Offensive Line Coach Andy Dickerson (9.20.24)
Coach, the (New York) Giants, I think they run like a light box, like 70% of the time or something on defense. What opportunities does that provide for the run game when the defense runs…
“What do you mean by light box?”
Like six men in the box.
“Yeah, you would hope if you have a six-man box and you have enough hats for a hat, then you should be able to run the ball. But I mean, they do play shell defense, but they’re a really good defense. Especially starting inside, number 97 (Dexter Lawrence), their whole defensive front, their whole defense, coached really well. So, you like the favorable numbers, but it’s, you gotta get the angles, you gotta get your matchup. So again, anytime you have, you know, a hat for a hat, you’d hope to get the ball moving, going the right direction. But, you know, we’re going to have to take care of our fundamentals, our techniques, and start with the first level and the communication up front.”
Andy, just Jed (Wills), Jack (Conklin), Dawand (Jones) all kind of battling through things. How have you seen them progress through the course of this week in terms of their health and the way they’ve looked on the field?
“Yeah, I leave the medical stuff to the medical people. That’s not really my expertise. But, you know, they’ve been in the classroom, starting point, very attentive, asking good questions. And then getting into individual, working the different techniques and drills that we’ve been going through. So again, it’s through the course of practice you see them working and continuing to get better and to work back from their respective injuries. So it’s been great to have as many bodies out there as possible really practicing. So that’s really probably the most fun part, to get with those guys again for… It’s been about the first two weeks of really having those guys out there for individual and getting some team reps. So it’s been great to have them out there.”
Everyone talks about the five guys working in concert, but in this situation that you guys are in right now, might it behoove you to, and I know you can’t give me too much on this, but might it behoove you to roll Jack in a little bit on third down or something? I mean, would that work out if you had to do that on either side a little bit?
“Yeah, we have a good plan in place. You know, we’ve talked about it as a staff, and I’ll let Kevin (Stefanski) divulge all that information when he decides to make that final decision about everything. But again, it’s always good to have more than less. So I’ll say that always helps. But again, to me it just goes back to the practice and those guys getting back out there, hearing the calls again, just simple stuff as cadence. And just being with the guys again in that capacity. So it’s been really great to have them back there.”
What are the pros and cons of rotating guys? I know that possibly there’s some teams that they rotate their right tackles or left tackles, like every two drives. What are the kind of, pros and the cons of that?
“I think anytime you rotate… take a wide receiver, for example. If a wide receiver is on the field for 60 plays, and that’s a lot of plays. So if you can roll a wide receiver, then that helps keep them a little bit more fresh for that. And again, it depends. If the plays are blocked well, then it’s a good job. If their plays are not blocked well, then it’s not a good job. So it just really depends. So anytime you can take… somebody gets reps, you know, do you do the full game? You’re fresher if you run one mile than if you run five miles just as a marathoner.”
Andy, the jumbo packages you guys do, particularly with Zak (Zinter), when you guys have seven O-linemen, just first of all, for a rookie, how beneficial is it to get him out there in those game reps, even though it’s like an unconventional role, so to speak?
“Yeah, I think anytime, starting off with Zak and any of our guys who are able to participate in that role, they’re very smart, they’re diligent, and it gives them a heightened awareness for the game. If they’re active for that game, specifically that role, it allows us some flexibility to do multiple things, which Kevin has done for many years in his past. So something, I haven’t really been a part of that much. So it’s been fun to have that component added. And Zak takes a lot of pride in that and so have all of our guys, you know, Nick Harris, again Michael Dunn has done it, James Hudson. I mean, there’s been so many people who’ve done it that are on the team. So just gives them some more ownership and gives them a role. And I think it’s great when you have lots of players who can do lots of things and that gives you a lot, give them a lot of value and gives you some flexibility. But it’s great, especially as a rookie, to get those experiences and get out on the field.”
You alluded to it there, but is it also just, like, fun to look out there and see seven of your guys lined up?
