Terron Armstead – September 10, 2024
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Tuesday, September 10, 2024
T Terron Armstead
(After seeing the body cam last night on Twitter, your emotions as you watched it, was it anger, sadness? You’re always so thoughtful, how would you describe what your emotions were as you watched it?) – “It was a combination of emotions, for sure – frustration, sad, feeling for ‘Reek’ (Tyreek Hill), and ‘Reek’ just being a representation for a lot of other people that have been through those situations. It was heartfelt for sure.”
(What stuck out for you when you watched the body cam video that really bothered you the most?) – “Just unnecessary to me. To me, it was unnecessary. Nothing I feel like warranted the reaction. Just any time you’re getting physical for a traffic stop, it never ends too well.”
(The idea of DT Calais Campbell being handcuffed seems absurd. What was your take on that aspect?) – “All of it just seemed aggressive, aggressive. What I would say about my teammates, Tyreek (Hill) specifically, the way that he handled everything coming into the locker room, going out performing and then postgame just making sure the story stays positive. Trying to find a solution opposed to being a problem and playing a victim. Calais (Campbell) is the same way. He could’ve got more vocal with what he was feeling, but it’s all about the progression and moving forward collectively with the police department and all of those things. Really hats off to those guys, for real.”
(Do you have any thoughts on how both sides could’ve handled this situation differently from the pull over all the way through everything else?) – “Not really. It’s different when you’re right there in that situation. For Tyreek, he’s Tyreek Hill. So window down, he’s talking to the police, that’s a lot of cameras, so he’s going back up and down. When you first get that initial knock on the window and it feels aggressive to you, you get caught off guard like, ‘Damn, man. Slow down.’ I have personal experience with it too, so it definitely – I know how that goes. Like I said, if we can work together and find solutions so these things won’t happen more, I would be open to listening and moving forward doing the work to do so.”
(Speaking of just moving forward and you being so thoughtful and a leader on this team. How hard is it to separate this and realize you have the Bills in 48 hours?) – “We got to handle the task at hand. It’s the schedule, we’re going to roll. We’ll be ready. Nobody will be tired; we won’t be talking about the last game or anything. We will be ready for the Bills.”
(How hard is it to separate? This is a serious issue going on around the country, but yet regardless, it doesn’t matter. You still have to go out and perform and put this to the side.) – “I think that’s the beauty of the sport. You get a chance to escape real world issues for that time slot. I think there’s no better place in the world that Tyreek could’ve been following that but a locker room and a football game. That’s the beauty of that sport, that you get that time to escape and enter a world that is kind of a fantasy for us.”
(There has been a lot of talk about the response by teammates. TE Jonnu Smith, DT Calais Campbell coming to WR Tyreek Hill defense there. Is this maybe a galvanizing thing for the team to get that much closer together?) – “It’s all about your response to adversity for sure. But do we need it? No, we didn’t need it. I love the group. I love the locker room, everybody. It’s close knit, it’s family for real. So it’s a no brainer, if I would’ve seen him, I would’ve did the same thing. You never know how that situation would’ve happened, and I know countless others in here would’ve pulled over and tried to look after him to make sure he was safe too. It’s just the vibe that we have.”
(This game, is this 1 of 17 or is this game a little more important because it’s Buffalo and a division opponent?) – “It’s the next one. It’s important because it’s the next one. All energy, all thoughts and preparation go into it, for sure. It’s a division opponent so there is some familiarity there. It’s nothing different. It’s nothing different. It’s the 2024 Miami Dolphins, everything that happened in the past is different. We got to go out and execute Thursday night and get a win.”
(Are you aware of the numbers with Buffalo that QB Josh Allen is 11-2 against you and they’ve beaten you 13 of the last 15?) – “No.”
(Does any of that stuff matter?) – “We are 0-0 in 2024. 0-0, so let’s get it done Thursday and see who’s going to win.”
(So there is no bad blood knowing how the regular season ended last year? That doesn’t factor in at all? You don’t remember any of that?) – “It’s a different team. We got a lot of different new people. We’re 0-0 against each other. We’re going to go out and see what’s happening.”
(What was your thoughts on the offensive line’s performance against Jacksonville. It seemed like you and OL Austin Jackson had very good games. What did you think about the offensive line?) – “Solid performance. Knocking some rust off early in the season still, got to get fully in football shape and get going and all that. Jacksonville did a really good job schematically with some of the things they were doing, creating pressure off the edge to the open side, trying to continue to keep eyes on Tyreek (Hill) and (Jaylen) Waddle, for sure. I think as we progress through the season, I think our technique, our intent flying off the ball, you’re going to see more and more of that. We were able to get that going somewhat in the second half, but we want to get that started early Thursday.”
(As a captain, has there been any thought or any type of gesture on Thursday night in response to what happened to WR Tyreek Hill?) – “No. No, we won’t march, kneel – not to my knowledge. No. We are definitely talking about doing some things that will be real life impactful, whether that’s conversations with the police department and other leaders of the communities with myself, Tyreek and a few other leaders on the team. We want to do something that will be really impactful, not just make statements. I’m not a fan of empty statements. Whatever that is, we’re brainstorming. I have some ideas and I’m sure some others do as well.”
Jevón Holland – September 10, 2024
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Tuesday, September 10, 2024
S Jevón Holland
(What was your reaction to all that body camera video?) – “I mean it was cray, but I’m not surprised. I’m 24, there’s been a bunch of very unsettling and disturbing videos, body cam footage over and over again since Twitter has been a thing, really since Rodney King. I would like to be more shocked and surprised, but I’m not. I just think that’s the society that we live in and the reality of it. So yeah, it’s unfortunate that this type of thing had to happen to Tyreek (Hill) and for it to get this much recognition, but you’ve seen multiple times, over and over again; body cam footage come out, the story was one thing and then you see the vocabulary and the language that’s used and the demeanor and the aggression and then everybody is asking, ‘How do we fix it? How do we fix it?’ And as time goes on, everybody’s memory nowadays is pretty short sided, so it kind of just gets brushed under the rug and then you kind of move on to the next situation until it happens again. It’s unfortunate, it really is. And another thing that’s really unfortunate is that people try to bring up past difficulties, like Tyreek’s past and what not and things that he’s done in his past that are wrong and that he’s fixed and apologized for, and I’d say that the two are exclusively different. Doing something in the past, whether it be wrong or right, does not justify or condemn you to be treated in such a way when the situation has nothing to do with that at all. If you’re an individual that brings up those things to try to justify the wrongdoings or the shortcomings of another person, then I think you’re just moving the goalpost for your own narrative and I think that alone needs to be addressed. You need to look yourself in the mirror and really ask yourself what are you trying to accomplish in bringing those things up. So I think that’s really important and needs to be said because those are the kind of things that go unheard that kind of just get comments on Twitter and things like that, that everybody seems to bring up and wants to say all the time, ‘Oh, he did this in his past so it justifies that he’s treated this way,’ when in reality, that’s not at all what needs to be happening and that’s not how you treat people.”
