Brandon Bolden – November 11, 2018 (Postgame)
Sunday, November 11, 2018
Postgame – Green Bay Packers
Miami Dolphins RB Brandon Bolden (Transcribed by Green Bay Packers)
(on his blocked punt)
“It was just a good call. Everyone had their assignment and I just made it happen.”
(on the cold weather)
“There was a couple of guys that had never been in the cold weather before, but I felt like they went out and attacked it like they should have. I don’t think the weather played much part today.”
Brock Osweiler – November 11, 2018 (Postgame)
Sunday, November 11, 2018
Postgame – Green Bay Packers
Miami Dolphins QB Brock Osweiler (Transcribed by Green Bay Packers)
(on drives ending in field goals instead of touchdowns)
“Yeah, it’s very frustrating. Anytime you play a good team like the Packers, you know you have to score touchdowns. Field goals aren’t going to be enough. Really at the end of the day, those problems start and stop with me. I need to be better and I need to find a way to get this offense in the end zone scoring touchdowns. This is two weeks back-to-back now that we’ve struggled finishing drives in the end zone. Point blank, period. I’m the only guy on the team that touches the ball every play on offense and I need to find ways to be better and score touchdowns.”
(on what he needs to do better)
“Find ways to score touchdowns. Like I said, this football team deserves touchdowns the way the defense has played the last two weeks. Special teams making a big play for us. This whole organization just deserves better and like I said, I’m going to go to work tomorrow, in fact, on this flight I’m going to watch this game. We are going to watch the game again tomorrow and I’m going to find ways to get the ball in the end zone because I need to do better.”
(on going nine quarters without a touchdown)
“I think it just goes back to watching the game film on all those games. We need to look at, ‘Okay, when we cross the 50-yard line, what are we doing? What are we doing well and what are we not doing so well?’ But, more importantly, what can I do better? Like I said, whether it’s a run play or a pass play, the ball is my hands to make decisions for this football team. And obviously, I need to make better decisions.”
(on the mentality of the football team)
“This football team believes in itself, we really do. I think this football team does a great job of blocking out the outside noise and focusing on the task at hand. You saw tonight, overall, I really think our team played a great game. It’s just up to me to make plays to score more points. You look at our drives and we had plenty of opportunities. It’s just unfortunate because a lot of guys gave everything they had tonight and left it all out there on the field.”
(on the fumble on the opening drive)
“It’s just an unfortunate deal. Regardless of what happens, I just need to find a way to get my hands on the football, especially if the ball is on the ground, I need to find a way to get on top of it, especially down there. The offensive line and running backs and receivers did a tremendous job on the opening drive, whether it be run plays, pass plays, finding ways to have success. You know, if you want to beat a good football team like the Packers on the road, you can’t go down in the red zone and have turnovers. That’s just unacceptable.”
Adam Gase – November 11, 2018 (Postgame)
Sunday, November 11, 2018
Postgame – Green Bay Packers
Miami Dolphins Head Coach Adam Gase (Transcribed by Green Bay Packers)
(on injuries affecting the outcome of the game)
“I think we were able to adjust our plan, try to put ourselves in the right spot. Once we fell behind, having a turnover, that put us in a situation where they knew we were going to throw a little more. It just started collapsing with those guys pressuring us. We didn’t handle it very well.”
(on struggles with offense)
“We just have to execute in the red zone. When we get our chances, we need to hit what’s open, we need to protect at the right time, run the right routes. When we have what we’re looking for on defense, we have to make that play.”
(on playing well in the first three quarters)
“We felt like the run game was going okay. We were getting some good chunks and then it just really kind of dried up for us where we started getting second-and-long, third-and-long. We weren’t really getting the yards we were getting before. We were getting out of manageable situations. We were trying to find some ways to get some quick throws and get the ball out. They did a good job of covering us when they were in man. We shook free a few times and there were a couple of times when we got wired a little bit and it caused a negative play.”
(on inconsistencies week-to-week)
“That’s why we just keep working on making sure we can have four quarters of consistent football. You can see when they realize that we’re being a little too loose in certain spots and they tie it down and it stops for a little bit and then somebody does something where another one pops free. We just have to find a way to be consist for four quarters. I know those guys are working hard to try and get that done. Hopefully we can just keep that groove together in the last six weeks.”
(on what went wrong on offense)
“We turned it over. We didn’t take advantage of the opportunity. It just seemed like we had so many little things we were counting on – somebody making a play, a blocked punt, we get a turnover on downs, things like that. We didn’t take advantage of that on offense. And that hurts us and it’s hard. If we don’t execute the right things on offense and then now the defense is put into a bad position, it’s just this snowball effect for us and we needed to play a certain way. It was close and at the end of the day, we just didn’t get it done.”
(on if they believed they could win this game)
“I felt good about what our plan was as a team, what we needed to do. I think we missed the opportunities that we had. We either got a stop on defense, we had some kind of turnover, whether it be special teams blocking the punt. That field position we didn’t take advantage of. We had a good drive to open the game up and then we had a fumble. Those types of things you can’t do against this guy [Aaron Rodgers]. You do that and it’s just a matter of time before he makes it right. We had opportunities to at least get us to the fourth quarter where we’re either winning or it’s close and see what we can do, but we didn’t do that.”
Cameron Wake – November 9, 2018
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Friday, November 9, 2018
DE Cameron Wake
(The last time you guys went to Lambeau Field, you had a pretty nice day. It was a big win. What are your memories from that day?) – “It’s ancient history. I don’t know how many guys were on the team when that happened, probably three. That’s probably it. I don’t even think guys know about that. We’ll forget about it.”
