Latest / Press Pass / Press Pass | Heath Farwell: “As the game evolves, we got to evolve right there with it."
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Yeah, it's gonna be interesting to see how this works out. Obviously,
- 0:03Speaker 1: as a special teams coaches got together, it wasn't exactly
- 0:07Speaker 1: what we were looking for, but as the game evolves,
- 0:11Speaker 1: we got to evolve right there with it. So it's
- 0:14Speaker 1: something my assist and I, Luke Thompson, have really looked
- 0:17Speaker 1: into this offseason and we'll continue to look throughout training camp.
- 0:21Speaker 2: What are the keys to it?
- 0:22Speaker 1: What are the you know, we have to study all
- 0:24Speaker 1: the college tape, that's what they've been doing for a
- 0:26Speaker 1: couple of years and reaching out to those buddies that
- 0:28Speaker 1: are in that game, uh, to kind of figure out
- 0:30Speaker 1: the tricks to it. It's gonna be all new to us.
- 0:33Speaker 1: Is it going to change a ton Possibly not. You know,
- 0:38Speaker 1: like coach mentioned, we got Jamal Agnew we're gonna want
- 0:41Speaker 1: to We want to return, so we're gonna try to
- 0:43Speaker 1: return as much as we can. Are we gonna fair
- 0:45Speaker 1: catch at times potentially, But I think if you have
- 0:49Speaker 1: a returner like we do, you still want that. It's
- 0:53Speaker 1: a big part of the game. It's a big part
- 0:54Speaker 1: of momentum. It was a big part of our season
- 0:57Speaker 1: last year down the stretch of slipping the field giving
- 1:01Speaker 1: the ball to the offense on the other side of
- 1:02Speaker 1: the fifty.
- 1:03Speaker 2: Uh. It was a huge part of what we did.
- 1:06Speaker 1: Like they're trying to legislate away from people on the
- 1:10Speaker 1: outside agree, how do you see that.
- 1:14Speaker 2: I don't look at it that way. I look at
- 1:15Speaker 2: it more. It's a safety issue.
- 1:17Speaker 1: They're trying to figure out another way if we could
- 1:18Speaker 1: prevent one less concussion.
- 1:21Speaker 2: Uh.
- 1:22Speaker 1: I think it's valuable. And I think as a as
- 1:23Speaker 1: a coach, as a former player, we're we don't we
- 1:26Speaker 1: don't want those as well. We want it safe for
- 1:28Speaker 1: the players. We love to keep the traditional aspect of
- 1:32Speaker 1: the game as much as we can. Uh, but we
- 1:34Speaker 1: have to look at safety and and and I agree
- 1:36Speaker 1: without one hundred percent, if we can help the game,
- 1:38Speaker 1: we'll do it. Does this change There's been argue that,
- 1:43Speaker 1: you know, getting guys need creates more games on sideline.
- 1:46Speaker 2: I mean, are they getting Oh, I don't know. I
- 1:50Speaker 2: don't know.
- 1:51Speaker 1: That's I think that's gonna be. We'll we'll find out
- 1:53Speaker 1: a little more information this season. There's a potential you
- 1:57Speaker 1: have just as many kickoffs because now the squid bibbs,
- 2:00Speaker 1: maybe some of the directional kicks will come into play.
- 2:04Speaker 1: That maybe because you're getting more touchbacks, you know that
- 2:07Speaker 1: on the fair catch, that maybe team's getting a little
- 2:10Speaker 1: more creative. So I don't know. I think that's all
- 2:13Speaker 1: part of every special team's coach across the league is
- 2:16Speaker 1: doing what I'm gonna do of really study it. How
- 2:19Speaker 1: can we help our team and maybe it is fair catch,
- 2:22Speaker 1: you know what does that look like? And and trying
- 2:25Speaker 1: to come up the best answers to kind of help
- 2:27Speaker 1: our team.
- 2:27Speaker 3: Have you thought about it much from that same point
- 2:29Speaker 3: from when you are kicking off, do you just kick
- 2:31Speaker 3: it out of the back and say right to the
- 2:32Speaker 3: twenty five or you're you're a fan of and maybe
- 2:35Speaker 3: trying to slid more to see if you can pin
- 2:36Speaker 3: them inside of the twenty five because obviously where they
- 2:39Speaker 3: starts to big deal you want to.
- 2:40Speaker 4: Start a side at the time.
- 2:42Speaker 1: Yeah, there's a big advantage to pinning them inside the
- 2:45Speaker 1: inside the twenty. So we're gonna try to cover kicks.
- 2:48Speaker 1: I mean, that's part of the deal of pinning him
- 2:50Speaker 1: inside the twenty going eighty ninety yards a versus defense
- 2:54Speaker 1: is valuable versus get them to the twenty five. There's
- 2:57Speaker 1: definitely a big percentage change of scoring when you do that.
- 3:03Speaker 1: So we love to cover more kicks. Are there times
- 3:06Speaker 1: when we were gonna, you know, kick touchbacks out the
- 3:08Speaker 1: back of the end zone. Absolutely, but we love cover kicks.
