Ryan Fitzpatrick – November 6, 2019
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Wednesday, November 6, 2019
QB Ryan Fitzpatrick
(I think we’ve asked you this question in a few different ways, but I don’t know if you’ve been asked directly. Your plans for next season – do you want to be a starter or do you want to be in the league somewhere?) – “Way too early for that one. (laughter) I want to win this week.”
(I know you talked a little bit last week, but we got a chance to see you in the locker room with your boys. What was that moment like and sharing that with them?) – “It’s cool. It’s neat to be able to share that with them and for them to be of the age where they’re going to remember it. They’re going to remember some of these moments and they make friends with a lot of the guys in the locker room. It’s just neat for me to be able to share the experience with them. They were pretty excited after the game, that I was able to pull them down onto the field.”
(You had mentioned before that you felt like football had taught them life lessons that you couldn’t teach otherwise. Has football taught you any life lessons that you can share?) – “Yeah. I think a lot of it is teamwork, how to handle adversity, how to work through adversity, being able to to put a lot of hard work into something and actually see results and see it pay off. There’s a million different lessons. I think the one for me in my career though has been the adversity and fighting through it and never giving up on myself and always remaining confident and always working hard. Those are some of the lessons I think that will get passed on or at least that they’ll see and try to emulate in some way.”
(Your thoughts on when you heard the news about WR Preston Williams?) – “It was tough. That’s tough news to hear for anybody whether it’s somebody on our team or an opponent or somebody around the league. You never want to see a guy go down and get injured like that, but he’s such a talented player. He’s got such a bright future. For him, just doing as best he can to – after he does whatever rehab he does – just attacking every day and focusing on each day and getting better, and then he’ll be out there good as new in no time. I’m sure it doesn’t feel like that right now, but he’s going to be an amazing player in this league and he’s got an amazing career ahead of him. Just keep putting in the hard work and good things will continue to come for him.”
(It’ll obviously be more or presumably be more for WR Albert Wilson and WR Jakeem Grant. How much work have you done with them? I know you rotate all those guys through, but you didn’t have all of camp I suppose. What’s your comfort level working with both those guys going forward?) – “I think in general with me, I’ve thrown to a lot of different guys over the years. It’s fairly easy to get accustomed to different guys and I’ve worked with those guys, especially as the season’s gone on. It’s just a lot of communication, a lot of talking, making sure that they know what I expect out of them and having a two-way conversation and them telling me sometimes how they prefer things; but (it is) a lot of discussion in the huddle or after a play or in the film room and go from there. I feel good with everybody we’re putting out there.”
(We saw a bunch of dynamic plays from WR Albert Wilson and WR Jakeem Grant last year. We haven’t quite seen that yet. How do you get that out of them?) – “Just opportunities. I think the more opportunities they get, the more those flash plays that they can make. Just continue to try to get them opportunities and obviously with a guy that got a lot of balls in Preston (Williams) going down, there’ll be more balls to go around now.”
(What do you see when you look at the Colts defense?) – “They’re young. They fly around. They have fun. You can tell there’s a lot of youthful energy. They’re edge guys. They’re veteran guys that have played a lot and (been) very productive in the league, so it’ll be a nice challenge for us, especially going into Indy and playing there. Historically that’s just kind of a tough place to play. It gets real loud – not as loud as RCA (Dome) used to get – but it’s a loud place with fans that really know and love football. It’ll be a good challenge for us.”
(What do you think of TE Mike Gesicki?) – “(laughter) I think Mike continues to get better and I think that in terms of a guy that in the past maybe he hasn’t produced or he hasn’t lived up to whatever people thought he was supposed to be or is and he’s just put his head down and worked hard. Again, a good lesson of just continuing to work. He knows there’s a million things he can get better at, but the last few weeks have been nice to see that some of that hard work we’re putting in throughout the week is really paying off on Sundays and he’s done a nice job, become a really reliable target and he’s got a skillset in terms of his length and his speed and his size that is something you can’t really coach. Now, getting him coached up and running things a certain way and really gaining more confidence as a football player, he’s just going to continue to get better and better.”
(I know you guys haven’t been together long this week yet – Victory Monday and an off day yesterday – but are there things that you can tell from the victory with the team either tangible or intangible right now?) – “I just think – and I don’t know what it was a few weeks ago – but really the last three weeks of practice now going into this one, there’s been a shift in attitude of guys really working hard and being really focused. That’ll hopefully continue this week and it was good today out there. It’s a fun group to come to work with every day and that’s a lot of the reason why and I think we’ll just continue down that path and see what kind of results we’ll get out of that.”
(Is there anything that you could point to that caused that shift?) – “I don’t know. I don’t know if it was one particular thing, but it has been a noticeable difference of good energy.”
Jerome Baker – November 6, 2019
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Wednesday, November 6, 2019
LB Jerome Baker
(It seems like you are around the ball quite a bit. Do you sense any difference out there in terms of maybe comfort or anything at all?) – “Yeah, just the comfort level. My mentality is different. I kind of just push myself to no matter where the ball is at, I try to be on the play. That’s pretty much been my focus.”
(I wanted to ask you about your video and getting mic’d up and all. What sort of reaction have you gotten over it?) – “My social media has been going crazy. A lot of people just laugh at it. It just shows my personality, really. My mom was in town so when she’s in town, I kind of look for her as much as I can. I usually don’t look at the tickets before the game; but the day before I looked and it was Section 103, Row 10. So I kept trying to glance over and try to count up – 10 rows up – and I just couldn’t find her. I kind of forgot I was mic’d up so I kept saying ‘Where’s my mom? Where’s my mom?’ And they just cut it up to however many times I said it. It was a joke. It was funny but yeah, I was just kind of looking for my mom the whole game. (laughter)”
(How long did it to take to find her?) – “When Nik (Needham) got the sack and everybody was celebrating, I just stood there. I was so close I could actually see people’s faces, so I finally found her. ‘Kwon’ (Raekwon McMillan) is always next to me so I always kind of tell him like, ‘I finally found her.’ (laughter) It took me a while to actually find her though.”
(So what did your mom say about the video?) – “I actually haven’t talked to her yet. I know she’s probably loving it and soaking it all up. (laughter) My mom was there so I definitely wanted to see her.”
(Was this the first game of the season she’s come to?) – “No, she always comes and I always have the same reaction. A lot of times when it gets very, very intense, she’ll go and use the bathroom because she can’t take the intensity. I just felt that we were winning – we were up – and I wanted to make sure that she was there, so I just kept looking for. It was just a moment that I definitely wanted my mom to see.”
