Justin Bethel – October 23, 2022 (Postgame)
Sunday, October 23, 2022
Postgame – Pittsburgh
CB Justin Bethel
(What do you say about a guy like S Jevon Holland back there? He’s in control no matter what – no matter who is in there, right?) – “For sure. He is a great player. He is going to continue to be a great player for a long time. We just keep getting better from here.”
(As a defense, do you enjoy those moments when the game is coming down and it is in your hands the last couple series?) – “Yeah, when you’re in that kind of situation – the offense has done everything they need to do, and as a defense, it’s our job to keep the opponent from scoring. So, the offensive guys gave us the lead, and we were able to stop them from scoring at the end of the game.”
(What was your game plan against the Pittsburgh Steelers tonight that you felt worked so well? What did you like about what Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer came up with?) – “I think he did a great job just knowing the personnel that we had especially with everyone kind of being down DB-wise and making a plan that we could go out there and execute at a high level and be able to make plays on the ball.”
Raheem Mostert – October 23, 2022 (Postgame)
Sunday, October 23, 2022
Postgame – Pittsburgh
RB Raheem Mostert
(How great was it to pull off a win after losing three straight, to get back on that winning side of things?) – “It feels great. It’s always great when you get a win, but we have to move on to the next team. It’s the 24-48 hour rule, soak it all in and get back to work tomorrow or even Tuesday.”
(Primetime game, did you guys feel that atmosphere electric out there? And Tua (Tagovailoa) came back as well.) – “We felt it. When Tua came out there, you could just feel the energy. That’s something that we need on this team, especially having three losses. That energy was exciting. It pumped us all up, and I’m just happy that we won.”
(We’ve been waiting for game changing plays on defense too, how about that down the stretch?) – “Yeah, that was major, especially Jevon coming up with that interception big time in a critical situation, so the offense just has to capitalize on those opportunities, and they definitely gave us some opportunities to capitalize.”
Tua Tagovailoa – October 23, 2022 (Postgame)
Sunday, October 23, 2022
Postgame – Pittsburgh
QB Tua Tagovailoa (Transcribed by ASAP Sports)
Q. How did it feel to be back?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: It felt good. It felt good running out the tunnel. The atmosphere was great. A lot of support from the fans, and just being able to be out there with my teammates, it was awesome.
Q. Two late drives, the Steelers are driving both times for a potential go ahead score, what’s going through your head on the sideline?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Well, situational awareness of things that could possibly happen if they do score, if they had to kick a field goal, things like that. I would say I was prepared for whatever happened, if they did kick a field goal, and then we got the ball back, or if they scored and we got the ball back. The time, what that looks like with two time-outs that we had left. So going over situational awareness.
Q. When you see Noah get that toe-tagging grab in the back of the end zone, corner of the end zone, what emotions are coming upon you at that point?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Yeah, it’s gratifying. I think the defense played their asses off throughout the whole night. They gave us many opportunities offensively to go and put points on the board for our team so that we wouldn’t be in the situation we were in late in the game where it was
10-16. A lot of things that need to be corrected offensively. Obviously starts with me. But we’ll take the win. We’re extremely happy about that, and we’ll go back to the drawing board when we come back in. But to what you said — you know, a situation was coming to mind, as well, when Noah did get the interception because we thought he was probably down at the half yard line, maybe 1-yard line. I’m not too sure. That situation we probably have to quarterback sneak or do something like that to get out of the end zone and just run the clock down. But they called it a touchback, so we were able to kneel the ball.
Q. What was working so well early, especially in the middle of the field, and how did that close up as the game went on?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Yeah, I think they made really good adjustments defensively, but there were just little misses here and there that we had offensively. A lot of the misses could have turned into really big plays. Just better execution, and it starts with me, like I said.
Q. You finally had the opportunity to meet with Bob Griese for the first time. What did you take away from that experience?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: He’s a cool guy. We just said what’s up. He just said, “Are you going to ball out tonight?” I said, “That’s the plan.” We just had that kind of conversation back and forth. Really cool guy. Really awesome to kind of be around him and the other guys. It’s a great opportunity to be around a team and a group of guys like that, an undefeated season in the NFL. That’s hard. It’s hard to win games in the NFL. It’s greatness that I was able to shake their hands.
