for display only
Big Blue Interactive The Corner Forum  
Back to the Corner

Archived Thread

Friday Media Transcript: Head Coach Pat Shurmur

Eric from BBI : Admin : 8/3/2018 3:13 pm
Head Coach Pat Shurmur
August 3, 2018
 
Opening Remarks: It’s [week 2], Training Camp Friday – another morning practice, and tomorrow what we’re going to do is we’re going to go back to the afternoon and then we’re going to have a little barbeque after that for the families. But, good work. You’ll notice I took the pads off them. Four days in a row here, I thought we banged really well the last two days, very physical, went back today to a lot of individual, a lot of isolated drill work, some ball security, ball disruption stuff, stuff you work on all the time but we put a little bit more of an emphasis on it. Then we got some good team work, especially stuff we did in the red zone. So, productive day, I thought it was very competitive, thought there was good energy, and now we’ll keep moving on. 
 
Q:  You seem to have pads on more [than] we’ve seen in the last few years. What’s your thinking behind that and what are you trying to accomplish/trying to balance there?
A:  Yeah. I think pads, it’s important that you play the game in pads. We’ve talked about it in this setting before, but there are certain guys that run really fast and then all of the sudden they put on a helmet and shoulder pads and some of that restrictive gear, and they can’t keep that. Plus, that’s the only true way to see, except for going to the ground, how a guy might respond in 11-on-11 game situations. So I think it’s important, I also think it’s important and part of the exercise today was as you go through the season, you can’t practice in pads, so what’s important is, in terms of the player’s body position and coming off the ball and defending blocks and doing all the things you need to do in the game, you have to learn how to train yourself without pads on to get the work done, and so that’s what we did.
 
Q:  The situational period that you guys do at the end, I noticed the last few days you kind of have a little meeting before that. Are you not telling guys what the situation is going to be until that meeting?
A: Sometimes, sometimes not. Today it was fast field goal, so today I was just telling them, OK, here’s the scenario: there’s 0:22 left, it’s third-and-15, the ball’s at this spot, and we’re going to complete a pass. It’s not past the first down marker, so we’ve got to run the field goal unit on. So, I’m just reminding them of the situation, and then we go through it. There are sometimes when I surprise them with the situation, so that the coaches then have to respond to it, but that was a drill that involved special teams, so I wanted to make sure they saw the full picture.
 
Q:  You had the last few days William Gay taking first team reps at safety. I guess the consensus when you signed him was for maybe playing slot corner. Is he part of the competition at free safety?
A:  I think we’re trying to make sure we do what’s best in the secondary. We really still feel like he could play corner, but we also feel like we want to take a look at him at safety and see if he can give us something there. It’s what we’re doing with a lot of players. You’ve seen John Jerry at right tackle, you saw us flip [Chad] Wheeler over and play left tackle, so at this point, after the first week where they kind of groove themselves in pads in the spots that they’re at, by design in the next couple of weeks, we see if they can play multiple positions like that.
 
Q:  What have you thought of what you’ve seen out of Gay at safety?
A: I think he’s very instinctive, he’s a good player, very veteran player, and we’re trying to take advantage of the fact that he’s played a lot of football.    
 
Q:  We have spent so much time asking you about the offensive stars. Now as the head coach, are there guys on defense that have flashed to you? Are there guys that have had good camps on the defense?
A:  I do, I do. That’s very broad. I would ask you to ask me specifically.
 
Q: Do you think [Eli] Apple had a good day today?
A: I think Apple had a good day.   Another one.   No, I thought Eli did a nice job. He disrupted a couple balls. He has fun competing out there, I think you can see that, and I’ve enjoyed being around him and I think he’s acting like a pro, as I said earlier.
 
Q: I guess I would specifically ask you about the linebacker corps.
A: It sure would help me if you target somebody.
 
