Brock Osweiler – November 4, 2018 (Postgame)
Sunday, November 4, 2018
Postgame – N.Y. Jets
Miami Dolphins QB Brock Osweiler
A little bit of a struggle out there this afternoon. How did you view it from your perspective?
BROCK OSWEILER: It was just a hard-fought and a tough football game. We knew going into this game offensively we had a great challenge. The Jets have a lot of good players on the defensive side of the ball. They play really hard. They are talented and they have a tough scheme to go against. We knew we were going to have a challenge today, and it was just a good, old-fashioned fight out there on the football field. It was fun.
It was fun?
BROCK OSWEILER: Yeah, we won.
Wasn’t the most fun game to watch.
BROCK OSWEILER: I’m sorry for that. (laughter)
You guys didn’t put up a ton of points, ton of yards, but no big defensive disasters either. Did you come out feeling like the offense played well today?
BROCK OSWEILER: I haven’t watched the tape yet. That’s just my immediate reaction. I’m sure there are things we could have done better as a unit. I know for starters, I missed a throw to Danny early in the game. That could have been a huge play for this team, potentially a touchdown. That’s something that I know I need to hit that throw. Danny did a great job getting down the seam, and I need to make that play. I’m sure everybody, when they watch the tape, they are going to have one or two plays like that. By no means do I think we played perfect. There’s always going to be things to clean up. It’s hard to win in the National Football League, especially a division game, especially when the opponents really know each other. The fact that we went out there today, we fought for 60 minutes, we got a win, I’m happy with it.
Talk a little bit about your defense. It was a game where both offenses were challenged trying to get points on the board, but defense came up, get 10 points off of takeaways from them and it certainly made the difference in the ballgame.
BROCK OSWEILER: Our defense was outstanding, they really were. Hats off to those guys. I think the coaching staff did a tremendous job all week with the guys getting the schemes in. And then for the players to go out there and execute today the way they did, create those turnovers like you’re talking about, the sacks were huge, that was really the difference in the game. Like I said, hats off to those guys. Tons of credit to the defense, and they had a tremendous day.
You ran for first down and looked like you were pretty nimble on your feet there as you were getting to the yard marker.
BROCK OSWEILER: Running is always my last option. (laughter) I’m always going to try to exhaust my progression, but sometimes it calls for a scramble and I’m just trying to do my job.
Talk a little bit about … First you lose JaWuan James for a while, he goes down, he’s able to come back in. And then you lose Laremy Tunsil on the very next series. Both your tackles at one point were out. Certainly a lot of adjustment at that point. How did you manage that?
BROCK OSWEILER: Injuries and adversity, that’s part of football, especially at this level. As you get into November and December, you’re going to have more and more injuries. To lose those guys definitely hurts us, but at the same time you don’t have time to think about it, you don’t have time to blink an eye. I think the guys who did come into the game, they fought hard and we did our best.
Green Bay next week. I would assume you’re going to prepare as you do as you’re going to get the start and go into that football game. What challenge does that present for you now that you guys are back over .500 with a chance maybe to get a little distance there?
BROCK OSWEILER: I would say every week in the National Football League is a challenge, whether you’re home or on the road. There’s no easy games. We know going to Green Bay is going to be a great challenge, but we look forward to that challenge and we invite that challenge. I’m sure the football team will have a great focus at practice all week just like we did last week and we’re going to try to build upon this. After Green Bay, we go into a bye, and we know as players that if we can go up there and get a win and go into that bye week and get healthy, we’re going to be sitting in a really good position.
How would you describe the character of your offensive line?
BROCK OSWEILER: Those guys fight. I’m the first one to say that football is never a perfect game. It’s just some days it’s just a good old street fight and that’s what it was today. The thing I love about those guys is they just keep playing. They just keep playing. There’s never a time in the huddle where anybody ever looks concerned or flustered. We are always organized. We’re talking. We’re communicating. We’re working as one and I love playing football with those guys.
What do you see when something goes wrong like Zach Sterup when he came in at right tackle? His guy got by him a couple times in the third quarter. Do you see the other guys picking him up or do you say something to him?
BROCK OSWEILER: People are always picking teammates up. That’s one thing Coach Gase and the front office staff have done a tremendous job here in Miami, they have put great people in the locker room and so there’s never people pointing fingers or getting on teammates. As teammates, we’re one unit out there and we’re always picking the other guy up, doing our best to help each other out because like I said, it’s a tough football game out there, and nobody’s perfect.
While you guys did enough to win the game offensively, their defense seemed to present some difficulties for you today. What were they doing that created a challenge for you guys offensively?
BROCK OSWEILER: It’s twofold. One, give credit where credit is due and the New York Jets, they have great players on their defense, they really do. Up front in the secondary, a lot of talented guys who constantly make plays and they play very hard as well. Then I think Coach Bowels and his defensive staff do a great job of creating the schemes that they play on defense. They always have you guessing. Very rarely do you see the same coverage back-to-back plays. They bring a lot of pressure. They move the front around and they are a good football team.
Minkah Fitzpatrick – November 4, 2018 (Postgame)
Sunday, November 4, 2018
Postgame – N.Y. Jets
Miami Dolphins S Minkah Fitzpatrick (transcribed by Daniel Chavez)
(Considering how much you guys defensively have struggled the last few weeks, what’s it like to put together a performance where you not only produce four interceptions and four sacks but limit the team to 88 yards rushing?) – “I think that’s a real good thing because we had to stop the rush and in turn we stopped the pass. If we do that, it just sets up everything else in the back end so holding them, a team that averages (a lot of) yards per game rushing is a great accomplishment. I think we needed it a whole lot going into this week playing the (Green Bay) Packers because they’re a great team.”
(Do you get a lot more of a feel for the game when you’re in there as much as you were and you’re not coming off in the base?) – “When you’re going off and on the field you don’t see everything, or it’s hard to see everything. You just lose the adrenaline rush, or something like that, that you may have. So just being on the field 100 percent of the time or close to 100 percent of the time, it felt good just being able to play out there.”
Adam Gase – November 4, 2018 (Postgame)
Sunday, November 4, 2018
Postgame – N.Y. Jets
Miami Dolphins Head Coach Adam Gase
Q: I know that you would like to see the offense score more points but you’re patched together in so many different areas right now. Do you come out of this happy with how the offense got through?
HEAD COACH ADAM GASE: I think I’m happy that we took care of the football. We didn’t put ourselves in a bad position or put the defense in a bad position by creating a short field. They had to drive it a long way and our defense did a good job of either getting a turnover or making them punt. We had a couple of opportunities and we missed them. (It was) one of those type of games where you get the right thing versus what they are doing and we just have to find a way to make those plays.
