Offensive Coordinator Jason Garrett
September 17, 2020
Q: With some of Evan’s (Engram) struggles in blocking the other night, how much of that is on you guys to put him in a better position, and how much of that is on him to just execute better?
A: We believe Evan can be a complete tight end. He’s demonstrated that at different times throughout his career, and certainly during our time together in training camp up to this point We don’t see him as a one-dimensional player who’s only a receiver. Obviously, he has very good receiving skills, he has great speed to get vertically down the field and can be a very good route-runner. But we also see him as someone who’s willing to do the stuff that tight ends do. Play on the ball with his hand on the ground, block the different ways that we’ll ask him to block. Obviously, a big challenge in the game the other night was blocking their edge guys, 90 (T.J. Watt) and 48 (Bud Dupree), for our tight ends and for our tackles. I thought there was good evidence of us being able to do that at different times collectively as a group, and other times it wasn’t good enough. We don’t see Evan as a one-dimensional player. We see him as a guy who can do all the things necessary to play tight end in this league, and his willingness to do that is something I think is really positive for our team.
Q: I’m sure you weren’t really happy with the rushing production the other night. I’m curious when you went back and watched the film, what were some things that stuck out that you guys need to improve on going into the next game?
A: Well, obviously, they’re a very challenging defense. A great defensive front and they’ve been a very good run defense for a long, long time. They came into the game with the idea of not letting us run the football based on what they played and how they played it. Having said that, we didn’t run the ball the way we needed to run it. Even when you’re playing against teams that are really concerned and focused on taking the run away, you have to find ways to do it. I think if you look at the different runs that we had, there were examples of situations where we got beat. Their guy simply beat our guy. There were examples where we didn’t communicate well together and we weren’t on the same page. Those are things we simply have to clean up going forward. We strive to be a balanced team, to attack different ways. It starts with run and pass, and we have to do a better job running the football.
Q: Tiki Barber made some comments about Saquon Barkley and his pass protection and that if he continues not to pass block, he shouldn’t be on the field on third downs. I’m curious about your feelings on that? What do you think of Barkley and his pass protection?
A: Great respect for Tiki, first of all. He was a teammate of mine. I’ve known him for a long time and I really respect him as a person and as a player in this league. Having said that, we really try to focus on what we need to do with our guys and do internal evaluations of how they play. One of the things we love about Saquon is his desire to be a complete back. That’s running the football, both inside and outside, as a pass receiver and also as a pass protector. Having said that, he can improve in all areas. That’s something that we like so much about him, is his desire to come in and get better and strive to be a complete back. There were some examples of him blocking well in the passing game the other night. There were some examples of him not blocking as well as he needs to. He knows that. We’re working on that, we’re trying to get him better in that area. But we love his approach, we love his desire to be a complete back, and that’s going to help him and our team going forward.
Q: I assume that you’re not worried about Saquon Barkley. Obviously, you know there’s a lot of talent there. But can you say the same about your offensive line? Are you concerned about what you saw, and what did you think you saw out of them in the opener?
A: There’s no question there’s a challenge for our whole football team to get our team to the next level. That applies to every aspect of it, every unit on our team and all the position groups within that, and really all aspects of our offense. We want to run the ball better than we did. Everyone has a piece of that, from the coaching staff to each individual player to the different position groups, we’re all a part of that thing. What you do is you go back and you look at when it was good. There were a couple, three snaps where we did run the ball well in the game. There were many more where we didn’t run the ball well enough. You look for reasons as to why that’s the case. Obviously, it’s a new mix of players up front. We have to do a better job communicating. There are some young players who haven’t played very much before. They have to learn and grow from their experiences. What we love about those guys is their approach is outstanding. They’ve been very coachable right from the start. There’s no better coaching and learning opportunity than a game. You come out of that game and you say, ‘ok, what was positive? What can we build on? What were some of the areas where we have to improve?’ Again, their approach is outstanding. We started that process yesterday on the practice field, and it’ll continue today.
Q: I’m wondering about Daniel (Jones). Obviously, a lot has been made about the interception in the end zone. How does he correct that? Let’s take that pass away. The other 20 decisions that he made in the passing game, what did you think of those?
A: I thought, in a lot of ways, Daniel played a very good game the other night. I think if you look at his overall decision-making, I thought it was really pretty good. I thought he made a lot of really good plays and sometimes in an environment that was challenging. Whether it’s down and distance, people around him, I thought he stood in there and made some really good throws throughout the game. Obviously, you want to take that decision he made down at the goal line, you want that one back. He’d be the first to tell you that. Again, he’s a young player and he’s going to learn from these experiences. But he did a lot of good things that we can build on, and there are certainly plenty of areas to correct. But I say this again, his approach is outstanding. He’s a very coachable guy, and we’ll learn from the experience.
Q: You did a lot of unique things with three tight end sets, one receiver, a lot of interesting formations. Is that something you feel like maybe you’ve grown the way the NFL has changed since the last time you were calling plays, or was that always a big part of your playbook?
A: Yeah, we’ve always used the three tight end sets. That’s something that’s been a big part of it. Sometimes, based on the personnel that you have available to you or the scheme the defense might be playing, you might use more of those things one week and less of them the next week. We try to be a multiple offense. That starts with run and pass, it goes to personnel groupings and how you use formations and motions and tempo and all of those kinds of things. You try to do what’s best for your team playing to the strengths of your team, maybe trying to neutralize some of the weaknesses you might have, and certainly, trying to attack the weaknesses of the opponent and neutralize their strengths. That’s something we’ll do every week. We’ll have different game plans for the opponent that we play to try to accomplish those things.
Q: You guys didn’t seem to do a lot of pre-snap motion on Monday night. I’m just curious what went into that decision? Is that something when the offensive line is struggling, maybe you would consider doing it a little bit more, because it seems like quarterbacks around the league tend to benefit from that?
A: Certainly, that’s always been a big part of what we’ve done, use of formation shifts and motions. We also use tempo. We used a lot of tempo in the game. There was a lot of no-huddle. I don’t know if you could figure that out watching on TV, but that was a big part of it. When you’re doing that, you might be in the shifts and motions world a little bit less than you typically would be if you were coming out of the huddle.
“... That’s something that we like so much about him, is his desire to come in and get better and strive to be a complete back. There were some examples of him blocking well in the passing game the other night. There were some examples of him not blocking as well as he needs to. He knows that. We’re working on that, we’re trying to get him better in that area. But we love his approach, we love his desire to be a complete back, and that’s going to help him and our team going forward.”
I have never read anything about SB that indicated that he was anything other than a hard worker. He’ll improve in his blocking because that’s who he is, imv
Just sayin'
really??? LOL
Point is he can't block. never has, never will.
This is his third season. If it were that simple, wouldn't he have already done so?
No, haha, prob not...
At this point idk what the solution is. At some point you have to cut bait... maybe they should have already. I guess it's just tiring hearing the same thing about the same guy over and over.
All I know is they try to run, and ask him to block someone, and it's a complete disaster every time.
Just sayin'
When Carter was spending practices in the backfield, the staff should've figured out Engram can't block!
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He’ll improve in his blocking because that’s who he is, imv
This is his third season. If it were that simple, wouldn't he have already done so?
Not necessarily..Depends on WHO coaches him up. Last year was a wash with his HAS and obvious inability to plant when he returned unquestionably not fully healed. This year there was no preseason and of course they’ve played just 1 game. So to me, he’s had one full season, his first to begin to learn how to block as Jacobs and Bradshaw had to do. Even Tiki.
“It’s safe to say?” Really?
Quote:
“... That’s something that we like so much about him, is his desire to come in and get better and strive to be a complete back. There were some examples of him blocking well in the passing game the other night. There were some examples of him not blocking as well as he needs to. He knows that. We’re working on that, we’re trying to get him better in that area. But we love his approach, we love his desire to be a complete back, and that’s going to help him and our team going forward.”
