Harold Goodwin Talks Panthers Run Game
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00:00No, I'm excited to be home.
00:01I'm from Columbia, South Carolina.
00:03Coming to the Carolina Panthers is like a dream come true, and
00:05I'm just excited for the journey.
00:07And can't wait to get started on the field next week, but
00:10having fun so far in all season.
00:13Awesome, appreciate it, coach.
00:14And with that, we can go into questions.
00:16Again, guys, just raise your hand, and we'll start with Cassidy Hill.
00:22Hey, coach, how's it going?
00:23Good, how you doing?
00:24Doing well.
00:26Both Dave and then we just talked to Brad as well,
00:28have talked a lot this offseason about wanting to run the ball, and
00:32that being the first thing they want this team to be identified with.
00:35Yes. What does that mean to you?
00:36How excited does that make you?
00:39I'm excited about it.
00:39Obviously, to win in this league, you gotta be able to run the ball.
00:42Just be efficient, making sure that you're matching up.
00:45Obviously, you'll run with your play action passes to try to get chunk yards
00:47when you do take shots down the field.
00:49But to me, everything starts up front with the offensive line,
00:51the running game, the tight ends, the receivers blocking, and
00:54the running back running the ball as well.
00:56So I'm just excited for the opportunity just to get this thing going and
01:00making sure we have success running the football.
01:02All right, let's go to Jeff Hawkins.
01:06How are we doing?
01:08Greetings, coach, Jeff Hawkins from the Charlotte Post.
01:11I was just wondering, how is Mike Sanders' attitude and
01:15involvement coming off such a down season last year?
01:18And what do you expect of him next year?
01:20All I can tell you is everybody's showing up to work every day, he is also.
01:24And everybody's had a positive attitude so far this offseason.
01:27I look forward to seeing what he can do on the field.
01:29So far, what I've seen on tape, there's a lot there.
01:31There's a lot left in the tank, so I'm excited for the future.
01:35Thank you, coach.
01:36Yes, sir.
01:38All right, let's go to Darren Gant.
01:41Harold, along the lines of running the ball, I mean,
01:44there was a lot of investment in that offensive line position this offseason.
01:50As you look at those five guys,
01:52you're kind of slated to have up front right now.
01:54What do you think that group's gonna be able to do?
01:56And what are you kind of focused on with them in the early part of the offseason?
02:01Just the early part is just teaching the offense,
02:03getting those guys comfortable with the calls and
02:04the things that we're trying to accomplish.
02:06I'm excited for the group.
02:08Obviously, we got five guys that can play at a high level.
02:11The biggest thing, knock on wood, we just gotta stay healthy.
02:13All those guys are capable of being high quality players,
02:16Pro Bowl level players, not to put pressure on any of them.
02:19But I expect big things from that group to help this team out.
02:22I believe any offensive line on any football team is the foundation of the team.
02:26I feel like we got a good start to a good foundation of a future.
02:31Let's go to David Newton followed by Mike Kay.
02:36David Newton, ESPN.com, good to see you.
02:38Better barbecue here or Columbia, South Carolina?
02:41Well, that's a tricky question cuz my grandparents owned a barbecue shop in
02:44Eastover, South Carolina, which is still open.
02:47Obviously, they departed and gone to heaven, but my cousin still runs it.
02:51So I gotta lean there first with a high number two with the state of
02:54North Carolina.
02:56Good answer.
02:57I also wanted to ask you about the center position.
03:00I mean, you mentioned the talent on the offensive line, but
03:02obviously you're kind of taking a leap a little bit with Austin going over to center.
03:08So I know it's way early, but what makes you believe he can make that leap and
03:12how important you think it is to find another player
03:15that could play that position in the draft?
03:18Well, I don't consider it a big leap.
03:19It's something he's done way in his past, but he's a football player.
03:22Football players can do many different things.
03:24He's smart, he's athletic, he's capable of doing anything we asked of him.
03:28So far since I've been here, we've talked about it in my office.
03:32He feels comfortable with it, and obviously, it starts with him.
03:36And we feel confident as coaches,
03:37as an organization, that he can lead us in the right direction.
03:40And he's gonna have two big guards next to him.
03:41So all he's gotta do is lead the way and we should be fine.
03:44That's two guards.
03:46I mean, when you guys got them, I mean, how important was that to you and
03:51what your job is?
03:54I feel like it was big for everybody.
03:55Obviously, I think there's still some young talent in the room that's coming
03:58along.
03:58And again, I'll go back to say this, we just gotta stay healthy.
04:01Doesn't matter who's in there.
04:03I know there was a lot of rotation in different lineups last year.
04:06Not to use that excuse, but that's part of the game.
04:08We need five guys to be out there to play together week in and week out.
04:11And usually, those guys that have the same group at the beginning of the season
04:14go deep into the playoffs.
04:16Appreciate that.
