Christian Wilkins – December 1, 2019 (Postgame)
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Sunday, December 1, 2019
Postgame – Philadelphia
DT Christian Wilkins (transcribed by Anthony Gutierrez)
(How about your kicker and punter scoring a touchdown?) – “Oh yeah, that was awesome. Kickers and punters are people too. They are athletes too. (laughter) I’m tired of them getting disrespected. Those guys are athletes. It was good to see those guys have a little fun. I was happy for those guys. So now (Matt) Haack is officially the best quarterback on the team and the best receiver goes to Jason (Sanders). They are 100 percent on passes and catches, so it was good to see that.”
(You were right in there on the celebration too.) – “Oh yeah, of course. I was really happy for those guys. I always like to celebrate with my guys, especially when other guys have success you always want to celebrate…”
(What does this win mean for this team?) – “It means that we got a W. We put it all together and we played well enough to win. We didn’t play perfect but we played well enough to win. We will keep building and this gives us a little extra motivation to finish the season strong. I know that this might not be the season that we wanted, or the fans wanted; but this gives us a little extra sense of motivation. First of all, respect to Philly because they are a really good team. That was not an easy win by any means. If we beat a team like Philly – how talented they are, they have the highest paid guys at multiple positions, they are so talented – so it just shows that we can compete with anybody and we can beat really good teams.”
Patrick Laird – December 1, 2019 (Postgame)
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Sunday, December 1, 2019
Postgame – Philadelphia
RB Patrick Laird (transcribed by Faustino Yanes)
(So what was it like to score your first NFL touchdown?) – “It felt awesome. It was great. I think I got stood up at the 1-yard line and then Michael Deiter came and pushed me in, so he ended up on top of me, so it’s a credit to those guys up front and then Deiter for finishing the play right there. But no, it felt great.”
(What can you tell us about the two-point conversion play? Was it designed for you? Tell us about the play.) – “’Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick) has his reads on that but all week in practice, we expected a matchup where I can get inside the linebacker or the safety, whoever was covering me, and so that’s how it worked out. ‘Fitz’ made a great throw and it ended up working out.”
(How does it feel to get a little bit of run last week and then contribute this week?) – “It feels awesome. I have been sticking to my process, sticking to my routine since Week 1, so if the opportunity presented itself, I’d be ready to go on offense. I’ve been playing special team for a while. I love that role on special teams. I’ll continue to do that, but if they need me on offense, then I’ll do what the coaches ask.”
(This offense has been noticeably flat this season in the second half of games. What changed today?) – “I think, like I said just me personally, but everyone on the team has done this is we’ve stuck together and we’ve stuck to our process, our routine, the things that (Head) ‘Coach Flo’ (Brian Flores) preaches each week. It might not seem like it on the outside but this team is really close, we play together and so when we get into tight games like this, we end up on the winning side.”
Matt Haack – December 1, 2019 (Postgame)
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Sunday, December 1, 2019
Postgame – Philadelphia
P Matt Haack (transcribed by Bryce Reddick)
(On the touchdown pass.) – “I caught the end of Jason (Sanders’ media availability). Kind of like he said, it’s something we’ve been working on for a long time. We’ve seen a few different looks in practice – what we liked, what we didn’t like, and they gave us honestly exactly what we planned for, so that was pretty cool. Then the reason the play worked so well is it was fourth-and-short, so if you saw the fake we had against Buffalo, it was a run. They’ve seen a run, so they were expecting a run. (Daniel) Kilgore actually – people probably might not see his contribution, but he was actually on the snap and he had two guys that ran. The little pump fake left was supposed to take care of one and he was supposed to completely take out the other one, and he did a great job so kudos to him. Then like I said, I rolled out and it felt so fast – four guys were on me real quick, I saw a little window and (Sanders) was wide open. In my head, it was just put it on and don’t give them a chance, really.”
(How much are you itching to get back and maybe see some of the national highlight shows, see where that ranks amongst the plays of the week?) – “(laughter) I’m not too worried about that right now. I’m just happy that we got the win, really.”
