Josh Boyer – October 6, 2020
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Tuesday, October 6, 2020
Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer
(CB Noah Igbinoghene – what can he do better to prevent what’s been happening from happening again in terms of receivers getting open behind him? What can he do differently or better?) – “I think a lot of it starts with just more attention to detail, a more focused practice. Like I’ve said before, practice is the closest thing that we get to game action, so I think when things become habit and you do it over and over again, and your focus to detail from a play-to-play standpoint – which Noah, he’s a diligent worker. He’ll come in and put a good day’s work in and hopefully things will improve and we ask that of all of our guys. The things that aren’t going so well for guys, we work hard to try to improve that and the things that they’re doing good, we try to build on. So I think a lot of it goes to practice and really just focus on a play-to-play basis.”
(You’ve had some good plays from your defensive tackles. You’ve also had some runs up the gut that have gained sizable yardage. Would you say your defensive tackle play has been good, average, below average?) – “I would say it’s like all positions, whether it’s the defensive tackles, defensive ends, linebackers, safeties, corners – I think we’re looking for improvement. We’ve had some good plays. We’ve had some plays that you’d like to play better. I think our thing is a play-in, play-out consistency, and I think when you can build that over time, that allows you to be a pretty good defense. I would say we’re striving for improvement in all areas, and it really comes down to consistency in our play.”
(I wanted to ask when you guys are playing zone and CB Noah Igbinoghene has a player – a receiver – that kind of runs right by him, maybe even rubs him a little bit, is he supposed to stay in his zone area or is he supposed to trail off with that runner and follow him? And do you think his ability to maybe switch from man to zone from play to play needs some work there?) – “Again, I think you try to be multiple in all things that you do; so whether it’s from a front standpoint, whether from a pressure standpoint or a coverage standpoint, we’re going to ask guys to be multiple in what they’re doing, and then obviously we’ve got to have all 11 guys working on the same page. I would say that starts with me. I need to continue to improve. I need to get our guys – all 11 guys – to be on the same page and know and understand the calls. That’s what we’re working towards.”
(On a similar topic, we talked to S Eric Rowe yesterday and I asked him about what was happening at the back end. He talked a little bit about communication. He talked about checks at the line and when guys go in motion, there seems some communication issues going on. What do you see and how do you solve that?) – “The offenses that we’ll face – and we’re going to see another one this week that motions as much as anybody in the league – so there’s always going to be communication whether it’s from the front or the back end. Again, a lot of that starts with us in practice and I wouldn’t say all of the errors that we’ve had have not been communication. Some of them are just basic stuff that it’s a focus thing from play-in, play-out from multiple players. Obviously for us to good consistently on a down-in and down-out basis, we have to be able to handle motion, we have to be able to know and understand our calls and then once we can get to that point, we’ve shown spurts or flashes of playing good defense from time to time. But on a down-in, down-out basis, we’re all striving to improve; and like I said, that starts with me and that’s what we’re working to do.”
(San Francisco 49ers QB Jimmy Garoppolo is dealing with a high-ankle sprain. He may or may not play and 49ers QB C.J. Beathard came in after 49ers QB Nick Mullens and led a touchdown drive late in the fourth quarter that Monday night game. I wanted to ask how do you prepare for three quarterbacks instead of maybe one or two and do you think it’s a schematic thing with 49ers Head Coach Kyle Shanahan’s offense that will maybe make it a little bit easier for you guys?) – “I think Kyle (Shanahan) does an outstanding job with his offense. We will prepare for all three quarterbacks just like we’ve prepared for everybody that’s on the roster. So you go in week-in and week-out, sometimes you have a better idea that this guy’s going to play a little bit more than the next guy from the quarterback position, so we’ll make our guys aware of all three guys and we’ll be prepared no matter who plays. Like I said, Kyle does a great job with his offense. There’s so many explosive players that they have. Their offensive line is really athletic, so it’s a big challenge for us.”
