Jerome Baker – September 15, 2019 (Postgame)
Download PDF version
Sunday, September 15, 2019
Postgame – New England
LB Jerome Baker (transcribed by Devin Davis)
(S Minkah Fitzpatrick was saying that each week has been a learning experience. What do you take out of this game that you think you’ll be able to learn from without looking at the tape so far?) – “I learned a lot about these guys I’ve played with. No matter what, they didn’t quit. They never quit. They looked me in my eyes and they want to go to war with me every snap. It’s a true honor to play with those guys. We’re going to go back and watch the X’s and O’s; but ultimately I learned a lot about our defense as far as our heart. That’s one thing I definitely learned and ultimately I’m just proud to play with this team.”
(What made you successful the first half as far as a defensive unit as opposed to the second half?) – “We played together. We made some mistakes but ultimately we played together. We communicated, we played hard. That’s the little light that we had. Ultimately, we didn’t get the job done. So we have to go back and watch film. We just have to get better.
(S Bobby McCain was saying today was probably an away game for you guys. Is that the way it’s been feeling that past few weeks in this stadium?) – “Our fans are amazing. They do so much. Our fans are pretty amazing. Out in Miami, they speak to us. Even before the game, they give us so much love. I never take for granted the fans that come out and support us. I don’t know about an away game, but you can definitely feel the love that they definitely support us.”
Minkah Fitzpatrick – September 15, 2019 (Postgame)
Download PDF version
Sunday, September 15, 2019
Postgame – New England
S Minkah Fitzpatrick (transcribed by Ken Mendonça)
(Some good and some bad for the defense. Tell me first about what thought was better for the defense?) – “I think we did a better overall job of just executing the game plan. I think last week, we didn’t execute the game plan as well. It was the first game – jitters or whatever, maybe – the first time playing together as a defense, so there were probably a lot of jitters. But like I said, we just did a better job of just executing the game plan and just communicating what the coaches called. I think we did better.”
(And what would be one thing that was a little bit disappointing or frustrating?) – “I think we could have won third down a little bit more. They won third down. We’d stop them first and second down and then on third down, they’d win, and they would get the first down. I think if we would have stopped them maybe three or four more times on third down, it would have been a better result.”
(Did you appreciate and enjoy the opportunity today to play some deep safety?) – “Yeah, that was the game plan. Like we always say, week to week, it’s a different scheme. So I knew that’s what it was going to be. Yeah. I’ll say yeah.”
(You’re so used to winning, whether it was high school level or collegiate level, but to come into this kind of situation that you’re enduring right now, how difficult is that to deal with?) – “You could look at it one way. You could look at it as losing, or you could look at it as learning. There’s a saying, ‘I never lose, I just learn.’ I forgot who said it but that’s just what we’ve got to do right now. This whole entire process has just been a learning lesson for me, my teammates, my family, these coaches, everybody. It’s just been a learning process. I’ve lost before. I’ve never had a season that was perfect. I’ve lost games before. Like I said, you’ve just got to learn, and if you don’t learn, then you really lost. Like we did last week, I think something we wanted to focus on was executing the game plan better. We did that today, as a defense. The score doesn’t reflect how we actually played better; but like I said, I think we’ve just got to learn.”
Eric Rowe – September 15, 2019 (Postgame)
Download PDF version
Sunday, September 15, 2019
Postgame – New England
CB Eric Rowe (transcribed by Devin Davis)
(How do you guys bounce back from this game?) – “Yeah, the process – we just have to stick to it. Especially now, there’s a little adversity so it’s really tough. We’re not seeing the results right now but that’s something we have to overcome and just keep working. We have 14 or 15 more games left. We can still turn this around.”
(You were just saying you have 14 more games right? I remember the Redskins were 0 and 6 and won the Super Bowl. Where do you guys go from here?) – “Back to the practice field. Back to work. It’s the only thing you can do. I feel like compared to Week 1, even though the score doesn’t show, as a defense we fought a little bit better this week and we just have to build on that. We can turn things around this season.”
(Once you have that consistency, everyone comes together and pulls together right?) – “Yeah. It’s all about teamwork. It’s the ultimate team sport. Everyone is kind of new but that’s just an excuse. We’re all going to pull together. We’re going to get it rolling.”
