T.J. McDonald – November 19, 2017 (Postgame)
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Sunday, November 19, 2017
Postgame – Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Miami Dolphins S T.J. McDonald (transcribed by Lexie Balboni)
(Do you think the safety that wasn’t a safety was a safety?) – “It could go either way. Of course as a defender I feel like it was a safety but they reviewed it and they called what they called. I was just ready to go play defense whenever they called us out there.”
(Four straight now that you guys have lost. How do you regroup and go from here?) –“The bleedings not going to stop on its own. We have to put the fire out. Come back to work next week and focus. We need to put one good one together and like Coach said, put one win together and see how it goes, see if we can get on this run. The most important game is always this next one so that’s what we are focusing on.
(As Adam said you guys totally shut them down before that last drive in the second half .How tough is it to look at the good you did on defense but still lost?) – “It’s tough because we came in here at halftime, saw what they were doing and how they were trying to attack us and made some adjustments and we executed it. For the most part we executed it in the second half. That was a punch in the gut for that last drive to come out… Like I said before they get paid too. They made some good plays, found some holes in the defense and that’s how that goes.”
Reshad Jones – November 19, 2017 (Postgame)
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Sunday, November 19, 2017
Postgame – Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Miami Dolphins S Reshad Jones (transcribed by Lexie Balboni)
(The defense played so well in the second half and then that last drive, what did they do that gave them success?) – “They just made a couple of plays. We didn’t make the plays down the stretch to win the football game. They just made a couple of plays and they came out with the win. You’ve got to give credit to their team.”
(When Buccaneers WR Chris Godwin caught a 24-yard pass on that last drive, what happened there?) – “Yes, I was outside leverage. It was Cover 3. It was a good throw and catch. He made the catch and they kicked a field goal.”
(How disappointing is it when you guys think you have a safety and then by all appearances it is a safety?) – “We just control what we can control. We can’t ref the game and be players. The refs made the call and it is what it is.”
Jarvis Landry – November 19, 2017 (Postgame)
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Sunday, November 19, 2017
Postgame – Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Miami Dolphins WR Jarvis Landry (transcribed by Lexie Balboni)
(What was the impact on the team when Matt Moore came in at the half?) – “Matt’s a guy we are familiar with. We didn’t really know what was going on in the Jay situation. We just so happened to get the ball after the half so he went out there and we didn’t miss a beat. I don’t feel like we did.”
(Was there a conscientious effort to throw down field more this game or was it just the opportunities?) – “It’s part of our plan. We found ways to make plays downfield. It’s what we can do. We have to find a way to again eliminate turnovers, stop hurting ourselves and see how it goes from there.”
(Jarvis how did the penalties affect you guys emotionally? In the game you make a big play, turn around and there’s laundry on the field. ) – “It’s tough, it’s always tough. But all we can do is focus on the next play and try to respond. It’s tough to convert 30 to 20 second, 25, it’s going to be tough regardless of the fact.”
Kenny Stills – November 19, 2017 (Postgame)
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Sunday, November 19, 2017
Postgame – Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Miami Dolphins WR Kenny Stills (transcribed by Lexie Balboni)
(Considering all that you guys have fought through this season, to lose that game in that fashion.) – “It’s hard to win games when you have that many penalties, turnovers. We played pretty well in the second half. No one likes losing, so we got to figure out a way to get a W.”
(What went wrong from the penalty standpoint?) – “You look at the statistics. When people have penalties starting on a drive or throughout a drive, it’s pretty difficult to put points on the board and that’s what the game is about. We got to eliminate the penalties if we want to put points on the board and win games.”
(You guys had a lot of big pass plays downfield. What did you guys see out there? What was there for you guys?) – “We just had opportunities. The line protected up front and the quarterback trusted us to go make some plays.”
(What happened on your long touchdown?) – “Just caught them in the right coverage. The defender kind of sat, and I got behind him, and Matt (Moore) threw a good ball.”
(What were you thinking at that point, because you guys were back in it?) – “I figured the defense was going to go out there and get a stop, and we were going to get an opportunity to go out there and win the game.”
(People are going to look at this and say the passing game comes alive or the big plays come alive from QB Matt Moore. Do you look at it from that standpoint as an offensive player or just what the defense call?) – “I think sometimes the defense sees Matt (Moore) come in and they think, ‘Backup quarterback let’s put some pressure on him.’ Matt does a good job of getting rid of the ball and letting us make plays.”
(Why does this team have trouble starting fast? I think this is the ninth time is 10 games you guys trailed at the half.) – “Honestly, I thought we did a good job. I think we had a turnover in the red zone, so we should have had some points there. We did a better job today trying to start fast, but turnovers and penalties killed us.”