(How would you describe the challenge of trying to deal with 49ers TE George Kittle and what’s the best way to go about trying to minimize the impact he can have on the game?) – “Again, I think they do a very good job with their scheme. They’ll move him around. They’ll use him in multiple facets. They’ll hand speed sweeps to him. He’ll be a focal point in the passing game. He’s a guy that we’ll obviously need to know and most everybody will need to know where he is and what our plan is on how to handle it, and I don’t think it’s just one way that you do it. Obviously he’s a really good player and I know he’s had the injury, but he didn’t miss a beat last week. So we’ll definitely – and again, they have a lot of other good explosive players. These guys can hit home runs from anywhere, so we’re going to have to do a good job making sure all 11 guys for us defensively are on the same page and we know where their skill position guys are and we know that they’re going to move. We just need to be ready to defend what’s coming at us.”
(I really enjoy watching this DT Zach Sieler. He kind of opens my eyes. He’s all over the place. What are some of the things about his approach that you really like?) – “One thing, and I would say one thing that makes the job enjoyable, is that we have a lot of guys that put in a great day’s work. They come in and they work as hard as they possibly can. They’re constantly striving for improvement. I think Zach (Sieler) embodies that. I think when you watch Zach on the field, he plays with great effort, and that’s probably what sticks out most. Obviously you love and respect that about him, and he’s constantly in coaches’ offices trying to get better, trying to watch more film and then he goes out and practices as hard as he possibly can; and then he’s going to play as hard as he possibly can. And like everybody else, there are some things that are good that he’s doing and then there are some things that we’re working on to try to get better; but Zach is a hard, hard worker and he’s a high-effort guy. He’s really a joy to be around and again, I do, I feel lucky that most of our guys are like that. They’re very highly motivated and they’re very diligent workers. We know the task at hand in front of us and we just need to keep striving for improvement and try to get to a point where we can play down-in, down-out consistently football.”
Chan Gailey – October 6, 2020
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Tuesday, October 6, 2020
Offensive Coordinator Chan Gailey
(Of the two players who have been the team’s biggest playmakers since midway through last year, predating your arrival, WR DeVante Parker has been very involved over the last couple of games, very productive. TE Mike Gesicki has two catches over the last two games. Are teams defending Gesicki more closely and do you ever believe you should force the ball into a playmaker’s hands, even if he’s being closely defended or is that not sensible?) – “The answer to your first question is they have covered him a lot tighter and have been a lot more – I mean, wouldn’t you after he had 130 yards or whatever it was? That’s what they are doing. The question about forcing the ball – if it’s double-covered, you don’t want to force it. If it’s single coverage and he’s one-on-one but it’s tight coverage, you can afford to throw a ball in there at times and give the guy a chance to make a play. We’ve been – a few times it’s looked like they were double-covering him and they ended up single-covering him; but to the quarterback on his first look, it looked double covered, so ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick) got off of him. We just have to pay closer attention to how they are actually playing him during the course of the game. I think hopefully now that we’ve put the ball in other places, things will start to come back his way.”
(I wanted to ask you about your left guard, Ereck Flowers. How does his presence open things up for you both in the run game, the pass game, the play-action game? To the untrained eye, it looks like he’s having a pretty good start to the season so far.) – “He’s having a very good start to the season. He is a calming influence on the line for us. He’s very competitive on gameday but very quiet during the week. He’s very calm and really very professional about the way he goes about his business. I’ve been very happy with what he has brought to us, not only on the field playing, but blocking, run game, pass game, (and) what he brings as a leader to our offensive line.”
(Regarding WR Preston Williams, what are you seeing out of him? He only has six catches out of 17 targets. I know you weren’t here last year, but based on whatever film you saw of him last year, is he still battling for those contested catches like he was pre-injury? How do you get him more active in the offense?) – “We’re trying to use all of our weapons. The good thing is we think we have several weapons. The bad thing is there is only one football. If it’s not a clean look, he’s not getting the throws right now. We’re hoping to continue to work with him and put him in positions to get some catches. We know he can be a weapon, we know he should be a weapon. We’ve got to continue to work with him on what suits him best and get him in a position to be successful. We need him to – the more weapons we have on the field the better off we are as far as creating problems for the defense.”