Q. How did it feel getting out there? Not having been out … are there any adjustments at this point in the season or because it’s this point in the season you’re (indiscernible)?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Well, not being able to play two games does have an effect on my performance in a way that I haven’t seen full speed reps in practice where guys are coming to hit me, tackle me. You know, so kind of getting used to that, and really just being able to help our o-line out, trying to get the ball out faster, trying to make quicker decisions for our guys, just so the defensive line doesn’t get comfortable with their rush patterns and kind of finding the spot of where I’m dropping at. Yeah, there are some things that you do kind of have to just see when you play the game. You don’t get some of the looks in practice.
Q. You said some plays could have turned into big plays. Did you feel fortunate that there were some potential interceptions dropped? Do you need some of that to win a game?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: I wasn’t talking about their defense, I was talking about our offense. Miscues with ball placement, communication with a route that this receiver thought was this look and I thought was that look. Just miscommunications on our part with that. We just couldn’t find our rhythm again. Yeah, that’s something we’ll have to work on.
Q. You had two times where you lowered your shoulder and you were the aggressor there lowering the head. You had said this week that was something you might want to avoid. In the moment is it too hard to avoid?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Well, situation, I can see the first down, and to me there were close calls where it’s like, okay, maybe if I do just put my shoulder down, hopefully I can get forward progress with this. But that was all it was. I wasn’t trying to be Superman or a superhero out there. I was just looking at the situation. The second one was a third down, try to run and lower my shoulder hoping to get through the guy to get the first down. That’s all it was.
Q. Did you talk to Brian Flores afterward on the field?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Nope.
Jaylen Waddle – October 23, 2022 (Postgame)
Sunday, October 23, 2022
Postgame – Pittsburgh
WR Jaylen Waddle
(What did you like out of QB Tua Tagovailoa on that first opening drive? I believe that he was 6-of-7, but the ball was coming down really quick, finding you a couple of times on that drive too.) – “Seemed like he ain’t even missed a step; wasn’t rusty at all. Trusted what he saw, so it was good.”
(It looked like at times when you’re out there, you can find these, is it finding soft spots in that defense over the middle or were those kind of just designed routes?) – “Yeah, trying to find soft spots, so we were just getting a lot of zone, so it’s just getting in there, sitting down where I need to sit. I think Mike (McDaniel) did a good job of play design, putting us all in position to make plays.”
(You’re a young player who’s seen a lot of success early in your career. What was it like seeing a player like CB Noah Igbinoghene get that pick and the celebration for everybody afterwards?) – “It’s big, man. Noah (Igbinoghene) works tremendously hard throughout the week, and we’re all rooting for him. We expect that from him every week. Noah’s a great player.”
Mike McDaniel – October 23, 2022 (Postgame)
Sunday, October 23, 2022
Postgame – Pittsburgh
Head Coach Mike McDaniel
Q. A couple close endings this season already. Those last two drives – picks off Kenny Pickett and then Noah Igbinoghene gets the toe-tapping grab? What’s going through your mind those two moments?
MIKE McDANIEL: ‘Hooray.’ This is something that we’ve been making a big point of emphasis within the team on turnover differential. So it’s something that we’ve been focusing on, getting one early, and then at the end of the game when it mattered most to get two more was obviously the difference in winning and losing. So it was very exciting, but on top of that, it was something that we’ve made a focal point so it was good to see that happen.
Q. What do you think happened with the offense? Obviously they scored 13 points in the first quarter, three the rest of the game. You were bogged down in the red zone. What do you think went into that?
MIKE McDANIEL: There was some — it wasn’t one thing. We were doing some good things, and players were doing some solid things. But then there was key mistakes, whether it was a bad play call or it was a guy making a play here or there. We just weren’t really coming together. We lacked that rhythm and especially after we had in the third quarter, that first drive that we went for it on fourth-and-3 in the tight red, felt like right after that we kind of hit a lull that we can all learn from because it was like we got punched in the stomach or something. Yeah, it was a struggle to the Pittsburgh Steelers defense, to their credit. They adjusted themselves, and we didn’t make the further adjustment, which is something that we’ll focus on moving forward.
