Ndamukong Suh – November 9, 2017
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Thursday, November 9, 2017
DT Ndamukong Suh
(How’s your knee?) – “I’m well. I’m looking forward to Monday.”
(So you’re a go for Monday? No question?) – “You’ve got to ask (Head Coach Adam) Gase. He makes the final call.”
(I think if you say you’re good, Head Coach Adam Gase will say you can play.) – “He’s got all the power so you just have to wait for him to decide and hopefully I’m up on Monday.”
(What do you see as the challenges of playing against Panthers QB Cam Newton?) – “He’s an elite running back in the quarterback position. He obviously has a great arm as well; that’s why he plays quarterback. He’s a great challenge for us. I enjoy playing against him. I enjoyed two years ago going up there and practicing against him and that team. I think it was good for this team, as we did against Philly this past year. I’m excited. I think it’s going to be a great opportunity, obviously being on the road again, underneath the lights. Hopefully we’ll come out on the right side.”
(How disappointing has it been that you guys have been in front of a nationally televised audience and haven’t produced a win?) – “I would say at the end of the day, we just haven’t gotten our job done – whether it’s a national television game, one o’clock game, afternoon game, primetime game – we want to be successful in all situations, in all games, because every one means the most and obviously we’ve got to take care of this week’s business to get to where we want to be.”
(How did you injure yourself in the game? Can you tell us what happened?) – “Did I injure myself? I didn’t injure myself. (laughter)”
(What was the incident where it happened on Sunday?) – “It was on the play, the sack-fumble, and then I was just going after the ball. It’s football. I understand things happen and trying to stay out of the way and make plays.”
(So it was just the impact of somebody’s leg?) – “Honestly, I’ve refused to watch the film (of the injury). Let that be that. You can make your own interpretation from there.”
(So you haven’t seen the play?) – “I’ve seen the first half of it. (laughter) I haven’t seen the tail end of it. I saw up to Kiko (Alonso) making a great play on (Marshall) Newhouse and getting the ball back out for us.”
(I know you guys were frustrated about the loss but has there been a lot of talk in the locker room about RB Damien Williams’ touchdown?) – “In what regard?”
(Just the touchdown that RB Damien Williams had.) – “He’s an elite back. He’s a guy that we know that when we put the ball in his hand, he’s electric and can make plays. I think we’ve seen various sparks of him, especially early in the year when the carries were split between three guys. Now he has an opportunity to play a little bit more. He’s a great guy coming out of the backfield from a passing threat, as well as running out of the backfield. We expect for him to make plays and ever since I’ve been here, I’ve always seen him as a great threat.”
(Going back to your sack-strip, do you recall the last time you actually flew at a quarterback to swipe a ball like that?) – “No, I don’t really recall. It’s something that honestly, my d-line coach (Terrell Williams) challenge me to do. I saw the opportunity and did it.”
(With Panthers QB Cam Newton, obviously everybody knows he’s an athletic quarterback. How difficult is it for a defensive lineman regarding containment when you have a player like that?) – “I think that’s the biggest thing is that when you worry about containment, you’ve already kind of lost. For me as a player, as a guy that has played against athletic quarterbacks and specifically Cam himself, you just go out there and take your shots. The way we have our defense set up and the way we know we can rush, and at the same time the help that we have in the back end, you just go out there and play.”
(Most quarterbacks are kind of … when they’re about to get sacked, they kind of crumple up. What does Panthers QB Cam Newton do? Does he try to take somebody on or get out of there?) – “Cam is a little bit different in the way that he’s a bigger body, so he can shrug things and he feels like he can overpower through most tackles, especially when he sees little guys. I have noticed that when he’s going against bigger guys, he’s going to shy away a little bit; but at the end of the day, he knows how to move around the pocket. He’s been doing it all of his career. I remember watching him at Auburn and being successful there. At the end of the day, you just have to make sure one, you go after the ball first and foremost; but two, you get after his right arm and make sure he can’t throw the ball and get rid of it.”
(You’ve been around S T.J. McDonald for a while now, six months or so probably. What are you guys getting when he returns?) – “Man, I’m excited about T.J. coming back. One, he’s going to have fresh legs, so he should be running all over the field and having fun. Secondly, he’s just an elite DB that has the ability to play in the box as well as in coverage. I think in preseason and really in camp, when I have a chance to be on the field with him at the same time, he just finds the ball and makes plays. I’m excited for him to come out there and be able to do that.”
Adam Gase – November 9, 2017
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Thursday, November 9, 2017
Head Coach Adam Gase
(Do you think a guy like S T.J. McDonald can change the disposition of an entire secondary in the way he plays?) – “I think he can help us tremendously. I think with his presence back there, with a guy with his size, his speed, his range and his football knowledge, I think that only helps us.”
(Both S T.J. McDonald and S Reshad Jones are considered in-the-box safeties. Are you certain that they can play well together and have the range to serve as that center field?) – “Yes, we felt really with what we were doing in training camp, and it gives us a lot of flexibility to be able to put either one in the box, blitz either one or play either one in the middle of the field. We feel like we’ve got a good … We have two guys that complement each other well.”
(With C/G Ted Larsen, has he progressed to the point where you guys are comfortable playing him?) – “We’ll find out today. Today will be really a good step for us because he’ll be able to practice the entire practice, or at least go in the team periods and stuff, where last week, that Wednesday we didn’t. We weren’t able to do that. We just did the individual.”
