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Transcript: Offensive Coordinator Mike Shula

Eric from BBI : Admin : 10/3/2019 2:59 pm
Offensive Coordinator Mike Shula -- October 3, 2019

Q: How do you coach Daniel (Jones) to face a defense like this, that’s going to bring a lot of pressure and is really good at all three levels?
A: Yeah, they’re really good. You try to coach him like you do every other week. We all want to be aware of the kind of defense we’re facing. They’re talented across the board. They have a really good scheme. They feed off of mistakes made by the offense. As most defenses are, they’re even better in long yardage. I think the biggest thing, the point of emphasis, is getting the ball out on time, making good decisions, don’t think you have to make big plays and don’t think you have to win the game on every play. We talk about, as we do every week, staying ahead of the chains, so to speak. Staying out of those long yardage situations. Now that he has a couple of weeks under his belt, teams are getting a little feel for what he’s like, so we just have to make sure we stay on course with the task at hand.

Q: There was a little adversity in the last game, throwing a pair of interceptions. How did he handle that and what was the process like?
A: Again, I hate to sound like a broken record, but he’s the same. He’s obviously a competitor. He doesn’t want that stuff to happen. I told Coach (Shurmur) after the game, (Jones) was more upset about a throw that he completed that could have been thrown out there in front a little bit more than he was with those interceptions. I mean that in a good way. I think that he didn’t let those things bother him. He just kind of kept focused on the next drive. For any quarterback, it’s tough. But especially for a young guy, just to make sure you keep moving forward. He’s quiet, as you guys know, but he’s driven and just wants to get back out there and go play.

Q: What did you attribute the interceptions to? Was it him being late, him not seeing the defender, was he confused with the coverage?
A: No, those guys made good plays. The same guy made two good plays on it. He fell off a coverage, like Coach talked about earlier, and he was covering the post, saw the ball thrown, fell off and made a good play. It was a really good throw. I think all of us kind of thought that it was going to be a completion. Then the corner came off. It was a good play by them. The other one maybe could have been a little bit more out in front, but again, it was a really good play. You just kind of talk about that, whether or not it’s scheme or technique or whatever, and then you move on, go and you forget about it.

Q: When you mention the play that he was upset about, the completion, did that have the potential to be a big play?
A: No, it would have gotten a few more yards. I think that he was mad at himself in that regard. He’s the one that brought it up.

Q: This will be the first time you have Golden (Tate) and (Sterling) Shep together on the field. Do you envision them all rotating through different spots, or one guy being in the slot more, one guy being X, Y, Z, whatever? How do you anticipate that working?
A: Probably a little of the former. We’ll see how it goes. But they are interchangeable. Whether or not we just keep Shep in one spot now or Golden, the good thing is that both of them can play in several spots, and I think that helps us for a lot of reasons. They’re smart, they have a good feel for our offense, and they have good speed and quickness.

Q: Usually when a guy misses time, it’s because of an injury. When you look at Golden, he was here all summer. Then he takes four weeks away from the team. Now he comes back. Do you look at him and you can just plug him right in, give him a lot of snaps and just go? Because he’s certainly healthy.
A: Maybe not every snap of the game, but I think Golden is a professional. He understands that he’s missed some time and he has to get caught up. But he’s also in pretty good shape based on the last few days of practice. I think we will monitor that, though.

Q: The touchdown pass to (Wayne) Gallman, what number read was that? Fifth?
A: You’re not really supposed to say that, because you really don’t get through five. But the read was front side. We had three receivers out to the front side, and there was another guy kind of trying to clear for us but basically got through it. They went to a zone coverage, and we had a route that’s okay against zone but a little bit better against man. First of all, the offensive line did a great job on the protection. He just got through his read and found the outlet to the opposite side of where we were throwing it.

Q: For a guy starting his second game, how far along is that particular play?
A: It’s pretty good. But consistency… Obviously, there were some other plays where he could have been better at. But yeah, that play right there was pretty good. Again, the offensive line helped us on that a lot.

Q: Is there any read to the right for him at all on that play?
A: On that one? Not as a starting point, no. Not on that play.

Q: Did not having Golden Tate restrict what you were able to do for the first four weeks? That’s a pretty good receiver that you were initially counting on.
A: I wouldn’t say necessarily restrict scheme-wise. I think you miss a player of his talent. As we know, we haven’t really seen it because he hasn’t been with us yet in a regular season game. I think our receivers and Tyke Tolbert, our receivers coach, have done a wonderful job on just doing things by committee. Guys playing different positions, guys here this week, not here that week, coming back, blocking great and allowing our running backs to get extra yards down the field. It’s been a tribute to them, and now I think Golden is going to fit right in in all of those areas, not just as a receiver but blocking, running after the catch, things like that.

Q: How many carries does Saquon (Barkley) have on Sunday?
A: You’re talking to the wrong guy.
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