Xavien Howard – December 15, 2017
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Friday, December 15, 2017
CB Xavien Howard
(When did the sickness hit you?) – “Before the game. That morning.”
(You played through it?) – “Yes.”
(So you had two picks against QB Tom Brady with the flu?) – “Yes.”
(How did that day go for you? What were you doing? Were you throwing up all day?) – “Yes, I was throwing up mostly like water and I had taken some Pedialyte, so I was just throwing that up.”
(All of Monday?) – “Yes, Monday.”
(How did you play?) – “I got some IV.”
(How many IVs did you get?) – “Two.”
(Did you feel okay out there or were you feeling awful while you were in the game?) – “I still was throwing up a little bit on the sideline.”
(What did it mean to you to be named AFC Defensive Player of the Week?) – “It meant a lot. It’s just something to keep me going. I feed off of that and just keep going.”
(Have you made progress this week? I see you’re sweating a little bit? Are you still feeling like garbage or are you feeling better?) – “No, I feel a little bit better.”
(So no problems this weekend? You expect to play?) – “Oh yes. Yes, sir.”
(What has this been like for you this last two weeks, I guess? I mean four picks in two games. AFC Defensive Player of the Week. You had a coming out part on national TV.) – “I wouldn’t say that. It’s just growing and getting better. That’s really what I preach. Just doing it and just sticking to the game plan that we’ve got going, just growing and just gaining confidence as I go.”
(Speaking of confidence, just talk about the maturity level as well for yourself being a young player, doing the things that you …?) – “Yes, there’s a lot of … We’ve got a couple of vets in the secondary, but it’s me and ‘Tank’ (Cordrea Tankersley) as young corners. We just try to talk to the other guys and get knowledge and stuff like that around in the secondary. It just helps us out.”
(Regardless of being young, you’re still going to get picked on a little bit. Everybody is chirping. That’s just part of football, right?) – “It’s the NFL. It doesn’t matter who you are, you’re still going to get picked on. You’ve got to go out there every day and tell them you can compete against the best.”
(How high is your confidence right now after what you’ve done in the last two weeks?) – “I’m getting better each drill. I’ve just been growing and stuff like that. As practice goes and stuff like that, you just gain your confidence throughout that.”
Reshad Jones – December 15, 2017
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Friday, December 15, 2017
S Reshad Jones
(Being one of the leaders on this defense, what you guys have been able to do the past few weeks, just how impressed are you?) – “We are playing our style of football. We’ve been playing complementary football. The offense has been playing well, the special teams have been playing good and the defense, they’re rolling. It feels great.”
(What’s next for this team? Obviously you guys have three crucial games. I already know the cliché, one game at a time. How hard is it not to look ahead knowing that you guys control your own destiny?) – “We can’t. Right now I think it’s a playoff approach for us. Every game counts. We have that 1-0 mentality. We’ve got to take each game serious and we’ve got to take one game at a time. We’ve got a divisional opponent coming in this week in the Buffalo Bills and I think it’s going to be a tough task; but, I think we will be ready.”
(Being a Georgia boy, I’m sure you haven’t seen the kind of snow you’ll probably be seeing possibly this Sunday. How do you guys adapt to that? A lot of you guys are South Florida boys.) – “You really can’t. It’s just part of the game. You can’t really worry about the conditions, you just go out and play your style, our style, of football.”
(Being that last line of defense and getting a chance to see CB Xavien Howard, how impressed are you with the young gun?) – “He’s coming along. Like I’ve always told him, I feel like he could be one of the best corners in this league. I think he has the ball rolling in the right direction. He just has to keep putting it together.”
(CB Xavien Howard just told us he was battling the flu last Sunday. Were you a witness to the tough stuff he was going through?) – “Yes, he was. He was a little sick on the sideline. He’s been sick all week; but I think he’s been feeling better. They got meds in him or whatever and I think he’s feeling better right now.”
(How shocked was it to see him play as well as he did with everything he was going through?) – “He’s a baller, he’s a baller. That’s what he does. I wasn’t shocked at all.”
(What were you thinking when you saw the images of the Buffalo Bills game last Sunday?) – “I’m glad I wasn’t in it.”
(You never played in anything like that right?) – “No. And I don’t plan on.”
(You didn’t think that looked like fun?) – “A little bit. But I don’t want to play in it, I don’t like the cold like that.”
(Maybe it’s fun if you win.) – “It’s always better when you win.”
Adam Gase – December 15, 2017
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Friday, December 15, 2017
Head Coach Adam Gase
(We talked about this with DE Cameron Wake. You obviously manage this throughout the year, the 14 games in 14 weeks. How do you block that out at all mentally and physically, I guess?) – “I don’t know. I haven’t thought about it until you just brought it up. There’s nothing we can do about it. We just keep going. Hopefully we’ll just keep that mindset that our guys have had. I haven’t really worried about it. They prepare each week, worry about that one game and try to find a way to win.”