“I mean, you know, the more the merrier, they say. Especially O-linemen getting on the field. It’s great. I think there’s an attitude that comes with it. I mean, we were able to utilize it last week in the win, which was great. And then, so it’s continued to build on the package and the things that you are available and able to do.”
Andy, you guys have dealt with a lot of penalties over these two weeks. You guys are the most penalized team in the league, and they happen to be offensive penalties. What has been the focus for you guys, especially just on the offensive line, about cleaning those up and the mentality that goes into that?
“Yeah, you always want to be penalty free, you don’t want to hurt the team. There’s some penalties, the pre-snap penalties, lining up in the right position, making sure you’re on the snap count, not too early. Those are things you definitely can control. When you get in a situation where there’s holdings, again, we don’t coach those. We coach how to not do those, hands inside, keep your feet running, so all those things are coached. But to me, the ones you can definitely control, the pre snap penalties. So that’s what you definitely harp on. And again, nobody’s going out there to make any mistakes, obviously, but when those things happen, you just correct them and remind them ‘hey, here’s the cadence’. You give them another reminder, ‘hey, this is going to happen, here’s the situation you can be in’. You try to put them in as many situations as possible to get that experience. Go through another walkthrough, change up the cadence, just different things. Make sure, give them the reminders, make sure you’re lining up, make sure you’re checking with the officials. Whatever the emphasis is of the week, that’s the things that the officials are going to be looking for. So it’s our job to educate the players and continue to preach the right habits. When you get into situations of holding calls or different things like that, if it’s a physical mistake or you’re going and your straining, it’s football. Sometimes they’re going to happen. Do you agree with all the calls? Not necessarily, but they make the calls and you have to adjust. My biggest thing is, what do you do after the play? Right? Next play mentality, have your head up, regroup and play the next down because you have another down to play. You can’t worry about a previous play and let that take over to the next play. So, it’s been an emphasis for sure.”
With Jack down, it’s been about a year since he had practiced. So, in these last, whatever, three weeks that he’s been able to be out there, how have you seen him kind of get more comfortable just being out there and with the knee?
“Yeah, just watching him, and again, being my first time I’ve actually been on the field with the guy and watching him. So, seeing him each day work and just the different drills and just being around him and his intent, asking questions and just going through the process. So, I think every day you see him getting a little better every single day as he’s gone through this process. So, it’s been fun, really.”
On that long run by Jerome (Ford), it looked like it was Joel (Bitonio) — the one on the fourth down. It looked like it was Joel that was out there kind of leading the way. You know, we’ve seen Wyatt (Teller) on film, you know, kind of getting out in space and making blocks. How valuable is it having two guards that can move like that?
“Yeah, anytime you can have more athletes in space, get some more O-lineman on the field, maybe go jumbo personnel, whatever. But, yeah, anytime you can use anybody’s skill set. We happen to have really talented O-linemen who can move in space. So, you want to use everything you can to your advantage if you can use that versus an opponent. So, yeah, having the flexibility of guys in space. It’s great.”
How tough of a decision will you be facing when all three of your top tackles are healthy?
“I think as an organization we will come to a decision and whatever that decision is, we’ll go with it. And it’s a good problem to have. It’s a good decision to have to make however that plays out.”
Along those lines just, when a guy maybe is moving from playing one side or the other, because there’s some shuffling that could go on, I know Jack has been doing some stuff at left tackle, he’s been at right tackle mostly in the NFL. How difficult of a transition is that for certain players?
“Yeah, I think anything with any muscle memory, for whatever you’re doing, if you’re a righty and you’re always write with your right, then you have to go to your left, and sometimes there’s some difficulty. But Jack has played it, James Hudson has played left and right. I mean, Dawand has played right and left. I mean, you have guards that are switching, you have centers that have to play guard. So again, being a part of the O-line, when you get these drills and you’re doing them, the movements, and if you’re working a double on the front side, it’s really just a single, just a man removed. We have Zak Zinter is out there, if he’s working as a tight end, it’s a triple, but it’s just a single if he was at a guard. So, to me, I try to just put everything in to try to compartmentalize it for the guys. Like, ‘hey, this is the same exact thing you’re doing, you just have three feet more space.’ So again, going back to the whole Zak thing playing, it’s a little bit quieter out there, right? You’re not right next to the center, you’re not right next to the quarterback. So again, it’s trying to make it take the same techniques and you’re just bumping them out a little bit as far as spacing. So try not to make it more than it is. But again, just like anything, you have to work and practice at it.”