(We haven’t seen C/G Ted Larsen obviously, since I guess August. What was the allure to him back in free agency when you brought him in?) – “One of the things that we wanted to make sure we did was one: add some veteran presence on the offensive side because we knew we weren’t going to be able to make too many moves, because we have a lot of young guys that we like; and we felt like at that position and kind of where he’s been in his career and some of the coaches that he’s been with, we felt like we had a really good connection. We were trying to bring in some guys that we knew. We had an idea of how we would run our system and how he fit in, and I felt like he was doing a good job. He just had a setback by getting injured.”
(If and when C/G Ted Larsen is able to go, his position left guard, correct?) – “Possibly. (That is) one of the positons he plays. He played left guard when we were having training camp. We just have to … Really today’s going to be a big day for us to kind of figure out the best five guys we want to play together. Everybody’s assuming that it’s just automatic and he just jumps right back in there but this is his first day in pads against defensive players. Thursday and Friday, we weren’t in pads. It’s just going to be how quickly will he adjust to the speed of the game when we get going? That’s really what we’re going to have to find out today.”
(Is T Ja’Wuan James a long shot for practice today would you say?) – “Yes, I’d say really long shot. We’re still going through the process with him. I’ll know more hopefully by the end of the week.”
(Do you have any clarity on T Ja’Wuan James as far as maybe its long term?) – “Yes, I mean there’s a possibility. I don’t know. I don’t have all of the information. We’re still meeting with doctors. He’s kind of getting some second opinions and things like that to make sure that whatever we decide to do this year, if it’s long term or short term. We just need to figure all that out.”
(Who is the likely candidate there at right tackle?) – “That’s what we’ve got to figure out today and we have some thoughts and ideas of how we want to go about this. We just want to get out to practice and kind of move some of the pieces around and really figure out, like I said, the best five.”
(With T Sam Young, how did he perform in that game and also to follow up on T Jesse Davis, how much training at tackle does he get now that he’s spent the past two weeks as a starting guard?) – “Sam, I mean that was a tough spot to get thrown in there because we were basically throwing the ball the entire time and all of a sudden, he’s coming in cold off the bench for your first action of the year and you’ve got (Raiders DE Khalil) Mack, across the ball for you. Those guys – him and ‘Bush’ (Jermon Bushrod) – the good thing about it is when you’ve got two guys that are veteran guys and are pros, they figure it out real quick. He did exactly what we needed him to do. I mean there were a couple of times where he got edged a little bit; but some of those things are easily fixable for us with him out there. With Jesse, he’s trained across the board, pretty much the entire season. When he wasn’t the starter, he was playing so many different spots. He’s worked so much at right tackle. We’ve got some good flexibility with those guys up front.”
(How has the versatility of TE MarQueis Gray served you? You were able to use him in the backfield as well.) – “We just keep trying to find a different role for him on offense. We’d love to settle in on one thing, but really he’s one of those guys that can do so much, that we’re able to develop some game plans and do some different things with him. It’s always how the flow of the game is going. Last week wasn’t as much (playing time), but he had a big carry for us on third-and-1. Just his versatility is really helpful for us.”
(Is T Ja’Wuan James’ injury just a hamstring, to your knowledge?) – “Yes, it’s somewhere in that area, I just don’t know what the exact issue is because (my) medical degree is not very good. (laughter)”
(Can you give us some context on how well T Ja’Wuan James was playing? Has he been your best offensive lineman to this point?) – “I would say (Mike) Pouncey’s been our best guy. He’s been our most consistent guy. I think Ja’Wuan’s had some really good games and then he’s had some games where I’m sure he would say he wished he would have played a little better. I think that’s been the story of the first half of our season is probably inconsistent, across the board, with everyone on offense. Really, that’s what we’re looking for. Pouncey’s the only one I can say every game, I’m seeing a lot of things that are good.”
(Is T Ja’Wuan James better than last year?) – “I think he’s had some games that were head and shoulders better than any games that he had last year. There were probably about three games that I can say that were really, really outstanding.”
(How do you assess offensive line in a mid-week practice midseason? Are you guys going to rank up a little bit today?) – “As much as you can. I think our guys do a pretty good job though on Wednesdays. When we get in pads, it is good competition. I think our defensive scout team did a really good job last week. They made sure that they gave our offensive line a really good look. We did a couple of things to really make them feel the speed of those edge rushers. Our No. 1 defensive line will jump in there, occasionally, for the first couple snaps of practice and we’ll choreograph that with them. Cam (Wake’s) been great, as far as helping me out with getting all of those guys out there – him and (Ndamukong) Suh – and giving us a great look, especially in the run game, just to try to give our guys a feel of a real game. Just for those guys to volunteer to do that, it just shows you they want to help get things right.”
(What led to S Maurice Smith getting a lot of snaps at safety on Sunday?) – “That was our thought going into the game and every time I looked over, I felt like he was around the ball and made some good plays. It was really the personnel groupings we were calling. That’s how he ended up in the game.”
(I don’t know if you heard but Phil Simms was very critical about the field conditions. I’m wondering if it was any better for the Raiders game and is it a concern on your part that players are unable to perform at their best or even perhaps get injured because of the field conditions?) – “It’s one thing … I go out and walk the field before the game and just try to see (what the field looks like). For me, I’m always looking for what’s the right kind of cleats to wear for our guys. (Equipment Manager Joe) Cimino does the same thing and sometimes we both go out there at the same time and try to figure it out. We felt really good before it started raining. I think we were a little surprised that we come out for the introductions and all of a sudden (it was pouring down rain). I thought we were doing some sort of pregame thing and all of a sudden you walk out and it’s a monsoon. I think (President and Chief Executive Officer) Tom (Garfinkel) has done a great job of researching and finding the right solution to get us kind of pointed in the right direction. Those guys are working hard to make sure that we kind of get this thing squared away. There were a couple of things that kind of occurred where it just didn’t work out the right way that we wanted to. Hopefully we’ll have this thing fixed by the next time we play at home. We feel good about the direction we’re headed and what we’ve got lined up. Tom has really been on this thing. I know it bothers him because he wants it to be perfect for us to give us our best chance to win.”
