Greg Schiano's Game Week 1 Presser - Howard

all right guys here we are game week how can uh I guess this is supposed to be a game press conference so I'll give a few opening comments the guys worked really hard in Camp we transitioned to game preparation last week and we're kind of repeating that this week and so today is a Wednesday actually of game prep so now we're coming on the back half of the week and uh it's been hot so it's been a challenge these last two practi have been hard for the guys uh we're a little beat up you know I told you I'm not going to get into all the specifics but uh you'll see some young faces out there that you haven't seen play before and um you know obviously Moe is a season ending injury right now there's no other season ending injuries but there's some that are single or multiple game injury so we're just going to have to work our way through it like you've been around a lot of these uh I'm sorry you've been around a lot of these season openers at this point I'm just curious do some season openers feel different than others and is this one of them for you not really for me you know like we haven't played the game yet as this team the 24 team so uh I only know one way and that's full speed you know run scared as my mentor taught you run scared you get ready to go not scared of your opponent not scared of the situation just check under every Rock make sure everybody you've gone through everything over and over again situations that you know you haven't played a game in a long time so just make make sure you keep doing it over and over again so the guys are ready and comfortable as an old saying you don't rise to the occasion you sink to the level of your training and uh we got to make sure that we're trained in everything we're doing and then we're ready to play whoever's healthy we got to go out and play great Kirk previously talked about year one year two making a step up at his previous stops have you seen enough where you're confident that that that Trend could continue with the offense this season under his Direction yeah I'm hopeful yeah I think uh we're more cohesive we understand it better but again you got to go do it right I mean practice is everything to us we believe that but then you have those 12 games that you got to go do it otherwise you know it's just a thought so now they're coming right we've been preparing long enough um you know since January preparing for this so looking forward to getting out and playing a game what does aan have to do in your mind for you to think his debut was a a success just do his job yeah no different than any other position although it's much different because he touches the ball every play but within his realm of the big job he has he has to just you know we say chop your job he's got to chop his job one play at a time doesn't need to do anything special just needs to do what he's coached to do or trained to do just the last couple years for Sam Brown obviously a little choppy because of the injuries I guess what are your expectations for him this year well um Sam I think is in a in a good place he did get bumped earlier in Camp so he missed some time uh so he's not he's not all the way back by any means um but my expectation is he's really looked good both before he was bumped and then since he's been back um yeah so we have we have some depth in the running back room and we need to make sure we utilize that what are you expecting to see from Howard on Thursday they're they're a really well coached team I know their coach well go back a long time he was at South Florida I coach his little brother at um University of Miami I guess it's his little brother little or older I don't know what it is but I coached one of his family members at Miami and I followed his career he was at South Florida for all our great games over the years and then he was at Miami and then at Tennessee so he he's coached and a lot of his coaches on his staff you know I know them they're they're experienced coaches so it's a very well- coached team they really challenge you schematically and they have some really good players you know they have some guys on the on the Senior Bowl watch list uh their safety number zero is you know I think you play anywhere really really fine player um you know both their running backs are really good players two and five one of them I know his dad Edan James from Miami so um you know look this is uh it's going to be a challenge we got to get our guys ready to go we're we're a little bit short-handed that's a fact and uh we got to figure out a way to go score one more uh seven and six last year Bowl victory you said after that you guys uh reached a significant mile marker and you you use that the the parkway Turnpike uh reference this year what uh what's the next step for this program and if you want to use your mile marker again uh what would that be yeah it's so hard to say right like you'd like to say well seven and six so let's make it nine and four whatever you know everybody likes to do that you never know what's going to unfold it's just that's the way it is I didn't expect not to have motter well you wake up one morning and you don't have motay anymore so I don't ever get into that game that's fun for media and fans and and I I understand why you do it what what else you going to do all week while you're waiting well I got a job to do all week that pertains to that score that win that you're talking about so I don't really get caught up in that I get caught up in the process I try to get our team to get caught up in the process certainly with people talking about it I need to sometimes bring our guys hey guys listen now the only thing that matters is right here and now right and and we believe practice is everything I me it's just something that's been as long as we've been together practice is everything and you win the game on Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday and then you go out and claim it on Saturday so that's that's what we're in the midst of right now and it's been tough week but you know we're not you know we have some injuries the easy thing to do is oh we better better lighten up on them we can't do that this is a long season and we're preparing this team for the opening game but we're also preparing the