Zach Thomas – February 9, 2023
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Thursday, February 9, 2023
Pro Football Hall of Fame LB Zach Thomas
(Can you sort of take us through this day? What’s your day been like today? I’m sure it’s been pretty remarkable.) – “Oh, man. It’s amazing. I’m just a small-town kid from West Texas, and for me to be here with all these greats and legends that I used to watch and even play with, it’s just an honor. It’s humbling and I’m just so grateful for everybody that helped me along the way because you’re not self-made, but to look back when I was eight years old and just to – it would be a huge dream for me just to make it to the NFL, but to end up being a Hall of Famer is crazy, man. It’s crazy when I think about it. I’m proud to represent all our defense. We had those great defenses when I played and I owe it to all those guys. I guess somebody has to get the credit. My d-line did all the work and I’ll take the credit (laughter). But I know this, is I’m so grateful for those guys, the linebackers that I played side by side. It was just a fun journey and it’s a humbling honor for me, but I’m just so grateful just to even get this far.”
(I know a lot of people have questions, but before I let you go and you move on, have you decided – I know it’s sudden – but have you decided on a presenter yet?) – “Who would be your guess?”
(Jimmy Johnson?) – “Yes, sir. Yes, sir. All day long. He’s a guy that gave me a start my rookie year from the get-go. He threw me in the mix from the get-go. I was there for special teams. Mike Westhoff helped out in getting me there, but Jimmy (Johnson) put trust in me before we even played a football game. We played a preseason game and he was like, ‘all right, you’re going to be starting.’ And he told me, ‘don’t let me down.’ And I never wanted to let him down because of that start, because man, I was a longshot. I never got the respect I felt like I needed and that’s my motivation. But for being my size most of the way because I didn’t fit the part, it gives hope to those kids that don’t fit the part, that are undersized. They could end up a Hall of Famer one day if you just believe in yourself and bet on yourself and I feel like that’s what I did. But I’m lucky to have some bad asses around me my whole career. It’s crazy how grateful I am for that.”
(Congratulations. Well-deserved and long overdue.) – “Man, I’ll tell you what. I know you didn’t ask a question, but ‘deserved.’ It’s a team game and like I said, you’re only as good as what’s around you and I had some great players around me. But like I said, I’ll take the credit.”
(There’s video circulating of the moment when you found out you were in the Hall and it’s Jimmy Johnson breaking the news to you. Can you describe the emotions of receiving that welcome surprise and for it to be Coach Jimmy Johnson?) – “Oh man, it was powerful. I went to lunch with my mom and I didn’t even think they even voted on it yet. So I come home and I’m walking up the stairs and I see Jimmy in a gold jacket just standing there and man, I broke down. I cried, even thinking about it now, and I really appreciate that guy. It’s crazy how you’ve got to rely on so many other things and choices of a coach because I would have went anywhere else and it might not have been the right system for me. It might not have been the right coach for me. They might not have taken a chance on me. Jimmy was a guy that did, and so for him to be there, that was wild, man. I’ll remember that for the rest of my life and for my family to be there, too, because my kids really didn’t get to ever see me play unless it’s old tape. But for them to be there for that moment was special.”
(Did you kind of have an inkling that maybe this was the year for you? This was your fourth straight year as a finalist?) – “I never did. I try not to look at all the guys because all of them are deserving, even the finalists. I definitely wasn’t surprised, but I am grateful that I got this opportunity to get in because it’s hard to get in. It’s very hard and I’m finally in. You can’t take me out so I’m very blessed.”
(Did you kind of have an inkling that maybe this was the year for you? This was your fourth straight year as a finalist.) – “I never did. I try not to look at all of the guys because all of them are deserving, even the finalists. I definitely am not surprised. But I am grateful that I got this opportunity to get in because it’s hard to get in. It’s very hard. I’m finally in, man. You can’t take me out. I’m very blessed.”
(At what point, either late in your career or after your career, did the thought of ‘Maybe I have a shot at getting into the Hall of Fame one day,’ start to appear?) – “Once I started seeing some of the guys get in, I said ‘Man, I’m going to have a chance.’ And once you get into the finalists and you’re a finalist year after year, you get more of a chance. So I was very grateful for that. But I started feeling like I was inching closer and closer every time I was a finalist. My family, I would let them vent one day if I didn’t make it. And that’s it. Because the game has been so good to me. I’m never going to be ungrateful, even if I never made the Hall of Fame, because it’s so good to me. It’s set me for life, man. So again, for me to be up here and represent the former teammates that I had, I don’t know if they’re going to give us enough time for all of the guys that I owe in the induction speech now that they’ve shrunk it down to 10 minutes. But I’ll try my best because that defense we had from Sam (Madison) to Pat (Surtain) to ‘JT’ (Jason Taylor), Trace (Armstrong), ‘Tim-Bo’ (Tim Bowens), the interior with ‘Big Shorty’ (Daryl Gardener), Robert Jones – the linebackers, Derrick Rodgers, Morlon Greenwood. We just had so many great players around me. Brock Marion. It’s special. I know I’m probably leaving so many guys out that played a part in helping me get all the way here because it is a team game.”