(I love the part when you said “I found her! No, that’s not her.”) – “(laughter) So that was a good story. My cousin, he comes to every game, and I saw him so if I see him, I know my family is right next to him. So I saw him and I remember ‘P.G.’ (Defensive Coordinator Patrick Graham) said something. I looked over, I got a correction and I looked back and I lost him. So I thought I found her but I lost her.”
(There’s another part that caught my ear. “I’m a d-tackle.”) – “Yeah. That’s our certain package. I’m lined up on the line so I’m basically in a 3-technique and just looking at the formation and film study, I knew it was run. I definitely told somebody outside of me that it’s a run. They snapped the ball and I was like ‘oh snap, it actually is run,’ and I was in the tackle. So I talked a little stuff to Le’Veon (Bell). It all worked out.”
(How does that feel? It seems like a different atmosphere coming off a win after so many losses. What does it feel like inside this locker room?) – “Yeah. Monday and Tuesday was definitely relaxed. A lot of energy, a lot of fun. Now we’re back to work. That’s what is unique about this team. The first one was definitely fun but we’re coming in and ‘Coach Flo’ (Brian Flores) set the tone of our goal is not just to win one game. The intensity raises up a little bit. Today we definitely got after it.”
(What was your reaction when you saw the video on social media?) – “I was dying laughing. I really forgot (I was mic’d). So I usually know at the beginning of the game I’m mic’d up. So I kind of get all of my whatever out. But once the game starts, you kind of forget you’re all mic’d up. So I’m talking to my teammates just how I talk to them. I said something funny and ‘Kwon’ (Raekwon McMillan) was laughing and I remember I looked over and the guy that has the headphones on and is recording it, he started laughing. So I’m like ‘hold on, hold on, you can hear me?’ And I said it (out loud). He’s like ‘Yeah.’ I was like ‘Aw, snap.’ (laughter) I just kind of forgot that (I was) mic’d up. You just forget about it and just play and have fun with it. When I’m out there, that’s the most fun I have every week so it’s definitely cool.”
(Are they going to mic you up every week now?) – “I hope not.”
(They should.) – “(laughter) You only saw the good stuff.”
(It helped that they blocked out some of the crazy stuff?) – “Oh, yeah. I definitely cuss a lot. Hopefully my mama doesn’t see that part but it’s all good.”
(What do you think of the college football rankings?) – “The Buckeyes are the best in the nation. Is anybody surprised? No. I’m definitely happy for The Ohio State. I’m definitely proud. That’s my mentality.”
(Are you surprised that Clemson is not in there though?) – “No, I’m not surprised. (laughter) Clemson is a great school. They have a great team. The one game I watched, they played UNC. I watched them a little bit. That was a good game but it’s all about the Buckeyes right now, so Go Bucks!”
Mike Gesicki – November 6, 2019
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Wednesday, November 6, 2019
TE Mike Gesicki
(Head Coach Brian Flores was talking today about guys who might’ve “turned the corner.” After your performance on Sunday – he doesn’t really want players to see it that way. He wants them to always think they’re aiming for that corner and keep the fire going. How do you feel on that?) – “I would say that I’m part of the people that are not – I don’t feel like I’m there. I’m never going to have that feeling. I think I’ve got a lot left to prove, a lot of football left, honestly, for us to play this year. I’m going to continue my routine, continue to do what I do. I’ve just got to be ready when my opportunity gets called.”
(That said, two offensive weapons were lost this week and after your performance last week, I’m sure that you’re looking forward to going out there and keep the success going to help this team, right?) – “I think here we just have a next-man-up mentality. I think there’s going to be a lot of guys who are going to help fill that role with some guys not being out there. But ultimately, I think everybody does a good job in preparation to be ready for when their opportunity does get called and when they do have their shot. I think Sunday is going to be another example of that.”
(To what extent is last Sunday an opportunity for you to build on?) – “I think every week is something to build on, whether it’s some negative plays that happened in the game that I need to learn from or the positives that everybody wants to talk about. Ultimately, I’m the guy that’s never too high, never too low. When things are going good, I’m going to keep doing what I do. When things are going bad, I’m going to keep sticking to my routine and know that I’m going to get over the hump eventually. That’s where I’m at with my mindset. It’s where I’ve always been and I’m not going to change it.”
(How much faith do you have in RB Kalen Ballage that he can step in there and get the running game going?) – “I think a lot of people forget Kalen last year stepped in, had a great game against Minnesota. He had I think it was like a 70-yard run. He’s a very talent player. I think he’s going to do a great job for us. He’s been preparing all year long and now he’ll have his opportunity and we’re all excited for him.”
(What is it about RB Kalen Ballage that makes him…?) – “Just go around the corner and look at him. He’s big, he’s strong, he’s fast, he can run the ball, he can catch it, he can do whatever you ask him to do. I think that it’s going to be a great opportunity for him to go out there and whatever they ask him to do, to go out and make plays.”
Marcus Sherels – November 6, 2019
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Wednesday, November 6, 2019
CB Marcus Sherels
(Your thoughts when you got the call from the Dolphins?) – “Excited. It’s a good opportunity. It’s a good organization. I’m just happy to be here.”
(Was any part of you a little bit surprised because the team has gone with a lot of young players and you aren’t as young as you used to be?) – “Yeah but you never really know in this league. You’ve got to stay ready if you’re a free agent guy and just be ready for any call from any team.”
(What are you hearing as far as how you might be used? I know you’ve done a lot of work in the return game and they just lost a punt returner last week. Is that kind of a fit?) – “I’m not sure what my role is going to be exactly but I’m just preparing and whenever my number is called, wherever it is, I’ll be ready to go.”
(What do you think you offer as a return man?) – “A lot of experience. I’ve been doing it a long time. I can help out the young guys or whoever.”
(You’re second among active players in career punt returns for touchdowns. Were you aware of that?) – “I was not aware of that. Who is first? Darren Sproles?”
(Eagles RB Darren Sproles, yeah. He’s got seven and you have five. What do you think has been the key to allow you to take so many to the house? Is it your speed or is there anything more to it than that?) – “A little bit of everything – the punt, the blocking, the return we had set up. It’s kind of like a perfect storm and it’s worked out for us.”
(Do you expect to handle punts this weekend?) – “I’m not sure what my role will be but if that’s it, I’ll be ready and I’ve just got to be ready to go wherever they call my number.”
