Jakeem Grant – November 1, 2018
Download PDF version
Thursday, November 1, 2018
WR Jakeem Grant
(You’ve done this a lot even while you were returning, turning a smaller gain into a large gain. Was there anything added, if not obviously a package of plays, was there anything added as far as mentality for you of ‘I want to be able to replace some of what WR Albert Wilson gave us?’) – “No, not at all. I’m going to continue to do what I’ve been doing and just continue to get better each and every day. I wasn’t going to do anything more, anything less. Just continue be me every day.”
(All you guys are pretty close. Did you guys feel good for WR DeVante Parker knowing the bad luck he’s had this year?) – “We have a saying against bad luck, don’t believe in it. Injuries come in this game. Unfortunately, he was going through some injury stages earlier in the season. Now, he’s healthy and he’s ready to go, and he put on a big performance last game.”
(I know you guys are confident players, but can confidence like that, can you feed off of something like that?) – “Yes. Even with the loss, it just shows you that with that being said, he can go out there and make big plays like that and continue to make big plays after big plays. A lot of people were down on (DeVante Parker), saying that his injuries and stuff like that. Nobody on this team was lacking faith in him. We all knew that once he got healthy, he was going to do exactly what he did on (Thursday).”
(Have you guys tried at all to boost QB Ryan Tannehill’s spirits or has there been no need to among the skill position players who spend a lot of time with him?) – “No, not at all. Ryan is one of the most confident guys. He doesn’t need to boost his spirit. Whenever he gets ready and gets healthy, we know exactly what time it is. A guy like that, you don’t have to go up to him and tell him ‘Hey, come on, we’re here for you’ and stuff like that. Ryan knows that we have his back and he has ours.”
(Do you feel like the offense has withstood the injuries to him and WR Kenny Stills and WR Albert Wilson? Do you feel good about how the last two weeks went?) – “Yes. I would say just as far as just communicating, just having that chemistry and continuing to play for each other. It sucks when guys go down but like we said, we have a mentality of the next man up. We’re going to continue to play like that. Obviously we hate that we lost a couple guys, but we have to get back on track.”
(You guys are a little night and day, home and road. What’s the difference of that, why is that?) – “I don’t know. Somebody set up our schedule I guess. We do a good job at home, play good games at home, seem to come out with victories and we just have to transfer that over to road games. We won one road game this year and I feel like this is the second half of the season, so we have to win those road games because those are going to be big for us.”
(How much more fun or different has it been for you this season as involved as you’ve been on offense?) – “It’s been much more fun to me this year, just being able to be out there on offense, make plays on offense, doing it on special teams. It’s just showing people that I’m not a special teams player. I’m a receiver and then I’m a special teams player. I’m going to continue to push that message and continue to get better at both.”
(How important was that for you to get that out there?) – “It was very important because a lot of people like to label me as a gadget guy. No, gadget guys only come in for a couple plays. My snap count is way up there with starters and everything. I’ve started games and all of those things. I’m out there almost every possession. So, a gadget guy, no. I’m a receiver and then a return specialist.”
(You were that before. You started as a return specialist and then kind of a gadget guy. I don’t know if that’s exactly the right term, but you were used about that much. Now you’ve kind of had your breakthrough it seems like.) – “I feel like I was never a gadget guy.”
(What would be a better term for that? I don’t mean to offend you when I say that.) – “It’s cool. I feel like it was just I had to build that trust in the coaches in order for them to leave me out there and to know what I’m doing on every single play. I feel like a lot of that was on my part. I didn’t gain the coaches’ trust during the time that I needed to for them to put me out there and leave me out there for longer periods of time.”
(It takes a lot of patience for you, though. A lot of guys would come in and maybe not progress into that next level of getting some snaps in the offense and now where you’re at as a regular part in the offense.) – “I’m patient. I’m very patient. The thing is about me, I strive for perfection. I want to be great. I always go to the coaches and ask them ‘what can I do better? What is it?’ Once they let me know, I’ve honed in on my craft and I’ve just continued to perfect my craft so they can see that I am a receiver and they can trust me and leave me out there to make big plays.”
(Can you point to a moment, game, practice where you felt you were really at the point where you had gained their trust?) – “Not a moment. It was just consistently making plays, doing the right thing. It just carried over from offseason workouts, spring ball and going into camp just continuing to make plays after plays, and just showing the coaches that I know exactly what I have and I understand the concepts of the offense. Just doing things of that nature, it just built that trust in them. Being consistent with catching the ball, doing the things and being in the right place at the right time. With that, I was gaining trust in the coaches and the quarterbacks.”
(Do any of your long touchdowns stand out above the others?) – “Not really. I love touchdowns, don’t get me wrong. I love them. But I don’t really worry about the stats. My goal is to get a touchdown every game. If you get a touchdown every game, that’s saying something.”
(What do you think about this ‘bully’ nickname that they gave you?) – “I like it. They gave it to me because of the physicality that I have in the run game. I think it all comes mentally, just not wanting to let your man to make the tackle. I’m selfless. I want to see the backs shine and make that touchdown block. I don’t think it’s all about catching passes and doing that. I feel like a big block is just like a home run catch to me. That’s what I like. I love to see other guys like ‘K.D.’ (Kenyan Drake succeed). I make a great block for him and he springs one down the sideline and scores a touchdown, that’s big for me. I feel like I just scored. With that being said, that’s how I earned the name, just being physical with the DBs and just not letting them be able to make the play.”
(Have they all at one point or another wanted to fight you?) – “Definitely. It’s all good, though. I don’t back down from anybody, don’t fear anybody, but respect all. Fear no one and respect all. That being said, I’m going to continue to play like that and be I guess, what they say, a bully.”
