Marcus Maye – October 7, 2024
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Monday, October 7, 2024
S Marcus Maye
(The victory, what did it do for this team? How big of a relief was it? How much enjoyment do you get out of it?) – “It’s a big relief. I mean it’s hard to win in this league, so as they come, you got to take them for what they are. But we know that we didn’t play the game we know we can play, the style of ball we know we can play. So obviously, there’s a few things to correct but the way things have been, getting a win was our biggest thing.”
(You’ve obviously been a team first guy here, knowing that before this year, every game you played in you started. How weird of a feeling was it to be on the bench for most of the first few games? Was it difficult to handle?) – “Yeah, but you know you just got to be ready at all times, no matter what. You’ve got to find some kind of way to impact the team, so special teams, whenever your number is called in certain packages and things like that, you just have to be prepared at all times. That’s what I was doing those first couple of weeks. So you know no matter who’s in there, no matter when or time of the game, you just got to be ready.”
(I know you guys didn’t play a lot of three safety looks previously, but can you tell me about Defensive Coordinator Anthony Weaver calling the game and the variety and the things that he does? What does that do for the defense? What does that do to the other offense?) – “No, he does a great job of keeping the offense guessing, switching things up on our end. So that’s the great thing that we have in our room and on our side of the ball – the versatility of you can move guys around, things like that, hit them from different areas and things so with the blitzes and coverages and things like that. He’s been doing a great job of mixing things up.”
(I don’t know what special teams you were on the field for, but a very sloppy performance yesterday, tell me about – I guess, were guys pissed off at each other? Were guys trying to be supportive? Tell me about that.) – “Guys were definitely supportive. We just got to find a way to get on the same page. They did a great job on their end of scheming us up and things like that, but like I said, it’s just a collective effort, all three phases. We just got to continue to get better, continue to sharpen up the details so we can play the ball that we know we can play.”
(A chance that S Jevón Holland misses some time with the hand. If so, what does that mean for you?) – “I’m not sure exactly what’s going on with Jevón (Holland) yet. I know it’s his hand, I don’t know how long and things like that. But like I said earlier, with the guys that we have in our room, who’s ever out there, they got to be ready to go at all times.”
(The final play, it seems like there was a difference in mentality from Tennessee – that you guys were kind of in a prevent before halftime and then this time the zero blitz. Which do you prefer? Why do you think Defensive Coordinator Anthony Weaver switched it up?) – “You learn from certain things. Each game is different; each scenario is different. We had the hot hand, we felt like our defensive line was getting there, so we decided to bring the pressure and play coverage on the back end. The guys did a great job of getting home and the guys did a great job of covering.”
(And what did you see on that play? Foot in, foot out?) – “I saw a toe and then I’d seen the heel hit. So once I saw the heel hit, I was hoping that we’d get that call that we got, but the football gods were on our side and it definitely played out in our favor.”
(Did you know about that rule? I didn’t now about toe-heel.) – “Yeah, toe-heel, but obviously when it’s just the toe that’s all it is going forward. So yeah, I was like, ‘Thank God his heel came down out of bounds.’”
(I know you’ve play both free and strong safety throughout your career. If S Jevón Holland misses some time, are you comfortable moving over?) – “Yeah, at this point I’ve done both so I’ve pretty much – if it’s free safety, I’m pretty comfortable back there. If it’s in the box, once I get adjusted and see things, I feel pretty good being there too.”
(Do you have a preference to which one?) – “No, as long as I’m just out there on the grass.”
(How much – obviously, you’re a defensive back, you never want to have a broken hand. But how much of a hinderance is it whether it’s ball skills or tackling? Is it just pain tolerance?) – “Yeah, just those little nagging injuries. Obviously, we got to use our hands in this game, so when you have hand injuries and little things like that, you just got to find different ways to protect it and use different techniques and things like that to make sure you’re playing the right game out there and stuff like that.”
(Little nagging injuries?) – “Yeah, it’s because you got to use your hands on every play. So it’s tape up, cast up and you got to figure it out.”
