Clyde Christensen – November 22, 2017
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Wednesday, November 22, 2017
Offensive Coordinator Clyde Christensen
(When you factor in the way T Laremy Tunsil has played, obviously the 10 penalties this year are part of that, where is he now compared to where you as a staff believe he should or could be?) – “I think we probably believe – and I’ve said to you all along – that he can really be a fine player. The consistency should come. It hasn’t yet, but it will. Hopefully it comes last week. The sooner the better. Some you can’t hurry. I don’t think they’re … It’s not because he’s not practicing hard or doing those things. I think he would be the first to say it can’t happen, you just can’t have that many penalties.”
(Some of the penalties that have occurred have been over and over and over, how do you preach accountability?) – “It’s hard. We’re addressing it in the meetings. Obviously, we addressed it in practice. We’re addressing it hard in practice. We’re trying to pull guys out of there if they jump offsides. We’re trying to do everything possible; but so far it hasn’t helped. That was probably the worst week we’ve had. It’s unexplainable. It’s unfathomable to me that it happens this late in the season that you pass the half way point and you’re still having issues with procedure penalties. Some of the other ones maybe you can understand, but not procedure penalties. That’s bad ball. There’s no other way to say it. It’s bad ball on all of our parts – everybody.”
(With WR Leonte Carroo … Obviously, Head Coach Adam Gase said with WR Rashawn Scott it was a function of working good in practice. With WR Leonte Carroo at this stage of his career – the team gave up two mid-round picks for him. You have three veteran receivers – that’s a factor – but is there something more that he needs to show the staff?) – “For him, I think that’ll be a constant competition. They’ve been in a competition since they’ve been here. It’s kind of a good thing because whoever is playing better will be up. A lot of it will come down to special teams. I think the answer to your question is special teams. The guy who excels at special teams, that fourth and fifth receiver, have to get their spot. (Special Teams Coordinator/Associate Head Coach Darren Rizzi) ‘Rizz’ probably has the final say on the fourth and the fifth receiver just because the special teams is so important and it’s not a huge number of snaps offensively. The special teams would be the answer to your question. Those guys will have to compete and you hope one of them just plays well. That’s what I always tell (them is), ‘Don’t give your spot up once you’ve got it. Play well enough that people can’t live without you.’ So far that hasn’t happened.”
(In practice, does WR Leonte Carroo get separation from corners consistently? Is that an issue?) – “No more than everyone, no. He’s never going to be a speed burner, so he has got to be on his technique and all of those things; but I don’t think it has been as much that as … The times he has been in there he has gotten open and made a couple big catches. Again, the special teams is a huge factor. It’s a bigger factor than probably even the offensive practice snaps.”
(When you look at last week’s game, it’s easy for us to say QB Jay Cutler was the quarterback in the first half, QB Matt Moore was the quarterback in the second half, that’s why there was so much better performance in the second than in the first, is that fair? Why do you think you played so much better in the second half?) – “I think we didn’t turn the thing over. We didn’t fumble the ball. I don’t know why. We played better. We just played better. I don’t think that’s a reflection of one position as much as just the unit played better. I think sometimes you get the momentum going. Our team has always been one that it just snowballs one direction or the other. Those penalties, the turnovers, we’ll go some periods where it snowballs and we’re rolling and the second half happened to be one of those upturns. The first half is about as bad of ball as we’ve played. I think it was all around. It wasn’t just the quarterback. It was some other things, too. Matt (Moore) didn’t do everything right. He did give us a chance to get back in the thing, and gave us a chance, but we missed some red zone opportunities. (We) missed some red zone opportunities in the second half that would’ve made the thing not a tie at the end. We had tons of opportunity to win that game before the end of the game and we didn’t. The pick penalty that was questionable. There were four or five things in the red zone where really we’ve got to finish those drives and score touchdowns and we got field goals and (it) ended up biting us in the rear at the end of the day. I don’t think it would be one guy as much as the whole deal, the whole unit. We can’t turn it over. I don’t care who … I don’t care if you’re Jarvis (Landry) or if you’re the quarterback or whoever – DeVante (Parker). We can’t turn the ball over. There’s no breaking even on that. That’s so severe and so significant to football games. You can make five big plays and a turnover still outweighs it. That’s how big they are in this league. For us to even have a chance and be minus-five in the turnover ratio in that game just shows we still play hard. Playing hard hasn’t been a problem. You’re just not going to win many games where you’re minus-five in the turnover (category).”
(How much of a concern was WR Kenny Stills’ injury going into last week and how did he come up with a career game given that injury situation?) – “(Allen) Iverson might’ve been right: practice is a little overrated, I guess. (laughter) That’s what I said to him today, ‘How do you feel?’ It wasn’t as much an … I guess you could call it an injury, but it just kind of locked up and tightened up on him. I think some modern medicine and then some just loosens up with the adrenaline going in the game. I don’t have a clean answer for you, but it happens. It’s one of those things where he locked up a little bit and probably could’ve practiced, but we just wanted – at this point in the year – just him resting and getting that thing back loosened up is a big thing. He obviously got it loosened up and was rolling there. He has had some problems in the past, so I do think there is a benefit that he does know how to deal with it. He knows that he will get the thing loose come game time and that it’ll loosen up as you play. Sometimes it’s not worth the risk of heavy reps in practice to give the thing a chance to settle down and loosen up some.”
(What have you seen from WR Kenny Stills aside from the deep routes? I’m talking about blocking downfield, short and intermediate routes, practice habits.) – “I think Kenny probably is (the) most improved guy since I’ve been here. I’ve said it to you before that when I got here, and in that first offseason, I don’t remember ever coming … I don’t remember a day coming in the building (where) I didn’t see the guy. I just think that he is the epitome of committing himself to being a good player and did everything – offseason, how he trains, how he works in individual, all those things – and I think it’s paying off. I think he’s a really, really good all-around receiver and I think beyond, way beyond when we first got here. I think he can be a top-flight … I think he is a top-flight receiver. I think he can be a really top-flight receiver, especially if we can get this passing game going more consistent. I think he’s taking the blocking. He’s throwing his body in there and maybe something he didn’t quite do as much when we first got here. He has gotten more physical inside there. His technique has just gotten better. I think his catching, his hands, he has made some one-handed catches this year. He has always been able to run, but I think all the technique that goes with this, he has paid the price to do. It’s fun as a coach to see it pay off for a guy. There’s no guarantee of that. Sometimes you work that hard and you have an injury or something; but his has paid off and he’s really a good, all-around receiver. He does everything well. His breaks are a lot better. His hands have improved. His blocking has improved. His route running has improved. And he still has a deep ball threat, still always a threat to run by you.”
(We see the potential, obviously, with RB Kenyan Drake and those two long runs in two of the three weeks since he’s been more involved. If you had to point to one or two areas where you think growth is most needed, the next step for him, it would be what?) – “Yes, I would tell you that he’s growing in his attention to detail. He’s growing on the ball protection side. His first start, so to speak, he gets that ball popped loose and it crushed him, which is the right reaction. It should crush you, and it did. I do think that he’s improving in his alertness, his paying attention, his meetings, how he does things as a pro – his fines are way down from that rookie year – all of those things. He’s just doing things more like a pro and I think he’s into it. The test will come after about your sixth game getting whacked. It’s a physical position and there will be a point toward the end of this year that would be like the midseason if you were starting from the beginning of the year, and there’s going to be a point where you have to practice, play, pay attention when your body’s in rebellion. It doesn’t want to do it anymore, doesn’t feel like doing it, doesn’t feel good. I do think that we’ll get a really great evaluation of him in these next (six) weeks, and it’ll get harder and harder, because playing week in and week out has its advantages. You’re into it, you’re in the flow, you’re excited and all of those things; but also now I’ve got to deal with tight muscles, a tweak here or there or a twisted ankle or something. That’s part of that job. That’s why it’s a hard job.”