(And at cornerback, any sense if you might get an opportunity there?) – “I’m not sure what my role is going to be but I’ll prepare and get ready as fast as I can.”
(Do you look at other returners around the league and kind of place yourself in that group, especially among the elite?) – “No. I root for all of the returners in the league. It’s not a very lucrative job in terms of guys wanting to do it; but it is fun. I like it and all of the returners in the league kind of have a bond.”
(What is it that drew you to becoming a returner? Does it go back to high school or college?) – “In college, I barely did it. My first year in the league I asked a coach. I said, ‘Can I catch punts?’ I was a try out free agent for the Vikings and he said, ‘Sure.’ Ever since then, I’ve been doing it.”
(Might it feel weird at all for you the first game you play for the Dolphins considering you played high school in Minnesota, you played at the University of Minnesota and you played for the Vikings?) – “Yeah, it will be different but I’m excited. I’m happy to be here. I heard that we had a cool day outside. They said I brought some Minnesota weather down with me. (laughter) Yeah, it’s nice.”
(A lot of guys don’t want a whole lot to do with special teams and yet you volunteered. Was that just a guy trying to get a foot in the door? What made you jump up and say ‘Hey, what about me?’) – “Yeah. The more you can do in this league, the better. I’ve always volunteered for whatever they need me to do and tried different positions.”
Brian Flores – November 6, 2019
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Wednesday, November 6, 2019
Head Coach Brian Flores
(You have a decision due today on CB Cordrea Tankersley. Will he play this season and will any of your IR guys begin practicing today other than T Julién Davenport, who is already practicing?) – “We’ll make the decision on ‘Tank’ today. We’re going to get out there and practice. We’ve talked about it. We’ll take another look and make that decision this afternoon.”
(Any IR guys – LB Andrew Van Ginkel, DE Jonathan Ledbetter, anyone – resuming practice?) – “Not just yet. Right now it’s just Julién and the group we’ve had out there. I’m looking forward to seeing Julién in pads for the first time in a little while. It’ll be good.”
(What do you remember about RB Patrick Laird as a ball-carrier from the preseason, what he’s shown you and then in training camp?) – “Good vision. He sees the hole and hits it, north and south and gets vertical. (He has) good ball security. I think he’s a good, young back. He can break some tackles. He’s very capable, a good blocker, good hands out of the backfield. I think he does a lot of things well. We’ll see if he gets an opportunity this week.”
(You guys lost your top two backs for different reasons in the last week and a half. What gives you confidence that the group you have here is going to be enough?) – “I feel good about the young guys we have and (Kalen) Ballage, obviously – Ballage, (Patrick) Laird and (Myles) Gaskin. I think they’ve all shown that they are capable in games in the preseason or in practice. Those two young guys really have shown up and I’ve seen a lot of development there. I’m looking forward to them getting an opportunity and we’ll see if they can take advantage.”
(The decision to add a returner in CB Marcus Sherels, what did you guys think of him and what does that mean as far as WR Jakeem Grant and whether or not he’s still the top guy in the return game?) – “I think the return game and special teams in general are very important. We just felt like we needed another set of hands out there in an ‘in-case’ situation. If somebody goes down, you need somebody to go back there. I think that’s kind of the case with Sherels. This is a good player who has been productive in this league for a long time. I spent some time with him yesterday. (He’s) an impressive young man. We need depth. You’ve got to have several guys who can go back there and catch a punt and catch a kickoff. It’s a big play in the game. You see many of them every week. You get a muff or a dropped punt or a dropped kickoff; I think that ball security back there is very important. That’s part of the decision.”
(You were around Colts QB Jacoby Brissett for a minute or two in New England. What was your takeaway of him?) – “Leader. That’s the first kind of thing from my standpoint that you could see right off the bat. Guys gravitate to him. That’s the one thing that’s stood out to me. I really like Jacoby. I think – not I think, but when I was there – we had some injuries where he had to start a game early and I thought he went in and did a really good job. You could see the leadership and you could see the ability to handle the offense and operate an offense at a young age. He’s got a lot of the QB qualities you are looking for from an operation, leadership, guys rally around him – he’s got a lot of those qualities. I’m not surprised that he’s gone in there and done a really nice job for them.”
(We’ve had half a season now with the pass interference reviews. What have you seen on that? Does it make you more or less likely to challenge those calls?) – “Well, we had one last week. We had one earlier in the year. I think if we feel like there’s a situation where there’s a potential OPI (offensive pass interference) or DPI (defensive pass interference) and we can get one overturned, we’ll throw the flag. I think it’s based on the situation in the game. Whether or not it gets overturned or not, we’ve seen it go both ways. I’ve watched them all. I’ve watched every one. Anyone who has thrown a flag to pick up an OPI or put down a flag, I’ve watched every one of them. So I have a pretty good feel for what’s going to get overturned and what isn’t. I think everyone in the league kind of has their own different opinions. Like last week, we felt like we had an opportunity. It didn’t go our way but that’s like anything else in football. You win some, you lose some and you move on. You can’t cry over spilled milk .That’s kind of our approach.”
(The idea was to correct the most egregious mistakes, is that where you see it going? Kind of find that sweet spot?) – “At the end of the day, my opinion on that is whatever they call, they call. Whether you can put down a flag or challenge this or challenge that, at the end of the day, you get a call and either you’re happy with it or you’re not. One way or the other, you have to move on to the next play. That’s kind of my approach. I asked the players to move on to the next play, so I need to do the same thing whether it’s successful or not. I don’t really have an opinion on it. I just – if it works in our favor, great. If it doesn’t, we move on. We move on either way.”
(It’s been a while since we’ve seen S Reshad Jones. How has he been dealing with all that’s going on?) – “He’s getting closer, a lot closer. We’ll see. He’s got a chance this week. He’s doing everything he can to get back out there. We had him for a little bit at practice last week and hopefully we’ll see a little bit more of him. It’s still early in the week, so no decisions have been made yet. Hopefully we get him back out there. We could use him, that’s for sure.”
(I know the Colts went to Kansas City this year and did a good job against QB Patrick Mahomes. What about their defense stands out to you?) – “They play hard, they play together and they’ve got good players. They’ve got a lot of good players, it’s a good scheme and they play good team defense. From (Justin) Houston to (Jabaal) Sheard, obviously (Darius) Leonard – Kenny Moore is probably one of the most underrated corners in the league – Rock Ya-Sin the young guy they got back there. They have some good young players and they play together. It’s a good team defense, good coaching. (Defensive Coordinator Matt) Eberflus is a very good coach. They do a good job and they’ve done a good job over the last couple of years. Run game, pass game, pressure on the quarterback, negative plays, turnovers, they do a good job.”