I think one of the things people find confounding about football is how things change one week to the next. You go from giving up 42 points and playing a quarterback who has four incompletions to having four interceptions on the day. What was the turnaround in the defense from your vantage point?
HEAD COACH ADAM GASE: I thought they did a good job playing together. We had all three levels trying to really complement each other, and that’s what you’re looking for. I’m sure we’ll go back and watch the tape and everybody will say, ‘Hey, we’ve got to do this better, we’ve got to do this better.’ Today we did a good job of all three levels playing together.
S Reshad Jones didn’t play for the majority of the second half. What was the reason why?
HEAD COACH ADAM GASE: Yeah, I’ve got to look at that and find out what everything entails. It sounds like he pulled himself out. So I’ve just got to find out kind of what happened there.
Was it injury related with S Reshad Jones?
HEAD COACH ADAM GASE: I’m not sure.
You said S Reshad Jones pulled himself out?
HEAD COACH ADAM GASE: Yep. I haven’t gotten in it. I haven’t asked a whole bunch of questions because we were having our own issues on the other side of the ball. It will be one of those things where I’ll probably learn a little more tonight and try to figure out what’s going on.
I know T Ja’Wuan James came back in, but how bad off was he and how bad off is T Laremy Tunsil right now?
HEAD COACH ADAM GASE: That I’ll find out probably more tomorrow. I know Ja’Wuan, going back in, was big for us because we were going to have to really start making adjustments there to where now one guy bumps out and we bring Jake (Brendel) in. Hopefully those guys will be okay, but obviously with Laremy not finishing the game, hopefully it not as bad as probably how it feels.
T Ja’Wuan James, it looked like he was doing drills to see if he could go back in. And just looking at his face, it looked like he was in a lot of pain.
HEAD COACH ADAM GASE: I’m sure he was. That’s the NFL. It’s hard. It’s 60 minutes, guys are battling and a lot of guys are hurt, especially at this part of the season. We’ll kind of see how he feels the next day. That’s what it is. It’s like a car crash every Sunday and you have to re-group for the next week and get your body right.
RB Kenyan Drake didn’t touch the ball much in the running game or the receiving game in the second half. Is that just the way the game played out?
HEAD COACH ADAM GASE: We tried to get him the ball a few times. Just they either called … (New York Jets Head Coach) Todd (Bowles) and his crew did a great job. Every time we called certain things, they had the right coverage to take it away. They were blitzing at the right time. We were trying to mix it up, call opposite of what they would; but he dialed up everything right and it made it really difficult to try to get our playmakers the ball.
RB Frank Gore averaged less than three yards per carry but do you still feel like he did the job you wanted and what was it like in the second half where it seemed like it was a struggle to…
HEAD COACH ADAM GASE: There was nothing there. We’ve got to play better up front. I mean, he created some stuff. There was nothing there. All you have to do is give Frank a crevice he’ll get you 4 yards. If he’s not getting anything, that’s not good.
Every running back probably would like to get the ball 30 or so times a game. Has RB Kenyan Drake stuck with you pretty well even though he might not get the ball as much as he wants?
HEAD COACH ADAM GASE: Yeah, he doesn’t … He knows the play calls. When he hears the play calls, he’s going, ‘All right, hey, he’s trying to get me the ball.’ He understands that. It just doesn’t always work out. I can’t know exactly what they’re going to do. A lot of times we try to make him the premier guy but if they run the right thing or they pressure us and the ball has to go somewhere else, it kind of screws that up.
RB Kenyan Drake has had some really good blocks this season, just anecdotally from things I remember seeing. It looked like you were having him help T Zach Sterup there a little bit at the end. Is he giving you what he can in that role?
HEAD COACH ADAM GASE: Oh, yeah. He does a great job. Today, like the third down one he had, that’s rare. We usually see him clean up a linebacker and we never have any pressure there. If he works the edges and he’s working with the defensive end with the tackle, he usually makes sure that that guy is probably either on the ground or he’s not rushing very good.
Has S Reshad Jones ever voiced an issue with his role or the scheme or anything that would indicate what happened in the second half?
HEAD COACH ADAM GASE: No. We were doing some different stuff this game, obviously. I don’t know. I’ll find out more tomorrow.
What were you doing overall in the secondary? It just seemed like there were so many different guys moving in and out.
HEAD COACH ADAM GASE: Yeah, we moved some guys in and out. We’re trying to keep guys fresh and they played 80-plus plays today. So they had to play a lot of guys. We had a couple of guys get pulled out and then go back in or stay out. That’s what we had to do to win the game.
Did you think that would help after how the last couple weeks went, just to get some change in there?
HEAD COACH ADAM GASE: Yeah, I think any time that we can either … When things don’t go right and you try to shuffle some guys around and get some guys in maybe some different spots; I know any time Bobby (McCain) is inside, I’m a big fan of that. He does a great job. If he’s playing true zone and they throw any kind of underneath routes, he’s going to make the play. He’s going to make the tackle. He’s going to be in the right spot. He’s always going to be in the right leverage. There’s a lot of comfort there, especially for me when he’s playing nickel. We had to make, with ‘Tank’ (Cordrea Tankersley) going down, we had to make some adjustment and that got Minkah (Fitzpatrick) pushed outside a little bit. We just knew we had to make some adjustments and we didn’t think they were that big of a deal. We want to play some guys in some different spots.
There was a point where on your offensive line you had T Zach Sterup, C/G Ted Larsen, C Travis Swanson – the right side was normal at least – but do you feel like that group is surviving right now?
HEAD COACH ADAM GASE: I think that we’ve had some good days and we’ve had some rough ones. When we play a d-line like this, it’s tough. Those are some good players and their scheme is tough. We try to go big and they go big and it’s a disadvantage for us. When we tried to stay smaller, to see if we give ourselves an advantage, we just didn’t quite get it done as well as we needed to.
What did you think about your defense on the Jets drive late in the third quarter. It ended with a missed field goal and you guys had a couple of bad face mask penalties, but DE Cameron Wake came through with a sack and ultimately they’re kicking from 50 yards.
HEAD COACH ADAM GASE: Yeah, if we can eliminate some of those type of penalties, that’s what we have been talking about – the pre-snap and post-snap type penalties – and you can probably throw that in there as far as the face mask. We just have to be good with our hands and understand when we’re reaching back end and up getting somebody’s helmet, that’s really going to hurt us in the end.
It could have been a place where the game slipped away though because giving up 30 yards in this game is a lot and you forced them to kick from so far.
HEAD COACH ADAM GASE: Yeah, it was a good job. They found a way to get a negative play and knock them out of … really make it tougher. So that’s what you do. That’s why you keep fighting. You never know what’s going to happen. We witnessed it in the Chicago game where guys fought down to the 1-yard line and got a turnover.
