Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, Welcome to another edition of the Dave Pash Podcast.
Speaker 1: I'm your host, Dave Pash, ESPN and Arizona Cardinals announcer.
Speaker 1: The preseason is upon us. Finally we get to see
Speaker 1: a game the Cardinals and Bengals this Friday night. And
Speaker 1: we talked this week with one of the coaches for
Speaker 1: the Arizona Cardinals, Jeff Rogers. Jeff's in his fifth year
Speaker 1: on the staff. He is the special team's coach, but
Speaker 1: he's also the assistant head coach. He's in his fourth
Speaker 1: year with that title. He was here in twenty eighteen
Speaker 1: with Steve Wilkes, retained by Cliff Kingsbury and his staff,
Speaker 1: and Jeff, who has been in the NFL for fifteen years,
Speaker 1: has become a very valuable voice on game day during
Speaker 1: the week in training camp when it comes to shaping
Speaker 1: the roster. And it will be great to catch up
Speaker 1: with Jeff and talk about his game day responsibilities as
Speaker 1: well as what goes in of being a great special
Speaker 1: teams player. Who've been some of the special teams fines,
Speaker 1: what's it like to deal with kickers, and who are
Speaker 1: some of the young guys that he's got his I
Speaker 1: on going into preseason game number one. There's some guys
Speaker 1: that are undrafted right now are we're undrafted in the spring,
Speaker 1: who I think have a chance, but I'm anxious to
Speaker 1: see them against NFL competition and see what happens. We
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Speaker 1: eight hundred. Next step all right, time now for our
Speaker 1: conversation with assistant head coach and coordinator of Special Teams
Speaker 1: Jeff Rogers. So, Jeff, you're not just a special teams coach.
Speaker 1: This is your fourth year as the assistant head coach.
Speaker 1: So for people out there that maybe know what a
Speaker 1: special teams coach does, but they hear that assistant head
Speaker 1: coach title a lot of times and they maybe don't
Speaker 1: know all that goes into that. Tell the listeners kind
Speaker 1: of what your responsibilities are on game day besides special teams. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean the first thing I say is, you know,
Speaker 1: everybody with that title, I'm not sure exactly what they do.
Speaker 1: I know what I do, but I would I'm not
Speaker 1: saying that what I'm about to say applies to everybody's
Speaker 1: second tit or whatever. But you know, some of the
Speaker 1: things that I'm involved with is primarily the game management stuff.
Speaker 1: When to call a time out, should we clock the ball?
Speaker 1: You know, there's a lot of discussions that go through
Speaker 1: in you know, go throughout the week and we talk
Speaker 1: about field position wise, we want to be aggressive in
Speaker 1: this situation, go forum four down, want to be aggressive
Speaker 1: in the red area. So a lot of those decisions
Speaker 1: are discussed throughout the week, but as it unfolds on
Speaker 1: game day, you never know, are you're gonna have two timeouts,
Speaker 1: three timeouts? Defensively, maybe we're we're we're down and we
Speaker 1: got to be you know, banging timeouts and just lending
Speaker 1: an extra voice to Cliff so he can really crystallize
Speaker 1: those decisions. So are you standing next to Cliff if
Speaker 1: it's two minutes to go in the first half. Are
Speaker 1: you standing next to Cliff? Is it just on headset
Speaker 1: where you're saying, hey, let's think here about Hey, you
Speaker 1: got two timeouts left. Here's a you know, time and score, clock, situation,
Speaker 1: down and distance, all that stuff you might want to
Speaker 1: think about using a time out here. How does that
Speaker 1: kind of play out? Right? I mean, i'd say both
Speaker 1: and both connected via the headset and uh, staying next
Speaker 1: to him obviously if there's a break in the action.
Speaker 1: You know, I just always feel like he's got to
Speaker 1: call the game, he's got to make sure he's in
Speaker 1: the right play personnel group, whatever. I'm kind of waiting
Speaker 1: for him to do those things. And if there's a
Speaker 1: reminder of maybe something we talked about throughout the week
Speaker 1: or you know, what we're likely to do after this
Speaker 1: particular play, it's just putting that voice in his ear
Speaker 1: so he can make the most educated decision. So for you, Jeff,
Speaker 1: when did You're not because I've had other people tell
Speaker 1: me no one knows the rules like Jeff Rogers, Like
Speaker 1: when did you embrace going beyond coaching special teams in
Speaker 1: terms of just understanding everything about the game, the rules,
Speaker 1: the time out, situation, replay, all that stuff. It was
Speaker 1: that something that you've always done or is that recent.
