Ndamukong Suh – November 26, 2017 (Postgame)
Download PDF version
Sunday, November 26, 2017
Postgame – New England Patriots
Dolphins DT Ndamukong Suh (transcribed by the New England Patriots)
Q: The Patriots had two turnovers, you had good pressure on Tom Brady. It didn’t seem like they played that great and they still scored 35 points. That’s got to be frustrating and disappointing.
NS: Yeah. Our goal going in there is understanding that he was going to give us opportunities, especially in the two-minute situations, and four-minute situations, and Bobby [McClain] took advantage of that by getting an interceptipon. Obviously then they had a must snap on whatever it was and [Reshad Jones] was able to make a play and we just knew we had to roll with the punches at the end of the day. So looking at it, I’ve got to go back and look at the film to see exactly where we made our mistakes. I know we weren’t perfect in a lot of areas and we’ve just got to continue to drive.
Q: It seemed like early in the game they were able to get yardage in the first series or so running right up the middle under the strength of your defense. Were they doing something different? What did you see there?
NS: I’m not sure what you’re referring to. I saw they got some plays. There was one, primarily, the biggest yardage play was on the sweeps. I think that was [Brandin Cooks]. Getting to our edge and obviously not tackling, so we have to figure that out from there.
Q: Looking at five losses in a row now what is the vibe of the locker room and how do you stay positive as a team?
NS: I think we understand the mistakes that we’ve made and the position that we’ve put ourselves in, so we have to get back to the drawing table and understand that we have to go home, take care of business at home and go from there.
Q: Is just trying to win all the remaining five games enough for you guys as your expectations coming into the season were probably more lofty than that?
NS: I think once you understand what you’ve done and understand we are going home. We need to go out there and win. You make the mistake when you look at the five games we have left – that will hurt us if we do that. I think we focus on what we have in Denver. Clean up the mistakes with the Patriots that we had this week and go from there.
Q: There are been consistent problems the first 11 games. What leads you to believe that over the next five games you can turn things around?
NS: I think it comes down to execution and executing your own job, myself included in that. That’s the best way we can look at it.
Q: What did the Patriots do? How were they scheming towards you today?
NS: I have to go back and look at the film. I know they wanted to run away from me. In a lot of situations I was moving around just so they could have an idea of where I was at. At the end of the day, they are a good game planning team. You’ve got to figure out what they want to do against you. Most of the time, they were trying to run the ball away from me.
Q: You’ve gone against these guys a lot. What’s this Patriots team like?
NS: What do you mean?
Q: You’ve faced them for many years. What do you see from this team that may be different from others?
NS: They are still executing at a high level and that’s really what it comes down to and you’ve got to combat that. It’s as simple as that.
Davon Godchaux – November 26, 2017 (Postgame)
Download PDF version
Sunday, November 26, 2017
Postgame – New England Patriots
Dolphins DT Davon Godchaux (transcribed by the New England Patriots)
(On the fourth down stop at the start of the fourth quarter)
“It doesn’t matter. I mean, we got our butts kicked. It was a great play by Reshad, I ended up coming over the top but it doesn’t matter because we still lost the game.”
(On the game)
“A couple calls didn’t go our way, but that’s football. We just have to execute better. Everything we practiced, they did. I felt like we got some great pressure on Tom Brady. We got him frustrated but we just have to execute better.”
(On Tom Brady)
“Yeah. Yeah, still five for five [in the red zone]. Still won the game. No matter how many times we hit him. He still got back up and still won the game. At the end of the day all those hits look good but it doesn’t matter when you get a loss. Everything has been said, he’s the greatest of all-time. But at the end of the day, they can be beat. You just have to execute and I don’t feel like we executed as a team tonight. We have to execute better. We all have to execute better.”
Adam Gase – November 26, 2017 (Postgame)
Download PDF version
Sunday, November 26, 2017
Postgame – New England Patriots
Dolphins Head Coach Adam Gase (transcribed by the New England Patriots)
Q: Coach, first series of downs and three and out, then they run the fake punt. How demoralizing was that for the team?
AG: That was one of the areas we are trying to emphasize – win the special teams battle. Losing that one on the first one of the game was a little disappointing. But it was a 60-minute game, so we have to figure out how to get a stop and make them punt again.
Q: Seems like out there, we are 11 games into the season, it still seems that on defense there is confusing at times when guys are lining up and offensively some of those situations. Is there a big concern with that?
