Ndamukong Suh – December 7, 2017
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Monday, December 7, 2017
DT Ndamukong Suh
(What’s the key to stopping that running game of New England’s? They got 196 rushing yards on you last time.) – “Yes, it was way too many running yards for anybody. We’ve just got to find ways to execute. I think when we went back and watched the film, it came down to tackling as well as execution.”
(What do you say to Patriots QB Tom Brady when you’re lying on top of him?) – “(laughter) Since I’m not much of a talker…”
(Do you make an exception in that case?) – “I usually don’t like going to the ground. I like inflicting pain and then going about my business and getting ready for the next play. I usually try to not stay on the ground (and) hop up quick.”
(Do you have to be careful? You don’t want to make Patriots QB Tom Brady mad, right?) – “I’d love to make him mad. My job is to piss him off and have him yelling at his offensive linemen for not blocking me, his coach and everybody on the sideline. That’s my job.”
(That’s the thing you guys really have to do, in all seriousness right? You’ve got to make him uncomfortable?) – “Yes, no question. Uncomfortable (and) off his spot. We know he likes to drop back and throw comfortably and have this nice pocket; but my sole job is to disrupt that at all costs.”
(When was the last time you saw that? When is the last time you created something where you saw there was some frustration from Patriots QB Tom Brady?) – “I think the last game we played them, we had some good hits on him and understood what they wanted to do. Personally, I can reach back to some times in Detroit where they actually pulled him from a game. (It was) a preseason game, so maybe it wasn’t that important; but it was important for us just to get a gauge to see where we were at. I’ve had some success against him.”
(The eight hits on Patriots QB Tom Brady last time, what does that tell you about the pass rush and what effect do you think it had on him and the game?) – “I think it was good in the pass rush concept but when we look at the run game, we didn’t do so hot there. I think they stuck with that and we have to eliminate that. I think when we eliminate both of those pieces and they’re not successful on both sides of the running and pass game, that’s when we’ll find ourselves successful.”
(How do you feel about taking days off from practice? Does it bother you when you have to do that, that you can’t be out there with everybody else?) – “It’s not really my decision. When I look at it, I understand why they have me do it; but then I also look at it from the standpoint that I wasn’t wired that way, to take days off. It’s not something that I’m used to, especially over my career. I think prior to – I want to say last year or something of that nature – I had only missed one practice due to being sick. I had, unfortunately, the flu in 2014.”
(That’s why I was curious about it though because you don’t seem like someone that would want to take a day off; but you also seem like someone who could understand the value of it. So I just wonder how much internal wrestling is there with you on a day like today, for example?) – “As I said, it’s not my decision. I take orders and I’m a good lieutenant or whatever you want to call it. How I look at it is it’s not my decision. I take it in stride. I’m not wired to take days off. I wasn’t built that way mentally or physically; but I do understand the importance of it and just roll with the punches.”
(Is that something that when you’re done playing, you’ll look back and say ‘Okay, I see why.’ Is it hard to do it as a guy that’s in it right now?) – “No, no, no. I can see it now, for sure. I see it with my trainer, I see it with the coaching staff and there’s other reasons as well; but it’s not like I’m getting the entire day off and I get to be at home. (laughter) I’ve got plenty of work and things that I can do and study. It gives me an opportunity to learn it from a mental standpoint. I think prior to being in the pros, the biggest way I learned and advanced myself in this game is that I was out during spring ball. I had a torn ACL, so I had to sit on the sidelines and learn the game from there, and I think it served me right.”
(Head Coach Adam Gase spoke really highly of DT Jordan Phillips today. What are you seeing from him both on the field and attitude wise?) – “I think Jordan understands his role and I think he’s understanding, really, his whole overall ability as a player; and he’s growing into that. I think the best thing for him is to just stay consistent. I think he understands the attitude he has and the effect he has on this team and how he can be a dominant force.”
(Having said that, how terrible was that sack dance that DT Jordan Phillips did?) – “(laughter) I didn’t see much of the sack dance, but I saw a lot of excitement from Jordan. It’s always good to see a young guy like that get sacks and make plays. You’re obviously happen for your line mates.”
(You guys didn’t run that dance back and forth on the film?) – “(laughter) We didn’t run it back and forth on film.”
(What about the TE Julius Thomas touchdown dance?) – “That was beautiful. (laughter) It was a great display of riding a Bronco, to say the least. (laughter)”
(You could tell right away that’s what it was?) – “(laughter) Yes.”
(You immediately knew that’s what it is, just riding a Bronco?) – “(laughter) Immediately. Just riding a Bronco.”
(The Pro Bowl announcements are coming up fairly soon. I was wondering how much interest you have in that still at this point and whether that means anything to you.) – “I’d sit here and lie to you if I didn’t say I was interested in it. I hope you voted, to say the least. You’re always curious to see how things pan out. I’m happy to see other guys make the Pro Bowl. I’m happy to see guys like Cam Wake and Reshad Jones and many other guys – (Mike) Pouncey – on this team make the Pro Bowl and be successful and get accolades for it.”
(Does the event itself, going to Orlando, have any appeal to you still at this point?) – “Yes, why not? It’s just up the road. It was obviously great when it was in Hawaii. I got to take that trip over there; but Orlando, I’ve had fun up in Orlando plenty of times. There’s some cool things that I know in Orlando that I could be a part of outside of just playing football and being in that game.”
(So if you were selected to the Pro Bowl this year, you would intend to go?) – “Yes, I would. I would have went last year if I didn’t have the situation that I had physically. It’s always my goal to go out there if I was graciously enough to be selected to it and participate in it.”
(What part do you like the best about being around all of the players from other teams from around the league?) – “I enjoy it. I think the biggest interactions that I enjoy is going against the other guys and being around them, at my similar position. I think one of the most fun times I had was interacting with like Philip Rivers and guys like that, where most of the time we’re at each other’s throats and trying to combat each other but everything is just fun living there (at the Pro Bowl). That’s how I kind of look at it.”
(Has Patriots QB Tom Brady ever said anything interesting to you when you’re engaged, after a big hit, or anything funny? How does he react?) – “No. He hasn’t really said much at all to me. I’d love to sit down with him.”
(How well do you know Patriots QB Tom Brady?) – “I don’t know him at all. Maybe you can create that. (laughter) You seem like you have all of the connections over there.”