(How absurd was it to handcuff DT Calais Campbell when he’s clearly trying to deescalate things and help?) – “I mean it was wild, man. You see people trying to help – I mean we’re his teammates, so obviously we love him. We want him to be in good spirits and to be treated with respect, so Calais (Campbell) of all people, I know wasn’t doing anything out of the ordinary. He was trying to protect Tyreek, and like you said, deescalate the situation. Unfortunately, he was put in handcuffs like I saw, and that’s just kind of the product of the situation and what happens.”
(You talk about change; if we’re here two years from now, five years from now, are we talking about the same thing?) – “I would want to say no, but over and over again things kind of happen over and over again the same way. So it’s unfortunate – you’d think that stuff kind of withers out. I mean I was alive in 2020, George Floyd – and you don’t really want to bring those things up because they were serious, major incidents and lot of people have controversial topics about it and opinions, but it’s unfortunate that we’re still talking about the same thing after so long. I bring up Rodney King because that was kind of the first one caught on tape. I remember my family members just telling me that that was like a thing, it just happened all the time; they just so happened to catch that one on tape. So it’s been a thing for a long time, and unfortunately, it still lingers. But like Tyreek said, there are good police officers out there. I know police officers myself that are good people, but unfortunately, there are some people that just happen to get power drunk or take things to a level that don’t need to be taken there and it’s unfortunate the result. At the end of the day, you just got to treat people with respect – and that goes both ways. And so as long as we’re trying to work together to fix the problem and no one’s just talking about the situation and not doing anything about it to fix it, so as long as we’re taking steps necessary to make change, I think that’s important.”
(Did you guys meet as a team or did Head Coach Mike McDaniel address you guys on all of this today?) – “Yeah, I feel like it’s an elephant in the room if you don’t. At the end of the day, it’s a human interaction. It’s a human situation and I think it needs to be brought up, especially – amongst 90 percent of the league is black. The white people that are in the league all love black people and black people love white people, so I think it’s important that everybody talks about it and Mike (McDaniel) being biracial himself, is definitely caught in the middle of that. So I think it was good that he brought it up and he expressed his views and his emotions behind it, and I think it’s good that everybody has been speaking up about it and been talking about it because it’s important to support your teammates, but also important to support people that were done wrong and change needs to be had.”
(You talk about focus and I’m still trying to process how WR Tyreek Hill was able to do that on Sunday – and now, as a team, you guys are looking at a short week with a very important opponent coming in. In some ways, is it good that Buffalo is your opponent to get your attention that much more?) – “I don’t necessarily think Buffalo themselves; I think it’s really just being a professional. It has nothing to do with who we’re playing next or what players are on the next team. I think it’s specifically just the fact that we’re professionals and we have to handle our job. At the end of the day, this is our career. This is what puts food on our table, so to be able to move on to – crazy situations happen and then you keep on moving with life. They’re on the backburner and once you walk out of the facility you have to deal with them, but at the same time you also have to make sure that you’re continuing to do the things necessary to get the job done and to be successful at your job. So I think it’s just the product of being a professional in the NFL.”
(Is there anything that the team will do on Thursday night to sort of make a statement after what happened?) – “I’m honestly not sure. That’s definitely a question that you kind of want to bring up to higher ups or somebody higher than me, because right now I’m just an employee, I just work here. I’m not necessarily sure, so we’ll see what happens, but yeah, they put out a statement earlier, I think yesterday or something like that. That was really nice to see, so it’s good to know that the team and the organization has your back in a way I’d like to say. I don’t know if ‘has your back,’ is the most correct term, but in a way, they’re backing the team and making sure that the things necessary that need to get done, get done. Apologies need to be had, investigations, whatever it is, but yeah, shoutout to the team for putting that statement out, that was big.”
(How difficult is it to understand that this is a major issue, this happened to your teammate who you’re close with but yet you still have to play football Thursday and nothing else matters?) – “It’s difficult, but honestly, for me, being a black man, it’s just part of the reality. Driving while black is a thing, I’ve been dealing with it my whole life. You get pulled over, my homeboy driving is white, I’m black, they flash the light on me, you know what I mean? So it’s just a thing you kind of live with as a black person, and it’s just a way of life. You’re just always in it. So when it happens, in whatever situation that you’re in, you just kind of maneuver within that situation. But I’m sure there’s thousands of stories of black people all over the country that have gone through the same thing and kind of brush it off as whatever and other ethnicities, nationalities look at it and are taken back by it, but it’s our everyday life kind of thing. And I’m not exclusively saying that just black people go through this type of thing because it is common amongst more than just black people. But yeah, man, it’s just something that you almost have to just roll with the punches – and it’s uncomfortable to say punches because it’s violent, but in reality, that’s really what it is. It’s a difficult conversation and it’s a violent conversation when being spoken to like that and being stereotyped like that. You just kind of got to keep on moving with it and just being positive about it.”
(You saw Tyreek, how was he with you – he seemed upbeat there in the moment, but I don’t know, it’s a tough situation.) – “Yeah, it’s a tough situation. It’s tough situation. You guys kind of keep asking me the same question. You’re trying to get a different perspective but –”
(No, no, no. It’s more of like, I don’t mean to try to look for a certain thing or anything like that, it’s more of a, we’re on this side hoping to hear your voice, like actually seeing Tyreek, understanding what he went through; what is your perspective of all that because we’re just not in your position and I think people are really interested in it.) – “I understand why he’s upbeat about it, because it’s probably something he’s been through. It’s probably something that he’s seen somebody that looks like him, talks like him, he’s probably experienced that or heard stories about that so he understands how he needs to operate. He understands what portion of his mind he needs to push that into so he can handle it on one side but then still come in here, have a positive attitude and still be nice and respectful to the people that he knows and he talks to every day and continue to be a good person that everybody knows and who we know who he is. So yeah, it’s not an easy situation, for sure. There are residuals from that mentally, but you just got to keep on keeping on – L-I-V-I-N, keep on living.”
Tua Tagovailoa – September 10, 2024
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Tuesday, September 10, 2024
QB Tua Tagovailoa
(S Jordan Poyer and CB Siran Neal, can they help you at all this week?) – “Yeah, they definitely can. They know in the backend signals with what the Bills do and how they communicate things that they’ve done to stop us previous years. And then just kind of the philosophy of that defense with what they try to accomplish against our offense – uniquely different than a lot of the teams they would play against, so can take a lot of the information that I’ve been given from those guys early in the week and apply it to Thursday.”
(It’s so early in the season but how important does this game feel given the divisional implications and that you don’t want to lose your home game to the Bills?) – “Every game to us is important. Every game is important, but I think guys that are in the locker room, guys are in the right frame of mind. Guys are ready to play this game and there’s just been a lot of guys that have been here for their off days – not just getting work in, but talking to each other, communicating things that we could get better with. And then going into this week, talking personnel, talking ‘Hey, this guy does this really well, maybe this, that or whatever.’ There’s just been a lot of guys up here in the building the past day or so since we’ve played. So I think that’s a good thing for us.”
