The new Seahawks offensive coordinator discussed Geno Smith and more in his first press conference.
Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak had his introductory press conference at team headquarters in Renton on Tuesday. He is Seattle’s third OC in as many seasons following the respective departures of Shane Waldron and Ryan Grubb. For good measure, Kubiak also brought over his New Orleans Saints assistants John Benton and Andrew Janocko to coach the offensive line and quarterbacks, respectively.
Kubiak said a lot over the span of the 30-minute presser, but I’ll highlight the most notable quotes and leave out as much coachspeak as I can. For instance, Kubiak preached the value of balance on offense and needing to win more than one way. You’ve heard that quote 10,000 times from many different coaches and coordinators. Here are the nuggets that are either new bits of information or something you can interpret a little bit more deeply.
All quotes are courtesy of Seahawks media, which provides these transcripts.
Why the Seahawks job was so attractive to Kubiak
“Number one was having a chance to coach with Mike (Macdonald). To be on a team that’s coached with a dang good defense because you know how powerful that is. We want to be able to contribute to that and play complementary football with them. Geno Smith, DK Metcalf, Jaxon (Smith-Njigba), Charles Cross, the list goes on. There are a lot of really dang good football players on this roster that I’d love to coach. I want to be a part of helping their careers and helping them so we can win as a team. I think the personnel, the coaching staff here, John Schneider, the reputation the Seattle Seahawks have as a first-class organization. That’s just common knowledge around the NFL.”
Fullbacks are back on the menu in Seattle
“[I] certainly love playing with a fullback like being in 21 and 12 personnel. Again, that’s going to come down to the strength of our players who we have on our roster and let’s use the best 11 out there, let’s get the five best eligible deployed out into the route scheme. So those are things we’re working on right now, who that’s going to be, but we’ve got to adapt as coaches to our best players on the roster.”
“We’re going through that process now with John (Schneider) and Mike (Macdonald), but I think we’re going to take a look at all those things. I’m excited about the guys we do have on the roster, we will play tight ends in the fullback position for sure, but that’s a process right now.”
Why he brought in Andrew Janocko as quarterbacks coach and John Benton as offensive line coach
“I’ll start with coach (John) Benton. If our identity is going to be a running football team, it starts with coach Benton and his approach. Just really impressed with his ability as a teacher, number one. He’s an excellent teacher. The way he runs the room, holds his guys accountable. I’ve just seen the way he leads men and his schemes are excellent. Andrew Janocko, I’ve been with him at two different stops, another good teacher. Those are the things we’re looking for in our coaching staffs, great teachers and guys that can motivate. Andrew Janocko is a really good teacher. I’ve seen him do it with Kirk Cousins, with Derek Carr, and seen him relate to the younger players like Spencer Rattler and develop those guys. I’m really thankful for Mike (Macdonald) and John (Schneider) for letting us bring those guys here and to get us started quicker.”
The key to being good in the red zone, an area the Seahawks have struggled under Geno Smith
“I think you’ve got to be excellent on first and second down. Third down, third and eight from the red zone isn’t a real high percentage for a lot of teams, so you want to be aggressive to score on those base downs. And then once you get to the third down, you’ve got to have a quarterback that’s an elite decision maker and an elite scramble drill player, that always helps. So I think we’ll emphasize many things and the drive on your base downs is always a good place to start.”
How Kubiak views Geno Smith as a quarterback
“I think Geno’s (Smith) tough as nails. I think you look at the guy in the fourth quarter and he goes and wins football games. So that excites me. That fires me up. I’ve watched his career, studying him more now than I ever have before. But you think about a guy that’s been through a lot of adversity, the guy that’s been knocked off the high horse and had to claw his way back into the starter’s role and then he comes back the last two years and wins more games in the fourth quarter than anybody in the NFL. That’s a guy that I want to coach.”
How he believes he’s evolved his offensive scheme
“I can just say that learning it from my dad and getting to be a part of that offensive staff in 2016. And then being around guys like Kyle Shanahan, being in Denver with Justin Outten running a similar scheme, similar verbiage. Every year you’ve got to keep evolving and studying the league and changing your concepts up a little bit, but the fundamentals, they’re not going to change. I think that’s the thing that we have to harp on the players is being fundamentally sound, and all the bells and whistles will come. But, the most important thing is that we get good at the fundamental stuff, throwing and catching and blocking. No matter what we do schematically, it always comes down to that and being good at that.”
How he plans to adapt his scheme to the Seahawks offense
“I think it’s important to establish a way of doing business here. We’re going to start with that being an outside zone, but obviously we’re going to incorporate gap schemes, inside zones, pin and pull. We’ve got to do what our players do best. So, we have a philosophy that we believe in, a style that we believe in, but you’ve got to be able to win more than one way, like we said. So, we’ll start with the fundamentals running off the ball, and then we’ll get to know our guys. We better do what they do best, or else we’re not going to like the results.”
Watch the whole press conference replay in the video below: