Mike McDaniel – October 4, 2023
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Wednesday, October 4, 2023
Head Coach Mike McDaniel
(So you have CB Nik Needham, OL Rob Jones and RB Jeff Wilson eligible to practice this week. The question is, will they practice this week?) – “Well, there’s two of those players that their 21-day window will begin today. Nik Needham and Rob Jones will start their 21-day window and their process to get back. Excited for both of them. They’ve worked hard to get back to this spot. And that window is key that we will utilize to make sure that within that, they’re ready to go and we don’t get ahead of ourselves so that they can put tape that they feel good about on the field. So, there’s a start. We’re just working our way with Jeff. We feel good about that. We’re starting to get a little healthy, so that’s good news.”
(So both of those guys will practice today? Is that the belief with the window being open?) – “Yeah, I meant to be clear. They are both practicing today to start the window. There are going through the window and going outside to practicing. They’re not staring out of it. My apologies. Yeah, they’ll be practicing today, which will be their first.”
(Another IR question. A couple days ago you said T Terron Armstead is going to be out a couple weeks. Have you decided whether he will be placed on IR and miss at least four games?) – “Yeah, I think it’s a little early. I just wanted to be clear, when I can’t have a little bit of concrete information, that the weeks haven’t changed. He’s feeling pretty solid relative to where he was worried he would feel. What does that mean? I mean, sometimes you can feel bad. So we’re just making sure that we have our minds firmly wrapped around it so we can make the best decision for the Dolphins. But we’re not ready to do that yet.”
(S DeShon Elliott, how is he doing right now physically?) – “I’m proud of him. I had a talk with him just before I came up here, just again, reinforcing, ‘Hey, the team needs you to not rush the process out of competitiveness.’ And he understood that and he feels solid. So we’ll see how it progresses through the week. But you have to be very, very mindful of what doing right by the players, which is doing right by the team, and making sure that guys – I’m never in the habit of urging and pushing people. Generally, that’s a bad idea. So we have a lot of good situations where guys, we kind of have to protect people from themselves. That means you have the right type of players. And I feel good about him being able to participate today. And I feel good that he will do his best not to press the envelope, so to speak, on today, which is Wednesday in preparation for the Giants, which is the only day that I know.”
(In regards to defensive personnel decisions, maybe this guy should start, maybe this guy should play more, as well as game plan strategy heading into the game, I’m curious how much input have you had, do you want to have and how do you approach all that?) – “Well, I kind of approach it like how much of the final score am I accountable for? Okay, well, then you hire the right people, you work with the right people, and then you very much value every piece of information that they take on. If you have the right people, you will have great conversations with the whole defensive staff and (Defensive Coordinator) Vic (Fangio), and I will hear them out. And then if my opinion differs, I make sure to explain why and we move forward as a concerted unit. So ultimately, every decision we end up agreeing upon. It doesn’t mean we started that way and sometimes it’s not about who’s trying to – no one knows the right answer. When you have available players that are competitive and all have their own skill sets, you kind of have to balance a lot of things. I’m happy with where we’re at as a coaching staff. Our communication has been great, specifically as we got into the regular season to kind of get a feel for these types of things. But everything that happens on the football field is the result of a lot of people’s work and all the successes are a bunch of people contributing to each other. But I think it’s important for myself to (know that) everything that happens on the football field, I’m 100 percent accountable for. Can I change everything myself? Absolutely not. I barely do anything as it is. But I can have the right person that can get that done. So that’s been a cool process. We’ve had to go through that exercise several times because we have good players aplenty. And there’s a lot of places where there’s high competition and there’s different reasons to go one direction or the other each and every week. So I think that’s important in the coaching staff as the season progresses, for sure.”
(What’s your feel at this point on LB Jaelan Phillips and if he’ll be able to gear towards going Sunday?) – “I actually have to resist against myself because I get pretty hopeful and optimistic because I just really enjoy watching him play. And I know his teammates really love playing with him because they’re guys with relentless motors that are infectious. I know he has put just as much if not more into the offseason as anybody in that locker room. (He) has high expectations for himself and is learning an invaluable lesson on how in the National Football League, the game has to come to you to some degree. Sometimes when you’re ready to do something, your body doesn’t agree. And I felt good with how he’s handled a frustrating time for him because he’s been at his game’s highest. He’s a passionate football player and he’s in a great spot. So I’m hopeful, but we’ll do the right thing. I know he’s progressing. The last thing we want is for one of the guys that we count on to produce to be having that lingering issue all season. So it’s a fine balance. Fortunately, we have the guys to step up when called upon. I think there’s games that we’ve exemplified that. Like, the Patriots (game). Yeah, but we’ll see. I know he’s trending in the right direction. I just don’t know exactly when that’s going to be.”
(OL Connor Williams, is he on track to practice today? To follow up if I may, OL Liam Eichenberg, is he still your backup center?) – “Some day, you guys are going to have a little faith in anything that I ever say up here. (laughter) Liam (Eichenberg), like I said, there were some really good things that happened in the game. There are some things that Liam would like to have back. I have a visceral memory of Connor Williams on Monday. You want to talk about a guy that is crawling out of his skin to play (and) is about the right stuff. Things that he can’t control, that injury, he takes the mindset he needs to get back as fast as possible to help his teammates. I feel pumped for Liam’s game as his first game as a center. If I thought that was the ceiling that he could perform at, my feelings may be different. I’m not sure if you guys have ever done something for the first time ever, but it’s definitely not your finished Picasso piece. I’m happy with where he’s orchestrating the offense through the center position, making the calls, and he’ll be there if needed. I’m sure we’re going to get a cool practice week from him, because he enjoys the opportunity and the challenge. Pulling it back to the only thing that I do know, he’s got a great one because there’s a really big former Clemson Tiger (Dexter Lawrence) that we’ll be going against here with the New York Giants and their defensive line, which is the biggest that I’ve ever seen in my NFL career. So we’ve got cool challenges, a lot of cool stuff to work on this Wednesday for practice, which I know you guys are geeked up for. So am I.”
(I wanted to ask you, the Giants gave up 11 sacks on Monday night, a number you rarely see in the NFL. When you look at that on film, what do you see? I’m not asking for your gameplan, but what can you say about opportunity? Or if you were a coach whose team gave up 11 sacks, they’d probably be circling the wagons, I’d imagine?) – “What’s interesting is that game, when you watch it, from my perspective, I see an offense that’s close, because I think – I don’t know the stats, hopefully the fingers will be triggering right now. But 11 sacks with the completion percentage that he had, it felt like to me when I was watching, that it was either completion or sack. Which means the way I see it and probably the way – I have all the respect in the world for Coach Daboll – the difference between sack and completion is that finite. If you take the sacks out, he’d probably have a pretty high quarterback rating because the completion percentage was high. So then you’re competitively assessing how can we have those be completions or incompletions, are we getting greedy, those types of things that are nuances that myself nor you guys would not have any idea about. I think 11 sacks, I’ve been a part of an offense that’s done that before, and I know we didn’t have a completion percentage like that. Football is a long process. They diligently work at it. They’ve had plenty of success in this league. I think it’s shortsighted to just say, ‘Ok, 11 sacks,’ and then off the rip, you’re like, ‘Ok, well block.’ There’s a lot of things that go into that. A lot of credit should be given to the Seattle Seahawks who are playing very, very hard. I think they would feel the same way too. But I’m more focused showing the team how they’re functioning outside of those sacks, because what happens if you have that and you eliminate some of the sacks? You’d probably have a pretty good offensive day. So that’s what I saw from it. I think anybody that would be taking that for the absolute or the rule would be setting themselves up to get set up.”
