Frank Gore – October 4, 2018
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Thursday, October 4, 2018
Running Back Frank Gore
(You’re a veteran, you’ve been to a lot of postgames. What’s the film session like after the game last week?) – “It’s tough to watch. We know that we didn’t play well. We watched the film and everybody felt the same way. We lost. Now it’s the second quarter and we move on.”
(Do young guys turn to you on how to handle a difficult situation?) – “I think when you’ve been playing this game for a while … The goal is to win every game, but you have to be real with yourself. The way that we played, we can’t beat anybody the way we played. We all felt the same way. We’re better than what we put out there last Sunday. We watched the film and now we move on to Cincinnati. Also, it’s the second quarter and we’ll try to be 1-0 this Sunday.”
(I know that the offense struggled a little bit on third-down conversions, but let’s go back further – what’s the bigger problem on first and second down?) – “I just think they played better than us.”
(But just in general?) – “We just … Nothing was clicking. They played better than us. They won.”
(What’s it going to take to get the running game going for you and RB Kenyan Drake both?) – “We have to get more opportunities. I mean that by staying on the field more. If you stay on the field more, you’ll get more touches. These last couple weeks, we just haven’t been on the field.”
(Do you feel like both of you are more dangerous when you get the ball in your hands more and get some rhythm going?) – “I think we are both pretty good backs. I think whenever we can get into a rhythm and stay on the field more, we’ll have better opportunities.”
(There are some big changes in the offensive line. How does that affect the run game?) – “It’s the NFL. Next man up. Our coaches do great with the guys where they knew who they are putting in (for) the guys who got hurt. They know what they’re good at and what they’re not good at, so that’s a plus.”
(What does it take to win on the road? You’ve obviously won big games on the road.) – “We just have to start fast. Start fast, take it one play at a time and believe in us, and it’ll happen.”
(Do you feel like sometimes on the road, if you don’t start fast, that ball can get rolling down the hill a little bit?) – “Yes. It’s tough. If you don’t, if you’re not going to start making plays, it can be a tough day.”
(What’s it like on the road taking the home crowd out of the game?) – “It’s great. That feels good. Hopefully this Sunday we can go out there and start fast and try to get this win.”
(Why do you feel like you guys are better than what you showed on Sunday?) – “I know what we’ve put in since, I would say not even training camp, just the offseason. How close (we are) and how hard work we work together and our hard work for each other, and how good our coaches are in putting us in a great situation. That’s why I feel like we’re better than what we put out there on Sunday.”
(Head Coach Adam Gase said you’re the one player who played well on Sunday.) – “We lost, so it doesn’t matter. I try to go out there every day, every game and try to give my team 110 percent. That’s my goal.”
(What, if anything, have you said to your partner RB Kenyan Drake?) – “We just have to stay in the same mind – stay clear – and just keep practicing (and) keep working. Something will happen for us, for both of us. We work hard every day. We study the way we study. When our time comes, everybody will see.”
(Your memories of the Florida State-Miami rivalry week?) – “It’s big. It shows who is the best in Florida. That game will be big. It doesn’t matter who has the best team that week because both teams will get up to play against each other. I think Miami will be ready”
(Did you know you’re still the last team to win in Miami?) – “I didn’t know that. Hopefully, I think it will change this week. It will change this week.”
(You scored the winning touchdown in that game. Is that one of your favorite memories?) – “Yes, that was big because I was just coming off my second ACL (injury) and I was like seven-eight months out of surgery. So that was big.”
(You guys came back to win that. It was 10-0 in the fourth quarter.) – “I remember that game. Sinorice (Moss) came and exploded on a screen and it was overtime when I scored, right?”
(Yes.) – “Yes, overtime.”
(Are you the last one left from that game?) – “In the league?”
(Yes.) – “I think so. Wow. (laughter) I’ve been blessed and I love the game. I still feel good and I’m still having fun, so we’ll see.”
(Do you have any friends from Florida State that you text back and forth with?) – “No, I don’t.”
(I don’t know if you do predictions, but what do you think will happen?) – “As long as we get the win, I’m okay. As long as the boys go out there and play Miami ball and represent the crib and get the win, that’s a plus.”
(Do you still talk to those kids, the running backs?) – “No I haven’t. I talked to Deejay (Dallas) during spring ball.”
(What do you think of him?) – “He has talent. Very talented.”
