Isaiah Ford – November 28, 2018
Wednesday, November 28, 2018
WR Isaiah Ford
(On being signed to the 53-man roster.) – “I was getting a little workout in and they brought it up to me and told me that it was going to happen. Then I talked to my agent and they said the same thing. I’m humbled for the opportunity. I’ve been working extremely hard. It’s just the beginning. Now I’m trying to help this team win games and try to make a run.”
(What does this mean to you after everything you’ve been through the last couple of years?) – “It’s a step in the right direction. Prayer works. I serve a God that is all-knowing and he can make miracles work. Just believing in Him, keeping my faith and then working extremely hard.”
(Head Coach Adam Gase said something interesting about you wanting to show what you’re capable of outside, in light of them bringing in WR Brice Butler last week. When they bring in a veteran – nothing about Brice specifically – but when they brought in a veteran, did it sting you at all that it wasn’t you initially?) – “As a competitor, any time that you feel like your number isn’t called, you’re going to feel some type of way. But I just went back to the drawing board and worked hard and just focused on getting better each day, working on something to better my game so when that time does come, I’ll be ready.”
(Since the season started, what percentage of reps would you guess you’ve taken on the inside or slot position?) – “I don’t know. Honestly, I’ve been all over the place since the season started. I’m comfortable playing inside and outside as well.”
(How much has your patience been tested waiting for this moment?) – “My patience has been tested since entering the Combine, entering the draft. Like I said, it’s not on my time, it’s all God’s time. I’m just doing my part, working extremely hard and being ready for when that time does come.”
(What kind of weird year has this been at receiver. It was probably the team’s deepest position going into the first game of the season and now two guys who were on the practice squad – you and WR Leonte Carroo – are on the 53 as well as a guy who wasn’t here two weeks ago – WR Brice Butler. How weird of a year has it been?) – “Extremely weird. We know that football is a sport where anything can happen; injuries do happen and they hit every team at some point. We’re just getting hit a little harder in that position. But in our room, we preach that it’s next man up. We have a tight bond together and we have great leaders to where we don’t want any drop off whoever is in the game.”
(Having said all of that, what are you going to bring to the table when you get in there?) – “The same thing that I’ve been doing – be myself wherever they put me at or wherever I can help the team win, playing as hard as I can and honing my craft.”
(How much can you get into the games when you’re watching from the sidelines? Are there spots where you’re like, ‘I could’ve done this?’) – “No. I never want to do that because you don’t know what that guy on the field, what he’s seeing or what happened to make a result of the play happen that way. I do try to watch the game as I’m playing it and pick their brains when they come to the sideline to see what they see and things like that.”
(Guys have talked about WR Danny Amendola being a leader and what he’s shown from the second he got here. Now there’s a chance that he does not play this weekend, what do you lean on from what you’ve learned from him?) – “Watching film with him, seeing what he sees so we can start speaking the same language on things that we see and how we want to run routes and things like that, if that’s the job that needs to be done, if a spot needs to be filled.”
Jake Brendel – November 28, 2018
Wednesday, November 28, 2018
C Jake Brendel
(How meaningful was it for you last week that C/G Ted Larsen was back and you still got the start?) – “I don’t really think of it like that. I feel like we were kind of rolling right from the Packers game into last week. I feel like that was the reason why. I feel like our focus now should just be on this week’s opponent.”
(How difficult is the transition in game to go from left guard to center?) – “It’s not as drastic as going from left guard to right guard. Luckily I’ve played a lot for center, so I can kind of fall back to the already ingrained technique that I’ve had at that position. I feel like it wasn’t that bad of a transition.”
(How are things falling together as in you do have a few moving pieces on the offensive line and then the guy behind you QB Ryan Tannehill is sort of new but not new. How do you feel about how the way all of these moving pieces are coming together?) – “Tannehill is definitely not new. Even when he wasn’t playing, he still was a very big part of this team. That for sure wasn’t a new component. I feel like we, as an offensive line, act as a unit no matter who’s in there is kind of a big deal. Just be all on the same page and make – especially at the center position – make your calls and make the right adjustment depending on what the defense does.”