(What are your thoughts on the idea of a get right game in the NFL? Is there such a thing?) – “There is no such thing as scheduling out wins or checking off boxes, and anybody that has done that exercise needs to do an after-action report, because everything you think you know, you don’t. This is a team game where effort, intent, focus, camaraderie, momentum, motions, so much goes into it. It’s a bunch of independent opportunities to do something we’ve all been working for our entire lives. A get right game doesn’t make any sense to me, and I don’t think anybody in our locker room is looking at it like that. It is hard enough to get your game to its best. When you’ve left some stuff to be desired, as I know our locker room feels, the thing you want to do is be focused on yourself and how it applies to the opponent every single week. Even if you approach something as a get right game, you set yourself up to lose, for one. But let’s say you’re fortunate enough to win, you’ve now lost your competitive momentum in your process of progressing throughout the season that even though you may have squeaked out a win, the residuals you will pay for as the season progresses. So to me, I don’t know. It will forever be that way. There is nothing guaranteed in this league, and it takes so many people for things to look a certain way. If a couple people can do X, Y, or Z better, all of a sudden, our product looks totally different. I do not care about any other team in the league. I do not want us to progressively get worse. You will get learned a lesson, and it happens every year. You can’t do it if you’re trying to be your best version of yourself, because there’s too many good players, too many good coaches. This game will be one less game that I’ll have in my career moving forward, and that’s just science, so I’m not looking past that.”
(Any neck injury is worrisome. Have you gotten any more clarity on WR Erik Ezukanma as to whether it’s a season-ending injury? Hopefully not.) – “Exploring the issue that he had in college, I’m very hesitant to have a timeline. I don’t think it’ll be a season. But first and foremost, we want to make sure that he is healthy and ready to go and able to play his best self. That’s something that we are steadily getting to the bottom of. Like I said, I don’t foresee it being that, but I really don’t know the timeline on that one.”
(I know the old cliche is, yeah, it’s a copycat league. But when a team has success against your offense, defensively, how often do you see some of those same schemes brought to the next week?) – “It’s funny. Quite literally, every play that we’ve ever run has been copied in some way shape or form. I’m not sure what you guys believe, but we did not invent the forward pass or the handoff. That’s a joke, but everything’s a derivative of other things. (laughter) I think since probably whenever the All-22 was contracted out, and then everything got digital in 2013. I want to say by about 2017 or 2018, how easy it is to look at the explosive plays in the league. Generally, if something works one week, it’s showing up somewhere. So copycat, yeah, that’s real. I know there’s a lot of defensive coaches, ours included, that when you see something that works that’s a problem play, you don’t know if the other team’s running it and you’re repping it in practice because it’s gotten to that point where you know that if something works, everybody’s trying to have their plays work. I think the bigger thing is, is that the players, to execute something that other people think is of quality enough to try to replicate that, I think that’s pretty cool. And 100 percent of the time, I’ve been drawing up plays since 2005, players execute them and then they’re cool plays.”
(The New York Giants defense isn’t known for doing what the Buffalo Bills did, playing a lot of two-high. They’re known for blitzing, cover one, cover zero. How surprised would you be to see them kind of completely flip the script and do something completely off their tendencies?) – “The objective on all three phases is that you’re good enough at your craft so that the norm is unexpected. I’ve been fortunate to be in situations where I’ve been on good offenses. I remember one year playing versus 21 personnel, actually playing Buffalo, they played us 100 percent nickel, and the next week we got all heavy, three defensive backs, from Washington. That is something that if you’re challenging enough, it’s to be expected. You kind of hope that that’s an earned right. People generally don’t change their DNA. We’ll definitely see some stuff that we haven’t seen. But that’s something that you hope to experience and get good at because if you’re having the appropriate success that you’re trying to work for, that is quite literally the norm. Every single game, we’ve had a little bit of nuance to each defense that we weren’t really expecting, or had seen. The hope is to have more of that, but you have to earn that and you have to earn that through real execution of stuff. The same thing goes for the defense and special teams. Our team wants to give reason for opponents to have to adjust. But people generally don’t want to and want to play their game and you have to be prepared for both at all times. They could have a one-man rush the whole game and the players are going to expect to execute. The players aren’t going to hear, well, I’ve never seen that. Who cares? The fans will still want the results and same as you guys. You’ll show up at press conferences with potpourri, apparently. That’s something that will always be the case. If we work the right way over a long period of time, you hope that that’s the norm on all three phases because that means you’re doing enough to cause concern for your opponents.”
Alec Ingold – October 2, 2023
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Monday, October 2, 2023
FB Alec Ingold
(How are you doing and how are you guys doing? The sun shined again today, it came up?) – “The sun rose today, yeah. I think guys took a lot of coaching today, which was needed, and it’s a good wakeup call for the whole team to be accountable and to continue to improve. The standard doesn’t change, the standard doesn’t waver, and it’s kind of just showing up, working to find ways to get better and improve. A cool thing I think we covered in our room is that any time you’re in a result-based business or industry, there’s expectations, there’s potential and then there’s what you put out on tape. That gap that is bridged between the two changes every single week, and the challenge for a lot of guys in the room is balancing remembering who we are, what we’ve done in the past, what we just did and continuing to find ways to close that gap toward the potential, the expectation, the standard in the room. Honestly, that gap will never close. You never arrive toward that full expectation, that full standard, but finding ways to continuously close that gap – the wins, the losses, the good and the bad, the applause, the criticism, being able to use all of that to continuously close that gap is the challenge for the guys in the room and to not lose any focus and just continue that improvement.”
(Is a loss to Buffalo any different than a loss to the Jets or a loss to the Chargers or the Bengals?) – “I would say microscope answer, no. You take every week in stride; you focus on trying to improve. Telescope answer, you want to be No. 1 in the division. You go on the road, you want to prove and make a statement – big picture, you want that win. So once again, balancing your microscope and your telescope, finding out the details and how you get a win done up there. It’s obviously disappointing in the way we didn’t execute, but telescope wise, you have to find ways to get up for those big games, the primetime games, the playoff game atmosphere and find ways to execute those as well.”
(What changed after the opening two drives, going right down the field for touchdowns, to then four straight three-and-outs?) – “I think it was self-inflicted wounds. This offense is really talented. There’s a lot of guys that can make a lot of plays. When little details kind of start slipping and you don’t have one guy pick it up, and then it kind of snowballs, that’s where you get a three-and-out like that. That goes back to the fact of just executing and focusing on your assignment – 1/11th of the team approaching the ball and being able to master your assignment, master your role. And yeah, it’s a great defense. They made adjustments. They’re really assignment sound. They play on a string, that’s the challenge. That’s what you love about going up there and playing the Bills. You know you’re going to be playing a great defense that plays together, and you’ve got to be on your stuff. So that was really the adjustment there.”
