Raheem Mostert – November 16, 2023
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Thursday, November 16, 2023
RB Raheem Mostert
(The combo of you and RB De’Von Achane produced yards per carry numbers that have never been seen in football. How excited are you about that combo being revived?) – “I mean, it’s fun. De’Von is a hell of a player. I think the world of him. He’s grown into this offense now where he’s just electric. Just like everybody else, he’s a part of the game. It’s fun. I’m happy that he’s back.”
(How much have you seen him grow in this offense?) – “Early on, he had a couple slip ups and we had to get on him. It’s finally paying off for him. He’s taken coaching very well. He’s listening to the key aspects in both the run and the pass game. And he’s executing at a high rate, which is awesome to see.”
(How are you feeling physically? Did the bye week help you?) – “Yeah, the bye week definitely helped me. I was dealing with little nicks and bruises here and there. But I’m good now. I’m ready to go. I want to fly around on Sunday against the Raiders and just put some points on the board and continue to do what we’ve been doing.”
(How much pride do you guys take in the fact that you haven’t lost a game at home so far this season?) – “I mean, there’s a lot of pride that goes into that. Home field advantage, home turf, or home grass, whatever you want to call it. It’s your house. You have to protect your house. It’s just fun to finally get some recognition behind that. It’s tough when you have an opponent on any Sunday that comes into your house and think they can dominate. I believe we are (16-2) or something like that. It’s a crazy stat being at home. I’m not trying to jinx it or anything, (knocks on wood) but at the end of the day, it is an NFL game.”
(How much do you guys talk about the opportunity within the division? With three teams losing last week, you guys have a little bit of a lead. I know there’s still eight games left, but there is a real opportunity here to capture the AFC East.) – “Yeah, I mean it’s a big opportunity. We just have to stay the course and try not to deviate off that course and try our best to win these games and finish the season strong. We break it down in quarters. We’re on our third quarter right now. We got Vegas, we got the Jets twice and so we’re just trying to maximize each and every week and try to get these wins.”
Frank Smith – November 16, 2023
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Thursday, November 16, 2023
Offensive Coordinator Frank Smith
(I know there’s no real shock and awe for coaches. There’s more of that for fans watching incredible things. But was there any just, ‘I can’t believe we’re witnessing this from RB De’Von Achane at the pure standpoint of the 12.1 yards per carry average, which just is outlandish?) – “Yeah, I think it’s a good start to his rookie season. Ultimately, when you’re having that level of success doing your job, the challenge is to work to maintain that standard that you’ve started off doing, which he does. He’s an awesome guy, really works at it, diligent in his whole process. It’s been a great start to his rookie season.”
(When you’ve watched RB De’Von Achane the past couple of days, does he look like the same guy with the same burst, same speed, same change in direction, acceleration?) – “Yeah. Sunday always has a different variable of the adrenaline that goes. But yeah, so far, a lot of the guys that are coming back, it’s been good to have them on the field working again.”
(I’ve been talking to some of your offensive players about the un-scouted looks that you guys see, because of WR Tyreek Hill and your overall speed. Does that work to your advantage because the defense is not familiar with that style, or to your disadvantage because you have not seen that style of defense?) – “I think it poses a conversation, but at the same time, we have to talk about what they’re doing, if it’s going to force us out of what our intent was and what we’re trying to do. But ultimately, it’s a good challenge for us to really work through our process, work in our rules, and if we trust our rules to our concepts, we should be alright. Conversely, if they’re doing something they haven’t done before, they’re having to have the same issues of what are we doing? So I think there’s both sides of the coin to all that. But ultimately, that was the best part about here in camp with Vic (Fangio) and the multiplicity with what they do. It forced us to really have some of that communication early on.”
(I’ve heard that WR Tyreek Hill and QB Tua Tagovailoa do a really good job on the sideline of checking with each other and making adjustments. Is that your understanding? Is that what you see?) – “Yeah, I think overall, the offense does a good job together communicating what they’re seeing, how they’re trying to really get on the same page and connected, because that’s the challenge of the season. Each week, every defense is going to pose a different test or they’re going to either show what we’ve kind of seen before, or they could give us something that we haven’t seen before. So I think ultimately, our communication together is the most important thing we need to be on.”
(I was curious of your thought process when you’re drawing up plays. I thought about when Head Coach Mike McDaniel first got here, the core of what he wanted to do was kind of force defenses to cover like every blade of grass. So with you, do you think of personnel first, formations, maybe the blocking schemes? What goes through your mind when you draw up a play?) – “Each week, it kind of goes – it’s along those lines. Each week, it’s kind of, you assess your opponent, yourselves, where you’re at, your anticipated guys that are going be available for the game. What’s the defense trying to do? How can we use our matchup guys to attack the defense for the width of it and the length of the field? I think that each week, the checklist is, as we’re talking about what we’re trying to hit, maybe one morphs in front of the other. The other is there but ultimately, it’s kind of the same stuff we’ve been talking about as far as how a lot of times, if you don’t expand the field, it allows them to compress. The ability to not compress allows us to create space in the defense and I think ultimately, that’s what the offense is trying to do in attacking the space.”
