Tua Tagovailoa – December 2, 2020
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Wednesday, December 2, 2020
QB Tua Tagovailoa
(Even though you didn’t play or start, the cameras still love to follow you around on the sidelines, so I wanted to get your perspective on what it was like being back on the sideline, any conversations you might have had with QB Ryan Fitzpatrick after scores and just how that overall experience went for you this past Sunday?) – “That’s was obviously my first game not playing after being named the starter; but I think it was a good learning experience too. I think you can always learn. If you’re not playing, if you’re playing – also in practices, if you’re getting reps or not – I think you can always use those as learning curves.”
(The question South Florida has is how are you feeling, and what do you think the likelihood is we’ll see you this weekend?) – “I’m feeling good. I think that’s a question for ‘Coach Flo’ (Brian Flores) and our head trainer (Kyle Johnston). But yeah, as a competitor you always want to go out there and you want to be able to play. But ‘Flo’ and our medical staff, I would say they have the best interests for us. I would say they wouldn’t put me out there if they felt like it would be harmful for myself. I’m just taking it one day at a time and trusting those guys.”
(How did the injury occur? Was it one of those where you were following through on delivering a pass and hit someone’s helmet? Or was it some other way that it occurred? There was one mention that I saw that said that you came close to playing last Sunday and in the end, obviously you did not. Is that accurate?) – “Well, I got my hand dinged up when I tried to make a pass; but like I said, I wanted to play. But that was for the best for me and just looking for the longevity of everything. I just don’t want to put myself in danger and put the team at risk as well with me being in there and kind of suffering with my thumb. Like I said, I’m just taking it one day at a time and trying to get better with everything. ‘Flo’ (Brian Flores) and our medical staff, they’ll get us all right.”
(When you get an injury on your throwing hand, you wonder if it’s affecting your grip or your throwing. How much does it impact both of those things for you and have you had to adjust anything during practices?) – “Yeah. I had to wrap my hand and just kind of get used to the wrap and whatnot. Other than that, I’m just trying to get into the rhythm again with some of the guys, and continue to learn from ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick), continue to learn from coaches. I’m just trying to work hard still. “
(Sometimes when a player may have a bad game, you focus on the film where you played bad. Do you think that you needed to watch more of the Arizona game, where you were having some success? I did think that throwing into coverage or throwing into tight windows was a little bit over-talked about a little bit; but during that game, you were making contested throws. Do you need to see some of yourself having success to move forward and rebuild your confidence back up?) – “I would say no. To really answer that question, it’s a little difficult to look at pass success because the teams you are looking forward to playing are never usually the same as far as personnel, as far as coverages – and if it is the same coverages, then it’s probably variation of coverages. I would say if you’re looking back at post-film, it’s usually things that you can work on. For me, it’s more so the team that we’re going up against now, this week, and what we can do against them.”
(You mentioned you hurt your hand when throwing a pass. Did you clip someone’s helmet when that happened? And just kind of this week, you would’ve been playing QB Joe Burrow had he not gotten hurt and were to play. Are you kind of disappointed that matchup won’t happen?) – “Like I said, I got it dinged in practice when I made a throw. But yeah, when I heard about Joe’s injury, I reached out to him. Injuries like that, they are never fun. Those are – you never wish that on anybody. I got to reach out to him and I know he would love to be able to go out there and compete against us. That’s tough. I just sent him my prayers and whatnot. I wished him the best as well.”
(Head Coach Brian Flores said something earlier today that I thought was kind of interesting. He said I think once you think you’re over the hump is when you go back under the hump. Sometimes he gives me these statements that really make me think. It kind of reminds me of Alabama Head Coach Nick Saban a little bit. How does Flores’ messaging and the way he tries to keep the team focused and mentally in the right place kind of compare to your experiences with Coach Saban?) – “I would say it’s a little difficult to compare the two. I have tremendous respect for Coach Saban, and I have tremendous respect for ‘Coach Flo’ (Brian Flores). But they are two different people, two different personalities. How they go about doing things is different. I would say the way ‘Flo’ gets his message out to us is he says it, but you can also see it through his actions. Being out there in practice, just the passion he has in coaching us and then also in our team meetings, too.”
Eric Rowe – December 2, 2020
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Wednesday, December 2, 2020
S Eric Rowe
(I have a question for you about Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer. You’ve obviously been with him here for the last couple of years and you had a relationship with him in New England previously. I was just curious if there was maybe one or two things that he does that makes him stand out in a unique way that has helped this Dolphins defense be so productive this season?) – “Yeah, I’ve been with him for – yeah, I would say probably pretty much my career now that I think about it. But yeah, a couple things about him, the attention to detail is really the same as ‘Flo’ (Head Coach Brian Flores). Like him and ‘Flo’ are basically the same person. They have the same mindset, the energy they bring every day, the attention to detail within the defense, any scheme, technique, fundamentals, all that. So really it’s just the consistency since – it would’ve been the spring, but we just had training camp – but since training camp, just the details of everybody’s fundamentals, whatever the scheme is, define things and just consistently executing it.”
(Staying with that theme a little bit, you described what Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer is like in terms of his approach day to day. How would you describe his approach on game day and calling plays, calling formations? How would you describe that?) – “It’s aggressive. He definitely has an aggressive mindset, which I like. I like being the aggressor instead of being passive and kind of just playing back. He wants to dictate what the offense does, so kind of have the defense run the game. With any team, it doesn’t matter; that’s usually the game plan is be aggressive.”
(I wasn’t paying attention to the last question, but I have to ask about CB Nik Needham. I’m not sure if that was asked already. Somebody give me a yes, somebody give a no. Anything? Nik Needham has obviously been a player that’s developed a lot in the last two seasons, also with that pick on Sunday. What can you say about him as a player, the way he’s developed over the last two years and what he does for you guys in that nickel role?) – “From last year, I remember training camp. He was undrafted and he was out there making plays kind of consistently against our offense. That kind of gets you on the radar. I’m like, ‘all right, who is this guy?’ He was undrafted out of El Paso. Not going to lie, when he first came in, he was overweight. He didn’t move too well but he kept making plays. Now fast forward to now, he can play inside, outside. He always has the tough task whether it’s covering like (Jamison) Crowder in the slot. I think this week Tyler Boyd is in the slot. He’s a really good receiver. He’s always up to it, so his development; he’s a key piece of the defense.”