Adam Gase – October 4, 2018
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Wednesday, October 4, 2018
Head Coach Adam Gase
(Is there long-term concern for DE Cameron Wake or concern for Sunday as far as his health?) – “We’re taking it day to day right now. We just want to make sure that he’s right. You guys know him, how he takes care of his body. I know he gave us everything he had this last Sunday. It wasn’t easy for him. We’ll just kind of keep going day to day and go through the week, and kind of see where we end up.”
(Is it something DE Cameron Wake came into Sunday with?) – “He’s always one of those guys that he just doesn’t really … he’s not going to tell us much. You’ve kind of got to poke him a little bit to see how he’s feeling. We try to be smart with him in practice. He takes probably more reps than what we want, but that’s him. I think we finally, at least, getting him to kind of sit down here the last couple of days was good.”
(With DE Andre Branch, we saw him out there today. Did he have a breakthrough in the last few days or is this kind of on schedule?) – “I think he’s ahead of schedule, whatever that means. He’s been working hard. He wants to get back. He wants to help contribute to kind of what we’ve got going.”
(Did you get anything more from WR DeVante Parker today?) – “Sometimes he feels really good and sometimes it’s not as good as what he wants. When running is your entire profession and you’ve got any kind of soft tissue (injury), it’s not that easy to deal with. Every day, we’re just going to keep trying to get him a little bit better and see where we land on Sunday.”
(Has this first month with WR DeVante Parker been kind of frustrating, not knowing whether you’ll have him or not on Sundays?) – “I think any time that you start a week with a group, you have an idea what you’re going to do and who you have and kind of how you’re going to do the personnel groupings. When you lose a guy midweek or late in the week, that kind of can throw things off and you’re trying to regroup and reset everything. It’s tough because you feel like you wasted reps on plays that somebody else is going to run. Right now I’ve just got to kind of have that contingency plan of if he feels better and if he doesn’t, then go a different direction.”
(LB Chase Allen is an under-the-radar guy for us but we see him back out there. How would he help you from scrimmage and what units of special teams?) – “He’s one of those guys that does everything for us on special teams. On defense, it’s nice to have some depth like we do when he’s back. Right now we’ve been kind of thin. Those guys, the guys that have been playing a lot, they’ve done a good job of kind of working that rotation. But getting him back will be nice, both on special teams and defense.”
(Can you talk about the challenges that WR A.J. Green poses?) – “I don’t even know where to start. I mean, he’s a phenomenal player. He stretches the field. He gets on you fast. He’s long. He can high-point the ball. He can make some unbelievable catches. I always just think back, we had him in the Pro Bowl in his second year and Andrew Luck was like throwing a ball away and he went and got it and scored a touchdown. And he was like, ‘I was throwing it away.’ I mean, the guy has just got incredible ability to track the ball, go get it. He’s got another gear when the game hits.”
(How do you decide when a cornerback is ready or whether you should be shadowing with him? What goes into that decision process) – “I think it’s a little bit the confidence of the player. Some guys like to do that. Some guys don’t. Some guys want to stay where they’re at. When a guy does have the confidence, it’s probably your starting point there when you know you have an upper-tier guy. You know that guy is probably going to catch balls and it’s, can you keep battling him throughout a game? And really, that’s what you’re looking for when you have a guy that can do something like that. Can he bounce back when it doesn’t go his way?”
(RB Kenyan Drake is averaging 10 touches a game. Is that enough?) – “Yeah, I mean, with 45 plays or whatever we’re averaging, it’s not good. There are about six other guys, too, that are sitting with their … they’re not getting enough touches. We need more plays. When you go 70-75 plays, now things are going to look a little different. But when you go 50 … we went 47 this week and 44 the week before, that should be one game. If we get more snaps and we convert some third downs and stay ahead of the sticks, then everybody gets more touches.”
(Is it a Catch-22 if you give a guy more plays, you’ll get more plays?) – “I mean, these guys are playing like the way we want them to as far as the play count compared to what we’re getting. We’re just not getting enough plays. Like, his snaps should be anywhere from 35-40 snaps a game between him and Frank (Gore) splitting that stuff. But we’re getting like 20-23 plays a game because we’re not having enough snaps in the game.”
(Was having two tight ends restrictive at all in terms of what you wanted to do?) – “No. We’ve got plenty of wide outs that can fill in.”
