Xavien Howard – November 27, 2022 (Postgame)
Sunday, November 27, 2022
Postgame – Houston
CB Xavien Howard
(Big play today against your hometown team. Just kind of what was the feeling of getting to play against this particular team?) – “It was great. I’m a Houston game. That’s a team I’d seen growing up playing football. It was great to get a touchdown against them and that was it.”
(Whenever you get in the end zone as a defensive guy how does that feel?) – “It feels good. It reminded me of high school playing on the offensive side. I always wanted to touch the ball and score touchdowns.”
(When you are up 30-to-nothing, what’s it like being conservative because you have a big lead, but you still want to play your game defensively. Is that a challenge?) – “It’s definitely a challenge. Like I said, we just have to put our heads down and go to work and play all four quarters. I feel like we did not play well the second half. We started off hot and then the second half we weren’t getting it done.”
Jerome Baker – November 27, 2022 (Postgame)
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Sunday, November 27, 2022
Postgame – Houston
LB Jerome Baker
(Going into the Browns week, you could have overlooked them. Going into the bye, you could have overlooked this 1-8 team. Going to San Francisco… how does Mike McDaniel keep you guys focused on what you guys have to do now) – “He just sets the standard of no matter what we do, we go out there and play the Dolphins brand of football. We’re definitely doing a good job of that. We just got to keep stacking and keep doing better and we’ll be alright.”
(How does a win like this set you up for as you head in this next block of the season and going into three tough games on the road?) – “I mean a win in this league, it means everything. You know we have a few away games. This just gives the confidence and the momentum and we just have to keep it going.”
(Guys are talking in this locker room, some of the guys almost like you lost because the standard been set at a different level here. As one of the guys who’s been here, was that the goal this year, to make it we’re not going to tolerate – even if we win – if we don’t play the way we want to, we’re not going to be happy with it?) – “Yeah, I mean that’s credit to (Mike) McDaniel. We have a standard and he always holds us to that standard. No matter if we win or lose, we have a standard and he sticks to it no matter what it is. Even in practice, we might have a good practice to us, but he comes in and watch film and if it wasn’t to our standard, he’ll get on us. So it’s just a credit to our coaching staff and the leaders we have on this team and we just have to keep it going.”
Bradley Chubb – November 27, 2022 (Postgame)
Sunday, November 27, 2022
Postgame – Houston
LB Bradley Chubb
(What does it feel like to be a part of this locker room just in the time and how much have you grown?) – “It’s dope, man, it’s dope. Just to be with all these great players around me. It makes my job so much easier. It makes us closer and just being able to go out there an have success. See the guys fighting for you next to you and all that. It’s dope to see and I’m glad I’m a part of it.”
(How does it feel to be a contender?) – “It feels great. I’ve probably never had this in my career, you know what I mean? Going on five years and never been in the conversation this late in the season. So just to have that, have the guys, everybody fighting hard, everybody coming in with the right mindset each and every day throughout the week is just, it’s special to see for sure.”
(Now you guys are going out west, basically staying out there for the whole week. What do you expect that experience to be like?) – “Like a ball game in a sense, being with your teammates 24/7 in a different city and nobody is used to anything. Everybody is just kind of figuring out on the go, so I kind of expect it to be like that which is going to be cool. Get a lot closer with guys, be able to spend some time because family and stuff probably won’t travel out for the whole week, so I feel it will be a good experience for us.”
Jaylen Waddle – November 27, 2022 (Postgame)
Sunday, November 27, 2022
Postgame – Houston
WR Jaylen Waddle
(You guys had 30 in the first half. Did it feel like you guys left even more out there? It felt like there were maybe, first game back, just a little timing off and stuff like that?) – “I definitely feel like we left some money on the table for sure. We had some plays that we wanted back. I feel like I had some plays I wanted back, a couple drops. We just had a lot of mistakes hopefully that comes out. It was our first week back from break.”
(What do you think of this critical road trip coming up here?) – “It’s going to be fun. We got some great teams we got to go against, so it’s going to be fun. We got a lot of good competition, got the LA trip, back going to Buffalo, so it’s going to be eventful, good football. We’ve got to get prepared and we know that.”
(Let’s talk about coming back from the bye week. Holiday week. Lot of distractions. Playing the Texans. You know you have the road trip coming up. What does it say about this group to come out the way you did, go up 30-nothing in the first half?) – “It just shows how hard we work throughout the week. I think we had a great week of practice, preparation. I think Coach (Mike McDaniel) did a good job game planning and scheming, so it just all goes together. We come out there, start fast. We didn’t finish how we wanted to, but we going to try to learn from it, get better and carry on what we didn’t do well to the next week.”
Mike McDaniel – November 27, 2022 (Postgame)
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Sunday, November 27, 2022
Postgame – Houston
Head Coach Mike McDaniel (Transcribed by ASAP Sports)
(Do you have any status update on T Terron Armstead’s injury?) – “I don’t. Didn’t get any hue as far as how serious it would be, so we’ll find out more tomorrow. Same with Austin (Jackson).”
(Just to add to T Terron Armstead, this was not a situation where he would’ve come back in the game if the game was [closer]?) – “Not that I was aware of, no. That was an injury that regardless of the score was going to keep him out for the game.”