Jay Cutler – December 7, 2017
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Thursday, December 7, 2017
QB Jay Cutler
(From a physical standpoint, how taxing has the year been on you? Does your body feel it?) – “I had two weeks off (with) the injury. I feel good. I think the offensive line has done a good job. (Head Coach) Adam (Gase) has done a good job calling plays and trying as much as he can to keep the quarterbacks upright.”
(As you watch tape, it’s clear the run blocking seemingly has been better recently. Anything you attribute that to? Do you like the way G/T Jesse Davis and C/G Ted Larsen are playing? Anything you’d point to?) – “I think the guys are playing well upfront. I think we’re starting to kind of get in a rhythm with Adam (Gase) and ‘Kup’ (Assistant Offensive Line Coach Chris Kuper) and ‘Guge’ (Senior Offensive Assistant Dave DeGuglielmo) and all the coaches kind of coming together. Anytime I think you go through what we go through, there’s going to be a little bit of a transition period of everyone figuring out roles and stuff.”
(What’s you approach when you see an individual receiver – like WR DeVante Parker has lately – kind of struggling? Do you take a little initiative on yourself to get him going in a game or do you talk to him at all during the week? Is there anything you do to try to help him?) – “Both. I think we challenge him. We encourage him. We try to feed him balls out there. We’ve just got to get him believing in himself and using his talents. He’s an immensely talented dude. He’s a good kid. He wants to do it right. It’s just finding ways to keep him confident and eager to go.”
(Have you had enough time with WR DeVante Parker where you feel like you kind of know how to get through to him?) – “Yes. He’s very approachable. He’s not a confrontational dude. There’s no real big ego there. He just wants to do it right and he wants to be a good to great player. We’ve just got to help him along.”
(So which is it? Do you try to challenge him or…) – “Both. Everything. We throw everything we can at him. I think challenge him after the game. We’ve been encouraging him today. We force fed him some balls a little bit to get him going. It’s going to come. It’s not something that I think won’t happen for him. It’s not something (where) I think he’s playing bad. You just look at him and I know he wants more and we want more. We’ve just got to keep encouraging him down that right path.”
(What’s different about a Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick defense?) – “I think it’s the whole team in general. It’s a very, very smart team. (They are) situationally aware. They do things the right way. I think they tackle well on defense. Their assignments are on point. I think he’s notoriously taken away your number one receiver. He makes you get to two and three. (He) makes you do things that are maybe a little bit out of your comfort zone. I think they do a really good job of keeping things in front of them, making offenses go the long road – three, four or five first downs – to score. We’ve just got to figure it out.”
(When you talk about they take away the number one receiver, I know one of their things is they usually figure out something that they want to take away. Is there any way that you can prepare for that coming into the game?) – “I think for us, if you want to take away … Who do you want to take away? I think we’ve got some guys who mix it up enough. ‘Juice’ (Jarvis Landry) is obviously … I think he’s up there in the league in catches; but Kenny (Stills) had a big game last week. ‘Juls’ (Julius Thomas), we’re starting to get him the ball a little bit more. We’ve got running backs coming out of the backfield catching the ball. We mix it up. I think Adam has done a good job with doing that.”
(For a guy who has been in the league a while, you haven’t played this team very much. What does that make this week like for you?) – “It’s a game. It’s a game both sides want to win. We’re in December, so these games count quite a bit.”
(For prepping for them and being into what they’re all about, have there been any surprises as you look at them and see?) – “No.”
(From what Head Coach Adam Gase was saying, it’s difficult because … It sounded like basically what he was saying was there’s no reference point for them. You don’t know what to expect because you get a different version of them defensively all the time.) – “You can’t say, ‘Hey, they’re a Cover 2 team,’ or, ‘Hey, they’re a 3-4 Buzz team.’ That’s not who they are. They’re going to play whatever defense they think gives them the best chance to win. It could be different every week. It could be different this week than what we saw two weeks ago.”
(Is that unique in the league?) – “I think there are probably a couple of guys that do it out there. Obviously, no one has done it as well as Bill (Belichick) and the Patriots have.”
(Has the fact that TE Julius Thomas has had more success in in the red zone, has it been a function of you guys working together more? Has it been a conscious attempt by Head Coach Adam Gase to get him more involved in the red zone?) – “I think it has just kind of worked out that way. Some of the defenses we’ve seen, he has made some plays for us. It’s just kind of a product of the offense and how things have played out for us.”
(You guys are averaging 25 points a game in Hard Rock Stadium. All good execution or is there anything to being at home, playing at home?) – “It’s my first year with this team, so I think that’s kind of hard for me to give you an accurate answer. I don’t know what they, what everyone did at home last year here. It seems like we’re comfortable here. We like our schedule here. Hopefully we can keep playing well.”
(You had either minimal or no relationship with any of the receivers here when you came in. What have you found WR Jarvis Landry to be?) – “In regards to?”
(In regards to a teammate, a receiver for you, an option when things are breaking bad?) – “He’s a guy that I’d want to play with year in, year out. I think he’s a heck of a teammate. I think he plays extremely, extremely hard. He’s smart. He’s tough. When things break down, he’s going to make plays for you. Whenever you get in the fourth quarter, he wants the ball. He’s going to make plays for you. He’s got a lot of production in this offense. For him as kind of a slot guy, not playing outside as much as some of the other guys throughout the league, it’s a lot of balls. It’s a lot of production he has had here.”
Kenyan Drake – December 7, 2017
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Thursday, December 7, 2017
RB Kenyan Drake
(What does your body feel like after that workload and what did you do to help it recover?) – “I just know it’s never going to feel as bad in a loss than a win, so I feel great in that aspect. I was pretty sore after the game; but it’s all about being diligent, so I just try to go get in the hot tub and cold tub, work with (Sports Performance Director) Wayne Diesel, our sports scientist. They do a great job trying to get everybody back on the field as fast as possible, so I just try to follow their lead and they help me get to where I need to be.”
(So 23 carries on Monday Night, are you up for that?) – “I’m up for whatever they put on my plate. Whatever helps this team win.”
(If you had to criticize yourself for what you put on the field, what would that criticism be?) – “I got (winded) a little bit earlier in the game, just because I didn’t catch my second wind earlier, so some of the routes when I came out of the backfield weren’t really crisp and full speed. I try to pride myself on having a high motor and going full speed, down-in and down-out, so I was a little disappointed seeing I put that on the film. So that’s something I’m going to try to work on this game.”
