Passing Game Coordinator/Wide Receivers Coach Chad O’Shea (9.8.23)

The (wide receiver) core as you head into this first game?

“Just really excited to get started because this group has worked so hard and has done such a good job in their preparation from when we started in the spring to this point. I can’t say enough about how professional they’ve been in their overall preparation, their work ethic. I think they’ve all put the team first in everything that they’ve done. So, I’m just really excited that they get the opportunity now to go out and play and show us the group that we have, which I think I’m very confident that this group is hopefully going to be very consistent and help our team win.”

 

How good was it to get Marquise (Goodwin) back on the practice field and then what do you think he can add to this offense? 

“Yeah, Marquise is a veteran player that it’s been great to get him back on the field. He’s done a tremendous job of putting himself in this position to be ready to play, and that’s really a tribute to him and the people that have worked with him so closely in our organization to get him back on the field and just to make sure that he’s in great condition and ready to go. He’s got a very unique skill set. He’s been a veteran player that has provided a lot of speed. He’s an explosive type of player, so it’s been great to have him out there and I really feel like moving forward, he’ll help our team just like the entire group is going to have the chance to help us.”

 

With Ced (Cedric Tillman), what’s been the thing that’s pleased you most about his progress from when you first got him in rookie minicamp to now? 

“What’s been most impressive about Cedric, and I’ve been most pleased about is his – I think his ability to when he makes a mistake, to correct that mistake. He’s not a repeat error guy, and oftentimes we see players that are young rookie players and young in their development that repeat errors, and he has definitely had some mistakes along the way, but he’s corrected those things and he has improved. That’s the one thing that’s been most impressive is he’s improved throughout the process. It’s tough for these guys coming in they have to learn a playbook; they have to learn how to be a professional. There’s a lot going on for them in their transition of any rookie player, and Cedric’s been one that has improved really daily, and that’s been the most impressive thing about Ced.”

 

We see him (Cedric Tillman) out there and you guys coach him up hard and he just seems unfazed by it and it rolls off his back. How important is that element, I guess, of his personality? 

“It’s very important. We are hard on Cedric, and we need to be hard on him because it’s our goal to get the very best version of Cedric and he knows that we’re going to be hard on him to do so. And he’s really taken coaching very well, and he’s taken us getting on him very well, and he’s taken that as constructive criticism and he’s been able to move on from his mistakes. But I’ve been very impressed with his overall mental toughness and his ability to overcome some adversity that I think all rookie players go through at some point or another. There’s going to be some things along the way that are going to be bumps along the road, and he’s been able to kind of push through that and hopefully he’ll be the player that we all think he can be.”

 

With Elijah (Moore), I mean, he had that rib injury and I know he had to kind of take it easy for a little while after that. Is he right back to where he was before that, and how do you feel about everything he’s been able to accomplish? 

“Elijah’s been a player that’s come new to us this season and just been so impressed with him, the amount of things he can do for us. He’s got a very versatile skill set. He’s had a great week of practice, and so we’re really excited to finally see him out on the field and do a lot of the things we think he can do. And I have a lot of confidence in him and he’s worked really hard in his preparation. I can’t say enough about how professional he’s been. He’s been, I would say, a great teammate.”

 

Has there been a lot of guys who kind of can touch the ball in different ways like him over the course of your career, what does that take for a guy to be able to do that stuff and be effective kind of wearing multiple hats like that? 

“One of the things that guys that are versatile, it requires them to be, is very aware of what’s going on defensively and have a really good understanding of what we’re doing offensively. It’s one thing to have a physical skill set, say, a versatile physical skill set. But along with that, the challenge is those guys also have to have enough mental and awareness of, again, what’s going on the other side of the ball. And what’s going on and what we’re trying to get accomplished on our side of the ball is as important as their physical skill set. And that’s one thing I’ve been very impressed with Elijah is his ability to function mentally. You know, we ask him to do a lot offensively and he’s really accepted the challenge and he’s done that with his preparation and he’s a smart guy.”

 

Are there things you guys are asking him to do in New York or even in college? So how was that process of discovering, man, he can do this, and he can do this? 

“Yeah, the process of seeing what the guys do well is seeing if they do it on the field. And it really is. It’s like we’ve tried different things with him since the spring, and if it’s something he does well. We keep it in. And really the thing about Elijah is he’s made the most of those opportunities. There have been very few things we’ve asked him to do that we haven’t come off the field and said, looks good enough for us to move forward with. And that’s – I always talk to the players about your role is truly what you make it, and your role will be dictated by what it looks like on the practice field when we come off. And if they can give ourselves, the coaching staff and the quarterback confidence that’s going to be something that we’ll have success on, then we’re going to put it in the game plan. And Elijah’s allowed us to do so many things with his versatile skill set.”

 

How did the chemistry between that core and Deshaun (Watson) grow from the beginning of preseason training camp to now?

“The chemistry between the receivers and Deshaun is awesome. It’s outstanding. And that has a lot to do with obviously, it’s a two-way street and Deshaun’s been so great to work with and he’s worked so closely with that group and they’ve grown so much over the last year. And then, of course, in the spring we acquired the new players we did. So he’s had exposure to those guys, but it’s been really neat to see that group grow, improve, work so hard together and I can’t say enough about Deshaun’s leadership as it relates to that group and how impressive that’s been to watch.”

 

I know they lost a couple of key guys, but they still have guys like Mike Hilton back and (Cam) Taylor-Britt. How would you describe that group as a whole? 

“This group from Cincinnati is outstanding. I mean, they play so well. They have such a great scheme. They’re very sound in what they do, very talented secondary. You know, the one thing, if you look at it, there’s a lot of speed in this secondary to include the two new safeties that they’ll have playing. So, it’s a very impressive group. I know that – we know that this is a great challenge for us and I think very highly of the secondary.”

 

What’s it been like to have (Austin) Watkins (Jr.) in the building and also, I know kind of learning to be a pro was part of the process of him sticking in the league. What have you seen from him in that aspect? 

“Yeah, very pleased that Austin’s here working as a practice squad player with us. We take a lot of pride in this building and the development of our younger players and we’re taking a lot of pride in the development of Austin and he’s working very hard every day. We have a lot of people that work in our organization that work in the development program that does a great job of trying to get him to be the best player he can be. And Austin has taken advantage of that. You know, he’s a player that has been very professional. That’s one of the things he made plays for us in the preseason, but along the way, he was a great guy who was really taking coaching well, working very hard, and being a professional and being the type of player we want in the building. So that’s all we ask of our practice squad guys, to work hard to help this team win and along the way develop themselves into the very best version they can. And he’s done that.”

 

The wide receivers adjusting to the improvisational skills of Deshaun. I know that’s something that you’re really not going to know exactly how it’s going to look until you get it out on the grass, but how do you feel like that’s going to go? How are they adapting to him? 

“Yeah, I think the group has adapted very well to Deshaun and his skill set, and I think that’s important to know that’s a work in know, it’s something that takes time and nothing more important than our practice on the field to get that right. And then ultimately, we need to transfer to that to the game field. But Deshaun is so talented in so many things that he does that we need to understand the player he is and then obviously play to his skill set, which I think that there’s better awareness than we’ve had as we sit right here of just how they can play off of each other and use their skill sets best with the guys we got out there.”

 

 

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