(You’ve had quite an interesting season starting on injured reserve and then getting activated and now in the starting lineup. How would you describe the ride?) – “You just have to trust the process. It was kind of unfortunate what happened to me in training camp; but luckily the Dolphins believed in me and believed in me as a player, so I worked as hard as I could to get back. I did exactly what the training staff and the weight room staff told me to do and it worked. Now I’m back and I’m healthier than ever, so I’m ready to work.”
(You showed what you could do obviously in the second half of the Falcons game last year. You’ve played well your two game. Has it changed for you as far as going from I just want to be an NFL player to I’d like to prove that I can be an NFL starter at some point. Has it gone from that to that?) – “Starting has always been a goal. It’s always been something that I’ve worked towards. I just made sure I was available at every single interior position on the offensive line. Really, it was just waiting for the opportunity and making sure to work in the offseason and make sure you work at practice.”
(As you mentioned what happened to you with the injury stuff – and the wide receiver group – the next-man-up mentality is the buzz phrase in the NFL. How difficult is it to embrace the mechanisms of actually doing it versus just saying it?) – “What’s really helped me was just watching the guys ahead of me. Last season I watched (Mike) Pouncey and this season I watched Dan (Kilgore), and just Ted (Larsen) and the older leaders on the offensive line. You just kind of try and emulate what they are doing as much as you can because obviously what they do works. As back-up guy, you have to wait and see what happens, but you also have to make sure that you trust in the coaching staff and make sure you go out there and practice. Even if you get in a game, you have to make sure that you show them that you can compete.”
Davon Godchaux – November 28, 2018
Wednesday, November 28, 2018
DT Davon Godchaux
(Was the third-down play at the end of the game by the Colts a good play call by them or you guys not in a good play call?) – “We were in a perfect play call. Andrew Luck just made a play. That’s what he gets paid for. He made a play. We didn’t make a play on defense and they end up executing a game-winning field goal.”
(When you have the game in-hand for so long and then you kind of give it away like that, how frustrating is that?) – “It’s tough. It’s tough because the offense scored enough points for us to win the game. Any time your offense scores 21 points or more, your defense has to shut them out under 21. They gave us a chance to win the game and we just didn’t finish on defense. We had a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter and we have to close that out.”
(How important is it for you guys to bounce back now this week?) – “It’s very important. Buffalo is playing good football. They won their last two games. They’re going to come in here and try to be hungry and be physical, so we have to come out and be more physical than them.”
(What have you seen from Bills QB Josh Allen? He’s a little bit like Colts QB Andrew Luck isn’t he?) – “No. I mean he’s a big guy but he’s more like a ‘Big Ben’ (Ben Roethlisberger). He can scramble. He’s faster than ‘Big Ben.’ Like I said, they just won their last one against Jacksonville and have won their last two. They’re feeling pretty confident so we have to come out and play fast.”
(Having said that, the responsibility of doing your part when you have RB LeSean McCoy back there …) – “Oh man, everybody has to be on their Ps and Qs on defense. That’s running to the ball, tackling. If one guy misses, the other guy (has to) make sure he’s doing a good job of wrapping a guy up. With ‘Shady’ (LeSean McCoy), he’s elusive. I had a chance to train with him in the offseason. He’s very elusive and I’m pretty sure he’s looking forward to this matchup.”
(You guys are probably going to play them like you played the Jets where you’re just trying to stop the run and see if the QB can beat you.) – “I can’t tell you the secrets. (laughter) At the end of the day, we’re going to come out and we need this win. We lost two in a row. We came off a bye and we got a loss so we have to get these two at home. It starts with the Buffalo Bills.”
(Isn’t that always the recipe though? You guys are always saying you have to stop the run first.) – “You’ve got to stop the run to have some fun because if you don’t stop the run, then you’re in third-and-1 and third-and-2, and then you don’t get to rush the passer. So it’s going to be a long day if you don’t stop the run.”
(Is Bills DT Kyle Williams a guy you’ve followed being a fellow LSU guy?) – “That’s my guy. When I first saw Kyle, it was a funny story. I was a junior at LSU when I first saw Kyle and I said ‘Man, this guy is a football player?’ He had a collared shirt on and he looked like a guy who was just working like a mechanic. But I respect him so much and the things he’s done in Buffalo – Pro Bowl, All Pro. It speaks for itself. (He was) a fifth-round draft pick. It speaks for itself.”
(Like somebody else from LSU that was picked in the fifth round?) – “(laughter) I’m not going to comment on that one.”
