Mike McDaniel – October 30, 2023
Monday, October 30, 2023
Head Coach Mike McDaniel
(It’s cool weather so a good time in Germany to have the windows open. So will T Terron Armstead travel and have his window open to practice? And also OL Robert Hunt, if you guys have ruled out anything serious with his hamstring?) – “Wow. (laughter) Well, I can say this, we’ll probably be evaluating Terron Armstead’s performance in another country other than the United States this week. So that’s pending yes, and all signs point to evaluating that, which will require some moving and shaking as we are used to. Robert Hunt is kind of a day-to-day evaluation. We’ll see how it progresses but evaluating the severity of it, kind of letting it cool down for a second to see too.”
(So T Terron Armstead will travel?) – “Oh, he’s traveling.”
(And then if T Terron Armstead looks good, the window you think would open this week or is it not 100 percent sure that he’ll practice?) – “You just never know what the latches are in another state let alone – I’ve never been to Europe. I don’t know what the windows (are), so you don’t want to get ahead of yourself. But I would think I would figure out how to open a window. Yeah? We’re good? We’re good there? (laughter)”
(With you not ever traveling to Europe, how excited are you about this trip and obviously taking on the Kansas City Chiefs?) – “I’m excited for a lot of things currently in life. All of the above. I think the opportunity to play NFL football is a privilege. I talk about it a lot, you prepare to play against the best and there’s not a better opponent to play than the Kansas City Chiefs. They are the current Super Bowl winners in terms of the last ones to win it. That will be a really cool opportunity for our team. They know how to win and do it at a high level. Then I’m excited for the team to go to Germany. Outside of maybe an hour that I may be able to get on Friday, I’ll be hanging out in the hotel. But the team has the opportunity to experience a different country and culture together. I think that’s a really cool opportunity. Teams win and lose so anytime you have an opportunity to do a bonding experience like that – I know many people are like myself that have never been there – so that’s just exciting in itself. You feel it’s an opportunity, a privilege, to take this game that we devote our lives to and perform in front of an audience on the other side of the world. I told the team today that if you make a play in a game, there’s some kid that speaks German that is wearing your jersey for the rest of his adolescence. You have lifelong fans, that is kind of what happens in those type of environments. Their first exposure is you making this play, and that’s a really, really cool opportunity. A lot of fun stuff for our team and it’s maturation journey for the season for sure.”
(I wanted to get an update on three players who had injuries of varying degrees yesterday, T Kendall Lamm, LB David Long Jr., DT Zach Sieler? I saw Long and Sieler went into the tent briefly.) – “All three I would expect to be getting treated and be some sort of participation during the week. We’ll evaluate closer on Wednesday for Wednesday but they’re all in the day-to-day process and expecting good things. I feel like the plane we have chartered, has healing elements to it.”
(Any must-have essentials that you pack for this trip besides your work stuff?) – “People kind of cut me out of the equation of essential things to bring. It’s an unintended consequence of being present all the time that you’re just like locked in and I forget stuff all the time. All the important stuff will be delegated to people that are more pack-responsible. So I’m just going to take myself, have a notebook and a backpack and then there’s going to be all the video and computer stuff that we need to gameplan which is why we’re going to Germany, is to play game.”
(Speaking of adolescents wearing jerseys, one of the hot costumes of Halloween is you. I’ve seen it posted on social media of kids dressing up as Mike McDaniel.) – “That does not compute. That doesn’t make any sense. (laughter)”
(One kid did your run on Sunday Night Football.) – “Was I faster than the kid? (laughter)
(I’m just curious, what, as you see it, goes into dressing up like Mike McDaniel?) – “I have no idea. I refuse to accept that as reality. I don’t even know what that means. I guess that there’s a compliment in there to the Miami Dolphins organization and locker room because there’s got to be some really, really, really good players for someone to dress up like me.”
(But I guess the knapsack would be essential? Or the glasses?) – “I don’t know.”
(He had the watch too, the hoodie, he had everything. The capris.) – “Probably the essential would be the broad chest, right? (laughter)”
(You’re speechless for the first time ever) – “Yeah. (laughter) No words.”
