Miami Dolphins Postgame Transcripts - September 11 - Head Coaches and Players

Head Coach Mike McDaniel (transcribed by ASAP Sports)

Q: Little Gatorade shower?

MIKE McDANIEL: Yes, ice cold. Courtesy of Christian Wilkins, so my glasses are a little splotchy, but what do you guys got? (laughter)

Q: When the game clock hits triple zero and you’re walking off and it’s Miami Dolphins W in your first game as head coach, what goes through your mind and what was it like celebrating with your team?

MIKE McDANIEL: It was a very, very cool moment, against my wishes. They just showered me in Gatorade and made it about me, which I know for a fact it’s not. But the team celebrated together, and just being happy for the direction that we’re going in. That’s why you get into team sports. I can also tell it was a good excitement and celebration because it wasn’t like a satisfied celebration. They were happy that we got it done. I think a lot of guys feel like the Miami Dolphins’ fan base and the organization deserve to win, but there was a lot of frustration, including me, on things in the game that we really left out there. That was pretty cool. When the clock hit zero, I only have a couple of reps, so I was most concerned with finding Coach Belichick and expeditiously going over there to shake his hand and then trying to figure out really what I want to say to the guys. It’s more of, okay, what’s the next step in the job than anything else. It’s maybe with friends and family I’ll take 15 minutes to appreciate it, but that’s not why I’m here, is to bask or cheer; I’m here to help lead a team of people. We’ve got Game 2 next week on the road against a team that’s very hard to play at, so that will be our concern. Other than that, I’m very happy for the team overall because they’ve put in the work. It wasn’t really since April, even before that, the whole organization has really worked in one direction, and you like to see that get rewarded.

Q: If you go through the fourth down call that led to the WR Jaylen Waddle touchdown?

MIKE McDANIEL: It was a cool moment for really our whole team, but the mechanics of working with the game management guys and talking through the different scenarios, we were just at the fringe of Jason’s (Sanders) range. Yeah, you can push the envelope, but the flip side is you miss it, and you’re a first down away from giving up points. So then it became, all right, it does kind of make sense to go ahead and go for it, have a couple of thoughts in mind. Then in communication with the offensive staff, I think it was Jon Embree kind of tipped the scales because they had a couple up. Then from that point on it’s all players. So we decided to do it. Had a couple thoughts in mind. You try to prepare yourself so it’s not the first time you’ve thought about that scenario. That does come up in the half. I had a couple of thoughts, but then once the play started, I think Cedrick (Wilson) motioned down, and we had anticipated a certain type of leverage in the man-to-man coverage, and we got it. Then we got the protection, and then Tua ripped a strike. Part of the reason that you hear so much praise from Tyreek (Hill) and (Jaylen) Waddle about Tua is because he throws that catchable ball that you can get yards after catch. Waddle, that’s something that we’ve emphasized a ton, and you want to talk about deliberate practice coming to life in the biggest moment is catching that in-break and then having a mindset. Not being surprised that he is catching it. No, he only scores because he immediately transitioned to take it to the house. I was glad to have him back. I told you guys. I was very confident he would be back. That was a cool moment for all of us. You know, just wish we could have continued that momentum in the second half, but beggars can’t be choosers.

Q: The way the defense stepped up on multiple plays, whether it’s CB Xavien Howard taking it to S Jevon Holland or the strip sack from S Brandon Jones for a touchdown by LB Melvin Ingram, CB Kader Kohou late…?

MIKE McDANIEL: I told the team last night I thought it was important that you guys were introduced to the offensive players and the offense, but this is still the defense’s team until proven otherwise and they valued that. That was important to them when they heard that, and they wanted to prove me right. They sure did. Defense is funny where you can have so many guys that are competitive and have high standards and then you’re giving up some yards and you’re driving down the field. Well, it’s a classic example of the other team has to score, so don’t panic and then wait for your opportunity and seize it. That was a huge momentum-turner. The pick with X’s PBU (pass breakup) and then Jevon coming and making a play on that. Who knows what the game looks like without that one? Those are a ton of examples that we’ll be able to learn from, but I thought it was good that the defense deserved to get some – they’ve put in the work. It is the stage now where they’ve been able to play together for a while. That means a lot to them. They have a standard that they want to employ that everybody knows when a Miami Dolphins game occurs that you’re going to have to deal with this defense. You know, we’re plus-three in the turnover margin, which that’s probably the biggest indicator that you’ll ever have. I think that’s factual, actually. 87 percent or something. Anyway, you guys can check that, but that was the real story of the game, was being able to protect the ball and end the game plus-three.