Speaker 1: I've always been interested in those kinds of things. I've
Speaker 1: been around football my entire life. My dad coached, and
Speaker 1: you kind of start thinking like a coach at an
Speaker 1: early age because you're hearing after the game what he
Speaker 1: might have thought of different situations. The rules are different
Speaker 1: from college of the NFL, and I thought it was
Speaker 1: important for me to understand when I first got in
Speaker 1: the league what the differences were. As time goes on,
Speaker 1: you kind of get to know the everyday things, what
Speaker 1: you can and cannot do, what they're gonna call flag wise,
Speaker 1: and it kind of started involve evolving into the clock things,
Speaker 1: into the time out things, and really when it's probably
Speaker 1: when I got to Denver in twenty eleven, about ten
Speaker 1: eleven years ago where that I started. I was with
Speaker 1: coach Fox at the time, John Fox, and at that
Speaker 1: time I kind of started to be involved in those
Speaker 1: kinds of that line of thinking. And when Peyton Manning
Speaker 1: signed with US in twenty twelve, hearing his thoughts on
Speaker 1: different things, and I just really got interested in it
Speaker 1: and have stayed that way. And then the Cleveland game
Speaker 1: last year. Cliff isn't there obviously because of COVID, So
Speaker 1: your role changes. What was that game like and what
Speaker 1: were your responsibilities in that game that would be additional
Speaker 1: to what it would be in a normal Sunday. Yeah. So,
Speaker 1: I mean basically, you know, in that game, that whole
Speaker 1: situation was a little bit unique. You know, we found
Speaker 1: out on Friday evening. It was kind of at the
Speaker 1: end of the day and uh found out what the
Speaker 1: situation was, and when they said they wanted me to
Speaker 1: handle the game, the game management part of it. Direct responsibilities.
Speaker 1: Now I instead of being the guy who says, hey,
Speaker 1: we may think about calling a time out, like that's
Speaker 1: that's my decision at that point, or go for it
Speaker 1: on fourth down. Those are my decisions. But you know,
Speaker 1: I alluded to it earlier. We talk about the stuff
Speaker 1: starting Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and as things unfold, we kind
Speaker 1: of have the plan. So in that particular game, I
Speaker 1: really just tried to call it as Cliff and I
Speaker 1: had talked about things, how we had talked about going
Speaker 1: into the game what we wanted to do, and it
Speaker 1: was basically like wearing the wristband on you you know,
Speaker 1: on your hand, what would Cliff do here? You know,
Speaker 1: and and try it, because those are the things if
Speaker 1: he's the head coach and he's the one that makes
Speaker 1: those decisions, those decisions seem to be reflective of what
Speaker 1: he would do. Of all the great wins last year,
Speaker 1: that was my favorite that game because Cleveland was a
Speaker 1: pretty good team and obviously with Cliff out, and there
Speaker 1: were others that weren't there because of COVID. You know,
Speaker 1: for most of us that maybe aren't as connected to
Speaker 1: what's going on inside the locker room and inside the
Speaker 1: meeting rooms every day. It felt like the operation didn't
Speaker 1: skip a beat. That was an impressive game for you
Speaker 1: and Vance Spencer Whipple just to kind of step in.
Speaker 1: At least from our standpoint, it seemed like you guys
Speaker 1: were stepping in. But listening to you talk here, it
Speaker 1: doesn't sound like that was a case. Sounds like this
Speaker 1: was part of the planning that goes into a game. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you just you kind of just follow the plans, stick
Speaker 1: to stick to what we had talked about. You know
Speaker 1: that it was one of those situations because even game
Speaker 1: day morning, there's still guys testing positive and being pulled
Speaker 1: from it. So you had really no idea until the
Speaker 1: ball was kicked off. Okay, this is who we got,
Speaker 1: this is the plan. We just need to go execute it.
Speaker 1: And I think everybody just put goes aside and whatever
Speaker 1: your responsibility is, whatever it had been, whatever it's about
Speaker 1: to do now, um what whatever, you know, our responsibilities
Speaker 1: are now, whether increased, decreased, or changed completely. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: it was just about execution. We talked to our players
Speaker 1: about that stuff all the time, so as coaches obviously
Speaker 1: that was uh something that that was important to us.
