Mike McDaniel – August 21, 2022
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Sunday, August 21, 2022
Head Coach Mike McDaniel
(l was going to ask you aside from CB Byron Jones, is there anyone on the team whose status must play out, is there anybody on the team whose status you think is in question for the regular season opener based on the injury information you’ve gotten?) – “I think all of the guys that we’ve discussed that are on the active roster, there’s no surprises at all. We’re working diligently to change that PUP to full go, and when that happens, we’ll have more information. But no, there’s not off the top my head any surprises. I try not to keep surprises from you guys.”
(I guess I’ll a little bit more specific. With CB Byron Jones, do you expect him this week to be able to practice?) – “With Byron, you really don’t have to worry about there being any secret agenda. It’s the same as it has been. The thing with him is you guys will know immediately when he’s able to practice because then he’ll be taken off PUP. There won’t be any surprise attacks with that.”
(WR Jaylen Waddle and T Terron Armstead, we saw Waddle miss a few practices. Armstead one and a half, kind of… and obviously didn’t play in the preseason game. How are they?) – “Both of them are doing real well. With (Terron) Armstead, that’s a guy that’s done it in the league at a high level and we’re trying to make sure that he’s ready to go Week 1. We evaluate that on a day-to-day basis. He’s been practicing but we’re trying not to overload him. He’s invested a good amount this offseason – more typically than he usually does. We’re just trying to be smart with that. I don’t have any concerns for Week 1 at all. The plan is that you guys will see him a little bit this week for sure. With Waddle, that’s just an exercise of restraint because I think I would probably be less cautious had he not come back from – out of any player on the team, his jump in the scheme from OTAs to training camp was the highest. He was doing well but kind of swimming in the playbook. I was very interested to see a second-year guy with his first offseason how he was going to come back for training camp. He exceeded my expectations and you guys know I have high expectations for him. So when we noticed something was a little tight, we really, really wanted to be preventative. We’ve been extra cautious with him just knowing where he’s at in his game within the offense and how well he’s doing. This week we plan to get him involved a little bit, but I plan to be very cautious with him as well just knowing what he means to the team and how we don’t want him to have any lingering setbacks. We want him full speed. We rely on him for a multitude of things and we want to make sure he’s comfortable and 100 percent full go. He’s starting to get pretty annoyed with how cautious we’re being, but I think it’s to his credit and I think it’s the best thing for the Dolphins and I think you guys would be mad at me if I wasn’t.”
(What goes in your process of selecting a guest speaker for the team at the team meetings? I know you all have different visitors throughout the course of this training camp, but what goes in your process of selecting?) – “Guys that have really achieved high things in whatever their walk is – football primarily. Out of all of the pool of guys, whoever says the strongest compliments to me and strokes my ego the most. (laughter) It all depends on what you’re trying to get across. We have so much access here in the city of Miami and then just the people involved in the organization to various people that have done such great things in their life whether it’s football or it’s MMA or whatever it is. It’s all about finding people that in one way, shape or form can help deliver and reiterate and give a new framing to the messaging that’s important for where our team is at. You look and see who maybe would inspire, maybe – they hear my voice every day so maybe a different voice hitting the same point at a different angle to just better hit home at things for the team to hear, as well as, I think there’s also something to be said about experiencing things together – a shared experience where you get someone who is elite at what they’re doing to come and speak and it’s pretty cool. Well, you’re sharing that with your teammates in that moment and that just kind of brings you together that much more with that shared common experience. I don’t trivialize the players’ time in the least. They know I put a lot of time into team meetings in general. So when someone is able to come into our close quarters and into our circle, it’s something they have high regard for and generally through our experience, it’s been pretty successful with getting the points across that we want to get across.”
