance, was things were really well coordinated. They were doing a great job on the first level and that was a penetrating defense. They were stopping the penetration, staying shoulder-to-shoulder, getting good drive and as the linebacker showed up, being able to come off. The way that works is whichever side the linebacker shows up on, that offensive lineman comes off and gets him. They got movement and then they did a nice job of coming off and getting the linebacker when we were pulling. I thought the fits on the pulls were really good. Sometimes they were getting two or three guys, just because the linebackers couldn’t get through the traffic or the safety got caught up in sort of the wave, or that pile. J.C. did a nice job of setting the runs up and that’s huge for the offensive line, is the back being able to set their blocks up and being patient enough to give them time to really establish position.”
(On if Harrison will feel pressure to live up to his performance at Kansas City)- “Those don’t happen very often. It’d be unfair to him to think that he’ll have a day like that very often. It’s pretty rare. What I just want him to do is keep improving. One of the things that I don’t think anybody talked about or really wrote about last week with his performance was this was another week we had some really outstanding pass blocks. One play, he upended the blitzing linebacker. That’s an area that he’s improved on significantly over the course of the season. It’s important. I thought he did a nice job there as well.”
(On if he knows if Brady Quinn will need surgery)- “I don’t think that decision’s going to be made quickly. We’ll just go through and see where it is and take time on it.”
(On how Harrison rushes for 286 yards and three touchdowns and did not win AFC Offensive Player of the Week)- “I’m not the one to ask. I would have chosen him. I’m not sure how they got to that. I think Ben (Roethlisberger) got it for his performance. He had a pretty good day too.”
(On what opposing player has been the most impressive this season)- “I’d have to think about that. There’s been quite a few. A lot of the quarterbacks we’ve faced have been outstanding, although Antonio Gates, we had two guys on him, we’re hitting him, it didn’t matter. He was really tough to handle. The word association, that’s the one that jumped to mind right away.”
(On if Vickers’ game at Kansas City is comparable to Gates’ game against the Browns)- “Yes, it was right up there.”
(On why he prefers the 3-4 defensive system to the 4-3 defensive system)- “The nice thing about the 3-4 is it’s balanced, so you have the same amount of defensive guys on either side of the formation. You can adjust the rusher any way that you want to. You have four guys that you could rush with. Any of the linebackers, the SAM, MIKE, WILL or JACK, he can become the fourth down lineman, any one of those four players. Regardless of how they set up their formation, you can change the rush whatever way you want to. You can form any front that you want to. If you want an under front, it’s pretty easy to do. If you want an over front, it’s pretty easy to do. If you want to get into the 4-6, it’s easy to do. When you’re in a 4-3 and you have four bigs [linemen], over, under, things like that, there’s more moving parts. If you want to keep the four bigs stationary, then you have to constantly adjust with the secondary. You saw Kansas City, they were running a form of the 4-3 out of the 3-4 and when we’d motion they’d slide their line left or right. You’d see a lot of movement. That’s another way that you adjust the 4-3. You either have to move the defensive linemen, you have to stay with it and adjust with the secondary, where in the 3-4 you just change the rusher. I think a ROY, LEE, MIKE, WILL call, and that guy goes. You can stay with the coverage if you want to or you can change it. It’s easier to zone blitz, easier to max pressure.”
(On the key to the team being effective coming out of halftime on Sunday)- “I think we’ve actually come out of halftime in a lot of games and been effective. I think we’re one of the top teams in the league in terms of scoring in the first drive in the second half. I think we’re top five there. We’re consistent with the way that we approach it. We go in, meet as a staff. The guys in the booth bring down the problem plays. We put the problem plays up so the guys can see it, whether it’s a problem blitz or something defensively, talk through how we’re going to adjust it, how we’re going to deal with it and then go through the new things that we’re going to run. It’s not a long amount of time but you’re really trying to say, ‘Here are the core things we had issues with. This is how we’re to fix it if it comes up again. Here are a couple new things that we’re going to run in the second half based on what they’re doing. Offensively it’s, ‘They’re pushing the coverage over here or they’re pressuring over here. This is what we’re going to do protection wise. This is what we’re going to do route wise. This is the adjustment.’”