(When is the last time you threw a pass in a game, if ever?) – “If you guys don’t remember, my rookie year I threw an interception on a fake punt, (laughter) so (there was) a lot better feeling on this one.”
(Did you hit them with a no-look shovel pass on this one?) – “Honestly, I don’t think so. I might have been, just from how fast it happened, but I saw Jason (Sanders) out there so I wasn’t going to take a chance with that one.”
(Could you feel the momentum kind of turn within the stadium because as you guys suggested when we walked in here – just the way that the Philly fans had shown up in the stands tonight – did you guys feel like you stole the momentum on that play?) – “I feel like it may have started something, but kudos to our offense and defense. We stepped up big at the end and guys all around the team were making plays and not giving up and came back and won it.”
(Have you ever completed a pass before today?) – “You know, in college I had one – one fake punt pass that was completed and then way, way back in the day, when I was younger, I actually did play running back and quarterback and receiver, so I got a little bit of that back.”
Daniel Kilgore – December 1, 2019 (Postgame)
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Sunday, December 1, 2019
Postgame – Philadelphia
C Daniel Kilgore (transcribed by Bryce Reddick)
(The offense seemed to step up. Did you feel that you were just able to keep that passing game going on the second half?) – “Definitely, ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick) had his hits. We’ve got to do better protecting him. We’ve got to start faster. We’ve got to be able to protect him early in the ball game and not just have what we had in the second half. We’ve got to do that full game. But ‘Fitz’ being able to sit back there and put the ball in the receivers’ (hands), and the receivers, you can’t say enough about them today. I mean they really stepped up and played their asses off and caught everything coming their way. The defense played lights out. Special teams was huge for us today with the fake field goal. We took a shot there after halftime (with the onside kick) but it didn’t work out, so the defense did a good job. Again, this falls back on complementary football. “
(How critical was that six-minute drive in the fourth quarter?) – “Yeah, big time. We’re tired and everything but we look up at the clock and the more time we can run off the clock, the better. It was a real good gut check for our offensive line and for everybody around us and I felt like in that situation, we stepped up to the plate.”
(Take us through that fake field goal.) – “It’s a play that we’ve had for a while and we’ve worked it and we saw an opportunity. Danny (Crossman), our special teams coach, he’s willing to – we are at the point in the season where we don’t have much to lose, so why not take a shot? it worked out. We executed it well. I didn’t see the replay but I just saw a touchdown and that was good enough for me.”
Mike Gesicki – December 1, 2019 (Postgame)
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Sunday, December 1, 2019
Postgame – Philadelphia
TE Mike Gesicki (transcribed by Ken Mendonça)
(You and WR Devante Parker kind of put on a clinic with the jump balls today out there. Is that something on the sideline you noticed, the mismatches maybe in size?) – “DeVante started it off. He’s been playing great all year. I couldn’t be more happy for his because he’s taken a lot of criticism that he didn’t deserve in the past and he’s been making a ton of plays, so I’m really happy for him. ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick) does a phenomenal job just putting the ball up and giving you a chance. Like I’ve always said, when you’re given your opportunity, you have to go make a play.”
(How cool was watching K Jason Sanders’ touchdown from the sideline?) – “Oh, man. We’ve been practicing that for two months. We were like, ‘Are we going to call it? Are we going to call it?’ And then we called it, and I’m like, ‘Oh man.’ He flicked it to him, and I mean, that was awesome. I think that that’s a credit to (Special Teams Coordinator) Danny (Crossman) and his play calling as a special teams coach. He’s been aggressive all year. I’m just happy for Matt (Haack) and Jason and the whole special teams crew to make plays like that.”
(You’ve got a touchdown streak now.) – “I’m not talking about it. (laughter) I’m just focusing on my job and continuing to follow my routine and continue to work hard and hopefully good things will follow.”
(Can you tell us what happened on the touchdown?) – “You know, it’s funny, I was talking to ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick) after that. I said, ‘We’ve been running that play since OTAs and never once have I gotten the ball on that play.’ It was a play that I kind of knew I had a shot on, he scrambled out and just put in the back of the end zone and I was able to go up and get it.”