(I was also thinking about how football is cyclical. Obviously there’s roots, with Kyle Shanahan and Gary Kubiak and whatnot. What is the oldest play – not exactly what the play is, but what is the oldest play in the playbook? Does it span the 80s, the 70s?) – “Oh, man. There’s certain elements that go all the way back to the West Coast of Bill Walsh. I mean, just as far as the original quick game. When they were in Cincinnati and they were struggling running the football, how do you create a quick passing game to supplement run yardage? That’s where a lot of those components, those concepts started. I’d say for my five years in New Orleans, Sean (Payton), the same thing, West Coast origins. When I worked in Chicago, we were more of a blend with Payton’s system when we got “Foxy” (John Fox). Jon Gruden obviously was a West Coast guy. Then Joe Lombardi, we ran the Saints offense. The majority of my career has been spent in some forms of it. It’s kind of like, not everyone’s aligned, but it’s like Thanksgiving dinner where all the cousins get together. When I got with Gruden, it kind of connected a couple of things to New Orleans, and you’re going like, ‘oh, this?’ ‘Oh, got it,’ because Jon kept a lot of it. When he left (Mike) Holmgren, he kept his version intact so it was the closest back to Green Bay. Or when Sean worked with Gruden and then he went from there to New York so there was – and then Dallas, there were some variants. It’s like, you start off and you get this one, you’re like, ‘got it.’ Then you go the next one, you’re like, ‘oh.’ Gruden would do a great job explaining the origins to stuff all the way back to San Francisco with Walsh. It was like football heaven. I’d sit there like, ‘so that’s why we do that.’ Then now here, there’s just that background. It was really helpful because there’s so much to the core of what we do. It all really originates back to the origins of Bill Walsh.”
(I do want to get into the specifics of OL Liam Eichenberg. You guys have locked in with him at center. Now kind out of necessity he may be back there at guard. What’s that transition been like for him, and overall what’s his season been like?) – “I think it goes back to the offseason when we stated that process of creating versatility for the linemen. Multiple guys playing guard, multiple guys playing center, guard, tackle. Over the course of the season, there are many unknowns to it, as far as how it’s going to play out. So us having the versatility to move guys in multiple spots has been very helpful. With what he’s been able to do for that, the first time playing center, and then you got to go on the road and do it twice and handle all of the communication and all of that, for what we’re asking him to do, he’s been doing a very steady job with it. Ultimately the greatest thing about Liam is that he really works at any issue that occurs. He wants to get better, and he works as hard as anybody to get it right. Now in the middle of the season, this is where now hopefully you start seeing the growth from all of that work that started in April. All the transitions, the in-season reps, and then now the back half of the season, I’m really excited to see him and the rest of the guys play up front.”
(How do you think the work at center, being able to identify things and leading that unit, will benefit him at guard?) – “Normally, it does. It’s all about perspective. When you’re used to playing at one spot, it’s like switching your hands. All of a sudden you’re trying to learn your right versus your left, and it seems awkward at first unless you’re forced to do it. Once you’ve played guard for a long time, then tackle, he’s now played across the line. It gives you a perspective because once you’re in the middle, you have a different vantage point from when you’re at tackle or you’re at guard. Ultimately, all of that adds into the perspective that you can take that really builds the chest of knowledge you get to have. He loves learning the game so it’s just invaluable when you go from here to there, to there, to there. And then you go, ‘oh. Now I know why you’re so forceful in making that call.’ It’s because you want to get it out as fast as you can. I think it’s been very helpful for him.”
(You’ve seen OL Lester Cotton at both left and right guard now in games. Is he better at one than the other? Is his skillset better at one or the other?) – “I don’t necessarily know if I could base it either way. I just know that the hardest thing – I think we talked about it last year as well – the hardest thing for linemen is you’re on one side and then the other side. You’re switching your whole stance and switching a lot of different things. So when you’re coming off a backup role to a starting role or a playing role, it’s just getting used to the one side. There is that acclimation that comes with it. Our guys do a great job of each week knowing that I’m getting the training to do both as well. Lester was with us at the Raiders, so just the makeup of the person is really who – man, he’s a guy that just loves working and loves getting better. His versatility is a benefit to us.”