(The first thing people will mention, obviously, around the league when they talk about you is speed, but you’ve obviously shown you can break tackles and you’re a physical runner between the tackles. Is that a part of your game you think some people would be surprised about who haven’t seen you a lot?) – “I think anybody, if look at my physique and they look at my track record, they probably have some type of preconceived notions about me, whatever the case may be; but I just try to go out there and put my best foot forward and whatever you all say about me, whatever anybody says about me, that’s what they say. I just try to be my best player.”
(Were you curious before the game to see how you would react to a 20-plus carry game?) – “I for sure was. I felt like as the game went on, I kind of got stronger, especially with the o-line. They got stronger. Everybody just got stronger as the game went on and I feel like it was fed through the special teams playing well. Jakeem (Grant) did a great job with putting us in great field position after all the punt (returns) that he had. The kickoff return team, everybody played a part in it. Everybody just got stronger as the game went on.”
(I know you mentioned to us right after RB Jay Ajayi was traded that you don’t look at this as a seven-game audition to be a lead back; but your body of work is obviously going to be taken into account by the management here. Are you pleased with what you’ve put on tape to this point?) – “Like I said, I’m just here to help this team win games. At the end of the day, whatever assessment they decide to make with my body of work or the team’s body of work in general, that’s them. I’m here to play football and help this team win games.”
(But you have to look at this as a situation to become a starter. Even in Alabama, I don’t know if you ever felt like you got a real opportunity to be a number one back. This is your chance. Do you not look at it like that?) – “I look at it as a situation that we’re 5-7 right now and we’ve got the hottest team coming into our stadium on Monday Night Football. It’s a great chance for us to make a statement to the rest of the league that we’re not down and out. We’re ready to continue fighting the rest of this season and make a playoff push at the end of this year.”
(I know you’re part of special teams. How much of the room gave grief to S Michael Thomas for not picking up that blocked punt and running it in?) – “(laughter) You can’t forget about Walt (Aikens) because he tried to dive for it when he should have just let it bounce and pick it up and run it in. In any situation when there’s green grass in front of you, you just have to keep your composure. We got on them a little bit, but we were happy that (Terrence) Fede got that block. At the end of the day, everybody does their job as well as possible, so you can’t give them too much grief. It was a high pressure situation.”
(Earlier today, Head Coach Adam Gase was talking to us about before they drafted you, what you said to him about, ‘Even if I become the feature back, would I still get a chance to return kickoffs?’ Why is it that important to you?) – “I try to just harp on it every time I talk to you all. I want to help this team any way possible, whether that’s special teams, offense, whatever the case may be. Any time I feel like I can get extra touches, whether that’s kickoff return, punt return or even running down the field and making an impact play on kickoff (coverage), I’m all for it. I want to be a great football player, not just a great running back.”
(So even now with a game like last week with 23 carries, you would still be up for returning kicks?) – “Yes, if they ask me to go in there, whatever the case may be. If they call my number, I’m going to be prepared to step up and play in any situation.”
(Do you think your speed surprises defenders? I know they hear you’re fast, but do you think it surprises them in game?) – “Yes, because I’m not, once I get into the open field, I’m not too much with making too many cuts. I always feel like the number one priority is getting in the end zone, so I’m going to run as fast as I can until I get to that point. I’m not going to showboat, I’m not going to try to slow down, do whatever the case may be. I’m going to try to get in the end zone as fast as possible. I feel like it’s a 100-meter dash every time I get the ball. That’s my whole mentality.”
Adam Gase – December 7, 2017
Monday, December 7, 2017
Head Coach Adam Gase
(With the first game you played the Patriots, obviously it was two weeks ago, what in that game that you like that you think you can build on? I’m not talking game plan-wise but obviously what did you see from that first matchup that you said okay I like this?) – “I think there were some stretches where we did a good job of executing things to where it either made it very difficult for them offensively or we moved the ball on a few series the way that we were looking to move the ball. We just didn’t do it very consistently. So we’re able to at least pulse really kind of the mistakes we’ve made, and really for us it’s about not duplicating those and not putting ourselves in a bad position, which I thought we’ve done all three times over the last two years where we get behind and it’s the wrong team to get behind as much as we have.”
(Following up on my question. Obviously I’ve talked to you about how difficult it is to play the Patriots because they just pretty much force you to play perfect. Are there any other teams that do that? I know everybody wants to do that but have there been other teams that put pressure on you to play a perfect game and when you do have that pressure, how difficult is it on players?) – “I think anytime you play a team that has – and there’s not a lot of them, not a lot of them left it seems like; the guys are either getting older or they’ve retired – but the guys that have the Hall of Fame quarterbacks, it makes it very hard. New Orleans obviously right now is rolling pretty good. A game, looking back at it, we were playing it well enough defensively and we just didn’t really match it offensively. When you play a team like Green Bay with Aaron (Rodgers), that makes it to where there’s not much room for error. Just being in that division and playing those guys two times and seeing him play when he was younger, it was even tough then. You have to … you can’t give them free possessions and you’ve got to make every one count. You can’t turn the ball over. You can’t have a special teams error to where you’re giving a guy like Tom Brady an extra possession.”
(Your three primetime games prior have been some of your worst performances this season. Can you put a finger on why and have you put any thought into the switching up the game plan going into this fourth one?) – “It’s hard to really put a finger on exactly why. Usually when you’re playing in those games, you’re playing good teams. They’re not going to just have you play anybody. We’ve played some … playing at Baltimore has never been easy and at Carolina, and then we had Oakland here. It was a game where we’re right in the mix and we didn’t do it well enough there at the end of the game on either side of the ball to help us get a win. I’d say two of those games weren’t the kind of performances that we want. The slightest error puts you in a bad place, and really the Baltimore game stands out on its own as we did not play well in any phase. Carolina, we’re right there right at the end of the half and then it just kind of snowballed on us.”