(I’m sure you’re aware that it’s been officially confirmed and announced that QB Ryan Fitzpatrick will be the starting quarterback on Sunday, so there’s no breaking news there. What are some of the things that gives you cause for optimism or hope that this will be the right decision?) – “I’ve been around ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick) for a long time and I’ve seen him play very, very well. I’m a ‘glass is half full’ kind of guy. I see great things coming in the future and that’s how I see it. It’s easy to point fingers. That’s the easiest thing in the world is to point fingers. If you want to point fingers, you ought to point them at me, because I could have helped us a lot better in the red zone and done a better job of red zone coaching this past week and we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. I think he is capable of being very good for us.”
(I know we don’t know the status of T Austin Jackson heading into this week. How do you feel T Julién Davenport performed and what goes into your decision of playing the best left tackle?) – “You’re always trying to identify what guys do well and how they play. Then you look at the amount of experience that somebody has and then you look at the amount of potential that somebody has. You’re trying to weigh at all of those things when you’re making decisions about who is going to play in a ballgame – who has shown what in practice. As we look at Julién, he was really in there at the end of the game and it was almost all pass sets. That’s something that he does very well. He did pretty good as far as that goes. We’ll evaluate all of the guys that we have and make a decision sometime this week about the direction that we’ll go.”
(I know we talked about it earlier that QB Ryan Fitzpatrick is the guy this week; but with QB Tua Tagovailoa one snap away, I wanted to ask what do you think his football readiness is to be able to play at a high level if he becomes the guy at some point?) – “We get him ready every week, and we have what he feels comfortable with. That’s not something that I – I do that with ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick) too. I say what are you most comfortable with? We ask Tua what are you most comfortable with? So if he has to go into the game – like you said, he’s one play away from having to play. I feel like he’ll go in and play well. He’s a rookie and hasn’t played in a preseason game. He hadn’t been in a game at all so it’ll be a new experience for him. He’ll have to go in there with eyes wide open; but I think knowing the person that he is and knowing the type of preparation that he puts in, I think he’s going to be ready when his time is called.”
(You say that QB Ryan Fitzpatrick is capable of being very good and we’ve all seen how well he can play; but he has described his career himself as a rollercoaster. This year it has been the same thing, two games he’s had four touchdown passes no interceptions. The other two games, no touchdown passes, five interceptions. What do you see with the inconsistency that it seems like has always been there for him?) – “The biggest problem for ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick) is when defenses don’t do what they are supposed to do. When a guy gets out of position and they are not where they are supposed to be, because he’s studied and he knows where they are supposed to be and what they are supposed to do, and that’s the biggest problem. Interceptions are going to happen. We all want to go back to statistics because that is one think you can put your finger on is a statistic. But there is a lot more to the game than statistics. He does a lot for this football team that statistics don’t show.”
(Noticing on the Seattle film, I noticed QB Ryan Fitzpatrick was doing a gesture with his hands towards the sidelines. Maybe he looked a little visibly frustrated – I don’t know if it was maybe the play calls or how things were going on the field during that game, particularly when you guys were in the red zone. Did you have that sense and what were those conversations like about those instances after the game?) – “No. He couldn’t hear the call, so he was telling us to call it again. That’s the call to give him the call again. That’s what that was. He has said I’m crazy but that was not the signal for that.”
Brian Flores – October 5, 2020
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Monday, October 5, 2020
Head Coach Brian Flores
(Who’s going to be your quarterback on Sunday?) – “We’re still going through corrections of the game from yesterday. As a staff, we normally start talking about this this evening. ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick) – I thought we moved the ball pretty efficiently yesterday. Look, I understand where everybody’s coming from with Tua (Tagovailoa). I get all that. At the same time, he’s a young player, he’s coming off the injury. So we’ll make the decision on the starter, but I would presume it’s going to be Fitzpatrick.”
(I know T Austin Jackson and S Bobby McCain both returned to the game, but how did they come out of it – Austin with the foot injury and then Bobby after being tested for the concussion?) – “They’re still both getting treatment. I think Bobby went back in and played well. Austin went back in and had to come back out. Both – with our medical staff, it’s the day after the game so we’ve got nicks and bruises really in a few different places, so we’ll see how it goes throughout the week and we’ll take it from there. But it’s the day after the game, so guys are bruised up. We’ll see where we’re at on Wednesday.”