(So you had a thumb injury, S Jordan Poyer had a thumb injury, now S Jevón Holland’s got a hand injury.) – “Yeah, so it’s been rough, but we’ve been getting through it and figuring it out.”
Jordyn Brooks – October 7, 2024
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Monday, October 7, 2024
LB Jordyn Brooks
(The victory yesterday, what did it do for the team? I would imagine that’s a very timely victory to end that three-game losing streak, but what did it do for the team?) – “I think it was good just going into a bye week just to get a win. That was the message all week, just to go 1-0 this week and get a win. So any time you get a win in this league, it’s always a great thing.”
(Did you come off the field yesterday?) – “No.”
(Have you played every snap this season?) – “I think so.”
(Ready for the bye week?) – “Much needed bye week. Much needed for sure.”
(Tell me about the run defense. You guys have allowed a few big runs, but doesn’t seem like you’ve been that bad overall. Has it been a few leaky runs, have you been pretty consistent otherwise? What’s your opinion on the run defense?) – “Something as a defense, like that’s the No. 1 thing we want to get better at right now is the run defense. We can make all of the excuses in the world, but at the end of the day, I think we’re just not playing consistently enough. We’ll go some drives playing great and then we’ll let one out and that’s kind of been the story through the first quarter of the season for us right now as a defense, just letting leaky runs out, getting tired, long drives, whatever the case may be. That’s something that we’ve got to clean up. We’re aiming to be the best defense that we can be so it starts right there for sure.”
(Got some injuries in the secondary, injuries on the edge. What is allowing you guys to keep going despite the injuries?) – “I think we’ve just got a lot of great players, depth at every position. Something we knew coming in, in training camp, just knowing we’ve got guys that can fill in anywhere at any position. So hate to see guys go down, but it’s never a misstep (when) whoever goes down because everybody can play ball.”
(What did it mean to have LB David Long Jr. back out there yesterday?) – “It was good to see him out there, have him healthy, communicating, leading, playing fast, playing physical. A guy like that, you just want to keep him healthy, make sure we have him out there.”
(As far as the team overall, how is the mentality right now? Obviously it’s not the start that you guys wanted, but you did get that victory. Are you little down? Are you picking up? How would you describe your mentality right now?) – “I think everybody is just kind of even-keeled right now. It’s great to win. I don’t think we won the way that we wanted to win on either side of the ball, so it kind of leaves you bittersweet just knowing that we left some plays out there that we could have took advantage of and really won in a better fashion, won in a way that we think that we can win. And so it’s something to carry on through the bye week, things that we need to get better at, individually and as a team.”
(How has Defensive Coordinator Anthony Weaver called the games the first five weeks?) – “Been great. He’s aggressive. Yesterday, he was aggressive there at the end, calling zero coverage. I like his mentality to go get after the quarterback and make him get it out quick. So I’ve loved the way he’s called the game, and I think we’ll only keep growing and getting better as a defense with him.”
(The overturned touchdown, I know that it was like the guy didn’t drag the foot. What was your read on that on that last overturned touchdown that they had?) – “Yeah, I was looking right at it. I’d seen him get his foot – I knew he didn’t get it in. They still said it was a touchdown initially, but I was pretty confident once they looked at it like we’ll get that back. So God was on our side with that one. That’s something as a defense we’ve got to get cleaned up as well, make sure that he didn’t even have the opportunity to catch the ball.”
Terron Armstead – October 7, 2024
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Monday, October 7, 2024
T Terron Armstead
(Tell me what this victory did for the team, because I would think it’s a huge confidence boost.) – “Every win is huge. They’re hard to get, none of them taken for granted or to be minimized. We had a lot of things that we need to clean up in order to move forward and get more wins, but it’s always better to correct, address issues after a win – through a winning environment.”
(What did you think of the run game? I don’t know if the 41 carries impresses you more or the 193 yards, but what did you think of the run game?) – “That’s just something that needs to be a staple for us moving forward. We have to be able to establish that run game, no matter the opponent, no matter what day we play on, that has to be a part of our offense. The short yards, the long gains, all of it – we have to lean on it and be a huge emphasis towards moving forward.”