(That’s funny you brought up the overweight because he admitted to that in training camp that he cut out fast food, so maybe that’s something we should all do. I got a question not about the current team, but a couple weeks ago on throwback day, you wore those cleats – Jake Scott, Dick Anderson. Did you know about Jake Scott before you got to the Dolphins? Like growing up around football, was that like someone you modeled or was that someone you learned about and studied when you got to this franchise? If you could just speak on his impact on the Dolphins and you obviously to make those cleats.) – “It was someone I learned (about) when I got signed here and on our wall in our defensive room, it’s got the No-Name Defense and it has Jake Scott, Dick Anderson – it’s a small room, so it’s probably like four or five guys. So when I got here, I was like ‘No-Name Defense, what is that?’ So I studied up and looked it up and I was like, ‘Dick Anderson and Jake Scott, man these two guys were the real deal.’ The stats they had, All-Pro, Pro Bowls, one of them was the Super Bowl MVP. So that’s someone you got to pay homage to. And then I kind of watched a little bit of old film, how they played their game and I was just impressed.”
(What do you make of the Bengals quarterback situation and what sort of opportunities does that present for the defense this week?) – “Yeah, he’s a new guy for this year playing-wise. It’s kind of sad what happened to Joe Burrow. He was off to a really great start to his first year. But it’s kind of how the NFL goes unfortunately – injuries – so whoever is up is up. But Brandon Allen, we’ve got one game film out of him; but he has an arm. He’s an NFL quarterback, so I don’t downplay anybody. If you’re an NFL quarterback, you’re in the league, you can play. We’ve still got to come with it he could pick us apart just like anybody else.”
(You, as a rookie, were able to start all 16 games which is pretty rare. How were you able to do that and how tough was that last month for you?) – “As a rookie?”
(Yeah.) – “Oh no, I didn’t start all 16 games. (laughter)”
(I’m sorry, you played all 16 games, right? You appeared in all 16 games?) – “You can say that. I was on special teams, got a couple snaps here and there. I didn’t really start playing playing until like, the last five games. But if you want to talk about that rookie wall thing – I think that’s where you’re going – yeah, I talked to Brandon (Jones) about it because I hit my wall my second year. That’s when I played all 16 and the playoffs and that’s when I hit it and I was like, ‘oh my God, this wall is real. I’m mentally and physically just out of it.’ But I talked to Brandon about it and tried to give him a couple tips on how to keep it going because December is the most important month of the year for football because everybody is trying to make that run, make that jump; so if you’re going with that, yeah. I wish I played all 16 my rookie year. (laughter)”
(I was curious coming up on Sunday for My Cause, My Cleats, if you’ve got anything you’re wearing and something you want to kind of get the message out on?) – “Yeah, I’m supporting – it’s a group called IJM – International Justice Mission. What they do is they focus on child slavery and obviously in different parts of the country where either human trafficking, child slavery, sex trafficking; all that. They focus on saving those kids, adults; it doesn’t matter because there’s a lot of stuff going on in other countries that obviously doesn’t really get in the news too much so I wanted to support them on my cleats.”
(Two-parter for you if I could. First, the style of defense you guys do where you’re confusing people at the line where you’re not really showing them who’s coming, what do you guys call that? I know some people call it “amoeba” – I’m not sure if you call it the same thing. And second, when you hear Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer call that defense for you what does that do for you as a safety? What do you sort of feel?) – “You’re talking about like when everybody’s all up on the line?”
(Yeah, when everybody’s all on the line and they don’t know who’s the Mike, they don’t know who’s coming. You guys are all kind of standing up to try to confuse them on who’s blitzing and who’s dropping in coverage?) – “I don’t want to give you the play call just in case anybody hears us say that on the field; (laughter) but yeah, when we’re up there we have different variations where we try to give the same look, but obviously different pressure where we’re all coming or we’re dropping back or only he’s coming or maybe I’m coming. But as a safety, if I get that look where based on wherever the tight end’s at, if I get that look then sometimes I’m coming, sometimes I’m not coming, sometimes we’re dropping into a zone. It really works well because it gets kind of everybody on their toes. It’s not like we’re coming every single time we’re all lined up, so you got to keep the offense thinking.”
(Sometimes Head Coach Brian Flores gives us a quote that kind of makes us stop and think. Yesterday Coach said “you can’t to where you want to get without handling what’s right in front of you” and I’m kind of wondering how often does he sort of set a tone, deliver a message, reset the mindset with conversations or phrases like that?) – “It’s every week – let’s say like Mondays when we’re looking to the new opponent. It’s every week, it’s always kind of ‘don’t look ahead of whoever we got.’ Like last week, the Jets are 0-10 and it’s easy to just look past them, but it’s the NFL. If you don’t play your game, you’re going to get beat. It’s not high school ball where you just out-talent the other person, right? So every week he says ‘don’t look past whoever we’ve got. We’ve got to put our all into it.’ That only makes us better. If you look past someone, obviously you’re not going to play your best game and you’re not going to get better; and when it comes to let’s say, more challenging teams, we’re not going to be prepared. So each week we’ve just got to get better and that’s kind of the message he just preaches every Monday and Wednesday and Thursday and Friday. (laughter)”
Brian Flores – December 2, 2020 (Conference Call)
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Wednesday, December 2, 2020
Head Coach Brian Flores Conference Call with Cincinnati Media
(Just overall thoughts on what you see when you look at the Cincinnati team.) – “I see a very tough, competitive group. Well-coached. Let’s just start in the kicking game. I think Darrin Simmons is probably one of the top special teams coordinators in the league. They’ve got a very good group there. It’s definitely a strength on their team. Obviously they had a big day in the kicking game last week with the kickoff return and the fake punt, and almost broke the punt return at the end of the game to win it, so that’ll be a major challenge. Offensively I know we’re dealing with some injuries. Obviously the quarterback and the running back, but definitely some skill players out there in the perimeter – A.J. Green, Tee Higgins, obviously (Tyler) Boyd, some good young players there. So I think it’ll be a challenge. Defensively I think (Defensive Coordinator) Lou (Anarumo) does a great job mixing – especially when they get into the long-yardage situations, mixing in the mug pressures. They’ve got some good young players. Jessie Bates, I like him a lot just kind of studying him. Will Jackson obviously is very talented. (Logan) Wilson is a young linebacker who’s also very talented. (Germaine) Pratt and (Josh) Bynes, they’re playing well. Carl Lawson over there on the edge, he’s a good player over there. There are some talented guys. You also have Mike Daniels in there. He’s been a good player for a long time. To me, the record is misleading. I know all the pundits, talking heads; but what I see is some talented players and a good coach and it’ll be a tough, tough challenge.”