Brock Osweiler – October 31, 2018
Download PDF version
Wednesday, October 31, 2018
QB Brock Osweiler
(Now that you know you’re going to start your fourth game, are you taking these games by game or are you going with the mindset that you could be the quarterback for an extended period of time past this?) – “I’m taking it week to week and really not even week to week, more or less day to day. I think that’s the right approach to take in this situation. In some circumstances, really the NFL is a week to week league. I think you guys have seen it enough now over the years. I’m not looking too far ahead. I’m just focusing on one day at a time and whatever coach tells me, that’s what I believe and that’s what I’m rolling with.”
(Do you think you’ve changed some opinions about your ability over the last few weeks?) – “I’m not really sure and to be quite frank, I’m really not too concerned with any outside opinions. Really, the only people I care about as far as their opinion is my teammates and my coaches. That’s not to be rude to anybody or anything like that; but at the end of the day, that’s really all that matters is the opinions of my coaches and my teammates.”
(I understand you don’t care about our opinions, but GMs and coaches around the league, you want to change their opinion, obviously.) – “Yeah, absolutely. I think those guys have probably always looked at it probably different than you guys have. They understand the plays that are getting called in certain situations, things like that. I guess to answer your question maybe in a better way, you’re always trying to put your best foot forward. You’re always going out there every time you’re on the field to have success and to help your football team win a football game. You’re never going out there to lose a football game or not be successful. I guess to answer your question, to go out there and doing some positive things right now, yeah absolutely it feels good.”
(Do you think you’ve helped your career the last three or four weeks?) – “Time will tell. Time will tell. I’m really big on staying in the present moment, learning from past mistakes and then just living in the moment. That’s what we did today. I had a laundry list of things after the Houston game that I want to clean up. It was really about one page of notes. We have a great coaching staff here. They took that page of notes and they turned that into drills – things that I didn’t do right in the game – in hopes that we can correct those mistakes, make sure that they never happen again and then just move forward. That’s kind of an example of what we do.”
(How much of the list is made up by you and how much of it came from the staff?) – “It’s mutual. I think we sat down and between Friday to Monday, we watched the tape three times, so we really dissected that thing. That’s how we always work. I want to be the best possible quarterback I can be. A coach once told me, he said, ‘You’re never staying the same. You’re either getting better or you’re getting worse.’ I want to be on the getting better end and the only way you can do that is through hard work. Like I said – and I’ve told you guys before – I’m very fortunate to be in a situation where we have great coaches here. They want to coach us hard and I want to be coached hard. I want to get better. We sat down, we worked together on things that we thought needed to get corrected and we went out there today at practice and worked on that.”
(You look behind with coaches. Now being four starts in a row – and maybe for the immediate future you might start – are you involved in game planning at all, what plays do you like? Do they ask you anything going into formulating the game plan?) – “They do when the time calls for it. But at the same token, we have a tremendous coaching staff here – Coach Gase, (Offensive Coordinator) Coach (Dowell) Loggains, the rest of the offensive staff. They do such a great job in game planning they don’t need anyone else’s opinion, which really makes it great, because it allows me to focus on my job, focus on my reads, my rules, my footwork, my progressions and I leave the Xs and Os to those guys.”
(Has it benefited you that Head Coach Adam Gase continues to tell you early in the week that you’re the guy?) – “Yes. That means a lot. It helps out. Like I’ve told you before, whether you’re the backup quarterback or the starting quarterback, you prepare the same way. You really do. The only difference is you don’t get the practice reps if you’re the backup. The fact that he comes out early, says I’m starting the game which allows me to take all the practice reps during the week, that’s very beneficial.”
(When did Head Coach Adam Gase tell you that you were going to start?) – “I don’t think Adam and I really had a conversation. I think just being here over the weekend, coming in today, it was … I want to say it was assumed. But when you’re in the building as often as we are, you kind of know what’s going on with the other guy and things like that.”
(So when did you assume?) – “I treat every week the same way. Like I just told you I think two questions before, whether I’m the backup or I’m the starter, I’m preparing the same way, I’m doing the same things on Mondays, I’m doing the same things on Tuesdays. So to be honest, I wasn’t really worried about it. I did my same ritual. I came in today, I found out Ryan (Tannehill) wasn’t playing this week, he’s still doing some rehab things and away we go with another week. I wish I could answer it better, but there was no definitive moment where I was told I was starting.”
(Your thoughts on your first game with WR DeVante Parker?) – “DeVante is an extremely talent receiver. He really is. He’s a big target, he’s physical, he plays hard. He did some great things for us against Houston and I expect him to do some great things against New York. In fact, I expect him to play even better. I think DeVante is just getting rolling. I really do. He showed some flashes last week. He made some really big-time catches. In fact, there was a third-and-1 really in the back of my head where he caught a slant, there was a linebacker that dropped off the line of scrimmage, I couldn’t lead him in front, I had to put it on his back shoulder on a slant, which isn’t easy for those guys and he went out there and he snagged it and made a big play for this football team. I think that guy is just getting started. He has a boatload of talent, ton of potential and I’m super excited to see what he does this week.”
