Leonte Carroo – November 26, 2018
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Monday, November 26, 2018
WR Leonte Carroo
(What did your phone look like yesterday?) – “I had almost 300 text messages. It was a long wait for family and friends to college buddies to see me go out there and make a play. A lot of people back at home and just everywhere showed me a lot of love. They were excited for me, but I wasn’t as excited as you guys probably think I was because I would have rather (had) the win over anything. The touchdown would have felt a lot better if we would have won the game.”
(You fight for that ball, you get it, you turn around and you have all that real estate in front of you. What’s that like?) – “(I was) just excited to make a play for my team, especially at a desperate time when we needed it, right before the half. I guess that was the biggest excitement, to know that I was once on the practice squad and now I’m able to go out there and help this team try to win a game.”
(What’s the mood in here? Is it disappointment, anger at the way that game ended yesterday and sort of slipped away?) – “Obviously, it sucks to lose; but we still have a lot of season left. Just like any other loss or win, you have to move on. We have to get ready to be 1-0 for this week coming up and that’s our main focus now.”
(What were you thinking when the ball was in the air? I don’t have to tell you that that’s the vision that the Dolphins had when they drafted you, exactly what happened.) – “The ball was in the air – it’s my ball. The first thought process is obviously don’t let him intercept the ball, but then the next mentality in your mindset has to be that it’s my ball or nobody else’s. I was just able to go up and make a great play.”
(After that play, it seemed like you guys were holding on, on offense. Do you think you guys maybe could have been a little more aggressive to put that game on ice?) – “It’s all in Coach (Adam) Gase’s hands. We just have to go out there and execute plays. He calls the plays. As we watched the film, we had a lot of little mistakes that we could’ve made where we could’ve had a lot of explosive plays. It’s just little things here and there. We just have to continue to go out there and execute plays and do our 1/11th.”
(Obviously, you stepped up. Everybody has to step up because of the injuries, but do you feel like the game plan changes because you guys are very shorthanded, especially in the receivers room?) – “No, not at all. That’s what this league is about. It’s about next-man mentality. Coach (Adam) Gase is going to trust that anybody who steps up now has to know their job and has to go in there and execute just like any other starter would if they were playing. They don’t expect anything less than me to go out there and do what Jakeem (Grant), DeVante (Parker), Kenny (Stills) or Albert (Wilson) has done all season. I just have to go out there and do my job.”
(How satisfying is it for you to keep making big plays like this and validating the decision to promote you from the practice squad?) – “It’s obviously exciting, but this is something that I felt like I could’ve always done. It was just about the right timing and me having that confidence, and just going out there and executing and performing. Now that my teammates and my coaches know that I’m able to make plays, maybe they’ll have a little bit more trust in me. I just want to do whatever I can to help the team win.”
(Despite the loss, this is the first time this offense has gotten in the end zone in a really long time. How do you not only build on that, but what positives do you take away from yesterday?) – “We do have a lot of playmakers on this team. We just have to find a way to continue to execute plays and go out there and put great drives together. (We) have to be third-and-manageable. Once we do that, we’re able to make big plays – myself, Kenny (Stills), Kenyan (Drake). We just have to continue to go out there and execute the game plan to the best of our ability. That’s it, really.”
(From the outside, a lot of people believe this team is really banged up and really injured. A lot of the starters at the beginning of the year are out, and then you guys from the practice squad are moved up. When you look at the situation, do the guys in the locker room feel that way, that it’s a really injured team?) – “No, not at all. Like I told you before, the thing about this league is it’s a next-man-up mentality. We just have to continue to practice hard. Guys that do step up, they have to learn the offense, continue to study and continue to practice hard. If you have a good week of practice, I feel like it will pay off. Last week, I had a really good week of practice and that’s why I was able to make a big play in the game. No matter who you are, what position, just practice hard and go out there and you’ll be fine.”
(I remember one thing you told us the day before Labor Day, after they made the move with you to the practice squad, you talked about wanting to do some things differently in terms of details and stuff like that. How has that translated to your success? Have you done more of that of stuff?) – “Yeah. Just being a better pro, whether that was studying my playbook a lot better or coming in on the off days. Take a guy like Kenny Stills, who I see as the ultimate pro. He’s been carrying me along well and making me do things on my off day like Pilates – stuff that I wouldn’t have done the last two years. Just taking care of my body and just doing the little things in order to be a better player on Sundays.”
(Have you answered all 300 texts yet?) – “No, not at all. I do appreciate the love and support that I got from all my family and friends; but like I said, I would’ve rather had the win for my teammates.”
