Braxton Berrios – October 16, 2023
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Monday, October 16, 2023
WR Braxton Berrios
(Simple question; What’s it like being in this offense?) – “Fun. Simple answer. It’s been really cool to see it from a firsthand perspective, see everything that goes into it. And then watching Wednesday, Thursday, Friday practice really come alive on Sunday, it’s been awesome.”
(Every week takes on its own personality with the team you’re facing, no matter the record. But when you face a team like this coming up on Sunday night, the atmosphere that is expected and obviously they’re one of the best teams in the league. What’s that like in preparation knowing that kind of game is coming up?) – “It’s fun. I don’t think it changes our preparation whatsoever. The preparation really starts and ends with us and what we’re trying to do and how we go about executing things. But these are the games you always circle, you always look forward to. It’s Sunday night. It’s a big game against a really good team. It’s obviously a benchmark game.”
(Your first two answers, I guess the key word is fun. What’s not so fun are Philly fans. I talked to some of your teammates yesterday in the locker room, they all said they aren’t looking forward to that. Your thoughts on Philly fans?) – “Nah, it’s fun. You go on road games expecting not to be liked. And then I guess it’s a little bit different of a feeling when you know you’re hated. So again, that’s pretty fun to me.”
(You know they’re known to throw things at Santa Claus, right?) – “Yeah. If I was Santa Claus, that wouldn’t be so fun. But luckily, I won’t be dressed up like that Sunday.”
(What would a win mean for this team in the broader sense? Obviously, just one of 17, but going toe to toe with the defending NFC Champs would mean what?) – “Yeah, absolutely. They’re a great team, and I think you said it, it’s one of 17. There are no moral victories. They all count the same wins and losses each game. Honestly, the week after that is going to be the same regardless if it’s one way or another. So obviously you go in there wanting to win. And we’re going to learn a lot from it either way and move on to the next game.”
(You’re a polished player, but what’s your big takeaway from working with Wide Receivers Coach Wes Welker? How has your game evolved? What sort of guidance has he given you that’s helped?) – “Honestly, a lot. I think I’ve said this before, but it’s one thing for a coach to talk about it and to correct it on film. It’s another to talk about, correct it on film, then pull up clips of himself doing it on film. That’s something that not many coaches around the league can do at their respective position. He made so many plays and did so many great things in his career and played for so long that literally he has a clip of him doing just about everything and every which way against every coverage. So it’s really cool. And it’s helped me see the game a little bit slower. And I think as you gain that knowledge and the game slows down, you can play a little bit faster.”
(You might have been asked this question sometimes in the last four or five years. But how often growing up as a teenager or at UM would you ever look at Wes Welker clips, sort of as a study tool? Is that something you ever did?) – “I didn’t. I was a huge football fan. I grew up a Dolphins fan. Of course, I’ve seen him play. But I was a football fan and I watched everybody. I really tried not to pick from certain people, but from everybody.”
(How rare is it in this offense, you look around the league, even the best of offenses struggle at times and have games where they don’t produce. You fall behind 14-0, a perfect example yesterday, and it almost seems like nobody seems to care in the sense of any panic. How rare is that at this level, where you just know, hey, we’re going to get back in this and score points?) – “Honestly, that was a good piece of adversity for us. When you sit on that bench and look around, that’s exactly how it felt. Nobody flinched. Nobody panicked. We knew we didn’t execute in the way we were supposed to. The kind of guys that we have on this offense, we knew that wasn’t going to last the entire game. To go three and out one series, shocking to go three and out two series a little bit more than that. Then again, we had an explosive play, got back on track and then it kind of – just everything restarted. We flushed the two series down the drain and the rest of them worked out pretty well.”
(Who in your position group is in charge of getting fluids in WR Tyreek Hill?) – “Everybody now. (laughter) Everybody. As long as it’s a cramp, we’ll be alright.”
(What’s your impression of WR Chase Claypool since he’s arrived?) – “Yeah, honestly he’s been great. Obviously trying to figure everything out, asking as many questions as he can and producing in practice. It’s been good having him as a teammate.”