Matt Moore – November 19, 2017 (Postgame)
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Sunday, November 19, 2017
Postgame – Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Miami Dolphins Quarterback Matt Moore (transcribed by Daniel Chavez and Ken Mendonca)
(Matt, what was your mindset when you entered the game with the team down 20-7?) – “Just positivity. My message to those guys was ‘Hey, we’re going to be good. We’ve been in this situation before. Let’s go put a drive together and see what happens.” But I was just the same as always: work the offense, communicate, execute and get in the flow of the game.”
(Do you run the same plays basically? It’s obviously the same offense, but when you’re down 20…) – “I mean you have to open it up a little bit, obviously, with the score the way it is. For the most part, yes; but when you’re down, obviously you have to push it a little bit.”
(I think you hit the long pass to WR Jarvis Landry on your first drive, right? Did that give you some confidence?) – “Yes, it’s the third down. To hit one over the middle in a third-and-longer situation, yes, it’s a confidence builder for sure.”
(There was a lot of over the top stuff today, was that encouraging even though you didn’t win today, that you went over the top with the tying touchdown?) – “Yes, and some of it you have to have a favorable look to do that. You can’t always do that; the defenses do a good job of preventing that and different styles of defense allow you to do that. But yes, we felt good. Again, being down, we were in a situation where we had to do those things, so that’s probably why there were some shots taken.”
(What’d you see on the tying touchdown?) – “Kenny (Stills) was lined up inside and the corner, (Brent) Grimes really stuck to Jarvis (Landry) and Kenny got outside. He had good leverage on the safety and with his speed, he is difficult to cover. He did a good job winning. At that point, you just put the ball up and let him go get it.”
(When you’re moving the ball with some consistency, but amid that, penalties, false starts – even like before drive starts – what does that do to a mindset of the quarterback and the offense?) – “It didn’t affect my mindset. Obviously we’re putting ourselves in a tough situation on first-and-10 and now we have to go an extra 5 (yards) to get a first down. The frustrations are obvious there, but my mindset didn’t change. It was just ‘Alright, let’s get some yards, get us back in third-and-manageable and keep going.”
(As a quarterback, how do you understand the ruling on a safety, if you’re in the end zone, if you’re out?) – “I don’t know what the rule is. I’m not going to second-guess anybody or judge anything, but it was pretty dang close.”
(It’s obviously something you have to be aware of as a quarterback.) – “Yes, I don’t ever want to be back there. If you’re in that situation, you do everything you can to get any positive yards. It’s something you’re aware of. Obviously ‘Fitz’ (Buccaneers QB Ryan Fitzpatrick) was aware of it. You tell him to try and push forward there, but I don’t have a rulebook on me or anything. It was difficult.”
(Where does this football team go from here? You have another game next week, four straight losses, you seem to keep shooting yourself in the foot throughout the games. I think they had 17 points off turnovers before that last one. Other than that, it’s not much of a game. How do you get past that and try to make something positive out of these remaining games?) – “It’ll be a test, for sure. I think guys just need to come to work, grind and focus on getting better. It’s all you can do. There is no magic potion, no nothing. You need to come to work, get better, learn the scheme, execute the scheme and move forward and that’s it. That’s the only thing we can do. I’ve got faith that these guys in here will do that.”
(When you found out you were playing, who told you? Was it early in the halftime process or late?) – “Probably about midway through, (Head Coach Adam) Gase told me – probably with 5 minutes left to go during the halftime.”
(Can you just talk about your role on this team? I don’t know if it’s frustrating sometimes that you’re the ultimate fireman coming in out of the bullpen and, obviously in a perfect world, you’d love to be the man and be the starting quarterback. Just take me through the mentality and how you deal with that?) – “I’ve answered this question a lot over the years, which is fine. I understand my role. My role is the backup quarterback on this team and when it’s time to play, it’s time to play. When whatever happens and you get the call to go, there’s obviously excitement. You’re fired up and ready to go. That’s it. I’ve done this for a long time and have had to come off the bench and play. I think it comes in preparation during the week; but you just understand your role and when the time comes, you’ve got to go and make those guys feel that we’re going to be okay, have confidence in those guys, make them have confidence in you and you’ve just got to roll.”
(Is it tough mentally-wise to always have to be prepared to jump in, just like you were at halftime today – going into the week, knowing you’re not the starter, but have to jump in?) – “I don’t know if it’s tough. Like I said, it’s my job. Is it tough? I mean it’s tough to start this game when you prepare all week for a game. Sure it’s tough; but again, my mindset is I understand my role and when my number’s called, I go and do my best to execute.”