(When a cornerback has to follow a receiver, how much challenge does it put on the other guys to make sure that they know their assignments if they have to flip sides?) – “That’s not something that’s difficult for those guys because they’ve got to do everything anyways. As far as coverage goes, ‘Hey, you’re cloud, you’re in quarters, you’re in man, you’re in thirds,’ whatever it is. That’s not the difficult part. The difficult part is those guys start really switching … When you do some of the things that we do with Albert (Wilson), then it gets interesting because now you start bouncing inside, outside. The guy’s in the backfield. You start doing stuff like that, that causes that guy problems.”
(How often has CB Xavien Howard come to you guys and asked to shadow somebody?) – “I don’t know the number count. I know it’s happened a couple times, though.”
(So CB Xavien Howard asked you…) – “Yeah, he talks to the defensive guys. It doesn’t take them long to say, ‘Hey, you’re good with doing this this week?’ And he’s always going to say yes. It’s been rare that he’s had to come to us for anything. You can just tell when he gets excited anytime that we play a team that has an elite receiver. He knows that everybody is going to be watching him and how he plays and what he does.”
(When did that first start?) – “I don’t even remember. Maybe it was against these guys.”
(Have the veterans you brought in had an impact this week on the locker room? I’m not saying the effort wasn’t good on Sunday but it was obviously a bad result for you. Was that what you were hoping you would get from them or maybe a little bit more?) – “I just look at kind of the way practice has been, the energy level. It’s tough. When you get kicked in the you-know-what, you’ve got to bounce back on Wednesday. The turnaround is quick. You’ve got to reset and you’ve got start over. The energy level Wednesday was outstanding. Guys were fired up to get back out there and kind of get going for this week because you’re on to the next opportunity and it allows you to eliminate what happened the week before. That’s the best part about this part of the season is you’ve got another week to play so you can forget that game, learn from what you need to learn, and move on. I felt like all the guys did a great job of coming out with great energy and practiced hard and really got after it yesterday.”
(Are RB Frank Gore and WR Danny Amendola vocal, or are they kind of lead-by-example guys?) – “A little bit of both. You’re never going to get Frank to really … If he has something to say, it’s going to be a little side conversation. He’s not going to be somebody that’s going to say anything really out there like it’s in a practice setting or anything like that. Danny, I mean, I don’t know … you never know what could happen.”
(You guys have nine interceptions through four games; you had nine all of last season. Do you just have more interceptions, or are the defensive backs better right now?) – “I think a point of emphasis has been turnover margin for us, which I’m sure it is for 31 other teams. I think our coaches have done a good job on the defensive side of the ball as far as really working on certain kind of drills to emphasize that, making sure … We just lost out on a lot of opportunities last season where we got hands on the ball or there was a fumble to where we didn’t get it. I feel like this year we’re doing a better job when a play like that occurs for us, minus T.J. (McDonald)’s, we’ve made a play.”
(You’ve been a guy who likes to promotes guys who are on the practice squad. When they have success in the game, like DE Jonathan Woodard somewhat did, does that sort of reinforce the belief?) – “It makes you feel like our process is working the right way for us. It hasn’t always worked like that at other places I’ve been as well. I’m sure there’s been times where you’ve brought somebody up and it didn’t work out well. When you have a guy in your program and the rest of the guys … and you’re able to bring somebody up and those guys feel comfortable playing with … Four guys are working together there. When they know they can count on this guy, that helps three other guys as well. Now there’s just a smoothness and they kind of play off each other. I do think having guys in our program that we can elevate, that’s beneficial to our entire side of the ball, whether it’s defense or offense or special teams.”
Wesley Johnson – October 4, 2018
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Thursday, October 4, 2018
C Wesley Johnson
(Were you antsy the last few weeks, obviously wanting to get back in the league as a guy who’s been a starter for several years?) – “Yeah, absolutely. Everything worked out great. I was glad I was able to get an opportunity to come play here.”
(How would you describe your strengths as a player?) – “I work hard. I leave it out on the field every time, at least that’s what I try to do and I try to have my teammates’ back.”
(How long do you figure it’ll take you to get up to speed with the offense?) – “We’re working every day, working with (Assistant Offensive Line) Coach (Chris) Kuper and (Offensive Line) Coach (Jeremiah) Washburn and it’s coming along.”
(How much does your familiarity with the division help you in terms of understanding what’s going on?) – “It helps a little bit, but it’s still a new offense. That’s really what I have to get up to speed on.”
