Head Coach Robert Saleh
Video: Here
On injuries…
Michael Carter is dealing with an ankle. We’ll figure out more tomorrow.
On whether you feel like you beat yourself…
90 percent of the games in this league are lost, not won. This one was lost.
On some of the Jets penalties…
Joe’s (Flacco) was a miscommunication with the receiver. That one is unfortunate. The (Jason)
Pinnock one, he’s being aggressive with a big tight end. I’ll never fault aggressive penalties. JFM
(John Franklin-Myers), unacceptable.
On the delay of game penalty on the 56-yard field goal & calling two time-outs early in
the second half…
The delay on the field goal was just trying to get more yards so we can play the field position
battle. A 56-yarder, I just didn’t want to take a chance at it. He (Matt Amendola) missed one
earlier. As far as the substitution errors and the two timeouts that we had to burn from a
substitution standpoint, that’s coaching. That is something we have to get fixed.
On whether he planned to kick the field goal and changed his mind…
(Yes), changed my mind.
On the 65-yard touchdown pass to Mack Hollins…
Poor eye discipline. I’ll just leave it at that.
On the play of Joe Flacco…
He did what we all expected him to do. He settled down the offense. There were a lot of
pressures. He got hit a few times. He got the ball to where it needed to go. I thought he did a
really nice job out there.
On if he takes anything away from this game being a one-score contest in the fourth
quarter…
I tell you guys all the time: whether you lose by one or 50, it doesn’t matter. This one, we lost.
On the play of Elijah Moore…
Elijah has been getting better every week. Really pumped for him. He’s starting to get into a
rhythm. He had the explosive play which we all know that he is capable of. He’s stacking up
days. He’s only going to get better. He’s going to be a special kid.
On whether he feels justified playing his young players when they play well…
It’s not that its justified. You want to play youth when you know that youth is going to be
special. It’s a good test. It’s a good litmus test to be able to play all of these guys and get a
good evaluation and see which ones have a chance and which ones don’t and all that stuff. I
don’t know if justified is the word, but going in the right direction? Yeah, I believe that in my
heart.
On the status of Zach Wilson heading into this week…
He worked out pretty good again this morning. We’ll feel him out over the next two days to see
where he is at mentally and physically.
On the lineup changes (Laurent Duvernay-Tardiff for Greg Van Roten and Quincy Williams
for Jarrad Davis)…
LDT, just giving him a chance to go out there. GVR has been playing his butt off. It was just a
chance for us to get LDT in there and see if we can get some more production out of that right
guard spot. As far as Jarrad, he’s not all the way back yet. It’s as simple as scaling back his reps
and letting him get healthy, get his legs underneath him, and give him a chance to build up
some game conditioning.
On the changes at safety and corner…
Getting Elijah Riley out there was good. He’s put together a couple of good weeks. He’s a smart
young man. As far as Isaiah Dunn, with the size of 88 (Mike Gesicki) and all of the different
things they do with their receivers, I felt like getting a bigger body out there would be good.
Obviously, using (Javelin) Guidry from a dime standpoint to get that speed on the slot where 17
(Jaylen Waddle) would normally (be) on third downs, we felt like those were the best matchup
for us to win.
On the decision to go for a touchdown on the first quarter over a field goal attempt…
We’re inside the five-yard line. One, obviously have a lot of faith in the offense to go score right
there, especially Joe (Flacco). Even if we didn’t, felt good about the defense and getting the
chance a backed-up opp. The first drive wasn’t exactly what we wanted. I just felt like we
matched up well. Worst-case scenario, we get the ball back at midfield.
On the strip sack by the Dolphins…
Protection breakdown. I won’t say who, but it should have been accounted for. Joe is expecting
that one to be accounted for.
On what gives him belief that his young players are special…
I’m just going to speak about this draft class. We still have a lot of faith. We still think our
quarterback is going to be special. AVT (Alijah Vera-Tucker) has been getting better every single
week. Elijah Moore, his play speaks for itself. Michael Carter, his play speaks for itself. The nickel,
Michael Carter, his play speaks for itself. (Brandin) Echols had been doing a nice job before he
got injured. Then, you look at the last class. Bryce Huff, we’re really excited to get him back.
Bryce Hall has been doing a nice job at corner. Guidry has been stepping in and doing a really
nice job. Ashtyn Davis got an interception today, so there are a lot of first and second-year
players doing a lot of good things. Are there frustrating moments? Sure. There are. But, at the
same time, these are all scars that they are getting. They’re learning. I’ve said it up here a million
times, you have to learn not to lose first. Then, once you learn how not to lose, you figure out
how to win. Then, once you learn how to win, you have to learn how to close games. Today was
clearly one of those learning moments of how not to lose.