What was the big difference? What were you able to accomplish in those 10 days that made the defense play the way they did this afternoon?
HEAD COACH ADAM GASE: I think the guys just did a good job of, really, it’s like complementary football. All three levels, they played together. They did a good job of, for the most part, really stopping the run and trying to make it as one-dimensional as they can. I thought they did a pretty good job of keeping the guy in the pocket and then forcing them to kind of make some throws under duress. Guys did a good job of finishing the play.
Offensively, the struggles you had, what did you see there?
HEAD COACH ADAM GASE: We just didn’t have a very good day up front. We had a couple opportunities on plays that possibly were touchdowns or explosive plays that we didn’t hook up on. (It was) just one of those games where we didn’t get … Just not a lot right for us.
I’m sure this question has been asked, I wasn’t here. S Reshad Jones, him not playing late in the first half and the whole second half?
HEAD COACH ADAM GASE: Yeah, I mean, I haven’t really gotten with those guys yet. So I mean, I’m going to find out more of that either tonight or tomorrow.
Adam Gase – November 2, 2018
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Friday, November 2, 2018
Head Coach Adam Gase
(CB Cordrea Tankersley missed practice today; is there an update on his condition?) – “Yeah, he’s going to be out for the year. He tore his ACL yesterday.”
(What do you now to compensate for CB Cordrea Tankersley’s loss?) – “We’ll have a plan. We talked through a lot of different scenarios last night. We’ll have a plan going into Sunday.”
(Do you feel like you need a veteran cornerback?) – “We’ll get through this game with the guys we have and then we’ll talk about what we need to do next.”
(Do you think WR Kenny Stills will be able to go from what you see today?) – “I don’t know. We’ll see. We’ll see how it plays out. I’ve got to see how he feels tomorrow. It’s the second day that you always kind of wait and see.”
(I guess it was a good sign that WR Kenny Stills was able to practice today?) – “It was good to see him practice. (You guys) kind of got me with the, ‘Does he need to practice and still play on Sunday?’ I really wanted to see him practice just so I could see him run and see how he feels the next day. I do not want to take a chance of he’s active, he plays, something happens, we have a huge setback. I just needed him to just shoot me straight and we’ll go from there.”
(Was it contact with CB Cordrea Tankersley?) – “Just running with a guy and then just kind of took a weird step. It was weird because it wasn’t like … It didn’t look like what it normally has when you see that happen. So you weren’t sure if it was just like he just sprained something. It just looked different than what I’d seen before.”
(You talked before the trade deadline with us that you can’t afford any more of these season-ending things and here’s another one.) – “Can’t afford any more. You know what, it’s a shame because he was pushing to come along and we felt like we had him in a good spot and he was competing. He was practicing better. It’s just young player gets hurt, it’s tough for them to handle it. He’ll be back at some point. The way that those ACLs seem to be, guys come back from those. It’ll be good to get him back when we can.”
(I don’t know if we asked you, but we asked Defensive Coordinator Matt Burke: What is the possibility or the likelihood that S Minkah Fitzpatrick could play on the boundary? I know it’s something he hasn’t really done a regular basis.) – “He can do it. He can do all those positions. I mean, he’s done it all. When we evaluated him, we evaluated all the positions he played. It was pretty incredible to see how much he did over his career. He gives us a nice security blanket, to say, if you have injuries you can always move him around. It’s unfortunate for him to where he never can just get comfortable at one spot, which I don’t think he really cares about because I think that he enjoys that part of the game of constantly mentally being challenged.”
(Does it bother you at all that S Minkah Fitzpatrick is not on the field more at this point, or are you okay with what you’re doing with him?) – “The last two games we got caught in some personnel groupings where he wasn’t on the field, but for the most part before that, the first six games, he was on the field quite a bit.”
(How do you think coming back from injury has affected CB Bobby McCain recently?) – “I would say he’s done predominantly most of his stuff, he’s looked normal. It’s probably more just dealing with practice more than anything. Like, he’ll never say anything. He’ll never say he’s hurt or sore or anything like that. He’ll fight through it. To me, I don’t see a difference in him. Any place we put him, he’ll figure out a way to do a good job.”
Cameron Wake – November 2, 2018
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Friday, November 2, 2018
DE Cameron Wake
(What would you identify as the biggest key to turning the defense around back to the way it was playing earlier in the season?) – “Just do your job. Plain and simple. Very simple. Whoever you are, whatever your responsibility is, do it. Now that I’ve gotten a chance to watch a lot of plays that didn’t go our way, it’s people taking turns not doing what they’re supposed to do. Once you get that fixed, I think it’ll make things a lot better.”
(Are guys trying to make something happen instead of just focusing on their assignment?) – “I guess you’d have to ask the guy on that particular play. It’s hard to assume but trust the guy next to you that if I’m here, he’s going to be there, the ball will maybe go there and I might want to go over there but if I go there, then now two of us are doing one job and now good players are going to find the guy who is overcompensating or whatever you were trying to do, trying too hard or whatever it may be. But at the end of the day, I’m going to be here, you’re going to be there and if there’s 11 or 12 other guys doing the same thing, then we’ll be fine.”
(Is there still confidence in this scheme?) – “Sure. Without a doubt.”
(That’s not an issue?) – “Not at all.”
(You’ve had a couple of extra days to prepare for this one because of the way the schedule fell. Did you do anything special to reset personally?) – “No, not really. You just get an extra day of whether it be studying, lifting weights, cardio. You just have to finish doing a little bit after that. But nothing out of the ordinary. You kind of get extra Monday, Tuesday and today to do whatever it is. Everybody is a little different. I’m sure Kiko (Alonso) has extra gel in his hair for this game. (laughter) But whatever each guy has a different thing that that they probably have, hopefully they’ve been able to take time and self scout, know thyself and know what you need to fix and put a little extra energy on that.”
(I know you always say that sacks come in bunches but you guys are off to a fairly slow start – 11 so far this season. What is it going to take to jump start that productivity?) – “I think it starts … You just missed it but they asked me what to (do to) get this defense going back in the right direction and I said doing your job. Doing your job would probably do a lot to help stopping the run and I think if we stop the run, then obviously you get more of a chance to rush the passer. If a team can run the ball downfield and it’s third-and-1 and first down, first down, touchdown, where was the opportunity to get to the quarterback? The first job is to do your job. The second job is to stop the run. Then if you do that, I think that creates pass rush opportunities and then bunches will come.”