(I don’t have the stats in front of me, but I think you had about 280 yards passing. Did it feel that way? Did you feel unstoppable? That’s 560 yards for a game.) – “I knew there were a lot of chunk plays there, maybe towards the end of the third. I know we converted some third-and-longs, which were chunk plays. Obviously the play at the end tacks on a bunch. Yes, there were times we were going, and then sometimes it was difficult, which is how a flow of a game goes. Yes, it was nice to see guys on third-and-longer situations, really, starting up front, and then guys running routes and making big plays to keep the chains moving.”
(I know there’s no excuses out there, but you’re in there, G/T Jermon Bushrod is out, T Sam Young, C/G Ted Larsen. Was it tougher out there? Does that raise the degree of difficulty?) – “No. I think you ask, really anybody in the locker room, especially on the offensive side of the ball and you talk about roles, all of those guys understand their roles. Sam, he comes in and he’s ready to go. We’ve had this situation a lot this year, where guys go down and other guys have to step up. I think that’s the nature of this league and we’ve got some really good guys that come in and are ready to go. So, no, it’s not more difficult. Guys are ready to play and we were going.”
Adam Gase – November 19, 2017 (Postgame)
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Sunday, November 19, 2017
Postgame – Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Miami Dolphins Head Coach Adam Gase (transcribed by Michelle Stone)
(How big a difference was it losing QB Jay Cutler in the game do you think? What difference did it make?) – “They kind of got us messed up on or our cadence there for a little bit. (We had) some miscommunication with what was going on. I feel like there were a couple of things we kind of stayed away from as far as run game, some of the movement stuff. We got into a rhythm there for a little bit. When Matt (Moore) goes in, he hasn’t had a ton of reps with what we were doing on the short week. He’s trying to figure a couple of things out on the fly. When you don’t see it live in practice, sometimes you just don’t get what you want.”
(Four turnovers, 17 penalties – your thoughts on watching that?) – “We’ve got to catch the ball. We’ve got to hold onto the ball. Penalties, pre-snap stuff – it’s just ridiculous. That’s something that we made a big emphasis on this week on both sides of the ball. Obviously, we didn’t handle it very good on offense.”
(How would you describe QB Matt Moore’s performance?) – “There was a lot of good. A couple of things that (I) wish would have happened different, especially down in the red area. We had a couple opportunities. Instead of kicking field goals, having opportunities for touchdowns. But he went in there and executed as well as he could. There are a couple of things we got to clean up, but that’s going to happen when you get thrown in there in the middle of the game.”
(Obviously, the turnovers – the four turnovers, that last one that was kind of afterwards – it has got to feel good that you were in the game, but you walk away empty handed. It’s tough to overcome four turnovers, and then mentioned all of the penalties that came along with that.) – “I thought the defense did a good job of trying to respond. We just didn’t do a very good job of holding onto the ball. Jay (Cutler) kind of got fooled by the defense on the one interception. We drop one. We don’t execute it correctly in the red area. We knew they were going to pursue us and had to be tight on our ball security, and we didn’t do that at the end of the half.”
(It seemed like another game where the tight end really had his way with your defense. What do need to do to shore that up?) – “It’s kind of a catch-22. You start playing a bunch of man, now you’re putting two really good receivers one-on-one. You start playing some zone and have vision on the quarterback, the tight ends have the ability to get behind you. You’ve got to try to find ways to stay tight in the zone coverages, have good eyes, be in the right spot, try to cover him up (and) get to the passer.”
(When you saw the replay of the safety, how do you evaluate that?) – “We felt like he ran into his own guy and by the time we touched him that he was in the end zone. We thought we’d take a shot with the challenge, and it didn’t turn out the way we wanted.”
(What was their explanation to you? It did look like his own man pushed him back. It looked like it was pretty clear.) – “I didn’t ask him. What am I going to do?”
(Some of the problems that you mentioned with the offense not going, are you puzzled by the fact that guys haven’t turned those things around? Are you disappointed?) – “The pre-snap stuff is a little frustrating. For the most part, execution was better. It’s tough. ‘93’ (Gerald McCoy) is a tough guy to block. We were trying to do everything we can to make sure we have double teams on him for the most part, but he makes it very difficult to do a lot of things.”
(You kind of get to the point where the defense is put into a position to protect the lead. Is a late tie kind of the same situation? And if not, how is it not?) – “You’d like to give them a little bit more than just two minutes. I’d like to see what we could do if we actually had a lead for a quarter, see what we can really can do and cause a lot of disruption. It makes it hard, because you know they’re going to throw, but at the same time you’re going to play a lot more zone. You’re still trying to hold them, trying not to let them into field-goal range. There’s a point, yes, that it’s better than being behind, but at the same time, still not playing with the lead, really.”
