Isaiah Ford – December 19, 2021 (Postgame)
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Sunday, December 19, 2021
Postgame – N.Y. Jets
WR Isaiah Ford
Q. Just talking about Jaylen Waddle, how this receiving corps reacted to that and how you feel you guys did out there?
ISAIAH FORD: We knew that without Jaylen (Waddle) we were going to need some guys to step up. We knew it was going to have to be a collective group. As you can see, he’s played so well. He has been such an instrumental part of our offense, so we knew it was going to have to be a collective group from us as a whole to kind of step up and make plays, and I think that we made enough plays to win the game today.
Q. I wanted to ask you about your reaction to Duke’s performance today and to be able to do that in front of his hometown and on the field that he played college football on. How cool was that just as a teammate?
ISAIAH FORD: It was awesome to watch. I remember him playing that well vividly when I was at Virginia Tech when we played him. I think it was a Thursday night he ran for about 240 yards, 250 yards, something like that. I’ve seen that a few times, but it was good to be on the same team as him this time, and he had an amazing performance. We needed it.
Q. How effective can this RPO offense be when that ground game is working the way it was today?
ISAIAH FORD: I think it will make our offense really hard to stop. Any time that you can run the ball the way that we did today, it opens up so many other things. Whether that’s run actions off of it or play action shots and then when we’re pulling it and Tua (Tagovailoa) is making those decisions, we’re all clicking on all cylinders, I think we can be a really good offense.
Brian Flores – December 19, 2021 (Postgame)
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Sunday, December 19, 2021
Postgame – N.Y. Jets
Head Coach Brian Flores
Q. I just wanted to ask you about Duke Johnson and the performance that he had. Just to be able to do that in front of his hometown on the field that he played college football on and the “Duke” chants. Just that kind of performance, how cool was that for you to see?
BRIAN FLORES: He played well. Definitely gave us a spark. Ran it well. Ran hard. Picked up first down. Picked up tough yardage and in a lot of instances where they knew we were running. I thought the o-line blocked it up well. George (Godsey) called a good game for us, and we were able to execute and thought he definitely gave us a spark.
Q. One housekeeping question first. Jevon Holland was activated off of COVID-19. Did it come down to him just not practicing all week to decide not to play him?
BRIAN FLORES: We activated him on a chance that we might be able to get him back off the COVID list. We weren’t able to do that, so that’s why he wasn’t active today.
Q. And what do you think of where this team stands now a six-game win streak, back at .500 with playoff hopes alive and three key games remaining.
BRIAN FLORES: We’re just trying to take it one day at a time. Get better. That’s the approach we’ve taken the entire season. These guys, they play hard for one another. They work hard. There’s a lot of – they support one another. It’s a great group to coach. We’re just going to take it one day at a time and try to improve, get better, but they compete and they fight. I was proud of the effort they gave today against – the Jets played us well. It’s the game we thought it was going to be, 60-minute battle against a division opponent. They were ready. They threw the kitchen sink at us. A lot of it was well-designed, and a lot of instances there you have to tip your cap. They executed and did a lot of good things. Thought they played well.
Q. Coach, congratulations on the win again. This is a six-game win streak for you all. Longest win streak for you during your tenure as coach. What is it going to take to keep this team focused on a Monday night match-up against the New Orleans Saints next week.
BRIAN FLORES: We’re going to enjoy this win tonight. It was a tough one today, but our approach is the same. Take it one day at a time. Let’s prepare the right way. Let’s go through our process, our weekly process. There’s a lot of changes that are happening right now. Going to Zoom like we’re doing here. We’re doing that in the best interest of our team, but also everyone. You guys as well. We’re going to try to take the one-day-at-a-time approach.
Q. Obviously, there’s been a commitment to the run game since you guys started winning and probably previously before that, but how beneficial is it to the offense and the RPO when that run game is effective and successful?