(Do you like playing in Lambeau?) – “I like playing football. I like playing football in the back yard if you put some paint down. It doesn’t really matter to me. I’m not really big on the location. I’m more about the outcome.”
(But you don’t ever take time to appreciate the venues whether it’s Soldier Field or The Big House at Michigan or anything like that?) – “The Big House is in State College. (laughter) Probably when I’m done playing, I’ll probably go back and watch film and look at clips, so on and so forth. To be honest, I have a bigger job at the moment (than) to sightsee. I’ll come back and do the Hall of Fame and do all of the things you talk about and reminisce; but for Sunday, it’s about going there and getting the job done, then in the offseason I’ll go do my tour and do all that stuff.”
(Going against Packers QB Aaron Rodgers, how is he different than other quarterbacks as far as what you guys have to do to him?) – “I’m not going to say it’s the same old song and dance, but any time you have a quarterback that can be mobile, given the situation, you have to do your job. That’s been the theme the past few weeks: do your job. If your job is to be in a certain area, a certain place, close off a certain gap, you have to do that. Those guys are going to run for a first down or run and throw for a first down or throw for a first down. Either way, all of the guys have to be doing what they’re supposed to be doing, and this week is no different.”
(The defense had four interceptions last week. What was the defensive line’s role in those plays?) – “I always like to say this and (the DBs) won’t ever tell you this, but I think most of the time as a d-line, we’re probably highly accountable for interceptions and they’re probably, more than most people make a deal out of, more accountable for sacks. A lot of times you see a quarterback pumping and pumping and we get to him, everybody cheers us on and we did a great job. But the reality is somebody was back there covering a guy and he couldn’t get rid of the ball. A lot of interceptions, they were just throwing it before they want to. Maybe one of these big guys up front is getting after it. I’m going to have to tell T.J. (McDonald) and Walt (Aikens) they have to take me out for a steak dinner or something. (laughter) It’s playing together, complementary football. I always say front-to-back, side-to-side. When you get sacks up front, like we had a couple times last week, that was on them, and I like to say our interceptions are on us.”
(We’ve asked you many times about your commitment to nutrition, sleep, recovery. I’m wondering what you’ve noticed about your teammate LB Kiko Alonso and how he takes care of himself.) – “He’s an interesting character to say the least. As far as that is concerned, he’s definitely up there as one of the guys who takes tremendous pride in taking care of his body. Obviously, you watch him play on Sundays, it shows in his recovery and being able to get back to as close to 100 percent as he can every Sunday. I think that is from the things you do off the field. The traditional lifting weights and running and all that, everybody does that; but what are you going to do when nobody is watching, when you could get that McDonald’s cheeseburger or whatever it is that probably is not going to help you? Those are the things that make him a great player and I’m glad he’s on our side.”
(After your second sack, you kind of let out a fury of rage and a huge scream there during the game on Sunday. Was that a little built up for you?) – “That’s every sack. It’s hard to get there for however many, 90-whatever (career sacks). All of them are hard, every single time. You’ve put in a lot of time, energy, nutrition, sleep, sacrifice. A lot goes into that one three-second, four-second play. Not to beat a dead horse with my story; but all of the other things that kind of go into it, that moment is a little opportunity to release. That one is no different than the others.”
(What teammate comes closest to you in terms of diet discipline?) – “There’s a lot of guys. It’d be hard. I’d have to do a shadow to figure it out for sure. Even right now this week, for the next three hours there is a whole routine, from Pilates, yoga, stretching, cryo(therapy). We have it all and it’s a full house. There’s a lot of guys that have to do it. To be very honest, you won’t last very long if you don’t take care of yourself in that way. If you look at the guys who have been around for a long time, those guys have to be doing something right. When you’re not looking at them, they’re definitely taking care of themselves.”
(You mentioned routine so what is your pregame routine?) – “It’s a lot of mental preparation. I think at that point, a lot of the different stuff, if you are waiting until then, it’s too late if you’re talking about purely pregame Sunday. It’s a lot of mental things that I have to do obviously to get ready, whether it’s stretching, warming up, things like that. Traditional things, and then some – I don’t want to say superstitious – but things that for me personally I need to do to feel like I’m ready to go out there and play the game. There’s nothing magical or extraordinary. I like to stay in my own zone, put my blinders on and focus on the task at hand.”
(Not necessarily superstitious, but are there things that you only do that you have to do every Sunday?) – “I talk to my family. Again, I won’t say superstitious, but the people who supported me and kind of allowed me to be in the position I’m in. They’re my biggest fans obviously. That’s probably the biggest thing before every game, no matter what it is. Just touching base with them and getting back to that foundation. Aside from that, the rest of the stuff is kind of monotonous; but that, where your heart is, is the only way to go out there on Sunday.”
(Anything special you do as far as pregame meals?) – “Carbs. I’ve got to get ready. It’s crazy but you think about the way we play … I think a lot of guys eat at 9 or 10 o’clock in the morning and we don’t get another meal until after the game is over and it’s 5 o’clock. You have to get a lot of carbs, energy, proteins from eating greens, some proteins, chicken breast, things like that. Nothing world-changing, but you have to get the fuel in the vehicle when you’re riding around.”
(What’s a cheat meal or a cheat day like for you?) – “My lifestyle is changed so it’s not a cheat anymore. I don’t have it. I’ve structured my life in a way that what you would consider a cheat is no longer part of what I do anymore. To me, eating salmon and salad, that’s my life. I enjoy it. I do it everyday, offseason, on season and probably will for many years.”
(So you like to indulge in a salad?) – “Kale salad with a little oil and vinegar. That’s my cheat meal.”