(I don’t know if it was causation or correlation, but when he left, the pass protection broke down a little bit. Were you guys scrambling a little?) – “No. We were struggling to a degree. I think I would have a part in that as much as anybody really. There were some play calling decisions that I definitely learned from. I put some guys in some unfair situations, was way too aggressive, and it was something that I told the team after the game that I’ll definitely learn from because it wasn’t fair to them. When you do have some lineup changes, you can’t play the way that — or put them in situations they were put in. I don’t think that was a fair representation of the group in general, even if there was some lineup changes. They were able to tee off, and we hadn’t established the run game, and it kind of put the tackles in some real, real tough situations, and so something that we’ll all get better from it. The good thing about this group of players in that locker room is they’ll hear me say that I need to get better in that situation, not put those guys in that situation again, but the players will take the accountability, as well, and know that they can work on their techniques to make sure that if I did it again that they would perform better.”
(Just overall what’s the feeling of going into December football knowing that everything you want to accomplish is in front of you?) – “There is nothing better in professional football than meaningful December and January games. Nothing better. I’m very excited for our young team and a lot of guys to feel that for the first time. I think it was important that guys looked at this game through the lens of establishing good position for that competitive playoff run. We’ve got six games left, and there’s no — you have to learn on the job live. The more that we bring intensity and focus to each and every game knowing that they’re all going to count for whether or not we’re able to be in the playoffs, whether or not we’re able to have home games, all of those things that you want as a team; you have to earn it down the stretch. This is as fun as it gets. I’m really juiced for the guys. We have a team that’s very tight, that is very ambitious and is willing to work for it, and that’s all you could ask. Very happy. Very happy with that. You just wish we could have times’d the first half by two, as opposed to dividing it by zero. (laughter)”
(You mentioned accountability. Over the bye week Jason Sanders, very critical of his own performance this year. He comes in today perfect on field goals, on PATs. What would you say about his accountability and his performance?) – “That is the coolest thing about sports — I guess the second-coolest thing in sports because I just said the coolest thing was… (laughter) Right? So the second-coolest thing in sports is overcoming adversity. Like I said last week, I fully expected that. He’s given me no reason to think otherwise. But it is to his credit, that is not always the case at that position. It’s such a finicky, off a quarter of an inch with your strike or your plant foot or anything; and you find it tough to get it through the uprights. That’s very meaningful and I think he just reiterated and reestablished the respect he already had in the locker room. Everybody had that expectation. No one really even thought twice. I know I didn’t hang on the field goal, on the field goals when we were attempting them. I fully expected him to drill them and he did, so happy with that and happy for him.”
(We heard that you showed Tua a 700-play highlight reel as part of I guess your introduction to him…?) – “Who are you talking to? Who’s your source?”
(Broadcast. Can you talk to us about that, the process of putting that together and what made you want to do that for him?)” – “You try and put yourself in other people’s shoes as best you can. I think that’s an important component to being a head coach. No one really — I think it’s hard for people to truly wrap their head around what it is to be a quarterback in the National Football League in terms of you talk about as much pressure as one could ever have. You have all these teammates depending on you to do the right thing on every play. People are trying to tackle you full-speed while you’re making split-second decisions and you’re in charge of making sure that our plus-minus turnover ratio is right. That is a hard, hard job. Not to mention, this just in, anybody that’s drafted as a quarterback in the top 10, top five, they want to be good. They want to be good with the — I would not want to trade places or wish any sort of — anybody really to be drafted super high and then fall short of the franchise’s expectations. That is a tough place to live in. That was the motivating factor behind everything. You acknowledging that, understanding that, wow, it’s hard enough to play an opponent. I’d better make sure there’s a lot of things that are telling me that this player may not have the confidence that he should, so instead of getting mad at that or doing anything, it was incredibly important that anybody that would listen would be able to see from a starting point, not just watch the FaceTime where I’m like, ‘yeah, you’re going to be a great player.’ To actually know, and it was easy; he had the stuff on the tape. I think that’s a credit to him. To his credit, he’s really listened, taken the coaching that he’s good. Said ‘okay, Coach, I believe you.’ And I think you guys have seen the residuals up close and personal for a while.”
(To follow up quickly, were you aware or at what point were you aware that his confidence had dropped that low from last season?) – “This was not going off of straight fact. This was just using intuition, that getting beat up and having your existence be completely tainted by people saying that you aren’t X, Y or Z, and then on top of that, from my vantage point, I felt like he was put behind the 8-ball in a way with the — basically his strengths, he couldn’t play to. And so if you’re not able to play to your strengths and your position that one of the reasons you’ve gotten there is you’re an unbelievable point guard, I felt, how could he, with all the things going on. It’s a lot of loud noise that you try to ignore, but people are human. It was intuition, and it started seeing him every practice once he started getting a little bit more confidence each and every day. You could see his personality evolve and that’s when I learned kind of how deep it was, because I’m learning his personality – the first day I meet him is who I know him as, and then you fast forward a month and a half, and he’s a different guy. Then retroactively, like wow, that was real. It’s not like he admitted it, either, to me at the time, live speed. This is something that I think he — all he did was just come to work, buy in, listen, and then do what he could control instead of worrying about any of it. He chopped wood, got with Coach Bevell and Chandler Henley, and they’ve not done anything but tried to work on technique, fundamentals, and how to play the position at an elite level, and they’ve done an outstanding job with that, and henceforth we were 8-0 with him. Or I guess he didn’t finish the game, but you guys get it. (laughter) He wins a lot.”
