Posted Dec 19, 2013
Assistant Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Jerry Rosburg
Jerry, punters around the league aren’t taking too kindly to this defenseless player idea … What is your position on protecting the punters, but also treating them as football players? (Aaron Wilson) “I understand the protection is built in for the punters, and I agree with it, because there are situations that have happened in the past where a punter wasn’t involved in the play and became a target. So, I think the rules that are in place are good rules. The situation that happened, I haven’t seen the TV copy – I did see the coaches’ copy – the situation that happened is certainly unfortunate, and I think [Cincinnati Bengals punter] Kevin Huber will probably be the first one to say – I don’t know what he said – but just knowing Kevin and the kind of man he is, I would guess that he said something to the effect that, ‘I’m trying to make a tackle.’ And all the punters are like that. Our punters in this league are really good athletes. They’re not, as some have described, ‘Just kickers.’ They’re not – they’re really good athletes. They’re extraordinary athletes, and when they punt a ball, they look at it as their responsibility, if it gets to them, to make a tackle. We have a young man [
Sam Koch
] like that. But the rules are in place for a reason, and I think that going forward, we’ll all appreciate a situation like that, where the punters need to be protected, but at the same time, they don’t need special treatment – if that makes sense. The degree to which they are protected is correct in my view.”
Does it astonish you when you look at the kicking numbers around the league? You’ve got about 14 guys making field goals at over 90 percent. I know there have been a lot of developments in the kicking game throughout the years, but it’s still hard to digest how good they’re kicking nowadays. (Jeff Zrebiec) “Players are playing at a very high level. One of the other things I think that’s entered into that is the fields, generally, are better than they have been in the past. There’s more artificial surfaces, there’s more dome stadiums. The snap and hold have developed to the point where they’re so consistent around the league, and that helps kickers be that much better. And as you mentioned, the kickers are better.”
Some people – John Harbaugh has even mentioned it in the past – about making it more difficult to kick and possibly even something the league could talk about. What is your reaction to that? (Jeff Zrebiec) “I’m not sure of what you’re asking.” (Reporter: “Like narrowing the goalposts or doing something to make it a little harder.”) “I’m not in favor of that. I think we have a good game the way it is, and just because performance climbs, that doesn’t mean we need to make it any harder. I think it’s a part of the game the way it is now that’s exciting, and you’re getting plays such as we experienced where the field goals are longer. And there’s a downside to that; teams are taking 50-yard field goals on a regular basis and that turns field position when you don’t make it. So, I think there’s a give and take on that, and I’m not in favor of doing anything to try to punish the kickers, so to speak. The same thing was true for a while with the ‘K’ balls. The ‘K’ balls, when I first came into the league, were virtually un-kickable. They were rocks, and you saw the numbers go down on kickoffs, and then we came to a reasonable situation now where we have good footballs, but not altered footballs, where it’s a fair day for both sides. I like it that way.”
Jerry, I think you guys may be the only team in the league with a kicking coach or a kicking consultant like Randy Brown is. Just what are his everyday responsibilities, and I guess the reason that you guys were interested in doing that? (Matt Zenitz) “Well, the reason we have Randy is because he’s an excellent kicking coach. And he’s able to be here, he lives not far away, and he makes a difficult back and forth commute for two days a week, and he helps us a lot. That’s why we have him. Yes, we are fortunate to have Randy Brown. He helps our punters and he helps our kickers. And he also does other things that we analyze [with] the whole league, and he’s involved in that as well. He’s a great benefit to our program.”
What is a typical day for him when he does come out here? (Matt Zenitz) “He works like all the other coaches. He gets here in the morning and then works through the Wednesday and Thursday, and then he meets us whenever the Saturday situation comes up. He typically works Wednesday and Thursday with our kickers.”
What kind of relationship did you have with Randy Brown beforehand? Did you know about him before? (Matt Zenitz) “Sure, I knew Randy was coaching in the league prior to my arrival here, so I knew him around the league. His relationship started with John [Harbaugh] in Philadelphia. And as far as the relationship with our program, he and John knew each other in Philadelphia. He had similar responsibilities in Philadelphia.”
Offensive Coordinator Jim Caldwell
Jim, in terms of Aqib Talib … What do you see from him, in terms of what he does all around? (Aaron Wilson)“[He’s] a very talented guy. One of the things that you’ll find is that they will match him up on your best receiver, regardless of where he plays. Oftentimes, you’ll find guys that just matchup on receivers when they’re on the outside – corners in particular – and they leave the nickel backs on the inside. Some teams will take guys and place them inside, anticipating he may get that particular guy off of him – things of that nature. He will match him all over the field – no matter where he lines up – and he does a very good job of it.”