(How were the Patriots able to sack your quarterback seven times when they’re not really a ‘get after the quarterback’ type team?) – “They’re a little bit more difficult than people give them credit for. There’s a reason why they haven’t let up more than 17 points since about the fourth week of the season. They force you to get the ball out quick. We had a couple of protection errors. That really put Matt (Moore) in a bad spot where a few times he thought he was good and all of a sudden somebody came free in his face, whether it was o-line, running back, tight end – we all took our turns – play calling. There were a couple of those in there where I didn’t really give him a good chance and kind of put him in a bad spot. We’ve just got to do a better job of making sure that we handle that up front. They make it difficult because those guys, they do a good job game planning. They find your weakness and they try to maximize using the information they have.”
(How different is prepping for the Patriots without TE Rob Gronkowski?) – “It’s still going to be … It’s always difficult because (Patriots Offensive Coordinator) Josh (McDaniels) will do a good job of using the guys that he has and putting them in different positions and really forcing your defense to try to figure out where everybody is. He even did it last time by moving some of those guys around and showing some looks that our guys … You don’t necessarily see that exact formation and he makes you put stress on your defense that way where it’s just a constant adjustment on the sideline. A lot of times, he doesn’t even go … He won’t go back to it. So, you see it one time and then you’ll never see it again. A lot of times you’ve got one shot to try to make a good play. That’s why he’s really good. That’s why they’ve had a lot of success. They have good players; but at the same time, he puts those guys in really good position.”
(They didn’t play a perfect game against you. Their quarterback got hit a lot. They gave up a touchdown on offense. You had a turnover. So is that good news or bad news, because they scored 35 points?) – “Well, it was bad news because we didn’t come through on the other side of the ball. We turned the ball over when we were down in the red area. We didn’t score touchdowns. We have to … When we get our opportunities, we’ve got to make it count, and we didn’t do it last time, for sure. We didn’t play very good complementary football. All three phases we were just one side of the ball did well, then the other side stalled out. We were kind of hit or miss. To have a chance to win this game in the fourth quarter, we have to be on it in all three phases. If we get a short field, we’ve got to take advantage of it. If we get them backed up, we’ve got to try to hold them back there and flip the field position to our advantage. Until we do that, it’s always going to be difficult against these guys. We need to put one together.”
(I was trying to think of a good RB Kenyan Drake comp. I know you had RB Matt Forte in the past. Are there some similarities there or do you even have a better guy?) – “I don’t really have a good comparison. Him and Matt (Forte), really, they’re two different … I can’t speak to when Matt was younger though. I had him when he was like 30. I think Drake has got him on speed a little bit. I know Matt probably won’t like that. I think the versatility of being able to run the ball both inside, outside and be effective in the passing game is probably really as close as you can get to comparing those two. I think Drake is a unique guy. I’ll never forget before we drafted him, one of the first things out of his mouth was, ‘I’m still allowed to play kickoff, right, if I ever become the starter?’ The fact that that’s kind of his mindset, I love that. That special teams, that’s important to him.”
(When you watch the film of RB Kenyan Drake in that first showcase game, where are the areas that you say, ‘I like this, and this needs to improve?’) – “I think just getting used to being on the same page as the line. I think the more reps he gets, the more he understands when he should press the ball up, where he can help our o-line with some of the holding calls. When you have a guy with his ability to jump laterally and really get guys pulled off of the offensive linemen and they don’t expect you to do certain things, that’s where you have that miscommunication. That’s the good and the bad of having a guy with his ability. It’s really going to be reps of just understanding how much he has to press the heels of the offensive line to help them out and keep them on their blocks. I think over time it’s only going to get better. I thought he did a great job with his ball security this last week. I saw a different guy when he got into traffic, making sure that he protected the ball. You just have to keep growing from that. Any time you have a running back that you can count on down-in and down-out to make sure we have the ball at the end of the series, that’s what you’re looking for.”
(Are you expecting either RB Damien Williams or DT Davon Godchaux to practice today?) – “Damien, I would say he’s not going to practice. Godchaux, we’ll see how it’s going. It’s looking like we should have a chance for him to practice today.”
(Where are you at with the quarterback position right now, with QB Matt Moore, particularly?) – “Matt won’t practice today.”
(Is this looking like a long-term thing with QB Matt Moore?) – “Yes, I have to see how he feels after this week.”
(After this week, you said?) – “Yes, he got banged up pretty good.”
(What has LB Stephone Anthony brought to the table since being active?) – “I think he’s a guy that hasn’t really had a lot of opportunities this year. When you get this late in the season and you’ve got a guy that’s really, pretty much, been fresh and waiting for his opportunity, I think you’re seeing a guy that plays with a lot of energy and he’s played before. He (doesn’t have) that many years in the league, but he’s had a season where he was productive and I think he’s excited to be out there. I think it’s good that we can throw some other bodies out there and see how many times we can put him in a position to make plays. I’ve really been impressed with his overall attitude from the get go. It’s not easy sometimes to come in, and you think you’re going to jump right in and be part of it, and you have to wait around a minute. He never wavered. He just kept grinding.”
(From a speed element or athleticism, is there anything that you see there in LB Stephone Anthony that helps him out?) – “Obviously, he has really good speed laterally and he can cover a lot of ground. I always like a guy with that size that has the athletic ability. He really caused us a lot of problems on our side of the ball when he was on the scout team. He really turned a lot of people’s heads. He’d get his hands on a lot of balls. That’s one of the reasons why we wanted to elevate him and make sure that he was playing on Sundays.”
(With DE Charles Harris, do you feel him pressing at all? You say what he does goes beyond the sack numbers, why aren’t those sacks coming though?) – “I’ve said this before, I never really pay attention to sacks. I always look at pass disruptions. How many times are you hitting the quarterback? How many times are you putting pressure on the quarterback where he has to move off the spot and he has to get rid of the ball sooner than he wants to? As long as he keeps doing that, that’s all that really matters to me. Just keep getting better as a young player. I’ve said it before, he’s seeing a lot of things he’s never seen before, in the run game especially. His job is to get better every week and keep finding ways to just create pressure on the quarterback.”
(So you’re pleased with DE Charles Harris’ rookie year then?) – “Yes. I’m not going to complain about what he’s been doing.”
(I think you guys are averaging 25 points per game at Hard Rock Stadium. Is that all about execution or is there something to the comfort and familiarity of home?) – “Every game is kind of its own story, so it’s hard to really correlate anything when it comes to that. I think our guys have done a good job when we’ve played at home, especially the back half of the season, where we’ve moved the ball a little better. We need to eliminate the turnovers. That’s really the thing that’s holding us back. Some of the penalties really hurt us; but there is something when you don’t have to travel. I’m sure guys’ legs feel a little different, but the good teams always find a way to win, whether it’s at home or on the road.”