(Teams react to losing differently. Your players yesterday seemed particularly angry. Do you find encouragement in that reaction?) – “Yeah, I think our guys, they work hard. They prepare well. We didn’t get the things done we talked about getting done. I think they understand that and they’re all competitive. That’s how I felt after the game, so they felt the same way. I think it just speaks to how competitive they are. I think we’ll just come back, get back to it once we start for preparing for another good team in the 49ers and try to turn things around.”
(I know that you mentioned QB Tua Tagovailoa and his injuries and stuff before, but I know there’s two rookie quarterbacks that have played so far in Bengals QB Joe Burrow and Chargers QB Justin Herbert. Does their early success have any influence on maybe how well you think Tua will play once he gets that opportunity?) – “No, I think every player is different. Every situation is different. So no. I really don’t look at other players and I play the comparison game with players or really anyone. We’re going to do what we feel is best for the Dolphins and for the individual players – Tua or ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick) or Austin Jackson or Robert Hunt or whoever it happens to be. It’s all case-by-case, so we don’t look at other situations and make decisions off of what other people are doing. We’ll try to do what’s best for us and we’ll make decisions with that in mind.”
(In weeks and months past, you’ve been more definitive about QB Ryan Fitzpatrick absolutely being your starter, no question about it. Was there something either in the game or when you reviewed the film that gave you pause that made you wonder if he’s the right guy at this moment?) – “The pause was – we haven’t even gone through the corrections from the game. We’re actually in the middle of that right now, so it wasn’t based off of anything in the game. I hope you guys don’t take that the wrong way; but every week we come in on Monday evening after we make all the corrections. We’re a quarter of the way through the season now, so we’re going to obviously do an evaluation of our team from that standpoint. We try to play the guys we feel are going to help us turn this thing around and play better in situations that like red zone and two-minute and the fourth quarter; and that’ll be at all positions. So that was kind of a conversation we just had as a staff, so I guess that’s what gave me some pause. Not something from the game. We just talked about reevaluating everything – every position, every grouping and we always do that after every quarter, let’s say, and try to, moving forward, do the things that we’ve been doing well and try to continue to build on those and obviously improve anything where we haven’t had as much success.”
(I know 1-3 is not ideal, especially in regards to the division and playoffs and things like that. It’s going to be a long season. How do you take your start and your approach into the rest of the season? Do you still feel like you have a chance to do something special here?) – “We take this one game at a time. Like you said, it’s a long season. We take it one game at a time. We’ve got a big test on the road in San Francisco. I think you start thinking about the end of the season and what that’s going to look like. We need to put our energy on this week and our preparation for this week. Leave it right there and let the results take care of themselves. But if we start thinking about down the road, it’s probably not going to help us all that much.”
(I only ask as a follow up to your first response regarding QB Tua Tagovailoa. Since you did bring the injury into the answer, in terms of his health, has he checked all the boxes that you guys have looked for in camp and in practice? Or are there still any hesitations or lingering questions in regard to either his hip or mobility?) – “No. He’s checked all the boxes from a medical standpoint. He has. Look, the honest thing from me is if he was my kid and he had a serious injury like that, I wouldn’t want his coach to be in a rush to throw him in there because of media pressure or anything like that. That’s kind of how I approach this situation and really all situations, the players. Essentially they are my kids. No one is going to pressure me into doing anything. When we feel like he’s ready to go, we’ll put him in.”
(We saw that DE Shaq Lawson got hurt yesterday with the shoulder, how is he doing, and was there any other injuries that you guys came out of from the game?) – “Guys are banged up. A few different guys are banged up. You mentioned Shaq. He had a shoulder (injury). He went out, went back in. He’s sore today, I think he’ll be ok. Honestly, he’s a tough guy and wants to be out there. We had a couple of other guys who were banged up and I’m hopeful we’ll get most of everybody back Wednesday.”
