Jerome Baker – October 20, 2021
Download PDF version
Wednesday, October 20, 2021
LB Jerome Baker
(How would you describe the mood of the team today coming into today and approaching a new week?) – “The mood? I think we’re normal. Guys are not moping around. We know we have a job to do Sunday and it’s a great opportunity to go out there and play. It’s the National Football League. We’re all professionals. We can’t come in here and let it affect our day-to-day lives. We’ve got to come in here – we’re blessed. We play for the Miami Dolphins and we have another opportunity to go out there and play. I think guys are hungry to get it right and get a win. I think that’s the mood of the team.”
(You make that sound so easy.) – “What? Playing a game you’ve been playing since you were six years old? Yeah, it’s pretty easy. (laughter)”
(The game might be, the playing of the game might be. But what DT Christian Wilkins was saying – he always says the 24-hour rule. He always talks about it. When you’re winning, it’s easy. But when you’re losing, it’s got to be really tough to move on. That’s what I’m saying is the difficult part than just playing the game you’ve being playing since you were six years old.) – “I’d say it’s a credit to ‘Flo’ (Brian Flores) and Mr. (Chris) Grier and all of those guys above us. They brought in guys that come to work and we truly come in and want to win. We know we’re not what our record reflects. We know we’re better than that. So to see guys come in, who are excited to be around each other, and ultimately we want to get back to work and we want to prove that we are better than what we are showing. Guys are not upset. We’re not mad at each other. We know if we want to change the outcome of the season, we have to do it with each other. The mood, I guess you’d say, is we’re in this together. At the end of the day, we’re in this together. I know it might seem hard to a lot of people that we’re losing and all of that. But at the end of the day, we’ve been playing this game since we were little kids. The guys in the locker room, we truly care about each other, we truly love each other. We know we can change it around. At the end of the day, it takes us. I think we’ll be fine.”
(I don’t remember if you had to cover TE Kyle Pitts in the practices at all?) – “No, I didn’t.”
(Ask the safeties, ask the corners?) – “(laughter) He’s a talented guy. He’s just as good as a lot of receivers in this league as far as running routes. That’s a little bit out of my element. He’s a great player though. We’re definitely going to through different things at him. I’m not expecting to cover him that much.”
(How much does it help facing guys that are in another conference in that setting? At least you get some tendencies you can pick up from.) – “Yeah, it helps us as far as just scouting. It’s different to watch a guy on film going against another guy. If you can just turn on the tape and see a guy you just played a few months ago or a few weeks ago, that’s a little different. We know what type of players they have and the same thing – they know what we have. It makes it a little bit easier as far as you come in the building and you have a good idea of who you’re playing against and exactly how they play against you. It definitely helps a little bit.”
(I know LB Vince Biegel isn’t on the 53-man roster at this time, but he’s back in the building. At his best, what could he bring?) – “Biegel brings so much. I think the one thing that I’ve always said – when I first saw him when I walked into the building, I gave him a hug because the energy he brings is that he truly loves to be out there. He truly wants to play for the guys and help us win. To see his face and see him come back from everything he’s been through, it’s hard not to smile. For me, I give hugs, so I gave him a hug. He’s definitely going to help us win games. I’m definitely excited.”
Tua Tagovailoa – October 20, 2021
Download PDF version
Wednesday, October 20, 2021
QB Tua Tagovailoa
(I guess first of all, how are your ribs feeling after that first game action?) – “Sore. My ribs are sore. But I’m just glad I got to get out there and play with the guys. Obviously it wasn’t the outcome that we wanted but thank the good Lord above that we have another opportunity to play this week, as well.”
(How much of your time rehabbing and coming back was spent just learning how to tolerate the pain associated with every throw?) – “I guess it was a day-to-day thing depending on how I felt throughout that week or depending on what day it was. We kind of rested it the first week and a half or first two weeks, and then I kind of sat down with the training staff and we kind of talked about things that we were going to do to try to help with speeding it up or whatever you want to call that.”
(Looking back at the film, what did you particularly like about what you did on the field and what are some of the things that you are looking to kind of improve on in this second game?) – “Yeah, I don’t think it’s more so me. I think when I look at the film, it’s what we can do collectively as an offense. I think there are some things that we did really well in the game and there are bits and pieces that you can kind of go back into the film room and say this isn’t up to our standards and how do we go about fixing that? That’s what this week is for. We have another chance to play another game and another team, so we have to prepare this week.”
(Co-Offensive Coordinator/Tight Ends George Godsey said that he’s using those two touchdown drives that you were able to orchestrate as kind of the building blocks going forward. What stood out to you about those two drives and what you liked about it?) – “I think we executed pretty well. Up front with our RPOs and then when we had to push the ball down field. Yeah, we were all on the same page on those drives, on those two drives. But that’s just something that’s hard in this league is consistency, and that’s what we’re trying to strive for offensively, defensively and as a whole.”
(The team is 31st in yards per pass play. How do you get that number up from right now where it’s 5.53 yards per attempt.) – “Well right now for me, if we’re 31st in the league in passing but we’re winning games, I think that’s all that matters is bringing home the win. Whatever we can do, whether it’s throwing check downs all game or handing the ball off. To me, that’s what is most important. Not how much I can throw the ball downfield. I could throw for six touchdowns but if we lose, to me that doesn’t matter. I think what matters is us getting a win.”