BRIAN FLORES: I think it just helps really every facet of the offensive football. That balance, that ability to churn out yards on the ground opens up the RPOs, opens up the play actions and it wears the opponent down. I thought our guys played hard. Obviously, the run game is something that we’ve placed an emphasis on, and we had some success with it today.
Q. And if I can get you to assess Tua’s performance. I know he had the pick-six and the early interception. Overall, how did you see him playing?
BRIAN FLORES: I think as a team, we were rusty in a lot of areas. Some penalties, some missed tackles, so not going to put it on Tua (Tagovailoa). Obviously he had some plays he wants back, but he battled back and took us right back down the field after the turnover and punched it in at the end and gave us the winning score, the winning points. We’ll make the corrections. It’s always good to make those mistakes and win the ball game as well. He will work hard to learn from them.
Q. Coach, during this win streak you guys hadn’t been down more than three points. Was there any angst being down 10-0 where you could almost say, “Hey, today is not our day.” How were you able to rally through the rough start?
BRIAN FLORES: I think it’s something that our players on the field for a 60-minute ball game, we just keep playing. We keep playing and try to string good plays together. Yeah, we got off to a bad start, tough start. We were down quick. No panic offensively, defensively, or in the kicking game. We know it’s a long game. If we play for 60 minutes and string plays together and do it in a complementary way that we would be able to battle back, I think offensively our guys moved the ball efficiently, effectively, brought us back into the game and then we started to play the complementary game, especially in the second half.
Q. Brian, 17 points allowed in the first half, and then you came back in the second half and did a good job stopping their offense. I believe you had five sacks in that second half. What changed from one-half to the other, and was in any of the first half performance attributable to rust from the bye?
BRIAN FLORES: Yeah, look, give them a lot of credit. I thought they had a very good game plan. I thought there were those — I don’t know what you call them – exotic-type plays, throwbacks, first passes, and we missed some tackles and they made some plays. So give them a lot of credit. We definitely needed to play better. I think the guys kind of turned it on in the second half. Especially from a pass rush standpoint. That really started by our ability to get some stops on early downs in the second half, which we weren’t getting in the first half. I think our guys made the adjustments.
Credit Josh (Boyer), our defensive staff for making those adjustments at halftime. We did a couple of things differently. I thought from a pass rush standpoint we did some good things, but we missed a number of sacks as well.
Q. In the sense you were talking on Friday about how the team have to compartmentalize. Do you think this game was kind of a microcosm of the entire week and guys being on the Covid list? You have to make changes maybe kind of in this game where you have ups and downs, do you think this game was kind of emblematic of the entire week?
BRIAN FLORES: No, not really. Look, we expected a tough physical game against a division opponent. We expected their best shot. You’ve got to give them credit. They made a lot of plays. They play hard for Coach Saleh. They really do. That team competes. I think the quarterback made a lot of plays. They’ve got guys out. We’ve got guys out. They competed. We expected that, so I think we got to give them credit.
Q. How hard are those kind of exotic or trick plays you were talking about earlier? How hard is it to game plan or prepare for those?
BRIAN FLORES: If you have never seen them, you really can’t prepare for them. That really boils down to reading the keys, being in your right spot. If you are a pass player or pass rusher or run defender or you are an edge player, if you are a contain player, which means if the ball runs away from you, you’ve got to stay back and kind of stay home, but it’s hard to do that when you are trying to play hard, play aggressively and get everybody get to the ball. That was a little bit of what happened there. That, plus some missed tackles, and again, you got to give them credit. They did a nice job from that standpoint. Our guys battled back and it’s good to get a win.
Tua Tagovailoa – December 19, 2021 (Postgame)
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Sunday, December 19, 2021
Postgame – N.Y. Jets
QB Tua Tagovailoa
Opening statement:
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Before we start, just want to express that my heart goes out to Elijah (Riley). You know the player that got hurt, Elijah Riley. It’s tough playing in this league, and I would say I care more about the guys, who they are as people out there on the field whereas they are as football players, but I just wanted to say that before we get started.