(The goal, obviously, at first is just to learn the system and to become immersed in things. Would you have a hope as a guy who’s been a starter to challenge for playing time at some point into late October, November?) – “I came here to compete and really help out however I can. We’ll see how it all shakes out. The goal this week is obviously to beat the Bengals.”
(I have a hard time keeping off weight during the season, because they feed us well and they give us a lot of cookies. Kind of the opposite for you, right?) – “A little bit. It’s always a grind, but I’ve already gotten with (Head Strength and Conditioning Coach) Dave (Puloka), the strength coach, and the dietician here. We’ve got a plan together and we’re already working on that, so it’s been good.”
(How difficult was the four weeks out of work?) – “It’s tough. You watch the games on Sunday and you think, ‘I should be out there.’ You think about what you could’ve done differently and what you’re going to do when you get that chance. Hopefully I just get to take advantage of this.”
(How do you think you performed in your time in Detroit – practices and preseason?) – “I did alright, but it wasn’t good enough. That’s in the past, so I’m focused on the Dolphins now.”
(How many workouts did you have before this?) – “Three total workouts before coming here.”
(What are the challenges coming in and trying to get on the same page? Is there a way to fast forward that or how do you handle that?) – “Again, I’ve been meeting extra with Coach Washburn and Coach Kuper. We’ve been going over all the plays. The guys here have been great helping me out, teaching me little nuances, differences between this offensive line and the last one I was with, and stuff like that.”
(Do you know anybody here other than … You spent some time with G/T Jesse Davis at the Jets, anybody else?) – “I knew Ja’Wuan (James) coming up through college and knew a few other guys.”
(So C Travis Swanson and yourself, you were both at times in Detroit and New York, right?) – “Yes.”
(But you never actually were there at the same time?) – “Never actually there at the same time. We kind of took the same path here, he was just four weeks earlier.”
Travis Swanson – October 4, 2018
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Wednesday, October 4, 2018
C Travis Swanson
(Did you think you could be just thrown into the mix as immediately as you did?) – “I think you always have to prepare like you are, especially when you are a swing guy, (which is) what I was my rookie year. You’re really only one play away from going in. So that’s how you have to prepare. It’s unfortunate. You never want anyone to get hurt. It’s unfortunate what happened to Dan (Kilgore) but he’ll still be here and he’s going to help me out with the ins and outs of the offense that he knows because he’s been here longer than me. He’s been there for me this week to help with things.”
(How was your relationship with Offensive Line Coach Jeremiah Washburn from your time in Detroit together? How has that helped?) – “It’s helped a lot. Obviously we have a history there with each other. We speak the same language in a sense, which kind of speeds up that learning process a little bit.”
(So you would say that it has sped up a little bit because of the connection with Offensive Line Coach Jeremiah Washburn?) – “I believe so, yes.”
(How much easier will it be for you to go into the game on Sunday having repped with the first team the whole week as opposed to last week when you were thrown in there?) – “It helps you out a little bit. As much as it helps out, that’s kind of hard to say. I think every circumstance is different; but it will be good to finally have a week under your belt running with the first team and knowing how Ryan (Tannehill) works and how Jesse (Davis) and Ted (Larsen) work and just kind of working on that chemistry with everybody.”
(And the interior of the offensive line for this game faces a tough challenge, especially with DT Geno Atkins. What makes him such a good player?) – “He’s a vet guy. He’s been around for a while and has been a household name around the league. Everyone knows him and people outside of elite fans (know him) obviously. He’s a guy that gives his all. He’s got a great motor and great strength. He’s somebody that you have to be technically sound with.”
(The Bengals are worst in the league on third-down defense and I think they’re one of five teams that give up more than 300 yards passing. Do you think this could be a bounce-back game for the offense?) – “I think we’re just worried about what we’re doing right now and knowing the ins and outs of our game plan. If we focus on what we’re doing and our technique and have confidence in our calls and schemes and everything, then everything should take care of itself.”
(Has Offensive Line Coach Jeremiah Washburn ever mentioned players getting hurt in meetings this week? Or is it just not even mentioned by you as a group overcoming two starters being hurt?) – “Can you clarify a little bit?”
(Does Offensive Line Coach Jeremiah Washburn ever during meetings discuss that you all as a group have lost two starters or is it something you guys don’t talk about during group meetings?) – “It’s something that everyone obviously knows, just because …”
(But in terms of Offensive Line Coach Jeremiah Washburn saying that everybody has to raise their game while not going beyond themselves, is that something that is even openly discussed in offensive line meetings or never comes up?) – “As far as me being in this room since I’ve been here, no. I don’t know how every other o-line room is around the NFL. Being a professional, you kind of understand that these things unfortunately happen and the next man does have to step up and standards should not drop off. It’s something that kind of everyone understands.”