(Have they handled it well?) – “Yes. Our guys have done a good job. We’ve probably had more guys this year than we did last year as far as in the building, trying to do things for recovery, making sure they use all the things that are available to them through (Sports Performance Director) Wayne (Diesel) and (Head Strength & Conditioning Coach) Dave (Puloka) and the training staff. They’ve tried to maximize everything they’ve got.”
(What kind of challenge is there for CB Bobby McCain going from the slot to outside within the same game?) – “I don’t think it’s hard for him. He works at it all the time in practice. Bobby does a good job of preparing the right way. So, when he gets out there, he plays with no fear. He plays with no hesitation. He goes out there and does his job.”
(When you look at the defense’s third-down success the last two games – 1-for-24 holding the opponents – what’s repeatable? What do you see and what’s repeatable there?) – “I think it’s just the whole group working together. (Defensive Coordinator) Matt (Burke) has done a good job of making sure that guys understand that it can’t just be the front, it just can’t be the linebacking group, it can’t just be the DBs – it’s got to be all 11 guys on the field. We’ve got to make sure we have tight coverage. If we can get the quarterback to have to progress from one to two, more times than not our d-line is going to be there. It’s happening fast. If we can just do a good job of staying tight in coverage and if they do catch the ball, get them down and get them short of the sticks, we did our job.”
(Have you guys really looked into it as far as it’s a symptom of third-and-long or a symptom of how you’ve done on first and second down?) – “It has been a mixture. Anytime you can get them in third-and-long, which has happened quite a few times, that makes it a little bit easier, because that ball, you’ve got to hold onto it a little longer, which is to our advantage up front. We’ve had some really good stops on some of the third-and-shorter distances we’ve had.”
(You just played the Pats twice late in the season in a three-week span. You’re about to do the same thing with Buffalo late in the season in a three-week span. Is there anything from that previous experience with New England that you can kind of take into … Anything you learned from that you can take and do the same?) – “Really, it’s the second game that you play. I like it, because whatever you didn’t use you’ve practiced a lot of it. It’s actually fairly fresh in their minds. When you go Week 2 and Week 15, that kind of changes it to where you might bring some of the stuff that you didn’t run, that week down the season, and they’re not going to remember all that, what you were doing. It comes back quick for these guys. Offensively, I like it. I know defensively it’s probably a little tougher because they just saw you, so they know a lot of the things that you like to do.”
(You threw a lot of wrinkles at the Pats the second time. Was that in the game plan the first time you just didn’t get to it?) – “Some of it was, but we just didn’t … It didn’t work out. We got in a different situation.”
(Going back to the third-down success that you’ve had and getting everybody to work together in the way that you have, how do you explain that? Is it just as simple as hard work or is there something more you did to facilitate that?) – “I think guys really have been doing a good job in meetings communicating, kind of talking to each other about how they’re going to either fit things up in the passing game and the rush schemes and linebackers playing off the d-line and safeties playing off the linebackers and d-line. I think it just comes down to guys just getting … It’s that part of the season where everybody is really comfortable with each other. The communication goes up as the season goes on. Guys get more comfortable playing off of each other. Hopefully we can just keep it clicking in the direction we’re headed right now. It’s a good time if we can just keep being consistent game in, game out.”
(With CB Cordrea Tankersley, do you give a little bit more, I guess leeway, in his decision knowing that things worked out pretty well last week filling in for him?) – “We were playing fairly well with him in there, too. I like when he’s out there. I like when ‘X’ (Xavien Howard) is out there. I like when Bobby (McCain) is out there, (Alterraun) Verner. We need them all, because you never know what’s going to happen within a game.”
(When it comes to WR Jarvis Landry, have you ever seen a receiver who has a better feel than him with settling down in the zones or knowing where to be to present himself to the quarterback?) – “It’s kind of that position … It’s hard to play that position if you don’t have that. I’ve been lucky enough to be around (Brandon) Stokley and (Wes) Welker, so I’ve seen some guys with differences. Jarvis, he’s a different style, because he can do all that and then he has almost that running back mentality of when he catches the ball, he’s not going to make you miss and if he doesn’t go down, he’s going to go through you and enjoy it. That’s where he brings a little different type of player than what those other guys were.”
(Can you see with CB Xavien Howard, his confidence just grow by the week?) – “Yes, I think when you have two picks and one for a touchdown, it doesn’t take much. He was confident when we kind of first started this thing. This year going into the spring, I felt like he was really feeling good about it. There were a couple bumps in the road. It probably didn’t go exactly the way he wanted to at some points of the season, but that’s football. You’ve just got to keep coming back and battling.”
Cameron Wake – December 15, 2017
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Friday, December 15, 2017
DE Cameron Wake
(Given the stage and the opposition, how satisfying was the win against New England on Monday night?) – “It was fun. Getting a win is always a good, fun experience. I know I speak for a lot of guys saying we enjoyed it.”