Q: WR Tyreek Hill, was it the plan to get him involved that early that much and just the fact that speak broadly on the impact he had today?

MIKE McDANIEL: Tyreek made some plays. Our plan is always to get him involved. Defenses can kind of dictate the terms, so you try to – this is a difficult game plan process with him in that regard because over the years he has been doing it for so long. Coach Belichick has done a ton of presentation, so you’re not really sure how many times you want Tyreek at the point of attack. There were a couple of times that he was No. 1. There were a couple of times he was No. 2, but he made a couple of plays and Tyreek is the same way. He was frustrated. There was an incompletion over the middle that he knew that Tua was throwing on time, and he knew he should have been flat already. He kind of faded away. He got mad at himself there. There was a couple during the game that he was frustrated, which is what you love about him, and that’s what you need from your captains. I think each and every game we’ll do our best to feature him unless the defense has to fully commit to take him away, which is good news for the Miami Dolphins because we have some other playmakers, which you guys saw today. There was a lot of plays that were made by a lot of guys, and then guys in space, and I think there were a couple of third downs that the running backs really, really kept us on the field. So all of those things, we’re just trying to involve all of our players to the best of their ability. Some games they’ll get a ton. Some of the games they won’t, but they’ll keep working and getting better, which is the point.

Q: You were talking earlier in the week about visualizing this moment and the national anthem and soaking it all in. Was it what you expected, and what about the build-up as you were coming into the stadium today and all? Was it as planned, or was there …?

MIKE McDANIEL: It’s interesting with this role. You may call BS on this or not, whatever. I’ve talked about it at length before. You’re so dependent upon so many people to do so many things. You’re almost removed because you are in charge of so many people, you’re delegating, but you are also — you’re not hands-on with a lot of stuff, so you are so dependent. And as a result, I never felt isolated in the least in this moment, so in probably the last, I don’t know, decade of football, it was probably the most relaxed and comfortable that I’ve been for a game. That’s the honest truth. It’s because from the scope, you are – yes, you are making play-calling decisions and a lot of your planning, you have to pay the piper. It’s black and white win or loss, but it’s not about that. It’s about doing right by all the people in the building, by the players, facilitating them coming together, and then we go out and have fun doing what we do. Because if you work the right way, you shouldn’t feel stressed or nervous. To be honest, it was what I was kind of starting to piece together in the preseason that – maybe this is right, wrong, or indifferent, we’ll see if each game how it plays out – but I felt very comfortable, and there wasn’t really any nervous energy or anything like that, which was cool that I felt like the players were that way, too.

Q: First NFL win as a head coach against Bill Belichick. Your thoughts on just that statement alone, and what do you think about when you hear that?

MIKE McDANIEL: Man, I wish all you had to do is win one game because that would be cool. (laughter) That’s not the case, so I’m kind of thinking about Week 2. Again, time for reflection will come on my own time, not other people’s. Right now people don’t need me to sit and think about my win/loss record. They need me to do my job, and that’s what I’m focused on.

QB Tua Tagovailoa (transcribed by ASAP Sports)

Can you talk about the confidence that Head Coach Mike McDaniel shows in this offense specifically to go for it on fourth down?

TUA TAGOVAILOA: I think he has a lot of confidence in us. You look at the way the game went. You know we got started a little slow, and then there were peaks where we were driving the ball down the field and we just couldn’t finish. There were also times where we had communication errors within our headset, and we couldn’t fully get the play communicated to the guys as well. So it was kind of on the fly things, like, ‘Hey, we don’t have a play. Let’s go to this play, or let’s just go to this play.’ All those things are things that we can clean up. I think Mike has the utmost confidence in us from things that we’ve shown in practice, from things that we’ve done throughout training camp and also when we’ve had joint practices.