AG: I mean, when the defense, when the team, breaks the huddle, they are trying to figure out where everybody is at. You know, it’s tough against these guys, especially because you are seeing multiple [running] backs and three wide outs in this game. You know, we are trying to make sure that everyone is kind of communicating, knows where to go and our end zone man [coverage], pressuring – there were a lot of things going on there. So you know, those guys communicating, to me, isn’t a negative thing on defense, offensively. You know, I didn’t kind of see that today.
Q: Adam, season-high seven sacks allowed. Quarterback sacks. What went wrong with the pass protection?
AG: It was an overall effort. I mean, we were throwing the ball almost every down there. When we were down to one running back, so there were a couple times when we had some missed assignments, but you know, we were trying to get some chunk plays and try to find a way to shorten the field up.
Q: What happened on the [Bobby] McCain play when he was ejected?
AG: That’s something you guys will have to talk to him about. What happened there, I just saw the replay.
Q: Coach, you get down on 14-0 in the first two series. How much does that change what you try to do offensively? What you can’t do offensively? Play calling-wise…
AG: I didn’t change anything. I kept to what we kind of talked about. Nothing really changed for us until we were down to one running back.
Q: Adam, right before the half, you had a 21-10 game. You had the ball at the 15, you threw a lot of passes to Devante Parker and he didn’t make a play on the ball. Did he not see it?
AG: That would be a good question to ask him. I thought Matt [Moore] made the right read. I would have to watch the film, don’t know if he was early or DeVante didn’t think it was coming to him? You know, that quickly. It looked like the ball was in the air, when he got his head around, he was trying to stop then fell.
Q: He’s had four interceptions come at him. Is this something in his game that you are seeing?
AG: I mean, that’s hard to say. I mean, every place, is a different play.
Q: Seems like every week we talk about the same issues with this team. Converting first down, converting third down, gaining first downs, penalties, mistakes. You have five games left, can you clear it up?
AG: We had less pre-snap penalties, so that was a positive. You know, we just seem to be having the wrong things happening to us at the wrong times. You know, we just have to go back to work and find a way to clean a lot of these things up. I see a lot of those things as fixable. You know, we are basically in a situation where we need to put a good game together here real quick.
Q: You lost five in a row, where is this team?
AG: I think they are still battling. I mean, we have been practicing good. That’s the frustrating part, more than anything and it’s not translating to Sunday. We are still making a few mistakes that are really hurting us. You know, get a little too aggressive underneath things and kind of put everybody else in a bind there. To where I thought Matt had a good call on and everyone does their job, we are in better shape. And we were just having too many situations like that. You know, guys just have to do their job. They have to trust what they are being told and do exactly what they are supposed to do and that’s when we will start having better results.
Q: The Patriots have shown a little more balance this year and Dion Lewis, every week, seems to be getting better. He had over 100 yards, first time in his career. Can you talk about how dangerous their offense is when they run the ball like this?
AG: I think anytime you got a group of running backs, especially like they do, you can stretch the field. You know, and then all of a sudden – you throw it underneath, and you have one-on-one matchups across the board. That makes it tough and you know, when you expect a team that historically, with certain guys, they emphasize certain parts of the game, whether it be run/pass game. Now all of a sudden you start running the ball with them and you are expecting pass or vice versa. That’s what makes it tough, the [more] versatile those running backs are, that’s what makes it more difficult to defend.
Q: Is there a fine line to toe between playing aggressively and still allowing yourselves to be efficient? There was a drive that the Patriots had where there was the ejection of McCain, a facemask penalty. I haven’t covered you guys, but heard about the number of penalties…
AG: Yeah, that was a terrible series for us. I mean, that was one we really couldn’t have at that moment in the game. We really put ourselves in bad position, especially losing Bobby like that. That puts a lot of guys in a bad position. And then we have to start moving things around. The frustrating part is when you have the facemask penalties, that’s just going back to fundamental football. Hands in the right place and doing the right things through the entire down. You know, we shoot ourselves in the foot when we do things like that.
Q: They’re [the Patriots] not perfect, but they are somewhat maddeningly efficient. I mean you got a three-and-out in the first drive, bam they hit you with something. Are they a measuring stick or do you have enough to worry about in your own place?
AG: Yeah, I think I have enough to worry about in my place.
Q: You now have one healthy running back, where do you go?
AG: Obviously going to have to reevaluate where we are at right now. Probably have to move some pieces around. I don’t even know how bad everyone is right now.
Q: What else do you tell the team in terms of last year, 10-6, you made the playoffs. This year, you have surpassed that in terms of the number of losses. What do you tell the team in terms of overall goals?
