Transcript: Brian Daboll, 12/24 - Thu, Dec 24 2009 at 6:07 pm
(On how Derek Anderson looks in the no huddle)- “He has done a pretty good job this week. It’s a transition, I think. We did it in training camp with him. Brady obviously has run it the last few weeks and did a really good job with it, in terms of getting us in and out of plays and signaling a little bit. It’s a little new for D.A. (Derek Anderson), not having played in a while. He’s done a good job with it.”
(On how the offense has improved)- “I think the first thing that we’ve done is eliminate the turnovers. I’m not going to put that all on Derek by any stretch, but that was one of the key things. We’ve scored quite a bit more points the last five games. I think we’re eighth in the league in scoring on offense, which was before that probably last or close to it. I don’t know the exact numbers, somebody just brought that up to me. I didn’t even know about it. We’ve eliminated the turnovers, we’ve scored more points; we’ve done better in the red zone. Probably went up about 40 percent there and about 25 percent on third-down. Playing good in those situations, not turning it over and scoring more, that’s obviously going to help you.”
(On if Anderson was holding the team back as the starter early on)- “We had a bunch of turnovers too. Fumbles, we weren’t executing well enough on third-down and that’s everybody. Whether it’s protection, the route running, the throws. I think sometimes the no huddle, what that does is it allows you to simplify the defense a little bit more and get some less complex looks. Play a little bit faster, get them on their toes a little bit more. It has been a good thing for us. The no huddle has been a good thing for us.”
(On Mike Holmgren)- “I don’t know Mike. I know he is a really good offensive football coach. I’d love to sit down, talk with him and learn some offensive football from his side. I had a chance to work with Bill Callahan. He was the head coach of the Raiders at one point and Nebraska. He was a guy that came from the West Coast tree, so a lot of things that I sat down and had a chance to talk with him about. Most of the offenses in this league you can categorize them as West Coast or Digits, and you sit there and you watch the tape, and there is a lot of the same plays and a lot of different offenses.”
(On if he could switch to a west coast offense)- “Yes. Mary Kay (Cabot), I haven’t sat there and really thought too much about it this week. I’ve been concentrating on those Raiders so, again, I know he is a great offensive mind and it would be something that would be pretty cool to sit down and talk to him.”
(On how Jerome Harrison did what he did last week)- “The blocking was pretty good. By all accounts, line, fullback and he ran well. He had a really good game and I don’t know if that has ever been done with the numbers that you just gave me, I’m not sure. But I think that’s a testament to the guys up front, starting with them. They did a [heck] of a job on their combination blocks moving guys off the line of scrimmage. Lawrence Vickers was awesome that game. He really paved a lot of good holes for J.C. (Jerome Harrison). J.C. made some nice cuts. We only ran about six different runs that game. They were all out of the same formation. The first half, we had three of them and we went in at halftime, and we sat down and talked and said let’s put a couple counters to these plays, which we didn’t even really practice during the week. We said they were overflowing here, let’s go ahead and put in two different plays and the second play was a play we didn’t run the first half we just implemented at halftime and it’s the one he hit back for the 71-yarder. The line did a heck of a job, Joe (Thomas), Steiny (Eric Steinbach), Rex (Hadnot). When (John) St. Clair went out Pork Chop (Floyd Womack) going out to tackle. It was a really well done by those guys up front, and Vick (Lawrence Vickers) and the tight ends. They did a good job. Brady had a couple runs. That helped. They were short yardage type runs. Those were pretty big.”
(On if he knew Brady Quinn got hurt)- “No. I mean I saw, I think he got up a little bit slow, but I was kind of into the next play. I thought he had a little bit more wheels than he had right there. I thought he was going to turn that edge and go. It was a big play.”
(On if he knows what he has in Quinn and if he welcomes Holmgren to come in and help)- “Yes. Mary Kay I’m not going to sit here and tell you what I think we got or not yet with Brady. When you get down at the end of the season you evaluate all those guys. I think that Brady really operated that no huddle well. He was really calm doing it and there are a lot of different things that go into it from MIKE points to changing protections to getting out of plays to signaling to receivers. I thought he did a nice job with that, really calm and composed with it. Shifts, we did a lot more shifting and things like that since the last few weeks.”
(On Lawrence Vickers)- “I think Vick is a really smart guy in the meeting rooms and he is a really physical player. He loves contact and I’ve been really happy with Lawrence Vickers since training camp. He’s loud, he’s excitable, he loves the game of football, and he was really playing really well that game. I think he had one missed block where he tried to just pancake the guy, and he was doing it all game, but he is a guy that gets fired up about running the football and a very selfless guy. That position is usually a selfless position. They don’t get a lot of carries or a lot of touches with the football. He is an awesome guy to be around. I’ve been seeing that with him all year. His attitude, his excitement, his ability to get after those guys, he really a good player I think.”
(On if he counted how many pancake blocks Vickers had)- “No, I didn’t. I just know there were times where he drove a guy 10 yards into the sideline. There was a couple times where he helped a lineman chip off and one time he knocked a defensive lineman on his [butt] pretty good. That guy just went flying back. He did a nice job of no mental errors, went up there, and cracked the heck out of those guys. He’s a fun guy to be around.”
(On if he can run against Oakland)- “We’re going to try. You know Al Davis, what he does over there is he gets big, strong, fast, athletic, tough guys and when they come out of the tunnel you are like [darn]. They all look like Rob (Ryan). With (Richard) Seymour over there, I’ve been around him for quite some time. (Tommy) Kelly inside there and (Greg) Ellis there, they have a formidable front, and they’ve beaten some really good teams this year. Then they got Nnamdi (Asomugha) out there on the corner who is a pain in the [butt].”