(Why would you say the defense hasn’t been playing at the level recently that it was playing at earlier in the year?) – “I just think (the) Baltimore game, that surprised me with our tackling more than anything, because really when we went back and watched that, that was really the thing that hurt us more than anything. The Jets game, we (had) one good series, one series that really wasn’t that great. They got us on a few plays to where we felt like if we do the right thing – alignment, assignment, those type of things – we’re in good shape. We kind of screwed that up. In this last game, it’s not like they scored 40 points on us. That is a good offense. They’re a tough team to go against. I think there are a few things that we need to clean up, and I know (Defensive Coordinator) Matt (Burke) is working hard to do that. I know those guys on defense are trying to get a lot of these things, the mistakes that we’re making, fixed. Really, we’d feel better about that game if we make two tackles on two different plays. One of them we got a free guy in the hole and we miss the tackle and it causes a touchdown. It’s just unusual, because some of the guys that have missed tackles have not missed tackles this season. We’re just having that little breakdown at the wrong time.”
(Would you have liked to seen better run defense while in nickel last week? If so, does S T.J. McDonald help you in that area?) – “I think any time, no matter whether it’s nickel or base, we’re always going to want to be stout in the run game. We always are going to feel good about our defensive front, especially with the interior guys we got and the edge guys we got, because they try to do their job exactly the way we’re asking them to do it – setting the edge and squeezing everything back inside. We like our linebackers. They’ve been pretty consistent as far as tackling goes. We’ve had a couple bad games here and there with being consistent on that, but it hasn’t been … Like last year, we were all over the place. That was rough. But this year, it has been pretty good. We’ve just got to clean up a few things and we’ll be in good shape.”
(One more question about the field. There probably isn’t a ton you can do in season – that might be more of an offseason project – I don’t know definitely; but do you think you might look at eliminating back-to-backs with you and the University of Miami, potentially going to field turf or anything like that?) – “(laughter) How would I know?”
(Have you looked through a turf catalog of any kind? [laughter] Have you gone out and seen sod samples?) – “(laughter)”
(Has it been concerning enough to you that you might address it in the offseason?) – “For me, I’m going to let people do their job. My job is to show up and coach. There are a lot of other people on that other topic.”
(You added a 6’9 offensive lineman. He’ll be great at rebounding I’m sure, but what can you tell us about T Zach Sterup?) – “I’ll find out more today. Our personnel department, they’re always going to be combing the league for guys that we’re interested in. He was a guy that (was a) top guy on their list to possibly bring in, and we had an opportunity to do that; so we thought it was a good time. You’re kind of in that part of the season where guys are starting to get banged up and when you lose a guy, you’re not sure how long he’s going to be out. Any time we can get a guy that can come in and we feel like can help, or we can develop, we’re going to take a chance on him.”
(As the season progresses and we’re in November now, do you see yourself playing DE Cameron Wake the same percentage of snaps that he has been playing or can you step it up because there’s less time needed to protect him?) – “I think a lot of it is going to be situational based, with how the game is going. Every game is going to be different. I’d love for us to get a lead one of these times, so we can actually let him rush the passer. I’m all for it. I just want to see one time with a lead late in the third quarter and going into the fourth quarter, and watching those guys go to work. We haven’t given them that opportunity, really, in the last two years. It’s one of those things that the offense is really taking it personal that we haven’t done that yet. I know those guys want to do that, because they do want to watch those guys rush the passer snap after snap, and another team trying to catch up to us. That’s one of the main goals we have on offense. We find a way to get a lead late in the game so we can let those guys do their thing.”
(Closing statement) – “Damien (Williams) and Jakeem (Grant) are both sick, so I’m not sure if one or either one of them will be out at practice, just so you guys know. I don’t want you to think that the sky is falling. (laughter)”
Adam Gase – November 9, 2017 (Conference Call)
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Thursday, November 9, 2017
Head Coach Adam Gase Conference Call with Carolina Media
(Can you give us a quick scouting report on the Panthers defense?) – “I think their ranking pretty much tells a lot of the story. It’s probably the best defense that we’ve played this year, so far. The talent level up front is as good as you can get. I think the linebackers, I don’t know if we’ve ever – in our two years (in Miami) – played a group like this before. The back end has done a great job of staying as tight as they need to and contesting on throws. The safeties have done a good job just making sure that they’re staying in front of things and then when they get their opportunities, for the most part they’ve made plays on the ball. The linebackers always are going to be the toughest guys to go against just because of the way (Luke) Kuechly plays and Thomas Davis. It really makes it tough offensively to match the kind of speed that they have.
(Where do you think your offense is right now? I know it has been up and down this year.) – “That might be an understatement. (laughter) It’s been strange, those first eight games, just being where one game, we feel like we play well and we do a lot of good things and then all of a sudden, you get shut out really two weeks in a row, which is a little surprising. We bounced back and then we had another poor performance. Really, we’re looking for consistency and it really has to start with the execution from the beginning of the game. We just need to make sure we’re doing it right at the beginning of the game just so we can have a faster start and gain that confidence. I think in some of those games, we didn’t do a very good job of rebounding from negative plays that happened early in the game.”
