Ty McKenzie – January 12, 2023
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Thursday, January 12, 2023
Outside Linebackers Coach Ty McKenzie
(A question about LB Bradley Chubb and I guess the finger ailment or whatever you want to call it. How tough is it, once an offensive lineman gets his hands on you, to use your hands to get those hands off? Does it work like that? How tough is it?) – “It’s tough. I have a lot of respect for Bradley to be out there and give us all he can as a warrior. You’re trying to get engaged, trying to set an edge or being able to use your fingers to shed. He’s out there giving us all he can. We’re appreciative for the reps that he can give us?”
(How do you compensate for that?) – “It’s going to be tough. You really got to get knock-back and be able to grab something with the one or two fingers, however many you may have. But it’s a difficult task. And that’s one thing on setting the edge is we have to make sure we’re setting the edge on defense and we’ve got to be able to rush the passer. He’s giving us what he can and we’re appreciative of it.”
(We’ve seen LB Jaelan Phillips rush the passer from inside. When he does that as opposed to be kind of outside all of the time, what are the teaching points and kind of the things for him to be successful against some bigger guys inside?) – “So working inside – Jaelan has done a great job for us working inside and outside, and being able to get some straight rushes where he can go work a pass rush move and work his hands. You can see this year he’s working his hands really well. So it’s really a body lean. It’s about working an edge, knowing your opponent, what they have success in, what they don’t have success in and being able to take advantage of that.”
(Are there things that edge guys have to be more aware of when you have a quarterback as mobile as QB Josh Allen?) – “Yeah, Josh is such an elite player. I have a lot of respect for him because when he gets outside of the pocket, he throws a beautiful ball down the field with velocity and accuracy. When he’s in the pocket, he can throw with velocity and accuracy as well. He’s a big-statured (guy) back there moving around. You got to make sure that all 11 are on the same page and the rush and coverage come together, because if not, you guys have seen his highlight tape.”
(Is there a difference in the approach of the pass rush for a guy coming in off the edge that you have to take with a guy like QB Josh Allen?) – “I think it goes back to making sure all 11 (are in sync). Is this an opportunity where we can get really aggressive? Is this an opportunity where everybody has to do their job? Or is it 11 vs. 1 with Josh Allen out there? He’s dynamic and he can make some big plays. The biggest thing is just knowing what the call, what the situation is. And then making sure that we’re trying to keep him in the pocket and not let him get out. But at the same time in the pocket, we still want to get as close as we can or get him to the ground because he’s dynamic in and out of the pocket.”
(How much do you think is going to carry over from the first two games with how you guys played against Buffalo and how Buffalo plays against you guys?) – “It’s a new matchup. Right now, anything that we did during the season versus them in the first two rounds, it’s over. Now we’re going to the third round or third date or however you want to look at it, so it’s going to be a new slate. We’ve got to see what they’re going to do and we’ve got to have a good gameplan for our defense to give ourselves a chance to win the game. It’s going to be a new game and I’m excited to see what they do. I’m excited to see our players go out there and perform at a high level.”
(It was a little bit of a pitch count for LB Bradley Chubb. How did he get through the game and how much do you think he can give you with another week?) – “It’s really just how much can he give us during the week. So we try to build it up and then we get to the game and it’s kind of him out there playing and giving us everything he can. If that’s one snap or if that’s 15 snaps or 30 snaps or 100 snaps, nobody is counting. We’re just out there trying to make sure we do right by the player and whatever he can give us, he’s giving us the best that he can.”
(It looked like LB Andrew Van Ginkel played with some good energy last week. Do you feel like he’s kind of regained his form after having an appendix issue? How do you think he’s come back from that later in the season?) – “I feel like he’s playing well. He’s playing really well. His eyes are right. He’s striking tight ends and knocking guys back. He’s doing a lot of things that we coach him to do. So him getting an opportunity to step up with (Bradley) Chubb going through his injuries gives us a chance to win. I was excited to see him out there perform and we’ll see how it goes this week with whoever we have out there – whether it’s Chubb, (Van) Ginkel, ‘Mel’ (Melvin Ingram), (Brennan) Scarlett dressed for us a couple weeks ago, or Jaelan Phillips.”
(Even beyond health obviously, which has been a factor in how much LB Andrew Van Ginkel has played with LB Bradley Chubb’s injury, do you guys – you and Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer – base snaps at all for LB Melvin Ingram and LB Andrew Van Ginkel on how they play early in the game? Or do you have a pretty good idea of how much each of those two backup outside linebackers will play before the game?) – “I think before the game, we go into it like the guys prepare their tail off and that’s the decision. We go off of who is going to start, who’s performing at a high level in practice and who feels good with the gameplan and that’s every week. That’s every position. You don’t play a guy that took zero snaps in practice. You play the guys that practiced, the guys that gave us what they can and you try to win with those guys. There’s no count that we put together. We just kind of go with the guys we have out there. The guys, they do a great job. Talking about just being selfless – (Melvin) Ingram, (Andrew) Van Ginkel, Jaelan (Phillips) when we have to put him inside or he’s outside, whatever it may be. Or ‘Mel’ getting however many snaps. Those guys are selfless and just want whatever they can do to help the team win. So a lot of respect for those guys to whenever their number is called, with that being 100 snaps or maybe zero snaps in the game, those guys are always ready to go.”