Q. Hey, Tua, thanks for that. That was a thoughtful statement statement. First off, what was working on the ground game for you guys? What did you feel that you guys were able to find against the Jets and Duke Johnson having…?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: I think the o-line did a great job today up front. With creating those opportunities for Duke to find the hole and hit it and find ways to bounce the ball and have Duke be himself running the ball. That’s how he was his entire career playing in the NFL and I’m glad that we were able to witness that today.
Q. I wanted to ask you your satisfaction of the disappointment of throwing the pick-six, and yet, you were able to help the team come back right away and get the winning touchdown to DeVante. Can you describe that ride of emotions you went through?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Yeah. I mean, terrible decision on my part, obviously, with the pick-six, but got to move on. The game is not over. We got to go down and we got to put some points on the board, and that’s what we did. You never want that to happen, but it does happen, and so just got to move on from it, and I’m glad we were able to overcome it. Not just offensively, but as a team. It started the first half, and it really trickled all the way into the second half.
Q. Tua, looks like you channeled your inner Duke Johnson on one play on a run up the middle. Can you walk us through that play where you ran over a defender?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Yeah, just remind me not to ever do that again. (laughter) Much respect to number 30, (Michael) Carter. He is a hell of a player. I obviously don’t think that he was expecting me to lower my shoulder and try to run him over. Just from the previous runs I had, I either slid or tried to get out of bounds, but yeah, I mean, it was just an in the moment thing for me, and that’s really all that was.
Q. With Jaylen being out, what changes, if any, did you guys have to make to the offense? Obviously you guys… (Inaudible)
TUA TAGOVAILOA: I couldn’t really hear your question, but I heard Jaylen. Even if Jaylen is out, I think the approach that we all took with him being out is next man up and we have to continue to prepare. Jaylen doesn’t win us the games. He obviously is a help with us to win games, but I think all the guys that were out there, they put in a lot of hard work, and I think they did a great job with primary blocking whether it’s in the run game or responsibilities in the pass game, I think they all did a great job.
Q. I’m not sure if you can hear me a little better now, but what was clicking later on that maybe wasn’t working in the first couple of drives?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Yeah, I think it was just adjustments in the second half for us. We just started to look at our matchups more, and then, obviously, with their coverages, they mixed in some man coverages on second-and-long, so we were kind of prepared for that if that ever occurred, but more often than not, they played quarters. Sometimes they play six and really we just try to run the ball and block primary and have their secondary guys make tackles.
Q. Hey, Tua, with the team having climbed from a 1-7 start to now a 7-7 record, what do you think are some of the biggest factors that have enabled that dramatic change to occur?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Just being around the guys, I really think it’s just the communication, just guys being in the building when we have off days. Guys wanting to work, stay back extra. I think all those play factors into our success on the field.
Q. How effective can this RPO offense be when that run game is working? Do you feel like this is something that you guys can build off?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Yeah, I definitely think it’s very effective, and I think it’s something that we can build off. It has been something we’ve been trying to build off from the Ravens game to the time we played the Jets the first time and so on, so I do think that this is something that we can build on, but I think there’s also areas within our RPO game that we can get better with – more so with me and the decision-making.
Q. Christian Wilkins probably did everything imaginable after his touchdown. I mean, jumped into the stands, hit the worm, even did some break dancing. Just talk about getting that guy more into the end zone more often so we can see more of that stuff because that was a lot of fun, I guess, for fans and you guys as well.
TUA TAGOVAILOA: I would say I’m not the offensive coordinator, and I don’t have a say in it. I think now that we put that on tape, guys are going to start to kind of game plan that maybe. I don’t know.
I think it’s tough to run a lineman out again after him scoring once, so maybe next time we punch the ball in or we’ll game plan a gadget, but I think that was awesome. That was cool to see him score. I think that was the first time I threw a defensive lineman or a lineman a touchdown in my career.