04:16I expect you to bring us a barbecue sometime.
04:18I can do that.
04:20Thanks.
04:23Hey, Harold, welcome to, well, welcome home.
04:25What's the name of the barbecue joint?
04:29Scotch Barbecue.
04:30It's in Eastover, South Carolina.
04:31It's been there since before I was born, and it's still there to this day.
04:35It's in a small town, and every time I make it back to South Carolina,
04:39I have to drive there and get some.
04:41What's the best thing on the menu?
04:43Hash and rice.
04:44Don't know if you ever tried it, but just to give you a forewarning,
04:47it's a mixture of a lot of pig parts.
04:48Yeah.
04:50As far as the offensive line's concerned, being the run game coordinator too,
04:56Icky has been a really good run blocker since he was in college.
05:03What do you think the next step is for him as a pass protector?
05:07Just keep growing.
05:08Year one, it's tough.
05:09He comes in, he plays a hot position in the NFL.
05:12There's a lot of pressure, a lot of pressure from coaches,
05:14a lot of pressure from people on the outside as far as fans, the media.
05:17He's just gotta relax and just get better at the fundamentals.
05:20Obviously, year two, there should be a huge jump.
05:22That's what we're expecting.
05:23Coach Gilbert, who we coach him personally week in and week out,
05:26is gonna get him better.
05:27He's a guy that's, Coach Gilbert's coached a guy like Tristan Wirth, Luke Gadecky,
05:30Donovan Smith back in other places that we coached in the past.
05:34But he's gonna get him at a high level, and
05:36Icky knows we want great things from him, and
05:38it all starts with him on the left side protecting the quarterback.
05:41And then you come with Dave here and some of the other offensive staff members.
05:45I'm just curious, in the one year that you guys spent together,
05:48what made you buy into what he does as a coach and
05:51wanna follow in his lead, I guess, so to speak, here?
05:56The thing about Dave is, and you guys already probably know this,
05:58it's the energy, right?
06:00He's happy.
06:01He's a happy-go-lucky every day.
06:03He's always positive.
06:04There is never a down day.
06:05Even in the early days in Tampa when we were struggling last year,
06:08he was the same guy every day.
06:10He stayed consistent, and I can appreciate that.
06:13He's a guy that has a vision, and we're all gonna follow that vision, and
06:16hopefully we have a lot of success here.
06:19Thank you.
06:19Yes, sir.
06:21Let's go to Joe Person.
06:24Hey, Harold, it's Joe Person with The Athletic.
06:27Hey, how we doing?
06:28Back in the day, I worked at the State Paper in Columbia.
06:31I'm guessing Scott's barbecue is mustard-based?
06:36Nope.
06:37Vinegar?
06:38No.
06:39Yeah, it's a little hot sauce, a little extra vinegar in it, but
06:43it's pretty good.
06:43You gotta bring you some.
06:45Well, I just was checking it out online.
06:47It looks legit, but listen, appreciate you doing this.
06:51Wanted to ask you about your years when you were in Tampa,
06:56competing against this team.
06:58And obviously, the Panthers have had a lot of changes in recent years.
07:03But I guess specific to last season, wondered what you saw of them from afar.
07:10Just from afar, probably one of the hardest opponents to prepare for.
07:14Up front, I thought the defensive line and the outside backers and
07:16inside backers played really well.
07:18Secondary tied into the front end very well also.
07:22Just the pressure packages, I thought all those things were great.
07:25It was probably by far, in my opinion,
07:27the toughest opponent to prepare for, just from a game planning standpoint.
07:31And just good players overall around the first level, the second level, and
07:35the third level of the defense.
07:36But we expect big things for those guys.
07:38They're well-coached by all the coaches on defense.
07:40So we just gotta make sure they get some rest in between series, and
07:44then come out and kick butt when they have to to close the game out.
07:48We've also heard, when we talked to Dave shortly after he was hired,
07:52he talked about being stubborn last year with the run game.
07:55And how hard was that for you guys in that mentality,
08:01when early in the year it wasn't quite clicking?
08:04Well, it was a process.
08:06It was a new system.
08:07Dave brought some new things that I haven't done before.
08:09Not that it was foreign to me, but it was a process.
08:12And then it's a position where we, as coaches,
08:13you have to figure out what your players can do.
08:15So as we travel along the thing called the season,
08:18we started to figure out what the guys could do up front, what was good for
08:20the running back, what was good for the tight ends to execute from a blocking
08:23standpoint.
08:24And we did get better.
08:25The key is to get better as you go along.
08:27I felt like we got better.
08:28No, we didn't lead the league in rushing, but we were able to get better week in and
08:31week out to make a difference in the second half of the season and
08:34make a playoff push.
08:38Any more questions for coach?
08:42All right, thanks, coach.
08:44Thank all you guys.
08:44Hope to talk to you soon.