Chandler Jones has 11.5 sacks for them. How has he come along this year, even since you guys saw him in the AFC championship game? What has he added to go along with [Rob] Ninkovich? (Matt Zenitz) “I think, like most guys in this league, that as time goes on they develop a pretty unique repertoire in their particular area of expertise. He’s long, he’s quick, he’s strong, and he’s deceptive. He’s got all the moves working inside, outside, and a little change of pace moves that he uses on a lot of the tackles when it looks like he’s heading full speed. He hesitates, then gets up the field, and gets an edge. He has done a tremendous job with 11.5 sacks. In this league, that’s hard to get. Week in and week out, he’s certainly been a factor. [Rob] Ninkovich on the other side has six and has done a very good job as well.”
Have you seen Chandler [Jones] since the AFC Championship game? Does he look like a different player on film? (Matt Zenitz) “Last year, he was a very fine player. This year, I think he’s even developed a bit more. They continue to get better as time goes on, in particular, guys that have the kind of talent that he has. He was talented last year and a concern for us. It’s no different for us in this game, as well.”
Joe [Flacco] is not exactly a read-option guy, but he does have mobility inside the pocket and can get out and sprint for a first down. With the knee being what it is, how much does that affect your game plan? (Pete Gilbert)“I don’t talk about how players are hampered. John [Harbaugh] does that. You can talk to him about that. If they can take the field, they can play. Obviously, the doctors will make that determination. Joe has been practicing and we fully anticipate he’ll be able to do his job.”
Is there any particular reason why one week after Dennis [Pitta] was involved a lot, he only got about four targets. Was it just the coverages they were using against him? (Aaron Wilson) “Every game is different. One game you may see Torrey [Smith] get targeted ‘X’ number of times. It just depends on who is open, what coverages they deploy, and how we respond to them. That could change up. Some guys are going to have big games; some guys are not going to have a great game. We usually have somebody that shows up week after week.”
What do you make of the
Ray Rice comments about possibly retiring at the age of 30? (Adam Vorce) “I hadn’t heard about it, hadn’t thought about it, and so will probably refrain from commenting on it as well. You can talk to Ray [Rice] about those things.”
He said that a running back may have 10 years. It’s always in the back of his mind and now that he has a daughter – things like that. It’s always in the back of a player’s mind if you’re a running back. What do you make of that? (Adam Vorce) “I can’t make any more of it than he says to you. He’s a philosophical young man, he has a lot of deep thoughts, and they all look at their careers and make some assessments. Overall, that’s probably what he was discussing with you all. That’s about as far as I could tell you about that. I haven’t spoken with him nor had I heard about it. I’m not in a position, right now, to think in detail about that – nor do I want to. He’s got to play.”(laughter)
Jim, what do you see from Joe [Flacco] in clutch situations and how does the quarterback become good in those situations? (Ryan Mink) “I do really think it’s overlooked oftentimes, in particular, when you talk about Joe. Everybody wants to look at the statistical information and determine that as the measure of a man, in terms of his position. What they should look at is how many wins he’s been involved in. I do think that it takes a guy who has ice water running in his veins, that he doesn’t let things get out of hand, and he’s not too emotional in very, very difficult times when everything else around him is completely out of whack and [there is] a lot of chaos. He’s very calm, very focused, and he can deliver. A lot of guys get nervous and back away from those situations. He’s just the opposite. He wants the ball in his hand, he believes he can do it, and most of the time he gets it done.”
When you move forward from the game where you had six field goals – and I know you want to score touchdowns – do you look back at that looking forward and say ‘We’ve got to do things different,’ or ‘We’ve got to do something better?” (Peter Schmuck) “We do all of the above because you have to. You have to analyze and see where you are and get a feel for what’s working for you and what’s not. You have to reassess; you have to constantly look at it and scrutinize every single thing that you do. There are some things that you believe in and you know you can do better, so you keep doing those things and you keep working on them. There are other things that you say, ‘We may want to make an adjustment here.’ That’s constantly the evaluation, in terms of what we do in our business.”
One, the game is a big win – but is there a sense of frustration as an offensive coordinator if you don’t get a touchdown in that game? (Peter Schmuck) “It doesn’t matter what game it is. Win or lose, we want to put that ball in the end zone. That’s our job – to score. We moved the ball up and down the field, but we’ve got to get touchdowns. I think that’s important. In this particular day in age, the amount of points that people are scoring … Our defense is playing great; we’ve just got to keep finding ways to get more points on the board. Ultimately, we’ve got to score one more point than the opponent. That makes our games a little bit too tight, but touchdowns are extremely important to us. We’ve got to get better in that area.”
Jim, you faced New England a lot when you were in Indianapolis, and I know that was one of the bigger rivalries in the NFL at that time. I think I even heard then that it felt like a division game even though it wasn’t a division game. Does this have a similar feel to that at all? (Matt Zenitz) “I think when you get two real fine teams together that have had a great tradition and history, at this point in time in the season, where everything is on the line when you get in to late December, every game is a really big game. When you’re playing teams that have had the same kind of success that the two teams have had, it makes for a very, very outstanding contest and you know it’s going to be a tough hard battle. It feels like a playoff game. Rather than when you talk about a division game for us, and at the stage we’re at right now, that’s what it is.”
