DeVante Parker – October 25, 2018 (Postgame)
Thursday, October 25, 2018
Postgame – Houston Texans
Miami Dolphins WR DeVante Parker (Transcribed by Houston Texans)
How did it feel to get back out there?
“It felt good to be out there, contributing to the team just trying to help them get a win.”
Thoughts on the catch when the ball popped out of your teammates hand?
“It shocked me, that was surprising. It felt like 10 yards to me and I got an extra 5 yards in. I was just in the right spot at the right time.”
Xavien Howard – October 25, 2018 (Postgame)
Thursday, October 25, 2018
Postgame – Houston Texans
Miami Dolphins CB Xavien Howard (Transcribed by Houston Texans)
How did you feel about the individual matchup with WR DeAndre Hopkins?
“He made some tough catches. It wasn’t like he was just running out there. It was great coverage; great player.”
How disappointing is it for you, especially knowing this is your hometown, to come in here and not win?
“Very disappointing. We didn’t get the W; would’ve been good if we did get the W. But we have to get back to the drawing board, get back to the basics and we’ll go from there.”
Kenyan Drake – October 25, 2018 (Postgame)
Thursday, October 25, 2018
Postgame – Houston Texans
Miami Dolphins RB Kenyan Drake (Transcribed by Houston Texans)
You have sort of a semi-bye week over the weekend to regroup, reevaluate. How are you looking at that?
“I’m just trying to be where my feet are. Obviously, it doesn’t leave a good taste in your mouth when, at the end of the day, you’ve lost two straight. You know, we would love to have – going into this mini-bye week – two wins, 6-2 or whatever the case may be. But we’re 4-4 and that’s just the nature of the beast. You just have to regroup. You know, get your body right, get your mind right and get ready for the next week, because they’re not going to wait for you.”
How do you feel like the offense is going right now?
“Yeah, we’ve made a lot of plays. But, you know, you have to stay consistent in this league. Personally, I missed a pass in the end of the game that I feel is going to leave a bad taste in my mouth for the next few days. You know, that was the last kind of footprint that I left on the game, so I’m not happy with it at all. You’ve just got to kind of focus up, learn from your mistakes and just move on.”
Has that trick play been in the works for a while?
“I think we just kind of just put it in last week. It’s just kind of a different wrinkle that we wanted to implement in the game plan. The situation came up to where we could call it, and we executed. (Danny Amendola) had a good ball. It was up in the air a while, so I’m just happy I was able to catch it.”
Brock Osweiler – October 25, 2018 (Postgame)
Thursday, October 25, 2018
Postgame – Houston Texans
Miami Dolphins QB Brock Osweiler (Transcribed by Houston Texans)
What was the game plan to deal with their pass rushing?
“I think our coaching staff put together a tremendous game plan to try to slow down their pass rush. We knew the Texans have a great defense, that’s no surprise. Give a lot of credit to those guys on their defense. They’re great players, so there was a lot of schemes that we put in this week that were six-man protection, seven-man protection, we were chipping the edges, but hey, give Houston credit. They broke through it and they played a great game.”
What were the issues that you guys were having particularly on third downs tonight?
“You know, I’m going to have to go back and really evaluate the tape before I fully answer that question. Ultimately, we just weren’t in a rhythm. This offense really gets going when you can create first down, second down, first down, and almost avoid that third down. But once again, give Coach Romeo Crennel great credit. Their players, I think they did a good job of mixing in some zones on third down, and that caused use a few problems. Ultimately, as players we need to find a way to execute, get first downs and move the chains.”
How do you see the team recovering from two straight losses and get back on track?
“Yeah, it’s simple. You evaluate the tape very hard, you learn from it and then you just get back to work. Like Coach (Adam) Gase just told us in the locker room, you know he said ‘We need to hone in on the details, the details of our system,’ and he’s exactly right. This coaching staff works extremely hard to put players in position to have success on game day, and they did that once again. Now, it’s up to us players to execute that game plan, all 11 at the same time and make plays for this football team.”
What are your thoughts about DeVante Parker’s play tonight?
“It was great, and you know what? It was by no surprise. Just talking to DeVante (Parker) all week, I had a feeling he was going to have a big game. He was hungry to get out there on the field and he really showed it tonight. He made some tough catches. There were situations where some of the balls I couldn’t lead him, I had to throw them on his back shoulder, things like that, and he came up with them all. So, DeVante played a heck of a game and he deserves it.”
