Terron Armstead – September 6, 2024
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Friday, September 6, 2024
T Terron Armstead
(Now your center has been out with a hand. He’s been taking mental reps, but mental reps we all know it’s not the same thing.) – “Yeah, ’AB,’ (Aaron Brewer) he’s a pro. He’s a pro. He’s somebody that comes to work every day full throttle, full intent. He loves being here. He loves this environment and what we do together as a unit. I’m not worried about ‘AB,’ he’s a terrific young player. Excited to have him, excited to see him move around.”
(Would you describe right now the healthiest you’ve felt since coming to Miami?) – “I’m ready to roll. We don’t need to get into any of that, because it doesn’t matter. When we get into Sunday, we’re all going 100 percent.”
(Were you able to watch the game last night? What did you make of all the illegal formation calls on the offensive tackles, and is that going to be on your mind for the game Sunday?) – “No, it’s tough for sure. I’ve been in a spot where it kind of felt like the ref was messing with you. It can affect your game because you’re used to being in a certain spot. O-line is a very technical position, so it’s tough trying to make an adjustment. Moving up another yard or a couple of feet, it can change your spot. That was tough. I was glad like second half they got away from making that call and they let them guys play. It’s a tough spot to be in.”
(After a couple of times they call it on you, it’s got to be hard because they called it four times, right?) – “Yeah, I’m looking at Ronnie Stanley. Like I see him move up, it’s tough. It was tough.”
(How far do you want to be off the line of scrimmage? What is allowed?) – “You really just want to lineup on your guard. If you line up on your guard, you’re legal. If you look across the center is always going to be about the other four as long as those four are on par. I can’t say too much; I’m trying to keep my munyun, so I’m not going to talk about the refs at all. That’s a tough spot, because I’m sure Ronnie (Stanley) was trying to correct himself and still getting called is frustrating.”
(Has offensive line coach Butch Barry had a conversation with you guys, you and OL Austin Jackson specifically, about they are emphasizing this, be very conscious of this?) – “Yeah, we know it’s a point of emphasis for sure. It’s kind of like I was saying earlier, those first four weeks across the league, rust, you’re trying to get back into a groove and find that sweet spot, it’s the same as the refs. They’ve been off the same amount of time, so we’re all trying to get back into it and play this beautiful game that we all love. The point of emphasis for sure, I don’t want to cause my team any type of negative plays by being off the line. We’ll be paying attention to it.”
(How quickly does word of a big-time contract get around the locker room?) – “That’s my dawg right there. We talk every day, on the field, off the field. I’m pretty close to (Jalen) Ramsey now. I’m happy for him. He’s deserving. He’s an incredible player, athlete, and one of the best ever at his position. It’s only right, it’s always a great day to see that.”
(How quickly does word get around?) – “Maybe I know a little sooner than you. Maybe not. But we don’t have to talk about all of that.”
(What do you think about DE Josh Hines-Allen?) – “He’s nice, man. He’s nice. Relentless, full throttle all game. He has a very elite ability to bend the edge with power, somebody you got to stay on the whole time. Every rep, try to finish with two hands on, body in front of him every rep. It’ll be a battle. DH’s an exceptional player, for sure.”
(All of those guys are tall, DE Arik Armstead, DE Josh Hines-Allen, DE Travon Walker, I’m curious if that’s a factor at all for y’all, height or length?) – “No, not really. Not really, that’s more so – That could be more so on paper. It’s about pad level. Josh (Hines-Allen) specifically, he plays with a low pad level, so you’ve got to kind of get up under him. (Arik) Armstead, he plays with length, Roy Robertson-Harris, he plays with length. So the height don’t really mean nothing. If they are standing straight up, it would be an advantage for us. You got to have them pads down.”
(Head Coach Mike McDaniel called himself today mister load management in terms of making sure he got the aged veterans ready and healthy, especially with a game in five days. How important is those load management programs to guys like you?) – “I’m blessed to be in a place where they are paying attention to the science, to the numbers, and not just for me but for the rest of the guys, too. They track the load, they track the potentials, or the possibilities of pulling something and all of that. It’s kind of hard to go against science. It’s scientifically proven, there’s some factual information there. So the fact that they pay attention to it, like I said not just for me but the rest of the guys on the team, is a great thing. It doesn’t mean that it’s the magic to everybody being healthy at the end of the season, but you just try to put your best foot forward.”
(With the science, you’ve been in the league long enough. I remember years where players were wearing GPS trackers on watch and it was tracking your sleep patterns. How has that been and adjustment to you guys to actually get used to it and believe the science?) – “It’s grown, for sure. I’ve been in for a while, so when I came in, we didn’t track sleep or none of it. None of it. I walked on the field – I got to the building five minutes before practice, walked out there and did my thing. No warmup, nothing. I can’t do that now. I need a full slotted time for me to warm up to be able to go out and perform. It’s just the evolution of the game; being smarter, athletes getting bigger, faster, stronger, so you see more catastrophic injuries. You try to prep the tissues, try to get the joint moving, all the mobility work. It’s an evolution, and it’s going to have to continue to evolve because you see guys like this shirtless bandit, not many people in the world are built like him. So you just got to pay attention to that science, because that’s a freak.”
(Obviously load management is a thing in the NBA. As we get more games in the NFL do you guys talk about it?) – “It won’t happen.”
(You don’t think it would be like, “Hey, do you want to play half this game?”) – “No, that would never happen. Never, never.”
(You and DT Calais Campbell is there anything you guys do similarly or together?) – “Listen, I’m not in Calais – he’s in another tier of veteran. I am not there. Whatever he do, that’s what he do. What I do is what I do. He is in his own world. That’s the OG, triple OG.”
(What do you learn from him?) – “What I admire about him is his true love for the game, man. He loves this (explicit) for real. Calais, he breathes football. To have somebody that is that excited to play this game after so many years, so many battles, so many double teams but he still he wants to come out and play this game, fly around, just have fun – that’s incredible. It gives you energy to see that.”