(If WR Braxton Berrios and WR Chase Claypool healthy enough to play on Sunday, you’re going to have seven NFL quality wide receivers on the 53 to choose. How tough of a call is that going to be for you, Head Coach Mike McDaniel, and Wide Receivers Coach Wes Welker of who to keep active? Can you realistically keep six receivers active and get six receivers offensive snaps in a game or is that overdoing it?) – “You got to look at the whole roster and what we can take to the game. Wach week posses different challenges, so ultimately if you’re going with ‘X’ amount of wideouts, this amount of running backs, this amount of tight ends. Then it ultimately comes to what’s the best personnel we need to take into the game. So yeah, having very good players is always a good thing.”
(What changes if TE Durham Smythe can’t be out there, blocking and receiving?) – “It’s like anything, knowing what he provides inside of the gameplan and his presence in blocking and where he fits into the passing game. We just have to be able to have variables to know, if he’s not there then here. We move our pieces around. That’s why we try to cross-train the tight ends at different spots and having guys – a lot of them are similar skillsets. ‘Embo’ (Tight Ends Coach Jon Embree) does a great job making sure they are all connected and the same thing. We have to plan for all things, so we make sure we have contingences for an issue like that.”
Vic Fangio – November 16, 2023
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Thursday, November 16, 2023
Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio
(Is your thinking right now to stick with CB Kader Kohou as your nickel or have you given much thought opening the competition with CB Nik Needham? Obviously he’s a guy who’s done that before your arrival.) – “Yeah, right now we’re sticking with Kader.”
(And he’s played how do you think?) – “I think he’s played good.”
(What’s your thoughts on Hard Knocks in the building?) – “It hasn’t had any effect on me yet. They haven’t inconvenienced me or been in my meetings yet. It really hasn’t done anything for me yet. I’m sure it will at some time.”
(Have you had them before?) – “No, I never have.”
(One game of CBs Jalen Ramsey and Xavien Howard together. What was your review on that?) – “Yeah, I thought they both played good. I still think Jalen is going to keep improving. He had such a long period of inactivity. There was good improvement from game one to game two. We’ve talked about it, and he’s just going to keep getting better and better.”
(By my research, I’ve counted seven defensive linemen around the NFL playing 75 percent or more of their team’s defensive snaps. Two of those are DT Zach Sieler and DT Christian Wilkins. Is there any concern of them maybe having too heavy of a workload?) – “Yeah, at times there is. A lot of it depends on the flow of the game. We don’t have a lot of d-linemen on the active roster in comparison to other teams. They’re capable. They’ve done it in the past and they’ve done it this year so far of being able to log a lot of plays.”
(I think this is as healthy this defense has been at this point moving forward. I’m wondering about the potential for this defense. Do you think this could be the rest of the way like a top five defense in the NFL? What do you think more on those lines?) – “We just need to be as good as we can be and not really get caught up in statistics. But I do think we are headed in the right direction. As you said, we have most of our guys back now. We went through our share of the injuries early in the year. I’m optimistic moving forward.”
(What is the area of this improvement that you’ve seen that you’re most proud of defensively?) – “Just overall. We’ve just gotten better doing some of the little things at every level of the defense. When you do that, you end up getting good results. There isn’t one silver bullet that’s happened that’s made us better. It’s just kind of been a collective effort.”
(When you talk about the defense, what about the potential about this to be a game-changing, big-play defense? We’ve seen the strip sacks. We’ve seen interceptions. We’ve seen all this stuff recently. Looking ahead, is that the type of defense this will be?) – “Yeah, I mean you definitely want to be a defense that can take the ball away. We’ve had our moments as you’ve said where we’ve had some and we’ve had some dry spells too. That’s an area that we can definitely improve on. And I think we have the guys to do that.”
(With the background with free agent DT Akiem Hicks, is that a name that you’ve approached GM Chris Grier or Head Coach Mike McDaniel? Has that name come up in the building?) – “A while ago it did, but it’s never gotten any momentum.”
(What have you seen improvement wise out of your two edge guys? LBs Jaelan Phillips and Bradley Chubb.) – “Yeah, in Jaelan’s case, he missed those four games and took him a game or two to get his timing back, his feel back. I think he’s playing really good now. I think Bradley’s played good the entire season. Everyone gets caught up in numbers at times, he didn’t have ‘x’ amount of sacks early on, but he’s had some here lately. But I think he’s been playing good all year. It’s good to see for him. Happy for him. He had a tough stretch there in Denver the three years we were together. He was hurt a lot and never could get into a groove. Now I think everyone is seeing the player that he can be.”
