Frank Smith – November 21, 2024
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Thursday, November 21, 2024
Offensive Coordinator Frank Smith
(With RB Jaylen Wright, obviously we saw early, in a limited sample size, a high per carry average. It’s been 10 carries, eight yards the last couple of weeks. What has led to that? Has it been primarily a blocking issue from what you’ve seen on tape or something Jaylen could have done?) – “A couple times there was some blocking things that we could have executed better. Sometimes we’re getting loaded fronts that were hard looks to run into, but overall, I think that he’s been doing a great job. Like the ebbs and flows of all seasons, you have some weeks you’re high hitting, some weeks where it’s a little more gritty to gain the yards. So we think overall we’re in the right spot we need to be with stuff and we’re looking forward to this week, getting back to success.”
(How have you seen RB De’Von Achane handle his increased workload? He’s already surpassed last year’s carry total, he might double last years receptions total, how have you seen him handle all that?) – “I think him, like all the guys, just whatever the game requires, he’s ready for it and he’s done a great job with everything just making sure he’s ready to go for the season. Your hardest year as a player is your rookie year because there’s so much transition. So for him, he’s been great. I know he handles everything like a professional and he’s been helping us win, so excited for everything he’s done.”
(On QB Tua Tagovailoa’s touchdown pass to WR Tyreek Hill, we see Tua roll to his left, as he’s rolling, he tucks the ball, he checks back to see if anybody is coming, he uses his legs to buy time and he throws to Tyreek. I thought that was a significant play, am I making too much out of that? Did that show some learning by tucking the ball and using his feet? Did that show progression?) – “Yeah, I think that showed awareness to where he was in the pocket, making sure that the space to defenders, the ball was first. And then obviously, working into a scramble drill and then the guys executing was awesome. Yeah, I think in those moments the big thing is you see the growth as what do you learn? And I think that was a great moment for us to extend the play and it worked out really in our favor. Each week is a learning lesson.”
(What do you tell him about – because it seems like he has a pretty good clock in his head. So some of it is intuitive and instinctual, but to add to that, what can you tell him about when to get out of there and try to extend it?) – “I think a lot of it comes into the feel in the pocket, where you’re at in the timing of your progression, so you kind of feel as you’re starting your drop – I mean, the longer you’re in it, the more you realize you can feel stuff and you create space when you break it. There is a feel to it or sometimes you’re getting back there, and you feel the distinct color of the opposite team in your face. It helps when it’s a black jersey coming right at you versus our white jerseys. But I think what he’s done is a great job of, like you said, knowing where I’m at in my progression, where do I need to get the ball and then when you break the pocket and you move, where are my people at and how are we distributing towards it? Because that’s the big thing. Playing with (Ben) Roethlisberger in college, it was constant, that back and forth and we learned how to block for him because we all worked down. Our guys learn, OK, hey, if he has to vacate the pocket, like you saw in the touchdown, how do we get in phase to it? So a lot of growth from last week for the guys and just working together and understanding.”
(So that’s the real reason you guys wear white all the time.) – “Exactly, (laughter) makes it easier to see.”
(On an extended play, what percentage of time would you say the reception occurs after an altered route? In other words, the guy comes back to the ball or something, and what percentage? I know it’s hard to say, but just so I get a sense.) – “It depends on the nature of the scramble and where you’re at. Are you in the open field versus down kind of in the red (zone) because then as the field dissipates, you have less, you have different areas that you try and move to get in phase with the quarterback. So in the open field, you’d say, hey, it’s maybe more of the intermediary routes, where you get down in the red (zone), it’s back pylon, front pylon type stuff as you vacate the pocket.”
(We’ve talked so much about the big play, but now there’s the focus on efficiency and QB Tua Tagovailoa and the completion percentage. Is this just the next evolution for this offense and what is it about Tua that helps him complete 70… what is he at now?) – “A lot.” (laughter)
(73, yeah. 73 percent of his passes.) – “I think it comes down to as you’re attacking the defense, how are they trying to defend? And as they try and defend parts of the field or different players, it’s about distribution of the other guys. So if they’re going to condense into a part of the field, that means they’re vulnerable in others. As you can see whether you’re attacking it through levels or you’re attacking it through distribution across the field, or you’re attacking it with width. So that’s where you can look at, or if they want to take away the middle, you work a side. They want to take away the outside lines, you then have the middle, right? If they want to take away the pocket and bring more people, then they’re vulnerable, pretty much everywhere through proper distribution. I think that when you look at us for last year, our ability to have deep scoring plays, explosive plays and stuff like that; well what’s the defenses response? It’s that now, ‘OK, we’ll sit back and maybe we’ll devote four people for two a lot of the times.’ Well, when that happens now, there’s matchups in other spots. So for us to be able to work as a unit and distribute the ball, it helps get everyone open collectively. So when you’re doing that stuff, I think it just comes down to how do they want to play defense? How do they believe in defending the field? How do they have force patterns, coverage patterns? It all works together as far as our build, and then it connects with Tua (Tagovailoa) and his ability to play through it with timing.”
(Now he’s always had the accuracy. Is this just now diagnosing ability probably stepping up a level just because he knows the offense?) – “I think it comes into his preparation and you can only do these things when you build through it and you work your core concepts, your core principles over and over again. And then that way, you have the connection between the guys, the quarterback, timing, the line, trying to set the pocket – like everyone together and knowing that if you want to play that way, it comes from practice and getting all those things down. So I think that’s the big thing, is his ability to take in the information, the practice from our core principles and then implement it, and he’s been doing a great job just because the way he plays really holds into his progressions and reading it through.”
(What were the keys to keeping Raiders DE Maxx Crosby quiet last Sunday?) – “Don’t let him have a chance to get involved. When does he make plays? When you give him opportunities to be at the point of attack, you give him opportunities to have one-on-ones, when you give him opportunities to do what he does. So for us, it was you look at them, we were not going to let him tone-set for their defense, because when he can set the tone, they feed off his energy. So for our run plan, we were going to make sure that we either had two people on him or we were running away from him. And if we were in the passing game, we’re going to make sure that we had protection towards him – either if we had to move away, there’s someone chipping him; if we’re in a play
(-action) pass, it was either two tight ends going to him or we had a tackle and a back. And then it’s just when you do that and you’re playing a certain way, it’s on the guys and they understand the plan, and then now, it goes into the execution. It was great that they understood the plan, making sure that we we’re going to run one way and then, ‘Oh, he’s over there,’ you go the other way. So there were a couple times where I’m sure you guys saw, we’d be lined up, there he is, go the other way. So it’s all on the guys that understood the plan, and when you have an elite player like that, that’s where coaching we can create a plan that minimizes impact and then the guys got to take it to the field, so it was a fun one.”
(How would you assess T Kendall Lamm’s role in accomplishing that goal?) – “It was great. I think he, like all the guys, he executed what we needed to get done. There’s always plays that you’re like, ‘Hey, there’s more meat on the bone. We could have been a little bit better,’ but overall, executing with his experience and how professional he is about everything that goes. So we were lucky when we got him here the first year and he’s helped us be successful. He’s a great teammate.”
(Were you in New Orleans when T Terron Armstead was 22, 23 years old?) – “I was there when we drafted him, yes.”
(How is the T Terron Armstead of 33 years old, different?) – “It’s funny you say that, because he always when he was young, you knew he exuded confidence for a guy – you’d thought he had been in the NFL. But man, what did he run at the combine, like 4.6? I mean he was just extremely athletic; he ran a toss crack in college where he outran the back into the end zone. It was like, ‘Man, what are you doing?’ You just see his growth, his perspective, his experience, he’s been in huge games. When he was a rookie, he didn’t play his rookie year until later in the year because he was still working on his stuff and developing. So his growth from where he is today, he’s a good friend, it’s awesome.”