Q. Can you talk about his celebration?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Yeah, I only seen when he was trying to do the spin-a-roony on the ground. After that I turned around and went back to the sideline. (laughter)
Q. I was going to ask you about Christian, but instead I’ll ask you about Duke Johnson specifically. To have that performance in front of his hometown on the field that he played college football on, how cool is that as his teammate to see that kind of performance?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: I mean, it’s very cool. Me and Duke actually live in the same estate, which is even cooler, and I didn’t even know that until he brought it up for Thanksgiving. But yeah, I think it’s super cool especially with the crowd. I think I heard the crowd saying ‘Duke,’ you know with a loud ‘Duuuuuuuke.’ I thought that was pretty cool. I know he enjoyed it. Just knowing the person that he is, he is very grateful for the guys out there as far as the linemen and what not. I’m happy for him.
Brian Flores – December 17, 2021
Friday, December 17, 2021
Head Coach Brian Flores
(The two starters who have missed practice all week, RB Myles Gaskin and WR Jevon Holland, is there knowledge of the Jets and their conditioning good enough where if they should clear protocol by 4 p.m. tomorrow you would be comfortable playing those two on Sunday without any practice?) – “Myles (Gaskin) will be back at practice today as well as Salvon (Ahmed). Jevon, we’ll take that day to day.”
(Right, so RB Myles Gaskin and RB Salvon Ahmed are out of protocol and available to play on Sunday?) – “Available to practice today.”
(Okay and also I was going to ask about G/T Austin Jackson was ill and is he going to be able to play on Sunday do you think?) – “We’ll see how practice goes today. Obviously, he was dealing with something non-COVID related. We’re just taking that one day at a time but he will be out at practice as well today.”
(The team acquired CB Damon Arnette on Wednesday. Were there any concerns over why he was released by the Raiders and what were conversations like with him to assure you that he is in a good place?) – “We signed Damon (Arnette) to the practice squad. We’ve been taking a look at him. I think Chris (Grier) and his staff did a lot of background work on him and felt good about bringing him in and taking a look.”
(Just wanted to ask you amidst all the crazy stuff around the league this week and of course with you guys as well just how the team and your coaching staff has responded to all the change throughout the course of the week?) – “I think we’ve done that. I think our support staff does a great job of adjusting and being flexible. I think everyone needs to do that right now. This setting is supposed to normally be in-person but we got to go Zoom because that’s what the times call for. Whether it’s our equipment staff, our medical staff, our cafeteria staff; each department has kind of made some adjustments to fit the new league protocols and our players are making that adjustment as well. All the while keeping our focus – I should say our support staff has done a great job of making those changes pretty seamless so that the players can focus on the Jets, our opponent this week, which is going to be a big challenge.”
(On that same line, do you think you have been successful on maintaining all the COVID talk out of the way in terms of your preparation? Do you feel comfortable with the way things have been going this week even though we’ve been talking all week long about COVID?) – “I think this is kind of league-wide, what’s gone on from a COVID standpoint. There was a game that was played last night, games that are coming and I think we’ve got to compartmentalize and we know that’s going on just as a lot of things are going on. Really individually, there’s always something going on and when you get into the building, you really focus on what the task at hand is; that meeting, that practice, that walkthrough, the Jets and their team which they gave us a lot of problems the last time we saw them offensively, defensively and in the kicking game. We expect that type of game again. That’s what we’re preparing for, a 60-minute dog fight against a division opponent and that’s what we’re preparing for.”
(Did RB Malcolm Brown look good enough this week, healthy enough where you think he’s going to be able to play Sunday and do you feel good with what you have at running back now with RB Salvon Ahmed and RB Myles Gaskin at least practicing today? You’ll see how they look potentially Malcolm, RB Duke Johnson obviously as well.) – “Malcolm (Brown), we had a walkthrough yesterday so Malcolm did some good things on Wednesday. We’ll see how today goes. Same with the rest of the group. When you’re out for as long as Myles and Salvon were, we’ll see them come back and see what that looks like today. At least we’ve got more guys available, we’ll make a decision and a lot will ride on what that looks like today.”
