Ndamukong Suh – November 5, 2017 (Postgame)
Download PDF version
Sunday, November 5, 2017
Postgame – Oakland Raiders
Miami Dolphins DT Ndamukong Suh (transcribed by Ted Leshinski)
(Suh, first of all how are you feeling? You went out of the game for a while. You were able to come back and play?) – Yeah. Unfortunately it’s football. I got tangled up and lucky enough I had the opportunity to come back. “
(When you look at yourself defensively – first half, good job against the run but there were third downs, third and longs, they were able to convert most of the time to the tight end. How frustrating does that get for you as you move along and try to stop that football team early on?) – “I think we understood what they wanted to do, we allowed them to stay on the field. We weren’t getting off the field on third down. We were putting them in situations that we wanted to be in but at the end of the day we’ve got to find ways to get off the ball, make plays and get off the football field.”
(Raiders QB Derek Carr seemed like he was able to get the ball out quickly. He didn’t get a lot of pressure on, maybe a little bit late in the game, but early on it seemed like he was getting pushed but not enough to get him off his game. Were they doing something different?) – “He’s the best in the NFL. He’s getting the ball out in under 2.3 seconds. So, we understood that we have to continue to press no matter what. At some point in time he’s going to hold the ball. The times that he did I felt like we did our jobs to get back there. The other side of the ball we needed to figure out how we could knock balls down and obviously knock passes down to get off the field. We didn’t do enough. It’s as simple as that.”
(Did you feel like you guys played well enough to win this football game?) – “No. We gave up way too many points. Obviously I think they ended up having 27 it’s not going to be winning football, if they’re scoring 27 points.”
(You’re 4-4 now. You’ve got a big game coming up next week, another Monday Night game on the road in Carolina. They’re another very good football team. How do you bounce back from this one and get ready for them?) – “Every game is big in this league and obviously no matter who you are playing it’s going to be a tough opponent. Obviously knowing who we have in Carolina … they’ve got a great offense, a great quarterback and some weapons that we need to go and stop. But we’re going to go back and look at the film tonight and tomorrow morning and figure out what mistakes were made because it’s a copycat league. They’re going to find ways to either do the same things or see things that we did in the past that we weren’t as good at and try to attack it. We’ve got to clean those mistakes up in practice.”
(You looked like you were in pain when you walked off the field and went into the locker room. You came back and played. Is there any reason to think that these injuries may hold you from playing next week?) – “I don’t make those calls. You’re going to have to talk to Coach Gase about it and we’ll go from there.”
(Ndamukong, there’s been a lot of points the last three weeks. Do you feel there’s been anything missing defensively?) – “I think we miss tackles. We weren’t getting off the football field. It’s a combination of things. But, it’s primarily those two pieces.”
(And the stuff you didn’t see early in the season when things were going better?) – “I think we were tackling a lot better. We were finding ways to get balls out and then obviously create turnovers in some aspects, especially the Jets game last time we were at home. We’ve got to find way to get back to that football.”
(You had one of the few real open pass rushes where you knocked the ball out of QB Derek Carr’s hand. Was the field hard? They were talking about the turf being wet or somethings?) – “No. I don’t feel like the field was of any particular issue for me personally. Maybe some of the other guys had a little struggle but as professionals you understand what cleats you need to wear and be prepared to go out there and deal with all conditions.”
(To be 4-4 right now, do you feel like that’s a big underachievement for this team?) – “Nobody wants to be 4-4. We’ve had opportunities to win games. We’ve had every opportunity to in all eight games that we’ve played so far to win. Unfortunately we haven’t and we’re going to go able to go from there. Luckily it’s half way so we can figure out a way to still get into the games and obviously the playoffs. That’s our ultimate goal and we still have that opportunity. We’ve just got to go out there and focus and understand what we need to do to get wins.”
Cameron Wake – November 5, 2017 (Postgame)
Download PDF version
Sunday, November 5, 2017
Postgame – Oakland Raiders
Miami Dolphins DE Cameron Wake (transcribed by Jason D. Silver)
(It was tough getting pressure on Raiders QB Derek Carr today. What was going on?) – “A couple of things. They had situations where they had max protection, blocked it up. They were chipping on the edge, a lot of different things to keep themselves clean. At the end of the day, I’m not surprised. I’d probably do that to us as well. You can’t be frustrated by it. You can’t use it as an excuse. You’ve just got to go out there and if you have to fight through two or three (blockers), you’ve got to do it. So that’s the mindset I think everybody has. You’ve still have to get your job done, regardless.”