Adam Gase – October 3, 2018 (Conference Call)
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Monday, October 3, 2018
Head Coach Adam Gase Conference Call with Cincinnati Media
(What’s the secret to the big-play offense you’ve got? You guys consistently have big plays. You have three different players with a touchdown reception of over 50 yards and two over 70 yards, and all of the big plays on special teams. The big play is signature. What is it with your group?) – “I think most of it has to do with the fact that those guys have outstanding speed. They’re decisive with what they do. We’ve done it a few different ways to where, whether they get the ball in the backfield or if it’s a kickoff return, if it’s a throw down the field, this group has the kind of speed that you rarely see as an entire group. Really, it’s more about players than plays when it comes to that stuff.”
(Are you a believer in doing the same few plays in a myriad of ways and just trying to get to them with different looks that may cause some hesitation defensively?) – “I don’t know. I think there are some things that happen in this offense but for the most part, it’s different ways every week. It just kind of depends on who you are playing, how they play and how we work off of that.”
(How do the Bengals play? What do you see out of their defense?) – “Well, it all starts up front. Geno (Atkins) is still a nightmare to deal with. He’s going to cause problems in the run game and prevent you from doing a lot of things. If you leave him one on one at any time, you’re looking at the possibility of him shaking free. He creates a lot of pressure on the quarterback. I think they’ve done a good job at linebacker. There are a couple of young players over there and now getting one of their better players (Vontaze Burfict) back, that’s going to be a challenge for us. Then in the secondary, they’re keeping tight coverage and when the pressure and the coverage work together, they’re very hard to move the ball on.”
(I know Defensive Coordinator Matt Burke hasn’t been here for a while but is he still a resource, not in terms of schematics – you guys can watch tape for all of that – but about the players themselves and things that they can and can’t do from an ability standpoint?) – “We always try to be careful with that, with what we tell our players especially, because we don’t want to overload them with information that causes them to play too much of a different way. Matt has always kind of laid everything out on the line for us for what he knows. Playing them a couple of years ago, we thought we had a lot of good information but it didn’t really work out. I think sometimes it’s better for us to just focus on what we’re doing and worry less about what they’re doing.”
(How has QB Ryan Tannehill come along this year? What’s the biggest thing that you’ve liked with him?) – “I think his confidence in the offense. This is really the third year that he’s been in it. I know that everybody sees that he missed last season but he went through spring and through most of training camp. There were a lot of reps that he had in that time. It’s really, when you’re comfortable with what you’re doing and have control of the offense and the skill players around you are all working together trying to make sure they execute things correctly, that helps the quarterback in a lot of different ways. He really trusts what our guys are doing and he’s turning the ball loose early, just trying to make sure they can get the ball in those guys’ hands.”
(What kind of juice does a 35-year-old running back like Frank Gore, who’s fourth all-time in rushing, that guy has to provide all kind of inspiration and motivation to players of all ages and even the coaches, right?) – “Yeah. You watch him on a day like today and it’s 89 degrees out there and he’s grinding away. He loves practicing. He loves playing in games. He’s so engaged in everything. You can tell he loves everything you could possibly think about football. Guys respect him so much and when he speaks, it goes miles with our players. He’s done a good job of taking a lot of these guys (under his wing). I know everybody wants to just think it’s just (Kenyan) Drake but that whole running back room and other guys on the offense, he takes them under his wing and kind of tries to show them the right way to do things.”
(The two free agent offensive linemen you’ve signed in the offseason are both on injured reserve. You’ve had to scramble a little bit up front, but your o-line seems to be performing very well. The pass protection is in the upper crust of the league. Are they performing as well as the stats say they are?) – “Yes. I think there’s a lot of good that has come with our o-line. I know we’d love to be able to run the ball a little better. That’s kind of been some circumstantial-type things where at certain points in the game, numbers-wise it doesn’t look great; but they were really doing everything the right way. I do think we had good continuity there for a while where all five of those guys would practice together all spring and all of training camp. Losing Josh (Sitton) and Dan (Kilgore), those are two tough ones because those guys are good players. But the thing is, we’ll move forward and guys have stepped up. Our expectations don’t change, and I think that (Offensive Line Coach) Jeremiah (Washburn) will do a good job of making sure that that group is ready to go. Those guys will look to play physical and they know they have a challenge on their hands.”
