Dowell Loggains – December 27, 2018
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Thursday, December 27, 2018
Offensive Coordinator Dowell Loggains
(In your experience, how hard is it to get guys up for a non-playoff-type environment like this week?) – “If you have the right guys, it’s not an issue. Whatever you put on tape is your resume in this league. You have to go out and play hard and compete for your teammates. So, I don’t expect anything like that, any let downs that way.”
(It’s a week of uncertainty, obviously, around here. How do you handle … There’s not finality of what’s going to happen with this coaching staff going forward.) – “I’m certain we’re going to have practice tomorrow and a game on Sunday and that’s all I’m worried about at this point.”
(I’m sure you’ve been through instances before where changes have been made. How do you handle those as an individual?) – “You worry about that stuff when it comes up. But right now, the focus is on this week and making sure that we do the right thing by the guys that are playing and competing hard and have done that all year.”
(You mentioned earlier in the season going into the Vikings game probably wasn’t the ideal situation and QB Ryan Tannehill had to perform better on third downs for the unit to perform better on third downs. What are the things you need to see from him on that down for that elevated play to show up?) – “It’s just the ability to make plays. Sometimes it’s different. Sometimes guys are doing a great job creating separation, so number one is open in the progression and you make the throw you need to make. Sometimes the protection isn’t great and you have to extend the play and make an off-scheduled play. Third downs are very unique in this league for that reason, because a lot of them do happen off-schedule. If you can get number one open, it obviously helps, and you protect the right way and everyone executes the play, then your job is simple and you should get the number one. The things you do as a quarterback, we’re judged on third down, 2-minute, on those things. Sometimes that’s where you have to improvise and make plays off schedule and it takes 11 guys doing their job to do that.”
(When you’re taking about off-schedule plays, you’re meaning buy time in the pocket, improvise?) – “Buy time in the pocket. Sometimes it’s (the) one and two (reads) might be covered, so getting to number three and having a good feel in the pocket, pushing up one, over one and finding a lane to throw a ball in. Sometimes it’s extending a play with your legs. Sometimes it’s doing those things. Sometimes it’s being smart and the thing is breaking down and taking a smart sack and understanding that you’re not going to lose punting, even though you want to continue to convert third downs and get more opportunities to have first and second down and create more plays for yourself. It’s just managing the down.”
(Do you think that’s been a reason why this season has taken a turn with the two turnovers against Cincy, not getting a first down in the fourth quarter against Indy and the pick-six last week?) – “I think our third-down production has definitely been a reason why we haven’t accumulated more plays. It’s something that we need to be better on this week and it hasn’t … We haven’t met our goal in how good we could’ve been with that stuff. We have one more opportunity to correct that. We went out and had a good day of practice today and we need to go out and execute.”
(What have you learned about your offense, I guess, up to this point in the season?) – “A bunch of guys learned a bunch of different players because a bunch of things happened. You go into a season and you think, ‘Okay, these are our guys,’ and you know there’s going to be change. All of a sudden, there’s a lot more change than you expect just with the roster and how things went. You learn how resilient the group was, how they stuck together and they battled. There was a lot of mental toughness because this season hasn’t been the season we wanted or would’ve hoped for. We need to finish the right way. We found out a lot about the guys, the makeup of it, and it’ll be another test this week. Everyone is saying it’s a meaningless game, which I don’t think that exists. I think every time … You get (16) opportunities to do this and with injuries in this league, the players, they’re not promised (16). For the most part, your team is. So, you go out and compete and do it for each other. I think we found out a lot about our team that way.”
(What have you learned, I guess, about QB Ryan Tannehill?) – “How resilient he is, how tough he is, how much he cares, how important it is to him. He’s battled through so many things this year as far as injuries, being beat up and the ups and downs of the season, to being 3-0 to losing back-to-back games and doing those things. Found out a lot about his character.”
(Going back to the third-down situation, as you were talking about, I couldn’t help but think back to two instances in Dolphins history: One, when QB Dan Marino was playing, he knew that if he threw to WR O.J. McDuffie, they were going to move the chains. And then more recently, QB Ryan Tannehill had a pretty fair comfort margin with WR Jarvis Landry, where there was a good chance Jarvis was going to be able to move the chains. Does this team maybe need that guy who, whether everybody in the stadium know he’s going to get the ball or not, is the dependable third down move-the-chains kind of guy?) – “I understand the question but obviously I wasn’t here. I was probably three when Marino was playing. (laughter) I can’t speak on Jarvis and that relationship. Obviously, I’ve seen the tape and he was a huge asset on third down and every down. He obviously had a bunch of catches here. I think it’s just the execution and that’s doing a good job of putting those guys in situations to be successful. It’s a combination of a lot of different things. It’s not just one thing. It’s protecting better, doing all those things. There are a lot of things that we need to clean up for this game. When the season is over, you go back, you self-scout, you figure out, ‘Could we have used someone different ways,’ or ‘Going forward, can we use this guy better?’ Right now, the sole focus is to make sure that we use the guys we have with the protection that we have and the quarterback that we have and the tight ends we have to move the chains on third down for this game.”
(The offense has scored one touchdown in each of the last two games. I know that there’s a lot of different reasons for that. One thing, overarching, that absolutely needs to be fixed to make that a different fact is what?) – “Such a broad question. There’s a lot of things. I don’t think it’s one thing. If I had to pin things down on … It’s everyone, starting with the coaches down to the players, down to the … Each position group executing and understanding the plan better. I know it’s a really broad answer and I wish I could give you more on that. In the offseason, you study and dive into self-scout and do all that stuff. It really comes down to … The third down thing is a big deficiency for us, because you limit yourself. You end up playing 50 to 57 plays, 55 plays, instead of playing a game where if you convert on third down … When we won, it’s shown up more. I think the one thing this team has done a really good job on is cutting down on the penalties and the turnover ratio. I think that’s probably kept our record to what it is right now, which isn’t where we want it to be; but I think those are things you can build off of. Definitely the execution of third down, staying on the field in first and second down. And the explosive plays have gone down as well the last five or six weeks. We’ve had a couple big runs here and there, but not like we were getting early in the year when we were getting those chunk plays and doing a good job taking care of the ball and not beating ourselves. We were relying on those chunk plays to sometimes cover up not doing a great job on third down or being deficient here or there. You have those long plays that equal touchdowns and those things get masked for a week or two and then when those things start drying up, that’s when the execution of each play becomes more important.”
(Are there too many personnel groupings that kind of pull people in and out the games where they can’t really get into a groove, like maybe WR DeVante Parker playing every snap against Houston and then trailing off like that?) – “My opinion would be no. I think it’s important sometimes when you have a 53-man roster and you get 46 actives that every person has a role. If they’re going to be active they’re going to … That’s kind of the philosophy we’ve taken here is if they’re going to be up, let’s try to give them a role. Sometimes you get to that package, sometimes you don’t. (Brandon) Bolden has gotten some weeks. Some weeks he hasn’t played at all on offense that way. I wouldn’t say that. I think that’s actually a strength we have is defenses have to prepare for all of that stuff. If they’re repping Cover 4, they have to do it versus every personnel group we have. If they’re going to rep a blitz, they have to do it versus everything we do. I think that’s a strength of ours and advantage we have. Obviously, when players are hot, you want to roll them. You don’t want to take them out and do those things. But I think that’s a strength we have.”
(In retrospect, the real efficiency you guys have had running the football, did you guys run the ball enough this year?) – “That’s such a broad question. We’ll go back and look at it at the end of the season to kind of figure out where we’re at. Sometimes the efficiency thing is … I thought we did a pretty good job with it. Sometimes you usually look at yards per carry and you take out some of those chunk plays and all of a sudden you have to find the median of … Don’t let a 75-yard run, do you average 9.0 yards in a game all of a sudden take that thing out and really figure out, ‘How well do we really run the football? Did we control the line of scrimmage like we wanted? Were we able to play in our terms?’ I think early in the year, we were a little more balanced. I think it was probably better than it has been lately. Our numbers are still pretty decent, I think. I don’t look at the stats much until the end of the season, but I think it’s been better because of a 75-yard touchdown run here or there against Minnesota and those things.”
(Those big plays do happen when you do run the football. Those are a big part of your offense.) – “Right now, the backs are doing a really good job. Guys are explosive. Kalen (Ballage) has done a nice job coming in. (Kenyan) Drake is obviously a playmaker and (Frank) Gore to this point. (Brandon) Bolden has had a couple. It’s definitely something that helps. The efficiency is – when I say that is – don’t look at a 75-yard run and you have a 7-yard average and then all of a sudden, you take that away and it’s, ‘Hey, we really averaged 2.7 yards.’ So, if you run the ball on first and second down, you’re looking at third-and-(long). There are some things where the stats can be manipulated that way. The yards per carry can be manipulated that way a little bit as well.”