(Undefeated month for you all, 4-0, what does that mean to you finishing the month of November undefeated?) – “You know, I think it means a lot because it wasn’t just handed to us; it’s earned. And I think in the process, the five wins that we’ve had in a row or the month that we’ve won, it means a lot because I know it wasn’t gifted to anyone and that they did things the right way, and that shapes the way you do things moving forward. We found different ways after the three-game losing streak that we identified, looked ourselves in the mirror and were very candid about how we can correct, really challenged the leaders of the team, the captains and the leadership council, and those guys have really taken it and ran with it, as well as the coaching staff. We knew we had higher expectations than what was happening to us in the three-game losing streak and thought we should have a better record. So instead of, well, if, but or when; no, you take those experiences and you do something about it and that’s what I’m happy about, is that every single win was through blood, sweat and hopefully not too many tears, but there may have been. And you know what, I have a low, small shoulder that people can cry on. I’m good for many things.”
(Going back to your old stomping grounds in San Francisco, how long will you enjoy this one before you turn the page to a team you’re very familiar with?) – “Yeah, I’m just trying to — can I get a day? (laughter) You do not want to take anything for granted in this league. If you get a win, it does not matter. Every team is trying tooth and nail to beat you. You can get delusional in the wrong way if you just move past it. For me, I’ll worry about our next opponent tomorrow and that’s who it will be, is our next opponent. A lot of people have teeth in this league. You go a bunch of different places, but I promise you that next week will not be about me. I refuse for that to happen. This is about the Miami Dolphins and trying to string another win together because tomorrow I’ll be excited to go after nine wins. Right now I’m just excited about eight.”
(In your work to inject confidence, for lack of a better term, back to Tua, when you look at the timeline, was there any moment that you said, okay, now he said something or did something that you said, okay, he’s getting to be the guy that we know he can be?) – “I think within the offseason there were some — it was definitely in OTAs, and there was a particular practice in general that he made some plays going against our defense that — we’ve been running a very similar offense, a starting point, the same offense since 2006 or so, so there’s core concepts within it that you build from. It may look different, but the principles are the same. There were several plays in, I think a practice in May, that for the 12 or 13 years of cut-ups of running said play, I didn’t have one example of a quarterback being able to pull off a play that he did. So going over the top with that and then his teammates in an authentic way gravitating to him and really, really being excited about very good quarterback play, once he did that, he flipped and never went back. It wasn’t wishy-washy, it wasn’t back and forth; it was more that you just had to scratch and claw to break through something and once he did, he was good to go.”
(There’s a back and forth that goes on with the o-line and Tua where Tua has to make plays in kind of an adequate amount of time to help out those guys and vice versa. I guess if anything does happen to Terron long-term and you’re playing some time without Terron, how has Tua made it easier for the o-line and how is the o-line going to make it easier for Tua?) – “No, that’s kind of one of those reasons I’m so accountable for my part in the end of the second quarter and the beginning of the third specifically, because it’s a group effort that has to be committed towards getting the ball out and having timely concepts and then not putting people in position to be in harm’s way. And I think that’s something that you have to kind of tackle from the beginning of the week. I thought we had that in our plan. My biggest problem with the game was that I didn’t really lean on those portions of the game plan. I kind of went rogue to a degree. I think that’s something that we’re all playing football together. Every team we play has very, very good players somewhere. The key is to try to figure out how to make sure those guys aren’t the guys that beat you and then play sound football as a group, and that’s what we’ll continue to work on moving forward.”
Tua Tagovailoa – November 27, 2022 (Postgame)
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Sunday, November 27, 2022
Postgame – Houston
QB Tua Tagovailoa (Transcribed by ASAP Sports)
Q. How does it feel, ending the month undefeated, you guys get back off the break, now you’re preparing for a road trip, how does it feel?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: It feels good. It feels good to come back, get a win. Regardless of who we’re playing out here, it’s hard to win in this league. We’re just really happy that we came out with a win. We’ll learn from the things that we could have done better. We could have finished a lot of drives better. We could have given guys opportunities more, put guys in better position to make plays for our team. But that’s always tough when you’re hot, your team is hot, and then you go into a bye week. You try to come back on a week like this to find whatever that feeling was that you guys had with that momentum and that’s all it was. We’re just out there just trying to find what rhythm our offense was trying to get back into. I think we’ll go in and find that throughout this next week and we’ll be better for it.
Q. How did you guys go through the decision for you to come out of the game in the third quarter?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Yeah, well, Mike (McDaniel) and Bev (Darrell Bevell), they were going to give me two series. So they gave me two series and then told me they were going to pull me if the opposing team didn’t score, so they didn’t score, got in two series and they pulled me.
Q. When things tightened up, was there any conversation about you coming back in?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Yeah, yeah, there were conversations like ‘hey, like we might need you to come back in if they score again on this because then it’ll be a one-score game.’ I was prepared to come back in if needed.