(What did you want to see out of DT Robert Nkemdiche that you weren’t seeing?) – “I like Robert Nkemdiche. He’s a hard-working kid. It just wasn’t – we needed to make a change on the roster. It just didn’t work out. He worked hard. I know there are things floating around about his behavior and those aren’t true. He was a good kid and I liked him a lot. I wish him the best.”
(Back in July or August, we saw RB Kalen Ballage showing some signs. Then the regular season comes along, he’s had 35 carries and his average is 2.0. What needs to happen to get that average up to where you’d like to see it?) – “I think there is a lot that goes into that. I think we’ve got to block better. I think we – he’s got to run better, we’ve got to block better. There’s a slew of things we could – really at the end of the day, he’s got to run better and we’ve got to block better. I think Kalen is big, fast, explosive. I think he had a really good preseason and I think he’s going to have an opportunity to get more carries and hopefully he takes advantage of it.”
(When it comes to guys turning that proverbial corner – really I’m talking about TE Mike Gesicki, and WR DeVante Parker – do you take everything into account since April, and can you look at it now and say, ‘yeah they are about to turn a corner?’ Or do you also need to include a full 16-game sample size?) – “My first thought was, have they turned a corner? And I think for most players, I want them to feel like they never turned the corner and continue to build, improve and get better, and have that fire to feel as though you never actually turned the corner. I feel like that’s when you think that you’ve arrived and no one on this team has arrived yet. Yes, I would say that those guys have worked extremely hard since April to OTAs to training camp, and you see the steady improvement. You see the confidence building. You see production on the field and that’s really what you’re looking for – that exact process. Hopefully they continue to believe in that process. We’ll come out here today, have a good practice, have a good practice Thursday, have a good practice Friday and that will hopefully lead to production in the game. From a process standpoint, hopefully we’ve turned a corner and if they believe in that, I think the production will continue.”
(Your team is 32nd in rush average, 30th in rush yards per game and you just got your starter suspended. How do you – given those things – improve this run game to where it’s productive for you?) – “Well we’ve got four periods of run. We’ll be working the run game today. That’s really the only thing you can do. You can talk about numbers, you can talk about stats, you can talk about this or that. At the end of the day, we’ve got to go out there and practice it better, execute it better, and that’s the only way I know to get it better. I hear the stats. I know what they are; but we still have to go out there and try to string some good runs together from an o-line standpoint, from a play call standpoint, from a running the football standpoint. We’re just going to work at it and hopefully it improves.”
(RB Kalen Ballage has to be better?) – “We all have to be better. I have to be better, the backs have to be better, the quarterbacks have to be better, from a ball-handling standpoint to checking into the right run to the o-line has to block it better, to finishing our blocks, to the receivers finishing their blocks. Everybody is involved. We can’t put it on one person. If we want to put it on the backs, I think we shouldn’t do that. I think everyone is involved in the run game – backs, tight ends, receivers. I can pull up 20 runs right here today where if a receiver makes a block, it’s a much longer run and that average jumps a little bit. Everyone is involved, myself included. I’m not going to put it on one person. Don’t worry, we’re going to practice the heck out of it today.”
Josh Boyer – November 5, 2019
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Tuesday, November 5, 2019
Defensive Pass Game Coordinator/Cornerbacks Coach Josh Boyer
(How did you go from South Dakota to New England?) – “It probably started, I would say my coaching career all began with my father who’s still coaching high school football to this day. He’s 40-plus years into it. I got done with college, had to make a decision. I was either going to go into medical school or I was going to get into coaching. I decided to get into coaching and took an internship out in Pennsylvania which took me from Pennsylvania – Wilkes Barre – it was King’s College. (It was) a small Division III school. I think I made $3,000 a year. It was tough to make a truck payment meet. Then I went to the University of Dayton as a graduate assistant. I had an opportunity to meet Dean Pees, who was at the time the head coach at Kent State. I went from the University of Dayton to Kent State, worked for Dean Pees and then really worked in the secondary for Dean while he was there. I had a great mentor there – Mike Drake – who got Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma while we were there, ended up passing away a year later. Dean moved on to New England and I moved out to Rhode Island to coach with a friend of Mike Drake’s and from there went to South Dakota with a guy that was on staff with us at Kent State. When Dean got the defensive coordinator job at New England, he called me and they brought me in and I thought I was going in for an interview and I took like a day’s worth of stuff with me, and I ended up staying there two weeks just working. I didn’t even know if I had job, just working and then Bill (Belichick) told me when the Combine – he said, ‘go get your stuff and come back.’ So that’s how that kind of worked. Again, to me, it’s never been about money. I’ve coached at every level. It’s never been about money. It’s never been about anything other than coaching and just the love of doing it and I’ve never tried to ‘network’ like people call it. I’ve just tried to do a good job at the job I’ve had and really have only really had to interview for my first job and after that it’s kind of progressed that way. All I ever wanted to be was a high school football coach just like my dad. That’s what I wanted to do and what I wanted to be, but this has kind of taken me on a little bit different path.”
(Where does your dad live now?) – “He lives in Ohio, just outside of Columbus.”
(CB Cordrea Tankersley – where is he in his return back?) – “He’s been out at practice the last couple weeks. He’s working hard to get back like all of our guys. The one thing that I would say about this group of guys is the work ethic is phenomenal. The ability to get guys in routines, that’s taken a little bit of time, but I think guys are getting it. They’re getting the big picture. Corner is not an easy position to just throw you back out there and say, ‘okay, it’s football’ and go. There’s a lot of film study. There’s a lot of footwork. There’s a lot of just, you’ve got to make a cut this way, you’ve got to make a cut that way. He’s working hard to do that and we’ll see where that ends up.”
(I know CB Cordrea Tankersley working scout team now. How long is it going to take him to learn the intricacies of your defense?) – “I think the ins and outs of it and what you can do – ultimately as a coach what you’re trying to do is put the guys in the best position to succeed. Like Ryan Lewis has been with us for three weeks. Xavier Crawford, three days. Ken Crawley, three days. I think you can get them ready to play and you kind of limit their role because Crawford, Crawley – they both played for us last week. I think for Cordrea, it’s more of getting back into football playing shape than anything.”