(You guys completed 15 passes yesterday to guys not named WR Tyreek Hill or WR Jaylen Waddle. How does that open up the offense so you can get all those guys involved?) – “So much of what’s lost in execution of offense or defense really, in general, is that even when Tyreek and Waddle are doing damage in the pass game, it’s such a concerted effort by the entire group. The route distribution has to be exact. The protection has to be on. The quarterback has to be right with his progression. But I think in terms of the way defenses play, you can definitely influence them by distributing the ball and making them pay for over attention. That’s something that to beat a defense that’s adept at minimizing the top player or most productive player of teams, you go into the game knowing that it’s going to take the commitment and execution from everyone and all skill (players) have to make plays across the board, because there’s going to be times where it just doesn’t make any sense to throw to a certain eligible. We knew we were kind of going to have to do that to win the game. And I think the whole team was confident that we could execute that.”
(A check on S Jevon Holland and if he’s out of the concussion protocol. And also we saw TE Durham Smythe is in a boot. Is that something that is in the FB Alec Ingold category or something we should be concerned about?) – “Jevon is doing well. He’s still in the protocol but is doing well. It’s been progressing as we’d want. Durham is like half Alec Ingold, half Durham just doing Durham. Just wearing boots, that’s kind of his swag. Medical boots. (laughter) He’s a guy that’s as tough as they come. It’s hard during a game to assess the severity of anything because he’s so tough and is willing to play through whatever that he probably says less, and you kind of just have to – between Kyle (Johnston) and (Assistant Head Coach/Tight Ends) Jon Embree, they kind of manage when he tells them he shouldn’t be managed, which is the way you want people to be. But he’ll battle through that and yeah, I definitely wouldn’t bet against Durham Smythe playing in any game.”
(I wanted to ask about your conversations with the players. You obviously want them to enjoy Germany when they can. Kind of a fraught time internationally right now. What kind of talks have you had with them about being safe, being smart and all that?) – “I mean that’s prerequisite. Part of being an NFL player and part of being a teammate is understanding that you carry all the obligations that are required of people. You carry the logo and how you act and what you do affects everyone. And then I haven’t really gone into dark and desolate scenarios. I’ve more been emphasizing the opportunity for us to do things as groups and experience and be together and not be off as individuals, but to take advantage of the time as a collective. Strength in numbers.”
(WR Tyreek Hill seems to be super excited about playing his former team. I’m sure that’s common when you’re playing the other team that you played for. Do you worry about the emotional end of those battles?) – “No, I think for this particular team, that’s something that so many of his teammates take – since they’re so invested in Tyreek and we have the locker room structure that we have – I think his teammates are going to take it more personal for him then ultimately he will take it. One of the reasons he is able to have the production that he has, which is at a historic rate through eight games, is because of how fiercely competitive he approaches each week and understands how important each game is, so he comes to play every game. I know he’s going to come to play to this game. I think it will be a bigger deal for his teammates in support of him. In actuality, I mean he’s as Miami as it comes now. He’s on a new chapter and worried about being a captain for this team.”
(Yesterday the snap count was about the same for RB Jeff Wilson Jr. and RB Salvon Ahmed. That’s a little different obviously from how it was last year. It’s a new year. Is that a by-product of Salvon doing things that impress you guys and want to carve out a role for him? Is it partially because Jeff is coming off missing six games this year?) – “Absolutely. I would attribute that to ‘SA’ (Salvon Ahmed) and his development. It’s more about deserving opportunities and doing whatever you can control with those opportunities. What ‘SA’ has carved out since last year is he necessitates the opportunity to make plays. He’s proven and did it all preseason, and has proven in games this year that he’s a playmaker. We’re fortunate to have multiple and we try to disperse it and give guys an opportunity to be their best selves, and when they get hot, we keep feeding the hot hand.”
(Shot in the dark here, did you look at Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes before he was drafted as well?) – “I refused to look at him. No eye contact. Don’t look at me. (laughter) Yeah, no that was in 2017 when he came out. It was pretty cool because he had the arm talent that’s out of this world that you see. You kind of knew he had a chance to be the exception to the rule which, is he wasn’t playing in any sort of rhythm or timing offense, it didn’t feel like, or it just felt very different then the NFL game. But he could make every throw. You could tell that there was a special human being. So yeah, it’s been cool to watch him develop into what might be the best player in the NFL. And that wasn’t promised to him. Henceforth, he was picked at least 10th I think, not first. He’s earned every bit of it and he’s an unbelievable player.”