(How would you describe the mood of the team today?) – “I think everyone is just excited for a win. Everyone wants to come to work. Everyone works hard. You can see it in the building. It’s just tough. You lose and you put all this work into it and no matter how much you put into it, the outcome hasn’t changed yet. I would say we’ve got a good group of guys. There’s really no negativity in the locker room. Guys are picking each other up. I think that’s what this league is all about. You’re going to make mistakes but it’s how you learn from it. We all have an opportunity for that – offensively, in the kicking game and then also defensively.”
(Where would you say the line is between guys needing and wanting to do more but not wanting to do too much or go rogue or try to do something that’s not really their job? Where is that line?) – “Well, I guess that’s where trust comes in. You’re trusting that the guy next to you is going to do his job. I think that’s really what it is in this team sport. You’re trusting the guy next to you that he’s going to do his job and he’s trusting you that you’re going to do your job. If everyone does their job collectively, that’s what you are expecting is the result to be good.”
(You guys were pretty sharp when you played the Falcons in preseason play. How much do you take away from those series against Atlanta?) – “I think you look at the preseason, you look at the practices that – we had joint practices with them. I would say they’re a different team. They had different guys when we were playing. Obviously they’re going to have their starters out there when we’re playing them but the scheme is going to be the same. You can see they’re coming off a win. They’re well rested coming off they’re bye. For us, it’s been the same things over and over. It’s execution and go out and understand what we’re going to do offensively, defensively and in the kicking game to execute what we’re going to do to win the game.”
(Are you experiencing any discomfort whatsoever when you throw the ball these days because of the ribs?) – “Yes and no. Yes, there are some points of discomfort when I do certain things. But no because when I’m in the game, you’re just going. It just gets to certain parts of the game, I guess.”
(I know you guys walked through today. What are some of the benefits of the walkthrough environment?) – “I think some of the benefits with the walkthrough environment, especially coming back from London, it kind of helps us recharge and regroup. It helps us communicate a lot better. Not going fast. It’s at a communication pace. And you can restart it – the play that you’ve done. It’s really for teaching, I would say. I guess that’s the benefit to that.”
(Going back through your history coming up through different levels of football, is there anything in your past that comes to mind as far as going through a losing streak such as this one at five now? Anything that stands out as far as how you were able to maybe get through that point and start winning again?) – “Yeah. To answer that, I would say it’s a different league. High school is different than college. College is different than the NFL. This is the professional level. We’re not just pros on our team. They’ve got pros on their team. They’ve got good guys on their team. It’s not easy. I understand that. Our team understands that. We don’t take winning and losing for granted. But to me, that’s what it falls back to is just learning from your mistakes and continuing to grow. Like I said, the group of guys that we have in the locker room are really supportive of each other, and I think that’s what helps wanting to push to win and wanting to good for the guy next to you. I think we have a family-oriented locker room and I think that’s what’s going to keep us going the rest of the year.
Brian Flores – October 20, 2021
Download PDF version
Wednesday, October 20, 2021
Head Coach Brian Flores
(The decision to bring back LB Vince Biegel, what went into that and is he ready to play immediately?) – “We’ll see how he looks in practice these next couple days. Obviously we have history with Vince. He’s been here the last couple years, was hurt last year. We had him in training camp. There’s a lot of things we like about him as a player, as a person, and we are excited to have him back.”
(I wanted to go through a list of guys that you gave us slight updates on Monday – CB Xavien Howard, CB Byron Jones, WR DeVante Parker, WR Preston Williams and TE Adam Shaheen. Do you expect them to be at the walkthrough?) – “Yeah, I expect them all to be at the walkthrough. Again, it’s obviously a scaled-down pace so they’ll all be available for that. We’ll just take it one day at a time. They’re all getting better, they’re all treating and they’re all doing everything they can. I think tomorrow is going to tell us a lot more about their potential status for the game. But yeah, they’ll be available for the walkthrough.”
(Long flight home, just kind of an exhausting last couple of days. Do you feel like guys are refreshed, energized and ready for this week?) – “Yeah, it was good juice in the meetings this morning. Guys are ready to go from a preparation standpoint and getting ready for Atlanta. Obviously, we have some familiarity with them from seeing them in training camp. They’re a good team. They do a lot of good things really in all three phases. We know that obviously this is going to be a big challenge. We talked about the adjustments, the improvements, the small margin for error there is in this league. I think they just want to get out there, try to improve, get better and try to do the things we need to do to have the outcome we are looking for.”
(How has QB Tua Tagovailoa responded since getting action and preparing for another practice week?) – “He’s responded well. He’s really into the preparation for this week. He was in yesterday working out and getting started on his prep. The same thing this morning. He was in early going through some of the early down stuff – the run game, the play action game and the drop-back game. Understanding how they want to play defensively. He was asking a lot of questions like he always does and going through his preparation. Just ready to get out there and practice, really walkthrough today. But it’s an opportunity to get in the huddle, go through the play calls, go through our alignments, our assignments and our responsibilities. His conversations with the receivers, the backs, the tight ends and the o-line. ‘Hey, we’re expecting this, we need to do this. This is a good player, make sure we got this guy taken care of.’ Matchups, things like that.”