(Your special teams coach seems to fly under the radar – Darren Rizzi. He’s done a lot of good things for a lot of years. With that phase of the game, are you satisfied with what’s happening?) – “Are you his agent? (laughter)”
(I’d like to be.) – “When I got this job, the guy I was with in Chicago, Jeff Rodgers, he told me right away. He goes ‘listen, he’s one of the best ones there is and you have to do everything you can to make sure he stays there.’ It was great that he wanted to be here. He’s been here for a long time. He knows the ins and outs of the organization. When I first got here, he was able to give me a lot of great advice. We have a lot of discussions. He has such a variety of information from what he’s experienced in the past. He’s a constant learner, so he’s always up to date on everything going on in the league. There’s so much value that he brings to our coaching staff. He’s a great asset to have on the staff.”
(You have a lot of personnel moves that seem to be geared toward building chemistry in the locker room. Has it worked out that way?) – “It’s early. I think these guys do work well together. I think these guys care about each other. Last week was a good indication to really see where we were going to head after that, to where you’re getting drummed by New England and you’re up in their place. It’s one of those ones where you’ve seen a lot of guys in the past maybe try to get themselves out of that game and pull themselves out. Our guys were trying to build for the next week and understood that every drive is going to be important because it was the drive we were in and it was a way for us to get better. I thought the guys worked extremely hard towards the end of that game trying to make sure that they did everything they could to get in the end zone and prevent them from scoring again. I liked the fact that our guys just kept playing and working and weren’t sitting there feeling sorry for themselves.”
(You’re a guy that is a quarterback expert. Everybody around the league looks at what you’ve accomplished with various quarterbacks. When you see Bengals QB Andy Dalton play, what do you see as a quarterback?) – “I see a confident guy that seems to really like the offense he’s playing in right now. I’ve always been a big fan of his from the time he came out. Just watching him over the years, watching him develop and watching him and (Bengals) A.J. Green do their thing, it’s been impressive. It’s fun to watch when you’re not playing them because he pushes the ball down the field and at the same time he knows when to get underneath and use those targets as well. Him and A.J., they’re a tough tandem to deal with.”
(DE Cameron Wake at 36 years old, is he amazing to watch?) – “He’s one of those guys that you watch him work and that’s just part of it. Us getting to see him as much as we do, just the way that he takes care of his body, the way that he eats – I don’t know if the guy ever has anything that’s not a salad, which is amazing the way he works out. The guy is a tireless worker. When you watch him on game days, that’s just such a small percentage of what you get to see on a daily basis. The guy is a rare person.”
Ryan Tannehill – October 3, 2018
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Wednesday, October 3, 2018
QB Ryan Tannehill
(I guess in some segments out there, there’s a narrative that the sky might be falling for you guys with the loss and with the roster move of DT Jordan Phillips. But it occurs to me you’ve been through all of this and more in your seven-year career with the Dolphins. You’ve seen a lot of stuff. How do you regard this and when do you classify something as “This is a big deal?”) – “We’re just moving on to the next week. I think, obviously, last week was what it was. It was a bad outing by us all the way around; but it’s Wednesday. We’re moving on to Cincinnati and that’s behind us now.”
(I guess one more on last week: how did you evaluate your play personally?) – “I need to be better. I need to be better. As the leader of this offense, we go as I go, so I’ve got to be better.”
(Head Coach Adam Gase told us there were some instances where WR Jakeem Grant and WR Danny Amendola were pretty wide open. Did you see on film what may have broken down there that you didn’t see?) – “Yes. Sometimes it’s just a play call of where my read starts on a certain play; but when you have guys open, you have to find a way to find them.”
(How do the offensive line injuries change what you do and some of the more responsibility you have to take?) – “As a quarterback, you have to help your guys out as much as you can. If guys go down – losing (Josh) Sitton first and now we lose (Daniel) Kilgore – it’s tough to come in off the bench and not miss a beat. As a quarterback, I have to make sure that we’re in the right plays and I can get the ball out quickly and get into our playmakers’ hands. It’s tough to ask those guys to protect for long periods of time on each play. We want to be able to get the ball out quickly, get the ball in our guys’ hands and that way they don’t have to protect for too long and when we do call a shot, if it takes a second, they can get the job done.”