(What are some of the reasons you think the Patriots organization has been so good for so long?) – “I always have a high respect for continuity. When you stay in the same system and you do the same things, you keep your veteran core players together for a long time and then they obviously do a great job also; but I think the continuity is a huge thing. I don’t know how many years I’ve been going up there but it feels like forever. It’s been 20-something years and it’s the same coach, it’s the same defense, they still play with great leverage, they still (play) two-gap. Maybe they change a face. Maybe it’s not (Willie) McGinest, but the next guy comes in and plays exactly the same way. It looks the same. He shoots his hands, puts his head on the right side, crosses faces. They just do a great job that way of having a system, recruiting to it or signing to it and then they obviously do a good job teaching it because they look the same. That’s probably the highest compliment I could give someone. For a long period of time, you are … For 15-plus years now, they play very good defense and they’re fundamentally really, really good.”
(Does it make a difference who is under center for the offense when it comes to things such as cadence, depth of routes, where they like the ball and handoffs and things like that?) – “Yes. I think certainly cadence-wise – the rhythm, how they call the plays, their tempo and how they handle those things – that certainly does. I think the other thing would be that they all have their favorite routes. Matt Moore comes in there and zings that one in on a big third-down conversion to Kenny Stills on the in. You just know that’s one of his roundhouse throws and if he gets a chance at it, he takes it. I do think that everyone has their favorite things that you know, ‘Hey, he will let this one fly.’ Each quarterback is a little bit different that way. (Matt) plays fast. He plays extremely fast, sometimes too fast. This week, there were a couple in the red zone that maybe he was too fast; but the ball is going to come out of there, his mind works fast, everything’s moving fast, so I think that’s probably a little bit different as far as the tempo of that goes, which is sometimes an advantage, sometimes a disadvantage. But yes, I think there is, certainly in the procedures of how he calls a play, how he checks a play, how he works his cadence, how he uses his hard count, all of those things certainly changes up between quarterbacks.”
(What would be the plan if G/T Jermon Bushrod can’t go?) – “If he doesn’t go, we’d probably slide Jesse (Davis) in and put Sam (Young) outside. We’ll work all of the contingencies. Right now we’ve got a couple of guys sore, but that would be one of the, certainly, leading contingencies. Don’t hold me to it if it doesn’t come out that way, but that’s our thought right now, how we ended up the game last week. That would certainly be the starting point. I had to take a double-take on the first name, we’ve just called him ‘Bush’ for so many years. I had to go ‘Jermon, who is that?’ (laughter)”
(Does C/G Ted Larsen seem like himself physically or has he struggled coming back from that?) – “Yes. He’s getting there. He’s not back, but he’s getting there. It’s a fast track to get him back, throwing guys in there at guard in the NFL against 320 pound guys; but it’s getting there. Again, the same thing that I haven’t noticed him, which is a compliment. I’m not talking about him, which is a compliment. He’s holding his own in there and he’s going to get better and better and better. He certainly has the veteran presence that we needed and is helpful and we’ll continue to need.”
(Was that definitely pass interference on TE Anthony Fasano?) – “I don’t know. I sometimes don’t see it quite like them. I can’t afford to give away any of my Christmas money. (laughter) Too many grandkids. I’m going to need that Christmas (money). I don’t know. Just sometimes it gets inconsistent. That’s the only thing as coaches, you just want them called consistently. Then you can teach and adjust from there; but when there’s inconsistency, then it’s hard. It’s difficult. We could have done a better job selling it but sometimes it’s from crew to crew on that stuff.”
Ndamukong Suh – November 22, 2017 (Conference Call)
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Wednesday, November 22, 2017
DT Ndamukong Suh Conference Call with New England Media
(I wanted to ask you about Patriots RB Deon Lewis and what you’ve seen from him as you’ve started preparing for the Patriots. What is it that seems to make him a difficult player to tackle?) – “I don’t really know how to answer that question. He’s a football player. He plays football. I’m looking forward to playing against him and tackling him when he gets the ball and going from there.”
(Is it ever difficult to find a player who’s a little undersized at the line of scrimmage in traffic?) – “No, I wouldn’t say so. It’s pretty obvious when the ball is handed off, where to find him at. (He’s) in the hole.”
(How would you describe how your defensive front is playing lately?) – “Obviously we gave up too many rushing yards to Carolina and the previous game. I think we did a better job last week. Obviously we need to get more pressure on the quarterback and create turnovers.”
(How do you guys stick together through all of the adversity you’ve had this year, with QB Ryan Tannehill, RB Jay Ajayi’s trade, LB Rey Maualuga getting waived recently, how do you guys stick together as a team?) – “I understand that it’s a business. Things are going to happen. We have to roll with the punches and go from there.”
(The Patriots offensive line does a good job of redirecting edge rushers behind QB Tom Brady. Is there more pressure on interior rushers like yourself to get after Brady up the middle?) – “It’s always important to get up the middle and pressure (Tom) Brady because he likes to step up and go through his throws, progressions and make him comfortable. At the end of the day, it’s on the collective defensive line to make pressures and make plays.”
(You’ve been playing at a high level for a while in this league now. How do you define success at this stage in your career?) – “There’s multiple ways to define it. At the end of the day, it’s a statistical game. You have to make plays and be disruptive. At the same time, I would say most elite d-tackles have to take on double teams, triple teams and do the dirty work as well, so it’s a combination of it.”
(You said this summer that you basically have to play a perfect game to beat the Patriots. Do you still feel that way, and what do you guys feel that you need to do specifically to give yourselves a chance this weekend?) – “I think you want to play a perfect game at all times, but understanding the reality is that nothing is going to be perfect. So you do what you can control and combat opportunities to not allow them to score points and different things of that nature, and go from there.”
(Do you enjoy facing the Patriots and a great quarterback like Tom Brady? Do you feel like you need to raise your game in these games?) – “I play hard every game, that’s how I look at it.
Matt Burke – November 22, 2017
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Wednesday, November 22, 2017
Defensive Coordinator Matt Burke
(What are your options at this point at middle linebacker? Do you think that LB Chase Allen played well enough where you stick with him or are you giving a fresh look at LB Mike Hull? And do you expect LB Stephone Anthony to be available this week?) – “A multi-part question. (laughter) Yes, I think all of those guys are in play. Chase did a good job. This is the second time for him being thrust into a starting spot unexpectedly and he really did a good job. He’s got a big head on him that runs and hits and sticks it up in there and stuff. I thought he did a good job. When we’ve asked Mike Hull to fill in and play, he has. We obviously had a plan to use Steph a little bit last week and got him some work. He obviously got a little nicked there in the middle of the game. I think he’s just day-to-day and we’re going to go through the week and see how he is. Chase didn’t do anything to discourage me, the way that he played; but we’re always going to try to find the right fits and the right matchups for all of those guys and how we can utilize them.”