So you embrace when it’s fourth down, and you guys — you embrace something like that?

TUA TAGOVAILOA: I love it, yeah. He has the utmost confidence in the entire offense. That’s why.

The play before half, just take us through the logistics of going for it on fourth down and then the play itself.

TUA TAGOVAILOA: I’m not too sure what the logistics are going for it on fourth down where we were on the field, but what I do know is (Head Coach) Mike (McDaniel) had confidence in us that when we did call that play, we were going to make it work. So we did make it work, and Jaylen (Waddle) ended up scoring for us. That was nice.

Head Coach Mike McDaniel said he didn’t want to make it about himself, but getting his first game as a head coach out of the way and getting the Gatorade bath celebration, just what was that like for the team and your thoughts on that?

TUA TAGOVAILOA: I thought that was awesome. It was awesome to see the team come together under (Head Coach) Mike McDaniel. That’s his first win as a head coach for the Miami Dolphins, so it’s something special. And he has always said that he wanted to come here and create something special. It’s just the beginning.

You guys did a lot of great things. Can you give us some breakdowns of the sack? You were sacked and had to throw the ball away at times. What do you take coming out of this?

TUA TAGOVAILOA: What I take coming out of this is what can we learn from this? We’ll go back, watch the film and then we’ll reassess and get back to work on Wednesday.

The team is honoring the anniversary for the 19772 team, and the quarterbacks was the group that was honored today. I want to know, have you had any chance to speak with Bob Griese? What have your conversations with him been like?

TUA TAGOVAILOA: I’ve never had the opportunity to speak with Bob Griese. The only person I’ve really been around has been Dan (Marino). I’ve had many conversations with Dan.

Head Coach Mike McDaniel said this is still the defense’s team until proven otherwise. What do you think when you hear that?

TUA TAGOVAILOA: You’ve seen what the defense was able to do for us. I would say they were the momentum changers for us with the interceptions and the turnovers that they had. Offensively, we just didn’t capitalize, but I think the overall picture with as much as we wanted to do offensively and as much as we didn’t get to do successfully offensively, we still came out with a win. So I think that’s a big positive for us.

There’s so much talk about WR Tyreek Hill and what he means to this offense. What was it like in Game 1 having that option and obviously the connection you have with him?

TUA TAGOVAILOA: I would say it’s a continuation of growing for the timing of me and Tyreek (Hill) continuing to learn what he likes, what he doesn’t like. It’s a continuation still with Jaylen (Waddle) and with all the other guys within our receiving corps.

Your first drive you had third-and-1, you throw a deep pass and then you are suggesting you were going to go for it on fourth-and-1, but the play didn’t get run because they jumped offsides. Is this a changed mindset from say your first couple of years of aggressiveness going forward on fourth-and-short?

TUA TAGOVAILOA: Well, I never thought that we would go for it, but (Head Coach) Mike (McDaniel) told me, ‘Stay in there; we’re going to go for it.’ We had calls that we wanted to call, and I wasn’t sure when we were going to call them. So with it being on the first drive, it was a little surprise, but really nothing should surprise me with Mike.

You were going to run the play?

TUA TAGOVAILOA: Yes, we were going to run a play.

Can you walk us through the touchdown pass to WR Jaylen Waddle? Did you have any flashes back to your days with him at University of Alabama?

TUA TAGOVAILOA: They were playing a one-high coverage. (Jaylen) Waddle ran his route and got open. I just gave him the ball, and he did the rest. I would say it was hard in the moment to have any sort of flashbacks of our time at Alabama. It was just awesome to see what he did with the ball after he caught it.

What did it feel like having WR Tyreek Hill for a whole game and being able to consistently go to him?

TUA TAGOVAILOA: It feels awesome. It feels awesome having someone like Tyreek (Hill). I’ll keep saying this, the dude is a cheat code. It’s not easy covering this guy when he’s motioning, running routes off of motions and doing his thing. I love it.

Would you like to be able to get to the running game a little bit earlier in the game and maybe set up play-action? Was that more of a plan today than you ended up doing?