(I have to ask you about the ‘Canes. What are your thoughts on the State of the Union right now?) – “It’s tough, it’s tough. You had a brutal loss two weeks ago. And they had a good first half in Chapel Hill, but then kind of lost it from there. I do have all the confidence in (Mario) Cristobal and they’re going to figure it out.”
(Were you watching the brutal loss two weeks ago?) – “Honestly, I was not at the end. My dad was on a flight. He was coming down for our game so I woke up to a text from him, and that’s how I kind of found out. He was not happy, so I looked on Google what happened, and was pretty stunned.”
(Was it a good thing that you weren’t watching?) – “It was absolutely a good thing. I was focused on my own game, and that might have thrown me off a little bit.”
Liam Eichenberg – October 15, 2023 (Postgame)
Sunday, October 15, 2023
Postgame – Carolina Panthers
Miami Dolphins OL Liam Eichenberg
(What sort of comfort level have you reached. I know you’ve only played center for a couple of games now, but how is it feeling to you so far?) – “I think I got better this game, I’m just going to keep working, keep improving. Obviously there are some things I need to fix and correct, and obviously that comes with a new position. But I think this was a positive step forward, and I’m going to keep working at it. Just kind of keep working forward, hands and running the show, and got to keep IDing everything correctly.”
(When you hear this line has given up six sacks in six games, how does that make you feel, what do you think when you hear those numbers?) – “I think it goes back to what we do in practice, kind of what we do every single day and the standard that we set and our coaches have held us to and we’ve held ourselves to. One of those things that just doesn’t show up on Sundays, it’s kind of every single day.”
(You can’t just look at this in a vacuum. You got to figure that for years this line has been heavily criticized at you know. How satisfying is it to know that you’re playing as well as you are as a group?) – “I think the biggest thing is that we’re all playing together. Five guys playing as one, that’s the biggest thing. I think a lot of guys don’t listen to the noise outside the facility, we’re just going to keep looking to improving.”
Xavien Howard – October 15, 2023 (Postgame)
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Sunday, October 15, 2023
Postgame – Carolina
Miami Dolphins CB Xavien Howard
(We’ve heard from the start that the defense was going to get better and better in the new system. Do you see that progress and is it where it has to be to play the competition you’ll be facing the next two out of three weeks?) – “It’s the NFL. I feel like there is competition every week. You can’t take nobody for granted. But like you said the defense, we’ve been getting better each week. There is still stuff we can improve on.”
(This is the organization’s best start since 2002. You’ve been here for some good years, some lean years. What does it mean to be off to this start to the year?) – “There is a lot of football left. We just got to keep grinding and keep going. The best football is played in December, so you know we just got to keep working.”
(The fans are already salivating for next week. Are you guys salivating as well for Philly on primetime?) – “We’ve got to take advantage of this and watch film tomorrow and see what we can clean up and just get ready for next week.”
(You guys came out with the W, but the Panthers starting out the way that they did, did you guys get nervous at all?) – “Not at all. A little bit of adversity struck early so we were prepared for it.”
Emmanuel Ogbah – October 15, 2023 (Postgame)
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Sunday, Oct. 15, 2023
Postgame – Carolina Panthers
Miami Dolphins LB Emmanuel Ogbah
(What does it say about this team, where you have a start like that, and you have gotten to the point where you can overcome it. Sometimes that start could [inaudible] for a team, but it obviously didn’t for you guys…) – “Like no-blink mentality. Just keep playing one play at a time. If somebody messes up, move on to the next play and have our teammates’ back.”
(We heard all year, you have a new defense, it’s going to take time and you’ll get better week by week. It really ramps up two out of the next two weeks, especially this coming week. Are you at the point where you need to be to go into Philadelphia?) – “We just have to keep growing, just have to keep getting better every week. We’re going to go back, watch this film, see where we messed up – improve on that – and then get ready for Philly next week.”
Bradley Chubb – Ocober 15, 2023 (Postgame)
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Sunday, Oct. 15, 2023
Postgame – Carolina Panthers
Miami Dolphins LB Bradley Chubb
(What do you guys learn from a game like this?) – “That you can’t take anything for granted. I feel like in the beginning, I’m not going to say we downplayed the opponent, but we didn’t probably play our best brand of football on both sides of the ball. Once we locked it in and understood that these opportunities come once every week, so we can’t really waste it. Like I said, once we locked it in we played complete team football, it started going in our favor. So we know we just got to stick together and like I said, complementary football is going to take us a long way.”
