Zach Sieler – November 6, 2023
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Monday, November 6, 2023
DT Zach Sieler
(I noticed you guys had a lot of success running tackle/end stunts yesterday. I’m curious what impact or how much easier it makes your job when someone like LB Jaelan Phillips or LB Bradley Chubb can make such an impact rushing inwards to give you lanes to run through?) – “I think it helps a lot. I kind of hit on this earlier this year. We talked about this I think at the end of camp, start of camp, was just building that conformity between the four of us. Me, Christian (Wilkins), (Jaelan) Phillips, Chubb, Raekwon (Davis), (Emmanuel) Ogbah, ‘Gink’ (Andrew Van Ginkel) – any of us that rotate around in there – and building that unity with each other and knowing how each other rush and how to play off each other. It helps tremendously.”
(I think DT Christian Wilkins has a career-high in sacks or is enroute to a career-high in sacks. LB Bradley Chubb has been really hot recently. How does the defensive line feel? I think Chubb has, if I’m not mistaken, like four sacks in the last four games and two caused fumbles or whatever it is. Does it feel like the defensive line is getting hot right now?) – ”I think it just feels like we are doing what we are supposed to do and that’s what it is. We’ve got to take advantage of the plays we can. The calls that are called from Coach (Vic) Fangio, we’ve got to play them to the best of our abilities and we’ve got to make those plays when they arise and that’s what we’re trying to do, and Chubb is doing a great job right now of making every opportunity count that he’s able to do. He’s a great pass rusher and he’s getting there.”
(Earlier in the season obviously you guys were still figuring it out a bit. What’s been the difference aside from getting back a bunch of really good players?) – “I think a lot of it is just figuring it out and kind of seeing how we’re playing in (Vic) Fangio’s scheme compared to the older scheme that was here previously, and then how our blocks are different for us or how we’ve got to play something and adjust to something else, and sometimes that just takes time.”
(I imagine that was frustrating because you guys knew what your ability was and it was just a matter of kind of playing until you got to where you needed to be?) – “Yeah, you don’t get here without being frustrated at some point and having to work through something, so that’s something that we’ve all been built and coached and viewed as our strength for so long, is finding a way to make something work when you know you have all the abilities.”
(You and DT Christian Wilkins last year – you might know this – two of the four highest snap totals among all defensive linemen and now you guys are back to playing nearly all the snaps. Both of you only got a couple off yesterday. Besides being in great physical condition, what is required as a defensive lineman to play that many snaps? Is it mental toughness? What other qualities might you point to besides being …) – “Honestly you hit the nail on the head with the first one. It’s physical conditioning. Absolutely. And it’s also just the mentals of it and knowing – he and I both pride each other on ‘hey look, if we need to do it, we can do it.’ If we rotate, we rotate. If we don’t, we don’t. It’s just whatever the team calls for, he and I are ready to do.”
(Have you felt tired at all? Late in the game it’s natural to an extent, but has that been an issue for you these last couple years playing as many snaps as you have?) – “Early on, I think when I was trying to just getting into starting playing here – I didn’t play obviously when I was younger in the NFL and adapting to just everything. But now I think – and Christian (Wilkins) has done a great job helping teach me because he did play early on in his career a lot of snaps, and just kind of how weekly what we need to do to get your body right to recover and to get ready for next Sunday’s game, to be able to take those amounts of snaps if needed.”
(When you look at this defense, I’m wondering if you consider this a big-play defense. Your big plays – the sacks – and we just mentioned LB Bradley Chubb and CB Jalen Ramsey and CB Xavien Howard and S Jevon Holland. You guys, sacks, fumbles, interceptions. Do you look at you guys at a big-play defense?) – “I guess I never thought of that. I guess really what I look at is how we play as a defense and we go through a set of goals each week, what we want to accomplish and if we hit those goals or not.”
(Those goals, are they…?) – “It changes. It changes every week.”
(Did you have visions of six on that fumble recovery? I saw you trying to get back up.) – “(laughter) No, I just wanted to make sure I had full security of that ball and then just do what we can.”