(LB Neville Hewitt being back, has he done enough over his NFL career where you think maybe he could play?) – “Sure, why not? He’s played ball for us. I’m proud of ‘Nev’ and the way he’s worked to get himself back. When we released Neville in preseason and he had a tough deal when he got banged up – it was kind of a tough timing issue because we couldn’t really hold a spot for him. Literally, the last thing I told him when he left was ‘Get your body right, get yourself in shape, keep working and there will be another opportunity.’ I’m kind of proud of the way he’s worked himself back into the mix and I’m excited to see him get a chance.”
(Where on your list of priorities is making Patriots QB Tom Brady uncomfortable in the pocket?) – “Sure. If you’ve got an answer to that, that would be No. 1 on my priority list. (laughter)”
(Talk in general about the challenge of going up there, but first QB Tom Brady and the importance of that.) – “Going against Tom Brady, there’s nothing easy about it. If you allow him to just sit back there and be comfortable and don’t affect him in any way, obviously he’s going to have a level of success. That comes in different ways. It comes with, again like everything, trying to get pressure as best we can, whether that’s blitzing or getting our rush. He’s seen it all, so you try to give him some different looks maybe and showing some things that he hasn’t, just to give him half a pause and make him have to decipher something. I think making him uncomfortable isn’t just from a rush standpoint. I think we’ve got to try to find a way to … I don’t think he’s going to get that rattled. I don’t know that that’s in his nature; but we have to do as much as we can to try to get him that much more uncertain, as much as we can.”
(Isn’t the ideal scenario getting to QB Tom Brady with four rushers?) – “It helps. It’s like anything else. Any time you are adding into the rush from pressure, you’re taking away from your coverage element and you’re exposing some things back there. He’s really, really good at seeing that happen and seeing that coming. It’s difficult to fool him on pressures and they always have answers built in – quick throws and outlets – for him to get the ball out. You’re going to have to pick and choose your spots on where the pressures come. Yes, ideally if we can get pressure with a two-man rush, that would be great too. Then we can have nine guys in coverage. (laughter) The less rushers you have to bring and the more you can dedicate to coverage, because they do some different things in the pass game obviously and they have some weapons; but yes, that’s ideal.”
(When you went back and watched the film of that last drive against Tampa Bay, what was the one thing that stood out to you?) – “I was disappointed, obviously. I thought we played okay up until that point in spurts, and there were a couple of other things. We just didn’t make a play. I always examine myself first. A couple of calls I wish I had treated differently. To be honest with you, they got the ball back with 3 minutes left. They had one or two timeouts plus the 2-minute warning; so for me, I didn’t get into 2-minute mode. I didn’t think fast enough as a caller. I wasn’t sure they were going to just start opening it up and cutting it loose. In hindsight, they didn’t have a lot of success running the ball on us, so I feel like they didn’t think … In my mind, I was like they may be conservative and run or screen here early, to try to get the drive going before they really got into it; but they kind of came right out and opened it up and were going empty and stuff. Early on, we gave up that one play up the seam the very first play. I was literally thinking screen there, to be honest with you. There were a couple of calls that I wish … Not that they were bad calls per se but my mindset was kind of a little different. Honestly, ‘Fitzy’ (Tampa Bay QB Ryan Fitzpatrick) made two good plays. The throw on the sideline, that was a coverage we hadn’t played all game and ‘Fitzy’ kind of got out of the pocket a little bit and hit that comeback on the sideline. ‘Tank’ (Cordrea Tankersley) is closing back to it and it’s a good throw and catch on the sideline. Then the long one they hit right up the seam, it’s the same thing. We’re closing the pocket on him. That was the most disappointing thing for me was just not getting that stop. We obviously had been battling all day and got momentum back a little bit when we scored. I don’t think there was a man on the sideline that didn’t feel like if we got the ball back to our offense, we were going to be able to take it out. I always examine myself and I’m always critical of that, so I was kind of disappointed that I didn’t make a perfect call, or a little bit better call, to win a couple of those downs. That’s just what I told the team – the defense. We have to find a way to get a stop there. Somebody has to make that play. I told them it’s all of us. I may not make the perfect call and those guys have to help bail me out sometimes or I may be able to call us into something and (bail them out). There were about three or four plays that somebody has to find a way to make a play. We don’t let them out of the pocket and we get them down in a sack or ‘Tank’ gets that ball on the sideline, or we pop that ball up on the long one that got us down there. To be honest with you, the thing I was probably most proud about was after the long play, and they went into more of a ‘run the ball out’ (mode), ‘X’ (Xavien Howard) makes a great play – smart – trying to get the guy out of bounds to stop the clock. And even on the third down play, I thought we were close to drawing some holding calls, which would have stopped the clock too on a third-down run when they’re trying to set (the field goal) up. Even after the long play and they were obviously in field goal range at that point and they were just trying to run a couple of plays, I thought our guys really had good situational awareness of attacking the ball, trying to draw a penalty to stop that clock. ‘X’ is trying to ride (Doug) Martin out of bounds at the very end there on the second-down play. I was happy that they kept trying to play through the situation at the end. I’m always critical of myself so I wish I had called some better stuff.”
(Was there any thought given to letting them score because the clock was upside down on you?) – “Well, that’s not my decision. No. The only time you would possibly even think about that would have been after they got that long seam route into field goal range. We still had the one timeout and like I said, I thought if you go back and look at the second and the third downs, we had a chance to get the clock stopped. Even if we hold them, if they call that play out of bounds and it’s 50 seconds left when we get the ball back and we need a field goal … I don’t know that we ever got truly into that mode. That wasn’t discussed with me.”
(Your linebackers have been through a rough year – LB Raekwon McMillan, LB Lawrence Timmons and LB Rey Maualuga – LB Chase Allen has been told I guess at the last minute twice that he’s a starter. Have you seen evidence that that’s had any effect on this group at all? Realistically, you would think that it would.) – “Not really. They’re kind of an interesting crew. I don’t know if you guys spend a lot of time talking to them but they’re pretty even-keeled, straight across the board. Sometimes I want more of a reaction out of them than I get. They all just sort of shrug their shoulders. I don’t know if it’s just because for two years now, that’s sort of been the nature of that group or what. They just kind of go ‘Okay, I’m up?’ Or ‘who is playing this week?’ Or ‘what am I doing?’ Literally, none of them even blink or hesitate about things. We give all of those guys work and we prepare them all. All of the ‘backup players,’ we prepare them all to be ready to play. That’s obviously a mantra that we preach team wide about next man up and being prepared. They’re pretty nonplussed about the whole thing. They just kind of shrug it off and go on and play ball.”
(Without the distractions, would they have performed better? Can you say that?) – “I can’t say that. Who can say? If we have a season without any distractions then I’ll let you know. (laughter)”
(In terms of LB Stephone Anthony being weaved in last week, was it a function of wanting to reduce LB Lawrence Timmons’ work load at all, questions of if he’d be better in coverage or merely something Anthony showed in practice?) – “Probably a combination of all of that. My thing to (Head Coach) Adam (Gase), I’ve been watching Steph on the scout team and running around and I really like the way he has been practicing and showing. It wasn’t necessarily just Lawrence, but I felt my argument for getting him active and involved is that he’s a big, young player that can run and hit and do some of those things and have some fresh legs. I wouldn’t say it was directly in terms of Lawrence, but just the group in general, I felt like it would benefit that crew to have somebody take some snaps off some of that group and just be a fresher athlete that can go out and do some coverage stuff and close some space, and hopefully alleviate some of the things. He was doing a good job. You saw the third down he had sort of in the high red where he closed on the back. It was really a little bit of both. I don’t think it was specific to Lawrence. It was a little bit of the group and then me just watching Anthony and (thinking) we could use a guy that can do some of the things he can do athletically.”