(How much is it in your mind as a player when you know that another team has beaten you so often and has had so much success? Does that eat away at you? Is that something you think about as you prep for that team knowing the success they’ve had?) – “That’s going to be what’s written out there until we do something about that. That’s going to be the narrative, that we can’t beat the Bills. And until we do beat them, and we beat them consistently, none of that’s going to change. And we have an opportunity to do that this year. We have an opportunity to do that this Thursday.”
(A lot of the conversation after the game on Sunday was about halftime and your speech and the adjustments and how they were effective. I’m curious in your perspective how that experience and your guys’ ability to overcome those adjustments can galvanize this team and make you better for it in the long run?) – “I think halftime speeches are good. I don’t think that that’s necessarily something you need to do all of the time, not just coming from me but coming from any other leader on our team. We have a good enough team to be able to just start fast, start the way we want to. It doesn’t have to get to that point for any of us, and we got to hold each other to the standard that we said we wanted to, that’s all that was.”
(Thursday turnaround is always quick for you guys as players, is it a little easier because it’s only Week 2 and you’ve only had one week worth of hits collectively as a team?) – “Well, speaking for myself, it’s not as bad, but I’m not the one that goes out there and carries the ball and has to hit guys or has go and tackle guys or has to force blocks this way or the other. So for me, my body doesn’t feel as bad in comparison to guys that have to tackle people or guys that have to go and hit guys. So in respect to them, I would say I’d let them answer that question for themselves, not me.”
(Do you have to change a few things up knowing that Mike White is on the other side now?) – “No.”
(You don’t have to? Explain it to me, why don’t you have to?) – “Why would we have to?”
(In terms of the signals and the words?) – “Well, we don’t really signal. The words, he’s not in our huddle with us listening. And with all due respect, they can understand all the concepts we’re running, but are we running that concept on that play with what they’re trying to do? That’s just the whole game. We both got to go out and play, whether we know their signals, whether we know what they got going on and vice versa, at the end of the day, we both got to go out there and we got to go play.”
(We saw the body camera footage from the traffic stop with WR Tyreek Hill. I’m curious, have you seen it and if so, what was going on through your mind watching it, seeing a teammate in that situation?) – “Yeah, I’ve seen it. For me just seeing it the first time, it was a little emotional for me, hearing Tyreek’s voice in the footage, just knowing Tyreek. For me, a lot of the instances that I see are of people that I don’t know and it’s happening to those people, so for it to have happened to somebody that I knew, and then hearing Tyreek’s voice throughout that – and we talked about it, it was a little emotional. I don’t know exactly how I would have dealt with that in that situation, and I can’t speak on something that I’ve never personally gone through myself. I’ve never been through any of that growing up in Hawaii, but he knows that he has my support. I would say just watching the film, in my opinion, I think it could have been deescalated another way. I don’t think it was done the right way. There’s a lot of things that I think could have been done different, but I know Tyreek has gathered a group of us together to do something, to help change some things. He’s come up with a couple ideas and we’ve gathered to talk about what we wanted to do. Obviously, we’re going to worry about this week, but next week we’ll get back together and we’ll talk about how we can do something to change what is going on. I mean, it’s right in our backyard, that’s just what it was. For him to have stayed in that mindset to be able to still have came to the game, still play through all of that and did what he did – just think of that. What – 15-20 minutes before he came to the stadium, he just had gone through all of that. And mentally, physically what that does to you, he didn’t blink. He came to the stadium and got everybody turnt, and you guys see what he did. He did what he did, and that’s just Tyreek. But yeah, I’d definitely seen that, and it struck a lot of conversation for our locker room and a lot of us.”
(What were some of those conversations like that you mentioned?) – “I don’t think I would want to share a lot of the conversations, but I thought there were some good conversations, and they weren’t just conversations of us just siding with Tyreek. It was more so conversations of also understanding like how things could have been different, just all of that. So for a lot of us who haven’t grown up with the police background being good to us growing up, or bad, like we don’t know. So you only know what you know and it was cool. A lot of guys were sharing their upbringings about it and what not, so the more you know.”
(How do you refocus after something like that? I mean, he was on CNN last night. You try not to make it be a distraction, but that’s what we’re asking about 48 hours before a game.) – “Well I think the thing is we don’t avoid the obvious – it’s a thing, yeah. Let it be what it is, let it take its course. I think when we start to brush that away and think that this football thing is the most important thing to us when – this isn’t just something that Tyreek had gone through, this is something that people in general go through. That’s a life thing. Football, we’re blessed to do this. We’re blessed to be able to play this sport. We’re blessed to make all this money to do what we love and it’s for fun, but that’s real life. No games in that, brother.”
(Just going back to WR Tyreek Hill’s mindset on Sunday; it kind of sounds like he didn’t enter the locker room visibly affected by this or were you aware of just how bad his experience was when he got into the locker room on Sunday?) – “So the thing is, I had no idea any of it happened. I was going about my routine, had no idea. And then a group of guys gathered around his locker and I’m just like, ‘Hey, let me go say what’s up to the guys. Let me go see what they’re talking about,’ and still had no idea, didn’t know what they were talking about. It was just like ‘All right,’ let me go about my process. So I go inside one of the rooms and the TV is on and it ends up showing that Tyreek got detained, this, that and the other. So then I go up and ask him what happened, and he didn’t seem fazed in the locker room. I think you guys get to talk to him, you guys ask him the questions, he’ll be able to tell you his honest feelings and his honest truth about it.”
(You had a couple of big-time throws in the last game. You spent some of the time in the offseason talking about wanting to refine your mechanics, the fluidity of your motion, the involvement of your hips. Does that all feel like it’s in a nice place right now?) – “Yeah, I would say it feels really good. Feels really good, just the timing with the guys that are out there on the field and allowing those guys opportunities to have big run catch and what not, but it feels good.”
(Is there still any sour taste in your mouth from last year’s regular season finale?) – “Last year is last year brother. What a political answer. (laughter) Oh my gosh. Last year is last year brother. Worry about this year so we’ll see what we got today, and we’ll work it’s way down to Thursday and see what we can do Thursday.”
Danny Crossman – September 10, 2024
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Tuesday, September 10, 2024
Special Teams Coordinator Danny Crossman
(I didn’t understand something I saw on the internet. There was a kick that looked like it was windy and it landed. What happened there? I thought it landed inside of the 20-yard line?) – “Two of them landed inside the 20 (-yard line), one landed way early. Buffalo got one that landed inside the 20, they had a hard time fielding it, they ended up tackling the guy at the 4-yard line. So you get that, then they give up the big return, so you get both ends of the spectrum. They end up kicking one out of bounds trying to put it in play, so lot of different things as opposed to the same old.”