(A philosophical question. Right before the half it was second-and-10 at the 35-yard line with two seconds left. I guess there’s a difference between coaching scared and coaching normally. Why not take a knee there? What was the goal with QB Tua Tagovailoa? You’re kind of exposing him to a pass rusher. What’s the thinking there? Is that thinking developed during the game, or during the week? How do you handle that?) – “I think each week you look at your situations – end of half, end of game – they are unique. When you have the opportunity to take advantage of something you see that they do – ultimately our goal is to be as efficient and score points, however we get that done. Last year, we were able to get explosive plays. This year, we’re doing it through efficiencies of what the defenses are providing. It doesn’t mean we’re not trying to get the ball down the field, but that end of half, we’re trying to score. Especially with what we saw, we thought there was an opportunity to try to get the ball down the field or at worst draw a potential penalty with the distribution of the concept. You can take a knee and say it’s done, or you can be aggressive and try to make something happen. Because if you guys go back to the Chargers game in 2022, we were aggressive right before the half, got a penalty and got the field goal that ended up winning the game for us.”
(You were the assistant offensive line coach in New Orleans. So you worked with T Terron Armstead?) – “Oh yeah, every day.”
(What do you work on with a young lineman like that to help him get to where he is now?) – “He is a worker. He is a worker. It was him, Senio Kelemete and Bryce Harris were the three guys every day, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. It’s really a lot of things is – there’s two positions on the football field that has challenging movements, it’s defensive back sand offensive linemen. You’re doing your job backwards, so it’s learning how to control your body and your movements because if you don’t move to load to power or don’t move to load to carry yourself, you expose edges of your movement. An offensive tackle, you’re the width of the pocket. If you’re not in balance, you’re exposing a soft edge of your body that gives a beeline to the quarterback. For him, he was so explosive, we were asking him to pass set different. It was teaching him how that the angle, how it plays out, now rush patterns of the defender, how you need to play, run game, here is what it is. He was just – him, Senio and Bryce were machines. They just went every day, wanted to get better and it was awesome because Bryce ended up playing for us in New Orleans, had a six- or seven-year career. Senio ended up leaving and signing a big contract in Houston. He played all five spots, and then Terron has been Terron. Success isn’t by chance; it comes from hard work and he’s earned it.”
(Can you detail the adjustments that go into a second meeting with a divisional team? So kind of just adjustments, it kind of fascinated to me in how you have to adjust so much from one time facing a team to another within the same season.) – “You do have some familiarity with the divisional opponents, but at the same time it’s like how have they been playing the last couple of weeks and how are they trying to defend and what little things do you notice. It’ll be on us to challenge to do it again and to maximize what we’re trying to do. It comes down to the guys, as we adjust our plan and try and do some different things, understanding why and understanding what the defense – because I think that’s the biggest goal for us. Each week is this is how the defense is trying to defend, here’s what they believe in, here’s how they try and stop the run, here’s how they try and stop the passing game, here’s how they try and have their coverage variables, here’s how they’re going to try and confuse you. So you have to take this information of what the defense is and how they want to defend and make it simple so that way it’s like you can create overriding patterns so the player can bank and then take it into the game for execution. Because in game, if they do something that you don’t anticipate, that’s where the adjustment is and that’s where you carry the volume of your plan to make sure that, ‘Oh, they’re doing this a little bit different, so let’s go to this concept,’ or ‘Let’s get to this formation because it’s giving us an advantage.’ So each week, when you come back and play a divisional team, it’s a challenge because they know you as much as you know them and we’re sure New England will have a great plan for us and we’re excited to compete with them this weekend.”
Anthony Weaver – November 21, 2024
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Thursday, November 21, 2024
Defensive Coordinator Anthony Weaver
(I’m kind of torn on whether or not “Weave” should be “Weave” or “Weav.” So what’s your preference?) – “So it’s funny you say that, because I do go back and forth. It’s more based on who I think I’m writing the email to and probably how close we are. (laughter) But yeah, I don’t know what the right way is. Most of the time, I add the ‘e.’”
(So you have two very competent backup safeties obviously with S Marcus Maye and DB Elijah Campbell. You’ve told us not to sleep on Elijah. So do you feel like at this point S Jordan Poyer playing every snap alongside S Jevón Holland gives you the best chance to win or is that a decision that you’ve revisited this week?) – “I think each and every week, whether it’s players or coaches, we’re all earning the right to be where we’re at. Like nothing is given – the same reason my nameplate slides out by my office. So I have the utmost faith in Jordan (Poyer) and Jevón (Holland), the way they work together, their connectivity. So at this point they’re certainly our starters, but I love Elijah (Campbell), I love Marcus Maye and I know if called upon, they’ll be ready to come out there and execute their job at a high level.”
(What would S Jordan Poyer have to do to sort of improve from a coverage standpoint?) – “It’s interesting because I don’t know exactly what his numbers are or where in the narrative that he’s failing in terms of coverage because there’s so many other things that he does in terms of just getting people in the right positions that he doesn’t get credited for. So there is a cerebral part of the game particularly at that position which is incredibly important and he has graduate level honors in that.”
(I’ve got a philosophical question that was debated during the game in the press box. So S Jevón Holland when Raiders QB Gardner Minshew runs and he sticks the ball out and gets the first down, looked like Jevón had a shot at Gardner Minshew, could take a hit. There were some people saying he should have taken that hit to prevent the first down, others were saying, no, he’s a quarterback, he would’ve gotten a flag. What should he have done in that situation and do you think that through to that level?) – “It’s certainly always a bang-bang play when you’re in that predicament and we understand the precautions that are taken to protect the quarterbacks. As a defensive guy, I always err on the side of aggression, so in my mind, take the hit. (laughter)”
(When you took this job, this offense was the most electric downfield passing offense scoring 30-plus points in every game. Now they have this new approach of sustained drives, 15-, 16-play drives every game it seems like. Does that change the way you call a new defense compared to an offense that would be an explosive one we saw last year?) – “No, I don’t think so. I think however our offense is playing the game, as long as the ball continues to end up in the end zone, we’re happy regardless of how it gets there. And ultimately whether we’re playing a 40-play game or a 65- to 70-play game, the goal is the same; it’s to keep them out and limit their points to as little as possible.”
(What are some points of emphasis for CB Cam Smith to at some point fulfill his potential?) – “I think the points of emphasis for him are just mastering your technique and fundamentals while you’re continuing to learn the intricate details of the defense. As a young player, like I said this before with him, when he’s had his lapses, it’s been because of technique and fundamental flaws. It’ll never be an ability, because he’s disadvantaged from a physical attribute standpoint with him. He can run. He has length and he is smart. He’s a smart kid, so all he needs is just reps. He needs reps at all these things where he’s making mistakes, learns from those mistakes and doesn’t repeat those mistakes. So for him, it’s just a matter of getting him on the field as much as possible.”
(You didn’t face Patriots QB Drake Maye in the first game against New England. He’s kind of defining who he is his first year. What do you see from him that’s not only – he’s not backing off running the ball obviously. What do you see from him?) – “The thing you see on tape is just he doesn’t lack confidence. He trusts his ability; he trusts his arm. And the thing with all these new crops of young quarterbacks is when plays break down, they have ability to create extended plays and run both outside of the pocket and down the field and then run to throw it, too, so we’ve got to be cognizant of that. Again, this is not me saying he’s Josh Allen, but you’ve kind of got to approach him like Josh Allen a little bit where you’re trying to funnel him certain directions and try to contain his rush ability as much as you can.”
(Yesterday when we were talking with RB De’Von Achane, he was describing how effective he’s been catching balls out of the backfield, and he expressed some surprise that defenses haven’t clamped down on that more than they have. I’m wondering from a defensive coordinator’s perspective, when a back comes out of the backfield and has that kind of space, is that more a product often of blown assignment or defense is focusing on the guys on the outside?) – “I think particularly when you’re talking about our offense, you devote so much attention to those guys on the outside and the speed they have. So what that requires you to do is obviously play with some air, and you’re willing to give up some of those underneath routes. Oftentimes that’s a check down at the back. When that check down is to a guy that runs a 4.3 or whatever De’Von (Achane) runs, then that’s problematic. So you’ve got to concede something, right? There is no perfect defensive call. There is no perfect defense, and if you’re facing the athletic skill set that we have on our offensive side of the ball, then usually that’s the one you’re going to give up.”