(On the same topic I was curious what you took away from your visit with Erik Spoelstra last week and did he talk to the team?) – “That was awesome. He had some of his staff members there, too. His experience is just so unique in that he came in as a rookie head coach and I think he had pretty high expectations off the jump. Then to carry on success in different formulas – I’m not sure if this is true, but I think Boston had something going on but he’s one of the formula that’s pretty popular in the NBA now with three superstars – he had success in doing that. He also had success in different ways in maintaining one type of culture and being able to do it with a roster that was built – or really the production from the roster coming a little more spread out, seven, eight or nine people deep. We just talked really about the commonalities. It was interesting. He was pretty interested in YAC, which was a cool conversation because a lot of terms that we use for YAC, I kind of use basketball terms to kind of illustrate it. That was a cool conversation as well. It was more just can we get things from each other. Very different sports but very similar in that we’re all dealing with a time where the athletes are as athletic and finely-tuned as they ever have been in their lives. As a result, you have to train them differently. The days of – case in point – Larry Csonka and Don Shula four-a-days; those are things of the past. He even spoke about how things are a little bit different and how they approach things since 2010 and the physicality of practices and all those things. There wasa lot of commonality even though the sports are very different. It was just an awesome opportunity to have him around. I’m pretty sure that Tyreek jumped on the opportunity to land some courtside tickets in the process as well. He was grinding for that. When Tyreek first got here, he asked me for tickets to the Heat game and I said you’re talking to the wrong guy. I do not have a connection.”
(So when you’re talking basketball about spacing and ball movement and screens and picks, I’m not the biggest basketball fan and I’m not sure how much you watch. I’m sort of wondering how that relates to getting your receivers into open positions.) – “Oh you’ve got me going now. You’re dead right, though. We had the same conversation. I floated it out here because I don’t pretend to be an expert in basketball but in my experience and just generation, we’ve watched three-point percentages completely change, the range from where good shots are taken from, fast break three-pointers and just how the shooting range of players expands the defense. They have to guard more floor space, which theoretically and kind of the way we look at football specifically on offense is we’re trying to make a defense defend maximum amount of space. We do that with our principles of outside zone but also speed. One of the reasons you like speed is because now the defense has to defend more ground, so it’s kind of a similar philosophy of creating space. You do it in basketball with shooters so then you have to draw defenders out giving more space underneath and you do it in football with playing fast and having speed so that in the timing of the play defenders have to defend that much more area. Because in both sports, defenses are trying to do the same thing and that’s really, you’re really trying to compress the area that they have to defend. It was a really cool conversation. It’s something we couldn’t really forecast exactly where it was going to go but I think it was beneficial for both and I think there are some commonalities for sure in that.”
(Where do you stand on the possibility and maybe even recoil when I say this of using one roster spot out of 53 for a third-string quarterback?) – “Where do I stand? Well, as I stand behind this podium, I think the 53 is for the 53 best players. You’re open to whatever. You have to consider a lot of different things and sometimes that leaves you short or heavy in certain positions, but what I’ve found in my career is that you don’t pigeonhole yourself and make absolutes. You’d like to carry a certain amount of players and you’d like to have your cake and eat it, too, a lot of items. But when individuals’ performances merit it, you have to keep the 53 best players. I’ve done both in my career – I’ve had two, I’ve had three. There could be a scenario down the line some day that you’d want four and it might make sense. I’m not completely resistant to anything like that when we’re in the business of keeping good football players and you don’t always get to decide here they come from.”
(Your rookie class has been very productive so far the first two preseason games and I think according to the Jimmy Johnson draft chart you guys had the least amount of draft capital in that regard this year. How was that able to happen when you don’t have the draft capital, but they’re still producing at a high level?) – “You just know you can’t stop developing from the ground up so to speak on an NFL roster. So when you have limited resources – this wasn’t the first time I’ve been part of that – but you just know the stakes. The fact that you have limited resources means that you can spend more time in a given area projection of the draft. But it also puts pressure on you where you can’t afford to miss because then you have players under rookie contract – the way the CBA is written and the way the salary cap is, it catches up to you if you don’t have contributions from success of draft classes. It’s to the credit of Chris Grier and the scouting department, all of the position coaches and coordinators. When you have those limited resources, you know you need to get contribution from the class so you have to really dig your heels in and make sure that you’re not missing on those limited selections and opportunities.”
(Do you change the philosophy or practice plan from the first join practice against Tampa to the Eagles knowing you’re a little bit closer to the season?) – “I really, really test the entire building and organization with changes because it’s my philosophy to always change, to think through stuff – maybe it doesn’t change, but a lot of times you’re altering stuff depending on your exact situation. I think that’s more to do with the amount of reps that you can take and where your most depth is, the decisions you have to make in the pending future in those opportunities. Are you asking from a schematic (standpoint)?”