(Quite the roller coaster Sunday for K Jason Sanders?) – “I don’t know if I’d call it a roller coaster. Obviously anytime we go out there, we’re looking to make every kick. It’s like any highly trained professional, one hiccup you don’t blink. Obviously in the summer you get to watch some golf and you watch guys like Scottie Scheffler who’s going to make three birdies in a row, he gets a double bogie, not even a blip on his radar. Not comparing player to player, athlete to athlete, but you’re going to have some hiccups. You can’t think about it; you go back to your techniques, your fundamentals, get your head space correct and go back to work.”
(What happened on that miss?) – “He missed it. There is a couple of things that go into it. We can’t miss those. 100 percent, we need to have that kick, but you get off a little bit on timing and rhythm and don’t hit the ball properly, that’s what’s going to happen.”
(With K Jason Sanders’ mental toughness as you’ve observed being around him for a few years, do you ever have to lift his spirits and move on to the next one? Or do you assume he does that himself without you offering him any encouragement after a miss?) – “There is usually – maybe it’s just a look or a head nod that I’m not blinking, don’t you blink. We got complete confidence, just go back to work on the next one. As I said, the fact that I see every single kick in practice and warmups. If there is something that I see, it’s a one-word thing, whether it’s tempo, rhythm, whatever it may be. He has a very good ability to self-correct.”
(As it relates to the touchback, are you telling Head Coach Mike McDaniel before every single kickoff, ‘We’re going to do a touchback on this one,’ is it like a conversation every time or no?) – “It’s an ongoing thing. It’s not every time. We’ve sort of gone into the season with some things that we’ve talked about, scenario, times, scores. There’s several things that we’ve already discussed before we get into those situations and into the game, but usually if he’s close or if there’s time, there still will be some communication. We had several incidents on Sunday where there was no TV timeout and it was a quick turnaround, and there wasn’t time for those communications. But he is always aware either right before or even going into the game of what we’re thinking.”
(Do you think you can loll the opponent to sleep by going touchback, touchback, touchback, now we’re going to trick you on this one? Does that happen?) – “That’s going to be an ongoing thing. I think that as the season goes, you’ll see similar looks that end up being different things. You got to change things up. We saw that a little bit from what we saw from Jacksonville and how they did some things with the kicker that going into the game was telling us one thing and it ended up being something different. I think that is going to be an ongoing process.”
(What was working well for P Jake Bailey to punt the way he did?) – “Jake (Bailey) has had a very good camp, first of all. That wasn’t surprising, he’s done a really good job leading into it. He’s had a good preseason. I think especially in what we refer to as gray areas, plus-50 balls, he’s got a lot of confidence in the gunners first and foremost. So that idea of being aggressive, not that they had to make the play because he hit such good balls that they were able to go on their own, but having the confidence in those guys to make the play to be very aggressive.”
(How good is it to have CB Siran Neal on your side for this game? When you and GM Chris Grier talked in February and March, did you guys identify him as one of the better special teams players in the league?) – “Yeah, when he became available, it sort of changed the roster of available players and the rankings of the guys you like, you love and really like to have. When he became available obviously, he went very high on that list.”
(It looked like WR Tyreek Hill was back to return a punt at one point, but it was mostly WR Braxton Berrios. Is there going to be a rotation back there, or is it a specific circumstance that led you to put WR Tyreek Hill back there?) – “It’ll be a constant ongoing, lot of different scenarios. It could be the game, the situation, the scenario, what’s going on offensively, how the game is progressing – there’s a lot of factors that go into it. We feel like we have several guys that are quality return guys. I can’t sit here and tell you exactly what’s going to happen because it’s ever evolving. Anybody that we put back there, just like we talked about with Malik Washington, we talk about Braxton (Berrios), guys that can make good decisions, good ball security, and obviously good players with the ball in their hands.”
(What’s your personal perspective on the WR Tyreek Hill incident that occurred before the game and what you may or may not have seen relative to the video and the police interaction?) – “I haven’t seen the video. No. 1, I’m glad that everybody came out unharmed. Both our players first and foremost, but also law enforcement. They have a hard job to do. I haven’t seen the video. I just know that for the last several years the National Football League, we’re all in this together. Stop hate, all of these things we are putting on the jerseys, the hats, in the end zone – again, I think it’s just another reminder of we still have such a long way to go.”
(I wanted to ask you about the punt return last year against the Bills. Did that eat at you at all in the offseason? Did it kind of motivate you? What did you learn from that experience?) – “It doesn’t eat at me. Any time there is a negative play, it’s always going to stay with you. You’re going to remember the negative ones more than you remember the positive ones. It didn’t fuel anything. We had a situation where their guy made a good play. We had a couple of guys run into one another and sadly, the biggest thing that bothered me is we lost players. We got a guy that’s still unable to play because of an injury that occurred on that particular play. I give them credit. It was a good play by the returner, did something that we hadn’t seen a lot of him returning a ball from that deep. He made a heck of a play, good for them. They get paid too. It’s not a motivating thing, it’s another game. They’re the next game on the schedule, we got to find a way to win the game.”
(WR Deonte Harty is no longer there. What do you think of their new returner. Are there still some systems in place that you have to watch out for on how they return punts?) – “He’s a different guy, but he’s a talented player. He did a good job for the Jets in the preseason. He did a good job in the first game making decisions and good ball security. He’s a talented guy with the ball in his hands. You go back and look at a lot of his college tape. They’re going to play the game – without getting too far deep into the season, they’re going to play the game a certain way. That’s how Buffalo has played the game, it’s been very success for them. They are a well-coached, very talented football team, and we got to be ready in all three phases to battle because they are coming in here with a purpose.”
Anthony Weaver – September 10, 2024
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Thursday, September 10, 2024
Defensive Coordinator Anthony Weaver
(I wanted to ask you one minor housekeeping thing just because fans ask a lot about this. Was CB Storm Duck active ahead of CB Ethan Bonner because he had a better practice week last week?) – “I think Storm (Duck) has done a lot of things throughout camp that you kind of get excited about. It’s not necessarily anything that Ethan (Bonner) hasn’t done, we have the utmost faith in him to go out there and execute for us at a high level. The Storm kid is – I think he’s played himself into that role, so that was something that was certainly earned.”
(How would you assess how you guys played in the second half on Sunday?) – “I mean, don’t give up any points, you’re usually pretty happy about that. I was excited just to see what we’ve been talking about since Day 1 come to life. We’re constantly preaching play the next play, that plus response equals outcome, control your response. And the guys did just that, we didn’t flinch. Regardless of what happened, I was preaching like, every football game is a boxing match, it’s not a UFC fight. It doesn’t end after one takedown. So we took some punches early, got up off the mat and threw a couple of our own, and fortunately, the game was long enough we were able to come back and win it.”
