Friday, September 20, 2024
Head Coach Mike McDaniel
(Is WR Grant DuBose out on Friday and is WR Erik Ezukanma healthy enough to play, should you choose to elevate him this weekend?) – “Grant (DuBose), I think it’s safe to say that he won’t be out there this weekend. It’s kind of one of those that we don’t think to be season ending, but there’s got to be a decision and we’re just gaining information to kind of assess that. And there are some potentials for some flexes, for sure.”
(Is there health interest in this equation?) – “He is healthy enough and we are accounting for him in the equation.”
(Does RB Raheem Mostert look ready to go? And T Terron Armstead told us he was, so would you confirm that?) – “Confirm, Terron (Armstead) is playing, and I would say we’ll see with Raheem (Mostert). I’m an optimistic person, so I would say I’d be pessimistic that he’d play, which is telling, but I can’t rule it out.”
(I want to ask you about a weird situation that happened last week with the Giants. They lose their kicker early in the game and have to go to their punter and then try two-point conversions, it doesn’t work out. What kind of contingency plans do you guys have in scenarios like that?) – “One of the absolute strengths of Coach Crossman is making sure that there’s no stone unturned. So we’ve had reps at backup everything and contingency plans not only for who’s kicking the ball, who’s punting the ball, who’s snapping the ball, who’s holding. All of those intricacies you figure out early in OTAs, like who’s up for the challenge or who has some history or – and then you kind of narrow it down as you go so that you can, because you can’t practice it every week, at least with the team, but you can practice your individual skillsets and have that ready. But I think what’s also fortuitous for us is the leg talent of both our punter and kicker because they have the ability to do the either’s job, should the unforeseen happen. Football is funny that way. You don’t want to be overly concerned with the out of nowhere one-percentile, however, it is part of our responsibility to have stuff in place and we do that across the board, including in games where there’s two quarterbacks. What happens if those guys aren’t in? That one I’ll keep tight to the vest because there’s a pretty exciting football package behind the second quarterback generally. But you have to assess everything that way because it’s kind of our job.”
(Out of curiosity, if P Jake Bailey ended up kicking in a scenario like this, who ends up holding? Because I know that used to be a quarterback’s job, it’s a little different.) – “There’s a couple holders on our team that have experience. I’m pretty sure River Cracraft did in a game at one point, he’s been at one point. Our Swiss army knife Alec Ingold has pretty much done every job. So has Durham Smythe, so we have contingencies on the contingencies. We have a lot of depth at holder.”
(With QB Tua Tagovailoa out, I’m sure that there’s a temptation for some of them to do a little bit more, especially the guys who got contract extensions or restructured. Do you have to talk to them about, “just chill out and the game will come to you?” Or how do you handle that?) – “I think this team in particular really follows through with the hope you have as a coach where any time anyone goes down, especially a gigantic contributor and/or the starting quarterback, the mindset is not to do anything but uplift the team by doing whatever has to be done and doing that collectively. So I think I would be disappointed if I was on a team that wasn’t like that. Since I’ve been here, all of our teams have really taken it as a rallying cry for the whole team to come together and understand that it’s strength in numbers, that it’s no one person on this team that has to do everything. And the idea that you’re finding ways to evolve to try to do whatever it takes in scenarios as a team to win a game, I think this team we’re cool with statistical whatever. That’s not – and I think the whole team is in a spot where yes, you want to do right for your team and you want to do well for your team, but we’ve also been No. 1 in the league in categories and I think guys are over that. We want to win a game and that challenge and what it takes as a team to go ahead every week and next man up, whatever position, that’s something that on the heels of having a tremendous disappointment in a divisional game, we have all the incentive we need and then some to go and have a team win. So I think where the team is at and our goals and what we value and what’s important today, this team needs to feel victory together, they want it and that’s all they’re really going to be consumed about. And I’m not really worried about anything else.”
(How has WR Malik Washington looked in his first week back at practice and is he ready to go?) – “He’s done a good job. I feel pretty good about his progress. I’m not sure, that’s one that we have a high opinion – Malik has done such a good job being a pro and we know we can count on him, so we’re making sure that we’re not going to put him in harm’s way. He’s done some good things this week, so we’re just kind of measuring the risk reward because he’s trending the right way. And if he’s – he’s either playing under the expectation that we’re not going to risk anything or he just missed the opp by maybe a day or so, in which case that we’ll be pretty confident in next week. So however it plays out, happy the fact that he hasn’t regressed during the week, and he is – you want to talk about attacking. There’s a lot of guys that we talk about that really do everything to get back on the field, and you have a rookie that, however you proportion it, whether it’s just his internal motivation or watching his professional peers and his veterans, how they go about doing that type of stuff and how many players we have that will do anything and everything to be on the field on Sunday, whoever’s responsible for it, we have a professional Malik Washington operating like a savvy vet in terms of how he’s taking care of his body and how he’s pushing to get on the field because he wants to help us win football games.”