(Against Tampa we saw a lot of one-on-ones and high intensity stuff. Does that change or you take advantage of that now knowing you do have time off between, there’s like a week in between the last preseason game?) – “That’s the nature of joint practices. It’s hard. Guys are competitive and you plateau to a degree when you’re going against the same people all the time but then you get this random influx of different types of players and the competitor in each individual player – even if we tried to tone down in the intensity, it would be hard because they want to beat that guy across from them and prove it and they get more opportunities in joint practices where you can go a quarter as a receiver and maybe not catch man coverage or if you do catch man coverage, maybe the ball doesn’t go to you. Well, joint practice, you line up and how many one-on-one reps can I take? Because if I take six, I’m going to get six man-to-man opportunities and get the ball six times. So what I can I do with that? The only thing that we really would adjust is maybe the length of it, but the intensity and exactly what you’re doing, that’s hard to adjust and that kind of defeats the purpose of the joint practices.”
(There’s been a rising number of teams I guess in the last few years running similar variants of your offense. There’s always the offense catching up to defense, defense catching up to offense. I’m curious your early, I guess observations of how defenses are maybe adjusting to what you guys have at least shown in this point of preseason.) – “You’re exactly right. It is cyclical and people are always evolving because people are always working because there’s always competition within the coaching ranks of who can have the answers to the test. I do think that there are – the second people put something on tape that proves one way or the other on both sides of the ball to gives something problems, you’ll continue to see it again. That’s cyclical and you just kind of have to figure out how to take advantage of that because when you’re defending one thing, you’re not defending another thing. I think that started probably in 2018 – teams really started kind of showing up on game day against our offense and displaying stuff they hadn’t put on tape before. At that point in time was very concerning. It would just really rattle players and coaches alike because you just weren’t used to all of a sudden a defense showing up besides when you’d play the Patriots or something that teams were kind of what they were. But that has been something that through all those reps you kind of get used to and so it’s both the idea of having people come to game day and try stuff differently. I’ve become a lot more comfortable as the years have gone on as well as those little – it’s a copycat league so if you see edge pressure one week, you’re going to see it again and just like in the regular season it’s similar formula in the preseason because then defenses get the opportunity to say hey, well, this worked for this team. We don’t plan on doing this, so what have we got to lose? Let’s do it against this team in the preseason and throw their opponents off the scent and make them prepare for the stuff they just put in the preseason. So it’s a nice low-cost high-reward formula that fortunately – it was unfortunate at one time – but fortunately I’ve been used to and have a lot of reps at going through the years.”
QB Skylar Thompson – August 20, 2022 (Postgame)
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Saturday, August 20, 2022
Postgame – Las Vegas
QB Skylar Thompson (transcribed by Cade Tjomsland)
(You built off your performance against Tampa… Have the coaches noticed you – that maybe if they keep three quarterbacks, that you belong on that list?) – “That decision is out of my control. All I can do is focus on being the best teammate that I can possibly be every day, continue to grow and try to learn and get better. That’s really all I’m focused on right now, and everything else I know will take care of itself whichever way that may fold. This is out of my hands. I’m just here to be a good teammate – help the team the most whichever way I can.”
(What about WR Erik Ezukanma – the camp he’s had and your connection with him?) – “I came in with Erik, so we spent a lot of time together – learning the playbook and all that stuff when we first came in here. Really, we hit it off from the get-go in rookie minicamp. Erik’s always been my guy, so when the clock’s ticking and it’s time to go, I’m going to go to my guys that I trust and who are doing a good job, and he’s been doing a great job. All the guys out there with me tonight were making plays, doing the right thing, making plays for me. It makes my job a lot easier when I’ve got guys that go out there and do that. It’s up to Erik, Lynn (Bowden Jr.), Preston (Williams) and all these guys, too.”
(Did you learn anything this week, from opposed to starting, coming off the bench, (and) being able to watch a little bit from the sidelines?) – “It was definitely different. It’s hard to really simulate. You’ve got to kind of learn as you go. I just try to stay loose, stay warm, stay engaged in the game, and prepare like I’m going to be the starter again. Literally, nothing really changed at all other than that I actually did it, but my preparation and everything leading up to it was the same as it was last week.”