(No dressing?) – “Oil and vinegar. That’s dressing to me.”
(And grapes?) – “Grapes, I guess. That’s a cheat. Dessert. Grapes.”
Adam Gase – November 9, 2018
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Friday, November 9, 2018
Head Coach Adam Gase
(Are you expecting T Laremy Tunsil and T Ja’Wuan James to play or is that going to be more of a game-time decision?) – “Yeah, it’s going to be game time. The fact that we had them out there today, it’s always good. But we’ll see tomorrow how they feel. It’s going to go up to the game.”
(We saw C/G Ted Larsen kind of doing some stuff on the side.) – “He’s struggled the last couple of weeks. We didn’t do as much with him this week. He’s going to be probably doubtful for the game. We’ve got to get him some rest and get him recovered.”
(So it would be C Jake Brendel…?) – “Yeah, I mean, we’ll see. We’ve got to see what happens with the tackles too. We’ve got about nine different lineups.”
(Is C Wesley Johnson also in the mix there for C/G Ted Larsen’s spot?) – “If you’ve got a pulse, you’re in the mix. (laughter) We’re out of guys.”
(LB Kiko Alonso, obviously he’s having a very good season. I talked to him about he takes care of his body. We always talk about DE Cameron Wake and how he doesn’t put any bad stuff in his body. It seems like Kiko is sort of similar to that in terms of sleep, nutrition, recovery. What are your observations about how he takes care of himself?) – “Training-wise, he’s one of those guys that you always see around the weight room. You always see kind of doing activation type things, sports science type things where he’s always working on flexibility, Pilates and those types of activities to keep his flexibility. His eating, I mean, you never seen him really eat anything that I would eat. (laughter) He does a great job being disciplined with all of that kind of stuff. I’m sure from where he was when he was younger compared to now, it’s probably light years different.”
(What do you eat?) – “Pizza. I’m trying to think of what else. Rice Krispies treats. Candy. It’s not good. (laughter)”
(Keeping with LB Kiko Alonso, the mentor role that he has with LB Jerome Baker and LB Raekwon McMillan, having a veteran presence to help those two younger guys out there.) – “It’s been interesting to watch those three guys kind of work together and the two young guys grow up. With Raekwon being here for a year, that has helped him almost like help ‘Bake,’ but at the same time he has somebody else to lean on. I think the communication really is what I’ve seen really develop over time since we started in the spring. I think it’s just three guys that love playing football and are able to sit in a room and talk about what they’re thinking about doing and how they want to communicate some things and how they can work through a game when the team is doing something and they’ve got to make adjustments.”
(The special teams group has been pretty good. What do you think makes Associate Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Darren Rizzi a good coach?) – “It starts with the experience he has. When I got this job, it was nice that there was a guy that was here that was a veteran coach that had been around in multiple systems within the organization. His relationship with our players, knowing those guys so well, he’s able to put them in the right spots. He uses guys to the max. Whatever their potential and their max ability is, he uses it all. And he knows … Whether it be to simplify or complicate things for the other team, he does a good job of using that group and whoever it’s been because we’ve had some moving pieces. We’ve had injuries to where he’s had to kind of shake some guys and move them around and re-train them on the fly. I think his communication is off the charts with how him and ‘Mouf’ (Assistant Special Teams Coach Marwan Maalouf) do things. They’re able to split things up. There’s a lot of trust between those two to be able to do what they do. It seems like every year there’s somebody that you almost think, this guy might go to the Pro Bowl. They always seem to have somebody that you never expected. Like last year, with (Kenyan) Drake. He was having an unbelievable year before he basically started playing offense all of the time. He seems to always find one guy that you don’t expect to really be that big of an impact player and they end up being an impact player.”
(How would you evaluate the progress of the two rookie tight ends, Mike Gesicki and Durham Smythe?) – “I think they’ve done well. They’ve gotten better. I know everybody wants to look at stats and all that type of thing, but Mike has gotten better in a lot of different areas. I think Durham, he constantly is improving. We see a lot of things in practice that you don’t actually get an opportunity to do in games or we’re not getting the right coverages. Really, you’ve just got to pay attention to the type of things when we’re doing it out here and we see that type of growth. We just know at some point either this year or down the road it’s going to be good for us as an organization because I think those two guys can help us for a long time.”
(A little bit of an odd one but guys always have their routines before games and whatnot. What’s the most unusual one you’ve seen in your career?) – “I don’t know. I don’t pay attention. I mean, the only one I ever really associated with was when Peyton (Manning) would … like in 2012 when he first got there, we kind of started doing his throwing routine, but he had to do less throws than what he did. Him and Marvin (Harrison) and Reggie (Wayne) and those guys were out there. I mean, it was like 100 throws. I think we were down to like 14 or something like that before the game. But then we quit going out because it was like every place we went it was like a circus for him. He’s like, ‘I’m done.’ After like five games, he started doing something different staying in and then just going out.”
(How did DE Charles Harris’ body respond to his practicing Thursday?) – “Good, because he was actually able to do some stuff today. He looks different. Last week when I saw him kind of doing some of those drills, I was like, how far off is he? And then when I saw him this week, you could tell he’s confident, he’s bursting. He looked like what we want him to look like. I think we’re close. I think we’ve just got to keep monitoring him and make sure that we don’t jump the gun.”
(Do you anticipate making any roster moves on the o-line this weekend?) – “I haven’t even thought that far. Are you talking about like after this game?”
(No, I’m talking about just like getting extra bodies.) – “I don’t know if we really … we’re not really worried about that right now because I think we have enough guys to get through this game and then after that, we’ve just got to re-assess and see where we are injury-wise.”