(You mentioned the stats, the sacks, maybe not coming at first for LB Bradley Chubb. I know there’s deeper metrics and analytics that say he’s always applying pressure. Is that something you subscribe to? Do you look at those deeper analytics when you’re judging the defense?) – “No. I don’t look at the analytics part of it. I watch the tape and I know if our pass rush is good enough or not.”
(You used 15 players on defense in Germany and 13 got significant snaps. Are you trying to essentially focus on the guys who are going to play and give them a heavier workload? We’ve seen that obviously all year with DT Christian Wilkins and DT Zach Sieler.) – “Well, I think it goes back to his question there with the d-linemen. Usually, most teams will rotate the d-linemen a lot, which ups those numbers that you just alluded to. We’re low on d-linemen, so we don’t do it as much. That’s part of that. But shoot, the Raiders have a great defensive player Maxx Crosby and he never comes off the field. It never affects his effort. Guys can do it.”
(Another great Raiders player, WR Davante Adams. When you see him, you see what?) – “I see a great player. I went against him all those years when he was in Green Bay and I was in Chicago. He’s got great size, great ball skills, really good catch radius. He’s strong at the ball. Runs good routes. He’s definitely one of the top receivers in the league.”
(The Raiders are going to run the ball a lot with RB Josh Jacobs. What do you need to do to get your defense prepared for maybe the physicality of the game with a lot of runs going?) – “Yeah, we just have to come in with the right mindset. They’re going to try to run the ball, that’s what their mantra is right now and they’ve done a good job of it. Jacobs is an excellent back, one of the top backs in the league. They’re doing a good job of blocking for him, both the line and the tight ends and the fullback when he’s been available to play. It’ll be a stern test.”
(One thing that LB Jerome Baker said this week was he meets with you about obviously about communication. He said it needs to continue to get better. He said, “It’s good, but we need to continue to improve that.” Who’s the best communicator on your unit do you think?) – “I don’t know if I have that answer, but it needs to be your inside linebackers and your safeties. I think our guys our doing a good job. It’s getting better. Part of that communication too involves getting that play call in on time from my part to where they can be ready to go. Some of that is slowed down. You get teams subbing off then and you aren’t sure what’s on the field. But I think our guys are communicating better, but I agree with ‘Bake’ (Jerome Baker) it can get better even more.”
(Just out of curiosity, are you an analytics guy? Why or why not?) – “I look at it, but it’s just a piece of the equation. It’s not the end all, be all. There’s a lot of guys that give you the analytics, but they’re just reporting what they bought from some service. They didn’t actually look at the tape themselves to verify. If you sell me something, I want verification. And either you need to give me verification or I need to watch the tape and get my own verification. So I do listen to it. If there’s something interesting, I’m going to verify. I’m just not going to take that as the Gospel.”
(Sometimes coaches say they get into a self-scout on the bye since you’re not just focused on one opponent. I’m kind of curious, what is your mindset relative to we’re going to do what we do best based on personnel and/or when do you say to yourself, I’m going to break my own tendency here on this drive or this quarter?) – “I mean, you self-scout yourself every week, not just on a bye. You have to weigh all those factors you just said. What do we do best? A major factor is who we’re playing. A lot of the times, that changes things. We may have played a bunch of similar stuff in one game, now we go against another opponent and we’re playing totally different and it’s because of the opponent. It’s a factor, but you have to take everything with a grain of salt. It’s a combination of who you are, what you do best, and how do you have to play to stop the other team.”
(Kind of building on that, I’ve been talking to offensive players about how many unscouted looks they face because of the speed on this offense. Wink Martindale always blitzed. He hardly blitzed against y’all I’m told, and Bill Belicheck with the three-high safety look. How many times have you gone out of character this season and overall because of a specific opponent?) – “Not to the degree that I think you’re insinuating, but definitely you got to play what you need to play to compete with your opponent. So if that means you have to change something and do something radical, you can. We’ve never gone out and created a whole new defense. We do things different from week to week, but conceptually the players know it. We’re just getting to it a different way.”
(And when you go out of character, that’s good for the matchup as you say for the specific opponent, but you’re doing something unfamiliar. At what point that does not jive I guess?) – “Yeah, that’s a fine line you have to weigh. A lot of times you’ll be sitting there in staff meetings and you come up with a good idea or one of the coaches does, but it would be foreign to our players, and in the short amount of practice time you have, you wouldn’t be able to perfect it to the degree you want to perfect it to be comfortable. So there’s all that stuff that goes into the final decision.”
(You’re thinking well on your decision to play S DeShon Eliott virtually all snaps or all the snaps with S Jevon Holland. That said, do you have in the back of your mind a package that would take advantage of S Brandon Jones’ unique blitzing skills that he showed the year and a half prior to your arrival? Or maybe we might see that?) – “Yeah, maybe.”
