Greg Schiano Press Conference Quotes - Oct. 12
Oct 12 | Football
Opening Statement:
“We’ve had two practices so far with the extra day playing on Friday. The guys are working extremely hard. This is a tough, tough team to prepare for. Offensively, they run a triple option. They’ve added a few things formation [wise] as well as plays that makes it much more difficult to prepare for. It forces us to do some different things which I usually don’t want to get into doing multiple things. I think it’s so hard to be right against this stuff and then you add different defenses, now you’re variables but they’re doing new things that are going to force us to do that. The long and short of it is, it’s a race against the clock to see if we can get prepared fast enough and then go do it well on Saturday.”
“Offensively, we’re facing a defense that is different than what we’ve played. They play the flex or what used to be the Desert Storm. [It’s] a little bit different in the way they line up, a little different in the way their responsibilities are played so it’s certainly a challenge. Personnel-wise, defensively [Josh McNary] is one of the better players in America. He rushes the passer, plays hard against the run. Their middle linebacker [Stephen Anderson] is just a football player. He makes a ton of plays and their entire defense plays very hard. They understand what they’re doing. I think when you look at this team, they’re an offense and defense that have a definite system and in that system, they know exactly how they want to operate.”
“They do some different things in the kicking game from their formations on punt and PAT field goal. Just little things that make you do a little bit extra here, a little bit extra there but I really am impressed with not only their schemes but their personnel.”
“Offensively, their quarterback [Trent Steelman], I think he’s the guy that makes it all go. Then you take the fullback that they’ve added this year who is a tremendous player [Jared Hassin], big, fast, strong, athletic, tough, all the things. You always have to stop that fullback. If you don’t stop the fullback, they don’t go to step two and three. Now they have a fullback that I think can really hurt you.
“It’s going to be a challenge, on top of that, we’re playing up at the Meadowlands which, although it will be a great opportunity to play in a state-of-the-art stadium, it is not Rutgers Stadium, it is not home. We know we’re up against it, we know we’re playing a very good football team but we’re going to do everything in our power to be prepared and then go out and play the best we can play.”
Discuss how this game evolved and what the incentive was to move a home game to the New Meadowlands Stadium:
“It was purely financial. I know as the head coach of the football program at Rutgers, we’re part of the University, we’re part of an Athletic Department and I don’t think it would be responsible not to take advantage of the opportunity that’s presented to us. On the same hand, we’re not looking to do this over and over again. I think we have a definite home field advantage at Rutgers Stadium, there’s no doubt about it. We want to make sure that we can take advantage of that home field advantage as much as possible but this will be a great opportunity for our players, our fans and also a great financial gain for our Athletic Department.”
How much has Trent Steelman improved last year to this year; where have you seen his greatest strides?
“I think just comfort level in running the offense, plus they’ve added some new things and he’s part of those new things. So, I think the combination. I mentioned personnel and I failed to mention they have a 6-4 and 6-3 wideout. Now, it’s not the 6-10 guy they used to have but 6-4 and 6-3 are pretty big guys. There are going to be times when our corners are one-on-one with those guys, not as much as in the past, but there will be times. We need to make sure that when we get in those situations, that we play disciplined coverage. They don’t throw it a lot but one of the mistakes people make, is they rely on big plays in the passing game. They rely on a corner being bored, ‘run, run, run, oops, he looked like he was going to block me but he just took off running for a touchdown’. So we have to play disciplined in the secondary. We’re preaching it but again, we do this once a year. They do it every week and they’re prepared. They’re a system offense. There is no defense of the week they haven’t seen so to out execute them is not easy and now that you throw in the variables of different offensive plays and formations – I’d be kidding you if I didn’t say I’m concerned that, I don’t know if we have enough time to get ready for it all.”
In terms of his improvement, is it his decision making that’s noticeable immediately?
“Yes, comfort level. I think it’s really good for him to have this fullback. When you have a fullback like that, you can make a mistake and the fullback makes you right. You hand it off and maybe the read was a little grey, ‘should I or shouldn’t I’, well he drags guys for four yards and it’s second and six. You have to remember this offense as well, is a four down offense. Once you clear that negative side of the field, they’re going for it on fourth down. So what used to be a to be a 3.3 equation just turned into a 2.5 equation per play.”
Is Nick DePaola giving you a good look as the scout team quarterback?
“He is giving us a good look. I don’t think he’s as fast as [Trent Steelman] but he’s giving us as good a look as he is capable of giving us and decision making, I think he’s done a good job of trying to read the way that we think they read.”
How do you think Tom Savage is handling the situation of being hurt and having Chas Dodd start?
“I think Tom has been great. I think Tom is a good teammate. Tom is a guy that wants us to be the best we can be and I know it’s not easy, it certainly wouldn’t be easy for any of us but I think Tom’s handled it well. Not only on game night helping, but just being a good teammate and a good fellow quarterback during meetings and that sort of thing.”
Has Tom Savage been able to practice?
“He did a little. Not as much as a normal No. 2 would do but he took snaps and threw the ball a little bit. It’s painful. The pain will hopefully get a little less every day, that’s what our hope is.
Have you assured Tom Savage that the quarterback position will be an open competition once he gets healthy?
“Every position in our program is an open competition every week and that’s been proven. That’s not just me saying it; you look at my tenure as coach, that’s been proven.”