Q. You mentioned that fourth-and-3. Can you discussion the decision to go for it there and then also the play call?
MIKE McDANIEL: Yeah, so that’s something that we’ll never — I’m very aware that it’s one of those things that if it works, it’s a great play, and if it doesn’t, you know exactly what you have to — it could be a deciding factor in the game, so you do that. I think at the moment I had some faith in the players and then regardless, you do it, and you don’t convert; that’s a bad decision because you have points, especially with the way Jason (Sanders) is kicking. It would have been a two-score game. Those are things that you’re well aware of when you enter into it. It was something that I felt pretty good about it working out. It didn’t, so that’s something that I take full responsibility for and luckily the rest of the team had that decision’s back, and we were able to come up with a win.
Q. Specifically to that, was it one of those — in terms of your decision-making process, do you have somebody in your ear telling you the analytics behind it and win probability and then you go with your gut, or is it just a pure numbers thing in deciding?
MIKE McDANIEL: No, I have a couple guys within analytics that are in my ear in all those types of situations. In this situation they did not advise me to go for it. So there’s plenty of decisions that are made that — it’s a balancing act. You take the statistical percentage chance, which is what they’re evaluating, and it’s one of those things, I think it was a fourth — I think the scoreboard might have said three, but I think it was like a long two and a half, but it’s one of those if it’s fourth-and-2 they’re a lot more supportive; fourth-and-3 the percentages go way down. But that was something that I do pretty much every game where you’re balancing that with the momentum of the game and where we were at. I felt really confident that we’d be able to convert. Obviously we didn’t. I would have never even entered into that chance-taking process if I wasn’t super confident in the way the defense was playing. I really wanted the team to be able to make it a two-touchdown game because we were going to go for two if we were able to get in the end zone and score. It didn’t work out, but that’s why it’s an entire team function and job to win a football game. The defense came through, and we didn’t turn the ball over, so we ended up on the winning side.
Q. From a defensive perspective, what are some things you liked about what Josh Boyer did from a planning and then in-game adjustments, especially with all the injuries?
MIKE McDANIEL: No, it was a tremendous plan. We felt pretty good about our matchups with regard to our front and how we could really disrupt them and get them out of the pocket. We didn’t really get the sacks that we were hoping for, but you have to be very disciplined with that young quarterback because he is quick and he can make you pay if your rush lanes don’t have integrity. I really liked that. I really liked how the plan all week was going to play to our strength and then utilize fundamentals and make them earn everything and be physical. We’ve been working on a lot of open-field tackling and things like that and getting turnovers, and I thought collectively the entire defensive staff and the defensive players put forth a very winning effort, so it’s encouraging.
Q. Tua’s performance especially the quick start after missing three games and two full weeks of practice?
MIKE McDANIEL: It’s not an easy thing to do because we were on a Thursday night game in Cincinnati when he last played. Those games you don’t have full-speed practices. So his last full-speed practice was before the Buffalo game, which was our third game of the season. It’s to his credit. If he wasn’t so prepared and hadn’t put himself in the position of playing quarterback when he was out, he wouldn’t have been able to have any sort of success like that because it wasn’t like — I mean, it was a legitimate couple weeks where you’re not playing football. I think he did a tremendous job. I know he’s a competitor and a perfectionist and there was some stuff, particularly in the second half that was getting him frustrated to a degree but did everything it took to win the game, and that’s all that matters.
Q. Were you okay with him twice lowering his shoulder in those situations?
MIKE McDANIEL: You know, it’s hard. Was I advising him to do that? I think no. I think he immediately the next series after the first time he did it, he was like, ‘Coach, I’m sorry. I needed that.’ I was like, all right. But it is football, and he’s going to protect himself, and he’s got that component to his game where he’s a competitor and he’s trying to get a first down for his team. I’m never going to totally encourage that at all. I’m probably going to advise him to slide every time, but when push comes to shove and a guy has the ball in his hands, it’s going to be tough to get him to completely turn it down, although I will try.
Q. Going back to the no-interception, how proud of him are you for that, and what do you think that will do for his confidence?
