C Weston Richburg
April 21, 2016
Q: Weston, what’s the biggest difference now that Ben McAdoo is your head coach?
A: I think we still have some time to find out. I think he’s the kind of guy that’s going to be the same no matter what his title is, and as players, you can respect that, because you want a guy that’s going to be the same day in and day out, but so far, the time we’ve had, the short time we’ve had with him and the new staff has been great and we had experience obviously with him as our offensive coordinator last year and the year before, and it was a pleasant experience, so I think we have a good leader there at the head coach job.
Q: What are your thoughts on the new offensive line coach, Mike Solari?
A: The guy is extremely smart, extremely detail oriented, which are two really important things for an offensive line, so I think it’s definitely going to show up in our play. We have been able to kind of change some terminology within our offense to kind of help guys be more sure of themselves in certain plays, and I think with his attention to detail, I think that’s going to pay a huge dividend for us.
Q: Are you guys going to do stuff differently technique-wise, and if so, how much would you sort of estimate?
A: There will be little differences here and there. Each coach has their own way that they want things done. Some are similar, but obviously with a new guy, he’s going to want things done kind of a different way. We’re not reinventing the wheel or anything, but there’s just certain things that he likes that may be different than what we’ve done in the past.
Q: Weston, what did you go into the offseason wanting to improve in your game or change or work on?
A: Obviously it’s all about performance. I want to increase strength, mobility, my football intelligence as a center. Obviously last year was the first year at center, so I think it’ll be huge for me to kind of increase my intelligence from that perspective and be able to kind of help run the offense better since I have a little more experience there – but like I said strength, mobility, skill, are three big things that I want to continuously work on and try to improve.
Q: Sometimes when there’s a coaching change, everything changes. That’s not the case here, so do you feel some of that continuity – how pleased are you that it’s not learning everything over again?
A: As a player, I think we’re all really excited about that fact as there is continuity on both sides of the ball and special teams, so there shouldn’t be any struggle picking up the offense and it should be a good amount of recall there from the last two years. And I think installation-wise we should be able to install some different wrinkles because, like I said, we’re more experienced, we’re going into our third year in the same offense, so we should be able to get a little more creative with some of the things we do.
Q: Can you just talk a little bit about last years’ experience – you had 5 guys in new spots, including yourself. What did you learn from that that you may take forward, especially with the right side of the line still kind of up in the air?
A: I learned from leadership skills – I think as a center, you’re really the quarterback of the offensive line, so I was able to kind of take that role and it’s evident to me how much of an impact I do have on these guys. If I’m positive, they’re able to be positive easily. If I’m negative, maybe that affects them, so it’s important for me to kind of be level-headed and always be aware that guys are watching me, and I need to be that point of influence in a positive way for those guys.
Q: What are the differences with the new strength coach, new weight room, that whole program so far?
A: Oh, it’s been great. The thing I like about it is it’s all position specific, so you don’t see linemen out there running 110-yard sprints. We kind of mix it up – today we did some little longer sprints than we usually do, but then we mix it in with some medicine ball throws, working on hip explosion, those types of things that are more applicable to offensive linemen than just straight line sprinting, which is good.
Q: Did they present it to you as these are the changes, this is why, this is what we hope to accomplish?
A: I think coach Wellman has done a good job of explaining the point behind doing certain things, but it really hasn’t been a stop and instruct. It’s kind of been just let’s go do it and he explains as we’re going through it why we do it and how it applies to the game.
Q: Does it jive with the stuff you’re kind of doing on your own in the offseason?
A: Yeah, it definitely does. I like his mindset and I like the things that we do. Like I said, I really enjoy the position specific aspect of it, because I think that’s really important.
Q: Was it not position specific before, was it kind of general - ?
A: Oh, I’m not saying that at all, it definitely was, it definitely was. Like I said, the linemen were not sprinting, doing what the wide receivers do. I’m just expressing how I like that the transition we’ve made is still position specific and we’re still doing what’s necessary for offensive linemen.
Q: So what is different about it, I mean Coach McAdoo said they changed the way –
A: It’s a different guy who has obviously different equipment, new equipment and as players that’s just – I guess that’s how this business goes- there’s new people, you gotta learn how they do things and adjust to it and it’s been a good adjustment so far.
Q: As the quarterback of an offensive line, do you have to often communicate with defensive coaches as to what you’re seeing and have to –
A: I don’t think that happens a lot. That’s where maybe an offensive position coach and a defensive position coach communicate in that way. Me, as a player, I can communicate with a defensive player in that manner, but I don’t think they’re going to come ask my opinion on what I see. I’m open to it, but –
Q: I meant for you to ask their opinion about what you’re seeing and –
A: I don’t deal with them a lot, to be honest. It’ll be more me going to my position coach and talking with him about it.
Q: Ideally you’d like to have continuity on the offensive line, but given that three of you -- you, Justin, and Ereck -- are returning in the same spots, how important is that going to be in helping that right side, whatever that configuration is, kind of fall into the groove with the rest of you?
A: Well, John Jerry played quite a bit last year, too, and I think that guy deserves a lot more credit than what people give him, so – and Marshall Newhouse as well – I think we’ve got five good guys that I’m very comfortable with going and playing with on Sunday’s. I think each of them has the right attitude and I think together our attitudes combine to create a good atmosphere and a good offensive line.
Q: Depending on what happens next week, it’ll be the first time in a couple of years that the offensive line doesn’t have a rookie starting, how important is that going to be for this group?
A: I can’t predict what’s going to happen, so anything can happen, but if that doesn’t happen, we’ll have that continuity. I think we’ll have a little more maturity there, a little more understanding of what’s expected, and I think that will go a long way to help us get better.
Q: There’s a lot of speculation and talk that the Giants will look for a tackle pretty early in this draft. How do you see that and would you be happy with the 5 guys that you had last year?
A: Yeah, I can’t speculate on draft picks or anything, but like I said, I really like the guys that we have in our offensive line room right now, and I’d be very comfortable with who we have and playing with them on Sunday.
Q: Last year early in training camp you guys spoke about building an identity as being tough. Do you think you accomplished that or do you feel that because of all the shuffling around with the rookies, the injuries and what not, that there’s still work to be done in that regard?
A: Oh there’s definitely tons of work to be done. I think when we become satisfied with our mentality and with our performance, that’s when you get worse, so we’re always looking to get better and there’s tons of things. In the last week and a half, we watched a little film. So many things that we’ve seen we need to fix, but like I said, I do like the mindset we have, I think with the mindset that we have in that room, I think we can do some good things with that group.
Q: When you come into the season you go back and watch last year, you’re starting here in the spring. What, as a group, do you guys look at and say you need to do significantly better, or this is the one area that we really need to kind of concentrate on that we have to get better at?
A: I think to solidify our communication, I think that will be a huge part in making sure everybody knows exactly what’s expected on each play, and then I’d like to see –from what I’ve seen in myself, I think finish. Our finish is definitely something that we can improve and I think that’s what separates good offensive lines from just average is how they finish and I think that will be a big emphasis on our performance this year is how we’re going to finish. Making sure we do that in practice and it’ll translate to a game.
Great pick.