Danny Crossman – November 16, 2023
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Thursday, November 16, 2023
Special Teams Coordinator Danny Crossman
(With WR Braxton Berrios, he didn’t practice yesterday. How many options do you have at kick returner? I mean to me, RB De’Von Achane, WR Cedrick Wilson Jr. are the two that come to mind. Are there more than that?) – “We have the traditional guys that we’ve been repping and working and you guys have seen them out there. We feel good about where Braxton is. He had an extra day yesterday, but we feel good about where he is for this weekend. Fortunately, we have some other guys that have history, which is the most important thing, that you feel comfortable putting guys back there.”
(Would you feel comfortable putting WR Tyreek Hill back there?) – “I would.”
(When he initially came here, WR Tyreek Hill said that’s something that he wanted to do. Obviously, you guys were like, ah, we’ve got other responsibilities for you. But would you put him back there in like critical game situations?) – “There is not a guy on this team that, regardless of the situation, if the opportunity presents itself, we will put him back there.
(DT Christian Wilkins?) – “Christian would volunteer. He’d be happy to do it. He asks me every week. (laughter) I don’t know if we’ll go that way, but it’s an option.”
(Who is the best big man catcher? Do you ever have like a big man skills competition?) – “No, we don’t. But we have guys, several guys, that are much more athletic in catching the football than you would presume. We also have some guys that fit the mold exactly like you would expect them to.”
(OL Robert Hunt?) – “Not saying anything. Not mentioning any names. (laughter)”
(Well what about on the good side? Who is someone who’s skills would surprise us?) – “I’m not mentioning names because if I forget somebody, I’ll hear about it. (laughter) If I mention somebody bad, I’ll hear about that. We’ll keep that to the practice field.”
(Is S Jevon Holland still handling punts?) – “Yeah. He works every week. Like I said, we have a lot of guys that we try and get back there every week to catch balls, because you never know what’s going to happen in the game.”
(Watching college and NFL this weekend, I saw a few onside kicks. I was wondering – without giving away strategy – how many different onside kicks do you guys have, like the ones that bounce or skip? Then how much does using it depend on the look that you get from the other team?) – “It’s both. We’re very fortunate with both Jason (Sanders) – Jason has a lot of tools in the onside game – and then adding Jake (Bailey). Last year, Jake handled a lot of that stuff in New England. So we have two guys that have a great history of onside kicks. But like anything, more importantly, it’s trying to get the matchups of what we are able to do, and then tie that into what the opposition’s looks are. We try and put those things together and then you’re at the mercy of the bounce. That’s the wonderful thing about the football. It’s not round. It’s going to take weird hops. So you can do everything right, and you’re not going to get the bounce you want. Fortunately, and hopefully, we don’t have to be in a lot of those situations.”
(Did you do anything for K Jason Sanders on his birthday?) – “I did not.”
(It’s K Jason Sanders birthday today.) – “Yeah, I know that, but I did not. It’s still early.” (laughter)
(You’re coaching K Jason Sanders up.) – “Well, we’ll see how he does today.” (laughter)
(So the Dolphins are near or at the bottom of the league in field goal attempts, for various reasons. You score a lot of touchdowns, successful in the red zone, go for it on fourth because you guys are good at that. What is your message, if any, to K Jason Sanders relative to, at some point, you’re going to have to like kick us into the playoffs or something?) – “I’m fortunate that I’ve been with Jason for a long time. His mindset doesn’t change. His work doesn’t change. He’s constantly ready on the sideline. We’ve had many situations where it’s gone, the discussion of all of sudden it’s third-and-seven and we’re thinking field goal and it goes to fourth-and-two and we like the look and we’ve liked what we’ve looked at during the week and we go for it offensively. So I think the biggest thing you’ve said, we’ve been – knock on wood – we’ve been very good in the red zone. If you’re able to do that and you’re changing and turning sevens instead of taking threes, we’ll take that every time. But we feel very confident about Jason. Anytime we run him out there we expect to get points.”
(Is K Jason Sanders’ range similar to where it was when he was an All-Pro just three years ago?) – “It is. He’s the same guy. We feel very comfortable. It’s just, we’re playing the game a little bit differently now than we played it back then and it’s a great thing based on where our offense is right now.”
Bradley Chubb – November 15, 2023
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Wednesday, November 15, 2023
LB Bradley Chubb
(When you’ve got a rookie quarterback, how much can you go to defensive coordinator Vic Fangio and say, ‘let me go get him?’) – “You still want to play within the defense. You know he’s going to have a great plan for it, so I’m just doing my piece in this defense. Yeah, you want to get after him and yeah, you want to make him uncomfortable, but it’s going to come. It’s going to be one of those things that you just got to let the game to you and not try to go out there and force it. Like I said, it’s a rookie quarterback, so you’re going to be licking the chops a little bit, but he’s still a great player. He’s still got great guys around him so you can’t really do too much. You just got to do whatever the defense allows you.”