MIKE McDANIEL: No, it’s a big deal. It just goes to show, and it’s a great example for the entire team, this is a guy that because of certain matchups that we had going on at the beginning of the year, he didn’t start the year dressing. You can go one of two ways with that. You can either let it define you and rattle you, or you can not even blink and worry about the opportunities you do get. I think that’s one of my favorite examples of this season because he does his best to ignore the noise, but nobody is oblivious and he really, really wants to do big things in this league, and he’s only 22 or 23 years old. He’s super young. But I think the whole team really just in the locker room was really excited for him because they know how hard he’s worked to get on the field, to contribute, and then to do it at the end of the game, that’s a big moment that will always be one of the bigger ones in your NFL career because it’s his first game-ender.
Q. Realizing scoring is down across the league, you guys are moving the ball a lot. Your yardage is a lot and it doesn’t seem to be reflective in the points. Do you feel that way?
MIKE McDANIEL: Absolutely. No, we should be scoring more points than we are. I think everybody on the team would agree with that, so you have to — there’s no just like some sprinkle fairy dust to fix that or it’s just not an absolute. You have to identify and address what has been the hiccup when you get in those situations. I think we’ve had both misfortunes during the year. There’s been times we haven’t got it in the red zone enough because we are scoring when we’re there. In this case we were moving the ball, but things were — we had some hiccups and weren’t able to get touchdowns. So the whole deal is to continually progress with your game and make sure that that is not the norm because you don’t — it is frustrating for the whole team, and we’re not going to be able to just have to out-score 10 points every time to win games, so we’ve got to find a way to get better at that, which we’ll be focused on moving forward.
Mike McDaniel – October 21, 2022
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Friday, October 21, 2022
Head Coach Mike McDaniel
(There are so many injuries at different positions that it’s hard to know where to start, but I wanted to ask you on the defensive line on a couple of things. Do you expect DE Emmanuel Ogbah to play Sunday? We know he’s missed two days with the back. And will LB Trey Flowers possibly return this year or was his injury season ending?) – “I don’t foresee having the same type of sentiment on players all the time, I promise. But our specific circumstances, how there’s a lot of strong contributors that, in this portion of the year, are getting nicked. It’s hard to even have a plan for who you’re going to keep active and inactive because there’s a lot. Ogbah is one of many that we’re going to take up to game time to kind of figure this one out. So that, I couldn’t say with all certainty that he’s going to be out or in. I could more – it’d be more accurate to say maybe he’s questionable. But they’re all working very hard to be with their team at this juncture. And then with the foot injuries and stuff, I don’t know if you guys know the stats, but there’s a lot of things going on in the foot. I really haven’t even begun to think whether or not Trey’s going to be able to come back. I wouldn’t rule anything out at this point, but we’ll wait and see, which is kind of your guys’ lives and my life right now together.”
(Have you seen enough from T Terron Armstead this week to feel comfortable with him being able to go?) – “Yeah, I mean, I feel more comfortable than the last month of the season, for sure, considering, that was the most that he’s been able to practice since really the Patriots game, which is incredibly challenging. It’s something I haven’t been around a player do that. In the process, he’s gained a lot of trust from his teammates and the coaching staff, so I feel pretty good about his availability for Sunday, but unfortunately I don’t feel 100 percent on it because that would be too easy, apparently. That’s just the nature of everything. But what were we are doing, there’s a lot of a lot of these types of issues. Like on offensive line, there’s a lot of other positions as well, where we’re conditioning ourselves as a team to be able to handle any sort of adversity because so many guys are in positions to step up and play. I feel better about it than I have in the last month but that still doesn’t mean that I know.”
(OL Austin Jackson practiced a couple times last week and hasn’t since. Was there a setback there?) – “No. Like I told you, whenever we talked about that, it wasn’t a setback as much as we liked how he was working. We also assessed that with the push-pull strain that incurs for offensive lineman and what an ankle can do to a player at that position, if it’s not properly handled, we’re actually preventing any setback. We felt like the best thing to do was not put them in those situations until it was a little bit closer. So he’s still very much involved and we like how he’s progressing, but that was a little proactive. We tried to avoid a setback as we assessed it and looked at it once the week was complete.”