(Some recent struggles covering top tight ends. The Patriots are another team with a good one in Hunter Henry. Have you given any consideration to using CB Jalen Ramsey on tight ends especially maybe against a team that don’t have a top-ranked receiver on the outside?) – “Yeah, of course, of course. That was certainly discussed last week. I think where we fell short last week was when they had the change in coordinator, really they changed philosophically some of the things they were doing with him. So when those discussions came up, well, prior to the previous coordinator with (Luke) Getsy on third down in particular, Brock (Bowers) was chipping a lot. So the one thing you’d hate to do is you’d have Ramsey on Brock Bowers and he’s chipping and going to the flat or something like that. That changed. In game, you’d like to do some things, but there’s multiple pieces that have to move in order to make some of those changes, usually not just that easy. So we’re certainly accounting for Hunter Henry. We know the athlete he is. We’ve played against them. We feel comfortable with our matchups and we know that there’s a comfort level there with the Drake Maye kid and we have to account for that.”
(DT Benito Jones seemed to be a lot more of a factor in the pass rush last Sunday…) – “It’s funny you say that because early in the season, when we were having some of our run issues, I told Benito (Jones) like, ‘I don’t care if you get zero sacks on the season, I need you to grind these run blocks out.’ And now he’s turned into Warren Sapp all of a sudden. So I don’t know if he’s just not listening to me. (laughter) No, I joke around. But I think Benito, just like all of our guys, the challenge is just to get better weekly and I think that’s what you’re seeing out of him. There’s ability there to both impact the game in the run and the pass game, and it was pretty cool last week to kind of see those flashes. Now we’ve just got to turn it into actual sacks and not pressures.”
(LB Chop Robinson seems to be chopping up offensive tackles. The last two weeks he’s abusing some guys. What’s the difference for him?) – “It’s just reps and confidence, right? I think Coach (Ryan) Crow and Coach (Sean) Ryan are doing tremendous job with him and as well as just the players, too. I mean, he’s always talking to Calais (Campbell), Bradley Chubb, I’d see talking to him all the time. When Jaelan (Phillips) was out – with Jaelan back, Jaelan has been helping him, too. So there’s been a collective effort in trying to impart as much wisdom in a very short, short period of time with this kid. And to his credit, he’s just taking it all in and he’s going out and attacking that on the football field and I think you’re starting to see the residuals of all that now.”
(In terms of last year, you had opportunity to talk to a team about a head coaching opening. What did you learn from that experience and how did it help you to grow and to become the defensive coordinator that you are now?) – “I learned from that experience, one, that it was certainly nothing to be nervous about or have any anxiety about. Ultimately, I’m just going to be myself and whether or not they want me as their head coach, that’s up to them. In terms of how has it prepared me for this, I don’t necessarily know that it has. I am so entrenched in doing what’s necessary for the Miami Dolphins to win and whatever happens as a result of that, it happens. I’m not worried about it whatsoever. I just want to do right by these players and do everything we can try to make a run and try to find a way into the show.”
(I’ve got a pass rush question. Last week – I don’t know if I’m making too much of this – I thought I saw some really good pass rush, keeping the quarterback contained. I thought on LB Emmanuel Ogbah’s sack, he’s coming at the right tackle spot, DT Calais Campbell is at the left tackle spot, DT Zach Sieler is in the middle taking on a double team and then kind of LB Jordyn Brooks comes in and helps clean up; but am I seeing that right? Did you guys have a few rushes where you kind of bracketed people, the quarterback? And will that help with Patriots QB Drake Maye?) – “Our rush plan – who we charge Coach (Austin) Clark and Coach (Ryan) Crow and myself, it’s a collaborative effort week-in and week-out and how we want to attack just the space and what they’re trying to do from a protection standpoint and who the quarterback is. So when you have a guy like Drake Maye obviously who’s going to go through his progression and he’s going to be quick to run, we’re always trying to make sure that we can funnel him places he doesn’t necessarily want to go to. I think there’s times in the season where we’ve been successful in doing that. I think the second time we played the Bills, we were much better against Josh Allen than we were in Game 1. There were times I thought we fell short; I didn’t think we did a good enough job versus Kyler Murray. So it’s certainly a point of emphasis this week against this guy and who he is, but it’s certainly something we spend a lot of time working on.”
(Now that he’s been here for a week and not just a new arrival, are you anticipating using LB Tyrel Dodson on defense at all a bit or is the plan still to go with LB Jordyn Brooks and LB Anthony Walker Jr.?) – “I love ‘TD’ (Tyrel Dodson). I love what he brings to this defense and obviously, just the experience he has. Unfortunately, you can only play two, maybe three backers at a time, and I feel real confident in the guys we have out there playing right now. But if he’s called upon, the one thing I know is he’s ready. He’s ready to go in and he’ll play at a high level for us.”
(With LB Anthony Walker Jr., is it – there’s been a shift or change in this defense, I wouldn’t necessarily credit it all to him, but is it partly just a communication standpoint or the assignment that has helped you guys take that next level especially from a run stopping standpoint?) – “You think of ‘Walk’ (Anthony Walker Jr.), even prior to the season, I think he was – him and David (Long), he was nipping at David’s heels the entire time. And then he got hurt in training camp and that kind of set him back a little bit. So I love that he’s out there. He’s a very calming influence on the defense and the guys around him, and from the Mike backer position, that is invaluable. He can help put out some fires that are sometimes created out there by guys that don’t necessarily know what to do in that particular moment. So I think that and obviously he’s played a bunch of meaningful snaps, like he instinctively knows what offenses are trying to do and how they’re trying to attack us. So his FBI (football intelligence) and obviously his overall just confidence in the defense and schematics just helps us all.”
(Does he ever ask you DC pointers to you as in his role with the high school?) – “Yeah, you know what’s funny is I talk to him obviously a lot about the Xs and Os. Jalen Ramsey is another guy who I think at one point whenever his time is done would like to coach high school football, so I talk a lot of Xs and Os with him, too. I love those guys just because the more you know about the game, you can start to figure out when you can take your chances because you know big picture what’s happening around you and how offenses are trying to attack. And it allows you to – if you can make one or two extra plays a game, I mean, that could be the difference between winning and losing.”
(That third quarter stop you guys made on the Raiders’ first possession, I’m wondering how big that was. It was 10-6, they had that field goal. Do you guys talk about that first possession and how big was that stop? Your offense goes down 97 yards and scores, how big was that stop?) – “Yeah, huge. We’ve talked every week about starting fast and finishing stronger. So whether that’s the beginning of the game, end of half, start of the second half, end of game; to me, all those times are critical points for an offense and for a defense. So it’s funny because all the time, it’s like, who’s starting, who’s starting, who’s starting? Like I don’t care who starts. Who’s finishing? That’s what I want to know. Who’s finishing plays, who’s finishing tackles, like that ultimately is what’s most important to me.”
Danny Crossman – November 21, 2024
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Thursday, November 21, 2024
Special Teams Coordinator Danny Crossman
(I’m always curious, it’s one of my favorite positions in football. How do you identify a good gunner?) – “Take the talent out of it, you need someone that is just tenacious – (that) would be the best word I would put on it. You can never be out of the play, and that’s what makes the great ones the great ones, where you may think you have them at the line of scrimmage, then they win down the field. You may think you’re OK at the line of scrimmage, you think you’re in good shape down the field, now all of a sudden that guy spins off and still finds a way to get involved in the tackle. No. 1, you’ve got to be a tenacious sun of a gun. If you have that, along with the talent because we’re saying the talent is what it is, but when you are never out of a play – that’s what when we look to evaluate guys and most importantly when we’re playing against guys and you see that, it could be a long day.”
(Is it toughness? Speed obviously is a prerequisite, is toughness a prerequisite?) – “Speed, transition from speed to power. You’re going to get people on you. It’s a little bit like rushing the passer. You got to have a counter. Now they are going to jump set you and take the outside away, what is your counter off of that? Your inside move, do you have a counter off of your inside move. Can you be flat, can you stem, can you stick? So there’s a lot of things and then you got to get into the hand play. It’s not an easy position to play and I’m glad you brought it up – it is hard. In most cases, you’re getting double teamed and it’s a hard way to make a living. The great ones affect the play even when they are double teamed.”