(You didn’t want to lose a game, but do you think there’s an advantage to getting that on tape this early in the season?) – “No doubt. Once again, I go back to the fact that if you’re constantly closing that gap, you’re able to find out with adversity how you’re able to use that to your advantage, how you’re able to use these opportunities to learn, to take tough lessons, to introduce guys to the rest of the team and show your true character and how you respond to those adverse moments. I think it’s a great opportunity to show up on a Week 5 game. There’s going to be a little saltiness going around, but the way that guys are able to trust each other, come together, go to work after a loss, a tough loss, an embarrassing loss like that, and be able to move forward is really important for the rest of the season. It’s a long season, you’re 3-1 at the quarter, and you’re able to use a tough loss like that and see how guys respond to it. I think it’s a great opportunity for everyone in the room to kind of get to know the guy next to him a little bit more and get in the foxhole a little bit.”
(I’m sure all today was about Buffalo, but with the New York Giants coming this week, what do you know about DL Kayvon Thibodeaux?) – “I know he’s a stud. I know the defensive coordinator out there is scheming up dang near everything, and that defensive front is something serious. I think that’s going to be a good challenge when you look forward. I’m excited to watch them on Monday Night Football and just be able to be a fan and kind of see everything that is presented on a game film that’s a little bit different than the iPad that you’re scrolling through all week. I think it’ll be cool to see those guys, get a jump on them after we put the tape to bed and figure out a gameplan and showing up on Wednesday ready to work and ready to execute.”
(How do you plan to watch that game tonight? You can watch it as a professional, watch as a fan, how do you plan on watching it?) – “I think normally the primetime Monday night games I like to watch as a fan. I love football. I love commentators. I love the environment of football. I live, I breathe, I eat this stuff. So I’m going to have that lens on it a little bit, and it’s going to be hard for me to put the notebook away. But I think that’s kind of the balance in your brain of football and just enjoying the love of the game, the pureness of the game. Then as soon as coach starts sending those clips and starts making those cut ups, you just put those glasses on, kind of get in your microscope, bear down and you find a way to execute against a great defense.”
(3-1 at the quarter pole, as you said. Two good road victories. You know everything that you guys have done. How do you feel about the 3-1 record and the way you’ve played?) – “I think it’s a good start, and you can use that for whatever it is. I think that’s where being able to respond after a tough loss and being at 3-1 is going to be a lot of juice for a lot of guys. We put a lot of good stuff on tape. You now have a good understanding of defenses that you’re going against. You have four games to really break down the personnel, how they’re playing, what the assignments are, and you’re able to kind of grow into your offense and grow into your role. So it’s going to be an exciting opportunity to move into the second quarter of the season with a little bit more understanding of identities of different teams and our own as well. So yeah, it’s going to be exciting. There’s going to be new wrinkles every single week and kind of take that approach to it.”
(After the game, QB Tua Tagovailoa called it very humbling, and he said that for some, it’s much needed. Did you sense that there was any getting ahead of yourself and looking 4-0, 5-0, 6-0 kind of thing?) – “That’s a tough answer to have for you right off the jump. I think whenever you have a humbling loss, and people might be getting too comfortable or whatever you want to call it, I think that’s just a wakeup call and learning a lesson. How do you learn lessons? How do you take adversity? How do you take coaching? How do you take mistakes? How do you take what we just put out there and improve from it? I think that’s really, whether some people need or not, man, we all need to take that in stride and we all need to push in that same direction. We all need to grab the rope and pull in the same way. I think that’s really the opportunity moving forward is how does this team come closer? How do we continue to trust ourselves? How do we continue to grow together in all of those small details to be able to execute? Whether you take that loss to heart, or it takes a shot at your ego or your pride or whatever it is, being able to check that at the door, come to work and play for the guy next to you, I think that’s the method to the madness here.”
(You guys were a streaky team last year. Three wins, three losses. Five wins, five losses. What did you learn from that and how do you not let one loss become three?) – “I think you find a balance in coming to work, believing in everybody around you, not taking sole ownership of all of the mistakes or all of the rewards, all of the criticism, all of the praise, and being able to do your job and be accessible, be accountable to the guy next to you. And if you get 11 guys operating like that, you’re able to take every single week refocused, re-energized with a new game plan and you’re able to make that week that week. You don’t have to take winning streaks or losing streaks or last year’s problems into this year’s problems. I think that’s where you’re able to be intentional about where your feet are at and move forward with it. And the more guys that can buy into it, the more lessons we can learn. The more applause and criticism and critique that we can (get to) continue to close that gap towards the fullest potential as team, I mean, I think that’s how you take those lessons in stride and that’s how you’re able to take one week at a time knowing that you have 16 or 17 opportunities to prove yourself to your teammates.”
(Two special teams’ questions for you. How bizarre was it to be fielding kickoff returns?) – “Yeah, I mean, with all the new rules and the kickoff return space, you never know what’s going to happen with the short kickoffs, squibs, onside kicks, deep kicks, whatever it is. So it was cool to get Braxton (Berrios) out there and get some opportunities. A lot of guys, a lot of glue guys out there on special teams making plays, being able to sustain blocks. So it was cool to get some tape on that break it down because yeah, we didn’t have any for the first three weeks.”
(I don’t know if you guys have met as a special teams today, but I’m wondering about the mood in the room. It seemed that it was a pretty crisp special teams game. There were some errors in the previous three games. So what was the feeling? And how needed or necessary was that special teams performance?) – “Yeah, I definitely think there was a lot more film to break down, like you can say, and just seeing the different details of every guy’s job. We sit there through all four phases, whether you’re on three of them, four of them, one of them, being able to see your teammates be able to make some plays and execute was a good feeling. And that’s something where it’s something to build off of, right? You get a foundation of trust in the guys to make the plays, you rely on your techniques and how your coach to play, especially on special teams. You get all of this space. You have 80-yard kicks, you have all this space where you got speed, you have guys playing off of one another. I think that’s really the epitome of football. There’s a lot of yards to be gained or lost in special teams. So being able to kind of sharpen that sword and to be able to watch and break down that film and use it for next week I think is really important. It was cool to cool to see guys make plays.”
Jevon Holland – October 2, 2023
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Monday, October 2, 2023
S Jevon Holland
(Obviously that game wasn’t up to your guys’ defensive standard. What did you think after seeing the film today? Are the mistakes easily correctable? Or is it just going to take time to learn the new system? What are your thoughts?) – “We’ve just got to get back to the basics. That’s the bottom line. Get back to the basics, fundamentals, technique. Focus on your job. Everybody do their 1/11th and play as a team. That’s basically it.”
(The pass defense, in particular, what’s been a consistent issue that needs to improve?) – “Just like I said, focus on the fundamentals. Don’t try to see too much. ‘Shrink your world,’ is what Coach (Renaldo) Hill says. Just eye control, knowing your job, doing your job and not trying to make every play. Just let them come to you.”