Dowell Loggains – November 8, 2018
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Thursday, November 8, 2018
Offensive Coordinator Dowell Loggains
(The play you guys have gotten at guard, obviously losing G Josh Sitton is huge, has C/G Ted Larsen been adequate in your mind? Are you looking for more from that position where maybe you’d consider C Jake Brendel or C Wesley Johnson?) – “Ted has stepped in and fulfilled the role for us. Obviously, it’s a big hit when you lose a player like Josh Sitton and that’s not going to be replaced by … Very few guards in the league can replace him, because he’s one of the top guards in the NFL. But Ted, he’s played solid to this point. Obviously, there’s definitely things we need to improve. Some of the stuff in pass pro last week, we got a little sloppy as a unit and allowed a little bit of push that we need to get cleaned up and we worked hard this week to clean some of those things up.”
(Incorporating RB Kalen Ballage, is that something that Head Coach Adam Gase was thinking of? Had you put a bug in his ear as far as some Wildcat, which obviously, he did in college?) – “Yes, sir. He had the one big game where he scored a bunch of touchdowns. I think against Texas Tech he scored like seven or eight touchdowns in a game in college. He does a really good job with that stuff. You guys saw the explosiveness. You guys see it every day when you’re here. But the explosiveness … He hit that run that got called back for the hold. At that point, I thought it was going to bring a little energy to the offense right then and punch one in, in the run game right there out of the Wildcat package. The way the game played out, obviously, we had a package for him with more plays and we’ve had a couple weeks now. As you start to learn your personnel a little bit more, you start to grow those packages. Sometimes you put it in, but you don’t call it until a week or two later. We have plays off those things. He’s obviously a guy that could help, but we have some depth at running back. We have three good players back there that can help us.”
(What’s the biggest challenge the Packers defense poses?) – “It’s a good unit. You don’t want to take away from anyone, but those two interior guys are really good players, (Kenny) Clark and (Mike) Daniels. They’re good football players. It’s as good a group as we’re going to play at this point inside, so the guards and center are going to have a challenge this week and they need to step up and play well for us.”
(You guys won a game on Sunday, but got 6 points out of the offense. How do you rectify that?) – “Our goal always is to score one more point than they did. Obviously, it was a team win, because the defense scored a touchdown and we weren’t able to. But we didn’t execute the way we needed to. At times this year, we’ve relied too much on splash plays and not execution and the detail of those things. When you don’t get those splash plays and you don’t execute the way you need to, you’re going to get into some slug fights. One thing we’ve done a really good job of this year in those games is we didn’t turn the ball over. I think in the NFL, we have the second fewest pre-snap penalties in the NFL. You guys know the old saying, ‘To win, you can’t lose first,’ and that’s what the offense did. We did enough not to lose the game and the other two phases played really well and we were able to get out with a win and we didn’t beat ourselves. If I’m looking for a positive, that’s what I would say it was, because that’s about the only one.”
(With the splash plays, losing WR Albert Wilson limits that. He was your biggest big-play guy the first few weeks of the season. Do you have to change your offense because of that?) – “You don’t change your offense and we still have guys that can do it. ‘19’ (Jakeem Grant) can do it, ‘32’ (Kenyan Drake), ‘10’ (Kenny Stills), ‘11’ (DeVante Parker). Those guys have done it. You just can’t rely on those things. You have to rely on execution and detail of your assignment. Those are things that we need to work on and improve. We need to coach it better and we need to execute better, because you can’t rely on splash plays to score 28 (points). You play 65 plays in a game, you can’t rely on six, seven plays to win the game for you. We need to put drives together and finish drives.”
(Do you feel like since the quarterback change, has that made it more apt for you to look at no turnovers as a goal whereas maybe more than previously with QB Ryan Tannehill?) – “No, sir. I feel like when we first got here in the offseason, one of the big things we wanted to clean up was some of the discipline stuff, the pre-snap penalties and the turnovers. One of the biggest stats in winning and losing is the turnover ratio. We knew if you can finish plus-five, you have a chance to have a really good football season. We’re at plus-five right now. We really do believe in the building that before you can win, you can’t lose. A lot of teams in the NFL right now when you look and say, ‘Why did we win or lose a game?’ Well most times it’s (like in) the Cincinnati game (when) we had too many turnovers. We played two-and-a-half really good quarters of team football and we turned the ball over at the end. If you don’t turn those balls over and you punt or you take a sack, whatever it is, most times you’re going to have a chance. It’s going to come down to the last series of the game. Turnovers have always been a big priority for us and it’ll continue to be.”
(With RB Kenyan Drake, his versatility, how important is that especially with how WR Albert Wilson is gone? You have a player that can do so much for you guys.) – “Kenyan is a big part of this offense. We need to continue to find ways to get him the ball and not just in the passing game but get him carries as well. When the game didn’t go the way we wanted, obviously, we kind of got off. We’d like the number to be closer or more similar (with) how many touches each guy has. Kenyan is a guy that has a lot of flexibility. He can flex out and run routes. He can catch balls and do those things. He’s also a good running back from the backfield. We need to do a better job using him, keep making sure we keep getting him the ball. He’s a guy that can definitely score for us and we need those guys.”
(How do you make sure that discrepancy isn’t so wide, the 20 to three carries?) – “We just have to do a better job during the game. Each game is going to sort out differently. Sometimes he’s involved more in the passing game than he is getting carries and doing those things. Sometimes it’s based on other things. We felt the inside stuff we were a little bit better at and Frank (Gore) was doing a nice job of finding holes and getting skinny and getting through. Not that Kenyan can’t do that, but that’s Frank’s game. The way the game was playing out, Kenyan was getting used more in the passing game. So, it’s something that we’ll definitely monitor. I don’t see any discrepancy that’ll happen in the future, but it could or it could go the other way where Frank doesn’t get more carries or ‘27’ (Kalen Ballage) starts to play a little bit. We’ll continue to use those guys and try to put them in the best position to be successful.”