(You’ve got two new defensive tackles. I can’t remember the last time where you’ve got an infusion of so much talent so quickly. How is it to gain chemistry with them?) – “Well, they’re new to the Dolphins but they’re definitely not new to playing football. They’ve played a lot of ball. They’ve been successful on different teams. I think at the end of the day, there’s a guy in front of you and you have to dominate your matchup. They’re no strangers to doing that, so I don’t think that’s going to be an issue. Again, having trust in that creates the chemistry because I’m trusting that he’s going to be where he’s supposed to be and attacking each guy the way he’s supposed to be doing. Their resumes reflect that, so that shouldn’t be an issue at all.”
(What’s your take on the Jets run game? It was so good against Denver and then the last few weeks, it hasn’t been very good.) – “Well, I’m sure they’re over there in their football world and we’re over here probably saying the same thing. They probably want to get back on track. I’m sure they have guys who weren’t doing their job and may have created issues. Again, I’m not over there. I have no insight into what they’ve got going on but just being general, that’s usually the case. Passing the ball or running the ball, if you see somebody untouched, something happened. It’s just very basic. I’m sure they’ll get back on each man, get it blocked and run the ball and we’ve got to do the same thing.”
(Do you expect a different Jets QB Sam Darnold or somewhat similar to Week 2?) – “There’s a guy back there with the ball and it doesn’t matter (if it is) Week 2 or Week 15. Get there and get your job done. I’m not concerned with that, really.”
Kenny Stills – November 1, 2018
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Thursday, November 1, 2018
WR Kenny Stills
(On the field, how would you describe how the first half of the season went for you?) – “That’s a tough question. I feel like I’ve taken advantage of the opportunities that I’ve had. Obviously I have an injury right now, so that’s a little frustrating. I try not to focus too much on the first half now that we’re moving into the second half and just focus on this Jets game.”
(How do you keep this team focused on the fact that you guys are still competing for a playoff spot?) – “That’s easy. We look at all of the records around this league and we see that we’re still in the hunt and that’s enough motivation for us to go out there and play one game at a time. If we can start stacking these games and heading in the right direction, then we have an opportunity to still be in the hunt.”
(Head Coach Adam Gase painted it as you probably think you could play a game tonight if you needed to or wanted to but he’s pretty concerned that if you come back a moment too soon on this, it could be a long-term issue. Where do you stand on that or what do you think?) – “I stand with whatever he says. We’ll see how I feel on Sunday and we’ll make a decision there.”
(Have you ever had this type of injury before?) – “It’s been a while. Most soft tissue injuries are pretty similar in the fact that you don’t want to rush. You don’t want to come back too early because you risk making it worse. We’ve got to be smart about it and we’re taking it slow.”
(I think you’ve been injured all season pretty much it seems like. You hit your shoulder. How is the rest of you other than that?) – “It’s a contact sport. It’s football. All of us are banged up. None of us feel 100 percent. It’s nothing out of the ordinary.”
(Nothing else would keep you out other than that?) – “No.”
(You’ve now had two collisions in the back of the end zone. I know you didn’t want to go there the last time we talked but do you think the fans are too close?) – “No. I really don’t think it’s a problem. I think that there’s potential to have some better awareness on that side. If the people on that side know that we’re in the red zone and there’s potential of a score, just to have a little bit of awareness on the fact that we might be potentially running into them. I felt awful for what happened in the last game and I tried to reach out and find the lady’s name and send flowers. I think she wanted her privacy. It’s frustrating that stuff like that happens but you want to make sure people are okay. I just hope that we can all just have better awareness when it comes to potential scoring plays and security and people that are in the end zone.”
(I was wondering if that shook you up because she didn’t see it coming either but you would have never expected to run into that situation on a football field where you just plow through someone like that.) – “Yeah. Luckily I was able to see her and just kind of put my arm out. Because the other option would have been put my helmet and shoulder pads into her, so it could have been worse. I’m just happy that she’s okay and that I came out of it okay.”
(What made you choose compassion in that situation? When you get a touchdown, you’re probably frustrated you get banged up.) – “Yeah. Honestly all of the credit there goes to Mike Gesicki. I was so flustered and in so much pain at the time that I wasn’t thinking about anything but just what had happened to me. Mike had come over and was like ‘Hey bro, you ran into the lady. You should go over there and give her the ball.’ I’m like, ‘Oh, you’re right.’ I thanked Mike after the game and he’s like ‘That’s something I know you would have done if you would have been cognizant of what happened.’ So I appreciate him and I told him he’s a good dude and thank you for that.”
(How did you get hurt on that play? Was it just your shoulder hitting her?) – “Yeah. My shoulder just kind of felt like something kind of funky happened because I didn’t expect it.”
(From the impact with her?) – “Yeah.”
(Obviously you released a documentary explaining why you kneeled. Why did you feel the need to do that and what kind of statement are you trying to make with the shirt there?) – “So the shirt just says unity is the new cool. It speaks for itself. I’ve always been somebody that’s trying to bring people together through conversation and instead of dividing people, bringing people together. Through the documentary, I just wanted to kind of share with people why I’ve decided to protest or how I got to becoming active or involved with hopes that people could better understand who I am and potentially … not sway people but get them to understand this is who I am, this is why I got involved and this is something that’s important to me. It’s not something that I just decided one day that I’m going to go out here and do and I’m just out here kneeling and there’s no action behind it and no work behind it.”
(How do you deal with just constant negative reactions to how you are protesting?) – “I think the first couple of years were a lot worse when it comes to the negativity. A lot of the social media channels have done a good job of you being able to filter kind of the negative comments and the bad stuff that you’re able to see. This year has been a lot different. There’s been a lot more support; a lot more people reaching out and really supporting and having my back. It’s important to share in the story the negativity and the hate that’s out there so people understand and see it, but this past year has been a lot better for me.”
(Do you have intentions to play on Sunday? Are you going to play on Sunday?) – “We kind of spoke on that and we’ll have to see.”
(As a fellow wide receiver, with all that WR DeVante Parker has been through with the injuries, how happy were you for him with the game he had Thursday?) – “I’m extremely proud of DeVante. I’m so happy for him. I’ve always had his back. I think all of the receivers and most of the guys on this team have always had his back and supported him. We know what he can do as a player and he showed that on Thursday. That’s the spark that we need to see from him and we hope that he continues to perform like that.”
(Can you handle that if it comes to that, where you feel like Sunday you could play and they say we can’t let you do it? Are you going to be alright?) – “Yeah. I mean it’ll be frustrating. I’m not going to act like I won’t be upset but I understand that we’ve got to do what’s best for the team and I know the guys that we have can go out there and perform and get us a victory.”