(What makes it tough to stop Bills RB LeSean McCoy? We see the shiftiness and all that kind of stuff, but from your standpoint, what makes it tough going against him?) – “Again, this is the NFL so anytime you’re in a position where you’re playing against a premier player, and again, I’ve said it – whether it’s quarterback, receiver, running back – good players are always going to find the guy that’s not doing their job. If it’s quarterback, usually it could be receivers they’re throwing it to or scrambling. Obviously, running backs are guys who, ‘Hey everybody, he’s in his place, he’s in his place, he’s in his place, he’s not,’ and that’s where they’re going to run. Obviously, he, being an explosive-type players, that’s what he’s going to do; and as a defense you have to be where you’re supposed to be every play the whole game. You can’t have a letdown or you get good play, good play, good play, and then that player takes advantage of that person who’s not doing what they’re supposed to. Another day in the life of an NFL defense.”
(Assuming Bills QB Tyrod Taylor does play, he’s a mobile quarterback. Those guys have given you problems in the past. Why is it so hard to defend a quarterback that’s mobile and how can you fix it this week?) – “Again, in the same line, whether it’s quarterback or running back, if you’re not rushing together as a unit, somebody’s not doing what they’re supposed to do, then they break contain or scramble for extra yards. Obviously, quarterbacks generally are not stressed physically throughout a game and when they take off running, they get to do their one or two sprints, when everybody else has been doing them for quite a while. It usually is a disadvantage, so you just have to be able to rush together and not allow that player – running back, quarterback, receiver, whoever it may be – to take advantage of people not doing what they’re supposed to do.”
(You dropped into coverage a fair amount on Monday. Is it more than you have in the past?) – “I’d have to go back and count. I mean I drop occasionally. I really don’t know what the numbers were, but whatever it takes.”
(Do you have an instinctive respect for the other guys that are in your age bracket, regardless of position? Like QB Jay Cutler is about the same age as you, guys like that.) – “I do; but I also think it changes by position, as well. A kicker’s workload and a defensive end’s workload aren’t the same. Again, being able to play physical football, contact football at the highest level for an extended period of time, I have a great amount of respect for anybody that’s doing that, regardless of position; because trust me, I know what this game takes away from you, physically. When you sign up, you kind of have to write some body parts off knowing that they’re going to the cause. You look around and you see a lot of these young pups, they really don’t know what they’re getting themselves into probably; but the older guys who do and they’re still doing it and still doing it well, my hat’s off to them.”
(How often do you shake your head about something like that in the locker room when you see a guy that’s 22 or 24, and you think to yourself, ‘They don’t know yet?’) – “I actually can say that I think a lot of guys in our locker room are pretty good as far as understanding; but I’ve obviously been around the league long enough to see guys who – and it’s not necessarily them understanding what’s coming, but it’s them not looking toward that day and treating today like it won’t affect them 10 years from … in the future. If you’re eating a bunch of BS and you’re partying and you’re staying up late and all of those things, that might be fun now; but again, like I’ve always said, there’s nothing free. In year six, when you feel like a bag of dog crap when you probably could have been okay and played a few more years, maybe that was based on those early years where you didn’t really do what you were supposed to do. Again, this locker room I think, for the most part, guys have taken notice from some of the older guys who we have who do things that they can do to continue to play. Then again, I’ve been around the league a while and I’ve seen the youngsters not take heed. ”
(Where does your discipline come from, because those things that you mentioned that are bad are pretty fun – like eating bad is great at the time.) – “Why is it great?”
(You’re sitting there with a pizza in front of you and you’re thinking, ‘Man I can’t do this because I want to be out there killing it in Week 14?’) – “Yes, but it’s a very simple risk-reward or cost-benefit. The pizza is great for 10 minutes, then you finish eating the pizza. Once it gets in your body, you feel like crap for two days. Ten minutes for two days, what kind of return on investment is that? Now if I give you a salad, it tastes like crap – which I think salads taste great – but it tastes like crap for 10 minutes, but you feel great for two days. Don’t let me take any investment advice from you. (laughter) Football is no different, neither is nutrition or discipline. If I give you $2 now and I’ll get $400 later, yeah I’ll take that. Obviously, I’m not going to do it the other way around, take a loss and then take another loss. It just doesn’t make sense to me, personally.”
(One more follow up on this important topic, what is the Cam Wake salad if I was to go home and make it?) – “Mixed greens, carrots, peppers, maybe a little avocado, chicken breast and if we have some, maybe some egg whites.”
(Dressing or just dry?) – “Maybe a little oil and vinegar if it’s available, but I’ll eat it dry.”