Q. That sack you had late in the first half, you bent backwards, did everything come out clean from that?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Yeah, I’m sure tomorrow will feel a little different, but yeah, felt good from that. I was just thinking get up so we could clock it.
Q. Obviously in a game like this – you mentioned that the bye in itself but just defensively how does it feel when they were just to back up their offense as a whole, as a team?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Man, that was awesome to see from our defense. The turnovers, the sacks, just the big hits that they were making defensively. For me I’m used to seeing that because in my first two years, that’s the type of defense we’ve had, a defense that would get interceptions and then would score. We’d come off with like five turnovers a game my first two years. I’m used to seeing that, and it’s always great to watch when we’re able to also do some things really well offensively.
Q. You’ve been protected so well during this stretch. What were you seeing in the protection through that run when the Texans had the sack at the end of the first half and then also in the third quarter?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Yeah, well, I think with some of the plays that I told Mike (McDaniel) I liked, I put some guys in some bad situations by doing, so like I said, that has a lot to do with kind of finding the rhythm of the game with your guys, your players. I would say that one falls on me. But yeah, we’ll be better for it.
Q. The broadcast said that last year you had some moments where you looked yourself in the mirror and had to ask, am I good, am I good, and that Mike McDaniel showed you a 700-play highlight tape reminding you yes, you are. Can you describe from your perspective what that process was?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Well, I thought it was cool. I think anyone here can attest to someone believing in them and how that changes how they see themselves but also things around them, so perspective. But it was awesome. There’s a lot of details that entail me sitting down with him and other things as well, but it’s awesome. It’s really cool.
Q. Was that the first step to being what you are today, this season? Was that affirmation from your head coach and all that?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Well, yeah, I think that could be a step, but at the end of the day, no matter how good your relationship is with someone, you’ve still got to go out and play. You’ve got to go play football. And that’s with all of our guys. I could have a great relationship with our running backs. I mean, having a good relationship with you, I can’t help you rush for 2,000 yards or rush for however many yards you want to in the game. We’ve all got to be dialed in to the details of what the offense entails. I would say that’s just an add-on, the relationships we have with one another in the building, with each other, from coach to player, player to player, and much more in the building with everyone else.
Q. Early in the game Jaylen Waddle broke the record for most receiving yards for the first two years in a career for the Dolphins. What can you say about your college and pro teammate?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Wow, never knew that. Congratulations to Jaylen. That’s news to me. I’m definitely going to go and beat him up about that. I don’t know if he knows, too, so that’ll be awesome to tell him, but well-deserved for someone like him. He comes in to work, works his ass off, has a lot of questions every time; and if he doesn’t get them answered, then he’s not going to be in for that play. Very detail-oriented person and very happy for him. This is just the beginning. He’s only in Year 2 and we’ve got a lot more games to play.
Q. Five wins in a row, 8-3, three big road games upcoming. Where does the season stand for you right now?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Well, we’re enjoying our win right now, being 8-3, and we’ll come into work tomorrow, see what we need to get better with, and then we’ll worry about the next team.
Q. The MVP chats, they’re starting to get a lot more louder now. How do you keep on keeping that momentum going as far as trying to acclaim that title?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: I would say it’s us just playing together as a team. I understand the question of that being an individual thing, but really, I’m not able to have recognition or any of that without everyone doing their jobs, doing their assignments. If a team has success, that’s what brings individual success for anyone on any team. If we were losing, I don’t know if I would be getting the recognition I’m getting. I don’t know if any of the guys on our team would be getting that recognition. It really is a team. Individual success is based off of team success.
Q. Your relationship with Trent Dilfer from your time at the Elite 11. Do you look back at that and see how that motivation from Trent, with your conversation with Trent to this point in time, how is that process?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Oh, man, that’s been a long time that I can remember because I was in high school when that happened. I think that happened through the summer and then I had a season after that and then I was deciding what college I was going to go to, so really hard for me to think of a lot of the things that Trent had told me and talked to me about, but he’s a really great resource that I’ve been able to have in my corner, someone that I’m able to call, talk to about whatever. When I was coming out in the draft, he was definitely someone that kind of helped me prepare for the draft, too.
Mike McDaniel – November 25, 2022
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Friday, November 25, 2022
Head Coach Mike McDaniel
(We saw RB Raheem Mostert on the injury report with a knee yesterday not able to practice. Is he out Sunday? Do you know how the injury happened?) – “It’s something that he’s working through. I would never completely rule Raheem (Mostert) out. But I think it’s a little uphill battle that we’re just like days away in terms of whether or not he can. If he doesn’t, he’ll be close. But we’ll just have to do the smart thing. I’m not willing to bet against that guy. But also, we’re having to be very mindful to protect him from himself as well. So that’s about all I got him that one.”