(What’s been the biggest difference for you guys this year?) – “Can you elaborate on that a little bit? There’s a lot of differences. COVID is a big difference. (laughter)”
(Just in terms of you guys are actually competing for a playoff spot this year. What do you feel like has been the difference in just kind of getting you over that hump and kind of heading in a different direction this year?) – “I think our guys, they work hard; but I think guys work hard really across the board. I think they’re tough, they’re smart, they’re competitive. I think we’ve got good coaches. We try to put them in good positions. I think we try to play complementary football. I see a lot of the same things with the Bengals. Every year is a little bit different. Every game in this league comes down to three, four or five plays. We’ve been able to make some of those plays. I know I’ve watched pretty much every game here and some of these games with the Bengals have come down to that as well. Last week obviously being one of them. I don’t think there’s any specific one thing; I just think our guys have worked hard. Our coaches work hard and we just try to get games to the fourth quarter and then make plays in those critical situations.”
(How much has the experience that you got in the front office with the Patriots helped you as you’ve navigated free agency, the draft, to build a football team in the image that you want?) – “I think a lot of the experiences I’ve had throughout my career have helped me. I spent four years in personnel, so that time was very valuable to me and worked with a lot of really good people during that time. Obviously Scott Pioli, John Robinson in Tennessee – there’s a lot of names so I’m not going to go through all of them – but I worked with a lot of good people, learned a lot from that time and that’s certainly helped me in this role; but I’m lucky. (General Manager) Chris Grier does a great job and his staff – (Assistant General Manager) Marvin Allen and (Vice President of Football Administration) Brandon Shore – so from a personnel standpoint, I’d say they handle most of it. But I’d say in my role, when I walk in there, it’s not like I’m – I’ve kind of seen it through their lens as well as the coaching lens, so I think it’s been helpful.”
(When you have a young coach trying to orchestrate a rebuild, people always talk about the team has to learn how to win. I’m just curious last year, after the 0-7 start, was there a moment, a play, a series, a game where you felt “okay, we’re over the hump?” This is something that just truly told you that you were moving in the right direction?) – “In this league, I don’t think you’re ever really over the hump. There’s just so many good teams. The league is built for parity, so a lot of good players. I think once you think you’re over the hump is when you go back under the hump. I think we just take it week-to-week. Every week is a challenge. Every day we just try to improve and get better. I think when you take that approach, the results take care of themselves. That’s kind of the message I give to the players, the coaches, really everyone in the organization. Yeah, you do need to learn how to win in this league. I think there’s something to that. I’m not sure – if I had the formula, I’d probably bottle it up, but I don’t. But I think part of that is just working every week, preparing every week and good meetings, good walkthroughs, good practice, good routines on the field, off the field and then let the chips fall where they fall.”
(Can you talk a little bit about the ageless wonder in QB Ryan Fitzpatrick at quarterback?) – “Ryan (Fitzpatrick) is a very good leader, talented player, smart, gritty, tough. He really embodies a lot of the characteristics we’re looking for in a Dolphin. He can handle adversity, (is) mentally tough. It’s been great working with him I would say these last two years. He’s been a great mentor to Tua (Tagovailoa) and a lot of other young players. It’s one thing as a coach to try to teach these young guys and mentor them and teach them how to be a pro; it’s another thing when you have a guy like Ryan in the locker room, in the huddle with them, really saying a lot of the same things. He’s been a very, very valuable piece to the growth of some of our young players, I would say.”
(As you’re trying to build your culture, the culture you’re looking for with your organization, how important is it to get guys like LB Kyle Van Noy and guys like that that you know that you’ve been with that you know understand the culture? How important is it to have guys like that to be your sergeant-in-arms and such?) – “It’s always nice to get guys that you’ve worked with before. And in a lot of ways, those guys, they become – you said ‘sergeants,’ but they find leadership roles within the team. They understand how I’m wired, for sure, personally, because obviously I’ve had personal relationships with a couple of these guys I’m referencing. Elandon Roberts is part of that as well. And they can kind of share some of that history with the guys who don’t know me as well. I think that’s been good. So when I lose it on someone, they can tell them, ‘that’s not as bad as it was.’ So that part of it has been good.”
(What’s the biggest change in you and the way that you go do things in Year 2 that’s helped you than it did in Year 1 maybe?) – “I don’t know if I could point to one thing. I think – I feel like I’ve grown. I don’t know if I could point to one thing. I’m trying to think of something.”
(Is there a way to measure that growth and how you’ve kind of – in the way you say ‘Okay, I’m doing this a lot better than I did last year. I really like the way I’ve developed as a coach.’) – “I just think anytime you go through experiences, you get better – whether it’s something as simple as scheduling, days off, shells practice versus padded practices, do we defer the coin toss, do we take the ball, do we want to take a timeout in this situation. There’s several things that I guess I’m a little bit more comfortable with than I was a year ago – in a lot of areas. Not just on the field but in my relationships and the relationships I have with our equipment staff and our training staff and our personnel staff. I think I’ve grown from that standpoint. There’s so much to this job that to pinpoint one thing and say ‘Hey, that’s it,’ it’s hard to say that. I’m always trying to get better. I certainly don’t have all the answers, but I work hard to get them.”