(I was going to ask you about CB Byron Jones. He was pretty hopeful when he spoke at the end of the week, then ended up being listed as doubtful. How hopeful are you that he has a good chance of getting back this week?) – “He had a good week last week, like he mentioned to you guys. We just felt like he wasn’t all the way ready to go last week. But we’re hopeful that this week we’ll see him a little bit more at practice and if he does well in practice, he’ll play next week.”
Eric Rowe – October 5, 2020
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Monday, October 5, 2020
S Eric Rowe
(CB Noah Igbinoghene is such a young kid. He’s 20-years-old or something. What have you said or what would you say to kind of steer him in the right direction?) – “Really, what I’ve kind of been telling him really this past season is it’s part of being a rookie. It’s part of the pains of growing, especially as a corner. I have comparable situations to kind of what he’s going through mentally and everything, and really I’m just trying to keep his spirits up because I remember in my second or third year where I had a couple games that were just rough, and you feel like everyone on the outside is kind of bearing down on you. It kind of gets you mentally, so really just for me to pick him up, keep playing because we’re going to need him. We’re going to need him. It’s a long season. We’ve got 12 more games to go at least, so really to keep his spirits up.”
(I was curious if you guys watched the film today. Down in and down out, the defense hung in there. It was again the big plays that seemed to get you. What on those deep throws to Seahawks WR DK Metcalf, etc. really stood out to you? When you watched the film what were the breakdowns on the big plays that you gave up?) – “Yeah, the big plays were – really, it was nothing of what kind of they had schematically or kind of talent-wise. Obviously they’re talented, but it was plays that we as a defense just had a mental breakdown. Just kind of a breakdown in coverage, a breakdown in our communication. That leads to them having big plays and ultimately that’s kind of what hurt us in the game.”
(I wanted to look ahead quickly to the matchup next Sunday. You guys are going to be facing TE George Kittle. He came back into action after missing a couple games. He had like 15 catches, 183 yards. So I guess the question is how big of a challenge is he and what makes him so good as a tight end?) – “It’s a huge challenge. He’s one of the, if not the best, tight ends right now in the league. Obviously as we can see, they target him a lot each game. So obviously he’s going to be a big challenge for us this week. What makes him good is he’s not just a receiving tight end. He blocks. So he’ll get in and he’ll block the nine or block the linebacker and not on some like, ‘oh, I really don’t want to hit you.’ So really he can play both ways, so we’ve definitely got our hands full this week.”
(Another 49ers question for you. QB Jimmy Garoppolo is coming off an ankle injury. It’s unsure whether he will play and the 49ers played two quarterbacks last night – QB Nick Mullens and QB CJ Beathard. How do you guys kind of go into this week knowing that you might have to prepare for three quarterbacks instead of maybe one or two?) – “That’s definitely different. Usually you kind of prepare for one, maybe two; but three – that’s different. Obviously all three of them, they’ve shown that all three of them can play. So it’s not like, ‘okay, the third string is coming in – we’re going to tee off on him.’ I think when Beathard got in, he went like 7-for-7 and scored a touchdown on a drive, and I was like, ‘wow, this dude’s good, too.’ So again, him, (Nick) Mullens, Jimmy (Garoppolo) – it don’t matter who’s playing. We’ve got to play our best ball.”
(I wanted to go back to what you mentioned before about breakdowns in communication. Is that a matter of guys getting confused over whether you’re in man or zone and how do you solve that? What steps are you going to take to make sure that such breakdowns don’t occur moving forward?) – “It’s really the call within the call. So whatever call that we have lined up against the opponent, and there’s always checks based on whatever they do. So we as in safeties, corners – everybody – we all have to be on the same page on motion, shift, kind of whatever they do. So when I mean ‘breakdown in communication,’ if the offense, they did some sort of motion and then whatever call that we have to give out, we have to give it out clean, faster, crisp so we can execute. Obviously that didn’t happen last game. There were a couple calls kind of within the call where not everybody was on the same page just at the end of the day. The only thing we can do is shoot, when we get back to practice on – it really starts today. Today, we watch the film and then Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, it’s just being overly-communicative, loud, before and in the meeting room.”