(How important is a guy like DE Cameron Wake to your defense?) – “He’s extremely important. One, being a guy that’s been around for a long time, he has a veteran presence. Obviously he’s really the heart and soul of what we’re about as an organization. He’s a guy that we want to basically retire here. He shows up every day and comes to work and does his job at the highest level, whether it be out at practice or on game day, whether it’s a meeting or walkthrough. You wish you had a whole bunch of guys like him. He’s a rare guy. For a guy with his years in the league, it’s really unbelievable how he goes about every little detail that he does in his life.”
(Obviously LB Luke Kuechly and LB Thomas Davis are stalwarts on the Panthers defense. Is there anyone in particular that impresses you up front? I know they rotate guys but DT Kawann Short or DE Julius Peppers or anyone that flashes to you when you watch film?) – “Well, Short is probably … We’re lucky enough to have one of the best guys in the league playing defensive tackle and I think they’ve got one of the best guys in the league. There’s probably like two or three of these guys that exist in the world and we’ve got one and they’ve got one. Just to watch him play, when you turn on the field and watch how much he penetrates and how disruptive he is, he’s a special player. Those guys do an unbelievable job up front of keeping those linebackers clean and letting them use their ability to run to their advantage. When I watch Peppers play, it’s unbelievable. Just being in Chicago for a year and going against him and then a couple of times in Denver when we went against him, it’s unbelievable just to see that he’s still playing at the level he’s playing at. There has been some really outstanding plays he’s had this season where it just flashes like he was 25 years old again. It’s been an impressive thing to watch.”
(I read that you like the way your new rushing offense looks. What in particular do you like about it?) – “I think our guys did a good job. They’re two different styles of backs and any time you can kind of change it up on the defense, I’ve always looked at it as a good thing. They’re not seeing the same things over and over again. Those two guys, they’re hungry to play. They’ve been kind of sitting back there for almost two years now. The fact that they got an opportunity, there was a little excitement there for those guys to come out there and play well. It was great for a lot of the guys that have been invested in those guys and put in the time to help them get better. To see those guys get an opportunity to perform was fun to watch, and they did a great job. They really try to do every little detail right. We’re obviously always going to have a few things to clean up after the game but if we can continue to get performances like that out of those two guys, that’s going to help us tremendously.”
(I know QB Jay Cutler played well for you last week. How would you describe his season as a whole?) – “Really, every game that I’ve got to grade, I keep going through and seeing how he did to start the season. We had an extra day this week just to kind of go back and then playing a Thursday night game, going into this last one, I was able to evaluate a lot of stuff. Just looking at how he’s played, when he’s had time in the pocket, he’s done a really good job of finding the open guys and getting the ball out on time. The games that we’ve struggled in were where things were collapsing quick and we weren’t getting open quick enough. It was hard for him to get in a little bit of a rhythm. I always say this about quarterbacks: it’s the toughest position because you need 10 other guys to do their job before you even have a chance to do yours. I think the good thing with what Jay has done is that he’s gotten better every week. The last two games that he’s played, with the Jets and the Oakland game, those are two good games back to back. This is going to be an extremely tough team for us to play, not only the personnel but the scheme that they’re running. This is going to really kind of tell us where we’re at.”
(Yesterday in QB Cam Newton’s press conference he spoke about how special it is to play on Monday Night Football. Does playing on Monday Night Football have any extra meaning to you and your team?) – “I’ve tried to think how many Monday night games I’ve actually been involved in. It seems like every one I’ve been involved in, it’s been some kind of crazy game at the end of the game, where something happens. The one that sticks out to me was in 2012, we were down 24-0 at halftime against San Diego and that was like the first time I actually got to see Peyton Manning take over a game. The fact that it was Monday night, it just made it that much more special. It was one of those games where so many people probably turned their TV off and the next thing I know, we win the game 35-24. There is something about playing in this game. It just has a different buzz to it.”
(You mentioned their defense and that their personnel was difficult and then you said something about their scheme. What exactly about their scheme makes it hard?) – “I don’t think you see too many teams where they’ll stay with their base personnel when you put three wide receivers out there. Basically Shaq Thompson goes out there and covers the slot receiver, and he’s done an unbelievable job out there. Just to see how athletic those guys are, I think it makes it tough on the offense. It’s tough to run the ball and then it’s tough to throw the ball. If you try to push the ball down the field, you have to have great protection and it’s tough to hold up against that front. They can rush four or five and it’s going to feel like an avalanche. They just cause a lot of problems. There’s a lot of different pressures that they run that come from every different direction. They keep you off balance.”
Adam Gase – November 6, 2017
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Monday, November 6, 2017
Head Coach Adam Gase
(What was your take on the penalties after looking at the film?) – “I think some of them are preventable, obviously, with just better technique. When you get tied up with a guy sometimes we just have to learn how to disengage at the right time, when a guy’s going away from you. You can’t keep tugging at him. Some of it is we have to find that balance with when we make our cuts sometimes, where the line feels the running back is going to be kind of going in a certain direction. If we cut too fast and we don’t press it enough, then all of a sudden there’s a quick jerk back and the d-linemen disengage with the offensive linemen and it’s just unexpected for them. That’s why that whole running back and o-line is kind of tied together. You have to work together really well to really have a good running game.”
(They always hurt but it seems like they really costly last night) – “Oh, it just was at the worst times. We’d start a series out and Damien (Williams) has a huge play and we get a holding call and we’re on the 20(-yard line). I mean who knows. Maybe if we don’t get the holding call, he gets tackled for 10 yards; but you’ll take it because it’s not first-and-12 or whatever we ended up being.”