(From an outsider’s point of view, it appears you guys have taken a more measured approach to bringing guys back from injuries this year with a bigger eye towards December and January. Is that accurate?) – “I think I can only speak on since I’ve been here. I’ve been here for I think between the time I’ve been here and the time the training staff has been here before, you learn more about people. So, the more knowledge you have, the more you invest into them, the more you can kind of properly assess, ‘Hey, well, this didn’t work out in this way for this individual for this reason. Okay let’s adjust it either way.’ So there’s been times that we’ve been a little on the aggressive end and there’s been a lot of times that we’ve been on the conservative end. All just adjusting to the facts as the facts change and as we get more of them.”
David Long Jr. – October 29, 2023 (Postgame)
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Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023
Postgame – New England Patriots
Miami Dolphins LB David Long Jr.
(How nice was it to get this dub before going across the pond?) – “It was good. We’re about to go out to Germany and have another hard opponent. It was just good to be in these games. The division games are always close. It’s always going to be hard-fought. So it was good to have that before we left town.”
(Are you packed up already? Ready to go?) – “I’m ready to go. I’ve been packed. I can’t wait.”
(To be missing guys like CB Xavien Howard and S Jevon Holland and still have a solid defensive performance like that, what do you think that should tell you about this unit?) – “It means we’ve got the same type of dogs right there in the back ready to make a play. Going through the week you don’t know if you’re going to play or not and then having that next-man-up mentality is what makes the team better. There’s no drop off. I think you saw that today. ‘B. Jones’ (Brandon Jones) almost had his first pick of the season, but you see guys stacking days.”
Bradley Chubb – October 29, 2023 (Postgame)
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Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023
Postgame – New England Patriots
Miami Dolphins LB Bradley Chubb
(It seems like the general consensus is that you guys are excited to go out across the pond. Can you just talk about this trip on the journey for you guys?) – “Yeah, for sure man. It’s an opportunity to expand the game that I love, that I’ve been playing since I was 6 years old. Kids in Germany are going to have the same opportunity here in the near future, so it’s dope to be a part of that. Yes, it’s a hassle to travel over there and all that type of stuff, but hey, it’s an opportunity to, like I said, expand the game, put us on a global platform and just got to make the most of it.”
(You get a sack, CB Jalen Ramsey interception, LB Jaelan Phillips also a sack. All these things that are happening, your defensive unit finally feels together even though you’re still missing a couple pieces. What does that mean that the defense has been able to give the performance they did today?) – “It’s very encouraging. It’s very encouraging starting to get into our wind, starting to get into our flow, starting to understand what (Defensive Coordinator) Vic (Fangio) expects from us. He’s starting to see – putting us in the best position, seeing what we can and cannot do as players and as a team. I feel like that gel is starting to come together, and once we get all the pieces back that we need, the sky’s the limit for us. Injuries are going to happen, so you can’t really get caught up in this guy’s not here, this guy’s not here. It’s just everybody upholding the standard that we got, and we just got to keep it going.”
(It shows that the offense can make big plays, but the defense on its own – you guys are making these big plays. What does that continue to say that, hey, we’re out here, too?) – “Yeah, we here, too, and the offense knows that and we play together off that. Whenever they have a bad drive, we can’t go out there and do the same thing. It’s complementary football that’s been working for us these past couple weeks and unfortunately we dropped one last week, but we bounced back and did the exact thing we needed to do this week without all the distractions, without everything going on. It’s cool to see how we’re playing complementary football as a team, and that’s what we’re going to need when – like I said, we trying to get to where we want to go, that’s what we’re going to need. When we are down, they got to be up and vice versa. When we’re all on, it’s going to be beautiful.”
