Offensive Line Coach Steve Marshall
(Fans and some media think differently than coaches in this sense. I think when you look at your three young offensive linemen, fans and maybe some of us will think after watching them for a couple months, “oh, maybe the Dolphins have solved it, maybe we found three young starters who could be long-term starters.” The last couple weeks obviously there’s been issues in pass protection – not just for them but veterans as well and obviously G Solomon Kindley was out last week. Has anything that’s happened in the last three weeks – I don’t want to say shaken your confidence, but are you still of the belief that T Austin Jackson, G/T Robert Hunt and G Solomon Kindley can be good long-term NFL starters? Has anything changed your mind about that?) – “No, none whatsoever. I think they’re – obviously as you go through your rookie season, doing all the things you have to do and all the different challenges they’re brought up with and each and every game is a little bit different. The reason I say that, they’re work-ethic guys, they’re football guys and they’ve got to continue to work and see different things and we put them in different positions to get done; but I’m very excited about those three young guys like I have been all along.”
(What was the difference in that final six-minute drive that you guys had that killed the clock against the Jets? What was different about the execution from the offensive line standpoint?) – “Different from what?”
(Past prior games where you guys struggled to kind of gain yardage.) – “I don’t know. It’s hard to compare. Like I said, each game – we work in those scenarios each and every week on trying to win the game on the field if we have a lead. If we’re fortunate enough to have a lead, to be able to finish in the four-minute, six-minute mode on the field and we happen to hit a couple good runs, we hit a couple good passes to continue to keep drives alive and be successful at it. Sometimes you’ve just got to keep pounding that rock. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Everybody in the NFL is tough and the Jets were no different. That’s kind of as you move forward, we work on those scenarios each and every week and we happened to be successful at it this past weekend.”
(Specific to T Austin Jackson, obviously a developmental player. Obviously he missed some time due to injury, but can you give us a little bit of insight into for him specifically, some points of emphasis, some coaching points that he’s really working hard on to refine so that he can reach all of his potential?) – “As we do every week up front – win, lose or draw – the fundamental part of playing in the National Football League is utmost, especially at the tackle position. Some guys are talented enough inside to kind of do what they need to do to get the job done, but out there when you’re going every week against the top-of-the-line rushers to that side; it’s fundamentals, it’s bending your knees, it’s the same scenario every week in how we get those done. And that’s with Austin; but it’s no different than Rob (Hunt) or Ereck Flowers for that matter. The young players that we have keep doing the fundamental thing – learning something new every week. Am I in balance? Are my hands in the right spot? Each and every week, my game plan going into every week against specific rushers – all that is something that we work on every single week in an attempt to get a little bit better each week with that. And to say specifically, that is specific each and every week on, ‘okay, we’ve got such-and-such guy, here’s the moves he’s going to try to put on you. All right, here’s what we think your game plan and let’s talk about that and work on these things each and every day starting on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and try to refine them going into the game.’”
(I guess I’m curious a little bit. When you’ve got guys on the right side in G/T Robert Hunt and G/T Jesse Davis, who can both play right guard and right tackle, what is sort of the determination on who plays which spot and why you feel more comfortable with Jesse at guard and Hunt at tackle instead of vice versa?) – “I feel comfortable because Jesse (Davis) has had more experience in there than Rob (Hunt) has. Does Rob have the skillset to move in to play guard at one point? Sure. But Jesse has, in his career has played all – I think I mentioned to you last week – the guy has played every position on the o-line other than center in a game. Those kind of guys are invaluable in this league. It’s a long – it’s a season of attrition. We’re in Week whatever we’re in and Jesse, he can move and adapt a little quicker with the experience that he has had as opposed to Rob and some of the younger guys. Rob has a good skillset, whether it’s tackle or guard, and there’s going to be a time in his career I think where he can move around and play different positions. I don’t think that’s quite the time to do it and really Jesse has proven to be a very, very solid guard as he has been a very solid tackle. He’s kind of – I always tell him, ‘man, you’re my MVP; you can play left, you can play right.’ And from a mental standpoint, he knows the whole offense and does it and those young guys are continuing to grow and improve, and I see Rob in that vein down the road. I don’t think he’s quite there yet, but he’s working as hard as he can and he’s working extremely hard. I’m real happy with Rob and obviously Jesse.”