(On that same right tackle topic, did OL Brandon Shell give you guys anything to think about this week where now, Offensive Line Coach Matt Applebaum and Offensive Coordinator Frank Smith have a decision to make about who your starting right tackle is? Will it be Shell on Sunday night or are you going back to T Greg Little in that spot?) – “There were multiple people working at that right tackle position. Shell has done a very good job since he’s been here. It’s been admirable to see how he’s immersed himself into the system in such a short period of time, which is to his credit. But what we have been – we’d be fools if we didn’t prepare our offensive line to be versatile considering what has gone on during the season. I think they all had a good week of practice. I think that – you’re not going to hustle me there and I’m not going to reveal who’s starting, but I do think that we’re prepared for all those guys to play. They had a good week of practice and I think those guys – whoever is starting at right tackle – will do a good job. And if they can’t finish because of injury, then another guy will step up. That’s what we’re building and preparing to do.”
(Have other changes on the offensive line been considered beyond just returning tackles to help?) – “We rep all our positions like that. It’s important during the season. I don’t necessarily put our business out on the street. I don’t think that’s fair to the players because it can be taken out of context. But rest assured, we challenge the lineup each and every week because that’s a principle of really how I want to run a team, where you’re not gifted anything and guys are able to either earn or keep their jobs on the field. So we’ve been letting guys compete all week. And what you’ll see in the starting lineup is the guys that won that weekly competition. But in that, we’ve got a lot more versatility because we have more guys ready to play than we probably did at the start of the season.”
(What are some of the things that you have done or will do in an effort to limit penalties?) – “So if there was an end all, like blanket, you’d probably do that. The way I approach it is I make sure to coach each penalty independently and give guys a little recourse on how they could have avoided this. If it’s a holding penalty, you’re looking at why that happened. Then you’re looking at is someone moving their feet enough and pressing the block, because what can happen is your feet can stop moving, and then a defender moves and you’re just trying to do your job. Procedural stuff is a little easier. Pre-snap stuff is a little easier. But just in general, you have to rip the band-aid off and show the team the consequences of said results. How is the offense doing? Or how’s the defense doing as a team? How have we worked to get to the situation? Then what does that penalty do? That’s the way I emphasize it is just independently but I do it as a whole team so they can understand the ramifications and how we’re not working out of the mindset of placing blame and pointing fingers. I’ll never sit there and take it out of our hands and blame any sort of officiating on stuff. Who cares if you agree with any sort of call or not. You coach that to try to avoid it in the future as best you can.”
(It seems a little risky on a Friday to have only three healthy corners. I know of your five safeties on the 53, at least a couple can play corner. But why are you and General Manager Chris Grier not concerned about having only three? And have you given more work to CB Tino Ellis this week and to CB Kalon Barnes just with the anticipation there could be an elevation?) – “No, it’s not that it’s not concerning. That’s irrelevant. It’s what’s the best course for this team in the given moment Are you capable in-house of handling it? Or do you have to go outside of what you have? It’s not like we’re going to handle every situation like, no, we’re going to use the guys here. It’s more that with the assortment of versatile players that we have, we can kind of handle a lot of issues to a certain point. We are getting close to the brink in terms of how many we can afford, but we’re still comfortable and we have some guys that will eventually be coming back. So you have to – really, you’re just doing the best thing for the team. I feel very fortunate that we’ve made some good decisions in the scouting department and as a coaching staff, that the players that we had on the roster are very capable, henceforth that are they’re able to make plays out there on Sundays, which is something that I’m very glad we had the depth we’ve had because everybody’s had to play and that will make us better down the road.”
(Just to be thorough on OL Austin Jackson, at this point would you say the likelihood of him being activated before the end of the 21-day window is very close to 100 percent?) – “What would Socrates say to that? Do you guys remember? (laughter) The only way that he knows is that he knows nothing. So to say absolutes? Yeah, you don’t – I feel good that he’s going to be able to contribute sooner than later. To say exactly what where that is, you’re just setting me up to – that’s a setup that I’m not going to buy. My birthday is March 1983. Not yesterday. (laughter) Honestly, having experienced this in my in my past. It’s not just because the trainers and medical staff give a window of maybe this guy will – it’s because you really don’t know until person for person. And what ends up happening with those is the timeline is different in terms of, ‘Ok, well, you might not have that much improvement for an individual for three or four days. And then once you hit that threshold, it’s…’ Do you know what I mean? So it’s kind of inexact. I know he’s going to come back and contribute for us. I know he’s very hungry, too. We just want to make sure when he is back, that it’s not one of those yo-yo situations is the only reason for our conservative approach.
