Durham Smythe – October 19, 2020
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Monday, October 19, 2020
TE Durham Smythe
(How jealous is TE Mike Gesicki that you and TE Adam Shaheen are taking all the catches and touchdowns away from him at this time?) – “(laughter) That’s hilarious. The funny thing is, is I think he (Mike Gesicki) gets more excited – which is hard to do – he gets more excited when we score, I think, than when he does. And when you see him in the end zone when he scores, he gets pretty damn excited, so that says something about him. He’s always providing the energy and that stuff; but I don’t think it’s jealousy, I think it’s excitement.”
(A couple of things. One, are you keeping the football or doing anything with it from the touchdown and two, I know TE Mike Gesicki mentioned in August that he and you really worked to improve on what people thought were – I don’t want to use the word “shortcoming” but maybe not the best part of your game. You’ve always been a capable receiver, but people did not always see that skill, so what did you do to improve in that area?) – “First of all, we’re keeping – all the tight ends are keeping all the balls that we score and we’re putting them actually up on the wall in our tight end room just kind of as a reminder of what’s happened. And two, yes, that’s something that we – like I said a couple months ago – that’s something we both focused on in the offseason because obviously I think me and Mike (Gesicki) and even Adam (Shaheen) – all three of us have natural talents that come a little bit more natural to us in certain parts of the game. And over the last year, especially this offseason, me and Mike kind of took a step back like I said previously and tried to work on that other part of the game to be more multiple, to be more complete players. I think that’s something that we’ll continue to work on through the year and hopefully we’ll continue to improve.”
(You guys are hot, obviously winners of three of four and all three wins were in pretty convincing fashion; but is there a sense at least on offense that there’s maybe still a little meat left on the bone?) – “Absolutely. Yeah. Obviously I think in this game, you can never get complacent even if you put up 50 points in a game. There’s never going to be a perfect game. When you come in on a Monday, obviously it’s always better when you win the game, but there’s always plays left out there to be made. I think specifically yesterday, I think there’s a lot – like you said – a lot of meat left on the bone out there. I think we had several opportunities where we could have gotten Myles (Gaskin) over 100 yards. We missed a play here and there in the air. So absolutely, I think there’s a lot more that we can improve on not just in one aspect of the offense, but I think really across the board.”
(I think the way QB Ryan Fitzpatrick supports publicly QB Tua Tagovailoa, sort of sets the tone for everyone, including the players of course. How Tua performed – not just handing off but actually rolling in the end zone and completing a pass – what is your reaction to that?) – “I think obviously Ryan (Fitzpatrick) is the one that you see publicly cheering and things like that which is awesome to see, but I think really across the board, this franchise has done a great job of bringing in – I think Ryan said it yesterday or maybe the day before – but really the right type of people. I think it’s rare that you see so much support really across the board. So like I said, you see Ryan publicly supporting Tua. Tua is great with him, but I think it goes to every position. If you look in our room, we’re all supporting each other – the o-line, the defensive side of the ball; and that’s something I think is rare at least through my three years in the league so far. You don’t see it every year with so much consistency across all of these positions groups. I think we’ve done a great job bringing in the right guys that’ll definitely support each other. Obviously it’s cool to see Tua get out there and succeed in his first couple snaps.”
(Not to bring up unpleasant topics, but one year ago tomorrow, this team was 0-6. How far have you come in this year?) – “I think we’ve come a long way. I hate to kind of be repetitive here, but I think a lot of it comes back to just the guys that we’ve brought in in this locker room that have really had a very direct focus on the mission, which is turning this team around and becoming a consistent winner here. Obviously we’ve been hot the last few weeks, but this is something that you have to continue to focus on kind of consistently through the season, because even when you’re hot, this is the NFL. Every week you can lose. So I think we’ve done a good job thus far in terms of trying to turn the tide coming from, like you said, last year at this point in the season; but it’s just something that we’ll have to continue to work on through the year.”
(How would you describe the level of confidence on the team after the two big wins against the 49ers and the Jets?) – “I think it’s really high. I think guys are starting to realize that they can count on each other, and something that we’ve talked about is shifting the overall mindset of the team from hoping to win to expecting to win. I think that’s something that as we continue over these next few weeks, and hopefully we build that confidence like we have been the last few weeks, that that mindset will be kind of cemented across the board. I think that’s really what takes teams to the next level, is when there’s an expectation to win instead of just going in and hoping to win.”
(Is there a little bit of you guys maybe, with the schedule change and stuff, that this bye maybe came at a bad time or a wrong time for you guys with you guys kind of rolling and kind of picking up the last two games?) – “I don’t necessarily think so. Obviously in a very unique year, everyone is on their toes across the league. But I don’t think this will slow us down. Going into a bye, I always kind of enjoy it. Besides having a little time to get healthy and things like that, I always enjoy a bye because this is the time of year where you can kind of take a step back, do some self-scouting on the offense as a whole, and you as an individual. I’ve always thought that coming out of a bye, I’ve been more successful and I think a lot of guys think that same way, just because there’s some self-reflection. So honestly, I think it comes at a good time. We’ve won a few games here. Obviously there’s a lot more – like I mentioned earlier – that we can build on. I think we can improve across the board and hopefully we can take this week to kind of accelerate that.”
(As a group, you guys have done really well with COVID obviously in the last month. Does Head Coach Brian Flores have a specific rule saying, “I don’t want you going out to sports bars, restaurants…” If not, have players sort of agreed among themselves “we’re going to do that sparingly?”) – “Obviously there are protocols that are ever-changing from the league itself, and we all follow those obviously as league rules. But I think this team is – we’ve talked it about several times – it’s just about being professional. Especially in a season like this, as you’ve seen kind of across the league, teams get hit by things here and there. It can really affect not only practice time and things like that, but it can kind of affect who’s actually playing in a game and obviously that affects the outcome. So I think it’s just about being professional. We’ve talked about it. Off the field, we try to limit it to three guys or less kind of together at one time. I think most of the time it’s actually just guys on the team, so we’re kind of just keeping it in-house with things like that, and hopefully we’ll continue to be professional and do a good job in that aspect.”