(When DT Jordan Phillips is at his best – and it looked like on three or four plays in the last game, he just destroyed someone – What challenges does he pose for the opposing offense?) – “He’s a big, athletic guy that when he’s rolling and he starts building confidence, especially early in the game, he’s a hard guy to block because he feels dominant. He feels unstoppable. I think he really brought a great attitude last week. He was a guy that you heard on the sidelines from the get go – the locker room, during the game, halftime. He’s been feeling it the last few games. I think he’s excited that we’re kind of at that part of the season where it’s do or die. We’ve got to get it going and he’s been a guy that’s stepped up and I think he sees what’s going on where some guys are banged up and he’s got to step up, and he’s done that.”
(The 42-yard touchdown by RB Kenyan Drake, was the kind of more of a freelance type deal where it happened off kind of a broken play or did it happen as designed?) – “When we called that play, I didn’t think he was going to do what he did; but when you call those plays … He knew there was going to be one guy unblocked. We kind of set it up that way and he did a good job of setting that guy up and then making him miss, and then the o-line had the rest of those guys taken care of and gave him a big enough crease to where once he got to that second level, he’s a tough guy to catch.”
(How reasonable is it to expect a big play from RB Kenyan Drake every other game?) – “I don’t think it’s unreasonable. I think it just happens. When you’ve got a guy with that much speed and he has the quickness to make guys miss in the open field, it’s something that you hope to expect, especially as his career goes on; but right now, I don’t want him pushing to try to do that. I want to let the play come to you. I think he’s trying to do that.”
Martin Luther King III and Bill Wachtel – December 7, 2017
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Monday, December 7, 2017
Martin Luther King III and Bill Wachtel
Martin Luther King III:
(Do you have any idea … I saw that everybody on the roster is registered to vote. How many do you think will vote at the next opportunity they have?) – “Well, I don’t know that anyone knows that about any person. The hope is that everyone – America, really – we need to vote, quite frankly. Obviously, we as a nation have a dismal track record. We are No. 138 out of 170 nations – democracies around the world – and 137 countries vote at higher levels than we do. At the end of the day, what our hope is – or my hope personally – is that these players will use their social media platforms to share that it is important to vote and encourage others to vote. That means that more than likely, they themselves will vote.”
(How would you describe the challenge of getting everybody signed up?) – “Let me say this, No. 1: I want to let it be known and say first of all that one of the Miami Dolphins players had begun addressing this issue by trying to encourage his colleagues – his players, his team members – to register to vote over a year ago. That’s Kenny Stills. He certainly should be applauded. When we arrived – the Drum Major Institute, Bill Wachtel, myself and others – the goal was to advance that scenario. Certainly, we believe we did that.”
Bill Wachtel:
“I’d also say that it was a matter of one day at the practice session and every single player was actually not only intrigued by the opportunity but to some degree felt gratified that they were in fact participating in this registration effort. If you ask how difficult it was, it was very easy.”
(What’s next for this program? Is this going to expand to other teams?) – “It has already begun expanding not only to other teams in the NFL but also to the NBA and the other leagues. Martin (Luther King III) has been traveling around the country and Martin might even share with them what happened on Monday. You were out at the L.A. Rams?”
Martin Luther King III:
“Yes, we were at the L.A. Rams training camp and actually, we specifically talked to the rookies. About 18 of the rookies, when I talked about the process of registering to vote, a number of them raised their hand and said ‘We’re registered.’ One of the guys who seems to be in leadership said, when the question was raised, ‘How many of you want to register?’ And he said ‘We’re all going to register.’ This is very positive because I think the climate in this country is sort of dictating, to some degree, that more people be engage. Certainly if athletes and entertainers are engaged, more and more people will want to be engaged because they look at them as role models.”
Bill Wachtel:
(Who are the other teams that you set this goal with?) – “I think that (Director of Player Engagement) Kaleb (Thornhill) or (Senior Vice President of Communications & Community Affairs) Jason (Jenkins) may be able to give you a list but we’re working in conjunction with (Owner) Steve (Ross). Obviously, this is all inspired by Steve Ross. It’s his leadership that has caused this all to happen, and his organization RISE (Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality), has on its board the commissioners of every single sports organization from the PGA to the NFL to the MLB to the NHL, including the USOC (U.S. Olympic Committee). The word is getting out. The word is getting out across all leagues, so hopefully by next year’s national registration date, which I think is September 25th, we’re hoping there is a ground swell of support. (Our) fingers (are) crossed. The fact that September 25th, 2018, that on that day we’ll be able to say that not just the Dolphins are a roster of registered voters but that teams through all leagues (are registered). (Our) fingers (are) crossed.”
(Is this the first team with 100 percent registration?) – “In American history, yes.”
(In the major sports?) – “It’s the first professional sports team in the history of America to have a full roster of registered voters.”
(How do you know that?) – “We know that because we’ve spoken to other teams and because we’ve let it be known that that’s the position we intend to take and no one has suggested otherwise.”
Adam Gase – December 4, 2017
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Monday, December 4, 2017
Head Coach Adam Gase
(How is C Mike Pouncey?) – “He’s alright. I think a little bit of it was precautionary. I think I was a little surprised when he came out, but we checked him. He could have went back in the game but we just thought it was probably better for us not to do that.”
(Was it C Mike Pouncey a hamstring?) – “Yes.”
(So it was nothing hip related?) – “No.”
(CB Cordrea Tankersley, how’s he?) – “He’s okay. He was hurting a little bit but we’ll probably take it slow with him this week. We’ll see how quickly we can get him back out there.”
(Why did CB Bobby McCain went to the boundary? I think CB Alterraun Verner went out there first and then Bobby went to the boundary. Alterraun came back in for the nickel. Why Bobby on the boundary?) – “Bobby, I know not a lot of people have seen him play corner too much but he does a really good job out there. We’ve seen him in games play nickel mostly; but he plays corner in practice quite a bit and he’s a challenge for our guys to get open and he does a good job, especially in any of the zone coverages. He has a really good feel there, which obviously with his ability to play nickel, it kind of goes hand and hand when we’re playing zone coverages.”
