CB Nik Needham
(Obviously it’s tough right now already having as many losses as you did all of last year. What’s the message in the locker room as you guys try to stay the course here?) – “The overall message is just sticking together as an overall team. Nobody needs to be pointing fingers and trying to play the blame game. We all could have made one more play that could help the team win the game. We just have to go back to the drawing board like we say every week. It gets repetitive but that’s what we need to do and limit the mistakes.”
(How do you keep that juice knowing that you are 1-6?) – “Are you talking about as a team?”
(Yeah and maybe you personally, too. Maybe both.) – “As a team, you just have to pick each other up. Make sure people aren’t trying to get too down or get in a hole to where it’s just like it doesn’t matter any more because every game matters, every week matters. You don’t want to get people in that mindset. I’ve had experience with that in my college career so I know stuff can get torn apart and you just want to stay together. You have to keep a hard mindset. Like I said, you got to put the extra work in, do extra stuff and try to get more people to keep doing extra work to make that one extra play that will help win the game. If you can do that, that can help try to change things around but it’s definitely a hard task to do.”
(How hard is it to continue to do all of that extra work and now you’re putting more on yourself but you’re still not seeing results?) – “It’s tough but this is the NFL. You can’t try to make any excuses or anything. Hard work at the end of the day should lead to success. If we just keep working hard, eventually it’ll pay off. It’s definitely frustrating that it’s not paying off right now. The only thing we can do is, like I said, go out there next week and try and get a W and go out there and get a W. So we can’t complain about stuff that’s been happening right now.”
RB Salvon Ahmed
(We learned RB Malcolm Brown will have to go on IR. Your reaction to losing a fellow running back for some time? And my other question was just your thoughts on the way you ran the football with 25 carries between the three running backs? That’s something we haven’t seen nearly as much in the games prior.) – “You hate to lose teammates and that sucks, but you just got to keep going. This is a team full of guys ready to play and be professional. That’s that part. We just got to keep getting better as a team, whether that’s running the ball or doing different things. We just got to keep improving and coming to practice and working.”
(What’s your motivation? You guys are probably out of the playoffs here before the season is halfway through, but where do you turn? Where do you draw your motivation from to play your best every week? It’s got to be difficult.) – “The guys in the room. The guys in that locker room. We are a team and that’s where you get your motivation from. You want to play as hard as you can, not only just for the locker room but the coaches. Everyone in this organization works extremely hard. We want to go out there and play our best every single game. That’s where you get that motivation from – the guys that we’re with every single day.”
(Do you remember at any point in your football career losing six games in a row?) – “This game is hard. This game is not easy so there are a lot of ups and downs. We just have to keep working and build. Just keep building. It’s a long season. It’s Week 7 so we have 10 more weeks, so it’s a long season. This game is hard and has ups and downs and that’s part of the game.”
(Mentally, how do you stay even-keel and forget what happened last week and move on? That’s not easy to do.) – “Yeah, absolutely. I think it just goes back to knowing that it’s a long season. You can’t dwell on the past. What happened yesterday was yesterday and now we’re getting ready for this coming week. I think you kind of got to move on. You can’t dwell on it and you have to go to practice and get ready on Wednesday.”
C Austin Reiter
(What was it like for you getting in there and getting a start with this new team that you’ve been on for a few weeks now? How do you feel the offense did and your communication with the offensive line was?) – “It felt good to get back out there and definitely knock some rust off for myself technique-wise. I think at the end of the day, we all wanted to win, so we’re never satisfied offensively. I thought the communication went pretty well. I think we were on the same page for most of game. Being at a home game is obviously an advantage coming in there for the first start not playing many snaps with these guys. So that helped.”
(What do you think it’s going to be like going into a pretty hostile environment in Buffalo?) – “I’ve been there before. It’s typical with road games. You’ve got to prepare for it to be loud, making points, making sure everybody is on the same page. I think that’s the most important thing is everybody being on the same page. As far as calls and communication wise, it’s going to be loud. That’s definitely the key there.”
