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June 9, 2007 - 6:21PM
Q&A with new offensive coordinator Jeff Davidson
By Steve Reed
CHARLOTTE — With one minicamp in the books and another soon to be wrapping up, new Carolina Panthers offensive coordinator Jeff Davidson has now had time to evaluate the weapons at his disposal and to install a good portion of his offensive scheme. This past week I sat down with Davidson for a one-on-one interview and discussed how the team’s offense is progressing as training camp approaches.
Here’s what he had to say:
Q. Now that you’ve been through a couple of weeks of minicamp, what are your thoughts on the offense?
Davidson: “I’m happy with the way things are going. We’re still in the process of evaluating the plays. We’re running some plays out here that we won’t run on Sundays. So it’s one of those things where we are evaluating our system still, while in turn evaluating the players. And it’s coming along pretty well. I’m happy we have this time to work with and we’re moving in the right direction.”
Q. How hard is it meshing the plays you want to install with the skills of the players you have?
Davidson: “It’s hard now because most of the time you’re trying to simplify the formations and that type of thing and force a lot of guys into those positions. And then you see what they are capable of doing. Down the road you try to game plan to get them in the right places. It’s not that hard. The real hard part comes later on when you try to figure out how to get them in the right positions. Now it’s about evaluating the plays and evaluating the players in a lot of situations.”
Q. One of the changes you’ve installed is with the zone blocking scheme. How is that going in — faster or slower than you thought?
Davidson: “I wouldn’t say it’s slower than I thought because going in you know there is going to be some growing pains. Every day there is something that comes up that it’s like, ‘Hey, this is another aspect that we haven’t gotten a chance to talk about.’ But that’s why we practice.”
Q. In layman’s terms, the zone blocking — how much different is it than what some of these offensive lineman have done throughout their career?
Davidson: “I don’t know that. I don’t know what everybody’s history and background is before here. But from watching the things they’ve done here before, everything is a scheme. Don’t get me wrong, zone is a scheme, but it simplifies the scheme to some degree. There are a lot of rules that we have to work through and make sure everybody is on the same page with. That’s the biggest thing. As long as the guys who are working next to each other are thinking the same thing we’ll be great. If we’ve got one guy thinking one thing and the other guy thinking something else then we’ve got a problem. That’s the thing they have to grow into the fastest.”
Q. You said you wanted to get the tight end more involved in the offense. In Cleveland you had a big-time tight end in Kellen Winslow. The tight ends you have here haven’t caught a lot of balls. Do you still plan for tight ends to be very involved in the passing game?
Davidson: “We have a rotation going. We have seen all four guys with the first team and that’s what we wanted to be able to do. We wanted to be able to get a rotation yet. There’s nobody that is our number one yet and it’s an open competition there. We want that. We don’t know who it is going to be on Sundays yet. But yes, I do like throwing to the tight end. It’s part of the offense and I think it should be part of the offense.”
Q. You also talked about screen plays being a big part of the offense this year. Is that still in your plans?
Davidson: “We’ve installed a new screen play every day of practice this year in summer school. So yes, we’re well on our way to where we want to be there.”
Q. And it seems like you have some pieces in there to run it too in DeAngelo Williams and DeShaun Foster, right?
Davidson: “That’s exactly right. That is what I’m looking forward to.”
Q. You’ve been moving guys around on the offensive line quite a bit in practice. When do you hope to settle on a starting five?
Davidson: “As early as possible. I cannot put a date on it. But we want to solidify as quickly as we can who we think our best five are. But we are still in the process of evaluating who those five guys are.”
Q. Steve Smith has blossomed into a star in this league and I know you’ve seen him a bunch on tape, but what are your initial impressions of watching him in person?
Davidson: “Oh, he’s fun to watch. As a coach you love guys that compete every play whether it’s Sunday or on a Wednesday and Steve seems to be that kind of guy. He’s really a joy to coach.”
Q. And your initial impressions of Jake Delhomme, how he’s picking up your offense?
Davidson: “He’s doing a nice job also. He falls into that same category as Steve. There aren’t a lot of guys who aren’t in that category. There are a lot of guys that compete. There are some are exceptional. Those two guys (Delhomme and Smith) are simply exceptional.”