(Can you take us through two plays? One, the interception. It looked like WR Danny Amendola was held. And two, WR DeVante Parker had a step on the DB and it was just a touch overthrown.) – “The first play, the interception, obviously, it’s a play you wish you had back. Whether it was a penalty or not, that’s not up to us to decide. It was the coverage we were hoping for; it was the window we were hoping for. Unfortunately, we didn’t make a play and it ended up in a turnover and points for the other team. That’s something that can’t happen and we need to clean up and we will clean up. As far as the overthrown ball to DeVante, that’s the one you wish you had back. The offensive line did a tremendous job of holding up. It was kind of a ball-holder play. They held up, they gave me the time, DeVante ran a great route and I just didn’t throw a good ball point blank, period. That’s pretty much how that one went. Like I said, it’s one I wish I had back. But going back to it, you can’t have that play back. All you can do it learn from it. So today, I think we had about five or six reps where we replicated that exact same scenario and threw that ball five or six times. Hopefully we got that one cleaned up and that’ll never happen again.”
(What kind of success did you have today with it?) – “It was much better. (laughter)”
(For curiosities sake, we were trying to figure out on the play where you got spun around and it went to review, were you trying to tuck the ball back in?) – “No, I wasn’t. DeVante was pretty wide open on the sideline, so I was trying to throw it to DeVante. Unfortunately, that guy came free. That’s something, once again, we have to clean up between myself (and the) offensive line. But we had a chance at a big play on the sideline and I was trying to throw it to DeVante.”
(Are you looking at this as an opportunity to prove to yourself again that you can start in this league or are you looking at this opportunity as ‘I have to do my job so when Ryan is healthy we’re in a good spot where he can come back?’) – “Absolutely not. I think your mentality in this league is when you get your opportunity to play, you never give that guy his job back. That needs to be the mentality. And if that’s not your mentality, then you’re just in the wrong business. That’s nothing personal against anybody; but if you don’t have that competitive spirit, this isn’t the league for you. To answer the first part of your question, every week not only are you going out there and trying to put out your best performance for yourself, but you’re trying to do it for your teammates, your organization, your fan base, your family – it’s everything. Every single week in my eyes is the Super Bowl. Every single week is the biggest game out there, because this sport is so special and you never know when you’re going to get another opportunity. When you do get the opportunity to play, shoot, I play every single play like it’s my last. I put laser focus on every single play. I’m playing as hard as I possibly can so hopefully I never have to go back to the bench.”
Adam Gase – October 31, 2018
Download PDF version
Wednesday, October 31, 2018
Head Coach Adam Gase
(Do you have anything on the quarterbacks for us?) – “Yeah, Ryan (Tannehill) will be out this week. Brock (Osweiler) will be starting.”
(Are you surprised that QB Ryan Tannehill hasn’t shown more to this point?) – “I think it’s just unpredictability. Some days it feels a lot better and some days he doesn’t feel as good. He’s throwing. We’ll just keep working through it, keep talking with the doctors and see if we can do anything else, anything more than what he’s doing, or if we need to do less. We just have to keep going through this process.”
(We didn’t see QB Ryan Tannehill throw anything out there today. Did he throw anything?) – “He has. I mean he’s been throwing when he’s with the trainers and they do certain things. He’s being monitored closely.”
(At this point, how much does the concern grow that this can be something that either needs to be surgically repaired or could possibly impact QB Ryan Tannehill’s career the rest of…) – “Surgery has not been brought up to me. This is just a rest-type thing.”
(What are the differences in the Jets team you’re going to see Sunday compared to the Jets team you saw earlier this year?) – “That’s a tough one in the aspect of when we play those guys, we’re going to get their A-game. We’re going to get a team that’s going to make sure that it is not easy sledding running the football. It never has been. In my short time here, every time we’ve played them, it’s been a physical game. (Jets Head Coach) Todd (Bowles) does a great job of getting those guys ready to go on defense. The quarterback (Sam Darnold) is getting better. He’s a young player. He’s seeing more and he’s learning the NFL game. There are some games where you see some really good flashes and then there are some games where you can see he’s fighting through a couple of things and I think (Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks) Jeremy (Bates) is doing a good job of trying to put him into position to keep getting better.”
(What do you hope LB Mike Hull brings?) – “He’s one of our leaders in special teams, for sure. He gives us more depth at linebacker as well. If something happens, we’ve got a guy that knows our stuff inside and out. He’s able to pop in there and he’s a really good relief pitcher when it comes to that, filling in for one of those guys. He makes a ton of plays on special teams. It seems like every game we walk out of there where he’s got two or three tackles and has some kind of impact play to swing field position.”
(What’s your impression of the Jets running game? There’s been a lot of inconsistency there.) – “I know when we played them, it was tough. Every play is a fight. It’s hard for me to look at too much in the past. I know scheme-wise we can, but I just know what we’re going to get (in terms of) when we get going on Sunday, it’s a different type of game. Both sides, it’s very intense. You throw the records out. You kind of throw what happened before that (out) because guys are coming to play.”
(Regarding your situation at defensive tackle, I know you signed a couple of guys. How tough is it to plug guys in at defensive tackle?) – “At that spot, it’s probably a little easier than some of the other spots because there are less moving parts, especially with two veteran guys. Our numbers dwindled very quickly. I think it was good by the front office guys to get those guys in quick and get them signed and get them out there practicing.”
(What did you see from the workouts that said ‘Okay, this is the right fit for us – DE Ziggy Hood and DT Sylvester Williams – as opposed to some other guys?’) – “Yeah, I mean I’ve been with Sly (Sylvester Williams) before in Denver, so I have some history there. Ziggy, everybody … It was unanimous as far as who those guys liked in the front office and who the staff liked. I felt really good about it just because it’s two guys that are run stoppers and do have value against the pass and have experience. It’s not like they haven’t played all year. They’re coming off of other teams. It’s been a couple weeks but it’s good to get some guys out there that are some fresh faces and see if we can get a little bit of a spark here.”
(With regard to QB Ryan Tannehill, what’s the term for the injury? What’s the injury?) – “I don’t know. I try not to dig too deep in it because I don’t want to get anything wrong with you guys.”