(I have several questions about LB Jaelan Phillips, but I think I’ll just narrow it down to the end of the game with the sack. Can you just kind of take us through what that meant for him to be out there and make that big play coming off of 10 months off the Achilles injury?) – “How incredible is that. There were times obviously when I was in the league when you think about an Achilles injury like, ‘Oh man, is he going to come back? How long is this going to take?’ For him to come back, look how he did, be as impactful as he was, just so incredibly impressed by him, the man he is. It’s just his sheer fight, I saw it in his rehab and then for him to come back out there and just have the production he did and play the way he did. I call him Mariano Rivera; he is the closer for us and he did that in that game.”
(How did LB Jaelan Phillips and CB Jalen Ramsey come away with their snap count limitations, maybe going a little bit over what maybe the team projected, but now with the quick around also before Thursday?) – “Both of those guys, you can have a plan and set a number, but if we know anything about them, we know the competitive spirit in both of those two players is second to none. So when that game was tight, particularly in the fourth, there was no chance they weren’t going to be in the game. Obviously, we’re a better defense when both of those guys are out there. As they continue to play, to rehab from injury and they start to feel better, obviously those snaps will increase, but just so excited about their role, both as leaders and as players on this defense.”
(Going back to what happened Sunday morning between police officers and WR Tyreek Hill, DT Calais Campbell and TE Jonnu Smith, what did you tell your players? What were those conversations like? And I guess what can you say to them in situations like that?) – “Truthfully, the day of, didn’t quite know the severity of what had happened. I, in particular, was just very much locked in on the plan, kind of got some whisperings through the locker room, but again not really knowing what exactly had happened. So there weren’t really a lot of discussions about it. Having now seen the video, obvious it’s triggering for a number of reasons, but the one thing I do know is I know all parties involved on our end from my football family and just know who they are as men. These – how my judgement and my feelings about them isn’t formed through opinion, it’s formed through experience and daily interactions with them. I have the utmost faith and believe in who they are as people and as men. It’s an unfortunate incident. I know there’s a lot of really good people in law enforcement. One of my best friends, John Graves, works for the Cleveland Police Department – he’s one of them. So I think each of these cases has to be judged on a case-by-case basis, and I’m just going to let the law take care of itself and let it play out.”
(Could you have ever envisioned a scenario in which DT Calais Campbell is in handcuffs?) – “Not the (Walter Payton) Man of the Year. Certainly not the Man of the Year. I’m actually surprised they had cuffs big enough for him. Not in a million years would I have ever expected going into that game that scenario to occur.”
(We heard WR Tyreek Hill mention he heard the words of his uncle when everything was going on to put your hands on the steering wheel, follow their directions, listen to what they say. I’m curious, throughout your life, what conversations have you had with either elders or people in your life about how to interact with police.) – “My upbringing is unique, it’s not something I need to talk a whole lot about. But I’m going to say this; it’s unfortunate in this day and time when I had two boys – my wife is Mexican American – and both the times that they were born and they were light-skinned, there was almost a sense of relief in that they were going to have to avoid some of the let’s say issues that I’ve had to deal with throughout my life. It’s unfortunate in this day and time in the world that that still occurs. It’s out there. I think the majority of people are good people. Shoot, I was raised Christian, man, and I have faith in the story because I know who the author is. I have faith in this world and people in general. I like to give people the benefit of doubt, and ultimately, I think good always prevails.”
(If I could go back to the game, the fourth down stop to start off the fourth quarter, I guess what I want to know is the way you’ve kind of communicated how pleased you were with the defense in the film review? Because getting 11 guys on the wrong side of the numbers to come back to the other side of the field and make that stop, I thought was a pretty cool moment.) – “Man, that play in particular – there’s two plays, obviously, from our side of the ball that stand out to me and just epitomize everything we’ve talked about since Day 1. We walk in Day 1; we talk about uncommon effort. That fourth down stop, you talk about 11 guys, just a band of brothers, coming together and just hunting and doing whatever it was going to bring that ballcarrier down. That was on full display right there. And then Jevón’s play by the goal line – we chart shots on goal. We talk about how important it is to take the ball away. Not offensively them turning it over, taking it away, and he did just that. I am so incredibly proud of the guys. This game has and always will be, in the words of Clarence Brooks, about the players, and they made those words come to life. I’m glad they bought into what they’re preaching, because we have all the talent to get done what we need to get done as long as we just take care of the steps along the journey.”
(Take us back to January, February, whenever it was – how early in your time with Mike McDaniel did you discuss how to stop Josh Allen?) – “Knowing what this game means to the organization, there are some things that really didn’t need to be said. As soon as the schedule came out and you saw this game, particularly a Thursday night game, Game 2, is one you kind of circle. So it’s a short week – Thursday games aren’t easy for anybody, but this one’s going to be a little bit easier for our guys because who our opponent is. It won’t require a lot of motivation from me. These guys will be jacked up to play and show who we are in front of a nationally televised audience.”
(Speaking of motivation and being jacked up, do you still go into player mode when guys come off the sideline? Do you get a little – how long does it take to calm back down?) – “I try very hard to stay even keel. I try to stay calm in the chaos. Now, when we got that fourth down stop, I did not. All right, I was yelling. Now here’s where I made the mistake – my headset was still on. So my coaches that were in the booth, I’m pretty sure I blew their eardrums out with just my exuberance in that play. As an ex-player this is as close as you can ever get to it and people ask, ‘Why does so and so play so long? Why did Brett Favre play forever?’ Because there’s no other avenue in life where you can get that feeling. If you’re a basketball player, I can go play basketball. I can go play tennis as I age, I can play golf forever. I don’t have 21 other friends where we can meet in a park and go play football. That ain’t happening. Particularly with 80,000 people cheering for you. So now I live through these guys. I try to impart whatever wisdom and experience that I have, and when they make plays, it’s almost like watching your children make plays. I get that same feeling and joy out of it. So yeah, that excitement from when I was a player, it definitely comes out in those moments.”
(S Jevón Holland forcing that ball out, that had to be very rewarding as a coach because the way he did that so instinctively – it’s got to go back to something you guys preach and practice.) – “Yes, certainly proud of that, but that kid deserves all the credit. He has been the leader, by far, in our chart of shots on goals. So we had something like 1,266 shots on goal, I believe, in training camp, he may have had like 1,100 of them – some of them while he was hurt on the sideline. Man, I’m so incredibly proud of that kid. He is a stud both on and off the field and was excited to see him shine and be his brightest when the moment was there.”
(What are the shots on goal? What exactly is that?) – “Oh, so we always talk about when our offense or any opponent we played in the preseason or even in spring, as they were running by you, you had to take a shot at the ball. So a strip attempt – early on some of our guys were getting upset because we’re punching them and hitting them in the gut, but once they understood the big picture of why we were doing it, there was no flinching then either.”