(What do you think about QB Tua Tagovailoa’s new look?) – “I love it. He told me he was going to do it, but I didn’t believe him. Then he came in the next day with the cornrows. The ‘uce’ is loose.”
(How difficult is it facing a team that looks like they are having a lot of fun right now and they are rejuvenated?) – “Before we left for the bye, that was one of the messages. They are a team with a lot of new life, a lot of great playmakers that can change the game at any moment. It’s not a, ‘oh it’s just the Raiders this week.’ They are a great football team and it’s a team we’re going to have to take very seriously and be ready to bring it.”
(Is there a difference – you guys are in first place, everybody knows who you are – from being the hunter to being the hunted?) – “For sure. Everybody is going to give us their best shot. There is no, ‘ah, man we started off slow.’ When you got people coming and gunning for you, you got to start fast and finish fast and maintain throughout the game. That’s going to be our main thing is trying to sustain and defuse their momentum and keep ours going. It’s going to be a great matchup. I’m looking forward to it.”
(You haven’t been there for all of it, but the Dolphins are 16-2 on the last 18 at Hard Rock Stadium. What is it about Hard Rock Stadium from your experience that makes you guys so successful at home?) – “The obvious is the sun kind of cooking them a little bit. That wears on you a little bit as the game goes on. But just the physical brand that we bring to the field. We don’t want to lose in front of our home fans. We don’t want to disappoint the people who gather up money each week to come see us play. We take pride in that. It means a lot to us. We just want to be there for each other.”
(How many texts did you send to your old Broncos teammates saying, ‘thanks for that win over the Bills?’) – “I didn’t send them out yet, but for sure it’s going to come out this week. It’s good to see those guys having success. No bad blood there. But at the end of the day, we want to continue to do everything we got going on over here and have the same success.”
Jerome Baker – November 15, 2023
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Wednesday, November 15, 2023
LB Jerome Baker
(The team that has fired their coach and won two straight and sort of playing with a little desperation. What do you see out of the Raiders in the last couple of weeks?) – “Man, they’re hungry. They are hungry. They’re just getting back to the simple things of who they want to be. The Raiders play good defense, run the ball, be physical. It’s going to be a good test for us. I’m excited.”
(What did you think the first time you saw QB Tua Tagovailoa’s cornrows?) – “You know what’s crazy? He was saying it for a while. I didn’t believe him, but when I saw it, I was like, ‘Alright. You committed to the long hair.’ But it was definitely cool to see that.”
(What was the process? Was it like team meeting he was called up and showed it?) – “No, he’s just been saying these past few weeks, ‘I’m going to grow out my hair. I’m going to grow out my hair.’ One day, he just came in with a durag – if you come in with a durag, you kind of already know you’ve got some braids under there. It was definitely cool to see that.”
(Tell us about this t-shirt – Baker the hit maker.) – “Shoutout Molly. She always gives me shirts for me, my family, my friends, every game. I pretty much see her every game. She just kind of became a good friend of mine, her and her family. So shoutout Molly.”
(How did the name come about?) – “She came up with it. You always hear little sayings and whatever, but she just – pretty much every week, she comes with a new stack of shirts for me and I give it out to my family.”
(The Raiders look like they’re having a lot of fun, I don’t know if you’ve watched any of their games. They’re smiling, they seem like a whole new team. How dangerous is taking on a team like that when they’re kind of discovering a new identity?) – “I always say I’d always bet on the opposite end where they were at – a team that everybody counts out and kind of forgets about, those are the toughest teams. They’re going out there playing with all heart, just trying to prove a point that you can’t forget about anybody in the league. They’re getting back to the old Raiders – run the ball, be physical, play good defense and that’s a dangerous team.”
(Why do you think you guys have been so successful at Hard Rock Stadium? I think 16-2 over the last 18 games. That’s an incredible record at home. Can you pinpoint what it is?) – “I think it’s just a credit to our fans. These past few years, our fans really have been getting into it. On top of that, you’re coming down to play in South Florida, it’s hard. Pretty much anywhere in the country, it’s not the same. So you come down here and play in this hot weather, sometimes it can be cold where you’re at and it’s 80 degrees or 90 degrees down here. I think just a mixture of things. We want to protect our home, the weather is always on our side and our fans. It’s a little mixture.”
Connor Williams – November 15, 2023
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Wednesday, November 15, 2023
OL Connor Williams
(What is your opinion? QB Tua Tagovailoa says it was his fault. We want your opinion on the snap.) – “No, it was obviously a bad snap. I could have put it on him better. It’s something I’m working on and trying to improve day by day. But yeah, it was a bad snap. I take it all on me.”