(It’s not a secret that Head Coach Adam Gase loves to throw the ball. How often have you had to talk to him about running the ball this season?) – “I think Adam … Does he love to throw the football? Absolutely, yes. I think it’s what we want to be. I do think that he understands the strength of the team at this point right now is the run game for multiple different reasons. I think he’s done a pretty good job balancing that stuff. There’s definitely, in the passing game and run game, there’s definitely things we need to improve, that we need to improve this week, to make sure we play well against Buffalo.”
(Have you done a good enough job on controlling the line of scrimmage this season? Especially lately, the sacks have been piling up.) – “We’ve had too many sacks here of late. The sacks are definitely. When you say on the line of scrimmage, I will put the quarterback in it, I will put the coaches in it, the tight ends, the running backs, the o-line. Have we done a collective good enough group the last two or three weeks? Absolutely not. It’s something that we can improve on at each position group, starting with the coaches from Coach Gase to myself and down the line of position coaches to every positon group. We’ve had way too many sacks the last three weeks. It’s something we need to improve on this week.”
(I know it’s everybody’s responsibility, everybody’s fault, but there seems to be clearly something. It’s not play calling. It’s not the offensive line. What is going on where this has become … Because it’s never been this much of an issue until now.) – “I do think it’s a combination of everything. It’s not one thing. I wish … If it was one thing, you point it out and you get it fixed. The offensive line can be better in the passing game and protecting on stunts. A couple of the running backs can do better a better job in protection and understanding. The tight ends the same way. Ryan (Tannehill), at the very end, he has the ball in his hands and it’s his responsibility on first and second down, ‘Hey, don’t take sacks. Get the ball out.’ Or third down, sometimes it’s better to take a smart sack and punt. We tell them, ‘Hey, If we end every series with a kick, it’s not going to be the way we want, but we’re not going to lose the game doing that.’ We have to take advantage of our plays when we’re there. It really is everybody. I know it’s probably not the answer that we’re all looking for, but it’s not one thing that you can say … I can tell you what each group needs to work on and where our deficiencies are, but it’s still the collective group of 11 players and coaches included in that group.”
(Do you think teams are playing you guys differently because of this issue? Obviously, when you’re struggling with something, teams keep doing it until…) – “Absolutely. You guys know it. You guys watch the tape. You guys see it. There are things we need to improve on, that we have weaknesses on. Like I said, we haven’t protected as well up front in games. The blitz stuff … We had a couple weeks where we had some issues with the backs. There are things like that. Definitely people game plan your strengths and weaknesses off tape.”
(Head Coach Adam Gase has talked about the impact of losing WR Albert Wilson and WR Jakeem Grant and some of the o-line. What impact do you think injuries have had on how the season went?) – “The excuse is there if you want to use it. It’s not going to do us any good. Obviously, those are really good players we lost. The two guys, the two receivers, are guys who score touchdowns. The theme of this interview has been the explosive plays were happening earlier that covered up some things and hid deficiencies. You guys like Josh Sitton and Daniel Kilgore, that’s going to hurt you. It was 17-0 when Laremy (Tunsil) went down the Cincinnati game. Definitely, all those things hurt; but every team in the NFL deals with it. It’s part of the game. That’s why you have backups and everybody has the same amount of players and same cap space. You have to do a good job developing your players and make sure you have quality backups.”
(Getting all of those guys back alone won’t fix the offensive issues?) – “I think any time you get your starters back, all of a sudden you’re saying ‘We’ve got five or six starters coming back off a team that…’ If you lose five or six starters to start the season or Week 3, 4, 5 or whenever it happened, absolutely (getting them back) is going to help a ton. There are also things that we can coach better. There are also things that we can execute better. We need to do a good job developing our players as well. It’s not just one thing. It’s going to be multiple things that we need to improve on in the offseason.”
(How have Head Coach Adam Gase and Defensive Coordinator Matt Burke taken to this week knowing a win could be much different for their future than a loss could be?) – “The same way they do every week. No week in this league is better than the other, whether it’s Week 1 or Week 17. Those guys are professionals. They’re going to work their tails off and prepare the right way and make sure we put our players in the best situations to be successful. It’s not different.”
Matt Burke – December 27, 2018
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Thursday, December 27, 2018
Defensive Coordinator Matt Burke
(How is it just from a human standpoint this week? Is there stress for you, as far as coaching as a profession, where you don’t know what’s going to happened from one day to the next? I know you’re laser-focused on the game that’s next, that’s how coaches think; but is there any personal stress for you, what does the future hold? Does it ever enter your mind?” – “Nope. No, it doesn’t. It’s part of what we do. It’s part of our profession, good or bad. It’s just kind of what we sign up for. Again, as I told you guys, it’s not worth wasting time worrying about things or thinking about that. I’m going to go try to win a ball game this week and worry about everything else after that.”
(Being a coach in the league, you’ll probably have to go through a handful of times where there is probably some uncertainty at the end of the season. How have you handled it in the past?) – “The same way. Really, it’s again, I’ll try to give this team and organization everything I have and I’m going to keep doing that until the last whistle blows. Like you said, this is my fourth team in however many years. It’s just part of what we do. You have good seasons and you have not as good seasons. You just try to keep playing through all of them and worry about that time when it comes.”
(What do you mean when you say you told the guys not to worry about it?) – “I didn’t say that. I said that I try not to worry about it. We’re trying to go win a ball game. We’re just focused on Buffalo and having a good end of the season and finishing strong.”
(At certain times, your defensive tackles had some good moments. Obviously DT Vincent Taylor was impactful and we’ve seen moments from DT Davon Godchaux and DT Akeem Spence; but do you believe as you look back that the position was admittedly filled after the team moved on from DT Ndamukong Suh?) – “I think they’ve all played hard this season. I try not to worry about all of those things, about filling spots and all of that. Our roster is built and those are the guys we’re going to go win ballgames with. All of those d-tackles have played well at times and had some slip-ups at times. I think Davon has actually played … Davon played really well last week. I think he’s kind of … I think he hit a little bit of a lull in the season, but I think he’s had a good last couple of weeks. That’s been encouraging for him to see and for him to take that step. Yes, Vincent obviously showed some good signs early before his injury. I’m happy with the effort those guys are giving. Again, even the guys like Ziggy (Hood) and ‘Sly’ (Sylvester Williams) that have come in late and what they’ve done for us, I’m happy with those guys and what they’ve done for us this year.”
(How personal do you take it that you have the 30th ranked defense? It is your unit, you’re the one making the calls. You don’t decide personnel, but it is still the 30th-ranked defense.) – “By what rankings?”
(Yardage.) – “I don’t worry about all of that stuff. Again, you guys worry about all the stats. I’m trying to win ballgames. Obviously we didn’t win enough this year. We’re going to try to win one more. All of the end of season retrospective stuff, I don’t get into all of that and worrying about my rankings and this and that. After each game, we evaluate what went right and wrong and try to fix it week to week. Then we’ll take a step back after the season and try to see if we can hopefully play better next year.”
(Head Coach Adam Gase was talking about the last six weeks or so, you tried to ramp up DE Cameron Wake’s snaps per game because you’re getting closer to the end of the season. Last week Cam played, 30 snaps or 45 percent of the snaps, which I think was the low among the defensive ends. We’re at the end of the season, what are you saving him for?) – “I’m not saving him for anything. We have a rotation, Cam is 36 years old. We’re trying to make sure … There’s a fine line, I think, with Cam in terms of the number of plays and what we’re trying to get out of him. To be honest with you, to some extent Cam informs us of kind of where he’s at and if Cam wants to be on the field, he’s going to be on the field. We’re trying to keep him fresh and obviously I’m sure those 30 snaps, every single one of the third downs, he was on the field. We try to spot him at other places. That’s kind of our approach with all of our d-linemen in terms of rotating those guys and keeping them fresh. I’m not sure that necessarily because it’s the end of the season we’re ramping him up. I think there’s a give and take with, at some point, there’s two many snaps for all of those guys, not just Cam. We try to keep those guys fresh and rotate them through. Obviously Cam’s a guy we want on the field on critical situations and keep him fresh towards the end of the game and on third downs and the stuff that we’re trying to get him loose on. (Defensive Line Coach) Kris (Kocurek) does a good job handling those guys and working that group in a rotation. I don’t have any problem with the way Cam’s been going.”
(How involved were you in personnel selection last offseason? I know they sought your input on DE Robert Quinn and other things, but were you actively involved in every defensive player that was brought in?) – “It’s an organizational decision for all of that stuff. They ask for opinions and I give my opinions. I’m not sure I have final say on anything; but between (General Manager) Chris (Grier) and (Head Coach) Adam (Gase) and all of the guys in the pro personnel department and everything, there are conversations that are constantly going on. I offer my input and sometimes they take it and sometimes they don’t. That’s not my role. I give them where I think guys will fit in our scheme and how we can utilize them and what we’re trying to do from a defensive standpoint. Those are the decisions that are made from a bigger picture standpoint.”