Jaylen Waddle – October 29, 2023 (Postgame)
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Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023
Postgame – New England Patriots
Miami Dolphins WR Jaylen Waddle
(QB Tua Tagovailoa with that pass to you broke the franchise record and the person who held it before was Dan Marino. What does that say to you about Tua in general in being able to bring out these performances out, breaking records for the franchise?) – “He’s the guy, he’s the franchise quarterback who continues to make plays like that for our team, so he’s our guy.”
(You got the Chiefs in Germany, what’s the mindset turning to that this week?) – “You know, go out there, adjust the time change. It’s going to be a little different from our schedule. Just go out there and compete. You know, play our game, it’s going to be different. It’s just a different setting, really. It’s going to be four quarters of hard-nosed football. Great teams, great organizations. It’s going to be a good task.”
(You already packed up?) – “Sort of, kind of. I got a little bit more packing. You know, I’m trying to debate, do I want to bring this, that. Heard it’s cold out there.”
(How much daunting is this turn around? You got to get on a plane tomorrow and go to Germany.) – “Yeah, kind of like the last second. They kind of like dawned on me, you know. ‘Reek’ (Tyreek Hill0 was talking to me on the sideline saying we got a long trip tomorrow. I mean, we’ve got a long trip to go. So it’s something we’ve got to think about, but got to be thankful.”
Jaelan Phillips – October 29, 2023 (Postgame)
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Sunday, October 29, 2023
Postgame – New England Patriots
Miami Dolphins LB Jaelan Phillips
(You have a teammate in Tyreek Hill. 1,000 yards in eight games… You’re shaking your head already.) – “He’s just different, bro. He’s almost automatic. It’s like he’s a guy who’s going to go out there every single game and make plays and just to have something that’s reliable, it definitely gives us a lot of confidence knowing that even if we’re down, even if we’re struggling on defense, we have guys who can pick us up.”
(What was it like to watch your offense work, especially that third-and-1, took a little bit of, a little bit of stones to call?) – “I mean, that’s what they do. That’s what they do. So, I mean, it’s fun to see, you know, every week just to see what they have, see what plays they’re going to run, see the moments like that, you know, how Mike’s (McDaniel) going to react. It’s just, I love this team, man. I love watching them ball out.”
(What have you seen of Bradley these past few weeks?) – “Man, he’s just been stepping up. I mean, Bradley’s a guy, man. He comes in every single day. He works his ass off. Extremely talented, but humble as ever. You know, beginning of the season, he kind of felt like he was in a little bit of a dry rut. You know, he wasn’t getting a ton of plays, ton of sacks and things like that. But I mean, three games in a row with a sack. He’s really stepping up. And I’m just proud of him, man. I love seeing that.”
Tua Tagovailoa – October 29, 2023 (Postgame)
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Sunday, October 29, 2023
Postgame – New England
Miami Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa
Q. How are you excited about this bounce-back performance this week, preparing for Kansas City next week?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Yeah, we’re excited to come off with a win. It’s tough to sweep any team in your division. Again, a Bill Belichick-coached team to tough to beat anytime, anyplace, anywhere, so I’m proud of those guys. Right now we’re just going to enjoy this victory, and we’ll watch the film, learn from what we can get better at, and then we’ll focus on our next opponent.
Q. You say it’s tough to beat, but you have never lost to them. It’s not tough for you to beat.
TUA TAGOVAILOA: It’s tough. It’s tough. You know, if you look at a lot of the games, none of them were just runaway games. They were almost all to the end. To me, those are always tough games. You know if you turn the ball over the way I have, it makes it a tough game, and you keep those guys in that game and you can’t keep a team like that in a game like that. It’s tough, but we were able to overcome a lot of obstacles and challenges. Our defense, I think our defense did a tremendous job, as well, giving us many opportunities.
Q. We’ve talked a lot this season about the short motion that you, WR Tyreek Hill and all the other pass catchers, but today it seemed like it opened up WR Jaylen Waddle’s last touchdown. Was that something you saw on film that you could kind of bring back as a wrinkle to the offense?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: In a way, yes, but that was one of those plays where it was just a miscommunication from their defense and that was basically the premier look even if they did cover it with what we wanted for that play.
Q. They scored on fourth down to cut it to seven. Probably your best drive of the day might have been the last drive. Talk about the importance of what’s the mindset going out there, they got it to seven, we can’t do a three-and-out here. We’ve got only just put a drive together but soak up clock. Talk about that last drive.