(How are you feeling currently about if and when LS Blake Ferguson could return?) – “Just playing the process of the National Football League. He’s going through his stuff which No. 1 is what has to get taken care of. We’ve got to make sure he’s where he needs to be and then worry about and get ready for the football part of it.”
(How has LB Channing Tindall done on special teams this season?) – “He’s actually done really well the last couple of games in particular. He had a couple of tackles in the Rams game on Monday night and then was in good shape last week. We had a little bit of a misfit on one of the kickoffs where we had a chance to get a little bit better field position for ourselves because Channing (Tindall) was in great shape, the guy made a good cut off of a little bit of a misfit outside of him. But happy with where Channing is right now.”
(I saw the Cowboys took a 64-yard field goal off the board. Obviously, there is some strategy and analytics behind that, but I feel like there was a time where that never would’ve happened. How have you seen that change and are you surprised a 64-yarder comes off the board or not in today’s game?) – “I going to back it up – the idea of kicking a 64-yarder not at the end of the half or the end of the game, 10 years ago that wasn’t even brought up. You wouldn’t even think about that. I think the combination of analytics, understanding the situation and making that part of that we’re going to need two scores. Let’s take it even though it’s a 64-yarder, which again is not a gimme. But any time you take points off the board in a two-score game, if it doesn’t play out right, it’s going to be a topic of conversation.”
(It’s kind of ironic right? Because teams are going for it on fourth down more than ever, even in field goal range and yet they are also trying extraordinarily long field goals. I don’t know how to align those two things.) – “When you look at the numbers, you’re exactly right. You’re gaining points, you’re giving away field position; you’re going for it on fourth down because you’re trying to get seven as opposed to three. There is a lot of different things that are going into those situations and those decisions. Every game is different, how the game is going – you look at the Steelers and Baltimore, you’re talking about a field goal, one-score game. Then you watch Baltimore a couple of weeks earlier they are in almost a 40-point shootout with somebody else. That in it of itself, you could have the same team and be playing two different games in terms of decision making, field position on fourth down, field goal, punt, even though you’re the same group based on the situation and how that game is progressing.”
(Brenden Schooler has gotten you guys a couple of times now in recent meetings. Is there some extra way to give him more attention or what can you do against him?) – “We give him plenty of attention, sometimes it’s not enough. And again, I always equate it to when you get really good players – everybody sort of looks at special teams different, but he’s a really good player. When you got really good players on offense and really good players on defense, even though there’s a lot of game planning involved around those players, great players still can find ways to make plays. You see it week in and week out. Last week, you play Maxx Crosby – he’s a great player. We got a lot of bodies on Maxx Crosby, but if Maxx Crosby comes out of that game with a sack and two tackles for loss, is anybody going to be surprised? No, because he’s a great player. So great players find a way even when you gameplan them to find ways to make plays.”
(It’s been a few weeks now obviously without WR Braxton Berrios, and I know things are fluid, but do you feel good about moving forward with WR Malik Washington on punt returns and RB Raheem Mostert and RB Jaylen Wright on kickoff returns?) – “Again, it’s always a weekly thing and we’ll play who’s available, what’s available, how the game’s going, but obviously, losing Braxton (Berrios) was big. He was really having a good year, was really off to a good start. So any time you lose a player with injury, you hate to see that, but we’re fortunate that we do have some guys that we feel strongly about and their abilities.”
(Two questions about your field goal block team; their first field goal, you guys have LB Quinton Bell, DB Elijah Campbell and CB Siran Neal on their left side. No. 74, it looked like Elijah was coming through and No. 74 stuck out his leg, should that have been a penalty?) – “That’s a hard call. There’s penalties – again, I’m just talking about my opinion and when you look around the league – there’s certain penalties I think that are easier to see for the officials and recognize. Sometimes those edge plays from some of the vantage points of where officials are stationed aren’t as easy to see. So when you go back and look at the tape, there’s always plays that you’re like, ‘that could have been,’ or ‘should have been.’ I always look at it, as we talked about in the past, I look at it both ways; whether it’s a penalty called on us, if I was the opposite team, would I expect the same call if they call something on them? Would I expect the same thing to be called if it was us? Those are hard decisions, and some of those plays are hard for those guys to see. There’s other ones that in my opinion that aren’t that hard and that they need to be 100% on.”
(The 22-yard field goal there at the five-yard line, you had DB Elijah Campbell and S Marcus Maye back off, CB Siran Neal and CB Cam Smith go straight in. Is that defending against the fake? I don’t think I had seen that this year.) – “It’s a call we have based on certain situations in the game. (laughter) I like your film study though.”
(On the play DT Calais Campbell came close to blocking the punt and got the penalty, is there a teaching point there or just bad luck?) – “There is. The angle of where you’re playing the ball, and it’s a great teaching point because the trajectory of a punt – here’s a great example of where the foot contacted the ball and where Calais (Campbell) was with his hands was a yard. So you got the launch point of the ball off the foot of the punter and a long, long-armed individual only a yard away in terms of where the hand is on a vertical plane and the ball clears the hand. You got to change that vertical plane to a flatter plane. So we always talk about ‘out, not up,’ you’re not going to block going up, you got to be out.”
(DT Calais Campbell went and talked to LB Duke Riley on the sideline after that, and that was…) – “Yeah, out not up.”
(Has DT Calais Campbell always been on punt teams this year?) – “Again, that’s one of our packages and one of the groups that we play in certain situations and have certain calls based on what’s going on in the game, so he has been a part of that.”
(Snapping on field goal attempts, it says here: “You cannot directly tackle the long snapper. While contact is not entirely prohibited, you cannot directly hit him, especially to the head or neck immediately after the snap because he is considered a defenseless player.” I feel like that happens all the time. Two parts: 1. Non-reviewable, right?) – “Correct.”
(OK, and 2. Are there times where it’s worth trying? Because it seems like it’s happened.) – “That’s a great point because you look around the league and it’s called sometimes, and that’s one to me that as big an emphasis that we put on player safety, that’s a spot and a position and a visual where that’s a call that needs to be 100%. Again, is it worth it? That’s one of those situations where if you get away with it and you win the game, it’s a good thing. My whole thing is always about what do we want to teach? What am I telling the players? What am I telling my bosses? We don’t want to teach something that is a foul because then when you get called, it’s a foul and there’s no complaining.”
(It’s 15 yards?) – “Yeah. You know what the situation is, you’re giving a first down or you’re giving another opportunity from closer. So what do you want to teach? As long as there’s uniformity in the calls and you know what you’re going to get and it’s around the league, it’s better for the players and obviously it’s better for us as teachers of what can we teach and what can we not teach. To me, you don’t want to teach and coach something that, i.e., you read the rule and then you’re saying, ‘This is illegal, why are we putting this in?’ And then when we get called for it, we have no leg to stand on for complaints.”
Mike McDaniel – November 20, 2024
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Wednesday, November 20, 2024
Head Coach Mike McDaniel
(The guys who are eligible to come back, will we see LB Cam Goode, LB Bradley Chubb or LS Blake Ferguson designated this week?) – “Do not think so, do not anticipate that.”
(With WR Tyreek Hill, I guess he told CBS that there was one specialist who recommended wrist surgery. Are you guys basically just leaving it to him for the rest of the season? He says he wants to keep playing and not have surgery until the offseason, if he has it at all.) – “We’re kind of approaching it as a collective knowing that his best interest is our best interest. So utilizing all the resources at hand, and it didn’t really put the burden on him exclusively, even though I think he knows whatever is best for him we view is the best for the team. I think utilizing each other and all the experts and having one common goal, which is him at his best and what’s the best way to do that and weighing the pros and cons, it was a lot to unpack so there was good conversation and trusting regard in opinions, et cetera. It was a healthy process.”
