Austin Reiter – November 22, 2021
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Monday, November 22, 2021
C Austin Reiter
(I don’t know if you’ve had time to meet with Offensive Line Coach Lemuel Jeanpierre yet but what was the feedback you got as a group about how you did yesterday collectively as an offensive line? It seems like there was an improvement in both pass protection and in the run-blocking aspect as well.) – “We’re about to watch the film right now. I think the feeling though – I liked the initial drive was really good. I think there were some times in the middle of the game that we could have improved but I think that final fourth quarter drive to chew up the clock and just run the ball, I think that was one of the highlights for the offensive line play there. That was a good feeling, keeping the ball in hand and taking the time off the clock.”
(It seems like a bunch of mature guys on this offensive line – T Liam Eichenberg seems like a mature, smart guy for a rookie. Have you had to try to keep his spirits up – you and G/T Jesse Davis at all – because obviously it’s been a tough adjustment playing left tackle for him? He did some good things yesterday.) – “No, I don’t think I’ve had to keep his spirits up. He’s a smart guy. He’s played a lot of football just not at this level but it always kind of surprises me and I have to remind myself sometimes that he is a rookie, which is pretty impressive on his part for the way he composes himself.”
(What do you think – obviously you guys have been trying hard, very hard, to develop a run game for the last month and a lot of it with you being there as the starting center. What was the difference this week against the Jets? What were you guys doing differently that led to success?) – “I think getting in a rhythm in part of the game helped. I think kind of finding our groove there. I think there’s some runs that we do well. About to watch the film right after this with the whole o-line and we’ll have a better sense of what we’re doing well and what we like. I think just consistently working, it’s day-by-day in this league and getting the whole o-line ready to cohesively work together, it doesn’t happen overnight. I think our hard work is starting to show on film.
(You obviously are into the mix, three centers. You’re a center so you know that’s never a good thing. How difficult is it to just learn everybody as a center as one of those leaders in terms of on short notice from a communication standpoint?) – “It’s tough. You understand that. I think in pass protection, it’s kind of knowing where guys’ feet are as far as the guards. You’ve got two guys on each side of you. In the run game, it’s kind of fits and where guys are going to be on defensive linemen when you’re trying to run block them. It isn’t easy to just come in and cohesively gel with everybody. It’s something that we work on in practice a lot so on Sunday there’s no excuses for anything less than what we want.”
(You arrived in Miami during a rough patch that was getting worse at the time. Now that you’ve strung together three straight wins, what’s the difference in the locker room vibe that you’re seeing if there is one?) – “I think we’re gaining some confidence. Three games in a row, I know that’s a good thing. That’s hard to do in this league and you see it across. It’s a big confidence game and when you’ve got a team that plays with confidence, every game you’re going to have adversity that hits whether it’s turnovers or anything. If you get down, you’ve got to have that confidence knowing that you’re going to win the game no matter what. I think that’s kind of where that switch mentally flips for a team.”
(I know you guys are programed to think of one game at a time, but have you given any thought at all now that you’re on this three-game winning streak, to making a playoff run? Has it crossed your mind, ‘Hey, we can get back into this playoff race now.’) – “Not me personally. I’m looking week-to-week. You’ve got to take small bites of the apple to get to the whole thing. I’m week-to-week. I think a lot of the team is focused the same way. I know coach is focused that way too. We’re all Panthers this week and beating them.”
(I heard last week that there were good practices last week. Obviously everybody thinks that they practice well but when you talk about having a good practice, what does that mean to you?) – “First, I would start by saying no mental errors. People are going out there when we run the plays that are scripted and we are not having to start things over. We don’t have to re-run a play, we don’t have to go back after we get through that set and ‘hey, pull up play six.’ We’re lined up right. We’re not chewing up the clock in the huddle. I would say those types of things. Just being efficient is probably the No. 1. Guys are going to get beat. That happens all the time. But I think No. 1 is not beating yourself mentally, everybody knowing the assignment and operating efficiently as an offense.”
(How do players hold players accountable for when they do have these mental errors, busts and preventable penalties, preventable mistakes and missed assignments? How do you guys hold each other accountable for that?) – “I think that comes down to the position group. That matters which position that would happen at. I know as an offensive line, if we have people jumping or missed assignments, we’re going to vocally let them know like, ‘Hey, this can’t happen.’ I’m sure that goes across the board for other position groups and I’m sure that the coaches would feel the same way.”