(I ask because Head Coach Adam Gase is never given any player he doesn’t want because he controls the offensive personnel. Is that ever the case with you, where you’re given players you don’t necessarily want?) – “I don’t look at it like that. I’ll take all of the players. Give them all to me. (laughter) Any player that ends up on our roster, I’m happy to have. Like I said, all of those decisions – draft, free agency, all of those things – those are organizational conversations that are ongoing, constantly ongoing. I think Chris (Grier) does a god job of coming down and saying ‘These are the spots that we got,’ or ‘We have an injury that we’ve got to replace and these are the list of guys we’re looking at.’ We bring guys in for workouts during the season and everybody is in there and again, it’s really a group conversation about this is what we need to fill on defense and this is what we think we’re missing on defense, and here are the options and how can we help fill that. Those are constant ongoing conversations. I have input into all of those decisions.”
(From the first game of the season until now, can you think of two players who you feel have made excellent progress, growth and improvement in their skill and performance?) – “I think Raekwon (McMillan) is one of them that stands out. I think he’s shown a lot of growth, especially probably in the last six weeks or so and has played really well for us. Even last week with Kiko (Alonso) not being able to go for us, stepping into a nickel role and doing some of those things and kind of expanding his world a little bit. We had the microphone on him and those sorts of things from a leadership standpoint. Really, from a run game standpoint, he’s been really good. Obviously I know his tackle numbers have been up and those sorts of things but just fitting runs and being stout and playing square and those sort of things, I’ve been really, really happy just from an overall package with Raekwon, for sure. That’s been good to see. Really, both of the young linebackers. ‘Bake’ (Jerome Baker) has been another guy. He kind of gets to it a different way sometimes from a running and hitting standpoint and that sort of thing, but I think Raekwon has shown a lot of progress throughout the whole season, from start to finish, and especially again, the last month-plus. I’d probably be remiss if I didn’t point out Jalen (Davis), getting some work last week for the first time. It was really the first extended play that he’s had and he was productive and energetic and in the right spot and stuff. That was really cool to see and brought some energy and juice. Maybe in a different sort of way, but Mike Hull, I want to point him and what he did last week playing 40-plus snaps on the spot. We didn’t really know until about 20 minutes before kickoff that he was going to go and that’s really the first defense that Mike Hull has played in a long time and he had a great game. He played really good, so I was really excited for him to step in and do that. Just from last week and those two performances, I really appreciated the efforts of the guys – Jalen, who hadn’t had a lot of work all year and got to get in and get some playing time, and Mike Hull, who was kind of put on the spot at the last minute and really performed well. I think all of our young guys, just in general … Any time you’re getting reps and getting work and getting game-time action … Minkah (Fitzpatrick) having to flip around a bunch of different spots and do that as a rookie has been impressive and what he’s been able to go through. I think Charles Harris getting a sack last week and (he) is starting to play a little bit better and play faster. I think a lot of our young guys … (Davon) Godchaux kind of hit a little lull in the middle of the season and in the last month has been good. All of our young guys, I think again, the more they play and the more experience they get, they’re all sort of showing that progress through the season. I’ve been pleased with … We’ve had to play a lot of younger guys at times and they’ve all kind of been progressing to a point where we feel pretty good about them.”
(We asked you this last year but how do you explain the sacks and the number? What’s your explanation for why there isn’t more?) – “Probably the same as what I told you last year. (laughter)”
(‘It’s not about sacks, it’s about pressures.’) – “There you go. It’s the same thing. (laughter) Look, we’ve been disruptive. We’ve tried to cause turnovers and those sorts of things. We’re not chasing sacks. We’re trying to be disruptive. Sometimes even disruption for us, I think I mentioned it last week or the week before, disruption for us sometimes is them having to keep extra guys in to block on offense and not getting extra guys out in the routes because they’re worried about our ends and those sorts of things. We’re not trying to chase stats and worry about where our rankings are or what the defense is in this. It’s what an offense is trying to do to us and what are we trying to do to take away what they do best and how that goes. I feel like our defensive ends – Cam (Wake) and Robert (Quinn) and (Andre) Branch and all of those guys – are threats to an offense. If you talk to a lot of guys we play after games, that’s all they talk about. ‘90’ (Charles Harris), ‘91’ (Cameron Wake), ’94’ (Robert Quinn), those guys, they’re all worried about them. Obviously offenses are accounting for our rush and that affects how they play. I think that just shows up for us in other areas. Sacks are an easy number. I’m not saying that we don’t want sacks. I probably said that last year too. I’ll take the sacks. But it’s not something that we’re like chasing or worrying about how they impact the game.”
(Back to DE Cameron Wake for a minute. Because of his age, folks pay attention to level of play. Have you seen a consistent level of play and do you see that continuing into maybe next year?) – “I don’t have a crystal ball. I’ve seen a consistent level of play from Cam. He’s been good in the run game, throwing his body in there and setting edges for us. Obviously he had production last week in the rush game. I haven’t seen any drop-off from him. I can’t predict what Cam wants to do or what’s going to happen in the future but he’s been a productive, steadily productive, player for us this whole season – age or not – probably because we’re helping him with some of his snap counts.”
(Would you want DE Cameron Wake on a Matt Burke defense?) – “Yes.”
(To clarify what you said earlier, you said DE Cameron Wake indicates to you where he’s at, so Cam can decide when he goes in?) – “Mhm.”
(Is CB Jalen Davis almost exclusively like a slot/nickel guy or could he maybe one day play outside?) – “I don’t know. That’s where he’s been focusing for us obviously right now. He played outside a little bit in college. Obviously he’s a little on the shorter end, so whatever issues that may show. I can tell you what: he is a competitive, tough kid. It wasn’t too big for him. It hasn’t been too big for him. He’ll go in there and bite your face off wherever you put him. Just from an attitude and approach standpoint, I wouldn’t count him out from anywhere. I think that showed when we got him some action last week. Hopefully we can keep developing him along that way.”
(You’ve got guys maybe aren’t an ideal fit for what they’re asked to do. How do you go about putting guys who may not be a fit for your scheme with what you ask them to do?) – “Honestly, I’ve always been a believer that as a coach, it’s our job to put the players in the right spots. It’s not like ‘this is my scheme and you’re not the right player, so you can’t play in my scheme.’ To me, that’s not good coaching. To say that they’re not a scheme fit … What we try to do is say ‘Okay, these are the skillsets of the players that we have available. How can we deploy those guys and utilize them to our best advantage?’ To say that guy is not a scheme fit, to me that’s lazy coaching. For me, it’s to say, ‘these are the guys that we have. How do we use them?’ I told you guys last week, I try not to come in here and make excuses and say ‘This guy is this’ or ‘We got screwed by this call’ or ‘This happened.’ That’s not what we do. We say ‘Man, we’ve got these guys up on game day and how can we win a ballgame with them?’ So all of our guys, we try to utilize them in those roles and play and put them in the right spots to win a ballgame and be successful. I think it’s our job to utilize our players’ skillsets as much as fitting them into a scheme.”
(And free safety is the best spot for S Minkah Fitzpatrick?) – “He’s been pretty good there. It’s a good spot for him.”
(I like S Minkah Fitzpatrick in nickel.) – “Okay. We’ll put that into the offseason decision-making process. How’s that? (laughter) I’ll make sure I tell those guys.”
(Would you say you run a class Wide 9 still?) – “Classic Wide 9? I’ve never heard of that before. (laughter) We utilize Wide 9s. We have a lot of different fronts. If you watch some of the stuff that we do, we probably have a lot of fronts that people don’t realize. That’s an element of what we do, for sure. Obviously that’s a foundation of where I started with Jim Schwartz and that system. But again, we have to change fronts and do different things whether it’s players to fit what we’re trying to do or for a certain scheme or runs or fronts that we’re playing against. Yeah, there are elements of that but we’re a multi-front defense.”