(So many great players have played the game. So many great players have played your position. What was it, do you think, about the way you played football that will enable you to have this permanent honor and to be enshrined in Canton?) – “Well like I said earlier, I didn’t fit the part. I’m in the middle of the defense. You’re supposed to be the Dick Butkus, Brian Urlacher type look. And I didn’t fit that part. I feel like the one thing I will say that was really good of mine was my prep. My pre-snap was really good. Towards the end of my career – it wasn’t great from the beginning. But once you start fine-tuning everything – I was so happy and so confident going into every game (in my) later years. You just get smarter. You get more efficient with your time. You get smarter. That’s why pretty much walkthrough was so important to me before even a live practice when it came to preparing. Everybody kind of overlooks walkthrough. Because my alignment is what won for me. I’ve got to give myself the best chance and if you just get lined up right, your odds of winning on that play go up. I think that’s where I felt like I won was my pre-snap … That was it. That was one thing that I felt like – you’ve got the quarterback as the quarterback of the offense and I was the quarterback of the defense. To get our team lined up pre-snap, that was big and underrated because nobody knows when you line up right or wrong besides the coaches. That was the one thing that I took a lot of pride in. I’m getting us aligned right. And if they come out in a certain formation, it’s all about keeping yourself out of a bad play than not just trying to win every play. It’s keeping yourself out of a play. So for me, that’s what I miss the most and that’s what I feel like was underappreciated was my pre-snap and how I lined my guys up once they came out with the formation.”
Chris Grier and Mike McDaniel – January 16, 2023
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Monday, January 16, 2023
General Manager Chris Grier and Head Coach Mike McDaniel
Chris Grier:
(Obviously it’s unfortunate that CB Byron Jones couldn’t help you this year. There’s not a lot of cap relief by cutting him until after June 1. Does he intend to keep playing and also is there any desire to try to salvage that perhaps with a restructured deal or do you think basically both parties will be moving on from each other at this point?) – “Byron (Jones) worked hard trying to get back. Unfortunately it didn’t work out. He did his best. Training, doctors, everybody worked hard. The season just ended. We’re not there yet. We’re still – after the tough loss yesterday, we’re kind of licking our wounds and just going about our process and we’ll meet with the coaching staff here, trainers and doctors to talk about every player on the roster. So we’re just not there right now to deal with it, but Byron did everything he could to try and play so no qualms with that at all.”
(Did you consider this a successful season and if so, why?) – “I would say successful, but at the end of the day, every team’s looking – all 32 teams are trying to get to that ultimate goal. But it was successful. I would say not satisfied. I think to watch the guys compete yesterday, knowing the injuries we had – we’ve played that team three times, Buffalo – and what Coach McDermott, Brandon Beane and those guys have done is tremendous. I have great respect for them and told them that after the game. For our guys to go out there in that environment and most of that roster hadn’t been in a playoff environment before, and go down 17 and not blink and come back and fight and get into it, and have a chance late in the game to tie it up or potentially win; very excited. We’re disappointed we lost, but very excited, so I would say yes, it was a successful season.”
(Yesterday, we asked Head Coach Mike McDaniel about QB Tua Tagovailoa’s standing with the team and he essentially said yes, we intend to welcome him back as a starter and leader of our team next season. Now with that being said, I was wondering if you could kind of elaborate on that and in terms of the offseason. Do you plan to exercise his fifth-year option? In terms of a long-term view, where are you with that?) – “Yeah, I would say with Tua (Tagovailoa), he’s our starting quarterback. I don’t know how we could say it any more clearly. We’ve been that way through this season and what he’s done and what Mike (McDaniel) and Tua, (Darrell) Bevell, Chandler (Henley), the coaching staff have all done; they’ve all worked tremendously hard, all of them together. So Tua – we anticipate him, worked with and talking with the doctors and consultants and everyone we dealt with, we fully expect him back next year 100 percent ready to go and then we’ll get through all those decisions like I said, just like we talk about every player on the roster. Obviously I understand because it’s Tua and that’s why the question is being asked. We’ll go through our process but he is our starting quarterback and will be next season.”
Mike McDaniel:
(If I could follow up on General Manager Chris Grier’s response there, is it just a process that QB Tua Tagovailoa has to go through to ensure that he’s healthy coming into at least OTAs …?) – “Yeah, absolutely. That’s something that’s driven by the doctors. Those are the things that – they’re the experts in those fields – and when they tell us that he’s ready to play and as we expect, when they tell us that he’s ready to play coming in the spring or whatever, then we’ll press forward in that direction.”
Chris Grier:
(With concussions – again, I’m a few credits short of my MD – but what I’ve read is that if you have a couple, you might be susceptible to getting more easily. Is that a concern with QB Tua Tagovailoa and what confidence do you have that this won’t be a recurring issue for him?) – “I think from what our doctors and the consultants we’ve talked to through the NFLPA, that is not a true statement. So for us, I don’t think he’s any more prone than anyone else. So for us, we’re just going through and letting the doctors and the medical staff and the people in that field, like you said that know a lot more – but from everything we’ve been told, that is not a concern.”
Mike McDaniel:
“Yes, specifically, these are the doctors that are working with him directly and individually as opposed to a generalization.”
(The two concussions were when he hit his head from the back. Is there anything you can do for his helmet or anything? Are you guys looking into that? Are you looking into something like that?) – “What’s interesting is his helmet is one of the higher-rated helmets. It’s in the top two or three, I think, from the NFL rating. I believe it was, I think No. 3 or No. 2 … but it’s in the top for helmet safety. I think with every player, that’s a choice that they make. They all like the comfort, feel and whatever, but I think those will be discussions that he’ll have with all of us – equipment, doctors and stuff. But it is a very safe helmet in terms of how the NFL has rated helmets.”
Mike McDaniel:
“And with regard to – our plan is to kind of approach it like you do a young quarterback who’s not used to sliding. We have ideas and thoughts of how to help him because that is a consistency that we’ve noticed as well, is that they’re ground-induced. So like everything else, we’ll do everything in our power to help coach them and that’s a new way to attempt to coach.”
(What are your thoughts on the job that Josh Boyer did as defensive coordinator this season?) – “I was very, very proud of the defense, the coaching staff and the players – specifically the very end of the season. I think the last three regular season games, in a place of adversity, they found their best self, I think. And then I couldn’t be prouder of yesterday, specifically with – you’re talking about seven sacks and turnovers and just really aggressive play. So I’m very, very proud of the way the defense finished the season.”
