Ndamukong Suh – September 24, 2017 (Postgame)
Download PDF version
Sunday, September 24, 2017
Postgame – New York Jets
Dolphins DT Ndamukong Suh (transcribed by the New York Jets)
On how they Dolphins will get passed this loss…
Just got to go back and watch the film. I’ll probably watch it on the plane. Get prepared. Like you said, we’ve got a short week, then we’ll be on the road, got to go to London. At the end of the day, we just didn’t execute and they capitalized on mistakes. We can’t allow that to happen.
On what surprised him the most about today’s game…
Our lack of execution, especially with understanding exactly what they were going to do on the offensive side of the ball. And really what they did was capitalized on the mistakes that we made. So, that’s probably the biggest disappointment, especially last game where we were in a situation where we couldn’t make mistakes, and whoever made a mistake obviously lost a game. We were kind of in that same situation and we were the ones who made the mistake.
On whether there were any hints leading in this game that the team had an issue…
In my opinion, no. I think what we’ve got to understand is, regardless of what time of year it is, or wherever it is, guys just have to lock in each and every week. Practice is never going to be perfect. We obviously plan to (be) perfect and strive for that but there’s going to be mistakes, just like there are mistakes in games. Understand that we just have to go out there and understand going back to practice and being on a short week, we [have to be] that much more in tune in what we have to get done.
Michael Thomas – September 24, 2017 (Postgame)
Download PDF version
Sunday, September 24, 2017
Postgame – New York Jets
Dolphins S Michael Thomas (transcribed by the New York Jets)
On when he learned Adam Gase and Stephen Ross would join them in locking arms during the national anthem….
I knew immediately after the comments by the president. We didn’t want to have a team meeting about it but we knew it had to be addressed. It was completely different than the meeting we had last year in Seattle. Last year, nobody in the NFL was saying anything publicly supporting us. To see it now and where we are today, you can’t tell me we haven’t made a difference.
On his last communication with Colin Kaepernick…
Probably last year when I took a knee. It’s been a while. We don’t talk often. We “like” each other’s posts on social media and show support that way but we don’t talk every day.
On why he locked arms during the anthem instead of kneeling…
Once we decided as a team to do something, this includes black players and white players saying, “what can we do?” some said they didn’t want to take a knee but wanted to support. Nobody was opposed to locking arms. Some players wanted to take a knee. For me, it was big to have everybody who didn’t support us last year or who might have been against us last year to be with us now. That includes the coaching staff and ownership.
On if locking arms instead of kneeling will lessen criticism…
People are going to criticize regardless. But it does take a little of the heat away because it’s not just one or two players, it’s an entire organization.
On if locking arms during the anthem will last the entire season…
This wasn’t the original plan. This year we were going to focus on what we do in the community. Things change quickly. On Wednesday, we did a piece with Tony Dungy that might air on Sunday Night Football where we said we weren’t going to take a knee this year but work in the community. But Friday night comes, the president makes those comments, and things change. To see the progress and see how many people have joined this conversation is huge.
On his first thoughts after learning about the president’s comments…
It just amazed me that with everything going on in the world, especially in the United States, and this is what you’re concerned about? As a man, a father, an African-American man, as someone in the NFL who you called a “SOB”, I took it personally. But its’ bigger than me. I have a daughter, she must live in this world. I want to make sure she can look at her dad and say he tried to make a change.
Jay Cutler – September 24, 2017 (Postgame)
Download PDF version
Sunday, September 24, 2017
Postgame – New York Jets
Dolphins QB Jay Cutler (transcribed by the New York Jets)
On their offensive difficulties…
I think early on we were in a lot of third-and-longs, which is tough against this defense with the multiple fronts and coverages they were showing us. After that, we got one dimensional and got into a throwing situation. We didn’t help our defense at all and didn’t help ourselves.
On if they were having communication problems early on when they had to call time out…
I’ll take responsibility for that. I’ve got to get everybody set and make sure everybody is on the same page. It can’t happen again. It’s an unfortunate situation there. It put ourselves in third and impossible.