(You guys are 3-1 at the quarter pole, basically. I know it’s a 17-game season. You know what you guys have done, two good road wins, scored 70 points, defense holds the Patriots to 17. How would you assess the Dolphins season through four games right now?) – “The season is going. Going on game five. Not really much to say. I mean, you can be 4-0 and then lose every game and it wouldn’t matter. So just continue to focus on one game at a time and emphasize the small things, because those small things can turn into big things. We’ve got to just reset the clock and control what we can control.”
(Have you talked to New York Giants OLB Kayvon Thibodeaux this week?) – “I haven’t spoken to him. He’s got a game tonight.”
(Do you plan to talk to New York Giants OLB Kayvon Thibodeaux this week?) – “Yeah, I mean, we’re friends. I‘ll talk to him, say what’s up to him and whatnot. But I’ll probably just end up seeing him on game day. I’m not really talking mess or anything like that.”
(What do you think of the job New York Giants OLB Kayvon Thibodeaux has done so far?) – “I think he’s doing a hell of a job. I’m happy for him. I’m excited to see success in his career. Hopefully he continues that.”
(How different was it being back with S Brandon Jones yesterday?) – “It was good. Seeing him on the field, getting comfortable, things like that. I’m happy to see he’s back and flying around doing his thing, definitely.”
(You guys pretty much stayed deep yesterday, right? I mean, I know S Brandon Jones used to be up front, eight-man front and everything. Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio played you deep. He pretty much stayed deep, didn’t he?) – “More or less but not necessarily tied into the scheme. It just kind of worked out that way.”
(Was S Brandon Jones comfortable? That’s kind of a different role for him, right? He’s deep more than usual, more than he has been in previous years, right?) – “Yeah, he definitely is. But I mean, that’s a question for him. It’s not a question for me. You can ask him if he’s comfortable or not. I think he is but people feel differently than what they say sometimes.”
(What was the message from Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio today?) – “It was what I just said. Just focus on what you can control, the small details, the fundamentals and techniques. That’s what everybody’s going to say because that’s the truth, really. You have to really focus on the things that you can control and those are the things you can control. So I feel like in a situation like this, everybody’s going to say the same thing because it’s the truth. That was the thought process for the defense today.”
(Is Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio a yeller? Is he an analytical guy? When he gives a message to you guys, how does it come across?) – “Have you spoken to Vic before?”
(Yes.) – “What does it come off as?”
(A little dry sense of humor at times. Obviously, moments don’t always call for a sense of humor.) – “He’s a very analytical individual. Not much of a yeller. He’s someone who has a direct tone of voice, tells you what’s wrong and what’s right and moves on. He doesn’t really harp on it or continue to agonize the point of if you messed up or you did something wrong, because he knows that we know. I mean, we’re professionals. Everybody in here is adults. We understand that if we do something wrong, we’re going to already know what we did wrong when it happens. And if we didn’t, he’s going to teach us and then we’re going to move on from that point.”
(Is a loss to Buffalo different than a loss to the Jets or San Francisco or the Chargers?) – “I mean, what does it look like on the record books?”
(It’s a division loss, but.) – “A loss is a loss to me, regardless. It doesn’t really matter.”
Mike McDaniel – October 2, 2023
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Monday, October 2, 2023
Head Coach Mike McDaniel
(What do you have for us on T Terron Armstead?) – “It looks to be weeks not days. We have to kind of see how everything settles down and then we’ll be able to make a better prognosis for that timeline here in a couple days, by the end of the week or so. But I can say that he won’t be playing in the next game, but he will be playing again this season.”
(So T Kendall Lamm becomes the starter there?) – “Yes.”
(How did T Kendall Lamm do last game, and how has he done all season?) – “Kendall (Lamm) has done a tremendous job this season. I did see him do a good job in this past game. I also did see a difference that he would attest to that when you’re preparing all week to be the starter or you’re getting 20 to 30 percent of the amount of reps. That’s nature of the business for a lot of guys. When you aren’t starting, you have to be the best version of yourself. I think that he kind of holds himself accountable to being as good, if he is getting starter reps or not, so that’s something that he can chew on moving forward. But I have all the confidence he’s played his tail off and is a huge part of our room. I know nobody on offense has anything but confidence in his play and him being there.”
(What’s the prognosis on LB Jaelan Phillips? Was there a situation where he was this close to playing?) – “Yeah, it was one of those situations where, again, with Jaelan (Phillips), we have to be his best defense mechanism. I think him and the guys that barely didn’t make the game, him and Connor Williams as well, will be stuff that we’ll be trying to see guys practice, hoping that they can practice on Wednesday and when they do practice that they can be good enough to go in the game because they’re big contributors. But we won’t let them rush our process and panic after a one-game losing streak.”
(How did OL Liam Eichenberg do yesterday at center did you think?) – “Center is a funny position in terms of it is pretty remarkable that outside of one kind of snap that was kind of a lollipop, he executed things – the only way teammates can actually perform is if he executes, and he did it with an ease that shouldn’t be understated with regard to making calls. We didn’t have any declaration issues and the snapping process. There are definitely some plays that he wishes he could have back. Some that were particularly in pass protection where he’s kind of getting adjusted to the speed with which games happen and then at the center position, the defender is literally right on top of you. You don’t have the space like the rest of the linemen do between you, so it just happens a little bit faster. There are a couple things that he will learn from and get better from. It was a solid first game starting at that position that the coaches want him to get better and learn from it, and I know he does too. So it was a good starting point to build from.”
(That was as much as we’ve seen QB Tua Tagovailoa get hit obviously this season. How did he get through the game?) – “It’s a credit to what he’s done this offseason. We’ve been able to avoid situations like that where part of that and part of the hits are on the play caller who is calling more passes than runs. I think probably in hindsight I abandoned the run game to a degree too soon and put them into situations that they didn’t need to be in. But overall, it was – I guess that’s a blessing in disguise that he did go through a game where he did get a little more contact and he was able to come out of it strong and ready to get ready for the Giants.”
(I have a question on a stat and I’m not sure how they track this. They said that 80 percent through the first three weeks, QB Tua Tagovailoa threw to his first read. Yesterday, he threw to his first read just 50 percent of the time. I don’t know how they track that, but I just wanted to get your take on QB Tua Tagovailoa’s ability to progress through the first read and get to the second, third, fourth read?) – “Those games, you can’t necessarily control that. There are sometimes in this league, offensively or defensively, if you are determined to take something away, they’ll find a way. There were multiple times that he did progress a couple plays there were in clinic fashion. So those particularly, when you get into a one-sided game where you’re behind a little bit and you’re passing and getting a little off schedule on first and second down, that can happen. You end up throwing the ball more and you become a little bit more predictable in that way. So we needed him to be able to progress. I think he did real well on some plays. There’s a couple that – I know one interception and then the tipped ball that Jaylen (Waddle) caught were progression plays that he would like to be better on for various reasons. I was really happy with how he approached the game, how he executed a vast majority of things that he did. The great thing about Tua (Tagovailoa) is that for me in our relationship, I can just literally coach him on the things that he’s not good at and don’t have to worry about it making him worse, because he’s going to use it all to make sure he improves moving forward.”