(You mentioned learning from DT Christian Wilkins. Have you become a creature of habit to his extent or …?) – “I wouldn’t put me to his extent. I’ve always been a creature of habit. I’ve always been one that routine helps someone succeed, but no, not to Christian’s extent. That’s one of his greatest assets.”
Cedrick Wilson Jr. – November 6, 2023
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Monday, November 6, 2023
WR Cedrick Wilson Jr.
(We heard from HC Mike McDaniel and QB Tua Tagovailoa about the play at the end of the game yesterday. Just want to hear from your perspective on that third-down play.) – “I feel like it was just a miscommunication. I’m pretty sure that’s what they said. Just a missed opportunity that I wish we could get back.”
(Did your eyes get big for a minute there when you were breaking open?) – “No, I wouldn’t say my eyes got big. My heart kind of got broken when I saw that there was a miscommunication as soon as I saw the ball. That’s moreso where my mind was at.”
(You had a touchdown though earlier in the game. Can you take us through that?) – “Oh, yeah. That was a great throw. Kind of got the coverage that we wanted. Actually, me and Tyreek (Hill) both came open so it would’ve been a touchdown either way I feel. I’m definitely happy that I was able to get the spark for the team and get us back in the game.”
(Do you feel like you’re starting to get your rhythm in this offense?) – “I mean, whenever the opportunity is presented, I’m going to do my job. That’s what I prepare for every day. My only job is to block and when the ball is in the air, go get it.”
(With WR Jaylen Waddle trying to gut it through the game after that early injury, does that kind of change some of the roles you guys have to fulfill as his role kind of becomes a little more diminished?) – “Yeah, I mean when anybody goes down or has an injury in the game, it’s next man up. That’s why we all practice and get the reps during the week. When he went down and got banged up, it was a no-brainer – whether it’s me, Braxton (Berrios) or Chase (Claypool) – someone has to go in there and keep the offense rolling.”
(Do you feel like that training camp rotation of receivers playing with different units kind of helps you guys this time of year to execute when that happens?) – “I think it helps just because everyone needs to be put in those uncomfortable situations because that’s what comes up in the game. The more we prepare for those when they come up, we’ll be able to handle them.”
(Obviously you were such a good sport last year about not playing a ton. How satisfying is it to finally get steady snaps and targets?) – “I mean, I’m not really a satisfied type of person. Moreso just do my job and at the end of the day, the goal is to win. There’s no satisfaction over a touchdown with a loss.”
Christian Wilkins – November 5, 2023 (Postgame)
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Q. How do you feel about the way the defense performed today?
CHRISTIAN WILKINS: I mean, I thought we did some good stuff, was able to put ourselves in a position to win or played well enough to win. But that’s just how football goes sometimes. It’s a humbling game. You can play as well as you want, as hard as you want, as good as you need to. Especially after early when they had a couple drives there, I thought we did pretty well, and this is just definitely something to build off of. If we just watch the tape and keep improving each week we can be as good of a defense as we want to be.
Q. As a defensive lineman, how much does it help to have these defensive backs back, kind of taking away some of the quarterback reads?
CHRISTIAN WILKINS: Yeah, it’s definitely huge because we’ve all got a piece of the puzzle. If we’re all playing well and all playing at a high level, we can be as good as we want to be.
Q. A lot was made about this team against other top contenders. Where do you feel like this team is against the other top teams?
CHRISTIAN WILKINS: Really, I think we’ve got the right formula. We’ve got the right guys on the team that if we keep doing the things we’re doing and keep preparing how we’re preparing, I think we’ll be in a better position moving forward. These are just reps just like anything else. You learn from them. Good, bad, ugly. There’s games you don’t play well and you lose. There’s games you don’t play well and you win. It’s just how the league goes and how it goes. I’m not paying attention to any narratives that are trying to be created against us. I just know what we’ve got on our team and know how we’ll proceed moving forward.
Q. Talk about the second half shutout. What were some things that were said at halftime to get you guys going?
CHRISTIAN WILKINS: Really nothing was said. We just made a few corrections on things that could have been improved in the first half and just kept playing hard. Guys kept fighting. I really just saw the heart of my teammates, and we were able to get a little bit of momentum going, and we just kept fighting.
