Isaiah Ford – December 21, 2020
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Monday, December 21, 2020
WR Isaiah Ford
(I’m sure a lot of my colleagues will ask about your role and your time up in New England, but I wanted to ask – rewinding back to the day after you get sent up there – when you saw the picture of QB Ryan Fitzpatrick, what did you think and did he do it properly in honoring you?) – “(laughter) Yeah, so ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick) actually sent me a picture with the shorts on before he actually went out to practice, so I didn’t know if he was just like wearing them around the locker room or something like that. But that just speaks on the type of leader he is and the relationship that I have with him. ‘Fitz’ is my guy, man. He’s an awesome teammate, he’s an awesome older – like a brother figure – and I just love that guy to death.”
(Can you take me through your journey over the last couple months? What it’s been like to go from Miami to New England back to Miami?) – “It’s been a little bit of an adventure to say the least, but the thing that I’ve tried to do throughout the entire thing was just to control what I can control and focus on getting a little bit better each day, whether I was in Miami or I was in Foxborough. So just trying to work on my craft and get better and learn as much as I can and I’m just happy to be back now.”
(What was it like to put on a Patriots uniform? What was it like to kind of learn all their secrets in a short period of time?) – “(laughter) I was excited about the opportunity. It was something – you hear so much about that organization and you have so much respect for that organization as a fan of the sport and then playing them twice a year for the last four years. So I thought being in the facility, kind of seeing the ins and outs of everything and being a part of it for that short stint of time that I was there, was a learning opportunity for me. And I’m very appreciative of that and the time that I spent there; but like I said, I’m kind of just happy to be back.”
(Two questions for you. One, what was it like on the field Sunday? Were you and some of your old teammates in New England saying anything back and forth? Did Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick give you a stare? Anything like that? And secondly, the biggest difference between the Patriot Way and the Dolphin Way is what?) – “It was fun being on the field with those guys and the short time I was there, they were all extremely welcoming in helping me get acclimated with everything that was going, whether they were meetings and how things were structured and how things were done that way. It was good talking to all those guys. They were all happy to see me back on the field, so I thought it was good to see those guys and kind of speak to them. I think the difference, the biggest difference is probably the weather. (laughter) The weather up there that they practice in versus the weather that we practice in down here would probably be the biggest thing in my opinion.”
(I’m curious, going from I guess the beginning of November, the Dolphins trading you away, to coming back and logging 54 offensive snaps a month and a half later for a team in the thick of the playoff race. What did that tell you about yourself and the nature of the National Football League?) – “It’s a business. We all knew that when we signed up for it. I would say I’m just extremely grateful that this organization would allow me to come back. I think that speaks on how I’ve tried to carry myself on and off the field and how I’ve worked on and off the field as well, so I’ve always tried to be as good a teammate as I can and always worked extremely hard as I could and tried to learn and soak up as much knowledge and information as I could. But you’ve got to love this game. You’re going to endure ups and downs and go through adversity and obstacles, but the beauty of the game is when the opportunity does come like Sunday, you get to play and just to be out there with the guys that you’ve bonded with and things like that.”
(You’re obviously a little bit more maybe mature than some other players who might harbor some tough feelings about the situation, especially for a player like you where you’ve been promoted then dropped, then added back to the practice squad, promoted and dropped for your first couple years before even being traded. How do you kind of stay mature about it and not hold any ill-will after everything?) – “I think throughout my entire time in the NFL, the biggest thing that I’ve learned is to control what you can control, right? Because at the end of the day, whatever happens is going to happen and you can drive yourself crazy, you can have anxiety or a lot of stress built up if you focus on the things that you can’t control. The things that I can control are how I carry myself and how I work on the field, the information that I learn. I’ve tried to do that to the best of my abilities and I felt a lot better with the outcome and with just my general well-being, going throughout the days, of how I carry myself when I do that. The biggest thing for me is just going to keep my head down and control what I can.”
(If I remember this correctly, the Patriots seemed to indicate that they would have liked you to stay around, presumably on practice squad. What were the factors that went into the choice, if in fact there was a choice there, to come back to Miami as opposed to staying on the Patriots practice squad?) – “I just think the familiarity with being here. I think this is a special place in Miami – not to say that it’s not a special place in New England, but a lot of my guys are here. So to have that opportunity to be back with DeVante (Parker), Jakeem (Grant), ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick), (Patrick) Laird, Myles (Gaskin), Mack (Hollins), all those guys. I can keep going on and on and pretty much name everybody on the team, but it’s a special bond that I have with these guys down here. They’re all great people in Foxborough as well, but there’s just something about being home, you know? And I think that was the biggest thing that went into the decision.”