(You’ve made some personnel moves this season. TE Durham Smythe has lost snaps, RB Raheem Mostert has lost some carries, David Long lost his starting job. What was behind those? Were those strictly performance based or were you trying to send a message, particularly with David Long?) – “No, I think it’s been the same pattern each and every season in terms of one thing that I’m very upfront with with players, the second they get in the building, the second that we start talking about projected lineups or positions within a position group, I think it’s important that people understand you’re entitled to nothing in this world. Playing time is solved by players on the field, and the best players have to play, and that’s my job to follow through with that. I don’t look at someone lost something, I look at who earned the opportunities. It’s more about the players that are getting the opportunities and less about guys doing stuff to – I don’t trivialize each and every game, that’s so sacred, that’s very finite for each and every player and coach in terms of you only have so many opportunities and I don’t play around with those at all. It’s something that I think is important to players in general that not only for themselves, but teammates want the teammate next to them that best deserves that situation; it’s about them and it’s always fluctuating. I don’t stipulate, ‘All right, you’re this and because I said that, you will be that.’ Guys are very aware that I’m adjusting to them all the time, and when snap counts change, that means they change for then. Is that going to be the way it is moving forward forever and always, we’ll see how the players take advantage of their opportunities. I don’t believe in quote unquote to send a message at the expense of someone’s career, and quite frankly, everybody that roots for the Dolphins and is counting on me to make the hard decisions regardless of what the ifs ans or buts, you have to do what is best for the team and that’s the best players for that scenario being on the field together in that situation.”
(To clarify that, CB Storm Duck played over CB Cam Smith as CB Kendall Fuller’s replacement last week. Was that because CB Storm Duck outperformed CB Cam Smith in practice that week?) – “A little assignment related, matchup related that week, yes. There’s no crowning of – it wouldn’t be factual to say one of those guys is over the other. We’ll see what they do with the situation and the opportunity. It was very specific and that one is a great example. I’m really happy with, especially in the last month, the development of Cam (Smith). So it renders one to think that we might be down on him because Storm (Duck) played, (but) that was because what Storm was doing and the assignments and kind of our game plan for that particular opponent. Which I won’t give you the keys on that, but you can look at the types of defenses we were playing and we thought that against the Raiders, that Storm would be the best answer for that. It’s important the players know that; I don’t shy away from that because they have more control in their journey than they realize. A lot of times it can feel like, ‘OK, I’m on the outside looking in,’ or vice versa, ‘I’ve made it,’ and that’s a favor to nobody because that’s not real. Because tomorrow if Cam completely outplays Storm Duck and we feel comfortable with what we’re doing, he’ll absolutely play over Storm Duck and everybody is very aware of that. I think it’s very important to get the most out of people that they realize that it’s about what they’re doing in unison with what they’ve done, but what they’re doing and they get to dictate the terms at the present and moving forward.”
(I always wondered if a player is going to have a diminished role, say on Sunday, do you sit them down and tell them that in advance or do they figure it out by 2:30 p.m., 3 o’clock on Sunday?) – “You try to not to have surprises; nothing is perfect, but when you know, when you can anticipate maybe a reduced role, you absolutely have conversations that are direct led by the position coach. Sometimes that’s a follow up with me just depending on how drastic the role adjustment is. If you had been a starter and then you’re not going to start anymore, I’ll probably talk to you. If it’s a minor tweak, then the position coach usually handles it alone, but that’s for all the forecasted adjustments. Then there’s the in-game adjustments where I’m going into the game thinking there’s going to be a 60-40 split in play time and then the guy on the field is really going above and beyond his job responsibilities, playing really well, well then I’ll adjust and am very honest and clear about that. Sometimes guys are on the short end of the stick in that situation, but again no one is entitled to a thing. We’re not entitled to go out there and win based upon X, Y or Z, you have to go earn it. You’re not entitled to any position in the National Football League, and if you think you are, then you’re very delusional because these are very sought after positions, coaching and playing, and the competition is fierce so you better be up for the challenge or someone will be found to rise to the occasion.”
(I don’t think we’ve asked you about Drake Maye ever. This is a guy you might have to deal with for a decade plus. What did you see of him in evaluation coming out and what have you seen of him since he’s been on the field?) – “I saw a true quarterback who has the ability to gain the confidence of his teammates and lead and orchestrate an offense. I saw a guy that can make plays in a multitude of ways. I think the Patriots are kind of feeling that right now where he’s a guy that can see down the field, can play fearlessly in the pocket and make every throw with the arm strength to do it, but also is a very good athlete that has some juice and can make plays off schedule. I think that’s been a huge bonus to their offense as of late, had some explosive plays, whether he threw it outside the pocket or he scrambled outside the pocket. He’s a guy that you expect to continue to get better, and it’s always impressive when rookie quarterbacks make plays at the NFL level just because there’s a lot coming at them. They just learned the foreign language like a handful of months ago and are doing it in live action with guys that are trying to inflict pain on you. So I think it’s a credit to him and his preparation and the coaching staff as well.”
(How is CB Kendall Fuller doing? Would he be ready to practice this week or would he take a longer recovery?) – “Just got done talking to him on the bike, he was sweating on the bike a little bit. It’s hard to say. I would be pessimistic about this week, but we’ll see.”
(Regarding S Jordan Poyer, it seems like he’s struggled at times; Brock Bowers’ touchdown, it looked like he got caught up in some traffic then missed the tackle. How has his season been going do you think?) – “I think there’s some plays that ‘Po’ (Jordan Poyer) definitely has a higher expectation for himself. I think the play you just alluded to is a prime example. It’s a play that he could have made to stop the bleeding, however, there were some other extraneous circumstances when you’re talking about the traffic and how from a technique and fundamental standpoint, we could avoid that traffic issue with teammates. But there’s some absolute plays that he could be better at; I will say I’m very happy with his play overall and what he brings to our defense. I think it’s hard to measure when you’re not working day-in, day-out. For example – I’ve never asked him this directly, but there’s open locker rooms, you can ask him yourself, but I would imagine Jevón Holland would say he plays his absolute best when he’s alongside Jordan Poyer. I would forecast there’s multiple players that feel that way, so there’s a lot of things that aren’t point of attack that he’s really, really doing a high-level job of. He’s making plays for us from a physical standpoint each and every week and he’ll improve on the stuff because he’s a – there’s a reason he’s been in the NFL so long. I’m not sure if he was a seventh round or undrafted free agent, I just know that he wasn’t expected to make the team back in 2014 in Cleveland when I coached there and he was there. He’s had an unbelievable NFL career because he’s a great player that is very accountable and finds ways to improve within the season which I expect him to do as well.”
(Going back to the Patriots, I think you’re 4-1 against them as head coach. Kind of a two-part question, what has allowed for that to happen but also, what does that mean for this week? How do you not let that be a false indicator of success going forward?) – “I’ll answer the latter first, it mean’s nothing for this week and I think that’s important in either scenario of matchups; those are different teams, those are different times of the year. It’s the NFL, and are you ready to play and does the collective group have mastered the plan to go attack? I think the biggest set up in the National Football League is praise or overindulgence into stats of former teams. It is the Miami Dolphins versus the New England Patriots on Sunday; first time that we’ve played against this quarterback, first time that we played this season on the heels of a two-game winning streak. What does that look like? How do we play that way? It’s all about this game, and trying to – football and the sport it is, shoot, what shape is a football? It’s the shape of a football, right? I don’t even know what shape that is.”
(Oblong.) – “Right, which is more of a description. That’s not necessarily, ‘oblong.’ Anyway, the ball bounces weird ways. (laughter) It’s unpredictive in that way and you have to embrace that by just being prepared, know that you’re going to get a team that in the middle of the season, when you have this much left, it doesn’t matter what people’s records are. If you’ve been losing more than you’ve been winning, it’s miserable – we can attest. And so you try to do everything in your power just to win. There’s a lot of season left and you’re trying to, for one week, get that winning feeling back so the world feels right. That’s a dangerous competitor in any fashion and the team that I watch on tape plays hard, and so it would be pretty dumb to expect anything less.”
(I know you’ve been asked this a couple times the last couple weeks, but what has DT Calais Campbell brought to the defensive line? To the defense? To the whole team? And has he been even better on the field than you anticipated when he signed?) – “I think he means a great deal to not only the defensive line room, but the entire defense as well as the entire team. It’s rare for a guy to get here when he did, and then be voted, with such conviction, captain. I think the way that he operates to be a pro, I think has had a substantial impact on a lot of players that hadn’t been fortunate enough to be around someone with sustained success like he’s had. We played high school football against each other.”