(Other than young, how would you describe your current corps of cornerbacks who are on the active roster?) – “I would say that they have a great work ethic. They’ve got good – obviously the guys that we just got here, we’ll continue to work with those. The guys that have been here, I would say that the key values that we stress are they’re mentally and physically tough, they will tackle and obviously when we have success on the field, you can probably correlate that to tackles, missed tackles, the better we tackle. They’re diligent workers. As a coach, you can’t ask for much more. Whatever it is from week whatever to week whatever; it doesn’t matter – win, lose – our process doesn’t change. Our goals are to get better each day. We’re trying to get better – tomorrow, we’ll come in and we’ll try to be better tomorrow than what we were when we were on the field Sunday. That will continue as we progress.”
(How challenging has it been to mix and match all the moving parts, a lot of comings and goings?) – “Again, I think it comes down to you just try to put guys in position to succeed. Sometimes there’s favorable matchups. There’s favorable coverages or there are certain things that we’ll ask them to do, and there’s a learning process in that, too. Like sometimes okay, they do something well. Then you ask them to do a little bit more and well, that wasn’t that good. Okay, so let’s not ask them to do that, or that was good. Well maybe we can add a little bit more. You’re always kind of trying to find out. I think you just try to put them in a position to succeed. Over the years, I’d say a familiarity with the league, with the receivers, the matchups and things that we’ve been able to do and our guys have adapted very well to that and that’s a credit to them.”
(How pleased have you been with CB Nik Needham as an undrafted kid coming in and playing competently?) – “I would say the thing with Nik, and again this goes for all of our guys, it goes back to the improvement every day. I would say we’ve made some strides from where we were in the preseason to him being on the practice to him actually being on the roster and getting to play. Again, the guys that make the most out of their opportunities are going to get more opportunities and again, it goes back to Nik being an extremely hard worker. He’s lost like 12 pounds since he’s been here. He’s re-shaped his body. He’s gained some muscle mass. He’s worked really hard at it. That stuff doesn’t come easy. I wish it did. I probably need to do some of that myself. (laughter) I’m happy with way he’s working and again, we’re going to keep striving and pushing to improve that each and every day.”
(Are there good instincts with CB Nik Needham? What’s the NFL trait that you all liked back in May?) – “I think if you watch his UTEP tape, he’s an instinctive player. He had a good play style. It was just a matter of assimilating those skillsets into our system. It’s like – our system isn’t for everybody. It’s probably no different than if you’re working for Coke, maybe somebody doesn’t succeed at Coke and then they go to Pepsi and all of a sudden they’re a great executive. I think he had the things like the mental, the physical toughness. I think he had all of those things. I think he was instinctive on film. I think it was just a matter of assimilating to the program and kind of taking his abilities and his mental capacity for the game to another level.”
(When a kid shows up on Monday or Tuesday and you’ve got to get him ready for Sunday, do you live with him for four days? Does he ever not see you? What’s the process like?) – “We as a staff, we spend quite a bit of time with him and we have some good guys that are younger on our staff like (Quality Control) Charles Burks. He’ll spend some time with our DBs, getting them caught on just general information stuff. Then really what you try to do is you try to limit, just get him ready for the specific role that they’d be in that week and then all the other stuff you try to carry over as it…”
(Can you put yourself in their position?) – “Yeah. Again, I think sometimes as a coach you lean on experience and I’ve had to over the years, there was probably a month period where I was getting a new guy ready to play every week. Sometimes it was…”
(Here or in New England?) – “In New England. There are other times that you’re asking guys that are playing on offense to play on defense, so I think again it comes down to the players working hard, giving them credit for putting in time because it’s not like they just show up and they practice and they play the game. These guys, they actually put in a good day’s work…”
(A good week’s work) – “Yeah, no question. A good day’s work each day to get caught up. Their work ethic and I thought Xavier Crawford and Ken Crawley, they did a good job last week. Both of them, they played a handful of snaps for us in the game and they were good on their assignments. Again, we’ll try to give a guy a couple opportunities and if they do well with that, you just try to give them more opportunities.”
(Head Coach Brian Flores said that he was proud of the staff for all the time that they put in to try to find any small edge, any advantage. He said that after the game. I know every staff works hard and every staff puts in the hours, but the first question I have is what have you learned about the best way to find even the smallest advantage when preparing for an opponent?) – “I think the key is that preparation never stops all the way up to the game. You can always – sometimes you look at things and you go, ‘okay, well this is kind of what this team was doing a year go.’ Then you watch it a second time and be like, ‘okay, well that’s kind of confirmed that.’ Then you watch it a third time. You really get into the players and what they’re doing and specific things. You watch it a fourth time and fifth and a sixth time; those things kind of show up or you’ll be like, ‘okay, this coordinator was this team at such-and-such year’ or ‘this coordinator does this vs. our system.’ It’s just how far you go down the rabbit hole which I think all of us as assistant coaches do. We get pretty far down into it and then you have to be careful of you don’t want to overload with information. You’ve got to get pertinent information to the players based on what the game plan is. I think that’s kind of a key. It might look complex to the opponents, but hopefully it’s very simple for what we’re asking the players to do.”
(When it comes to helping an individual player helping him reach his potential, no matter what it may be – Pro Bowl, average NFL players, whatever his maximum is – what do you believe is one or two of the most important keys to approaching that as a coach?) – “The first thing I would say is I think that’s the No. 1 principle of coaching. You’re trying to get the best out of each individual, and I would say each individual is not the same, so you can’t coach them all the same. What may work for one guy may not work for another. At the end of the day, it’s beneficial to the organization (and) to the player if you’re getting the best out of that player, and I think the fundamentals of coaching and teaching all start with ‘we need to make this player the best version of himself as he possibly can be.’ I think there’s a lot of ins and outs that go into that. It’s not a perfect process either. I think some of it is trial and error, and some of it is you build a little bit of adversity in and see how they handle that because at the end of the day, when we have a smart, mentally, physically tough team, we’re going to be competitive on a week-to-week basis.”’