(The first half must have been frustrating. You guys played very well against the run, putting them into third-and-long situations – situations that really played into your advantage – but they were able to make the plays and continue to drive down the field. That had to be discouraging.) – “(It was) definitely frustrating. Obviously the number one priority usually going into weeks is stopping the run. I think we did a decent job of that, but you stop the run so that you do get in that third-and-long situation, so that the guys up front can get after the pass rush, things like that; but they made a few more plays than we did when it came time to get off the field. By the time we started clicking, it seemed like it was too little too late, and that’s unfortunate because you have to treat every play like ‘this is the play that’s going to change the game,’ and literally one play either way – in our favor or to our detriment. They made one more play than we did.”
(This was one of those games where you have to look back and feel like there were certainly opportunities, both offensively and defensively, to win this football game and they were left out on the field.) – “Without a doubt. This wasn’t one of those games … I mean literally, we felt like every time we were on the field, we had a chance – all the way down to the very end; but that’s this league. Most of the games are going to come down to one score and that means one play, whether it’s in their favor or not. Again, you look back to the few plays they made earlier on in the game, those could have been the plays that change the game. The few plays that we didn’t make on offense obviously played in their favor. So you can’t wait until the end of the game to turn it on – which I think we did – but you have to play from the start as soon as they drop the ball, all the way to the end. Like I said, it was too little too late.”
(Did you have a conversation with anybody – I think it was (Amari) Cooper that caught the ball – it looked like it hit the ground. They ended up going down and scoring on that drive.) – “Yes, I saw it. It was hard to see on the replay. I don’t think I was on the field at the time, but it was quick. They came back with the quick snap of the ball, so whatever decisions you made, you had to make them fast. I don’t know if you’ve seen the play. I don’t know if it was an incomplete pass or not, but at the end of the day it didn’t matter because we didn’t challenge it, so you just have to move on and play the next play.”
Reshad Jones – November 5, 2017
Download PDF version
Sunday, November 5, 2017
Postgame – Oakland Raiders
Miami Dolphins Safety Reshad Jones (transcribed by Daniel Chavez)
(What are your thoughts on that unnecessary roughness call?) – “The referee made the call, I don’t think it was unnecessary roughness, I thought he turned his head, got around, and I made a good play but the referee made the call so it is what it is.”
(Is there anything you would have done differently about that play?) – “No I couldn’t have done anything different.”
(What were some of the overall factors that led to the Raiders having almost 300 passing yards?) – “Those guys did good, they did a good job of catching the ball and being where they’re supposed to be. We just have to break down the film and do better and give credit to those guys, they made enough plays tonight to win the football game and we didn’t.”
(You guys are 4-4 at the halfway mark, do you feel that is representative with the team and how you guys are playing so far? ) – “Not at all, not at all, it’s the NFL, it’s a tough league to win in. We just have to get back to the drawing board and start some practice.”
Julius Thomas – November 5, 2017 (Postgame)
Download PDF version
Sunday, November 5, 2017
Postgame – Oakland Raiders
Miami Dolphins TE Julius Thomas (transcribed by Alex Onaindia)
(You seemed to have an offensive rhythm out there.) – “Yeah, it was a tough loss. We had a good team at home and they edged us out in the end. We were able to do some good things offensively but we’ve got to continue to cut back on turnovers. It’s just stalling a lot of our drives and really keeping us from putting more points on the board.”
(Eleven penalties tonight. How do you win when you have that kind of number on the board?) – “It’s tough. It’s really tough to beat a good team when you hurt yourself. That’s something that we have to address as a team. Eleven penalties is too much. We work too hard every day, every week, to go out there and make it even harder on us to win a game. Half of the season is done and the second half of the season we really have to come out and play more disciplined football.”
(The way that Jay played tonight considering his rib injury, what are your thoughts on it?) – “I think that you are seeing our offense is continuing to grow. We talked about some of the obstacles we’ve had and trying to get that chemistry and grow as an offense. We’re showing each and every week that we’re able to have spurts where we’re doing the things we want to do but it is going to take continued work. That’s something that we have to keep getting after. Jay played really well tonight. We have just got to continue building on what we did do well.”
(After the shakeup that occurred in this locker room this week, what was the thought process going into the game for this offense and do you guys feel like you played up to the level you were anticipating?) – “The thought process for this offense is to continue to do what we have to do to put points on the board. I’m not sure how many points that we scored today but we scored more than we did the week before. We’re going to have to continue to find ways to score more points just so that offensively, we can do our part.”
Kenyan Drake – November 5, 2017 (Postgame)
Download PDF version
Sunday, November 5, 2017
Postgame – Oakland Raiders
Miami Dolphins RB Kenyan Drake (transcribed by Alex Onaindia)
(What did you see on film that led to that strategy and do you think that’s something we will see more of?) – “We just wanted to create mismatches out on the perimeter with the versatility that we have between me and Damien. I think we were able to execute that. We kept putting ourselves behind the eight ball with penalties and things of that sort. As long as we keep momentum going on drives and don’t hurt ourselves, I feel like we will have success moving forward.”