(Is there a sprain?) – “No. I don’t want to say sprain.”
(Are you just calling it a sore shoulder?) – “Yeah, I don’t know. I’ll ask more questions to find out for you. You can ask me tomorrow and I’ll have a better answer.”
(WR DeVante Parker, is he unlucky? An underachiever? Some of both?) – “I think unlucky is probably the word I would use as far as with the injuries. Especially him having a soft tissue injury, the amount of work that he had put in to make sure that didn’t happen, I know that was disappointing for him. When he fractured the finger, his hand got caught in Xavien (Howard)’s jersey and he tried to go up and it got snagged and twisted all around. In my time here, he’s tried to do everything possible to make sure that he’s ready to go. He’s done a good job of staying engaged when he wasn’t playing. I think it benefitted (him), the amount of work he put into the playbook this last game because he didn’t have to ask ‘What’s this?’ or ‘Where do I go here?’ He was playing fast. Hopefully we just keep getting better every week and seeing if we can just keep expanding his role to where he makes as many plays as possible per game.”
(And that game reinforces for you that for you to be in WR DeVante Parker’s corner is the right call?) – “Yeah. We had a good week of preparation. Anything that happened before that, we move on quick. If he has something to say to me, he’ll say it. He’s not afraid to tell me stuff and I appreciate that about him. If somebody else says something for him, he talked to me and then we moved on.”
(What’s WR Kenny Stills able to do right now?) – “He’s trying to work through his injury. We’ll see kind of how the rest of the week goes. Obviously you see he’s trying to convince us that he’s going to be ready. We just have to be smart. We don’t want to make it something to where we throw him out there and then all of a sudden we lose him for a longer period of time.”
(WR Kenny Stills’ issue is the leg? That’s the one that’s keeping him out?) – “Yeah, it was like a groin.”
(WR Kenny Stills also had a shoulder, I think.) – “Yeah, it was more the groin.”
(With the trade deadline yesterday, were there any situations where you thought you might be a little more active than you were?) – “No. We were good.”
(If WR Kenny Stills does not play, do you feel like you still have enough depth and experience at wide receiver to make it through the game?) – “Yeah, I thought those guys did a really good job last week. We saw some different things than what we anticipated and for not practicing – we just had walkthroughs and I don’t know what we were in but we just had walkthroughs – those guys adjusted well. (They) talked through things, did a good job of communicating coming back to the sideline and made some plays. We were probably inches away from busting a couple of those out. I think these guys just keep working out there and keep trying to find ways to get better. When Kenny is ready to go, that will be great to get another guy out there that can really help us stretch the field. Those guys have done a good job.”
(Outside of the penalties and the third-down issues, you’re averaging less than what the league averages in points. What’s the reasoning why midway through?) – “It’s probably not finishing in the red zone. We had a couple of shots this last game to put ourselves in … I think there were about three of them to where if we convert on a third-and-short, at least it keeps us alive for a touchdown. We have a third-and-4 where we have the ball in our hands and we don’t finish the play. When you have three of those, that’s going to hurt you. We probably had a couple of games where we weren’t down there enough and didn’t give ourselves a chance. At the end of the day, our job is to score one more point than whatever the opposing team scores.”
(In what area has T Laremy Tunsil improved the most this season?) – “Every area. I think it’s slowed down for him. I think his confidence is extremely high. I think he’s done a great job from the time we started in the spring. I think Josh (Sitton) coming in and working next to him had an effect on Laremy as far as watching how he would prepare every day in meetings and all of those little tiny things that a lot of people don’t see. I think Laremy was lucky to have somebody that he could kind of work with that was willing to help him and point him in the right direction. I see Laremy’s confidence right now as extremely high. I think the Cincinnati game was an eye-opener for him, probably how things kind of fell apart when he left the game. He can see how valuable he is. We’ve left him on an island on some good players here a couple of times in the last three or four weeks and he’s done a great job.”
(DE Robert Quinn was saying after the Houston game that this season has been a disappointment for him. Have you had to talk to him about dealing with that, or is he professional enough that you leave him on his own?) – “I know what he’s talking about. He’s really not one to complain. He’s always a guy that just works extremely hard at practice. He tries to do what the coaches ask him to do. I know that he wishes that he could get to the quarterback probably a few more times, but sometimes it’s not in his control if the offense is calling something to where the ball comes out quick. We’ve tried to set some things up and make sure maybe we can free him up to where (it cane be) a one-on-one battle. It doesn’t work out all the time. We’ve got a long ways to go. We’ve got eight games left. It’s just in the moment right there when you just get beat up pretty good in a game and nobody really had a great one. It’s frustrating in that moment.”
(Do you think DE Robert Quinn feels or felt pressure because DE Cameron Wake was slowed or missing that he needed to pick up?) – “I don’t know. I’ve never asked him that. I’m sure that he wanted to do something to try create havoc in the game.”
(With LB Mike Hull back, does that change RB Brandon Bolden’s role? And how in general has he been doing?) – “I don’t know how many roles it’s really going to change for us. We’ve got some pieces that we had to move around anyways. We’ll kind of see how that all plays out on Sunday. Who were you asking about? Bolden? He’s doing really well. He’s been a huge part of what we’re doing. He’s been the ultimate professional. I think he’s been a great influence on the entire locker room. Anybody that comes in contact with him, he just does everything right. If you’re a coach and you say something, if anybody even kind of looks at you weird, he’s the first one to be like, ‘No, he’s right. Trust me.’ He’s been through a lot. He’s played a lot of football. He’s played a lot of offense and he’s played a ton of special teams. His library of things that he’s gone through in his career is huge and I think a lot of guys lean on him to kind of point them in the right direction.”