(Have any changes on the coaching staff been conversed about?) – “It’s pretty early. I think 24 hours ago, we might have had a lead, maybe. One of the things that I’ve found from my experience in the National Football League is that it’s very long. It’s very emotional. And you’re not always – you can lend yourself to living with regret if you make any sort of decisions emotionally. So we’re going to go through the process and you’ve got to kind of let things simmer for just really the entire coaching staff, just like you do with players, and have communication. But it’s going to take a minute and we’re just out of it. I’m just getting my feeling back in my in my hands from the cold winter Buffalo skies.”
Chris Grier:
(How extensive will your research be this offseason, getting ready to find those diamond top players in the draft?) – “Yeah, I think it’s the same process we’ve always had. It doesn’t matter how many picks we have or what. You have to go through it because you have to be ready for every scenario. So our guys were out at all-star games last week. They’re out at all-star games now – all of them from all divisions, HBCUs. They’ve been at the all-star games. So our guys are in the middle of that process right now and then I’ll jump into it here the next couple of weeks coming up with the East-West (Shrine Bowl) and Senior Bowl and stuff.”
Mike McDaniel:
“That’s the only way that you have – you don’t plan on having injuries. You just plan on going through the process like they do and the coaching staff will join eventually. And when you go about it with that diligence and that intent, you wind up with players like Kader (Kohou). We didn’t go out trying to find a corner that would start for us, but he ended up starting because you’re doing your due diligence.”
Chris Grier:
(What are your early leanings on TE Mike Gesicki after watching one season of the marriage between him and this offense?) – “I think Mike (Gesicki) did a good job this year. I think we had a great individual conversation with him probably a couple hours ago. I told Mike I was proud of him. He did a nice job and made some plays yesterday for us, got us back in the game. He worked through it all this year. We’ll see what the future holds. He’s earned the right to be a free agent, but we’re happy for him and he did a nice job. I know his teammates are happy for him, as you saw when he scored the touchdown yesterday.”
(There obviously was hope that OL Liam Eichenberg would thrive at left guard and T Austin Jackson at right tackle. Unfortunately, both got hurt. Liam ended up playing more. Do you have any initial instincts whether you want to continue down that course with those positions, with those players, to allow them to win starting jobs next year or if you need to address those two positions elsewhere this offseason?) – “I think at every position we’ll always keep – but they’re two young players and again, this would be the first offense they will be in for two years in a row. Liam (Eichenberg) showed some really good signs of playing well for stretches after adjusting to the system and being asked to do stuff he had never done before. We actually joked before one of our games when he got hurt, a coach and a GM of another team came over and was like, ‘Man, losing Eichenberg hurt, because he said he’d been playing really well for you.’ So it’s encouraging to hear that from others and to see work that Mike (McDaniel) and (Offensive Coordinator) Frank (Smith) and (Offensive Line Coach) Matt (Applebaum) and the offensive staff put in with him, and his hard work as well. Then Austin (Jackson) was playing really good. He was the one we were talking about all preseason and then he gets hurt Week 1 on kind of a fluke thing. Then he comes back and (has the) same injury, which is a one in a million thing. Again, he’s still young, a lot of upside, needs to keep developing and continue, but he’s still – they’re both part of the plan, and we’ll give them opportunities to grow and compete here.”
Mike McDaniel:
(I know the season just ended, but what were some of your biggest takeaways or lessons learned from your rookie season as a head coach?) – “There’s a lot to learn each and every game, just each and every experience. I didn’t really realize how rewarding a lot of things would be. I didn’t realize how certain things not going your way would keep you up quite as late at night. I think all in all, I think that’s kind of the nature of how I’ve learned to try to attack each and every year in anything you do is find more to learn from than the Average Joe. So that doesn’t change in this seat by any stretch – there’s new things that happen every day. I’m excited to have a little experience with handling each and every one of them. Although I’ve thought about it, it’s a different thing to really attack it. You learn that you are only as good as everyone you work with. I think I thought about that going into it. That was a principle and philosophy of mine, but truly living it, you just rely on a lot of people deciding to go in one direction. It’s a humbling experience, but it’s also very validating and reinforces what the position truly is – that you are a service to a lot of people that are trying all to do the same thing. Trying to orchestrate that is not easy, but it sure is worth it.”
Chris Grier:
(How do you approach QB Tua Tagovailoa’s contract coming up with the fifth-year option and if possible, an extension?) – “Like I said, we’ll have discussions and talk through it, just like we’ll have discussions with Christian Wilkins and all these other guys that are coming up here.”
(Are you open to taking the fifth-year option with QB Tua Tagovailoa?) – “I think everything is on the table for us.”
(You mentioned DT Christian Wilkins, who is eligible for an extension. How big of a priority is getting that done after the type of year that he’s had?) – “Yeah, Christian (Wilkins) has had back-to-back really good years for us. Everything he’s done on and off the field. Last week, it was a Wednesday or Thursday?”
Mike McDaniel:
“Thursday, I’ll never forget it.”
Chris Grier:
“(laughter) (Mike McDaniel) is in my office talking and it’s about 6:45 (p.m.) and all of a sudden, he goes, ‘What is that?’ And it’s dark and the lights are on the field. We see someone working out. ‘Who is it?’ So he flashed the laser pointer on him and he looks up and it was Christian (Wilkins) out there by himself at 6:45 (p.m.) in the dark doing drills to work. So that’s just the type of person he is and how much he loves this game and the leadership role that Mike (McDaniel) and the players have empowered him in. So for us, yeah, it’ll be important to talk to him and work with him and keep him here, because he’s been a big part. He was one of the first guys here through this, and we talked about that after the Jets game. We hugged after he does his usual jump trying to knock me over and hurt my ACL. (laughter) But we talked about that – he’d been through a lot of stuff and how happy he was to get a chance to go to the playoffs.”