(I want to know about the preparation for the guys who are out with COVID. Do they have an opportunity to keep up with the Zoom in terms of the gameplan or are they coming in today cold and sort of in the dark and have to play catchup?) – “They don’t have days where they’re totally off. We’ve been zooming. What we do is guys who are in protocol, they zoom into all the meetings and obviously everything has gone virtual so all players are in all meetings. We’ve kept them up to speed on the gameplan, what we’re doing in all three phases and we’ll try to make those as interactive as possible having guys answering questions, unmuting and those guys are a part of those meetings. It’s one thing to just meet, it’s another thing to get out there and actually do a walkthrough or a practice. It will be good to get some of those guys back into a practice setting.”
(In terms of gameplan and the work that you’re going to do today – you do have two days – how much do you feel you can get an evaluation on those guys coming back in two days?) – “I think the guys you are talking about Salvon (Ahmed), Myles (Gaskin); these are guys who do have some banked reps from the season. I think that some of the plays that are just kind of core concepts, core plays, core schemes or concepts; I think it’s more just kind of getting into the huddle and hearing it, and going through it as more of a refresher. Anything that’s brand new obviously we’ve got to see what they looks like as well. But if we feel good about the way it looks and how it was repped today, then we might go with one of those guys. Otherwise we’ll go with someone who has repped it a little bit more during the week.”
(You had the news yesterday that WR Jaylen Waddle landed on the COVID list, just on handling that loss, how that’s unique from any other time you played without other receivers this year?) – “It’s the next man up. We need winning contributions from everyone on the team. It’s not a one-man team, it’s not any one person. There are 11 guys on the field at a time. The message is what the message always is. Other guys got to step up and we need contributions from everyone. That’s how you have success in this league and we understand that. Again this is a tough opponent. They’ve got good players. They played us tough, and that game was 7-7, 14-14. It went back and forth really the entire game. We know that, we understand that. They know us well. They’ve got good coaches, they’ve got good players, we’ve got to play well this week.”
(With WR Jaylen Waddle primarily playing the slot even though he’s played everything. Is that next man up WR Isaiah Ford in the slot or where do you guys go in terms of finding guys who can contribute to the offense?) – “I feel we’ve got guys who can play a few different positions. Ford, ‘Mike G’ (Mike Gesicki), Albert (Wilson). I think we’ve got some options there. I think we kind of went through that when we got that information yesterday basically right in the middle of meetings. We’ll make some adjustments on the fly and we’ll kind of work through some of that today, but we’ve got a few different options there.”
(How challenging is that when players have to adjust on the fly quickly? I know TE Mike Gesicki plays a lot of slot, and WR Isaiah Ford is viewed as one of the smarter guys on the team, he can play everything. How much of an intellectual challenge will it be for them?) – “I kind of liken it to a game. If a guy goes down in a game, we’ve got to adjust on the fly. So we always have a backup plan. That backup plan went into action yesterday. But now obviously we have a little bit more time to say ‘maybe there’s some other things we can do.’ Normally in a game you don’t necessarily have that time unless you feel like you can get it run and executed or installed and executed on the sideline, at halftime. Now we have a little bit more time. We were able to kind of go back in last night, and say ‘This is where it’s going. We can do this, that, or stay the same.’ I know the question was how hard is that. I think it’s something that happens really weekly across the league and that’s kind of what we’re dealing with.”
(If you don’t get S Jevon Holland back tomorrow out of protocol, obviously you got S Brandon Jones assuming he’s healthy, and S Will Parks, and S Clayton Fejedelem, and you cross train. Could CB Justin Coleman, and CB Nik Needham play safety if need be on Sunday? Have they’ve gotten enough work there going back May, June, August where you’d feel comfortable with that?) – “I think as a staff we go through every potential player that can play a different position. Obviously there is more conversation when you have a player who is down. So yeah, we talk about all of those situations. If we move this guy here, who is going to play his spot and round and round and round. Can we get this checked if so and so is here… I think there is a lot of conversation that goes on there. But yeah, those conversations I’ve had, I think we like the depth in the safety room. Whether it’s (Eric) Rowe, whether it’s ‘Fej’ (Clayton Fejedelem), whether it’s safety Brandon Jones. I think those guys do a good job from a communication standpoint of getting guys lined up. I think we’re dealing with a quarterback who is skilled, who is very talented, who has really played well, and who has gotten hot I would say. We’ve got to do a good job collectively as a team, as a defense communicating. Obviously taht starts at the safety position and the linebacker position. Those are really the signal callers on defense. That part of it we’ve got to have right. I think we’re always keeping that in mind as we’re trying to put those guys out there.”
