Wide Receivers Coach Tyke Tolbert
September 21, 2018
Q: What’s the challenge for your group now two games in, we know what we’ve talked about in terms of the struggles of the offense. What do you tell your guys as far as what their jobs need to be to turn this thing around?
A: It’s just a matter of doing your job. I preach to my guys every day about being the best wide receiver you can be with and without the ball, meaning there are times – a lot of times – when you don’t have the ball, but you still have to go ahead and play hard for your teammates, whether it’s in the run game, or carrying out some pattern for your other teammates to get the ball. Everybody has a job to do and that’s what I’ve been emphasizing with my guys. Everybody do their job.
Q: When Odell is not able to get involved, he wasn’t really on Sunday, do you have to change anything? Do you look back and see there were opportunities for him?
A: Sometimes you can game plan things for guys to be the primary receiver in the pass pattern, but sometimes the defense -- they get paid, too -- and they did a good job of taking some things away. It’s up to us as coaches to find what we can do to counteract what they were doing so we can get guys open and get them to be the primary receiver.
Q: How do you manage on the sidelines in-game and during the week the frustrations of not getting into the end zone and reassuring guys that what you’re doing is going to hit?
A: I have a phrase in my room that I tell guys: keep playing hard, keep getting open, you will get the ball, because everybody has a job to do and you can’t snap the ball yourself, you can’t block yourself, you can’t throw the ball yourself. You can’t do everything, so all you have to do is your job, keep getting open and we will find you the ball.
Q: Cody (Latimer) had the deep catch the other night and in the preseason, what makes him a good deep threat?
A: Cody has size, he has good speed, he has really strong hands, and last week we actually emphasized that particular route about three or four times that he and Eli picked up on the deep ball, so I’m glad to see it has come to fruition.
Q: On Odell’s attitude – What sense do you get being around him?
A: His attitude has been really good. He’s a positive guy, he’s one of the hardest practicing guys I’ve ever been around. I mean, he practices hard. You have to pull him back sometimes because he likes go, he’s like a little energizer bunny. He just goes and goes and goes. His attitude has been good. Obviously all great players like him probably want the ball as much as they can get it, and when they don’t get it as much sometimes, frustration may creep in a little bit, but not as much because he knows what we’re trying to do. He knows he can’t control everything, he can only control what he can control. Again, our phrase -- just keep getting open, we will find you the ball.
Q: When you practice the Philly Special, do you coach Odell how to throw that, or is that Mike Shula?
A: We don’t practice Philly Special. I don’t know what you’re talking about. (Laughter)
Q: When there are opportunities to get Odell the ball deep, because we heard that a lot this week that opportunities were there, and the ball doesn’t wind up going in that direction, how do you keep him dialed in? How do you keep him energized?
A: I think Odell realizes that every time you’re open, the ball is not going to come your way. Again, my stress to him is keep getting open, we will find you the ball. Sometimes, it doesn’t always work out the way we want it to. Sometimes it may not work out, sometimes it may work out two or three times in a game, or you’ll have a huge game and a lot of touchdowns were scored, a lot of points, and win a lot of games; but at some point in time, it’s going to click for all of us on offense, and when it does, it’s going to be something special to watch.
Q: (Pat Shurmur) talked about needing to get the ball in his hands early this week. Does that also include early in the down, earlier in the progression, get the ball out quicker?
A: I would say early and often, that’s what I would say. He’s a special player, he’s a one of a kind type player, generational type player. Guys like him, we want to get them the ball as much as you can and if he has the ball a lot of times, good things happen for our offense, quite frankly.
Q: (Sterling Shepard) has been kind of quiet. What are you seeing from him? He’s had a couple of drops, kind of uncharacteristic. What are you seeing from him?
A: I told my guys early on in camp – if I had to go into a fight with one of you guys in the room, Sterling would be the one I would take with me. He is a football playing Jesse, as they would say in the south. He’s tough, he’s smart, he’s feisty, it means something to him. He’s a good player when he gets the chance to play with the ball in his hands, but he’s really a good player without the ball. He has a lot of good blocks, a lot of good crack blocks on the safeties. I’m very happy with Sterling Shepard right now. Jerry Rice dropped passes, too, so I’m not concerned so much until dropped passes become a habit, but my focus is really on guys playing hard and playing as a team and playing for each other. Once we do that, good things will happen for us.
Q: You said you’re telling your guys to get open. Through the first two games, are you seeing guys getting open enough to your liking, that the opportunities are there?
A: There are obviously things we can do a whole lot better. I’m pleased for the most part with what we’re doing, but there’s things obviously we can work on to get better. No one is perfect, there is no perfect person. No one’s walking on water. We’ve just got to continue to play hard, play fast, play smart, play tough, be physical, and again, this is our first season together. There’s a whole new staff and everything, so we’re still learning, going through the learning process, learning curve, but I think each week we always see on tape, there’s a play here or a play there, missed opportunity here or missed opportunity there, for us to have a really good offense, really good game and come out with a victory. I think we’re on the brink of that, I really do.
Q: You might not know him well, but what does (Stacy Coley) bring?
A: One thing he brings is knowledge about this offense. He was in Minnesota with Coach Shurmur, so a lot of stuff we’re doing offensively, he already knows. He came in yesterday and he remembered a lot of the terminology that we use and what to do. He brings some speed, I remember watching him coming out of college, out of Miami – he’s a 4.4 guy, so he brings some speed, brings some versatility, he plays multiple positions as well, which is good for us on offense, because you have to be that multiple guy, especially when you get under the ball no-huddle. He brings knowledge of the offense, that’s the one thing he brings that stands out right now.