(There’s been this thought that DE Cameron Wake is not human, that he’s a robot from outer space or something. He can’t get tired. Forty snaps two weeks in a row and no bye week, is he human? Is he susceptible, just like the rest of them, to fatigue?) – “Is that a real question? Is he human? (laughter) Yes, he’s human.”
(Is he human? It’s very simple – human or not human.) – “(laughter) I haven’t done any scientific research on that. You worry about (fatigue) with all of those guys. I haven’t seen … I’ve mentioned that as we’ve been here throughout the whole season. We’re aware of all of our guys, especially our veteran guys … Similar to the same question I just answered about the linebacker room and guys that are playing a lot of reps. You’re aware of that with Cam (Wake) at all times. I haven’t, truthfully, seen a downturn in his play. He’s been doing fine and doing everything we ask of him. I’m not watching him going ‘Man, he stinks. Can we get him off the field?’ I think we try, through the week, to handle those guys and keep them fresh. I think in terms of him being not human, I just think he’s one of the best – him and (Ndamukong Suh are two of the best I’ve been around in terms of using the week to take care of their bodies to prepare. He knows how old he is but he knows what he’s done throughout his career to prepare and put him in this position, and I think he continues to do that. I have utmost faith in his preparation during the week to get himself ready to play however many snaps we ask him to play. If I really saw a decline, or whoever saw a decline in his play, then we’d address that.”
(How do you see LB Kiko Alonso’s performance in coverage, especially given that New England TE Rob Gronkowski could be running against your defense this Sunday?) – “I would assume that Gronkowski is going to be going against our defense this Sunday. (laughter) I think Kiko does a good job. We put a lot on Kiko. A lot. We ask him to do a lot of things for us. I think he ends up in tough positions at times. We put a lot on him to do. I honestly think that he’s been pretty good. He probably had a couple of squirrelly busts last week but in general, he’s done a really good job. I’m always aware. Like I said, just between mentally and matchup wise – a lot of things – we put a lot on Kiko Alonso. He does a lot for this defense. He does a lot for me as a play caller. He gets a lot of people lined up. He makes a lot of checks. We always basically put him on the hardest matchup possible, period. We’re going to put him in spots that are tough for him at times and he’s going to have his moments but I’m happy with the way that he’s performed so far, for sure.”
Adam Gase – November 22, 2017
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Wednesday, November 22, 2017
Head Coach Adam Gase
(Is QB Jay Cutler still in the concussion protocol?) – “Yes.”
(So your plan at quarterback this week will be?) – “Matt (Moore) is going today and Jay’s in the concussion protocol. That’s really all I have for you right now.”
(Do you have any sense yet on whether G/T Jermon Bushrod and LB Stephone Anthony could be long-term things?) – I’m not sure if it’s long term. Really, I’m just trying to figure out this week. We’re going to kind of take both of those day by day right now, see how they feel at the end of today and we’re just going to keep progressing, trying to get those guys better.”
(Can you talk about the importance of making QB Tom Brady uncomfortable in the pocket?) – “I mean really, that’s what I think everybody tries to do. It’s a difficult task. When you have the experience he does and can see what he sees. He’s been in the same offense for a really long time even though it’s kind of evolved over the years. He knows exactly where to go with the ball. If something breaks down, he knows how to get rid of it quick and not putting their team in a poor position, field position wise, and down and distance. We have to have a lot of guys doing the right thing.”
(Did you hear back from the league on the near safety?) – “Yes, I mean I’ll really kind of stay out of that because it doesn’t really do me any good. So I mean I just … I don’t really ask anymore.”
(What went into the decision to go back WR Rashawn Scott and de-activate WR Leonte Caroo?) – “We just thought Rashawn was having a good week of practice and just kind of get him up and get him that game experience to see how it went. I think every week it’s just going to be keep those guys competing and whoever has a good week, we’ll look to put that guy up.”
(How much will you change what you’re doing this week because of the penalty issue?) – “That is probably more of the frustrating part is we made some changes last week. Maybe we put too much of an emphasis on it. We’ve just got to go back to work and the good thing is we get a chance to start over and improve in that area and it’s something that we can fix. We’ve got to back and do kind of what we’ve been talking about, which is executing in practice, because that’s really what’s going to translate to the game.”
(I know Offensive Coordinator Clyde Christensen was bullish in the offseason on WR Jakeem Grant being a greater part of the offense and of course you have three veteran receivers you want to play a lot. There’s not a lot of opportunity for a fourth; but has Jakeem not playing a ton of offense surely been because of that or has practice not shown you what you want to see?) – “No, it’s interesting you ask that because I was just talking to him about how things didn’t quite go as planned early in the season. We did some things to try to just calm everything down and get us moving the ball a little more consistently and that really kind of took away from some of the packages that we were doing with whether it be him, or when (Kenyan) Drake was kind of just going in at certain points. We had some personnel packages that we liked with a few of those younger guys and we weren’t getting enough plays in the game to where we could kind of start messing around with that and see how it works. It was really more about our entire offensive performance early that kind of probably got us away from it and we just … I like the way that he’s been working. I like the way that he keeps trying to prepare himself. If something happens, he’s ready to go. It’s nothing with him.”
(The last time QB Matt Moore played I think he got a short week of practice. It was the Thursday night game. If he is the starter, how much does a full week of practice help him from a backup quarterback perspective?) – “I think anytime you’re a quarterback, whether you’re a starter or a backup, when you get the reps and you’re trying to show the looks that you think you may get, it’s beneficial. It’s like anything else, if you practice it, it gives you your best chance to execute when we hit Sunday.”
(Are you going all the way to Sunday with waiting to see if QB Jay Cutler’s back or is there a point at which you’ve got to make a decision?) – “I’m sure there’ll be a point before I make a decision. I don’t really know what the timetable is right now. I’m just kind of taking it day by day right now. When you’re in the protocol, as coaches, we remove ourselves and let that process kind of take care of itself. Really, at the end of the day, the protocol tells us what the right thing to do is.”
(You expressed a lot of confidence in QB Jay Cutler but would you be comfortable playing him if he goes all week without practicing?) – “I mean we’ll see. Right now I can’t do anything about where he’s at in the protocol. I mean it just is what it is.”
(Getting back to QB Tom Brady for a second, I mean thus far he’s defying age. Are you sometimes amazed that a guy that’s older than you is playing at such a high level?) – “I guess I’ve been on the other sideline so many times and watched him just consistently get better, and how he works and my experience being with Peyton (Manning). Just seeing how that type of player, the work ethic, I guess it doesn’t surprise me as much because if you could stay healthy a lot of times, that’s really the key to everything. If you start getting banged up, it’s just harder to recover quickly. He does a good job of making sure he’s not getting hit and a lot of it has to do with play calling and how fast he gets the ball out. He’s got a lot of guys on the same page that know exactly what to do and where to be. They know their outs and that’s what makes him unique is he just, he knows how to protect himself within the offense.”
(In the times you have faced the Patriots defense, is there a common denominator?) – “(Patriots Head) Coach (Bill) Belichick, (Patriots Defensive Coordinator) Matt Patricia.”
(I’m talking about how they play.) – “I just gave you those two things that are the common denominator. That’s about it.”
(Because the faces change but the styles …?) – “You never know what you’re going to get. They’re going to do what they need to do to take away your best players and it could be the same calls as you played them the last time, it could be a completely different defense.”