Mike McDaniel:
(Can you talk about yesterday coming close but also the last few minutes and time management and all that? You probably thought about it. What went wrong? What can you correct?) – “I always think about – so I think about it this way. So there’s, I think, in the regular season offensively, there was 1,084 plays. It’s like kind of a baseball player. A lot of them don’t work with every one (of them) intending to work. So there’s a lot of constructive criticism that I put on myself, first and foremost. The bottom line is in the biggest moment, we weren’t able to execute. There was compounding variables to that, things that you can’t really change in hindsight. There are some things that, as I mentioned before, that I need to work out with the staff. The bottom line is I need to work it out with the staff. So if it became a problem in crunch time, that’s ultimately my responsibility. It wasn’t necessarily for a lack of direction. It was more just really working on the nuances of communication, which starts with me. That being said, I think that’s the most important thing that I took from it. I don’t think it helped the situation to have the rookie quarterback in a (third) start with a new starting running back, a new starting left guard, a new right guard and a new starting right tackle. All those things hurt communication, probably. The way I look at things is in hindsight, you learn that (with) that many new players in one game, you have to be mindful of that when you’re building a plan with a lot of communication. So (like) all things, you learn from it. I was proud of the guys, really proud of the entire team, for allowing us to be in that situation. And because of that, there’s a lot of young players that really can understand the gravity of how you operate in the spring (and) how you operate in training camp. All of it matters because you’re building for those moments where you don’t want a time issue to be the reason why you’re having to watch the rest of the postseason from your home.”
(Has QB Skylar Thompson earned the privilege to be the No. 2 quarterback behind QB Tua Tagovailoa or will there be competition in training camp?) – “Man, if I had an answer to that, it would be bittersweet for you because it would be cool to have an answer to write about but then how much work am I really doing? (laughter) I think his teammates were very pumped about how he rose to the occasion. I think he was the second seventh-round rookie to start a playoff game. He was just a day late and a dollar short and he could have been the first. (laughter) Not only that but on top of that, it’s easy to forget that he started a game, got injured and then was out. So he came back from injury. One of the reasons why it’s so impressive is an NFL season is a grind for college players. All rookies involved in that know exactly what I’m talking about. It’s like ‘Whoa, we’re still playing football.’ He was relentless about the season. Really, the veterans all trusted him with the season on the line. That’s a huge ringing endorsement from his teammates. We’ll see what ole Chris (Grier) has up his sleeve. You never know. He’s got long sleeves. (laughter)”
Chris Grier:
(From watching this defense, do you believe that upgrades are needed at inside linebacker? And with you guys up against the cap, is there money for any real impact outside signing at any position?) – “Yeah, we always have flexibility. We’ve done a lot of work to make sure we maintain that. What it is right now is not what it will be at the start of the season. For us, like I said, we’re going to keep going through our process here of evaluating everything. I think guys, especially the defense in the second half of the year, played really well. We were just talking about when Bradley (Chubb) came on, our analytics ran steady for us and we moved into like the top 10 or top eight of six of our 12 metrics we evaluate for defense. Just his impact coming in. And that’s run and pass. In the exit meetings today, some of the defensive guys were talking about how cool he was, what a good guy, work ethic, toughness, leadership. I think with all of that, we look at it all. Elandon Roberts did a nice job showing leadership. (Jerome) Baker, Duke (Riley), all of those guys. Channing (Tindall), we’re excited for his future in terms of developing, which we kind of expected that this year, that he would be more of a special teams guy. Sam (Eguavoen) did a nice job on special teams. I don’t want to leave anyone out. But that position – I know you’re asking because there are a lot of free agents at that position – but we’ll just keep doing our work and filling in the holes like we always do.”
(Considering all of the injuries this team had, will you be placing greater emphasis on a player’s injury history in roster decisions going forward?) – “I think you can’t be scared with stuff. Talk about Terron (Armstead). He’s a Pro Bowl left tackle and the impact he had with us in terms of leadership and what he did on the field for us. Raheem (Mostert) is another guy people talked about being hurt and had a career year and everything he had done in terms of leadership and stuff again. If you’re scared – like Bradley (Chubb) again. He’s another one that people said was a good player and the right type of person that you bring into the building for a young team to help impact. It’s (more) far-reaching than if they miss a game or two here. You never hope they do but injuries happen. It’s football. As I told you guys before, my dad drafted Curtis Martin. Curtis Martin never finished a (season) in his college career and everyone said it was a mistake. And then he (hardly) ever missed a game in his (NFL) career.”
Mike McDaniel:
“I wouldn’t want to be the GM that took Frank Gore off my board.”
(Earlier you kind of alluded to OL Liam Eichenberg and OL Austin Jackson playing in the same offense for the second year in a row. What are some of the tangible impacts of that continuity coming into Year 2 next year for the offense to take another step forward?) – “It is really the nuts and bolts of execution and understanding the foundational movement and prioritizing every single inch that you approach how you block people. Those things – the game of inches – is a cliché for a reason. Part of the philosophy of the offense is very specific in how you attack and try to enter into your blocks on the other side of the line of scrimmage. That is also in conflict to a lot of things that have been deliberately trained for an extended period of time. The bottom line is to undo that, it’s one thing in practice. I think they did a phenomenal job of that and more often than not, it was applied to the game. But there were times when you just go to muscle memory of sorts, that you can play out of your drill work, that reverts to things you’ve done in the past. And that type of disconnect, if you have two linemen on different levels, I’ll tell you one thing; a d-lineman or a linebacker is not getting blocked. So you have to be in concert. It’s extremely important and very beneficial in this type of system in Year 2, specifically, to really have that Year 1 groundwork prove great dividends in Year 2.”
Chris Grier:
(Is 9-9 a fair reflection of this season?) – “That’s a good question. You know me, I started with Bill Parcells and he says you are what you are. (laughter) It is what it is. We had a year – we haven’t had injuries like this since probably 2017 maybe was the last time we were this ravaged by injuries. We finished where we were but we got to the playoffs and had a chance to win a playoff game versus one of the best teams in football. That’s what it is.”