(On the pain tolerance standpoint, did QB Tua Tagovailoa come out of it okay?) – “Obviously there was some discomfort but he’s a tough kid. I thought he got through it well. I think this is one of those things where every week you get a little bit better, a little bit better each day, each week hopefully. He’s a tough kid, I’m sure there is some discomfort but in his mind, he’s good to go. He’s not going to complain about anything.”
(It’s pretty rare for a team to come back from London and not have a bye. In a weird way, could it almost be beneficial to you guys right now, just to get right back out there and try to find something that works?) – “Yeah, I think we want to get back out there. We want to get back out there and play and perform better. That’s really what we’re looking to do. To wait a couple weeks, I wouldn’t want – I’m happy we’re playing. I think the players are happy we’re playing and we’re excited to get started with our prep today.”
(Was it difficult for you? It’s a nine-hour flight home for everybody. There aren’t really a lot of days off in your line of work, I get that, but was it tough for you to bounce back physically, mentally and all those things?) – “I like to think of myself as a resilient person. I’ve dealt with plenty of adversity in my life. Disappointment. But you watch the film, you make the corrections. You see the things that we need to do better, the things that I need to do better, the points of emphasis that we have talked about. But we have to find a different way to talk about them and to teach them. Yeah, (it’s a) long flight, lots to think about, a lot of film to watch, lots to think about. But yeah, pick yourself up and move on.”
(When you watch the Falcons on film, how much of it is stuff that you recognize from them being here a few days this summer and how much of it are you realizing that them being here in the preseason doesn’t benefit your preparation that much?) – “I think a lot of the players are the same so there is familiarity from that standpoint. Schematically, there are some things that are core fundamentals, core principles of that offense, that defense and that kicking game. Those foundational pieces are there. Arthur (Smith), Dean (Pees), those guys do a good job of dressing things up a little bit differently and doing their core things, but they don’t look like their core stuff. We got to do a good job with our communication. We got to do a good job following our rules and while we do have familiarity with them from a personnel standpoint – I said this on Monday, they didn’t show us everything, we didn’t show them everything. They have good coaches, they do a good job, they have good scheme, good players, so we are going to have to do a good job with our technique, our fundamentals, our communication and take care of all those little things. Which if you just take care of all the little things, then normally the big things work out in your favor.”
(Among things you said a minute ago, did you say that the staff will consider different ways of teaching? Can you tell me more about that?) – “I think this is just teaching in general. Everyone is a little bit different. I’ve got one son who learns this way and another son who learns this way. I think we talk about things like – whatever it might be, route depths. We talk about run defense, run fits, tackling. We may show it on video, we may show a PowerPoint, we might get up and demonstrate ourselves. I think there’s a few different ways to teach things. As a teacher, if we’re not getting it, then you have to find a different way. I guess that’s really what I’m saying.”
(Hence the value of today’s walkthrough, right?) – “Well, I think that’s more along the lines of – the idea behind a walkthrough is it was a long trip. We’re trying to take a little bit off of them. That’s really more behind the walkthrough. But yeah, definitely an opportunity to get a little more teaching done. I don’t want to make too much of this, but I think in any situation for anybody who’s teaching anyone, it may not be resonating the way you want it to and you have to change.”
(How would you assess the progress of the current starting offensive line and are you continuing to move forward with this group?) – “I think they are doing – I think any time you get a group that can play together for multiple weeks, hopefully months, then you’ve got an opportunity for that group, as a group, to get better. We’ll stay with that line. They’ve done some good things but with more repetition, with more time together, hopefully they can continue to grow as a unit. That’s just one part of the offense. Obviously a big part, but one part of the offense. We need to grow as an offense, as a defense, as a special teams and as a team.”
(When a team is 1-5, when things aren’t going well for a team, do you find it’s difficult to get players to just focus on their job? Like just do your assignment? Nobody has to be a hero right now. Nobody has to do more than you’re being asked to do. There is probably that tendency “I got to do more, I got to do more, I got to do more.” Is it tough to try to rein players in a little bit when they want to win so badly and there’s that compelling feeling that I’ve got to do more when they really just have to do what the assignment is?) – “That’s a great question. I think we have a group of guys who all want to do more. They’re all competitive. They all want to help the team, but you’re right. The thing that they can do to help the team is take care of their alignment, their assignment, their responsibility. And if each guy does that and we do it play after play after play, we’ll get the results we want. But I think everybody wants to do a little bit more, so ‘I’m in my gap, I’m in my gap, I’m in my gap. I try to make a play and I’m out of my gap.’ And that happens and I understand the wanting to do that for the team and it’s with the right thought process. Their heart is in the right place. That’s the balance we’re trying to get to. But I think the ‘want to,’ the competitiveness, the desire to help our team – that’s there. These guys, they’re pulling for each other, supporting each other and I think when you have enough of that, then we continue to just prepare and work things out in all three phases, then I think we’ll be okay.”
(The past couple years, this team has started slow and then trended upward as the season goes on and I know this is a different year, different team and everything. But are there things you can take from those experiences and apply them to this year to get players to believe or to get things just turned around in general?) – “I think probably what comes to mind is I always want to feel like we’re getting better. I think if you feel that way, then regardless of the circumstances, the results, then there’s something that you can kind of pull from that and you can kind of build on that. In some areas we are, and in a lot of areas we aren’t. So that’s a lot of the things that we’ve been talking about is our continued improvement, our trying to build, trying to improve and really there’s a myriad of areas offensively, defensively and in the kicking game. I think once we start to improve in those areas more consistently and as a team, then we’ll get some of the improvement that we desire.”