(This team has played well in December for the second year in a row. What does it take to win December football? There’s usually more at stake this late in the year.) – “There’s more at stake and it’s harder to win from a purely logical, physical standpoint. There is nobody who is playing at 100 percent, I’m talking about personally – your team or your position. You’ve got injuries. There’s a load of things. Everybody has to dial it up a little bit as far as, ‘Hey, maybe he’s not in, so we have to take more snaps, or this scheme of such and such team we’re playing going into Week 14 is different than maybe we’ve seen before the second time we’re playing them,’ and so on. There’s a lot of other things that come into play late in the season. Again, it’s playing consistent football and playing complementary football. That’s the only way it’s going to happen, so I’d like to think the guys that are in the locker room, on this team have that mentality, whether it’s back against the wall, a must win, all of those things that everybody says. At the end of the day, you’ve got to fight the bear.”
(Fourteen straight weeks now that you guys have had a game?) – “Is it? Sheesh. Didn’t know. We have a bye week, though, right?”
(We all talked about it in September about hitting a wall. Are you guys physically alright? I know you get a lot of rest time during the week, but how are you handling this?) – “We get a lot of rest time during the week?”
(Off day.) – “Perception is such a thing. (laughter) I don’t believe in walls. You hit the wall the first time you step into a game, literally, a 300-pound wall of men. I didn’t even know, to be very honest, I didn’t know that. I realized we weren’t going to have a bye week; but I don’t even know what week it is. It’s just about putting your head down and fighting the next fight, whatever it is. This week it’s the Buffalo Bills and the first play it’ll be whoever’s playing tackle. That’s my fight and every guy has their fight. Again, if you’re thinking about how many week’s it’s been since you had a bye week or you’re still thinking about the hurricane, you’re completely off as far as where your attention should be and where your effort should be. Again, I don’t think any guys in the room have even thought about bye weeks or consecutive games or anything like that. This is the next one, it’s the most important one and we’ve got to win. The same as last week. You’ve got 12 hours to celebrate and then you’ve got to move on. You get 12 hours to sulk and then you’ve got to move on. It’s the same way week in and week out. ‘No bye week? Okay, here we are, pout, and done. Ready, let’s go.’ That’s just how it is.”
(Do you feel the same way as you have in years past at this point in the season?) – “I hope so. (laughter) I hope so. Every year takes a toll on your body, as we spoke about earlier. It’s just life and physics; but you try to offset that with working a little harder, working a little smarter and hopefully it pays off on Sundays”
(Have you preached that to any of the guys, being a veteran, or do they know better? ‘We’re not thinking about hitting any walls, you guys should know better, this is what football is about, men have to be men.’ Do you have to preach that as one of the veterans to let them know this is what it’s all about?) – “I’d like to think that we established that a long time ago – weeks ago. I speak to the rookies every year and I tell them about, the hardest thing won’t be your opponent, it will be you. It’s not the guy you’re going against. He’s going to be great. He’s fast, he’s strong, he’s big, he’s all that; but the guy in the mirror is going to be your biggest you’re going to face your entire career, whether it’s discipline, taking care of your body, eating that salad instead of that pizza that’s going to make you feel like crap for two days that tastes good for 10 minutes. All of those things, that’s the fight. We’re all big, we’re all fast, we’re strong. Studying instead of playing video games. All of those things. Either you want to be great or you want to be just a guy. Just the guys that play video games that have got all of the numbers and all of the promoters on South Beach. They’ve got pizza on speed dial; but they play for two or three years and nobody ever hears from them. If you want to be great, you eat a salad with no dressing.”
(Two-part question here. What was going through your mind when you were watching shots of the Colts-Bills game from last week knowing you were playing in Buffalo this week? And how much experience do you have playing in snow games or blizzard games?) – “It looked like fun, I guess. It’s interesting. It’s been a couple of years since we’ve seen a game with as much snow as that but in the division we play in, traditionally, every game from October on that’s not in Miami, it’s going to be cold. Buffalo’s cold. New York’s cold. New England’s cold. It’s not really a thing at this point. Every home game is going to be hot. Surprise. The same way you deal with 110 degrees as we do for months in training camp is the same way you deal with cold games, whatever the temperature may be. You put on some gloves and go out there and play. If you’re thinking about the cold, then again, you’re already losing the battle. The cold and the heat and the fans and all crowd noise, all of that stuff should be in the far trenches of your mind. Your job, defeating your opponent – whoever it is – is number one. ”
(We talked about earlier you mentioned how workloads vary from one positon to another. We also talked about the no bye week thing. When you put that together and you see the guy next to you, DT Ndamukong Suh, playing every snap against New England, what do you think? He never came off the field.) – “Yes, obviously. He’s a tremendous force of nature. Again, the amount of respect – speaking to what you were saying – he’s taking on double teams. He’s got four hands on him every play, offenses are scheming to him trying to do whatever they can to stop him and still he’s successful, on top of playing every snap. You can’t find a way to negate how incredible that is. That’s out of this world. Obviously I’m tremendously honored and pleased to have him on my side and playing on the good guy Dolphins. It’s incredible; but again, surprising? No. I’ve been with him long enough to see what he’s capable of. I’m not shocked. I’m not wowed in that sense, because I know him and I see what he’s capable of. It’s still a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for the things he’s able to do.”