(Week 12, with a win, you’re going to have the chance to end the month of November undefeated. How much do you think the layoff has had an effect? Or are you all still focused on maintaining that focus throughout this entire month to finish the job?) – “You never know how a team is going to handle a bye week. Every team is different and you’re always very observant, for me at least, on any team activity right after a break because you don’t know. And what I found out about our team is the hunger and the thirst for the NFL season and going to compete together and continue to work on their game has not left them at all, regardless of how much they had at Thanksgiving. They’ve really come back and practiced the way you would hope. So I think that changes all the time, and you just don’t know until you’re in it. But I’ve been very happy with the way they’ve approached their job, and I think that has something to do with all the effort and just collective contribution from everyone to get to a game that you actually feel like maybe we’re close to looking like we want to look like in all three phases. That always varies on the people that are in that locker room. This particular locker room, if I was a betting man, I’d bet it would have worked out the way that it did in terms of them coming back with full steam and that eagerness and addiction to the continued drive to move forward in the season. You never know, but I feel very good about where we’re at.”
(How big of a talking point this week has it been for you with your players to not overlook a Houston team that’s coming in with a very bad record?) – “With our team, I didn’t have to make that big a deal about it, because they know where I stand. This is something that you address early in the season, and you try to frame to the team really what are we doing? We’re trying to progress and get better as a team each week, and you do that through very good prep and detailed prep for an opponent. But who we’re playing doesn’t matter. What matters is that we continue getting better at what we do and try to win football games in the process. Now they know – I love to throw ideas or facts or ratios at them. How much sense does it make to ever work, I don’t know, what would you say, 250 to 300 days together, trying to perfect the craft and be as good as we can at what we do, you have 17 (opportunities) and you take one off. So that that didn’t make any sense from the jump. On top of that, the idea of being entitled to winning a football game is nothing that this team would ever enter into, because it is it is a quick learning lesson when you do that in the National Football League, especially with a team like the Texans where they play hard. I think you guys know, literally last year, teams that play hard through a lot of losses are dangerous. You do not bait fate and say, ‘Hey, you know what? We want to learn a hard lesson. Come punch us in the mouth.’ That’s not something that – this team plays hard, and if you give them an inch, they’ll do what teams do every single year. We don’t want to be one of those teams. So I haven’t had to really focus too much on it, because you focus on the tape. At this point in the season, conducting the same type of meetings each week, how we prepare for opponents, the tape doesn’t lie. We’re not studying win-loss columns; we’re studying how our opponents play, and they play hard and will do what any NFL team will do if you take them lightly, which is make you learn a hard lesson that we don’t want to learn.”
(T Terron Armstead and P Thomas Morstead, likely available?) – “’Stead.’ They’re steady. I’d steadily – I’d say that would be a likely scenario. I feel good about both of those guys this week. (laughter)”
(RB Salvon Ahmed has seven games played and RB Myles Gaskin has two. I’m assuming special teams play a key role in that particular decision. What will factor into the decision to use one or the other as needed on Sunday as a running back?) – “It’s important that you give guys opportunities. I think that if it plays out that way, and I think you’re saying, ‘Alright, well assuming Raheem is down,’ which these are things that aren’t known to be fact, but I will play the exercise because I get what you’re saying. In that event, they both get opportunities. I think that one thing that the public doesn’t know that our team knows is that Myles Gaskin has been doing some really good stuff and was one of those core character people in your locker room doing things the right way. The whole team really, really gets behind him. Both those guys have done a really good job and give us versatility. We’ve had to make some decisions because of special teams, but very confident in ‘SA’ (Salvon Ahmed) as well. So what you do in those situations is you make sure you give people opportunities, and then those who make the best of their opportunities get more opportunities. I think that’s something that will always be the case here with us because I think it’s a very, very important part and a fixture of your football team is that people get opportunities to really – whenever there is a situation where, maybe somebody else can get a ball, you don’t make those decisions in your mind. You let them make those decisions on the field. So that’s how it will kind of play out if that’s the scenario.”
(I wanted to ask you about WR Tyreek Hill. You’ve spoke a lot about his leadership and what he’s done since he’s come here. I wanted to ask you with the position you’re in and the stretch coming up here, how much do you think his experience is going to help? How much do you think the players are going to lean on his experience and that help for the rest of the season?) – “Whatever you’d assume, it’s probably that and a little bit more. That stuff is very, very real, and that goes with all the veterans, but him in particular. I think that’s what’s awesome about Tyreek (Hill) is that he knows that he’s been places that some guys haven’t. And when that’s the case, either it’s an extra responsibility of how do you handle the different climate and how do you make it as normal as possible? These are things that it’s not just him, but he’s an elite example. But it’s very important for you, on young teams, to, if afforded the opportunity, have guys that have done those things, so you can kind of create a situation where, and I know Tyreek looks at it like this, maybe some of these guys haven’t. But when you lead a certain way and you’re able to exemplify, you prepare in a very similar manner, all the preparation and all this stuff that you’re building right now when you get to those games, that should allow you for it to be as normal as possible, but you need a tone setter. That’s a responsibility that he’s excited about. Although a lot of a lot of guys are young, you can create a situation where guys can feel a little bit more comfortable like they have been there, as long as your leadership approaches the right way and understands where guys might be a little nervous. Uncharted territory always makes people a little uncomfortable, but I’m very confident that as we progress, we’re putting pressure on ourselves every week, in terms of how we perform, how we prepare and how we’re accountable to each other. So that shouldn’t – in hopes of that not being as big a deal, and those two things in connection should be pretty good for us. I know speaking specifically to Tyreek, he’s pretty excited about that.”