Speaker 1: The game day stuff I felt like, went, well, um,
Speaker 1: you know there was there there's also guys in the
Speaker 1: box who are helping us out with situational stuff and
Speaker 1: field position and um. But yeah, everybody just kind of
Speaker 1: pitched in and said, let's go do this. Your other
Speaker 1: job being in charge of special teams this time of year,
Speaker 1: everybody wants to talk to you because everybody knows, especially
Speaker 1: for a team that's coming off making the playoffs, that
Speaker 1: you know a lot of guys at the back end
Speaker 1: of the roster, whether they make the final fifty three
Speaker 1: is coming, you know, comes down to whether they can
Speaker 1: play special teams or not. How involved you is it daily,
Speaker 1: is it weekly? Is it towards the end when you
Speaker 1: got to start making cuts that you're having convert stations
Speaker 1: with Cliff or with Steve Kim and others in the
Speaker 1: personnel department about, hey, this is somebody we really need
Speaker 1: to think about because they can be very valuable to
Speaker 1: us on special teams. Yeah. I would say starting from
Speaker 1: when the when the smoke clears with the draft, free
Speaker 1: agency is already over, you kind of have the bulk
Speaker 1: of your team. Uh, there's still maybe one or two
Speaker 1: signings that happen in the summer or whatever, you have
Speaker 1: the bulk of your team. So it's it's it's a
Speaker 1: constant evaluation. They're constant communication. I talk about roster stuff
Speaker 1: every day with somebody. I try to talk to the
Speaker 1: position coach, try and talk to the coordinators because it's
Speaker 1: not just going to come down to the kicking game,
Speaker 1: but you know, the guys that are going to be
Speaker 1: up on game day, what's their role? And at this
Speaker 1: point in training camp it's probably too early. You never
Speaker 1: know who's going to get hurt. You never know what
Speaker 1: situation make him up. Another player you know, may trade
Speaker 1: for a guy, you know, something like that. So you're
Speaker 1: you're kind of trying to figure this out and and
Speaker 1: you let a play out. After to the second preseason game,
Speaker 1: it kind of starts to come and focus, and going
Speaker 1: to that third preseason game, you usually know these are
Speaker 1: the position battles, okay, And when you're the special team's coach,
Speaker 1: you have to have a broad perspective because you know, hey,
Speaker 1: are we going to keep three running backs or four
Speaker 1: running backs or five running backs? Well, if you keep
Speaker 1: five running backs, that numbers coming from somewhere. So are
Speaker 1: we taking one less safety? Are we taking one less
Speaker 1: d lineman? And it may not just be on that
Speaker 1: side of the ball. And then injuries are always going
Speaker 1: to play into it. So it's really early right now,
Speaker 1: but as time goes on, we'll continue to have those conversations.
Speaker 1: We have weekly meetings with everybody, with coaches, with personnel
Speaker 1: and kind of talk through things so everybody can kind
Speaker 1: of get on the same page at least with what
Speaker 1: the evaluations are. And when we get towards the end
Speaker 1: of camp, it's all right, we know about this guy,
Speaker 1: probably not rep him as much. These are the two
Speaker 1: guys we need to see. Let's feed him and play
Speaker 1: him a bunch and see what happens. You have anybody,
Speaker 1: I'm sure you do. I don't know off the top
Speaker 1: of your head that you can think of of a
Speaker 1: guy that, like you fought for at some point in
Speaker 1: your career that turned out to be like a home run.
Speaker 1: You fought for this guy, he ended up making the
Speaker 1: roster and turned out to be a great special teams
Speaker 1: player or a great player period in your career. Because
Speaker 1: you've had, you know, several stops bears. You mentioned Denver, Carolina,
Speaker 1: San Francisco, and then now here in Arizona. Yeah, there's
Speaker 1: really two that stand out, most recently in twenty eighteen.
Speaker 1: Zeke Turner. You know that that was a guy we
Speaker 1: felt strongly could really make an impact on our team.
Speaker 1: I watched a lot of his college tape before the draft,
Speaker 1: knew what kind of player he could be, and you know,
Speaker 1: it was a decision at the at the end where
Speaker 1: whether he was going to make the team or not.
Speaker 1: And um, you know, I'm not the only person that
Speaker 1: like Zeke. I don't want to, you know, say I'm
Speaker 1: solely responsible for that, but he was a guy that
Speaker 1: we definitely fought for and has played. Now he's in
Speaker 1: a second contract, so that worked out. And then probably
Speaker 1: the one that stands out the most, it was Chris Harris,
Speaker 1: who was a corner in Denver and we played here
Speaker 1: in the preseason. You know, when we played Arizona in
Speaker 1: the preseason. I think he made three tackles in that game.
Speaker 1: He was our leading tackler in the preseason. And that
Speaker 1: was a decision that got made, you know, at the cutdown,
Speaker 1: and there was a long I won't get into discussion,
Speaker 1: but it was a lengthy discussion between him and another player,
Speaker 1: and thankfully we're able to keep him. Played really well
Speaker 1: for us in the kicking game, and about week five
Speaker 1: he started starting on defense and he's had a really
Speaker 1: good career. Another well, a couple of guys that are
Speaker 1: current specialists for the team you've had a relationship with
Speaker 1: for a long time, Matt Prater and Andy Lee. When
Speaker 1: Andy Lee was in San Francisco, My goodness, Wolf and
Speaker 1: I would be doing the game, we'd be like during
Speaker 1: a commercial, like, man, I can't stand Andy Lee because
Speaker 1: you guys killed us, Like every punch was perfect. When
Speaker 1: we would play you guys when you're in San Francisco,
Speaker 1: every single time he would pin us inside the ten
Speaker 1: yard line. He's been a great bunner for a long time.
Speaker 1: And then Matt Prater, who are you with in Denver? Right? Yes?
Speaker 1: And first of all, what's how do you as a
Speaker 1: special team's coach handle a kicker, Because obviously everybody says
Speaker 1: they're different. We see that we've had a lot of
Speaker 1: different personalities come through here and a lot of times
Speaker 1: we watch on the sideline and nobody's talking to him.
Speaker 1: How do you handle those conversations or do you not
Speaker 1: have conversations with kickers during games? Yeah, I honestly I
Speaker 1: try not to. And even you know, as guys are,
Speaker 1: when a guy's an established, a veteran, there are certain
Speaker 1: parameters that I believe in common denominators in which you know,
Speaker 1: whether it's timing or you know, performance or whatever like
Speaker 1: I have kind of it really needs to be within
Speaker 1: these things. But if they've made it to this level,
Speaker 1: they've had success. I'm not going to try and change them.