Frank Smith – September 10, 2024
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Tuesday, September 10, 2024
Offensive Coordinator Frank Smith
(We saw that RB Raheem Mostert and RB De’Von Achane are nursing things. Do you expect to have them available Thursday?) – “It’s just a short week, there’s a process for everyone. Everything happens fast, so we’re just working through with all the guys. Each guy is going through a process on the turnaround, so we know it’s going to be a full process for each guy as we get ready for Thursday.”
(How do you approach preparation when their status is in doubt, and you might have to lean more on some of the other backs?) – “I think it kind of goes into the whole offseason program and the way we approach things, so that way we try and be versatile with the all the guys and make sure we can understand where they can fit with the roster, and when we have any issues and guys got to step up in different roles and stuff like that, we have a good feeling of knowing what they can do. And that’s the good thing about this football team; we have a bunch of guys that are very willing to do whatever is necessary and have complete skill sets. Whatever happens when we go to Thursday, we’ll have a plan to be able to get ourselves in the best position for competing on Thursday versus Buffalo.”
(What went into the decision to have RB Jaylen Wright inactive?) – “Whenever you get a healthy inactive, it goes into what are the needs of the roster and where do you need guys. And a lot of the times, it’s special teams needs, defensive needs, what style of offense you’re playing, so there’s multiple variables that go into decisions or who’s inactive. But he’s done a great job, we’re really excited about him. All of our players, we’re really excited about these guys and how we’re going to play, especially this week versus a division rival in Buffalo.”
(I think the stat for RB Jeff Wilson Jr. was no touches before the fourth quarter, then winds up leading the team in rushing. What gave you guys confidence to go to him in such a key spot down the stretch and to pe paid off with the production he gave y’all in the fourth quarter?) – “It’s just the way he – Jeff (Wilson Jr.) is the consummate pro. He’s an energy guy and when his number is called, you know what he’s going to bring – physicality and intensity when he carries the ball. So we have complete confidence in all of our backs and really all of our guys, and the way we were able to rally at the end to accomplish what we needed to get done was really a testament to the guys. It’s been awesome, we’re really excited to continue upon that for this week.”
(Heard from a few players after Sunday that the common problem in the first half was being slow – slow in the huddle, slow out of it and didn’t leave enough time pre-snap to break things down. I’m curious, how much of this offense revolves around what you guys are able to do in those moments in between breaking the huddle and snapping the ball?) – “A lot of it is just communication, because different plays have different variables that you have to consider, whether it’s a movement or a play within a play that you’re trying to get to versus a look. It’s the challenge of when you play a defense that’s a first year of their staff and there’s some variables that we as a staff as coaches, we’re trying to make sure we’re getting beat, trying to not chase uncertainty, find the certainty inside of what they’re trying to do, what their plan is. Some of that was reflected, but ultimately, when you regroup and you get together and you’re going ‘OK, here’s what we need to do,’ we were able to do that and the guys really responded and they did it together. You just can’t talk enough about our guys and how they really bond together as a team and realized what they need to do to perform. And I think that was really exemplified in the first half, ‘Hey, let’s get together. Let’s fix what we need to fix and now let’s go play ball.’”
(We’ve talked a lot, a lot, over the last six months about the offensive line – the moment of truth on Sunday. How were they?) – “Listen, Game 1, there’s always some things that you’d be like, ‘Eh,’ but overall, we were able to do what we wanted to do. We know why certain things didn’t go exactly the way we anticipated, but the guys played hard. At the end, we’re running the football. We’re getting into the rhythm of things because it’s hard – run blocking, there’s a rhythm that comes into it because there’s different kinds of blocks that you have to execute, and then defensive linemen change. It’s a new staff and that really is more than you think because you’re watching an opponent that you’re not going to play. You’re watching Atlanta for a lot of your prep so when you’re getting into playing Jacksonville and you’re locking into how they’re going to play, the alignments you saw on tape, maybe they tweaked their stuff that you didn’t know. Which some of the alignments that we got were a little different than we anticipated, but the guys were able to respond and we were able to get into rhythm. Ultimately at the end, it’s find a way to win, and we were able to do that and that’s a great thing. We played complementary football at the end. We were able to control the ball and score when we needed, and the defense did a heck of a job in the second half.”
(How was the communication between the players and you guys in the coaching staff with those adjustments as you kind of saw something that was maybe different to what you saw on tape against a different opponent with what you got in the game? How was that communication about the adjustments that you guys made eventually in the second half?) – “Excellent. They’re great communicators and they’re able to tell us what they’re seeing, what they’re feeling, why things – ‘Hey, why didn’t you go here?’ ‘Well, it’s cause of this.’ ‘Hey, why’d you do that?’ ‘Well, he moved at the last second.’ The guys have excellent communication skills and that comes into the trust you build with the guys through all their time here. And it has to be an open communication because they’re playing and they have to tell us what they’re seeing, because our vantage point is different and they can’t come off to the sideline until the drive is done so they have to problem solve in the moment. So when they come off and they’re problem solving with us, a lot of the time they kind of already know and they’re making their adjustments. So overall, I think that our guys and their communication was awesome, and that’s something that really will be important as we go through the season.”
(What was your personal perspective on the WR Tyreek Hill situation and what we saw in the video footage from the police?) – “I didn’t find out about it until later and then – it’s a shame. It’s a shame that had to happen that way. As a person, when you spend all your time with these guys, you want to be there for them all the time to help. For me, like many guys, you wish you were there to help as well. How could you get things – But you couldn’t be more proud for us how the guys banded together, guys stopping to be there for each other. (They) had every excuse possible to go into the game and not perform and they were able to compartmentalize and push forward. The positive perspective our locker room has towards life and this opportunity this season presents is just awesome. You go through your career, you’re just fortunate to be a part of when you get such special guys that really care about each other the way that they do.”
(Have you had a chance to talk to WR Tyreek Hill since everything has happened?) – “Just through the phone. Just being there to support and let him know – the great thing about football, I think it’s lost on a lot of people, is that you bond together through your experience and we spend more time with each other than we do our own families. And just to be able to support one another and be there and let each other know we’re always there through thick or thin. Especially, it’s like one thing we pride ourselves on in this organization is the time we spend together, it doesn’t end here. There’s a relationship for life and that’s just something I know that Mike (McDaniel), Chris (Grier) and everyone here that we really – it’s important to us. It’s not just we’re here working, we’re here to be a part of each other’s lives to achieve the goals that we want together and support each other through the good times and the bad.”
(What did you learn about WR Tyreek Hill’s resolve the way he approached the game after experiencing that pregame?) – “You can’t say enough about him. What a stud. Just to be able to, I can’t even – you just can’t even really put yourself there, to go through that. I had teammates in college, a lot of your life you hear stories, but for him to be able to go through that, come out and to be able to perform with his teammates to band together – especially, it’s not like the game was easy as well. So you can’t say enough about Tyreek (Hill), and he’s just a joy and fortunate to have him here.”