(Did they do anything yesterday to take WR Jaylen Waddle and WR Tyreek Hill away from the offense?) – “I think like most teams, everybody has a plan for that, and generally, it involves either a complete coverage commitment or a double. What happens is that’s one of the reasons why they are just as dependent upon the run game, as is the quarterback, as is the offensive line. They’re dependent on me to call a good game. When you get into situations where you’re behind and guys can kind of predict pass, they can play softer coverage that takes the ball away from you outside the numbers with a corner and a safety and then inside the numbers with sinking ‘backers and such. That’s not something that we hadn’t seen. It’s just tough when you get into that situation and you’re behind several scores to really dictate the terms the way that we like. I think the Bills did a great job adhering to their gameplan, and they didn’t take anybody away with one or two individuals. It was a team commitment that when you keep 15-yard plays from being 30-yard plays and you stop 12-yard runs and make them 3-yard runs, it has a residual effect that they deserve all the credit in the world for.”
(What did the film tell you regarding your defense’s inability to contain WR Stefan Diggs yesterday?) – “It was kind of what my gut was telling me after the game. I saw two plays directly associated with the technique and fundamentals at the point of attack by the corner, but then there were other plays that were a trickle-down effect from pass rush expectations on that play, from integrity in our pass rush plan and whether or not we voided lanes for Josh Allen, one of the best in the league to do it, to make plays last longer and go off schedule. So it’s a collective group of individuals that to me, as I see it after the fact, after action, that had more to do with his stat line than anything else, is guys not forcing the issue, guys not trying to make plays and guys playing team defense. That’s what we need to focus on and what we will focus on moving forward.”
(Can you explain the decision to go for the two-point conversion at that point of the game?) – “It has to do with a lot of analytic talk. It was an 11-point game at the time, so you’re trying to make it a nine-point game and understanding that if you miss the two-point conversion, your defense at least has to hold the offense out of the end zone regardless, and a field goal would just make it a two-score game. So it’s kind of a tactical measure that being down by nine, you’d be in a situation where you can score a touchdown and then win with a field goal, knowing that the defense was going to have to stop them from getting to the end zone at that point anyway, so it doesn’t hurt you as much. Some analytical talk that we discuss on a weekly basis, and that was the plan coming out of halftime.”
(How does that process work during a game? Does somebody from upstairs tell you after the touchdown what the analytics say?) – “No, this is something that they know. The guys that work with me on the analytics side know that I need time to properly prepare and make that decision. It’s more than just what the chart says. It has to do with a lot of things that are going on in the game. In this particular instance, it was something that we discussed coming out of the tunnel after halftime that, ‘Hey, we’re getting the ball back. If we do go down and score, we would be pro going for two. Here’s why.’ We had already discussed that scenario, probably in the summer, so I knew exactly what they were talking about. That gave me time that I thought, I guess it’s kind of a shot at myself, but the play we called, I was thinking about the entire drive. I thought it would work out. It didn’t. Thus I’m talking about it on Monday, which is always the case. That’s the nature of the business, and I will never run away from that fact.”
(What is your level of concern with how the defense has looked a month in?) – “My foremost concern is that what I know to be fact regardless is we are 3-1 and two of those wins came with, bottom line, the defense was on the field to win the game so to speak, both at the Chargers and New England. So like every season, first and foremost, I know nothing matters during the course of the season if you’re not progressing and getting better. My concern would be if what happened to us on this previous game, we didn’t absolutely get better from. Because I know the journey is long, and at the end of it, for the season to be worth anything, you have to be in big games and be at your best, and those things that happened on Sunday can’t happen. I have the utmost faith in the defensive coaching staff and our players. I was very candid and let them know that my expectation is that we aren’t that team that continually makes the same mistakes. I really, really want to see guys come together in their journey and understand that not one player has to make a play on each play. I think there’s some of that, too, where guys have a high standard they can feel during the game, and it’s not living up to their standard. So it’s, ‘Alright, well I’m going to go strip the ball from this ball carrier,’ and then not get the ball carrier down and leak for seven more yards. Things of that nature. Guys just trying to make a play. The entire locker room, they need to really come together as a group, and we need to as a defense play better team defense. That’s the great thing about this game is there’s nowhere to hide. It is what it is, and that doesn’t bother me. You get beat 48-20, you should know coming into the building that things have to get corrected and that’s not to our standard. I think we’re on that process. I think meetings have been good today, and we’ll see what that brings forth on Wednesday.”
Durham Smythe – October 2, 2023
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Monday, October 2, 2023
TE Durham Smythe
(The day after, are you a little more encouraged about the performance? Or discouraged? How do you feel about it?) – “I mean, offensively, which is all I can really speak for, I think we can obviously be better. We’ve shown that through the first three weeks. I think we did some good things. But to beat a team like that, in their stadium, you have to be perfect and we were far from that. There are definitely things to be encouraged about. No one in this building and no one on this offense is losing confidence, but we know that we can be better.”
(You guys have done a good job of kind of compartmentalizing victories and losses. Does it feel like you’ll be able to get over this one by tomorrow?) – “Yeah, definitely. I mean, it’s never easy when you lose a division game, especially to a team like that where we’ve had some big games in the past two, three years. But it’s like anything else in this league, it all happens fast. Another good team coming in this week. If you don’t turn the page, those things can kind of pile, snowball a little bit and we’re not going to have that in this building.”
(QB Tua Tagovailoa had mentioned a little confusion in maybe getting the plays in and lining up. What was behind that and is that easily fixable, or something that might take two or three weeks you think?) – “I think that’s an easy fix. There’s a lot of things that play into that over the course of a game. Noise in a stadium like that. When the play clock is low, you have to speed things up. Some motions have to be scrapped. There are a lot of things that play into that. A lot of easy fixes. It all comes down to just communication, really, from all of us. But that’s something that we can clean up pretty quickly.”
(You mentioned to beat a team like that you almost have to be perfect. How much pressure does that put on an offense, personally, to know that the margin of error is so slim?) – “It’s kind of something that we talked about. I think it really comes down to everyone just doing their individual job. In a game like that, people can try to make plays for other people – offensively, defensively, special teams. That’s kind of where things go wrong. So I think when you’re in a game like that, against an opponent like that, you just have to focus on doing your job. I think if we can all get on the same page and do that well, which like I’ve said, we’ve shown that we can do, there’s no added pressure compared to anything else.”
(How would you measure QB Tua Tagovailoa’s growth in the second year here in terms of ownership of the offense, trying to get to the second, third, fourth read of the offense? How would you kind of measure how far he’s come in that regard?) – “He’s come a long way. I think we all have in terms of just being comfortable within this offense. I think lot of those things, like you mentioned, progressing through reads and stuff, that comes with the confidence. Obviously when you do well, you become comfortable in this offense. And after a year and a half, those things become a lot easier. As he’s performing well and his confidence continues to grow, he’ll continue to work through those things and really, there’s even more room there.”