RB ZaQuandre White – August 20, 2022 (Postgame)
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Saturday, August 20, 2022
Postgame – Las Vegas
RB ZaQuandre White (transcribed by Joseph Squillace)
(Let’s start with that dance. Was that the “AB” Antonio Brown dance?) – “Yeah, that was the ‘AB’ (Antonio Brown) dance for sure.”
(Was that something the whole team has been working on together, or just something you busted out?) – “I just busted it out. I’ve been planning that for when I first score.”
(Could you walk us through that touchdown?) – “It was just a simple play-action pass play. I kind of figured Skylar (Thompson) was going to throw it to me. So when my opportunity came, I just had to do what I had to do.”
(Is catching balls out of the backfield something you feel is just one of your strengths?) – “I feel like that’s a strength for me. I feel like all (running) backs have got to have it nowadays because the quarterbacks throw a lot to the running backs.”
(To have that moment, knowing that a lot of guys are fighting for roster spots, the running back room is really crowded – to have that kind of moment where you stand out, how does that feel in this moment?) – “It just feels normal. Like I said, there’s a lot of (running) backs, so we’re all competing. So whenever my opportunity comes, I just go with it.”
Zach Sieler – August 20, 2022 (Postgame)
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Saturday, August 20, 2022
Postgame – Las Vegas
DT Zach Sieler (transcribed by Anthony Mozzott)
(Overall how did the first-team defense played today out there?) – “I think the defense as a whole did good. We have some things to clean up and learn from tomorrow, but we did good. We’ve just have to finished strong.”
(There was some injuries, little dings here and there in the secondary. X is out and Needham goes out. Does that put more pressure on you guys to make sure you are helping them out on the front end?) – “No, I think we always, no matter what, put as much as we can on us. Rush and coverage work together as some would always say. How we play up front is going to affect them and how they play is going to affect us. We have to help each other and be the best we can no matter what the situation.”
(How did it feel to get back in the backfield and get a sack tonight) – “It always feels good. Just finding the little things and working as a team rushing together up front and getting back to that is important.”
QB Teddy Bridgewater – August 20, 2022 (Postgame)
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Saturday, August 20, 2022
Postgame – Las Vegas
QB Teddy Bridgewater (transcribed by Alfredo Benavides)
(How did it feel like to get out there in your first action in the preseason and put that uniform on for the first time?) – “Man, it was a great feeling. First time that I was able to suit up at home since high school. I played one game here in my rookie year when I was with the Vikings, but to actually play a game in the city that you’re from is a great feeling.”
(With everything you’ve been through, what does this opportunity mean to you? [inaudible]) – “Man, it’s just every day I wake up it’s an opportunity. To do something in life. When it’s football time it’s an opportunity to make an impact in the locker room, on the field, however I can, and that’s just my mindset. Every day is just a new opportunity that I’m blessed with.”
(How did it feel out there with the new offense? Right now it’s like going pretty well for a couple drives…) – “It felt good, but still learning every day in this offense and that’s the beauty of it. It’s going challenge you and I just love that challenge.”
WR Erik Ezukanma – August 20, 2022 (Postgame)
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Saturday, August 20, 2022
Postgame – Raiders
WR Erik Ezukanma (transcribed by ASAP Sports)
Q: What is it like to suit up for the Dolphins and play your first game in Hard Rock Stadium?
ERIK EZUKANMA: Everything I ever dreamed of. You work your whole life for this moment. I feel like I went out there and put my best foot forward, for sure.
Q: You and QB Skylar Thompson were able to connect a couple of times throughout the game. You had a couple catches where you kind of adjusted and reacted to the throw. How much of it did it feel like you were back at practice getting these reps in…
ERIK EZUKANMA: Ever since rookie minicamp, I would come in and just felt like it’s a connection there. I don’t know if it’s a Big 12 connection or anything like that, but just me and Skylar (Thompson), it’s just natural I feel like when I’m out there. We’re able to communicate and talk through things, and when the ball is in the air, I just go up there and make plays.
Q: What was the key to the 34-yard completion I think that was on the right side? What happened on that play? What was kind of key to making the play work?
ERIK EZUKANMA: On the contested catch?
Q: Yeah. What was the 34 — was it a 34-yarder? Contested?
