Zach Sieler – November 24, 2024 (Postgame)
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Sunday, November 24, 2024
Postgame – New England Patriots
Dolphins DT Zach Sieler
Q. Take us through that strip sack and then seeing Jordyn Brooks pick it up after.
ZACH SIELER: Yeah, we made a great call right there off of what’s been going on earlier in the game and how to work through that, the scheme and the protections they’d been giving us. So I was able to work with one of the guys in the middle and kind of delay some stuff, and I was able to get to that gap on the backside and just the big thing I was trying to make sure of because a lot of these scrambling quarterbacks you don’t want to take a full shot and work through them because they can get off or they’ll throw it down, so I was trying to get that backside arm and was able to get the ball with it, then Jordan to be able to pick it up and get a few yards.
Q. How does it feel to see these pass rush wins turn into sacks after for a while they weren’t especially for a guy like Chop Robinson?
ZACH SIELER: Yeah, I think in general, and all the stuff up front only can happen because of what the guys are doing in the back end. Rushing coverage is one of our biggest staples. We talked about it Day 1 with (Jalen) Ramsey, (Jordan) Poyer, (Jevón) Holland, Storm (Duck) and all these guys that are stepping up and doing amazing jobs back there, allowing us to be able to get to the passer. But seeing Chop, just the games he’s had and the game he had today is incredible. I have all the respect to him. He’s just a testament to just putting his head down and working and just listening from older guys and taking their teachings.
Q. You were looking at 2-6 with a big climb. To get to where you are now, I’m wondering if you can reflect on what it took to get to these three wins and also look forward to Thursday night when you have a pretty big test.
ZACH SIELER: Obviously 2-6 is tough, but we still have a long way to go. Now we’re 5-6. So it’s not like we’re not in the clean. We’re not out of the hole. And we’ve still got our backs against the wall. I think that mindset when we went to 2-6 and getting some guys back and being able to work off each other and getting our stuff – taking the extra hours to get our techniques and our fundamentals together and working as one unit is really showing up the last few weeks, and it’s something we’ve got to carry through the rest of the season and hopefully post.
Q. When this team was struggling, it seemed like it couldn’t play complementary football, but when you see the offense doing well, is the defense wanting to do well and just that synergy that’s happened the last few weeks to get these wins. What’s that like for you guys?
ZACH SIELER: Yeah, I think that’s the biggest thing where when you can put a game together like this where you have all three phases – offense, defense and special teams – and to be able to play as one, it shows what we feel we’ve been able to do since Day 1. And we need to be able to do this every week and do whatever it takes each week to get to this point and execute every weekend and Thursday.
Q. What have you seen out of Chop Robinson over the last month?
ZACH SIELER: So the last month, a lot of guys talk about a rookie wall, and I’ve seen him just work everything he can since Day 1 to not have that happen to him, and I feel like he’s only going up right now. He’s taking tips from (Emmanuel) Ogbah, Calais (Campbell), (Bradley) Chubb, (Jaelan) Phillips when he was around in the room with them and just really working through everything he can to not have that happen to him and as well as just improve his game and accelerate the college-to-NFL transition, and I think it’s been showing up amazing these last few weeks.
Q. Do you let yourself kind of think about, oh my, we get Chubb back, we could really have something here?
ZACH SIELER: I respect the heck out of (Bradley) Chubb. I cannot wait to see him out there. Obviously we were together last year a lot of the same side, and we want to think about each week. I don’t know what his story is. He can do his thing and work however he can, and I know he’s working as hard as he can to get back and I can’t wait for the day if and when he does. But we’ve got Green Bay in four days.
Q. Obviously New England had a different quarterback last time. What did you learn about this Patriots’ offense in the first meeting that you kind of used to your advantage today?
ZACH SIELER: I think it’s obviously a new quarterback and I think he’s going to be a great quarterback. He’s got a lot of gifts and abilities and as he’s working through this year and learning, I think it’s going to be a lot of battles in the future. I’m excited for that.
Q. What do you do for with four days until another NFL game? How do you get your body prepared?
ZACH SIELER: Ice tub. Ice tub. Normatec, massage, a lot of stuff like that. And Calais has taught me a lot extra, just different things that he’s learned through the years, as well, to be ready, and stuff starts last week, too because you really think about it, from last Thursday, which is usually your big day in the NFL with our team, is you’ve got two games in seven days. So really you’ve got to start ahead of time without looking into the next game.
Q. Speaking of ice, it’s supposed to be pretty cold on Thursday. Mentally how do you prepare to play in an environment like that?
ZACH SIELER: I try to not think about it at all. Obviously growing up, up north, playing games in the upper, upper thumb of the upper peninsula in November at Ferris, outdoors. I’ve played a lot of games like that and there’s some tips and things that you can do, but in reality it’s just go out there and play. The biggest thing is just keeping loose, not letting anything get tight.
Q. Are you glad they didn’t trade Calais?
ZACH SIELER: There’s no one’s game I’ve come to respect more than Calais’s up front on the d-line, being with him this year and just the energy, the attitude and the mindset he brings every week. It can’t be matched, and that’s the reason why he is who he is today and doing what he’s doing at 17 years.
Q. How much of a lift was it for this entire franchise when Tua came back? Obviously the turnaround in the offense is apparent, but does that seep over to the defense, too?
ZACH SIELER: Absolutely. Just the energy that you have, the competition and team, going good-on-good or whatever it is during the week, and just really kind of honing – iron sharpens iron, and having Tua with his energy and everything he’s got going on back there offensively has just been incredible. Just to rally off of that on both sides of the ball is incredible. We talk about complementary football, so when they’re doing that, we can do our thing, and vice versa. You want to have a team that’s well rounded that can pick each other up on both sides of the ball and really work together to win games.
-DOLPHINS-