Daniel Kilgore – September 15, 2019 (Postgame)
Download PDF version
Sunday, September 15, 2019
Postgame – New England
C Daniel Kilgore (transcribed by Katharine Bohlmann)
(How do you let these two blowouts not inject doubt into the team?) – “Lift each other up, remain positive with the guys, point out the good. There are some good things. This team – we work too hard during the week to not have some good things happen. Tipped balls at the line, the sacks – again, not establishing first, second down positive plays – those are things we need to work on. Really, just pointing out the positives and what individuals are doing and build off of that. That’s a good way to start.”
(With the run game, it’s second straight week where it has been stifled, and you guys are putting difficult down-and-distance situations. How do you do a better job of establishing the ground of attack?) – “Just get back to it and do what we do best. Attack, give the guys our creases and work to double teams and get up to the second level. That’s the basis of any run game. We’ve just got to be better at our fundamentals, our techniques, and make sure we are all on the same page.”
(How do you guys stay away from getting frustrated and still keep going. You still have games to play?) – “It is a long season, right? So obviously we are 0-2, but it is a long season and we have to point out the positives. Yeah, we’re 0-2 and we just got blown out we got our asses kicked honestly; but to stay positive you have got to point out the positives. When guys are doing really well individually and obviously point out the negatives. What we have to do to get better? What do we have to do to run the ball? To protect the quarterback, to score points? And on top of that, just point out the good things. Try to stay positive, come into work and get ready to work, because this is one group and one team that is going to come to work and is ready to get better.”
RB Kenyan Drake – September 15, 2019 (Postgame)
Download PDF version
Sunday, September 15, 2019
Postgame – New England
RB Kenyan Drake (transcribed by Anthony Gutierrez)
(Do you want to be here?) – “Of course I want to be here. This is my fourth year, and I’ve got a good relationship with everybody from the people that sweep up and mop up behind us, to the people in the kitchen staff, the coaching staff, the media relations people – everybody. So obviously, everything being equal, I would want to be here.”
(What does this team need to do to get out of this funk?) – “We need to get back to the basics. When you barely have 100 yards total offense at the end of the game, I don’t see you winning many games in that aspect. So we have to just play better ball, as cliché as it sounds or as simple of a fix as it sounds. You have to go out there and make sure on every single down you are playing good football – making sure you have your hands where they need to be, making sure you have your eyes where they need to be, because we can’t beat ourselves at this point. When we get behind the chains, we obviously have trouble moving the bal. So we have to continue to build confidence move the ball, get the ball in manageable situations and play ball from there.
(Obviously you didn’t come into the game until the second series, late on a third down. Are you comfortable being a third-down back?) – “I’m comfortable putting this team in a position to win games. I haven’t started legitimately since like high school. So regardless what the situation that the coaches see fit for the team to be at their best, I have to go out there and put myself in the best position to maximize the opportunity to help this team win games. So, my touches come when they come and when I get on the field, I put everything together from a culmination of this week, and that is what I’m going to continue to do.”
CB Xavien Howard – September 15, 2019 (Postgame)
Download PDF version
Sunday, September 15, 2019
Postgame – New England
CB Xavien Howard (transcribed by Devin Davis)
(You guys obviously got a lot of pride as individuals. To lose two in a row like you did out there…) – “Losing sucks. We still have to keep our head strong. I feel like we just have to get better each week. I feel like we did way better than we did last week. I feel like we’ve got to keep improving and get better each week.”
(You were on WR Josh Gordon a lot today, obviously when WR Antonio Brown was in. For the most part you handled him pretty well. What did you think of that?) – “I thought I did a good job. I probably had like two penalties, but other than that, I need to catch the ball.”
(I presume you’ve never gone through a stretch like this in football – losing like this. What do you do to get better? How do you know you can get out of this?) – “I feel like we’ve just got to keep improving. Like I said, we’ve just got to keep improving and get better each week. It’s tough right now. Hopefully we just turn everything around.”
Josh Rosen – September 15, 2019 (Postgame)
Sunday, September 15, 2019
Postgame – New England
QB Josh Rosen (transcribed by Ken Mendonça)
(That play toward the sideline, what happened on that play when you scrambled out? What happened that you were able to come back into the game?) – “I scrambled out a little bit and took a couple, too many split seconds before I stepped out of bounds, and my foot got kind of caught in that little tarp area. It was dumb by me. I have to understand when the down is over and move onto the next one. The trainers told me to stay down. I was trying to get up. But, I don’t know I just listened to them and came back in the next play.”