(QB Kenny Pickett from Pittsburgh, he cleared concussion protocol this morning, began practicing in full on Wednesday. Given everything this team has been through with concussion protocol, did it surprise you that QB Kenny Pickett was able to practice in full on Wednesday after a Sunday entrance into the protocol?) – “I may be a rookie head coach, but I feel very, very secure and comfortable with the approach of that’s not for me to discuss what has happened on somebody else’s team. Philosophically, I would never venture to try to be an expert at that. So there’s enough – if you’ve seen our injury report, there’s enough for us to worry about. I’ll let the Steelers worry about the Steelers. At this point, there’s nothing – I would be surprised if I’d be surprised by anything at this point.”
Steve Gregory – October 20, 2022
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Thursday, October 20, 2022
Safeties Coach Steve Gregory
(So we saw, I think seven snaps last Sunday of the three-safety look. What’s the advantage of that? And I know obviously being shorthanded at corner might incline you guys – you, Cornerbacks/Pass Game Specialist Sam Madison, Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer – to do that more? What’s the positives of that? Is there any negative with that pairing?) – “Yeah, I think it’s just obviously a different type of player. Safety is a little bit more in tune to fitting the run, playing closer towards the box, different things like that. Obviously a safety as opposed to a corner, coverage skills playing like man coverage on a receiver might be a little bit different. But for us, it’s really just whatever our game plan is. Like we might have some packages that involve three safeties. We might have some packages that don’t. So however we see the game plan going based on what the opponent is showing us, we’ll gear some of those packages each week to help benefit us and try to execute what we think can give them issues and help us win a football game.”
(How much of an adjustment has it been for your safeties unit with the injuries there have been at the cornerback position?) – “Yeah, I think part of it is not necessarily an adjustment; like we pride ourselves as a secondary of just believing in the next man up mentality. Our guys prepare and get themselves ready to play games like they’re starters, regardless of if you’re a practice squad guy or a backup or a fifth corner, or whatever you want to call it. Those guys are always ready to go in the game. I think there is an awareness level of knowing that when a guy comes in the game and he’s a young guy that hasn’t played a lot or a guy that hasn’t had a lot of snaps, as a safety, of just understanding what the matchup is or what the situation is, as far as communication and helping those guys and helping them understand what we’re doing and calming them down and making them feel comfortable and play at a high level. So we just got to work together, communicate together and help each other out as best we can.”
(Seems like a big part in the secondary is hiding the coverage pre-snap and post-snap. Obviously S Jevon Holland spends a lot of time in like a deep safety role and somebody like S Brandon Jones. What’s the key with him making it to maybe disguise the look that he’s showing pre and post-snap and are there like tells that you have worked with him?) – “Yeah, I think any situation of a good defense is always self-scouting yourself and making sure that there’s not too many tips and tendencies to what you’re doing and becoming a defense that they can really identify and pick things out that would allow them to have an advantage. We try to move those guys around a lot. We try to work on disguise, work on different things, different looks, different things schematically that’ll allow us to kind of help one call maybe look like another call and things like that. But I think that’s just defense in general, I think as you look across the league, not just in particular with us; teams want to disguise. They don’t obviously want to tell the offense exactly what you’re doing because if you are, those guys are too good, the quarterbacks are too good. It just makes their job easier.”
(I was looking at your opponent’s passing charts and not a lot of balls downfield so far against you guys this year. What would you attribute to that? Like why are you guys are doing a good job of holding the deep ball?) – “I think it’s just the players going out executing and playing at a high level and understanding that if you give up big plays over the top of your defense a lot, you’re going to not do well. You’re going to lose. So we talk about it each week of trying to find ways to eliminate big plays, keep things in front of us, limit the explosives, make an offense earn it in certain situations and also blending that with being aggressive and taking chances and different things in the right moments. So it’s just a combination of blending the defense together and understanding in key moments and key situations and offensive formations and different things that they’re doing of when those things might come and when you can prevent them from happening.”