What made you feel that DeVante Parker was going to have a good game?
“I kind of had a hunch. When you get talking to guys throughout the week and you can kind of see the mental mindset that they’re in, the way they’re carrying themselves. You can tell he was hungry to get out on the field and play football.”
What was is like coming back to Houston and playing against some of your old teammates?
“There was no negative emotion or anything like that. In fact, it was just great to see a lot of guys. I had a lot of great conversations with some of the players, support staff, trainers, strength coaches. It was great to see a lot of these guys. You know, there’s so much time spent between the offseason, season, you know you’re going out there on the field and laying it all on the line, and you build bonds with people. Special bonds that are very hard to explain to anyone that’s never played football in the National Football League. So, to see some of those guys tonight, it was great and they played a heck of a game.”
Can you tell us what happened on the play where you almost threw a fumble?
“Yeah, there was just some miscommunication on where we were going to make the MIKE point on that play, which led to a free rusher, and it’s something that I take full responsibility on, and I need to make sure that that never happens again.”
Who were some of the Houston Texans players you spoke to after the game?
“There was a bunch of guys. Shoot Nick Martin, Whitney Mercilus, Kareem Jackson, there was a number of guys. J.J. (Watt), it was great to see them all and I don’t want to miss anybody, but like I said there was a laundry list of guys. It means a lot, because I have a ton of respect for those guys. Like I said, we all have great relationships and I wish them all nothing but the best.”
Adam Gase – October 25, 2018 (Postgame)
Thursday, October 25, 2018
Postgame – Houston Texans
Miami Dolphins Head Coach Adam Gase (Transcribed by Houston Texans)
What are your first thoughts on tonight’s performance?
“It was not good on defense. I mean they did whatever they wanted. On offense, we had opportunities early that we could possibly have taken advantage of, at least keep it a back and forth game. We missed out. Then we had the one turnover that gave them a short field, which was not what we needed. I mean that’s what hurt us more than anything. If we wanted to get in that kind of game, we couldn’t make any mistakes.”
What are you telling the guys in the locker room?
“That we’ve got to get better fast.”
Are you considering any staff changes?
“I just got done with a game. I’m fairly irritated right now. I’m going to reevaluate everything this weekend. We’ve got the extended weekend. We’ve got to figure out how to get better on defense. We’ve got to figure out how to sustain drives and put it in the end zone on offense.”
Right now, this defense can’t stop the run. Is it really about the wear and tear put on the defense?
“I’m going to have to look at everything. It’s about the only good thing about playing on Thursday night is it’s like an extra bye week. Go back this weekend and try to look through everything, see where a lot of the problems are and look at it as a whole, not just one game, and try to get an answer.”
What did you want out of QB Brock Osweiler? What did he bring to the game?
“I think there was a lot of good that he did. We both wish we could have that interception back, just untimely for sure because of the way the game was going. A little miscommunication there, which was not what we needed. But for the most part, I thought he did a good job of getting the ball out. We were trying to make sure J.J. (Watt) and (Jadeveon) Clowney didn’t have a field day on us. I thought we had a good plan with the protection. The run game, we had some good plays. We had probably too many zero or negative plays, but I’m sure when we go back and look at this, he’ll probably want a couple plays back where maybe it could have helped us sustain the drive. We have to do a better job as a whole to make sure everybody is on the same page and doing things right.”
Is Defensive Coordinator Matt Burke’s job security ruled out as a topic?
“I haven’t even thought about that. In my head, I’m saying I don’t see that happening. We need to go back and figure out what is going on to where we’re giving up these massive amounts of yardage in the run game.”
You’re 4-4 at the midpoint of the season. You started out 3-1, and now you’ve gone 1-3. Which team are you closer to being now – the 3-1 team or the 1-3 team?
“Right now, we’re 0-1 after today. It’s hard to look at it like that. We’ve had some changeover in the last two weeks, where now we have to reevaluate where we are at personnel-wise, who do we have healthy, where do we have to make adjustments at. I think the guys did a good job, the receivers did a good job. Those three guys knew it was going to be them, and they were going to have to play almost every play. I thought those guys did a good job. They executed what they were asked to do. Now we’ve got to take a hard look at the defense and figure out, where can we plug the holes, how can we fix certain things and make sure we can have more success against the run game.”
The trade deadline is right around the corner. Do you anticipate any changes to shake things up?