Q. How important would you say the [linebacker Bradley] Chubb sack, fumble, recovery play was for the team?
CHRISTIAN WILKINS: That was big. It gave us some momentum, like I was saying. It was a big play by Chubb and great job by [defensive tackle] Zach [Seiler] falling on it, and we eventually scored off of that, so obviously that’s a big play in the game. I’ve had a great time here in Germany, loved the hospitality, so thank you guys for that,
Tyreek Hill – November 5, 2023 (Postgame)
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Sunday, Nov. 5, 2023
Postgame – Kansas City Chiefs
Miami Dolphins WR Tyreek Hill.
Q. Tyreek, ultimately how did it feel seeing that former team on the opposite sideline today?
TYREEK HILL: It was fine. I had a lot of fun today, man. That’s what football is about. I feel like this is football’s new rivalry, so it was a fun day to play football in a different location. Had a blast.
Q. You made a lot of key catches, but there was a fumble and also a couple crucial drops –
TYREEK HILL: Yeah, I think I played overall pretty well. Some tight window throws, and those guys did a great job of making it hard on me all day. They did a great job. They had a real good plan on slowing us down at the line of scrimmage. It’s on me to make plays. That’s why they brought me here, to make plays in these type of games. I feel like the way the game went, it was a team game, and our defense played amazing. As a receiver, I never think about how many drops I got in a game. I’m always thinking about the next play, baby. That’s how I became who I am today. Everybody drops passes. It happens. But it’s all about how you move on to the next play. I’ve got to learn from it, go to the film room, learn from it, and find better ways to get open.
Q. On the fumble, did you think that the play was over? Were you fighting for more yards? What happened from your perspective?
TYREEK HILL: No, so they played two-man coverage, and there was a guy that was unblocked, and he came free as soon as I caught it, and I didn’t even get a chance to make a move. That’s the explanation I’ve got for you. They did a good job.
Q. I know that Mike and you guys don’t want to make too much about (inaudible), especially against a team such as this. Do you feel like it was a missed opportunity (inaudible) headed into the bye week?
TYREEK HILL: Oh, yeah, for sure, against the Super Bowl champions. We do believe that every game is a missed opportunity if we lose, man. It’s our job to come out here and win these games, especially the way that our defense played today. Those guys played tremendous. If we want to say that we’re the No. 1 offense in the league, we’ve got to be able to make plays when it counts.
Q. What would you attribute to the issues of the offense when you’re not home? It seems like whenever you guys are away from Hard Rock –
TYREEK HILL: You know what, man, at this point it’s ourselves versus ourselves. You feel me? We had a lot of penalties that shot ourselves in the foot. The early one when [wide receiver] Jaylen Waddle had a catch, the penalty was on me and Ced [wide receiver Cedrick Wilson Jr.]. They called illegal formation. We would make a play, and it would get called back. We’ve got to be able to find ways to not shoot ourselves in the foot, because as you see, we can play with any team in this league. It’s all about not making mistakes and being able to stay on time with the quarterback, obviously, and protect our quarterback. If we do all of that, no pre-snap penalties, obviously, we’ll be fine.
Q. You didn’t pull off the comeback, but you did get some scores after half. What was the mindset at that time?
TYREEK HILL: The mindset was obviously to come back. The defense was the engine today. Those guys had us fired up. When we were able to find a spark somewhere, because we was kind of flat on offense, we began to get it going. It was kind of a glimpse of what we could have been in the first half.
Raheem Mostert – November 5, 2023 (Postgame)
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Sunday, Nov. 5, 2023
Postgame – Kansas City Chiefs
Miami Dolphins RB Raheem Mostert.
Q. A couple big runs for you on that final drive. I guess at that point did it feel like your offense was in rhythm?
RAHEEM MOSTERT: Yeah, we started to figure out — I know it was a little bit late, but we started to figure out what we had to do. I went up to Mikey and I was like, hey, I think we should start running, just attacking their edges a little bit more, and he called up the plays, and we tried our best to execute, but unfortunately we were a little bit short.