(I like research. If I was going to write a story about you I’d go on that Nexus website where they just have every article that’s ever been written about you and I’d read all 50 and I’d fill a page with notes and you’d be impressed at how much research I had done. Maybe we’ll do that one day. Do you enjoy the research part of all that stuff you talked about? Do you actually enjoy that?) – “I feel very fortunate and very blessed that coaching is actually a career, especially in football, a sport that I love. I enjoy most aspects of our job. I love the game-planning. I love the film study. I love the interaction with the players. From time to time, I enjoy the adversity, the confrontations, because that only builds strength. I’m just trying to think if there’s any busy work – sometimes I think to myself, ‘oh okay, I’ve got to do this paperwork.’ We have a great support staff here, so the HR, they’ve done a lot of that stuff that usually is stuff that I don’t enjoy or that my wife does a much better job at that than I do; but as far as coaching, I’m glad that we live in a great country that I would say our population supports sports and it’s awesome that I can have a job doing sports. It’s great. It’s awesome.”
Karl Dorrell – November 5, 2019
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Tuesday, November 5, 2019
Wide Receivers Coach Karl Dorrell
(What do you think are the keys to helping any player reach his potential?) – “I think the biggest key is confidence. You have to build confidence in a player and I think the best way to build confidence is really to have a strong intention about developing a player. When a player feels that way about you in terms of your time and investment in him, it seems to reciprocate. Once that development and repetition becomes skillful work and he’s getting better and he’s getting more confident, then he wants more. I think it’s kind of a progression that way. I think our job in the NFL is we select talent every year. We see to kind of create a vision as to what we see this player and what his capabilities are and then we try to develop him as best we can. I’ve kind of been in that ever since I joined this profession. I’m a big developer of players. I’ve been that way my whole career. Obviously a young player like Preston Williams, him developing and playing as well as he is to this point – unfortunately everyone knows he’s done for the year – but he was coming along very nicely each week getting more and more confident and being more and more productive. That’s all you can really ask for in a coach.”
(Head Coach Brian Flores mentioned after the win that he’s proud of his staff for putting in a lot of hours to try to find any small advantage. I found that comment very interesting. Can you take me inside to understand what you’ve learned about how to find even a small advantage vs. an opponent?) – “That’s a great question and I think that’s the skillful work of coaches in this profession. Each and every week you’re trying to find those little nuggets, those little things of insight, anything that can kind of create an edge for you against a particular opponent. Even though that’s done in general every week, I think this staff that I’m on is a really good staff, one of the best I’ve had in my career. We do a really good job of really detailing what each player does and what specifically is his role. We wouldn’t try to put a player in a position that couldn’t accomplish what we think he can do. I think that’s what he’s saying, is that we spend a lot of time with trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together completely and for us to have the best success offensively, defensively and on special teams. That’s the work that we do as a staff. It’s been enjoyable. Sometimes it’s a little more than you would want, but ultimately we’re here for the players to get them to be the best they can be.”
(Talk about WR DeVante Parker and how he has four touchdown receptions in the last five games, just his veteran leadership and how he’s really kind of been just the constant stability for the offense in a sense.) – “I’m very proud of where DeVante is right now because he’s one of those guys that really hasn’t been getting a lot of attention in terms of from a notoriety standpoint, but he has quietly done his job effectively each and every week. He’s taken advantage of the opportunities he gets. He’s getting more – I think his confidence is tremendous right now in terms of what he thinks he is as a player, which is really going to help our offense, and like you said he’s had touchdowns recently the last four or five games. He’s making things happen for us offensively. As his coach, I’m just really excited about what he’s doing. I know that he’ll tell and I’ll tell you right now is that he still has so much more to give. I do think that you’re seeing the best of him that’s coming up. I really do. I think he is trying to be a good leader by his work ethic, doing everything in practice, trying to take care of himself so that he’s ready to perform each and every week. He’s growing and maturing in a lot of different ways and I think I think that’s been noticeable by everybody.”
(Obviously you’ve got some challenges now with WR Preston Williams out. How does the receiving corps compensate for his absence?) – “By stepping right into place. My group – these guys that I’m really proud of – they’re hard-working guys. They’re very confident in their skills. They all understand kind of the dynamics of our position and I’ve told them from the very beginning: football, this sport, there’s going to be injuries along the way. Who’s ready to step up when we need the people to step up and things of that nature. I’m sure – we’re all disappointed in what happened with Preston, but I know that in our group, someone is ready to rise to kind of fill the gap for us. We’ve got a number of candidates that are going to be ready for that. I think Albert (Wilson) is getting back healthy. Jakeem (Grant) is, he’s playing a role for us and he’s doing some really effective things for us now, so I see both of those guys, their time is probably going to increase more. DeVante (Parker) – he’s obviously been a pretty good stable piece to us and he’ll continue to do that. I do have some guys with some veteran experience that can kind of step and make some plays.”
(How much has the injury held WR Albert Wilson back? Is he up to full speed yet?) – “I don’t think so and he probably would tell you the same thing, but he’s getting better and better each week. I think it’s been a progression for him just to continue to get better each week. His movement’s better. He’s getting his explosion back. A lot of it is his confidence, playing at a level that he was prior to the injury. He’s regaining that mental aspect of things and that’s coming along, too, and I think where we’re going right now this week with Preston (Williams) being out, I’m sure in his mind is that this is a chance, ‘I’ve got to step up and get things going.’ I’m sure he’s going to challenge himself to do so.”
(With WR Jakeem Grant and WR Albert Wilson, how much is it about getting them in space? Obviously everybody would love to be in space but giving them the opportunity to get run after the catch yards?) – “I think it’s because of their ability with the ball in their hands, that’s the natural inclination that we all have as coaches, is that I know these guys in space can create and make somebody miss. I think the other part of it, too, from my perspective is create them to be as good of receivers as they can be along with that other piece, and now you become something special. I think for example, Jakeem the last couple of games has had some big chunk throws, things that have gone his way and he was able to get some chunk plays for us. He does do the screens and all those things, too, but I’m trying to get him to be a complete receiver with all that other stuff that they do. He and Albert are really working hard at those things. I could tell you how we talked about Albert in terms of his progression and what he’s doing, but I think these guys, they see themselves as more than just space players. They want to develop the full route tree.”
(With WR Preston Williams, just as you look back at the rookie year and how pleased, has it exceeded expectations?) – “I’ve been very pleased with Preston. You never know how any rookie season is going be. I think he’s come a long way since his first arrival here, from the spring and to what has happened all the way through this week. I’m very encouraged that he’s going to have an excellent NFL career. It’s unfortunate that it’s come to short end for this particular season, but I know he’ll recover and work and get himself back in the fold of – he’s one of the future pieces for the Miami Dolphins. He should be proud of what he’s accomplished, but also he should be hungry that he knows that there’s a lot more out there.”