(Are you expecting your buddy DT Jordan Phillips to run a little hot on Sunday?) – “I’m pretty sure he’s going to be intense coming back to the team that drafted him – the Miami Dolphins. He’s going to be intense but at the end of the day, I’m just controlling what I can control. We’re just focused on playing the Buffalo Bills this Sunday.”
(Have you kept in touch with Bills DT Jordan Phillips at all?) – “I mean I’ve talked to him. I hit him up on Instagram. ‘What’s up, J?’ and stuff like that. He’s going to come out and he’s going to be a competitor, which I expect him to be. But at the end of the day, the focus is on the Buffalo Bills.”
Leonte Carroo – November 26, 2018
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Monday, November 26, 2018
WR Leonte Carroo
(What did your phone look like yesterday?) – “I had almost 300 text messages. It was a long wait for family and friends to college buddies to see me go out there and make a play. A lot of people back at home and just everywhere showed me a lot of love. They were excited for me, but I wasn’t as excited as you guys probably think I was because I would have rather (had) the win over anything. The touchdown would have felt a lot better if we would have won the game.”
(You fight for that ball, you get it, you turn around and you have all that real estate in front of you. What’s that like?) – “(I was) just excited to make a play for my team, especially at a desperate time when we needed it, right before the half. I guess that was the biggest excitement, to know that I was once on the practice squad and now I’m able to go out there and help this team try to win a game.”
(What’s the mood in here? Is it disappointment, anger at the way that game ended yesterday and sort of slipped away?) – “Obviously, it sucks to lose; but we still have a lot of season left. Just like any other loss or win, you have to move on. We have to get ready to be 1-0 for this week coming up and that’s our main focus now.”
(What were you thinking when the ball was in the air? I don’t have to tell you that that’s the vision that the Dolphins had when they drafted you, exactly what happened.) – “The ball was in the air – it’s my ball. The first thought process is obviously don’t let him intercept the ball, but then the next mentality in your mindset has to be that it’s my ball or nobody else’s. I was just able to go up and make a great play.”
(After that play, it seemed like you guys were holding on, on offense. Do you think you guys maybe could have been a little more aggressive to put that game on ice?) – “It’s all in Coach (Adam) Gase’s hands. We just have to go out there and execute plays. He calls the plays. As we watched the film, we had a lot of little mistakes that we could’ve made where we could’ve had a lot of explosive plays. It’s just little things here and there. We just have to continue to go out there and execute plays and do our 1/11th.”
(Obviously, you stepped up. Everybody has to step up because of the injuries, but do you feel like the game plan changes because you guys are very shorthanded, especially in the receivers room?) – “No, not at all. That’s what this league is about. It’s about next-man mentality. Coach (Adam) Gase is going to trust that anybody who steps up now has to know their job and has to go in there and execute just like any other starter would if they were playing. They don’t expect anything less than me to go out there and do what Jakeem (Grant), DeVante (Parker), Kenny (Stills) or Albert (Wilson) has done all season. I just have to go out there and do my job.”
(How satisfying is it for you to keep making big plays like this and validating the decision to promote you from the practice squad?) – “It’s obviously exciting, but this is something that I felt like I could’ve always done. It was just about the right timing and me having that confidence, and just going out there and executing and performing. Now that my teammates and my coaches know that I’m able to make plays, maybe they’ll have a little bit more trust in me. I just want to do whatever I can to help the team win.”
(Despite the loss, this is the first time this offense has gotten in the end zone in a really long time. How do you not only build on that, but what positives do you take away from yesterday?) – “We do have a lot of playmakers on this team. We just have to find a way to continue to execute plays and go out there and put great drives together. (We) have to be third-and-manageable. Once we do that, we’re able to make big plays – myself, Kenny (Stills), Kenyan (Drake). We just have to continue to go out there and execute the game plan to the best of our ability. That’s it, really.”
(From the outside, a lot of people believe this team is really banged up and really injured. A lot of the starters at the beginning of the year are out, and then you guys from the practice squad are moved up. When you look at the situation, do the guys in the locker room feel that way, that it’s a really injured team?) – “No, not at all. Like I told you before, the thing about this league is it’s a next-man-up mentality. We just have to continue to practice hard. Guys that do step up, they have to learn the offense, continue to study and continue to practice hard. If you have a good week of practice, I feel like it will pay off. Last week, I had a really good week of practice and that’s why I was able to make a big play in the game. No matter who you are, what position, just practice hard and go out there and you’ll be fine.”