Q. On your touchdown run, obviously a tough run, but can you describe from your perspective —
RAHEEM MOSTERT: Yeah, just trying to set up the defense, trying to figure out and get them out of their position, and with the motion and everything, that alley came across, and I just followed his block like usual and just made a decisive move. But he was decisive, as well, and that’s pretty much how that play ended up.
Q. I asked Tua this, but the difference in the offensive performance at home compared to on the road or away from home, what more can you say on that?
RAHEEM MOSTERT: I think with this offense, we have to be more sound, especially when it’s away. But all in all, whether it’s at home or away, I think that we do try our best, and we just try to go out there and try to make the big plays as best as possible. Each week presents a new challenge, new opportunity, as well, for different defenses and stuff like that. But we’ve just got to have a grasp on that and try to control what we can control at the end of the day.
Q. How close do you feel the team is to knocking off one of the, quote-unquote, upper echelon Super Bowl contenders?
RAHEEM MOSTERT: We’re fairly close I would say. If you look back at these several games, it was just a couple miscues on offense. Defense today, they did their thing, especially in the second half, with not allowing a single point for the Chiefs. I think that was setting a standard for them. But all in all for us on the offensive side of the ball, we’ve just got to do better, especially not allowing the defense to get a turnover and turning those into points. That’s what we have to do. We have to control those things and just move forward.
Q. Obviously not the outcome you wanted today, but with your mom being from Germany, how was this week for you?
RAHEEM MOSTERT: This week was very special. I even brought my family over here so they could experience the same journey I did, as well, with my family in recent years have — my family, especially my mom, was born about an hour and 30 northeast, Bad Hersfeld, I believe, if I’m correct. I’ve still got to work on my German language. But it was cool just to be able to come here. Frankfurt is always going to be a place that I’m going to now look back and call home, and I’m pretty sure from here on out with all the blessings and everything like that that’s been happening since I’ve been here, I’m definitely going to be coming back with my family a little bit more. Appreciate you guys, and it’s definitely meaningful for me and my family.
Q. Each week it seems like you have to field a different offensive line because of injuries, but as a whole it always seems to perform pretty well. How do you do that week after week?
RAHEEM MOSTERT: You know, with this game, it had a lot of different injuries occur, especially we’re dealing with some at the offensive line, but these guys come up from being in different positions, and they come up, and yeah, it’s going to be a challenge for that week, especially when you’re dealing with a guy like Chris Jones who is just an absolute beast. I’ve played against him multiple times, so I know exactly what we’re going to get out of that guy, especially in a big game like today. But our offensive line is doing a hell of a job. They’re doing what they’ve got to do in protecting the quarterback, and we just fell short on a couple plays, and I wish that we could get those plays back, but with all these injuries and stuff like that, it just breeds more competition in the room, and guys step up to the plate. It’s a challenge, but you see what they can do. I don’t think those guys get enough credit, and they should, especially with these type of injuries that’s been happening to the O-line, because like I said, these guys step up to the plate when their number is called, and you’ve got to knock it up for them.
Bradley Chubb – November 5, 2023 (Postgame)
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Sunday, Nov. 5, 2023
Postgame – Kansas City Chiefs
Miami Dolphins LB Bradley Chubb
Q. Bradley, the first drive of the game obviously Kansas City didn’t have much trouble scoring. What was the explanation from you guys on defense for what happened on that opening drive?
BRADLEY CHUBB: I don’t know exactly what it was. I know for sure on the touchdown, though, I can be a little bit more aggressive playing the screen and get there quicker to try to tackle the man. But throughout the drive — that’s a great team. You’re going to get their best shot to open up the game. It’s more about the adjustments we made as a defense, as a unit, just to limit the rest of that for the rest of the game. But opening drives, man, it’s a boxing match. You’re going to get hit, you’re going to take a couple hits, but at the end of the day you’ve got to keep fighting, and I feel like we did that as a team. We can look at the first drive when we get back to Miami and figure out what it was, but right now we’ve just got to take this one and learn from it. I know we’re going to do that when we get to Miami and watch the film and do whatever we need to do to get back on our process. But it’s hard to say what was the determining factor on that first drive.
Q. Defensive tackle Christian Wilkins said he’s not worried about any narratives about coming up short against these elite opponents, do you agree?
