Ndamukong Suh – November 19, 2017
Download PDF version
Sunday, November 19, 2017
Postgame – Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Miami Dolphins DT Ndamukong Suh (transcribed by Ted Leshinski)
(Where do you go from here? I know you get ready for next week with six games left and any hope for the playoffs you’ve got to win five of the six games. It seems like a tall order for any football team.) – “It’s definitely a tall order. We understand the position that we’re in. We knew this was a big game and I think we made mistakes that we obviously have to go back and watch and clean up and not repeat them to next week and focus on the next game. At the end of the day we can’t do anything about it. We’ve got 24 hours to turn around and get prepared for going up to New England.”
(It seemed tough to put pressure on QB [Ryan] Fitzpatrick throughout the first three quarters of the football game. Anything different that you saw?) – “I think they had a good plan. They had a lot of triple protection as well as max. He was getting the ball out a lot faster than he was typically doing in weeks past. You’ve got to give them credit for changing their game up a little bit. I think we did fairly well in the run game. I don’t know the exact stats but I think there was only one long run over five yards, or something to that nature. We just got to continue to find ways to get off the football field and give our offense chances.”
(You got handed a short field a number of times in the first half of the football game. I know you expect to stop everyone but that really puts you in a tough situation.) – “Yeah, sudden changes aren’t the best but we’ve got to find ways to get off holding them to three points and not allow touchdowns and compete.”
(Hey Ndamukong, you had 17 penalties for well over 100 yards. Is that just a case for a team that’s playing undisciplined?) – “I wouldn’t say we’re playing undisciplined. I’d say we’re making mistakes in tough situations. I think guys are playing hard. The one thing I would say if I remember all the penalties, which I don’t, a lot of them were in game, not pre-snap. At the end of the day we’ve got to clean it up no matter what. We can’t have that many and continue to compete.”
(Having that many penalties this far into the season, is it a bit surprising?) – “At the end of the day we can’t have mistakes. They’re going to obviously kill drives on the offensive side of the ball and extend drives on the defensive side of the ball. We’ve got to try to eliminate as much as we can.”
(You guys had kept them at bay in the second half up until that last drive. How disappointing is that when you look back on that?) – “Very disappointing. Understanding how well we played against them all in the second half and the last drive we allowed them to move and get the ball and get over the 50-yard line is definitely disappointing, especially understanding what they wanted to do in a crucial situation. We got to find a way to get off the field and get the ball back to offense or let the clock run out.”
(What did you see on the safety that was not called a safety?) – “Watching the replay, my personal opinion is that it should have been a safety but I don’t make the call. It’s not my business to worry about that.”
(The impact of that call on the game seemed to be pretty huge.) – “I don’t know. I think we still had an opportunity. They were backed up … I think we got the ball at the 50. So we had an opportunity to go put points on the board nonetheless.”
(Last year you guys pulled out games like this, you know, close games decided in the last minute. Why do you think it’s kind of flipped the script a little bit this year?) – “I would say in some respects teams aren’t making mistakes (and) being fairly vanilla and trying to move the ball systematically, especially on the defensive side of the ball. If I go back to probably the San Diego game, a similar situation. QB Phillip Rivers made mistakes in that game and we capitalized on them. We’ve got to find ways to go out there and get turnovers. If I remember correctly, in the last two or three games, or how many games we played, we haven’t got many turnovers. So we’ve got to find ways to get the ball out, create turnovers, put our offense in great situations and go from there.”
(I know you guys pride yourself on getting pressure on the quarterback with four guys. Would maybe more blitzes help?) – “I think we have blitzes and we have ran them, and I think we get pressure. But teams, I think they sell out to not allow us up front to create havoc. You’ve got to respect that but at the same time you’ve to be creative and find ways. I think defensive coordinator (Matt) Burke does a great job of it. At the same time we can’t blitz every single play. So, you’ve just got to find a nice niche between the two to go out there and, one, get pressure with the front four but at the same time when we do blitz – get home.”
(You told us earlier this spring and it’s pretty clear to you its important a leader of this defense. You lost Rey Maualuga yesterday. Your thoughts on what happened? Were you really disappointed in the position he left you guys in?) – “I don’t know the whole situation. The whole story. I’ve heard bits and pieces of it. I think Rey is a great guy. I’ve known him really since, I think we met each other in 2004 at the All American game in San Antonio so I’ve known the guy for a long time. I think he’s smart. Unfortunately some people make mistakes. But like I said I don’t know the whole situation so I can’t really comment on it.”