On if communication issues continued throughout the game…
We were passing every play. We’re trying to get everyone lined up. We’re getting a little bit tired because I don’t know how many times we threw the ball there at the end of the game. We just have to do a better job there (in the) first quarter, second quarter of getting first downs and trying to sustain drives.
On his teammates saying the team had a bad week of practice…
I think anytime you go out there and play like that, you’re going to go back and look at what you did at practice and refine some things and change some things and try to get better. That was a good defense we saw, but I believe we’re a good offense. We have a lot of talent. We’ll go and look at this game tomorrow and figure things out and go back to practice. That’s all we can do.
On if the team is road weary…
I don’t know. On one side, you’d say that’s fair and on the other, that’s the NFL. You just have to deal with it. Like you said, we’re not going to make excuses. We felt prepared going into this game. We just laid an egg. We’ve got to figure out why that happened this week and practice better and get ready for this next one.
On what disappoints him most about today…
We didn’t help the defense. The way we played on offense, we didn’t give them a chance. They held them to 20 (points), which is unbelievable the way we played on offense. We couldn’t get a first down those first three or four series. It was first down, second down, third down, punt. You’re not going to win any games doing that.
On if the protests before the game were a distraction…
We just stood and locked arms. I think we were just supporting each other. I don’t think that’s too out of line or something that can be misconstrued as us not being focused on the game because we were. You can look at our practices. There are good days and bad days. There are good plays and bad plays, but everyone was focused and everyone felt like they were prepared.
On the president’s comments on player advocacy…
I don’t think my comments are going to help the situation. I want to support my teammates the best that I can. I’d do anything for those guys in there even though I’ve only been here a month or so. They give us everything they can out there. Off the field, I want to help and support them anyway they need it.
On how they will get ready to play in London next week…
I think that game was a wakeup call for us. We can’t just roll out there and expect it to happen. We have to prepare. We’ve got to be ready each and every game because it doesn’t matter who your opponent is and if they’ve won one game, zero games or 10 games. You can lose each and every week in this league. It’s done. You look at the scores each week and there’s an underdog winning and there’s somebody getting blown out. That happened to us today. It should be a wakeup call for our entire team that we’ve got to get it together.
Cameron Wake – September 24, 2017 (Postgame)
Download PDF version
Sunday, September 24, 2017
Postgame – New York Jets
Dolphins DE Cameron Wake (transcribed by the New York Jets)
On the positive takeaways from today’s game…
It’s hard right now. I am actually really itching to look at the tapes. It kind of baffles me on what just happened. I am drawing a blank right now, but I will be sure to figure it out soon.
On the team’s practices leading up to the game…
I am scratching my head looking for any avenue to figure out what caused the issue. Practice may have been the cause, but I don’t know. It’s frustrating knowing the opportunity we have in front of us. Knowing the players and personnel that we have in the locker room. To come out and play the way we did, it is unacceptable.
On whether the team overlooked the New York Jets…
I don’t think so. I think it’s hard to win in this league. Any given Sunday as they say. The Jets came out today and played better than we did. It’s not a situation on whether we overlooked or not. This is the NFL. These are the best players in the world no matter what team or scenario. If you don’t give your very best, you’re going to end up with the short end of the stick.
On the feeling in the locker room after the loss…
Shock, anger, disappointment, frustration. To be very honest, I don’t think it was a game we should have lost. And I definitely think we shouldn’t had came out and let them beat us the way they did. I feel like whatever needs to be done, it has to be fast so we can get back on track. No one is going to wait for you to figure it out.
On the team responding to this wake up call…
I am pretty confident in the guys we have. They are prideful guys. Guys who take their jobs seriously and want to win. Most of the guys were around last year when things got a little sticky. We had to fight our way out. I know we don’t want to put ourselves in a situation like that again. We rather hit first than hit back. This is the league you’re playing in, every week is going to be a battle till the end.