(I know you talk about balance a lot, but I had kind of a specific question. How much of a role do you think running RPOs has played a factor in not running at the volume that maybe you’d like. And if it hasn’t played a role at all, what do you think is the reason for not rushing as much?) – “I think it’s more about probably being behind. I think that’s probably the No. 1 reason why we’re getting less rushes. The RPOs may play a factor in that as well. If it’s run-pass, if they give us the pass, we pass it. But I think every team is dealing with that. But we’ve got to do more. We’ve got to run it more. We’ve got to run it more efficiently and it’s something we’ve talked about and hopefully we have an opportunity to do that and obviously try to do that. Yeah, it’s something we need to do a better job of.”
(The guys who are recovering in injury that will be participating in today’s walkthrough – which ones of them would go if it was a full practice and how far along are they?) – “That’s hard to say. I think they’d all be – I don’t really want to get into hypotheticals about what today would look like. We’ll see them tomorrow, but I think they’re all trending in the right direction. They’re all working hard. They’re all rehabbing. I think they’ll all have an opportunity potentially to – they would have an opportunity to practice today. I think they’re going to have an opportunity to practice tomorrow, but there’s a lot that goes into that. It’s how do they feel that morning. It’s hard to say today given that we knew it was going to be a walkthrough.”
(I know we spoke to you earlier during the joint practices about your relationship with Falcons QB Matt Ryan dating back to Boston College, but is there any maybe one memory or one trait that sticks out from that one season that you’ve kind of still seen in his play to this day?) – “As a player?”
(Yeah.) – “I was going to say I remember him singing as a freshman in front of the whole team. That’s the one thing that sticks out, but I forgot what song it was. We just made all the freshmen – I remember him being up there. (laughter) But he was always a smart player. He was always cerebral even when he was 18 years old. And he always had a good idea of what he was looking at as far as what he saw defensively and where to attack. That’s been the case for a long time.”
(We asked you this about Buccaneers QB Tom Brady, too – but Tom, Falcons QB Matt Ryan, Packers QB Aaron Rodgers, Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger – they don’t age, these guys. They really don’t. What is it about – is it just the cerebral nature of the nature? Like what is it about that these guys have been able to not just get on top but stay there for as long as they have?) – “They’re obsessed with being good. They’re obsessed with being great. So practice, nutrition, hydration. There’s no magic. They all work at it, but they’re able to sustain that type of work ethic because they’re obsessed with being great players. That’s really it. There really is no magic. The magic is not a lot of people have that type of obsession to be great. They don’t have that. So those guys do and you see why they’ve played so long and why they’re able to perform at a high level for so long.”
Mack Hollins – October 18, 2021
Download PDF version
Monday, October 18, 2021
WR Mack Hollins
(I got to ask you about this play because you had the best view of it out of everybody in the stadium. Did you feel that the punt the touched the finger of WR Jamal Agnew, the returner of the Jaguars? You reacted it did.) – “Yeah. I thought it touched but at the end of the day, if the ref didn’t call something, it didn’t happen. You play this game long enough you realize that guys get held every play and if it doesn’t get called it’s not holding. I thought the ball got touched and it didn’t get called, so it didn’t happen.”
(I got to admit that I admire your energy, and effort on not just special teams, but when you play offensively. Unfortunately, I don’t feel like everybody is out there playing with your level of effort, not that it’s the standard. As a leader, what can you do to get this team to give more?) – “Well, first I appreciate the compliment. I think as a leader, you learn that it’s hard to motivate people. You’ve got to learn from each individual person what each individual person needs. There are guys that need to get mother f’d, there are guys who need to be brought over to the side, there are guys that you need to tell their best friend that you need to talk to them. Being able to maneuver that is something all leaders – you never complete that job. It’s never I know how to work with everybody because especially in this league there are all always people changing, there are always new teammates, there are always new players. My job, and Jesse (Davis), and ‘E-Rob’ (Elandon Roberts), ‘Fej’ (Clayton Fejedelem) and ‘J-Mac’ (Jason McCourty) is to learn our teammates the best we can and know how to get the most out of each individual guy.”
(Obviously the receiving corps is depleted and you’re getting the opportunity. This is year five for you now. What’s it like to finally be in the mix offensively?) – “I think throughout my career I’ve had the opportunity to get some offensive stuff going. That’s what coaches have always told me is ‘Mack, be prepared, and know all the positions you can. Know tight end, know the slot, know the outside because you never know.’ This is a 100 percent injury game. Guys are going to go down and the game is going to go on no matter what. The more you know, the more you’ll be able to do, the more opportunities you’ll have to play. I’ve been lucky to have a few opportunities and if they come in the future, so be it. If they don’t, as long as we’re winning, I’ll be happy.”