(Was there something said in the huddle or on the sideline before that big series you had where it was sort of established, “OK, we’re going to run now and it’s up to you guys to pave the way?”) – “No, not really. Not really, no special message or motivation at all. We just – execution was better, and we still had issues there. We still had some penalties that went against us that could have made that drive even more successful. Just moving forward, no matter what the call is, we got to go execute and without the negatives bringing us back after we have some positive gains. So that’s going to be something that we continue to do, and the more we can do that, we can execute without the penalties, our offense will start to look a lot better.”
(The amazing thing about the NFL is you guys had, obviously, a rough stretch but you look at the standings and they’re all jumbled. What is your sense of what’s next for this team? What lays ahead down the road of the Miami Dolphins?) – “Not looking down the road, or the standings either. It’s still early. We’re not trying to seed or position, we’re just trying to focus on what we got going on, so Indy is next. That’s it, man. Just lock in on Indy – establish the run game, try to be dominant in the run game and go get a win.”
(What is the fun thing about blocking for RB Raheem Mostert in particular with his unique sort of gliding style? What’s fun about that?) – “Just everything that he brings – that intensity, that competitiveness, the passion that he plays the game with is a big boost for the offense, that energy that he has. He’s not afraid to challenge guys either to put their best foot forward. So great to have him back in there, that leadership. Blocking for Raheem, (De’Von) Achane, young dawg ‘J-Wright’ (Jaylen Wright) is too like, they’re literally one – any play, they can go to the house. So you want to be the one that springs them for that long gain. I feel like we get one of those off my block and it goes yard, I take that as my touchdown so we love to see that.”
(What impressed you about RB Jaylen Wright?) – “He’s a dawg, man. He’s a dawg. He’s physical, he’s confident. You got a lot more Jaylen Wright coming. So I’m excited to see what he’s going to bring, get more experience, more reps. I love his mindset. I love how confident he is in his ability.”
(Can you help us understand why the pre-snap penalties keep coming? I know there’s a lot of motion, a lot of pre-snap motion, a lot of shifts – is it that complicated to understand for the offense? For QB Tyler Huntley? For an offense under Huntley? Take me inside of that please.) – “It’s tough, man. There’s a lot of nuances in an offense, especially when you have a lot of motions, you have a lot of personnels. You have quarterback changes so the cadence could be different; he might hold the cadence longer than others or he wants to operate faster than Tua (Tagovailoa) or maybe Skylar (Thompson). So the illegal formation, illegal shift, guys are taking their time getting set as opposed to ‘Snoop’ (Tyler Huntley) being in more of a hurry – we got to get set off of him. So those small little details or nuances that nobody really pays attention to until it’s a problem. Crowd noise can be another thing too, so that’s something that we have to – we can’t continue to do if we want to play winning football. Point of emphasis, we got to keep continuing to lock in on our details. That’s been the biggest difference from why we’ve dropped some games and were able to pull that one off yesterday.”
(What’s impressed you about the job that OL Rob Jones has done?) – “Again, he’s a dawg. He’s physical. He goes after it, no excuses. He might not always be feeling the best – get rolled up or whatever and he’s just going to keep pushing. He’s a warrior, man. I love playing next to him.”
(As far as what you saw from this team last week in practice and how it paid off, what did you see? There were still some errors, but you guys put it together on the road in a clutch situation. What did you see from practice that translated to the game?) – “We saw improvement. We saw improvement from a technique standpoint. We saw improvement from operation, alignment, assignment, not having as many MAs and all those things that stop you from winning, but we have to clean up a lot of those things at an accelerated rate in order to be a real team, you know what I mean? We could squeeze by, but (if) we want to be a team that’s going to be worth anything as far as the end of the year, we got to clean those things up at a little bit of a faster rate.”
(How did your HBCU experience prepare you for the NFL?) – “I haven’t been in college in 12 years. (laughter) But no, man, it definitely was a part of my make up going through that HBCU experience. Not having as many resources, just being able to work with what we got and band together as a team, as brothers. When I had gotten to Arkansas-Pine Bluff, they had never won a championship. So my senior year, we won the first championship in the history of the school. So just coming in and seeing everything work full circle and we start to lead the way and change the culture, it definitely became a part of who I am.”