(I know you guys wanted to be or have been a heavy man team and then you guys have done a little bit more zone since CB Byron Jones has been out; but how have you seen offenses attack you guys with that? I know we’ve seen a lot more crossing routes. You talked about some of the communication things. Have you seen teams try to get you guys in position where they can exploit your tendency to play a lot more man?) – “Yeah. Every offense, whether you’re in man or zone, they’re always going to have some sort of plays to beat the coverage whether we’re in Cover 4, 3, 2; there’s always some sort of scheme, schematic they have to beat the coverage. So our thing is to try to obviously keep them off balance by mixing different types of zones and then throwing in man, so the offensive coordinator won’t just have a whole playbook of just, ‘okay, we’re going to run all these man-beaters because we know they’re going to run man all game.’ So that’s why we’ve just got to mix it up, kind of balance it out.”
(I wanted to ask you, now that you’ve settled into this I guess role where I don’t know exactly what they call you position covering the tight ends. What makes it fit your skillset as well as it does or seems to?) – “I would say that I’m a bigger-body cover guy and I can move. I’m pretty agile. So with tight ends, obviously these dudes are tall, they’re big. Maybe – I wouldn’t say all of them, but some aren’t as agile and just kind of just schematically, the way that the coaches, how they use me – they move me all around from safety and I’m in the box, I’m in the back, sometimes I play like a linebacker role – it kind of fits me. Or maybe I would say I fit their scheme; and so shoot, when they put me in there last year, I kind of excelled and I’m trying to get the same results this year.”
Christian Wilkins – October 5, 2020
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Monday, October 5, 2020
DT Christian Wilkins
(Can you share some of the message you’ve taken away from Head Coach Brian Flores either in postgame or I don’t know if you’ve met as a team yet this morning; but what are some of the things that he’s saying that resonates with you?) – “The biggest thing that we feel as a team is that – a few things are that we just got to be better in all three areas of the game, first and foremost. We’re not far off. It’s just a few things here and there. We’ve really got to hone in and take ownership, everyone individually. Then in your segments, in your positions, and on your side of the ball and as a team. You’ve really just got to take ownership of all of that and just work like crazy to improve on that. I feel like we will, because we have a lot of guys who care, who work hard. If we just keep hammering away and work on things that we are not doing so great, I think we’ll improve each week.”
(I looked at your box score yesterday. You were credited with a tackle and I think you had 44 snaps. Were they doubling you a bunch? What were they doing to kind of neutralize you yesterday?) – “Really, sometimes in a game, you just play and things come your way and things don’t come your way. With that many snaps, I do have to make more plays. I take ownership in that. I’ve got to do more than just do my job. It’s not just enough for me to just do my job. I’ll be the first to say when plays come my way and things happen, I’ve got to be more productive.”
(You guys have lost by 10 points, 3 points and 8 points in the three losses this season. That has to be equal parts discouraging and also encouraging for you guys. What are some things you guys can do to potentially play better and finish moving forward?) – “Typically if you look at it, most NFL games are within seven points or so, or one-score games. Like I said, it means that we’re close; but there is another level we can go to and I know we can go to it because we’ve got the right kind of guys in the locker room, the right kind of coaches, really everyone involved. We’ve got the right people around, so I think we’ll make that jump when we make those improvements, for sure.”
(On that same note of being resilient and getting through adversity, that is a big part of what every team has to do in this league. I’m curious, since you’re one of the guys that was here last year and been a part of this program for two years now, how can you compare what you guys were able to do last year to overcome some of those adversities and how you might be able to apply them this season?) – “Really, last year I just feel like we had guys who are still buying in and sticking with it. We know what we ultimately wanted at the end of the day, so we just kept working for it and kept making improvements each week. That’s pretty much what we need to do each week. Every day, every minute we’re in this facility, every minute we’re away, just keep doing things, keep being all about ball and finding ways to improve.”
(You’ve got a guy on the outside in CB Noah Igbinoghene, who has had some struggles in past weeks. You as a former first-round pick, is there something you can say to him about maybe being in that role, in that position, and how to deal with that?) – “I feel like as a defense, we all have a lot of faith in Noah and his abilities and what he can do. We’re not too super worried or anything. We know he’s going to make jumps and improvements because he’s a good player, he works hard and he comes every day with the right mindset. We’re all behind him, we’re all for him and we all think he’ll make the necessary improvements, like we all need to do.”