AG: Well, right now we just have to worry about winning one game. That’s what we have to worry about.
Q: Early in the second half, there was a play in which they dropped a punt return, and Michael Thomas came up with the ball. They ruled it dead. How did you see that?
AG: Well, sometimes when you [see] those scrums, as soon as they see someone with the ball, they think that’s who has it. They just say it’s blue and then they go with it and it doesn’t matter who gets up with the ball, so assuming that’s what happened. I didn’t really get an explanation on that one.
Adam Gase – November 24, 2017
Download PDF version
Friday, November 24, 2017
Head Coach Adam Gase
(QB Jay Cutler practiced today I’m assuming. Yes?) – “Yes.”
(How much work can QB Jay Cutler do based on a normal routine and I guess you won’t learn if he’s gotten his clearance until tomorrow?) – “Yes, so what we’re going to do is we had him practice. He went through individual. He took reps; but he’s going to be out, and we’ll go through the next steps in the next few days and maybe into next week. That’s where we’re at right now.”
(QB Jay Cutler’s out? So he’s not going to be playing against the Patriots?) – “Correct.”
(So just QB Matt Moore and QB David Fales, then?) – “Yes.”
(With QB Matt Moore, obviously he’s had a week of practicing with the starters. What have you seen from him that makes you believe that he’s ready to handle this responsibility?) – “I think it was good that he actually got a week to practice considering the last time he got a start we were in a walkthrough phase playing a Thursday night game. I think when Matt goes through a week like this, it’s really beneficial to him because the reps are very few during the season and it just helps kind of speed up his mindset of how things are going to look, what the actual look – the speed of the looks – are going to be, just kind of how they play. I think it was good for him.”
(Common sense would suggest that no G/T Jermon Bushrod for Sunday?) – “He was the one guy I forgot to look on. What did we put as his status? He’s out.”
(We didn’t see DT Ndamukong Suh out there. Maybe you can tell us about him?) – “Well we gave him … Today was his day off, because we normally do it early in the week and he’s kind of … He doesn’t like not being out there, especially when we’re trying to get things moving a little bit and making sure that everything’s good for practice and him seeing all the looks. We know we don’t want to burn him out in practice. We don’t want him taking … All of his reps we want to make sure they’re valuable.”
(So is it DT Ndamukong Suh’s decision to switch the days he sits out from Wednesday to Friday?) – “Yes, he does a good job of communicating with us and telling us what’s really valuable to him, and Wednesday ended up being a day that he wanted to really go through.”
(With this offensive line, constructing it again, obviously you prepare for getting everybody to play every position, but how hard has that been to sort of get that unit into a rhythm?) – “I think with Mike (Pouncey) leading that group, it really takes a lot off of our plate as coaches, because he does such a good job of communicating and making sure everybody is on the same page. I think those guys that have jumped in there and had to start playing, they got caught up to speed quick. There seems to be a little bit of chemistry there even though we keep moving some pieces around. Guys are playing well together. That’s good to see. They’re taking practice very serious and treating it like we have a Sunday going on, to where they’re really trying to make sure the quarterback has a clean pocket so Matt (Moore) gets really comfortable and he can know what to expect.”
(Do you feel like you made the right steps this week to alleviate the penalty situation?) – “We keep trying different things. It’s all about seeing if it translates into a game. I think guys are well aware that was unacceptable last week. The focus this week was good.”
(T Laremy Tunsil seem normal now?) – “Yes, he seems alright. I’m sure he’s not feeling 100 percent quite yet, but personality-wise he seems alright.”
(How extreme was that? How bad was T Laremy Tunsil?) – “I just stayed away from him.”
(Smart.) – “I didn’t want to get sick.”
(With DE William Hayes – I don’t know what his status for the game is if you want to clarify – but how much does it impact your run-stopping ability if he’s down?) – “He’s a guy that has played really well for us this year. He has kind of set the tone on the edge. You guys have been around him long enough. The time you guys have kind of either met with him or watched him play, you can tell he’s a violent player. He’s a force. He really can kind of set the tempo for all that. When teams are trying to get outside, it’s just hard to do. It’s unfortunate for us that he plays that whole game and he just didn’t feel right after the game. He’s tough. He’s as tough as they come.”
(One more quarterback question: QB David Fales, where is he at right now? You’ve had him back for a few weeks. What’s you’re comfort level?) – “He’s good. He was good that first week. He’s (a) quick study. Very smart. His thing is … David, if he ever goes into a game, he’s going to … He reacts. That’s really his … The best thing he does is play in actual games. Practice and things like that … When things are kind of changing up on him during a game, that’s his best thing. That’s when he can really slow everything down and know where to go with the ball and get it out on time.”