Speaker 1: There's things that we've talked about guys after seasons. This
Speaker 1: is something you may want to think about it, but
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, that's their job and
Speaker 1: that's their career. And I think sometimes as a coach.
Speaker 1: We can get in our own way and try and
Speaker 1: change a player to something he's not comfortable doing, and
Speaker 1: his performance going to suffer from that as well. So
Speaker 1: I you know, with the kickers and the punters, and
Speaker 1: you learn, you learn over time. You know, you work
Speaker 1: with different guys and some things work, some things don't,
Speaker 1: and how to you know, manage that room and you
Speaker 1: know kind of how they fit in with the team
Speaker 1: and stuff. You know, those things are all changing, and
Speaker 1: all those guys are different, and I don't mean like
Speaker 1: different in a bad way. They're just different personalities. You're human,
Speaker 1: So you're trying to develop a relationship so that you
Speaker 1: can beyond, you know, the same good ground when stuff
Speaker 1: does come up. But I try to, you know, as
Speaker 1: much as I can, let them do their thing. So
Speaker 1: when it comes down, because Matt last year, I had
Speaker 1: a great year and obviously was successful from fifty and
Speaker 1: beyond sixty and beyond. Do you have going into the
Speaker 1: game based on whether it's a home game or on
Speaker 1: the road, and good weather on the road and bad
Speaker 1: weather kind of in your mind, Okay, this is where
Speaker 1: I'm gonna push for Cliff Hey, we need to kick
Speaker 1: it here or does it also depend on how the
Speaker 1: game's going. Yeah, I'd say both. I mean, we're not
Speaker 1: going to ever put Matt on the field where we
Speaker 1: feel like it's out of his range, like, hey, he
Speaker 1: probably can get it there, Like, that's not that's not
Speaker 1: fair to Matt, that's not fair to our team. So
Speaker 1: I've got I mean, i've been I've known Matt for
Speaker 1: eleven years and uh kick for us in Denver and
Speaker 1: obviously joining the team here, I kind of got an
Speaker 1: idea of what a skill set is and in pregame,
Speaker 1: you know you're gonna kind of gauge those things. It
Speaker 1: doesn't change all that much, all things equal. Now you
Speaker 1: go to Denver, sure altitude maybe three three to five yards.
Speaker 1: We're going to Mexico City this year. Okay, that's like
Speaker 1: twice as high as Denver. So I was involved in
Speaker 1: the O five game there and probably the highlight of
Speaker 1: pregame warm up. The place was going absolutely nuts. I
Speaker 1: have no idea what's going on. And I turn around
Speaker 1: and it's Joe Nedney kicking seventy five yard kicks and
Speaker 1: I think it was Neil Rackers here at the time
Speaker 1: doing the same thing the other way, and they're loving it,
Speaker 1: right because it's soccer's kind of kind of their deal,
Speaker 1: at least was at that time. But those are the
Speaker 1: things that can influence. Obviously, if the weather changes, that
Speaker 1: can influence those things as well. And is Matt involved
Speaker 1: in those conversations. Sure, Matt always wants to kick. I
Speaker 1: mean sometimes you got to save him from himself, like
Speaker 1: I know I got this or whatever. It's like, Matt,
Speaker 1: this is an eighty yard kick hill out. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean we talk after pregame warm up and he'll
Speaker 1: kind of tell me, you know, what is our normal
Speaker 1: parameters and then what is the end of half, end
Speaker 1: of game? Like, feel like it's going to take a
Speaker 1: really good kick, but I feel like I can get
Speaker 1: it there from whatever wherever it is, Jeff. There have
Speaker 1: been a lot of successful head coaches in college football
Speaker 1: and in the NFL who have a background coaching special
Speaker 1: teams at some point. I think a Frank Beamer at
Speaker 1: Virginia Tech Beamer Ball. I know Urban Meyer when he
Speaker 1: was at Ohio State in Florida. Even though he's the
Speaker 1: head coach, he was heavily involved in special teams. For
Speaker 1: a lot of those guys, that was their background Nick Saban,
Speaker 1: I think mostly defense. He might have been at some
Speaker 1: point involved in special teams. John Harbos had a great
Speaker 1: run in Baltimore and he was a special teams coach
Speaker 1: before he got that job. So it is being a
Speaker 1: head coach something that interests you? And do you think
Speaker 1: that special teams coaches will continue to get opportunities to
Speaker 1: become head coaches? Yeah? I hope they do. And yeah,
Speaker 1: it's something that interests me. But it's always you know,
Speaker 1: be the best at the job that you got. And
Speaker 1: you go back to light. I go back to the
Speaker 1: question you asked me earlier, like what goes into the
Speaker 1: clock management, the game management, things like that. If you're
Speaker 1: if you have aspirations to do those things, it's probably
Speaker 1: your best interest not to wait till you have that
Speaker 1: job before you acquire that knowledge. I think there's plenty
Speaker 1: of guys whom the roster management, game management thing, those
Speaker 1: are things that that guys struggle with in their first
Speaker 1: time in that chair at the NFL level, and it's
Speaker 1: just because that's not something they've been involved in if
Speaker 1: they were a defensive coordinator an offensive coordinator, and eventually
Speaker 1: guys get it right. I mean, it's not like it's
Speaker 1: impossible to learn. You don't have to study that stuff
Speaker 1: for ten years to be good at it. But um,
Speaker 1: you know, if you're gonna be hired for that job,
Speaker 1: you know, you hope that that you got you have
Speaker 1: that skill set and you can manage the game accordingly.