(Have you and DT Ndamukong Suh traded notes in any way in terms of offseason workouts?) – “We do. Actually, we’ve spent some time working out in the offseason together. We have our own separate skill sets and things we have to do on the field; but a lot of times, playing on the same side, we have things that we have to collaborate on and get to make sure we’re on the same page. We spend time in the offseason tailoring, because again, we can’t be two complete individuals, even though we are. We have to work together as well as the guys on the other side, so we all have to be on the same page, not just him and I, but a lot of other guys on the d-line as well.”
Ndamukong Suh – December 14, 2017
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Thursday, December 14, 2017
DT Ndamukong Suh
(Was Monday the first time that you played every snap of an NFL football game?) – “(I have) no clue. I doubt it; but I have no clue to be honest with you.”
(What it says about you as a player to play all those snaps and I guess all that went into it?) – “I think it just goes back to the conversation we had last week. I pride myself on it. I feel like I’m built for it. I feel like I prepare for it in the offseason with my trainer and obviously when we come here for OTAs and minicamps, to get into football shape. I push myself there, as well as in camp.”
(Was there any moment where you thought maybe, “I’ll take one,” and someone suggested, “Do you want to take one snap off?”) – “That’s inside information. You’d have to ask (Defensive Line) Coach ‘T’ (Terrell Williams) and (Head) Coach (Adam) Gase for that one.”
(What do you think of the way CB Xavien Howard has been playing the last few weeks?) – “Excellent. I think ‘X’ is coming into his own. We’ve expected him to be that type of player for us as soon as he got here last year. I think he showed sparks, special plays of that last year. I think he had some injuries or some things that took him off the field. But at the end of the day, that’s what we expect out of ‘X’. So, he’s playing at an elite level and hopefully he continues that way and people stop throwing the ball his way.”
(After such a huge win on Monday, how does this team avoid a letdown Sunday in Buffalo?) – “We have no room for a letdown. Our focus is understanding what we have, which is Buffalo, the next game up. It’s an important one, one because they’re a division opponent and two because they’re our next opponent.”
(Did you guys look at it as “We can get ourselves back into the playoff conversation if we upset the Patriots?”) – “I don’t ever feel like we were ever out of the playoff contention mathematically, however you want to look at it. Our focus is to take care of business and let the chips fall where they fall.”
(You’ve obviously played in a division where there were a lot of snow games. I’m assuming you’ve played in the snow in Green Bay and Minnesota. Is there any thought process when you’re a player, whether it’s cleats or on the field when you’re playing in those kind of elements and conditions?) – “How I look at it is I played in Green Bay, played in Minnesota when they were outside building their stadium – nice and cold there – played in Philly in a great snow game. I think one of the top 10 snow games. I look at it and approach it as simple as this: don’t think about it. It’s not anything to really worry about. You’re playing football. As most athletes do, when you go into a game and there’s outside noise, all this talking, just block it out.”
(So, it doesn’t put you defensive players at a disadvantage from a change of direction standpoint?) – “For me, no. I think you just go out there and adjust and adapt to the conditions and go from there.”
(What’s the challenge of stopping Bills RB LeSean McCoy?) – “He’s an elite back. I’ve seen him plenty of times, one at Philly being in this division and then two … Excuse me, once at Philly or a couple times at Philly being in the NFC and then obviously being in the same division here with him being at Buffalo. He’s an elite back, a guy I respect, a guy that I like and enjoy being around in the offseason; but we’ve got to stop him. He’s a workhorse and we’ve got to stop that.”
(Bills RB LeSean McCoy changes direction a lot. He’ll start one way, go the other way and cut back. That’s kind of his thing. How does that create a challenge for defensive lineman to stay disciplined in your gaps?) – “Well you look at it, they give him opportunities in the stretch game and things that they like to run. Their offensive line does a pretty good job of staying in front of guys, allowing him to make his holes and get to where he wants to be. You’ve just got to take your shot and make sure you’re gap-sound as you mentioned. When I look at it, it’s just all about tackling and gang tackling. If we’re all surrounding the ball, the ball carrier, we won’t have an issue.”
(If QB Tyrod Taylor plays, what if anything, is unique about his skillset?) – “Another guy just like ‘Shady’ (LeSean McCoy). He’s an elite running back from the quarterback position. (He can) obviously throw the ball and has been successful there are well. We’ve got to be very keen on that. I know they have specific runs for him in his particular position, so we’ve got our hands full if he’s playing. If not, then we still have our hands full with either one of the other quarterbacks, especially (Joe) Webb.”