(Obviously everyone wants the snap right here, but when you have a left-handed quarterback is it actually better to be a little left than a little right or a little high or a little low?) – “My job is to put it in his chest and make it unquestionable.”
(How did you feel physically coming out of the last game?) – “Every game you expect to get bruised up and be tired and whatnot and put it all out there.”
(So did the bye week come at a good time?) – “Yeah, I mean obviously a bye week helps. These seasons are long. They’re hard. So obviously it’s good to get your legs back under you and feel fresh.”
(There’s a chance RB De’Von Achane comes back this week. What would it mean to the offense to have him back?) – “We have so many weapons, so many great players and definitely (one) in him. Every time he steps on the field, he’s lightning. So it’d be exciting to have him back and we’ll get him back as quickly as we can.”
(You’ve got a mix of new guards that you’ve got to work with. What’s that process like trying to get comfortable with communication and the operation?) – “Lucky enough we’ve had the same room all the way through and so communication, everything has stayed the same all the way through throughout the year. (I have) faith and confidence in all our guards and all our players on the o-line. We’re working together, we’re growing together.”
(As it relates to blocking, one of the pass-blocking and run-blocking metrics has you as the No. 4 center in run blocking in the league and the No. 8 center in pass blocking in the league. How do you feel about how the blocking has gone for you this year?) – “I’m not worried anything about that. It’s about wins and losses as a team at the end of the day. Just improving as a unit day by day, week by week, and trying to get it all sorted out.”
(Head Coach Mike McDaniel was talking today about OL Robert Hunt and OL Robert Jones. Have you sort of given them any consolation or guidance about being patient during this process where as you’re getting through it you want to play but you also have to be cautious?) – “Obviously the competitiveness in us wants to put us back on the field as quickly as we can and so it’s about weighing the risks, the pros and the cons with it and just doing the best we can. At the end of the day, it’s got to be on you.”
Tua Tagovailoa – November 15, 2023
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Wednesday, November 15, 2023
QB Tua Tagovailoa
(What’s up with the hair?) – “Yeah, I got them done last week. It’s been in for a week and a couple of days.”
(Was it your call?) – “It was my call. My hair was outrageous so I thought if I didn’t braid it or if it wasn’t long enough, I would just cut it. So I just thought I’d get it braided.”
(What was your teammates’ reaction to the new look?) – “They love it. My teammates love it.”
(What else did you do during the bye week?) – “Yeah, I got to work out and spend some time with my family. Spent some time with (my son) Ace. That’s really all it was. We got to go to church, so that was really good.”
(Becoming a father, has anything from that helped you become a better football player?) – “I think it has helped me in a lot of aspects of my life. It has helped me with how I see things, how I respond to things, how I’ve matured. Being a father, your outlook on life is totally different. You know you have more of a feel towards kids when they come up to you and they say ‘Hey, Tua! Can I get a signature? Can I get this?’ How I would have looked at it then is totally different than how I would have looked at that now because in this world, everything comes full circle. There’s going to come a time where my son is going to grow up and he is going to idolize someone that plays football in the NFL, and I’m sure it’s not going to be me. (laughter) But he’s going to want to have a picture. Just having that perspective of it – what goes around, comes around. Can I say it doesn’t help me? I don’t know. Being the football player that I am, I don’t know. But I think being a father helps me in how I am as a person on and off the field, becoming better and growing maturity in that way.”
(In preseason, we had tattoo sleeve Tua. Now we have cornrow Tua. Is this a new level of self-expression?) – “Nah, not really. Just trying them out. Obviously not my tattoo, because that’s permanent. But just trying to see what this is with my hair. That’s it.”
(Twitter is already kind of ablaze. They think you look like Drake.) – “(laughter) Oh, don’t show that to my wife.”
(If RB De’Von Achane is back this Sunday, what would do that for the offense?) – “Well, we’ve all seen the things that he’s done for our offense while he’s been in. He’s an electric player. He’s phenomenal. He understands the game. He understands where he goes. He understands his assignment. It’s going to be good. And it’s not just him. We have a lot of other guys that are starting to get healthy again and hopefully are going to see the field this weekend.”
