Josh Rosen – August 26, 2019
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Monday, August 26, 2019
QB Josh Rosen
(I know last week when QB Ryan Fitzpatrick was asked about how important starting is to him, he said it’s the goal. And I know when you were asked, you said you were just focusing on the task at hand, you couldn’t care less. But I don’t think in the spirit of what you meant, you probably mean, ‘I couldn’t care at all whether I start or not,’ so I just wanted to ask you just to clarify that. Is that something that’s important to you beyond your goal of getting better every day?) – “Yes, absolutely. I think there are always the goals on a degree, however high they may be, whether it be like top-down Hall of Fame, Super Bowl, this, that, whatever and you obviously go down and (you’re asked) ‘how lofty are your goals or whatever?’ Over the course of your lifetime and career, it’s not going to change your day-to-day. In terms of the focus, I was just saying that the focus is not on the goals, and everything I want to accomplish throughout my life and career. It’s on the day-to-day, so that’s more of what I was referring to.”
(And are you eagerly waiting a decision? I’m sure everyone’s anticipating it. What’s your level of antsy-ness, eagerness to know if you’ll be starting?) – “Maybe a little. Not really. It’s not going to change my day-to-day.”
(And there’s no clarity in your mind? You haven’t been told by Head Coach Brian Flores?) – “No.”
(Are you pleased with how you’ve improved over the course of preseason? Obviously, we saw some very encouraging things last week, the week before. Are you pleased?) – “Yeah, absolutely. I think you can always do better, but you’ve always got to – I guess it always could be worse. I’m pleased, but definitely have goals to keep pushing more.”
(I know ultimately the offensive line has to block, but are there things that a quarterback can do to help his offensive line as far as quick release or three-step drops or things along those lines?) – “Absolutely. I think everyone can help each other with regards to the plays that are called, how they’re run, how they’re Mike’d. There are multiple ways of blocking the same front. I think defenses have tactics to try and build one-on-ones in the front seven. Sometimes you can – there are just different strategies and tactics of how you can do things, and based off of the play and when a quarterback has full command, they can tie the routes into the protection a little more fluidly, so if something’s coming out quicker, they can sort of shore up protection and maybe lose a blocker or two, or if we’ve got to push something downfield and we need all of our guys out, we can trust the offensive line with their one-on-ones. So having sort of that control and dominance over the offense allows a quarterback to very fluid with regards to marrying not just the protection and pass rush, but the type of protection you want (on a) play-by-play basis. It’s hard to describe without actually, like, drawing it up, but…”
(Head Coach Brian Flores has done – rightfully nitpicked on some things in your game that he’d like to see you improve on. We’ve seen you work with the first team in Tampa, we’ve seen you work with the second team against the Jaguars, and your engagement level has been really on point the last couple weeks. Do you think Flores is trying to keep you engaged? Where is your engagement level, and how do you think you’ve performed with…?) – “What do you mean by ‘engagement?’”
(I feel like he’s kind of putting obstacles in your way to see how you perform and how you respond? How do you think you’re responding to them, and where is your engagement level?) – “He’s my head coach, and he was a really good defensive coordinator in New England, and he knows a lot about football. I don’t know like on an ‘engagement’ day-by-day basis, but any advice he has is from the perspective of a defensive coordinator that’s won Super Bowls and played against some of the – played against the best quarterbacks in football and actually the best quarterback in football (Tom Brady) on a day-to-day basis, so anything that he sees, I’m all ears, and I’d love to try and help my game the best that I can.”
(You’ve said in the past that you wish you could see things as clear as QB Ryan Fitzpatrick. Are you getting that control level where you think you’re ready to start this season as a No. 1 quarterback for the Dolphins?) – “It was quite a jump from the beginning of the question to the end… (laughter)”
(You have to be able to see those things, right? If you want to feel comfortable starting…) – “Yeah, I think I’m getting more and more comfortable every day. It’s not up to me to decide when it’s time to pull the trigger and really get after it on the field; but I’m feeling, yes, better and better each day.”
(Do you feel you’re a better game player than a practice player?) – “I don’t know. It’s not really up for me to say that. I’d like to think that I play better in games than I do in practice, but that’s not really up to me.”
(I want to get your thoughts on Indianapolis Colts QB Andrew Luck’s retirement.) – “I don’t know. That was a tough one. Personally, I loved Andrew Luck. Growing up, that was my guy. Going to Stanford, and I looked up to him as an architectural engineer – a really smart guy, did everything right, and I was a Peyton (Manning) fan coming out as well, so to see sort of Andrew follow in his shoes was pretty cool. I don’t want to comment on the specific situation just because it’s sort of still going on. Maybe once it all officially settles down, I’d like to give some more thoughtful comments; but he’s probably one of my favorite players, and I was really bummed that he felt so tortured inside as to where that he needed to leave the game in order for those demons to go away. I hope he’s okay. I hope he’s with some good people, some good family. It’s tough for the game of football and him.”
(Since Assistant Head Coach/Quarterbacks Jim Caldwell took his leave for health reasons, have you gotten input from him via text or from phone calls you guys have had together?) – “(Assistant Quarterbacks Coach) Jerry (Schuplinski) stays in touch with him a good amount, and we’ll get updates every now and then, but not too much.”
(What would be one thing that you would say, one area where you’d feel the most improvement from the start of training camp to today?) – “My understanding of the front seven. I sort of came in with not really a great understanding of the structure of the defensive line and linebackers and the difference between base and nickel and dime defenses, not just in the sense that there’s another player on the field; it’s more in the sense of the package that you’re going to get and how the front ties into coverage. So I think that’s probably – just from a learning perspective – the biggest thing that I’ve learned since coming here.”