(I know it’s never easy preparing for the Patriots but how does it change the dynamics playing them so soon after the first game?) – “It’s really you are adding two games – our game versus them and their last one – to really what we already had cut up wise (before the first meeting). A lot of your game plan you can revisit, that you haven’t run, which is nice in the fact that you’ve repped it, so you’re getting reps at the same plays you’ve already been working on versus what they do. The hardest thing is I think it’s hard for either team really to change too much, playing each other so close together, because sometimes when you go the third game and then the 12th game, you can kind of evolve over time. It’s always interesting to kind of play in these games of what each side comes up with as far as scheme-wise.”
(Do you plan on them having TE Rob Gronkowski?) – “I don’t know.”
(Do you game plan?) – “That’s out of my hands. We’re going like he’s going to be there until somebody tells us different.”
(Is there anything with WR Kenny Stills that has clicked or been going better? Is it health?) – “He’s been consistent all year as far as what he’s done. We haven’t always been able to get him the ball. I think some of the issues that we were having earlier as far as pushing the ball down the field, we just didn’t get … Some of the fronts didn’t match up with what we wanted to do protection-wise. We were trying to get the ball out quick early in the season. His game is pushing the ball down the field and trying to get behind defenses and letting him kind of use his speed to his advantage. I think probably the last month or so, we’ve been able to do that just a little bit more.”
(On the flip side, WR Devante Parker has kind of gone the opposite direction.) – “I think we just haven’t been able to get him back in that rhythm, like we had him earlier in the season when he got injured. We’re going to keep working to get his confidence back to where it was. I thought he had a really good week at practice. I was a little bit surprised that we really couldn’t get him going this last game because I really felt going into the game that we had all three guys in a good place, plus the tight ends and the backs. I was really feeling good about it. We just couldn’t get anything to DeVante this last game.”
(There have been times where you said he was doing the right things or maybe he’s not doing the right things. So right now it sounds like you’re saying…?) – “He’s doing the right things. It just didn’t happen for us this last game with him.”
(Was it in the game plan to get RB Kenyan Drake 23 carries? We had gotten the sense during the week that the distribution for that positon may be…) – “We were always going to go in there thinking that we’re not going to have one guy just carry the load. We had some other packages that we were going to try to take a little off him. We weren’t 100 percent on what Senorise (Perry) … You can say a guy is going to be ready to go after coming off a concussion; but once you’re in the protocol, you don’t know how long (it could be) and we have to prepare as though he might not be there. We just made sure that we had a whole bunch of different ways we could get some runs and quick passing game and things like that to try to take a little bit off of Drake. That’s what we were thinking with Jakeem (Grant) was to just try to take one off of Drake in that situation and use some other personnel groupings that we put in there. It was good to really just get Drake going a little bit and let him … He had the safety one-on-one unblocked a couple of times and made him miss and created some explosive plays.”
(You guys are averaging like 23 points over the least five games that correlates with the trade. Is there a connection there that maybe it was a jump start for the offense?) – “It’s hard for me to say. I just know that we’ve been doing things better than what we were doing them earlier. The turnovers we have to minimize. Really, that’s hurting our team probably more than anything. Any kind of fumble we need to prevent. It’s hard for me to get upset about the one interception Chris Harris made. I thought that was just a really good play. Him and Kenny (Stills) … I thought he did a good job on coverage and Jay (Cutler) gave one of our better players a chance and Chris made a great play on the ball.”
(Quick follow up: I guess two years in a row now it took a while for the offense to get going and now it is going. Can you take anything to 2018 how to start quicker?) – “I’m so far away from thinking about 2018; but I understand what you’re saying. Yes, you’re confirming something that I do know. (laughter)”
(You may not have heard, but last night on NBC, Tony Dungy was critical of the onside kick saying it’s not something he would do as a coach in that situation that late with that big of a lead. How do you decide when it’s appropriate and is there a time when it’s not appropriate?) – “You guys have been into … You guys have seen every game we’ve played. It’s not like we’ve been dominating, and we haven’t had big leads. I think the whole point of that was for our guys to understand that we have to play 60 minutes every week and we have to play that game like it is 0-0 for 60 minutes. That was the biggest point that I wanted to make to our guys, that we’re going to be aggressive the entire time. That’s the mentality I want our guys to have. That’s why those guys on the other sideline – those offensive players – they know where my mind is at for an entire game. They’ve been through it with me before.”
(Two things about T Laremy Tunsil: What did the tape show on his block on the 42-yard run? And generally, has he been picking up his game the last few weeks?) – “I think he has played better. He has had … His practice habits keep getting better each week. I think he’s understanding the bigger picture, which is really for a young player, you’re looking for that improvement week in and week out. He is one of those guys where you can really see what we have as far as talent-wise. We just need to keep bringing him along. He needs to keep maturing as a player. I think he’s heading in that direction. The sooner that he gets to a level to where we consistently see a dominant player, that’s really what we’re striving to do. I know he’s trying to do the same thing. I’ve seen a different look in his eye the last three or four weeks of kind of lightbulbs going off as far as understanding everything as a whole. It’s not always easy. You get into that trend of, ‘I’m supposed to block this guy,’ instead of conceptually thinking, and I think it’s really making sense to him more as the season is going on.”
(DE Terrence Fede showed you stuff inside, outside and special teams. Why does it take the DT Davon Godchaux and DE William Hayes injuries for him to …?) – “We’ve been trying to mix him in, really … Any game he has ever been up, he has been effective in all of our special teams stuff. He has caused a lot of teams problems, especially when they’re punting. There are a lot of times where you see him getting dragged to the ground and we either get a call or we don’t; but he’s causing problems where guys are really … He’s affecting multiple guys on the punt team. It was good to see him get through and get one. And on defense, especially this last month, he has really been all over the place and done a good job. Any time he steps on the field, it’s max effort. Really, that’s kind of his role. It’s to be the guy that can go inside, outside, play special teams, be energy on the sideline. He has embraced his role for what he has to do for us. That group is really deep. It’s not easy to get on the field, and I think he just keeps doing what we ask him to do.”
(Was DT Davon Godchaux close to playing on Sunday?) – “Yes, that was a little, we kind of got surprised on that one heading into Friday. I think it just got to the point where we wanted to have a clear picture of what we were going to do on Sunday. That’s a big deal when we didn’t have him, basically giving ‘T’ (Defensive Line Coach Terrell Willliams) a chance to figure out how we’re going to play this game.”