(What, if anything, would you tell S Reshad Jones to do differently on the last one?) – “I don’t know. I’m still kind of trying to figure out what happened on that one. I’ll talk to the guys that I need to talk to just to get clarification on that. I haven’t heard back from them yet.”
(You did some good things offensively. The deep passing game is still not there. It looked like there were a couple time where QB Jay Cutler looked deep yesterday but it didn’t happen for whatever reason. What were those reasons and do you think you can win in the second half of the year without much of a vertical passing game?) – “Well, I mean we were running a vertical passing game but I don’t know what …”
(In terms of balls 25 yards or more?) – “Yes, I mean if they’re playing 2-Man, you’re not going to get those throws. Why do you think the backs were getting 10 yards a clip? That’s what drives me nuts is that nobody knows … stop. I mean we’re calling it and we’re doing what we’re supposed to do with the ball versus the right … like the coverages we’re getting.”
(Has that been the case or year? I wasn’t talking specifically about last night.) – “Yes.”
(Would it be fair to say now you look at the running backs more of yards from scrimmage as opposed to rushing yards total under RB Jay Ajayi, right?) – “Yes, pretty much. It doesn’t matter however you get the ball. If you throw a swing pass out to him and get 8 yards, it’s as good as a run.”
(When C/G Ted Larsen was put on the 53 man roster Saturday and then not active Sunday, can you just go through that and what happened?) – “Well Wednesday we did individual with him and we were in pads. We went individual. Then Thursday he practiced. Friday, he practiced and we felt like it was in our best interest to wait until he actually got a full day of padded practice to where we actually were able to practice him, because when you have that long of a layoff, to just get thrown in there into a game and you haven’t had padded practice work in practice versus a defense, it’s going to speed up real fast. I know we can think just throw him back in there and we’ll be good to go, but it’s professional football. This isn’t Pee Wee. I mean it’s going to be moving pretty quick.”
(Do you feel like C/G Ted Larsen’s getting pretty close?) – “I hope so. I mean we’re going to need him.”
(Can you assess where your team is at midseason?) – “I think we’re probably not exactly where we want to be. We’ve had just too many ups and downs. We haven’t played together yet. It seems like when we finally get moving on offense, we stub our toe on defense and then when they finally have a couple of good drives to where they’re three-and-out or a short drive, we don’t get anything going on offense. The defense has really been keeping us in the games all year, where we were trying to find our way on offense. This last game felt a little more normal of what it should feel like and we just couldn’t get on the same page. I thought Oakland did a good job. They stuck with their game plan and did a good job of some of the matchups they got against us, against our coverages. They finally started busting a couple of runs there on that one drive. There were probably like 36 yards came on one drive. I feel like we’re close to clicking. We just have to find a way to play together. If we can play a good game of complementary football, that’d be really what we’d like to see.”
(T Ja’Wuan James did not look good when he left the locker room yesterday. What is the story about him?) – “I don’t (know). I haven’t talked to the trainers yet, so we’ll find out.”
(What is the plan for this week regarding S T.J. McDonald?) – “We’ll see where he’s at when we throw him out there. It’s not like he’s coming back from an injury, so we can put him into practice on Wednesday. I expect him to be out there ready to go. He’s been chomping at the bit for a while now.
(How ready do you believe S T.J. McDonald is to just jump right in?) – “I don’t know. Run across the middle and you’ll find out. I think he’s pretty ready. (laughter)”
(I’d probably rather not. S T.J. McDonald’s been in meetings, he’s been in film with you. He seems right there in step with everybody else?) – “Yes. I want him to play. I can’t wait to watch him play.”
(When you talk about this team at the midpoint and how you assess it, you’ve got C/G Ted Larsen and you’ve got S T.J. McDonald coming back. That’s kind of an unusual situation when you’re usually losing guys this time of year.) – “Yes, it was well planned. (laughter) The Ted (injury), that hurt us, because it just threw everything out of whack. It was on the same day that Ryan (Tannehill) did his ACL. Just a lot of things spun out of control. We felt really good about our o-line and it just threw us out of flux there for a second. (With) T.J., we knew what we were getting into with the suspension. We knew it was going to be about this time and we were just hoping that we were trending upward when this happened, to where we could have that push over the top that could maybe make a difference for us. We’re not exactly where we want to be. We’ve been worse. Last year it felt different, a little bit. I know really it’s the same record. This year, it’s more of we’re not horrible in the injury department – we’re not in a bad, terrible shape – but I feel like our guys last week, they prepared the right way. That’s what has me somewhat excited moving forward. We’ve got a stretch here (where) we’ve got tough road games, we’ve got tough home games, division opponents. Everything’s up for grabs and it’s really, ‘Who wants to do it right? Who wants to keep doing it right week in and week out?’ Our guys have a great opportunity and this is what the NFL is. This is when you want to be playing. You’ve got a shot. You’ve got eight games to see what you’re made of. If you play well and you prepare well, you’ll find yourself in a good spot at the end of the year.”
(Just looking at the run game, you guys were able to mix some things up. Were you satisfied with the timing of the play calling and the execution of what you guys were doing?) – “I don’t know about the whole timing thing. There was a couple of times where I was going back and forth trying to figure out what was the best thing for that situation, just trying to get a feel for what they were doing on defense. They did a good job. They were a little bit all over the place. They kept changing it up. It was a little bit different for them. I thought our guys handled a lot of the things that they were doing fairly well. A couple of those runs where we ended up having penalties, you wished we didn’t, because we had some good runs. We cleaned that up. I like where our running game is heading. We were able to do a couple of things where we popped a big one, which was good to see, and there was an earlier one where we were really close; (Kenyan) Drake got tripped up in a pile of guys. I like where that’s headed. I think it makes a difference. I think those guys out of the backfield in the passing game really made a big difference.”