(I’d like to follow up on something you just mentioned with the crispness of practice and not having to re-run plays. How’s that maybe compare if at all when you first got here and the team wasn’t doing so well? Were the practices maybe not quite as crisp as they are now?) – “There’s been so many practices. I wouldn’t say at the beginning when I got here that they were bad. Obviously in the course of the seven, eight weeks, there’s been some days the second week that I was here, the third week that I was here that were maybe a few mental errors. It’s hard for me to notice that because I’m so locked into what I’m trying to do that sometimes I don’t see if the defense is having errors. When coach says we have a good practice, some days I’m thinking to myself, ‘I could have done this better.’ It’s tough for me to assess the whole team sometimes.”
Jaelan Phillips – November 22, 2021
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Monday, November 22, 2021
LB Jaelan Phillips
(Are you aware of your sack numbers? Obviously fans and media are into that sort of thing. Do you know how many you have? Do you keep track of it at all?) – “I mean yeah, afterwards. My mom is the one who keeps track. She’s the one who tells me. I know it’s like 3.5 now or something like that.”
(It is. I know obviously you’re measured on far more than that. You’re measured on pressures, on how you contain the run as an edge player. But did you have a sack goal coming in and is 3.5 you think a good number for a rookie after 11 NFL games?) – “I really didn’t try to set too many expectations on myself just so that I can manage it. I didn’t want to come in with over lofty expectations and say I need 10-plus sacks or else I don’t feel like I’ve succeeded or anything like that. I feel like that’s kind of setting myself up to fail because the reality is you can have a lot less numbers and still be productive and still learn and improve every week and do good things. So for me, it’s not necessarily the numbers that are important to me as the production. But it’s obviously always nice to get to the quarterback. I love getting sacks. It’s great for the team. It’s great for everybody.”
(There’s a little bit of a difference between QB Lamar Jackson and QB Joe Flacco. I’m curious what the thought was inside the defensive meetings when you found out the Jets were going to be starting Flacco on Sunday.) – “Obviously it’s a different gameplan. Every week is a different gameplan, regardless of who it is. Obviously there’s a pretty stark difference between a guy like Lamar Jackson and an older guy like Joe Flacco. Not that he’s not athletic in his own regard but he’s obviously more of a pocket passer. So this week we still wanted to be aggressive and when it comes to rushing the passer against guys who are less likely to roll out of the pocket and be very elusive, you can kind of be more aggressive when you rush and it kind of changes things up a little bit. But yeah, we game-planned this game and I think we executed for the most part. There’s definitely some things to improve on. But obviously the most important thing is that we got the win.”
(Did you personally think, ‘Okay, QB Joe Flacco is back there. I should be able to take this guy down?’) – “I called it out. I’ve been trying to manifest it so I always tell my friends, ‘I’m going to get this guy. I’m going to get a sack.’ But I wasn’t underestimating him by any means. Obviously he’s an elite quarterback. He’s won Super Bowls and been doing his thing for a long time. I definitely didn’t underestimate him but I was definitely glad to be able to get back there.”
(I know this is not a favorable thing to address but the penalty that you had with the shove, maybe not shove. What were you thinking and do you feel like there was a bit of acting involved or was that just a bad mistake?) – “Yeah, I mean that’s just me. I know better than that and obviously that won’t happen again. It’s just in the heat of the moment. Obviously, sometimes you make mistakes. It’s something I’ve got to own up to. It’s not great. Not smart.”
(I wanted to ask you from the team perspective – we usually ask you guys questions from your individual perspective – but from the team perspective, what the different has felt like within your first NFL season from that early impression of a seven-game losing streak to now reeling off three straight.) – “The thing is, I feel like as players and even as coaches and as a staff in general, I feel like our energy has always been very optimistic and very positive. Like even during that seven-game winning streak, I didn’t feel like every day I came into the facility people were hanging their heads and people were down and out and worried about that. I think everybody realized that we were really close and we just had to execute better and we just had to do the little things better. I think the energy in the building is great right now. Obviously it’s great to win three in a row but our focus is just on continuing to improve and stacking these days and stacking these weeks. Right now obviously we have Carolina ahead of us, so that’s what our focus is on.”
Elijah Campbell – November 22, 2021
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Monday, November 22, 2021
DB Elijah Campbell
(Does it take a special mindset as an NFL player to be content and entirely motivated if you’re only pretty much playing on special teams and not on offense or defense, in your case?) – “I guess you could say it could take a special mindset to be a specialist and accept that role as a specialist. I take pride in special teams so I’m just thankful for having that opportunity and being able to go out there and do what I can to help support the team.”