(And the next frontier for WR Preston Williams? Is it just more consistency in terms of eliminating drops among other things?) – “Among other things. There’s a lot of things that I think – and he’ll tell you that, too – that there’s a lot of refinement that he’ll gain with knowledge and experience that’s really going to help him from watching and studying himself this year to things that he’ll correct going in through the offseason for next year and into next season. I would expect you’re going to see a cleaner, more consistent player the next time he steps on the field. He’ll study himself. He’ll know the shortcomings and also the things that he did well. I’m very pleased with what he’s been able to accomplish at this point. It’s unfortunate that he’s down, but I am hopeful that he’s going to be able to pick up at least where he was or even beyond that.”
(And any homework assignments you can give WR Preston Williams? Things he can do while recovering from an ACL?) – “Absolutely. You’ve got to keep him busy. He better be right there with us. Exactly. We want to keep him involved with what we’re doing offensively so that he’s, when he does step back out on the field, (he’s up to speed).”
Eric Studesville – November 5, 2019
Tuesday, November 5, 2019
Running Backs Coach Eric Studesville
(In light of recent developments, one would assume RB Kalen Ballage is in for a bigger role moving forward. What have you seen? He was so outstanding in the summer. I think most people were expecting a lot of big things and it has not happened yet. What have you seen in terms of his development?) – “I think Kalen continues to work every day. That’s one thing you love about him. The guy is passionate about the game and how he does for a young guy, and the professionalism that he brings to everything. It’s just a matter of opportunities. Now, this is going to be an opportunity for him. He’s going to take full advantage of it, that’s my confidence and we’ll just wait to see what happens. But he’s prepared for this opportunity and he’s ready for it. I think he’ll capitalize on it.”
(Do you think RB Kalen Ballage’s skillset is best suited for being a guy like a bigger workload than maybe he’s been getting?) – “His skillset is that he can do everything. We’ve had other people in there during the course of this year, so the big thing for us is to utilize his skillset to give us the best chance to win. That might be different things. It might be different people in there. We don’t know yet as far as we’re game planning and looking at this stuff. The biggest thing we’ve got to do though is make sure that he’s ready to go, which he will be, and that we put him in a position to take advantage of the things he can do.”
(RB Patrick Laird is another guy who looked really good in the summer. Because of the logjam he hasn’t had as much of a shot a running back so far. What do you think he can bring to the offense?) – “I think the same thing, it’s going to be maximizing the opportunity. We’re not going to change plays. We’ve got to set up the offense to attack what we think Indianapolis is going to give us, so those players have to be able to take on those roles and do those things. We’ll see as we go through practice, we’ll see as we go through the game planning part of this how everybody fits into this. But Patrick will be ready. He’s got a tremendous work ethic. I know he’s chomping at the bit to get in there and play some on offense, which is a good thing. I think when he gets in there, again, he’ll perform really well.”
(RB Patrick Laird seemed like a guy impressed me in the summer with how quickly he saw the holes and all that. Is that a fair assessment?) – “I think so. I think all the guys are continuing to develop all the time. That’s one thing you love about this group of guys, this group in the running back room works hard. They’re in there, we’re talking about – they listen to the concepts that we’re talking about, what we’re trying to get done, take the coaching points and they’re trying to take all those little things to the field. I think it does pay off, not always in the reps that everybody sees, but on the practice field we see the development. Myles Gaskin has worked really hard and he’s going to be somebody that at some point in time we’re going to count on, too. I have great confidence in everybody in the room.”
(RB Patrick Laird is a guy that came in as a rookie free agent. Was he somebody where you could see very quickly, “There’s something there?”) – “I think he earned that. I think how he came and performed and prepared and when he got his opportunities and things he did with it, I think he made us more believers. The whole thing is opportunity. What do you do with those chances when you get them? I think he maximized those early on in the year. I see no reason why he wouldn’t with any opportunity going forward.”
(Obviously now a chance potentially for RB Patrick Laird and maybe for RB Myles Gaskin. Are you excited at all to see Patrick based on what you’ve seen in practice? In preseason he obviously was productive.) – “I’m excited to see all of them all the time because they work hard and they prepare and they’re preparing themselves for the opportunities. I think Patrick is going to take the most of whatever opportunity is given him as with Myles when he goes in there. But we’ve got to see how the whole thing goes, what’s going to happen. Kalen (Ballage) is ready for what he’s got to do. I have great confidence in all three of those guys going into Indianapolis.”
(With RB Patrick Laird, what’s the skill that left you all intrigued by him that you saw this summer?) – “I don’t think it is one thing and I don’t think it’s necessarily a skill. I think it’s how he’s approached everything since he’s come here. He worked hard to learn, the preparation that he still exhibits, how he’s embraced his special teams role early on. That’s his thing, yet he still prepared for the offense knowing his assignments and things that have to go in there. I think it’s just a matter of opportunity. I don’t think it is one skill necessarily that you’d say. I think it’s the whole package of what he’s brought. This is a guy that he’s giving us confidence in him and we’re looking forward to his opportunity.”
(What does RB Myles Gaskin do well as a runner?) – “I think Myles as a runner is shifty. He’s got a little change of direction, quick-footed at the line, he’s a little hard to hit. He’s got great eyes, I think. I think he can find run lanes and where open spaces are.”
(At the end of last year, there were clear signs that RB Kalen Ballage could be a good NFL player. Did anything that’s happened the first couple weeks, which obviously were a struggle for him, did it shake that belief where you just need to see him?) – “It hasn’t shaken my belief in Kalen. I still have tremendous confidence in him based on a lot of what I see every day from him, which is how he comes in the building, how he prepares, his football intelligence, his knowledge of what we’re trying to do and what those things are. The biggest challenge that we’re doing now is seeing him more and him performing with those opportunities and I have great confidence he’s going to do that.”
(RB Kalen Ballage runs his best how in terms of when he gets the ball and goes hard? Obviously, he’s a physical back. When is he at his best?) – “When the ball is in his hands.”
(And not thinking or…?) – “No, because I think you have to think all the time. It is a reaction positon, but there is a lot of thinking that goes into it as far as how the blocking schemes are set up what the angles of the blocks are, where they think. We talk about being a proactive group in things that we see. There’s a lot of thinking that goes into it. Now once they’ve got the ball in their hands, then they’ve got to just react to things. But he’s a very intelligent guy. He knows exactly what we’re trying to get done. I’m looking forward to him, seeing him in this opportunity. I really am.”
