FOXBOROUGH – For about 40 minutes on Friday evening, all eyes were on the new Patriots coordinators.
Coaches from all over New England – youth, high school and college – were all in the West Side of the Putnam Club for the annual MHSFCA Coaches Clinic.
New BC head coach Bill O’Brien is the keynote speaker on Saturday morning, but new Pats defensive coordinator Demarcus Covington, offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt and special teams coordinator Jeremy Springer all spoke and then answered some questions for about 10 minutes each in front of a standing-room-only crowd.
“This is unprecedented, to have three NFL coordinator joining us tonight,” Gary Doherty – longtime head coach and one of the organizers of the clinic along with Fred Kirsch said while introducing the coaches. Normally, some big names take the Friday night speaking duties, including Don Brown, Jeff Hafley and Ohio State’s Bob Knowles last year.
This time, it was a three-headed-monster of knowledge. The access to the coordinators was just another small gesture from the Patriots to continue showing things are different now in Foxborough.
Here’s what stood out during each of their time up on the podium:
COVINGTON
On if he believes kids in HS should play multiple sports
“I’m a kid that played three sports growing up. I played football, basketball and baseball. So, I believe in switching it up. I believe in trying not to burn a kid out. Just only focusing on football on the entire time, there comes a point where football – for me, I knew it was going to get me a scholarship so I knew I had to focus on that more than other sports – but I do believe when you change it up, the other sports also give you an opportunity to work on different skillsets that you can use…I think the other sports can give you some tools to carry over to whatever sports you want to be focusing on…when you’re young and only focus on one sport, there’s a burnout mentally for the kid that might be where they’ve reached their peak at some point. It really doesn’t matter when you start, it’s really about working on agility, movement skills, that builds you up and then you can get the other things that go with it, the fundamentals, the technique of a position. That’s just what I believe.”
On if he stresses guys going for the ball first or the tackle first when teaching players
“We were actually talking about that today. You see that a good amount in the NFL. A lot of teams are going now to just trying to punch out the ball, which creates takeaways, which we all want defensively, so there’s a philosophy there. But, when you also go after the ball, there’s more missed tackles. For me, it’s secure the tackle first, then go for the ball, disruption type of plays. So, whether that’s you trying to secure the tackle and then punch or the second man in coming in taking away the ball, that’s what I think…it depends on the player and I think it depends on who you are, but my belief and our philosophy will be for, it’s really secure the tackle first and then the instinct is to go for the takeaway. More tackles are missed than made when you try to go for the ball first…there’s different ways to do it, but for us the risk reward, it’s better just to get the guy on the ground.”
On how often the Pats do pursuit drills and how important they are
“We work on some sort of tackle-turnover drill every day that we have practice. It’s either a tackling drill one day, then the next day is a takeaway drill. Then, let’s say if we have three days a week, it’d be a tackle when we have pads on, takeaway when we don’t really have pads on and then it’ll be some sort of pursuit or INT type of drill the next day. That way, you can work all the fundamentals throughout the week.”
VAN PELT
On what he looks for in other coaches when trying to create symmetry while game planning
“First thing I want are people that are people persons. They’ve got to be relationship builders. That’s what I’m looking for first and foremost, how do they interact with people? Do they care? Do they love the guys? Then, I want smart guys. I want guys that understand the X’s and O’s and then, you need guys that work well together. You’ve got to have guys that have strength in the run game, strength in the pass game, protection, short yardage expertise, all those things fit together. When you’re building a staff, you’ve really got to look at each piece and see ‘where is this guy going to help us?’ as a full staff when game planning. So, I like to give a lot of guys responsibilities on staff to game plan. It’ll be obvious that do the plans. Maybe the assistant line coach does goal line and short yardage. The No. 3 O-line coach has red zone runs…we like to spread it amongst all of us so we all feel like we’re contributing.”
On what he believes is his greatest strength as an OC
“I think the biggest thing for an OC – and I’ve said this before – you have to be able to play to your players’ strengths. Identify what those guys do well and then heighten their play ability. Make them successful through what they do well. While at the same time, you have to guard them from their own weaknesses. For example, if a guard can’t pull on the edge, then you can’t ask him to pull. If he’s really good at down blocks and running duo, we’re going to run a lot more duo to that guy’s side. I think it’s critical just understanding who your guys are and coaching to their strengths while still protecting them from their weaknesses.”