(I wanted to ask you about the contrast of this season versus last season. I know last season is in the past, but is it encouraging that you guys have played four close games except for Jacksonville as opposed to last year’s early blowouts? Or do you not look at that as sort of a moral victory?) – “Yeah, there are no moral victories. You want to win. That’s what we’re here for. That’s why you put so much work in. You want to improve each week, and you want to win each week, really. There are no moral victories. I don’t really look at that. We didn’t get the results we want at the end of the day. It doesn’t matter if it was by one point or by 100 points we lost by, you want to win at the end of the day.”
(South Florida wants to know what your Clemson vs. Miami prediction is?) – “Y’all trying to get me. (laughter) I’m rolling with my alma mater, of course. It’s a Clemson win, for sure. That’s how I’m rolling.”
(I’m doing a story on the development of QB Tua Tagovailoa. What have you seen at practice from him? We haven’t seen him obviously for a month since they shutdown practice for us. How has he looked at practice?) – “I think Tua is a great player. He works really hard. That’s all you want in a young guy in his position, just see the work ethic and the competitiveness and that’s all you see from him day in and day out. Whether it’s in the meeting room or on the field, this guy works hard.”
(QB Jimmy Garoppolo is dealing with an ankle injury and the 49ers played two QBs last night. What’s the challenge that you guys could face preparing for three QBs instead of one or two?) – “Just more guys you’ve got to be ready for. You don’t know what you’re going to get. I just feel – typically it’s a schematic thing. Once you know what they like to do from a scheme standpoint, you can kind of just play ball from there.”
DeVante Parker – October 5, 2020
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Monday, October 5, 2020
WR DeVante Parker
(I know you’ve previously spoke about how important it was for you to play every single game this season. Was that in the back of your mind when you decided to continue to play yesterday?) – “Yeah, it was actually because I don’t have time to be missing out on games and little stuff like that – little tweaks and stuff like that. I just feel like I have a need – I’ve got to come back in.”
(How would you assess how QB Ryan Fitzpatrick has played through the first four weeks of the season and why do you think he’s the right quarterback for this team?) – “I think pretty well – he’s been playing pretty well. He’s making adjustments, reading the defense. We adjust to things off of what he sees.”
(Going back to that first question about prioritizing getting back on the football field. What has kind of changed for you and your mindset from this year to previous years, where you’ve been able to approach that mindset and get back out there and play through an injury and have a productive day like that?) – “I would say I was just younger back then and I wasn’t used to injuries like that all of the time. It was something new for me; but now as you get older, you realize that it’s just something that you can play through.”
(You talk about just sort of playing through pain. Is it something special when you know you’re dealing with something and you can still make big plays and still have a big game? Does that add a little extra to you?) – “Not really, no. If an opportunity comes my way, I just have to make the plays no matter what – injured or not.”
(Only eight Dolphins in history now have more receiving yards than you. You’ve climbed the charts in terms of Dolphins history. What does that mean to you to know that you’re going to be potentially remembered among the best receivers in Dolphins history?) – “It means a lot but I’m not really focused on that. I’m just focused on getting wins for this team. That’s the biggest thing.”
(There will be a lot of discussion going forward about when and how QB Tua Tagovailoa should be entered into a game. What have you seen out of him in practice and is your sense that he might be ready to see some action?) – “Whatever the coaches feel who the starting QB needs to be, that’s who they’re going to put out there. I’m just doing what I’m supposed to do and doing what I can to help the team. That’s the coaches’ choice.”
(This is an important question because WR Jakeem Grant claims you told him that he is the inspiration for the irritating nephew in your cartoon. I just need confirmation from you. Is Jakeem the inspiration?) – “(laughter) Yes, he is. It’s based on Jakeem.”
(It seemed like yesterday when we talked to the guys after the game, there was this overwhelming consensus that you guys feel like you’re better than 1-3. What’s kind of the mentality today as you shift into the new week and kind of work on the next opponent?) – “We’re coming in today, watching a little film, make the corrections and then we’ll come out the next day – the off day – and look at the next team. Then we’ll come back the next day and get focused and start the new week.”