Speaker 1: You mentioned earlier that your dad was a coach, and
Speaker 1: you have two brothers, and one of them is coaching
Speaker 1: with the Chargers. Yep, he's a D line coach there.
Speaker 1: And then your other brother is not coaching. The other
Speaker 1: brother is not coaching. The other brother is in real
Speaker 1: estate in Austin, Texas, having a great time, plays a
Speaker 1: lot of golf. But he does have a claim to fame.
Speaker 1: He does, he does. You know, I've told the story
Speaker 1: a few times. My older brother was our quarterback in
Speaker 1: high school. I went to Weston High School in Austin.
Speaker 1: We've had some good players there, and my older brother
Speaker 1: was a starter as a senior. Little brothers the JV quarterback.
Speaker 1: He's the heir apparent. He blew his knee out in
Speaker 1: the preseason of a sophomore year, and his backup came
Speaker 1: in and his backup was named Drew Brees, and Johnny
Speaker 1: never saw the field again at quarterback until Drew got hurt.
Speaker 1: Later on, Johnny end up going to defense. But uh,
Speaker 1: and had a good senior year. They won the state championships,
Speaker 1: so he's got that on me. I never won one,
Speaker 1: but uh yeah, that's the kind of the story that
Speaker 1: comes up when it when it comes to Drew and Johnny.
Speaker 1: Do you guys still talk to Drew? Yeah, if I
Speaker 1: saw him in pregame warm up, you know, we would talk.
Speaker 1: And Drew's a great person. And you know, people asked me,
Speaker 1: did you know in high school he was going to
Speaker 1: be a Hall of Famer? No, who knows that, right, Um,
Speaker 1: But Drew was really competitive and he's a good person.
Speaker 1: He's got a good heart, worked hard. But yeah, my
Speaker 1: younger brother, Johnny, still keeps in contact with him. He
Speaker 1: would go to games. We played the Saints a couple
Speaker 1: of years ago and they were down on the field
Speaker 1: before the game and I had to ask Johnny, let
Speaker 1: me see that hat that you got tucked by in
Speaker 1: your back, and sure enough it was the Saints hat.
Speaker 1: So he's rooting for the other side. But you know,
Speaker 1: stuff happens before I got this job. In two thousand
Speaker 1: and two, I did one year a preseason for the
Speaker 1: Buffalo Bills. I was doing Syracuse their radio football and basketball.
Speaker 1: I went to school there and then went back and
Speaker 1: John Butler was the GM in Buffalo and gave me
Speaker 1: a chance to get into the NFL the late grade.
Speaker 1: John Butler, and I'll never forget the trade that he
Speaker 1: pulled off, trading out of the number one pick, which
Speaker 1: would have been Michael Vick and instead ending with Ladanian,
Speaker 1: Tomlinson and Drew Brees. Sure, and a lot of people
Speaker 1: said Drew Brees too short, small, doesn't have big enough arm,
Speaker 1: not gonna make it in the NFL, and then you
Speaker 1: look at what an incredible career drad. I wouldn't be shocked.
Speaker 1: I know that he did the broadcast thing last year
Speaker 1: and he's not this year. Wouldn't be shocked if he
Speaker 1: tried to come back. I mean, Tom Brady's just turned
Speaker 1: forty five, still going strong. I don't know. I haven't
Speaker 1: had those conversations with him. Uh, Drew certainly competitive enough
Speaker 1: to pull it off. He just if he decides to
Speaker 1: do that, I wouldn't bet against him. But you know
Speaker 1: he's got a he's got a family now, and I
Speaker 1: know he loves those kids and loves watching you know,
Speaker 1: didn't run around and time will tell. Time will tell
Speaker 1: on that one. He used to He started out obviously
Speaker 1: with the Chargers. The Cardinals play the Chargers, So that
Speaker 1: will be the Rogers Bowl with your Saturday after the
Speaker 1: Sunday after Thanksgiving with your brother Jay. So will you
Speaker 1: guys talk that week or do you not talk when
Speaker 1: you play against each other? Yeah? I mean Jay and
Speaker 1: I don't talk on a daily or weekly basis. We
Speaker 1: keep in contact and we talked, you know, every so often.
Speaker 1: I would doubt that we'll talk that week until pregame
Speaker 1: warm up or maybe the day before. This will be
Speaker 1: the the the third time competing against each other as coaches,
Speaker 1: the fourth time in our lives that we've been on
Speaker 1: opposing sidelines. So I was at Kansas State, he was
Speaker 1: at I was stayed in two thousand and eight. We won.