Mike McDaniel – October 1, 2023 (Postgame)
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Sunday, October 1, 2023
Postgame – Buffalo Bills
Head Coach Mike McDaniel
(Obviously there are a lot of things that go into a 48-20 loss. What would you say was the most glaring to you on the offense after the first two scoring drives?) – “First off, I think the Buffalo Bills proved why they are the team that our whole division is trying to beat. They’ve won it for how many years in a row now. They made some adjustments, and we didn’t, so to speak. I think it was kind of compounding. It was something that – I’ll start by making sure I’m doing right by the players, and us as a coaching staff, putting people in the right positions for success. Like you said, after the first couple drives, it was a struggle for us for a lot of the game. That’s something that can’t happen against a really good team.”
(QB Tua Tagovailoa had mentioned specifically that communication on his part was something that needs to improve. We didn’t see a lot of pre-snap penalties in the first two games which were on the road. Is it as simple as it was louder? Or why was that?) – “No, I mean that’s what you want to hear from the quarterback, the starting quarterback of your franchise because you don’t want to look – you’re hoping not to have finger pointers, especially from the leader of your team. That being said, that’s all nice to hear and I appreciate him taking the bullet for a lot of people, but I think that one of the reasons that we’ll all look in the mirror and understand why we had success is because we didn’t have those things happen. I know we had kind of an injury at one point and it kind of messed me up. I was responsible for delay game for sure, but Tua’s teammates need to know the ins and outs of their responsibilities, and Tua can’t be in charge of getting everyone aligned. So there’s a lot of stuff that go on with that. It’s the National Football League. You play one of the best teams in the National Football League, you better not have that part of your game, otherwise you’ll learn the hard way, which is what we did today.”
(Anything you can put your finger on why the offense got slowed down after the first two drives?) – “Like I said, I think that a big part of it has to do with the Buffalo Bills having a really good defense. You don’t just go down the field and score at will in the National Football League over and over and over. You have two drives, that’s cool, but you have to – you’re going to punt, and they’re going to make plays too. What you can’t do is have self-inflicted wounds. Things that I think our whole locker room and our coaching staff expect to get done weren’t getting done. So that’s the entirety of everyone involved on the offense, starting with me for sure.”
(Earlier in the week, we asked Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio about shadowing Bills WR Stefon Diggs and he said, “We’re not at that point in our defense.” Was that ever a topic of discussion?) – “No, I think that’s an easy finger to point. I think there was a couple situations where I know Kader (Kohou) would like to have back. But at the same time, I think there’s a lot of people that weren’t executing a lot of times late in the play. People can get blamed for getting beat down in the field, but our expectation as a defense is to is to get home in those situations too. So it’s a collective thing that I think hindsight it seems like, ‘Yeah, well, we should.’ I mean, obviously when you get beat by 28 points, you could argue that the opposite of what you did across the board would be a better answer. We’ll find those answers internally, but I don’t think it’s as easy as making one person a scapegoat for sure. Our team, offense and defense, needs to improve, as well as the special teams, and that’s what we’ll be focusing on moving forward, for sure.”
(Did you have any issue with the pass interference call on CB Kader Kohou?) – “I mean, I’m not trying to get fined. So, I mean I did not like an explosive play, penalty or not. That that part I can speak on, but besides that, it’s inconsequential. You don’t put it in the officials’ hands, regardless of how I feel.”
(I was curious if you got an explanation from the refs on the upheld fourth down play from WR Braxton Berrios?) – “Yeah, it was kind of what I was worried about. I thought the play was too big of a play not to throw the red flag, but it was lack of view to overturn was basically the explanation. At first, I heard that they were going to adjust the spot to make it a half yard, and then that definitely wasn’t the case. So I think that it’s just something that if you want the yard, get it visibly is the way I look at it, as opposed to leaving it in the officials’ hands for sure.”
(Is RB De’Von Achane making a case for an even larger role after last week’s performance by following it up with what he did today?) – “Yeah, I’ll take a look at the tape before I hesitate to crown anybody. You’re looking at each individual play. I know he made some plays; the game is not too big for him. He’ll continue to have a role, for sure, for our offense moving forward. What does that look like in terms of ratios and touches? That that will be something that I would be remiss if I didn’t wait to see the tape before making judgments like that.”
(Did you expect a learning curve with learning a whole new defense under Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio? Where are you at with the defense right now?) – “I would be lying if I was pumped about anything from our team today. I think the National Football League is a very humbling game. If you’re not on your stuff and you’re playing a team that is, this will happen. My view is that there are natural curves of learning as you install any system. However, there is nothing to be justified with the point differential for our team. So to say that I’m happy with anything would be false. I think we have a capable team. You win and lose in this league by one score at the end of the game. I think it’s a disservice to our team to lose by four and that I made clear to the team.”
(After four games, where are you looking to improve?) – “We are 3-1 and we play the New York Football Giants next week. Right? So, that’s where we’re at. I think it would be a failure on anybody’s part on our football team to look at it more than that or less than that. We are 3-1. So what happens if you’re 4-0? You have to keep getting better, you have to keep progressing. The things that are failing your team aren’t going to go away, you have to fix them. So that’s what we’ll be of the mindset. It’s a division loss on the road and that will always hurt, especially against the team that you feel like going into it you’re capable of putting together a better performance than that. It’s all about how you respond to everything. Just like if we would have won the game, how would we respond to that? This is a young team that needs to learn fast to get out of this season what they want. This provides an outstanding opportunity, and my eyes will be open to watch every single person across the board, how they respond to it because this doesn’t define your season, either way. It’s all about how you handle things, how you handle the adversity and how you handle success in the National Football League.”
(Do you have an update on the status of T Terron Armstead) – “I’ll get more information. I know it wasn’t just a reaggravation of anything, but I’ll have more information tomorrow.”
(You used the word ‘humbling’. QB Tua Tagovailoa and WR Tyreek Hill used the same word. Any part of you worried about your team being overconfident out there on the sidelines?) – “No, because correlation or causation, you don’t know and don’t pretend to know it’s X, Y, or Z. But if they were, if anybody was, I mean, I think the lesson has been learned quite literally. But I’m not going to say that it was or just put it all on that, I think that’s the easy way out. I think you have to watch the tape and assess position by position, group by group and phase by phase to come up with something tangible that guys can get better from.”
Tua Tagovailoa – October 1, 2023 (Postgame)
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Sunday, October 1, 2023
Postgame – Buffalo Bills
QB Tua Tagovailoa
(Just take us through the game how you saw it. First two drives came out how you wanted and then what happened after that?) – “I’m very proud of our guys for going out there, continuing to fight against a really good team, a division rival. Ever since I came to the league, it’s always been a tough game. Then you come here and play at their stadium, it makes it even tougher with their fans. Their fans are great with how they get into the flow of the game. Off of the two drives that we had, I thought that we did really well with our communication in and out of the huddle, getting guys where they needed to be and lining up and executing. Then with the other drives, there were a lot of communication errors on my part. I’ve got to be better with that aspect of the game for our guys and not put the guys into those situations, and that’s really what the game turned out to be. It was really stopping ourselves on first down, guys not knowing where to go because of formational issues with what was communicated in the huddle and things like that. So it’s on my part to be better for those guys in the locker room.”