(You’ve got a couple of rookies playing side by side on the right side of your offensive line. How are those guys holding up and how are they developing?) – “Well, we really have three rookies playing a good number of snaps. The two guys on the right side, like you mentioned – Solomon Kindley and Robert Hunt – then Austin Jackson over on the left. We really like all three guys. They’re young, they’re talented, they compete, it’s important to them and I think they’ve gotten better over the course of the year. Look, any time you can get game snaps under your belt and feel the speed and feel the power and see the different schemes that opposing defenses present – and obviously this week will be certainly a challenge from that standpoint, the way Lou (Anarumo) challenges protections – I think that only helps these guys. Look, we’re about helping young players improve and develop, really at all positions. Obviously o-line is a very important position and we’re playing with some young guys. They have their ups and their downs and we’ll just try to keep working with them and helping them get better.”
(One of the guys you mentioned when you were running down the Bengals defensive players – DE Carl Lawson – is near the top of the league in pressures and hurries but doesn’t quite finish as much as you would like. What do you like about his game and where does he rank in the hierarchy of the elite edge rushers in this league?) – “Look, I like the player. I think anytime you can affect the quarterback, that’s a good thing. While the sacks are the big stat, I often – I don’t want to say debate – with our media about statistics and sacks. I’ll say it again. One player can have 1,000 snaps in a season and he’s judged off – let’s say he gets 10 sacks or 15 sacks. That’s one percent of his plays. I think we can all do the math and we’re judging him off of one percent of his plays. I just think that’s – I’m always going to – I like judging the 99 percent. So when there’s hurries and there’s run stops and there’s edges being set and he’s dropping into coverage, those are the things I’m looking at, to include the sacks. But literally, we can all do the math. Twenty sacks is an All-Pro year and it’s two percent of the snaps. Again, we can all do the math. It might be less – I’m not even sure, it may be less than two percent. I’m not that good at math. (laughter) But I do know that there’s more plays – just from a comparison standpoint, I think he’s a good player. I think the pressures are a big part of that. I think the run stops are a big part of that. I think his edge setting – I like his violent play style. I think all of those things are part of it. There’s a couple of other guys who are in that mode as well. I don’t know how many interceptions Jessie Bates has but this is a good player, I’ll tell you that right now. And I don’t really care how many interceptions he has. This is a damn good player. Some people, if those are the stats that you look at – I’m just a little different, I guess.”
(The way you can morph from 3-4 to 4-3 and the different looks and principles and everything with it, you have to have intelligent, versatile football players and you’ve always been exposed to that concept up in New England. So you seem to be going along those exact same lines. Is it coming to where you’re satisfied or getting closer to where you want to be in terms of intelligent, versatile football players for your defense?) – “I don’t know if satisfied is ever a word I would use. (laughter) I think Chris (Grier) and our personnel department, I think they’ve done a great job of bringing in guys who are tough and smart and competitive and love to play. We’re trying to coach them up the best we can. We want to be versatile. We want to give our opponents different looks and apply pressure in different ways. Our players work hard to try to get that accomplished. It’s not always perfect but they work hard at it and I appreciate them for working hard at it. I think when it hits and when we execute it, it’s been – we’ve had some success. It’s been the other way also and we try to make those corrections. But they work hard to get it right and I think our personnel staff has done a nice job of bringing in good players via free agency, the draft, etc. Hopefully we can continue to do that and we’ll just keep trying to coach them the best we can.”
Brian Flores – December 2, 2020
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Wednesday, December 2, 2020
Head Coach Brian Flores
(This isn’t a QB Tua Tagovailoa question, this is a RB/WR Malcolm Perry question and also a follow up on something you said last week regarding the slot position, and how you don’t necessarily – I don’t know if I’m expounding on what you said – kind of believe in the slot. You believe in having other players or kind of having other guys fill in for that role. Considering you come from the Patriots, who kind of revolutionized how the slot was used, where does that belief come from?) – “I’m not necessarily sure I said I don’t believe in the slot position. I think you can play with different guys in that position. I think it’s literally a spot on the field, not necessarily a position. I think we are talking about between the numbers – that place on the field between the numbers and the hash, which people call the alley in the kicking game, they call it the slot in the passing game, some people call it the seam defensively. I just see it as a spot on the field. Obviously you see it as a position – an actual position. Maybe we just need to come to an understanding on how we see that. I don’t necessarily see it as a position, I see it as space on the field. I think that space can be filled by a number of different positions. You can put a running back there, you can put a tight end there, like I’ve said. You can put a receiver there. For us, you’ve seen DeVante (Parker) in there, you’ve seen Jakeem (Grant) in there, you’ve seen Malcolm Perry in there, you’ve seen a number of different players there – (Mike) Gesicki, running backs. So to say I don’t believe in that part of the field, I think is – I believe in all parts of the field. Maybe one day we can sit down and talk about the field dimensions and that will be one conversation, and then particular players and their skillsets will be another conversation.”
(I know you like to be straightforward about things, but yesterday when we were talking to Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer, I asked him about how you broke the news to him about how you would like for him to be defensive coordinator. He described a conversation that sounded incredibly brief, actually. My two-part question is, was it really as brief as what he described? And two, what was it that you saw in Josh that made you believe that he was the right man for the job?) – “I don’t know what your guys’ conversation was, but I’ve worked with Josh for a long time. He’s a very good teacher of the game, he’s got a lot of good knowledge. We’ve had years worth of conversations about defense and coverage and structures and fronts and protections and pressures. I don’t know how long it’s been – 14 or 15 years – of these same conversations. I think he’s very knowledgeable, I think he’s a very good teacher. I think he relates and tries to build relationships. I think he’s done a very good job for us this year. I think all of that – I’m not even talking about the fact that we’ve coached in games together. He and I communicate well together. He communicates with the other coaches very well. He’s a good coach. I would say from that standpoint, it was brief. I thought he would do a great job and I think he is doing that.”
