CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Phil Longo met with the media Monday at the Kenan Football Center to field questions about Drake Maye, Josh Downs, and the offense.
Most of the questions were about Maye, his performance in the 36-34 win at Wake Forest on Saturday night, how Longo grades Maye now versus early in the season, and much more. He also got a few questions about Downs, one about the offensive line, and one about Georgia Tech, which is the No. 13 Tar Heels’ next opponent.
UNC hosts the Yellow Jackets on Saturday at 5:30 PM.
Above is the video of Longo’s presser, and below are a few notes and pulled quotes from what he had to say:
**************************************************************************************
Remember, for just $8.33 a month, YOU CAN BE A TAR HEELS INSIDER, TOO!!!
***************************************************************************************
*Longo said he and Maye would like to have about eight plays back from the Wake game. One of the throwaways on the last offensive series, and the sack on first down in the red zone are two of them.
“I’m excited because there was about eight plays in this game, if Drake and I could have those plays back, it could be impactful,” Longo said. “So, even when as good as he’s playing – he’s playing so good, he’s making great decisions – and I always talk about being a good, consistent decision maker. And that’s what he’s done.
“He’s been really consistent, and I think that’s why when you make good decisions you put yourself in position to make good plays. So, we’re making good decisions fairly consistently, and very, very efficiently right now.
“When you do that, it puts you on a better stage to show what you and do athletically.”
*On the throwaways on the final series, Longo said, “Actually, the did a good job of covering. One, we don’t want to endanger the football. There’s a reason he’s thrown (only) three interceptions. We’re not going to force the ball in, particularly in situations where you want to make sure you ensure, at the very least, staying within range for your field goal kicker.
“So, we’d like to have the sack back that we gave there on first down. The throwaway on third down I didn’t actually think was a bad decision because we didn’t want to chance holding the ball. Everything was covered, he’d gone through the progression, there was nothing there, he didn’t have a lane to run.
“So, what you don’t want to do at that point is make the go-ahead field goal kick longer and more difficult.”
*Is there a common thread in the eight plays Longo and Maye would like to have back?
“Usually there never is,” Longo said. “There’s anywhere from a half-dozen, six, seven, eight every week. Some of them are very minor. There’s a couple of plays where he flipped a complete out to maybe the second look in the progression, and maybe the first one we could have triggered quicker.
“And then sometimes you’re splitting hairs. It’s really easy for me make declarations about plays when I’m standing on the sideline and I’m just calling it.”
Longo said for many of them, they discuss it before it’s regarded as a play they’d like back. He gets into Drake’s mind about what he was thinking each time before identifying the play in that negative category.
*With 10 games of intel and Maye’s incredibly high rate of performance, Longo says he is a bit more critical when grading Maye’s play now than he was earlier in the season.
“If anything, I try to grade more critically,” Longo said. “Early on, I’m going to be aware he’s a rookie and hasn’t been in this scenario… In the offense with our guys and in the quarterback room: As soon as I think they’ve meshed the play, I take it off my play sheet and put it on theirs.
“It becomes something they can check to, or it becomes something I know I can call this any time, and he has full control, full understanding of this play, and he’s going to put the ball in a good area. He’s going to make good decisions on this play.”