Speaker 1: He was with the Bears in twenty eight team when
Speaker 1: they came here, they won. So we're one and one.
Speaker 1: This would be the rubber match. But when when I
Speaker 1: was seven and Jay was eight, we were on different
Speaker 1: T ball All Star Game All Star teams and my
Speaker 1: team beat his. So I still think I'm up two
Speaker 1: to one. So he was with the Bears the year
Speaker 1: after you left the Bears. Yeah, so we worked together.
Speaker 1: He was in Denver for two years and then when
Speaker 1: Fox he got hired in Denver, he kept Jay on,
Speaker 1: so we were together for six years. Then we all
Speaker 1: we all went to Chicago. So I left after three years.
Speaker 1: Jay stayed on for three years and then he went
Speaker 1: to the Charger last year. So obviously your your dad,
Speaker 1: you talked talked about and John Fox. You mentioned a
Speaker 1: couple of times. What kind of impact did coach Fox
Speaker 1: have on you? And who are some of the other
Speaker 1: coaches that you've worked with and worked for over the
Speaker 1: years that have influenced you. Yeah, a lot of guys. Um,
Speaker 1: you know my chronologically, Um, you know there's stuff that
Speaker 1: I still remember. A guy named Mike Hale who was
Speaker 1: the coach at LVO the Eagles when I was seven
Speaker 1: years old. You know, you remember some of those things.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't say that that's you know, influential, Or Melvin
Speaker 1: Jordan and Champagne Illinois who coaches for for a few years. Um,
Speaker 1: once I got into the ranks, Uh, you know kind
Speaker 1: of started you know coaching myself. Uh, John mcvic had
Speaker 1: an impact on me. Um, you know, organizationally and and
Speaker 1: detail wise. That was good for me. Larry McDuff is
Speaker 1: the guy worked with in Arizona, brought me in the
Speaker 1: league in San fran Uh. There's nobody who's ever been
Speaker 1: better that I've observed in terms of being detailed off
Speaker 1: the field presentation wise. I had a chance to work
Speaker 1: with Al Everst for one year and to this day,
Speaker 1: Al is the guy who influences more of my on
Speaker 1: field coaching drills things like that, you know, with the
Speaker 1: head coach stuff. Foxy probably influenced me as much as
Speaker 1: anybody had, but you know, I worked for him for
Speaker 1: for nine years, and cliffordminds me a lot of him
Speaker 1: because both those guys are really really good at personal relationships.
Speaker 1: They both of them have a knack for connecting with guys,
Speaker 1: getting the best out of guys, having good enough relationship
Speaker 1: where the players can tell them, hey, coach, this is
Speaker 1: something we may want to think about doing differently, you know,
Speaker 1: and hearing those guys out, and you know, I would
Speaker 1: say those two guys probably as much as anybody have
Speaker 1: influenced me, and it's just different ways to do things.
Speaker 1: As an assistant. I was fortunate to work with three ordinators.
Speaker 1: This is I don't know my six or seventh head
Speaker 1: coach that I've worked for. And you pull things from everybody.
Speaker 1: You see how things are done. If you disagree with it,
Speaker 1: you're like, man, I'm glad I at least saw that,
Speaker 1: because that didn't work at all, and so I want
Speaker 1: to try and avoid that, you know, in the future.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean all those guys. And then obviously
Speaker 1: my dad's influenced me a heck of a lot, especially
Speaker 1: growing up. How much does Ron Wolfley talk your ear
Speaker 1: off about special teams? Do you have to listen to him? Oh, Jeff,
Speaker 1: when I did it for Pro Bowls? Do you have
Speaker 1: to sit there and listen to him talk about how
Speaker 1: special teams should be played and coached? You just tune
Speaker 1: him out like I do now. I don't tune him
Speaker 1: out Wolfs. He's told me some really good stories. And
Speaker 1: you know the obviously wolf didn't stop playing last year, right, Like,
Speaker 1: so anything that he's talking about something I don't think
Speaker 1: forty years ago, but you know, it's been been a
Speaker 1: few years. But um, you know, I think when you
Speaker 1: hear guys talk about stuff, twenty thirty years later, they're
Speaker 1: really impactful and impacted them. So, you know some of
Speaker 1: the things that and he's told me about some of
Speaker 1: the guys that have coached him, and you know, you
Speaker 1: just realize that the guys that you're coaching, especially if
Speaker 1: if they're here for a couple of years or whatever,
Speaker 1: you know, the things that you can do or say
Speaker 1: or helped them with that might really make an impact
Speaker 1: on them. For this team, Who were some of the
Speaker 1: young guys as we get started with the preseason against Cincinnati,
Speaker 1: Who are some of the guys that you really have
Speaker 1: an eye on and want to see how they do
Speaker 1: in these games? Yeah, I mean, I think you start
Speaker 1: with the draft picks and kind of work from there
Speaker 1: because it really there's so much that it's going to
Speaker 1: be influence on the roster based on how those young
Speaker 1: players develop. And you know, obviously when we're evaluating gays
Speaker 1: for the draft, you know, you're doing your homework on
Speaker 1: those players and you see them play in a variety
Speaker 1: of different ways and try and project their skill sets.