(You’ve lost four in a row. Do you think this team is still capable of doing something significant this year?) – “I think if we can clean up the things that we can control, that’s going to give us our best chance. We hurt ourselves more than anybody. Like today, I never felt like they really just flat out stopped us. It was always something when we had a drive where we didn’t do anything on offense. Defensively, we did a lot better job as far as guys doing exactly what they’re coached to do, but at the same time, we do enough wrong that it hurts us. If we could just figure out a way to put one together, you just never know what’s going to happen. That’s why you’ve got 24-hours to feel sorry for yourself on this one. You just better move on to the next one, because we’re going to go on the road. We’ve got to find a way to get things cleaned up, and we got to play a way cleaner game than this. I know that.”
(There have been multiple games where there’ve been these situations where penalties, things where you shoot yourselves in the foot. You keep trying to find a way to get past them, get over them. How do you do that in short order with six games left?) – “You keep working on it. You try to prevent it in practice. We’re trying different things in practice to make sure we eliminate those issues. Obviously, this week we made a big emphasis on it and got worse for some reason.”
(Why start LB Chase Allen at middle linebacker? Was it a tough decision to part ways with Rey Maualuga?) – “That was just kind of how it fell for us. We were repping him this week anyways. That was just the decision we came to. It wasn’t very hard.”
(What do you know about how QB Jay Cutler got hurt? Would you like to go back to him this season when healthy?) – “We’ll see where he’s at, because right at the end of the half … That’s why basically everything stopped for us. That’s why we went into halftime.”
(But healthy, QB Jay Cutler is your guy?) – “I want to get to tomorrow first, see how he’s feeling.”
Cameron Wake – November 17, 2017
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Friday, November 17, 2017
DE Cameron Wake
(What’s the biggest thing the defense needs to do to get back on track?) – “Consistency, playing together and playing for the full whatever the game is – 60 minutes, it might be more. It can’t be one series on, one series off, and it can’t be just the DBs or just the linebackers. It has to be cohesively and consistent.”
(Head Coach Adam Gase talked about there’s been some miscommunication between each unit of the defense. Did you see that and what’s your take on that?) – “Yes. I think, again, I spoke to you guys after the game and any time you have free runners or wide open players, that is usually because of somebody not communicating or somebody being misaligned or having a mental error or whatever it may be. I think that’s something that, as I said just now, playing together, all phases have to work together. On defense, it’s not a one-play game, whereas on offense, you can have a couple of bad series and have one play and it’s a touchdown, and have a couple of more bad series and a touchdown. The opposite is true on defense. You have to play the entire game, cross your Ts, dot your Is and do everything you’re supposed to all game.”
(So how do you improve upon that?) – “You’ve just got to get on the same page and trust the guys next to you that ‘Hey, if I’m here, you’re there. If I’m there, you’re here,’ and trusting that it’s going to be there. If I try to be here and there, obviously the guys on offense will make you wrong. Trusting in one another and obviously communicating where we’re supposed to be.”
(How much easier is playing defense with a lead?) – “How many leads have we had? I don’t know much about that; but I think the way I am, the scoreboard is kind of way in the back of your mind. You’re just focusing on winning this play, winning this next play and winning the play after that. When the end of the game comes, then you figure out what’s going on as far as the scoreboard. I put my head down and worry about this next play and try not to focus on anything else outside of that.”
(This would have been the bye week, so how do the bodies feel and how has the plan worked the last couple of weeks with some strategic days off?) – “We had our bye week already, the first week of the season, so that’s been my mentality. Other than the hurricane, I enjoyed my bye week as much as I could. From then on, it’s been take it week by week. Our bodies feel like we’ve played, how many games? Eight?”
(Nine.) – “Nine games. That’s what my body feels like, but that’s what everybody’s body feels like nine games into the season, so there’s no sympathy requested, nor will there be any given.”
(Do you feel like the defensive line, as a unit, has played up to expectations, up to your expectations?) – “Absolutely not.”
(In what way to you feel like it’s not been enough?) – “Every way. I don’t feel like we’ve gotten enough pressure on the quarterback. I feel like we probably should have more TFLs. I feel like there’s probably more production from that unit and I don’t think you would ask anybody on that line if that’s been good enough from us. I may be a little biased, but I feel like we control a lot of what’s going on, because we can affect the running game and we can affect the passing game. With the kind of guys we have in there, our expectations are probably higher than most, so we still have some work to do.”
