In The Pocket Part 1E
by Longvillian65 | 1 year ago | 0 Comments
In The Pocket Part 1E
By: Kirk Herbstreit
Good morning RedZone!! I decided that since the football gods have blessed us with all the football we can handle today I would bless you with more interviews of coaches around the league. This interview is one that I really enjoyed as we traveled to “The Capital of the World” and talked to Coach Bubba Bitz of the Commanders
Coach Bubba Bitz and the Washington Commanders
Herby- How would you rate the overall performance of your quarterback this season so far?
Coach- Sam Howell started the first few games of the seson off hot. He was making great reads and not making many mistakes. Establishing the run game early and with Brian Robinson off and running, this opened up the passing game for Sam. Now that teams have keyed in on stopping the run game, it has forced us to rely on the pass more frequently and Sam hasn't been as efficient as early on in the season. This is on me and the coaching staff to put Sam in better situations by calling the right plays and telling him it's okay to take the sack instead of forcing the ball into tight and or double coverages.
Herby- With being such a young player, have there been any issues with the development this season? What kind of specifics can you share?
Coach- Howell believes in his heart of hearts that he can make any throw out there on the digital gridiron and while we have faith in him to make some difficult throws, it's best sometimes to just pull the ball down and make a play with his legs or throw the ball out of bounds to live another play. We as a coaching staff should be utilizing play action more since the run game has been very effective, that's on us as a coaching staff to call the right plays and on the Sam to execute those plays when called.
Herby- How much do you associate the success, or lack thereof, with the performance of your young signal caller?
Coach- I'd say when Sam has been successful, it is mostly on him and when he has struggled it has been on us, the coaching staff. I've relayed to Sam that he has our full confidence in going out there and to just play without thinking too much. We'll continue to work with Sam in practice so that he can go through his proper reads of specific plays and concepts so that he and we can limit our turnovers.
Herby- We have seen many young QBs come in and sit behind a mentor to develop, or some get thrown in right away without that adjustment period. Do you believe that you have adjusted the playstyle and play calling to help cater to a younger QB, or have you gone with trial by fire in hopes he fits in right away?
Coach- I would say our playcalling is still a work in progress as we continue to adjust to Sam's style of play as we see more and more action on tape and what his true capabilities are. I definitely feel he is underrated as a runner and often forget myself that he can make plays with his legs. Sam is fully capable of being able to lead this team throughout this cycle and we want him to be able to do that. Hopefully we see more improvement as we continue to play here in season 83.
Herby- We have seen this as a Quarterback first league so it is interesting that the younger guys just can't keep up with the veterans stat wise. Only two rookie or 2nd year quarterbacks are in the top 10 of TD thrown this season as we near the halfway mark. Do you think the efficiency of the young guys are hindered by coaching, the development, or the overall of the team so far?
Coach- I would completely say that efficiency of a QB in this league is either hindered or aided by the coaching staff and how they inject their philosophy upon the offense. At the time of this writing, I believe Sam ranked 9th in TD throws, but we really need to have him stop throwing interceptions. Sam has weapons he can utilitize out there in McLaurin, Dotson, Samuel, Robinson, and Gibson. Sam is 22 years young and if he can be a game manager for the first couple years by limiting mistakes, getting the ball to his playmakers in open space, then I think he has a real chance to continually improve and then truly be an impact player on this team.
Herby- We have seen how coordinators make such an impact on total offense and the system in which younger quarterbacks struggle or flourish. Do you see any changes coming in the way you handle your young QB in development the rest of the season or next year? New offense possibly, or having the coordinator focus on bettering his own tree to help develop others better?
Coach- We don't anticipate any changes at this time as we really like the core guys we have here on offense. I think we'll continue to be a run first team and really start forcing teams to bring up their safeties and stack the box which will hopefully provide further opportunity for Sam to flourish. While this team may not look exactly the same on paper next season due to the CBA and 3+1 guidelines, we won't be shy to bring in any offensive talent that will make this team better.
Herby- Any advice you believe should be shared from one coach to another for those who will be drafting, signing, or trading for a young QB?
Coach- There is a lot of pressure that comes having the first overall pick in this league. If you're thinking about drafting a QB very early in the RZ Draft, you have to be honest with yourself and your playstyle. If you truly think drafting a QB with the talent and upside will alone win you games, then take that chance on the young man. If you think the results would be just about the same as if you had a savy veteran QB on your team, then I'd think really hard about trading that high draft pick to recoup a plethora of picks that could really rebuild and strengthen your team, and draft a QB the following year or go with a solid veteran.
I speak on this issue out of experience when in a previous cycle their was massive hype about QB Kamryn Killings and he was clearly going to be the 1st overall pick and I traded away that pick for a massive haul of picks over three drafts (three 1st rd. picks, two 2nd rd. picks, and one 3rd rd. pick). I was honest with myself and just knew I wouldn't be able to utilize Killings to his full capacity, and while that makes me sad, the truth hurts sometimes.
Talking to Coach Bitz is one of the more enjoyable things an analyst can do. The dad of the league is very informative and encouraging at the same time. He has taken this Commanders team and turned them into a force within the NFC and can make waves with his style of play. Howell has definitely helped get them to this point with his legs and arm. I am excited to continue to watch this team develop under Coach this cycle. I will have to come back and have another drink with him when the season is over to see how he thinks things went. Thank you for joining us as we went through some of the coaches in the league and talked about their Qbs. Up next is part two of “In the Pocket '' as we dive into the rookies I spotlighted at the beginning of the season and see how they are faring against the league.