Robby Brown – September 2, 2020
Download PDF version
Wednesday, September 2, 2020
Quarterbacks Coach Robby Brown
(How have you seen QB Tua Tagovailoa over the course of the last month? Where was he when you got your hands on him and where is he now as far as not just health but playbook and all of that?) – “He’s really – you come in day by day and try to get better each and every day. I think he’s done a good job at doing that. Just like every other quarterback in the room, that’s the goal. ‘Can we be better today than we were yesterday?’ Whether it’s assignments, communication, reads, whatever it may be. I think he’s taking that challenge seriously.”
(I wanted to ask about QB Ryan Fitzpatrick. Is there anything different about him than years past?) – “I don’t think different. He’s not changed as a person in any way, shape or form. He loves to play the game. He likes the mental aspect of the game. I haven’t noticed anything different but we haven’t been back together but really for a month here. Really and truthfully, he seems the exact same to me. He loves to play, he loves the game, loves the mental part of the game and loves to compete.”
(I know that guys haven’t made a starting quarterback decision but I want to talk about the backup role and maybe what you ask for in that player and having to be ready for that role and active on game days, and how you look at maybe what are you asking for or looking for specifically when you try to figure out if a player is ready for being the backup?) – “I think really in that spot, you’re always looking for a guy that’s competitive that really loves to play. It’s the same things that ‘Flo’ (Head Coach Brian Flores) always talks about. You want him to be mentally ready. It’s really the same thing you’re looking for in the starter. You’re looking for a guy that wants to come in and compete, knows what to do, when to do it, knows how to lead. It’s the National Football League. There’s 64 guys if you count starters and backups. You’re looking for the same thing and the differences are usually very small. You hope it’s as small as possible.”
(I’m asking all of the first-year assistants about their coaching philosophies and then kind of putting it all together into one story. I wanted to ask you what’s your approach as a coach to helping your quarterbacks?) – “We talked about it a little bit the first time but I think coaching any position, any sport, coaching anybody, is really about knowing people and knowing the differences – what makes them tick, how they learn, does this help you? Well if it doesn’t, let’s try something else. In my room – and really in the NFL in particularly but specifically quarterbacks – you have guys who are ultra-competitive, they want to learn, most of them are field house rats. So you’re really just trying to figure out what works for them and their personality and what makes them tick, I would say, because every guy is a little bit different. Maybe their strength is what you’re trying to find and how to play to that strength and how they learn. I think that’s the biggest key is their personality and how they learn.”
(All of the quarterbacks in your room, they didn’t sustain a significant injury like QB Tua Tagovailoa did. Are you surprised at how he’s progressed from a health standpoint? Did you imagine you’d be coaching him so early during your time here with the Dolphins? And what do you think of how far he’s really progressed thanks to his health?) – “I’ll be the first to tell you that I’m not a medical expert. I’m not a weight room expert. You can probably tell from my build that I’m not a big weight room expert. I’m more of a jogger-type guy for exercise. (laughter) I wouldn’t say I was surprised. I didn’t know what to expect. I’ve never experienced that type of deal. But from what I’ve seen on the field, he’s done well. He’s run around. To ask me the medical aspect of it, I’m probably one of the worst people to ask. I listen to what they say. ‘Flo’ (Brian Flores) helps make those decisions but that’s not somewhere that I’ve spent a lot of time. I sit in on those meetings and hear what they say, but that’s about it.”
(I wanted to ask you about the physical nature of the quarterback position. I know you don’t know the medical reports on QB Tua Tagovailoa, but would you feel comfortable putting a guy who just had his hip surgically repaired out on the field to potentially get hit by a 300-pounder 10 months after having the hip repaired?) – “Like I said, I know ‘Flo’ (Brian Flores) got asked this the other day and he said it plays into his mind and all of that kind of thing; but that really – really and truthfully that would be like the surgeon coming to tell me throwing mechanics or something like that. I don’t know. You’d have to trust those guys and that’s a decision that really is not my role to make. I’m not trying to avoid the question but it’s just really not – I sit in on the meetings and hear what they have to say but my job is to go out and try to get all three of those guys ready to play. If they say they can go, then that’s what ‘Flo’ has to make a decision on.”
(From a football standpoint, how ready is QB Tua Tagovailoa for the National Football League?) – “That is a good question. What I would say is – ‘Flo’ (Brian Flores) talked about it the other day for all of the rookies – you don’t know until they go out there and they see that level of competition and that speed. We haven’t had the preseason games. We’ve tried to I guess simulate that the best that we can and go through all types of situations. There’s a lot of situations that a quarterback has to be aware of – down and distance, time on the clock, matchups, all of those kinds of things. My goal has been to get him better each and every day and be better at those situations today than he was yesterday. Then when it’s time and coach makes that decision, we’ll go with it.”