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Yeah, it’s important for us offensively when it’s a one-score game to go out and basically not poop the bed, if you will. It’s to go out and execute at a high level. We want to always end the game with the ball if we can, but in that sort of scenario, we were looking for points, as well. Any which way we could do that, that’s what we were trying to do. We were able to do that.
Q. What do you think of the overall potential of this team having Jalen Ramsey back and pretty soon you will get some other guys back off IR?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: I mean, it’s awesome to be able to have that guy out there. It was one of the coolest walk-outs I’ve seen from any Miami Dolphin player since I’ve been here when he just walked out through the smoke and did his deal and the crowd went wild. And then to top it off, he got an interception. He got a forced fumble. All of those things. The hype is real when it comes to someone like Jalen Ramsey. The defense rallies around each other. Those guys have been playing really well off each other. But having someone like him back in the lineup is definitely going to help those guys go.
Q. You’re one of the best in the league at bouncing back from a pick with a scoring drive following that —
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Did we score after I threw a pick? We did?
Q. Late in the first quarter..
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Yes, we like those. No interceptions, but touchdowns, we like those.
Q. What happened on the pick?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Yeah, it was not a good read. I think they did a really good job disguising what they ran. I think it was almost like a double hook, having No. 2 as the deep third player, and it was basically cover three if you look at it with where everyone was, and I basically threw it to the hook defender and you can’t do that. That’s what happened. But I’m proud of our guys for rallying back, and we continued to play. There were three quarters left to play, and we finished.
Q. Talk about that challenge to you today. They historically are — Belichick is very good at throwing those different looks and I’m sure you were ready for that coming in, but talk about that as a challenge, that they did it on the pick. Talk about just the different looks that you had to see, had to deal with. They were sending some blitzes, coming in on you quick.
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Yeah, the challenge with the different looks is really they’re just presenting that for themselves. For us, we have rules, and if it’s one high, two high, sometimes we can work this side, sometimes we can work that side. If all is sort of — okay, I’m not too sure where to start, then you stick with your rules. All right, it’s probably going to look like this, probably going to look like this off of these looks, and then you work through your progression from there. I wouldn’t say it’s always a gotcha deal every time, but it is something that we have been practicing, as far as maybe this isn’t the look we’re going to get, let’s practice looks we’re probably not going to get and then we work from there.
Q. Were you using the tendencies that you’ve seen from J.C. Jackson from Week 1 when he was on the Chargers —
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Not necessarily. I think with how Coach Belichick plays his guys, it’s a little different because it’s not necessarily J.C. I’m looking at, it’s more so the guys on the top end with who has to cover someone like Tyreek. When Tyreek is pressed, I think everyone in here would probably agree it’s not a good idea to not have someone over the top of him. The way Coach Belichick played it, I think was to try to take that off of Tyreek, but with a lot of our back turned actions and it’s the quarter side to that side, it makes it tough for the safety because he also has a run fit responsibility, but he also has to help with that. Outside leverage with J.C., he’s inside leverage, and if you don’t get a hit on Tyreek, the timing of it makes it tough.
Q. There was a fourth down play where you took off up the middle of the field and got it. What was going through your mind as that play developed –
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Yeah, football is fun. I don’t really run. That’s why. So football is fun. So when I did run, it was fun.
Q. You’ve got a plane ride coming up tomorrow. What are your travel essentials that you want to bring with you so Germany?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: I’m just trying to go to sleep on that flight. I’m just trying to find ways to go to sleep. I think they said it was a nine-hour flight, so trying to find any which way I can go to sleep, and as we get there, try to get adjusted.
Q. Have you ever been to Europe?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: I think London. We went to London. But outside of that, nope.
Tyreek Hill – October 29, 2023 (Postgame)
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Sunday, October 29, 2023
Postgame – New England
Miami Dolphins WR Tyreek Hill
Q. First of all what are your thoughts on what you saw from CB Jalen Ramsey today…?
TYREEK HILL: It’s crazy. Dude literally called his shot. He was like, look, I’m going to catch a pick in this game, and bro, he’s next level. I’m just so glad I’m not playing against the guy no more because the edge and just everything that he brings, man, the mentality is next level. You feel me? It’s dope to see him back doing it already, like forcing fumbles and just locking down the whole side. I like that. It’s dope to see it. For him to add that to his story, it’s even better. That makes it even better.