(There’s been talk about how practices have been better lately. Not necessarily that being the reason behind the three-game winning streak but what does a good week of practice or crisp practice look like to you as a player?) – “I would just say that coach, about halfway through the season, we hit the halfway mark and he said from here on out, ‘We’re going to have a better half of the season. We’re playing a whole different type of football.’ I think when he said that, the whole team kind of bought into that and ever since we started our little streak, practices have had a little more energy to them. Can you ask the question again? Sorry, I don’t want to get off topic.”
(You’re doing great. What does a good week of practice look like?) – “A good week of practice? You come out and start with good energy the first week. You kind of want to minimize the mistakes in the beginning. There’s always going to be mistakes in the beginning of the week but as long as every day we continue to gradually get better, then by the time Friday comes, we have that crisp practice, we can put Wednesday and Thursday out of the window. As long as Friday we come with that crisp practice and everything is completed and we’re confident, I think that’s when we know we had a good week of practice.”
(Does the shift from a walkthrough on Friday to a walkthrough on Thursday, does that impact it do you think? That happened maybe a month ago.) – “I don’t know. I don’t try to get too deep into that. I kind of just go with whatever the schedule is. If it’s been working, it’s been working so we kind of just roll with it. You can say that had an effect on it but I just think we came with a different attitude the second half of the season and things have been going in our direction. We’re just trying to keep stacking these wins up.”
(I wanted to ask you more about that turning point that you mentioned. When you said coach said we’re going to play a different type of football, I assume you mean Head Coach Brian Flores, not one of the coordinators right?) – “Yes.”
(For you personally, hearing those words, what were you thinking and what were you feeling about this sort of reset that the team was undergoing?) – “I think it was just a mutual understanding amongst the whole team. We were 1-7 so I felt like we all knew that something had to change. We all knew that we just weren’t playing our best football. I think it was just something that needed to be said and once we all – you kind of just have to put it out there in the air and then it was the elephant in the room, so he kind of went into the team meeting and said it and everyone was kind of like, ‘Alright, we need to turn this around.’ We kind of all bought in and things have been on the up trend from there.”
(Just to follow those two questions, when it got to 1-7 with a seven-game losing streak, was Head Coach Brian Flores positive with the team as part of that message as opposed to chewing you guys out a lot? Was there an optimistic tone in his voice and in his message?) – “Yeah. I mean he’s always an optimistic coach. There’s always the goal of winning. You’re never just going to lay down and accept what was happening to us. I feel like every week we were optimistic and we always believe we should win every week. I don’t know. It was just a shift. We had so many close games in the beginning of the year. I just felt like it was a time that the ball was going to start going our way. I think it was just that time of year that everybody knew there needed to be a shift. He wasn’t necessarily chewing anybody out or getting on anybody individually. It was just accountability like we’ve got to do better.”
(Was there any message with it that he believes in you guys? Because there were never any cuts, firings or anything like that when it got to seven losses in a row. So was the message delivered that he believed in you guys?) – “I wouldn’t say that was what he said verbatim but pretty much. He did say we’re sticking with our guys and we trust in you guys. Yeah, he did believe in us and he still does. We have all of the pieces on this team from defense to offense to special teams. Like I said, it’s just certain things and certain plays didn’t go our way in big games and now the ball is going our way. We’re just going to keep rolling with it and just keep stacking these wins up hopefully, and keep our head down and keep grinding.”
Mack Hollins – November 21, 2021 (Postgame)
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Sunday, November 21, 2021
Postgame – N.Y. Jets
WR Mack Hollins
(What happened to the shirt with all the tears and everything?) – “It’s in the past already, we’re on to the next one. But it translates, see? The little flashy shirts I wear. It translates. They just won’t let me wear them in the game. I don’t know what it is. They don’t like my design style. (laughter)”
(Can you break down your 65-yard catch? It was the longest pass play of the season.) – “What really set it up is the run game. We were able to run the ball really well, especially that series. That brings the defense down where you can hit a play action and I was able to sneak behind them and I guess the rest was history.”
(On his touchdown celebration) – “It was a new gritty. I was driving the car. I got to check the tank.”
(Did you pack the suit knowing you were about to do something big today?) – (No so I always wear a suit to away games, but I put it back on because my rookie year I used to change out of it and one of the older dudes was like, ‘Mack! Be a grown man. Be a professional. Put your suit back on. Stop being a little kid.’ So ever since then, the suit always goes back on.”
(It’s kind of a business type of suit.) – “I got the … too that matches but I didn’t want to bring it in here. It would have been a little too much.”
(What if anything did you say to QB Tua Tagovailoa after the touchdown pass when you guys celebrated?) – “‘I told you.’ That’s something we’ve talked about for a little while. ‘Hey, it’s there.’ The opportunity just finally hit, which is great. It’s great when things finally play out. Obviously, in practice it plays out all the time because the defense is built for us to beat them and all that. For it to work in a game is awesome.”