(Does the bye week come at a good time or would you guys rather keep playing now that you have one victory here?) – “We roll with what’s ever on the schedule. We can’t ever really slot it or say what because it’s different for different people. We got people dealing with injuries or something so it’s perfect time for them, others just kind of just getting back and wanting to get into a grove so it depends on the individual.”
(WR Odell Beckham Jr., could you tell any tangible bounce or anything from the team from his presence?) – “Yeah, his presence alone. His presence alone – I’m not sure what he did statistically yesterday, but just having him in there, being on the field, know it’s another reliable target to go to, especially third down. His ability to win one-on-one matchups will be big for us moving forward.”
(What have you seen from CB Jalen Ramsey? He’s a guy – looks like Defensive Coordinator Anthony Weaver is really maximizing his skill set by moving him around. What are you seeing on the field and leadership wise?) – “I think we still haven’t seen the full Jalen Ramsey experience with ‘Weave’ (Defensive Coordinator Anthony Weaver). I think we’re starting to unlock some things now, adding a couple of packages, but it’s going to be more Ramsey, more of an impact, more getting involved. He’s a special human being. He’s an athlete like very few on this earth so for him to be able to be at the point of attack for a lot of plays, it’s advantageous for us. I think as we move on throughout the year. We’re going to see more Ramsey being in more spots.”
Zach Sieler – October 6, 2024 (Postgame)
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Sunday, October 6, 2024
Postgame – at New England
Dolphins DT Zach Sieler
(On getting the win heading into the bye week)
“We’re 2-3 and the whole season is ahead of us. It’s great getting a win going into the bye week, but there’s a lot to correct. We did it, we won, but I think we have a lot going forward for us to work on and work on what worked today.”
(On how he thought the game went)
“Our offense was moving the ball and I had total faith. We have powerful running backs and the ground game was awesome today. I don’t care how we win, if we move the ball, we move the ball. There’s no ugly victories. It is hard to win in this league. I don’t care who you are or how good your team is, or what the score is. We did it, we have things to clean up, but we did it.
(On if he thought the defense played well)
“We played good, but we can play better. That’s how we look at it, always get better; always keep improving.”
(On if they had a specific goal defensively to control the game)
“Defensive line-wise, we always go in thinking we are going to stop the run and take control up front to do our part to win the game. You can only control what you do and when you try to do too much that is when things go bad.”
-DOLPHINS-
Jonnu Smith – October 6, 2024 (Postgame)
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Sunday, October 6, 2024
Postgame – at New England
Dolphins TE Jonnu Smith
(On getting the win in a close game)
“The only satisfaction relies on winning. We got the job done and that is all that we came out here for and I am going to enjoy this one. It’s just another game on the schedule. Winning in this league is all that matters. Each week is its own challenge. There are different ways of winning, but at the end of the day, in that column there is only win or loss. Every week defensively, offensively, special teams, there are different scenarios that help you win games and sometimes you have to lean on certain things. Obviously, objectively, you want every group to come together and operate as one. It doesn’t always go that way but at the end of the day we figured out a way to win.”
(On getting a win heading into the bye week)
“You don’t want to go into a bye week with however many days off with a loss. You want to go into the bye week with momentum and I’m glad that we got it. Now we’ve got to keep rolling. I’m going to spend some time with my family, relax and kick it a little bit. Spend some time with my wife and kids. I’m going to try and catch a game (at his college, FIU).”
-DOLPHINS-
Jaylen Wright – October 6, 2024 (Postgame)
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Sunday, October 6, 2024
Postgame – at New England
Dolphins RB Jaylen Wright
(On getting the run game going this week)
“It felt good, after a hard-working week of practice. We were able to focus on the details and paying attention and having the right aiming points and right tracks and everything. I just feel like it all came together in the second half. I felt like we were getting good movement thanks to the offensive line. We were getting good movement you know and getting it up to the second or third level. It opens things up for the run to produce great runs.”