(Really?) – “Yeah. So he’s longer in the tooth – tape. I mean there’s nothing – man, it is so cool to watch people put film out there that is the antithesis of what people would expect. You’d expect a player every year to get to lose a little something, and he’s channeled the fountain of youth that – you can put his tape this year against three years ago. How does that occur? In no way shape or form does any of that happen without extreme commitment and hard work, and you talk about a guy that comes to work every day and demands juice from his teammates. You can’t go through the motions around him; first of all, he’ll call you out, but then second of all, you’d feel too guilty. So he’s a very powerful piece to our team and a guy that – it’s been my pleasure to coach him and be around him and we’re certainly glad we have him.”
(How many games did you guys play against each other?) – “One, and I’m here so he didn’t tackle me. I have a rib cage still, so he didn’t tackle me. (laughter) But yeah, he was such a big deal because this – I must have heard about him in 1998 at first. We were in high school, but there was this guy getting a bunch of buzz – I think he was two years younger than me, and he was getting offers from ‘The U’ (University of Miami), which was like, ‘What?’ This was right before the assembly of that team that grew into the – Colorado football generally, outside of Christian McCaffery, doesn’t really have that going on, so he was giant in the state of Colorado, for sure, and he’s giant in the National Football League. A giant man, both in presence in and in size.”
(You laid a big block on him that game though, right?) – “No, I stayed away from him. I was trying to coach here 20 years later. (laughter) And I couldn’t do that if I was dead.”
Tua Tagovailoa – November 20, 2024
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Wednesday, November 20, 2024
QB Tua Tagovailoa
(We’ve talked a lot about what TE Jonnu Smith has added to this offense. What has WR Malik Washington given you? What’s the skill that’s helped you there and WR Odell Bekcham Jr.’s presence now that he’s gotten more comfortable? What has he given you as an extra dimension?) – “I would say that room has done a tremendous job not just with Malik (Washington), we obviously know what ‘Reek’ (Tyreek Hill) and (Jaylen) Waddle can do, but what Odell brings, what River (Cracraft) being back brings as well to the team; just the amount of studying they do and the attention to details within the playbook, I think have given them opportunities to get the ball in their hands and you can see what they do with the ball in their hands and it’s very, very special. And it’s fun being able to go out there and play with guys like that.”
(What’s your impression of Patriots QB Drake Maye?) – “I respect his game. I respect his game a lot. He’s a rookie so there’s going to be bumps within his journey, but you see a lot of flashes of things that he can do, not just inside the pocket, outside of the pocket as well. I’ve got a lot of respect for him and looking forward to competing against him.”
(We in the media love storylines, narratives, but you and him could be going at it for a long time.) – “Yeah, that’s just how this league is. It’s how it goes. I wish him the best in his career that he’s just starting. Tough league, but with the right mindset, with the right people around him surrounding him; I think he’ll be doing good.”
(You enter with a 6-1 record against the Patriots. New coach over there, but do you think Jerod Mayo is going to bring some similar defensive looks as Bill Belichick did?) – “I’m not too sure. We’re preparing for uncertainty, if there is, defensively. But it’s very similar to the structure they’ve had over the past few years when Coach Belichick was the coach there. So we’re looking to go out there and play the plays with what they’ve presented us over the years and if we need to adjust in any way, we’ll adjust.”
(There’s been a stat flying around out there about RB De’Von Achane not having a drop as a professional. When did you realize his hands were really good for a running back?) – “I would say last year. Last year, I got a glimpse of being able to throw to him and it was really supreme with how he’d catch the ball, but that’s sort of taken away because he runs very well, too. I would say from last year.”
(Head Coach Mike McDaniel was talking earlier about accountability. Some people have lost their starting jobs, some people have lost their jobs in general. It’s kind worked, right, you guys – what personally did you do to enact accountability among your teammates when things weren’t going great here?) – “I wouldn’t say it’s a me thing this; this is a team thing and it’s tough when Mike (McDaniel) has to have sit down conversations with guys in starting roles and having to maneuver through that because of the person that he is. And then it does sort of take a toll sometimes on the team, but if you understand reasoning and you understand sometimes that it could be for the betterment of the team or whatnot; those guys are the ones having those conversations. You’re just there to support your teammate in the best way you can. I think you get a good, better big picture gauge of reasons as to why things like that have been happening or have happened.”
(He was talking about player-only meetings, stuff like that. Have you guys had all that and how has gone this year?) – “Yeah, it’s been good. I like to keep all those conversations private, but I think those have definitely helped push the envelope of what we want to see as a team and what we want to do going forward.”
(Head Coach Mike McDaniel was mentioning the other day that it was WR Tyreek Hill who was kind of stressing the need for these long sustained 10-, 12-play drives going back to even exit interviews last season. I’m curious what were those conversations like as you guys were sort of implementing this new style of the offense?) – “I wouldn’t say that as we had our exit meetings and whatnot, that this sort of was the notion of what we wanted to evolve into as an offense. It sort of took precedent given what defenses have been playing against us. That would be the reasoning as to why you see a lot more check downs, a lot more trying to get the ball to open guys within the progression, whether it’s the third, fourth or the fifth progression. So I would say that’s just been sort of like a weekly thing. Would we like to take shots? We would, we would, but that’s if they present themselves, is sort of what I’m trying to say.”
(Kind of a two-part question for you with regards to pass protection. One, how has the continuity of the offensive line being mostly guys from last year helped you kind of have that rapport with them and then also OL Aaron Brewer who’s new, how has your communication been with him with getting protections all called out and everything on balance this year?) – “Yeah, it seems as if we’ve all played together for a while. That’s what the feeling is. With Aaron (Brewer) being in there, I mean, ‘Brew’ is probably – I would love to have ‘Brew’ here for a long time. I mean, I love how he goes about his business. I love how we have a good relationship, how we communicate with things that we see and whatnot. But to me, it just feels like offensively, with the o-line, it just feels like we’ve all been playing together for such a long time. Doesn’t feel like there’s been a drop off anywhere.”
(Does that help you kind of understand where vulnerabilities against certain looks can come from and how to kind of navigate openings in the pocket? Does that help you in that regard?) – “I would say yeah, but it’s also every game is different and our game plan with what we want to do protection-wise is also different. So that also helps with maneuvering through the pocket as well.”
(Just kind of piggybacking on the o-line, T Terron Armstead is having a great year. What are you seeing from him at age 33, still playing at his caliber of play?) – “He’s a dawg. He’s a dawg. There’s been a lot of things that he’s been dealing with injury-wise and I’ve got a lot of respect – tremendous amount of respect – for him being able to fight through those and still go out there and compete and play to protect me, to protect our backs and to protect our ball carriers. I wish I could do something to help with some of the injuries that he goes through, but just overall dawg.”
(How do players respond to Head Coach Mike McDaniel during either on the sideline during the game, in the locker room? How do you see the interaction between him and players going? I know the Dolphins released a little mic’d up video and it’s cool to see him kind of joking and things like that on the sideline so I’m curious from a player’s perspective what is that interaction like?) – “I would say maybe to each person, maybe it looks a little different, but for me when we’re working, regardless of where we are in practice or if we’re in a game, I know Mike (McDaniel) is going to be himself. And so for me, it sort of helps me continue to stay in the frame of mind that, like, hey, we’re still at work, but knowing you know who he is, like, it’s okay to have fun, but also, like, stay locked in, at least for me, it is. And I just know that that’s how he’s going to be in practice, in game days, and that’s probably never going to change.”
Jordan Poyer – November 18, 2024
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Monday, November 18, 2024
S Jordan Poyer
(What were your impressions of Brock Bowers, obviously a rookie with a lot of potential in this league?) – “Yeah, really good player, got a lot of potential like you said. He’s going to be a good player for a long time.”
(You can see him on film, but did sort of the way he moved surprise some of you guys a little bit once you saw him in person?) – “No, I mean he’s a good player. They had an emphasis to get him the ball. So like I said, he’s a good player. He’s going to be a good player in this league for a long time.”