(You were here last year when you guys turned the slow start around. What is missing, or what can you put your finger on as one of the core leaders that’s missing that will help you guys get over this hump?) – “I think it’s hard to pinpoint anything in the game of football as the reason something is not going one way or the other. The margin is so slim with wins and losses in this league. Between a team that’s 8-8 and a team that’s 13-3, it’s probably 10 points a lot of the time. For me to put my finger on it, I’m not really sure. I think you just have to continue to practice at a high level. You have to continue to find ways to outplay your opponent just like any business. You’re not always going to the most successful quarter, but what you have to do is how can I make the next quarter more successful? What do we need to do as a business, as a team, as an organization to make our plays out on the field and during the practice week.”
(Going off the question about being a team captain, and how to communicate with the different guys. How can you work with Head Coach Brian Flores to communicate his message to the guys, and how much is he leaning on you guys as the team leaders in this rut?) – “I don’t know your sports past, but if you’ve played sports, you know that a player coming to talk to you is much more influential than a coach. Even an active player talking to you over somebody who got injured. Because when you’re taking off the field, or court, or whatever it may be, you don’t have that influence over the locker room like you may have once had. Yes, ‘Flo’ (Brian Flores) is the head coach, but this is a player’s game at the end of the day. It will always be a player’s game, it always has been a player’s game. Our job as captains and leaders of this team – and this goes for really everybody, we just happen to be the guys that meet with him more often than the rest of the team –our job is to convey what he’s speaking onto the team and try to push that message on. If there is a disconnect, that’s when you have more problems than solutions. Our job is how can we convey his message to the team because it’s going to be more influential coming from us than from him.”
(Do you feel like there is a disconnect at all?) – “No. I think there are games where we lost by a lot of points. You guys heard my frustration after the Bills game. Then you make improvements, then the next week is a little better, then the next week is little better, but it’s tough in this league. There is no week that’s easy. I think outside of the locker room, everybody probably thought, ‘Oh, the Jaguars haven’t won in a while. They are a sorry team.’ There are 22 guys that start on their team that are in the National Football League that are the best of the best. There are no easy games. It’s really hard to win in this league. I don’t think there is a disconnect. You just have to keep pushing, practicing hard and preparing well in order to win games.”
(Do you sense any frustration on the part of the players? It is five losses in a row. What is the mindset?) – “I can only speak for myself. I think as a competitor, as a player, I’m always frustrated or disappointed when we don’t win. The goal of the game is to win. Your little league coach can tell you whatever he wants about it’s all about having fun, but no one has ever had fun losing. For me personally, yeah there is frustration that we’re losing, but all of that is is fuel to continue to work hard and continue to prepare well, and that’s all you can do. You can’t dwell on the past and boohoo about we’re this record and we have this many losses. All you can do is focus on the next opponent and get ready to bring your best game to the table.”
Robert Hunt – October 18, 2021
Download PDF version
Monday, October 18, 2021
G/T Robert Hunt
(The first no-sack performance for this offensive line. Obviously you guys have been working on improving every week. How big is that and how can you build on it?) – “That’s the thing, we are going to try and build on it. It’s one of our goals that we’ve been trying to do this whole season. But we still got a lot of work to do. It’s good when you can keep the quarterback off the ground. That’s pretty good. But like I said, we have a lot of work to do and we all know that. Keep working and doing what we can do to keep him up.”
(You guys are at practice and you are putting in so much time and energy and then the results just don’t come as a team in the form of wins on a Sunday. With the NFL being a business of results, how frustrating is that? That all that time and energy just doesn’t get you in the win column?) – “It sucks because we all want to win. I think we do prepare well. I think we do practice hard. I think we do have good coaches. I think everything is good. I just don’t know what it is. It’s hard to win in the league. Little things can get you beat. We just have to keep trying to improve on the little things.”
(How do you do that?) – “By keep coming in every week and preparing. It’s all we can do. We can control what we can control.”
(How are you guys ensuring that the locker room stays together, that everybody continues to be pushing towards the same direction?) – “We all got to go. We all want to win. We all know how big it is, how important winning is. We all want to win. In the locker room, you can tell that everyone wants to win. Sometimes it just doesn’t go our way. Tough one yesterday. I don’t know. It goes but I think everybody in the locker room has their mind on right and I think we are in the right headspace to continue to perform and compete.”
(The fourth-and-1 at the end, RB Malcolm Brown was stopped. What do you feel that you could have done better to execute there, pick that up and then potentially everything goes the other way after that?) – “That was a tough play. We wish we could have got the first down is what we wish we could have done, but it didn’t go that way. It’s part of the game, sadly, that you get some good ones and sometimes you don’t get good ones. That wasn’t one of our better ones.”
(It’s a step-by-step process but you guys right now are last in the league in rushing yards per game. How do you get that headed in the right direction?) – “I just control, like I said, what we can control. Once we get the runs called, just execute the runs. We’ve got to work on what we can do. We’ve got to come in to practice and there’s a lot of things we can do to get better. That’s what we are going to continue to try to do each week.”
(Do you still feel high energy levels around this team? You guys just had another crushing defeat, a long flight there, a long flight back. As you get set for another week, do you still feel that around this team?) – “The energy is still up. We want to win. This team, I think we can definitely turn this thing around. We are just going to keep coming in and working, competing at practice and doing what we got to do. The energy is definitely up and I was just around and I don’t see anybody with their head down. I think we got the right type of men in the locker room.”