Jay Cutler – December 14, 2017
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Thursday, December 14, 2017
QB Jay Cutler
(I wanted to ask you about one play in particular on Monday.) – “Okay.”
(It was the one where you it looked, to us, like you were going down in the backfield for a sack and it was a third-down conversion. What happened there? What did you see and how did you keep that play alive?) – “When I spun out of it?”
(Yes.) – “We had a little miscommunication up front. I just kind of caught – I was working right – and I just kind of caught it out of my peripheral, hit the spin button quick and was lucky enough to get out of there. (laughter)”
(I think that play was really crucial, you went and scored a touchdown there.) – “Yes. I think we were up six at that point? We had two field goals already and we talked about how we needed to be two out of three down there getting touchdowns rather than field goals. It was a big play for us. I think (Kenyan) Drake was coming across there and we work on the scramble drill quite a bit, so he was in the right place at the right time.”
(What explains how efficient you guys have been in the red zone? Is there anything you’re doing, in particular, that you haven’t done in past seasons?) – “I think we’ve got some really smart football players down there. I think they put together, upstairs, a really good plan. We watch the TD reel throughout the league every week and 50 percent, 60 percent of them are broken plays or guys making plays, moving around. So with ‘Juice’ (Jarvis Landry) and everyone down there, when things go wrong or they zone us out and we’re expecting them to be in man, we’ve got guys that have some football IQ and can get in the right spots.”
(With WR Jarvis Landry and WR Kenny Stills, they’re both on pace – I think they’ve got 16 touchdowns right now – to get in the stratosphere of WR Mark Clayton and WR Mark Duper in terms of touchdowns scored. What is it about them that makes them savvy in the red zone?) – “It doesn’t hurt that (Head Coach) Adam (Gase) likes to throw the ball in the red zone, so we’ve got that going for us. I think it’s just their football awareness, their football IQ and their savviness – things you can’t really coach. Guys either have it or they don’t have it. Those guys and their awareness – knowing where defenders are and where soft spots are in zone – I think it’s really high.”
(How would you compare the rate of difficulty on your spin vs. RB Kenyan Drake’s?) – “I think Drake probably made it look a little bit easier than I did. His spin factor was probably a lot faster than mine. (laughter)”
(Well he only has to carry the ball, you have to throw it.) – “That’s true. That’s a valid point.”
(How rewarding was beating the Patriots, for you? It was the first time in your career that you get that win.) – “It was a big one for us. I think this whole team, we’re in a situation where we’re one game at a time, and really it was one game we’ve got to have. This week is no different playing the Bills. They’re kind of in the same boat we are, so we know we’re going to get a heck of an effort from them.”
(We talked to Offensive Coordinator Clyde Christensen earlier today and he said it seems to him that you’re as comfortable as you’ve ever been with this offense and this team. Is that fair? Do you feel like you’re playing your best football right now?) – “I mean we’ve played well, but we’ve got to do it again. There’s three games left and we’ve got a big one coming up. This league is about consistency. I think we talked about it in here. You’ve got to be consistent. We’ve got to have another effort like we had last week.”
(Why do you feel like you guys are playing better right now?) – “Guys are just doing what they’re supposed to do. I don’t think there’s any magic bullet or magic secret that we’re doing. I think we’re limiting turnovers, we’re limiting our penalties, guys are executing and making some big plays here and there, which is definitely helping us. We’ve just got to keep doing what we’re doing.”
(You said after the game that Head Coach Adam Gase was dialing it up well. Can you take me a little inside the game in terms of when a play caller has a really good play design, play call, play setup, play sequence, what goes right?) – “Number one is he’s open. That’s your progression. The first guy in your progression is usually open and I think Adam, he was getting it in quick. There was no indecision. He had a good feel of what they were going to do. We were mixing it up. I think we kept them off balance with some of the different formations and personnel groups we had. You can just tell in a play caller’s voice whenever they’re on a roll, and he was on one.”
(So when your number one isn’t open, then you go to, tell me what your thought process is…) – “Number 2. (laughter)”
(Your thought process…) – “Three is after that. (laughter)”
(Is four the check down?) – “Depends, sometimes five. (laughter)”
(Your thought process when number one isn’t open is, ‘Okay, they’ve got our number there’?) – “No, no, no. I wouldn’t say that. Sometimes there’s two guys that you’re looking at that are 1a and 1b; but when a play caller is hot, one is normally going to be open.”
(You’ve played in bad weather games, cold weather games. From the QB position, what does it take to play well in those circumstances?) – “I think wind is probably the biggest factor in some of these cold weather games. Snow, rain, 30 degrees, that’s all fine. We’ve got heated benches, heated hand muffs, heated helmet things, so once you get out there, you’re running on adrenaline; but if it’s windy, I think that probably affects QBs more than anything else.”