(Is TE Julius Thomas having a good season or not having a good season, and why?) – “I see it differently than it seems like everybody else does. He’s done everything I’ve asked him to do. There’s been situations where I’ve called plays for him and we haven’t been able to get the ball to him, whether it be by coverage or the ball didn’t go there for whatever reason. When we’ve asked him to do things in the running game, he’s given me max effort. He’s been there every day for us in practice and in games. Would I love him to have 12 touchdowns? Sure. We haven’t really had that many (red zone) snaps until the last five games That’s where he’s made his money. I think he’s had the third most touchdown catches in the NFL in the last, since 2013 or something like that. He’s done exactly what we’ve asked. Yesterday was a good example. That’s a big play. We wanted to get up. He’s the first guy I went to.”
(When you watch the film on TE Julius Thomas from yesterday, that touchdown celebration, I don’t know man. Did you sign off on that like that was good?) – “If there’s any touchdown celebration practice going on, I’m not seeing it. I haven’t seen them do it around me.”
(It was there on the film on display. You couldn’t have missed it.) – “No, I know. I saw it. I’m not really sure what it was. (laughter) I just always look for flags, if there’s any flags that are going to come out.”
(DE Cameron Malveaux got a lot of snaps yesterday. I’m not sure if he ended up with a tackle, but a lot of snaps. He must have done something right, I guess?) – “Just to get him up was great. He’s been a guy that has helped us get better on offense. The way that he’s gone about practicing on scout team, it’s game day for him every day he’s out there. He’s really pushed those offensive linemen, that’s what you want guys to do. That whole defense – that scout team defense – they make it challenging for the offense. I feel like that’s one of the reasons why we’ve at least made some strides in the positive direction. He’s caught the eye of a lot of coaches. When we had a chance to bring him up, I don’t think there was anybody in disagreement. We were all excited to see him play.”
(Since you have stopped by the training room today, RB Damien Williams and G/T Jermon Bushrod, are those looking like more long-term issues?) – “I think ‘Bush’ has got, we’ve got a chance to get him out there and maybe see where he’s at, possibly in practice and we’ll see how deep it goes into the week. Damien, we’ll see. It’s really getting to a point of how much pain he’s going to be in and how much range of motion does he have? We’re just going to keep working into the week and we’ll wait until closer to game day to figure out where they are, status-wise. I know they’re both getting better. It’d be great to get them both back, but I just don’t know, realistically, what our chances are. It’s got to get deeper in the week.”
(Is RB Damien Williams medically cleared to play if he feels like he can function?) – “If you ask him, he’ll say yes; but I think we’re going to be careful, because the last thing we need is something else to happen or he’s not completely ready to go to where he takes one hit and now we’re right back where we started.”
(With G/T Jermon Bushrod’s injury situation, would it be hard to get G/T Jesse Davis out of the lineup because he’s been playing well?) – “Yes, I feel like both of those guys (Davis and Sam Young) have been playing well on the right side. They did a good job yesterday. We’ve got some chemistry there. ‘Bush’ had done a lot of good things leading up to his injury. Some games we’ve had good matchups for him and some games it’s been tough. If you play a team like Tampa, it becomes difficult. First of all, I want to get him healthy before we make any kind of decision. That’s just one of those things. We tell our guys, ‘You just keep playing until somebody tells you different. Don’t worry about who could possibly replace (you).’ If you start thinking down that road, it does you no good.”
(If I could take you back to TE Julius Thomas for a second, his speed has never been quick speed. It’s been this locomotive speed that takes a while. Does he still reach that same speed at the end of that long run?) – “Yes, because we see it in practice. There will be times where we do stretch him down the field when we’re outside the red zone. A lot of times DBs think they have him covered and all of a sudden he pulls away and then he really pulls away. That’s kind of been one of his things where people don’t think he’s very fast and then he builds up his speed and he’s a tough guy to bring down and he’s a tough guy to catch.”
(So TE Julius Thomas hasn’t dropped off the table?) – “I haven’t seen that. I haven’t seen that. We haven’t really had that … A couple of those opportunities that we’ve had, it’s been on a corner and then the quarterback goes somewhere else with the ball. I wish I could get him more in space and see if we could get him turned loose a little bit and some green grass but we haven’t had those opportunities.”
(One more thing on TE Julius Thomas, he could get the second-highest receptions and second-highest yards in his career this year. He could challenge those. Do stats mean anything to you when you look at his season, his performance?) – “No. I don’t even know where stats are the majority of the time. I think 2013 is the only time where anybody kept updating me every week on what was going on. This year, if you told me what everybody had, I’d have no clue. I just keep trying to spread it out to as many guys as possible and make it tough for the defense to figure out where the ball is going. Jarvis (Landry) is a magnet. It just seems like the ball finds him more than anything. We just keep trying to keep as many guys mixed into the equation as possible.”
(How competitive do you think things have been in the three games against New England? The first game last year was kind of interesting and then they won pretty decisively here. Last game, it’s kind of up for interpretation I think.) – “We’ve spotted them … We’ve started slow in all three games. I think it’s really hard to challenge them the way you need to challenge them if you’re down 21, 14, 20 (points) before you even get going. They’re a hard enough team to play when it’s close; and now all of a sudden you give them a big lead and you’re trying to say ‘Hey, we’ve got to score every drive and then we have to stop them.’ That’s a tough thing to do. We need to do a better job of being competitive early and try to see how long we stay tight with them. That’s when you have to go try and win in the fourth quarter. There’s not too many times where you see teams get a lead and keep a lead for the entirety of the game. To beat them, it’s going to be close; and you’ve got to keep it close and then in the fourth quarter you have to make plays to beat them.”
(So you feel like you guys have competed well against them?) – “I feel like we’ve made some mistakes that have hurt us – extremely hurt us – especially early in the game; and then I think once we get into the game, we compete better with them and put ourselves in some positions where at least we have a chance. That first one would be a good example. This last one, we’re down by 11 and our defense does a good job of getting the ball back and there’s a lot of time left in the fourth quarter and that first play, we let up a sack. We didn’t really give ourselves a chance to see what could have happened on that drive.”