(On the drive at the end of the game and Tyler Huntley’s play)
“He is a pro and he is here for a reason. Coach brought him in for a reason. He is somebody we can lean on, you know someone who he is leader already and he has only been here for like three weeks. I feel like he has done a great job in the system for how short of a time he has been here. Just him being out there, just him getting everyone lined up and paying attention.”
(On the getting the win)
“This win has been needed. We have had a rough past few weeks, you know what I am saying. But that is just the beat of the game. We put those past games in the past and you know we just have to stay in the present. We got a win this week going into a bye week and then we come back with the same mindset to win.”
-DOLPHINS-
Raheem Mostert – October 6, 2024 (Postgame)
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Sunday, October 6, 2024
Postgame – at New England
Dolphins RB Raheem Mostert
(On the offense playing from under center)
“Either way it doesn’t really matter, just get the ball in our hands, and we will try and make it work. They were giving us some good looks, at the end of the day we just try and exploit them and take advantage.”
(On overcoming the first half mistakes)
“It was fairly tough. You see what’s going on like when we were in the red zone, and then the ball gets snapped behind us and Ally [Alec Ingold] recovers the snap, little things like that, are just putting us in a bind, but honestly we just have to overcome those things.”
(On how not to have the mistakes get the team down)
“I guess you just have to have a talk with the guys and you know after that the whole thing happened, I just jumped right in and said, ‘everyone let’s go, let’s pick it up, and that’s not how we play ball. We have to stop making these critical mistakes and go out there and do what we do.’”
(On how it feels to be back)
“It’s been good and I don’t know what my stats are but I really don’t care. I’m just happy we got the biggest stat which is that W, and honestly it feels good. Just watching the team from afar and the sidelines these past couple of weeks, it has been a little bit of a mental stressor but at the same time it has been one of those things that I just have to get healthy and get back out there for the boys and I was able to do that today.”
-DOLPHINS-
Calais Campbell – October 6, 2024 (Postgame)
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Sunday, October 6, 2024
Postgame – at New England
Dolphins DT Calais Campbell
(On his thoughts after a game like that)
“That’s a character-building win, you know. A lot of stuff went wrong, it’s like, man that was a pretty ugly ballgame, especially in the first half. But one thing we didn’t do is we didn’t flinch. We didn’t relax, we just stayed hungry, kept fighting, kept believing and found a way to get the win when it mattered. Your big-time players have to come up with big-time plays in big-time games and the way we started running the ball in the second half was inspiring. We still gave up too many yards rushing on defense, there’s a lot to clean up, lot of ball that we can work on. But we’ve got a bye week, we’re going to study ourselves, we’ll figure out how to get better and come out of this bye and try to get another win.”
(On if it was a frustrating day even though the Dolphins came away with the win)
“When you get a win, especially after we haven’t had a win for a few weeks, I don’t know, you can’t be too frustrated. I feel pretty good right now. It could definitely be better. We will grade it, we will clean it up and we will try to improve. But you know, it’s been so long since we’ve got a win, I’m just going to enjoy this one. 24 hours, 24 hours to enjoy it.”
(On the fact that other than the turnover that set up the Patriots’ touchdown, how the Dolphins defense didn’t give up many yards)
“One of the things we try to preach is coming off of turnovers, having a sense of urgency and keeping points off the board or hold them to three. We had opportunities there. It was a bust and also (inaudible), they capitalized. It’s the NFL and they’ve got some good players. They made a big-time play. That’s something we know we can fix and we fixed it and we played a lot better. They had a really good game plan in the run game and way too many yards. One thing we’ve learned is we’ll fix it the following game, let’s just keep playing ball. Nobody has to try to do more than their job, just keep doing your job and we’ll be okay.”
(On the bye week and if it comes at a good time for the team)
“It really doesn’t matter, right? This is the time, so we’re definitely going to study ourselves and during the bye week, I always try to go back and watch every play and see what I was doing. See what works, see what didn’t work and then kind of figure out going forward, do more of the stuff that works and do less of the stuff that doesn’t.”
-DOLPHINS-