(How much was WR Kenny Stills able to give you guys last week and can you get a bigger package for him I guess this week?) – “Kenny battled through some things. I don’t know that he was full speed, but I don’t know if anyone in the NFL at this point is full speed. He battled and fought through some pain and soreness and all of those things. As he gets healthier, there will be plays definitely designed for him. He’s a guy that can do a lot of different things and he can win on deep balls for us.”
Darren Rizzi – November 8, 2018
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Thursday, November 8, 2018
Associate Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Darren Rizzi
(We have a few rookie kickers in the league this year. Would you say that K Jason Sanders has been the best of them?) – “I don’t know about that. That’s one I’d have to think about for a minute. Certainly, I’m very pleased with where he’s at. Any time with a rookie kicker, you’re certainly expecting some peaks and valleys. The Chargers just signed (Michael) Badgley from UM. He had a short stint with them, now he’s back. I’m kind of thinking through the guys. Eddy Pineiro obviously had an injury and he’s done for the year. Daniel Carlson is on his second team. With every rookie class, kickers are kind of a weird position because it may take a guy a couple of years to catch on. It’s one of those things you have to track for a couple years. Right now, obviously we’re very happy with where Jason is consistency-wise kind of through this point in the season, but we still have a long way to go, so we’ll see how that goes.”
(With RB Kalen Ballage and with CB Cornell Armstrong, would you say special teams work in sum has been average, a little above average, well above average?) – “I like where both guys are. As I said last week, I’m a hard grader, so I don’t know if I’m the right guy to ask on the grading system. I made mention of this earlier in the season, I really thought Cornell Armstrong, since the day he walked in is probably, if not the most improved rookie, certainly one of the most improved and one of the most improved guys on the team. I think he did a great job of picking up special teams and kind of just getting better every preseason game, every practice. I’ve really liked his progression. Ballage was in a little bit of a different situation when he got here because he had a lot of experience. He had much more experience. He played for a special teams coach that coached in the NFL, so he was a little bit ahead of the curve as far as rookies go. My expectation level for him was maybe a little bit higher than some of the other rookies. The games that he’s been active, he’s obviously played a bunch of roles. We’ve had him back there as a kick returner, we’ve had him as a gunner, we’ve had him as a cover guy. Cornell as well. Both of those guys have worn probably a few more hats than most rookies would. They have high play totals. Right now, you’d have to be pretty pleased with where they are. I don’t really want to put a grade on it yet. Like I said, there’s still a lot of games to go. They’ve been very productive in terms of what we’ve asked them to do so far and played multiple positions, so that is certainly a plus.”
(By our count, we see that they need two tackles this week just to make it through the game. That means that they’re going to take from you in terms of one of your running backs, Brandon Bolden or Senorise Perry. Who plays more jobs on that unit?) – “All of those guys right now. Just as far as running backs go, all of those guys in the last few weeks have been four-core guys. They’ve all been on all four teams. As far as the actives go, I’ve said this before, it’s contingency plan, contingency plan, contingency plan. That’s what a special teams coach does. Depending on who the actives end up being, we’re going to have a plan in place for all. We kind of have ongoing discussions and we’ll kind of have a final discussion at the end of the week and see what is the best scenario for us. I have to have a plan if anybody goes down – a tackle, running back, safety, corner. Whoever it is, we’re going to kind of have a contingency for all of those. We’ll have a plan in place and kind of see where we’re at. All of those guys have been four-core guys the last few games when Ballage, Perry and Bolden have been up. Those guys have all been four-core guys in the last weeks. Senorise Perry obviously got a little bit more time so far this year than Ballage because he was inactive for a couple of games, but they’ve all been integral parts of what we’re doing, for sure.”
(How many four-core guys do you have and is it now a body type?) – “You kind of have your ideal guy at the beginning of the season, but as we all know, when injuries happen, you might not go to ideal. You go to the next man up and it is what it is. If you think through the offensive guys right now, the three running backs are four-core guys. (Leonte) Carroo, since he’s been active with injuries and whatnot, he’s been a guy that’s been a four-core guy. Defensively, obviously Mike Hull is a guy that only came back last week, but he’s a four-core guy for us. The secondary, obviously Walt Aikens is a guy, Cornell Armstrong has been a four-core guy. It depends on the game, the game plan and things like that, but he has been as well, so those guys are the guys. Stephone Anthony is a guy. When (Martrell) Spaight has been active, if he ends up being active this week, he’s a guy that’s a potential four-core guy. You have about seven or eight guys that are kind of your group there.”
(They seem to be getting smaller. Is that just because of the changes with the kickoff rule?) – “In the beginning of the season, with the way the makeup of our roster was, we had a few more starters play on a couple of teams, so that kind of knocks down a couple of the core guys. It depends on where we are right now with the roster. We’ve kind of upped our core players and maybe taken a little bit off of some of the guys where you may have a starter or two playing one or two teams. The more core players you have at the game, the less those guys (play). It’s kind of a formula every week. It’s never the same. That’s the challenge for me. It’s never the same. It’s certainly not going to be the same in Game 10 as it was in Game 1, that’s for sure. That’s all across the league. We kind of work that formula every week.”
(You mentioned last week that you went over something before the game and then it happened in the game. From what I understand, you were yelling at him to get on the line or get off the line and so was the ref. How often does that happen?) – “Are you talking about the Houston game with (Cordrea) Tankersley when he was behind the 40-yard line?”