(How was your defense today? What was kind of the spirit that they had coming in?) – “It was intense. It was intense. It was fast. It was physical. It was good. I thought guys did a good job of coming out … there was a focus there.”
(I know that teams want to get the ball out fast so that they limit the ends and stuff, but they do that to everybody. So if your two ends aren’t getting there, what are they not doing other than teams are getting the ball out?) – “A lot of times it’s taking a guy off the first progression, the quarterback off the first progression. That’s part of when I talk about front coverage working together, when a quarterback goes to throw that No. 1 guy in the progression, you take him away and now he has to go to No. 2, that’s most of the time when you get home if you’re dealing with a type of team that gets the ball off fairly quick. So you have to be able to take something away on the back end as well, or even at linebacker if you’re dealing with a team working the tight end or a running back. We’ve been talking about it basically since the last game … We have to work great together on all three levels. Right now, the last two games, we haven’t done a great job of back end working with the front and vice versa. That’s where we need to get things cleaned up. We have to do a better job of when they do get the ball out quick, we have to be tight coverage, don’t allow him to take the first progression, make him move to No. 2. Now we’ve got a chance to get home.”
(So in part what you’re saying is Cameron Wake and Robert Quinn, part of their problem is your cornerbacks?) – “We just have to do a better job in coverage. It’s not always the corners. That’s why I’m saying it’s a group thing because it’s not always going to be, ‘Hey, the corner is the one covering the first guy in the progression.’ If we’re throwing to (Kenyan) Drake, he’s covered probably by a linebacker or a safety. It’s the same thing with other teams. We just have to do a better job of being tight and making that guy go to No. 2.”
(There’s sort of a cliché that the best ability is availability in the game of football. What’s sort of your view on that given that you’ve had a lot of injuries this year?) – “Yeah, I mean, that’s always a good saying when nobody is getting hurt. When a lot of guys get hurt, then you start looking at everything. I know (Head Strength and Conditioning Coach) Dave (Puloka) has been thinking about it. ‘Hey, did we do something wrong in the offseason, training camp.’ And (Head Athletic Trainer) Kyle (Johnston). We’ve all been kind of talking about all the things that we’ve kind of done, whether it be stay the same, change something. ‘Hey, has that affected?’ We’ve just had some weird like season-ending-type things and it’s happening in games. We haven’t really lost a whole bunch of guys in practice. We’re losing guys in games. We’ll keep looking at that, try to keep guys as healthy as we can. To answer your question, availability is the No. 1 thing that you’re always looking for in the NFL because if you’re not on the field, you can’t really help us.”
Sylvester Williams – October 31, 2018
Download PDF version
Wednesday, October 31, 2018
DT Sylvester Williams
(How would you describe your strengths as a player?) – “That’s a good question. Obviously I’m here. I’m just here to give it everything I got, we got eight regular season games left. Whatever I’m bringing as a player, you have to turn your TV on Sunday and you’ll see.”
(Why were you out of work earlier this season?) – “I was in a situation where I wasn’t successful, we weren’t successful as a team stopping the run and they brought a guy in.”
(How do you describe the world wind of emotions of being unemployed one week and signing with a team the next?) – “There was no emotions for me. Like I said, I was brought there to stop the run and we weren’t doing that. So, me being unemployed wasn’t a shock.”
(Are you familiar with head coach Adam Gase or any of the other coaches?) – “I was obviously on the same staff with head coach Adam Gase out in Denver. Some of the other coaches I was on staff with them as well. At the end of the day, it’s football. You have to come in and do your job. We all have a job to do just like you all have a job to do. That’s what I’m here to try to do.”
(What’s the most important responsibility in the position they’re going to utilize you as it relates to run stopping?) – “Right now, they haven’t really given me a specific … They just told me to come in and work my butt off and learn the playbook. That’s what I’m trying to do right now. Obviously I’m saying we have to stop the run just like the other 31 teams in the NFL. Hopefully I can provide to help doing that.”
(Do you have a Super Bowl ring?) – “Yeah, I have a Super Bowl ring.”
(Where is it at?) – “It’s in a safety deposit box right now. It keep it away, obviously that’s behind me. I’m trying to get another one, to be honest with you.”
Mike Hull – October 31, 2018
Wednesday, October 31, 2018
Linebacker Mike Hull
(How do you describe the excitement of finally being back on the active roster?) – “It’s exciting for sure. I’ve been doing rehab for a lot of months, so I’m ready to get back out there and play real football.”
(When do you think you were ready to play? I know you were mandated to sit eight games.) – “Probably a few weeks ago; but with the IR rules, you have to kind of wait it out a little bit. I feel good. I feel good to be back out there and be with the guys.”
(What have you been told about your role moving forward?) – “Mostly just a four-core special teams guy for the foreseeable future, which is pretty much why I’ve been here for as long as I have. Just be a leader in those phases and help try to steer the ship in the right way.”
(One of the websites that comes up with special teams formulas has the Dolphins third in the NFL. What have you observed about the overall special teams performance this year?) – “(Associate Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator) Coach (Darren) Rizzi does a good job getting us prepared throughout the week. He’s one of the best coaches in the game in the special teams phase. We have guys that play hard day in and day out, so it’s no surprise that we’re ranked that high.”
(How difficult has it been to just have to watch?) – “It’s real difficult watching the games on Sunday from home. It’s tough, but t’s all part of the game. It’s part of the process. It’s unfortunate but it happens.”
(I’m trying to remember how you got hurt and when you got hurt. Can you remind me?) – “The first preseason game, it was one of the first plays I was in. I just got rolled up on and ever since then I’ve been on the road to recovery.”