Jarvis Landry – November 23, 2017
Download PDF version
Thursday, November 23, 2017
WR Jarvis Landry
(Are you a big Thanksgiving guy?) – “Yes, absolutely. Obviously, it’s (usually) the last Thursday of every November and sometimes it falls on the 27th or 28th and the 28th happens to be my birthday, so Thanksgiving is always a good time of the year for me.”
(Do you have a favorite thing you like to eat?) – “Anything. I’m from the country. We eat anything. Anything, honestly.”
(What are you most thankful for this year?) – “Life, my family, to be able to stand here in front of you guys and with these guys. Just today and everything I’ve been through.”
(You already have set a career high in touchdown catches. Is that something you’re aware of?) – “I saw it; but we’ve still got a couple of more games to go. I’ll look back at it at the end.”
(How do you explain it? Why do you think you’ve had this breakthrough this year?) – “Just making plays (and) getting opportunities. With the opportunities that I’ve been given, I think I’ve made the most of them and that’s what it’s about, especially down in the red zone when things get tight and thick. I’ve just been finding a way. (Head) Coach (Adam Gase) has been calling some great plays to free me up. Jay (Cutler) and Matt (Moore) have been putting the balls in spots to allow me to be successful.”
(Are defenses defending you any differently in the red zone?) – “I’m still getting doubled down there, for the most part. We’re doing a lot of things off run game that are freeing me up a little bit. I think one or two were off scrambles. They’re still doubling me; but depending on the situation, some teams they’ll zero down there and that’s just beating a guy. From that point, it’s just hooking up with the quarterback.”
(During the offseason, you talked about the Patriots and how it’s important to sweep them. What is it about this team that gets your attention? Is it the fact that they’ve been winning lately?) – “Honestly, it’s a pride thing and also it’s something for us, a mindset. I spoke about it. They’re a team I have a great respect for. I always will. The guys over there, I know guys over there – (Patriots QB) Tom (Brady) and all of those guys. It’s nothing against them. It’s something that as a competitor, you want to win. Just like every game, I approach it the same and that’s the mindset.”
(Did you think when you said something like that in London in February that it would get blown up to what it is?) – “Of course.”
(You knew it would?) – “Of course. (laughter)”
(Is that why you did it?) – “I know you guys wouldn’t let that die. (laughter) Come on.”
(It’s not us, it’s Patriots fans too?) – “That’s fine. Again, it’s okay. I’m just excited about the opportunity, excited about the challenge with these guys and to have the opportunity to go up there and compete, just like we do every week.”
(How do you feel about the team’s chances? Obviously, Vegas has you all as a 17-point underdog.) – “I don’t care about Vegas.”
(Well 17 is a lot – a decisive underdog.) – “I don’t care about Vegas. I don’t care about numbers. Any given Sunday, anybody can beat anybody. That’s the beauty of this league. That’s the beauty of the NFL. That’s why I love this sport so much. You never know. This may be the game that turns our season around, too. You never know. For us, we’re just focused on ourselves and putting good days together so that when we get to the game, we’re confident, we’re playing fast and we pull one out.”
(What do you think is the reason for the slow starts you guys have had in the first half?) – “Penalties. I think we’re probably 32nd now as far as penalties and that will surely hold a team back, hold an offense back. We’ve been behind the sticks on third down, third-and-20, third-and-15 – I can’t tell you. I’m sure it’s double digits, the amount of times that we’ve been third-and-15-plus. It’s hard to be successful.”
(What do you think it will take the Dolphins to one day match or overtake the Patriots organization?) – “It’s something that I can’t look into the future for; but again, right now for us, it’s putting together this great week to allow us to be in position to start that. We have an opportunity to start on Sunday, and for us, that’s our focus – just winning one game.”
(Do you like that environment up there with those fans? It’s one of the tougher places to play. What do you enjoy about playing up there?) – “(Just) that – their fans. It seems to be a football town, a sports town. They really rally behind their players and their guys. It’s going to be a hostile environment; but just as sure as it can be loud, it can be quiet, so we’ll see.”
Adam Gase – November 23, 2017
Download PDF version
Thursday, November 23, 2017
Head Coach Adam Gase
(Anything new for us on QB Jay Cutler?) – “No. He’s in the (concussion) protocol.”