(You mentioned last year’s offensive success. With that and then the offensive weapons that you have, there’s a popular adage among Dolphins fans that really anybody can step in and run this offense. As an offensive coach or coach who leans offensively, I guess, how does that make you feel?) – “I kind of get triggered, kind of understand. To say that anybody could, then we would have open tryouts and that would be very salary cap-friendly. (laughter) I think just because the people that end up being at the helm of the offense end up having productivity, I think you can’t – I think the way that Tua (Tagovailoa) plays the position is very unique and that’s always triggered me that people have said anybody can. And then I think Skylar (Thompson) isn’t anybody. He’s someone that’s diligently worked behind the scenes and right next to Tua for this going on his third year and his ability to execute anything within the system is to his credit. We try to do a good job matching what players’ talents are to our talents as a football team and in that, we do have some playmakers. A lot of people have playmakers, and how do you best utilize ours? Well, you have to play in a certain rhythm and timing that you can only do if you can see defense. And that’s a very, very important stipulation, is that you are throwing to offensive players and not everyone, even at the NFL level, is capable of seeing defense and throwing to the holes in it as opposed to just staring at the offensive eligible and throwing it to them. In a league that is very pass-defensive-oriented with a lot of quarterback vision and quarterback intentions by defenders in their zones reading and melting towards the vision of the quarterback, it’s becoming more and more of a necessary skillset that not everybody has and the only way that we’re able to get our guys the ball and not just have catch-tackles, is Tua’s ability and then Skylar shares an ability in a similar way of being able to anticipate and play with timing and throw guys open so they can catch and run. So I would say from my vantage point, being in the offense for 20 years, that the statement that anybody can run it is false, but what do I know?”
(Given the injury to QB Tua Tagovailoa, now where you are with QB Skylar Thompson and experienced backups behind him, do you tell your quarterbacks to be a little bit safer with scrambling, sliding, saving their body even if it means giving up the line to gain? And does that even apply to Tua when he comes back?) – “I appreciate competitive spirit and fighting for every yard, but I don’t coach quarterbacks to try to run over defenders; however, you try to play a competitive sport where people are trying to tackle you with vigor and sometimes competitiveness takes over. I don’t really judge that as much as I try to have lessons learned and be able to articulate, ‘OK well, what can you do in the future?’ I’m not adjusting – I have the same philosophy. It’s well, in this situation, maybe identifying the yard line and running to space or sliding. That’s how I kind of coach and I think Skylar (Thompson) – every quarterback, you’re trying to make them play within the guidelines of the play and you’re trying to dictate the terms with your play calls and then you just keep coaching and coaching and coaching through situations so that guys, when the moment strikes, that they can make effective decisions that are very decisive. So I think that is kind of the balance in football in general. It’s a very physical sport that there’s inherent risk of injury and everybody that plays it knows that, so you try to within those guidelines of football, try to empower them with the ability and the tools to best stay on the field. So I don’t really adjust. I think that would assume that I was kind of laissez-faire until something happened – that’s not the case. You’re more using every single situation as a learning experience, as a lesson. And I don’t think anything but explaining and talking and coaching through that stuff; you have to do that, otherwise it’s just simply and scar and there’s too many variables in football for you to try to live by the result of something else. You just have to understand, grow and get better.”
(How are you guys feeling about where RB Jaylen Wright is, his comfort level in this offense at this point in the season?) – “I’m proud of Jaylen (Wright) because it was a drastic change from a schematic standpoint in terms of what we ask our backs to do and how detailed we are or really – (Associate Head Coach/Running Backs) Eric Studesville does a great job of being very detailed in tracks and assignments, and if you don’t attack those and learn it the right way, you can’t grow in the offense. What I’ve seen Jaylen do is he’s every week, every day becoming more and more of a pro. It’s kind of in a fashion similar to a rookie, De’Von (Achane), last year where if you just diligently chop wood each and every week – every timeline is different – but one thing that is similar is that I think the first game of the season last year, De’Von was inactive. And Jaylen knows that, so you work and work and work to get yourself active and then you’re active and you’re on the field and get more touches and you just try to contribute any way, shape or form. I think the running back room that we have is as good as I’ve been around. So that competitiveness and that diligence from the whole group really, I think every single player in the running back room has gotten better since last year, since OTAs and since the beginning of training camp. And I think that’s a collective gain that they all know each one of their successes and the better each one of them are, the more they push each other and overall how much better they can each individually be as the group continues to grow.”