DeVante Parker – December 1, 2019 (Postgame)
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Sunday, December 1, 2019
Postgame – Philadelphia
WR DeVante Parker (transcribed by Anthony Gutierrez)
(How great did it feel to win considering it was a career day for you, 159 yards and two touchdowns?) – “It felt great. I’m still here. I know I still have the ability to make plays and do whatever I can to help the team.”
(The team has won three of five, three wins in the last five games. How do you think that aligns with the world’s expectations of this team?) – “I think they got it wrong. This team fights. When we’re down, we’re going to fight. We’re going to fight regardless, no matter what the score is. That’s how we are.”
(Career highs in touchdowns, receiving yards. You’re closing in on 1,000 now. Those numbers that are important to you, at least 1,000, right?) – “It doesn’t matter to me, as long as we get the win. As long as we win, I’m fine with that.”
(If you were going to name a few people that you wanted to give credit too, obviously you are having a very good season. So for this season, who are a couple of people that you would say, “they helped me out,” coach, player, anybody?) – “The whole Dolphins organization. They gave me another chance. They didn’t have to sign me back, but they did.”
Jason Sanders – December 1, 2019 (Postgame)
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Sunday, December 1, 2019
Postgame – Miami Dolphins
K Jason Sanders (transcribed by Paola Argueta)
(The first time the coaches drew up the play and you were about to line up at practice, you were thinking what?) – “I loved it. How often do you get to see a kicker touchdown or even a punter throwing to the kicker? I think that’s the unique part. ”
(What is going through your mind when they are calling the play and as you’re running it?) – “So they call and everything just happens so fast. I got set outside and they were giving us the look we were looking for. I knew the ball was going to be snapped and right when he said ‘set,’ I was like ‘All right, it’s on. Let’s go.’”
(From what you saw, you were confident that there was no way this wasn’t going to work?) – “It’s all based on what they are going to do. We were just banking on them doing this so we could do that. Matt (Haack) did a good job. He held onto the ball as long as he could and once I got off, he got it to me.”
Ryan Fitzpatrick – December 1, 2019 (Postgame)
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Sunday, December 1, 2019
Postgame – Philadelphia
QB Ryan Fitzpatrick
(Did you see this coming, ending this way after the first two series of the game?) – “(Head) Coach (Brian Flores) said start fast all week and we did the exact opposite. (laughter) You know what though, this – we’ve been such a resilient bunch. I think in winning the two games in a row and then having some bad games, the one thing, especially down 28 in Cleveland or whatever it was, the thing we took out of that game, the positive was there’s no quit in our team and that was definitely evident today. I think hats off to DeVante Parker for the display he put on out there today. That was special. He made some really big plays and that really got us going. When you’re throwing to a guy like that that’s making plays like that, it’s easy to play quarterback. So, he did a great job and made my job a little bit easier today.”
(You were getting pretty beat up early in the game. It seemed like you were getting hit every time you threw the ball. How were you able to get through that and find some ways to start getting the ball down field and making those plays?) – “I think in the second half we got some drives going. I think we tired them out a little bit just being able to sustain some drives and not have some three-and-outs or some quicker series. The guys up front, they stepped up. We got the ball out a little bit quicker sometimes. But that’s going to happen. That’s a football game right there where there’s going to be ebbs and flows and there’s times as a quarterback you’re going to be getting hit. And guys are always looking at me in the huddle, so I’ve got to make sure that whether it’s affecting me or not, I got to make sure that it doesn’t look like it’s affecting me, because sometimes those hits hurt a little bit. (laughter) But it was all good today. It was a much nicer second half.”
(WR DeVante Parker and TE Mike Gesicki made some big plays, but you’ve got a rookie in RB Patrick Laird who really came in and gave you guys a big boost.) – “He did. He did a great job and made a few guys miss on some shorter throws. He had a couple nice runs, got a touchdown. The catch that he made on the two-point conversion, he ran a great route (and made a) great catch. I think he was a guy that is slowly showing us that we can really rely on him in doing the different things that he does well. He caught a couple screens today and had some nice run after catches. I was proud of the way that Patrick played today.”