(You mentioned the communication not carrying over from the first two drives. Was it just as simple as like it’s way too loud?) – “It was tough to hear numbers Mike (McDaniel) had been telling me prior to the crowd noise, and the crowd noise was really loud, but that’s also a me thing, understanding the game plan, knowing the game plan, knowing what we want to get done. And then situational awareness with our plays that we want to run, so that’s on my part.”
(For you guys to take the next step, whatever the next step is, you have to beat that team. Does it feel like they’ve had your number for a while?) – “They’re a tough team. They’re a divisional opponent. You always want to do the best that you can to win as many divisional games as you can. But this is Week 4 – a lot of football to play. We’ll see them again.”
(Did you see anything specific from the way that they’ve played you schematically that could have led to some of the issues that you had?) – “Not necessarily. I think they just do a really good job playing the things that they play, and they play really well. They pressured on the early downs in the earlier drives of the game, and then they kind of got their flow of the game. Then they started to just play what they play – play coverage, read their run fits, read their run keys and things like that. I think they’ve done a great job on that side of the ball in mitigating big plays for us offensively.”
(Did they do anything differently after that second drive? Again, you guys had your way – both offenses did really there to start. But then coming out the third drive, I think it started to go downhill from that. Did they do anything differently?) – “They played the way they’ve been playing. Like I said, it was just communication issues, being down on the clock, not being able to allow guys to be in the position that we want them to be in because time doesn’t permit. So that’s my fault. I’ve got to be better, and I will be better for those guys.”
(It seemed like after T Terron Armstead left the game, it seemed like guys were coming in untouched or unblocked at the line of scrimmage. Was that communication as well?) – “Yes, and like I said, that’s on me not communicating to all of our guys. It has to do with everything. Motions, protection, it has to do with everything. I didn’t allow those guys to go out there and play football the way they want to play football. It was basically guys are thinking and guys were having to guess. That’s not how I want our guys to go out and play, and that’s something that I need to be better with and I’ll work on.”
(Two-part question here, not football related. What does it mean to you to be a Christian and a football player? How does your faith help you move on from games like this?) – “I think the best thing about being a believer of Jesus Christ, to me, is that the Good Lord up above doesn’t care whether you win a game, whether you lose a game. For me, it’s been a little tough having to play on Sundays, having to understand that I’m not able to go to church. Really a lot of it is having to watch church online after games and things like that. But allowing me this platform, to me, is the thing in the world to be able to profess my faith on something that I firmly believe in, something that’s been foundationally instilled in me at a young age. When I’m out there, I even pray before I go out to a series and whatnot. I’m always praying. I’m on the sideline (and) it looks like I’m talking to myself, I’m speaking in tongues. Some people think, ‘What? This guy knows how to speak in tongues?’ I grew up in a non-denominational Christian church my entire life, so yeah, it does a lot. So having to remember scripture always keeps me encouraged in continuing to press forward, especially in times like this.”
(I wanted to ask about OL Connor Williams being out and OL Liam Eichenberg being in there. I know that you guys have specific pre-snap operations with OL Connor Williams. How did that maybe change working with OL Liam Eichenberg?) – “I think Liam (Eichenberg) did a tremendous job. I am very, very proud (and) very happy for what he’s done and the task that was asked of him. To play center on the road in a loud environment against this d-line, against this defense, (I’m) very, very proud of him and how he conducted himself in getting guys in the right places to block our run game and also get guys in places to block our pass game. So I’m very proud of him.”
(Did any part of last week linger? Obviously, good or bad, you want to flush last week, but last week was not any other game.) – “I would say from my standpoint, I didn’t feel as if any of the guys in the locker room took it in a way of, ‘Oh yeah, we won by this much. That’s how it’s going to feel the next game, and then the next game it’s going to carry over.’ I didn’t feel like that was necessarily the deal, but we did understand, and we did know that this was going to be a tough opponent regardless. These guys weren’t going to care what we did last week. I don’t think any other team is going to care what team they have next did prior. Guys are going to come out and guys are going to play. This is the league, and this is how it works. It’s very good, because I would say it’s also very humbling for a lot of people to be able to have the highest high and then you lose in a manner like this, it’s very humbling. For some, it’s much needed.”
(I was curious, what was Head Coach Mike McDaniel’s message to you guys? Obviously not the way you guys expect to lose coming into the matchup, what was his message to you guys in the locker room?) – “I would say the message from Mike (McDaniel) was don’t blink. There’s a lot of football left, continue to look at the guy next to you, continue to trust him, continue to keep playing and remember what you play for. It’s tough when you lose and you lose like this, but we’re not going to blink. We’re going to continue to do what we do. We’re going to go back in. We’re going to work on the things that need to be worked fixed and need to be corrected. I can promise you one thing, we’ll definitely be better from this.”
Mike McDaniel – September 29, 2023
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Friday, September 29, 2023
Head Coach Mike McDaniel
(Can you share anything on the availability of T Terron Armstead and OL Connor Williams on Sunday as best you know?) – “I can tell you that they’ll both be practicing today and their future hangs in the balance. (laughter) No, we’re just going to assess and do right by both those players. I can tell you just in case – I’m going to beat you to the punch – I can say that Jaelan Phillips will be out. But then we have a group of guys that are ironing things out today, making sure to further test where they’re at and so we’ll have some decisions to make in the next 48 hours after.”
(When you’re facing a division opponent and you’re going to see them again, do you ever hold anything back or is it all just go to win this game? Because if you’re going to see a team another time later in the season, are there things in the regular season that you don’t want to put in?) – “I can’t speak for anybody else. I know in my career, literally it is so hard to win a game in general, that I’ve never held anything back. Your expectation, the way I look at it; I look at for instance, the Buffalo Bills are one of the best teams in football. If instead of having an idea that you would put in your back pocket, why don’t you just come up with a new idea? I think as far as I’ve always looked at it, and the way that our coaching staff does, is everything that we can and are able to use, we give it our best shot because we know that if we don’t give it our best shot, we will learn the hard way of how difficult the NFL is.”
(You talk a lot about deliberate practice and this team mentioned the 24 and 48-hour rule. Can you touch on the 10,000-hour rule?) – “What you’re alluding to is directly in congruence with deliberate practice and I think that anything that we’ve been able to do on the football field this year, any success that we’ve really had in all three phases, is because of an insane amount of deliberate practice that the only way you can really make plays on a consistent basis in the National Football League is to be going full-tilt with no hesitation. So I look at quite literally any forced fumble we’ve had. I can go to any inside two-and-a-half second QB pressure, any explosive run, any completion; they’re all a functionality of guys that have had a pretty good offseason. I think that’s the reason we’re 3-0 and have been able to make some plays, is because guys have taken training from all the way back from April 17 to now and have utilized every opportunity that’s been in their past so that they’ve been able to make some plays on Sunday. It’s hard to win in the National Football League. It’s hard to win in several different fashions so I think when you’re able to do that, that’s an expression of that deliberate practice that is so near and dear to our hearts.”