(On if he thinks halftime adjustments show up on the first drive of the second half or later in the game)- “It could be a little bit of both. Some teams will go in and they’ll either script the first half for the first 15 plays and then based on the success of the plays that they ran in the first half, that’ll set the script for the second half. They actually come out, there’s two scripted half, one based on the second half. Sometimes you go in, you have a first half plan, and depending on who the quarterback is, you know that they’ve got it figured out, so you actually have a second half plan that you haven’t shown. You just, ‘Okay, we’re going to the second plan.’ It’s like playing two games. Sometimes it’s a function of, ‘Alright, we’ve got to stop these things. If we can stop these things we’ll be in good shape.’”
(On what it would mean to win three games in a row)- “The way that we’ve been making progress is the most important thing to me, because it’s been in a lot of areas. I didn’t think that defensively last week we were anywhere as near as consistent as we had been and that’s frustrating, because that’s the starting point. Really the starting point is communication. When we do that well we play good defense. When it’s coordinated, when guys are in the right spots, we play good defense regardless of who we’re playing. If those things break down, you have what we had on Sunday. That’s frustrating. I want to see that every single week. Offensively, it’s the same thing. The things that we did well the week prior, you want to be able to maintain that and areas that were weaknesses, now you want to be able to work on in the ensuing weeks. I wasn’t happy about turning the ball over twice. I wasn’t happy about the miscommunication on the punt. Jumping offsides on third-and-five, no third-and-one I think it was, whatever it was. Those things, they’re in our control. They’re completely under our control. You don’t ever want to take steps back in that area. These guys work at it. They’ve been working at it. There’s a real sense of commitment to what we’re doing and you appreciate that.”
(On what evidence he has to show there can be a positive carryover into next season)- “You can look at it historically, but every situation is different, but there is precedent. I was talking to Bill Parcells and he had started 1-11 his first year in New England, ended up winning, I think, all their games at the end. Started the next season 3-6, they were down 20-0 to Minnesota, came back, won that, won seven straight. That was the year they played Cleveland in the playoffs. What was that, ’94? He and I were just talking about that, just his experience going 1-11 that year and then sort of the boost they had, but then they came out the next year, they were 3-6. Things looked pretty bleak against Minnesota, but they came back. I’m sure all the lessons he had up to that point kind of hit after that. They won seven straight and I think the next year they went to the Super Bowl.”
(On when he spoke with Parcells and if he considers Parcells a mentor)- “I talk to him, I don’t know if frequently is the right word, but he’s great in terms of questions. If I have a question either as a head coach or just operationally, he’s been great for me. [He gives just very sound advice. Bill tells it like it is and you appreciate that. He also shares experiences that he’s had. It’s so different than when I was a young assistant coach in New York. It’s nice. It’s been a great relationship for me.”
(On what Parcells advice has been during the talks with Mike Holmgren)- “The one thing that I’ve always been impressed with, with Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick is regardless of what’s happening externally, we’re focusing on the task at hand. That’s what I’ve learned. That’s what I’ve seen as important. That’s what I understand. Control the things that you can control and work on those things. We’re constantly trying to teach that to the players, so you can’t preach it without living it.”
(On what Parcells is telling him about how the Browns are doing now)- “He’s working on his team, so he hasn’t really watched all of our games. He likes the way we’re two-gapping. He goes way back with (Bryan) Cox. He said he likes the technique that we’re using. There’s a range of stuff. He’s just a really nice resource for me.”
(On the best piece of advice Parcells has given him)- “Wow. I don’t know. I’d have to think about that. We’ll have to revisit that one, because there’s been a lot of advice that’s been really good. Some of it hasn’t been like these broad strokes, it’s been more operating and day-to-day type stuff.”