(I want to get your view or philosophy on receiver separation and maybe how significant you feel like that is to an offense.) – “I think it’s – receiver separation, I know they’ve got the Next Gen Stats and he had half a millimeter of separation or something like that. They’ve got all of those statistics; but a lot of times, a guy like DeVante (Parker), who is a big body, he is long. There might be a guy right on him, but if you throw it inside – if the guy is on his back and you throw it inside – his arm length is the separation. While it might be a millimeter or centimeter based on the Next Gen Stats, you can get that ball in there. Again, it’s case by case. As a defender, you want to have tight coverage. As a quarterback, I think you just need to know the frames or the builds of your receivers. If you’ve got a smaller guy, that separation or the coverage being tighter, you might have to fit that one into a tighter window versus just getting the ball out in front of a taller, longer receiver. To me, it’s all case by case. I think if you look at a lot of statistics, they talk a lot about separation or flight of the ball in the air and you’ve got all of these statistics; but the practical application of some of those things are different when you are on the field, I would say. But yes, as much as you can separate from a defender, it always helps. I think when you start getting into the ‘what is enough separation?’ That’s when it gets subjective in a lot of ways.”
(A lot of things happened around the league – the Ravens game is now on a Wednesday and Denver is without quarterbacks, San Francisco is moving. You guys were not at the facility like everybody the last two days. What’s been the biggest hurdle for you riding – the big picture hurdle of what’s going on this year?) – “I don’t call it a hurdle. I would just say these are the cards we’ve been dealt and we’ve got to play this hand. Everyone’s dealing with the pandemic. Everyone is doing things differently than they did a year ago. People weren’t wearing masks and distancing and not spending the holidays together, and I think those are the hurdles. It’s very different than it was a year ago and I think as a league, we’re trying to do everything we can to keep the players safe first and foremost, to keep the coaches safe, keep the people within our organizations safe, and try to do what we all love to do which is play and coach football. I guess I don’t see them as hurdles. There’s just maybe a little bit of adversity; but again, that’s never hurt anyone and we just try to find different ways to move forward and teach the players and coach the players, and players getting better and improving and just play the hand we’re dealt.”
(I was hoping I could get some kind of an update on QB Tua Tagovailoa. How did his treatment go the last few days and do you anticipate him practicing fully today?) – “Tua’s been rehabbing. He’s been getting treatment. He’s working hard to get back in there. We’ll see about today when we get out there. Again, I wish I had a crystal ball to tell you he’s going to practice fully; but we’ve got to get out there and do that before we can say that. He’s doing everything he can and we’ll evaluate it as we go.”
(Another practice question – in terms of the two rookies who weren’t able to go last week, do you expect RB Salvon Ahmed and G Solomon Kindley to be out there today?) – “Again, both guys doing – really working to get out there as soon as they can. We hope to get them both out there and we’ll see. We’ll see in a couple hours. I meet with the trainers after I do media for this specific reason, (laughter) so I don’t have the information for you guys right now. That’s a 9:15 meeting. (laughter)”
(I was asked this question this week and I honestly don’t know the answer. How much do you involve yourself in play-calling offensively, defensively and is it just you involved in the preparation or do you call for specific things on situations like third-and-6 or do you say “blitz now?” What’s your hand in play-calling?) – “So somebody asked you this question about what I do and you didn’t have the answer?”
(I did not have the answer.) – “That’s interesting. (laughter)”
(But I generally don’t, which is why I ask the questions.) – “So – I’m sorry, I was just kind of taken aback. (laughter) So the question is how much input…?”
(Yes.) – “I think on a week-to-week basis, it’s different. Again, we do a lot of work over the course of the week, so I’m involved on the offense, I’m involved defensively, I’m involved in the kicking game, situations, game management. So there’s a lot of things that are already talked about, and I think no different than anyone else on the offensive staff or the defensive staff or in the kicking game or from a game management standpoint, I offer suggestions. No different than (Running Backs Coach) Eric Studesville offers suggestions and (Linebackers Coach) Anthony Campanile offers suggestions and says, ‘hey, maybe we should do this or this’ depending on game. It’s case-by-case. I would say I let my coaches coach and I’m not sitting there going, ‘hey, call this, call that.’ Because at the end of the day – because I’m working all three sides of the ball and game management – (Offensive Coordinator) Chan’s (Gailey) spent more time on offense and seen more of it. (Defensive Coordinator) Josh (Boyer) has spent more time on defense, he’s seen more of it. (Special Teams Coordinator) Danny (Crossman) has spent more time on the kicking game. So for me to sit there and say, ‘hey, I know better on any of those,’ I think is – it doesn’t really – we all have the same amount of hours. Let’s say they spend those hours all on one side of the ball, I trust that they’re going to have the answers we’re looking for in their respective side of the ball. I’ll make suggestions, but at the end of the day, I try to let those guys coach and then obviously occasionally I’ll make my thoughts known. But I think it’s worked out for the most part.”
(With the running back situation, I know you guys are getting a little healthier. I don’t know if RB Myles Gaskin is going to come back, but if he does, do you anticipate him resuming his lead back, starting – I don’t know what you want to call it – role that he had for much of the season before he got hurt?) – “I think it would depend on what he shows in practice. He practiced some last week. When you’re out a few weeks, there’s a conditioning element, there’s a getting back to it element, there’s a physical element; so the idea that a guy could just walk back in and is the same player he was before the injury, normally it takes a little – a week or two weeks to get back to hopefully back to where he was. But we take that into consideration. I hope a guy like Myles does, or could, get right back to form quickly; but I don’t think there’s any assumptions that it’ll be that way. We’ve got some other backs. We normally rotate them, so we’ll see. But it all starts in practice. If he goes out there and practices well and we feel like he can take the majority of the carries like he was prior to injury, then that could be the case, but we’ll see.”