(Do you have updates on three wide receivers – WR Jaylen Waddle, WR Erik Ezukanma, WR River Cracraft?) – “Jaylen Waddle had a great day at practice. He’s obviously cleared the protocol and is good to go. I think both River (Cracraft) and Erik (Ezukanma), they are independent situations that are going to take a little bit of time. They’ll both be out for this game and we’re independently getting some information on both of those guys and we’ll be able to have a better idea of a timeline in the next few days or weeks or whatever. They’re on their own journeys and won’t be there this game.”
(With WR Erik Ezukanma – can we get some clarification? Did he injure himself on Friday’s practice, the walkthrough, when did he sustain…?) – “So we’re kind of exploring the potential of a re-aggravation of an injury that he’s had before he got here. So we’re just kind of trying to get information on that. Don’t really have the specific instance. It’s more of cautiously looking through that lens because it was something with his neck that he’s had in college so we’re just kind of going through that which is why it’s kind of a vague timeline and kind of snuck up on us.”
(So much conversation about the offense. Obviously when you score 70 points, that’s going to happen. But how would you evaluate where your defense is through three games?) – “First of all, I’d say that 70 points is only possible with our defense. You had three turnovers and you had a stop – a three-and-out after a turnover on downs in our own territory. And with regard to specifically in general, I see a progression each and every week for what they’re trying to do and guys finding their way within the system. I think we have a bunch of playmakers that know that they’re playmakers and play the game of football to make plays, and I think they’re starting to find within the system when it’s their play to make. Team defense is about holding responsibility, but then when there’s a vulnerability in the offensive schematics, you seek and destroy and it’s your play to make. And I think we had too many instances Week 1 where guys were trying to be that player on every play and not a calculated trigger, so to speak, that you’ve seen the last two weeks progressively get more consistent. On top of that, I think last game was the first game of the season that you couldn’t say the defense didn’t win the game in terms of at the end being on the field against the Chargers to get that last stop and then against the Patriots as well. I see a team that’s getting better collectively and there’s no better example by the tape than the defense and how they’re continuing to get better.”
(I’m doing something on the locker room being a player sanctuary and I want to know, what would be a legitimate reason for you to be in the locker room and how many times have you been in that locker room as the head coach?) – “I try to adhere to my own rule. There’s occasionally when work forces me to communicate with a player that I have to go track somebody down and also I get my haircuts in the locker room, which I see you guys when I’m getting the haircut, you guys sneaking out, getting extra interviews outside of our time framework. (laughter) I got eyes everywhere, guys. (laughter) But no, I try to really adhere to that. It’s a policy that we send out in a full building-wide email and I address in the team meeting at the very beginning of the offseason to remind people that the locker room is the players’ space, that they need a place where they can be at work but not have people outside the locker room looking over their shoulder, meddling with them. So outside of really the players and you guys, no one sees that space. You’re in a select few and should be honored.”
(You don’t like your offensive linemen to wear knee braces. Is that correct? And if so, why?) – “It’s not that I dislike that. I don’t like over the top mandates, which I think are, there’s obviously a time and a place where that that makes sense for us. We target linemen on the offensive and defensive line that are athletic, in general, and we want them to use their athleticism when they play. So we run off the ball. I think if you guys have not had earplugs in at any practice, you’ve heard (Offensive Line Coach) Butch Barry scream ‘run off the ball,’ right? So knee braces, I think it’s not for people that necessitate them; it was more that some of the old-school policies of mandating that, it doesn’t really fit what we’re trying to get them to do. It’s not that I’m against them. I don’t want any knee brace manufacturers coming after me. (laughter) It’s more that I want them for purposeful use.”
(Miami Heat Head Coach Erik Spoelstra has been a fan of yours pretty much since the beginning. He was out there on Sunday. After the game, I got a chance to talk to him and he said, ‘I love watching Mike’s offensive plans.’ Have you guys talked strategy between the sports at all? I know that’s something that he’s done. He’s talked to football coaches over the years. Have you guys shared anything along those lines or has it just been sort of building a personal friendship?) – “We’ve talked a little bit about the commonalities with which we share kind of different ways to look at the game. Really the biggest commonality that we’ve shared is we are in a business where our job is to motivate and curate and get the best out of the players that we have. It’s a complicated life of the professional athlete, where you have so many people in your ear, so many people making money off of you. To be able to take these highly successful individuals, and make them a team, I think that there’s a shared experience that we’ve really mostly focused on when we’ve talked, because it’s some of the biggest problem solving that you need to really undertake. I use basketball references all the time. I think watching the Heat play gave me all sorts of motivation in the offseason, just by team over everything. What is the saying? The sum is greater than the parts, or whatever? That’s what I see from them, and I think that very much applies to professional football in general, because you always have talented players across the board, but 11 people working together is what generates results. We have a cool relationship. There’s not direct X’s and O’s. I mean, I can’t even explain to you. I can’t help watching basketball and following the ball. I know that to be wrong from a coach’s perspective, because when I watch football, I see all the things moving at once. I’m not just staring at where the ball is going. But I can’t do it in basketball, so I would be very little help. It would just be kind of one-sided. Like, ‘tell me how you do things again.’. We’ve got a more equitable friendship, I would say.”
(I wanted to ask you about WR Robbie Chosen. Last week he was elevated up from the practice squad and he was kind of the heavy guy in the base package that you guys have. Is that because of his speed or you just saw a matchup that you liked?) – “Last week gave him an unbelievable opportunity. We had specifically Jaylen (Waddle) down, and he had been training within the offense so well. You’re right, the speed is something that you have to account for and makes it a little more difficult for defenses to just hone-in on Tyreek (Hill), especially when Jaylen’s not out there. Having said that, the reason why he’s on the team, and the reason why he was able to make the play – the big play that he made, but then a ton of plays actually in the run game that he made during the week – is because how he’s taken all of this football acumen, all of his playmaking ability, and he’s really immersed himself within the offense. He is able to execute tasks that seem menial, that are huge, that allows you to be on the field to make plays. I think last week, he had the opportunity. We started rotating him at the beginning of the game and he gave us a reason not to take him out. So then he got a lot of burn. That will always be the case. You’re playing well, and you get to stay in there. I would say it’s playmaking ability is very intriguing to us and one of the reasons why he’s here. But it’s his immersion into the offense that allows him to actually do something with it on Sundays.”
(As you watch film, are there teams that will both shadow Buffalo WR Stefon Diggs and spy on Buffalo QB Josh Allen?) – “Yeah, I mean, people try everything against really good offenses like that. It’s a team defense. Those guys are the focal points of their offense, but it’s not the only parts of their offense. It’s the teams that whatever your plan is, if you’re able to play complementary football, you’re able to be sound in coverage but then get pass rush, you’re able to get pass rush but not completely void pass-rush lanes. There’s no exact formula, no right or wrong way. It’s just you have to be a complete way. Because if you jump out of a gap to try to get greedy and get a sack, he’ll step up and he’ll run off to his right and throw a 75-yard bomb to Diggs down the field. If you catch yourself being lazy on the back end, and you have a sound rush, but then he gets an extra hitch and then Diggs wheels out and you’re made pay. I think it’s more about having a complete defense and doing what you’re good at, but applying it to that specific team, which is what we’re trying to do this week.”