TUA TAGOVAILOA: Our gameplan was to score points and as much points as we could. For us offensively, (Head Coach) Mike (McDaniel) says that our offense is not aggressive – that’s just the style that we play, whereas other people think it’s aggressive. For us whatever call Mike decides to choose for us to run, that’s what we’re going to run, whether it’s trying to set up a play-action pass or not. We’d like to do a little better in the run game, but I think that’s what the first week is for. We got all the jitters out. Everyone got their first real live action of a game and had all four quarters. Like I always say, we’ll go back into the film room, we’ll talk about it. We’ll go through it, get everything corrected and we’ll come back Wednesday.

You’re 4-0 against the Patriots. Not a lot of quarterbacks can say that in the past two decades. What’s it like against New England, and is there a heightened awareness when you have to go facing Bill Belichick?

TUA TAGOVAILOA: That’s not an individual accolade, and I don’t even look at it closely to being that. It’s a team sport, and this team has won four games straight against New England. However way you see, however way you put it, that’s what it is.

WR Tyreek Hill

(How fun was it to get Head Coach Mike McDaniel a win in the first one? Does that mean anything to you?) – “Yeah, it means a lot, man. I don’t know if you guys know the history of Coach Mike (McDaniel). He is a team coach and has been through a lot in his life, so this means a lot, not only for me, but for this whole team. It means a lot. A lot of guys take pride in what they do around here and they really look up to Mike (McDaniel) as a role model, and so far he’s done a great job teaching us how to be pros, leading us in the right direction and creating moments for us to be a closer team. So far so good.”

(What were your thought’s on WR Jaylen Waddle’s touchdown right at the end of the second half?)– “That boy looked fast, man. It was a great job by Jaylen (Waddle), Tua (Tagovailoa) put the ball in a perfect spot and Jaylen (Waddle) did a great job of catching the ball and really just splitting three defenders, I believe. We talk about that all the time in our meeting rooms as a wideout. If you want to be good, just get the catch, but the great ones, they get drunk off the YAC (yards after catch). (laughter) He obviously did that and made a big play in a big moment for the team, and it carried over to the next half.”

(That catch you jumped the ladder for, what were you thinking when you came down with that one?) – “I used to be a big man in middle school. (laughter) A lot of people don’t believe that because I’m 5’9-5’10ish. A lot of people don’t believe I was a big man. My main thing is, that’s my ball, I’ve got to go get it. I’m going to make sure I protect that. That’s my whole mindset.”

CB Kader Kohou

(I don’t know if anyone had more fun out there today—how was that experience? – “It was a great experience for my first NFL game. I was nervous before until I got out there and then it was just kind of filled in from there.”

(Take me through the hit and then to the celebration afterward—it looked like you lost your footing when you jumped up? – “We were just in our coverage four-men with three-deep and I just read the quarterback and I broke on him and I got there before he had a chance to turn and run, so I took my shot. And on the celebration—Christian took me down. We both jumped up and he’s much bigger than me, so he overpowered me a little bit there.”

(This has to be the type of game you envisioned the night you weren’t drafted? – “Yes, most definitely. The night I went undrafted, I just had a chip on my shoulder from then on. I always envisioned myself making plays, but definitely being undrafted—yeah.”

(What does a game like this do for your confidence going forward? I know you were pretty confident anyway, but what does this do for your confidence?) – “Since training camp, my coaches have harped on building up my confidence. Always telling me, ‘you need to be ready game one, you need to be ready game one.’ So it’s a credit to them and then in the game just add a little bit on to it.”

LB Melvin Ingram

(It looked like you just snatched that ball out of the air [for the touchdown]. Was it just seamless? You just saw it in front of you? Tell us about the play.) – “See ball, get ball. When I’m out there, see ball, get ball, baby – that’s all it is. Just trying to make a play though. All jokes aside, I’m just trying to make a play. That’s the idea, I’m here to try to make plays to help this ball club win.”

(What’s it like playing with this defense? I’m sure you’ve seen it from afar before, but to see how the defensive backs can get into the backfield and do that to a quarterback?) – “It’s amazing. That’s special when you have ‘DBs’ and linebackers and all that play like that, it’ll make your job easy. It’s all 11 guys out there getting to that ball, and it’s something special here.”