On progression of the wide receivers:
“I think coach [P.J.] Fleck has done good job of bringing them along. Usually it’s not that you do anything different, at some point it clicks. Obviously, when you’re sitting in a seat watching it on video, ‘OK, I understand what you mean coach’, but now that you have to run and do it, and the coverage changes or the technique is not quite what you expected it to be, that’s where cumulative repetitions come in. I think some of these young guys are starting to get some cumulative repetitions, ‘oh, I’ve seen this before. This is what I do against that.’ There will be things they haven’t seen and I guarantee you, there defense is different and they have a lot of flexibility in their ability to bring pressure in different ways. They’re going to have a soup pot full of pressures for Chas [Dodd] to see if he can figure it out so we have to be ready. We don’t know what they’re going to be, we’ll have use our rules and execute.”
Are the academies getting better athletes?
“I don’t know. I don’t study their recruiting enough to know if they’re getting better athletes or the same athletes. I think right now, you have three people in place... I shouldn’t talk, I know [Army], I don’t know the other two [Air Force, Navy]. We’ve played Navy, we never played Air Force. I know [Rich Ellerson]. The man, who’s leading that program, knows exactly what he wants to do at West Point. You have to remember it’s not what you want to do if you were the coach of the Giants, it’s what you want to do at West Point and they’re doing the perfect job at West Point. I didn’t know about... we prepare and we offseason study. I was not aware that Army had added this stuff until a few weeks ago because you’re not looking at them, you’re looking at the teams you’re getting ready to play but as soon as you do start looking or your [graduate assistants] start looking at them, they came right in and told me. This isn’t something you get ready for in a week, there’s no doubt about it. We’ve had to really put the pedal to the metal to get this thing figured out. I say figured out but you never really figure it out, but to try to have chance.”
Were you pleased with the rotations on the offensive line and will you continue to do that?
“We might. Am I pleased? No. We have to play better as group, much better, but are we getting better? Yes. We’re not where we were but we’re not where we’re going to be, we’re somewhere in between. Rotation, does that help? Maybe it gives a guy a chance to take a breath, I don’t know. But if there are guys that show in practice they deserve the opportunity to do it in a game situation, I’d like to give it to them. Right now we’re working seven guys, maybe eight that have the opportunity to get in the game without injury being the cause. I think it gets those eight guys working pretty hard and the competition’s pretty good.”
How Steven Beauharnais been coming along as the ‘Mike’ linebacker?
“I think he’s playing well. Production and running the defense. That’s one of the things you can’t take for granted. That mike linebacker is every bit the quarterback of the front seven and he has to get them in and out of stuff. Initially it wasn’t easy for him but I think in the last three games, he’s really taken the bull by the horns and enjoys it. To be a mike linebacker, you have to want to be in charge. If you don’t want it, it’s not a good position for you because you’re constantly having to direct people and tell them what to do.”
Have you ever coached at the Meadowlands?
“Yes, I coached as a [graduate assistant] at Rutgers in the Meadowlands and then I coached the Kickoff Classic at Penn State and at Miami.”
“I grew up at the Meadowlands. My grandmother lived in Rutherford and when I grew up we used to go there every Sunday and would drive on Route 17 and look out the window when the original Meadowlands went up. I can remember bringing binoculars and looking every week so I could see the stadium come up out of the ground. That kind of stuff excites me. As a kid, I like stadiums and that kind of stuff. It’s neat that we’re in the new one, it was kind of sad when the old one came down. I hear, I’ve never there but all our support people have been there [at the New Meadowlands Stadium]. I haven’t been, I hear it’s great.”
Is this a passing or run offense?
“I think they always work together. Which one is the lead and which one is the follower, I don’t know. Some days one may be the other but definitely I think they ham and egg off each other and we need to do that. I do know as you get later in the season and the weather starts to get horrible, I do understand we may not have great weather Saturday, it gets harder to throw the football when the wind starts kicking up so you need to be able run that football.”
Status of Joe Martinek, is injury still lingering?
“Yes, it’s definitely still lingering. That’s one of the reason’s he had, I think three or four carries Friday night. He had a tough week in practice. He’s looked better this week. Those ankles are funny things. They can start to feel better and then all you do is tweak it a little bit and it sets you back. He’s as tough as they come. I’ll tell you what, he’s done an incredible job of pushing through the pain, practicing through the pain but at the same token, if you can’t be the Joe that we know, we’re not going to give him as many carries.”
On a tough Army defense that forces turnovers:
“We’ve been very good at forcing turnovers, the last three games, we haven’t been great though. We need to get that back as part of our deal on defense. They’re No. 1 in the nation in turnover margin, we’ve been there. You win games when you’re No. 1 in the nation in turnover margin, they go hand in hand. We need to really protect the football No. 1 more than anything because they’re very opportunistic. We have to take care of the football and we do have to create takeaways. The best way I know is tackling well. When tackle and really bite the ball when you hit somebody, that thing can come flying out a lot of different ways. We’re opportunistic in looking for those chances to strip and all those things but I still think the best way is old fashioned good tackling.”
Has extra emphasis been placed on reducing penalties?
“The last two weeks are un-Rutgers like and I’m very disappointed. I told our guys, you can’t do that and expect to consistently have success. It’s not so much even the yardage, it’s the timing. It’s the five yards that makes you second and 15. ‘So what it’s a five yard penalty’, but it’s second and 15 and now you’re behind the chains and it changes your play calling, all those things. It’s not us. We work very hard at it. We have officials out at every practice, it’s not something that we don’t take very seriously.”