Darren Rizzi – November 1, 2018
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Thursday, November 1, 2018
Associate Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Darren Rizzi
(What does LB Mike Hull bring with his return?) – “The first thing I’d say about Mike Hull, let’s take the playing aside for a second. The way he attacked his PT (physical therapy) and his rehab was really incredible to watch. (He’s) just an ultimate professional, did an unbelievable job (and is) really a model, a role model for anybody. Not just the young players, anybody that’s ever injured. Watching him go through the rehab and just really attacking it and having a great attitude about it. It’s hard when you get injured to have a really good attitude. Let’s be honest. But watching him come in every day and work, and work with the trainers and work himself back, it’s not a surprise that he’s back in the time he’s supposed to be back. I watched him go through it. What he brings to the table, he brings leadership No. 1. Just a really good guy in terms of the meeting room, the field and practice. He obviously brings playmaking ability. Any time he’s had an opportunity to go on the field in special teams in all different phases, he’s really done well. So we’re really happy to have him back. (He’s) just a guy that was really having a strong preseason, offseason, spring, training camp (and) preseason up until he got hurt. I was really looking forward to watching him play this year. It was obviously a disappointment when he got hurt. Now to have him back and get him back in the fold is great for our core team and really the whole team because he’s just a great guy, great locker room guy, great character guy and great professional. I’m really happy to have him back.”
(What happened on those first few snaps of the game. It seemed like it was penalty happy special teams wise.) – “We had a bonehead play. We lined up … In the new rules, you have to have eight guys setup in the setup zone. So between the 10-yard line and (25) yards back – the 40-yard line. (Cordrea) Tankersley was standing on the line. You can’t even be on the line. It’s kind of like a restraining line, you can’t be over it. The ref was trying to get his attention, I was trying to get his attention and we didn’t get him moved. He kind of started up and then he moved back and lost where he was on the field. He knows the rule, he just lost where he was for a second and unfortunately he was on the line. When that happens, they now have a choice. The other team has a choice now. They either want to take a tack-on penalty, where they can take 5 yards off of wherever we end up, or they can re-kick. I believe we returned the ball to the 23 yard line. A tack on, minus five would’ve been to the 18(-yard line). Or they can move up to the 40 and re-kick. So I guess they thought by moving up to the 40 they could pin us back even further than the 18. I’m assuming that was their philosophy, I guess. Then obviously they kicked it into the end zone so we had a touchback out to the 25, and then they had an illegal formation on their kick team. They didn’t have everybody up on the 34-yard line. It was kind of a weird sequence of events to start the game. We actually gained 12 yards, we benefited on that whole thing. That was their decision to re-kick. They didn’t have to. They could’ve taken the 5-yard tack-on penalty; but that was a really, really weird series of events.”
(A good penalty by CB Cordrea Tankersley?) – “Yeah. (laughter) It worked out. I guess we got plus-12 (yards) out of it.”
(What is your rule on returning? I don’t want to give away any state secrets, but if WR Jakeem Grant gets it and he’s two steps away from the end zone, do you think he should come out? Not just Jakeem but RB Senorise Perry too.) – “It’s really on an individual basis. We treat each play like an individual event so we have rules for that play. A lot of it has to do with game situations. It could be the team we’re playing, in terms of personnel, ‘Hey, we think we have a good chance this week to maybe get a return.’ Obviously a lot of people are talking about the end of the game with the Rams and Packers. The ball was just over the goal line. We’re going to talk through those situations, ‘If this one is in, we’re staying in.’ The other day when Houston kicked off from the 40-yard line. That was one that if that went into the end zone, I didn’t care if it was one inch into the end zone, we were going to take a knee. That’s for an example. To start the game, had it been a yard or two deep maybe a few yards, we were maybe taking it out. That was one of those situations, if they’re kicking off from the 40, 45, 50 after a penalty and the ball is in the end zone, typically you’re going to stay in. On a regular situation form the 35, it’s really all game situation and how early is it, when is it, is it end of the half, is it end of the game, is it a possible 2-minute situation like Packers were in the other day? I feel for that guy because when (Ty) Montgomery fumbled that ball, it’s one of those easier said then done plays. He was told, ‘We’re going to take a touchback here.’ Those kickoffs which we’ve discussed before … The ones that land right near the goal line are very difficult for the returner because if someone is not in his ear communicating exactly where he is on the field, it’s very easy for that player to get lost for a little bit. Typically you’re not going to catch the ball and look down. You have to have an awareness of where you are. In those situations, usually what we do is we line up on the goal line and if you step back at all, you’re going to stay in. I feel for him, obviously. It was a big play in that game. Obviously there was a lot of discussion this week about that. For us, it’s just really an individual basis. When we huddle up on the sideline ‘Hey, on this one, this is our thought process.’ We’re either going to stay in, we’re going to come out. This is kind of our yard marker. Our alignments by the returners, all of those things are going to change play by play.”
(I’ve seen you use, I think it was on Hard Knocks because you’ve been here that long. I’ve seen you use film from other games as teaching moments for your special teams unit. Is that something – the Packers RB Ty Montgomery situation – is that something you’ve used?) – “One-hundred percent, yes. What we do every week, it’s actually a weekly thing. It depends on the week but usually on Saturdays we’ll probably pull about 15 to 30 plays from around the league. We call them plays of the week and we use those as teaching moments for the whole team.”
(15 to 30 special teams plays?) – “Correct, from each week. What we’ll do is we’ll use those. What happens in the special teams world is you may have a situation that comes up and it may be a once a season thing and you can’t get reps at it. I can sit here and talk about it for a really long time. You can go through every phase and there is all different crazy situations that come up in games. I was watching the Jets vs. Bears game the other day and the announcer starts talking about there was almost a fair catch kick. It was at the end of the half and I believe the Jets were punting and there was like 6 seconds left in the half. In that situations, if the Bears or if the return teams gets a fair catch, there’s a very unique rule where you can actually kick and get a free kick from the spot of the fair catch and if it goes through the goalpost, you get three points. You never see it. It never comes up. It’s a very, very odd situation. If a team is deep in their own area with not a lot of time left in the half, there is a thing called a fair-catch kick. So if they kick the ball, wherever they kick it, if you fair catch it, the fair catch rule is this: 99.999 percent of the time, what you see is you either run an offensive play or you get a free kick form the spot. A free kick meaning you can’t bring out a tee, but you can have a holder come out and hold the ball. The kicker can take a full approach, a kick off approach – no blocking. It’s not a field goal formation, it’s a kickoff formation so you have to be 10 yards back in the restraining area. If he kicks the ball through the goal post, you get three points. You never, ever see it. It comes up once every 10 years. For example, I’m going to use that play in our meeting this Saturday and explain to the guys, this was a potential fair-catch kick situation because you rarely see it. We may have one of those come up every four decades. One in every 40 years. But we have to be ready for it. In the special teams world, you have a lot of plays like that. That’s why we pull about 15 to 25 plays per week that come up and we discuss them. We go through them and go through the rules. I remember last week one of the plays we had was in Cincinnati. In the Cincinnati game, there was a kickoff right by the sideline and their returner did a really good job. If the returner puts his foot out of bounds and then touches the ball while his foot is out of bounds, he’s considered to be out of bounds and you get the ball at the 40-yard line. So the ball kind of rolled near the sideline inside the 10 and their returner had great awareness. He went over, got his foot out of bounds and then touched the ball and they got the ball at the 40-yard line. Those are just a couple of small examples. That’s why we do that every week. Ironically enough, this past week, we had just watched on Thursday morning the day of the game, we had just watched on of those plays, the opening kickoff where (you have to be in front of) the 40-yard line, we watched someone else make the mistake that morning. Then we went out that night and did it. It doesn’t always work. The teaching doesn’t always work. I was sitting there saying ‘we just watched that this morning.’ It’s one of those deals where we try to use those teaching moments throughout the league because there’s a lot of unique situations that come up. There’s very unique rules. There’s gunners out of bounds, re-enter and staying in the paint and all of those kind of things that come up all the time that are very unique that we try to teach from other games because we may not get the min ours.”