(I remember one thing you told us the day before Labor Day, after they made the move with you to the practice squad, you talked about wanting to do some things differently in terms of details and stuff like that. How has that translated to your success? Have you done more of that of stuff?) – “Yeah. Just being a better pro, whether that was studying my playbook a lot better or coming in on the off days. Take a guy like Kenny Stills, who I see as the ultimate pro. He’s been carrying me along well and making me do things on my off day like Pilates – stuff that I wouldn’t have done the last two years. Just taking care of my body and just doing the little things in order to be a better player on Sundays.”
(Have you answered all 300 texts yet?) – “No, not at all. I do appreciate the love and support that I got from all my family and friends; but like I said, I would’ve rather had the win for my teammates.”
Kenyan Drake – November 26, 2018
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Monday, November 26, 2018
RB Kenyan Drake
(On being close to a win yesterday but not being able to pull it out at the end.) – “That’s football. It’s unfortunate that we ended up on that side of the win/loss margin. We have to finish better.”
(The offense finally seemed to get going. Is it a little more injecting finally now that you got into the end zone and see what you were capable of for a while?) – “Regardless of if we lost by 30 points or 1 point, the result is still the same. We have to find ways to move the ball when it matters. We just came up short.”
(Maybe things have calmed down a little bit overnight but what’s the mood of this team right now coming off that loss?) – “We understand that a lot of the situations that we put ourselves in are self-inflicted. We have to correct that. Whether it’s physical or mental, we have to put ourselves in the best situation to be able to win the game at the end of the game, which we are doing; but we have to finish it off. That’s our main goal.”
(Is there anger? Disappointment? What are the feelings in here right now?) – “This game is not really meant for a lot of feelings. We just know we have to do a better job at the end of the game to finish the game and that’s it.”
(What about in terms of the big picture and playoff hopes? What’s your mindset right now in terms of that?) – “We play to win the game so at the end of the day, that’s the most important thing: to put yourself in the best situation at the end of the day to win games. That’s our number one focus.”
(Have you looked at the standings?) – “No, because I know for us to control our destiny, we have to win out. So it doesn’t really matter what anybody else is doing. It matters about what we’re doing and that’s the most important thing is focusing on ourselves and focusing on our next opponent, then going out there and taking care of it each and every week.”
(You said you have to win out so is there a pretty big sense of urgency in here right now? Are backs against the wall?) – “No. We’re taking it one game at a time. At the end of the day, whoever we have next, that’s our next opponent. We (have to) do what we have to do (and) put this game behind us. We already looked at film so it’s on to Buffalo this week.”
(Head Coach Adam Gase said you fell on the same shoulder again. How much pain are you playing through?) – “Football is a physical game so everybody is nicked up. I’m doing my best to be in the game so I can help this team win more games.”
(What did you see on your two touchdowns? It looked like your speed came into play.) – “I didn’t get touched really on either one so that’s a testament to the linemen, the receivers, everybody being in the position they need to be in and me just trying to make a play with the ball in my hands.”
(Do you expect to practice this week and do you expect to play Sunday?) – “Yeah. I mean it’s football. Everybody is hurt so I’m going to be out there.”
Frank Gore – November 26, 2018
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Monday, November 26, 2018
RB Frank Gore
(After yesterday’s game, you were very upset. You let people know that you had to finish. How frustrating was yesterday’s loss?) – “It was very frustrating because we were dominating the game all of the way through until there were seven or eight minutes left in the game. We let it go. When you dominate the game, you have to finish the ballgame. It’s already hard to win games in this league. I thought we had that one.”
(I know you wouldn’t give up on a team but what’s the mood? What are you thinking the day after?) – “We’ll be okay. We just have to continue working, continue believing in us and stay as one believing in our coaches. It starts Wednesday. Get ready for Buffalo.”
(Do some losses hurt more than others?) – “Yeah. When you’ve got the win, you want to get it. We didn’t. We let it go. We were playing good ball all of the way until the last seven or eight minutes of the game, so that was tough.”
(Do you look at the standings? Do you know where you guys are right now?) – “No. I don’t look at that. I don’t even know where we are. I don’t look at it.”