(Which WR DeVante Parker reception impressed you the most?) – “I didn’t see a couple of them; but the one, the tightrope one down the sideline where he scored, I didn’t think there was any way he kept his feet in. That was amazing. I’m assuming the Hail Mary down the left sideline that I threw was pretty amazing, too. We talk about him, or I talk about him, every week as just being a consistent, reliable guy that he really got it going today and really fueled us as an offense. He wanted that ball on every play.”
(Do these catches surprise you ever at this point?) – “Out of (Parker)? Not at all. Even through OTAs and everything else, he made a lot of those catches. The physical talents that he has along with his mentality today after he made that first one was he was going to go up and get every ball. It was really impressive and fun to be on his team today.”
(Down 28-14 to a team that is right in the thick of the playoff chase. Everyone is “Okay, the Eagles just pull away and win.” Talk to me about the heart and soul of this football team we found out today to come back on a good team like this down 14 points.) – “On offense we got into a good rhythm. Our defense really stepped up and it was the complementary football. The touchdown by the special teams was amazing. Just a cool play. But I think we all stumbled a little bit in our different phases, but then we really all stepped up and came together and played well in the second half when we had to. I think it speaks volumes for this team. All year, the way that we’ve stayed at it and haven’t flinched and all those clichés you could throw out, that’s what this team is. That’s a pretty rewarding win to be down like we were and to not have anybody on the sideline thinking that we weren’t going to be able to come back. The way we did it in the second half, it was fun to be a part of.”
(When you saw that formation in practice, P Matt Haack to K Jason Sanders, and you watch it and you watch them go through it, you think what? What goes through your head?) – “(Special Teams Coordinator) Danny Crossman is crazy. (laughter) Like what is he dreaming up? This is the NFL. (laughter) Like, that’s not – that doesn’t happen. And I saw – they worked on it multiple times, so we had seen it, but for it actually to be called in a game, I didn’t think it would ever be called in a game. But (it was) pretty cool – pretty cool that it worked.”
(How would you grade P Matt Haack’s quarterbacking?) – “It was like a flick, right? (laughter) It was like – it worked. That pass was a lot better than mine, the play before. (laughter)”
(After the last two games stumbling along there, it seemed things were going south. How does Head Coach Brian Flores keep you guys to the point where you come back and play a game like this after the last two games you played?) – “I think he’s just stayed on message, stayed steady. Like I said, the Cleveland game where we came back and obviously didn’t come back all the way, but I think that shows the fight in this team, the fight in these guys. For as much turmoil and things that have gone on, our locker room has really stuck together and these are the really satisfying wins right here where you have to do it on the field, you have to stick together, you have to overcome a bunch of obstacles and injuries and whatever else happens and go out there and play together. I think it was a good lesson for everybody.”
(A lot of the 3-9 teams are counting the days until the offseason. It seems like maybe that isn’t the case with this team.) – “Yeah. I mean I’ve got plenty of time to sip on Mai Tais. (laughter) I would rather be out here playing football.”
(Are you interested to see what these team can do in the last month?) – “I’m just excited to go out there and play. I think that’s been kind of our mantra all year and we’ve got a bunch of fighters on our team, so it’s fun to be out there in the huddle with them.”
(What impact do you think Head Coach Brian Flores had on how you guys play?) – “Well again, I think just his steadiness. He really has been consistent. He’s consistent in how hard he works every single day and that trickles down to the staff, the hours that they put in and the work that they put in to get us ready and prepared for these games and then the work that we put in in practice. It starts with him and trickles down to everybody else. I think his work ethic and steadiness and consistency, those are all things that he’s done a great job with this year.”
(Your passes, your connection with WR DeVante Parker, you mentioned that earlier, but some of those throws are you just throwing, I don’t want to say it’s like playground, but you’re throwing them up, you know he has a one-on-one saying, “You go win?”) – “Yeah. Sometimes when it’s one-on-one, one thing that I’ve always done in my career is I’m going to give my playmakers a chance to make plays. And that’s – we have got some really talented guys. DeVante is a really talented player and I want to give him the opportunity to show off his talent. It wasn’t because of one corner or the other or anything, it was because I believe in DeVante Parker, and he really came through today.”