BRADLEY CHUBB: Yeah, it’s frustrating for sure because you want to win these big games. It’s not like, oh, we’re playing these guys this week, let’s go out there and lose. We play our hearts out until the whistle ends, and you see it in this team. Weve got fight; we’ve got everything that you possibly need from a championship-caliber team. It’s just about honing in on those little details when it really matters and finding ways to win these games. We’ve been in every single one of them, but at the end we just find a way to not execute our standard, and I feel like if we execute our standard for 60 minutes, it’s going to be hard to beat us. We’ve just got to keep finding ways to, like I said, stay in these games and make it close, and making it close is not good enough for us anymore, so we’ve just got to find ways to win.
Q. From a defensive standpoint on the last play, is it just even more aggravating, more painful to not even get a real chance at that last fumble?
BRADLEY CHUBB: That’s not how you want the game to end, but at the end of the day there’s so many factors going on in this game that you can’t control everything. You can only control what you can. Do we want the play to go off? Yeah, but at the end of the day, we’re not going to hold it over Tua’s head or the center’s head to say you could have did this better. It’s just about us learning as a team and coming together and knowing that when we get into that situation how to be better for it the next time.
Q. You’ve been making big sacks and forcing turnovers in recent weeks. What was the key to that play today?
BRADLEY CHUBB: Just kind of reading my guys. I was getting off the ball and I saw Zach flew off the ball, so when you’ve got a guy like that playing next to you, it kind of makes my job easier. He took the guard’s attention, I wrapped around, kind of got him twisted up and just tried to go after the ball, make a play, and it was a good play for us. But got to find ways to make more of those.
Q. How big did the momentum feel at that time?
BRADLEY CHUBB: It felt huge. It felt huge. Tried not to celebrate because we were still down and I still wanted us to as a team gather it all and I felt like we were getting to that point, and we were pushing, pushing, pushing, but at the end of the day, it didn’t work out how we wanted it to. The momentum for sure shifted in our favor at that point, but like I said, we’ve got to find ways to sustain that and come out with a W.
Q. You were able to bottle up Travis Kelce pretty well.
BRADLEY CHUBB: Are you asking did we bottle him up pretty well?
Q. You did.
BRADLEY CHUBB: Oh, I didn’t know if it was a question or a statement. Yeah, when you’ve got guys in the back end like that, it makes our job a lot easier, and we make their job easy. Rushing and coverage always goes together, and we’ve got some elite guys in that back end. There were some times where I felt like, oh, boom, the quarterback would have got the ball out by now, but he was still back there patting and patting, so that goes to show that the coverage is elite, and yeah, that’s pretty much all of that. Those elite coverage guys, man, we appreciate them.
Tua Tagovailoa – November 5, 2023 (Postgame)
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Sunday, Nov. 5, 2023
Postgame – Kansas City Chiefs
Miami Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa
Q. The last two plays, can you tell us about both of them?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Yeah. What happened with me and Ced [wide receiver Cedrick Wilson Jr.], that was just miscommunication, and in big-time moments, those things like that can happen. I’ve got to throw a better ball. It was just miscommunication there. Then with the last play of the game, I’m always going to blame myself. I’ve got to catch the ball. Whether that’s getting in a better position to catch it or whatever it is, can’t end the game like that when we have an opportunity like that against a really good team.
Q. (inaudible).
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Yeah, it’s always good to get points on the board. You get back into your groove as an offense. You get back into the flow of the game. You get back into the flow of the game with how the game is played and the guys get into a rhythm of blocking within the runs, blocking within the passes, the timing with our routes, things like that. It’s always good, especially against a team like this. Whenever you can get points on the board, it would be your best to.
Q. How would you describe your emotions right now?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Man, tough. Tough. You never want to end the game like that, how that happened. But I think any competitor in our field that would be in my position would wish they had that play back. At least they’d give the team an opportunity. I wasn’t able to do that.
Q. The miscommunication between you and [wide receiver] Cedric [Wilson Jr.], were you expecting some different route?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: It was my fault. It was my fault. It was my fault. Miscommunication there.