June 9, 2007 - 6:21PM
Q&A with new offensive coordinator Jeff Davidson
By Steve Reed
CHARLOTTE — With one minicamp in the books and another soon to be wrapping up, new Carolina Panthers offensive coordinator Jeff Davidson has now had time to evaluate the weapons at his disposal and to install a good portion of his offensive scheme. This past week I sat down with Davidson for a one-on-one interview and discussed how the team’s offense is progressing as training camp approaches.
Here’s what he had to say:
Q. Now that you’ve been through a couple of weeks of minicamp, what are your thoughts on the offense?
Davidson: “I’m happy with the way things are going. We’re still in the process of evaluating the plays. We’re running some plays out here that we won’t run on Sundays. So it’s one of those things where we are evaluating our system still, while in turn evaluating the players. And it’s coming along pretty well. I’m happy we have this time to work with and we’re moving in the right direction.”
Q. How hard is it meshing the plays you want to install with the skills of the players you have?
Davidson: “It’s hard now because most of the time you’re trying to simplify the formations and that type of thing and force a lot of guys into those positions. And then you see what they are capable of doing. Down the road you try to game plan to get them in the right places. It’s not that hard. The real hard part comes later on when you try to figure out how to get them in the right positions. Now it’s about evaluating the plays and evaluating the players in a lot of situations.”
Q. One of the changes you’ve installed is with the zone blocking scheme. How is that going in — faster or slower than you thought?
Davidson: “I wouldn’t say it’s slower than I thought because going in you know there is going to be some growing pains. Every day there is something that comes up that it’s like, ‘Hey, this is another aspect that we haven’t gotten a chance to talk about.’ But that’s why we practice.”
Q. In layman’s terms, the zone blocking — how much different is it than what some of these offensive lineman have done throughout their career?
Davidson: “I don’t know that. I don’t know what everybody’s history and background is before here. But from watching the things they’ve done here before, everything is a scheme. Don’t get me wrong, zone is a scheme, but it simplifies the scheme to some degree. There are a lot of rules that we have to work through and make sure everybody is on the same page with. That’s the biggest thing. As long as the guys who are working next to each other are thinking the same thing we’ll be great. If we’ve got one guy thinking one thing and the other guy thinking something else then we’ve got a problem. That’s the thing they have to grow into the fastest.”
Q. You said you wanted to get the tight end more involved in the offense. In Cleveland you had a big-time tight end in Kellen Winslow. The tight ends you have here haven’t caught a lot of balls. Do you still plan for tight ends to be very involved in the passing game?
Davidson: “We have a rotation going. We have seen all four guys with the first team and that’s what we wanted to be able to do. We wanted to be able to get a rotation yet. There’s nobody that is our number one yet and it’s an open competition there. We want that. We don’t know who it is going to be on Sundays yet. But yes, I do like throwing to the tight end. It’s part of the offense and I think it should be part of the offense.”
Q. You also talked about screen plays being a big part of the offense this year. Is that still in your plans?
Davidson: “We’ve installed a new screen play every day of practice this year in summer school. So yes, we’re well on our way to where we want to be there.”
Q. And it seems like you have some pieces in there to run it too in DeAngelo Williams and DeShaun Foster, right?
Davidson: “That’s exactly right. That is what I’m looking forward to.”
Q. You’ve been moving guys around on the offensive line quite a bit in practice. When do you hope to settle on a starting five?
Davidson: “As early as possible. I cannot put a date on it. But we want to solidify as quickly as we can who we think our best five are. But we are still in the process of evaluating who those five guys are.”
Q. Steve Smith has blossomed into a star in this league and I know you’ve seen him a bunch on tape, but what are your initial impressions of watching him in person?
Davidson: “Oh, he’s fun to watch. As a coach you love guys that compete every play whether it’s Sunday or on a Wednesday and Steve seems to be that kind of guy. He’s really a joy to coach.”
Q. And your initial impressions of Jake Delhomme, how he’s picking up your offense?
Davidson: “He’s doing a nice job also. He falls into that same category as Steve. There aren’t a lot of guys who aren’t in that category. There are a lot of guys that compete. There are some are exceptional. Those two guys (Delhomme and Smith) are simply exceptional.”