(Offensive Coordinator Chan Gailey was on here a couple minutes ago as a voice of reason kind of explaining QB Ryan Fitzpatrick’s experience obviously with 16 years and QB Tua Tagovailoa with four games. How do you think the QB’s experience plays a role in how the o-line performs and develops from a week-to-week basis?) – “You can analyze all that you want; every guy has their own job to do up front. On any specific protection, any specific run, from that standpoint; it really – and I think I know what you’re getting at – one guy is experienced, one guy’s not experienced but the bottom line is we’ve got to do our job up front. We’ve got to do a great job in protection, we’ve got to do a great job in the run game, and mesh with whoever’s going to play. Tua is a top young prospect. ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick) – there’s nothing ‘Fitz’ hasn’t seen in his 16 years and various roles in the league. And both of them, we can win football games with and that’s our bottom line right there, is winning football games. So we’ve got to do our part up front and keep trying to improve each and every week.”
(We’re coming up on Game 12 and I think you’ve got three rookies. I think at one point this team started seven rookies altogether. Is the rookie wall real? Is that something that’s a real phenomenon and how do you kind of guard against that when you’re going to need your rookies to play?) – “I don’t know. That’s a great question. I hear it all the time and I’ve been around it all the time. I don’t know. I’d say if you had four preseason games and we had extended time and we’d be in Week 16 as opposed – I don’t know. I don’t have time to worry about the rookie wall. We’ve got to keep working. I don’t want to hear – that’s irrelevant. We’ve got to get better. Those young guys got to learn. Those guys got to learn to fight through it. College football now, the seasons are longer. These guys play all the time. I don’t put much stock in that stuff, but it doesn’t matter. We go out there Wednesday practice – the big thing is we’ve got to get a little bit better. We’ve got to get a little better on Wednesday, then Thursday, then Friday and go onto the weekend.
Tight Ends Coach George Godsey
(We saw TE Durham Smythe had three catches in the first quarter there. TE Mike Gesicki had the touchdown. TE Adam Shaheen had the touchdown. How much do you think that the tight ends need to be contributors in the passing game because of the relative inexperience at the receiver position behind WR DeVante Parker?) – “First off, their alignment is a little bit closer to the quarterback so it makes it not as far of a distant throw, so it makes us a little bit more accurate to find those guys over the ball, potentially inside the numbers. Then it’s up to those guys doing a good job getting open. Some of those were contested catches. Others were in zone. But when those guys get involved, distributing the ball to more than a couple of receivers, I think it kind of opens up things offensively for us.”
(Postgame, TE Mike Gesicki had talked about his growth as a route runner and learning to kind of vary his releases. I was hoping to hear your perspective on what you’ve seen from him from a developmental standpoint from the time you got here first last year to the player he is now today.) – “The releases, I think that’s always evolving as a route-runner, because you go against different guys. You’re presented defensive linemen to get around when you’re attached or in-line. When you’re in the slot, it may be different player than a corner outside playing you. And then obviously the safeties are a little bit more physical when matching the tight end. All of those change based on the person you’re going against. That’s what’s so fun about this, is each week there’s new variables and it’s a challenge. So it’s putting those guys in those positions during the week, making sure that they execute the techniques that we think will help them. Mike’s done a good job of carrying that to the game. I think it’s a little bit easier to draw on the paper and get to the back pylon; but when he’s avoiding a guy, along with the rush getting to ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick) there on that throw that you were talking about and to high-point it, there’s a lot of individual technique that we’ve worked on for that play to be successful and it was a big play for us.”
(We spend a lot of time thinking about, talking about how QB Ryan Fitzpatrick makes life easier for everyone around him because of his expertise and his experience. I’m wondering with TE Mike Gesicki and TE Durham Smythe in particular having been around the offense, having been around the team – what are some ways that maybe they can help QB Tua Tagovailoa as a youngster when he’s in there?) – “That’s an excellent point because the more experienced each player is, the more they can help the younger or first-year players, even second-year players. I think all those tight ends will tell you that they have not reached their ceiling. They still have many things to improve on; but their anticipation, especially playing a team multiple times like the Jets every year, familiarity with the personnel and the scheme can help anticipate holes that are open or top-of-route technique along with every position – whether it’s a running back on a blitz pick up, a lineman on a stunt. That’s part of this game. The more experience you get, the more you can anticipate and make quick decisions. You may not be right before the snap always, but when the situation presents itself post-snap you can recognize and change your technique as far as getting open in the route game or blocking a certain defender if he’s stunting. That’s vital to anybody’s growth as a young player and certainly for the quarterback position.”