ERIK EZUKANMA: Called the play and made a release on the guy. Skylar (Thompson) told me the ball was a little – I mean, he got hit on the play, and the ball was a little short, and I was able to adjust accordingly while the guy was face-guarding me and made a play on the ball.
Q: You said it was like a dream come true to be out there for the Dolphins. When you’re making those big plays like that contested catch and another almost catch in the end zone, it’s got to feel good. What’s that like mentally for you?
ERIK EZUKANMA: You go every day at practice, and you practice hard so that the game is easy. I feel like going out there in Hard Rock (Stadium) in front of the fans for the first time, I just wanted to make a statement that you didn’t make a bad draft choice picking me. Hopefully I’m able to keep proving that every game, every day.
Q: WR Braylon Sanders was able to get some catches too. What has it been like kind of working with another rookie in that receiver room? Obviously, there’s a lot of big names, a lot of talent. Working with WR Braylon Sanders, kind of coming in in the same draft class, what has that been like?
ERIK EZUKANMA: Me and Braylon (Sanders), we’re the young guys of the group. We take a lot of the criticism and the coaching, the hard coaching. We take it with a grain of salt, and we just go out there and work. Braylon got to go out there early on. I watched him and he was making plays, and I knew I had to go in there and make plays too. Every time he came off, it was to uplift each other and keep pushing each other so we can keep going and making plays.
Q: What’s something Wide Receivers Coach Wes Welker has told you since you have reported to South Florida here that has really resonated with you and kind of really helped you?
ERIK EZUKANMA: (Wide Receivers) Coach (Wes Welker) preaches that you have never arrived. You always have to go to work every day. In the middle of the game actually, I was kind of messing up a little bit early on, and he told us, ‘You’re here to take a grown man’s job.’ That really resonated with me. I went back out there and just did everything I could to make plays when the ball came my way.
Q: I didn’t realize it until I looked on the Bleacher Report – I don’t work for Bleacher Report, it’s a handy app. You had 100 yards. Do you remember the last time you had 100 yards in a game?
ERIK EZUKANMA: College ball, I think it was against Oklahoma. But no, I didn’t know I had 100 yards in the game. I was just out there playing, for sure.
Q: Before that I think QB Skylar Thompson threw to you on third-and-12 or third-and-13 there I think, the last series. Did he tell you in the huddle specifically like, “Just go get open, I’m going to you?” Is there that trust between the two of you already?
ERIK EZUKANMA: Something like that. Coach (Mike McDaniel) schemes up plays for guys to get open. I feel like Skylar (Thompson) knew who he wanted to go to. And he kind of told me, like, “Hey, look, do this and do that,” and I just listened. The ball was in the air coming towards me, and I just wanted to go up and make a play.
Q: What’s it like getting introduced by your quarterback, QB Tua Tagovailoa before you went up on the podium?
ERIK EZUKANMA: Tua (Tagovailoa) is always like that every day. We’re actually locker buddies, basically. (We’re) three lockers away from each other. So, every day we see each other and say what’s up. He’s always smiling, happy and saying what’s up? I love the guy.
TE Mike Gesicki – August 20, 2022 (Postgame)
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Saturday, August 20, 2022
Postgame – Las Vegas
TE Mike Gesicki (transcribed by Joseph Squillace)
(How much of an adjustment has learning this offense been?) – “Oh yeah, it’s definitely a whole different offense and a whole different scheme. I’m learning a new position basically, so it’s been good. It’s been exciting, and I think there has been a lot of progress, but obviously a lot more to go, so it’s been something that I look forward to continuing to attack.”
(Out of the starters, the guys with the ones, you’ve had by far the most preseason work. Is that a reflection on where you think you are in learning this offense?) – “I need it. I need all the reps I can get. I mean, I played receiver last year, I’ve played receiver the past three or four years. I’m playing tight end now and any reps I can get live, out there blocking, putting my hands on another guy and going out there, working hard and blocking; honestly just working on my footwork and my hand placement, all that kind of stuff. Any reps I can get at that, I can use it.”
(The first quarter when QB Tua Tagovailoa hit you between the numbers, and you saw the defenders coming. Was that something that freaked you out?) – “Yeah, I just didn’t get my head around. Tua (Tagovailoa) is a damn trained SEAL, so he got back there, his back foot hit, and he put it right in-between my numbers. I just got to get my head around quicker.”