Jaylen Waddle – January 16, 2023
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Monday, January 16, 2022
WR Jaylen Waddle
(After watching yesterday’s game. Do you wish you had some of those plays back?) – “Yeah, definitely. Definitely. Definitely.”
(After the game, what was the message from Head Coach Mike McDaniel to all the guys in the locker room?) – “Really just stay together. Learn from it and just stay together.”
(How do you build off of this season?) – “You go about it, look at film, take the experience and just learn from it.”
(What do you think the playoff game yesterday did for you guys?) – “I think we could just learn a lot from it. I think we’re a young team. We can learn a lot from just having that playoff experience, that playoff game. It was hostile out there. It got chippy. It was a great, great playoff game.”
(How pleased are you with you year, obviously leading the league in yards per reception? And is there another big step you think you can even make?) – “I feel like it was okay. It was okay for me, personally. I definitely didn’t end the season how I wanted to. I can take steps forward in so many aspects of my game, for sure.”
(What do the next few weeks look like for you?) – “It’s going to be a lot of relaxation getting my body right, hanging out with family, family time.”
(Does the waddle celebration change for next season?) – “I don’t know. I haven’t thought about it, honestly. I couldn’t tell you.”
(Adam Schefter reported QB Tua Tagovailoa could be back. How exciting is that after everything he’s been through this year, knowing he’ll be back?) – “You’ve got to be excited. Tua is a great player, a special player. So going out there and having him out there is always good.”
Bradley Chubb – January 16, 2023
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Monday, January 16, 2023
LB Bradley Chubb
(The dreaded day in football. What are you feeling today?) – “It’s just a little unfortunate. All the things that this team went through this year and the position we were in, we still had an opportunity to make noise and just came up short. It’s a bittersweet day because you know what’s coming in the future and what we could build off of and what we could do mentality-wise and overall. It’s cool, but it’s going to hurt over the offseason. It’s an added use for motivation. I know me and ‘JP’ (Jaelan Phillips) talked last night, man, we’re just going to get to it and understand that we just have to (hone our) craft, make sure we’re leading the pack and make sure we’re doing everything we can do to help this organization take it to the next step.”
(When they brought you in, there was a boost. There was a boost that you felt and then a bunch of things happened, from injuries to guys out to the uncertainty.) – “No doubt, and that’s how the NFL season goes. There’s so much uncertainty out there and we just have to understand it. We saw how it was. We just have to do a better job controlling it in the future. Adversity and all that, change and all that, it helps out in the future. So I’m just excited to see where this thing goes.”
(What do you build off of this season?) – “There’s a lot of things we can build off of – just the offense, how they came and exploded, and everybody just saw their growth. The defense, when I came, everybody felt, like you said, the added bolt of energy and seeing how everybody kind of came together towards the end in playoff football. We started playing a little bit better as a whole unit and just building off that. Understanding who the leaders are, following those guys and setting the standard and setting the tone of where we want to be as a team. Once that happens, man, everything is going to be exactly where we need it.”
(For you, how much more impactful do you think you can be next season looking ahead since you’ll be there from the beginning?) – “Man, just very impactful. Going through OTAs, going through the offseason program, getting closer with the guys, because football, man, the game is the game, but I feel like it’s the relationships that take it to the next level. I came in, made good relationships with guys, but I want to take it to the next level and be there when their kid gets born and they’re saying, ‘Uncle Chubb,’ and stuff like that – take it to that level. I feel like we can do that, we’re going to do that and it’s going to be fun when it all comes together.”
(Between you and LB Jaelan Phillips, how scary can this combination be?) – “It could be real scary, man. It could be real scary. We’re looking forward to all the things that we’ve got coming ahead and looking forward to the future.”
Christian Wilkins – January 16, 2023
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Monday, January 16, 2023
DT Christian Wilkins
(Do you think this is like an origin story for the team?) – “I don’t think about it that deep or look at it that deep or anything like that, but I just think we’re definitely doing some things the right way, moving in the right direction and there’s a lot to look forward to like I said, as an organization and as a team. So I’m just excited. If everyone handles their business this offseason, I’m excited to see what we can do next year and the years to come.”
(How different does this day feel from all the other ones that you’ve been in the NFL?) – “Different in ways, but it’s all the same because you didn’t get to the big game and you didn’t have an opportunity to play for that. But definitely a lot of positives to leave with from the season and I learned a lot this year both as an individual and about my teammates and things like that. So I definitely am leaving with a sense of optimism and just looking forward to what’s to come.”
(What do you know this year – after a few years in the NFL – to have the kind of year you did, that you didn’t know when you came into the league?) – “It’s just really – you develop each year. Stick to a routine, stick to a plan and you improve on that each year and you just try to be your best each and every year. There’s a lot of things I learned schematically about our defense, about how offenses try to attack us and different things like that that allow me to play at a higher level and be more productive and just overall confidence. When you put your all into something each and every day with few days off, you’ve got no choice but to get better at what you do.”
(How much were you able to grow as a leader this year?) – “Definitely. Growing as a leader was definitely a point of emphasis of mine this year because I try to do a lot of things the right way not just on the field, but off the field and carry myself in a way to where people can look at me and count on me so that’s only going to improve and just like anything, it’s a skill so you can always work on it, can always work at it, always find ways to improve and it’s something I’m going to improve on and get better at.”
(We move onto the business side of the proposition. What do you expect this offseason from the Dolphins?) – “I’m not paying attention to that. I’m not in control of that. That’s up to the powers that be – my agent, whoever else – but I just like I said, control what I can control, do what I can on the field. If I do what I can around the building and things like that, then that’ll all take care of itself.”