Darren Rizzi – December 27, 2018
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Thursday, December 27, 2018
Associate Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Darren Rizzi
(Last week, P Matt Haack set a team record for most punts inside the 20 in a season. Besides field position giving him the chance to do that, what skill do you see in him that’s allowed him to do that?) – “There’s two different ways that Matt punts. We have the regular-style punt that people are used to and then some people call it an Aussie kick or a flip-flop ball or end over end, whatever you want to call it. There’s different names for it, but that’s something I think in the last couple years, he’s really done a good job of kind of mastering that technique. He spent a lot of time in the offseason working on that end of the field. I think I might have mentioned this earlier in the season – when you look at teams and where a lot of the punts are happening, a lot of punts are happening from the minus-40 to the plus-40. That’s an opportunity obviously to pin your opponent back. We know Matt has a strong leg and I think on the other end of the field, he’s obviously done a great job of flipping the field. Having the opportunity to pin your opponent down inside the 20-yard line and the ball not go in the end zone or come up short or whatever, I think really gives us the ability to keep a team down there, pin them down, flip the field position. It was something we worked on a lot during OTAs, something we worked on a lot during training camp. To Matt’s credit, he’s done a heck of a job in that area of the field. Give our gunners credit too, getting down the field, forcing fair catches, keeping the ball out of the end zone, things like that. It’s kind of been a combination of things, but Matt’s done a really good job of kind of mastering that technique – that flip-flop ball or the Aussie ball or whatever. He’s really improved in that area. Kudos to him. He’s had a couple of really big games for us in terms of flipping the field position, keeping the guys down there. (It was) a major improvement for him, so I’m really happy with that.”
(Obviously, you’ve been through this situation before with a lot of teams at the end of the year when you’re not playing for something. How do you ensure that players haven’t checked out?) – “The one thing I can say about this team this year – and I think I’ve mentioned this a few times – there hasn’t been any problem at all with effort and I don’t see that being an issue this week at all either. I can speak on my special teams specifically because it’s obviously stuff that I’m charged with. The first thing I look for when I grade the film is effort. I said it to our guys in the meeting on Wednesday. The one thing this year is we’ve done a great job of – we made our mistakes like everybody else – but effort has not been an issue. Never. I don’t think that’s going to be a problem. I don’t see that being an issue whatsoever. We had a great practice today inside. Guys were flying around. The energy was there, the effort was there. The enthusiasm, which you would think at this time of the year might kind of slough off naturally, was (there). I think we had a really enthusiastic practice. I think we have some mature individual leaders in the group, in my group. A guy like Walt (Aikens), a guy like (Brandon) Bolden, a guy like Senorise (Perry) doing it for a couple years now, a guy like Mike Hull, John Denney – guys that really take a professional approach, and I really haven’t seen anything different out of those (guys). I would expect nothing different. As I said to them on Wednesday, this is professional football. You’re going to have to act professional at meetings, professional at practice and professional on Sunday. It doesn’t matter when it is. We’re looking to be at our best regardless of the situation. That’s a quote that we like to use a lot. It’s a quote that I put up in the beginning of the season, before the first preseason game with our group – being at your best. Mental toughness – you hear a lot of people talk about mental toughness, you hear a lot of definitions of mental toughness, but the best one I ever heard was that one – being at your best regardless of the situation. No matter what’s going on around you, the environment, the situation, the outside things going on. Having the ability to kind of block those things out and be at your best and kind of tune everything else out. I kind of feel like that’s what we’ll do this Sunday. I see no reason why we won’t.”
(Who has been your best player in punt coverage and kickoff coverage this year?) – “We’ve actually had a couple. I don’t think it’s one guy that’s singled out. There’s a couple guys I think, both in kick and punt coverage. You have to kind of start with Walt (Aikens). Walt kind of sets the tempo. You look the other day at the return that the Jaguars had, they actually put three bodies on him, put three people to block him on one particular play. Any time you’re getting three guys on one, a guy has obviously made a lot of noise during the season. The other coach is planning against him. Walt kind of sets the tempo for that punt coverage group. He’s obviously the first guy down there a lot of times. Our second-level coverage, Senorise Perry has done a really good job. I’m just kind of thinking through the positions in my head. Obviously, Brandon Bolden has had a really good year as well. Mike Hull has only been there for half the year. Stephone Anthony has had a solid year. Those are the guys that kind of stick out. You look at our kick coverage – Senorise, Bolden, Walt are usually the first guys down the field. It was real nice to see ‘Mo’ (Maurice) Smith last week had a really good game. (Kalen) Ballage had a couple of good coverage reps. (Cornell) Armstrong has been a guy that’s been hot and cold a little bit, but he’s made really flashy plays as a gunner. Ballage makes that great play in the open field last week. Unfortunately he got the horse collar, but really a tremendous individual effort. ‘Mo’ Smith last week, he won our belt for the week. He had a couple of really good plays, individual plays. It was good to see him. I kind of singled him out yesterday in the meeting, just for a guy that’s on and off the practice squad. I mentioned (Leonte) Carroo last week. Really, kudos to ‘Mo’ as well for a guy that can easily have kind of checked out because he’s been on and off (the active roster) and back and forth. He really stayed locked in and really gave a great individual effort last week. I’ve been pleased with a lot of different guys. I don’t think there’s one guy that I’d kind of say ‘He’s been the bell cow’ in coverage; but when you look at punt, it’s definitely Walt. When I look at our kickoff, I really think more Senorise and Brandon Bolden.”
(If you look back on the two missed field goals this year, were both on K Jason Sanders or was there anything else that contributed to his only two misses to date?) – “He’s had the one missed PAT and then the two missed field goals. All three kicks are kicks that certainly didn’t miss by much. I don’t want to get too specific but this week he kind of toed the ball. That’s what happens when you toe the ball a little bit. He didn’t get a good part of his foot on it and he kind of pushed it to the right. Jason has been very consistent. That’s really the reason we picked him coming out of the draft, coming out of training camp. It’s really what he shows week after week, just consistency. He had a great practice yesterday. Really, what he does on a day in, day out basis is just really what you see on the film as well, what you’re seeing in the games and seeing in practice. (He is) just a consistent player, a really strong leg. He has one of the highest touchback percentages in the NFL right now. I think that’s something that sometimes goes unnoticed, but that’s been a big part of our field position thing as well. His ability to kick the ball off this year has been really good as well. The kicks that he missed, you’re going to talk to him about it and he’ll tell you it’s all him for sure; but again, he certainly didn’t miss by much. It’s one of those fine line things and I’m not overly concerned about it at all.”
(How did you know K Jason Sanders was going to be consistent because he wasn’t consistent in college?) – “That’s something that’s really been talked about a lot. I kind of took his game film from college and kind of threw it out to be honest with you. There was so much inconsistency in their operation that they had between the snapper, holder and him. No two kicks were the same. I kind of used my individual workout with him as more of a barometer on what I think he can do moving forward with the different hashes, the NFL ball and all of that. I was very impressed with the workout he put together when I went out there and worked him out.”
(LS John Denney just celebrated his 40th birthday this month. How did he play this year and do you want him back for another year?) – “He did. Happy birthday to John. I think we mentioned that at some point in here. First of all, it’s really impressive. The day it was his birthday, I was kind of busting his chops in a meeting. I think I looked up the number of players that were right now actively playing at 40 years old. If I’m not mistaken, it was a couple quarterbacks, three kickers and him. I think there was six total guys. First of all, an amazing feat by John to be still playing at this point in his life. I think one thing that people overlook with John sometimes is the unbelievable physical condition that he keeps himself. He keeps himself in tremendous shape. He probably has a body a lot of 25-year olds would like to have in terms of his condition. John Denney has proven that he can continue to play at a high level. When you take the 32 snappers in the league, I think John in my opinion is still in the top 10 of the 32 snappers. You can rank them wherever you want, but bottom line, he’s in the top third of the league at his position. John Denney is a guy that you don’t hear his name a lot of times, which is a good thing. He had the one game this year that I know he wishes he had back – the one game against the Patriots, a couple reps there. John is still snapping at a high level, still blocking at a high level, still covering at a high level and so there’s no reason for me to believe he can’t continue to do that. John got started a little bit later in the NFL because of his Mormon mission and things that he was doing. For a 40-year old, he got started a little bit late; but again, I think the way John trains, takes care of his body, the way he lives his lifestyle – all of those things are going to tell you that you’re not looking at the usual 40-year old. I do think John can continue to do this at a high level.”
(It seemed like when WR Jakeem Grant got hurt, you may have lost some dynamism. Is that fair and is that simply a matter of one of the fastest guys on the team goes out, it’s going to take a hit?) – “I think Jakeem is one of the most dynamic returners in the league when it comes to it. I think when you look at the numbers he was putting together, prior to him going out, he was really putting together a Pro Bowl season. It would’ve been really interesting to see had he continued throughout the year. He would have my vote as a Pro Bowl returner, for sure. I think both at kick and punt, he was having a really good year. There’s no doubt in my mind that with his ability, it certainly changes our opponents’ game plan, for sure, when you lose him. That’s not taking anything away from anybody else on the team, but Jakeem was really playing at a high level. It changes our dynamic for sure. It changes our game plan, it changes how we approach both the punt and the kick return deal. I think Danny (Amendola) has done a really good job back there fielding the football and making good decisions and getting north and south with the ball. They’re different players in the open field, and that’s the bottom line. Jakeem certainly can create a little bit more in the open field. When you look throughout the NFL, he’s one of the best at doing it, so we certainly took a hit there when we lost him.”