(The guy took a shot at you, were you thinking it was going to be an issue to stay in?) – “Yeah it’s kind of like a quick decision. Either you’re going to have to cut back if the guy is over-pursued. I’m going to have to stiff arm and try to get around. But I was just, hey if I gas it, I’ll be able to kind of just tight rope it. Luckily, he didn’t try to form tackle me, he tried to push me out of bounds which allowed me to stay in bounds and slip right past the pylon.”
(Was that play designed for you?) – “I don’t know if it was designed for me. There’s three guys all running routes. I’m the deep route and we had some underneath guys. Like I said earlier with the run game, everybody just dropped down so when I slipped behind really it was the safety. He was in the middle of the field and it’s a hard play for him to make all the way across when he’s expecting run as well.”
(There were times that this offense, when you came out to start the games when you guys were churning out yards and first downs and points and you almost make it look easy. I know it’s not but you make it look easy and other times, like for the rest of the half when things were so difficult, how do you explain that rollercoaster?) – “It’s the National Football League. The other side gets paid, too, so you’re going to have to battle. Yeah, there are days. There’s always a team each week that wins by 50 and that’s great, but in this league, everybody is great. This league is designed for you to go .500, at best. If you have a great drive early on, you may have good drive, good drive, good drive, but then at some point it’s going to hit and when they make a mistake we have to capitalize on it. If they make a mistake and we don’t, that might have been the one drive where we could have had a good rep. Just like that on time, my man Tua (Tagovailoa). I told y’all, he always.”
Raekwon Davis – November 21, 2021 (Postgame)
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Sunday, November 21, 2021
Postgame – N.Y. Jets
DT Raekwon Davis
(After your guys’ big performance against Baltimore how do you think you guys followed it up against the Jets today?) – “It was a little sloppy, but you know, we got it done. Started off a little slow. Got the dub so we are going to go back, look at the mistakes we made and try to correct them.”
(I wanted to ask you because this is a collection of games where your presence has helped the defense limit teams and opponents to fewer than 100 rushing yards. Do you feel like you’re making that kind of impact?) – “Yeah, I am. It’s a team effort, but I just try to get better and better at my position. I try to control what I can control.”
(How much pride do you take in the fact that you’re doing what everybody hoped you would do for this defensive line?) – “I don’t know. (laughter) I’m just getting it done, that’s it. Do my job, that what I get paid for.”
(With this performance that you guys had, how confident are you that you can defensively can lock it down and contain teams if your offense can score 24 points?) – “When we all come together and are communicating, just everybody on the same page, it’s a great thing. We’re all just on the same page.”
(What was it like for you when you were sitting and watching and could not play and watching the team struggle when they were losing?) – “I couldn’t do anything about it. It was out of my control. I was just, in my head, just looking at the little things and then when my time had come, I would just tell them what I took out of being out that long, looking at the team to try and just get better and try to help out.”
(What’s it like at the end of games when you can watch your offense put together these long time consuming drives and put the game away?) – “Great. You know I’m an early guy so I was already done (laughter). I was already done when they went in their pass mode so I was already done. I was done early but it was good watching the guys go. Tua (Tagovailoa) throwing the ball down the field getting it done.”
(So you do play defense in those four-minute offense situations. What’s it like when a team is just running it down your throat and you got to get them off the field and there’s really nothing that you can do?) – “When teams do that it’s just like a slap in the face. It’s just tells us we need to play our football, play Miami defense and get them off the field.”
(Who did your chain man?) – “(Laughter) Man, a guy in Houston, Zo Frost.”
(He does a lot of players’ stuff right? He’s kind of a big deal?) – “Yeah, I don’t know. I mean, he does all my jewelry.”
(What does it say because we can’t read it?) – “It says ‘Meridian,.’ It’s my hometown.”
(Do you know Big K.R.I.T. at all?) – “Yeah, I do.”
(Like personally?) – “I wouldn’t say personally, but we say what’s up when we see each other.”
Duke Johnson – November 21, 2021 (Postgame)
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Sunday, November 21, 2021
Postgame – N.Y. Jets
RB Duke Johnson
(What’s it like to contribute to – you’ve been here and you’ve seen nothing but wins – but what’s it like to contribute to a win especially in a game where you guys killed six minutes off the clock?) – “Every little thing helps and I think it goes back to actually the guys on practice squad and the looks we get during the week on offense and defense to kind of get us ready for that moment. And it’s just up to us to go execute so for me it was a good moment especially doing it for my home team.”