Andrew Van Ginkel – December 16, 2021
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Thursday, December 16, 2021
LB Andrew Van Ginkel
(I think among edge players, you’re second in the league in quarterback hits. Do you take pride in that, or do you say ‘darn it, I wish a few more had been converted into sacks?’) – “Obviously you’d like to get the sacks. I’m just trying to figure out how I can get better and different ways I can attack the quarterback and just be a step quicker so I can get those sacks. Obviously I’d rather have those sacks, but all I can do is keep trying to get better and improving.”
(One COVID-19 question for you. Have you personally made any changes this week to your approach to life knowing how contagious this variant is? Are you staying in more? Have you made any conscious changes?) – “No. I’m just kind of going about my life and doing the protocols that they give us and just trying to be smart with how I abide by things.”
(Today the team went into increased protocols within the facility. What has that been like to deal with?) – “It’s just another thing that we have to deal with. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter because we’re obviously preparing for the Jets and we’re trying not to let it become a distraction. As long as we focus on the Jets and try to get better each and every day, I think that’s the main goal.”
Brandon Jones – December 16, 2021
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Thursday, December 16, 2021
S Brandon Jones
(I know when we last talked to you a couple weeks ago, you said you were planning to play but weren’t certain if the elbow would be healthy enough. Are the elbow and the ankle both healed, even though you were limited yesterday, where you’re pretty sure you will be able to play on Sunday?) – “I’m still taking the same approach I did last week. Obviously with the bye week and stuff, I feel really good. The ankle and elbow feels really good. It’s kind of taking the same approach, same routine as I’ve always done and just see how I feel on Sunday.”
(I was going to ask you also if you have texted or talked to S Jevon Holland? Can you share with us whether he is sick at all or if he has symptoms?) – “I’ve texted him a little but just to check in. I didn’t get too far in detail about symptoms so I’m not too sure on what exactly he does have. I miss my dog, man.”
(On that note, if S Jevon Holland can’t go on Sunday, what kind of challenge will that be for the secondary and the safeties to play without him? And after a couple of weeks where the defense had to play without you. Kind of switching roles there.) – “It will always be tough especially with a guy like Jevon, just how vocal he is and just how much of a great player he is on the field. Even though he’s young, just being able to communicate and get people lined up, he’s done a tremendous job of that this year so that’ll be pretty hard. But our DBs coach, ‘GA’ (Gerald Alexander), really teaches all the DBs throughout the season because you never know what will happen. Throughout training camp, throughout practice, we’ve all kind of been able to multi-task and do a lot of different things for certain circumstances, whether it’s COVID or people getting injured. We all have a lot of experience in being able to do a lot of things and staying a step ahead of situations like this.”
(When there is a COVID positive at your position, do you feel a greater responsibility to stay safe? Not to stay in a glass bubble but to even be more cautious than you would if your position group wasn’t impacted.) – “I’ve been pretty responsible and smart about everything as it is. With tests coming up and people popping for COVID, obviously I’ve gotten tested a lot more frequently just to make sure with my fiancé and stuff my outside life from football, making sure that stays intact and don’t have any outbursts or outbreaks with that. That’s really just the biggest difference, just getting tested a little bit more frequently.”
(It’s a big topic in sports with cases mushrooming this week whether players who are COVID positive but asymptomatic should be allowed to play. Do you have an opinion on that?) – “I don’t know man, that’s above my pay grade. (laughter) I don’t even have an answer for you.”