(I know you played against Buffalo in the playoffs. What stands out for you about that team from that game?) – “They play hard. It’s a good defense. They fly around to the ball. In the playoffs, everything happens a little faster. I know they like pressuring and bringing (Jordan) Poyer in there. It was a few games ago. I’ve seen a couple of their games this year too. It’s a high energy defense and you have to match their intensity and speed.”
(As a new guy on a team that’s on a losing streak, how much can you add your voice into the mix as a new guy that’s not established like a lot of the players in that locker room?) – “I find myself – it’s a little bit of a tight-rope act because you don’t want to say too much and you don’t want to say too little either. In 2016 and 2017, I was with Cleveland and those two seasons were 1-15 and 0-16. I’ve been on the other side of the spectrum of that as well. I think one of the things I kind of harped to some guys were the margin of winning and losing is small. You just have to trust what you’re doing. You can’t try to do too much and correct too much at a time. Just take little bits and pieces away every time, trying to get an advantage, because the margin is so small. You’ve got to trust what you’re doing.”
S Eric Rowe
(We were just told a short time ago by Head Coach Brian Flores that S Jason McCourty is going on injured reserve. Just the impact that would have on the secondary?) – “He’s obviously a leader to not just the secondary but to the team. When you have guys like that go down, ultimately it hurts the team. But that’s just how the NFL is. Someone else will just have to step up. Someone has to take his role. He’ll still be around but we just have to step up and fill his shoes when it comes to on the field.”
(Now the team is bringing in S Sheldrick Redwine, a guy who has been around Cleveland, Carolina a little bit and the Jets. What do you do when new guys come into the secondary to welcome in a new teammate midseason like this?) – “We just have to fill him in as fast we can. Honestly, I didn’t know we signed anybody until you just told me. We just have to fill him in as fast as we can because we’re on to the next game. We’ve got to get ready for Buffalo. Whoever we bring in, to the active roster, we have to get him going because ultimately the team signed him and we need him. Whatever role that he’s going to play, we need him to do it well. We just got to fill him in quick.”
(You’ve been around a number of years. I’m sure you’ve had your experiences going to Buffalo. What stands out in your trips there either good or bad?) – “Every time I go play in Buffalo – one, it’s a hostile environment. The Buffalo fans, they are literally ride or die for their team. I played there when they were down at their bottom, I’ve played there when they’re at the top. The fans, they bring the same energy, the same spirit. We ride on the bus, they’re flicking you off, smashing the tables. (laughter) If they could, I know they would throw stuff at our bus, cursing at us on the field. I like that, though. It brings that extra energy like this is football right here. Every time we go up there, it is so hostile.”
(I could never understand how they’re tailgating in 20 degrees, could you?) – “It’s below zero and they are out there. I’m pretty sure they’re out hours – five hours, six hours – before the game even starts, drinking beer, cooking on the grill and smashing those tables. Twenty degrees and some people have no shirt on. It doesn’t affect them. (laughter) Crazy fans.”
Head Coach Brian Flores
(You had three guys leave the game yesterday with injuries. What can you tell us about RB Malcolm Brown, LB Jerome Baker and DB Jason McCourty?) – “So Jason and Malcolm, we expect both guys to go on IR for at least three weeks. ‘Bake’ (Jerome Baker), that will be day to day. We’ll see how that one goes.”
(Anything new on the C/G Michael Deiter situation? How ready might he be to come back off IR?) – “He’s actually making a lot of progress. Don’t expect him this week but he’s certainly making a lot of progress.”