(With this team, this season, obviously putting together the two wins, it kind of seems headed in the right directions. How do you continue to maintain that focus of each week at a time?) – “Just one game at a time and focus on what you have in winning the day, winning the meeting, winning practice, winning the walkthroughs. Just attention to detail, being present in those moments and focusing on what’s important now. Yeah, we got two wins in a row, but we’d like to keep that going, but it starts in the week.”
(Judging from reaction in the locker room, I guess the guys on defense weren’t happy with product. I know you get the ‘W,’ but you guys weren’t satisfied with that performance, were you?) – “Obviously, we won the game – there’s things we could do better and things that we want to do better, but 19 points, give up 19 points and you’re going to have a chance. But there’s definitely things that we want to continue to work on. It’s in the middle of the season, I think there’s not one team that would come out of a win or loss say there’s things that they don’t need to work on, so yeah. We’re still right in the thick of it and we want to continue to work.”
(What’s it like having your boy LB Tyrel Dodson back? He told us that you were hosting him for a little bit.) – “Yeah, he came over to the house for a couple days. It’s really cool for him to be here, someone that I played with for four years in Buffalo. Someone I’ve kind of seen grow into his own throughout the league, so it’s really cool to have him here. He’s going to be a good addition for our football team.”
(All the things that you guys talked about implementing and becoming in training camp earlier this year, do you see that stuff starting to come into fruition now?) – “I mean, yeah. Obviously, there was a lot of high expectations going into the year and we weren’t really living up to those expectations early on and just trying to find our stride, trying to find our rhythm offensively, defensively, special teams, and then even collectively. We’re hitting those strides, and we want to continue to get better. This is a pivotal point of the season. We kind of dug ourselves in a hole a little bit, so like I said, being able to focus on each moment, each day, each meeting and continue to just work and focus on what’s important right now.”
(Third down defense, obviously very strong against the Rams, and then the Raiders were able to convert some of those. What were you noticing were some of the challenges this time around?) – “Yeah, they had a good plan. There’s some things we can do better, but they had a good plan.”
(What does CB Storm Duck bring when he’s in the lineup? He played for his first time in a while there.) – “Yeah, I enjoy playing with Storm (Duck). He’s a great player, a great young player. He’s going to play in the league for a long time; smart, instinctive, can run, he can play off, he can press. He’s someone that I trust out there on the football field to know what he’s got to do.”
Mike McDaniel – November 18, 2024
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Monday, November 18, 2024
Head Coach Mike McDaniel
(With RB Raheem Mostert, Raheem had the hip injury and then kind of maybe limited participation in the game. Is he OK and is it something that we have to be concerned about?) – “He came out positive. It kind of adjusted our plan of action through the game as well as I think De’Von’s (Achane) play merited some extra snaps that we were kind of anticipating being a little more level. But he came out of the game good, he’s a warrior and fought through it to make a play on third down for us and stay involved. So I’m expecting him to have a positive week this week.”
(How’s RB De’Von Achane handling this workload? Obviously, it started off where he was getting a lot of touches and now again.) – “I think we have the creative challenge of having a fully tooled backfield. So you go into a game with kind of like an outline of how you think things, the ball will be spread out amongst them, but then also leave room for adjustment as we communicate directly – myself and Eric Studesville – and adjust for in-game play. I think De’Von was really at the top of his game yesterday, was doing some things on the field that – there’s a lot of plays that he made maybe weren’t the 40-yarders that he’s broken in his career, but were seven-yard gains that could have been minus-three. There was a nine-yard gain that could have been a two-yard gain. He was really playing well, so in those situations we kind of lean on the hot hand, so to speak, and I think he’s really made it difficult in in-game situations, the last two in particular, to take him off the field, but we try to leave that room for guys to decide for us during the game on how much play-time they’ll get and respond appropriately.”
(We’ve seen LB Chop Robinson have an uptick in his counting stats the last month or so, what would you say has contributed to his jump in his production?) – “I think it’s a guy that’s a football guy that has a skillset for pass rush disruption that’s very unique and natural. And so understanding the winning edge in the National Football League has to do with the small details of snap count anticipation of pass rush adjustment based upon a tackle’s set. All those things, he’s found a way to disrupt the passer for us which is exactly what the doctor ordered and the right time. Now, for talented players in the National Football League, it’s always a step-by-step process where you find ways to make plays and then once you are making plays or you’re creating disruption, then you have to find a way to impact the game once people devote the appropriate attention, which always comes when you’re making an impact on the game. So it’s important for him to continue to take advantage of every opportunity given to him, or that he has available to him, in situations that he is just pass rushing the tackle. And any player that’s a good player, and especially one like Chop (Robinson) where he has ambitions to be great, you have to anticipate the next step where you have to find production when they start devoting more attention to you which is the natural progression in things. And when someone devotes extra attention to Chop, he needs to be productive in those situations and then his teammates have to take advantage of the extra space when you’re devoting – whether that is a half-back getting out late because he’s trying to chip his way out or the turn, the guard getting out to the tackle to provide help which in turn gives some lightness in protection internally. All those things play off each other, so we’ll have to take his positive plays, make more positive plays and have counters to the natural attention that he’ll start receiving when you put back-to-back, or three-game stretches or four-game stretches together with production.”
(Fans got used to seeing those big, home run plays your first two years, and now more recently we’re seeing these long-sustained drives like we saw yesterday. Is that more of a philosophical change in terms of game control? Or is that just a byproduct of something else?) – “I think offensively, you’re trying to score points and it’s important to take advantage of what the defense presents. When you have some offensive production, or sustained offensive production, specifically with last year, I think we were No. 1 in yards from Week 1 to the last week of the season, you’re going to get offseason attention and people are going to have a different plan for you because opponents get paid, too. I think I’m very proud and very proud of our offensive unit when they’re able to sustain those drives. I think we had as many 14-plus play scoring drives last game as we did the entire year previous and that’s something that we’ve been talking about since the start of the offseason in conjunction with forecasting how do we win elimination games? How do you win down the stretch of the season? You have to adjust to what is being presented to you and people have different plans of actions and once people put two-high conservative and/or two-man coverages against your offense, until you’re able to take advantage of that through the quarterback extending plays or throwing shorter to space and staying efficient and maximizing those gains with YAC. Until you prove that you’re able to execute and have games like that where you don’t punt the ball, you’re going to get that type of defense. In the National Football League, in all three phases, once a formula has been put out there, coaching is generally – coaching and playing is good enough where people will identify that you’re struggling against that and force you to beat that. So it’s an important part of a winning formula for all three phases to be able to win in whatever type of fashion necessary. So I think that is something that has been on the forefront of our guys’ minds in terms of we’re finding different ways to execute and move the ball down the field and score points, and I think that’s an important part of the process when you’re talking about a winning formula for big games and elimination games in particular, which is what we’re trying to grow to.”
(How did OL Isaiah Wynn look last week? Any chance he plays on Sunday?) – “There were no setbacks, it looked good. I’m having to be pragmatic with – when he comes back, I want him to stay back so we’ll be working through that as the week progresses based upon our feedback from him, from his field work. Hoping to have a week like we did last week because it was a good week.”
(I was going to ask if you anticipated any movement in terms of windows opening, activations off the illness list?) – “There’s a lot of possibilities right now, and you’re approaching a two game in 10-day stretch or whatever the math is, I can’t remember, so there will be a lot of fluctuation. We do have some guys that are approaching the readiness, but we also have some stuff to iron out with the roster. There’s a lot of to be determined, and when I say a lot there’s like at least a handful of guys that of variance that we have to work through in the coming days.”
(QB Tyler Huntley is one of the guys, he’s now eligible. You guys have only two quarterbacks on the roster. Is it important for his elevation just so that arms don’t get tired during that stretch?) – “I think the taxation on the arms in this portion of the season through the practice week isn’t necessarily the biggest mover of the needle. We’re trying to be pragmatic with his arm to make sure that he’s a fully tooled quarterback when he’s back. We’re feeling better about that. I think ultimately, it’s important to have three guys over a long stretch of time, but in the short term, we’ll adjust by the needs of the team for sure.”
