Offensive Coordinator Travis Switzer (9.24.26)

When you watched the tape, how did you assess Deshaun’s (Watson) performance, how well did he play for you guys?

“Yeah, I mean, we thought he played great. He made a lot of really, really big-time plays, a couple of really good throws with some pressure in his face. Yeah, we thought he did a heck of a job, and really, especially in the second half. But there were multiple throws and plays, both throwing it and with his legs, that were huge, that contributed to us being able to win.”

 

How close do you think you guys are in the run game?

“Yeah, I mean, this is a week-to-week league and just look around. Chicago goes from scoring 59 to 3. So, I don’t know about how close, I just know that every week we’re attacking it. And certainly, after last week, and really the first two weeks, we’re not where we want to be there, so we’re looking at everything that goes into that, and everyone involved. I have to look at it schematically, certainly there was a play too, from the game the other day where I’m looking at it like, you know what, I didn’t put us in a great position there. And then we’re looking at just the execution of it by all parties, right, the blockers and the fundamentals and the things that we’re working at up there, the runners and just trusting their eyes and seeing it. But yeah, we’re looking at all parts of that. As far as how close, we’re going to get better. I know that we believe in what we do and we believe in our players, so we know we’re going to get there. But it’s a week-to-week league anyway. Even if we turn around miraculously and we run it great this week, it doesn’t mean anything for the next week, right? We have to reload every week. It’s a week-to-week league.”

 

How do you build off of what Deshaun did last week?

“Yeah, I think you just continue to do similar things, right, and continue to put our trust in him, which we always have, and just allow him to go play. We’ve been encouraging him to go let it rip, and he’s been doing that, which has been really fun to watch.”

 

You talk about his ability to use his legs. Just how important do you think that was against the Buccaneers, a couple of those third-down runs, and what could that look like moving forward?

“Yeah, I mean it’s huge, right. Even if it’s like one or two third-down conversions a game, over the course of a season, which is a big deal, right? And it’s just another thing too that defenses have to account for. There are certain things that they’re not going to do, right, if they respect the quarterback’s legs. So, it’s kind of a domino effect really, as far as, yeah, it’s effective, but then it’s also, you’re going to regulate the defense a little bit too.”

 

How much can using the Deshaun in some designed runs help your run game just overall? Do you think having him in there can help with what’s missing in that group just having him as another option?

“Yeah, that’s always going to be a part of our thought process every week, some weeks more than others. But you have got to be able to run the ball in a variety of ways. It can’t just be a quarterback-led run game. We have to be able to run the ball downhill and stay efficient as an offense, which is something that we’ve been really preaching over the last couple weeks, and just being able to stay ahead of the sticks, which is going to be huge as far as third-down conversions. I think I talked about that last week, and everybody wants to look at third-down numbers, but what are the distances you’re facing? So yes, quarterback run is always going to be in our mind, like I said, some games more than others, depending on the defensive structure we’re playing. But you’ve got to be able to run the ball in a variety of ways.”

 

For an offensive line, what’s more difficult to pick up, pass protection or run blocking? Which area can be more difficult for a new offensive line to kind of gel together on?

“I mean, I think that depends on each individual player a little bit, and maybe what their main strengths are. I know this, that if you have to drop back and pass pro every snap, it’s very difficult. So, you have to make the defense play, and what I mean by that is, on early downs, you’ve got to be able to run the ball and make them play honest. And obviously that’s going to set up all your play-action and everything, which maybe they think it’s run, they’re not going into pass-rush moves right away. So, to answer your question, I don’t know what’s necessarily easier. I think both are difficult, but we’re just going to continue to get better in both areas, especially running.”

 

Do you feel like Quinshon (Judkins) is 100% coming off of that surgery? Is he himself?

“Yeah, I mean, I think so. I think he looked healthy even to me in the spring. When I first saw him live, I was like, man, this guy can go. And it’s just continuing to get familiar, I think, with the things that we’re doing. And kind of like Deshaun, we’ve been encouraging him to let it rip, as a runner, in some ways. And I did think there were flashes of that last week that were really encouraging, and we’re excited. And like I said, we trust in him as we do in all of our players, and that’s why we encourage them to go let it rip, man. Go be you and go play.”

 

How does a running back let it rip?

“Okay, so he’s obviously not throwing the ball, but it’s the same thing as the decisiveness, right? Trust your eyes and trust yourself and hit it. You’re here for a reason, you are elite, just go be you, go be elite.”

 

It’s well noted that the mental side of what Deshaun’s going to have to deal with, going home after all those comments. What are you guys doing as a coaching staff to keep him mentally confident and continue to have that confidence to let it rip?

“Yeah, I mean, I think it’s just focusing on the process, and that’s all I’ve really seen Deshaun do since I’ve been around him. He’s focusing on his preparation and what it takes to win. There’s a lot of things and preparation that go into being able to win a football game in the NFL on Sundays. And that’s something that from the time I’ve been around him, he’s been awesome with. He really prepares, and I think that’s what gives him the confidence, and that’s why we’re also like, let it rip, you know, you do prepare, man, you’re ready. And like I said, he has been doing that. And I think we saw it last week especially.”