(There’s a website, I don’t know if it’s any good but it’s Football Outsiders. They have a special teams formula which takes into account everything – coverage, field goals, punts, weather, everything. Right now they have the Dolphins third in the NFL. Do you feel like that’s a fair representation? Would you describe the first half of the season as excellent overall?) – “I’m a really tough grader. I wouldn’t be a very good teacher. My grading scale might be a little different. I’ve seen a lot of those formulas before. There’s like four or five different ones, different websites and different things. People use different things. Sometimes you pull one thing in and put another one in and you go from third to first or first to 12th in one play here or there. I said this to the guys after the weekend, I think special teams wise the first half of the year, we have a lot of highlights. We did a lot of good things. I felt like we were a little bit too inconsistent for my liking. I felt like we’ve got to just play more consistent football. There were a little bit too many peaks and valleys. We did have some great plays and kudos to those plays. I felt like we left some plays on the table. I felt like we could be a little bit more consistent all the way through. I’m probably not a fair guy to ask because I’m probably the hardest on myself first and then the players second, in terms of grading. I don’t know if I would use the word excellent; but I’d say good to slightly below average. That’s just me. I’m fairly tough in terms of the grading scale. I’ve seen a lot of those. There’s all different ones I’ve seen.”
(You’ve been here for so long, you’ve been here for quite a while. When you’re struggling and possibly losing confidence as a team – last year you faced a five-game losing streak in the exact same stretch – how do you inject confidence and self-awareness that ‘Hey, the season is still alive.’) – “I think the first thing, no doubt about this and we’ve talked about this before is really keeping the one-game approach mentality. It’s hard to do. It’s certainly easier said than done and it’s certainly a little cliché-ish. There is no doubt about it. I get all of that. However, I really think keeping the focus on just one game … You guys know how hard it is to win one game in this league. It’s hard to win just one game. I think we have done, as a staff, starting with (Head Coach) Adam (Gase) and throughout the rest of the guys, is keeping the focus on the task at hand, on this game. This week, right now, Jets at home, that has got to be all in. It can’t be looking behind. It can’t be looking ahead. It can’t be any of those things. Then what happens as you all know is that you get one, and then you start going one, then you stack and that’s how you build confidence. On the flip side of the coin, what you’re talking about, on the other side when you lose a couple in a row, it’s easy to lose confidence. I think to re-center yourself and put the blinders on and get the focus on the immediate task from a confidence standpoint, all of the focus has to be on the Jets. I think all of the other things in my opinion, and I know everybody else in the building, is everything else outside is just noise. We have to keep the focus on what we’re doing right now. To get the players confidence back and everybody’s confidence back … I don’t think there is a lack of confidence in the building. I really don’t. I think right now with where we are, we’d certainly like to have a better record; but where we are, we’re right in the middle of things. I think if we just can take care of the job week to week, we’re going to be in the position we want to be in at the end. We can certainly be a little bit better, but we can certainly be a hell of a lot worse. We’re right in the middle of this thing with a lot of games to play. There is no reason … You guys know we pretty well. I certainly don’t lack any confidence and we’re going to go out there and inject that into the players every day and have the same approach every day.”
(When there is a surprise onside kick call, does Head Coach Adam Gase say ‘Hey, I want to run it?’ Or do you come to him and say this might be a good time?) – “We always have a couple up and you’re always looking for the situation to do it in. It’s obviously called a surprise onside for a reason. I’ve heard people say, ‘that wasn’t an onside kick situation.’ No kidding. That’s why they call it a surprise onside kick. You don’t want to do it in the most obvious situations. I can’t really get into depth with this thing because I’m going to come across like I’m criticizing and I don’t want to do that. I don’t know if you were aware but the ball hit the wire for the camera. I don’t know if you guys were aware. It hit the spider wire. Obviously it wasn’t seen. It’s an unfortunate situation because we had the play we wanted. I feel like if it didn’t hit the wire we would’ve been in a much better situation to recover the ball. Then all of a sudden, we have the ball at midfield down by one score and that whole game is different. I thought it was a great time to do it. Again, it’s called a surprise for a reason. Unfortunately with the whole wire thing … I’ve been asked a ton of questions about it. Obviously the officials at that time didn’t see it. By the time we saw the replay, they had already run another play, by the time we got video evidence and it was too late to challenge it. That’s really how that went down.”
(What’s the rule on the wire?) – “The rule on the wire is that if the officials had seen it, there would’ve been a replay, just like the play never happened. Dead ball, replay put the time back on the clock and replay the down like it never happened. Ironically enough, I haven’t seen one in a long time and if you watched the Florida vs. Georgia game, it happened again in their game on a punt. Their officials did see it and they replayed the down like it never happened. It is reviewable however we didn’t get … Again, in the whole video world, you’re not going to waste a challenge if you don’t have video evidence. We didn’t get a replay on the stadium board and we didn’t get a replay in the booth until after they had unfortunately run a play. It didn’t hit it by much but it skimmed it enough to affect the ball and the ball dropped straight down instead of wider where it was supposed to be. That’s how that went down. It was just an unfortunate situation. Call it what you will but it didn’t work out.”