Q. That last scoring drive they had suddenly got it down to a one-score game. You guys seemed in control. What was the mindset? What was said in that huddle what you guys needed to do?
TYREEK HILL: Man, the mindset is always to keep the ball any way that we can. Tua does a great job of reminding us that. The mentality, man, it’s always about mentality. Like the ball is thrown your way, doesn’t matter if one guy is on you, two guys are on you, three guys are on you, make a play. If you’re not getting the ball, block for your teammate or do whatever you can so that way we put ourselves in position to get yards and move the ball forward. That was a really good last drive by us.
Q. You hit 1,000 yards, eight games, first player in the Super Bowl era to do that. You’re on pace for 2,000.
TYREEK HILL: Yeah, man, it feels great. God is great. I’ve been calling my shot since I came in the league. A lot of people doubted me saying I couldn’t do this and do that, but it’s all about believing in yourself. That’s the one thing my mom and dad always taught me. Here I am today. I’m very blessed, very thankful to be in this position and no greater day to do it. I have my kids here today, so no greater day to do it.
Q. Seems like you obviously make an impact catching the ball, but on WR Jaylen Waddle’s touchdown catch at the end, you kind of drew everyone to you. How gratifying is it to open stuff up for your teammates, too, and still be involved in that way?
TYREEK HILL: It feels great. It feels great to be a decoy. Obviously I was kind of mad that Jalen didn’t do the touchdown celebration that we had planned, but for him to get in the end zone and be a part of that, it goes to show that Coach Belichick, he has a lot of respect for you. If a coach has that much respect for me, man, I must be doing something right.
Q. Did Raheem Mostert settle that he’s a faster speed walker than you?
TYREEK HILL: It’s crazy, I’ve just got bad hips. That’s why I’m not a good speed walker. That’s why he won the race.
Q. Was it just cramps when you went down?
TYREEK HILL: No, it wasn’t no cramps.
Q. The celebration I’m talking about —
TYREEK HILL: Yeah, yeah, I know what you’re talking about. (laughter)
Q. Have you been to Germany before?
TYREEK HILL: I have never been to Germany. I’m looking forward to it. Obviously we’re playing against the Chiefs, so it’s going to be a fun game to see some old faces, and yeah, just get after it, talk trash to my old quarterback.
Q. Obviously it’s only been two years since you’ve been in Miami, but how would you compare these two years of your career, who you’ve been these two years of your career compared to the first few years of your career there in Kansas City?
TYREEK HILL: I just know a whole lot more now. Obviously when you come into the league you’re trying to find where you fit and understand how the game is played, but now I’ve been able to learn from other veterans in the past locker room that I was in and apply it here. I know a whole lot more now, whether it’s doing stuff off the field or just being in the locker room with the guys, trying to be a leader in that aspect. I am light years ahead of where I was back then, and you know what, everything happens for a reason, so here I am today.
Q. You and Tua weren’t able to hook up on that one series and that resulted in the interception, but you came right back and had the touchdown on the next series. Can you take us through the touchdown and also you went right to the bench after that. It looked like there was no celebration?
TYREEK HILL: You know what, our coach, he does a great job of setting plays up, so me and Tua had obviously talked about how their safeties play, and we run so many in cuts that the safeties try to drive our in cuts. It was just a situation where me and Tua just had a conversation about, hey, these guys are sitting, and once you do your play action fakes, the corner is even driving. Tua did a fantastic job of selling the fake, the corner and the safety bit up, and the rest was history, and the celebration, I’m just tired of these fines. The NFL, they fine me so much. They’ve been finding small ways to fine me. They even tried to fine me for my shirt today, and I’m like, what’s going on with that. I don’t want to be a part of no NFL fine list no more for the rest of the year. I’m sick of it.
Q. Can you talk about what this week is going to be like for you going up against the Chiefs — what kind of emotions do you think you’ll have, how you’re preparing your self for it?
