Terron Armstead – August 1, 2023
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Tuesday, August 1, 2023
T Terron Armstead
(For starters, how did it feel to finally get to be back out there?) – “It was great. It was great. It was fun being back out there with the guys and cross the lines. To be right there, talk with them, do some drills, some handwork stuff, get ready to get going.”
(What can you tell us about your offseason? We understand you had a right knee procedure. How tough of a decision was that? Were there decisions to make about surgery on other body parts?) – “Yeah, it was a process. It was a process. I wasn’t trying to get any procedures done, but that one in particular, I really had no other choice. It was by far the best decision to go ahead and get cleaned up. I feel great.”
(How is your toe feeling at this point? I know you dealt with it a lot last year.) – “Yeah, it’s good. It’s good. I’m good, ready to roll.”
(How much work do you anticipate getting in over the next several weeks ramping up?) – “They’ve got a plan for me, program for me. I’m just trying to stick with it. We’re progressing, kind of going through a little bit of a slow progression in my opinion, but I’m not arguing or combatting. I’m here to play, so I’d love to get out there and compete. I’m also in Year 11 and I’ve been through 10 training camps before, so it’s a little bit of a balance.”
(As a follow-up, how much do you need?) – “It’s kind of hard to say, really, until you get out there and do it. Everybody is going to have rust. Even with experience and muscle memory, you still have some things to work out – timing, hand placement, getting the feel for certain things. I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to grasp quickly when I’m in, but we’re sticking to the plan.”
(You say it’s a slow progression. Slow progression for you is probably a lot faster than what they want, right?) – “Yeah, for sure, but I’m being disciplined. I’ve been a professional, just taking it a day at a time.”
(How tough is that?) – “It’s challenging. It’s challenging, but working with my guys though has been great. I’m seeing so much progress from them, the intent, attention to detail and the execution has been great. So today, just being able to be on the field and be more hands-on in a sense and help out more than being off to the sideline, today was great.
(Have there been any takeaways from watching some of those team drills in the trenches before you got back?) – “It’s been a bit of a battle, some highs and lows. We want to kind of even it out more on a more consistent basis. We don’t want explosive plays and then big negatives. We want more consistency. So staying on that task and keeping that the focus – the goal of o-line play is consistency, that’s what you always want to see.”
(What seems to be the point of emphasis for the new o-line coach?) – “Speed, velocity off the ball, controlling the line of scrimmage. We want to dominate and dictate that line of scrimmage as much as possible. If we do that, if we knock people off the ball a yard or two, we have a great chance to win a lot of games.”
(I’m sure if I asked any player in that locker room, they would all say that they would love to play 17 games this year. But for you especially, how much would that mean?) – “That’s goal No. 1, man. Goal No. 1. I’m going to keep going for it, doing everything I can to make it a reality. I’m here to play. I’m here to play, so that’s goal No. 1. All I’m focusing on right now is today and then the next one and then the next one. I’m not going to look too far ahead.”
(Last year when you and QB Tua Tagovailoa were on the field versus when you weren’t, this offense was just clicking when you guys were together. Was that a realization that “Hey, we’re two pretty big parts of this offense, we both need to be available?”) – “That’s not a secret. That’s not a secret. You need your best players to play and play their best. Especially when you’re getting down into the stretch into the playoffs, we’re going to need all our players to be playing our best football. So me, Tua, Tyreek (Hill), (Emmanuel) Ogbah, David Long (Jr.), Christian (Wilkins) – we’re going to need the best players to be the absolute best.”
(I know you spend so much of your offseason kind of working with younger players, instructing o-line masterminds and things like that. I’m curious at this stage of your career, do you still find things to add to your game at this point of your career?) – “For sure. For sure. I think how I’ve been able to do it for a long time is continue to evolve and add tools to my toolbox. I learn things from first-year, second-year players just by watching them. The cool thing about o-line play is we’ve got all the answers on film, so you can go back and see what do guys do to combat this move or combat this stunt. So you’ve got the answers on film, so you can go back and watch and then you try to go execute. Try to add more tools to the toolbox.”
(Do you get your most beneficial work in joint practices or in preseason games?) – “Joint practice.”
(Why is that?) – “It’s been a minute since I’ve played a preseason game, for sure. I’m not against it of course. I’ll do whatever I need to do. But those joint practices, you get a chance in a more controlled setting to continue to practice and work on adding tools to your toolbox. So in a joint practice, I feel much more comfortable taking a jump set or switching up a set than I would in a game. In a game, you want to go through what you know works the most. In practice, we’re finetuning and we’re perfecting our craft. That’s more an advantage and a time for you to really work and perfect your craft.”
(I noticed you boxing on the sideline. I know it’s something you’ve been doing for a while, but what exactly has boxing done for you in your career since you took that up?) – “Just cardio, low impact on the joints as opposed to running as much. So just getting a lot of cardio, then precision with the hands and once you get tired, just that mental fortitude that it builds, that mental toughness.”
(Are there things that carry over from that to your initial punch when a play starts?) – “I try to make it correlate as I’m training, but it’s two different worlds, two different sports. I box from a left-handed stance because I play left tackle even though I’m right-handed. So I try to make it correlate as much as I can, but not necessarily because (Emmanuel) Ogbah is doing all this (moves his arms). If he’s boxing like that, I’m going to knock him out. (laughter) Doing all of that, you feel me?”
(Your boxing or QB Tua Tagovailoa’s jiu-jitsu?) – “I’d whoop Tua. (laughter)”
