Anthony Weaver – November 26, 2024
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Tuesday, November 26, 2024
Defensive Coordinator Anthony Weaver
(A report just came out that Shaq Barrett has applied for reinstatement according to his agents. Has it been conveyed to you through General Manager Chris Grier or through him or through Head Coach Mike McDaniel whether he wants to play for the Miami Dolphins, who own his rights?) – “I’ve got to be honest, that’s news to me. I really got no comment on that because it’s the first I’ve heard of it.”
(What has CB Storm Duck done that’s given you the confidence not only to play him a lot, but you’ve still been able to blitz CB Jalen Ramsey and do different things with Jalen even without CB Kendall Fuller there?) – “I think we’ve been talking about Storm (Duck), really, since training camp. He’s a guy that’s just consistent out there, and this is not a pun by any means, but he is truly unflappable. It doesn’t matter what happens good or bad, he’s the same guy play-in and play-out, and that dependability obviously builds trust with his teammates and it’s why he’s out there.”
(Obviously you have confidence in LB Tyrel Dodson, he knows the scheme, the terminology, the languages because he’s coming from a scheme that’s similar. But how difficult will that transition be, especially in a week where you don’t have practices?) – “I don’t think it’s going to be very difficult at all. Since he’s gotten here, he’s been the consummate professional. So fortunately for him, there’s certainly some verbiage similarities between the two schemes between what we’re doing here and what they’re doing in Seattle. It’s like anything, when you’re going to another team, a lot of times you’re trying to learn a new scheme. The hardest part of that is translating that language into what you already know, so that’s been fairly seamless for him, and then he’s just a confident player. I think you guys saw that on Sunday. When he got on that field, ultimately once he knows what to do, he’s going to rely on the instincts which he has his whole life, and he was able to go out there and make plays. I don’t expect there to be a big transition between him and ‘Walk’ (Anthony Walker Jr.). I think from a communication standpoint, he is just as strong out there in trying to convey what we’re in and then helping his teammates out as well. So we have the utmost confidence in ‘TD’ (Tyrel Dodson) to go out there and play and play well.”
(Obviously, you’ve been around football a long time. What do you make of this “The Dolphins can’t play in the cold,” mess? What do make of that?) – “(laughter) I don’t make anything of it, to be honest with you. I’ve played – like you said, I’ve been around big-time football now since 1998. I’ve never lost a game and looked back and thought, ‘Guys, it was just too cold outside,’ so I don’t expect that to happen this week. I understand some of the things that are being talked about and the narratives out there, but for us, it’s football. It doesn’t matter what the temperature is, they can go and snap this in the mall parking lot and we’re going to go and do everything we can to try to win. Do they still have malls anymore? Do those exist? (laughter)”
(RB Josh Jacobs, what’s going to be the key to limiting him?) – “I’ll tell you what, tremendous amount of respect for who he is as a back. He obviously has incredible short area quickness, really good contact balance, but he runs angry and when you’re watching opposing backs, that’s always what you’re looking for – how many yards do they get post-contact. So for us, obviously we’ve got to do a great job tackling him, and we can’t just rely on any one guy to bring him down. We got to make sure we try to shoot him low and run our feet and all those things, but we’ve got to try to get population to the ball. We got to swarm tackle this guy, make sure we’re chasing down and not assuming he’s down because the second you do that, he’ll break a tackle and he’ll run for 20. So we’ll be constantly preaching these guys these next two days is let’s just get as many Dolphin logos to the ball on every single snap as we possibly can.”
(Obviously QB Jordan Love has taken the next step, I think, in his career, but he also tends to turn the ball over a little bit, he has 11 picks and four fumbles I think I saw. Has there been a common thread as to what defenses have been able to do to get that guy to turn the ball over?) – “Not really. I think it’s just because he is so talented, has tremendous arm talent, can make every throw, he’s mobile enough to hurt you as well. I think when he gets in trouble, it’s just because he is so confident in that ability and the playmakers around him where he’ll try to extend some plays and make something extremely special happen. Now, while turnovers and things of that nature occur, there’s also a bunch of times where those work out in his favor, so I doubt it’s certainly something they’re not trying to take out of his game, and we’re going to try to do everything we can to disguise him pre-snap and affect him with our rush and our blitzes and our coverage disguise, so hopefully we can have some of those fall our way.”
(When you guys had interest in Shaq Barrett in the offseason, what was it that drew you to him? And if he’s coming back to you or someone else, what kind of player would they be getting?) – “I think with Shaq (Barrett), it was his veteran presence. He’s obviously a guy that has a bunch of pelts on the wall, that has a Super Bowl ring. There isn’t anything schematically that he hasn’t seen and he’s been impactful throughout his time in the league. So that was obviously what we saw in him, and if he chooses to come back here or whatever that is then God bless him, but right now I’m focusing on the guys who have been here, who have been committed to us and are currently in the fight.”
(DT Calais Campbell, he came here to win a Super Bowl, and I know this team hasn’t accomplished anything yet, but how much do you appreciate for him that at his age, this season has newfound meaning over the past month for him to maybe be able to go and compete for that Super Bowl?) – “It’s incredibly important to me. I just remember talking to him early on when he was trying to decide between a few teams and telling him what I felt in this building and the connectivity and how special of a group I truly believed it was. And I know in our darkest moments, you can waver in that faith and belief, but we never did, and I think we’re starting to see the truest version of what this team can be. So just incredibly happy for him in that we’ve put ourself now where we’re getting to November, December football where we’re going to be playing meaningful games which ultimately, that’s all you’re chasing as a football team – to make sure at the end of the year, you’ve positioned yourself where you can try and make that run and there’s nobody I want to make that run for more than Calais Campbell.”
