Mike Gesicki – November 4, 2021
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Thursday, November 4, 2021
TE Mike Gesicki
(This team obviously will have a decision on you at the end of the year, which should be a big decision as you’re one of their best players. But I’m curious if the frustration of this year – we saw it on the sideline with you – has the frustration of losing made you any less interested in remaining a long-term part of the Miami Dolphins in the future?) – “No, absolutely not. I think that we have a phenomenal organization. I think that we have coaches that are in here into the late hours of the night preparing and helping put players in position to be successful. We have great guys in the locker room. An unbelievable strength staff that is helping guys maximize their abilities on the field. The best trainers. The best people in the kitchen. The best media team. Security staff. The list goes on and on about all of the positives about this organization. The product on Sunday, I think, will follow. I think that we’re close. I’ve said that for weeks now. I think it truly shows each and every week that we are close – very close. At some point, we’ve got to turn the corner. I’m not going to come up and make predictions or statements or anything like that but our goal is to turn the corner this week. That’s the only thing that we can do. We’re focused on this week and playing Houston. We’re ready to go out there and maximize all of our opportunities to hopefully give all of the people I just named – the coaches, the staff, everybody that works in this building – what they deserve.”
(One other question on the future and forgive me as I know it’s nothing players like talking about ideally. But has General Manager Chris Grier or Head Coach Brian Flores ever left you with the impression – you or Jimmy Sexton – the impression that this will get done and we want you here long term? Is that your understanding? Or have they never said anything to suggest that?) – “Honestly, I don’t really get involved with it. I know that every player that’s ever been asked about their contract says, ‘Oh, I’m just going to leave it up to my agent.’ But that’s honestly what the situation has been for me and I’m not even avoiding anything. I haven’t talked to anybody. I haven’t done anything. The only thing I’ve focused on is going out there on Sunday and doing whatever role is asked of me, whether it’s going in there and blocking corners and safeties and outside ‘backers, or going out there and catching a ball on third down or fourth down or whatever it is and making plays to help this team. I think that when you focus on just your role and your assignment and you focus on your technique out on Sunday, and you make the plays that you’re asked to do, everything else will kind of take care of itself. I think that’s how I approach this thing.”
(You ended last season and battled an injury. Obviously players who are in the final year of their contract, their main concern is injury that could impact future earnings. Is that something that you worry about and is that a motivator towards trying to get a deal done?) – “No. Honestly, I was not expecting to come in here and talk about contracts or anything because I really don’t think about it. (laughter) Health and all of that kind of stuff, I don’t think about that either. I just go out there and try to, like I said, produce and make the most of my opportunities. I think everything else kind of takes care of itself. I’ve obviously been blessed with health but that’s not up to you. That’s just the game. I just kind of take it one play at a time and let everything else kind of handle itself.”
(How is QB Tua Tagovailoa throwing the ball this week?) – “He’s doing well. I think he’s done a good job. I think that honestly, collectively, we’ve kind of done a good job of just coming together and like I said, talk about turning the corner. I think that it’s something that we’re really focused on. We’re focusing on the little things. Focusing on doing everything possible. When you’re in the huddle, just listen to everything that’s being discussed in the huddle – play call, formation, shift, motion. Whatever it is. Snap count. So this way when you go out there, you line up and you don’t want to make negative plays before the ball is snapped. We’re trying to prevent from kind of hurting ourselves, which is something that’s shown up, because we’ve got talent. We’ve got the ability to make plays. We’ve got great coaches and a good team and all of that kind of stuff. But we have to be able to put it together and not hurt ourselves.”
(I think one reason you were asked about QB Tua Tagovailoa is because he’s been listed on the injury report as limited with a finger injury on his throwing hand. Has he thrown well this week?) – “Yeah. I don’t get into all of the injury report stuff. If you guys want to get (Head Athletic Trainer) Kyle Johnston up here, I can call him and you guys can ask him those questions. (laughter) I stay far away from the injury report.”
(The alignment stuff, was it something where you just came in on Monday, you guys looked at the film and sorted it out? Or as you kind of alluded to, is it more that this entire week it’s been a point of emphasis – the alignment and kind of a lot of the pre-snap stuff?) – “I think obviously that kind of stuff can almost get overlooked because you are thinking about the play, you are thinking about what route or thinking about who you are going to block or which combination or trying to read the coverage. I think that kind of just goes back to focusing one play at a time, focusing on your alignment, your assignment, the communication and technique that needs to go into the play, and not having those small things equate to big things. That’s just kind of the focus and that’s been a focus for us this week.”
(I know you don’t want to talk about that specific play at the end of the first half, but just knowing the fact that you actually pointed out to WR Jaylen Waddle to get into position, when you are learning the playbook, do you kind of study the other wide receiver spots?) – “Yeah, absolutely. I think in my position, I’m kind of moving around a little bit. This season we’ve had some injuries at that position so I’ve had to kind of fill in here and fill in there. But also, just the play call that we ran, I kind of knew what was supposed to happen. Obviously there was miscommunication or whatever it was. Stuff like that happens but we need to be able to overcome that and prevent that from happening.”
(At the beginning, you cited all of the things that you have going for you in this organization. To look at the list, it’s a long list that you cited. Is there a time that you want to scratch your head and say, ‘well, why aren’t the results reflective?’) – “Yeah, I think that’s natural in this business. When you do have all of these great people and you do have so much hard work and you have this big nice building and you’ve got everything and anything that you could possibly want, why aren’t the results there on Sunday? That’s when I always going back to we’re close. We’re a ball bouncing the right way for us – instead of going out of the back of the end zone, maybe somebody falls on it in the end zone (and it’s a) touchdown. Or a ball maybe hits a returner in the finger but they go to review and it doesn’t hit the returner in the finger. I don’t know. That’s what I mean when I say we’re that close. Obviously you don’t want to leave it up to those plays. You want to be able to go out there and control the game on your own terms. But we’ve just got to keep pushing, keep pressing and keep trusting. I think that’s the biggest thing because it’s easy to get down and it’s easy to not have belief or trust anymore when you’re 1-7. But I think this is the time when you can really improve and really get better and fight through adversity. I’ve been on a team before where we were 1-7 and we weren’t supposed to win a game the whole year and we come out and have a couple of wins to end the season and people are on a high note and all of that kind of stuff. I’m not saying that’s this year, but I’m saying that we have to be able to fight through adversity and build off of positives to, kind of like I said earlier, turn this corner.”
(That was going to be my follow up, about a couple of years ago…) – “Yeah, this is a different situation. Every year is a different situation, a different team. Obviously the record is similar. Actually it’s exactly the same. Like I said, we’re trying to turn that corner.”