(Yes.) – “When the new rules went into place, the officials changed their dynamics and alignments. Now, they’re kind of watching that set-up zone, that 15-yard area. They have one official watching the front line, they have another official watching the back. That guy is on the 40. He’s trying to help the guys out initially. When you’re just getting set up, he kind of gives you the friendly reminder. What happened with Tankersley was he started up and backed up. So when the guy walked in to say ‘watch the 40-yard line’ and then the official backed out, then Tankersley backed up. He tried to yell to him real quick. I saw it as well, I came up and tried to yell it to him real quick. He just lost where he was on the field with his feet. That’s what happens. To answer the second part of your question, I’ll speak special teams-wise. There’s certain things in the game that are unique to special teams that the officials will remind you of. I’ll give you an example. Field goal – they make that big push now about covering the long snapper. Usually, the guy is in charge of that. Not every official, but usually, the guy will walk up and give you a gentle reminder, either in the beginning of the game or some guys do it every down – ‘remember, you can’t cover the center.’ The officials don’t want to call those. They really don’t. They don’t want to call the ticky-tack stuff. It’s not good for them, it’s not good for anybody. So a lot of times they’ll give you a heads up on things like that. That’s just one example. That 40-yard marker, that eight guys in the set-up zone, is another one. They’ll say ‘you guys know you have to be in here,’ and they’ll give you a gentle reminder. The new kickoff line rule with everybody up on the 34-yard line now, within a yard. Usually, when a guy is handing the kicker the ball, you see him talking to the guys. That’s usually what he’s saying. Those are things they don’t want to call. When you talk to the officials, they don’t like calling those ticky-tack things. In our situation, if you’re over the line, you have to throw the flag and that’s kind of what happened on that one.”
(A couple weeks ago, we talked about your manual for NFL stadiums and how to kick in those certain stadiums. What does it say about Lambeau Field?) – “Lambeau Field is an interesting field. Obviously, the beginning of the season, middle of the season and end of the season are going to be different times of year. The weather is always a factor there. What’s the wind like? There’s a little bit of a crosswind there. It’s obviously a natural grass field. All of those things play into the stats. It’s one of those stadiums that a lot like most northern stadiums, where it’s playing totally different the beginning of the year as to the middle of the year. I would consider this the middle of the year right now as opposed to the end of the year. Middle of the year, it depends on what kind of day you get, the wind and all of that kind of stuff. Obviously, we’ll get out there and kind of test it out. They haven’t played on the field in a couple of weeks, so you’re thinking the field conditions would be decent. We’ll see what the precipitation is like, rain before the game or snow or whatever. Obviously, the wind, the weather, all of those things will play into it. It’s been interesting. They’ve had a very consistent kicker there for a long time, so that kind of plays into the stats as well. I look more at the opposing kicker. So when I’m looking at Lambeau Field and how it plays in the middle of the season, I’m looking at the opposing kickers. I’m usually not looking at the Packers’ kicker. Mason Crosby has obviously been there a long, long time. So you’re kind of seeing how other teams have come in, how they’ve done and how it’s kind of played out like that. Overall, it’s kind of middle of the road. It’s not drastically good or drastically bad. It’s kind of a middle-of-the-road type of deal.”
(Are you also looking at punters, like how many opposing punters punt inside the 20?) – “Absolutely. We’re looking at the same type of things. On game day, you can never predict what exactly it’s going to be; but you’re kind of looking at the history of the stadium, how the punters have done as well, what their success has been. Obviously, when you get there on game day, sometimes you can throw that out because you could have a crazy day. If we get some snow or rain or wind or whatever, that certainly will play into it. We have to do a great job with the football and all of those things and we’ll see what it’s like when we get out there on Sunday.”
(It’s the second time this year that one of your guys has got an AFC Special Teams Player of the Week award. Do they get an extra sticker on your board when they win something like that?) – “(Matt Haack) got a belt this week. You guys know we give out the special teams belt. It’s hard not to give the AFC Special Teams Player of the Week the belt, that’s what I joke around. I’m very proud of Matt, I’m very proud of Jakeem (Grant). I think individual awards are great. No different than I said when Jakeem won his, the other 10 guys had helped him with his situation. With Matt Haack, (it’s) the same thing. Our gunners did a great job last week, our protection was very good, John Denney was very good. (It was a) solid game by everybody around. Usually it takes some help to get one of those awards, but great job by Matt Haack. Obviously with the field position last week, it really played a major part of our game. I think the Jets’ average starting point was the 18-yard line for the entire game, not only after punts but kickoffs as well. The field position was huge last week. That’s something we constantly talk about. Seven punts inside the 20 for him and I think all nine punts inside the 25 if I’m not mistaken. Just a really great job by him and our coverage. One of the things we talked about last week was Andre Roberts had been the top punt returner statistically in the AFC, so limiting his opportunities and when he does get returns, having great coverage and rallying to the ball, great pursuit, great angles. We did a great job in both. Not only the punting part of it, but the coverage part of it as well. I’m certainly proud of Matt and kind of what he’s done.”
Matt Burke – November 8, 2018
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Thursday, November 8, 2018
Defensive Coordinator Matt Burke
(It seems hard to be in your job this week facing the Green Bay Packers and QB Aaron Rodgers.) – “It’s a fun challenge for us. He’s obviously one of the great players in the league – great quarterbacks in the league. It’s going to be a challenge. It’ll be fun.”