(You kind of touched on this yesterday, but at what point do you think you have to make that call for this week?) – “I mean once they let me know what’s going on with the stages of protocol or whenever, however that goes, then I’ll go from there. It’s like one of those things, I can’t do anything about it. So we’re not going to rush to make any decision.”
(Would you be comfortable playing QB Jay Cutler if he hadn’t practiced all week?) – “Because of being a veteran player, yes.”
(With the offensive line situation and G/T Jermon Bushrod’s status, I know you’ve worked G Isaac Asiata at right guard primarily. Is that his job or is it sort of going to the top eight guys?) – “We’re looking at what’s our best five for this game and who’s going to be healthy and who’s available. That’s why sometimes it does take the whole week to kind of figure out what’s best for us, because you have to move a lot of guys in practice because when we’re only practicing with eight guys and we’re doing scout team and they’re taking a lot of reps, so we’re getting good looks.”
(With G Isaac Asiata where is he in his development?) – “I think there’s a lot of things he hasn’t seen and I know we’ve talked about this 1,000 times, that’s really the hardest thing for rookies is trying to … How fast can you learn what the NFL’s really about? And that’s just variety and multiple things and different defenses, different structures. It just takes a minute to kind of get all those, that library, built in your brain.”
(Is T Laremy Tunsil feeling better?) – “It sounds like it. I’m not going near him so … (laughter)”
(Is there a bug going around this team?) – “Not that I have heard of. I mean he’s the only one.”
(When you play the Patriots, they’re always one of those teams that they figure out your weakness and they sort of attack it. Do you know how they’re going to attack it going in, or do you have theories and…?) – “You can try to guess. You just need to be careful doing that because when you think you know how they’re going to approach you, then it can be severely wrong and it can hurt you. You really have to just be aware of some weaknesses you think you have versus them, and just have that idea in the back of your head, have calls ready to go. Really the hardest thing is they take away what you do really well, so you better be ready to go to something else or not do that and have an idea there as well. It’s a difficult challenge to game plan this group.”
(When you say they take away what you do well, do you mean like your number one run…?) – “It could be player, scheme. They’re not going to get beat how other teams possibly can get beat. They make sure at the end of the day, this guy is not going to beat us and they’ll make sure that happens. They’ll make you beat them a different way.”
(Thinking back to last year, playing up there, it seemed like the slow start was kind of your undoing. You played well in the second half, but it was just too much of a deficit to overcome. Is there any message this week like, “Hey guys, this is one team we cannot sleep on early?”) – “I’m all for us starting fast any game. If we can do that, that’s ideal. You don’t want to spot this team 20 points like we’ve done the last two times we’ve played them. It makes it very difficult to fight that battle, because right when you think you’re about ready to make a breakthrough and make it real tight, something else happens – whether they make a drive to put it out of reach or, like they did last year, they created a turnover. Every play gets magnified the later in the game it gets.”
(Offensive Coordinator Clyde Christensen was talking the other day about how he thinks stability and consistency are two of the reasons that the Patriots organization has had sustained success. What are some ways that you plan to try to create stability and consistency within the organization?) – “Really, that’s why we do like keeping a lot of the guys that – whether we drafted them or they’ve been here – that have really taken to how we do things and like being in this program. Those guys we want to keep around. It’s just like anything else you do. Once you get used to how things operate, it only gets better. They’ve done a great job of when they started that thing, of finding their core guys, building on that and then whether it be free agency or draft, they’ve brought in enough guys over time that have fit their culture and fit their program, and they’ve been able to keep the key guys long enough to where they just keep building off of that. When guys know what to expect every day when they walk in the building, it makes their job easier in the aspect of they’re learning every day. They’re not guessing what’s going to happen and thinking. They’re able to play fast and they’re able to react.”
(WR Jarvis Landry has always set a career high in touchdowns. Has it just been a concerted effort looking for him more and more in the red zone? Why is he getting into the end zone?) – “He’s getting open. It seems like we got some different looks this year than what we were getting last year. It allowed him to get some opportunities where he’s had some one-on-one matchups. Last year he was getting doubled a lot. This year, it hasn’t been as much, so we’ve been able to get him the ball. Even a couple of times when I think he was doubled, he found a way to get open and we found him. I don’t think we’ve changed anything schematically to try to really emphasize getting him the ball in the end zone. It’s just worked out.”
(Are teams doubling WR Kenny Stills more?) – “No. We haven’t been seeing a ton of that. We’re seeing more guys are playing a little more one-on-one down there. That’s why we’ve thrown it probably more. People are loading up the box on us.”