(I know FB Chandler Cox is a lot with Tight Ends Coach George Godsey, but 12 plays last week were his high on offense. The running plays that he was in on, how did he do?) – “I thought he did well. The one thing about Chandler, Chandler will go and attack. That’s part of the job description of that positon which is why there’s not very many guys that like that job description. I think it’s the same thing, guys aren’t always finished products. Depending on from week to week what we’re doing game plan-wise, Chandler has been ready to go every week. He’s prepared, he’s excited, he brings a great energy to it and he’s going to go in and do to the best of his ability everything that we’re asking him to do. That’s all we’re asking of any of these guys. Now we’ve got to get this whole thing to mesh together where everybody is doing that at the same time.”
(What do you like most about RB Patrick Laird as a runner?) – “I think Patrick is really disciplined and decisive on what he sees. He’s really taking that we say, ‘Get to here, get to this point and then make a decision,’ and he knows that that’s his advantage. I think he does that really well.”
(We haven’t really seen much of RB Myles Gaskin this season. We did see him a little bit in preseason. What are some things that he needs to continue to work on to see some playing time?) – “I think Myles has continued to work. Even though you all haven’t see him, we see him every day and I think there has been a growth in him in his first eight weeks in his role that he’s been here in this organization. I’ve seen him get better, I’ve seen his skillset improve, I’ve seen his confidence improve. I just think it’s a matter of time before we’re going to see him in a game. I think he’s going to perform really well. He’s got tremendous work ethic. Every day he hits his bill. He’s working. He wants to be good. He wants to contribute. His time is going to come and when it does, he’ll maximize it.”
(In college, RB Myles Gaskin carried the ball plenty, got a lot of opportunities to catch passes out of the backfield. Are some of those things translating with time and with your coaching in the last couple weeks that you’ve seen?) – “I don’t know that we coach it off of what he did in college. We’re setting up our offense to attack whatever our opponent is doing.”
(Some things that RB Myles Gaskin is doing better, he’s good at doing, are you seeing some of those things?) – “That’s what we’re always going to do. We’re always going to evaluate what we want to do to attack an opponent and then what those qualities, skillsets that those players have and then try to put them in position. And he has – he can do a lot of things. He’s catching the ball better, he obviously has run the ball effectively in his past. It’s been that he’s behind three guys right now on the active roster. That’s been an issue but now maybe not. Again, that all goes into the game planning thing of trying to put guys in positon of what we want to do.”
(I know RB Kenyan Drake isn’t here anymore, but you spent a lot of years with him here with this team. What were some things that maybe didn’t go his way for him here?) – “You’d have to talk to him about that. I don’t know. I’ve liked being around Kenyan. I loved being around him. I liked coaching him. I thought it was a positive relationship coaching him. After he left, I wished him well. I’m still cheering for him. I watch the game the other night and I was excited for his performance. There’s no ill-will on anything on my end.”
(We’ve seen guys like RB Mark Walton come in and RB Kalen Ballage this year and last year was RB Frank Gore and before that RB Damien Williams. Was RB Kenyan Drake maybe – was he not getting the opportunity that maybe he could’ve had if other players weren’t there or many if more carries could’ve translated to more success on the field for him?) – “That’s a big if. Second-guessing things and going back, I don’t think there’s ever a point in time that we don’t think we’re trying to do what’s best for the organization and give us the best chance to win. We don’t think like that. We don’t operate like that. Could you have done things differently? I don’t worry about that stuff. I know that every day that we come in here is to give ourselves the best chance to win and that’s what we believe we’re doing every day in everything that we do.”
(With RB Kalen Ballage it’s been a low per carry average so far. How much of that is on him, how much of that is on blocking on his carries hasn’t been good enough?) – “I think some of them are situational things, because he’s 4-for-4 on third-and-1 which is one of the tops in the league this year. He’s also our goal-line back, so when you put him in at the 1-yard line, you know a 1-yard carry is a productive carry, but it’s not big on your stat average. I think some of those are situational conversations. But you look at him the other day, he had more carries than he’s had in the past few weeks the other day, and he had some good runs, too. I think a lot of that is a function of what we’ve asked him to do in some of the things.”
(We’ve seen RB Kalen Ballage break off that run against the Vikings and even in Tampa he had a huge run during the joint practices. With this opportunity now with RB Mark Walton being out, what do you think Kalen can do here to prove himself?) – “I think it’s the same thing that all of them have to do is just maximize the opportunity that’s presented to them. That’s what it is. He has an opportunity and what he does with it now is up to him.”
(What do you guys like about RB Kalen Ballage’s game?) – “I think that his preparation and how he comes in here, he knows what to do, he’s a confident player. I think he’s a big, physical presence. He’s smart in protection. He can do everything we need him to do. It’s just maximizing those opportunities when we get in the game.”
(You guys found a diamond in the rough in RB Mark Walton. I know he was drafted and everything, but is there another such guy in that running backs room?) – “I hope so. I hope there’s a whole room full of them that are diamonds in the rough. I think our personnel department does a great job of identifying players. Once they get here, my job is to hopefully help them improve and become better so that they do develop and blossom. That’s my goal for every one of my players. I want every one of them to get in there and play, it’s just not possible for all of them to do that. They all work hard, they all come in, they’re great guys, they have a passion for the game. I think if that’s a diamond in the rough, then I think I got a bunch of them.”
(RB Patrick Laird and RB Myles Gaskin have not played from scrimmage so far. I know you guys have people, but are they prepared to do that?) – “Absolutely. Otherwise they can’t be in there. These guys do work hard. They come in, they prepare themselves every week whether they’re playing or not. Patrick and Myles, even though he’s been inactive, they’re in the meetings, they’re attentive in the meetings, they’re a part of the meetings. It’s just a matter of time. The season gets long in the NFL. At some point in time you’re going to need those other guys. They have been preparing themselves every week as though they’re going to play and I have great confidence when that opportunity comes, they’re going to perform well.”
(It seems like one of the things that’s going on with this team recently is the players are understanding what you guys have been teaching them. Has that been going on with you? Are the players executing what you guys have been teaching them? For instance, you guys have had the halftime lead the last three games. You got a win last week. In your room, why has there been improvement? Why was RB Mark Walton improving? Why was the running game improving?) – “Hopefully it’s because we’re all getting on the same page. I think my room, and that’s the only room I can speak for, which is it’s a passionate group. They come to work. They love playing football. Hopefully they’re learning things sitting in there with me that’s putting them in position to get better and they’re gaining more confidence that what I’m asking them to do is the right thing and that they’re having success doing it.”