(Is the gameplan you saw from New England so of what you were expecting? Week 1 is always such a question mark.) – “Yeah, it was what we expected. We stayed in the film room, and coaches do a great job preparing us. So it was everything we expected.”

S Brandon Jones

(What is that like? What is the realization when you know, “damn, nobody is gonna touch me on my way to this quarterback”?) – “I know my eyes are probably huge. It was a great feeling. I think I celebrated a little early though, I didn’t realize the ball was right beside me. That’s what (Emmanuel) Ogbah said – ‘you didn’t pick the ball up.’ (laughter) It was a good play.”

(Last year, no other defensive back put more pressure on the quarterback than you did. No one rushed more often as you did, but how important was showing up your game, your pass rushing, over the course of the offseason?”) – “Yeah that was huge. Obviously I’m really big on just trying to grow every aspect of my game but for sure man. Coverage has been something I have been working on. I work on everything before practice. It’s a huge emphasis. Not just that, but just anything. When it comes to blitzing, to making those hunting drops, playing the middle of the field safety. I’m always looking for ways to grow my game and continue to better myself as a player.”

WR Jaylen Waddle

(When you got the play-call for that fourth-and-eight play, what was going through your mind?) – “Nothing really goes through your mind, you try to read the coverage. I just try to be prepared when my number is called and try to make the play. It was a great ball and the o-line held up, I tried to catch it and do something with it.”

(What does it say about your Head Coach Mike McDaniel to roll the dice like that?) – “He’s just got confidence in us. We had a good offseason, a good camp, so he’s got confidence in us. We have confidence in him. Every decision that he makes, we are just going to try and go out there and do it.”

(Does it excite you that your Coach (Mike McDaniel) wants to go for it on fourth-and-eight and try to get a huge lead at half?) – “I trust Mike (McDaniel) to know what he’s doing, I trust him play calling, all that good stuff. Great head coach, great first win.”

CB Kader Kohou

Bill Belichick
Visitors Postgame Presser
Miami – 20, New England – 7
BILL BELICHICK: Well, it’s obviously a disappointing start here. It was really a pretty even game. Two big plays, 14 points, really skewed the game. Moved the ball. We couldn’t get enough points, and we got
into their territory. We got in their six, seven times, whatever it was, and it was 7 points. So we’ve got to do a better job of finishing.
Defensively, gave up a big play there at the end of the half and a couple field goals, but still need to play better on third down. Obviously getting the ball back there at the end of the game.
Not enough good things to win. A couple bad plays really hurt us. Need to finish some drives better on both sides of the ball and make an impact. Just build on this and go back to work.
Q. The strip sack, could you see that? Other than obviously the guy didn’t block —
BILL BELICHICK: Yeah, we missed him.
Q. Is Mac hurt?
BILL BELICHICK: I haven’t been in the training room.
Q. How do you feel the new look offense performed in their first real test today?
BILL BELICHICK: I think I just said that. Moved the ball. Had a couple of plus-50 punts, but we generally moved the ball but didn’t produce enough points.
Q. It didn’t look like Kendrick Bourne got in the game until the very end. Was there a reason that he wasn’t playing?
BILL BELICHICK: No, it just worked out that way.
Q. He came in and immediately caught a 40-yard pass. In retrospect, should you have played him more
today?
BILL BELICHICK: We did what we thought was best.
Q. Was it disciplinary?
BILL BELICHICK: No.
Q. You just told us that he’s not giving the coaching staff what they need to see. What do you need to see
from him to get in the game more?
BILL BELICHICK: We talk to all the players. We just all need to do a better job, obviously, coaches, players. We just all need to perform better. So we’ll work on that.
Q. Some of the free rushers on the snap, was that a communication issue? What was wrong?
BILL BELICHICK: We had two plays where we had enough to block them, but we didn’t block it properly.
Yeah, there were two of those.
Q. In retrospect, are you glad you brought the team down early for the heat?
BILL BELICHICK: Yeah, there was no problem. We had a good week.
Q. Is it a challenge for you to make sure the guys don’t get down on themselves after one loss?
BILL BELICHICK: It’s a long season. I don’t think it will be decided after this week’s games.
Q. Overall, what would you just say about Mac at times? Was it on him not finishing the drives or
everybody else? What would you say about his performance today?
BILL BELICHICK: There weren’t a lot of incomplete passes.
Q. A lot of changes along the offensive line. Cole came out early. Isaiah Wynn goes. Was it pre-planned?
BILL BELICHICK: Yeah, we planned to play as many people as we could. I think we played just about everybody.
FastScripts by ASAP Sports