(For the second consecutive game, you’re facing a team for which you previously worked. With that in mind, how significant would you say your stop at Houston was in the progression of your coaching career?) – “The time in Houston was – it was pretty much the start. I started in Denver but it was instrumental with Coach (Gary) Kubiak. I lived on North Braeswood down on 610 Loop. Iwas like a 23-year-old that was like, ‘What is this flat place? Coming from Colorado. It was very humid and there’s these weird highways that you could do a u-turn underneath, and I was like, ‘What is going on?’ But hugely impactful. I got my first vision of what problems you have to encounter in year one of a coaching staff. Going in with Gary Kubiak that first year, that was the first of several times that I’ve had to understand all the things that have to get done when a transition is made in that way. And then it was a lot of fun. I was part of the front end where we lost some heartbreaking games. But there was one in particular where you learn lessons for your entire career. One of the coolest victories we ever had in my career was I think in 2006. We were at home and it was the last loss Indy had before they won the Super Bowl that year. And they were rolling. But there was a team that was hungry. That was probably like Week 13 in the year and there’s been a lot of losses, and we were able to make some plays and beat a team that was really, really hard to beat. That sticks out in my mind as much as any big game that I’ve been in. It was awesome, my time there. The organization was great to me. They got me used to sweating a lot. It prepared me for here, for sure. So that is cool. But as far as two consecutive weeks, to be honest, I didn’t realize that until you said it just because I’m not really thinking about my own journey and what I’m doing. I’m more thinking about the Miami Dolphins and it probably would be a little weird, or I might have thought of that if they were road games, going back there. But outside of that, it’s just another opportunity for the Miami Dolphins to try to get better.”
(When you talk about passing game, you mention timing. Of all the elements involved in the passing game, where does timing rank?) – “For me? One. It’s just how I see really football, that I feel like there’s the idea of having a depth on our route is, to me, the only reason you have it is so that you can time up with the quarterback so you can get the ball to him out of the break. And I think in the NFL, it is immensely important because the windows are tighter, the potential for catastrophic drive-ending bad things happening because you’re late so a defender can recover or you’re taking too much time and then getting sacked. It’s really everything. And I think a lot of times, with the compounding variables of football, there’s a lot of times that offensive lines get blamed for certain productivity or the black and white sack number. But there’s a lot that goes into the pass game and all those things. If your timing is right, you can really minimize all the issues that occur, and all the risks that occur, when you pass the ball. And if you live in that world and the players command the timing of all those things, then you can feel a little bit more – you can feel a little bit more at liberty to pass the ball because it’s less of a risk if you don’t have to incur sacks, interceptions and all those bad things that come with it. So yeah, it’s an important one to me.”
Have you guys achieved this timing that you have now on schedule, according to what you thought? Or a little quicker, a little slower?) – “I think when you see our pass game specifically execute at its highest level, that’s when the timing of the offense is at its highest. That’s when we’re able to take advantage of all our resources and skills that we have on the team. But that is not a – it’s not like you get to a spot and you’re good. It’s actually quite the opposite. That’s a ‘How are you going to be this drive, this half, this week?’ You have a good week and then turn the page to the next week and it could go the complete opposite direction if it’s not minded with all the importance that it should be. So that is literally something we never ever ever stop working on, because if you prioritize it, you should probably work on it, right?”
(Do you expect to have LB Jerome Baker on Sunday? He’s been limited as well on the injury report.) – “Is this the second MacGruber drop in the last two weeks? ‘Never ever say never ever.’ I feel pretty good about him but that doesn’t mean that something can’t change. I have a pretty good relationship with ‘Bake.’ I really, really like him as a as a person and he’s a big contributor to our team. I know he’s – having not been a Miami Dolphins coach and not had his availability, it’s kind of uncharted territory for me. So I feel optimistic, but I’m very aware that it is uncharted territory. So we will see. You’re not going to say, ‘Well, you said,’ and I told you so because I don’t know.”
(I saw Saudi Arabia and Japan had big World Cup upsets. Do you watch any of that soccer stuff?) – “I guess this can answer the question for whether we’re taking the Texans lightly or not. The World Cup is my favorite non-football sporting event ever, just because of all the things that go into it. I find it so interesting how there’s no shortcut to having a good team. The teams that are the best are the ones that are able to work together and get a feel for each other. And then on top of that, it blows my mind as a football coach – I already think it’s wild to work 300 days for 17 shots. When you’re talking about you have four years or whatever and then you’re talking about these great elite players only getting a handful of (opportunities), wow. I mean, the stakes, there’s not any bigger. But the reason why I bring that up is I didn’t know or I didn’t remember that the World Cup was going on until I was walking to walk-through on Wednesday, and I saw it on the screen. I was like, ‘Oh my god, that started on Monday.’ It’s one of the things I’ve watched every event. We’ve never had had one now (in November). So in the summer, I watch every single (match) – it doesn’t matter who is playing, just because I find it so interesting. I literally have no idea what’s going on. I do know that I will be able to catch one game, but I’m way behind on it. I have no idea who’s on any team. And I’m just like I can’t believe I just missed all this. But I did.”