(The passion that you spoke with yesterday after the game, is that one of those instances where you talk with the coaches and kind of find out what’s going on there?) – “No. I let coaches be coaches. I know that we’ve got great coaches. They’re going to come up with the right plan to make us be successful and I’m going to go with whatever they want to do. So no, I don’t.”
(Do you feel like the margin for error is close to zero at this point?) – “We’ve got to do something this week. I don’t know where we’re at in the hunt, in the playoffs, but we have to win. We’ve got to win this week. If we win this week, it’ll be better for us. I know that.”
(When the stadium started getting nice and loud at the end of the game, did you feel like you just have to make one play?) – “Yeah. We had them quiet the whole game. That’s why I say we were dominating the game. If we would have just made one play when we were backed up, we would have gotten them back quiet. But we didn’t and we lost.”
(If you had to point to what went wrong on those final two drives, does anything stand out to you?) – “We just didn’t make the plays. When it gets down to that time of the game, you have to make a play. I can’t point out anything. Whenever a play is called, we have to make it happen, and we didn’t.”
(I know this doesn’t mean anything to you after a loss but your season average now per carry is over 4.5 yards, which is pretty impressive at this advanced stage at anyone’s career. Do you take pride in that because not a lot of people that age have done?) – “You take pride in your yards per carry. You take pride in that. I’m just going to keep working hard and playing hard and trying to do whatever it takes to be successful to try to help my team be successful.”
(As a veteran, you’re not very vocal it seems like, when you talk to a lot of players. Is this one of those losses where you step up and start talking to these guys?) – “I’m not talking to guys but when I feel like it’s the right time for something to be said, I’m going to say it. The way we lost that game, we gave it away and I know we should have won that game. So that’s why it was hard for me.”
(Did you say anything to the team? Is that one of those moments?) – “I talked to some of my guys. I talked to some of the veteran guys who are the leaders of this team and told them we can’t let that happen.”
Adam Gase – November 26, 2018
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Monday, November 26, 2018
Head Coach Adam Gase
(I know a lot of people are still angry, probably more than any time in your tenure of play-calling. I know you explained the fourth-quarter things yesterday but after thinking about it overnight, do you think maybe a case could be made to place faith in your franchise quarterback on two third-and-10s? I know the one at the 6-yard line but there was one at the 25-yard line. Or do you say all of these people are wrong and I did the right thing?) – “We did what we game-planned to do. We did what was best for that situation. I’m probably more upset about the second-down call. I thought we’d catch them in a pressure to that side and they came from the opposite side. If I could have that one back, that probably could have made a difference.”
(QB Ryan Tannehill’s last 10 throws – all in the second half – were all short passes. Was there anything physically that factored into that or that was complete game plan stuff?) – “I mean there’s a reason why their defense is playing well right now is they don’t give up big plays. The one that we got at the end of the half was unusual. You can’t find a whole bunch of explosive plays in their passing game. Their defense is built for you to score through the goal line. That’s kind of why we stay up here and do what we have to do because we actually know what they’re doing.”
(How did QB Ryan Tannehill come through physically?) – “He was fine. (He) probably (took) a couple of shots that didn’t feel good but he’ll be fine.”
(What are the updates on WR Danny Amendola and C Travis Swanson?) – “We’ll have to get through the week. They probably won’t practice most of the week. We’ll try to give them a shot on Friday and see what they can do and how they feel. That’s really as far as I know. I won’t really know until we get to the weekend.”
(Is either one more likely than the other?) – “No. Neither one of them are in great shape right now.”
(What’s your message going to be to the club? I wasn’t in the postgame locker room but I know there was a lot of anger there from all of the comments I read.) – “Yeah. When you lose, it sucks. We left too many opportunities on the field. You can’t do that when you’re playing a team that’s pretty hot. We shot ourselves in the foot too many times and then let it come down to those last couple of drives. It looks like we’re going to have (Andrew) Luck sacked and they’re going to be on their own 33 or 34 (yard line) and they’re going to be punting back to us and we’re going to have a minute-something left to go win the game. That was kind of the plan when we punted it, was we need one good play on defense. Matt (Haack) was punting the ball good all day. We had a chance and we missed it.”
(When Colts WR T.Y. Hilton got loose on that one play during the drive before the TE Eric Ebron touchdown, what was the call or what happened there?) – “We just didn’t execute the call correctly. We overlapped on coverage and allowed him to get free.”