(Yesterday was the third time you’ve had to watch a last play field goal beat you. I’m sorry if this kind of sounds like a broken record but just how much more can a team take with everything that’s gone on and to lose six in a row and three of them in that way? How concerned are you for the psyche and all the comes with that from this group?) – “I think it’s a resilient group. We talked about that today. We’ve lost three games with a field goal at the end. We’ve talked about the margin for error the last couple of weeks and really all year. We’re really on the wrong side of that and there’s a myriad of reasons why but when it comes down to a field goal at the end, there’s always one or two plays that could have turned it and could have been the difference. We understand that. We just have to make more plays throughout the game so it doesn’t get to that point. Or if it is in that situation like it was yesterday, we have to do more offensively, defensively and in the kicking game to pull it out, which we haven’t been able to do. It’s been disappointing. But as far as the psyche of the team, I’ve said this all year that this is a resilient group. This isn’t an effort issue. This isn’t a desire issue. This is just a situation right now where we’re just not doing enough to pull these games out. We’ll continue to prepare the way we’ve prepared. We’ll always look at different ways to do things. But we need to find different ways to help these guys finish these games out.”
(I think we all appreciated yesterday that both you and QB Tua Tagovailoa spoke about how you guys have had conversations to sort of deal with the outside noise, the trade rumors, the distractions. I was just curious – you talked about the psyche of the team. For a young quarterback like Tua, do you feel like in just two years he’s been through almost an inordinate amount of distractions with all of the things around him? And how do you keep him locked in to where you want him to be, given everything that’s going on?) – “I think he’s been locked in. I think he’s played well the last two weeks. Not perfect but I think he’s played well and moved the ball and given us a chance to win the last couple of weeks. We haven’t been able to pull it out but I think his psyche is in a good frame of mind. He’s dealt with a lot the last couple of years with the hip and last year obviously being a COVID season and not having a normal training camp or OTAs. Then this season, with another injury. So he’s dealt with some adversity. He’s overcome it. I think he’s doing a lot of good things and putting us in good positions.”
(WR Will Fuller, where does he stand in his recovery as he’s now eligible to be removed off IR? If he’s healthy. It’s been three weeks now.) – “Will is also doing everything he can to get back as soon as he can. I don’t think it will be this week but I think we’re getting closer.”
(I also wanted to ask about S Sheldrick Redwine. There are reports out there that the team picked him up. Now we know that DB Jason McCourty is going on IR. What can he bring to the team?) – “He’s a young player, a young safety. He was in Cleveland for a couple of years. We had some love for him coming out. We think he has some ability. We’ll get him here, try to teach him the system and try to get him going. He plays in the kicking game as well. We’ll see. We’ve got to get him here and get him going.”
(I know you’ve talked to us about the development of players being important to you. I’m curious now after 12 full games for QB Tua Tagovailoa, how would you evaluate the job that you guys have done as a staff, helping him develop?) – “I think he’s getting better. I think he’s getting better every time he steps on the field. I think he’s pushing the ball down the field more. I think he’s making better decisions. I think he’s making quicker decisions. I think he’s doing a lot of things – look it’s a small sample size, but every time he steps out there, I see progress. I saw that yesterday for sure. I think one of the things – I think he showed some grit and some growth dealing with some adversity, dealing with a couple of interceptions and then coming back and giving us an opportunity to win the game at the end. He’s a young player. Everyone develops at a little bit different pace. But I think he’s doing a lot of good things.”
(You mentioned everybody develops at a different pace. When you have that quarterback position, obviously that gets a lot of eyeballs. How do you view maybe the timetable needed to evaluate whether this quarterback is developing how you want them to?) – “I don’t know if I’ve thought about it from that standpoint. We’ve had close to – let’s call it a year and a half – with Tua (Tagovailoa) and it’s been an unusual kind of year and a half for a number of reasons. He’s coming off the hip (injury), he dealt with another injury this season. But I would say the last two games, he’s done a lot of good things. I think he’s headed in the right direction. We’re pleased with the development that he’s shown over these 18 months.”