TYREEK HILL: I’m ready, man. It’s just another game. I’m just excited to play against my old brothers. It’s just like if you’re in high school and you move to a different city, it’s still ball. At the end of the day, my job is to go out there and do what I’ve been doing all year, and that’s have fun, help lead this team, and create opportunities for whoever. I’m still going to be the same old Cheetah, baby.
Q. You went back to the Kansas City look Tyreek. What was the motivation behind that?
TYREEK HILL: I just had to let KC know, whenever they see me, it’s going to be problems, because old ‘Reek,’ yeah, he was hell, so I’m back. The Cheetah is back.
Q. What do you think of going to Germany instead of going to Arrowhead?
TYREEK HILL: I was kind of pissed about it, man, because obviously I’ve got so many friends, I’ve got family there. One of my sons is there. Just the energy, man, feeling that energy in Arrowhead would have been next level, but obviously I understand that the NFL, they want to be more global and they want to send two of the best offenses over there, two MVP quarterbacks, dynamic offenses, and it’s going to be a good game. It’s really good promotion for them. But going back to Arrowhead, it would have been sensational.
Mike McDaniel – October 29, 2023 (Postgame)
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Sunday, October 29, 2023
Postgame – New England
Miami Dolphins Head Coach Mike McDaniel
Q. This week is the same exact score as last week. What was different that you all did for this week to prepare for this victory today?
MIKE McDANIEL: We changed it up from last week and it appears we scored more points than the opponent, so that was good. Overall, I couldn’t — this is a really, really cool win just for the team. It’s the first time since I’ve been here that we’ve been able to beat a division opponent twice. You get a great litmus test of where you’re at as a football team when you have a division game, and then on top of that, you’re going overseas the next week, and on top of that you have Hard Knocks the week after. That is leading the league in potential distractions. I knew we were going to find out a lot about our team today, and I could care less about what their record is. That is a tough team to go against. They made their plays. They made it very difficult. But 100 percent our guys weren’t looking at anything but today, which is why we were able to be victorious because if we would have been half-hearted in anything we did, we would have lost that game for sure. So I’m very proud, and the reason why the scores were different was because we diligently went back to work, didn’t waste any time talking about all sorts of things like why we lost or try to point fingers, call out a ref or something. None of that was occurring in our building. We went to work and worried about the details and fundamentals of our individual jobs, and collectively were satisfied – were less satisfied with the outcome, so very happy.
Q. How did Jalen Ramsey do?
MIKE McDANIEL: Well, he totally disappointed me. He called that he was going to come back and have a pick six, not a pick field goal. (laughter) He did phenomenal. You want to talk about something that goes above and beyond, like you can’t manufacture what he brought to our team in any other way. His play, but the commitment it took to play in that game, everybody witnessed firsthand. You want to talk about not wanting to let someone down as a teammate, that was a special thing to be a part of, to watch his journey, unwavering conviction from I think it was July 27 or 28, the moment he got hurt with that mindset, telling his teammates, ‘hey, just hold it down, I’m going to come back, and I’m going to beat whatever timetable by a month.’ That’s immediately what his mindset was. We never gave him a timetable, and then he ended up telling me last time we played the Patriots, during the game, on the field, that he was coming back for this game. I shared that with the team this last week. It was awesome to be a part of, and I think it speaks to the locker room. You don’t do all that if you’re not yearning to play with these people that you just started to become a teammate with. Big part of the reason why we won is that collective nature that he epitomized.
Q. That last scoring drive they cut it to one score. You have a couple big third downs, I think the pass to Tyreek at the 50-yard line was a 3rd down and then obviously the touchdown wide open. Not just for this game, but how big is that as far as a growth thing?