(What difference do you see, if any, now with LS John Denney at 40 from the time you first saw him?) – “He’s lost a lot of hair in the 10 years I’ve been here, that’s for sure. (laughter) He grows it long so he tries to masquerade. He’s not fooling me. He’s thinning out up top there. (laughter) Every guy – all of us – as we get older, we lose a step certainly. When I got here, I think he was an elite cover player. Of the 32 snappers in the league 10 years ago, he was probably one of the, if not the, best cover guy or certainly one of the top couple. He’s certainly taken a dip there a little bit. His strength and conditioning has certainly not taken any hit. He might’ve lost a step and might’ve lost a little bit of coverage skill, but John’s still one of the best blocking long snappers in the league. I can talk about this for a while. That’s one of the reasons it’s really hard for the younger snappers to break into the league. Younger snappers who break into the league, a majority of them don’t block in college because of the difference in the rules. The majority of them snap and run, and don’t have to block and protect. That’s why you see the average age of long snappers in the NFL is a little bit higher than most positions. You see a lot of guys that are 30 years-plus that are still playing in the league, because the majority of them have been playing for a long time and that blocking skill is something that you develop over time. It’s really hard for those younger rookie snappers to break into the league because a lot of them haven’t developed that skill yet. Sometimes, it takes a snapper two, three, maybe even four years to crack a roster and really that’s the number one reason. It’s not the snap velocity. It’s certainly not the cover ability. It’s the blocking and because of the rules. In the NFL, you can only release the outside man on each side. In college, you can release everybody. I would say about 80 percent, maybe even more, of college punt teams are snapping the ball and releasing right now and those guys don’t have to block. It’s a skill that those guys haven’t done in college and it’s hard for those younger guys to break into the league. That’s really why you see that average age is up there. John isn’t the only one. I think there’s a bunch of guys that are 34, 35-plus in the league.”
Adam Gase – December 27, 2018
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Thursday, December 27, 2018
Head Coach Adam Gase
(Since it has been a topic of discussion, can you definitively say, knowing what is on the line financially, if WR DeVante Parker will play Sunday?) – “He’s going to play. I don’t see any reason why (not). Every game we go out there is an evaluation and I know he wants to have a good game. We’ll just keep trying to correct the things that need to be corrected and keep working on trying to get him the ball and get him to play fast. That’s all we’re trying to do.”
(DT Davon Godchaux has been a mainstay at that defensive tackle position this season. Where has he improved and what would you like to see from him moving forward?) – “He has a really unique ability to remember things that have happened in the past. He can recall things and recall it in real time. So the more he’s seen over his career, the better he’s gotten against those types of plays. You just see such a variety. Every team you play is so unique compared to what you saw the week before, most of the time. I think the more he plays, the better he gets and the more effective he is as far as what we need him to do.”
(How is DT Davon Godchaux against the run this season?) – “It’s not like we’ve been dynamic at any point. We’ve just been inconsistent. Really, everybody would look at it the same way: we’ve had some good games and we’ve had some bad games.”
(As you’ve thought of ideas over the course of the season about how to jump start you guys, did the idea to ever play hurry-up at a higher-level, was that something that you gave much thought to? Or was that difficult once you lost guys like WR Albert Wilson and WR Jakeem Grant because it’s difficult to get a lot of big plays going at that fast pace? Or was that just not realistic after you kept losing offensive personnel?) – “We scored on the first drive in the last four of five games.”
(No. I mean during the course of the game.) – “Yeah, you’d love to do that; but we have a lot of different personnel groupings so you have to stay in the same one (to run plays that quickly). I think we’ve done it sometimes, but it hasn’t really worked out the way that we’ve wanted it to. I think our play count has been very minimal, so we have to make sure that … The 30-second drives don’t help us out.”
(You’ve scored on four of the last five first possessions. So now I’m going to hit you on the second drive. Why the drop-off from drives one to two?) – “It just comes down to executing what we’re calling. That’s what it is. I’m sure there are a couple of calls in there where I didn’t like it and it didn’t work out. Last week, everybody did their job (on the first drive). We got the ball out of our hands, the run game was good, we got guys covered up. Then after that, it was all over the place. We just didn’t do a good job anywhere.”
(Do you feel like CB Bobby McCain is one of those guys who is maybe a little better off if he’s just in the slot and left there? Obviously he’s had to do multiple things.) – “It’s survival mode. We don’t have a lot of guys that we can really say ‘Alright, we’re doing this. Bobby, you’re always in the slot and this guy is going to replace you outside.’ We don’t have that option.”
(How would you say CB Bobby McCain has performed overall this season?) – “There’s nobody I can really say, ‘Hey, this guy was…’ Well, there’s one guy: (Xavien Howard). He’s had consistently good games. He’s had a couple of rough ones but I think it was like the fifth or sixth week (before that happened with) Xavien. For the most part, everybody has just had … There’s been good and then there’s been bad. On defense, it’s telling because you get exposed. Everybody knows that guy messed that up. Offensively, you might be able to screw up and get away with it and nobody will really notice.”
(Why do you think it’s that inconsistency?) – “That’s a good question because when you don’t see it in practice, that’s where it can get a little frustrating. I do think sometimes … We do it. We’ll roll out things that teams haven’t seen and then we’ll get a couple of freebies here and there just because they screwed it up. They didn’t realize what we were doing and they cut somebody loose. I think that happens a little bit with us. It’s about playing your rules and just trusting what you are doing (and) trusting your teammates, making sure everybody is just doing their job. That’s what you’ve got to lean on when you get those looks you haven’t seen before. We just haven’t done a consistently good job doing that.”
(Did WR Danny Amendola pretty much give you what you expected or did anything about him surprise you?) – “Are we going Week 16 evaluations right now? Or Week 17? Didn’t we cover this on Monday? (laughter) I think Danny, the first thing that comes to mind is just his work ethic, leadership (and) the way that he practices every day. You can’t tell if it’s a game. It’s the same. It’s just so consistent with him. That’s why it translates to the game as much as it does. He doesn’t make a lot of mistakes. When we go to him, he’s been reliable. The guy is as tough as they come. He plays through anything and doesn’t want to miss anything.”
(Can you say after watching G/T Jesse Davis that you’ve found a quality starting NFL guard or do you need to go back this offseason and really look at it? I know he’s had some good moments, obviously.) – “Yeah, you always want to go back to re-watch the season, really. I mean that’s why we try not to jump right in on the evaluations after the season because you almost want to walk away from it. Your thoughts are always those last couple of games and you can really get caught up on those. What we like to do is actually go back and go through it and start at the beginning of the year and see how they’ve progressed. When things got tough, how did they react there? When we were doing some different things, how was that? There’s a lot that goes into that. You have time. That’s the one thing you do have. When you’re done playing, you have time between the end of the season until the Combine starts. That’s a lot of time to get those evaluations on point and being able to go back through and say who do you want to move on or keep? All of those little types of things.”
(With G/T Jesse Davis, I believe Offensive Coordinator Dowell Loggains said last week he may have been your second-best linemen this season. Is that something you agree with? I mean he’s played every snap for you guys.) – “It’s hard to say because the last game is fresh in your mind. I do think he’s improved in some areas. I think he’s done a better job of using his hands. I think sometimes he falls back a little bit in that d-lineman mentality. He just tries to go for a street fight. We’ve got a young player that was basically on our practice squad that is trying to get better every week.”
(With LB Raekwon McMillan, he’s on the verge of having a 100-tackle season. Do you view this as a successful second go-around at a rookie year?) – “I think so. Once again, it would be nice to go back and watch everything; but I do know there’s been some games where you’ve noticed him a lot. Then there were some games early in the season where you didn’t really see him a lot. He kind of disappeared. But I do think that was a little bit of not having played that whole year and now all of a sudden, you’re thrown in there and you’re expected to be the leader of the defense and be the guy that has 10-12 tackles and makes some plays on the ball. I think he got caught up in that a little bit. Then, as the season has gone on, he looks like a different guy to me.”
(How have you decided who works in nickel? Obviously last week with LB Kiko Alonso out, it was different. And LB Raekwon McMillan and his role in the nickel package? Is it team-based?) – “That’s what it ends up being. It’s how are our matchups? If we think ‘Bake’ (Jerome Baker) is the best guy to go out there and we want him to cover a tight end or a back and we think he’s the best guy for it, that’s when you’ll see ‘Bake’ get out there. When we feel like it’s a team that’s going to get into a three wide receiver package and try to pound the ball and run it, then you’ll see the other two guys out there.”