(Will you continue to use both RBs Damien Williams and Kenyan Drake or maybe just see whose got the hot hand after a few series?) – “We’re going to have to use both of them because it felt like those guys were exerting a lot of energy there. Damien is still doing special teams stuff because he’s one of our best guys. Whatever Damien had, he left it on the field., I know that. Both of those guys did. They sold out and gave us everything they had.”
(What did you think about RB Damien Williams’ touchdown? What did you observe about the blocking, any of the setup for that play?) – “Obviously, it wasn’t as clean as everybody sees it because we were running all over the place, guys lined up on the wrong side. We got it straightened out and just seeing Jarvis (Landry) turn around and just know that he was going to get crushed and he didn’t care. He was just all about getting into the end zone. That’s that selfless attitude we’re always searching for of guys just selling out for each other. Damien did a great job of staying in bounds and then getting into the end zone. (It was in) slow motion, but it was a great play to watch on film.”
(I know there’s obviously a lot of football in it, but you had personal investment in RB Damien Williams. He’s a guy you’ve been really close with. A big breakthrough for him getting his first start and having that game, what did that mean to you to see that happen for a guy you obviously care a lot about?) – “I just know he’s a guy that cares about one thing and that’s winning, whether he’s the starter, backup, playing every special teams, catching 100 balls or catching five. He just wants to do whatever he can to win. He wants to be on the field to help and when he is on the field, you get everything he has. Just to see him be able to get the opportunity was great. We want to just keep moving in the right direction and keep giving him chances, keep giving (Kenyan) Drake chances. If Senorise (Perry) gets a crack at it at some point … I want to see those guys do well. They put in a lot of time, they put in a lot of effort, and they want to do it right.”
(How did you feel about TE Julius Thomas last night and do you think this could be a launching?) – “That’s where we finally got some of the coverages we were looking for. That’s what happens.”
(The two or three things you liked best about QB Jay Cutler’s performance?) – “I thought he was really good, just demeanor-wise. He did a good job of staying the same. He never got too high; he never got too low. There were a couple of situations there where it just kind of felt like we weren’t trending in the right direction and we ended up putting something together and getting some points. I thought he did a good job of buying some time. He was good with the ball. I thought a couple of his throwaways were smart. There were a couple times where he knew he had to make a play and he did. Really at the end of the day, if we can just clean the pocket up just a little bit to where he can set his feet, especially early, that kind of helps him throughout the game. If we get him drifting away and he can’t set his feet, you just don’t want that to be a consistent thing. You’ve got to keep fighting to try to keep that pocket clean.”
(Why the change in opinion in the players kneeling on the sideline as opposed to the locker room?) – “I’m going to worry about football. I’m not going to get into all of that.”
(On the question earlier about long passes, obviously, your point well made about coverages. That said, you haven’t had a play from a receiver longer than 34 yards this year. Is it entirely over a body of work because of the way teams are defending you deep, or is it also a function of the offensive line not holding up enough for some of those plays that were called to actually go forward and materialize?) – “It just depends what I’m calling. I could’ve done something, rolled out to the right and watch (Khalil) Mack just blow Jay’s (Cutler) lungs out; but I didn’t feel like doing that. It’s all about timing and protection as far as what you’re calling versus what they’re doing and what they’re playing on the back end. Sometimes they call the right stuff. It’s a chess match. There are times I’m calling shots, but nobody knows I’m calling shots.”
(Right, which is what I was bringing up…) – “It is what it is.”
(It appeared as though that might have happened where we saw QB Jay Cutler’s eyes go downfield a couple of times in the fourth quarter, but was it just not open at that point as opposed to the line breaking down?) – “When you got three guys on two and then you’ve got a linebacker on (Kenyan) Drake or Damien (Williams), we can force it in there but I don’t think we’re going to like the result. It’s tough. They did a good job. They were spinning the wheel pretty good. It wasn’t like it was easy to say, ‘It’s second-and-7, this is what they’re always doing.’ It wasn’t easy.”
(What did you see regarding coverage on TE Jared Cook last night and how much of a concern might that be with tight ends going forward?) – “We just gave him too much air. There were a couple times where we talked about getting our hands on him (and) we didn’t. A couple of the zone coverages that he caught balls in, we should’ve had tighter coverage and we didn’t. I wouldn’t say that was … One time we were playing man. The rest of the time we’re playing zone. We just can’t give him so much air. We’ve got to make sure we do a better job in those first five yards.”
(How do you look at the fourth quarter last night. You guys had some costly penalties. You had the turnover that gave you a chance. Missed opportunities?) – “Yes, I’d say so. What was that was the first game we’ve lost in how many games by seven or less or three or less? Normally it doesn’t happen. It’s one of those things where we’d rather not have the penalties and capitalize on the plays that we’re making; but that’s not what happened and we just have to find a way to clean a few things up and get back to work.”
(You mentioned in the past about scaling back the offense. Do you feel that yesterday you were able to open it up a little bit?) – “No, I didn’t (scale) it (back) yesterday. We ran the game plan and they figured it out.”
(You mean you didn’t scale it back?) – “No.”