(I completely admit that year we asked you this opposite question. This year I’m going to ask you the opposite on DE Cameron Wake. Last year we asked you if he should be playing more. This year it’s going to go the other way because he’s had no bye week, 40 snaps two weeks in a row. Do you think that it might benefit him to take a few less?) – “I guess we just … I think it’s hard to take a guy that’s still disruptive and doing his job in the run game. He’s doing what we’re asking him to do and he’s executing things still at a high level. Sure, would we like to be able to play it the way that … We all think it’s easy to say ‘Hey, take this series off’ or ‘We’ll just get you on pass rushing downs.’ Then all of a sudden, it’s Week 2 last year and he plays 16 snaps and it’s ‘why isn’t Cam playing more?’ It’s a tough thing to manage with a player like that because you really never know what the situation in the game is going to call for. ‘T’ (Defensive Line Coach Terrell Williams) tries to do everything he can to kind of plan it out but you have to adjust and I don’t think he really wants to come off the field a whole bunch. When you see him come off the field, it’s not great body language.”
(This week concerns … What do you have to be thankful for?) – “We’re playing this week. That’s a good thing for us. We’re just going to keep grinding and keep trying to find ways to get better.”
(Is it different coaching against Bill Belichick than any other coach? Do you maybe get more drawn into a chess match with him than any other coach?) – “I guess for me it’s … I don’t think of it like that. I think we try to do everything we can to get our players ready to go with what we think we might see. Really, I mean just like we have done in the last two years. we make a lot more of this about us than our opponent. We know we have certain things that we have to prepare for but a lot of times that we’ve lost games, it’s been self-inflicted things that we’ve done that have prevented us from giving us a chance in the fourth quarter. Really, at the end of the day, we just have to make sure that we’re doing what we’re supposed to do and not so much worry about the other team.”
Adam Gase – November 22, 2017 (Conference Call)
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Wednesday, November 22, 2017
Head Coach Adam Gase Conference Call with New England Media
(I was wondering what you have seen from Patriots RB Dion Lewis of late, over the past five weeks. His workload has increased and he’s starting to run the ball a lot better.) – “I think it’s probably more about opportunity than anything. They do a good job of rolling those guys (in) and defining the roles that these guys all have, having as many guys as they do have. Sometimes, I can’t explain exactly why a guy for them would get more touches. It could be hot hand, it could be game plan that week. From my perspective, whoever’s really back there, whatever they ask them to do, those guys just do a good job.”
(The Patriots defense has looked quite a bit different over the last several weeks or so. Have you noticed anything specific that’s stood out about why they’ve improved so much?) – “A lot of it probably has to do with chemistry, practicing. I’m sure that they’ve done a few things schematically, subtle little changes that most people don’t notice; but at the end of the day, for them, it’s probably coaching. They just found a few things where they started doing well and they started leaning on that more and help put those guys in good positon, then guys started executing better than possibly earlier in the year. It could be a number of reasons. Competing against these guys as many times as I have, it seems like as the year goes on, they usually get better the longer the season goes.”
(We saw Patriots QB Tom Brady and WR Brandin Cooks connect on a few long passes against the Raiders. What’s the key to containing a guy with that kind of quickness and deep speed?) – “It’s tough. You’ve got to make sure you stay on top of them. You’ve got to do a good job of defending multiple routes. You have to do the best you can of not letting him get going too much. It all starts at the line of scrimmage and really it has to be a team effort, because you have to do everything you can to make sure that Tom doesn’t hold onto the ball forever and is able to pick you apart that way. It’s really got to be connected throughout the entire defense to where everybody’s doing their job. You try to stay as tight as you can on coverage and compete when any kind of ball is thrown to him.”
(WR Danny Amendola hasn’t been quite an every down player for the Patriots this season. It seems like he’s usually on the field when they need a key play or a key first down. What have you seen from Danny Amendola this season and just as a player?) – “A lot of times it just has to do with the personnel grouping that (Patriots Offensive Coordinator) Josh (McDaniels) is using, down to down. You’re right, when they do need a play, his number gets called a lot. Sometimes it may be coverage dictated to where that’s why the ball ends up going there. The thing that he does is when he gets an opportunity, he makes the play that really is asked of him.”
(You guys have dealt with a lot this year in terms of the hurricane and the injuries and RB Jay Ajayi. How difficult is it to keep things together in the locker room when there’s that much turmoil?) – “I guess it’s probably, for people outside, it seems like it’s a lot to deal with; but I guess this is just like normal things that happen in an NFL season. Normally, you have probably 10 or 11 opportunities that actually occur where you’ve got to make some adjustments and find ways to fight through some adversity. That’s what the NFL is. There’s going to be distractions and when you get to this part of the season usually, if you’re good enough and have an opportunity to get a chance to play in the tournament, that’s all it is. It’s distractions and things going on and injuries occurring, that’s what it is. The teams that handle it and can keep moving forward and not sit there and wonder why something’s happening, those teams usually have success. The teams that get consumed by that, they fall off.”
(What are the challenges of essentially not having a bye week? How is your team doing physically? Does this limit at all the opportunities you guys had to maybe do some self-scouting?) – “I think we were lucky enough to have a Thursday night game where we had the Thursday night game and we were able to kind of throw in, basically, a little mini bye weekend for our players to where they were able to get four days off. It gave us a chance as coaches to take some time off, but at the same time, I don’t think any of us went too far away. We were able to comb through some things and make some adjustments over that time. Really, that helped us out a little bit. I haven’t really noticed fatigue in any way with our players. We’ve still got six games left, so I don’t know if down the road I’ll notice anything. I think our guys have been good. Our practices have been energetic. It’s not like we’re out in pads or anything. Our guys, I just haven’t seen really any kind of drawback from us not having a bye.”
(Is there any update on QB Jay Cutler and how confident are you in QB Matt Moore if he is playing again this weekend?) – “Jay’s in the (concussion) protocol, so really it’s out of my hands and we’ll listen to what they tell us and what we should do. As far as Matt goes, I have a lot of confidence in Matt. Calling plays for him last year, we had a couple of situations where he’s had to go in the game and we’ve been able to have success. One game we didn’t play very well as an entire team. He’s an easy player to call plays for and he does a good job. He gets himself prepared and guys have confidence in him and he always knows what to do.”
(Patriots LB Trevor Reilly was on your team the last couple of years. Are you surprised at how many opportunities he’s seeing on defense with the Patriots over the last three games?) – “No, I wouldn’t say I was surprised by it. Sometimes it’s just about getting an opportunity and getting a chance to get in there, whether it be by injury or doing things at practice right to where you flash for the coaches enough to where they want to start getting you playing time. He did a good job for us here and whatever we asked him to do, he was 100 miles per hour. He gave us everything he had. For us, we had a couple of other guys that we liked at those spots and really we just ran out of room.”
(What’s the key for you guys to have a strong end of the season and make a playoff push?) – “I think we have to eliminate the turnovers. That’s probably our biggest thing. The turnover margin, we have to do a better job of getting them and we have to eliminate them. Really, for us, we’ve had a lot of self-inflicted issues when it comes to pre-snap penalties. That’s something that we’ve been really working on trying to fix and making sure that we’re not putting ourselves in a bad position, because what ends up happening is we have a pre-snap penalty on offense and we put ourselves in a bad hole when we’re in third-and-7 or more. A lot of those have been on third-and-10 or more. It’s the same thing on defense, just not helping out the offense by doing something we can control, by giving (the opponent) an advantage by putting them in a third-and-manageable position. I think if we can correct the turnovers and get that thing going in the right direction and really grab a hold of this pre-snap penalty little issue that we’ve had, that could really help us out.”