(How big is the gap between your expectations for the line and reality of what you’ve seen?) – “My expectations are heavy. They’re big, really big. I expect every player on the field to be making game-changing plays every week, because we can. When you look at the names of the guys we have, I couldn’t see anybody expecting anything less. We’ve got to work.”
(You guys are thoughtful guys, I’m sure you wonder why this is. So why do you think it is?) – “If I had the answer to the why, we would no longer be…”
(In this situation.) – “Exactly. I would have fixed that. If I knew why the roof was leaking, I would have fixed it. It could be a lot of different things, but to me, there’s only one solution to fix the unknown problems and that’s harder work, more attention to detail and again, playing together. That’s what we’ve been working on this past week. That’s something that, obviously, in the past couple of weeks we haven’t done as well as we should have. I think moving forward, if we’re going to be successful, that’s the only solution.”
Jarvis Landry – November 17, 2017
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Friday, November 17, 2017
Wide Receiver Jarvis Landry
(Any pride you take in leading the league in receptions, or is it because you’ve caught so many balls over the last three years, it’s like old hat and it makes no difference to you?) – “Yes, it doesn’t make any difference (to me). I was giving Head Coach Adam (Gase) a little … I was getting after him a little bit today. I think Antonio Brown took it back last night so I’ve got to go back and get it. I told him I need a couple of extra passes this week.”
(How do you keep adapting from one quarterback to the next? You’ve had three the last two years.) – “My job is easy, just catch the ball, no matter who’s throwing it to me. It could be Head Coach Adam (Gase) throwing the ball for all I care. Honestly, (Ryan) Tannehill, Jay (Cutler), these guys have been so easy to work with. They’ve been very much on the communication side with me just as far as what can I do to help them? I think that helps me get the ball more and I have no problem with that.”
(QB Jay Cutler is known even among quarterbacks for his arm strength, for his velocity. Was there some adjustment to that for you, as far as just the speed?) – “Not really, not really. It’s just, you can simulate that on a JUGS machine and catch faster balls or balls that come in a little harder. For me, it was just focusing on his release. After the first day or two, that was already done. The harder part is for him getting adjusted to our body language and things like that.”
(Anything stand out to you when you look at the Tampa Bay defense? Other than your former teammate CB Brent Grimes?) – “They’re a good defense. They make plays. I think they’re one of the top teams in the league as far as forced fumbles and stuff like that. Ball security is going to be high for us, as always. For the most part, they play good defense.”
(Did you see Steelers WR Antonio Brown’s catch last night?) – “Amazing. Amazing. Amazing. Their whole offense is exciting. Watching those guys play, the fun that they are having when they actually get in the end zone. They’re making that celebration rule really come to life.”
(I know the outcomes haven’t been what you wanted; but have you been encourage about how things have been going for your offense of the past few weeks?) – “Yes, we are growing. We haven’t really put a complete game together as far as offense, defense and special teams, and it’s hurting us. Penalties are hurting us on the offensive side of the ball. I think that’s the biggest thing for us that we need to find a way to fix.”
(What do you feel is going better now than maybe a month ago? What looks better in the offense?) – “We’re actually putting drives together and we’re not turning the ball over. I don’t think we turned the ball over much this year. We’re putting drives together. We’re scoring in the red zone, which we didn’t do pretty much since I’ve been here. We’re just hurting ourselves with penalties.”
(What did you think of the Skycam in last night’s Pittsburgh vs. Tennessee game?) – “It looked like a little video game. I saw that. I don’t watch TV much. I don’t watch the games much. I usually just watch them here; but I did watch the game last night. That was pretty cool.”
(Getting back to the circus catches for a second, we saw WR Kenny Stills make one, we’ve seen you do the one handed thing. What’s that like when, as a receiver, when you make a catch, that maybe you know people are going to be tweeting just like that?) – “I mean it’s what we work for. It’s part of every receiver. We take pride in our catching radius and that’s being able to catch the ball no matter where it’s placed, no matter its thrown, or no matter how you catch it. We take pride in that and so, like Antonio’s catch last night, I’m sure that was an amazing feeling. I don’t think he was worried about the tweets. He was more worried about the touchdown and the dance after; but that comes with. That comes with being great.”
(Are you guys planning anything touchdown-dance wise? You got anything?) – “Oh, it’s coming.”
(So there’s something in the works?) – “Yes its coming.”
(We keep trying to pry this out of you?) – “It’s coming. It’s coming. I can’t give you all of the ideas. If I give it you now, then what do you have to look forward to?”
(Just vaguely speaking, is it just you or is it like a group performance?) – “It’s a little bit of everything.”
(Will it be funny? Will it be dramatic?) – “You just get your tickets to the show. (Laughter).”