(On Asomugha)- “I’ve been around Ty Law he was kind of a shut down guy, where you have to be careful what you do around him. Champ (Bailey) he’s been like that, a guy I’ve played against. I was around Darrelle Revis over there at New York who’s just awesome too. This is a guy that is right up there with those guys. You have got to be smart with the football around him. He’s got good ball skills. He’s got long arms. He can get up there and take a receiver out of his game. You have to be smart with him and know when is the right time and know when to not go that way.”
(On Asomugha matching up against Mohamed Massaquoi)- “He (Asomugha) shadowed Brandon Marshal and he hasn’t matched up all the time but he matched up against him and did a nice job. Marshal is a great player. Whether or not he’s matching up against Mo, whoever is the guy he is going to go against for our receivers, it’s going to be a tough task for those guys.”
(On how Massaquoi has improved)- “I think that when you come into the league as a rookie, particularly at that position, a position I coached for a while, it’s so much different when you are coming out of college. When you get into this league with all the adjustments, all of the different types of defenses you see. Then you have three or four particular things that can happen on each particular route. You’ve got the shifts, you’ve got the motions and when you come in it’s kind of, ‘[Shoot] I’ve got to know this guy’s site adjust, I’ve got to know this protection.’ It takes a while to comprehend. He’s done a pretty good job with it as a rookie compared to some other rookies that I’ve been around. I think playing the position in this league, there’s so many things that he’s never seen before. Each week, even now, sometimes it’s a little new for him. He’s been good in terms of his preparation. He asks a lot of questions and I think he will continue to get better.”
(On Massaquoi’s former offense at Georgia against the Browns’ offense)- “I don’t know exactly all of their terminology and hots and site adjustments and different type of routes that you’ll run versus different types of coverages. I can’t say exactly what he saw down there. It’s a whole things, Jeff (Schudel), in terms of the coverages that you are going to see, the route adjustments, we have a bunch of different protections where he might have to break, he might have to attack a certain guy’s leverage. Usually, it’s a lot different. I remember Deion (Branch), he acclimated himself pretty good coming out of Louisville and then Dave Giv (Givens), it took a year for him.”
(On complex offenses)- “I am sure there are some places that are pretty complicated. I can’t say what Georgia was or what it wasn’t. We require a lot from those guys out there on the outside in terms of their understanding. I want them to try to see it like the guy behind center is seeing it too.”
(On if Brian Robiskie has had a good week of practice)- “He has. He’s caught a lot of balls. Yesterday in particular, it was a third down day, I don’t know how many it was but it was quite a bit. Some of them were really good catches. I know Eric (Mangini) was happy with him along Brad (Seely) on last week’s performance on special teams. He made a few tackles there. He is just a guy that is coming along. He is just a smart guy too. Hopefully he translates that into the game this week. He is going to have a challenge though, they are going to be up in his face.”
(On his reaction to Jerome Harrison’s game and when he knew he was going to have a big game)- “The first play that we ran it was about an eight yard play. It was exceptionally blocked. Josh (Cribbs) through a cut block out and didn’t get him down and that one could have went for a ways. Then I was sitting there watching it and there was a play here or there where J.C. (Jerome Harrison) he just got tripped up, but you could see the line of scrimmage moving. We tried about four of five shots, that game, to loosen them up a little bit. You could see the line moving the line of scrimmage two-three yards. They are coming off the field , ‘Hey Dabs. We are knocking the crap out of this guy here on this double team, come back to that.’ Whether it was Joe (Thomas) or Eric (Steinbach), whoever it may be. I didn’t know how many yards he had. I knew he was running it well. It was working so just stay with it. You are getting 4, 5, 6, 7, 14, 28, 71 [yards a carry]. It was pretty good by those guys up front. It easy to do when they are moving those guys. Like I said, six plays out of the same type formation with the type of motion to kind of keep them on their heels a little bit. It was fun. We didn’t have to throw the ball really.”
(On if he knew Kansas City was susceptible to the run)- “The night before I emphasized pretty much the same that I did in the Pittsburgh game. I wanted to run the football. I thought we could run the football on them. The Pittsburgh game was a little bit different going against the number one rush defense in the league, but you have to take in account what you are going to get the next day in terms of weather. We wanted to establish a running game and then we wanted to throw it down the field a little bit and take some shots then just take what they give us with the dinks and dunks. Once you get that thing going, it was pretty fun. I didn’t know how many yards the kid had.”
(On when he found out how many yards Harrison had)- “After the game, I think Eric announced it. I knew it was a lot. I didn’t know exactly what it was. I was pretty happy for the kid. He’s worked really hard. I think he was a little upset he didn’t get Jamal (Lewis). They will be geared up this week to stop it.”
(On if last week’s running game opens up other things for the offense)- “I think that the Raiders, for the most part, they are a post-safety defense team. They have a guy in the middle of the field. That’s the way they’ve been for a long, long time with an extra guy down in the box. You are going to have to account for him and you are going to have to beat man-to-man coverage. They are primarily a man-to-man coverage team. [They] get up in your face. They have athletic corners, athletic defensive players and you’ve got to beat them man-to-man is what you are going to have to do. Last year, we played them at New York and they beat us there. We ran it pretty well and throwing the ball, those guys got us. They were up in our face, tight man-to-man coverage and they did a good job there with it. They’ve won this year against some good opponents, Philadelphia, Denver. They have got some big, fast strong guys. We are going to have to play with good technique and play well.”