(How impactful have RBs Damien Williams and Kenyan Drake been for your passing game over the course of the last two weeks?) – “They’ve done a good job. They are two guys that when they’re not accounted for, you get the ball in their hands and it seems like they do a good job of making that first guy miss and giving us an opportunity for some explosiveness in the passing game. There’s a lot of different things that they can do. Having those two young guys back there, you can tell that they feed off of each other. One amps up his game when the other breaks one off. It’s a good combination of two guys to have back there that are both competitive, they work well together, they talk to each other and let each other know what’s going on during the game. It’s really been fun watching those two guys grow and get better as football players.”
(How has Defensive Coordinator Matt Burke been in his first year as coordinator and how do you see his command of that unit?) – “His command of the unit has been outstanding. These guys here, they respect him a lot. A lot of these guys have been with him in other places, so when he was elevated, I think a lot of those guys were excited for him because they’ve known him for a long time. I think guys were excited that we were able to keep the same system and really just build off of what we were doing last year to fine tune some things. It always gets tough because when you’re a first-time coordinator and you’re trying to deal with all of the things that really come along with that and that job, it’s a lot of things that come up that you’ve never experienced before. He’s done a good job of coming up with the solutions and trying to put our guys in the best position possible. I think guys have, for the most part, done a good job of executing it. We’ve got a few things that we need to clean up to help ourselves out.”
(How do you compare Defensive Coordinator Matt Burke’s beard game to Patriots Defensive Coordinator Matt Patricia? A couple of defensive coordinators with some serious beard action this weekend.) – “Yes, Patricia has him beat, hands down. (laughter) It’s not even close. I think Matt (Burke’s) is groomed a little better. I think Patricia’s, it looks like it’s getting a little out of control (laughter).”
Darren Rizzi – November 22, 2017
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Wednesday, November 22, 2017
Associate Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Darren Rizzi
(How can you guys help out the offense this week or help out scoring?) – “Special teams-wise?”
(Special teams-wise, yes. Field position, what’s the best way for you?) – “That’s always our goal, whether we’re covering and preventing the opponent from getting good field position … That’s where it starts, really, with coverage. I think everybody would maybe think the other way. I think that coverage-wise, the best way to prevent your opponent from getting field position, that’s the best way to swing the field position battle. Obviously, in the return game, you could always swing the battle by popping a big play and it starts with not getting penalties. That’s really been our (Achilles heel) the last couple of games. We were really good in the beginning of the season with preventing penalties in the return game and then last week we had, obviously, a really poor week. I can promise you it’s not an emphasis thing. Between (Head Coach) Adam (Gase), myself and the rest of the coaches, it’s been an emphasis thing. I thought we had a couple of really good returns last week. Jakeem (Grant) had like a 20-something yard punt return that gets called back for a holding. We had the Jarvis (Landry) punt return when they were punting out of the end zone. Both of those plays hurt us with the penalties. It’s certainly not a lack of effort. Those guys are trying their tails off; but we’ve got to make better high-speed decisions and that’s really what we’ve been emphasizing. Like I said, it’s certainly not a lack of emphasis between myself, Adam, (Defensive Coordinator) Matt Burke, the coordinators, (Offensive Coordinator) Clyde (Christensen). It’s something we’ve been really, really harping on. Obviously, special teams is about setting the table, either setting the table for the defense or setting the table for the offense, one way or the other. You’re preventing or creating big plays and in any game, it doesn’t matter who you’re playing, that’s going to be important. ”
(Looking back, I think there’s like six cases, just to be extreme, where this team played a game and had zero penalties, so obviously it can be done. How do you, as coaches, coach a team to get fewer penalties?) – “When you look at the penalties, you kind of break them down into categories. I know (Head Coach) Adam (Gase) has talked a lot about pre-snap penalties. Those are things that have nothing to do with the opponent. That’s us. That’s the Miami Dolphins. What can we do to take care of the pre-snap stuff? That, to me, is more of a mental thing, a discipline thing and an accountability thing. There’s going to be some penalties sometimes when the ball is snapped that – I don’t want to say they’re unpreventable, but they’re understandable, if you will – during the play. Then there’s post-snap penalties, which, again, go back to more of a discipline thing and being smart and just playing good football. We kind of break it down into those categories. Where we need to dramatically improve, I think everybody – being Captain Obvious again this week – is in the pre-snap stuff and the pre-snap penalties. We can be better in all phases in that category. Certainly post-snap penalties are something you, obviously, control yourself as well. The penalties that occur during the play, I’m not going to say they’re completely unpreventable; but sometimes in an effort to make a better play – if you’re grabbing – some of that stuff is going to happen. We understand that. I think, for us, square one is getting rid of the pre and post-snap penalties. Anything that we can prevent ourselves, that’s where we’ve got to start. That’s a great starting point. If we get that done, we’re going to be on our way to … There’s going to be some in-snap penalties that we’re going to have weekly. From a special teams standpoint, like I said before, it’s more of a high-speed decision thing. We have tremendous effort. I haven’t found a guy yet that hasn’t been giving great effort and that’s a positive that we’ve got to keep doing and grow from; but we’ve got to make better high-speed decisions. Blocking a guy in the back at the point of attack in front of the returner is not a very good decision. Grabbing a guy and bringing a guy to the ground is not a very good decision. In this league, if you spin guys and bring guys to the ground, you’re going to get holding calls, period. So that’s what we’ve got to continue to emphasize. So going back to your original question, when you look at those three categories, I think the first and the last – the pre and post-snap – we’ve got to eliminate those period. Then we’ve got to really try to minimize those in-snap penalties.”
(From a game management perspective, the safety that wasn’t a safety that was really a safety, that lost a challenge. How much did that affect you late game trying to manage getting back into that football game?) – “Once they determined it wasn’t a safety and they were punting from the 1, you just move onto the next play.”
(Timeouts-wise though, you lost a timeout.) – “We did, we did. We just felt like, as far as the challenge itself goes – I’m not going to get into what they ruled, you can talk to (Head Coach) Adam (Gase) about that and what the league decided and all of that, I’ll defer to Adam on that one – but as far as the in-game decision making process, we thought we had enough video evidence. We thought it was at least close enough. It was a scoring play. It changes the game, it’s going to change … The risk-reward of that challenge is … You’re going to challenge that play because it’s close enough where it’s going to swing the game. You’re obviously going to get 2 points, you’re going to get the ball back, a safety and all of that. The actual process of challenging it, I don’t have any second guesses on that at all. Losing a timeout, obviously, it hurts you in the end; but the risk-reward, like I said, is a process where you feel like the reward, if you get the challenge and you win the challenge, is going to certainly swing the game. If it’s going to swing the momentum that much, then it’s worth it.”
(As you look back at seven years standing on the sideline in Foxborough, obviously it’s deflating for any team when the opponent goes down the field and scores on the first drive on the game; but do you sense anything different from your sideline’s standpoint against them? Has it been more so deflating when Patriots QB Tom Brady drives down, puts you all in an early hole? I don’t know how much you recall standing on the sideline there the last seven years, during those games.) – “Yes, it’s been nine. (laugher)”
(Nine, you’re right. Forgive me.) – “That’s okay. Really, regardless of the opponent, you always want to get off to a good start. I think back to the games that we’ve had in Foxborough, we’ve had a couple of really good starts up there. Talking about the times I’ve been here, we’ve had a couple of times where we’ve gotten the lead up there, as well. I think that’s going to be our emphasis this week is getting off (to a good start). It seems like we’ve been talking about it all season, and unfortunately, we haven’t played the football that we want to play in the first half; but regardless if it’s at Foxborough, in Hard Rock Stadium or against anybody, we’ve got to start better as a football team. That’s something that, regardless if it’s Tom Brady and the Patriots or if it’s any other team, we feel like we’ve got to get out of the gate stronger.”
