Wednesday Transcript: Head Coach Pat Shurmur

Head Coach Pat Shurmur -- November 14, 2018

Shurmur: Pat released the injury report. We just had a couple of guys that are limited. It’s just a walk-through so we don’t – I don’t know much more, but again I would just attribute it to basically just some game wear and tear. Nothing to be too concerned about with anybody so we’ll just see how tomorrow goes when we’re out here moving around full speed. I’ll take your questions.

Q: You have some friends here?
A: Yeah there’s a group of wounded warriors here today so I know our players are embracing them. They’re going to – they got videogames set up in there, they’re going to go in there and compete with one another. We certainly appreciate everything the people in the armed forces, especially the people that sacrificed so much, so we’re going to try to embrace them today.

Q: The Bucs have the number one yardage offense in the NFL. What have you seen from their offense and how different is it with (Ryan) Fitzpatrick in there?
A: He does a really good job of executing. The one thing he does, he gets back there and gets rid of the ball quickly and they have really some dynamic playmakers, especially at receiver. They’ve been doing a good job of moving the ball. They moved the ball quite a bit this last game. They just fell victim to the turnover and weren’t able to score. We’ve talked early in the year about moving the ball and not scoring and you can see the outcome of the game.

Q: It seems like they have three pretty prolific receivers with (Mike) Evans, (Chris) Godwin, and DeSean (Jackson). How much extra – I know a lot of teams might have two, like (Calvin) Ridley and Julio Jones. When you have three guys who are playmakers like that, how taxing is it?
A: Well, it is taxing. I was with DeSean in Philly so I know how he can impact the defense and then Evans. They’ve got a lot of playmakers so it’s hard to overload and double on somebody when the other guy can beat you one-on-one as well. That’s where the challenge of playing team defense is going to come in. Everybody’s got to make sure they get good pressure on the passer and the guys in coverage got to do a good job of staying tight.

Q: How much is it beyond just his innate speed, DeSean, that makes him such a big play guy – he leads the league in big plays for like the last five, six seasons?
A: The one thing about him is regardless of the coverage, he can run behind it. He’s not a big guy, he’s kind of lean, but he’s hard to bump and run and when he gets going he’s hard to stop. That’s the challenge for the defense is to not let him get behind you because he can do it even when you’re trying to keep him in front of you. That’s the big challenge. I saw it when I was with him in Philly. There was one time we were doing a two-minute drill and it was hot and late and he said, ‘Pat, just call a nine ball so we can end this thing.’ Our defense was playing back and he just ran by everybody and caught it, ending the drill, so I have a huge appreciation for what D-Jack can do.

Q: I think most of us were on the flight yesterday during the conference call so if I can just take you back to the 49ers game for a sec. On that play where you’re on the three-yard line and Odell (Beckham Jr.) was open, uncovered and waving, can Eli (Manning check off that –
A: Well that play had a lot of different elements to it. We had a favorable box to run the ball and the linebacker to the left, we just need to do a better job of pushing him so what Eli did was not wrong. Had he chosen to throw it, obviously, Odell being open would’ve been right too. By the way they lined up, it was favorable to run it and had we blocked it properly, it, in my opinion, would’ve been a walk in, but certainly if he had thrown it to – we’re looking for none-on-ones and nobody was covering him.

Q: What are seeing from Jason Pierre-Paul when you study him?
A: He plays a lot like he did when he was here. He’s very disruptive. He’s very long and I think that’s the thing that makes him. He’s got a good first step and he’s playing at a high level. He’s doing a good job.

Q: You guys are always searching for more pressure on the quarterback. Sack numbers are still pretty low. How tough is that for a defense when they can not generate so much havoc inside and cause the turnovers, cause the throws, those kind of things?
A: When everything’s right, when your team is just – you create pressure with a four-man rush and you create havoc and there’s teams around the league that – at this point here, I think we’re getting some pressure on the quarterback. We certainly don’t have the sack numbers yet that people that crunch the numbers would like to see. The key though is beyond the sack numbers, it’s sort of like getting a lot of yards and not scoring points. The key is to be disruptive to the quarterback and sometimes the sacks don’t tell the whole story.

Q: How would you rate your disruption level?
A: I think we’re doing a good job. I think some of our pressures created – I thought the two interceptions the other night, we got him to hold the ball just a little bit and then he snapped off a couple throws that became interceptions so even though those weren’t sacks, there was enough pressure to disrupt the quarterback. I think we’re getting better. Nothing we’re doing yet is to the level we want it to be so we’ll just continue to improve that.

Q: It would obviously be nice to have a guy who had eight sacks. How much would you look at that decision of moving on from having it be finance related or maybe you guys thought it was time?
A: You’re talking about JPP? That was just an offseason business decision. When you make it, you move on. I haven’t really thought much about it. I didn’t really get to know him that well. I had about three phone conversations with him prior to the trade so I couldn’t say.

Q: How about Corey Coleman, how do you get him going in the offense? He obviously made a special teams impact, had a catch. I guess the next step is to get him more involved in the offense?
A: It’s baby steps. I keep forgetting we brought in Jamon Brown and he played so we’re quickly getting guys in the lineup. You forget that he’s only been here a couple of weeks, too. He had an impact on special teams. He had an impact in the game. That was a big – he caught the curl and that was a big catch so we’ll just keep getting him reps, getting him in there and most of our progressions and he’ll be involved. We’ll just see what kind of production he has.

Q: He produced the other day, we’re talking about Corey. How much has he earned more playing time from what he did the other day at least?
A: He’ll get in and he’s a very talented young man. I’ve gained a fast appreciation for him. Very energetic, really into it, trying to learn everything, but again, much like RJ McIntosh when he came back he was a little behind. We’re just trying to get him going. The good thing about a receiver or really any skill on offense, you can use them as sort of a role player until he can handle the full load and that’s what we’ll do.

Q: Jamon looked like he did a really nice job on Eli’s first touchdown, picking up a stunt, giving Eli a couple of seconds to find Odell. I think that was the fifth game where you guys brought out a different offensive line with like injuries and changes. How encouraged were you from what you saw from that group and from him for the rest of the way?
A: I was very encouraged. We did some good things running the ball, we can still get better. We chose to throw the ball 32 times, Eli was only sacked once and there were reasons for that sack that didn’t relate to the quarterback or protection. That’s encouraging. I really think when you have a – when you can protect for a quarterback of Eli’s quality, they can do good things. Not that they’re going to miss throws once in a while, but it always starts up front and I think we said that all along. I told the line that today. I was talking about the game and I said don’t take offense to the fact that we’re going to go as far as you’ll block for us. It’s the reality of it. It’s a compliment when – it was their best game so we just want to build on that.

Q: You used a lot more of Eli Penny, was that something that you guys formation-wise decided to go more heavy or what, during the bye week self analysis?
A: No, I just think it’s important that the guys that are active to try to use the roster and there were some things we thought we could do that were advantageous being in 21 personnel. Some of it was tactical, some of it was. He’s been here long enough where now he’s got a feel for what we’re doing and he’s a converted tailback so the check down – actually the screen had a chance. That was one of those ‘almost’ plays the other night that had a chance to be a big play and then he caught the check down for nine. Those types of plays are really important in a game where you got to move the ball down the field kind of sometimes in small chunks.