(With the Patriots tight end situation, obviously they have three pretty high level tight end. How difficult does that make it to game plan for them defensively and can you address the struggles you guys have had with tight ends in the last month?) – “It’s a good test, for sure. We’ll see how quickly we can get things corrected. It is tough when you have multiple guys that play that position, especially if you bring them all out on the field at the same time. Now you’re trying to find everybody and figure out what they’re doing because these guys have the ability to get big, stay big, spread it out and do multiple formations. They make it very difficult for defenses to prepare for them. When they do that, they end up limiting the calls the defensive coordinator can have because you might not see it. They might not run it the entire game. It’s time on task. That’s what makes this offense very difficult to go against because you don’t know what they’re going to come out in. They’ll change it up as much as (Offensive Coordinator) Josh (McDaniels) feels like he needs to, to keep you off balance.”
(You obviously have a history with Patriots Offensive Coordinator Josh McDaniels. Do you understand the concepts that he’s trying to get across just because…) – “Most of the NFL is all the same. It’s just different words, different terminology. Everybody attacks everybody different. I probably learned – in our time together in a year and a half, the amount of football that I learned in that time – you talk about getting a crash course in how to do things right. I learned just by listening and just kind of paying attention to every little thing he did. I learned a ton in that year and a half. When I watch them play now, you see a lot of the same philosophies that he does. It might not be the exact same plays that we were running back then in 2009 and 2010; but just kind of the way he goes about it, the way he gains information for the quarterback and the position he puts his players in, he really makes it difficult. If you’re a defensive coordinator, it’s tough to prepare for.”
(The offense has obviously evolved throughout the season. Have you done self-scouting in the last 10 weeks and say, “Hey this is what really works, this doesn’t,” and evolved because of it?) – “Yes, that Baltimore week was our bye weekend, which was nice to have. We had a chance to look at a lot of stuff and just take a step back and say, ‘What’s our best way to go?’ We made some adjustments and tried to put some of those guys that we really hadn’t done a good job of using. I think Julius (Thomas), I didn’t get him going enough early in the season. I feel like we got in a little bit of a groove. I still think there’s some other things we can do and just trying to use the tight ends and the backs and see that receiving group, just keep moving those guys around making it hard. You don’t want to make it really easy to find Jarvis (Landry). You want to keep (moving him) inside, outside, No. 3. You just want to keep finding ways to move him around because if he’s just a sitting target, it’s a lot easier to take him away.”
(If T Laremy Tunsil didn’t feel well enough to play or even if he got sick during the game, would you go T Sam Young left tackle, G/T Jesse Davis right tackle and throw C Jake Brendel in there? That’s a lot of shuffling, obviously.) – “He’ll be better by then. Obviously, this week is a good test for us to move pieces around and figure out what’s our best way to go about it. That’s what we’ve been doing in practice. These are the things you have to go through. Sometimes it’s frustrating when it happens because you just want those guys to be able to get their reps and have a feel for what they’re going to get; but when this happens it’s one of those unpredictable things, like a lot of other things that happen during an NFL season. It gives other guys a chance to get better and be ready to go, so if something happened, this week kind of gave us some confidence in moving guys around.”
(Has G/T Jesse Davis exceeded all expectations? He seems to be playing pretty well.) – “I keep wishing we could keep him in one spot. It just feels like right when he gets going in one spot, then something happens and he’s got to move to a different spot; but I thought last week, he was playing well at right tackle. Then you get thrown in there and, all of a sudden ‘93’ (Buccaneers DT Gerald McCoy) is over you the majority of the time and now all of the sudden, it’s a different animal. You go from, ‘Okay, I feel good blocking this guy’ and now, all of a sudden, you go inside and you’ve got one of the best players in the league coming at you and you really didn’t go into that game thinking that was going to be one of your deals. I thought he did a good job of handling himself. The thing that he always has that he can rely on is his strength. When he gets his hands on somebody, that’s a big man anchoring down. He held his own. It wasn’t easy for him; but he’s shown us a lot of things that we’re really looking for. We really like him, whether it’s right tackle or right guard.”
(What is G/T Jesse Davis’ ideal spot based on his strength?) – “I wish I could say. I just see him play well at both spots at times. I thought right tackle was good for him because he was really flattening out that edge. There wasn’t a lot of penetration there. He hasn’t really had to go out against that Cameron Wake-type guy. Everybody we’ve played so far has been more the physical type guys that are coming right at him, which is good for him. When we go and practice, going against Cam for him is great, because ou’re not going to see a ton of guys like that, but when he does see it, he is understanding ‘Alright, this is what I have to do, this is how I need to protect myself.’ He wants to get his hands on him. That’s the hard thing about blocking Cam. You don’t know if you’re always going to get out there and then when you do think you can get out there, all of a sudden he ducks underneath you and now you’re in big trouble.”