I have never read anything about SB that indicated that he was anything other than a hard worker. He’ll improve in his blocking because that’s who he is, imv
That was the one thing Tiki said that bothered me. Everybody talks about how Tiki knows and he's right, etc and all of that is true. But he also implied that Barkley was afraid and unwilling to block and I have always thought, based on everything SB has said, that the opposite is true.
Barkley is 235 pounds, solid as a rock, fast, smart and the consummate professional.
Do you really think he cannot block and/or develop into a better blocking RB?
You can make an educated guess (I'm of the opinion that Engram won't come around but Barkley still has a chance to), but to claim any sort of certainty either way at this point is just silly.
I don't give a crap what they SAY. Just start using Engram like Denver used Shannon Sharpe -- another tweener who couldn't block to save his life. Even though Garrett is here, Engram is NOT going to be Witten as a blocker.
Just sayin'
exactly this goes against the mantra putting guys in a position to succeed ... EE at best is good for a chip and release that is it. Maybe block a blizting DB but a DL or LB that is a mismatch not in out favor or EE's.
Just sayin'
exactly this goes against the mantra putting guys in a position to succeed ... EE at best is good for a chip and release that is it. Maybe block a blizting DB but a DL or LB that is a mismatch not in our favor or EE's.
Just sayin'
Garrett knows better. Remember he game planned against the Giants and Engram for a few seasons now. He knows Engram stinks, he likely exploited it at the Cowboys
I thought that was glaring particularly when you look around the league
If Garrett had placed a flanker on the strong side in motion pre-snap would that not have frozen Dupree to some degree?
He would not have been able to pin his ears back and just attack if he was unsure what and where the motion was going and what it might have projected?
You can make an educated guess (I'm of the opinion that Engram won't come around but Barkley still has a chance to), but to claim any sort of certainty either way at this point is just silly.
RBs and TEs aren’t positions that require 3-4 years of growth to know what you have in a player. Barkley and Engram are what they are.
If you watch the talkin Giants Bobby Skinner YouTube video on the OL there's play at the goal line where where Zeitler gets beat right off the ball and Barkley has a chance to square the guy up to cover for him. 91 comes right at Barkley who steps up and then instead of hitting the guy turns away. Clear as day he turns away to avoid contact. He's never going to be a good blocker and that's a big part of his job on 3rd down.
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Plenty of examples of players blooming late. Eli was tossing horrid pick-sixes late in his fourth year, and won Super Bowl MVP a few months later. Corey Webster was a wasted draft pick until the 2007 playoffs. Likewise, there's plenty of examples of promising players that didn't pan out.
You can make an educated guess (I'm of the opinion that Engram won't come around but Barkley still has a chance to), but to claim any sort of certainty either way at this point is just silly.
RBs and TEs aren’t positions that require 3-4 years of growth to know what you have in a player. Barkley and Engram are what they are.
And yet, everyone points to Ahmad Bradshaw as an example of a great blocking RB, and I vividly recall him getting reamed on live TV by mild-mannered Eli in 2009 (his third year, coincidentally enough) for flubbing on pass blocking (see: Saints game).
Nothing is an absolute.
Why not support the kid and hope he does well. He is a model citizen and an excellent spokesman for the team (unlike a lot of others we have had). He is uniquely talented, and has been put into a terrible position behind a rebuilding OL. Jim Brown couldn't have gotten yards last week, there were 2 DL players standing there untouched each time he got the ball. On pass blocking, as pointed out in the video's he had some good and some bad, just like all the others. It wasn't all bad, and he wasn't horrible at it. Frankly with all the other crap around him blocking wise he did ok. Sure he missed 2 assignments, he needs to improve. But realistically this is only the beginning of his 2nd year. Certainly its not his 3rd, especially with no preseason.
Last night Chubb and Hunt were not hit until about 5 yards beyond the LOS. I'd love to see how many hundreds of yards Barkley would get in that situation. Situations matter, not absolutes. Our OL running into Pitts D was a disaster.