On three trips into plus territory which resulted in zero points…
It’s probably worse than that. With the exception of one drive across the 50, if I am not
mistaken. You’re inside the 20, we get a turnover. We’re in field goal range three times – once,
we decide to punt because of the distance and two times, we missed field goals. That’s nine, call
it 12 points if the worst thing you get is a field goal. I don’t care how good your football team is.
I don’t care how good it is. I don’t care if you’re 10-0 or 0-10, it doesn’t matter. If you’re losing
points in that regard, if you’re just handing points back and you’re not scoring when you have a
chance, you’re not going to win.
On the way the defense responded today after allowing 175 points the last four weeks…
Still could have been better. I thought they played their butts off. They worked hard. Obviously,
they were dialed in all week. Couple of eye discipline mistakes. Obviously, on the 65-yarder.
Penalties that keep drives going. Had a chance to win in the red zone on a couple of occasions.
It still has to get so much better if we want to be more consistent and play good football.
Ashtyn Davis
Video: Here
On the 65-yard touchdown to WR Mack Hollins…
We just didn’t play our rules on that one. I had some bad eyes; I didn’t go the correct direction
and gave up an explosive.
On his interception…
I’m just skating in the post. It was an overthrown ball and we’ve got to make the most of any
time there is a tip or overthrow.
On whether he felt the defense made progress today…
Again, we didn’t do enough to win and that’s really all that matters. But we’re going to get right,
keep fixing stuff, and taking steps in the right direction.
On learning not to lose…
I think a big thing is not making repeat mistakes. If other people make a mistake or you make a
mistake, you’ve got to learn from it. And not continue to go through those growing pains of
making the same mistake.
Joe Flacco
Video: Here
On the sack that led to a fumble…
Yeah, we broke the huddle fast, tried to get up on the line, we snapped it right away, and we
were just trying to get a pick flat. He ended up being open over there, but the guy jumped up
on the line so I kind of just double clutched it and they came free.
On if he was expecting protection on that play…
There’s going to be a guy free over there, it’s just a matter of which guy it’s going to be.
On what led to the timeouts called in the third quarter…
Yeah, I think you can see on the one, I think the one, if I remember right, they held us over the
ball for a while. You would’ve thought they would’ve pumped the clock back there, but they said
that we got the eligible lineman in late and they just kind of ran it. And then the other one we
just didn’t have the correct personnel for the play that we had so we couldn’t run it, we had to
burn one.
On how he felt…
Yeah, somebody else asked me that and when you get back out there and you start running
some plays you get right back into your comfort zone. I feel like just as an offense, myself
included, as a whole today we did some good things, but we made too many mistakes to win
the football game.
On what he sees in the offensive players…
I think when (Michael Carter is) a ball carrier, it’s easy to see some of the cool things he’s able to
do, just the balance that he has to find the little creases. I think there were a few runs today
where he got three, four, five yards when there was really probably negative yards there. So
that’s pretty impressive. And then Elijah (Moore), the same thing with him, I think he’s starting to
develop into a really good wide receiver, from what I heard early on, he kind of got caught up in
doing a lot with his feet and hands and he’s kind of gotten to the point where he’s modified it
just enough and taken out just enough to leave his quickness and all that due to the work. I
think he’s really good. I think they’ve both got really good heads on their shoulders. They’re
eager to learn and get better, so it’s all good things for those guys.
On not scoring on several trips into Miami territory…
Yeah, that’s why I said, like you’re doing some good things. You’re moving the ball, you’re
getting it over the 40-yard line or so, and then all of a sudden, you’re getting stopped.
Obviously, the one that I fumbled on the goal line and then the other drive I think back on was
the call that we got, I think it was the same drive, we had a holding call on a nice run, which I
looked at on the big screen, and then I threw the ball, they played Zero, I threw the ball to EMoore on a little post route that would’ve completed at the hash and it kind of looked like he
was getting tugged the whole time there and tried to pull himself through. That drive right
there, I look at those two drives, the one where we fumbled and that drive right there, I felt like
we were starting to get some momentum, but our momentum would just stop. I felt like if we
could’ve just put one in the end zone, then maybe we could’ve taken off and we just weren’t
able to do it.
On the intentional grounding call…
Yeah, we had a miscommunication there with the routes and I was just trying to get the ball out
of my hands. I guess I had a little bit of pressure on me because typically when you don’t have
pressure on you there’s not intentional grounding, and I was really just trying to throw it over his
head. I can think about it now, yeah, I probably just threw it way over his head and out of
bounds. Yeah, it was just one of those things where we had a miscommunication, and I didn’t
want to make a mistake on the play so I took it and threw it away.
On how he handled Miami’s blitzes…
Yeah, hey, I think they got to us a couple times and I think you can tell a lot of the times there
was some balls we were able to get out and I might’ve been getting hit as I was doing it, but I
was able to get them out and get them into some guys’ hands. I think overall we probably
handled it pretty well on a percentage basis, it’s just the ones that end up biting you in the butt
a little bit that get you, like the fumble and stuff like that. I think if it wasn’t for that we could sit
here and say that we handled it pretty well.