(Your assessment of how QB Tua Tagovailoa played on Sunday?) – “It’s awesome. It’s really exciting for the season. He’s in such a good place – his communication, what he’s seeing, why, what he’s doing, it’s awesome. So very pleased with how he played, and seeing the direction, I’m really excited for Thursday to see what we can build upon, especially using the second half as our motivation going into Buffalo.”
Mike McDaniel – September 9, 2024
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Monday, September 9, 2024
Head Coach Mike McDaniel
(Have you had any update on the situation with WR Tyreek Hill, any clarity on what happened and just kind of how to move forward with this for him?) – “Really the time since yesterday to now I think for me personally, it’s been hard for me not to find myself more upset the more I think about it. That’s because of my teammates and trying to put myself in that situation that they’ve described emotionally, and then knowing more than that – I think the thing that (explicit) me up, honestly, to be quite frank, is that knowing that I don’t know exactly, I don’t know what that feels like. I think it’s very, very important that two things should be true – I think you let due process work and information to be gathered to appropriately project an opinion. However, I can’t get away from the fact of what I know their experience to be. You try to put yourself – if I’m Calais Campbell and I’m 38 years old and you’re going to work, whatever personal innocence that you have relative to – you’re a gigantic, strong, just a miraculous man that has done right in all ways, shapes and forms. There’s just elements to that that is very triggering, but I also do think that it’s supremely important to wait for information to be gathered before any rush to judgement. Regardless I know the feelings expressed to me are unsettling. Two things did come from the adversity: I’m super proud of teammates being teammates, and I’m super proud of our guys understanding the civic responsibility of a platform and intending to do right by it.”
(We’ve heard all summer how close this team has been. To see two, not only just teammates but new teammates in TE Jonnu Smith and DT Calais Campbell stop and come to his aid, I got to imagine that’s a pretty powerful coaching moment for you.) – “It’s what you hope your team is comprised of. Situations that you can’t plan for sometimes give you the best window into where your team is at. I’m very proud that they see each other as teammates and hold that in regard the way they do. You spend as much time, you are so interwoven into the story of their lives that you hope that teammates understand that we are extended family. I was very happy that a guy in a situation like that didn’t feel alone.”
(You’re clearly very aware and have perspective that probably we don’t about the impact of race in this country – police, excessive use of force, racism. I’m curious, has that perspective changed over time, or is this something that’s always been something that’s really emotional for you?) – “Well yeah, because it’s two part – I guess my journey has left me aware, but at the same time there is a huge level of I don’t know, because I’m not – simply by my appearance, I don’t have a history of feeling profiled. I’m not sure if that makes it – for me in particular, I just feel pretty helpless at times. Situations like that it’s not about the emotions that arises for me, it’s about the people in it. It’s probably more visceral because yes, I do spend a lot of time prioritizing empathy, and then when you know you can’t truly understand, the unknown is what crushes me. I can only forecast. My forecast, what if it’s worse? Since I was young, the racial relations and all things involved in that has been just kind of one of those things that I’m on the outside looking in at everything going on. I know from one thing, my appearance lends me to the journey of many not alienated.”
(With that being said, how impressed were you the way WR Tyreek Hill was able to bounce back from all of the pregame drama?) – “I was very, very impressed by him, individually and collectively, his teammates. I was just very impressed with everyone. To me, the teammates minimized whatever was going on as much as possible. I think the teammates, they did a great job of understanding what the game means to Tyreek (Hill) and tried to assist him as best they could to be able to do what he loves. Especially when you’re hitting the expert level of anything, there is a safe place there that you know the ground rules firmly and that you can do what you really love to do. I think that protecting that from a teammate standpoint and supporting him was very, very powerful.”
(In the past you’ve discussed the difficulty of wanting to have the answers for your players but sometimes having to accept that you don’t have them. You can’t reach that. So what do you – you mentioned not being able to know what that experience feels like – what can you tell guys like WR Tyreek Hill and DT Calais Campbell in a situation like this?) – “I think it’s better to listen more than anything. I think life is super humbling, and I think it’s important to recognize when your words don’t mean (expletive), like what am I going to say?”
(What was the process like in the locker room? It was such an odd incident to happen right before a game, and I sense that something had to have happened in the locker room for things to – for everybody to get their heads back in the game and just get their focus where it needed to be. Was it something you said, something WR Tyreek Hill said or how did that work?) – “There were some key players that are leaders of this team that I think did a great job of communicating to other players via word of mouth when they were getting close to arriving to the locker room and they were met by teammates in the locker room. So I think that in itself – you try to put yourself through their timeline – and however long it lasted, there was certain feelings during the situation, but then the second they got in the locker room, to have numerous people come physically to them to greet them and support them, that’s how it was handled. You want to make sure your guy is OK and, in that process, you want to make sure that they do not feel alone.”
(We’re a day removed from this incident. Happened more than 24 hours. Miami-Dade Police Department has made a commitment to transparency. We don’t have the body one camera video yet which might clear up a lot. I’m not sure whether you thought about that or talked about it. Do you have any thoughts about their releasing that video and is there anything you can address relative to the importance of them releasing that video?) – “I think you let the process take its time. It’s one thing for timeliness of it. I think for anyone to have an opinion, if there are facts, they should have facts before they have an opinion. So I don’t pretend to know all the things involved in that process, so for me to even have an opinion about today and having expectations for it to be released today, I think that should be short-sighted on my part. I don’t know what goes on with that and I think that there’s a lot of things they have to – I’m confident that everything will get reviewed, and I am confident that this is too much in the spotlight to just sweep under the rug. So I feel like what I don’t know now, it’s not my time to know, but I think facts supersede everything. I think it’s important for people to allow a fair process for all information to get distributed because that’s I think kind of the – I just think that’s kind of a super important pillar for me to stand on for my scope, is that I don’t think it’s fair to anybody to rush to judgment. That’s why my emotion comes from the journey and the experience from my teammates and extrapolated to other things; that’s where the emotion comes from, but I think you have to let the process play out. I think that’s super important.”
(You’re obviously very emotional about this. I’m sure a lot of guys on the team are emotional about it. How tough is it to get focused on a game for Thursday?) – “I think there’s a good amount of – I would venture to guess one of the favorite parts of being in the NFL and being on an NFL team is that we are able to immerse ourselves into something that’s a tangible goal that you have some control over. I think that a lot of times it’s therapeutic to be in the process of NFL game week and a Thursday night division opponent. There’s a lot of very constructive things to think about and sometimes that can be our greatest gift – that gift of supreme distraction, if it were. So I think our guys are highly motivated to – especially when the world creeps in on you and rattles you a little bit – there’s I think, some comfort in our known prepare for an opponent, know your assignments, and play together type of orchestration of football that is timely for… I don’t know about this particular situation, but in times, there’s just been innumerable times of things happening in all ways, shapes or forms to players, and they find the comfort in the process and the commitment to each other and the team. So I think when I see guys, what is it tomorrow? What is tomorrow? When I see all the team together tomorrow, I have a pretty sound expectation of guys being very, very focused on our next opponent which happens to be in the division. They happen to play in Buffalo.”