(What’s your level of confidence in that group at this point?) – “I’m confident. I’m confident. I’m obviously excited about Travis (Swanson) and being able to work with him throughout this week. I didn’t work with him a lot previously, so in order to get ready for Sunday, we’re going to have to spend a lot of time together this week and really get on the same page with everything; but I’m confident in his ability. He’s done a good job since he got here. I think he’ll be ready to go by Sunday.”
(How important do you think it is for the team’s rushing game to get going?) – “It’s important. It’s something we’ve done well in the past and we have good backs. We have opportunities. We get a lot of action off the play-action. It opens up a lot of other avenues on our offense. It is important for us to get the run game going early. It’s obviously something we didn’t do well last week and we need to be better this week.”
(How long does it typically take a quarterback-center relationship to develop the way you want it to be?) – “It depends. In this offense, it can happen quickly. The way we do things, it’s not complicated. It’s pretty clear. It’s something that I’m not worried about. It’s going to happen by Sunday.”
(DT Davon Godchaux said a loss like that can actually be a positive thing. Do you feel that way?) – “You never want to lose. Obviously, it hurts; but when you have a tough loss like that, it does make you – as a team – come back in and really take a hard look at what happened and the reality of the situation, coach extremely hard, be extremely hard on yourselves and really tighten things up and move on to the next week. I can say you do get some things out of losing a game. Obviously, you’d rather learn those lessons after a win, but when you lose a game like that, there is an intensity I think that comes along with it and a deeper reflection on everybody within the organization – so coaching staff, players, everybody that’s involved – taking a little bit deeper self-reflective look on what we did wrong and how we can improve.”
(Head Coach Adam Gase has said that you guys looked pretty good today in practice as far as turning the page and really focusing on Cincinnati. When do you know that the team has done that and is actually ready to focus on Cincinnati?) – “I felt that way today. I felt that way from our first meeting today. It was good energy. Guys turned the page. On Monday, you come in and everyone feels the weight of the loss and is going through the emotion of not performing, going out and kind of laying an egg like we did on Sunday. That weighs heavily on everyone involved because you do put so much work (in). We felt like we had a great week of preparation leading up to it and we just didn’t go out and perform. (On Monday) it’s weighing heavily on everyone and it’s really a reflective day. Tuesday is a day to get healthy physically and flush out that. By Wednesday morning, we’re on to the next one. There’s a great energy, great vibe in the room. Guys are excited, ready to get out to practice and then we had a great energy a practice, guys working extremely hard and getting better.”
(You’re in here a lot on your day off. Did you take Tuesday off or were you in here working? Sometimes after a loss like that you just want to get away for a day.) – “No, nothing changes. Your process stays the same. Doing the things you need to do to get your body right and then starting on tape and getting ready for the next one. The process stays the same throughout a win or a loss.”
(So you were here all day yesterday?) – “Yes.”
(How do you feel physically right now?) – “I feel good. Yes, I feel good. I was a little sore after the game, but it’s worked itself out the past couple of days and I feel really good.”
(How do you feel about the first quarter of the season? You guys are 3-1 and you are in first place.) – “It was a good first quarter. Obviously, there was a bad taste in our mouth after Sunday, but you have to take a step back from that and say, ‘Okay, we’re in a good spot. We just have to keep pressing.’ First quarter is done. We’re 0-0 starting the second quarter and we have to find a way to finish this week 1-0.”
(What stands out to you when you see the Bengals defense?) – “They play fast. They have some good players. Up front, Geno Atkins, obviously is a guy who’s been a great player for a long time. They’re getting (Vontaze) Burfict back this week, so I think that’s going to be a big lift for them. They’ve got a veteran secondary, guys that’ve played. They have a lot of talent. They can show you a lot of different looks. It’s going to be a challenge for us, but we have to be ready.”
(On Sunday, it seems like if you could’ve gotten one or two of those first downs and get rolling, things may have been different. When you can’t get that first first down, what is that like?) – “It’s frustrating. We couldn’t get it rolling. I think that’s been what we’ve done. Once we can get it going, then we roll. We just couldn’t get the ball rolling. Even if we got one first down, it wasn’t really like we were rolling. That’ll be something we focus on this week is finding a way to come out, start the game fast, and then when we do get that first first down, keep it rolling and put the ball in the end zone.”
