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Ted Karras – October 28, 2020

Wednesday, October 28, 2020

C Ted Karras

(I’ll start off a little weird. Under center with a left-handed quarterback, does he grab the ball any differently from you under center?) – “(laughter) I don’t know the nuances with that. Obviously we’ve taken a lot of snaps over the last four months. It’s been smooth and it’s our goal to continue to keep it that way. It’s been great.”

(How excited is the team to see finally what QB Tua Tagovailoa can do on the field?) – “The team is excited. It’s an exciting week. We’ve got a great opponent coming into the town. Big challenge for us as an o-line and had a great start to the week practicing today, and got to build off it and keep working tomorrow.”

(I wanted to ask you about Rams DT Aaron Donald. When you study, what do you notice about how often he lines up over center or the guard or in between the center and the guard and more importantly than that, what’s a good plan to have a chance against this guy?) – “He lines up just about everywhere on the front. Obviously, the premier player of the NFL on defense and the plan is we’ve got to have sound fundamentals and technique and give our best effort and obviously preparing in the week is a big part of that. And when it comes down to it when we’re out there Sunday afternoon, we’re going to have to perform our best when it counts the most.”

(Have you noticed anything different about QB Tua Tagovailoa this week just kind of since he’s been named the starter and is there anything about his demeanor or his leadership that’s changed?) – “No, he’s been a strong leader since he got in the building here in July. Obviously he prepares really hard. He’s a great person and a great teammate, and it’s going to be a very exciting weekend for us and for Miami Dolphins Nation.”

(What has been the talk among the other guys on the line regarding the quarterback change and maybe the need to give the rookie that much time? I’m sure you want to give every quarterback time, but what’s been the talk among you guys and just how do you expect QB Tua Tagovailoa to respond to the pressure of his first NFL start?) – “It’s on us as an o-line, as it is every week, to make the quarterback feel comfortable, and the first start in the NFL is a big milestone and something that we take seriously. Obviously like I said, we’ve got to perform our best when it counts the most and keep the pocket clean and allow him to be successful. We’ve got to handle our job first.”

(When you face a guy like Rams DT Aaron Donald, is there something you have to tell the guys around you? Maybe some of the rookies about not letting the allure of him getting too big and how do you go about just defending a guy like that?) – “In this league, there’s going to be a lot of good players; but he’s obviously at the top of his craft. I’d say one thing we can’t – a big mistake would be to lose account of where he is on the field, so every play we’ve got to know where he is. They’ve got a lot of great players there on defense and it’s going to come down to execution and fundamentals and then who wants it more in the end, so it’s going to be a big challenge this week and it’s going to be a lot of fun. Looking forward to it.”

(After it was revealed that QB Tua Tagovailoa was going to become the starter, there were a lot of folks with opinions – some of them on national television. Dan Orlovsky from ESPN – you probably heard – that he said his big concern was that his opinion is that the Dolphins offensive line play has been poor. What are your thoughts on that line of thinking and that opinion?) – “Well, what hurt me more was Mina Kimes agreeing with him. I’m a big fan of Mina and that kind of dug deep there; but it is what it is. Everyone has their opinion and that’s what they’re paid to do, is give their opinion. The great thing is we get to go play the game, so all opinions won’t matter at that point. It’s just what’s on the tape.”

(I’m going to try not to hurt your feelings with this question. I wanted to ask you technique-wise, how does having a left-handed quarterback affect the line’s technique? Are you guys having to kind of flip-flop things or is it business as usual?) – “It’s business as usual. I’m sure there’s some nuance stuff. That’s with (Offensive Coordinator) Chan (Gailey) and ‘Coach Marshall’ (Offensive Line Coach Steve Marshall) and all the offensive stuff; but we’ve got some good continuity starting and we’ve started to get a little bit of a rhythm as far as an o-line standpoint and it’s business as usual. We’re ramping it up and we’ve got a 10-game stretch to see what we’re all about here in 2020.”

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