- 3:12Speaker 1: We have a good group covering. Let's take advantage of
- 3:15Speaker 1: that if it helps us that week.
- 3:16Speaker 4: I'm sure Doug and Trent probably asked you about when
- 3:19Speaker 4: the Manness thing.
- 3:20Speaker 2: Came up and just wanted curious as to what your
- 3:22Speaker 2: input was on that.
- 3:24Speaker 1: We're excited to get him. I mean, Riley did a
- 3:26Speaker 1: fantastic job last season for us. He was a big
- 3:29Speaker 1: part of some big games for us, you know, one
- 3:31Speaker 1: of the biggest games in Jaguars history. But getting the
- 3:35Speaker 1: opportunity to add Brandon Brandon, you know, he had reached
- 3:38Speaker 1: out to me. So it was a guy that wanted
- 3:40Speaker 1: to play here. I think that just kind of gives
- 3:43Speaker 1: you the picture of where the culture's gone. You know,
- 3:46Speaker 1: when you have players that are free agents after getting
- 3:49Speaker 1: released and say, hey, coach, I would love to play here.
- 3:53Speaker 1: Just a testament what coach Peterson's done, what the overall team,
- 3:57Speaker 1: what it's like to be here. So it's a guy
- 4:00Speaker 1: that wanted to be here. And then it was an
- 4:02Speaker 1: opportunity to get better as a as a group. You know,
- 4:05Speaker 1: I said, Riley did a really good job, but this
- 4:07Speaker 1: is a guy that gives us a lot more flexibility,
- 4:09Speaker 1: not only on kickoffs, uh, to be able to pin
- 4:12Speaker 1: him deep and do some different stuff. But it gives
- 4:15Speaker 1: this a longer uh you know, kickoff line on Sundays.
- 4:18Speaker 2: Uh.
- 4:18Speaker 1: You know at times later in the season, some of
- 4:20Speaker 1: those lines got shorter.
- 4:21Speaker 2: With Riley, this won't be an issue.
- 4:23Speaker 1: And and and I think that'll free us up to
- 4:26Speaker 1: potentially maybe not go for one when it's a longer,
- 4:29Speaker 1: longer distance on fourth down. Maybe that's three points that
- 4:33Speaker 1: we could take advantage of. So it just gives us
- 4:35Speaker 1: a lot more flexibility to add to a very good kicker,
- 4:38Speaker 1: one of the best kickers in the league, to our roster.
- 4:41Speaker 1: We had to take advantage of advantage of it, especially
- 4:44Speaker 1: if a guy wanted to be here.
- 4:45Speaker 3: Did you know him going back?
- 4:46Speaker 4: And you guys cross that.
- 4:47Speaker 1: I've never I've never had the opportunity to coach him.
- 4:51Speaker 1: I have met him pregames and stuff like that, had
- 4:53Speaker 1: some conversations, So it was a it was a pleasant
- 4:56Speaker 1: surprise when I got a phone call from him.
- 4:59Speaker 2: Uh.
- 4:59Speaker 1: But Like I said, anytime someone wants to come here
- 5:03Speaker 1: and and it helps us be a better football team,
- 5:06Speaker 1: we have to explore it. We have to look into it,
- 5:09Speaker 1: and if it helps us just one percent better, we're
- 5:12Speaker 1: gonna do it.
- 5:14Speaker 4: Your experience with the coaches you that under does having
- 5:19Speaker 4: a kicker where they have some confidence fifty plus?
- 5:23Speaker 3: Does it change play calling in any way? Does it
- 5:25Speaker 3: make it more conservative or or more maybe take a
- 5:29Speaker 3: chance for or can it good by as ways?
- 5:31Speaker 1: I mean, I think I think that's a question probably
- 5:34Speaker 1: for Press, but I think Press would definitely be excited
- 5:37Speaker 1: to know that, Hey, we don't this isn't a four
- 5:40Speaker 1: down territory. We're in range here, you know, go try
- 5:44Speaker 1: to get the first off. If we don't get it,
- 5:45Speaker 1: we're fine kicking this. We got a good opportunity to
- 5:48Speaker 1: get three points right after this because that line, that
- 5:51Speaker 1: kick line is so deep. You know, last year in
- 5:54Speaker 1: Denver they send them out of a bunch of long kicks.
- 5:57Speaker 1: I don't anticipate us doing that as much.
- 5:59Speaker 2: As they did. But do you do have access.
- 6:02Speaker 1: To doing that, which is a huge advantage of maybe
- 6:06Speaker 1: it's right before half sending him out there for a
- 6:08Speaker 1: sixty plus yarder. Maybe it's a game winner. Those are valuable.
- 6:12Speaker 1: Uh you know, with those three points right before half,
- 6:15Speaker 1: maybe it's end of a game, just game changing points
- 6:17Speaker 1: because they all come down to one possession down and down.
- 6:20Speaker 4: In the NFL, difference with where you will let him
- 6:24Speaker 4: kick from as opposed to watching him kick and mile
- 6:27Speaker 4: high altitude does that translate to Jackson isn't the same?