(Each of the last two ESPN broadcasts, they talked about you talking about playing beyond this season. I don’t know if those conversations were really portrayed accurately.) – “Probably not.”
(What is your thought process beyond this year?) – “I think I told them, I’m enjoying playing right now and that’s really it. It’s one game at a time. I think I told them last week, I’m just worried about the New England Patriots, and this week I’m worried about the Buffalo Bills. After the season, those conversations can be had; but right now, I don’t think it’s fair to anybody.”
(Is that a beard that you’re growing full time?) – “I don’t know. My wife hates it. Hell, I don’t really like it; but you can’t mess with a winning streak, so we’ll see how long it goes.”
(So this is two weeks?) – “Yes, two weeks, maybe two and a half.”
(Any tips from Defensive Coordinator Matt Burke?) – “I did talk to him about it. He’s like three years in, though. He’s a seasoned vet.”
(It looked kind of greyish previously and now it’s kind of colored in.) – “No, there’s grey in there. (laughter) You guys can zoom in. There’s grey back here. I’m getting old quickly.”
(How much do you still watch Vanderbilt football and all of that?) – “I do. I watch them. I talk to (Vanderbilt Head Coach Derek) Mason, I talk to some of the guys over there. We beat Tennessee. They didn’t quite make a bowl; but the recruiting class is looking good, so I’m excited for them.”
(You mentioned your wife, how has it been being away from your family this year?) – “It’s been good. They’ve come for pretty much all the home games. They came for Thanksgiving for an extended period of time. They’ll come for Christmas for an extended period of time. There’s ups and downs, there’s pluses and minuses, but Kristin has been extremely supportive and she’s doing a great job with the kids. There’s plenty of time after football to catch up on everything.”
(I think you said when you first got here you just had a car and a bag of clothes. Has that changed at all?) – “I might have two bags of clothes, but still just a car, so not much.”
Kenny Stills – December 14, 2017
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Thursday, December 14, 2017
WR Kenny Stills
(You and WR Jarvis Landry have combined for 14 receiving touchdowns. You could be one of three Dolphins duos to record 20 or more receiving touchdowns up there with WR Mark Duper and WR Mark Clayton. Does it feel that you guys have had a successful season from that standpoint, from touchdown standpoint?) – “I don’t really think that’s something that we think about or talk about. We are trying to focus on winning games and we’re in a tough race right now, so that’s where our focus is.”
(How do you think you’ve done as a duo because both of you guys are approaching … You can approach career bests in certain categories? How do you feel you and WR Jarvis Landry have been as a receiving duo?) — “I mean off the top of my head, I couldn’t really tell you. What you just told me stats wise, I guess it sounds good; but like I said, we’re focused on winning games and the individual stats and stuff don’t matter if we’re not winning.”
(On the field, what about your season? You’ve been through the back injury. You’ve been through the hand injury. You’ve been out there. You’ve been productive. What can you say about what you’ve done so far?) – “I mean I’ve made some improvement on my game from last year. I still think about that game in Seattle. I’m really just focused on making big catches and catching everything, trying to make some plays with the ball in my hands after the catch. I feel like I’m doing my best to improve my game; but there’s always more room to improve.”
(You still think about the game last year in Seattle?) – “Yes.”
(The season opener from last year?) – “Yes.”
(Why?) – “I think about that because …”
(Why do you let it stick with you?) – “It’s not that it sticks with me. It’s just a reminder of something that you don’t want happen. I mean I think about a game when I was a sophomore in high school and I dropped a ball in the rain for our team not to go to the state championship. Those are just things that you use as reminders to motivate yourself, just like I have the guys that got drafted in front of me in my locker too. It’s just a reminder for those days when you might not be feeling it. Anyone can play on Sundays but it’s a grind during the week.”
(So when you say you think about that game, the opener from last year, you mean like before a practice you think about that and you think about how much you never want that to happen again or it just kind of comes to you here and there?) – “I mean, yes.”
(Like you watch a video clip of it to get yourself …?) – “No. No. It’s just something that, you never forget moments like that. Those are motivating things for you.”
(I’m curious what was going through your mind when you saw shots of the weather in Buffalo last week knowing that that’s where you’re playing this Sunday?) – “I think that’s fun. I talked about just right now a game when I was in high school. We played in like one of the rainiest games in San Diego history when I was in high school. There wasn’t much offense but you’re out there having fun and so it’s an important game for us. We need to go out there and play well and we want to win; but you try not to think about the weather or those types of things. You just go out there and execute and try to find a way to get a victory.”
(Have you ever played in a blizzard?) – “I have not.”
(Head Coach Adam Gase, I think he might have been half joking about the game film from the Buffalo game last week was kind of useless. I mean it was difficult to watch for one because it’s kind of grainy, because the view was kind of obscure; but also because unless you get a game like that, that’s not how either team’s going to play.” – “No, I haven’t had a chance to watch that game specifically. I’ve watched a couple of their games from earlier in the season, so I don’t know what that’s like; but just from seeing on TV it looked like it was difficult to see.”