(In managing DE Cameron Wake, are his snaps managed based on we need to keep him healthy for 16 games or he can’t play more than 20 plays in a game anymore?) – “I think it’s more seasonal. That’s kind of how we looked at it, in the beginning of the year, especially. A lot of it has to do with practice. We really have to be smart in practice so when he does get to the game, we don’t feel as much of ‘we have to keep him under this many snaps.’ A lot of times, he’ll feel really good going into the game and he just wants to roll, and we’ve got to be smart. There have been a couple of games where we’ve been stuck. I think there was one game we had four guys. It was the game that (Akeem) Spence got ejected. We had a couple of other guys get hurt and nobody could come off. We’d like to say ‘Hey, it’s the many snaps per game,’ but it just doesn’t always seem to work out that way. I know in 2016, we tried to say ‘this is what we’re doing. On first and second down, we’re giving him this many series and then he’s getting all of the third-down (snaps).’ The next thing you know, he’s got 16 snaps in the game and that’s not what you want. It’s just a fine line. (Defensive Line Coach) Kris (Kocurek) really has to stay on it and know where he is each game and then just keep working through the season.”
(This is it. You don’t have to save DE Cameron Wake for anything.) – “Yeah, I mean once you get to these last six games, it’s just how is his body feeling and then if he’s healthy, you just roll. You try to keep him on the field as much as possible because he’s probably one of our best run defenders. He does the best job setting the edge. Obviously he still does a great job as a pass rusher. You still see guys just struggle to even try to keep up with him, especially at home, getting off the ball.”
(How would you assess the job Defensive Coordinator Matt Burke has done this year?) – “Are we going full-season evaluation again? (laughter) Can we do this next week? How about one question on the Bills. (laughter)”
(You talked about WR DeVante Parker playing. You know if he gets hurt…) – “Yeah, I’m aware. I’ve got you.”
(You’re good with the risk?) – “We’re going to play. We’re trying to win the game.”
(What did you get from the tight end position this year?) – “(laughter)”
(Leading into the Bills game, how do you feel about your tight ends?) – “I think Durham (Smythe) has done a really good job of improving throughout the season. Mike (Gesicki), we started off thinking one thing as far as we’re going to get single coverage early and we’re going to have some chances in the red area to get him one-on-one, and that didn’t happen. The first time we came out and tried to get him in a one-on-one matchup, two guys walked out with him. For whatever reason, it’s probably one of the first times I’ve ever seen a rookie get respected like that from defenses when we started out, and that kind of got us away from some of the things that we like doing with him. Then we started running the ball more in the red area. That was probably one of the main reasons. I do think there’s been some big-time growth especially in pass protection and his run blocking. It’s nowhere near where we want it to be. He knows that. I love the fact that he works at it and that he tries to make sure that he’s one of those guys that’s accountable to the rest of those guys to where if he’s in – (as you always say) it’s always pass (and) that’s not true. (laughter) He’s done a good job of improving. I think Nick (O’Leary) has been one of those guys that’s really helped us because he’s flexible. You have a guy that can actually line up at fullback (and) can do things in protection. He’s as tough as they come. His hands are unbelievable. You never see a ball on the ground … I probably just jinxed ourselves. In practice, the ball never hits the ground. He fights. He goes against some guys that are – the size and length and all of those things he doesn’t have compared to that guy, and he finds a way to block him.”
(So why no more I-formation?) – “We’ve done it a little bit. Not a lot. We just did it in the Wildcat.”
(I want to ask you about QB Ryan Tannehill and the movement plays and the play-action stuff. It’s kind of not been part of the repertoire. Is that more ankle-related or just game plans?) – “Well, we’ve done some movement stuff (but) we haven’t protected it very well. We’ve cut some guys free. It happened again last week. We didn’t block those two safeties coming off the edge. That was one of those ones where right when we saw it, we knew what the defense was. I think everybody on the sideline was like ‘Okay, here we go. We’re going to have Kenny (Stills) wide open,’ and then we have two guys come free. That one hurts us. We can’t miss on those types of protections. Leading into the Minnesota game, we knew we had to be limited in what we were doing because we knew the ankle was going to be an issue. It was all week in practice. He felt way better last week, so we tried to get back to some of that stuff. There’s only so many things you can do when you do the sprint-out stuff. There’s just not a lot of routes. Anything with the naked (bootlegs) and stuff, teams are playing it really well right now. The ends either go up the field or middle-ground it when he comes out of it, and these guys are getting on him pretty quick.”
Kenny Stills – December 27, 2018
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Thursday, December 27, 2018
WR Kenny Stills
(Three straight years now you’ve won the team’s community service award. What does that mean to you?) – “It shows that the guys on this team and the coaches recognize the work that I’m doing. I think that the thing that I take from it the most is seeing the involvement of the other guys and seeing how much more guys are involved. I’m proud of that part and I just want to continue to lead and lead by example.”
(Have you seen growth in that respect that there are more guys wanting to get involved?) – “Yeah. I think it’s important, too, for all of us to be out there and doing our best to use the position that we have to be a positive influence. I’m happy with that and I think that’s the biggest takeaway for me.”
(How would you describe the team’s motivations for this last game?) – “We have to go out there and win. You want to finish the season on a strong note and it’s important for us to do that.”
(I imagine this has been a challenging season of ups and downs and guys in and out and all that. Not to put a bow on it too early, but what would you say the lasting memory will be?) – “I can’t say. We’re focused on trying to finish the season strong. At the end of the season, I guess we can talk about that.”
(What are some things that have been working for you guys on the first drives of games recently?) – “On the first drive of the past couple games, we’ve gotten in the end zone after struggling for a while. I think just executing, getting first downs, staying out of the third-and-long situations. All of the basics of the game.”
(Why are some of those things not carrying over to the rest of the game after that point?) – “For the most part, it’s penalties or disruptions in the backfield. (We’re) just not executing our plays. You have to stay in the short down and distances and continue to get first downs if you want to move the ball and score points.”
(Does anything stand out to you at all about the Buffalo defense from the first meeting four weeks ago?) – “They have a good secondary. I think they’re number one in pass defense. Those guys play well, they play hard and we expect a good game from them.”
Minkah Fitzpatrick – December 27, 2018
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Thursday, December 27, 2018
S Minkah Fitzpatrick
(Any different thoughts or any different feeling for you this week approaching the last game of your rookie season?) – “Yeah, it’s the last game of my rookie season. I’m excited about it. It’s a little bittersweet. I think there are a lot of things to be learned from this year, on and off the field. It was a humbling experience, it was a great experience at the same time. It had its ups and downs but you’ve just got to apply everything you’ve learned and move onto the next year.”
(What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned, do you think?) – “I’d say just little things: how to prepare, what to do, what not to do and stuff like that.”
(Have you had any chance to visit with Alabama since they’ve been down here?) – “I was down there earlier this week. I was talking to some of the staff because they got there earlier, just hanging out with them. I might swing by there tonight to say hello to some of the players.”
(Did you have a chance to talk to Alabama Head Coach Nick Saban at all?) – “No. Not yet.”
(Is it killing you that you can’t go to the game?) – “Yeah, it is. It’s going to be a real good game. It’s in my home stadium now so it’s going to definitely be killing me because I know if I went to the game, I’d have a whole lot of fun. It would be exciting to be out there with a whole lot of energy. It’s a bummer I can’t go; but it is what it is. I’ve got to handle my business.”
(Can you give us a fearless prediction?) – “I don’t know if I can give you one for this one; but it’s going to be a good game.”
Ryan Tannehill – December 26, 2018
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Wednesday, December 26, 2018
QB Ryan Tannehill
(How would you describe the way your relationship with Head Coach Adam Gase has evolved and where is it now?) – “It’s great. I think I’ve spoken on it a few times this year. It’s just gotten stronger over the years. I feel like he came in early and let me know that he had my back. He’s been consistent with that throughout our time together, through the ups and downs of being out last year and dealing with that. Everything we’ve dealt with over the past few years. We’ve been through a lot of ups and downs and he’s been great through the whole process. I feel like we’re as good as we’ve ever been.”
(What does that mean to you to have Head Coach Adam Gase in your corner? At this point, I assume you know he’s going to be in your corner.) – “It’s huge. Any time you have a coach that supports you and does everything he can to make you the best player you can be, that’s what you want. You want a guy that’s going to drive you to be the best and help you be the best football player you can be.”
(Can you talk a little about the importance to you about finishing strong this year and playing well against the Bills?) – “It’s huge. It’s a big game for us. Obviously, a division game on the road. We all know how the road has been this year for us and we’d like to finish strong. A division game in Buffalo, a chance to finish the season 8-8. It’s a big opportunity for us and we want to finish the season strong.”
(I know there’s a game left, but do you look back at a disappointing season for you, a missed opportunity? What would you classify 2018 as?) – “Any time you don’t reach your goals, it’s going to be a bit of a disappointment, obviously. We wanted to be competing for a championship and getting ready to go into the playoffs and obviously, that’s not where we’re at. It’s frustrating. It’s disappointing. A lot of emotions go into that, but we can’t stop and think about that at this point in time. We’ll have a chance to do that once we finish the season; but right now, we’re just focused on doing everything we can to get ready for Buffalo.”