(Are you ever aware of the point spread – you or the players – and if so is there ever a time when you take that personally?) – “No. Points, the last time I checked, the Russians were supposed to beat the Americans and the USA hockey team.”
(That’s the last time you checked?) – “(laughter) I watched Miracle over the summer. so I know they were a heavy favorite. Are you trying to say I’m an Italian guy from New Jersey so I should know what the point spreads are? (laughter). No. Honest to God, I can’t remember the last time I checked one. I have no idea.”
(And you would never take it personally if it was a big point spread?) – “No, only because I’ve seen it way too many times in my lifetime, in any sport, where there’s been a heavy favorite or a heavy underdog, it’s been different results.”
(Coaches don’t use that as a motivation thing, ‘Look at how they’re downgrading us?’) – “No. I’ve never heard of anybody getting into that before. Actually, might be the Georgetown, Villanova (game) might have been the last time I checked. (laughter)”
(Great game.) – “That was a great one.”
Mike Pouncey – November 20, 2017
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Monday, November 20, 2017
C Mike Pouncey
(Can you just talk about this event?) – “This event is awesome. To be able to give back to the community, a community that supports through good, bad and ugly, to be able to put a smile on their face for such a great holiday means the world to us to be out here for however long we’re going to be out here handing out turkeys.”
(We know when it comes to you, family is everything, just to see the families that you’re putting a smile on his face. It seems like you’re happy to do it as well.) – “Well, of course. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. I’m a fat guy. (laughter) I love to eat and this one I look forward to every year; but to put a smile on these families’ faces, it’s awesome.”
(I think I heard you say kids love you?) – “Kids love me, especially my two. They get everything they want. (laughter)”
(Is it tough after an outing like that? Does this put everything in perspective?) – “Yes, I mean at the end of the day, we’re all here to play football. The way we played these last four weeks is just unacceptable. We pretty much beat ourselves, even though you can’t take away the credit from any of the other football teams. They came out and they got the job and we haven’t. It’s a lot to learn from. Fortunately for us, no one in the AFC is playing really good football right now, so there’s still a fighting chance for us. We’ve got a big-time coming up this weekend, a division game with a team that’s been playing really well all year, and we’ve got to go out there and figure it out. It’s what our team needs to find that game to where we get on a roll.”
(How would you describe the mood with the players?) – “The mood is awesome. The guys come in and obviously everyone’s pissed today, especially the way we played in the game. We had every opportunity to win that football game and it came down to the very last play and it was just disappointing because when we play those teams, you’ve got to win those games and win those kind of football games. We just didn’t take care of business and now we put ourselves in a situation where we’ve got to keep fighting out of. It seems like this is a must-win game for us coming up this weekend.”
(Being one of the leaders of this team, when you see five turnovers, I’m sure that’s got to be like, golly?) – “The five turnovers, they suck; but it was really four of them. The last one was kind of a desperation one. The four turnovers hurt us on offense because we were really moving the ball up and down the football field and we’ve just got to find a way to protect the football and stop having these stupid penalties that are keep killing our drives. I had two of them in an area of the field where we can’t have those kind of penalties. It just hurt our football team; but we’ll learn from it. We’ll get better. We’ll practice at it. The best thing … I mean not the best thing, but the one thing about it is that we can fix the snap-count issue, the false starts. That’s something that takes no time at all. It’s just locking in at the right times during the game and we’ll get it fixed. There’s no excuses, but that team came out and they played really, really well. We didn’t.”
(With you understanding that there’s a lot to play for, if you can you put your finger on one thing that’s gone wrong this year, what would it be?) – “Just too many mental mistakes, honestly. If it isn’t this game, it’s the last game or the game before. It’s just we need all 11 guys doing their job on every play and if we do that, we have all the talent in the world. We’ve got the right coaching staff. If we just start playing together as a football team, we’ll win games, because when the offense is playing good, the defense isn’t. When the defense is playing good all year, this offense has to just carry our own weight and help our defense out because if we can ever get a lead in the game, we can really see how special our defense is. That’s what they do. They get after the quarterback and every game this year, we’ve down in football games and our defense has kept us in football games, and we’ve just got to figure out a way on offense to put points on the board and give our defense a lead so they can go out there and get after the quarterback.”
Adam Gase – November 20, 2017
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Monday, November 20, 2017
Head Coach Adam Gase
(Is there any update on QB Jay Cutler?) – “He’s in the concussion protocol. That’s really all I can say. It’s in the hands of all that, that whole process.”
(Do you have any feel for whether QB Jay Cutler might be able to go this weekend?) – “I have no idea.”
(Has QB Jay Cutler expressed any concern about continuing to play at all?) – “I haven’t talked to him.”
(Any update on G/T Jermon Bushrod’s foot?) – “I don’t. I don’t have an update on that. I still haven’t met with the trainers yet. That’s something I’ll do this afternoon (and) kind of get everything sorted out. ‘Who’s available? Who’s not?’ I’m not really sure how bad either one of them is right now.”
(If QB Jay Cutler is healthy, is he your quarterback Sunday?) – “Obviously, with him being in the concussion protocol, I don’t know how long this will be. I mean Jay’s really done everything I’ve asked him to do and there’s no reason for me to say he’s not.”
(So 17 penalties in the game. That’s got to be a little vexing to coach. What can be done to not let that happen?) – “Yes, I mean it’s correctable. It was disappointing that it really increased when we kind of made the switch at halftime. For whatever reason, we got a little out of sorts, as far as what was going on with the cadence, which is something we can easily correct. We try to do the best we can to make sure that all the quarterbacks really use the same cadence Jay (Cutler) does, because each guy can have a little bit different rhythm, and that can throw a couple of things off. Not to the extent that … I’ve never seen it to the extent I saw yesterday, which that’s pretty obvious. Some of the other calls that occurred, some of the holding calls, it’s just going back to fundamentals and just doing those little details individual, making sure that we’re doing them clean in practice, just kind of our hand placement, feet, understanding what we’re doing in the protections, who has help, how to use it. I think some of those calls, we end up putting ourselves in poor position and that’s when we get those calls. The way for us to clean it up is to make sure that we’re doing all the little details right in practice. We really try to put an emphasis on the pre-snap stuff last week. We hadn’t had it that bad. Now over the season, it’s tallied up to be not very good. That’s why for us to really put an emphasis on that, we felt like the total number was getting ridiculous. It has to start in practice. We have to be better there and if we do it right in practice, that gives us the best opportunity to do it in the game; but that’s very fixable. All of these things are very fixable and it’s just about making sure that we do it right in practice and carry it over to Sunday.”