(If I can ask you just the motivational factors, just the way this defense played yesterday against a team that Head Coach Mike McDaniel called one of the best, if not the best in the NFL? What do you take from that?) – “Again, like I was just saying earlier, there’s a lot of positives you can take away. It wasn’t perfect, but we did some good things and we played hard and we fought hard to the very end. That’s one of the things I appreciate about this team and respect about this team and the guys on defense and everything. Even when things were at their worst, we never blinked. We never wavered. Maybe a lot of you and a lot of people on the outside didn’t believe in us. But we believed in each other, and we fought hard each and every day. So that’s one thing I can appreciate about my teammates and our defense and our team as a whole.”
(If I could follow up, what does it say about Head Coach Mike McDaniel keeping this team together through QB Tua Tagovailoa’s situation, injuries, a losing streak? What does it say about him?) – “It says a lot and it’s easy to follow a guy who leads the way he does, in the manner that he does. He never flinches. He never blinks. He embraces adversity so you as a man and you as a follower of a leader like that; it’s definitely something I take from him. Just embracing adversity and just looking at it all as an opportunity.”
(What do you think getting to the playoffs and that experience yesterday, what do you think that can do for you guys going forward?) – “I think it was definitely good because I’ve never played in a playoff game. That was my first time. This organization, we haven’t been in the playoffs in however many years and haven’t won a game in even longer, so it’s definitely just getting a rep of it knowing what we can be, what it feels like, what it looks like, all that. I’m already ready to fast forward to next year and already start training and doing things I need to do because I’m excited for what’s going to come for the years to come. Absolutely.”
(How different was a playoff game?) – “It’s all football. It’s all a game. But there’s an extra sense of urgency, an extra sense of heightened physicality, heightened sense of urgency, all that. So like I said, it was good to get that rep and hopefully we’ll get the opportunity to play in a lot more of those games down the line.”
(Obviously you’re in line for an extension this offseason, but what does it mean to you to have seen improvement over these past few years to put yourself in line to get an extension?) – “I always try to keep perspective and just appreciate the distance traveled individually definitely. It was rough for me my rookie year and I just work tirelessly every day because I love this football stuff. I love my teammates, I love Miami, I love this organization so I put my all into it, not for myself but for the people that it affects. And I’m going to continue to do that moving forward. I’m just grateful for the distance traveled for myself individually.”
Jerome Baker – January 16, 2023
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Monday, January 16, 2023
LB Jerome Baker
(Now with a day to digest this game, how proud of you are of this season?) – “I’m definitely proud. We definitely accomplished some things. It’s just unfortunate we lost but it’s part of the game.”
(What are some of the things that you’re going to build off of and this team needs to build off of in the offseason?) – “I’m sure we’re going to sit down and address that and figure that out. Right now, it’s kind of just waiting and getting back to normal. We definitely have some great people here and it’s going to be some great years coming.”
(How different does this day – the garbage bags and everything being packed up and all the stuff going on. How different does it feel?) – “It definitely feels different. It’s one of those feelings that you know it’s going to happen every year but you still can’t get used to it. But you’ve got to do it and we’ll figure it out next year.”
(How tough is it to not look back at what could have been? Especially in that game yesterday?) – “For me, it’s pretty easy because I know I can’t change it, so I’m not going to dwell on it. But we definitely could have made some plays. We definitely could have done some things differently and changed the outcome. But it’s too late to say anything about that now. Now it’s just about going forward.”
(How long do you step away from football in the offseason before kind of going back into that mentality of workouts?) – “I don’t know. It changes every year for me. Some years I want to get back in the gym like next week. Sometimes it’s like let me take a few weeks off and take a vacation. Usually after a vacation I’m ready to go back. But it changes every year.”
Skylar Thompson – January 15, 2023 (Postgame)
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Sunday, January 15, 2023
Postgame – Buffalo
QB Skylar Thompson
(Can you walk us through the challenge you guys had with the system and getting it off on time? What was wrong there?) – “I feel like our operation in general today struggled at times, and I take full responsibility for it. Yeah, it was a loud environment, but we knew that going into it. I feel like there were things that I could have done better to help that be smoother. Those experiences are great learning experiences for me. I take full responsibility for those miscues and just not being clean in all aspects at times. So it’s something to learn from and take from and get better next time.”
(What did you think of the playoff atmosphere on the road in a hostile environment and how you handled it?) – “Yeah, it was really fun. It was really fun. Never try to take for granted getting an opportunity to play this game, especially in an atmosphere like this. This is – as a little kid, this is every kid’s dream to play in an atmosphere like this and have this opportunity. I did take some time to soak that in today and try to cherish it, and it was awesome. It was awesome. It was unfortunate that we couldn’t come up with the win, because I felt like our team fought really, really hard today. You could tell there was no quit in us. Walking into this game, nobody gave us a chance at all, and we had a chance to win it. That’s what you want, and it just speaks volumes about the fight in this team, the guys that we have in this locker room, the people that we have in this organization from top to bottom. I do feel like we are moving in the right direction in this organization and guys are hungry. It’ll be important to remember this feeling that we have right now in this offseason and get to work.”
(Is there maybe one passing play that you think could have been made to maybe change the score?) – “Yeah. Yeah, that last interception there on the third-and-19. It was a bad decision on my part. I just have to know the situation we’re in there. I felt it go to Tampa 2, I was trying to two-on-one the safety. The corner did a good job of just falling off. We did have a quick slant coming underneath it and I had a checkdown, too, looking at the pictures after the play. I just have to understand the situation there and just take yards and play field position there and not force something. That’s not – that one hurts. That one hurts, but I just got to learn from it.”