team alloing training camp for the season uh real real quick just on uh special teams specific go big picture small picture uh return game last year what was your impression of the return game and what's your plan uh this season return game very selective yeah very very selective we return Kicks When we think it benefits us so we had the number one kickoff return team in America last year and we returned five total kicks so what does that tell you about stats they can be very misleading right we're gonna we're going to do a very good job in my opinion of managing risk managing opportunity that's that's the business we're in in the kicking game but where there's an opportunity we really try to take advantage of it and where there's risk we try to kind of lay low and um that's always been our philosophy but probably more so now than ever but uh I don't know maybe it's I don't know why follow up the Pat's question do you do you understand though why there's so much optimism around this team from the outside I do I mean we made progress we have experienced players but then I also know what happened right one of the best players not one of them maybe the best player on our team we lost for the season you wake up one morning and he's not on your he's not able to play anymore so I understand how fragile it is and if I or anybody in this organ organization starts to think the way that you guys are talking you know it's it's been said many times it's like poison if it sits on the table it doesn't do anything to anybody the minute you put it in your drink it now it's big problem you got and we have to stay focused on the job at hand there's pieces are always changing the the the narrative is always changing you always have to be ready to Pivot and that's a big job just getting a team ready mentally physically and emotionally to go play is a big job job every week so you can't at least I don't have the capacity to do more than that maybe some guys do when you mentioned Mo's injury uh for the first time you mentioned abam Wright as well what kind of role do you expect him to play this year Well Abe you saw him kind of come onto the seam a little last year right on teams and also on third down Abe has had a good camp Abe is a is a very able linebacker now um no pun intended but um he he he's he's seeing it better he's really athletic can run he'll hit he'll do all those things so I think he's got a bright future we're going to keep shoving him out there in different roles um and I think you know with with uh Choppa or DJ and um and um Moses Walker I think those guys are are feeling it and we'll see what what we do with tym that'll be kind of a a late decision and we'll make a decision here and not haven't made it yet a little more broadly on the linebacker room how have they responded in the last week or two since Mo injury well I think it's bigger than the linebacker room I think it's the team you know you not only lose a really fine player you lose kind of the I don't know what the word is the alpha on the team that's what that's what that's what mo mo is and mo was so now is there one guy who steps up and fills that no it'll be a combination of guys right and that's what I when I was talking with Steve and that's where when things change it takes so much to get it all patched up again right and to get it because you still gotta no one wants to hear that you lost this guy you lost that that's that's nobody's problem but ours you got to figure out how to you're a problem solver and you got to figure out how you're going to fix that up so you can go out and win football games and that that takes an incredible amount of time and effort and and mo was was a lot of things to this team including being a really fine linebacker two quick ones if you'll indulge me you mentioned being banged up at injuries is there a position group in particular that's been hit harder than others or I know you don't want to say the players got hurt but is there a position group that's uh yeah I'm going to I'm going to I'm going to just wait till we put out the availability report on that there's no reason to let them know who it is now and you mentioned earlier in Camp pretty much having your offensive line set could you would you mind telling us who your starting five offensive line are uh there's some injuries there that I'm not sure yeah so I'm not being evasive I'm just telling you I'm not going to let them know you there are some injuries will they play I don't know they might right but that's the you know the one thing there again I agree with what we're doing as a league but this is an out of conference game so they're going to get a availability report two hours before kickoff we're not which a little bit of a disadvantage but it is what it is coach um last year looking at the numbers with Kyle almost 40% of his yards came in the fourth quarter you you talk about guys who get better as the game goes along what are the traits that he has that leads to that well I think there's that's multifaceted stat right number one he does get stronger as the game goes on and people say that I think he does a little bit I think other people get more tired and he doesn't like he runs the same way in play one that he doesn't play 40 Play 60 play 80 and the other thing is you have to be in games where either you're leading or it's a close game where you can run the ball you know the first few years back oftentimes we found ourselves down multiple scores where you had to throw it or you weren't going to have a chance to see the a chance for victory right so I think it's helped us a lot that we've been either in games more or winning games where we get to keep feeding him the ball but he is a guy that you know he's such a tough tough guy and he's low to the ground he's very strong so he can continually play with leverage and one of the things that happens to players as they get tired they get higher and higher and higher he's got natural leverage and he really stings you and you look at a lot of his runs in the end of the game it's you know after contact yards that he makes and uh he's gifted that way like he does that all all the time his feet never stop his legs are churning uh that's one of the things that I think makes him an elite running back all right guys thank you