(What role did WR DeVante Parker play in two of the interceptions? The one off his hands and then also I wasn’t sure what happened in the end zone?) – “I wish his route was a little bit cleaner in the one in the end zone; but I think it’s kind of like one of those things where I wish Jay (Cutler) would have thrown a little bit sooner. It was just probably the look we got in practice wasn’t exactly like that, but it was pretty close. We had the look we wanted. We’ve got to hook up on that and both of those guys can be a little better on that and then it’s unfortunate, usually DeVante’s been pretty reliable when it involves hitting him in the hands as far as catching it. That was just kind of how things were going for us at that moment, where it hits him right in the hands and it pops up and of course they’ve got a guy right there. I thought our defense responded fairly well to being thrown in some of those short fields. We’ve done a better job. I think after the Tennessee game, we talked about it a lot. We weren’t catching catchable balls and we were worst in the league, and we’ve really cut that thing in half. We’ve moved up to about 18 or 17 and we’ve been pretty good catching the ball both in practice and in games. You just wish we would have got that one.”
(You had the big run that popped for 69 yards early in the game and then, all of a sudden, so much then so little as the game went along. What was the turnaround?) – “Some of them, we had some runs called that we ended up flipping the ball outside, where we just had premier looks. Sometimes when you can take those short throws where you get Devante (Parker) or Jarvis (Landry) a chance to run with the ball and it’s one-on-one, I think we’ve got to take those. That’s why you can’t get caught up too much in attempts over carries and all of those types of things, because really, we’re calling runs in those situations. There were a couple of times where we had some opportunities and we just didn’t quite execute the run play as we practiced it. I think ‘93’ (Bucs DT Gerald McCoy) did cause us some problems. He was very disruptive yesterday and that shows why he’s one of the best ones in the league. We were trying to get four hands on him as much as possible, but you’re not quite sure where he’s always going to be. We tried to set it up the best we could to handle him, but he’s a tough player to go against.”
(Considering that QB Jay Cutler’s been knocked out of a game twice now and QB Matt Moore takes some hits, how do you evaluate, going forward, whether you need to dress three guys?) – “It’s a good question. You think about it. When there’s that much time left, it’s hard to be too protective, especially when you’re down. I think last year when it happened in the Arizona game, we were actually up and I was very cautious; but when you’re down, you just call it and you’re hoping for the best. I try not to say too much to Matt as far as, ‘Hey, be smart and don’t take any hits,’ because then that’s just one thing that he doesn’t really need to think about. It’s a tough position to be in when you get to your backup quarterback, when you really don’t have anything behind him. It’s always going to be a thought; but at the end of the day, we’ve just got to figure out what’s best for that week.”
(S T.J. McDonald seemed to have a few good run stops. What did you notice from him in the game?) – “One, his range always is going to help us. He can cover a lot of ground when he’s in the back end. He makes us interchangeable at safety that he can come down and really fill in; really him and Reshad (Jones) can both play in the middle of the field and come down in the box and really stop the run. When (T.J.) hits somebody, he lets you know he’s there. It’s nice to have him out there. I think it really makes a difference when guys are doing the right things in the run game and everybody’s fitting it up right, and he’s the last line of defense really when he’s the unblocked the guy and he’s going to make the tackle, and he’s going to do it with some force.”
(How did LB Chase Allen do?) – “He did good. He’s a reliable guy. He knows what to do. The biggest thing for him is always going to be just playing time – experience. There’s always going to be one or two things in the game that he’s probably never seen before. They’ll do some creative things. Offenses, they’ll do one or two things where a lot of times when you watch the other side of the ball, being an offensive guy, you take a look at it and be like, ‘Oh, that was good.’ Guys in this league, they’re always searching for new things to try to do. It makes it tough when you’re a young player and you’ve never really seen some of these blocking schemes before.”
(Is LB Chase Allen your starter in the middle moving forward?) – “We’ll see how it is. I think, right now, we’re playing the guys that are available.”
(Early thoughts on going up to New England on Sunday.) – “I haven’t really gotten there. We’re still cleaning up this last game. I’ll probably be there a little bit more tonight, but we’re just going to have to prepare the right way this week and make sure that we focus on this game only. We can’t be looking ahead and wondering what everybody else is doing. That’s irrelevant to us. We have to focus on what we need to do to get better this week to make sure that we can clean up the things that we’ve talked about already today and give ourselves a chance. When we get to the fourth quarter, put ourselves in a position to where we’ve got a chance to either stop them or go ahead on some kind of drive at the end of the game.”
(You said last week you worked on a lot of pre-snap stuff. Why haven’t things necessarily translated from practice to the game on Sunday?) – “If I had that answer, we wouldn’t have pre-snap penalties. It is just one of those things where we have a change at quarterback and a couple things got a little out of control there with whether it be guys jumping or him and Mike (Pouncey) not being on the same page. That’s football. You’ve got to battle through that stuff. You’ve got to find ways to get better. You’ve got to find ways to fix it. Sometimes during a game, it’s tough to figure out … Everybody is trying to communicate to figure out why we’re going haywire there. This week, we have to do a better job of making sure that we’re on the same page. If we can clean some of these things up … We had a ridiculous amount of lost yardage, not just pre snap; but some of the other penalties we had. If we get some of these things cleaned up, we’ll put ourselves in better position.”
(What’s your confidence level in the ability to clean things up?) – “I know we’ve got workers. I know we’ve got guys that are going to go out on Wednesday and they’re going to work hard and make sure that they do everything they can to get these things fixed.”
(This is the second year of this offense. You’re the play caller. What is the identity of the Miami Dolphins on offense?) – “I think right now it’s, really, we’ve got to use those receivers to our strength. We have three guys that I have a lot of confidence in. I feel like some of the things that we’re doing where we can get to the backs in the passing game has really helped us. Yesterday, they did a good job of taking those guys away, but that’s why we were able to get so many chunk plays on the outside. If you give Kenny (Stills), DeVante (Parker) and Jarvis (Landry) one-on-one matchups, I feel really good about us being able to move the ball. If we can just clean up some of our turnovers and we can clean up our pre-snap penalties, I think that group is a tough group to stop. We have to be able to execute our run game a little bit better to where we can get those 4-, 6-, 12-yard runs. If we can get those two backs to the linebacker and safety level fairly clean, those guys can make you miss and hit some home runs.”
(What is missing with the run game? And how difficult has it been – this is the second straight year where you’ve had to change the offensive identity in season?) – “That’s what football is. It’s a constant change. You’re always going to see what you’re doing well and then you start adapting to that. The run game, last year we leaned on the outside zone so much. It worked out for us. It put us in some weird positions where we were getting third-and-long probably a little bit (too) much, because we had so many negative runs; but then we had so many explosive runs. So, it was kind of a feast or famine deal for us. This year, we’re being a little more consistent, at least staying ahead of the sticks a little bit more often. Now we’re starting to convert some of the third-and-longer situations. Guys have figured out a way to solidify the protection a little bit on these third-and-long situations to where we can push the ball down the field a little bit. If we can make sure we keep those efficiency runs going and then occasionally let those running backs get to the second level, that gives us a chance for some explosive plays.”
(How would you describe the challenge of turning things around this week against this team?) – “We can’t worry about who we’re playing. We’ve got to worry about getting ourselves better. We’ve got to worry about getting better during practice and cleaning up the things we need to clean up. If we’re going to worry about who we’re playing, where we’re playing – all those type of things … One of the things we talked about earlier in the season is it doesn’t really matter who we’re playing, it doesn’t matter where we’re playing. We’ve got to go through the week, make sure we prepare the right way, get ourselves ready, make sure we know what we’re doing. We’re going to understand what they’re doing. Then we have to do a good job of going out there Sunday and executing, and put ourselves in the right positon and take what we did Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and execute it on Sunday.”