Steve Marshall – December 1, 2020
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Tuesday, December 1, 2020
Offensive Line Coach Steve Marshall
(Fans and some media think differently than coaches in this sense. I think when you look at your three young offensive linemen, fans and maybe some of us will think after watching them for a couple months, “oh, maybe the Dolphins have solved it, maybe we found three young starters who could be long-term starters.” The last couple weeks obviously there’s been issues in pass protection – not just for them but veterans as well and obviously G Solomon Kindley was out last week. Has anything that’s happened in the last three weeks – I don’t want to say shaken your confidence, but are you still of the belief that T Austin Jackson, G/T Robert Hunt and G Solomon Kindley can be good long-term NFL starters? Has anything changed your mind about that?) – “No, none whatsoever. I think they’re – obviously as you go through your rookie season, doing all the things you have to do and all the different challenges they’re brought up with and each and every game is a little bit different. The reason I say that, they’re work-ethic guys, they’re football guys and they’ve got to continue to work and see different things and we put them in different positions to get done; but I’m very excited about those three young guys like I have been all along.”
(What was the difference in that final six-minute drive that you guys had that killed the clock against the Jets? What was different about the execution from the offensive line standpoint?) – “Different from what?”
(Past prior games where you guys struggled to kind of gain yardage.) – “I don’t know. It’s hard to compare. Like I said, each game – we work in those scenarios each and every week on trying to win the game on the field if we have a lead. If we’re fortunate enough to have a lead, to be able to finish in the four-minute, six-minute mode on the field and we happen to hit a couple good runs, we hit a couple good passes to continue to keep drives alive and be successful at it. Sometimes you’ve just got to keep pounding that rock. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Everybody in the NFL is tough and the Jets were no different. That’s kind of as you move forward, we work on those scenarios each and every week and we happened to be successful at it this past weekend.”
(Specific to T Austin Jackson, obviously a developmental player. Obviously he missed some time due to injury, but can you give us a little bit of insight into for him specifically, some points of emphasis, some coaching points that he’s really working hard on to refine so that he can reach all of his potential?) – “As we do every week up front – win, lose or draw – the fundamental part of playing in the National Football League is utmost, especially at the tackle position. Some guys are talented enough inside to kind of do what they need to do to get the job done, but out there when you’re going every week against the top-of-the-line rushers to that side; it’s fundamentals, it’s bending your knees, it’s the same scenario every week in how we get those done. And that’s with Austin; but it’s no different than Rob (Hunt) or Ereck Flowers for that matter. The young players that we have keep doing the fundamental thing – learning something new every week. Am I in balance? Are my hands in the right spot? Each and every week, my game plan going into every week against specific rushers – all that is something that we work on every single week in an attempt to get a little bit better each week with that. And to say specifically, that is specific each and every week on, ‘okay, we’ve got such-and-such guy, here’s the moves he’s going to try to put on you. All right, here’s what we think your game plan and let’s talk about that and work on these things each and every day starting on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and try to refine them going into the game.’”
(I guess I’m curious a little bit. When you’ve got guys on the right side in G/T Robert Hunt and G/T Jesse Davis, who can both play right guard and right tackle, what is sort of the determination on who plays which spot and why you feel more comfortable with Jesse at guard and Hunt at tackle instead of vice versa?) – “I feel comfortable because Jesse (Davis) has had more experience in there than Rob (Hunt) has. Does Rob have the skillset to move in to play guard at one point? Sure. But Jesse has, in his career has played all – I think I mentioned to you last week – the guy has played every position on the o-line other than center in a game. Those kind of guys are invaluable in this league. It’s a long – it’s a season of attrition. We’re in Week whatever we’re in and Jesse, he can move and adapt a little quicker with the experience that he has had as opposed to Rob and some of the younger guys. Rob has a good skillset, whether it’s tackle or guard, and there’s going to be a time in his career I think where he can move around and play different positions. I don’t think that’s quite the time to do it and really Jesse has proven to be a very, very solid guard as he has been a very solid tackle. He’s kind of – I always tell him, ‘man, you’re my MVP; you can play left, you can play right.’ And from a mental standpoint, he knows the whole offense and does it and those young guys are continuing to grow and improve, and I see Rob in that vein down the road. I don’t think he’s quite there yet, but he’s working as hard as he can and he’s working extremely hard. I’m real happy with Rob and obviously Jesse.”
(Offensive Coordinator Chan Gailey was on here a couple minutes ago as a voice of reason kind of explaining QB Ryan Fitzpatrick’s experience obviously with 16 years and QB Tua Tagovailoa with four games. How do you think the QB’s experience plays a role in how the o-line performs and develops from a week-to-week basis?) – “You can analyze all that you want; every guy has their own job to do up front. On any specific protection, any specific run, from that standpoint; it really – and I think I know what you’re getting at – one guy is experienced, one guy’s not experienced but the bottom line is we’ve got to do our job up front. We’ve got to do a great job in protection, we’ve got to do a great job in the run game, and mesh with whoever’s going to play. Tua is a top young prospect. ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick) – there’s nothing ‘Fitz’ hasn’t seen in his 16 years and various roles in the league. And both of them, we can win football games with and that’s our bottom line right there, is winning football games. So we’ve got to do our part up front and keep trying to improve each and every week.”
(We’re coming up on Game 12 and I think you’ve got three rookies. I think at one point this team started seven rookies altogether. Is the rookie wall real? Is that something that’s a real phenomenon and how do you kind of guard against that when you’re going to need your rookies to play?) – “I don’t know. That’s a great question. I hear it all the time and I’ve been around it all the time. I don’t know. I’d say if you had four preseason games and we had extended time and we’d be in Week 16 as opposed – I don’t know. I don’t have time to worry about the rookie wall. We’ve got to keep working. I don’t want to hear – that’s irrelevant. We’ve got to get better. Those young guys got to learn. Those guys got to learn to fight through it. College football now, the seasons are longer. These guys play all the time. I don’t put much stock in that stuff, but it doesn’t matter. We go out there Wednesday practice – the big thing is we’ve got to get a little bit better. We’ve got to get a little better on Wednesday, then Thursday, then Friday and go onto the weekend.”