Noah Igbinoghene – October 18, 2021
Download PDF version
Monday, October 18, 2021
CB Noah Igbinoghene
(How did you approach when you learned you’d play a bigger role in this game with CB Xavien Howard and CB Byron Jones out? How did you assess your performance?) – “Just like I always have, just playing the way I always do. Just coming to work every single day just practicing. It really starts Tuesdays watching film, getting with (Cornerbacks Coach) Charles (Burks) and continuing to build each and every single day leading to the game. Just doing what you need to do in practice and then in the game it’s going to happen itself if you do it in practice. That’s really what I did.”
(What would you say have been the biggest challenges for you this year? Again, first time this year being on the field defensively. What have been the challenges of trying to get back out there and handling the limited playing time up to this point?) – “I’m honestly just getting a feel for the game. The game is of course way faster than we practice. Just getting used to it, continuing to build on that and continuing to get more reps. I think that’s the biggest thing. Continuing to get more experience and it’ll all come by itself.”
(With the season that you’ve been having, the amount of inactives, how did you manage to keep your focus and keep your spirit upbeat?) – “You have to make a decision to just come in to work no matter what’s going on. Just come in to work every single day and give it your all no matter what’s going on. Some things you just can’t control. Just control what you can control. You can control your effort, you can control how hard you go and just going full-out every single day and no matter what, that’s going to happen for itself. Everything is going to turn around and you need to just continue to remain positive, don’t focus on the negative things and keep a positive mindset and positive mind at all times.”
(Head Coach Brian Flores said you were pretty much in good position on the two plays that Jaguars WR Marvin Jones got you on. What could you have possibly done better in those situations? Give me the touchdown, for instance.) – “The touchdown, the first one, I would say at the line, I probably could have widened him out a little more and that probably would have allowed me to be in a better position at the end of the play. I kind of opened the gate at the beginning allowing him to run. No, he didn’t run past me or anything like that but he’s a tall guy, so if he gets in front of you, if he gets that position on you, it’s easy for him to make that play because he’s so tall. So I have to widen him out on the line just to get myself in a better position. Of course, I could have looked back faster as well. He’s not going to take a long time to throw the ball. He’s going to throw the ball. He’s going to catch it and really throw it because we were in the red area, I believe. Just getting my head around and finding the ball as fast as possible and playing it of course. I’m going to work on that this week and I can’t wait to improve on that part.”
(What is it like for you mentally and physically to go from a couple games of being inactive to literally playing every snap?) – “It was fun. I love playing. I love being out there with my team. What was it like? It was honestly just the same thing, just continuing to prepare every single week no matter if I was inactive or not. I prepare the same way like I did this past week. That’s going to be the same way moving forward no matter what happens. That’s how I prepared this week.”
(I wanted to ask you about – there’s been a lot of attention on the last play that they ran before the field goal. What did you see? What were you expecting them to do? Were you thinking Hail Mary? And how did it play out?) – “I wasn’t really thinking anything. Honestly, I wasn’t really – it was just kind of a tough situation all around. The call. It was everything. It was just a mixture of everything. It wasn’t one particular person. It happened. They made a big – he made a big-time kick to win the game. That was a long field goal so big ups to him. We’ve just got to come back next week and just keep going harder.”
Jevon Holland – October 18, 2021
Download PDF version
Monday, October 18, 2021
S Jevon Holland
(I know you’re an NFL rookie but what are you learning from the struggles that you are going through early this season?) – “Really just coming together as a team. I’ve never really been in a situation like this besides in seventh grade when we went like 0-7. Obviously we are kind of in a slump right now but it’s about bonding together and attacking each week even more. That’s basically what we are really focusing on. That’s what I’m focusing on – trying to bring guys together, make sure I’m always putting a positive light in the locker room and on the field.”
(What are the guys doing to ensure that you guys are bonding, that you guys are sticking together?) – “That’s something that we are going to keep in house. I don’t think it’s really for the media to know.”
(How are you all feeling right now? It’s a long flight that you guys just went over there and back. What’s the energy level like around the team right now especially after it was another very difficult loss on Sunday?) – “You just have to put that stuff behind you. Focus on the next week. We got Atlanta this week. It’s a good team so I’m looking forward to going out there showcasing talent and see how we respond.”
(Since you haven’t lost five games since seventh grade, how do you snap this streak and do you actually see yourself as a team getting better each week even though you are losing?) – “How do I see myself?”
(More as a team. How do you see this team getting better each week even though you are still losing?) – “Like I said, we’re coming together. Pieces are falling in place but it’s just about execution. It really is. I think that’s what I see for myself and I think that’s what everybody else sees. We just have to be able to finish and I think we are heading in the right direction even though the result of the game isn’t what we want. Week by week, I feel like we’re getting better and we’re getting there.”
(From your end personally, the last two weeks you’ve been out there basically every snap defensively. How do you feel you’ve progressed and just the fact that you’re getting the consistent playing time after taking the first couple weeks to get used to the NFL level?) – “I’m feeling pretty good. Every week I learn more about myself and how I’m feeling comfortable and finding my own zone out there. But yeah, every week I’m feeling like I’m getting gradually better. I hope so, that I’m getting better. My dad is telling me I’m getting better. (laughter)”
(In terms of the assignments and the game speed, has it slowed down a bit for you now that your playing time is accelerated?) – “Yeah, the more you are out there, the more you experience, things tend to slow down – in the sense of processing information. Obviously everyone is still very fast. But I definitely feel like I’m picking things up quickly, playing a little faster, which is what I want to be. It’s where my comfort zone is. Gradually, I’m getting better which I’m happy for.”