(What would you say to people who have concerns about your durability because you’ve had injuries the last three years?) – “I really don’t care what people outside this building think, honestly. As long as my teammates believe in me and the guys upstairs know that I’m going to do everything I can to get my body right and be out on the field and give everything I have. I’ve played through injuries throughout my whole career. Obviously, (there were) some that I couldn’t the past couple years. I look at those things as things that are out of my control. I can’t do anything about it. Injuries happen in football unfortunately, and you have to be able to fight through some. If you can’t fight through it, then you do everything you can to get back on the field as quickly as possible.”
(You’re a team guy and you always take accountability, but Head Coach Adam Gase said something this week that stood out about you – ‘nobody helps him.’ Do you ever in a quiet moment think ‘I wish my receivers were healthier, I wish I got more effective blocking’ be it from backs or tight ends or your offensive line? It would seem like human nature to go through your mind, ‘Why don’t I get more help?’) – “No. You can’t look at the game that way. I think you have to control what you can control and do everything within your power with what’s given to you in every situation in life, and especially in football. If I always played the what-if game or ‘Would’ve, could’ve, should’ve,’ then I feel like I wouldn’t be growing as a person or as a player. I always just try to focus on myself and what can I do better. If there was an opportunity to maybe move in the pocket or throw a little bit further to the right or whatever it may be, obviously you want to try to be really critical on yourself. That way, you know you can control that.”
(There’s been a lot of conversation stirred up about the fact that Adam Gase sits on the sidelines when the defense is on the field and sort of works with you guys in terms of adjusting what you’re going to do on the next series. Can you talk about what the process is like?) – “Usually, I come over to the sideline and sit with (Offensive Coordinator) Dowell (Loggains) and go through the pictures. Adam gets the pictures handed to him closer to the sideline. Usually he is closer to the field so he can kind of keep an eye on what’s going on in the game and also look at the pictures. Then we’ll convene if we have anything that we need to adjust going forward. Usually he is not over there on the bench with us. A couple of times throughout the game, he’ll pop over; but usually he’s up closer to the sideline. He gets the pictures on paper and we look at the (Microsoft Surface) and just try to get on the same page moving forward.”
(How do you compartmentalize the uncertainty about what’s ahead after this week, whether Head Coach Adam Gase will be back or whether you’ll be back?) – “You can’t think about it. Like I said, you focus on what you can control. What’s the good in wondering and pondering and wasting time thinking about it? It’s out of my control right now. I’m focused on winning this one game in Buffalo and doing everything I can to prepare myself and prepare the guys around me to go out and play well and win this game. Once it’s done, then the powers that be will make those decisions and we’ll go from there. Right now, we’re just focused on doing everything we can to get ready for Buffalo.”
(Turning off that noise is part of the job description?) – “Yeah. It’s easy for me because I don’t watch much TV or do much of the social media thing or anything like that. You focus on what’s in front of you, what you can control and just block out the outside noise. At this point in my career, I’ve had a lot of practice at it so it’s not too difficult.”
(Obviously, if it were up to you, you’d want to be back next year. Is that safe to say?) – “Yes, of course. I love this organization. I love the guys on this team. I love competing with the guys on this team. I’ve been here my whole career and love South Florida. I love what South Florida brings to the table. I’d love to be here.”
(I wanted to ask you about WR DeVante Parker. Since you’ve been back, he’s been utilized sparingly and in the rotation and out of the rotation. What’s going on there in terms of the chemistry and relationship and his productivity?) – “Honestly, it’s a little disappointing that we haven’t been able to utilize him more and get more out of him. I think he’s a very talented guy. He’s had some big games. I think in Houston, I don’t remember how many yards he had, but he had a big game. You kind of see the talent he has. He’s kind of making plays sporadically throughout the season. Honestly, he’s been doing really well in practice. I feel like our chemistry is really good right now. He’s running extremely well in practice – fast, moving in and out of his cuts. I feel like he’s finally getting fully healthy again where he can comfortably run. His shoulder, I think, kind of bothered him a lot of the season. He’s a tough guy. He played through it but obviously wasn’t 100 percent. I think he’s finally starting to get over all of that and we’re seeing it on the practice field as far as him playing faster and making more plays. Hopefully, we see that on Sunday.”
(Head Coach Adam Gase said the same thing in terms of the practice field. Why isn’t it translating to the game for WR DeVante Parker?) – “Well, It’s tough when you’re not getting too many reps. He’s splitting so much time right now, at least the past week – maybe two weeks – he’s kind of been splitting more time and that’s kind of been at the same time as he’s getting healthy. I think those things kind of go hand in hand. If you’re not getting the reps, it’s tough to get into a rhythm and really stand out. Hopefully we get him going this week.”
(Going back to the injury situation for just a second, is there anything that you can do, will do moving forward to try to eliminate them? Is there any change that you need to make in your offseason preparations to try to cut down the injury rate for yourself?) – “No. I don’t think it’s preparation things. You look at how it started and it was a hit to the knee. Then in 2017 it was because the knee had been hit, it was partially torn and then it tore all the way. (It wasn’t like) I didn’t really rehab it or do anything about it. I rehabbed it just as strong as it could be and then it happened. And this year with the shoulder, I just got grabbed. It’s something you can’t plan for, you can’t account for. You just try to be as strong in those positions you can be in. Moving forward, it’s about controlling the game and not letting yourself get hit. Being able to get the ball out, move effectively in the pocket and throw the ball away and get it out as quickly as you can if you’re not going to be able to get the ball off. It’s a balancing act, though because you can’t just throw the ball away anytime somebody gets around you. You have to be able to stand in there and take some hits and make the throw when you need it downfield. Just knowing when that time is. All right, are you going to be able to get this throw off or you’re not, and being able to either protect yourself and get down in the pocket or get the ball out and throw it away.”
(Do you not worry at all about the future, whether it’s here or not, just because it’s your personality or because you know in your mind, ‘I’m an NFL starting quarterback. I’ll be starting somewhere next year. Hopefully here, but I’ll be starting somewhere.’ Does that go into your thinking at all?) – “I don’t know. Honestly, I haven’t put a whole lot of thought into it. I have a lot of belief in myself. I know what I can bring to the table, wherever it is. But, yeah, I want to be here. I want to finish my career as a Dolphin and win a championship here. That’s what they brought me here for, and that’s what I want to do.”
Adam Gase – December 26, 2018
Wednesday, December 26, 2018
Head Coach Adam Gase
(Any more clarity on CB Xavien Howard and whether he’ll go this week?) – “He’s going to go through practice this week. He would have to feel … He would really have to push me for me to let him play.”
(CB Xavien Howard would really have to push?) – “He would have to tell me he absolutely, 100 percent, wants to play and feels great. We’re not going to put him out there if he has any kind of pain.”
(Do you have any feelings about CB Xavien Howard playing in the Pro Bowl?) – “I mean I haven’t even thought that far ahead. We’ll see wherever his health is at the time. If he’s healthy and wants to play in it, I don’t see why we would hold him back.”
(So CB Xavien Howard is still coming back a little bit from the knee injury?) – “Yeah. I just don’t want him going up … If he has any pain, turf … We need to be smart with that.”
(With the situation in regards to LB Kiko Alonso, what went into your decision to play him and not play him, and how did you think the defense did without him?) – “Here’s what happened with that. We worked him out before the game. He wanted to go. A lot of us weren’t really sure because he didn’t look great. It wasn’t like he was ‘this close.’ There was still a little hobble and he looked a little stiff. We didn’t really have anybody else to put up. We had a couple of linemen that were healthy and Isaiah (Ford). We just felt like if there was an emergency and we needed him to finish a game, he was there. We didn’t think it was the right thing to do to put him in the game.”
(The growth that you’ve seen from LB Raekwon McMillan and LB Jerome Baker, they’ve both had moments in games where they’ve looked pretty decent but then they’ve also had issues where they’ve struggled – misfits, not exactly sticking to their assignments. What is the hope there that the seasons you’ve invested in them is going to do what?) – “Well, I think they’ve improved as the year’s gone on. I can see Raekwon, his leadership, has really showed up for us. The way he practices, the way he plays in games … When things have gotten tough, he’s been the guy that steps forward. ‘Bake’ I think is one of those guys; he just plays ball. There might be some times where maybe there’s some undisciplined thing that he does but he ends up making the play. That’s the fine line in defense sometimes, where you can go off the reservation slightly but when you are fast and you’re able to tackle, you can make up for that and you correct it when you get to the sideline. I do feel like those guys are trending in the right direction. Those guys play as hard as you can ask guys to play.”