(Going back a question before about the changing the approach to offense. How has that impacted you as a playcaller, but maybe even – this phrasing might be off – but force you to grow a little bit as a playcaller?) – “Definitely, I think I’m right in step with players. In the National Football League, if you’re not getting better, tick, tick, tick. There’s too much competition; you have to continue to evolve and that includes myself. There’s a lot to learn. I don’t know the recourse – I can extrapolate or forecast, but I don’t know the recourse of having explosive plays and the offense we did last year until you’re actually in it and seeing how people defend. I have to, I think every year, adjust to players, and defensive presentations have been a unique necessity for evolution, as well as our roster has different assets and we have different guys to get the ball to. All of those things, you’re trying to find the flow within your particular unit. I think what the players have done a great job with and our offensive coaching staff in general is identifying the things in the game that they can control, that they can get better at. Overall, I think we’ve done a little bit better job of putting them in position for success, and as a result guys have risen to the occasion and found their success through technique and fundamentals that have been emphasized. I think that is kind of across the board, as plainly as I could put it, that is the game that we all are trying to play. That’s identifying weaknesses in our game and making them strengths and continuing an evolution in how we play football so we continue to position ourselves to win whatever type of game possible in whatever fashion. You just don’t have the liberty of saying, ‘Hey, it’s OK that we lost,’ because no one cares about that. You have to find ways to win. The more ways we find to have success, the better suited we are to adhere to the needs of the team which is maybe to not turn the ball over and score 17 points one week and then we might need 30 the next week. That’s complementary football that’s always evolving.”
(Is it something that you immediately talked about at the end of last season, something that developed through training camp and the way the season began kind of cemented that thinking?) – “We were all very aware, and I think we were talking about it as we were hitting the exit interviews last year. I think there’s probably some quotes you can grab from Tyreek Hill; he was talking about the necessity for 10-play drives and to be able to own the ball versus teams that it would behoove us to do that. And then once we started playing games this year, the adversity was the opportunity of losing Tua (Tagovailoa) for a little bit and then having to play a different style of football to play to the defense and that gives you benefits that plays into the stuff that we were already emphasizing. I thought that this season has played out and forced our hand of something that we all knew we needed to prove upon. Then it becomes on the coaches to have the right points of emphasis and the players to take those points, focus on them, practice them and then execute them in games. It’s been on our minds since the season ended, and it’s good to see a lot of work come to fruition and be able to execute for the very reason of games might be that way where you might be in the second half and the opposing team makes a couple of plays and they stay on the field and you need to own the ball, not turn it over, and score points. We were able to do that, not because we were hoping yesterday, but a lot of work went into that to be able to prepare ourselves to be able to come through for the team in that way.”
(I wanted to ask you about the run game. You guys had a stretch where you were one yard shy of rushing for 150 for three straight games and now it’s kind of 60-yard performances the past couple of weeks. Is that a byproduct of the injuries you’re sustaining to offensive line, defensive game planning, defensive game plans? What’s happening with the run game?) – “I think it’s kind of twofold; there has been some guys getting healthy at positions offensively and we’ve had some injuries, that for sure plays a part, but I think more so when defenses are presenting themselves in a certain way and they are also giving you easy completions maybe in the shorter higher percentage area of the field, in that first five yards, if you’re able to execute appropriately with protection, quarterback reads, and receiver eligibles, you can exchange some run plays for some quick game, or quick dropback pass plays. If you’re efficient enough with that, you can kind of deliver on what the run game gives you in pass versions. You get the ball in space. Julian Hill had a couple great examples where he catches a checkdown at five yards and gets 11. I kind of look at offense just in general that way that you can have a run tonality to your pass game and the only thing you supplement are the opportunities to have some more big gains like the 30-yarder that popped in the third quarter I believe, which affects your average and gets your yards up. When you don’t get as many opportunities at running the ball because of play calls, you limit those opportunities but you open up other opportunities if you’re doing low-cost, low risk pass plays based upon your players execution, because they’re not turning the ball over. It’s not a bunch of incompletions, you’re not forcing your hand. You’re kind of attacking the defense in the ways that they’re telling you to attack them, and that’s kind of the biggest reason of disparity in numbers is I really haven’t called as many run plays and it’s not because we can’t. It’s because what I’m watching and how defenses are trying to stop us.”
Anthony Walker Jr. – November 18, 2024
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Monday, November 18, 2024
LB Anthony Walker Jr.
(Obviously the defense – I find it interesting that earlier this season you guys were struggling against the run; now you’re ranked ninth. Struggling in the red zone; now you’re ranked eighth. What do you think is the attributed to the turnaround in those areas that you guys have had?) – “Just a collective unit playing together, understanding what we’re trying to get accomplished from ‘Weave’ (Anthony Weaver) calling it to the assistant coaches implementing it, executing it with individual drills and all that and meeting rooms. And then we’re all taking it to the field and just getting better at it. Better at understanding what he’s trying to call, why he’s calling it and then executing our plan when it comes to that.”
(Four straight games you hold an opponent to under 100 yards rushing. What’s been the key for that specifically?) – “Yeah, same thing. Just guys just executing, doing their job. That’s all run game, is just being in your position so whether you make the play or another guy makes the play, it doesn’t hit in your gap or… yeah, basically. (laughter) Don’t want to say too much.”
(After digging you guys’ self in this hole you guys have currently, how do you guys approach each game like not much room for error? You guys are well aware of that.) – “I think the guys put it on themselves. We’ve kind of basically entered the playoffs a little early in our mindset; we’ve just got to keep stacking wins and just taking it one week at a time. Each game has pretty much come down to must-win, so that’s our mindset.”
(What do you feel you have brought to this defense since your insertion into the lineup?) – “Just try to do my job. As a Mike linebacker, you’ve got to control the tempo, control the calms and keep everybody calm in each situation and then the communication, make sure my communication is up to par so that the guys can execute and we all execute and do our job on the same page. So just trying to do my job. Not too much, don’t try to do nobody else’s job, just mine.”
(A lot of those things that you mentioned, communication, keeping everyone else in check; do you feel you’ve kind of honed in on those skills from your coaching experience with your dad?) – “I guess so. I think I’ve played Mike linebacker now for – going back to college because I didn’t play at… yeah, since college. So what is that, 10 years now, 12 years now? Wow, I’m old. (laughter) Yeah, 12 years now, so getting that comfortability and then obviously my dad being a coach, you kind of take a lot of leadership and skills and stuff from him. So just adding that to my game, like I’ve been able to do that for a very long time now and I’m comfortable with it. So I take on that challenge. As a Mike (linebacker), you’re the quarterback of the defense. You’ve got to earn that and that’s your job each day.”
(Now so what was the key to pulling off the Ransom Everglades win?) – “(laughter) Man, the guys just played well. They played hard. They have a great quarterback over there at Ransom Everglades. He played really well. I think he threw for 300, but they only had 10 points, though. We tried to limit them in some ways, making it hard for them in the red zone, but he’s a great player and offensively just making some plays and able to put up 40 points and got the win.”
(And got it clamped down in the red zone?) – “Yeah, it gets tight down there. You can’t miss – there’s not a lot of field down there so played different coverages down there, gave him a different look. Like I said, he’s a great quarterback, though, so he made a lot of plays that as a freshman, you shouldn’t be able to make. But he played well though, so I’ll give him…”
(What’s the coaching dynamic with you and your dad? Is it good cop/bad cop? How does that work?) – “No, bad cop/bad cop mostly. (laughter) I mean, whatever the team needs at that point. My dad is pretty tough on them. I try to be kind of the good cop, I guess, coming in after and making sure everything is all right. But trying to win and I know that’s all he wants and he wants the best for each kid. So I know he means well and I’m with him.”
(So who’s next?) – “LaSalle this weekend, this Friday. Yeah, second round.”
(What did you think of Raiders TE Brock Bowers?) – “I thought he was a great player, played well. We knew that coming in that he was going to be a focal point of their offense and they were going to try to get him the ball, so he was definitely in our game plan. Yeah, just executed. They made some plays, he made some plays at the end of the day, but again, we’ll take the win.”