(Elevating LB Brennan Scarlett and then having him inactive, was that just precautionary in case LB Bradley Chubb couldn’t go? I know he contributed on special teams a little bit the week before.) – “Elevations and all that, I kind of leave that to (General Manager) Chris (Grier) and (Head Coach) Mike (McDaniel) for them to answer those questions. I don’t want to say anything and the NFL want to fine me or anything like that. So I stay away from those. (laughter) But I think it’s always an asset to have guys in the building that know the system, that you can trust, that have practiced during the year, training camp, during the season that you can trust and that you can count on to go out there and perform at a high level. Because at the end of the day, it’s 11 guys going on the field that they have to feel good with, and I know we feel good with the guys on this roster.”
(Obviously one of the big questions with LB Jaelan Phillips coming into the year was how would he do against the run? Do you think he’s become a good NFL run defender?) – “In my eyes with Jaelen Phillips, I feel like Jaelen Phillips has become a complete outside linebacker. And that’s something that we kind of talked about there in offseason. I mean Jaelen Phillips, he’s setting the edge and he’s earning the right to rush the passer. That’s something we talked about is on early down, you’ve got to set the edge, you’ve got to have clean eyes, you’ve got to do your job, and if you do your job, then we can get the offense to a second-and-long, to a third-and-long and we can actually rush. So he’s doing a great job on early downs with his drops, with his breaking drive, with his vision. He had a couple ‘PBUs’ (pass breakups), and then at the same time, when it’s time to rush, he’s doing a great job rushing. For him, I don’t know the numbers, but we were kind of talking about it a couple days ago – he’s like top five in QB hurries and all this other stuff. He’s getting after the quarterback and that shows a tribute to the team that he’s on, what the guys around him, with Christian (Wilkins), with Zach Sieler, with (Bradley) Chubb, with Jaelan (Phillips), with Mel Ingram, with Cameron Goode, with Brennan Scarlett, all those guys – Raekwon (Davis). I can just keep going down this long list. But it’s a tribute to all those guys that he’s out there with and at the same time with the work that he’s put in. Actually, he’s getting to the quarterback and he’s affecting the quarterback. That’s one thing that we talk about a lot is affecting the quarterback. Sometimes it’s a ton of sacks in a game. Sometimes it’s quarterback pressures, it’s quarterback hits and those things add up where the quarterback has to get the ball out quick. They can’t just sit there and just hold it; they have to get on a rhythm and get the ball out of their hands.”
(How would you assess LB Jaelan Phillips’ in-game pass rush plan in terms of seeing what a tackle is doing to him and then coming back and saying, “Here’s how I can beat that?”) – “Yeah, I think that’s the in-game adjustments. You’re sitting there actually having a plan, and then sometimes you go out there and it may not work on the first one. Now you have to adjust on the sideline and know what you’re going to get with those tackles or a guard or a center that’s inside. So that’s something that we’ve been doing a great job with Jaelan (Phillips), and the rest of the guys as well, down on the line with the guys that would rush the passer, is ‘Here’s what we’re getting. Let’s change it up. Let’s do this instead.’ That’s just – it’s huge for success for players. At the same time, it’s stuff that we talk about through the week, so when it happens in the game, it’s like, ‘Alright, yeah. This is great.’ They have confidence in it.”
(It says you were born in Queens?) – “I was born in Queens. That’s a long story – if you want to know, I’ll tell you.”
(I’m from Glendale and Ozone Park.) – “Oh really?”
(How long were you there?) – “I was there until I was about two-and-a-half, and then I moved to Tampa, but I still have a couple family members up there. My aunt, she’s up there with a couple of my cousins. So we’ll go up there once in a blue moon. It’s been about, I want to say, four years since I’ve been up there. But it’s good.”
(What are your sports teams outside of obviously the Dolphins and football?) – “You know what? During the offseason – I don’t watch a lot of sports during the season, I’m always watching tape or game-planning opponents and all that. So during the offseason, I watch some baseball. I like the Dodgers, always good. Got a lot of respect for (Los Angeles Dodgers Manager) Dave Roberts over there. Got a lot of respect for (University of Georgia Football Head Coach) Kirby Smart. There’s a couple of coaches out there – so now, I’m watching these sports teams and I’m really looking at the coaches, because the stuff they’re doing, in-game adjustments, how they’re handling their roster. So that’s really how I pick my sports teams off of the best coached teams.”
(You started to say, I think, that there’s some kind of story behind you and Queens and going way back?) – “Queens was great. So I ended up spending some time there for two and a half years or so and then moved to Florida. For me, Florida has just always been homebase, because the time that I spent there, I don’t remember. It’s all photos and so on, so Florida has always been home to me. It was great to come back to work for the Miami Dolphins. (I have) a lot of respect for what they’ve done here and we’re getting closer to accomplishing another goal and that’s every day. Right now, the biggest thing today is it’s Thursday and we’ll figure out Friday when it comes, so it’s exciting.”