Q. (Inaudible).
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Well, I think for us, we’ve just got to continue to keep working. There’s nothing outside of working the crowd noise, working the silent cadence, working the communication while we have crowd noise, continuing to do all that, it’s only going to benefit us. These are continued reps for us to get early in the season as we’re entering sort of the back half of the season.
Q. Did you expect the crowd to be this kind of pro-Kansas City?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Well, I know they travel deep a lot of the times from conversations with [wide receiver] Tyreek [Hill]. It was expected.
Q. Every loss stings, but is there any frustration (inaudible)?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Well, I think the way we look at it is, every game has its ebbs and flows. But for this one, probably just for me because it was with that last play to give our team just an opportunity for someone to — even if I was getting pressured, I’d be able to throw it up and allow our guys an opportunity to catch the ball, that this game was a little tougher to kind of take in, especially for me. But I think you look at the team that we have, this is the Super Bowl champions from last year. I think our defense did a tremendous job. Although they gave up 14 points, Kansas City didn’t score in the second half. One of the plays towards the ending of the half, that’s something we’ve got to go and talk about. But I’m very proud of our defense, how they played. There’s some things that we need to clean up and fix going into this bye week getting ready for our next opponent.
Q. Who were a couple of the top options on the fourth down play?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: I mean, they played zero, so we had routes for — it was really one-on-ones on everyone. It was really our best match-up. That’s how you look at that.
Q. What went into the scoreless first half?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: We were trying to get things going, couldn’t get things going. Whether we were shooting ourselves in the foot, if there was miscommunication with a run play or there’s a flag for this or that. A game is not played in two quarters, it’s played in four quarters. We knew we had the second half to try to come back and make a run at it, but it’s always tough if you go against a team like that. Those guys know a thing or two about big games.
Q. Aside from the miscommunication earlier in the game, later in the game, [wide receiver] Cedric Wilson [Jr.] did score. How is he coming along this year?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: We call him Primetime Ced. Ced always comes through when it’s primetime.
But the communication has gotten better with me and him, how he sees things, how I see things.
But like you said, we’ve been throwing so much of our routes to [wide receiver] Jaylen [Waddle], to [wide receiver] Tyreek [Hill], and kind of being grooved with those guys that a lot of our other guys, we need to continue to work those things every day.
Q. Being here all week, do you think that might have made a impact?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Well, I think as we got here, we did feel a little jet lagged. I think if we were to come a little later — I don’t know the science behind all of that, but for me personally, I’m actually kind of glad we got to come earlier because of the jet lag. We got to experience some of Germany, as well, so that was cool.
Q. It was your first time in Germany; how would you compare the crowd to the crowd that you’d have in Kansas City?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Well, it’s cool. I think if we were in Kansas City, there would probably be “let’s go defense” if Kansas City’s offense was playing. But I thought it was cool with their chants to some of the songs. It was nice. I appreciated playing here.
Q. [Wide receiver] Tyreek [Hill] has been so supportive of you since you met. Did you have some words for him after the fumble near the end of the first half?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Well, no. It’s one of those deals where we don’t have time to talk about it then. We’ve got to go back out there and try to make something happen, try to put points on the board. As we came in, we had a conversation, like hey, don’t worry about that, like let’s get our guys going. He was on the same page, and all our leaders were. I wish we could have a couple plays back, but outside of that, sometimes that’s how the cookie crumbles and that’s how the games go. We’re going to have to take this one, learn from it, and move on.
Q. Against Philly and against Kansas City, two big chances against (inaudible), is that something you feel?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Of course. It’s always something we go back and look at, and we think, man, if we would have made this play or if I would have made this throw. That’s a part of the game. It’s a game of inches. All we can continue to do is work and not lose sight of where we want to go as a team. We’ve got to continue to stick together and not deviate from that, regardless of what everyone outside is saying, and we’ve just got to put our head down and keep going.
Q. Any message for the Dolphins fans that traveled overseas for this game?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Yeah, big shout-out to the Dolphins fans. Thank you guys so much. We understand it wasn’t the outcome you guys wanted to see but thank you for the support. Thank you for the love. We definitely feel it.