(You looked like you were slinging it. You took three or four deep shots. Was that a situation where you just had nothing to lose? What was your thinking there?) – “I just wanted to go in and provide some kind of positive for us to come in after the game. They put me out there to try and throw touchdowns, so that’s what I tried to do. Obviously you never want to throw a pick in the last second of a game, but it’s all a learning experience. I think I threw some good ones and some bad ones. We’ll watch the film.”
(Do you feel like your time is coming eventually? That you just have to be patient and you’re going to get a shot to start a game at 0-0 for the Miami Dolphins?) – “I don’t know. That’s not really up to me. Whenever they put me in, like I said my job is to try and throw touchdowns.”
Ryan Fitzpatrick – September 15, 2019 (Postgame)
Download PDF version
Sunday, September 15, 2019
Postgame – New England
QB Ryan Fitzpatrick
(Obviously it was tough out there for you. Where do you think your confidence and morale is?) – “It’s a tough way to start a year with the two losses back-to-back at home like they were. They’re not the way we envisioned it going, but (there is) nothing to do but to go back to work and try to get better.”
(What has to happen for the offense to score some points?) – “Yeah, we had a lot of three-and-outs today. I think the first down was a problem for us today, which puts you kind of behind the chains for the other two downs. There wasn’t a whole lot that was going right on offense today.”
(Did you talk to your o-line after those sacks? What happened on the sideline?) – “There’s a lot of different things that go on. Some of those are – you hate to pass blame around. As a quarterback, you try to get the ball out. You try to get yourself in the best position. There are a lot of things, I think, that I could do better in that regard.”
(Are you all right? You got your face thumped.) – “Yeah, I’m good. It probably looks worse than it is. I’m fine.”
(I would assume it happened on one of the sacks?) – “Yeah.”
(How do you physically?) – “(I feel) good. Physically, I feel good. Mentally and emotionally, not so much; but physically I didn’t take any real big shots today.”
(Did you feel any kind of pressure from the fans’ perspective knowing that last year when Miami faced the New England Patriots and that Miami Miracle happened that last play, do you feel any sort of pressure to give the fans the same type of excitement for this game?) – “I think there’s a lot of things – we’re focusing on ourselves right now and trying to get better as a football team and trying to figure things out. That’s our main focus right now.”
(Are you in a no-win situation? It seems like there’s tons of pressure, guys are dropping balls, you’re behind all the time…) – “Well, I mean, as a quarterback, everything – at the end of the day – it’s all going to fall on you. That’s why we play the position that we do. That’s why I play the position, because I want that responsibility. I want that blame. I know I can go out there and do a much better job. I think especially at this position, if you go out there and play better, then the team as a whole does better, so I’ve just got to continue to try to do my best out there.”
(This offense for two weeks has struggled to move the ball running, throwing the ball, having difficulties. Do you still feel confident that this offense can turn around and become an offense that can put the points on the board to allow you to be in these games?) – “Yeah, that’s why we’ve got to go back and go to work. We put a couple of good weeks of practice together and haven’t showed it in the game, and we’ve just got to continue to every day focus on ourselves and keep trying to get better, and hopefully the results will follow.”
(What’s the feeling in the locker room after back to back games where you’ve been outscored by this much? It’s got to be frustrating.) – “Yeah, not great. It’s pretty quiet in there. Not great. It’s never fun to be embarrassed, especially two weeks in a row at home.”
(Trying to move the ball, you had the one pick-six that was a tip that shouldn’t happen. Can you tell us what happened the other pick-six, the first one?) – “We ran a little play out to the right. They did a nice job. ‘K.D.’ (Kenyan Drake) kind of got hit by the defensive end, and it was 3rd-and-shorter. We were definitely going to go for it on fourth down, just in the situation that it was in the game. I tried to jam one in to DeVante (Parker) rather than maybe just trying to run and get a yard; but being 3rd-and-short, I thought that I had to try to make some sort of play, and it didn’t work out.”
(Another tough opponent next week, this time on the road. It’s a short time to get back. How much improvement can this team – they made some improvement from Week 1 to Week 2 – how much of it will you make moving forward?) – “Yeah, we’ve got to improve. We’ve got to get better. There’s not going to be anybody in this league that’s going to feel sorry for us, so we’ve got to continue to try to get better every day with ourselves and collectively as a team, and hopefully, again, the results are going to start showing up on Sunday.”