Brian Flores – October 18, 2021
Download PDF version
Monday, October 18, 2021
Head Coach Brian Flores
(I wanted to ask you a question about where you go for guidance. When you first got here, you had Jim Caldwell briefly and he as the veteran coach on your staff and then he wasn’t here. Chan Gailey had veteran coaching experience last season and could be used as a sounding board. Right now, when your team is 1-5 and you have so many issues, where do you go for a sounding board or veteran guidance?) – “I talk to the guys on our coaching staff. The first person that comes to mind is Danny Crossman. Then our coordinators – George Godsey, Eric (Studesville), Josh (Boyer). And then the people on our support staff – Kaleb Thornhill, Drew Brooks and Kyle Johnston. It’s really a team effort. I think those are the people that have a good pulse of the team and just try to get a feel for where guys are at, how guys are feeling and what I’ve gotten is that there is still a lot of belief in our team and the players on our team. I think they support each other. I think they are a resilient group. We are going through some struggles right now but I think they are sticking together. We are going to continue to stick together and try to prepare and practice well this week to have a better performance next week.”
(Most of the time, teams have a bye coming off the trip to London. Your team doesn’t this year. Was that by team request to the league to have a later bye and if so, could you break down the thought process behind it?) – “We don’t have a bye and quite honestly, I think we want to get back out there, especially after a tough loss yesterday. We’ve had west coast trips, obviously this was a lot longer than that but we’ve come back late, gotten in at 2, 3 or 4 a.m. in the morning and then kind of turned it around over the next couple of days. We are going to have to do that again this week. We have a tough opponent coming in here. We are going to have to prepare and have a good week of practice. But yeah, the London trip took a little bit. I would say it’s a long flight back. Nine hours and a long flight out there, the time change, etc. So we are going to have to get our rest the next couple days, make sure we are getting hydrated, make sure we are eating the right things, make sure we are getting ourselves back so we can have a good week of practice.”
(It seemed yesterday’s game was decided by two fourth-down plays. The fourth-and-1 that you guys had and the fourth-and-8 that they had. In looking at the tape, do you think it was more about the decisions you made for the plays or was it more of an execution issue that both of those plays didn’t go your way?) – “It’s a combination of both. When you re-watch it, there’s always, ‘Hey we could have done that, we could have done this.’ I have peace with the calls we made, both offensively and defensively on those fourth downs you mentioned. In the moment, given what we thought could or might happen, the players we wanted in there. We came out of it feeling like those were the right things to do. You’ve got to give credit to Jacksonville, they executed in those situations and we didn’t. You can always go back and say, ‘Hey man, maybe we should have done this or maybe we should have done that.’ But in the moment, it just felt like we were putting our team in the best position in both instances.”
(Watching the game back, it looked like QB Tua Tagovailoa did a pretty good job of mitigating some of the pressure and getting out of pressure within the pocket yesterday. Just wanted to get your take on his ability to work around muddy pockets and when there is pressure, how you thought he did when watching the tape?) – “I thought he did a real nice job yesterday. I thought he played well. I thought he threw the ball well. Obviously, he’s playing with a little bit of discomfort. He made some nice throws, pushed it down the field. There’s always throws he wish he would have made or could have had back but I think overall, he did a lot of good things and I was pleased with the way he played.”
(How was the flight home for you guys? Was it quiet? Was everybody trying to catch up on some sleep? Were you having conversations with some of the players, checking in with them?) – “Guys were disappointed. I was disappointed as well. These guys put a lot into this – a lot of time, a lot of effort, a lot of preparation and a lot of practice time, so they were disappointed. It was a long flight. Some guys went to sleep, some guys were watching the tape, asking questions about what they could have done here or what they could have done there, what they can do to help this team. There were a lot of conversations like that on our flight.”
(I know a lot of the conversations you have are in confidence, but I was just wondering if broadly you could tell us the reaction Stephen Ross has had to the season so far and yesterday in particular?) – “Obviously he’s disappointed. I don’t want to speak for him but I know that. He wants to see our team have success but that’s really everybody. He’s no different than the players, the coaches, the support staff, the fans. We’ve got to be better. I’ll be the first to say that. Our players are disappointed as well. What I know about our guys is we are going to pick ourselves up, we are going to go to practice on Wednesday, try to improve, try to get better and make the corrections we need to make. Look, we all know this – there is a very small margin for error in this league. Very small. The mistakes we make, or we’ve made, they’ve cost us. We have to try to limit those mistakes as players and coaches. Yeah, there’s a slim, slim margin for error and we’re on the wrong side of that right now. We just need to continue to work. I trust their preparation. I trust the things that they’re doing, the players. We’re always going to evaluate, re-evaluate and see if there’s anything we can do better. But yeah, I think collectively, Steve, Tom (Garfinkel), Chris (Grier), Brandon (Shore) and the entire organization, there’s disappointment and they want better.”