(When you look at what you did with RB Kenyan Drake and RB Damien Williams, do you feel like this is the starting point on how you would like to operate the backfield?) – “Probably. We’ll see how far we go with it. We’ll see what else we can do. It’s hard to say, ‘this group, this group.’ It’s 11 guys. There’s a lot of factors thata re going on, whether or not who you’re playing and who is upfront. That’s kind of where it starts. How well can we protect? What do we have to do to help, when you’re playing a guy like (Khalil) Mack and you’ve got Bruce Irvin on the other side? That’s where it starts and then you filter out after that. What’s the best in the running game? What’s the best type of passing attack? There’s a lot of things that go on with this and trying to focus on one group is hard because it’s a huge puzzle and you’re trying to put it together during the week.”
(Obviously losing the ball is never a good thing. Aside from the fumble, do you like how RB Kenyan Drake ran?) – “Yes, I did. The fumble, it was a tough one because he kind of got spun around and kind of hit weird. It’s one of those things where we emphasize it so much – which we talked about the other day – about we never put the ball on the ground because I was asked that on Friday. It was a tough hit, but we got to hold on to the ball.”
(What did the tape show on the DT Ndamukong Suh forced fumble?) – “It was an unbelievable play. Just seeing it live, it really was a great play. It was an unbelievable individual effort. I was just hoping he would get there just to make it hard for him to throw it; but for him to get a hand on the ball, that was unbelievable. Just the effort by everybody after that play, that was us. That’s how we should play. It was 11 guys with their hair on fire trying to do something good. We’ve just got to clean some things up. I feel like we’re close to doing a lot of good things. We’ve just got to figure out a way to play together as a team.”
(Was DT Ndamukong Suh in the clear health-wise? Was he ok?) – “Yes, I’m going to find out. He obviously came back. I haven’t met with our trainers yet.”
(K Cody Parkey’s onside kick, the first one. Was that something he brought to you guys or is that something you’ve been working on with him?) – “No, they’ve been … It’s been up. Every once in a while it’ll be up for games. That was just the first time that we’ve called it.”
(Do you leave any discretion to K Cody Parkey on when to do that?) – “I mean it’s called and we decide to do it before the kickoff.”
(You guys are calling it, not K Cody Parkey?) – “Yes.”
(The thinking in that moment, for that kick, was what? Why at that time?) – “Why not? It just felt right.”
Ndamukong Suh – November 5, 2017 (Postgame)
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Sunday, November 5, 2017
Postgame – Oakland Raiders
Miami Dolphins DT Ndamukong Suh (transcribed by Ted Leshinski)
(Suh, first of all how are you feeling? You went out of the game for a while. You were able to come back and play?) – Yeah. Unfortunately it’s football. I got tangled up and lucky enough I had the opportunity to come back. “
(When you look at yourself defensively – first half, good job against the run but there were third downs, third and longs, they were able to convert most of the time to the tight end. How frustrating does that get for you as you move along and try to stop that football team early on?) – “I think we understood what they wanted to do, we allowed them to stay on the field. We weren’t getting off the field on third down. We were putting them in situations that we wanted to be in but at the end of the day we’ve got to find ways to get off the ball, make plays and get off the football field.”
(Raiders QB Derek Carr seemed like he was able to get the ball out quickly. He didn’t get a lot of pressure on, maybe a little bit late in the game, but early on it seemed like he was getting pushed but not enough to get him off his game. Were they doing something different?) – “He’s the best in the NFL. He’s getting the ball out in under 2.3 seconds. So, we understood that we have to continue to press no matter what. At some point in time he’s going to hold the ball. The times that he did I felt like we did our jobs to get back there. The other side of the ball we needed to figure out how we could knock balls down and obviously knock passes down to get off the field. We didn’t do enough. It’s as simple as that.”
(Did you feel like you guys played well enough to win this football game?) – “No. We gave up way too many points. Obviously I think they ended up having 27 it’s not going to be winning football, if they’re scoring 27 points.”
(You’re 4-4 now. You’ve got a big game coming up next week, another Monday Night game on the road in Carolina. They’re another very good football team. How do you bounce back from this one and get ready for them?) – “Every game is big in this league and obviously no matter who you are playing it’s going to be a tough opponent. Obviously knowing who we have in Carolina … they’ve got a great offense, a great quarterback and some weapons that we need to go and stop. But we’re going to go back and look at the film tonight and tomorrow morning and figure out what mistakes were made because it’s a copycat league. They’re going to find ways to either do the same things or see things that we did in the past that we weren’t as good at and try to attack it. We’ve got to clean those mistakes up in practice.”
(You looked like you were in pain when you walked off the field and went into the locker room. You came back and played. Is there any reason to think that these injuries may hold you from playing next week?) – “I don’t make those calls. You’re going to have to talk to Coach Gase about it and we’ll go from there.”
(Ndamukong, there’s been a lot of points the last three weeks. Do you feel there’s been anything missing defensively?) – “I think we miss tackles. We weren’t getting off the football field. It’s a combination of things. But, it’s primarily those two pieces.”
(And the stuff you didn’t see early in the season when things were going better?) – “I think we were tackling a lot better. We were finding ways to get balls out and then obviously create turnovers in some aspects, especially the Jets game last time we were at home. We’ve got to find way to get back to that football.”
(You had one of the few real open pass rushes where you knocked the ball out of QB Derek Carr’s hand. Was the field hard? They were talking about the turf being wet or somethings?) – “No. I don’t feel like the field was of any particular issue for me personally. Maybe some of the other guys had a little struggle but as professionals you understand what cleats you need to wear and be prepared to go out there and deal with all conditions.”