(Do you believe at all in the thought that a team has another team’s number, so to speak? Given what has happened in the last 15 matchups or so, even preceding you, and how much is it to clear that mental hurdle to beat a team like that within your decision and doing it so early in the season?) – “I think there’s always – I worry about the risk of people modeling a current team or a specific opponent on a new team based upon old things. So there’s a lot of players on this team that didn’t play Buffalo with the Miami Dolphins last year. There’s a lot of people that the first time that they played Buffalo was last season. So to be all encompassing, for me I’ve never subscribed to it, but you have to make sure that your team is there and that your team doesn’t see it that way as well because you can wish stuff into existence. To me, I think it’s very involved in fanbases which we feel and it’s very motivating for our ultimate goals and what we want to do with the season, but to have someone’s number, I think on either side, you’re kind of dismissing all the things that have changed that make this new team what it is. I think for this team, we know the stakes of it, but at the same time I don’t think anybody is thinking about the Buffalo Bills as anything but the team that’s won the division for however many years in a row that has had very successful seasons the last handful of previous ones and know that collectively, they will play hard, determined, physical football. Beyond that, I think these are two new teams playing against each other. I know if you’re on the opposite end, I’ve been – I think I was in San Francisco, I can’t remember how many we won playing the Rams in a row, but on the winning side, you’re fearful of people thinking that it’s just the decal that’s winning these games because it’s a very competitive league, and if you take anything to be an assumption, like you have someone’s number, you will get proven wrong quickly. I think the two teams playing is absolutely one of my favorite things in the National Football League because you have – I think it starts with fanbase. When you know your fanbase wants no part of losing to another team, you can feel it in the stadium, you can feel the energy and those stakes. Bottom line is you get in this business for stakes like that, so it should be really fun football that will be hard earned. It will definitely physical, and I think the winning team will have to earn it. And so we’ll be in a situation where we’re trying to prepare ourselves this week to be that team, and I absolutely know, with full conviction, that the boys in Buffalo will be doing the same.”
(A football question about WR Jaylen Waddle, CB Jalen Ramsey and LB Jaelan Phillips. I know Waddle finished the game, but how is he? CB Jalen Ramsey, how is the hamstring? LB Jaelan Phillips, how is the Achilles? Have you seen them and what is their status for Thursday as much as you know?) – “The ones going into the game, simply by the snap count, it was a positive experience for Jaelan (Phillips) and Jalen (Ramsey). You heard how I – they spell them differently, so I say them differently. (laughter) I think they probably had some more snaps than we might have had in our minds, very careful to not put something in their head, but I think that playing over 50 percent of the snaps for both of those guys was – the only way that happens is you’re testing the waters, and you feel very good about what’s occurring. So those were positive things, absolutely. Jaylen Waddle was from upstairs; he was called into the tent based upon want they saw and independent neurologist cleared him. So I think he should be good to go as we move forward.”
Alec Ingold – September 9, 2024
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Monday, September 9, 2024
FB Alec Ingold
(How good did it feel to convert those two third-and-1 runs? And on the second one, can you take me through the play where it looked like you got hit in the backfield before you were able to plow through?) – “Yeah, it felt great. I think it was – we had a few of those opportunities that just pop up in the flow of the game and to keep the offense on the field was awesome. As a fullback, I didn’t really have to do much. The right side of the offensive line just kind of rode that wave. Austin Jackson down-blocking, we have that out block with Durham (Smythe), or Julian (Hill), or whoever man, and the hole was there and we just made it work. So I’m glad we could keep the offense on the field, Jeff Wilson Jr. was humming at the end of the game. Tua (Tagovailoa) was on one. Everyone was fiery getting in and out of the huddle, so just to keep that momentum, those little things are the big things so it felt good.”
(On the second one, I was not wrong that you got hit in the backfield, so what was going through your mind and the determination to plow through it?) – “I just tried to get – in my mind, I was mentally thinking get as skinny as possible and get through that hole. I tried to embody Raheem Mostert as best I could, but no man. I think it’s all mindset; like he’s going a little sideways, I’m going forward, you got to be able to make that work, especially when you’re at that point in the game. You got to be at your best when your best is required in the fourth quarter, set up ‘7-dawg,’ Jason Sanders for that game-winner. That was all we needed.”
(It seemed like the Jaguars made a real concerted effort to take away your run game early on at least – the second half RB Jeff Wilson Jr. really got it going for you guys. What did Jacksonville do that was effective and how can you improve going into this week?) – “I think we talked about that new defensive coordinator over there getting those guys rolling. Their edge defenders are really tough – really high paid, really high motor guys. Linebackers were flowing down hill, so – you got big Arik Armstead in there too. They had quite a bit of defensive players that were making plays. As we were able to make adjustments, as we were able to see things on the sideline, communicate, I think that’s what opened up those lanes in the second half. And I think that’s just a testament to the team man, sticking together. Obviously it wasn’t pretty in the first half, but when you have guys that have been intentional about the way that we’re working through things, we can talk to each other, speak the same language and be able to iron it out on the sideline to be able to put up some points, get some drives rolling. Even when things are moving slow and it doesn’t feel great, you’re able to kind of get all that rust out, burn all those fumes out and be able to get what we need in the second half. So I was really proud of the guys; the communication on the sideline was elite. Yeah, we made those adjustments together as a crew and it was great.”
(I think you have won your first game against the Bills with the Dolphins and then have lost four straight since and 11 of 12 for the franchise overall. Can you take us into – what are the feelings inside the locker room toward Buffalo?) – “I mean we don’t like them; they don’t like us. It’s not a really big secret, we’re all very familiar with each other. It’s a Thursday night game, a short week so adversity is an opportunity. Really excited any time you get to play the Bills. They’re atop the AFC East as long as I’ve been here and that’s the type of game you want to play in primetime with all the guys rolling deep and being able to lay it all out there. If you’re a competitor, you love playing the Bills. You got a heck of a lot of respect for them across the board. You’ve got to play really sound football for four quarters to be able to compete and that’s what we got to do. We’ve got to put one together.”
(I was going to ask about the Bills as well, but I wanted to ask you about the compressed time frame. What time did you get out of the stadium last night? What time did you get back to work today? And what’s on the agenda to get ready for one of the biggest games of the season?) – “Yeah, fans were rolling deep yesterday so we didn’t get back until maybe 5:30 (p.m.) and got to just hang out by the house, grill out some dinner and then we’re right back at it 7:00 a.m. this morning. So it is a quick turnaround but you’re also just playing football, right? It really does boil down to the simplicity of the game, being able to execute, take in a game plan, playing ball, making those adjustments. Nobody’s bodies feel great, but I think that’s that extra layer of want to that you really need to bring into those Thursday night games, and it’s an exciting opportunity for us. So anytime we can be back at Hard Rock Stadium on a quick turnaround, I’m not complaining about that.”