(We’ve seen your videos – your Uncle ‘Vante videos. You’re not the most talkative dude but it seems like that’s kind of a way to show your personality a little bit more. Is that the goal of it, to let people see a different side of you?) – “Yeah, I’d say that’s one of the goals. Coming in early, I wasn’t really known, like you said, as the talkative type; but I’m trying to let me personality out a little bit more now.”
Noah Igbinoghene – October 4, 2020 (Postgame)
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Sunday, October 4, 2020
Postgame – Seattle
CB Noah Igbinoghene
(Obviously some struggles with the big play. Can you tell me what happened at the end of the half in that 25 second drive? What went wrong?) – “It was just a mistake. I made a mistake honestly. I’ve just got to get in the film room and fix it. I knew what to do. It was just a mistake, like I said before.”
(You’re I think the youngest guy on the roster. You have a bright future ahead of you, but it’s not what you wanted your career to start. Have you been ready for this moment? Has it been too big for you for four games in?) – “No, I don’t feel like nothing’s been too big for me at all. I put the work in over this offseason and in the summer and coming into training camp as well, so I don’t feel like anything is too big for me. I made a couple mistakes the first couple of games. I’m not going to lie. I’ve just got to keep working and it’ll work out.”
(How do you process this start that you’ve had? I mean it’s pretty much uneven which isn’t unexpected by a rookie, but this game you gave up two big plays that pretty much cost the team the game.) – “Like mentally how do I process it? There’s nothing really I can do right now. If I could turn back time, of course I would go back and do it, but I can’t really do that right now. I’ve just got to move past it as a man to keep pushing forward and keep working and fix it. I feel like that’s the most important thing.”
(How do you manage to keep your confidence up?) – “It’s a mistake, people. I myself, I make a lot of mistakes and not only in football, but in life as well, so I can’t really dwell on it. Like I said, I just have to keep working on it and fix it. I feel like that’s the most important thing. Confidence has nothing to do with it. I am a very confident dude and I make mistakes and it happens to everybody, so I’ve just got to keep working and now fix it.”
(When you go back from press to zone, what are some things that are not happening on the back end you know, after some receivers get past you and you’re just staying in your zone area?) – “I think for me personally it’s just been discipline in my eyes. I feel like my eyes have been bad a couple of times. Some things I’ve been – like a daze goes on and I’m thinking ‘oh that’s not going to happen’ and then boom, it happens. I think it’s just discipline in my eyes personally just for me. I can’t really speak for anybody else on the team.”
(I appreciate you being very, facing the music. I wanted to ask you – I know you’re not going to make excuses – but how could rookie camp… How could preseason games, I’m guessing you would rather have had some of these mistakes happen during preseason, is that right?) – “Yea that sounds good, but that’s just the reality that we aren’t in. I wasn’t able to have my four preseason games or have a longer training camp. I can’t use that as an excuse because I had time. I know what to do. I‘ve been to training camp. I’ve been to practice, so that’s not an excuse at all. I’ve just got to execute myself as a man and as a player and I will.”
Myles Gaskin – October 4, 2020 (Postgame)
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Sunday, October 4, 2020
Postgame – Seattle
RB Myles Gaskin
(Last two games you guys had, I think, seven touchdown drives; the offense was really clicking. What were some things that were holding you guys back today?) – “Seattle has a good defense. We’ve got to execute better in the red zone. Obviously, we had a lot of drives where we stalled out in the red zone. So, yeah. I don’t think it was – it was definitely our execution in the red zone.”
(Before you guys kicked that fifth field goal, a lot was working for you on that drive; but on that third down, where you guys lost two yards, could you just recall specifically what happened on that play?) – “The backside d-end ran me down. I’ve got to be faster.”
(Obviously things that are unique this year is due to COVID, we are not allowed into the locker room, which I totally understand. So can you give me a little bit of a feeling of what things are like in the locker room after this loss, after the team goes to 1-3?) – “It’s like when you lose a game and you should – or you feel like you should have won it and you had opportunities to win it, that’s what it feels like, if you’ve ever played football.”