(Across the NFL, scoring is down. I think it is at its lowest since 2017. But you guys have kind of been able to buck the trend. What would you attribute that to? There’s been a change in defensive styles. We’re seeing more two-high. Defenses are stopping the pass. But what would you credit this success to for your offense?) – “I would credit that to everyone on the offense. Our offensive staff, starting with the head man (Mike McDaniel), to (Offensive Coordinator) Frank (Smith), to our coaches position-wise, and then everyone buying in on the offense. None of that could be possible if we’re all not bought in. It’s an effort of everyone – all 11 guys – making this offense come to life, because if you look on film, a lot of what we do with our (play) actions and whatnot, we can’t go and find that film from another team because nobody is necessarily running the top actions that we run as much. It’s really all based off of the training, the fundamentals, the techniques that we’ve been going over every week in practice, and going out and trusting what you see and executing that.”
(Without even playing last weekend, you guys opened up what is now a one-and-a-half game lead in your division. How important is it for you to be a division champion as opposed to going into the playoffs as a wild card?) – “It’s important for all of us. It’s not just important to me. It’s important for all of us to win our division. In order for us to win our division, we have to start with this upcoming game. We can’t worry about what happened with anybody else in our division. We have to look forward and our next opponent is the Raiders. It’s one of those things where we’re all in this together. We all have to be in this together in order for this thing to go where we know it can go and where we want it to go.”
(Is winning league MVP a goal for you, a consideration at all for you? Is that something that enters your mind?) – “Brother, I just want to help our team win the Super Bowl. I think that would be the greatest deal. When everything is said and done, no one can take that away from you.”
(On the defense, there’s obviously a lot of guys over there that are getting healthier and we’ve seen them take strides in the past few weeks. I’m curious what you’ve seen or noticed, improvements or anything like that, going against them in practice?) – “I think for me, the biggest thing is I see a lot of guys flying around. There’s a lot of accountability that has been going on, that has been going on since training camp with guys communicating. Sometimes the communication wasn’t right and sometimes the conversations between defensive guys is not always pretty. To be able to see how hard they’ve worked through training camp and whatnot, to see everything starting to come together for those guys is I think a really, really empowering thing to see for us offensively and as a whole. The defense knows when we get the ball, we’re able to get things going. And we know if we get stopped, we can trust our defense and they’ll get us the ball back.”
(When you watch the Raiders tape, what would you say their defensive identity is?) – “Well, I think the thing they do really well is play together, obviously. If you look at the past two games that they’ve played in, defensively, I mean they look really good. No. 98, Maxx Crosby, is all over the field. If you look at his film, no straggling from that guy. You can see why he’s talked about the way he’s talked about. I’ve got a lot of respect for him. I think that’s someone we’re going to need to keep our eye on. And they have good guys in the backfield. It’s not a team to sleep on and we have to be ready for whatever they have to throw at us.”
(Timing is such a big part of this offense. One way defenses can disrupt timing is applying pressure. Although you’ve been kept clean a lot of games, what are some of the things you and the offense can do when opponents are applying pressure?) – “Yeah, understanding who our hot guy is. We have many plays where a lot of what we do, our timing beats the pressure. When it is a look where we don’t have time to re-ID or flip the protection, we have to be on our P’s and Q’s and understanding what you have to run and the timing of the play. That’s what I would say.”
(Coming off the Germany trip a couple weeks ago, it must be sweeter than ever to be back at Hard Rock Stadium. You’ve answered this in some different ways this year so far, but 16-2 over the last 18 games at Hard Rock Stadium. What is it about that environment? That’s an incredible record.) – “Yeah, for one, it’s our home. We’ve been able to play there for a good amount of games. We understand what the grass is going to feel like. I know that sounds silly, but every little thing in the NFL has a game-changing difference in winning and losing and things like that. I also think just the fans that we have. The fans have gotten louder and louder over the years since I’ve been here. I do think that has helped. But it’s always fun to be able to play in front of your hometown crowd.”
(Going back to timing for a second, I know you’re unloading the ball in like 2.2, 2.3 seconds a lot of the time. I wonder have you at all worked with Dan Marino? He was so known for that quick release. Have you and him worked together on that at any point?) – “I never got to work with Dan out on the field, dropping back and whatnot. But I’ve been able to gain some wisdom from Dan when he is in our meeting room. We ask questions, not just me. How would you read this? How would you look at this? Dan gives his insight. The cool thing with Dan, Dan is very blunt. Dan always tells me the same thing, and it’s the same thing he’s told me since I was a rookie. ‘Pick a guy and let it fly.’”
(Back to the cornrows. Allen Iverson? Any inspiration there?) – “Allen Iverson? Man, no A.I. inspiration. Dude’s a baller. Got a lot of respect for him. It was just one of those things where my hair was wild. I wanted to see what I could do with it. If I couldn’t do anything, I was going to chop it off. But Drake? Ah, I don’t know if I look like Drake.”
(Can you rap?) – “Kiki” (laughter).
(Wifey likes it though?) – “The wifey likes it. She loves it. Got to get it redone before the game.”