(How often would you say you practice onside kicks?) – “The kickers have a weekly routine that they do. Then we’ll work on it. It’s usually Friday, Saturday type things we work on it. But we work on it every week. We’re always going to have those kind of things up in the game plan. It depends on when you want to use them. That goes with all of our phases. You always have different gadgets and things you’re going to have. It depends on when the right time is to pull them out. Usually the right time to pull them out is when they work. Usually the wrong time to pull them out is when they don’t work. (laughter)”
Matt Burke – November 1, 2018
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Thursday, November 1, 2018
Defensive Coordinator Matt Burke
(You’ve explained very well why you think what you’re giving S Minkah Fitzpatrick is about right – about 75 percent of snaps. That said, he has the lowest passer rating against in the league of any cornerback. Have you a single time since he was drafted ever discussed playing him on the boundary and have you considered giving him some of S T.J. McDonald’s snaps at safety? Those two things.) – “Yes.”
(Yes on the first?) – “Yes to all of it.”
(And have you all determined that S Minkah Fitzpatrick could be a competent NFL corner on the boundary or is that unclear to you?) – “I think he has the skillset. I think it’s been a while since he’s done that – played on the outside. There’s a level of just going through that process with him and trying to figure out … Again, part of it (is) mental in terms of what we’ve put on his plate. Part of it is it’s another position and you’re trying to spread him a little thin at. The more he shows he’s capable, I think it’s a physical skillset. He has the ability to do that. He has performed well in coverage situations for us. Yeah, all of those things have been discussed and we’re working through some of those things right now.”
(I know obviously you’re not going to say anything from a competitive standpoint with a decision with regard to whether S Minkah Fitzpatrick picks up any of S T.J. McDonald’s safety snaps. Is that something that’s a possibility moving forward if you’re not willing to say it will or won’t happen?) – “I’m probably not willing to say any of that but everything is a possibility. Obviously we’re addressing a lot of things on defense right now so I mean everything is a possibility for us.”
(What was your approach to assessing your defense over the extended break that you had? How do you go about it?) – “Honestly, it was … Funny is probably not the right word to be using right now but (Head Coach) Adam (Gase) and I didn’t really get together. We independently kind of came to the same conclusion. I felt like our biggest issue was all of the explosive plays. We came in on Friday and just did … Everybody was in on Friday and did sort of our normal stuff and went through our grading process and that sort of thing. I met with the defensive staff before we left and kind of laid a couple of things out. So I came in independently on Saturday and just took all of our explosives from the season and went through that to try to pinpoint again whether it was schematic or just player or offensive scheme and sort of where that was becoming an issue. That’s where my starting point was. I felt like even within the bad games we’ve been having, there were good plays and stuff like that within them. So obviously (it was about) where the explosives were happening. Shoot, on Thursday night we gave up three 2-play touchdown drives. That’s just silly. That’s where I started for myself. It was funny (because) then Adam (Gase) circled back on me a little bit later on and he had kind of taken the same approach, so it was kind of interesting for me that we both kind of came to that conclusion independently. That was kind of my approach. I didn’t necessarily think it was just a consistent play after play after play after play (thing). It was these breakdowns are happening and these big plays are being created because of it. So we tried to dig in at where that was happening as a starting point.”
(Did you find common threads or did you find that it’s just everything?) – “It’s that. I mean there’s threads. The frustrating thing for me last week was … For example in the run game, we’ve had 23 explosive runs (this season) – 12-yard-plus runs. That was on our cutup reel. Twelve of them came in the last two games, so over half. We’re averaging one and a half in the first six games and we average six a game in the last two games. If there’s a trend like that or what’s going on and how that’s approaching … Some of that is there were a couple of offensive runs that were kind of similar schematically that we were getting and why we were having trouble fitting some of those runs up. So there’s threads like that. We obviously didn’t play well. We played very poorly. So I don’t think that in terms of … (It wasn’t) this one thing was the cause of all of this. (It wasn’t) if we just stop this one thing, that’s it. When you give up the yards you give up and the points you’ve been giving up, that’s systemic and there’s issues at all levels that have to be addressed. There were threads. There’s obviously commonalities in some stuff and that’s where you start to try to address things but I didn’t think it was like this one thing is what’s going on and we have to stop that.”
(Have you heard from Microsoft about any repairs?) – “(laughter) No.”
(Obviously that was a pretty emotional moment for you. What was going through your head right there?) – “Obviously I was frustrated. I was frustrated. Very frustrated. We were just cutting guys loose. He had five touchdown passes and four of them were to uncovered players. It’s not like they were contested catches or something got schemed up. We were just not even covering guys and dropping guys loose and getting out of things. So as that just kept building, it was a level of frustration. Obviously I didn’t realize I was going to get captured. I slammed one last year too and I don’t think anyone caught it. (laughter) So it was just that. It was built up and kind of an outlet. Unfortunately that was the closest thing I had in my hands and I took it out on an inanimate object.”
(Why were the receivers uncovered?) – “It wasn’t one player or one thing. It was … I wish I could answer that directly in terms of like … It was communication. Guys are miscommunicating things, not playing techniques the way they’re asking them to play techniques. It was different on every play. It wasn’t just one thing of saying every time we’re playing this thing wrong or we’re doing this. There were three different coverages on three of the touchdowns that are different coverages, different calls, different techniques and none of them are being executed the way we need to execute them. But again, the way I look at it, that’s on me. If it’s not getting done on the field then I start with myself. I have to re-examine what we’re asking those guys to do and whether it’s from a mental standpoint, a physical standpoint, a whatever standpoint. Even if in my mind a scheme is sound or a call is sound and it’s not getting executed on the field, we have to address why that’s happening. If it’s sometimes we’re asking them to do something they can’t do or things that maybe people can’t pick up or certain players can’t handle certain things, all of that stuff goes into it. That’s probably the harder part. I wish it would be a lot easier. It would have been a lot easier weekend for me if it was like this one guy can’t play this or it’s one call that’s happening here. If that’s the issue, it’s never going to be a 42-point, 500-yard game or whatever the heck that was. That would be an easier fix. There’s a lot of – at every level of the defense – miscommunication, just between groups and stuff. Really I went back to sort of big picture, how everything fits together and why we’re calling the things that we’re doing and why we’re asking you to do this job because it affects how this guy does this job and it affects how this guy covers this guy. We had to really get back to that and have everybody understand they’re not independent contractors and this thing all fits together. You can’t make a decision to say I’m going to do this to try to make this play when it trickles down and affects eight other guys or 10 other guys or whoever it is. We really got back to that part of things this week a little bit.”
(What did happen and what was supposed to happen on the long WR DeAndre Hopkins touchdown?) – “We were supposed to cover him.”
(Who’s responsibility was WR DeAndre Hopkins?) – “We’re supposed to have a corner take a vertical player out of that. It’s a hard play but obviously we don’t have any defense that’s designed to not cover anybody. That’s stupid. We were supposed to have a corner. They ran a bunch route and released him over the top of it. We’re supposed to squeeze to it. Visually we saw something different from the back end and we didn’t play it the way it was supposed to be played.”