(The expectations were big for S Jevon Holland coming into the season. We know he had the interception. How has he done as far as play and meeting those expectations?) – “He’s been great. The biggest thing with him is any time you’re given expectations from the outside looking in of you need to be a certain type of player or you need to be a playmaker on every play, you really got to try to ignore that and just play fundamentally sound and within the scheme of the defense and keep everything in place so that when the plays come, when your moment is called, when your opportunity shows up, you’re in the right position to go make a play. You don’t stress anything, don’t push for anything. Just communicate the defense, work with the guys around you, do your job within the scheme, and his abilities and his intellectual abilities as a player will allow him to make a lot of plays on Sundays.”
Terron Armstead – October 20, 2022
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Thursday, October 20, 2022
T Terron Armstead
(I’m sure that toe has been frustrating. Do you feel like you’re ready to come back and play on Sunday?) – “Just working, just working. Still dealing with it for sure. Was able to go out there day. It was just great being out there with the team, get some practice in and get some work in. I’m still taking a day at a time.”
(What is it, exactly? Is it turf toe?) – “I’ll let Mike (McDaniel) speak on it, if he would like to. Unique situation for sure. But yeah, I’ll let Mike talk about it if he would like to.”
(And what you took away from the specialist visits, Head Coach Mike McDaniel said you met with one in New York? Did you emerge from that visit thinking that this is something that’s going to heal soon or that you might be dealing with it all year?) – “We got a lot of information. We tried to take some steps to move forward. It’s getting better. It’s getting better and improving. Just go out, play football and you deal with it. It’s been a challenge and frustrating like you said.”
(What does it feel like? What is it that you experienced?) – “So it’s painful, for sure. It kind of started being a little bit more than that, though. Like a little lack of function made it hard to do my job. I couldn’t use it at a point so it just wasn’t smart to try to keep going. Give it some time and we’re still working.”
(Do you think it’s something that will linger all season?) – “I hope not. I hope not. But we’re doing everything. We’re checking all boxes just getting to as optimal as possible to be able to play week to week.”
(In that regard, did it help taking a week off instead of continuing to kind of play through it?) – “It’s getting better. It’s getting better.”
(And being able to be a practice today, how big was that for you? And how fun was that to be back on the field with the guys?) – “It was great. It was great being back out there. This is what I do for a living. So running around with the guys, get some reps in, fine-tuning some stuff, techniques. I haven’t practiced in a month. I haven’t practiced since the Patriots game, which is crazy. So man, in-season I’m playing games, but I’m still knocking rust off, getting technique right, fine-tuning. So I need to practice as much as possible.”
(You said you’re excited about being out there with your teammates. What about the aspect of QB Tua Tagovailoa coming back this weekend?) – “Yeah, yeah. Having our leader back, captain back, his energy, his influence is only positive when you get your starting QB back.”
(Head Coach Mike McDaniel is big on having players practice to end up playing, but he had a lot of confidence in you to go in play in spite of it. What does that mean to you?) – “I appreciated the trust, confidence. Unfortunately, I got experience doing so. Probably not this long of a stretch, like not stepping on the field in 30 days or whatever. But I take pride in my preparation, mentally taking care of everything I need to do, knowing the gameplan inside and out to be able to go and execute.”
(Is it clear to you how the injury happened?) – “Yeah, yeah.”
(During a practice, game?) – “The first game.”
(And you had a toe issue before, in the past?) – “No. First time. Brand new.”
(What is it like when you’re watching some of your teammates have difficult moments? There are good moments, but some tough times.) – “It’s good and bad in every game, with every player. What we’re taking from good moments and bad moments is really all that matters. So if I see a guy, especially in my position or my position group, have a negative play, what are we learning from that? So we try to minimize and not let that happen again. The good plays, how did you create that good play so we can repeat those things. So it gets challenging as a competitor. You want to get out there and you want to play and perform. But there are good and bad plays for every player in the league.”
(Has QB Tua Tagovailoa sort of said, ‘Pretty please, Terron?’) – “(laughter) That’s my guy. That’s my guy. That’s little bro. Look, man, I’m excited to see him. He was excited for me to be back out there today too. But we all want to be out there and get this thing going and win a big game Sunday.”
(Head Coach Mike McDaniel said that it was the team’s decision to hold you out last week just to try to give it more time to heal. Was that tough for you where you pushed to play? Or did you ultimately agree and say this is probably a wise thing to give another week to heal?) – “If I can play, I’m playing. That is never a question. If I can go out and do my job, I’m going.”