(What did Head Coach Mike McDaniel say to – what was kind of his final message to you guys in the postgame locker room?) – “He was – obviously, we’re all hurt right now. Nobody in that locker room wanted to lose, and we have a lot of competitive people with a lot of fire in them that wanted to win today. He just said he was proud of us, the way we fought, the resiliency we showed and we just have to keep trending in the right direction and learn from the mistakes, learn from every opportunity that we’ve gotten this year, that I’ve gotten. I have all the confidence in the world that we have the right guys in the locker room – they’re going to do that. I feel like we got a taste today of what we can do and what we can accomplish. We just have to build on that in the offseason and get to work.”
(A lot of seventh-round picks don’t even make an NFL roster. You did and you started a playoff game. Obviously, there’s room for growth, but what do you need to do this offseason to take the next step?) – “Yeah, I think it’s going to be – this year, man, just looking back at all the things that I’ve experienced, I’m super grateful. Because like you said, Brock Purdy is doing an exceptional job right now, but I’m very fortunate to be in the shoes that I am and get the opportunities that I’ve gotten. I think every opportunity that I’ve gotten is a great learning experience for me – the highs, the lows. It’s just having faith in the process, and that’s something I’ve done my whole life. It hasn’t always been clear and perfect and sunshine and rainbows, but one thing about me is I’m going to take some time here to decompress, it’s been a crazy long year from going from draft prep to this – it’s been a year full of football. I think it’s important for me to take some time away and decompress and just be me for a second and let the game kind of just rest for a second and then get back into it. I think the biggest thing for me is just understanding the ins and outs of the offense. Right now, I do everything I can to be prepared. I prepare so hard, and I hope my teammates feel that in me and see that and know that I give it everything that I’ve got. Just the ins and outs of the offense, understanding situational football, understanding the way that the game works in the NFL and being able to put us in great situations to win, I feel like there’s glimpses of times where I’m doing that and then there’s glimpses where it’s like, ‘Man,’ like the interception. Just things to learn from and understanding defenses even more, there’s so much work to be done – that’s what’s exciting. That’s what’s exciting about this position is as soon as you feel like you’ve got it figured out, you should be done playing the game, because there’s always stuff to learn, there’s always stuff to grow from. That’s one thing I take pride in, making growth and getting better, and I will do that this offseason.”
(Can you describe what the stretch in the game felt like when you guys were down 17 and ended up taking the lead, just that end of the first half to the start of the second half?) – “Yeah, well – man, our defense played so good today. I’ve – that’s tough, because those guys gave us every chance to win; got a touchdown, got us turnovers, helped me out a ton. For us (to) not come out with the win hurts me a lot. But we go down 17-0, kind of struggled to get into a rhythm there. I throw an interception, just had trouble seeing the ball go through the hoop a little bit, and then once we did that, it was like, ‘OK, we’re getting in a rhythm.’ That was the biggest thing for us that everybody kept preaching was, ‘Hey, you just got to see the ball go through the net and get in a rhythm here. We did there before halftime, and our defense started that. I’ve got to be better to help out this team, because I feel like that’s a game, we definitely had an opportunity to win. I will take the credit for the loss and shoulder that and move forward.”
Mike McDaniel – January 15, 2023 (Postgame)
Sunday, January 15, 2023
Postgame – Buffalo
Head Coach Mike McDaniel
(Can you take us through what happened with some of that operation on third down that you guys had in the second half? What was the problem with the plays?) – “There was a couple different scenarios. It’s something that obviously will be a point of emphasis in the offseason, but there’s compounding variables. There was some crowd noise that had to do with mishearing some digits of the wristband. There was some issues within the huddle of communication and getting to the line of scrimmage and there was the excuse that you don’t use that you don’t use but is a real compounding variable is there was a multiple amount of different people in the huddle when you’re in a nice routine and you have maybe a group of offensive linemen that are being communicated to by the same person; when you have flux like that, it happens. It shouldn’t happen as much as it did. And then the last one in particular had to do with whether it was officials or coaching, there was some communication that we’d gotten first down. So then we were deploying a group of players for the first-and-10 call and then it was articulated that no, itw as fourth down. So that miscommunication – that’s all the stuff that you do in this business, is you never stop finding the things that you can improve on and it was a piece of the reason why we were unable to come out with a victory, but it definitely wasn’t the only reason. There was a lot of people who can find several things that they could do better including myself which we will do pressing forward.
(Were the plays coming from you any later than normal? Or was it basically just…) – “It felt – the timing of it for the most part when there wasn’t extenuating circumstances felt normal, but there was certainly some times where things were kind of going in different directions and I’m sure the plays got in a little later than I would prefer at least once or twice, but it’s all kind of lumping together right now.”
(Where did that inclination that you thought it was a first down – who or where did that come from?) – “It was communicated to me through upstairs from the headset, I think. I was standing by an official. I had just gotten convicted information that it was a first down so I don’t really know exactly who it was from. It was probably the first time all year that that had happened so you try to do your best. As it was I thought we had a fourth-and-6 opportunity that we were unable to come up with as well, so fourth-and-1 most of the time is easier than fourth-and-6, but at the same time you just have to adjust to whatever variables are put out there and I think we had a chance at fourth-and-6 as well.”
(I know that you guys have a lot of faith in QB Skylar Thompson and you have a lot of trust in him, but in a three-point loss in the playoffs, just knowing that your starting quarterback wasn’t there, how much of that is something that you think will be on your mind or you’ll just think what could have been if QB Tua Tagovailoa was there?) – “Honestly I don’t really think about it like that. Every team that I’ve ever been on that’s successful, one of the mantras and just I think people in general is if you just look at what you could have done better, I think that was the situation at hand. That was the hand that was dealt and that was part of the story that we were willing to completely – we thought that we were good enough to win this game in the hand that was dealt. So that won’t weigh on me as much as the things that as I comb the game that will be pretty tough to watch, but you do it nonetheless and I’m sure there are going to be some decisions that I would like to have back. There always are win or loss, really.”
