Solomon Kindley – November 4, 2020
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Wednesday, November 4, 2020
G Solomon Kindley
(The second week with a new quarterback, just how is the offensive line feeling? We talked to Offensive Line Coach Steve Marshall and Offensive Coordinator Chan Gailey yesterday and they both admitted that the offensive line needs to do a better job in terms of providing time for QB Tua Tagovailoa to make some better decisions.) – “No doubt. Like you said, like ‘Coach Marsh’ (Steve Marshall) said, we’ve got a new quarterback, so we’ve got to be perfect for him. That was his very first game and then playing against the defense that we played against, the offensive line has to do a little bit more to get him comfortable. So all week this week, that’s what we emphasized – doing more, doing more, doing more so we can be able to give him the amount of time that he needs or even more time he needs on the field.”
(I think that the Dolphins only allowed one sack and four pressures against the Rams and part of that was the plan to use a quick passing attack. But just in general, how did you guys as a unit feel about keeping QB Tua Tagovailoa’s jersey pretty clean?) – “A win is a win, but every day you go in – every Sunday, every Monday you go in to look at film – every time you’re going to see something to get better from. Like you said, we had the quick game and then we only gave up as many pressures as you said, but we try to keep him perfect. Our goal is to come in every game – our number one goal on the offense’s sheet is no sacks and no pressures. So we didn’t make our goal. Even though it was a good goal in the game, we didn’t make the goal that we wanted, so we’ve got to improve on it this week.”
(Given that strive for perfection, what was going through your mind after that first play when Rams DT Aaron Donald burst through the line? What were you thinking at that point?) – “To be honest, we go through this in practice. ‘Coach Flo’ (Head Coach Brian Flores) puts us through adversity and we know how to bounce back. We’ve been in very tight games this whole season going possession for possession. Somebody makes a big play on defense, somebody makes a big play on offense, so we’re pretty much used to that. We pretty much knew what we had going on coming into that game and who we were playing against, so we kept our head in the right place and tried to keep striving the whole game.”
(You were asked about how well the pass protection’s been. I wanted to ask about the run blocking. What’s the difference I guess? Offensive Line Coach Steve Marshall kind of mentioned how it’s something you guys need to get better at? Why do you think that’s an area for improvement you have?) – “Coming in, how Coach Marshall teaches us and how he coaches us, we don’t worry about the good that you do. Worry about what you can get better on. We never come into practice or in the meeting room on that Monday after a Sunday win or loss – we never really (linger) on the good stuff that we do because there’s always so much stuff you can get better from. So that’s just our mindset coming in with even the run game or the pass game, the screen game, that type of stuff. So that’s how we view it. Every time we do something good, we’re asking him, we’re asking each other, ‘was that good? Was this good?’ or ‘was that the standard that we play to in this offensive line, in the Dolphins room?’ That’s how we view ourselves and that’s how we want to play on the field on Sundays.”
(I’m curious how was it when you went across DT Aaron Donald for the first time? Did your eyes get big at any point or anything like that?) – “It’s crazy because my boy Andrew Thomas who plays for the New York Giants – I talk to all my guys all the time still like (Lions RB D’Andre) Swift, all them guys around the NFL – and during college last year, we were in college, we used to go in the sauna, just get bussed through, get everything out of us after a game on Saturday. And we always used to talk about the people that we had to block when we got to the NFL. We were talking like, ‘oh yeah, I ain’t go to block Aaron Donald, I ain’t got to block Aaron Donald,’ not knowing I was going to get drafted by the Miami Dolphins – I got drafted by the Miami Dolphins. The first play of the game, I see him on the field, I’m like, ‘it’s time to play football for real.’ You’re going against the best. He’s really 99 and he’s really 99 overall. (laughter) So you know you’ve got to bring your A-game.”
(I wanted to ask how you how did it feel to have your fellow rookie T Austin Jackson back at practice today and how’d he look?) – “It felt good. I feel like he looked pretty good. That’s not my place; but like I said, when I saw what he did and what he was, I saw that he looked pretty good.”
(We talked about the Rams defense. You’ve got the Cardinals this upcoming week. What’s different in the challenge? What do they do different than the Rams that you kind of got to be on?) – “The thing about the Rams and the Cardinals, all them guys are about my size – 335, 325, 330 from the Cardinals and Aaron Donald is a little bit smaller than those guys. So that’s the biggest difference right there, but the Arizona Cardinals have a good front seven from the front three and to the back three, so it’s just really every week, it’s a competition. Every week is a competition. You’re going against the best every week.”