(Was starting TE Durham Smythe and going to him early simply a function of something you saw in the Colts defense or has he been practicing especially well recently?) – “We’ve got a lot of different packages with the tight ends. You can look at starting and stuff like that and it doesn’t mean anything. He has been practicing well. He’s been doing a lot of good stuff. The entire season, he keeps getting better. The ball went there because coverage dictated it.”
(I think there were 22 or 23 snaps for WR DeVante Parker. Did you want to be cautious with him because of the shoulder?) – “No. It was just the personnel groupings. We had a specific way we wanted to attack them. A lot of things went well and we didn’t do some things right. We were scrambling a little bit there when Danny (Amendola) went down. It’s not really ideal when we have to move Kenny (Stills) inside. We don’t have Danny and now Kenny is going to play a spot that’s really not his natural spot. We’re just not that deep right now to where we can start moving all of these guys around and switching positions.”
(Is LB Kiko Alonso always on the punt block team and what did you see on that play?) – “There are just specific things that we do where sometimes the defensive guys stay out there. It was just him making a good play. I don’t think … A lot of times when we do stuff, you’re hoping for something like that to happen but it doesn’t always. It’s just unfortunate we couldn’t take advantage of it.”
(Not from a health standpoint for QB Ryan Tannehill but from a performance standpoint, was that as good as you could have expected after five or six weeks off?) – “Yeah, I mean I thought he played well. He executed what we asked him to do. There are some things we want to clean up, which are more technical than anything. The biggest thing for us was we knew we had to put drives together. It was not going to be a team where you’re going to get three or four plays and it’s going to be a touchdown. They just haven’t done that. I think something like 44 percent of their (defensive) drives were 10 or more plays that were scoring drives this year. They’ve done a great job of forcing you to play the way that they want you to play.”
(How is RB Kenyan Drake doing health-wise?) – “He’s all right. He just fell on that shoulder again, I think. That’s why he was down.”
(Is RB Kenyan Drake going to be limited in practice this week?) – “Him and DeVante (Parker), we’ll probably keep the same protocol as what we did last week.”
(How would you grade the run defense overall? Did you see any progress there?) – “The explosive plays, we’ve just got to eliminate those. They hurt us so bad. It’s one guy coming out of his gap. We’ve just got to keep tightening it up. I think a couple of times they caught us. They had a good call against what we had called. That’s going to happen. I can live with that. It’s just when we have a good call and we don’t execute it, that’s when it’s tough.”
(How much of that was there in the fourth quarter?) – “I thought (Defensive Coordinator) Matt (Burke) called a really good game. I thought he made it really tough on them. We got turnovers and it’s not like they’ve been … I mean, Andrew (Luck) hasn’t really been throwing picks. The way that they had it game-planned, the way that we executed for the majority of the game was good. If we can just eliminate these explosive plays, that’ll help us a lot. If we can just make teams have to drive on us because they’ll eventually, as we see every week, the offense will screw it up.”
(Where were your thoughts on the wild sequence at the end of the first half, with the three consecutive turnovers?) – “I was happy about two of them. (laughter) One of them I was not so happy. I felt good. I thought we were going to score there and just really flip the game, and then when we turned it over, that’s just a killer.”
(With the C Travis Swanson situation, any contingency plans for practice this week in terms of moving guys around?) – “We’ll get through that. We’ve kind of talked about it a little bit, but nothing is in stone yet.”
(How did your line do in your mind after C Travis Swanson went out?) – “We were trying to shuffle some things around and figure out what was the best lineup to go with and then once we got settled on that, there was some good, there was some bad. We kind of fell apart there at the end. I mean, Travis probably played five or six plays where he was hurt. We kind of missed an opportunity on one of those where he was pulling, couldn’t really run (but) was trying to run. We left a lot out there.”
(What’s your sense of the overall mood of the team, 5-6 with five games to go?) – “You’re disappointed because you’ve got two games where you’re sitting going like, well, 5-6, 7-4. So … It’s a (expletive) feeling.”
(Five games left, here comes December. Is this a particularly tough one to regroup from?) – “The good thing about NFL players is once we hit Wednesday, they really don’t care about last week. Which is probably better that they’re like that compared to the coaches. We’ll sit and think and dwell and all that stuff. These guys will do a good job of moving on and go to practice and work hard and get after it on Wednesday. Our focus just needs to be one game. How do we win one game? It’s probably good that we’re at home. We’ve got a great opportunity just to kind of get back to .500. We’ve just got to focus on ourselves and can’t worry about anybody else.”