(Based on what you said about starting … not falling behind. Why do so many teams, including your team, give Patriots QB Tom Brady the ball first?) – “Well, if we take the ball, you know what’s going to happen at the end of the half right? They’re going to have six minutes left, they’re going to use all of the clock, and then they’re going to get the ball (again) and we’ll be on the sideline and they’ve got a chance to have two scores without us touching the ball. Our defense went three-and-out last time, and we got caught on a fake punt. That’s a prime example of everybody has to do their job. We’ve got to be where we’re supposed to be and when we do have a … It’s complementary football. It’s what they do best. We have to do a better job of it. If we get a three-and-out, we can’t allow a fake punt. That’s where we need to be better.”
(Eight hits on Patriots QB Tom Brady two weeks ago and seven on Broncos QB Trevor Siemian yesterday. What is the pass rush showing you and what is it doing?) – “I think they’re really trying to work together instead of one guy just trying to make a play. I think that’s really … They’ve kind of gone back to how we started the season where that whole group is just trying to play team defense. I think that’s helped us a lot. Tom is a tough guy to get around. You have to do a great job in coverage to give the line a chance and you better win quickly. It doesn’t work, especially if it’s a four-man rush, if those four guys aren’t working together. I think they’re trying to do a better job. I know they’ve been practicing the way we need them to practice to give us a chance on Sunday and the good thing is we’ve got another opportunity on Monday to try to play the right way against New England.”
Cameron Wake – December 3, 2017 (Postgame)
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Sunday, December 3, 2017
Postgame – Denver Broncos
Miami Dolphins DE Cameron Wake (transcribed by Ted Leshinski)
(For a long time we’ve talked about complete games and players’ desire to play complete games. Where does this game rank on that scale?) – “I’d like to think that that was 60 minutes, complementary. Words I’ve used in the past where defense is doing what they’re supposed to – getting the ball to the offense. They’re the ones putting points down. And obviously special teams is helping on both sides. That’s what we’ve been working at doing, and I think today we came out and did it.”
(TE Julius Thomas was saying that you finally wanted to have a game that felt like a party, he said, on your sideline. Did it feel like that to you: a game where you weren’t living and dying on every single possession?) – “It was a lot of fun, I’ll tell you that. I think whenever you make plays and guys are getting excited and celebrating and getting that energy and it’s contagious from one guy to the next, that’s the way you want things to be. The only way to do that that is to play complementary football, that contagious emotion and big-play mentality on everybody from special teams, offense, defense. If you want to call it a party, it’s a party.”
(How did it feel within the defensive line? You looked a lot more destructive than you’ve been.) – “Even still, we had a few plays we left out there, a couple of things we could’ve done better. But I think for the most part guys were playing together. As a d-line you have to play with the guys to your left and your right to be successful, and that’s another thing that we had a couple of issues with in the past. Again, today I think for the most part we succeed.”
(Field position, you guys seemed like the entire second half the offense was getting the ball at or near midfield, because you forced them to punt, forced them back into long punt situations. It certainly has got to feel good to put your offense in situations like that and give them the short field.) – “Well definitely. That’s something that, again, we work on is obviously playing together. When we get out there we can flip the field, or if they can flip the field, either way, giving each other the opportunity to go and be successful on the next drive. And even for a while they were on the field for I think three possessions in a row, because of the things that they did, whether it was special teams or offense. Again, playing together and helping each other out to make sure that we’re successful next time whoever it is, offense or defense, takes the field.”
(Is this enough for you to get motivated for next week in another big game against a very good football team that you just saw last week? Can you ride this into that game?) – “I think as far as I’m concerned it’s a game that you’re going to enjoy tonight. Tomorrow you’ve got to hit the reset button and get back to work. The way I work, obviously, whether you win or lose, you get 24 hours to celebrate or 24 hours to pout and then you have to move on. Obviously, next week is going to be a different game. Last time we played them, I feel like we did some things that maybe were a little bit uncharacteristic that allowed those guys to be successful. We’ve got to fix those things moving forward. We enjoy it and we’ll have fun and everybody’s patting themselves on the back but tomorrow at this time it’s time to move on and get back to work to make sure you have the same feeling again next Tuesday.”
(When you play at this level, this high level, does it make you make you wonder, “Well, why can’t we do this more often? Why can’t we do this more consistently?”) – “That has always been, as many times as I spoken, that’s more frustrating than never being able to do it in the first place. If we were a defense that just could never stop the run you would accept it, ‘Hey, listen, we can’t stop the run. We never do it. Let’s figure out a way to win despite that.’ But obviously, we can show some days we can stop the run, and then you don’t. Then you pass rush, then you don’t. And then you can score points, and then you don’t. That is frustrating. But at the same time knowing that the ability’s there, that’s encouraging, too. So, to go in and to continue to tap into the positives and I guess the potential, I think that is the rewarding part. We can continue to do that and build more confidence and go out and put a string of games together with that kind of mentality. Who knows?”
(Is the answer just as simple as guys executing their job or is it something much more that we can’t figure out?) – “I don’t think you’re the only ones that don’t figure it out, because we’ve had a few games where it has slipped through our fingers but that pretty much is it. It’s a simple answer, but hard to do. Most things that are very simple aren’t necessarily easy. Just get to the quarterback and sack him, that’s simple but it’s hard to do. Everybody do the right thing every play. Simple answer, but maybe not as hard to execute. Whether it’s this team, next team or the team after that, you can’t shoot yourself in the foot. Anytime you do that – I spoke (about it) before – if you’re fighting against yourself as well as somebody else then you’re at a disadvantage. Again, we’ve got to play together. Do your job – whatever your job is – and the reality is every play, 60 minutes.”
Jordan Phillips – December 3, 2017 (Postgame)
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Sunday, December 3, 2017
Postgame – Denver Broncos
Miami Dolphins DT Jordan Phillips (transcribed by Ken Mendonca)
(What’s been the reason [for your success], do you think?) – “I’m just learning the game. First two years, it was all new to me, pretty much. Finally starting to get comfortable.”
(Seems like you’re having fun, too.) – “Oh, it’s a lot of fun. You see the guys in our room? It’s hard not to have fun in our room.”
(Set on who to count on going forward, not just you, but the team?) – “Yeah, you know we’ve been having great weeks of practice. We’re coming together as a unit, as a team. We can only go up from here.”