Speaker 1: But unless you're coaching a guy and you've been with
Speaker 1: him in the building, like, it's really tough to know
Speaker 1: personalities learning style, you know, toughness. Our scouts try to
Speaker 1: find out all the information. They do a heck of
Speaker 1: a job, but at the end of the day, you
Speaker 1: got to connect with that guy one on one. So
Speaker 1: not only how they're doing for me, but are they
Speaker 1: doing so well on offense or defense that there's a
Speaker 1: different player whose role may change and how do they
Speaker 1: fit in those things. So I'd say the non offensive
Speaker 1: lineman draft drafted players that we took, and there's some
Speaker 1: guys that are undrafted right now. Are we're undrafted in
Speaker 1: the spring who I think have a chance, But I'm
Speaker 1: anxious to see them against NFL competition and see what happens.
Speaker 1: What about the return position kick returner, because obviously it's
Speaker 1: changed now it's I assume still important, but it's not
Speaker 1: as significant as it was fifteen years ago because of
Speaker 1: the way the rules have changed. Yeah, it's a tough
Speaker 1: one because you know, I guess I go back to
Speaker 1: my four years in Denver and there's always that conversation
Speaker 1: that comes up, like we're playing at home, every ball
Speaker 1: is going to be a touchback. Why are we even
Speaker 1: working on this right now? And we could be working
Speaker 1: on something else well, with a minute left to go
Speaker 1: in the game. If there's a fifteen yard flag and
Speaker 1: they're kicking off in the twenty that ball's landing and played,
Speaker 1: it's probably going to be to our you know, to
Speaker 1: our advantage to have worked on something in that situation.
Speaker 1: They are more infrequent in terms of the returns and
Speaker 1: what they used to be. But when the ball lands
Speaker 1: in play, you've got to be productive. And you know,
Speaker 1: we're still working through who that guy is going to be,
Speaker 1: and some of it's gonna shake out. Most of the
Speaker 1: guys who are working back. There are offensive players, running
Speaker 1: backs and wide receivers, and you know, a year ago,
Speaker 1: Rondale's role on offense wasn't what it probably will be
Speaker 1: this year. You know, if he's playing, say thirty to
Speaker 1: fifty snapped some games, he was you know a little
Speaker 1: over fifty percent as much as you know, eighty ninety percent.
Speaker 1: But he's in a role where he could do both
Speaker 1: return jobs. That's probably not gonna be the case this year,
Speaker 1: especially early on in the season. So we're still working
Speaker 1: through who who's who's going to be the punt returner
Speaker 1: in the kick returner. There's a number of guys that
Speaker 1: may win that job, and hopefully we get some opportunities
Speaker 1: in the preseason, because when it's live, it's different than
Speaker 1: what it is in practice. How about you know Benjaminy
Speaker 1: return kicks last year. His role is probably going to
Speaker 1: increase on offense. So does that mean he's not in
Speaker 1: the mix? No? I think as a guy, if a
Speaker 1: guy's starting on offense or defense, you really got to
Speaker 1: think about that um as a running back, specifically an
Speaker 1: Eno situation. As things stand right now, James has likely
Speaker 1: to be the starter. He's likely to keep the bulk
Speaker 1: of the reps. But there were situations last year where
Speaker 1: it was chasing James and they were splitting time. So
Speaker 1: if Eno works himself into that range, maybe we would
Speaker 1: have to consider that. But you know, it's got a
Speaker 1: really good skill set and he's matured a ton since
Speaker 1: his rookie year, and I'm anxious to see what it
Speaker 1: looks like now because his confidence has grown so much,
Speaker 1: and I think he's embraced that role as an opportunity
Speaker 1: for the guy, for a playmaker to get the ball
Speaker 1: in his hands, and usually guys like to be in
Speaker 1: that position. Last question for me, Jeff, I'm curious. This
Speaker 1: is something probably you know fans don't think about, but
Speaker 1: what's the hardest adjustment You mentioned you want to see
Speaker 1: the young guys and how they do. What's the hardest
Speaker 1: adjustment going from college and most of these guys probably
Speaker 1: don't play a lot of special teams in college to
Speaker 1: now the NFL. What's the hardest thing for them in
Speaker 1: terms of adjustments to learn it? Is it? The mental
Speaker 1: side of it is learning to be okay with being
Speaker 1: a special team's player. Like some guys, you know, maybe
Speaker 1: look down on that in college and now there's maybe
Speaker 1: they don't realize that could be their meal ticket. I
Speaker 1: mean you mentioned his Ekiel Turner where he is. I
Speaker 1: mean Dennis Gardek got into the NFL probably because he
Speaker 1: plays special teams. Now he's an impact player on defense.