(Did you have to get it fixed?) – “Yeah, I had to get it fixed. It’s just an MCL deal and other than that, it feels good.”
(You figured all along that you’d be back at some point this year?) – “Yeah, for sure. As soon as it happened and they got the prognosis, that’s pretty much what we’ve been aiming for is getting back this week.”
(In some way, have you tried to help with the two first-year starting linebackers even though you haven’t been able to play?) – “For a lot of the rehab, I was just trying to get myself right. You have to take care of yourself first whenever it comes to those things, but since I’ve been back in the meeting room, I’m trying to give those guys tips. Especially on special teams, with (Durham) Smythe playing guard on punt and Jerome Baker playing tackle, I’m just trying to give them little tips on what to look for, even in film study.”
(One of your strengths when you are on the field at linebacker is run stopping. What have been your observations and what coaching points are you hearing from the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach about points of emphasis moving forward?) – “As linebackers, we just have to get downhill faster, take the double teams off of our d-linemen and get back to doing what we were doing the first few weeks of the season. We’ve had some guys go down, so it’s just kind of trying to find guys to step up. That’s what we’re going to be moving forward. It was great to get the little break whenever we did just to regroup and get our scheme settled.”
Reshad Jones – October 31, 2018
Download PDF version
Wednesday, October 31, 2018
S Reshad Jones
(Obviously it must be difficult for you guys defensively to look at what’s going on and take responsibility for it, but what are some of these issues that’s going on?) – “It’s a couple of things. Pass game, run game, just the total defense. We’ve got to be better. There’s no time to hit the panic button right now. We’ve got a lot of football left ahead of us. We’ve just got to come out to practice and continue to work and get it done on the practice field, and continue to put the work in.”
(What is going on in terms of run stopping?) – “It’s different things. People are out of their gaps, miscommunication. It’s collective things that’s going to take everybody on the defense – the coaching staff, everybody – coming together to get it fixed.”
(Did you feel like you guys needed reinforcement adding two defensive tackles?) – “I’m not sure. That’s nothing I can worry about. I let the guys upstairs make those moves and I come in and do whatever it takes to help this team win football games.”
(Another guy like DT Vincent Taylor goes down. Do you feel a little snake-bitten at times when you see another guy go down?) – “Yes, you hate to see one of your brothers go down. A guy who’s been here fighting and trying to do everything right. Unfortunately, that’s part of the NFL. Guys go down and it’s the next-man-up mentality. We brought two new guys in and hopefully they can help us win some football games.”
(You saw QB Sam Darnold after one start, and now he has six or seven under his belt. Does he look any different, or how does he look to you?) – “He’s young. He can make all of the throws, He’s got some guys around him that can make plays. I think our main focus is to make this team one dimensional. I think they’ve been doing a good job these last couple of weeks of running the football. I think Isaiah Crowell had a big game, not last week but the week before. I think our main focus it to try to make this team one dimensional, put the ball in (Darnold’s) hands and make hi make plays. I think if we make this team one dimensional, we’ll be fine.”
(What has been the issue with the defense getting stops on third downs? What has been that issue with you guys allowing 46 percent conversations?) – “It’s multiple things. We’ve got to get pressure on the quarterback. We’ve got to tackle once they catch the ball. It’s collective things. Those are some things that we’ve been working on (and that) coach talked about that we’re going to be working on throughout the rest of the season.”
Adam Gase – October 31, 2018 (Conference Call)
Wednesday, October 31, 2018
Head Coach Adam Gase Conference Call with N.Y. Jets Media
(When you look at the film when you look at the Jets, what has changed the most between Week 2 and now?) – “Schematically, there’s little tiny things that we can see. A lot of this can get thrown out the window real fast because any time that we get together with these guys, it seems to turn into the same type of game where it gets extremely physical and it really comes down to who wants it most at the end. It just turns into a slugfest. It’s the team that makes a big play there in the second half or whoever is running the ball better that seems to be the team that comes out on top.”
(Jets QB Sam Darnold has kind of struggled of late and is now has the third-lowest passer rating. What do you make of that and what have you seen out of him?) – “Any time you have a young quarterback, the season is so young and there’s so much information getting thrown at him and they’re processing things week to week because every game plan is going to be a little bit different and you’re going to be facing a different defense that you have to prepare for. The more he plays, the better he’s going to get. Sometimes he might have a game where it seems like he’s struggling a little bit but you’re going to have those games where all of a sudden you see three touchdown passes, 300-plus yards passing and a 100-plus rating. It’s not something that can just happen overnight a lot of times at that position. It’s a tough position to play. That’s why it’s probably one of the toughest positions in professional sports. The thing is he’s throwing the ball well. They’ve had some moving parts but he’s dangerous. If you get him in any kind of rhythm or he starts moving around the pocket making some plays, it can become a nightmare for the opposing side real quick.”
Adam Gase – October 29, 2018
Download PDF version
Monday, October 29, 2018
Head Coach Adam Gase
(Are you upbeat after this weekend? Are you encouraged about things going forward?) – “We have some things to fix, obviously. The last two weeks haven’t really gone as we thought. We need to make sure that we get a lot of things corrected and make some adjustments and make sure we have the right guys on the field. It’ll be nice if we get some of these guys back that have been banged up. A few days off wouldn’t hurt us, kind of getting a little bit of those two days, this weekend and then today and tomorrow we’re not practicing. We should be pretty good on Wednesday.”
