Bradley Chubb – December 17, 2023 (Postgame)
Download PDF version
Sunday, December 17, 2023
Postgame – N.Y. Jets
Miami Dolphins LB Bradley Chubb
Q. How do you think you did today as far as just taking responsibility after last week and just coming to make an impact on today’s game?
BRADLEY CHUBB: I feel like 90 percent of this game – everybody’s athletic, everybody’s talented – d but it’s about the mindset. Of course I wasn’t happy with how I approached last week for sure about the game and all that, but the infamous play, everybody talking about it and I was hard on myself about; it’s just about how you move on from that, how you better yourself from stuff like that, situations like that, and I feel like today we answered the call. Not only me, this whole defense. You can’t pitch a shut-out with just one person. We were able to do with all 11 guys flying around. Some guys stepped up in big key spots that we needed, so just a blessing to see everybody put the work in and for it to come to fruition like it did today.
Q. How much easier said than done is that during the week as you wait for Sunday to get there mentally knowing you want to get that chip off of your shoulder?
BRADLEY CHUBB: Yeah, it’s way easier said than done. It’s one of those things throughout the week you’ve got to constantly remind yourself, stay the course, stay the course, stay the course. You hear all the noise, you hear everything about is this Dolphins team for real, blah, blah, blah and stuff like that and you can’t do anything about it until Sunday, and that’s one of those things you’ve just got to lock in throughout the week, make sure details are on point, make sure all the stuff throughout the week is on point and the game is just the easy part, go out there and just do what you’ve been doing for four or five days throughout the week, and we were able to do that today.
Q. Did you try to turn that play from the other night into a motivational thing for you? Did it spur you a little bit?
BRADLEY CHUBB: Yeah, in a way, but I wasn’t strictly thinking about that. I was thinking more of the defensive aspect of how we were on the field last and didn’t get the job done. My main thing is just trying to better this defense in whatever way I can. Yes, sacks and stuff help, but if it’s me just taking on a double team so somebody else can come free, I’m not thinking about ‘oh, I got to make up for that play.’ I just want to do my job to the best of my ability, and I feel like I was able to do that today.
Q. Shutouts are rare; what does zero points for the opponent mean to you?
BRADLEY CHUBB: It means a lot as a defense. It means 11 guys were flying around, playing together, playing with one another, and like I said; you see all the work from throughout the week just come to life. Today was the easy part, so to say. We sweated it on Thursday, full day of meetings, full day of just kind of getting back into the flow of things and then you get one day to go out there and run around. It’s a mental game, like I said, and we were able to win the mental battle.
Q. Have you exorcised, in Mike McDaniel’s words, those pressure demons because you were hard on yourself when you came here last season and how this season started?
BRADLEY CHUBB: No, for sure. Mike (McDaniel) has been pivotal to see how I see things. He just overall just keeps the big picture alive for me. It’s so easy to, ‘oh man, I’m not doing this, I’m not earning this,’ whatever the case may be, but at the end of the day, like I said, if me taking a double team or me winning up high and ‘Gink’ (Andrew Van Ginkel) comes under – it’s so messed up you don’t see big picture when you’re so caught up in yourself, and this week my main thing was whatever I could do to help this team. Yes, the accolades and all that stuff, I want that, but at the end of the day you don’t get that unless your team wins. That’s been my mindset throughout this week and going to continue to carry that over.
Q. You had three sacks. Do you get hot as a pass rusher? Does the first sack help lead to the second?
BRADLEY CHUBB: For sure. I feel like just the flow of the game, once you kind of get that first half, you’re like, I got the first hit out of the way. Then you get the sack, and it’s like I got that out of the way. It was early in the game; let me see if I can get another one. Just kind of competition with yourself at that point. When you’ve got guys flying around, 10 other guys flying around like they do, it just kind of makes my job easy at the end of the day. It was dope, man. Give God all the glory for that performance, because like I said, the mental aspect, you can get hard on yourself, but once you turn to Him, it’s all good. Just got to keep going.
Q. I think the status was 22 pressures on 43 drop-backs. When you hear 22 pressures, what do you think?
BRADLEY CHUBB: It means we’ve got some big dogs up front, and those big dogs got to eat, and we’re going to continue to starve ourselves throughout the week so on Sundays we come hungry.
Q. When Jets QB Zach Wilson came out for the Jets and Trevor Siemian came in, did the defensive game plan change at all?
BRADLEY CHUBB: It was more of the same. It was more of the same for sure. Nothing really changed. Zach is a lot more mobile – and like ‘14’ (Trevor Siemian) – but Zach is a lot more mobile with his feet, can make you miss, extend the play like that. I would say the rush lanes changed probably, but the game plan itself didn’t.
Q. Obviously every season has its own journey, but 10-4 going into these last three games, where is this team at right now?
BRADLEY CHUBB: The team is right where we need to be, mentally, physically. We’ve got guys that are stepping up in big ways. We’ve got guys that been doing this for a long time and going to continue to do the things that they do and what made them so great. This team is right where we need to be, we’ve just got to stick together, understand that yes, we beat the Jets today, but that’s not the end of our season. We’re going to keep fighting, keep working, and next time we’re going to come out ready to play.