Matt Moore – November 22, 2017
Download PDF version
Wednesday, November 22, 2017
QB Matt Moore
(Is preparation complicated by not knowing if you’re going to start or if QB Jay Cutler is going to start this week?) – “No. You go out and you prepare. The situation is what it is and you’ve got to do your best to prepare the best you can and be ready to go when called upon.”
(If you do wind up starting, how much of a difference is it going to make the fact that you’re having live reps in practice, as opposed to the Baltimore game, which was just walkthroughs?) – “Obviously repetition, experience, those things are big. You get to see the looks all week, regardless, whether you’re taking the reps or you’ve got to take the mental reps as a backup. To get them today was good and it will be beneficial, for sure”
(Head Coach Adam Gase says he doesn’t put anything in your head about reminding you that you’re the last guy or anything like that, that you’re the last quarterback. You don’t factor that in at all?) – “No. There’s a lot of other things I’m thinking of. I’m just playing the game.”
(The success you had in the second half last week, to our eyes, was one of the better stretches you’ve had here. Would you agree with that and how do you carry that over to another week?) – “Yes, there were some plays made for sure. Guys were making plays everywhere. How do you carry it over? It’s just preparation, I think. Adam (Gase) says it all of the time, ‘Preparation eliminates fear.’ I think you go out, you prepare and it allows you to play fast. I think that’s the goal this week is prepare, expect a battle and go up there and make as many plays as possible.”
(Are you of the mindset that you’re going to force Head Coach Adam Gase to make a decision to get you out of there at some point, that if you play well you could be the starter?) – “No, the thing is, if you’re in there to play, my goal is to execute and win games. Whatever happens after that, happens. It’s out of my control. Preparation, studying, executing, winning, those are the things I’m focused on.”
(Since the time they brought QB Jay Cutler in, have you approached it and believed as though you could still take that job from him or have you just accepted that you’re going to be the No. 2?) – “I fulfill my role the best way I know how. That was an answer right there. (laughter)”
(Do you ever tire of the back and forth?) – “My role is what it is. When Ryan (Tannehill) was here, I was the backup. When they signed Jay (Cutler), who knows what’s going to happen, I became the backup again and it was defined. My role is what it is and I do my best to execute it, whatever it is. That’s the way I roll with this thing.”
(Head Coach Adam Gase said that you guys had a little bit of a hiccup going from QB Jay Cutler’s cadence to your cadence. He wanted everyone to mimic Jay’s cadence, so how is your Cutler impersonation right now?) – “We’re ironing it out. It’s good. I think that happens sometimes. Guys get so locked into one style or one voice. You’d love it to go with no issues when another guy comes in, but it happens, and we can’t let it happen. We’ve worked it out.”
(How do you practice that? Have you been listening to audio of QB Jay Cutler’s voice?) – “No. You know. There’s little things you can tweak here in there. You talk to the guys up front and how they expect it. You just work together and get on the same page.”
(It’s been the better part of a decade since you guys have won in New England. What will it take to win in the hardest place in the country?) – “Obviously, you can’t make mistakes against any team, especially a team like this in their stadium. You’ve just got to execute. You’ve got to be aggressive and play fast, but it’s going to come down to executing and limiting you’re mistakes. You’ve got to play a full 60-minute game. I know those are cliché answers, but those are the facts. There’s no magic. You’ve just got to play a good, clean game and fight until the end.”
(I don’t expect you to pay much attention to anything outside of this building, but there isn’t a lot of faith that this team can go up to New England and win – betting lines, power rankings, whatever you want to say. Do you use that as a chip on your shoulder or fuel?) – “I don’t know. You hit it on the head with I have no idea what any of that means; but I don’t pay attention to it. We’re focused on getting better this week, the game plan and trying to go up there and win a ball game, that’s it.”
(How do you feel about your offensive line right now considering they’ve lost some guys and they’re trying to scrap it together.) – “Next man up. We’ve done it all year at numerous positions. I said it Sunday after the game, I like the guys that have rotated in. They’re good guys. They come and do their job. They’re tough and prepared and ready to go, so it’s good.”