David Andrews
Visitors Postgame Presser
Miami – 20, New England – 7
DAVID ANDREWS: We’ll go back and watch it here on the flight. We beat ourselves up. I thought we ran the ball well. Obviously, they did some things to counteract that, but some of the pressures, but I thought we ran the ball well, but we beat ourselves. Three, four turnovers, a strip sack for a touchdown. More of can’t win till you keep from losing kind of day then, anything else. I think there was a lot of positives. Parts of me are encouraged. Parts of me are — you know, let one slip away.
Q. There were two unblocked sacks in the first half that kind of wrecked the drives. Disappointing?
DAVID ANDREWS: Yes.
Q. Do you need to have that figured out?
DAVID ANDREWS: Yeah, I don’t think I can go into a game not feeling like I have something figured out. Go back and see what we can do better, what I can do better, and go from there.
Q. How did you do as a new offense?
DAVID ANDREWS: Like I said, there were some things that were encouraging. Look, obviously, when you get down like you do, it kind of takes your fastball away, the run game obviously. We tried to keep it going there. But you can’t sit there and just keep running the row ball. Obviously, I haven’t looked at the stats, I don’t know anything, but I felt like we were moving the ball in the run game. I felt like we were moving the ball all day really. Felt like we could have finished drives and obviously the turnovers, which I hit on. Like I said, there were some things that are encouraging, but it was a loss. We’ve got to figure that out here tonight and tomorrow morning and then get on to the next one.
Q. Outside of those first two drives in the first and second half, why do you feel the offense struggled?
DAVID ANDREWS: Well, a strip sack for a fumble. Another interception and fumble, turnovers. It’s hard to get in rhythm when you don’t have the football. I think when we were rolling, we were in the rhythm, and
then we kind of sputtered out, didn’t win first down, got behind the chains. It’s hard to win that way.
Q. Any worry about there still being a little bit of a going out process?
DAVID ANDREWS: Look, Super Bowl is not decided today, right? We’ve got 17 — 16 more games now. So,
look, how many years you come out here and see a team go 8-0, 6-0, and then don’t make the playoffs?
We try to get better each week. We’ll learn from this. I thought it was a great learning experience, just a great defense. I think we all know that, who does some challenging things. We’ll learn from it and move forward. That’s all we can do.
Q. Do you feel like you were acclimated to the heat, coming down early?
DAVID ANDREWS: Yeah, it was just playing football, man.
Q. When you say learning, what did you learn most from today?
DAVID ANDREWS: Like I said, I thought we did a lot of things good. We made some plays. We were able to run the ball well. I thought Cole did a great job in his first NFL start.
Look, I got to go in the film and learn. Come find me next week, and you can find an analysis of it.
FastScripts by ASAP Sports

DB Kyle Dugger

(The touchdown they got on that fourth down looked like you were coming down just kind of
playing single high. Was it a bad angle? What happened there?) – “Terrible angle by me. Bad
eyes. I didn’t locate the defender. I didn’t do my job basically; really poor play by me. Corners trust
in me to be in the middle of the field and I wasn’t there. So it was definitely all me – bad play.”
(You mentioned bad eyes, I know coaches talk a lot about that pre-snap. Are you talking about
as the play developed? Or when was that?) – “I just never located the receiver. Or I didn’t put
myself in a position to be inside of him once he caught it. So it was just a poor angle, poor
placement and too late.”
(Besides that play obviously, you guys held them to pretty few point – I think it was 13 on
offense. What was driving that success of otherwise keeping them out of the end zone?) –
“Stopping the run definitely was one thing that was good. I know it was pretty one dimensional. The
d-line did a great job and linebackers did a great job of stopping the run, so it made them one
dimensional. Guys be doing their job up front, so that definitely was super helpful for us.”