(How do you explain what your vision was for S Minkah Fitzpatrick and then what the execution was last week?) – “Obviously with Minkah, we’re excited about him as a player and his talent and what he brings to the table. We’re just trying to find different ways to get him on the field in different spots and utilize his skillset. Every time we’ve done that and put him in a spot to perform, he’s performed well. That was the vision: just keep finding ways to get him some different playing time and utilize … One of the reasons, even going back to the draft and why we brought him in, was his versatility in terms of what he brings to the table from that point of view. We’re just trying to find ways to utilize those different skills that he has.”
(Were you really thinking cornerback back then for S Minkah Fitzpatrick? I know you guys made that move in August but when you drafted him, were you thinking if you had to, if things went wrong, we could play this guy at corner?) – “You have all sorts of scenarios. I don’t think we ruled anything out with Minkah. Every time we ask him to do something, he shows that he can do it. Obviously earlier in his college career, he had some of that experience on the outside part of the field. Kind of all bets are open with him and again, the more we keep giving him, the more he keeps responding. Play to play, game to game, series to series, we’re just trying to find different ways to utilize him in the best way possible and find a chance to get him in a matchup that we like or in a spot that we like or in a call that we like or whatever it is. I wouldn’t say it was like, in the draft, ‘This is a guy that’s going to play corner for us or be this for us,’ but that was obviously one of the biggest things in terms of going through that process with Minkah was saying this guy is real versatile and has a lot of different abilities that we can try to take advantage of. I feel like we’ve all talked in here before about the way the league is going and the passing game is going and the type of athletes you need on the field and those sort of things, so that’s a valuable weapon for us to have.”
(Your relationship with S Reshad Jones is what and did you need to rehabilitate that relationship this week?) – “No, I don’t think so. I know (Head Coach) Adam (Gase) has been in here a bunch and probably spent too much time going through all of this. We’ve had a lot of conversations – the whole defense, myself, Reshad and myself, Adam and myself. I think we’re all on the same page. We have a big challenge ahead of us this week, so we’re really trying to move forward. That’s been addressed with the team, with Adam, with myself and the defense, and I think everyone is on the same page moving forward. We’re going to try to go win a ballgame in Green Bay on Sunday.”
(Everybody is saying that you’re all on the same page now so the question is what wasn’t on the same page?) – “Obviously there was some sort of disconnect. I can’t really get to the details or specifics of how that came about. I think any time anything happens, the important thing for us is trying to move forward as a team. We’re in the middle of … This is hard. We’re in the middle of a tough stretch of games we need to win. There’s been a lot of conversations at all levels the last four days or whatever it’s been. I think the important thing for us is it’s been a very transparent process, I think, on all sides and where we’re at. I think we’re just trying to put it behind us and move forward.”
(Are you comfortable with the answer you got from S Reshad Jones as to why he took himself out of the game?) – “I’m comfortable with everything. I’m comfortable with where we’re at right now. I’m comfortable standing in front of you guys saying that we’ve gone through a process as an organization to address anything that we felt we needed to address and we feel like it’s been addressed. Like I said, I’ve got a lot of stuff to get ready for on Sunday. I’ve wasted too much energy on a lot of stuff already so my energy is going to be on getting ready for Green Bay.”
(What went into the strategy and the decision to implement a secondary rotation?) – “Again, I think we talked about after the Houston game (that we) obviously weren’t playing at the level that we want to be playing at and competing at. Adam (Gase) and I spent a lot of time together that weekend going through a lot of things. So as a coaching staff, we just felt there were different opportunities. I don’t want to say it’s a burden but we have a lot of good players back there. We have a lot of, we feel like, good players that we want to get on the field in different spots. We felt it wasn’t obviously working to just stick with one thing and do whatever we were doing in those two weeks prior. As an organization, as a coaching staff, we said this is one thing that may help some things. We made a lot of other changes that maybe weren’t as obvious from some schematic stuff and some little things that we were tweaking and working with. That was part of that process that we went through – through the half-off week – and through things we addressed, we said this is something that we’re going to try to use to get some players on the field and do some different things moving forward to not play like we played in the Detroit and Houston games.”
(S Reshad Jones has been a leader on this team, at least that’s our perception. Does his standing on this team change coming out of this?) – “I think he’s … Again, it’s been addressed with the defense. We try to be as transparent and as honest as possible. I know he’s had conversations with his teammates and how he’s going to move forward with things. I don’t see an issue with that.”
(Would the preference be to be able to determine at some point in the next few weeks which of the many roles you have S Minkah Fitzpatrick doing now is best for him or are you perfectly happy and think it’s good to move forward with using him in many different spots as you did last week?) – “I think every week there’s different challenges. There’s different players you’re trying to combat, there’s different schemes you’re trying to deal with. I don’t know that every week we would look at something and say it’s good to move him around so much this week. I think that’s just something we come into as we game plan for a week not just with him, (but) with all of our players. ‘This week, this is what we’re facing. These are the issues, the players, the scheme that we’re trying to attack, so how can we line these guys up in the best form possible to win a ball game this week?’ An advantage of having a player like Minkah is that he’s able to do that and slide between positions. Look, I know this is all getting brushed under the rug but there were a lot of players on Sunday that played multiple positions and that moved around. Bobby (McCain) played inside and outside. We had a rookie corner (Cornell Armstrong) get work for the first time all year. We had two d-tackles that we signed on whatever day – Tuesday or Wednesday – that played for us (and) played a lot of snaps for us. There were a lot of guys that did those types of things as well. I know Minkah obviously is a first-round draft pick and gets the spotlight, but there were a lot of guys that moved some spots and did some different things and new players that stepped up for us on Sunday also. That’s kind of where we’re at. Every week we’re going to try to find … ‘These are the guys that are available to us this week’ and where can we line those guys up to best win a ball game?”