(You mentioned in the past how much you like watching edge rushers play. I know you’re focused on the game, but do you enjoy individual watching individual matchups sometimes within the game, like going up against Titus Howard or Laremy Tunsil, for your guys?) – “I guess you can’t really watch an individual matchup. But I enjoy the execution within a game. You kind of feel everything. And when you’re putting a plan together, you know where you’re vulnerable, where things should go or where issues can come from. And also with the amount of reps and the same offense, I know if something comes from the left, and it’s a drop-back protection and the turn is to the left, there’s an issue between the guard and center as an example. So I don’t get to really do that. Defensively, I get a little bit more just because I’m not calling it, so I’m listening, observing and then kind of getting my thoughts for the next series. But I really, really enjoy it and magnify it in team settings. When there’s some very competitive individual matchups versus very good players, I think that is the name of the game. I think that is what pushes the winners and losers in this sport. When you have an elite player and then you happen to have another elite player and they are going against each other, generally that matchup has a factor in the overall outcome and there’s nothing cooler than that. So all of that, I do enjoy. It’s definitely not as much live but it’s featured on days after the game and in team settings because it’s a really cool thing that we get every week because there’s always good players and there’s always tough matchups. And I know as competitors, our players really enjoy that too.”
Tua Tagovailoa – November 23, 2022
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Wednesday, November 23, 2022
QB Tua Tagovailoa
(What are you thankful for this holiday season?) – “I’m thankful for a lot of things, very thankful for a lot of things. I would say I first off have to be thankful for my family, my parents, my siblings. I’m very thankful for my wife. I’m very thankful for our child that we have together. I am also very thankful for our coaches, our coaching staff. I’m thankful for my teammates, very thankful for the supporting staff that we have here – guys that work in the equipment room, the janitors that are around here, the kitchen people, everyone that is a part of this organization I’m very thankful for. I’m thankful for (our football communications) team with our media and how (they) handle business with that. There’s a lot of things to be thankful for, and we as an organization, as a team, we have it really good. So I don’t want to waste an opportunity like this to be very thankful to a lot of people that have helped not just myself but other guys in this organization become who they knew they could be and become successful. So I’m very, very thankful and I’m glad you asked that. I don’t want to miss that opportunity to tell all those people that I’m very grateful and very thankful for them.”
(If I could just follow up quickly, does your perspective on football or life or the holidays, does all of that change now becoming a father?) – “Yeah, it’s very unique how having a child impacts how you see things differently in life. It’s like nothing that I’ve ever experienced. There’s no playbook for this because everyone’s experience is different, whether you’re having a boy first or a girl. I thank my Heavenly Father up above that I got a boy first. (laughter) Oh, man. I don’t know what I’d do if I had a girl. It’d be a little harder, I think, because I wouldn’t know what to do necessarily. (laughter) Having been around cousins that have had kids that were boys, it kind of makes it a little easier that I have a boy myself with my wife. But it definitely changes the perspective on how I look at kids. I’ve always had a tremendous amount of heart for kids, but now that I have one of my own, you go home and the best thing is when you see them smile and laughing. It’s the best thing in the world. And that I can do that for someone else’s kid, I would want the same for mine when mine does get older, so it definitely changes.”
(I hate to pivot after that to football, but earlier we were talking to Head Coach Mike McDaniel about play-calling and everything that goes into crafting a gameplan. I was curious from your perspective, what his made Head Coach Mike McDaniel’s gameplan and play-calling so unique from maybe different coaching staff that you’ve worked with?” – “I would say with (Head Coach) Mike (McDaniel), it’s not necessarily I would say scheme to where, ‘Oh, this could potentially happen.’ I mean, it could, but more than likely we know that’s kind of what they will be preparing for. Week to week, we have some carryover, but a lot of things are new in our passing game and in our running game and our play-action game. So he’s always working on things that can grow the offense and help the offense. So there’s a lot of nuances to the offense.”
(As a follow up, I was just curious, have you been wearing like a different helmet in terms of, I don’t know what it’s called, but the different elements of protection around your mouth? Or is that the same?) – “No, it’s the same.”
(You’re obviously at or near the top in many NFL statistical categories – passer rating, completion percentage, yards per attempt. There’s a lot of good stuff. I’m wondering, the 13-2 record as a starter in your last 15 starts, how important is that to you in comparison to all the many statistics that there are?) – “I think at the end of the day, as a team, we want to win regardless of who’s at the top of what in their category or position. We just want to come out with wins. And I would say those don’t necessarily entail that being a stat that I take as a quarterback stat, because essentially, you need the entire team. You need our special teams to stop their special team, our defense to stop their offense, and our offense to go and put points on the board. So collectively, that’s a team stat. I’m very proud that up to this point that we’ve been able to win 13 games and only lose two in a league that’s very tough to win games.”