(I was going to ask as a Miami kid, what does it mean to be playing for the Dolphins…?) – “I’m enjoying it. I’m taking it all in day by day just hoping I can keep it going.”
(What was it like to be unemployed in the NFL?) – “Man, it was a happy-medium because unemployed – yes, traveling a lot, trying to get on a team, trying to get it. Doors not opening; that’s fine. I spent time at home with my family kind of enjoying that because I know normally around that time I would be in someone’s training camp probably 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. So I took that time to really enjoy with my family and stay home with my family thinking I was going to be in a different state, but I ended up home which is definitely the biggest blessing I could have.”
(When you are away from the game what do you miss? What do you realize like “oh man, I miss this part”?) – “I think it’s the relationships. The relationships you create with the guys, the coaches and just being around something that you’ve been doing since you were a kid whether it’s new guys or old guys. Ever since I was maybe 6, I’ve been introduced to a new group of guys, and just kind of learning and experiencing things with them and just kind of feeding off them and just growing.”
(You got a couple of fourth quarter carries in your first game with the team. That must confirm some measure of trust with the coaches. How did you go about doing that after arriving?) – “Just doing my job. Really just doing what they ask whether it’s special teams, practice squad. Just doing my job and not complaining because I know everything I do helps the team whether I’m actually in there or not.”
(You’re out there killing the first-team defense) – “I’m trying. I’m trying. I wouldn’t say killing, but I’m trying. (laughter)”
(So your connection to the Dolphins – how far back does it go as a spectator?) – “Since a kid. I think since I’ve been playing football, for real. Just being the home team – anything Miami typically. Heat, Marlins, Panthers, Dolphins. So I’m a Miami guy. Went there – Miami Hurricanes. I’m Miami through and through.”
(You grew up in the neighborhood I guess in the shadow of the stadium. What do you remember…?) – “My high school. My high school is maybe 10 minutes up the road. Won the state championship my senior year of high school, went my junior year. I have good memories. I still have a lot of friends and family that stay close so it gives me a chance to go out to Norland and speak to the kids and hang out with the coaches and just continue my roots.”
(Your favorite Dolphins player growing up was who?) – “That’s tough because… The big three – Zach (Thomas), Jason (Taylor), Ricky (Williams) – was my big three.”
Jaylen Waddle – November 21, 2021 (Postgame)
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Sunday, November 21, 2021
Postgame – N.Y. Jets
WR Jaylen Waddle
(What is it like to see everybody like WR Mack Hollins make these big plays and you haven’t caught a 65-yarder from QB Tua Tagovailoa yet?) – “It’s exciting. It’s a play that we went through, it ain’t nothin like when a play you worked on actually works in the game. So, it’s exciting. I’m happy for everyone when their number is called and they make the most of it.”
(How close were you to breaking that one on the sideline in the fourth quarter?) – “I was close, I thought I had it. He did a good job of making sure I got out of bounds, but I thought I was going to tight rope. I saw a lot of green.”
(It seems like whenever you guys are in the red area like the tight red area, inside the 10-yardline, it seems like they are always trying to put the ball in your hands. How does that feel as a playmaker on the team?) – “It’s good just knowing that they trust me to have the ball in those type of situations and critical downs like that. It’s good. I feel good throughout the week just knowing that.”
(What impressed you the most about QB Tua Tagovailoa today?) – “It didn’t really impress me. He plays good like that all the time. Nothing really impressed me or like wowed me. It’s just the usual, he came to work.”
Emmanuel Ogbah – November 21, 2021 (Postgame)
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Sunday, November 21, 2021
Postgame – N.Y. Jets
DE Emmanuel Ogbah
(You got to break it down for us, you seem like you’re the master of batted balls. How do you get your hands on a pass every single game?) – “Practice, instincts, too. I know the ball is coming out hot so best-case scenario, you just put your hands up and bat the ball down. That’s how I do it.”
(It didn’t take too much time for you guys to get back there, QB Joe Flacco was getting the ball out pretty quick. I’m sure you guys went into it thinking that right?) – “Yeah I know coming off the Baltimore game, I know they going to have answers for it. I know they were going to try to get rid of the ball quick so the best thing you can do as a d-line, as a defense is just get your hands up and try to get there as fast as you can.”
(Can it be frustrating?) – “Yeah it’s frustrating but we’re still stopping them from making a play so that’s good.”
(What do you feel like the defense did best today?) – “We played together. They had some good plays on us and we just didn’t go down. We just kept on fighting until the very end. I’m proud of us.”
(When the offense scores 24 points, how confident are you that you guys can take care of your business and maintain your lead?) – “We just need them to do their job and go and do ours. It’s a team sport. They got us some points and we put them back on the field.”