(Do you feel like as a defense that your best ball is still ahead of you?) – “Yeah, I hope so. Hope is not a strategy but you hope the trend from last week is more where we’re heading than the weeks prior. If we execute the way we executed against Houston, then no. It won’t look like it did last week. If we execute and perform the way we performed last week then we’ll have a chance to hopefully put a decent showing together. Yeah, you’d like to think (your best ball is ahead of you). It’s whatever the quote is. ‘Once you think you’ve got it figured out, you’re screwed.’ We’re not approaching this week any different. The first thing I told the guys on Wednesday when we came in was … Last week we came in on Wednesday obviously coming off the two bad games and said ‘Look, all I know is we have to go back to work. Here’s some things we’re going to do. Here’s some solutions. Here’s what we’re trying to do.’ And we just went back to work. We went back to fundamentals, back to technique work and got back to kind of our roots. I think some of that showed on Sunday. So when I came back in yesterday, it was the same thing. Just because now we think we’re coming off a great win, we have to go back and do … The reason we got to Sunday is because of what we did Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and going into that. So we had to take the same approach yesterday and the same approach today, and hopefully that gives us the best chance to have a similar showing on Sunday.”
(You gave us a chuckle last week when you said ‘at some point you just have to learn some bleep.’) – “Yeah. I try not to curse as much anymore. (laughter)”
(Did they learn some bleep over the last week, do you think? Was that a factor?) – “I think it comes down to execution. My perspective … I think the term ‘something’s broken, we fixed it.’ I think that’s the wrong lens to look things through. I think as a defense we focused better, we executed better and the results showed. We had not many mental errors, we had not many missed tackles, we didn’t have some of those things. We had no pre-snap penalties, no post-snap penalties. We had those back-to-back face masks that were kind of a couple of freaky deals there. So some of those things … The errors, the error in our game were kind of cut out. I don’t know if that’s learning some (expletive) or if that’s just … And we tried to as a staff. Our job is to say, ‘What do we think these guys can do? What do we think we can put on these guys’ plates? How much, what schemes, physically, what we are asking these guys to do that they can or can’t?’ Maybe we found some things that we feel that these guys can execute better. We’re going to keep working to do that every week and find answers to put those guys in the position to make some plays.”
(We all have ego, we all have pride, we all have emotions as human beings – coaches, players, and journalists. What have you found to be the way you try to approach not just drawing up football plays but managing personalities, emotions, all of that stuff?) – “Honestly, I don’t know how you guys feel about me so we don’t have to get into that part of it, but I try to be as transparent as possible with you. I consider myself a pretty honest person, pretty genuine. That’s how I try to approach things with the players. At the end of the day, this is 15 years in the league for me. To me, I’ve always found guys just want to know you care about them, know you’re invested into what’s important to them, know you’re invested into the team. I try to make that clear with my actions and my words. I try to spend time with almost everybody on the defense. It was hard coming from a linebacker job when you’re obviously focused on a smaller group. I’m conscious to try to make sure I get around with all the groups and spend time with everybody and make sure I try to have conversations about what I think is in their best interests. At the end of the day, we’re all on the same page. We all want to win ball games. Everybody does. You guys do too. It’s probably easier to cover a team that’s winning ball games. At the end of the day, if they think your interests are trying to help them be a good player and be the best player they can be and help win ballgames and all of the focus is on that, then those egos tend to move to the side pretty quickly. If everyone’s focus and attention is on let’s get better and go win … That’s where I approach things from.”
(How has this week been for you emotionally? You had a really good week but this S Reshad Jones thing is taking center stage.) – “Yeah. Well, you guys know I don’t read anything you write. No offense. (laughter) I don’t have the energy. I’m spending too much energy doing other stuff. Honestly, the thing I was most disappointed about with all of it was that it took the focus off a great effort by all of those guys that played. That was a great … Just from an effort and energy standpoint. Don’t tell Adam (Gase) this … (laughter) But every possession was critical. It was a tight game the whole way. It felt like every possession that we were out there was critical. It was a 3-point game, a 3-point game, we’re going back out there and just the energy and emotion with those guys, it was cool, especially coming off a disappointing performance the week before. The emotional part for me was that I felt bad it took away from the highlight of some of those guys on what we accomplished on Sunday. Again, that’s the 24-hour rule. It’s the next day and we have to move on. This is not an easy offense we’re about to go face. I don’t have the time to be emotional about worrying about all of this other stuff. We have conversations we have to have conversations about, but I’ve moved on. We’ve moved on. Monday afternoon I’m looking at Green Bay getting ready to figure out how we’re going to contain this offense. It’s an emotional game and there are emotions involved in everything we do. In a sense, my job is easy because I have to focus on putting a plan together to go beat the Packers. That’s where I put my energy to try to win this next ball game.”
(True or False: last week all the players in your secondary knew there was to be a rotation system on game day?) – “I’m not going to get into the details of how everything went about. I think things were clear in terms of what our approach would be on Sunday.”
(So true?) – “That’s my answer.”
(Why would S Reshad Jones be upset about it if he knows. That’s what’s confusing to us.) – “I can’t answer questions for Reshad or for anybody else. I can tell you again, we’ve addressed what happened and I’ve had multiple conversations with Adam (Gase) and everybody else in the building about it. We’ve come to a point as an organization, as a team, that we’re settled where we’re at and again, we’re trying to put that behind us and move forward to the next game.”
(If you choose to do what you were going to do last week, which is not play S Reshad Jones on certain snaps, are you fully confident he will accept that and go back into the game on Sunday when called upon?) – “Yes.”