(Head Coach Adam Gase was saying that WR DeVante Parker’s injury came out of nowhere. Did that affect you guys game plan going into that Sunday?) – “Yes, of course. You have to change some things up (when) you lose a receiver on a Friday. It came out of nowhere. We were feeling really confident having him back and playing at a high level. Obviously, (he) played the week before, but was taking even another step forward going two weeks in a row, so that definitely hurt.”
(It’s a question you get asked regularly, but on third downs, this past week – not to dwell on it – but it seemed magnified. When you go back and look at it, do you guys try to change things up on first and second down to get that quick start like you’re talking about a little bit more so?) – “We were bad on third, we were bad on second and we were bad on first. It’s all tied together. When you’re in a third-and-long situations, which we were, you’re not going to be in good situations. It really comes down to first and second down, being efficient and keeping it third-and-manageable and we feel confident we’ll convert from there.”
Xavien Howard – October 3, 2018
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Wednesday, October 3, 2018
CB Xavien Howard
(What do you see when you see Bengals WR A.J. Green on film?) – “He’s a great player. They also have (John) Ross and Tyler Boyd. They have a couple of guys over there on their receiver corps that are doing great things.”
(When you watched what happened on Sunday – I know you guys watched film on Monday – What’s the one thing that stood out on defense?) – ‘We just have to communicate and be on the same page with some of the holes in the defense that we had seen. It’s a new week. We have a new opponent. We’re facing the Bengals, so that’s what we are focused on right now.”
(It seems like a couple of these busts have popped up since S Reshad Jones has gotten hurt. Is there anything that…?) – “No. We just have to communicate on the back end. It doesn’t matter who’s out there. We’ve got to be on the same page.”
(When things happen during the season, whether it’s a personnel move, or a loss or whatever. How do you stay focused on the job at hand? How does this stuff not come into your mind? And how do you not take it out onto the field?) – “It has to be the next man up. That’s part of the business. We just have to practice and compete and stuff like that, so it has to be that next-man-up mentality.”
(Do your eyes light up when you get one of those top receiver matchups like WR A.J. Green?) – “It’s a part of the game and that’s what I want to do. I consider myself a top corner and I want to play with the best.”
(How do you feel you played on Sunday?) – “I did okay, but there is always room for improvement.”
Jakeem Grant – October 3, 2018
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Wednesday, October 3, 2018
Wide Receiver Jakeem Grant
(DT Davon Godchaux said this loss for you guys might have been a good thing for you. Is that kind of your approach?) – “Yes. It was a humbling experience. It also just let people know that we have to correct our mistakes. We went out there and the mistakes weren’t corrected, and the Patriots fed off of that. I feel like, looking back on it, in order to beat a good team like that, we have to be fundamentally sound and we have to cross our T’s and dot our I’s.”
(In the past couple of years, you’ve seen a big roster move with kind of a big-name personality in the locker room that has been waived or cut or traded away. Does that send a message to you guys?) – “I mean we see a locker room change every single day. It constantly changes throughout the league every single day. You have to think of the next-man-up mentality. I feel like that’s what we have, the next-man-up mentality. That’s just life in the NFL. Nobody has any say-so or can do anything about it. You just control what you can control.”
(What is the effect on you guys as a wide receiving corps with the shakeup that’s transpired on the offensive line there?) – “Nothing really. We know that going into the game, we have to get things started early as the group of receivers. We always look at is as we put the team on our back and they feed off us. So we go out there and we tell each other ‘let’s make one big play’ and then the offense will get the momentum and then we’ll have things rolling.”
(What’s the film session like when you watch the Patriots game and you guys are in your group? When you have a game like that and you’re watching on tape, what are the emotions like when you’re re-watching it?) – “Pissed off because we all know we’re better than that. We know that we went out there and we didn’t do exactly what we were doing in practice. I felt like in order to beat them, we have to, like I said, cross our T’s and dot our I’s, because the Patriots are a team that is going to do everything right and feed off of our mistakes. I feel like those penalties, we killed ourselves, and they capitalized on every mistake that we made. Going into the game, when we play them again, we have to cross our T’s and dot our I’s. ”
(Does it show you where the bar is for a first-place team in this division?) – “That shows you that you can’t get too high on a high and you can’t get too low on a low. You just have to stay levelheaded and continue to grind out and play every game like it’s the next important game. You can’t be too big on what team it is. It doesn’t matter who it is. It’s just becoming 1-0 after every week.”