(I wanted to ask primarily about WR Will Fuller. I know he’s got the hand injury but there are players with injuries who are around the team or on the field or at practice. Why is it that we haven’t seen Fuller not just since the hand injury but during OTAs and training camp? Why has Will Fuller not been present? Why isn’t he there watching?) – “He’s been around. I see him every day in rehab. As far as getting out there and being at practice, mostly he does his work during practice. That’s how we have it set up for him and most of our guys who are on IR. They kind of work in our meetings and practice.”
(Last year, you probably talked about this with Miami reporters, but last year you were No. 1 on third-down defense. Can you pinpoint what have been some of the factors for the drop off on third-down defense?) – “Probably communication, overall execution. I would start with communication. It’s not good enough from a fundamentals and technique standpoint. It’s definitely something that we need to improve on. That down is a big down from a momentum standpoint, getting off the field, getting the offense back on the field, getting return units back on the field. Again, last year was last year and this is a totally different situation, totally different year, new opponents. We’ve got to improve in that area for sure.”
(Just looking at the Bills offense and where they stand right now, the addition of WR Emmanuel Sanders, do you see them being more balanced as a passing unit than last year?) – “Certainly an explosive unit already with (Stefon) Diggs and (Cole) Beasley, (Devin) Singletary and you add (Emmanuel) Sanders. It’s definitely an explosive unit. They do a good job, they are well coached and it is definitely a tough test.”
(You waived QB Reid Sinnett to make room for WR Isaiah Ford. Do you expect Reid to return to the practice squad? And second, with LB Jerome Baker missing most of the game, did S Jevon Holland handle most of the communication duties on defense?) – “No, Sam Eguavoen handled the communication from (Defensive Coordinator) Josh (Boyer) to the rest of the defense. What was your first question?”
(Do you expect QB Reid Sinnett to come back to the practice squad?) – “We’ll see the waiver wire today and see how that shakes out. But if so, yeah we’d like to get him back.”
(You had mentioned QB Tua Tagovailoa being aggressive pushing the ball down the field. I just wanted to get a philosophical coaching point with regards to being aggressive versus calibrating when to pull that thing back for a young quarterback. On the pass to TE Durham Smythe it looked like there was a couple guys in the area. How do you calibrate being aggressive with also making good decisions for a quarterback so early in his career?) – “I think that’s a very valid point. You want to be aggressive but you also want to make smart decisions and not put the team in a position where you could potentially turn the ball over or create a negative play. That’s a fine balance. I think every quarterback goes through that thought process. I think a lot of it is based on what defense you’re seeing, the players you have on the field and I think a lot of it is based on how you practice it. If you can see those areas of the field where you can create some chunk plays, you hit them in practice and you have an opportunity to hit them in the game if you get the same look. It’s something we practice, it’s something we try to put an emphasis on and then players have to go out there and execute.”
(QB Tua Tagovailoa talked about a miscommunication on that particular throw. Is that something where there’s a sight adjustment post-snap where they can both read something and make an adjustment based upon the original call?) – “Which play are you talking about? We may be thinking of two different plays.”
(The first interception where TE Durham Smythe was in the area.) – “There was a miscommunication on that one, unfortunately. I think it’s one that Tua wishes he had back, Durham wishes he had back and something we have to learn from. When you look at it that way, there’s some other places we could have went with it. What I liked most about that was Tua’s response, Durham’s response and being able to turn it around and create some positive plays after that mishap.”
(Based on the history against the Bills in Miami, is it one thing that seems to go wrong? Can you pinpoint what have been your struggles against the Bills over the course of the six-game skid over the past couple of years? Is it one thing, is it a number of things and what is your approach to now facing them this Sunday?) – “Well they’re a good football team. They’re a balanced football team on offense, defense and special teams. They are well coached. They got good players. When you play a good football team, we have to play well on all three phases to have success against a good team or really any team in this league because every team is good in this league. That’s really what it boils down to. They got good players. They got good coaches. They execute well. They play well together. It’s always a tough test, especially going up there.”