(When WR Kenny Stills came here, he was regarded as a deep threat. Has he evolved as a receiver and if so, how?) – “Yes, no doubt he’s evolved. He’s a deep threat. He has the speed and the ability to make the catches down the field. He’s proven that; but I think he catches a lot of balls, intermediate throws, some in-cuts. He’s just expanded his game to where he really doesn’t have a major weakness. He can do whatever you want him to do. I credit him. He’s a worker. He’s in this building more than most and I think it’s shown for him. It’s paying off for him; it’s paying off for us. He’s a guy we rely and somebody that you definitely want to get the ball to.”
(QB Jay Cutler wears a wristband, but do you wear one?) – “Yes.”
Ndamukong Suh – November 22, 2017
Download PDF version
Wednesday, November 22, 2017
DT Ndamukong Suh
(Once again, how do you keep the spirits up this week?) – “Spirits? It’s football. Excitement. (We’re) playing a great game. It’s Thanksgiving week. (We) get an opportunity to watch some football after practice and get prepared for our game.”
(The losing streak doesn’t have guys a little down or would you say the mentality is the same as it was a month ago?) – “I think unfortunately we’ve been in this position before, so we know how to get ourselves out if it. Let’s just focus on those keys and focus on what we have to get done this particular week to go out there and beat the Patriots.”
(Last year there was a culture of accountability with this team. Lots of guys come in postgame talking about, “I did this wrong. I did this wrong. I need to do this better.” At least one captain told us after the game last week that “We need to get back to that.” Have you seen that same level of accountability in the locker room?) – “I think that accountability is there. I’m not sure … Tell me what was said last week, again?”
(I asked a captain of the team … Last year there were a lot of guys talking after games about “What we did wrong. What I did wrong. What I need to improve,” – both coaching staff and players. And I asked him if he had seen the same amount of that this year and he said, “No. We need to get back to that.”) – “That’s interesting, because in my personal opinion last week, I think we had a lot of that. Guys understood what they needed to get done. I think, especially on the defensive side – because I don’t know everything that’s going on the offensive side of the ball – guys changed the way they played. I think from a penalty perspective, on the defensive side of the ball, we cleaned some things up. I think we only had two (penalties), and I think both of them – or actually one of them – was in game and one of them was out of the game, false start or something like that. Regardless, I think guys understand what they need to get done and have accomplished that. I think in crucial situations, we haven’t been our best, and we need to change that.”
(What’s the toughest part about playing against Patriots QB Tom Brady, if you had to pick one aspect?) – “He has found a way to get the ball out. I think he has been a little bit slower this year, watching the film last couple days; but he likes to get rid of the ball very quickly. It’s our job up front to really get after him and make him feel uncomfortable. I know that’s one of my particular goals in this particular week – touch him as much as I can, hit him as much as I can, push his own lineman into him as much as I can and go from there.”
(The team’s overall sack numbers are bottom 10 in the league, which is surprising in the sense that obviously it’s a highly respected defensive line. Not surprising in the sense that you all have trailed a ton. How much of the fact … How much of it can be attributed to trailing 90 percent of the time in games this year or should that not be used as an excuse for low sack numbers?) – “I think there are a lot of factors that go into sacking the quarterback. I wouldn’t pinpoint any one in particular. I would say that if I were to point out one particular piece that is a huge stat is the fact that we’ve played against some elite quarterbacks that have gotten the ball out tremendously fast. I can think of only maybe one quarterback in Cam Newton – which we had a terrible rush defense week that week, he didn’t really have to throw the ball as much – but I think every other quarterback that we’ve played in all other nine weeks has gotten out the ball very, very fast and has been up in the top of the league of getting out the ball, getting the ball out fast.”
(Do you feel good about how the defensive line has played?) – “No. I don’t.”
(Has it been to capacity? Has it been what you guys are capable of?) – “I think at any particular level, we’re capable of playing a lot better. I think at the end of the day, we have to continue to strive for perfection knowing that we’re not probably going to get there, but we can obviously strive for it and get there.”
(Why was the run defense better last week?) – “I think execution (and) tackling – those two simple things. People were in the right places. They were getting the ball carrier down. I think we got on top of it very early and then really forced them to pass the ball. Unfortunately in some situations they were successful in passing the ball and others they weren’t.”
(DE Cameron Wake is a guy who has had so much successes for so long. When he goes a couple of games without a sack, it’s kind of jarring to us. Can you see him getting back on track this week? Is this usually the week that Cam Wake…) – “I think it’s all of us at the end of the day that need to get back on track. I think we’ve only gotten one sack in the last two weeks. We all need to be better.”
