Ryan Fitzpatrick – August 1, 2020
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Saturday, August 1, 2020
QB Ryan Fitzpatrick
(I wanted to ask you – you said something last time we talked to you about pretty much not throwing in the offseason. That just wasn’t part of your routine. When did that start and what was the thought process behind it and what do you think you get out of it?) – “It started probably eight or nine years ago. A lot of it – it’s physically, mentally and emotionally just kind of getting away for a little bit, and I think you pour so much into every season that I do like to just take a step back. But the throwing part of it for me (is) just preservation and longevity. I probably have ramped it up here for the last two and a half or three weeks and trying to get ready. I think I wish we would’ve had OTAs and been able to do all the offseason stuff, but the silver lining for me is not having to make all those throws and coming in with a real fresh arm for the season.”
(I wanted to ask you, we haven’t talked to Offensive Coordinator Chan Gailey before. I know you’re familiar with him. Can you kind of give us an idea of what he’s like maybe as a man and as a coach?) – “Yeah, (Offensive Coordinator) Chan (Gailey) and I have worked together for five years in two different places in Buffalo and New York. First off, as a man, amazing guy. Very humble. Loves football, loves family and so there’s a lot of characteristics in that regard that we share. Guys love playing for him because one of the biggest things with him is he wants you to be yourself. I’ll never forget, Stevie Johnson in Buffalo was a guy that didn’t really play a whole lot and as soon as he got with Chan and Chan gave him the freedom to be creative on some of his routes and do some things that were a little unorthodox, it really catapulted his career; so players love playing for him because he gives them freedom – a certain amount of freedom, not a whole lot – and he’s a guy that does care about the details but he really cares about the end result, not necessarily how you got there. So everywhere that I’ve been with him with all of the different receivers and personnel, they’ve really enjoyed his offense and the freedom that comes with it.”
(I know you talked about this to some degree last year because it applied but this year more so; could you share your mindset of competing for the job and being the guy while at the same time helping younger players, helping as they basically are trying to take your job and compete with you? How do you balance that?) – “It’s not all that difficult for me. I mean I’m going to go out there and compete every single day as I know the younger guys are; but in the meeting rooms, I’m not going to keep anything to myself either. I’m going to make someone tell me to shut up because I’m going to talk as much I can and share as much as I can with the intimate knowledge I have of this offense being in it for five years and really just experience since I’ve been in the league. I know that – I don’t know how much time it’ll be before Tua (Tagovailoa) is in the lineup. I know that I am the placeholder and we’ve already had that conversation. I told him I’m going to do the best I can to lead this team and to win football games when I’m out there and whenever it is that Tua gets his chance, whether it’s early or late or whenever it is, I’m going to be his biggest cheerleader and that’s what I said earlier; but I think I have a unique perspective just from the career that I’ve had and I was excited that they drafted him and since meeting him in person finally the other day, I’m really excited. I think we’ve really hit it off and even though I’m an old geezer to him, we’ve meshed personality-wise and I’m excited to work with him.”
(I wanted to ask – there’s a six-week or a four-week sprint essentially before the season starts. You guys are having minicamp. How much do you think you guys can mesh together and mend before the season to get things rolling Week 1?) – “It’ll be difficult. I think you may see some sloppy play early on. When they decided no preseason games – and understandably with health in consideration – not just the physical play and the hitting and getting to go against a different defense, but the little things like getting a play from the play-caller and changing personnel in and out; it’s stuff that you could simulate in practice a little bit, but until you get into that game environment and the bullets are flying and everybody’s got to figure things out – there’s a play clock that all of a sudden gets a lot quicker – that stuff is going to be a tough adjustment that we’re just going to have to figure out and do as best we can with practice. I think the other thing is just every day, we have to feel the sense of urgency. We’ve had a couple of walkthroughs with the rookie guys and just having them understand that making a mistake is okay, but there’s an urgency to studying to not make that same mistake the next day, and the fact that every single rep that we take now is magnified in its importance, that’s something that we’ll stress to all of the guys as we get together.”
(What do you think is going to be the biggest challenge for these rookies in regards to they haven’t been at an NFL practice yet and now there’s no preseason – how much do you think this year’s COVID-19 season is going to set this rookie class back?) – “It’s tough. I mean it’s such a tough adjustment to make the jump from college to the NFL, as we’ve all seen every single year with these guys; but to not have the offseason work and the OTAs, physically being in the building, to have a shortened preseason really with no games, it really puts these guys behind. It’s a little – I don’t know if ‘unfair’ is the right word – but it’s the cards that we’ve been dealt and the things that they have to be able to deal with and overcome. There’s going to be a lot of learning on-the-fly. There’s going to be probably some more mistakes with guys that have to get in there and play; they are going to make them in the game rather than mistakes that would’ve happened at OTAs that they could learn from, but the thing is that everybody’s dealing with the same thing. Every rookie on every different team has the same set of challenges and obstacles and so in that regard, it’s a level playing field.”