MIKE McDANIEL: You want to talk – between Tua and Tyreek, that third down in particular was unbelievable. We were hot. His timing of that route, he sped it up. He went faster than you should because they ran zero, and for them to make that play, those are what big-time players do in big-time games. This was big for us, a home game against a division opponent, and it’s awesome to be a part of. Both those guys wanted to win the game. If there was any sort of timeout, I think in the second half, a stoppage of play I should say, Tyreek was looking at me trying to get eye contact, which I know exactly what that means. Tua was locked in, didn’t have ebbs and flows, up and down. He was able to make plays after being frustrated, which has been one of the reasons he has had success or that much more success this season, is he’s learned in such a short period of time how to be critical of yourself but not handcuff yourself, as well, because if you’re self-lashing for a series or a quarter, you’re not going to like the results of your play. I’m very, very proud of where he’s at. He was laser focused. The last touchdown drive was phenomenal. The last touchdown – Tyreek was in jet motion and they tried to go in and out on the fly. Long story short, it was zero, and Tua hung on to the ball longer than he usually does because he saw it all. You have to be of clear mind in those points of the game to make those type of plays, and it was one of the better defensive game plans that I’ve really ever gone against. The Patriots had an unbelievable plan to really kind of try to bottle us in and guys were able to make plays in key situations, which was always fun to be around.
Q. You mentioned that jet motion on the touchdown. It seems like this season we’ve talked about the short motion, but it seems like you may have brought back that jet motion —
MIKE McDANIEL: It wasn’t getting enough headlines, so we had to run it more to get headlines. (laughter) No, I think that there’s reasons for everything. Specifically we knew in the game we were going to have a couple more of those for this game. We typically have them every week, but it’s part of our DNA. We pre-snap motion to gain advantages for ourselves, but you have to be super detailed to be able to do that at a high rate, with snap counts, motion landmarks, and it takes 100 percent commitment from all those guys to be able to get that done, and it can be more difficult for the defense to stop if you’re executing and taking advantage of things like that and you have players that can do stuff like that.
Q. The back-to-back injuries you had with OL Rob Hunt and T Kendall Lamm, didn’t go to OL Connor Williams, were you concerned at that point that – you were down four linemen on the season. Why didn’t Connor see the field?
MIKE McDANIEL: It was a protective measure. He was able to play. We were worried about the ramifications if he did play over the course of a four-quarter game. We had him there in case a catastrophe happened and we were close to that, or if we had to shuffle. There was a couple variables where we might have to shuffle Liam out of the center position if certain people got hurt, so we had a plan of that. Hat goes off to Butch Barry and Frank Smith and the whole group because nobody panicked. We were prepared for the moment. That’s what I’ve been saying from preseason on is we were very fortunate to have really good players and some depth at the position. I have a lot of faith in those guys. They’ll only get better with more reps. It’s very hard to come into a game in the National Football League off the bench, particularly it’s like a quarterback where you go 0 to 60, but we have the right people to do it, and I’ll look forward to seeing whatever offensive linemen we have this next week and coming up with a game plan and watching them execute it.
Q. You guys are obviously traveling to Germany tomorrow. What was the thought process behind getting there early versus practicing at home and getting there later in the week?
MIKE McDANIEL: There’s so many people that haven’t been to Germany and I kind of wanted to get settled and have a post-Tuesday – so Wednesday, Thursday, Friday – that was more routine as well as I didn’t want people – you have a player day off, why don’t you use that to see the sights as opposed to getting there late. I was kind of nervous about people trying to cram in sightseeing. I think it provides an opportunity to go as a team, spend time together, spend the player day off together, and further cement some memories for us to hold on to as we progress on this journey with this team. That was kind of my thought process behind it. There’s some science stuff that I won’t bore you. Don’t call me on that because I can’t – it was like back from May or April when we made this decision, so I can’t really remember the science.
Q. I wanted to ask you about T Terron Armstead. I know he’s eligible to come back this week. You always had a high opinion of him and trust in his body of where he is. Is he going to be practicing to play or practicing to get back into football shape?
MIKE McDANIEL: Well, I know he’s going to be practicing talking my ear off because I can already feel it looming, but that’s a decision that with the information that Kyle (Johnston) and his staff provide, Chris (Grier) and I will make a decision on. It involves other players on the roster. But I will tell you this: Just turn a camera on me. He’ll be right here being like, really selling that – that’s a cool thing about the locker room we have. Guys want to play with each other and for each other. We’ll be handling that as an organization next week. Today we got a huge important division win, so we’ll ride that out until sunset today and worry about Germany tomorrow.