(To be 4-4 right now, do you feel like that’s a big underachievement for this team?) – “Nobody wants to be 4-4. We’ve had opportunities to win games. We’ve had every opportunity to in all eight games that we’ve played so far to win. Unfortunately we haven’t and we’re going to go able to go from there. Luckily it’s half way so we can figure out a way to still get into the games and obviously the playoffs. That’s our ultimate goal and we still have that opportunity. We’ve just got to go out there and focus and understand what we need to do to get wins.”
Cameron Wake – November 5, 2017 (Postgame)
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Sunday, November 5, 2017
Postgame – Oakland Raiders
Miami Dolphins DE Cameron Wake (transcribed by Jason D. Silver)
(It was tough getting pressure on Raiders QB Derek Carr today. What was going on?) – “A couple of things. They had situations where they had max protection, blocked it up. They were chipping on the edge, a lot of different things to keep themselves clean. At the end of the day, I’m not surprised. I’d probably do that to us as well. You can’t be frustrated by it. You can’t use it as an excuse. You’ve just got to go out there and if you have to fight through two or three (blockers), you’ve got to do it. So that’s the mindset I think everybody has. You’ve still have to get your job done, regardless.”
(The first half must have been frustrating. You guys played very well against the run, putting them into third-and-long situations – situations that really played into your advantage – but they were able to make the plays and continue to drive down the field. That had to be discouraging.) – “(It was) definitely frustrating. Obviously the number one priority usually going into weeks is stopping the run. I think we did a decent job of that, but you stop the run so that you do get in that third-and-long situation, so that the guys up front can get after the pass rush, things like that; but they made a few more plays than we did when it came time to get off the field. By the time we started clicking, it seemed like it was too little too late, and that’s unfortunate because you have to treat every play like ‘this is the play that’s going to change the game,’ and literally one play either way – in our favor or to our detriment. They made one more play than we did.”
(This was one of those games where you have to look back and feel like there were certainly opportunities, both offensively and defensively, to win this football game and they were left out on the field.) – “Without a doubt. This wasn’t one of those games … I mean literally, we felt like every time we were on the field, we had a chance – all the way down to the very end; but that’s this league. Most of the games are going to come down to one score and that means one play, whether it’s in their favor or not. Again, you look back to the few plays they made earlier on in the game, those could have been the plays that change the game. The few plays that we didn’t make on offense obviously played in their favor. So you can’t wait until the end of the game to turn it on – which I think we did – but you have to play from the start as soon as they drop the ball, all the way to the end. Like I said, it was too little too late.”
(Did you have a conversation with anybody – I think it was (Amari) Cooper that caught the ball – it looked like it hit the ground. They ended up going down and scoring on that drive.) – “Yes, I saw it. It was hard to see on the replay. I don’t think I was on the field at the time, but it was quick. They came back with the quick snap of the ball, so whatever decisions you made, you had to make them fast. I don’t know if you’ve seen the play. I don’t know if it was an incomplete pass or not, but at the end of the day it didn’t matter because we didn’t challenge it, so you just have to move on and play the next play.”
Reshad Jones – November 5, 2017
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Sunday, November 5, 2017
Postgame – Oakland Raiders
Miami Dolphins Safety Reshad Jones (transcribed by Daniel Chavez)
(What are your thoughts on that unnecessary roughness call?) – “The referee made the call, I don’t think it was unnecessary roughness, I thought he turned his head, got around, and I made a good play but the referee made the call so it is what it is.”
(Is there anything you would have done differently about that play?) – “No I couldn’t have done anything different.”
(What were some of the overall factors that led to the Raiders having almost 300 passing yards?) – “Those guys did good, they did a good job of catching the ball and being where they’re supposed to be. We just have to break down the film and do better and give credit to those guys, they made enough plays tonight to win the football game and we didn’t.”
(You guys are 4-4 at the halfway mark, do you feel that is representative with the team and how you guys are playing so far? ) – “Not at all, not at all, it’s the NFL, it’s a tough league to win in. We just have to get back to the drawing board and start some practice.”
Julius Thomas – November 5, 2017 (Postgame)
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Sunday, November 5, 2017
Postgame – Oakland Raiders
Miami Dolphins TE Julius Thomas (transcribed by Alex Onaindia)
(You seemed to have an offensive rhythm out there.) – “Yeah, it was a tough loss. We had a good team at home and they edged us out in the end. We were able to do some good things offensively but we’ve got to continue to cut back on turnovers. It’s just stalling a lot of our drives and really keeping us from putting more points on the board.”
(Eleven penalties tonight. How do you win when you have that kind of number on the board?) – “It’s tough. It’s really tough to beat a good team when you hurt yourself. That’s something that we have to address as a team. Eleven penalties is too much. We work too hard every day, every week, to go out there and make it even harder on us to win a game. Half of the season is done and the second half of the season we really have to come out and play more disciplined football.”
(The way that Jay played tonight considering his rib injury, what are your thoughts on it?) – “I think that you are seeing our offense is continuing to grow. We talked about some of the obstacles we’ve had and trying to get that chemistry and grow as an offense. We’re showing each and every week that we’re able to have spurts where we’re doing the things we want to do but it is going to take continued work. That’s something that we have to keep getting after. Jay played really well tonight. We have just got to continue building on what we did do well.”
(After the shakeup that occurred in this locker room this week, what was the thought process going into the game for this offense and do you guys feel like you played up to the level you were anticipating?) – “The thought process for this offense is to continue to do what we have to do to put points on the board. I’m not sure how many points that we scored today but we scored more than we did the week before. We’re going to have to continue to find ways to score more points just so that offensively, we can do our part.”