What have you learned about Jed since you’ve been here and since he’s trying to come back from his surgery?
“What have I learned about Jed? Well, when lining up against those guys to give them looks or just going through walk-throughs and stuff, how strong he is. He plays with great length, his hand, he has good posture, his hips underneath him, asks good questions. He actually asked a question and then it showed up like a couple of, ‘hey, what if this happens in this situation?’ And like three plays later, I think it might have even been on the look team, that happened and it showed up and we were able to coach off of that. So just his thought process and looking forward to like, ‘okay, here’s what the play is, but what’s the next thing?’ What’s the ‘what if’ that could happen out of that? So just when you get around the guys and they start practicing, you’re seeing how their body moves, again, for the first time that I’ve been with these guys. So it’s been cool to see, but just getting to know him as a player. And again, in meetings, he’s been attentive, asking questions and helping with the younger guys as far as pass sets or whatever it is, any technique stuff. But it’s just good to have the dialogue and have it pertain more to game plan potentially at this point.”
What have you seen from Germain (Ifedi)? As you know, he was elevated the last two weeks, but in those two games, what did you just see in his ability to step into that role?
“I think that’s the thing. Just his ability to always be ready as a professional since he’s walked in the building. He’s a vet, he’s played a lot of football, played at tackle, played at guard and his ability to go in and not blink and be able to execute and contribute and be available has been awesome. So again, asking questions, just, you see the grittiness and his strain to finish. So I think it’s just been a great addition to the room.”
You talk about it being a good problem to have if you have three guys that can all sort of start at tackle. Could you guys, do you see maybe you guys taking almost like a riding a hot hand type of approach to that depending on if a guy comes back sooner and he’s in a certain spot and he’s playing well, the other guy that maybe follows in would be just a swing tackle? Like, is that something that you guys are talking about?
“Yeah, I don’t really try to deal in hypotheticals because you can’t really control those things. But again, it’s when you have multiple potential situations, you try to just figure out whatever, again, whatever we come to as an organization. I think that’ll be the way that we’ll go, whatever the best thing is for the team.”
Obviously, the sack and quarterback hit numbers dropped a from Dallas to Jacksonville. Did you see the line play that much better protection wise and if so, what were the best adjustments?
“I think the biggest thing for us was we wanted to emphasize playing with better posture, continuing to strain in the pocket. So again, every single play there’s going to be, as long we’re on assignment and we’re on the same page, then that’s the starting point. And then it’s refining the fundamentals and the techniques of, ‘hey, the posture. Where are my hands located? Where are my feet? Am I in the right position? Did I take one too many steps? Did I take an odd number of steps versus an even number of steps?’ So to me, and again, it takes all 11 for the run game and in protection, so there’s multiple things that go into every play and I don’t think a lot of people always know exactly what all those things are and you’re looking for different things. So I think just overall, we just, in the O-line run, we just work on, ‘hey, what are the fundamentals, what are the things that we can control every single time?'”
One of the biggest skills that Deshaun (Watson) brings to the table is his ability to extend plays and then make them downfield. How difficult or how do you teach your linemen and the guys up front to block for a quarterback like that when you know that’s part of his game?
“You block as long as you have to for the guy to throw the ball. That’s what we talk about, we talk about ugly strain. Football’s not always a pretty sport, especially in the trenches and you’re physically trying to protect…somebody’s trying to get to your guy, so you have to strain. I’ve been around quarterbacks who like to run around a little bit, so it’s just part of the process, it’s part of the game and you never know where these guys are going to be. And that’s the beauty of it because you’re blocking and all of a sudden, you’ll know what’s going on and then there’s an explosive down the field. So, you block until the ball is thrown. You call it, we haul it. Those are the rules.”