(It’d be good to get your thoughts on facing QB Zach Wilson. You saw QB Joe Flacco the first time you played the Jets so now getting your first look at the rookie.) – “Being a rookie, he has a very talented arm, makes really good decisions, does a really good job of throwing with anticipation which is kind of rare – not rare but you don’t see it a lot in a younger quarterback. It’s something that they usually have to develop over time. He does a really good job of putting the ball where it needs to be and just kind of having an overall control of the offense even when he makes certain checks, if he sees a look and doesn’t like it, you see him on film being able to kill certain calls, make different changes to the formations and stuff like that. I think, from what I’ve seen, he’s done a really good job.”
Raekwon Davis – December 16, 2021
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Thursday, December 16, 2021
DT Raekwon Davis
(Everyone in society talks about COVID-19 fatigue. Are you guys just sick of it and how it’s impacting pro sports this week with more than 100 NFL players testing positive and a bunch of NBA stars out as well?) – “Right now it’s just – right now we’re just taking it one day at a time. Just trying to separate guys. We had a couple guys go on COVID-IR. We’re just trying to keep from getting more guys going back on COVID-IR. That’s it.”
(The times you are being doubled this year compared to last, obviously there was quite a bit both years. Has it increased a little? A lot this year?) – “It’s about the same to me. I really don’t know. I think it’s about the same though, to be honest with you.”
(Which is more than half the time you think?) – “I don’t know. Hey, I get double-teamed. That’s all I can tell you. I don’t know how many times in the game I get double-teamed, I just get double-teamed.”
(What are your thoughts on going against QB Zach Wilson this week? A guy that you did not face the first time you faced the Jets.) – “It’s going to be new. He’s a quick quarterback. He likes to run out of the pocket. You’ve got to just be mindful of the things he likes doing. He’s a scrambling quarterback so you got to keep contain on him.”
Liam Eichenberg – November 16, 2021
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Thursday, November 16, 2021
T Liam Eichenberg
(From a COVID-19 perspective, what’s the thinking of the offensive line group? Have you all collectively decided to stay in all of the time? Is this something that you guys have talked about amongst yourselves?) – “It’s a situation where we listen to Kyle Johnston, our head (athletic) trainer. Obviously it’s a weird year once again dealing with COVID and everything. We just try to space out, try not to be all together at times, try to take precautions, put on masks when we’re told to. Stuff like that. It’s obviously in the background with everything that is happening.”
(Since you were in college last year, you didn’t experience the NFL season of meeting conducted virtually. Was today your first virtual meeting if they have happened yet? What was that experience like?) – “In college we actually had in-person meetings. The only time I’ve really done the virtual meeting was over the summer during OTAs when it was Zoom. That was about it.”
(Is it strange at all or perfectly normal and easy to absorb information over the computer as opposed to in person?) – “I’d say there are pros and cons. I think on the computer, there is a chance that guys might not be paying as much of attention. In person, I think you can actually show people how to do things better. That’s probably the pro there.”
(I know oftentimes he’s behind you and you’re blocking for him in front of him, but what has been your impression of RB Duke Johnson in practice as he’s the one running back on the active roster right now?) – “Duke is a great player. He’s a guy that’s played for a long time. He’s been around. He understands ball very well. He sees the holes very well. A downhill guy. At the end of the day, he’s a guy that goes hard. That’s all I can ask for is a guy who works hard and is committed. I‘m excited for him to be behind me. He’s done a good job so far this year.”
(Do you as players know the health of the five guys that are on the COVID list? Is there any update provided to you by coaches, or Head Athletic Trainer Kyle Johnston or anyone, or is it only the close friends of those five who check-in with them know how they are actually doing and if they are sick?) – “For me, because some of them are younger guys, you kind of reach out on your own. That’s about it.”
(Of the ones you’ve reached out to, are any sick or experiencing symptoms?) – “I’m not sure. They really didn’t get into too much depth about it. It’s kind of, ‘we’re in the hotel,’ and dealing with that life.”