(What kind of December team do you think this one is going to be? That’s where the culture comes in that you’ve talked about.) – “We’ll find out. Guys that we’ve got will battle. I thought they played hard yesterday. It was unfortunate we lost that game because I really thought there were a lot of guys that did good stuff. It’s just hard to see right now because everybody does the same thing. Everybody goes and looks at the result and all of the good things get forgotten about. That’s where we can’t get lost in it as a team. We’ve got to focus on the things that we did improve on. The things that we didn’t, we need to get better at. And then we have to figure out a way to win this week.”
(Was it particularly hard because not only was it a loss, but against a team you’re battling for a playoff position?) – “It doesn’t matter. I’m probably the only one that really needs to worry about stuff like that. The rest of those guys, they don’t care. They’re worried about winning that game. They’re not sitting there looking at the standings going, ‘Oh, here’s where we’re at.’ We win our games and try to take care of our business and let the chips fall where they may. But in my spot you’re going, ‘Did we just lose control of our own destiny?’ But they don’t need to worry about that stuff.”
(If you can look back to the Bengals game just now; if QB Ryan Tannehill didn’t get hurt, do you kind of look back at the last six games overall?) – “No, because we gave ourselves … We had opportunities. We won a couple of games. We had good games a couple of games, whether it be offense, defense, special teams. It is what it is. You just hate when you’re up and lose a lead and you know what you left on the field. You know some of the situational stuff that didn’t get done right.”
(What do you see from WR Leonte Carroo the last two games, special teams two weeks ago and then yesterday. Do you take some pride in that young player’s development?) – “I’m glad that he got an opportunity. I know that was great to see him just go up and get one. I don’t think we’ve done that enough to where we’ve had moments where a guy you don’t expect goes up and gets a ball like that. The more we have guys do that, the more confidence Ryan has at throwing the ball down the field when it’s a 50-50 jump ball. That’s ideal.”
Cameron Wake – November 25, 2018 (Postgame)
Sunday, November 25, 2018
Postgame – Indianapolis Colts
Miami Dolphins DE Cameron Wake (Transcribed by Indianapolis Colts)
Re: When Andrew Luck broke contain on third-and-nine:
“I was on the field. I was engaged. Colts – they made a play, we didn’t. Probably one of the bigger plays of the game.”
How hard is he to get down?
“No harder than anybody else. Sacks are hard to get, so – relatively – no big deal.”
This was a big game for you guys: Time of the season, games left, all those types of things. How do you guys bounce back? There are a couple more road games left and this seemed like the one that you could maybe steal from them. Instead, you’re folding back kind of.
“Yeah, it was right there. I mean, everything. It was scripted the way we wanted. Obviously coming off the bye (week), everybody getting a little more time to get fresh; refresh, restart – whatever you needed. You know, the tips were right there, the lead going into the end of the game, defense on the field to close it out – all the things that I would love to have scripted if I had my way. It’s unfortunate they made one more play. I think it’s, obviously, a lot placed on that one play, but there are obviously, probably, 10 other plays throughout the course of the game on both sides of the ball that would have probably eliminated the fact that that was even the situation.”
What were they able to do on the last couple of drives to move the ball down the field so freely when they struggling for a number of series prior to that?
“Yeah, I think I’m very interested to go look at the tape. But obviously, somehow somebody got disconnected. We didn’t get the rush that we needed up front, of course. He was able to escape. So, he had a free field of vision to throw the ball downfield. The way I feel, it’s on us as a front to eliminate that. DB, I’ve never played DB, but I can’t imagine covering people for – I don’t know how long it was – four or five seconds. They were high class receivers, so as a front we’ve got to make sure we do everything we can to keep him boxed in and keep him from being able to do that kind of thing. So it’s unfortunate.”
Is this a game where you tip your cap to Andrew Luck or do you say we let one get away?
“Well, I never take anything away from anybody. But at the same time, you look at some of the plays and you see we shot ourselves in the foot. They made some plays too, not to take away from those guys, but critical moment. That’s something that we’ve got to be the ones to make it harder, I’ll say that.”