(What did you figure out or decide over this weekend after kind of evaluating everything?) – “I think on both sides of the ball, we have plenty of room for improvement. Defensively, we just have to do a better job of all three levels really playing together. We can’t have two guys here off track and two different guys in the next play. We have to do a better job of playing as a group. Offensively, we need to keep making strides where the offensive line and the running backs are on the same page of the run game, and then getting the ball out on time and making sure we’re in the right spots as receivers.”
(I’m going to get to your favorite topic: do you have anything for us on QB Ryan Tannehill?) – “No.”
(No update from the last time you talked to us?) – “No.”
(Are you expecting that QB Ryan Tannehill is going to practice Wednesday?) – “He’ll be out there no matter what. I don’t know what we’re going to do throwing-wise. I’ll have a better idea probably Tuesday, where really they’ll give me an answer one way or the other.”
(I think the reason we’re asking now is because the last couple of weeks, you’ve said early. Are you going to go into Wednesday with a starter or are you going to play it out all the way until Sunday?) – “I’d like to be able to say ‘this is what we’re doing’ Wednesday, or at least for me to know. I might not tell you guys.”
(We’d appreciate it.) – “(laughter) I really don’t care. We’ll see. I don’t know right now.”
(QB Ryan Tannehill was throwing a tennis ball last week?) – “Yep. We’re slowly progressing. He’s making steps where he’s in a position to where he can throw a football. We’re gaining strength in that area. We’ll see more in the next two days of how he feels the next day after when he does have a chance to throw, how sore he is the next day or how much power he feels like he has. We talked about it the other day. It’s just kind of an unusual injury and there’s a lot of gray where we’ve asked for information and you get a lot of gray back, so that makes it tough.”
(You said QB Ryan Tannehill is throwing a football now?) – “Yes. He can throw a football.”
(QB Ryan Tannehill is doing it?) – “Yeah. It’s just whether or not how much power can he put behind the ball. Even that week when he tried to throw, he’s throwing it and everything looks normal but for him, it’s like ‘I’m not getting that stroke that I want, I’m not getting that power behind it and being able to throw with the velocity I want.’ That’s really what it’s going to come down to is when he does throw, the next day, how does he feel? Then can he repeat what he did the day before? We have to be careful here. When you’re a starting quarterback, you’re out there and you throw 100-plus balls – the next day, you’re coming off an injury like that and you haven’t thrown in a while. You just have to be careful of that.”
(I think everyone around here admires QB Ryan Tannehill pain tolerance and toughness. How do you interpret what he says? Is he going to be honest with you?) – “My thoughts go the same direction. If he says something bothers him, then I’m assuming it really is bad because he normally doesn’t say anything.”
(QB Ryan Tannehill might say he’s fine…) – “Right. I told him ‘I have to trust you. You have to be honest with me. You can’t not be okay and then tell me you’re great.’”
(If QB Ryan Tannehill is not okay, does he know that could exacerbate the problem if he’s not …) – “He understands that. He understands that if he gives me wrong information, that could make it worse. I feel like he’s in a good place. I know it’s killing him because he wants to do anything he can to help us. But at the same time, we have to be smart because I don’t want this to turn into (something where) we try one week and then there’s a huge setback and now it’s worse than what it was before.”
(Have you been happy with QB Brock Osweiler?) – “Yeah, he’s done a great job. I think there’s a lot of things that he’s done that have been positive for us. The change out in wide receivers last week, I thought he handled that really well. It was unfortunate (on the interception). I thought he threw a really good ball and it ended up being intercepted, but there were some other factors that were involved in that. For the most part, he’s protected the ball and gotten us moving up and down the field. We have to clean up some of the red-area stuff, or the high red area, and give us a chance in the low (red area).”
(How important is it for QB Ryan Tannehill to return and what do you think he wants to prove by coming back this season?) – “I think he just wants to feel right. I think he just wants to get healthy. I think any time you can get your starting quarterback back, that’s probably a positive.”
(There was a lot of talk coming into the year about QB Ryan Tannehill’s improvement and what he could do this year. How has the injury sort of changed that view?) – “I don’t think it has for me. I think it’s a very unusual situation. He took a very odd hit and his body was in a weird position. That’s something that I wish I could say he could have controlled that, but we found ourselves in a little bit of a hole where we were trying to take a shot down the field and he held onto it and tried to give us the best chance possible, and he took a violent hit. It kind of really put him in a position where a guy got a good stroke on him and it affected him. I think mentally he’s in a great spot. I thought his body was in a decent spot everywhere else until that happened. We were headed in the right direction, we just had a little bit of that setback.”
(Like you said, it’s not out of QB Ryan Tannehill’s control but he’s had 20 games missed in the last two years.) – “Yeah, I mean before I got here it was ‘Hey, he’s played however many games (in a row).’ Everybody told me he never got hurt. The narrative swings so fast. I think that was a … The ACL was a weird deal. He got hit in a very poor throwing position. All of his weight was on that leg and he took a weird hit. It happens to a lot of guys. This one, it was the same thing. He was kind of in a bad position and it was just an unlucky event.”
(Sometimes it’s pretty clear if a team is a buyer or a seller at the trade deadline. At 4-4, do you see this as an opportunity to get your team better now? Is that something you’re even considering?) – “I haven’t even really thought about it. I like where we’re at right now. I like this group. I’d like to stay healthy from here on out. I don’t think we have much more room for losing guys for the year. I think we’ve maxed out on that. For the most part, I feel like we have the right guys. We just have to clean up … Especially on defense, we have to clean up a couple of things that could help us prevent these explosive plays because that’s hurting us more than anything.”