(In talking to a couple of guys yesterday – TE Mike Gesicki and DE Emmanuel Ogbah – they were saying that you guys are so close. What do you need to do to go from so close to getting there?) – “I think it’s work. I think they’re right. I think there are a handful of things in every game where the ball bounces this way, the ball bounces another way, we get a call, we don’t get a call, we make a call, we make the play, we make the tackle, we make a block, we spring somebody and it’s a different ballgame. Again, that’s what I mean by – and they understand this. There’s a very slim margin for error here in this league and that’s for all teams. That’s the beauty of this league. We understand that. We’ve got to do a better job. I’ve got to do a better job of limited the errors that are showing up that are ultimately costing us. Penalties – pre-snap penalties. There’s things like spacing in the pass game. Some things defensively from a run-fit standpoint. There’s just very little things that are the difference between a guy getting three yards and a guy getting six yards. We’ve got to be better in all of those situations.”
(You had a long list of players who weren’t able to play yesterday. I’m wondering if there were any guys who were close to playing and are looking very positive for this Sunday? Or for that matter, are there any guys who might wind up on IR who missed yesterday’s game?) – “I don’t think anyone – I don’t want to speak out of turn but ‘X’ (Xavien Howard), Byron (Jones), (Adam) Shaheen, Preston (Williams), DeVante (Parker) – I don’t see any of those guys going on IR. But we’re day-to-day with all of those guys. I think we’ll just see how it goes in practice. We’ll see if we can get them to practice on a limited basis, although some of those guys practiced last week. Byron practiced last week and Preston practiced a little bit last week. ‘X’ did not. DeVante did not. Shaheen practiced. I think the guys who practiced are probably a little bit closer than the guys who didn’t. But obviously we’ll know more – they’ve got today and tomorrow to treat and rehab. We’ll just take it one day at a time.”
(Given the length of this losing streak, are you as a head coach having to fight frustration or anything along those lines?) – “I think there’s always frustration when you’re dealing with adversity. They kind of go hand in hand. I think as an organization and as a building, it’s a very supportive group. Players support players. Coaches support players. Players support coaches. Support staff supports really everyone. While we’re all frustrated that we’re not getting the results we want, I think everyone kind of believes in what we’re doing and believes in our process. We need to do things just a little bit better really in all areas and if we do that, I think we’re all confident that things will turn.”
(I was listening to some of your comments here and I think there were some common threads about mistakes and figuring out how to minimize those. Correct me if I’m wrong but I think early in the first couple of years, you guys were really minimizing those mistakes. I’m curious why you feel like maybe you guys have taken a step back in maybe the mistake and discipline perspective of the game?) – “Every year is different so it’s hard to say one year to the next. It’s always different players, a different team. You’re dealing with different circumstances. We harp on all of those little things and all of those things that I mentioned earlier. We’ve been – those are always points of emphasis. Every game is a little bit different. I think it’s dependent on some of the things that we’re seeing – the players are seeing and some of the things we’re seeing schematically. Then at the end of the day, there are definitely instances where I know we know what to do but there’s a mental error or somebody goes down and we have somebody in there who didn’t practice it. I’m not going to sit here and make excuses – I’m not going to do that either – but we’re making a lot of mistakes and we need to clean them up.”
(Having practiced against the Falcons in training camp, will that be some benefit this week as you try to get ready for the game on Sunday?) – “I think the one benefit is we’ll have some familiarity with their players. But I’m sure Arthur (Smith) didn’t show all of his cards and we didn’t show all of ours. They’ve got a tough competitive team. We know it will be a tough game. But as far as them coming down here and practicing, I thought both teams got a lot out of that. I think it will be a competitive game.”
(When you go through a stretch like this – I think five straight – how do you balance maybe feeling like you as a coach may have to make a statement versus counting on your player leadership to say something to try to change this?) – “I think this is a team effort. Players, coaches – we’re all in this together. Obviously I have my thoughts and my message that I give to the team. Then the leaders on our team, whether it’s Elandon Roberts or Jesse Davis or Mack Hollins or whoever it may be, I think they have their own message. I think the coaching message is one but the player message, that’s a different thing. But it’s all encompassing and we all kind of work together.”
(I’m wondering now that you’ve reviewed the tape, what did you see out of CB Noah Igbinoghene’s play yesterday in that spot start?) – “I thought Noah did some good things. I thought he tackled more efficiently. Obviously he had the two balls caught on him. I thought he was in good position on both of them. We just talked about going up and being more aggressive to try to get it out of him. I think (Marvin) Jones made a couple of good plays on him. But overall, I thought he did some good things and filled in competitively.”
(Was it the type of performance you’d expect out of CB Noah Igbinoghene considering how much he’s been able to sit on the sideline and take the game in in a different perspective and learn while he’s inactive?) – “We’ve got confidence in Noah. We put him in there and again, he did some good things. That’s what I expected. I expected him to play competitively and tackle well, know where he’s supposed to be and communicate well. Obviously like we all saw, there were a couple of balls that were down the field. I think he had a chance to make a couple of plays on them. I think that’s the next step for him is to go up and get a couple of those out.”
(I know you talked a little bit about that fourth-and-1 with RB Malcolm Brown and liking what you saw there. But a lot of times you’ll see coaches put the ball in their quarterback’s hands in those fourth-quarter situations. I’m curious how much you thought about letting QB Tua Tagovailoa get that and why wasn’t that the answer there?) – “We thought about that. We just felt like we had some success with Malcolm in that instance and felt good about the play. Look, you have to give (Jacksonville) credit. They made a good play there and we didn’t get it done.”