(How do you guys mentally get past a slow start like that?) – “I think it’s the leadership on the team and everybody holding each other accountable and knowing that’s not who we are, that’s not what we want to be. Once everybody kind of like I said, locked it in, we got where we needed to be.”
(How much do you guys look forward to next week’s challenge?) – “It’s going to be fun. It’s going to be dope. They have a great offense, high powered with a lot of weapons. It’s going to be one of those things, our offense is going to show up and we’re going to have to show up, too. It’s a primetime game. That’s what you play for, that’s what you want as a kid. It’s a very high stakes game as well, so it’s going to be fun.”
Jaelan Phillips – October 15, 2023 (Postgame)
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Sunday, Oct. 15, 2023
Postgame – Carolina Panthers
Miami Dolphins LB Jaelan Phillips
(When you guys have a lead does that make your job any different? Being able to tee off once you’re ahead versus that 14-0 deficit.) – “Obviously it depends on how the game is going. Sometimes when you’re ahead the other team passes the ball a lot more because it’s more opportunity to rush the passer. It’s also a good challenge because it forces us to keep our foot on their throats and not let up. I think all these opportunities we’re getting, all of these situations, are really setting us up for the long run.”
(5-1 right now, you’ve got Philly next week. What’s the mindset going into that one?) – “Just handle business. That’s all we can do.”
(Do you realize that this is the best start in 22 years of Miami Dolphins history? I know it doesn’t mean anything, it matters in December and January, but it has to feel good to have these wins in the bank.) – “Yeah, for sure. It means we’re doing something right, so like I said, we’re just going to continue to build on it.”
Raheem Mostert – October 15, 2023 (Postgame)
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Sunday, Oct. 15, 2023
Postgame – Carolina Panthers
Miami Dolphins RB Raheem Mostert
(You lead the league in touchdowns with 11. A career-high for you, what do you have to say about the season you’re having and what do you attribute your success to?) – “First and foremost, I got to contribute to the guys up front. They make it a little bit easier and also receivers and pretty much everybody in the offense to help out with that cause. But I’m just trying to do something remarkable for myself, and I’m just trying to set the standard not only for myself but a lot of people who come in as an undrafted guy. Year nine now, so it’s truly a blessing and a dream.”
(How much are you enjoying the workload, being the featured back like this, especially in games like this where you’re down two guys?) – “Yeah, it’s fun. When there’s a challenge up ahead, you got to rock with the challenge and do what you got to do, but all in all it’s fun. There’s a lot of different guys. I’m really excited for ‘Jefe’ (Jeff Wilson Jr.) to come back. That’s my counterpart. He gets me going, even on the sideline today he got me going. He told me to shake back and get right and all that good stuff and that’s something I needed, especially from a guy I haven’t missed a year with. To have him back and also ‘Sav’ (Salvon Ahmed) and (De’Von) Achane, them boys too, and Chris (Brooks) – we’re all just a bunch of guys that just want to get the job done.”
Jaylen Waddle – October 15, 2023 (Postgame)
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Sunday, Oct. 15, 2023
Postgame – Carolina Panthers
Miami Dolphins WR Jaylen Waddle
(How much fun are you guys having? Adding fuel to your fire?) – “It’s fun. Especially when you playing good. I felt like we are playing together as one and then we are all working in unison. The o-line is helping the run game. The run game is helping the pass game. We’re hitting. I feel we got another level we can hit or that we haven’t tapped into yet. Still working.”
(Even though you got off to a slow start, we’re not used to seeing that. We’re not used to seeing two straight three-and-outs. What does it mean that your saw yourself just click, click into a new gear there?) “I think it’s just we’re no blink. We got a no-blink mentality. So things weren’t going good for us at the beginning of the game. We went down 14-0 and Coach (McDaniel) was just saying stay in it. He started calling plays that we started getting a lot of good runs and the run game helped the pass game. So it all worked all together. So when you playing like that, you start to get it going.”