 

With Denzel (Boston) in these first two weeks, he gets two explosive touchdowns. How much of a confidence builder can that be for a rookie pass-catcher to make plays like that? And how about developing the chemistry between him and Deshaun?

“No, it’s huge. Yeah, it’s huge. They were game-changing plays, obviously, certainly last week with the long play, and then in addition to a couple other just outside-lane conversions that we were able to do with him. But yeah, the more time that he and Deshaun get together, the more comfortable they’re going to get. And they’re talking all the time, too. They talk about things, they communicate. Both guys are wired the right way. So, I just think the more time that they’re together, the more that’s going to continue to grow.”

 

Travis, in the past year, the offensive line coach was kind of in charge of the short-yardage package. Are you in charge of that?

“We all have areas, and then certainly, Monk (Todd Monken) and I have to be over everything, but we’re a collaborative group and we do everything together. We listen to ideas, and then obviously, Todd and I have to ultimately decide on what we’re going to do, but we’re a collaborative game-plan group, and we’re going to hear everybody’s thoughts.”

 

What would you say the state of the short-yardage game is right now?

“So, we’ve had procedural issues, which, week one especially, we had it in all areas of the game. And then it showed up in short yardage again at Tampa. So, we have to look at just the run-game questions in general, we have to look at everything we’re doing there. We have to start schematically and look at where we can get better there, are we doing the right things with who we have and just continue to look at that. And then we’ve got to come out and play and execute. It’s as simple as that. We got to look at what we’re doing schematically, improve that, and then improve the consistency and the execution of the plays.”

 

I know there’s only one ball to go around, but do you have to make an effort to get Jerry Jeudy involved?

“Yeah, I think that this goes into every skill player that we have. There are always things that we have in the plan for each guy, as far as who ends up getting the ball. There’s a lot of variables that go into that. It could be a little bit of the game situation, how the game flow is going, it could be coverage, right, that dictates it. But all of our skill guys that we have on offense, certainly we’re looking at trying to get touches to. And Jerry’s no exception to that.”

 

Teams are trying all kinds of new stuff. How much time does it take you, in games, to figure out what wrinkles become tendencies, or what another team is doing?

“Yeah, that’s a great question. I think it’s different every week. I think you have to look at the teams that they’ve played; you have to look at something being like, ‘okay, I could see them seeing us like they saw that other team.’ And I mean, you’re guessing still to some degree, but all you’re trying to do is prepare your guys for what they could see without overloading them, because that’s something that comes into play too. If you try to be too perfect, whether it’s with a scheme, an adjustment to the scheme, whatever that is, you can overload the guys too. And then you’re taking away the most important thing, which is go let it rip, and run off the ball in the run game, and let it rip in the pass game as well. So, I think it’s a great question, but you have to look at who they’ve played, maybe who you think that they would see you as similar to, and then kind of try to prepare the guys for as much as possible.”

 

I think there were times when you guys in Baltimore used (Patrick) Ricard in non-short-yardage situations, a two-back look. Is that something under consideration going forward?

“Two-back runs? Is that what you’re saying?”

 

Yes, two in the backfield.

“Yeah, I mean, we’ve done that with Mike (Burton).”

 

I mean in short-yardage situations.

“Yeah, we’ve done that with Mike. We’ve done that in the field with him. We ran, I think we ran a power play, third or fourth play of the game, I think, against Tampa, went for 10 yards. But yeah, that’s part of what we do.”

 

Do you see connection between Deshaun and some other guys the way it’s been developing really nicely with Denzel? Do you see other stuff starting to develop?

“Yeah, no, I think he talks to Denzel and KC (Concepcion Jr.) all the time. He’ll say things to Harold (Fannin Jr.) and KC. I mean, he’s talking more now, I would say every week he’ll talk about things more, and I think that’s because he’s just getting more familiarity, right? He’s able to kind of articulate to guys what he might want, or ‘hey, I might signal this here,’ because maybe we talked about it in the meeting, or maybe we didn’t, and it’s something that he kind of brought up to us. And he’s always reminding those guys, he’s talking to the O-line about protection all the time, because ultimately the O-line’s going to give us a starting point in protection, but he’s got the best seat in the house back there, so if he wants to change something, he’s going to change it. But yeah, he’s talking with, I mean, the whole offense.”

 

Defenses are stacking the box against you guys a lot, how can you guys change those looks and open up more space?

“Yeah, so we saw some of that, obviously, in the game last week, and that’s where I think, Todd talked about it, but that’s where we kind of sat down in there at halftime, and we’re like, ‘all right, let’s, we’re getting a lot of pressure, a lot of loaded fronts, let’s just get the ball out of our hands,’ which is something we did in the second half. But certainly, we’re going to have to run the ball into loaded boxes at times, if you want to be a dominant team and a good running team, you’re going to have to do that. So, yeah, there’s different things schematically you can do, whether it’s different run schemes, whether it’s opening it up, whether it’s using the quarterback like we’ve been talking about, there’s different things you can do there, but we’re going to need to run the ball into those looks regardless of if we’re going to get to where we’re going, and we’re going to do that.”

 

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