On how offenses have changed in the NFL the last 20 years
“Some has and some hasn’t, to be quite honest with you. There’s still teams that still run the true West Coast. The biggest change I’ve seen is the shotgun. I was a West Coast guy. I played for a guy named Paul Hackett who was Joe Montana’s coach with Bill Walsh, so that was West Coast original. If it’s 3rd-&-17, you had split backs and they had their hand down in the dirt and you were under center. So, I would say the biggest change is all the shotgun that’s come over the last 20 years.”
On avoiding predictability on offense
“There’s a lot of different counters. You have your jab, you have your jab and then you have the counter punch. Being able to set up that counter punch. ‘Hey, we’re going to run slants and we’re going to do it really well.’ But, at some point, we’re going to run the slant-and-go. It’s being able to use that counter punch and knowing when to use that. If you can be predictable, that’s a good thing sometimes. Predictability leads to explosive plays because they’re overplaying the predictable plays that you’re running.”
On the importance of red zone and third down work during the week
“It’s very important. Situational football is huge. I spend a lot of time on third down, money downs, the red zone, two minute, those situations are huge. They win and lose games. I’ve done it a few different ways. Say you have a nine-day install, you do first and second down for three days, maybe that third day you get a little third down in there and then the fourth day, you put in red zone. Recently, in the last four years with the Browns, every day had third down and red zone in it. Especially now the way the OTA’s are set up, it’s really a passing camp, so there’s a little first and second down, but then you really emphasize ‘hey, we have 20 plays in the red zone today’ and then 7-on-7 one’s and 7-on-7 twos are going to be all money downs. Just spending the extra time on it is super important…I find doing it every day gets you more comfortable doing it.”
SPRINGER
On his core philosophy
“Keep it simple, man. If you’re going to kick off, make sure you go directional, create manageable space. If you’re going to punt the ball, makes sure it’s a system that’s simple and effective that guys can remember…on punt return, keep it simple. You’re a vertical return team or you’re a directional return team depending on what you’re seeing that week. Are you a pressure team? Field goal block, how are you blocking? make sure you’re really damn good at it…on field goal, make sure you stay interlocked. Inside out interlock so you can protect that kicker. Make it simple and effective. Make sure you’re consistent when you’re teaching habits and hold them accountable for it too.”
On developing an identity
“Ours is ‘The Cartel.’ I grew up in South Texas close to the border in Mexico. Cartel’s ran that sh*t. So, I grew up like, feeling that. Like, ‘hey, cartels run the border.’ But, what cartels are is a joining of businesses with similar command over land or entities, Similar to special teams, punt, field goal, kick off, punt return, we want to command the land or entity. We’re the cartel as the Patriots special teams unit and we do it one play at a time. We don’t get three or four downs. We don’t get 13-play drives. We don’t get ‘hey if they get a first down we get another set of downs,’ we have one play to be perfect. One play at a time…that’s how I’m going to kind of run things here.”
On punt returners tracking balls
“The most important thing is getting them out to do it often. Like, you don’t get good at anything without doing it. So, you’ve got to get them out on the jugs machine first and foremost and get them doing that daily.”
On if he’s ever had to fight for more practice time for special teams
“Every year. Communicate and do it early. Like, with (Jerod) Mayo, they do things differently here with time and with me, it’s all about (communicating) early. Don’t do it on the first day of practice. Don’t do it when you’re already five games in, communication happens right now. I’m already showing him everything I’ve done in the past, what I did with Sean McVay, how much time did he give us…so I can give him a library of that, then I’m good on it too going into OTA’s, knowing how much time I need. Or, if he gave me less time, I’ll know and I can prepare that way as well. Communication, communication, communication.”
On how aggressive he likes to be trying to block punts
“Very aggressive. I like to be aggressive because I think punters are scared at the end of the day, especially at (the high school level), there’s not as many good ones, right? So, I think pressure them early. Even if you don’t block the punt, but you make him shank one, the rest of the game he’s thinking about it on the sideline. That’s what you want to do. I like to do it early. Or, in that third quarter if you’re down a couple scores or if you’re up a couple scores and create momentum right there. Send pressure. I like one or two times a game. It sets your return game up pretty well.”