Andre Branch – May 25, 2017
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Thursday, May 25, 2017
Defensive End Andre Branch
(What’s different for you in terms of feel, in terms of mindset coming into your second season with the Dolphins?) – “I’m more comfortable than I was at this point last year. These are my brothers. I had to earn their respect. And now, it’s just … We’re rocking and rolling now. We’re just fine-tuning everything, going against our offensive line and just getting better each and every day.”
(When did you feel that you earned their respect?) – “Probably about after Game 1, I would say, when we played Seattle. I guess they … Because I came from Jacksonville so it was just like I’m going to come in, put my head down and work. After a while, you kind of feel things changing. And they just welcomed me with open arms.”
(Is there a different mindset? Last year at this time you were trying to prove yourself and now you’re basically a starter. Is there a different mindset that goes into that?) – “It’s always work. It’s going to be work regardless of if I’m the starter or backup. No matter what, I’m going to work my tail off. It’s showing the younger players we have in our room, how to work; and then for the older players, we just compete against each other.”
(What do you feel the potential of this year’s defense is? Obviously you guys struggled a little bit at the end of last year. What’s the potential this year for this defense?) – “Our mindset is just to get better each and every day. We added a few pieces – great players; but we also have to just keep getting better each and every day to make that brotherhood on that field and knowing that my brother is going to be in the spot when he needs to be. For us, it’s to start getting that camaraderie and getting things flowing again.”
(What are your first impressions of DE Charles Harris?) – “Explosive. Very explosive. And he’s willing to learn. He doesn’t think he’s bigger than the d-line or bigger than the team. He’s willing to learn.”
(What does this group have to do this year to better stop the run?) – “I think everybody just has to do their job. That’s the most important thing. When we look back on last year and we look back on things, people weren’t just doing their job. When you’re supposed to be in a position, they weren’t there.”
(Now that you have another year with that same defensive system, do you think there will be more reacting and much less thinking?) – “No question. We were a new group last year. We did pretty well. We had our times where we could’ve definitely been better; but it was our first year together. So now, we’re flowing more. It’s not as much teaching as it was last year. You either got it or you don’t; and if you don’t, then you’re not in there.”
(How do you tiptoe around the quarterback? QB Ryan Tannehill is just coming back…) – “We’ve got a fine line between saying, ‘we got the sack,’ and saying, ‘it’s not a sack.’ So we kind let him know, ‘this one was a sack but I won’t come back here this close again.’ But if we get close to the quarterback, (Head Coach Adam) Gase would definitely let us know.”
(What growth have you seen from G/T Laremy Tunsil’s game from his rookie season until now?) – “He’s playing tackle now. But athletically, I’d put him up against any left tackle that’s in this league. He’s willing to learn. Every time we get a rep together, he’s always asking questions. So he’s a student of the game. He’s played guard. He’s played tackle. So he knows exactly the ins and outs of everything. I don’t look at him as a second-year player. He’s a vet in my eyes. That’s how we treat each other.”
(You said when you signed a contract it was for your mother. What did you do for her?) – “I can’t tell you that yet.”
(It’s not done yet?) – “No. You will know when it’s done. (laughter) For sure.”
(Did you buy her a house in Jacksonville?)- “Don’t even put that in there because she has no clue. (laughter)”
(When you were talking about QB Ryan Tannehill out there on the field this week, what’s the actual instruction for you guys? What have they actually told you?) – “Stay as far away from Ryan Tannehill as possible. (laughter)”
(So you guys have imaginary sacks like ‘I would have gotten him?’) – “No, we know. We know. We didn’t pay that much attention to him when he said it, and then yesterday we kind of got too close. So we won’t be getting close any more.”
(QB Ryan Tannehill is radioactive?) – “We touched him a little bit. But it won’t happen again. (laughter)”
(What happened yesterday? What was the edict from above?) – “It was pass rush day. So we start rushing and we felt good and then we kind of got too close to the quarterback. But that’s our quarterback so we can’t get close.”
(We as in you?) – “We as in the defensive line.”
(But you?) – “I was there too. (laughter)”
(Did he go down to the ground?) – “No, no, no. He didn’t go to the ground.”
(How do you feel about the NFL relaxing their celebration penalties?) – “Best thing I’ve heard in years and there are team celebrations too. We can use props. We just can’t delay the game so there should be some good ones out there this year. We’ll be competing against everybody.”
(Impressions of the two veterans you added to boost your front seven? DE William Hayes and LB Lawrence Timmons as well.) – “Wisdom. Will was in the room with me, so I get to really hear his wisdom. He’s been playing for a long, long time. And it’s just the little things. You can never learn to have it all. So I listen to him just as much as I listen to Cam (Wake) and (Ndamukong) Suh. And Timmons is … He’s been in this league for a ton of years and he’s been playing at a very high level for a long time. So for me, it’s just to keep listening to those guys and keep becoming a better student.”
(What makes you certain that everybody will just do their job as opposed to what’s been happening the past couple of years where people break script and then you’ve got broken plays?) – “That’s not my job to make sure that they do their job. It’s just my job to make sure that I do mine. And I count on them just as much as they count on me. So once we get that camaraderie with each other, when you feel like you let your brother down, that hurts way more than the coach telling you that you didn’t do your job. So once that starts happening, that’s when we know we’ve got it. But at the end of the day, there’s going to be mistakes. No game is perfect; but we have to work towards that.”
(And what is your impression of Defensive Coordinator Matt Burke? I know you guys have been working with him going back to last year, but how confident are you that you’ll pick up where you left off with him as the defensive coordinator?) – “Great. I don’t feel like there’s even a new coach in there. We’ve run the same scheme and he knows this defense just as well as ‘V.J.’ (Vance Joseph) did. So for us, we’re listening to him, just like we did with ‘V.J.’”