On the touchdown to Moore…
Well actually, they came up and showed Zero (coverage) on that one and you could just kind of
tell they weren’t bringing it on that one and they’d kind of shown us some different looks during
the beginning part of the game that if you saw the little tiny details maybe you could tell that
they weren’t doing it, but they were doing a pretty good job of giving us some looks that made
it a little bit confusing, but on that one I was like, ‘Okay, they’re dropping back out of this.’ I kind
of was in the pocket telling myself, ‘Stay patient here, get your back foot in the ground and
make a good throw,’ and that was really what it was all about.
On his impressions of Zach Wilson…
I haven’t gotten a chance to really see much of him physically, a little bit in scout team and the
ball definitely pops off his hands, it jumps off of his hand. He’s another guy, I talked about those
guys being eager to learn, the young guys, and he definitely seems very eager to learn and learn
as much as he can about this game and how to play, how to play in rhythm and at the same
time be able to use the other things that he does well. So, you can definitely tell he’s super
interested in it and is going to work hard and is working hard at it.
On if Wilson has picked his brain…
For sure, I laugh, I’ve told a couple of guys, as soon as me and him get together he’s like a
million questions and it’s all good, it’s a lot of fun to see somebody that is just coming into the
league. Being able to talk to him is a lot of fun. I don’t have all the answers. It’s football at the
end of the day and he’s a little bit different than I am but it’s been cool to be around that room.
It’s always great to be around as many players as you can and help in any way possible. We all
love this game and you can tell that he loves it and when you get him one-on-one you can
really see it.
On his mindset after the game…
Every time I take the field I want to go out there and I want to play my best and put my team in
the best position it can possibly be to win the football game. Obviously, we didn’t get that done
today, but I’m going to continue to do that until I’m told that I’m not going to do that and I’m
going to enjoy the hell out of it and try to sling it around and have fun with the guys.
On why he thought the defense was going to pull out of a blitz on the Moore touchdown
play…
The kind of front they were in, I think there was a guy that was out there that was pressed, so
normally they would press and play Cover Zero on third-and-short situations, but not usually
when it was a little bit longer. There was no real safety on the line of scrimmage. There was just
a few things.
John Franklin-Myers
Video: Here
On his roughing the passer penalty…
Honestly, in the moment, I didn’t know that I hit him late. It just happened fast, kind of a football
play. I know I’ve got to be better. Something that can’t happen. We got that stop and just have
to be better about it.
On whether Head Coach Robert Saleh spoke to him about the play…
No, I’m sure it’ll be talked about by the coaching staff. They’ll say something about it. At the end
of day, I know I’ve got to be better and that’s something that just can’t happen on my end,
regardless of if I knew it was going to happen or not. It’s just something that can’t happen.
On whether he feels the defense made progress today…
I feel like we played better. We didn’t get the outcome that we wanted. We played better as a
defense. As a d-line, we have to do better and we expect to do better, and it starts with me. That
penalty arguably costed us the game. Something that can’t happen on my end.
John Franklin-Myers
Video: Here
On his roughing the passer penalty…
Honestly, in the moment, I didn’t know that I hit him late. It just happened fast, kind of a football
play. I know I’ve got to be better. Something that can’t happen. We got that stop and just have
to be better about it.
On whether Head Coach Robert Saleh spoke to him about the play…
No, I’m sure it’ll be talked about by the coaching staff. They’ll say something about it. At the end
of day, I know I’ve got to be better and that’s something that just can’t happen on my end,
regardless of if I knew it was going to happen or not. It’s just something that can’t happen.
On whether he feels the defense made progress today…
I feel like we played better. We didn’t get the outcome that we wanted. We played better as a
defense. As a d-line, we have to do better and we expect to do better, and it starts with me. That
penalty arguably costed us the game. Something that can’t happen on my end.
Elijah Moore
Video: Here
On the biggest change that’s allowed him to start putting up impressive numbers…
The more games I get, the more comfortable I feel like I’m getting. I don’t feel like a rookie. It’s
coming down to a time where we just have to execute. It’s not too much to think about. All
we’ve got to do is play.
On his touchdown catch…
Got open. Scored.
On whether he knew the Dolphins were blitzing on that play…
I felt the pressure the way the first nickel blitzed, so I knew I had to speed my route up. The
route was probably like 10 yards, I think I went eight. So, I just kind of felt it out and adjusted.
On what CB Xavien Howard told him after the game…
Really just to keep going. I’ve been watching him for awhile. He’s a great corner, he’s a great
player. And I’m going to take it and run with it if somebody special’s telling me that. Much
respect.
On how much his success vs Howard and CB Byron Jones will boost his confidence moving
forward…
It doesn’t really matter who I go against. I just worry about myself. I focus on myself and tell
myself during the game a couple of times, “just focus on you. It’s not about who’s in front of me