(You’re near the end of Year 3 here in your relationship with QB Ryan Tannehill. There’s been many ups and downs and injuries and so on. How would you describe your relationship with him at this point?) – “I think it’s a good relationship between player and coach. I want him to have success. I want him to do the things that he wants to accomplish individually but as a team as well. At that position, you take a lot of the bullets. Sometimes you don’t get all of the credit when you might deserve it. I think we’ve just been so all over the place. One game we’ll do well on offense and then we’ll just be non-existent one game. That’s where it can help at the quarterback position. You make an off-scheduled play or you do something where it just sparks the rest of the group. Sometimes we have that and sometimes we don’t. I think this whole last couple of years, we’re healthy and then we miss a season. Then we get him back, we play well in a couple of games, then we had a couple of rough games and then he gets hurt and he’s out five weeks. Then he comes back and plays pretty good and then we’ve had a couple of rough games of late.”
(Is it the rough patches that in some ways make the relationship stronger? Is that where the bonding really happens?) – “Yeah, I mean that’s … You’re under fire all of the time. Between the head coach and the quarterback, you’re not missed. Everybody knows where you are and what you’re doing and how you’re handling things.”
(I guess QB Ryan Tannehill was named the team’s Ed Block Courage Award guy today. Thoughts on that?) – “Yeah. Watching him come back from that knee injury, he was excited to get out there and get going this season. Whatever he had, he gave it. To see him come back and look good moving around, running and all of those things, there were just no limitations.”
(What’s the next step for QB Ryan Tannehill next season?) – “The biggest thing is stay healthy. It’s hard for me to get too down with the injury he had against Cincinnati because he was loading up to throw a ball down the field and a guy got him right in a bad spot. That’s what got him for that period of time. We always just have to keep working on pocket, anticipation, getting the ball out on time. (We can work on) making sure that when things don’t go right, how do you avoid adding to that mistake? I think we’ve had some games where we’ve done that and some games where we haven’t.”
(As far as QB Ryan Tannehill being 30-years old with three injury interrupted seasons, what are the odds he will have a healthy season?) – “I don’t know. I’m not a great odds maker. I just know when I got here, (people were saying) ‘He never misses a game. He never misses any snaps.’ Then it flipped really fast.”
(A lot of people are making an issue about you sitting on the sidelines while the defense is playing, to draw, script up or look at film. It’s not something people generally see from head coaches. What are you trying to get accomplished there?) – “It just depends where we are in the game. Just remember, it’s not hard to see that I’m on the headsets with the defense. I can hear everything. I can see what’s going on. There’s pretty big screens on the field. It’s not like I can’t see anything. I hear everything going on. A lot of times I’m trying to get the next series ready so I can tell those guys ‘Here’s what’s coming. Here’s what I’m thinking going into the next series.’ And then I’m just trying to make sure I’m aware of what they’re doing on the other sideline. ‘Here’s what they’re doing down-and-distance-wise. Here’s what they’re doing personnel-wise.’ You go through all of those pictures and you get a feel for how they’re calling a game. That’s important to play calling. I’m not the only one that does that. The guy in L.A. does it a lot (Sean McVay), and they’re all right.”
(Can you talk about the positives and negatives of spying a quarterback and the challenges of keeping Bills QB Josh Allen in the pocket? Because he got outside the pocket a lot in the last game.) – “A little bit. (laughter) It’s good when you have somebody that can catch him when he escapes the pocket. The only thing that can hurt you is you have one less rusher or one less guy in coverage. If you’re using a linebacker and he’s sitting in the middle, he’s just watching (the quarterback) and all of a sudden guys start running across the field and he’s not paying attention to that stuff, so you lose a guy in coverage where you can take some things away. If you get into that whole quarterback spy game, you don’t have that.”
(Didn’t you guys have a spy last game?) – “Every call is different. It’s not like you go ‘Every call is going to be with a spy.’ You’re not going to do that. If you’re pressuring, you’re going to have guys in certain zones. A lot of times when teams are in man-to-man coverage, that’s when you see it because that’s when they can do the most damage.”
(Do they have any designed runs for Bills QB Josh Allen?) – “Most of them were drop back, everybody is running out of there and then we let him get out of the pocket.”
(It seems like you want to make clear there is not too much on your plate calling plays and still running a game as well.) – “No. We haven’t had a lot of mismanagement of games. We’ve got a lot of people that are involved in game-day management. I just have to make the decision. We’re talking through stuff all of the time.”
(Is there anything you’ve learned then about how to manage your time on Sunday?) – “Yeah. It slows down the more you do it. Year 1 to now is … I can’t even imagine. If I went back and was able to watch myself in Year 1 compared to now, it was probably a nightmare in Year 1.”
(What did you think about your running game this year? Were you able to use it the way you wanted to use it?) – “It’s like almost everything. It’s been so inconsistent where one game it feels like we’re really getting some good, explosive plays, we’re blocking guys well, guys are executing things well. And then some games like last week it just felt like we could never get to that second level. It always felt like it was at the line and then we’d be at the line of scrimmage and a lot of times we squirted out of there, but that wasn’t happening. They did a really good job of … It just felt like they kept bottling everything up. Even when we tried to move outside sometimes, then we’d get pushed back, now the backs kind of get cut off, we try to cut up the field, and now it’s minus-1 or -2 yards. It hasn’t been as consistent as you want it to be.”
(Was it effective in getting you to play-action?) – “It was. We had some good stuff in play-action. The one time, unfortunately, that they covered everybody, Ryan (Tannehill) didn’t have anywhere to go with the ball. I hate to say this, but we probably should’ve just taken a sack there, which I’m sure at that point he had been sacked quite a bit and he’s trying to make a play in that point of the game. We just can’t throw a pick-six there.”
(All season has it been…) – “It’s been … Sometimes it’s good. Some teams it’s good against, some teams it’s not. Some teams do a good job of getting out of there on play-action and getting into windows.”
(You were happy with RB Frank Gore? I think 62 percent of his carries were on first down.) – “Yeah, Frank helped us a lot. Our third downs were shorter. I wish we could’ve used that to our advantage. I think when Frank touched the ball on first and second down – first or second down – we were like third-and-6. If he didn’t, we were like third-and-9. Frank just has an ability – and it’s one of the reasons why he’s one of the leading rushers ever – is there might be nothing there and all of a sudden you’re second-and-6, second-and-5 and then it’s third-and-2. He could get something out of nothing.”
(You talk about Year 1 to Year 3 for you. Does that learning curve change over time? Is Year 3 to Year 5 going to be the same kind of thing?) – “Yeah. Every game you go into you learn a ton of stuff. It’s the same thing I tell the players, there’s 10 things you come out of the game and you’re like, ‘Okay, that happened.’ There’s things that come up that you may have never seen yourself. Maybe you’ve seen it happen to somebody else and kind of be like, ‘What would I do in that situation?’ When you start seeing things live and it’s happening fast and you’ve got 40 seconds or less to try to make a decision and make the right one, it moves pretty quick.”
(How important is this for you, the coaching staff, the players collectively to put away last Sunday and last Monday and look forward to the last game?) – “It’s the same mindset going into every week is you start fresh and your goal is to win one game. Our goal is to go on the road and win a game and try to finish the right way in the division and overall record because 8-8 sounds a lot better than 7-9, I know that. Just like last year, 7-9 sounds a lot better than 6-10. We’re focused on that. I feel like the guys did a really good job at practice today. It was good to see them flying around and enjoy being out there. They just know it is the last week that this team will be together. It’ll never be the same.”
(I wanted to ask you about the running game. Obviously, there’s going to be an adjustment without RB Frank Gore, but why can’t you get those sustained early runs or why couldn’t you, maybe it was Jacksonville’s defense, get those sustained early runs in first and second down last week?) – “What were they sixth in defense? It was a tough defense to run against. We tried to stay, or at least I tried play-calling-wise, to stick with the run game, because I didn’t want to get in one of those deals where now Jalen Ramsey starts getting a little nosey and then we get some kind of issue where he jumps one and gambles, because he can. We were trying to stay consistent with that, getting third-and-shorter situations. The penalties killed us, because we were second-and-20, second-and-15. When that happens, it’s hard to recover from that stuff. Think about, especially over the last three years, how many times did we recover from a negative play on first or second down to convert on third down? It’s rare. You really have to do a lot of things right the next two downs.”
(WR DeVante Parker, he’s kind of been present, but not really productive. Is that injury? Is that practice performance? Is that a chemistry issue?) – “I feel like he’s practiced probably as good as I’ve seen him practice over the last three years (with) his speed, detail of what he’s doing. And for some reason when we’re getting into the game, I don’t know if he’s trying to be too perfect and it’s slowing him down. I feel like we have routes sometimes where he knows cold and then I’ll see what I see at practice. It’s just one of those things, just cut it loose. Don’t worry about making a mistake. If you do, it’s the quarterback’s job to find you and put the ball on you and then go make a play after the catch.”
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