Q. You were an exceptional team the second half. Was there anything you changed at halftime to adjust that, and who made those changes?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: There weren’t many changes I’d say as we came into the second half offensively. Really it was just we get a good drive going and then it gets stopped by whether it’s a penalty, miscommunication from something we didn’t really communicate, and it had a lot to do with things like that on our end. I think if we can continue to work at that and clean those things up that we’ll be better for it.
Mike McDaniel – November 5, 2023 (Postgame)
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Sunday, Nov. 5, 2023
Postgame – Kansas City Chiefs
Miami Dolphins Head Coach Mike McDaniel.
MIKE MCDANIEL: It’s painful. Who wants to start off?
Q. The final offensive drive, what was the assignment there? What was the route for [wide receiver] Cedric [Wilson Jr.]?
MIKE MCDANIEL: You know, I think if I know my personnel well, [quarterback] Tua [Tagovailoa] is probably standing up here since he gets to talk before me and saying this, that and the other and it’s on him. It wasn’t. There’s a lot that falls squarely on my shoulders. They were doing something that we had talked about, and the miscommunication is something that doesn’t happen if I put them in the appropriate situation during the week. Tua didn’t have time to observe. He signaled kind of one route, and that has a conversion, and Cedric interpreted it as another thing, and that’s just things that when you’re working together as a football team and you have the right effort and mentality from all your players that it’s one hundred percent something that I can control personally.
I was very, very proud of the resolve. I’m very encouraged about the team. Just to be in that position on that final drive takes a lot of — there was a lot of expectations not met in the first half, and for those guys to — for the defense to shut them out in the second half and only allow 14 points and for us to be in that situation with one minute to go, I think that’s the bigger picture from the players’ perspective. I told the team that you don’t have to worry about me learning from mistakes. It’s going to be a hard one to digest, but we’ll make it purposeful.
Q. Another game away from Hard Rock Stadium. What more can be done by you and the players to avoid all the miscues?
MIKE MCDANIEL: Yeah, these are things that we’ll utilize in the bye week to make sure we emphasize. That’s football. You’re going to have things that — you’re always going to have things to improve upon. That one is pretty obvious. And you know in this game that you’re going to have to answer for results.
If you can simply put together a chart that shows production at home minus, I think the Carolina game in the first couple drives and then you’re not getting on the road, you make sure to be self-critical for sure. But in terms of — we had a very good orchestration of practice. The orchestration of all the openers, I was very happy with the individual plays during the week, and when we actually go through them. We’ll get to the bottom of it because that’s our job. This is part of the NFL life. They get paid, too. That’s a very good team. When you’re not crisp, what other way can you really approach it besides self-assessing. There’s definitely a part myself that I play in that, and it’s my job to get it corrected.
Q. What can you say about the last offensive play and the shotgun snap?
MIKE MCDANIEL: That, it’s hard to say, just live speed. I’m going to refrain from really attributing it to anybody. I’d have to kind of look at the tape to see were the skill positions set, did we get to the line fast enough, were we overcommunicating, was it the defense, were [quarterback Tua Tagovailoa] Tua’s eyes up, how off target was the snap. All those things. There’s a lot of snaps that we executed, so it’s unfortunate that we had a miscue at that point in time, but these are all learning lessons. This is a journey that you go through in the NFL season, and like I’ve said multiple times before, the idea is to be your best selves and continue to grow and learn from certain things as you’re put in different situations. That was a — we had the mentality of our team tested. I think you’d be hard pressed to say that our guys have ever put forth as much effort and commitment into the game of football as they are currently right now, and when you are falling way short of that for half of football, you learn a lot about people. My lesson is positive. I think from my perspective, as bad — there’s a lot of this game that it’s going to be hard for me to sleep on the flight home, and it’s going to be a long time until we play our next game, but I will say that of all things, my first and foremost takeaway from the game is a multitude of things I can do better, but overall very satisfied with the way that our team handled stress. That’s not a horrendous thing, either. You learn a lot — sometimes you learn the most with losses. You hate that it has to go that way. But I’m very, very confident in our team’s commitment to each other, and I’m very confident that we will get better just as our practices and our attention to detail has drastically improved since the Buffalo game. These are hard lessons, but they’re real in the NFL, and you have to be able to take in the pain and push it towards future joy if you’re trying to be worth anything.