George Godsey – December 1, 2020
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Tuesday, December 1, 2020
Tight Ends Coach George Godsey
(We saw TE Durham Smythe had three catches in the first quarter there. TE Mike Gesicki had the touchdown. TE Adam Shaheen had the touchdown. How much do you think that the tight ends need to be contributors in the passing game because of the relative inexperience at the receiver position behind WR DeVante Parker?) – “First off, their alignment is a little bit closer to the quarterback so it makes it not as far of a distant throw, so it makes us a little bit more accurate to find those guys over the ball, potentially inside the numbers. Then it’s up to those guys doing a good job getting open. Some of those were contested catches. Others were in zone. But when those guys get involved, distributing the ball to more than a couple of receivers, I think it kind of opens up things offensively for us.”
(Postgame, TE Mike Gesicki had talked about his growth as a route runner and learning to kind of vary his releases. I was hoping to hear your perspective on what you’ve seen from him from a developmental standpoint from the time you got here first last year to the player he is now today.) – “The releases, I think that’s always evolving as a route-runner, because you go against different guys. You’re presented defensive linemen to get around when you’re attached or in-line. When you’re in the slot, it may be different player than a corner outside playing you. And then obviously the safeties are a little bit more physical when matching the tight end. All of those change based on the person you’re going against. That’s what’s so fun about this, is each week there’s new variables and it’s a challenge. So it’s putting those guys in those positions during the week, making sure that they execute the techniques that we think will help them. Mike’s done a good job of carrying that to the game. I think it’s a little bit easier to draw on the paper and get to the back pylon; but when he’s avoiding a guy, along with the rush getting to ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick) there on that throw that you were talking about and to high-point it, there’s a lot of individual technique that we’ve worked on for that play to be successful and it was a big play for us.”
(We spend a lot of time thinking about, talking about how QB Ryan Fitzpatrick makes life easier for everyone around him because of his expertise and his experience. I’m wondering with TE Mike Gesicki and TE Durham Smythe in particular having been around the offense, having been around the team – what are some ways that maybe they can help QB Tua Tagovailoa as a youngster when he’s in there?) – “That’s an excellent point because the more experienced each player is, the more they can help the younger or first-year players, even second-year players. I think all those tight ends will tell you that they have not reached their ceiling. They still have many things to improve on; but their anticipation, especially playing a team multiple times like the Jets every year, familiarity with the personnel and the scheme can help anticipate holes that are open or top-of-route technique along with every position – whether it’s a running back on a blitz pick up, a lineman on a stunt. That’s part of this game. The more experience you get, the more you can anticipate and make quick decisions. You may not be right before the snap always, but when the situation presents itself post-snap you can recognize and change your technique as far as getting open in the route game or blocking a certain defender if he’s stunting. That’s vital to anybody’s growth as a young player and certainly for the quarterback position.”
(Bear with me a bit. I asked TE Mike Gesicki after the game, it felt like he was boxing out his DB like he was going up for a rebound, so I’m curious how much of playing tight end is basketball skillset in particular situations?) – “You might have started a war in that room talking about basketball because each one of them thinks they’re the next greatest basketball center or forward; but it is about positioning and getting yourself in a position between the quarterback and basically either boxing out the defender or getting yourself in a position where you have a favorable advantage to bringing it down. If you noticed when he caught the ball, which I think kind of goes unnoticed, is he didn’t necessarily catch it and bring it to the tuck. We work that. We know that that’s where the defender’s hands are going. So the most important thing is to extend that ball away from that defender, which that’s a part of that catch that I think was important based on where the placement of the defender was. It’s tricky in the end zone because the defender can be in front of you, can be behind you, so catching and maneuvering and getting your feet down defining a catch to everybody that’s viewing it is just as important, especially in the end zone.”
(As you know, TE Mike Gesicki and TE Durham Smythe challenged each other this offseason to improve in areas that weren’t necessarily considered their strengths. As a run-blocker and in pass protection, you would say Gesicki is what – adequate, good, better than good? And I would ask you the same question regarding Smythe as a receiver – is he adequate now, good, better than good?) – “There’s certain plays where maybe one of those guys are asked more to do in the run game or the pass game and we’re looking at efficient plays, so on the very first drive where we throw the ball out there to Jakeem (Grant) quickly, Mike’s at the point of attack right there making a big block for us to get an efficient play. So he may not be asked the amount of times that Durham (Smythe) is; but when he is called on, he knows it’s important. Each one of them is growing in their roles and kind of similar to what I said earlier about younger players growing, we expect that to continue to improve and those guys know that and they hold each other accountable, which is so much better from a coaching standpoint. We can drill it, we can coach it and then when your teammates hold you accountable, that’s another aspect from teammate to teammate that really pushes each other to make it a successful play to do their part.”
Eric Studesville – December 1, 2020
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Tuesday, December 1, 2020
Running Backs Coach Eric Studesville
(Do you and Head Coach Brian Flores have a policy with regard to when a running back fumbles, he does not play the next series? Is that pretty much an approach that you all have?) – “No, not one that we’ve talked about. When the balls came out – both of them, Matt (Breida) got carries later in the game even. But DeAndre (Washington) went in the next series and he was playing well, that’s why we kind of took with the hot hand there from where it went. But no, nothing that we’ve talked about.”
(I wanted to ask you about that final six-minute drive where you guys just absolutely ate up the clock. You’ve been trying to do that pretty much all season. What was the difference this week?) – “I think execution. I think it takes everybody in those situations where they know you want to run it. We know they’re going to try to load the box and stop the run and we’ve got to get hats on hats, we’ve got to be decisive running the ball downhill and picking good spots and I think it goes into the execution of the entire group.”
(You guys had leaned on RB Myles Gaskin a lot early in the season. Do you have any inclination on now that he’s coming back, where he fits in the offense now that you’ve had a couple other backs who have run in there and played well?) – “No, we don’t really know yet. We’ve got to wait until tomorrow. I know he’s been working. He wants to get back in the worst way. He’s been in every meeting, he’s been great and we just got to kind of see where it goes and take it when we get him on the field tomorrow and see what happens and see where everything is; but I’m not making any plans. I don’t want to be disappointed for any reason. (laughter) I don’t want to get too excited, so I’m just going to take it when we get to tomorrow.”