(When we talked to Head Coach Adam Gase about defense – this is an oversimplification – but he said it’s not the scheme, it’s the players. More or less, that the plays are being called, they’re just not being executed. Is that the way you see it?) – “Look, we’re all to blame. For me, it goes back to a little bit of what I just said. Possibly … Yeah, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the scheme. Again, we’re not designing defenses to cut guys loose in the back end. We’re not designing defenses to give up 50-yard runs and not fit things right. Obviously, that’s not what we’re trying to do. We’re not scheming those things up. And I don’t think we’re just getting a hardcore scheme where they’re finding weaknesses in our defense in terms of schematic issues. But if players are having trouble executing what we’re trying to get done, then we have to find the reason behind that. We have to address all of that, whether it’s the stuff we can’t call, whether it sounds great and we call this play it’s going to be a great call for us, but if it can’t get executed, part of that’s on me. We can keep sitting there going ‘they should be able to do that, they should be able to do that, why aren’t they doing that?’ But at the end of the day, if they can’t, that’s something that has to be evaluated. It’s our job as a coaching staff to put our players in the best position to make those plays and to understand what they can and can’t do. Physically, what they can play, mentally, what they can handle and how they can execute that as a whole unit. I’m not going to blame the players. It’s my job, it’s our job to put those guys in the right spots. Again, some of it maybe it’s to that point, but I always start with myself and say ‘what am I asking these guys to do from a mental standpoint, from a physical standpoint?’ If it’s not getting done, then it has to be addressed from a coaching level all the way down to a player level. At some point, they have to learn some (expletive) and play some stuff. Excuse my language.”
(You said you were looking for common threads and just from the naked eye, it looked like some of those busts were happening with players who are veterans. They’re not new to the defense, your calls, the scheme. Is that accurate and is that concerning?) – “Everything is concerning right now, so yes to the second part. That will be the short answer. Again, it was everybody. I think a lot of factors. It’s hard to just give simple answers to this. Obviously, there’s a lot of complexity going on here. Yes, it was veterans making mistakes that shouldn’t have been made. There’s also guys pressing to make plays. The mentality of when things start kind of going off the farm a little bit and off the reservation, it’s not ‘I’m going to go make the play,’ because again, understanding how that unhinges everybody else. To me, you’re adding fuel to fire when this guy is trying to go make a play, so ‘I’m going to stop this by myself, I’m going to turn the tide here by myself.’ Now, you’re getting out of position and you’re leaving somebody else hanging out to dry and that trickles down, and that guy is saying ‘shoot, well I have to do this.’ That’s where the miscommunication or sort of one guy starting it and then all three levels of defense, it’s not meshing together properly. It’s all concerning to me. It’s all concerning that we have veteran guys that are doing things, whether the motivation is to make a play or the motivation is something else. Again, those are things that we’ve been going through and addressing and looking at. That’s all concerning to me and we’re trying to address it this week.”
(On one play, I saw CB Bobby McCain chasing a guy and S Reshad Jones is back there, the guy is going this way and he decides to go that way. And CB Bobby McCain is going … they’ve played…) – “They’ve played football for us and they’ve played together and they should be on the same page and communicating better on that, absolutely.”
(So are guys just freelancing essentially?) – “I wouldn’t call it that. I think it’s the nature … It’s the same as me throwing a tablet. Things start going bad and everyone is feeling that, and everyone wants to turn it. Again, they’re competitive players. No one wants to be doing what we were doing Thursday night. I think sometimes that they press to make plays and they try to kind of go a little bit out of the framework. I wouldn’t say they’re just doing whatever they want out there. They’re just trying to kind of jump a route or do something different. Or in the run game, ‘I’m going to just shed this guy and go make this play, I’m going to go get a TFL and that’s going to kind of spark us and get us going.’ I think the word freelancing kind of has more negative intentions to me. I don’t think they’re just saying ‘Screw this, I’m going to play whatever I want to play.’ I think sometimes, we’re pressing to make plays, especially once that gets rolling a little bit. We have to play the calls. I have to make the right calls and put them in the right spot. They have to execute the calls, the techniques we’re asking them to play and we’ll be fine.”
(Are there consequences for those who do not play the scheme repeatedly?) – “Yep.”
(Would that be a player’s starting job?) – “It could be, absolutely. We’d be remiss if we didn’t come in this weekend and Adam (Gase) and I went through a lot of stuff and study this from a personnel standpoint to a schematic standpoint to execution, all of that stuff. If we didn’t address everything and come in with answers and solutions to say ‘this is what’s going on.’ And it’s at all levels. There’s some scheme stuff that we’re tweaking and trying to do some different things. Part of that is player based, saying ‘maybe this guy can do this better than some of the stuff we’ve been asking him to do.’ But if there’s guys that can’t do what we’re doing, at some point, absolutely. At some point, they take ownership. We’re not asking them to do a lot of crazy stuff here. I think everyone is aware of where we’re at in the season. Having that mini bye week, kind of having that extended weekend – I think I talked to some of you guys. After the Detroit game, I felt like it was a blessing in disguise having a short week. I was like okay man, shoot. Sometimes it’s good to move on from that. Obviously, it wasn’t a one-time thing, so it was hard having that. It would have been great having a Thursday night game and feeling good about it and having a fun weekend and kind of refresh and rejuvenate. It was hard having to chew on that for 10 days essentially. We’re still eating that Thursday night game. It was hard; but again, at some level in terms of silver lining it, it afforded us some time to really sit down and dig into some things. We’re still going through that process.”
(How tempting is it to be like ‘what I’m doing hasn’t worked, I’m just going to call way different stuff?’ Is there danger in that? Like a big-time tendency break or whatever.) – “Yeah, there’s danger in that. We spent eight months or whatever it’s been, from March until now, training in certain techniques and doing things we want to do and trying to get these guys right and put all this work in. It would a little crazy to say ‘screw all that, let’s do all this instead.’ Now, they have to learn all new stuff. Again, I don’t see that as the issue. I really don’t. I don’t see our scheme is broken and we’re screwed up and all this. We have a fairly complex scheme and we have a lot of stuff we can call, so it’s more of maybe this part of it is something that we want to lean on more towards this area. To me, that would be akin to what I just talked about the players – ‘I’m going to make it right, I’m going to call all this crazy stuff and just fix it by doing all this stuff.’ Now, I’m putting all those guys in positions they’re not used to and getting them unhinged. That would be me contributing to the chaos. We have to get better at the stuff we’re asking them to do. Period. We have to play the stuff better. I have to make sure that we’re asking them to do things that they can do. If we have determined that they’re capable of doing that and we’re asking them to do that, and they don’t, then that’s on them. They have to execute those techniques and those schemes and get this done, because we obviously can’t live like this.”