Q. Along those lines, we know the narrative about this team is (inaudible) against elite contenders.
MIKE MCDANIEL: You know, just that the overall mental fortitude of the collection of individuals, their commitment to this season and this organization and this team, and they show me every day. This is something that I think we’re all very aware, and we knew going into the game that if we’re going to lose what the narrative would be, and that’s fair. We shouldn’t feel entitled to high opinions from the masses. We have to earn that confidence, and we have to earn every — it also gives me a ton of confidence because I know that NFL games, each and every one of them, is tough. I think people undervalue poor records. It is hard to win in this league. To win in any right against any opponent is something not to take for granted. As long as you continue to get better, ultimately that narrative will subside. But that’s on us collectively from coaches and players alike to — if you want the narrative to change, change the narrative.
Q. How important is perimeter blocking?
MIKE MCDANIEL: I mean, for all the high opinions of the — and really all the statistical — all of the positive things we do in the run game is attributed to a lot of things, but one of the most important things is how we have attention to detail on the perimeter, and teams when you have success getting the edge of the defense, they’re very aware. They get paid, too. So, they’ll present different problems that sometimes are new to your team. Working through those is a huge part of being a successful offense and a successful team. You know that people are going to address how you stress defenses in general, so you know that there’s going to be something. The key is that you continue to build — you continue to really progress and build knowledge of your own system when people present new problems. I think hats off to the Kansas City Chiefs’ defense. They came to play. They were very, very competitive. They gave us some problems that we had to work through. I thought we did a solid job of that as the game went on, and we gave — I called more runs, and we got to work through those problems. I would say that’s been a strength of ours, and I think I was proud of how the guys — you always want to see a progression during the game. You want to see you finish the game in every phase better than you started, and that’s something to build upon as we progress through the season.
Q. How was your defense able to affect Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce?
MIKE MCDANIEL: I thought they had a very good plan. I was very, very proud — just we approached the game as a team, ready for the Super Bowl champions and understanding that we were going to have to be — that they were going to have some success. But the biggest thing is I didn’t want to see people waver, and wow, did we get tested with that. I think the biggest thing is we didn’t let the first drive, knowing that historically the Kansas City Chiefs, led by [head coach] Andy Reid, have always been very, very good at presenting new problems and new issues, specifically in the openers, and so when you — just handling that storm, to have seven points given up by the defense after that first drive, that’s the huge thing that I’m really, really encouraged by our mental fortitude, because I know as the season progresses, these games get bigger and bigger, so you have to be able to sustain things or you have to be able to survive situations where you’re going to get presented with new problems in game and adjust, and I thought we did a great job with that, and I thought we were very competitive in re-routes. I thought we played team defense as I would expect, and guys when they were at the point of attack with Travis, they were executing their fundamentals and technique. That will always be our calling card in all three phases, and it’s something that I look forward to continuing to improve on in the bye week for the second half of the season.
Q. (Inaudible) what does that say about your quarterback?
MIKE MCDANIEL: It gives you a chance to do — to maximize what you have as a team and do something special with your season. I think everybody in the locker room knows it’s not on his shoulders. They know that for a fact. But all that does with a leader and a captain and the starting quarterback of your team, when he’s over-the-top accountable for everything that he does, how does it not snowball for the rest of the team. It sets the standard for how we look at, how each one of us looks at our jobs. I think you see a lot of teammates really fight for their starting quarterback, and that’s exactly why, because he never is looking to point the finger at anyone else, and he puts a lot on his shoulders. I know that, so I have to do a better job keeping some of that stuff off of him because all he wants to do is perform for his teammates and be the guy that we all believe in. Like I said, all of his teammates could have told you he was going to come in and say that, and they all know that that is why we love him so much, and that’s why he will continue to get better at everything he does, because he doesn’t look for an out.
Q. (Inaudible).
MIKE MCDANIEL: I don’t really have any information on it. I was encouraged when I was out there on the field for something super severe, but we’ll have to get some more information on that one.