TE Hunter Henry

(I understand it’s only Week 1. You said you’re going to learn from it, but what do you feel you
learned about your team?) – “That we have a good football team. I mean, we moved the ball, we
just kind of shot ourselves in the foot and made bad mistakes. We can’t have a free rusher backed
up. We had a pick in the first drive and the momentum probably would have shifted in a little way.
We just didn’t execute good enough. I felt like we moved the ball well, we just didn’t finish drives.”
(The rhythm really seemed to be there aside from that first drive in the first half and the first
drive in the second half. Why do you feel you really struggled to get some traction offensively?)
– “I think it was the turnovers, obviously, and then when you’re playing from behind, especially how
far we got behind, it changed things. We kind of had to pick it up a little bit more and things had to
be a little different. I mean, we moved the ball, we just kind of shot ourselves in the foot like I said.”
(Did you see any particular way they were trying to attack your protections when they brought
‘DBs’?) – “They brought a different good amount of blitzes today, not an incredible amount and
(Cover 0) pressures, all out pressures. They’re definitely trying to mix some safety pressures, some
backend pressures to try to confuse guys. I felt like we handled a lot of them good, but obviously the
one stands out with the strip sack. That one kind of – you got to be on it on every single play.”

Matthew Judon
Visitors Postgame Presser
Miami – 20, New England – 7
Q. How would you sum up the game?
MATTHEW JUDON: We’re going to go back on and film and see what we did, but it’s the score obviously. They have more points than we did. We’ve got to fix that and come out on the victor’s side next time.
Q. How much did that play at the end of the first half, their touchdown on fourth down, how much did that knock you guys back?
MATTHEW JUDON: I think all the points knocked us back. That’s how you win games. You score more points than they did. A.J. is kind of hurt, and it’s fourth down. We know they’ve got to pass it, fourth and long, and we give up six going into the half, and then they get the ball back. So that hurt us. It definitely stings, and we can’t do that if we want to be a good team.
Q. Do you kind of feel like you guys were a work in progress? Is it always that way, or what Devin was
talking about, how do you fix those kinds of things?
MATTHEW JUDON: I think everybody is a work in progress until the end. It ain’t over until it’s over. We’re not tucking, and we’re not ducking on smoke. We’re going to go back out there and work. We’ve just got to work harder, honestly. We want to win games. We want to be a good football team. We want to
have a chance to compete. So with that, a work in progress. It ain’t over till it’s over. We’ve got 16 more of
these, and we’re not going to hang our hat on the first one.
FastScripts by ASAP Sports