(Coming off a game where we saw RB Jeff Wilson Jr. really spark the running game; for you, obviously, that’s an important part of the offense. Was there a noticeable ease to the game with the running game going the way it was? And how positive of a sign is that moving forward in your eyes?) – “It’s awesome. You see the type of runner that he is. You see the type of runner that Raheem (Mostert) is. I mean, you can’t go wrong with any of the guys that are in there, but you can’t dismiss also what our line up front, what they were doing with understanding their assignment, knowing who to block on the different run plays, and then if we change the run to a different run, re-Mike-ing (Mike linebacker) it, knowing where to go, understanding that. I don’t think many people see that and appreciate that, but we do in the building. I do know that that Jeff (Wilson Jr.) and Raheem, they really appreciate that. So, it really is entailed of everyone working together and being in sync. And if not, that 10-yard play could have been a touchdown, or that touchdown, if not blocked correctly, could have been a 10-yard play. So, that’s how it always works, even for the passing game.”
(Going over the tape from the past few games, what have you come away most pleased with doing?) – “Most pleased with doing? That’s hard, because I would say me, I never look at what I did really well. I look at the things that I can get better with. The things that we do well, let’s continue to do that and find nuances on how we can get those plays in more, but get it in different ways.”
(What’s been the most important thing you’ve been able to learn from QBs/Passing Game Coordinator Darrell Bevell?) – “Very detail oriented. I would say my relationship with ‘Bev’ (Darrell Bevell) has really grown a lot. I, maybe three weeks, four weeks ago, I had him and his family come over to our house and we had dinner. We watched a movie as well, in the theater room. (He has a) great family. I think having someone of his personality where regardless of how cool you guys are, if you’re not on top of your stuff, he’s going to let you know. That’s kind of the relationship that I would say I have with him. Really good, but I know what he expects and what he expects I kind of expect out of myself as well.”
(I know you don’t like talking about things you’ve done well. But one thing has been anticipation. I’ve seen you kind of throw the ball to guys before they even got out of the breaks or to spots before they get there. I’m curious when you felt a level of trust in your offensive playmakers to be able to do that?) – “I would say that’s what we’ve been working on the entire OTAs and camp. That’s what we’ve been working on – anticipating it. If you look at our offense, that’s really what our offense is based off of. Anticipating and trusting that guys are going to be in the right spots, that they’re going to get to the right depth. Me taking the right drop to correlate with how deep they’re going in their route or when they’re breaking in, when they’re breaking out, when the ball should come out. That’s all an accumulation of all of that. And we’ve worked on that, like, numerous times. And that’s not just OTAs and training camp. That’s also the times we had leading up to training camp that we had to ourselves. We would all go out on our own and work on things like that and talk through them. So for us offensively, that’s nothing new for us.”
(Was there a time that you felt, ‘okay, this is where we want it to be like?’ Was there a period where it all started to click to what you guys want it?) – “Yeah, I would say maybe after the second game, I would say after the Baltimore game. That’s kind of when we all felt comfortable with who we were players-wise in the offense.”
(We see you and the receivers doing the handshakes and stuff every day in practice. I’m just curious how that came to be like. Was it your idea? Their idea? Just collectively?) – “I don’t know. (laughter) I really don’t know. I’m not even going to lie to you, I don’t know. I’m not even going to make something up. I was going to say maybe, but I don’t know. (laughter)”
(What’s going to be on your Thanksgiving plate tomorrow?) – “Oh my gosh. I don’t know what everyone’s going to make. But what I do like is I like some good stuffing. It depends on who makes it too … Well, everyone knows that they’re invited over to my house, but, probably only like six guys will show up. So, we’ll see.”
(Who is going to come over?) – “Brandon Jones always comes over with Bri. Jevon Holland, I think he’ll come over. He’s come over, I think – is this his second year? So he’s only come over once. So we’ll see if he comes over. There’s a couple other guys but we’ll see because some of them have their families in town as well too.”
(Who is in charge of the turkey though?) – “I don’t know. I’m not a big turkey fan. I do like ham though.”
(Just focusing on this week. I know you guys have the road trip coming up and coming off the bye, how important is it to just kind of stay locked in? I know coach was telling us how locked in you guys still are?) – “Yeah, it’s most definitely really important for us to stay locked in. We understand that we’ve had a bye and now Thanksgiving is coming up. Guys have family members coming in town. And you can get lost with not doing things that you would normally do on a weekly basis where maybe I’ll take this day off because it’s Thanksgiving and guys aren’t studying. I don’t think that’s the case for our guys. I know a lot of our guys were itching to come back. I mean, I was itching to come back. I had no idea what to do with myself last week, so I was trying to go to Panthers game, trying to do something to get my mind off of it. But it’s hard because you don’t want to go on a on a hot streak and then you go through bye. I almost wish we didn’t. But yeah, games like this, we understand that it’s going to be tough. We’ve looked at the film. We understand that Houston’s record doesn’t say a lot for them, but they play really hard. They play together as a team. We understand that this is going to be a tough one for us. So we got to be ready and prepared for them.”
(What was it like going to the Panthers game?) – “It was cool. I think that was like my fourth game. But that was my first time hitting the drum. It was awesome. It was cool. I might be bad luck though. I think at the first intermission it was (4-0). I was like we’ve got to go. These guys are doing bad because we’re here. I don’t know. I’m superstitious with that.”
(What about the Panthers’ reverse retro jerseys?) – “Oh, those jerseys were awesome. I’m very thankful that they gave me a jersey.”