(Do you think you could go to Executive Vice President of Football Operation Mike Tannenbaum and say, ‘Hey, there’s this guy that’s available. He could be really …) – “Yeah, I mean, I’m not going to do that because they’re probably going to come to me before I go to them. That’s what these guys do all day long, every day, all year long. So I’m not worried about that. I’m worried about coaching the guys that are on our team.”
(You talked defensively about execution just now and a couple of guys here and there that maybe aren’t doing their job. How about schematically? Are you okay schematically?) – “We’re all right. There needs to be some things that we clean up that we kind of need to address and adjust. That’s part of football and that happens every year a lot of times that people don’t know about. We’re not going to sit there and do the same exact thing over and over again and think it’s going to fix itself. We’ll do what’s best for this game and then when we hit the next game, we’ll do what’s best for that game. That needs to be our mind-set in all three phases and that’s what it is going to be. We’ll make sure that we do a good job. If we prevent the explosive plays, we’ll be in a better position.”
(Going back to the question about the trade deadline tomorrow, how do you balance that innate competitiveness – you’ve obviously trying to 12-4 the rest of the year – versus weighing the long-term interests of the franchise?) – “I get what you’re saying, but with (General Manager) Chris (Grier) and Mike (Tannenbaum) doing what they do, they have a great way, like when we have to get together and some kind of decision is made, they lay everything out so black and white for me that it makes decisions really easy for my part of the vote. Those guys do a great job of laying things out the right way. They have a vision of how this thing should be and if something came up to where they thought that was best for us, it’s not too hard to convince me. Like, if they bring something to me, they’re really good at making sure that I see what they’re seeing.”
(But you could lose 10 more guys and keep trying. Would you be able to accept that at some point if it is the time to be a seller at the trade deadline?) –“I mean, how many days do we have left? There’s nothing that’s going to happen … Well, I shouldn’t say that because around here, who knows what’ll happen. (laughter)”
(Are you capable of that?) – “Probably not. That’s just … Unless they brought me something that they thought was a great idea, then I would do what’s best for the organization. But it’s highly unlikely that’s something like that would happen.”
(Do you still feel comfortable that WR DeVante Parker will be here past tomorrow?) – “Yeah. I do.”
(Do you know what the status of WR Kenny Stills is for this week?) – “I do not right now. He’s pushing. He wants it. He’s a guy that he doesn’t want to miss games. I know last week killed him. It was out of his control. I know he’s going to do everything he can to get back for this game. I just want to make sure that we’re not putting him out there too early to where he has a setback and now we lose him for a longer time.”
(We know it’s a week-to-week process, but with the way things have been going lately, do you still tell these guys we’re still conscientiously in the thick of the playoff race?) – “Yeah. I mean, what are we, one of eight teams that have (a .500 record or better), right? Now it’s who wins the second half of the season. We have to focus on this week and then once you handle this week, then you go to the next one. We’re so far … Last year we were in as deep of a hole as you can get in and we beat New England, we have to win one game and all of a sudden you’re playing the last game for the spot. You don’t know what’s going to happen. I mean, it’s crazy. Everybody in this room probably watched games yesterday and there’s a lot of football where you’re going, ‘Well, are we better than this team? Are we better than this team?’ Everybody is just bunched up. There’s like two or three teams per side that have kind of separated themselves where you notice like, ‘Wow, that team is really good.’ When you watch Kansas City, you go, ‘Wow, they’re really good on offense.’ When you watch L.A., they’re really good. Past that, I feel like a whole bunch of people are clumped together. It’s just kind of week to week the way it’s going right now.”
(I want to understand what you said about the defense. It sounds like you like the players you have, you like the coaches you have, but the players are not adhering to what they’re being taught or something?) – “No, it’s not that. It’s just that we have to play better as a group. That’s what happens sometimes in football where either side of the ball, any of the three phases, to where d-line to linebackers and the safeties have to kind of play together in the run game and then everybody really has to work together in the passing game, and sometimes you can get off. The front could be kind of seeing it one way, where the linebackers see it a different way. Things like that happen. We need to do a better job of making sure all 11 guys are really working together because that gives us the best chance. When you play Houston, you have ‘99’ (J.J. Watt) and ‘90’ (Jadeveon Clowney) there, who are just wrecking the game nonstop. You could have errors and they kind of cover up for you. Right now, we’ve had guys in and out to where we need to play as a group. Like, some of our … I would say like losing William Hayes, he has been like our enforcer in the run game. He’s not there anymore. We have to figure out a different way to handle things because he would just be like, ‘Boom, set the edge,’ and that was it. It was done. It wasn’t anybody else. He did it that well. We could adjust to the other side to say, ‘All right, we can help here.’ Right now, we need all 11 guys to do a great job together because we don’t have one guy that could just handle one side or one linebacker that makes every play. We need to work as a group.”
(When you watch games, do you watch them as a fan or do you try to scout or look at scheme or those types of things?) – “I think I kind of just take it in as the game is going on. There’ll be situations that come up. For me, I always know when it must have been really good because (Associate Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Darren) Rizzi will start texting me, ‘Did you see this?’ It’s always a special teams play too. (laughter) Like the Carolina game yesterday when they take a delay of game and then they throw it to Greg Olsen and they get three points at the end of the half. Stuff like that. I guess most of us probably look at it situationally and there’ll be some times where you see a play and you’re like, ‘I wonder what that was?’ And write a note down to say, ‘Hey, watch the Rams-Green Bay game. I think I saw some stuff that Green Bay did defensively that I thought was interesting,’ as far as I might just write that down for when we play them of, ‘Hey, just a reminder to look at this.’ And then there’s a part of you that just watches it as … sometimes when you watch Kansas City, you just sit back and just watch because it just seems like they’re out there playing seven-on-seven. It’s impressive to watch.”