Devin McCourty
Visitors Postgame Presser
Miami – 20, New England – 7
Q. How would you sum up that game?
DEVIN McCOURTY: Too many bad plays. I didn’t look at the stats, but it wasn’t a game where we just got
completely dominated, but you can’t win in this league with bad plays. We just had too many bad plays, defensively specifically. But even overall, turnovers, bad plays, defense missing tackles, things like that, it’s too hard to win in this league. Almost gave ourselves a chance, and then another bad play. It’s just too much to overcome.
Q. What would you say, just describe your perception of that play before the half? Did that feel like a bad
play at the time or no?
DEVIN McCOURTY: I couldn’t fully see it. I was in coverage. Lester ran a wheel route, so I was in coverage.
Definitely, what was it, 10-0 and you give up that play, even if we just make the tackle, we go 13-0 into the half is way better, I think, than giving up the touchdown and coming back out on defense. I thought we did a good job to come back in the second half after giving up that play the first drive to get a three
and out and get our offense back on the field. Again, it’s just too much to overcome. I think within the game, like that play, I was sitting there like, man, we lost now, but it definitely, when you have a play like that where it’s just like — I don’t want to say easy, but a play where they make a good throw and catch and just tackle him right here, it definitely, I think it hurt us, but it didn’t knock us out of the game.
We still had a whole half of football, and we got momentum, we got going, but then again, like another
missed tackle here or there, turnover, just couldn’t overcome it.
Q. Did you think they might punt there? He goes out.
DEVIN McCOURTY: I didn’t. The offense never left the field. Obviously A.P. gets hurt, so they had more time to think about it, but I would say overall, if I remember correctly, I told the guys we need to get a stop, and I think someone said to me, it’s fourth down. The offense didn’t leave the field. They stayed out there. So whether they were going to go or not, it definitely looked like they were thinking about it, and I think we saw that. Even at the end of the game, the reverse, they were still throwing the ball. Obviously an aggressive mentality, and we’ve got to match that as a defense.
Q. Are you encouraged at all? 13 points, and they only had one big play.
DEVIN McCOURTY: Hard, man. I’m not going to lie to you. Like I said, there’s some good things on the film. I’m sure we’ll see that. But you want to win, man. I think you understand how this league works. It’s a result league, win or loss. There’s no like we did this well, good momentum. Yeah, there’s some things we’ll look at and say, I don’t think this team is going to say, hey, we’re destined to go 0-17. We have some
good players. We had good plays today. But in this league, you’ve got to change that fast and get it going, play better and get a win next week. That’s what it’s about.
Q. How deceptive is Tua? It seems like he hides the ball really well.
DEVIN McCOURTY: I would say overall like that offense, we knew that, when we played San Fran, it’s just a lot of movement within the backfield. When you’ve got the quarterback kind of hand down in front, did he give it, did he keep it, I think they do a good job of that. We did a good job on some plays just getting pressure and making them decide and having them react quickly. No, he does a great job with that, and I would say does a good job of just taking what the defense gives him. They’ve got a lot of guys, I think we saw today, that they’re going to just throw it to and say do the rest. We’ve got to do a better job, no matter who we play, of tackling because guys are talented in this league. I think there were some plays on third down and different times where he threw the ball short, but a broken tackle turned it into a big play and I think kind of changed drives. Instead of being ready to get off the field on a minus 50, they get a first down, either in field goal range now or the punt knocks us back to within the 5 yard line. I think some
of those plays made it tougher for us too as a defense and as an offense.
Q. It seemed like no matter what you guys tried, it’s getting really hard to come out of here with a win?
DEVIN McCOURTY: Frustrating. That’s what I said. Are you encouraged? Yeah, I mean, but we just — what is this, four straight losses? I think that’s definitely frustrating because we’ve got a team that I think can compete and come out here and win, but we keep falling short. It sucks to come in here and have to keep saying that.
Q. Going to clean up the mistakes?
DEVIN McCOURTY: I sure hope so. We’re going to go to work and get it fixed. Week 1, we’ve got a lot of time, but have to have a sense of urgency. Obviously going on the road next week in Pittsburgh won’t
be any easier, but it will be a great challenge to see what we’re made of and go out there and try to get a win against a good football team.
FastScripts by ASAP Sports

WR Jakobi Meyers

(I know this is the first game, and like you said there are thing you can build on. Is there a sense
of frustration that you could start as an offense a little bit faster?) – “I feel like we started fast; we
just didn’t finish. So we start fast, and that was something we preached on all week. We just got to
finish when we get down to the red zone.”

WR DeVante Parker

(QB Mac Jones and maybe some others were saying, “Hey! DPI on that interception down in the
corner of the end zone.” What did you think happened on that one?) – “I don’t know what
happened. When the ball was in the air, X (Xavien Howard) was able to get his hand up, and (Jevon)
Holland came up with the pick.”
(Did you think you had been interfered with?) – “I didn’t think I was. He got his hand up and Jevon
(Holland) was able to pick it off.”

(Was there anything happening there that didn’t allow you to kind of get off the ground the way
you would have wanted?) – “No, I don’t believe so. I just kind of misjudged it, so the next time I
know just go up for it.”
(How was the heat? Did you feel like it was a factor at all for you guys today?) – “No, I feel like
we were in shape. I don’t feel like it was a factor at all.”
(Does it feel pretty normal to still have some growing pains even in Week 1?) – “Yes, there’s
some stuff that you can overcome. You just have to go back on film and correct it.”

TE Hunter Henry