- 6:32Speaker 1: I mean, it's definitely the altitude is you know, is
- 6:34Speaker 1: a big advantage. But you know, I've I've watched this guy.
- 6:37Speaker 1: I've watched you know, most of his kicks over his career,
- 6:41Speaker 1: and he's had many kicks of sixty plus away from
- 6:45Speaker 1: mile high, including in Seattle last year, a sixty four
- 6:48Speaker 1: yarder that had the distance. And my background in Seattle
- 6:51Speaker 1: kicking towards that end zone, the open end zone in
- 6:55Speaker 1: Seattle is a tough place to kick. So he still
- 6:57Speaker 1: has that elite leg strength that in mile high maybe
- 7:01Speaker 1: help them a little bit. But he'll, he'll this weather
- 7:03Speaker 1: here is good enough. He'll he'll be able to kick
- 7:05Speaker 1: some long kicks if we ask him to do it.
- 7:09Speaker 2: From the guys in the roster to sandows help.
- 7:11Speaker 3: He is a gunner or a core guy, or what do.
- 7:14Speaker 2: You see this year? I mean, I think the buy
- 7:16Speaker 2: in is the biggest.
- 7:17Speaker 1: So the guys who come to my office voluntarily on
- 7:20Speaker 1: their own, the guys who stay after practiced and wanted
- 7:23Speaker 1: to drool, work on, you know, by themselves and ask questions.
- 7:26Speaker 2: I think that's the biggest thing. How much is the.
- 7:28Speaker 1: Buy in because a lot of these players haven't played
- 7:30Speaker 1: a ton of special teams in college, so getting the
- 7:32Speaker 1: opportunity to kind of see what that looks like and
- 7:35Speaker 1: then can it translate to our game? You know a
- 7:38Speaker 1: lot of these guys have never protected a punt pro
- 7:40Speaker 1: they do the spread punts in college, so can they
- 7:43Speaker 1: do a kickslide in the National Football League?
- 7:46Speaker 2: Can they do a gunner release first a vice?
- 7:48Speaker 1: Those are things they've never seen, never done, So I
- 7:52Speaker 1: think those are things that show up. Can they learn
- 7:53Speaker 1: our techniques? Can they? Can they do the NFL what
- 7:56Speaker 1: they're going to be asked to do in the NFL?
- 7:58Speaker 1: Uh and teach them the tools of it? Can they
- 8:00Speaker 1: do it? Just preparing them for training camp because that's
- 8:02Speaker 1: really when it's going to get competitive. Have mentioned the
- 8:05Speaker 1: three defensive backs Antonio braswell, and then how have you
- 8:09Speaker 1: guys drafted and the contributions they can make on special teams.
- 8:12Speaker 4: What have you seen from those three?
- 8:14Speaker 1: Love all three of them. They've they've been fantastic. I
- 8:16Speaker 1: liked him in college, Antonio starting with him. He's big,
- 8:20Speaker 1: long and fast, and his play speed shows up. That's
- 8:24Speaker 1: another thing I was excited to see. When we check
- 8:27Speaker 1: the GPS is the miles per hour just even in practice,
- 8:32Speaker 1: it translates really well to him. So his length, his
- 8:35Speaker 1: speed is going to be a value on special teams.
- 8:39Speaker 1: He's very smart, he understands the game, and he was
- 8:43Speaker 1: well coached in college. He has a good understanding and
- 8:45Speaker 1: better than most guys coming out of college to translate
- 8:48Speaker 1: to special teams. So excited about him. Braswell has been really,
- 8:51Speaker 1: really good. You know, he's a smaller body that sometimes
- 8:55Speaker 1: doesn't necessarily translate, but his toughness, his buy in, he
- 9:00Speaker 1: carries a ton. And then Eric he's doing the exact
- 9:03Speaker 1: same thing. They're learning new stuff. He's getting better every day.
- 9:07Speaker 1: So those are three guys that have a big impact
- 9:10Speaker 1: on the later part of the roster the last few rounds.
- 9:13Speaker 1: The biggest thing they could do is be a quality
- 9:16Speaker 1: backup and then be a big contributor, you know, for
- 9:19Speaker 1: us on special teams with Antonio.
- 9:21Speaker 4: I know there was some questions about his forty yard times,
- 9:24Speaker 4: So I'm curious with the GPS.
- 9:25Speaker 2: I mean, did you guys regard him as a guy
- 9:27Speaker 2: who had speed.
- 9:28Speaker 1: We did, and I liked his game speed, and so
- 9:32Speaker 1: that's what you know. We thought we what we saw
- 9:34Speaker 1: on tape, and then we checked the GPS. Since he's
- 9:37Speaker 1: been here, it shows up what we saw on tape,
- 9:40Speaker 1: which is which is more valuable than a forty time
- 9:42Speaker 1: or anything else, is what is their game speed? What
- 9:45Speaker 1: does it look like, you know, matching up against another guy,
- 9:48Speaker 1: you know, running down the field as a gunner. That's
- 9:50Speaker 1: where it's gonna show up. Cover guy stuff.
- 9:53Speaker 2: That's it. Appreciate you guys,