Mack Hollins – October 27, 2021
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Wednesday, October 27, 2021
WR Mack Hollins
(I was asking DT Christian Wilkins about this. You’re such an upbeat guy and I wonder sometimes with coaches, when a team is 1-6, they can go one of two ways. They can be super critical or they can try to lift the spirit of the team and say it’s not as bad as it looks. What approach has Head Coach Brian Flores taken?) – “I don’t think ‘Flo’ (Brian Flores) has changed. I think, at least for me as a player, how I always like to be coached is somebody who is consistent because if you get a guy that that is an ass when you are losing and is this upbeat guy when you are winning, it turns into poor coaching. And we don’t have that. We have a coach that is going to stay consistent. He’s going to stay on us when we’re losing. He’s going to stay on us when we’re winning. That’s what I like. Obviously I can’t speak for everybody on the team but for me, that encourages me as a player that I’m going to get the same rules when I’m playing really well as when I play poorly.”
(Is that a combination then of honesty in terms of mistakes being made but also some level of upbeatness?) – “Yeah, of course. When you start losing games, it’s easy to get in that sulking ‘boo-hoo’ kind of mood. But it’s important to make sure you still have high energy because once you see the top dog quit, after the lead dog, everybody else is going to follow. He’s continued to stay at a high level so we have to.”
(Without mentioning names, throughout your football playing career at any level, have you had a coach who had that kind of swing?) – “Not from the head coach. I’ve had position coaches when I was younger that if the receiver room does real well, he’s real good win or lose. But we were winning games and they could get washed under the rug. But looking back as a player, it was like, ‘oh, when the receivers played well, coach was happy. We might have lost but coach was happy.’ But that’s just kind of how the business goes, I guess. If you’re doing your job right, you’re kind of happier than if you’re not.”
(You went with a little goal post dunk fake after the score.) – “Yeah. I thought about it. I considered it multiple times on my way over there, especially because it was against the Falcons and I was dunking on them in training camp. But knowing who they had back at returner and knowing the situation of the game, I’m still there. I still got to point at ‘Flo’ (Brian Flores) and laugh at him because I know he’d be mad if I did dunk it.”
(Do they fine you in-season for the dunks?) – “Yeah, if I touched the goalpost. If I could have went over it – I don’t know. It was the fourth quarter. My legs were kind of heavy. I might not have made it. It was a risk I wasn’t willing to take.”
(Did you go a little McCringleberry?) – “Yeah, exactly. Just two pumps. I didn’t want to go with a third. (laughter)”
(CB Byron Jones was saying that sometimes when you’re in a losing streak, sometimes the first thing that helps this team turn the season around is to get a win. Obviously easier said than done. But when you’re up against the Bills, who you guys have obviously struggled, is there a little bit of a greater sense of urgency? When you’re going up against a team you maybe more so want to beat, a division rival situations.) – “For me personally, no. I think every week you come out and you have to have a sense of urgency. It kind of goes back to what I was saying about coaching and not going high and low. If you become a player that goes high and low – like ‘oh, we’ve got this team and I have to play real good. Now we have a team whose record is not good, so I’m not going to play as well.’ That’s when you start fluctuating not playing well. When people say you’re playing down to your opponent or people play up to their opponent, it’s usually because they are not preparing at the same level every week. For me, it doesn’t matter who we are preparing against or who we are playing against because as you guys see every week, any team can get beat in this league. That’s why it’s designed to be .500. So yeah, I prepare like we’re playing in the Super Bowl every week.”
(Do you know the next idea for your next TikTok video?) – “I do indeed. And you’ll see it this Friday. (laughter)”
(You played with Buffalo QB Mitch Trubisky in college, so you’ll see him on Sunday. I actually noticed that his career passer rating is 35th all-time in the NFL. So statistically, he hasn’t been as bad as some people in Chicago think. My question is do you think Mitch can actually be a good quarterback in the National Football League moving forward?) – “Yeah, for sure. Like you said, you don’t get to 35th all-time on a fluke, whether you played a long career or not. So I definitely think he has the capability to do it. And obviously I caught some touchdowns (from him) so maybe I’m a little biased. But he can sling it.”
(On QB Tua Tagovailoa) – “Tua is that dude. I wouldn’t lie to you. The hair cut, how he dresses. Did you see the ball he threw in the back of the end zone? Pft, stop playing. He’s got those diamonds in his ears – VV’s. (laughter)”
(How was QB Tua Tagovailoa as Woody?) – “He was great. The cap? I don’t know it was like a Samurai cap. We kind of talked about it. It should have been a five gallon … (laughter)”
(What’s your favorite Halloween candy?) – “I’m a peanut M&M guy.”
(On candy corn) – “Oh no. I mean I’ll eat like one but the whole bowl? (No.)”
(I think you were Bob Ross last year. What do you have this year?) – “I was Bob Ross and E.T. I’ve always got something in the works. I don’t have all of this hair for nothing.”
(Is that what it’s for? October?) – “Yeah. It’s for one day a year. (laughter)”