“I don’t know. I’m not even there yet. I haven’t heard a whole bunch of stuff.”
I know you have receivers down, they had cornerbacks down, even had a backup safety was playing corner. I’m wondering if you thought you could take advantage of that?
“There was a couple of times where we thought we did, and we didn’t hook up with it. Whether it be Brock (Osweiler) missed a throw or we had a protection issue. But the hardest part about that is that they did a good job of softening up their coverage. We were trying to make sure the protection was good, so we’re not getting one or two more guys out, so we’re running three-man routes, trying to give him a chance to get some completions and move the ball. There were sometimes it was successful, and sometimes it wasn’t. They did a good job with what they were asking them to do. It was a little different than what we anticipated. I thought the guys did a good job of adjusting on the sideline.”
WR DeVante Parker had a career game with 133 yards and 6 receptions. Do you look at that as a positive considering everything you went through last week?
“Yeah, I think he did a great job. His mindset coming in to this game, he was jacked up, he was ready to go. He knew he was going to be able to play and get in a rhythm. It wasn’t like he’s in for a series, he’s out for a series. That’s what was going on with us earlier in the season even when he wasn’t playing where we were rotating those guys, and sometimes that can affect him. He does a good job when he has opportunities to just stay in the game and keep going through each series. When we get him, whether it be across the middle or down the field, he took advantage of it tonight.”
When you look at the defense do you think it is mostly the players not doing their job?
“That’s hard for me to say right now, that’s why I think we need to look at it this weekend. And really look at it – is it scheme, are we not executing what we’re asking them to do, do we have five guys who are off as far as what we are asking them to do, do we like what we’re doing? We need to really dig deep and figure out where are these issues coming from. Is it the same guy every time? That’s the good part about having a few days to where you can do that. It’s hard to do it when you’re going Sunday game, Monday now you’re cleaning up the last game. This at least gives us a chance to go back and look at the big picture.”
Do you feel you have to insert yourself into some of those defensive rooms, now that this has become a huge issue?
“I’ll get to that after tonight. I’m not there yet.”
Did you have the appropriate time needed to address what was wrong coming from the Lions game?
“We tried to fix it as fast as we could. I mean, we knew there were some issues there that we had last week. We’re just trying to patchwork it up as fast as possible and do some different things to where maybe we could stop the run and not give up and any explosive plays, but we didn’t do a good enough job of getting it fixed, and we didn’t do a good enough job of executing what we needed to do.”
Down 15, what was the thought process on kicking a field goal there?
“It was one of those situations where it wasn’t feeling good where we were on third down. We weren’t hitting what we were doing. I was thinking, ‘All right, we get one turnover. Let’s get some points. Lets just try to get it in a situation where if we can get the ball back fairly quick, then maybe we can make it a one-score game.’”
The onside kick suggests that you didn’t think you could stop them.
“Well, we were trying to get some kind of turnover. And it’s just unfortunate that, you know, the ball hits the wire. You know, it’s kind of… Didn’t have really good luck on that one.”
Can you provide any update on QB Ryan Tannehill and maybe his Week 9 status?
“Yeah, I don’t know. I mean, we’re still going through the process of him going through the rehab stuff so, I mean, I’ll worry about that next week.”
How much trust do you have in your defense at this point?
“Well, I know those guys work hard, and they try to get everything patched up as fast as possible. I mean, these guys were hired because I liked them when we were coming into this situation we were in. When Vance (Joseph) left, I trusted Matt (Burke) to get this thing going in the right direction and prove from there before. There was a lot of good things that happened over the last two years. We’ve just got to figure out what is our issues. I mean, is it players? Is it scheme? And we have to evaluate that. We can’t be afraid to change if we have to.”
How do you figure out that it is scheme and not players?
“I don’t know. I mean, you’re giving me a hypothetical on that one.”
Matt Burke – October 23, 2018
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Tuesday, October 23, 2018
Defensive Coordinator Matt Burke
(I’m not asking you to throw any person under the bus can you candidly say among your defensive ends, defensive tackles and linebackers, which of those three groups had the most breakdowns in the run game on Sunday?) – “I’m not going to throw anybody under the bus. That was a collectively crappy effort. From the coaching staff down, we obviously didn’t prepare well enough. We had breakdowns across the board at every level – misalignments, missed assignments, missed tackles. We’re not going to point fingers at a single group. If you have a game like that and give up that number of rushing yards, that’s not a single position or a single player or a single coach. We’re owning that as a group, so that’s not a question that I’m going to answer in that sense. We didn’t play well. Our offense did a good enough job at the end of the game and we didn’t. That’s on us as an entire unit and we’re going to try to fix that and move forward.”