(What happened on the fumble?) – “I need to make sure that I’m mindful of keeping it high and tight. They do a good job of ripping at the ball and it was a costly fumble because they went down and scored on the same possession. It was a however point swing so I obviously need to be mindful of that. I can’t let that happen.”
(It seemed on TV that we saw a lot of guys tried to pick you up. Is that what happened?) – “For sure. We’re a team, we’re a family. Everybody was very receptive to understanding that I was down at the moment. They were definitely trying to help me… uplift my spirits because we had another three quarters.”
Jay Cutler – November 5, 2017 (Postgame)
Download PDF version
Sunday, November 5, 2017
Postgame – Oakland Raiders
Miami Dolphins Quarterback Jay Cutler (transcribed by Daniel Chavez)
(Jay, this is one of those games where it looked like the opportunities were there for you guys to win this football game. There were penalties, turnovers…) – “Yes, I don’t know how many penalty yards we had, but I know it was a lot. A lot of holding calls, a lot of good field position that second half and it seemed we were going backwards there a few times.”
(How’d you hold up physically?) – “I felt good. The offensive line did a great job. They’ve got some premier pass rushers over there and they played really well.”
(Have you played with a vest before or is this the first time you’ve had to play with the vest?) – “No, I’ve always played with a vest.”
(Was this a big difference running this offense? It seemed like you’re trying to get running backs the ball in space a lot more?) – “Yes, we saw a lot of zone, a lot of soft zone. I thought Adam (Gase) did a great job calling plays, getting the ball out of my hand and letting the playmakers get it early and let them run.”
(What’s the frustration level with this football team right now?) – “I think we just have to look at the positives; offensively, we did some good things tonight. If we eliminate some of those penalties and that turnover when we’re driving, and we’re in good position. We’re 4-4 at the halfway point. (There is) a lot of football left to play. There’s a lot of opportunities for us to put it together.”
(It seemed like a lot of dinking and dunking and a lot of short stuff until the fourth quarter when you started going deep. Was it just a case of just taking what they were giving you? What were they doing for you to keep you from going down the field?) – “Playing soft zone. That’s what they gave us pretty much all game and then we got into a situation where we had to push it a little bit and even then, DeVante (Parker) makes a heck of a catch in Cover 2 in the hole over there. Julius (Thomas) makes a catch in Cover 2 in the middle of the field. We still didn’t … we weren’t able to push the ball down extremely far because they were playing soft zone against us.”
(What did you see from the offense that you liked and things you can build on?) – “Whenever we weren’t going backwards from holding calls, I thought we had a really good rhythm. Guys were on the ball. I thought we mixed it up really well with our tempo. I got the ball out of my hand and got it to the guys that can make some plays. The running game, we had a few big runs that were sprinkled in there. (There were) a lot of positives. I think we’re going to look at the film and discuss some of these calls that we got against us. We’ve just got to clean it up for next week.”
Jarvis Landry – November 5, 2017 (Postgame)
Download PDF version
Sunday, November 5, 2017
Postgame – Oakland Raiders
Miami Dolphins WR Jarvis Landry (transcribed by Lexie Balboni)
(You set the all-time NFL record tonight for the most receptions by any player in their first four years. I know this is a team game, but for you, for that kind of accomplishment, what does it say?) – “It’s a tremendous feeling. It’s something I feel like I can’t be proud of with the loss. I’d rather take the win. It’s definitely a milestone for me. I guess I’m proud of myself.”
(Do you feel like after Head Coach Adam Gase called out the offense last week that you guys sort of stepped it up this week?) – “We did the best that we could. It’s always tough – like I’ve been saying for weeks now – when you’re in first-and-20, second-and-25 and third-and-30, it’s going to be tough to get a first down, and we were in that position a lot; and when we weren’t, we were moving the ball well.”
(What did you think of QB Jay Cutler’s return tonight from the broken ribs?) – “It was good. It’s something we all know Jay can do. It was good to have him back out there. It felt good to have him back out there. I wish we could have put this one together somehow, though.”
Damien Williams – November 5, 2017 (Postgame)
Download PDF version
Sunday, November 5, 2017
Postgame – Oakland Raiders
Miami Dolphins RB Damien Williams (transcribed by Alex Onaindia)
(Do you feel like some things were better today?) – “I felt like we were moving the ball pretty well, but at the end of the day, its penalties. You can’t have them.”
(Your touchdown where you got knocked back and spun back around, what happened on that play?) – “It was just an effort play. I’m just showing you who I am every day. I don’t quit. I don’t go out of bounds for nobody. It is an effort play. They gave up, I didn’t.”
(You were talking about how patient you’ve been waiting for your chance. This is your first really big chance here. How did you feel like it went?) – “I feel like it went okay. I feel like I could have done better in some areas, but as far as the running game, getting a feel to be faster and quicker, but I feel like it’s a process. It is just the first one.”