Speaker 1: I mean you mentioned some guys earlier that have started
Speaker 1: out as special teams players but then end up starting
Speaker 1: and having great careers. Yeah. Well, in terms of player development,
Speaker 1: I think every organization, if they had to draw it
Speaker 1: up as best they could the first year, they would
Speaker 1: be Now, everybody wants them to be Hall of famers
Speaker 1: right in the rookie year, But the reality is if
Speaker 1: a player can come in and contribute in the kicking
Speaker 1: game and get some burn on offens or defense, and
Speaker 1: their second year they're more of an impactful player on defense,
Speaker 1: and by the third year they're starting right and then
Speaker 1: guys that but there are guys that can carve out
Speaker 1: an entire career doing just the kicking game. But eventually,
Speaker 1: that's the way you wanted to work. You want to
Speaker 1: you know, young players developing players in the kicking game.
Speaker 1: They get better, they get better on their side of
Speaker 1: the ball. They're making the team and making plays on
Speaker 1: offensive defense, and the next group is coming in the
Speaker 1: next wave, and you're just trying to repeat that process,
Speaker 1: and that balances out your cap and stuff. Anytime you're
Speaker 1: not just you know, paying a lot of money for
Speaker 1: guys that maybe have limited roles. I think the biggest
Speaker 1: challenge for guys coming out. I do think that there
Speaker 1: are some guys who have to get over the fact
Speaker 1: that they're not maybe playing eighty plays in a game,
Speaker 1: that they're only going to play twenty to twenty five
Speaker 1: covering kicks. I do think that has an impact. But
Speaker 1: I also think that between the Vets and the head
Speaker 1: coach and me and Devin Fitzsimmons, that they quickly realize
Speaker 1: that this is important, Like you are not going to
Speaker 1: address on game day as a backup unless you're contributing
Speaker 1: to the kicking game. So they understand that, hey, this
Speaker 1: is what I gotta do right now. Hey, if the
Speaker 1: guy in front of me gets hurt. If I'm a
Speaker 1: player and the guy in front of me gets hurt
Speaker 1: and I play outside backer, I can't go in the
Speaker 1: game if I'm inactive, So I've got a better chance
Speaker 1: of having a defensive role obviously if I'm up on
Speaker 1: game day. The biggest challenge for those guys, though, is
Speaker 1: the mental part of things, because it's a job, it's
Speaker 1: full time. They're no longer going to school. I don't
Speaker 1: think the you know, general public knows how much meeting
Speaker 1: time that those guys need to sit through and at
Speaker 1: Sometimes it can be it can be monotonous, and if
Speaker 1: they're not focused, you know, it's tough. And this generation
Speaker 1: of players that are coming out of college, they've been
Speaker 1: in a digital world their whole life. It's been iPad's
Speaker 1: been cell phones, it's you know, texting. You know, everything
Speaker 1: is short and quick, and it's hard to keep their focus.
Speaker 1: More than twenty twenty five minutes and it's just the
Speaker 1: way the world is, sure, so as coaches, we got
Speaker 1: to adopt that are just our coaching style, to adopt
Speaker 1: it to those guys and make sure our message is
Speaker 1: still going through even though we may have to teach
Speaker 1: them in a different way. Listen, Jeff, this has been
Speaker 1: great man. You're obviously a big part of the organization
Speaker 1: and want to get a John, get the fans a
Speaker 1: chance to kind of hear more about your story and
Speaker 1: also how valuable you are to the coaching staff and
Speaker 1: how all of you are not just with special teams
Speaker 1: but on game day and decision making and helping Cliff
Speaker 1: manage the game. And it was great to chat with you.
Speaker 1: Appreciate Yeah, anytime, really great to catch up with Jeff.
Speaker 1: You can just hear just very smart. He knows the
Speaker 1: game very well. And hopefully, if the Cardinals continue to
Speaker 1: win like Vance Joseph, Jeff will get an opportunity to
Speaker 1: be a head coach in the NFL. John Harbaugh has
Speaker 1: been the standard for a special teams coach that's gotten
Speaker 1: a chance to be a head coach. Hopefully Jeff will
Speaker 1: get an opportunity at some point because he's very smart
Speaker 1: and has done a great job with the Cardinal special
Speaker 1: teams and as he heard, is very involved during the
Speaker 1: week with game planning, decision making, when to go for
Speaker 1: it on fourth down clock management. He's a very important
Speaker 1: person on game day and an asset for the Cardinals
Speaker 1: and for head coach Cliff Kingsbury. We are presented by
Speaker 1: bet MGM, the official sports betting partner the Arizona Cardinals,
Speaker 1: and by Hila River Hotels and Casinos. You can follow
Speaker 1: us on Twitter at pashpod, and also go to your
Speaker 1: podcast platform and rate us and tell us what you think.
Speaker 1: If there's a future guest that you want to hear from,
Speaker 1: whether it's Cardinals related, NFL related, or something completely outside
Speaker 1: the National Football League, we'd love to hear from you
Speaker 1: and what you think. Thanks again to Jeff Rogers, Cardinals
Speaker 1: Special teams coordinator and assistant head coach, and thanks to
Speaker 1: you for listening to another edition of The Day Pash Podcast.