(Are there going to be playing time changes as a result or is it too soon of a turnaround with these 96 hours to do that?) – “We’re going to play the best players we can to win this game. In some sense, a short week like this is a blessing because we can’t dwell on things. Obviously, you can’t brush past it so that’s sort of the blessing and a curse part of things. We can’t ignore what happened but in the same sense, we can’t dwell. We move forward, we have to prepare. Like you said, it’s a short window. It’s 48 hours now at this point. We’re going to prepare to try to win this ballgame on Thursday night. Just like every week, we’re going to put the best groups and the best players that we think give us the best chance to do that. That’s where we’re at right now.”
(What’s the most difficult part about defending the first drive of the game?) – “Obviously, offensive coordinators put a lot of time into that. A lot of times, they’re scripting sort of their best plays. Usually, you’re getting multiple personnel groups, multiple stuff sort of unveiling one of their thoughts in terms of their approach and how that game is going to go. I just think that a lot of times, there’s some unscripted looks, stuff you haven’t seen. Again, we happened to play two teams coming off bye weeks so you know they have a lot of time to prepare for that stuff. I don’t think that there’s anything specific to the first drive of the game. I think a lot of times … I’m not saying you’re getting the offense’s best shot but I just think you’re getting some stuff that you haven’t seen because that’s where a lot of coordinators will put in what they’ve sort of whipped up for that week. We have to do a better job in general of just sort of playing our keys. I didn’t think that was the case necessarily last week, if that’s where you’re kind of heading with it. There wasn’t anything un-scouted from that team. We just didn’t execute a lot of the stuff that we were supposed to execute. We have to do a better job of focusing and being prepared. I’m obviously at a little bit of a loss for words for how things went. We have to do a better job preparing them to be ready to play from the first whistle.”
Dowell Loggains – October 23, 2018
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Tuesday, October 23, 2018
Offensive Coordinator Dowell Loggains
(What have you observed from scout team work with some of your practice squad guys? How comparable has the performance been the last two months with WR Leonte Carroo and WR Isaiah Ford, not including WR Malcolm Lewis because he’s only been here a couple of weeks?) – “Those guys have been doing a good job for us and we try to do a good job of making plays, putting it in our language as much as possible. It helps the quarterback and it helps the practice squad guys. And that’s why you have those guys on the roster, so you can continue to develop them and when you need them, they’ll be ready for you. We expect those guys to come in and do a good job for us.”
(What is the hardest part about scoring in the first quarter, particularly scoring on the first drive of games? Why is that so difficult for some NFL teams?) – “I think you go in with a plan. This league is a lot about adjustments, being able to adjust. Everyone says halftime adjustments, but you need to be able to adjust in the second quarter and then come out in the third quarter as well and make adjustments. It’s really trying to get a feel for how people are going to play you, how they’re going to play your no-huddle, your tempo stuff, how they’re going to play all your different personnel groupings. When it clicks early, it’s great. Sometimes when it doesn’t you have to come over to the sideline, tweak some things and make adjustments and try to figure out how they’re going to play each personnel grouping in each situation. Each game is always different. That’s always a challenge for the coaches and it’s a challenge for the quarterback and the players to be able to tweak things and add things during the game. They have to be able to have a good foundation of the offense. When new things come in, they have to execute them.”
(If you were to script a first drive and it doesn’t work out well, does that throw off a little bit of the game plan, so to speak, for the rest of that first half of the game?) – “No. I think the most important thing is you figure out why it wasn’t successful. Was it the defense did something differently that you need to start attacking it a different way? Was it a lack of execution? And then once you figure that part of it out, it’s easy to make adjustments and move forward there. We have a resilient group that handles that stuff well and we obviously need to start faster. That needs to be a point of emphasis for us and not wait until the second, third, fourth quarter to have the scoring start. It’s really just executing earlier in games and figuring out what they’re doing as fast as possible and get our guys in good situations.”