(Kind of back to a previous question. Head Coach Brian Flores was very complimentary of RB DeAndre Washington and the run game’s ability to grind that game out in the fourth quarter. What does it say to you about DeAndre’s ability to step in just a few weeks after he arrives to have a big role in a big spot like that?) – “I think there’s a couple things that are worth noting regarding DeAndre. I think the first one is this is a passionate guy who prepares. He came in and learned this offense. He did a great job of working. That’s what you see manifested in his performance, was the amount of work and time and effort that he put in to give himself a chance to go out there. And then as all players do and coaches as well, we just want an opportunity to showcase what we can do and he was waiting for that time and he was prepared for that opportunity when it came forward. I think it’s a credit to him and who he is – work ethic, his preparation and truly his patience for his time and opportunity, that he was ready for it when it came up.”
(How much – a previous question mentioned earlier about that six-minute drive toward the end of the game where you guys were successful. How much do you guys practice those four or six-minute drives and trying to sort of I guess ice out the game and is that something that sort of has lined up to what you guys did on Sunday?) – “I think all those game situations, we talk about constantly with the entire team in all three phases of it. We’re constantly talking about the different game situations because we want to be a great situational football team, so we have to address those things and talk about them, show them when they happen around the league, watch things. We do practice those. We have practiced those situations where we talk about, ‘well, what’s going to happen here? What’s the time on the clock? What’s the situation? What’s our demeanor, our mentality?’ Those are all things that we’re constantly going over and not just in that four-minute grouping like that but whether that’s two-minute, whether that’s – there’s a whole lot of situations that we talk about very, very often.”
(I wanted to follow up on RB DeAndre Washington. What is the skillset that he has, in your opinion, that kind of will lead to him having success in this offense?) – “I think one thing that it starts with is his preparation and his work ethic. I think that’s one of the things that he did great coming in here. He took the extra time meeting with me and doing things and wanting to ask questions, wanted to know. He’s a professional in how he approaches his job and what it is. I think physically, I think he has vision. I think he’s got eyes to be able to find holes, I think he’s got good feet in the holes. He ran with some toughness the other day, which is hard for us to tell that when you get a player in the middle of the season because you’re not in pads all the time and you can’t bang those guys around. But I thought he ran the ball with toughness, with good pad level, downhill, aggressive – all the things that we talk about in our room that we’re trying to get done. And in pass protection, I thought he did some really, really good things in pass protection, picking up some pressures that we had. Then he caught the ball well. He had a nice screen play and he had another catch in the flat. I just think overall, I think he’s got a skillset that can help us and we’re looking forward to his skillset continuing to develop.”
Josh Grizzard – December 1, 2020
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Tuesday, December 1, 2020
Wide Receivers Coach Josh Grizzard
(We spent a lot of time talking about how QB Ryan Fitzpatrick makes life easier for everyone around him, including receivers and tight ends. When it comes to QB Tua Tagovailoa being in there, what are some ways the receivers who have been around can help him?) – “From that end of it, it’s just being in the right spot for him, running the route at the right depth. If it’s a conversion route versus a certain coverage, making sure you are seeing the safeties, that way when you break the route you’re in the right area. So having the trust of him knowing where they are going to be and then reading it correctly, that’s half the battle out there.”
(It looked like WR DeVante Parker, they played a lot of man-to-man on him this past game. He obviously feasted on it. When you guys see DeVante on man, do you look at that as that’s an opportunity and we’re going to try to get the ball to him every chance?) – “We do. We like that matchup. From week to week, it changes on is it going to be a man scheme, is it going to be a press-man scheme, is it going to be a zone scheme where you have to find the voided area? But yeah, we love him matched up. We have all the confidence in the world in him. It’s great to see that he went out and had a great game on Sunday. That’s always a matchup we’re going to try to take advantage of.”
(What’s the key in translating WR Lynn Bowden Jr.’s physical gifts and how productive he was in college to being an effective NFL slot receiver? Where is he in that process do you think?) – “He’s done a good job. He’s coming along. He got in the game last week. I think that was probably his season-high in reps. You’ll see him move around a little bit, whether that is to the backfield or lined up in empty formations. A lot of the same ways as the other guys that play in there, it’s a matter of the reps, the live reps on seeing coverages, the matchups with whoever is playing that star position, which we call the nickel. It’s just a reps thing for him, just seeing that and trying to use his abilities in ways of getting him the ball and letting him do something with it.”
(After the game, TE Mike Gesicki compared the way he reacts after making a catch where it’s like he won the Super Bowl every time he catches the ball to WR DeVante Parker, who just has a quiet little head shake that he does. I’m curious from your perspective, as a guy who is around him every day, what’s WR DeVante Parker’s temperament like – whether it’s the classroom, film room, the weight room or on the field? What’s he like day to day?) – “I think with the head shake and all of that, it’s what you get. He doesn’t say a ton, but when he does say something and voices his opinion, you know that it’s coming from something that he truly believes in. Whatever his reaction is to having success, going out there and shaking his head and having it again the next play is what we’re looking for. I think that when guys see that kind of reaction from him, it gives juice to the rest of the unit. It could be the running backs, tight ends – and I think the o-line sees it. They are in there protecting for whoever is throwing it to get him the ball. It’s a collective effort, they see it and it sparks some juice for the next play.”
(I imagine it’s a unique position for you being the first time position coach and having guys like RB/WR Malcolm Perry and WR Lynn Bowden Jr. as rookies, and WR Antonio Callaway trying to learn the playbook. With the youth in the position group, especially with a QB that’s young and trying to develop as well, how do you guys continue to try to make progress in developing all across the board?) – “I think it’s fun because those guys are young, because they come in here and especially with guys that might not have necessarily played full-time receiver their whole life, you’re just getting these guys and they don’t have a bunch of bad or good tendencies. You’re trying to put them in the right direction to go out and see coverages and understand why teams are doing this. Ultimately it’s fun because they are so young. They are just like ‘can we watch more film? Can we still some time at night?’ In this climate we’re in with Zoom, you can get on a call with these guys and watch the tape even when you’re sitting at home. Those guys are all eager to learn, not only the playbook, but taking it to the next level on their understanding of not only our scheme but what the defense is trying to do as well.”