(Now that you guys are actually in the building, can you give us a sense of how different things are, how they feel and how comfortable are you with the safety precautions that have been put in place?) – “I think the league and the PA (NFL Players Association) did a great job in coming together with the different protocols and things; but speaking specifically with the Dolphins organization, the amount of work that went in from everybody in this building for us to walk in and to be able to feel safe. Between right now testing every single day and the different protocols – the way the locker room is structured, limited groups when we’re working out – there’s a lot of different things that are in place that I can walk in here and feel safe in this environment and the responsibility that everybody’s taking to have a mask on at all times when you’re breathing hard and working out, it’s not always necessarily going to be like that, but there’s a lot of people that have put a lot of work into this and I think the players as they trickle in will really – they’ll see a difference – but they’ll really appreciate everything this organization has done to make us feel comfortable in this building.”
(I wanted to ask you about working new Quarterbacks Coach Robby Brown. He’s got a really wide variety of job titles on his resume. I was kind of curious to get your take on how that diversity benefits the room and just how that relationship has been between he and each of the quarterbacks in that QB room.) – “I got a chance when I was in New York to work with (Quarterbacks Coach) Robby (Brown) a little bit, so we knew each other from there. I hadn’t really worked as closely as we will probably this year, but he brings a wealth of knowledge and it’s nice because he’s versed in (Offensive Coordinator) Chan’s (Gailey) offense and knows it really well, but he’s got some experience – especially on the college end – different things that he has seen, so Robby’s always a good guy, a good voice in the room to bounce things off and he can’t really coach me the same way that he’s going to coach Tua (Tagovailoa) or the same way that he’s going to coach Josh (Rosen). There’s a difference there and he’s got a good feel and understanding for that. It’s an interesting room with two young guys and one really old guy, but he’s done a great job so far of being able to reach us all in different ways.”
(I know you are pretty in touch with what’s going on around the world of just not the NFL but sports as well. I wanted to get your thoughts on the trouble Major League Baseball is having staying healthy – another outbreak in the Cardinals organization – why do you think things are going to be better for the NFL than it’s been for baseball so far?) – “I think that’s been eye-opening for everybody. I don’t know that that was unexpected. I think this is not going to be perfect and there are going to be things that pop up. On the million calls that we were on this offseason, ‘mitigating risk’ was always one of the big buzz words. It’s going to be difficult. It’s not – because somebody comes into the building or tests and then they are positive for COVID, that doesn’t mean that they were irresponsible or doesn’t mean that they were out in a bar. Maybe it means that you’ve got five kids in public school and you’re going home and they’re asymptomatic and you bring it in. I think the protocols and everything in place, we’re going to do our best to catch that and to not let it spread; but I think it’s a good example for everybody in the NFL that’s trying to get this going of just how easily it’s passed – especially in environments where you’re sweating and working out together. We have to do our best, but I don’t know if anybody’s going to be able to predict the future on that one.”
(Seeing where the run game was at last year and just knowing the additions the team made during the offseason, how can a potent or effective run game affect both how you perform your job and also just how the offense continues how to flow throughout the game?) – “A running game is definitely a quarterback’s best friend. It makes our job a lot easier. There aren’t a whole lot of things that we can be certain of this year, but I would put a lot of money on me not being the leading rusher. (laughter) I think that just with the personnel that was brought in with just being in Chan (Gailey)’s offense and how effective he has been in being able to run the ball; it’s something that he really prides himself on as a coordinator. I’m really excited to see – and I’ve met Jordan (Howard). I haven’t Matt (Breida) yet, but I think we brought in some dynamic talent and guys that are hungry and ready to come in. Obviously it looked like we wanted to bring in some beef up front and even just looking at some of these young guys – they’re very impressive. We’ll see physically where they are and mentally how they can grasp it, but there’s already a little bit of a different vibe in the building just in terms of that and I think it’ll bode well for the running game.”
(I wanted to ask you about your own experience with the virus. You’ve got a big crew there to be concerned about. Is everybody okay? How concerned are you about your own health and did you consider opting out?) – “We spent a majority of the offseason – especially from late March-on – in Arizona and I’ve got my place, my brother is next door and he has five kids, so my kids didn’t know any different. They were able to run around and play and we pretty much quarantined in those two houses; but it was 12 kids every day in the swimming pool and running around having fun. For them, we tried to keep it as normal as possible and other than going to Costco and the grocery store, there wasn’t a whole lot going on in terms of leaving the house. So we felt very comfortable with the way that we approached it and we were fortunate with the living situation that we had and the kids to be able to play with each other; but it’s something that we will continue to just be extremely careful with and again for the NFL and teams, there’s kind of a negative stigma I think that may be attached to getting coronavirus, but as we’ve seen it can kind of happen to anybody at any point in time. We all just have to try to do our best to take care of not only ourselves but each other.”
(Let me double-back for a second. You talked about meshing with QB Tua Tagovailoa and personalities meshing. What is it about his personality? What is it about your personality that has kind of helped you guys sync up, do you think?) – “I don’t know. I mean he’s a really interesting guy. He’s got a lot of energy to him and you can just tell that guys are going to gravitate to him. There’s something about him that is just very likable and I can already tell that he’s going to be one of those guys that gets along with everybody, that guys are going to want to follow. He just has that kind of aura about him and part of it is probably the way that he played in college and just kind of the name and the reputation that he’s built for himself; but there’s not a whole lot of ego involved and he’s very likable. So I don’t know, just the general conversations whether about football or life, it’s been really fun so far.”