(What do you think it was about this team that it could be the way it did when not many people thought that you could in this situation?) – “It was the same story as well season. We lost five in a row, but it wasn’t because we weren’t competitive. I think there was a couple games this season that late in the third, early in the fourth, the game kind of got out of hand. But from my memory I think it’s a group of individuals that take their job, take their teammates, take the opportunity very serious and we expected to be in every game. We were very aware that no one really gave us a shot. That was definitely an extra motivating factor, not that we needed any other motivation. That Dolphins fans and the organization – we were very aware of the drought of winning a playoff game, but that’s something that since I got the job that was been a huge motivating factor for me and I really wanted to bring the team, the organization and the fanbase and we fell short. But it wasn’t because of lack of effort or lack of determination or lack of intent. It’s because we didn’t get it done. We’re a young team and we had to learn from it and unfortunately we had to learn the hard way.”
(Do you get any additional sense of pride, I know you say it’s not always about you, but do you get a sense of pride when you see your team battle back like that? It’s now the third or fourth time that you’ve come back from a double digit deficit?) – “Absolutely. Absolutely. That’s the realness of coaching a team and the relationship with players, coaches and just knowing what happens to most people when you invest a lot and you don’t get the results you necessarily desire. Most people tap; this collection of individuals does not. Very, very proud of that. Heartbroken for the guys because they didn’t want their season to end and did everything they could, but it’s part of the sometimes hard learning lessons that are appropriate when you have high expectations, high dreams, high goals. This team much like the five-game losing streak, this team utilized it which you have to do. You utilize hard things to make you better and I was very proud of the way they fought. Have always been. That’s the standard that they’ve shown me and it’s one of the reasons that I wanted the team to progress so much, because of things like that.”
(To follow up, is it validating at all too just knowing that first season, you have a team that will rally behind you and won’t quit on you?) – “Yeah, I think as a coach you definitely take it personal when guys, regardless of if it’s their intent or not, you find your expectation for your job is to be able to motivate people to put forth their best effort. So if you don’t get that, it’s kind of a gut check to your whole, ‘What am I supposed to be doing out here in the first place? Shouldn’t I be able to motivate these players to do what I know can lead to a team victory?’ So yeah, I would say that it is validating for myself but I don’t really look at anything as just myself. I – immediately , that’s an extension of the rest of the coaching staff and let me know that we’re going in the right direction, even if we want that direction to be now and even if we – sometimes, it’s these types of lessons that have to push you over the top when you have the opportunity to go all the way and you don’t shortchange it at all. So that’s what we’ll try to do in the offseason and get better from it, for sure.”
(T Terron Armstead played with four injuries that we know of at least. What does that tell you about what you’ve brought to this organization with T Terron Armstead?) – “We kind of had some insider trading in terms of (Offensive Coordinator) Frank Smith had been with him in New Orleans, so we knew kind of the guy we were investing in. Those are the type of people that if you’re having the expectation to win football games, those are the type of people you have to invest in. And investing in them is, literally, the guys that you go out and pay, they have to have that mindset if you’re expecting to try to win a championship as an organization. So I think he’s just delivering on what was advertised. One of the reasons we were here, even when he wasn’t on the field, is everything we relied on from him as a captain. He really – it was the youngest offensive line room that I’ve ever been around by far, and he really helped them set the vision. Because there’s – when you’re trying to do stuff differently, you have to have a different standard with how you do things and there has to be a level of strain that if you’re trying to get better or be great that you haven’t ever done before. Those type of things – you can a lot of times beat people in the face with all sorts of coach-speak and come up with the best ways to say stuff, but more often than not, you need players to deliver and push that message through to everyone. He was one of those guys that really helped get us to a point where we expect to win and are disappointed when we don’t.”
(There was a report from ESPN today that QB Tua Tagovailoa does intend to play next year and you intend to have him as your quarterback. Is that report accurate? And if so, can you explain your thinking behind it?) – First and foremost, you guys know with Tua (Tagovailoa), we’re worried about it on a day-to-day basis – how’s he doing today and just worried about his health. Now, with that being said, yeah, of course. You guys know how I feel about Tua and that hasn’t changed at all. I see, I think we all see, him as the leader of this team and when it’s appropriate for him to lead the team, I will jump on that opportunity. He’s a great player with only improvement in front of him as well. We’re talking about a 24-year-old quarterback that I think when I signed up for this job, I spent six months trying to convince people that he was good. So the fact that people are – the fact that Las Vegas saw it as a four-point swing when it was announced that he was – it means that, he’s a … Yes, this is a challenging time for him, yes, his health is of primary importance, but I would be a fool to not embrace him when he’s healthy and ready to go. We’ll all be excited for that.”
(You may need some time to reflect on it, but how would you asses how you handled your first head coaching season?) – “I’ll definitely need some time to reflect on it, for sure. This was – you talk about working your whole life in one direction for a singular goal, this place feels right. I feel very fortunate. I feel very bound and determined to always improve. I think there’s always good and there’s always bad. I think the second that you start thinking that you’re problem-less or that you’ve figured it out is when stuff passes by. I know one thing – without question, I know I did the very best that I could for all the people involved, which is extremely important to me. So I am proud of that, and I know there will be plenty of things that I’ll get better at which is the way I look at the expectation for myself and my job. That will never change; that will be the same thing every year, but my primary concern is that I do everything possible to try to put people in positions for success, because that’s what this role can offer. I think I’m happy with that and not happy with today’s result, which I don’t think I’ll ever be until it’s the final game of the season and you’re champion.”
(Can we just get clarity because it might be a thing – did the refs tell you it was first down? Or did it come from upstairs?) – “I don’t think it was – I don’t think it was the refs. I think it was from the headset, to be honest. It didn’t really matter to me, because I’m not pointing fingers. But I’m pretty sure – I don’t think I saw a sign. After the game, there’s a lot of stuff going on at all times, so I think I was under the assumption that it was first down because of a coach communication, because I don’t remember seeing a sign.”