(What’s something the Texans defense appears to do best?) – “The front four. They’ve got two elite players that you have to have a plan for with ‘99’ (JJ Watt) and ‘90’ (Jadeveon Clowney). ‘59’ (Whitney Mercilus) is a guy that’s one of the more underrated football players in the NFL that people don’t talk about that has done a really good job for a long time. It all starts up front for those guys. This will be one of the better pass rush groups that we’ve face. It’s a challenge and we’re excited about it. I know that our guys up front on the offensive line are excited about it as well.”
(Did you notice anything interesting about LB Jadeveon Clowney and where he is in his development as you study the tape?) – “It’s a lot more fun to watch him when you’re not getting ready for him because he’s a guy that can do anything. He’s a little bit unpredictable in his rush patterns. He can do that because he’s long and really athletic. It’s going to be an awesome challenge for our tackles. The thing that pops out is the level of talent he has. You definitely see over the years that he’s definitely become more comfortable as a pass rusher as well.”
(Do you have a sense of where WR DeVante Parker is at the moment mentally and physically?) – “He is in Houston, Texas. (laughter) I think DeVante is in a good place. He’s excited to fill his role and contribute to the team. It’s obviously been a tough couple of weeks for him, but he’s excited to get out there with his teammates. That’s the most important thing for him is being out there in the huddle and contributing and help this team find a way to get a victory on Thursday night.”
Darren Rizzi – October 23, 2018
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Tuesday, October 23, 2018
Associate Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Darren Rizzi
(We’ve been looking a lot at the three practice squad wide receivers, Isaiah Ford, Malcolm Lewis and Leonte Carroo. I’m curious what you can tell us about what any of those guys might be able to contribute on special teams if they’re activated for Thursday’s game?) – “Obviously, I have a good background on all three guys. All of them have been trained in our system. It’s nice to have practice squad guys you have at least trained and been part of the last couple of years. That part is good. They’ve been a part of our system, they know our calls. All three of those guys have been trained in just about every phase. The nice thing is none of them are rookies. They’ve all been here for a couple years. Some have more experience than others. Obviously, Malcolm really just got here recently, but he was with us last year. With Carroo and Ford, those guys have been with us now for a couple of years and they’ve played in the system and all of that. My point is those guys have all trained throughout, they’ve all been ready for this moment if they’re called up and they’re ready to go. As I’ve said many times before, one of the things I’m tasked with the most is getting all of those guys ready to play. That’s an ongoing process, that’s not just because guys get hurt or guys get injured and guys need to step up. They’re always kind of waiting for this and those guys are always in ready mode and always training and preparing as if they’re going to play. I’m comfortable with whoever we bring up and we’ll kind of see what happens here in the next couple of days, but all three of those guys are ready to go.”
(Obviously this is not your first rodeo on a Thursday night travel game. Why is that a difficult assignment – Thursdays and traveling to the Thursday night game?) – “It’s even more of it, no question. We’ve definitely been down this road before. I’ll be a master of the obvious. Number one, obviously it’s a really short week, so having to travel along, that makes it a little more difficult, no doubt. I do like the approach we’re taking this year in terms of kind of turning the page right away and getting onto the next game and getting out here and kind of putting the last one behind us. I think one of the things you can do on a short week is kind of get lost with all the stuff that’s going on. You really want to stay focused on the task at hand. Believe it or not, traveling can actually help with the process in terms of eliminating distractions. I think that’s one of the things we’re trying to do with this trip getting out here early, kind of keeping the mindset on the game. Sometimes, believe it or not, when you’re home there can be more distractions and things like that, so getting out here is a good thing. It’s obviously tough on the guys from a physical standpoint. There’s no doubt about that. They don’t get the recovery days. I can speak specifically about the kickers and punters. On a normal week for them, those guys are taking Monday and Tuesday completely off and then they usually go Wednesday, then take a day off and things like that. Everybody’s rhythm is a little bit messed up in terms of recovery. Not just specials, everybody across the board. That obviously is a difficult task. Then certainly the mental part, the game planning part. They have to do the same thing. Getting on and moving on and getting the game plan in – everything is accelerated. I personally believe the mental part to guys, who have played in the league long enough, have grown accustomed to doing these short weeks than for the newer guys. I think it’s much tougher on the body than people give it credit for. It’s really tough for these guys to play a game Sunday, have to travel today then play another game on Thursday. That’s a lot for the body to take. My hat’s off to these guys that do it. Obviously, from a physical standpoint, it’s very demanding, so that’s certainly a difficult task.”