(From a play design and play calling standpoint, when you think about all the things that went right on Monday, what did Head Coach Adam Gase do well?) – “I think we just … I mean that’s tough. That’s a tough question to answer without giving away our little secrets. I think he found a way to get players out there to put points on the board and those players got out there and they played. He’s good at what he does and I feel like he was in a rhythm.”
(The last six weeks, the offense has averaged 24 points a game. Why do you think the scoring has gone up?) – “Well, two weeks ago the defense put some points on the board. We had a blocked punt. We’re just playing complementary football – offense, defense and special teams – and when we can do that and eliminate the penalties and turnovers and stuff, we can be a pretty good team, and we’ve known that from the beginning of the year. So that’s something that we focus on every week.”
(WR Jarvis Landry mentioned the penalties. I think three times in the last six weeks you guys have had over 100 yards in penalties but you’re still 24 points a game. I know … Why have you been able to overcome those penalties?) – “We talk about adversity a lot on this team and things that we’ve been through from the beginning all the way to now, and so we try and really just weather the storm when those type of things come. So we know that we can do it, but we try to eliminate those things all together.”
(You’re the guy in the receiving room. You’re kind of the captain of that group. What do you tell WR DeVante Parker or what’s your approach with DeVante when he’s struggled like he has in the last few weeks?) – “I think you guys put a lot of pressure on DeVante, saying that he’s struggling; but he’s doing what he’s been asked to do. I think when the ball comes his way, he makes plays. I know he had a drop last week early in the game and that just happens. We come back to work every week and we encourage him. He’s a hard worker and we know he can get the job done. We just continue to encourage him and push him in the right direction and know that when the ball comes his way, he’s going to go out there and make a play.”
Mike Pouncey – December 14, 2017
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Thursday, December 14, 2017
C Mike Pouncey
(The offensive line seems better. Would you agree with that?) – “I just think we are playing real good team football right now. Whenever our offense is playing good, our defense is playing good. I think that just rolls over into everyone looking like we’re clicking right now. Obviously we’re clicking at the right time of the season. It felt good the last two weeks to be able to have our offense do what it’s done.”
(You’ve been around a long time here. Where does that win Monday night … How high up is it?) – “It was a big game. Not only for our season, but just for our organization. We haven’t played well at night games and obviously that was a really good football team we beat on Monday night. It was good to finally get a win, but especially one at night time.”
(What makes that victory any different than the others you guys have had on the Patriots here? You beat them 2013, 2014, and 2015 here.) – “Just that we played well on, I guess when you call it the only game on TV. Usually when we have those games, we don’t play well. We just wanted to go out there and prove that we can play at night time and play in big games. We went out there and played really well. It was good for our football team and obviously good for the confidence of our football team. We needed that win really, really bad for our season.”
(You guys in the last six weeks, you’ve averaged 24 points per game. Can you put your finger on why the offense has improved?) – “I can’t put my finger on it but I know it feels good. Honestly, the more points we score, the better our football team is. That’s our goal is every time we get the ball, finish with the ball. What I mean by that is with either the punt team or kicking a field goal. We protected the ball these last couple of weeks and that’s part of the reason our offense has played so well.”
(Do you still have a planned day off every week?) – “Yes. This is a short week, so I just wanted to make sure that I felt all the way right this week. It was just part of our plan that whenever we had short weeks, I take a day off. I feel good right now. I can’t wait until this weekend.”
(You are one of the two offensive linemen that have been able to play in every single game this year. How significant is that for you given where you were coming from?) – “Honestly I don’t want to think about it until I make all 16. Until then, I won’t be satisfied.”
(Is there a trick to playing in snow and or cold weather?) – “Yes, bundle up. (Laughter) Honestly, the only time you feel it is when you have a TV timeout. When we’re on the sideline, we’re on heated benches and when you’re playing in the game, your adrenaline is going so much you don’t even pay attention to the cold. Hopefully we won’t have as many TV timeouts for this game.”
(Was your last snow game that game you had in Pittsburgh in 2013?) – “Yes, that was the last time we had a snow game. Yes, that wasn’t fun at all. We couldn’t stay on our feet.”
(You were a rookie when RB Reggie Bush ran for over 200 yards in Buffalo in December. How much do you remember from that game?) – “That was a big game. I remember Reggie. Reggie was a great football player for us. We went up there and we ran the ball really, really well. I remember at the end of the game, him and Brandon Marshall sliding into the end zone. I miss Reggie. Reggie was a good dude. I love just playing in Buffalo. Their fans are awesome. It’s a playoff environment and anytime we go up there, we know that the fans are going to be really into it. It makes the game a lot more fun.”