Q: In terms of, obviously we know the starters Barwin, Vernon – the other guys?
A: I could click off the whole list of pass rush outside backers as guys that are making progress, and then on the inside, the same could be said. You got B.J. [Goodson] and Alec [Ogletree] in there, but Ray-Ray [Armstrong] is doing a good job, Tae Davis. I think they’re competing. I think when you watch practice, again it’s always the tale of the tape – this guy got beat, this guy won. But I think when you watch practice, I feel like they’re all making progress and I think that’s what’s important.
 
Q: We’ve seen [Olivier Vernon] and Nate [Solder] work together, even after practice. When you have players like that, what do they get out of each other, going head to head in certain situations?
A: I think they share what they know, and I think that maybe OV would say, hey when you set like this, this is what I’m going to do, or Nate Solder may say when you take this path, this is how I’m going to punch it, just that type of stuff.
 
Q: What’s your reaction when you’re walking off the field and you see so many different groups staying out doing extra work?
A: I think it’s good. I think especially when older players are helping younger players, it shows me that they care and that’s the most important thing.
 
Q: You’re trying William [Gay] at safety – I was wondering where you stand at the free safety spot, if any of those guys have stood out to you or are sort of separating themselves at this point?
A: I think they’ve all stood out. I think the preseason games will probably tell us much, much more.
 
Q: [Aldrick] Rosas didn’t miss a field goal in training camp last year, then in the regular season it was totally different. How is your approach to kickers?
A: I think it’s important. Again, you’ve got to see it happen in game situations. Most often, the kickers that you have in camp make them during the practice sessions, you’ve just got to watch it happen. It’s really not that much more complicated than that.
 
Q: In your evaluation of some of the guys maybe down on the wide receiver depth chart, how do you balance what they do on offense versus what they give you on special teams, like a Kalif Raymond and a Hunter Sharp, Russell Shepard, those sort of guys?
A: A lot of those guys get a full load in the special teams area and there’s going to be guys that make this team just because they’re fourth down players, and then you’ve seen the way we train, that the first, the second and the third groups get a lot of reps or equal reps in some drills, and almost equal reps in others, and so that’s where those down the line, so to speak, receivers get their work.
 
Q: What do you like about B.W. Webb?
A: I think he’s competitive, I think he gets his hands on balls. Typically, when you’re playing on the interior, the interceptions that you see are tipped balls and overthrows and he’s done a good job of finishing. I’m very fond of any player that can catch, which he has displayed the ability to do and he is really showing us that he knows how to play corner.
 
Q: What have you made of Amba Etta-Tawo?
A: Amba has done a nice job. He’s made steady progress. Young player, and again, he made some plays today, so it’s kind of steady as you go with him. When guys make plays out there, it catches our eye and we look a little closer.
 
Q: With [Jon] Halapio, was the issue with workload, it seems like you backed off a little bit.
A: It’s week 2 of training camp, as I mentioned. Kind of groove them in week 1 and then now we’re seeing guys that might be a little bit multiple position-wise, so we kind of backed him off just a little bit, put Jonesy (Brett Jones) up, had (John) Greco in there, so it’s just a way to see them practice.
 
Q: So it wasn’t something that jumped out.
A: No. By design.
 
I don't remember  
Gman11 : 8/3/2018 5:48 pm : link
any coach describing this as a drill during training camp.
Quote:
. Today it was fast field goal, so today I was just telling them, OK, here’s the scenario: there’s 0:22 left, it’s third-and-15, the ball’s at this spot, and we’re going to complete a pass. It’s not past the first down marker, so we’ve got to run the field goal unit on. So, I’m just reminding them of the situation, and then we go through it. There are sometimes when I surprise them with the situation, so that the coaches then have to respond to it, but that was a drill that involved special teams, so I wanted to make sure they saw the full picture.


Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems like Shurmur practices more game-like situations than previous coaches. Or, maybe he just gives more information during interviews. In any case, I like it.
Maybe the beat guys are asking better questions and the HC is giving  
Ivan15 : 8/3/2018 8:49 pm : link
more respectful answers.

The previous HC never wanted to answer questions honestly and didn’t know how to answer them anyway!
Back to the Corner