(Bear with me a bit. I asked TE Mike Gesicki after the game, it felt like he was boxing out his DB like he was going up for a rebound, so I’m curious how much of playing tight end is basketball skillset in particular situations?) – “You might have started a war in that room talking about basketball because each one of them thinks they’re the next greatest basketball center or forward; but it is about positioning and getting yourself in a position between the quarterback and basically either boxing out the defender or getting yourself in a position where you have a favorable advantage to bringing it down. If you noticed when he caught the ball, which I think kind of goes unnoticed, is he didn’t necessarily catch it and bring it to the tuck. We work that. We know that that’s where the defender’s hands are going. So the most important thing is to extend that ball away from that defender, which that’s a part of that catch that I think was important based on where the placement of the defender was. It’s tricky in the end zone because the defender can be in front of you, can be behind you, so catching and maneuvering and getting your feet down defining a catch to everybody that’s viewing it is just as important, especially in the end zone.”
(As you know, TE Mike Gesicki and TE Durham Smythe challenged each other this offseason to improve in areas that weren’t necessarily considered their strengths. As a run-blocker and in pass protection, you would say Gesicki is what – adequate, good, better than good? And I would ask you the same question regarding Smythe as a receiver – is he adequate now, good, better than good?) – “There’s certain plays where maybe one of those guys are asked more to do in the run game or the pass game and we’re looking at efficient plays, so on the very first drive where we throw the ball out there to Jakeem (Grant) quickly, Mike’s at the point of attack right there making a big block for us to get an efficient play. So he may not be asked the amount of times that Durham (Smythe) is; but when he is called on, he knows it’s important. Each one of them is growing in their roles and kind of similar to what I said earlier about younger players growing, we expect that to continue to improve and those guys know that and they hold each other accountable, which is so much better from a coaching standpoint. We can drill it, we can coach it and then when your teammates hold you accountable, that’s another aspect from teammate to teammate that really pushes each other to make it a successful play to do their part.”
Running Backs Coach Eric Studesville
(Do you and Head Coach Brian Flores have a policy with regard to when a running back fumbles, he does not play the next series? Is that pretty much an approach that you all have?) – “No, not one that we’ve talked about. When the balls came out – both of them, Matt (Breida) got carries later in the game even. But DeAndre (Washington) went in the next series and he was playing well, that’s why we kind of took with the hot hand there from where it went. But no, nothing that we’ve talked about.”
(I wanted to ask you about that final six-minute drive where you guys just absolutely ate up the clock. You’ve been trying to do that pretty much all season. What was the difference this week?) – “I think execution. I think it takes everybody in those situations where they know you want to run it. We know they’re going to try to load the box and stop the run and we’ve got to get hats on hats, we’ve got to be decisive running the ball downhill and picking good spots and I think it goes into the execution of the entire group.”
(You guys had leaned on RB Myles Gaskin a lot early in the season. Do you have any inclination on now that he’s coming back, where he fits in the offense now that you’ve had a couple other backs who have run in there and played well?) – “No, we don’t really know yet. We’ve got to wait until tomorrow. I know he’s been working. He wants to get back in the worst way. He’s been in every meeting, he’s been great and we just got to kind of see where it goes and take it when we get him on the field tomorrow and see what happens and see where everything is; but I’m not making any plans. I don’t want to be disappointed for any reason. (laughter) I don’t want to get too excited, so I’m just going to take it when we get to tomorrow.”
(Kind of back to a previous question. Head Coach Brian Flores was very complimentary of RB DeAndre Washington and the run game’s ability to grind that game out in the fourth quarter. What does it say to you about DeAndre’s ability to step in just a few weeks after he arrives to have a big role in a big spot like that?) – “I think there’s a couple things that are worth noting regarding DeAndre. I think the first one is this is a passionate guy who prepares. He came in and learned this offense. He did a great job of working. That’s what you see manifested in his performance, was the amount of work and time and effort that he put in to give himself a chance to go out there. And then as all players do and coaches as well, we just want an opportunity to showcase what we can do and he was waiting for that time and he was prepared for that opportunity when it came forward. I think it’s a credit to him and who he is – work ethic, his preparation and truly his patience for his time and opportunity, that he was ready for it when it came up.”
(How much – a previous question mentioned earlier about that six-minute drive toward the end of the game where you guys were successful. How much do you guys practice those four or six-minute drives and trying to sort of I guess ice out the game and is that something that sort of has lined up to what you guys did on Sunday?) – “I think all those game situations, we talk about constantly with the entire team in all three phases of it. We’re constantly talking about the different game situations because we want to be a great situational football team, so we have to address those things and talk about them, show them when they happen around the league, watch things. We do practice those. We have practiced those situations where we talk about, ‘well, what’s going to happen here? What’s the time on the clock? What’s the situation? What’s our demeanor, our mentality?’ Those are all things that we’re constantly going over and not just in that four-minute grouping like that but whether that’s two-minute, whether that’s – there’s a whole lot of situations that we talk about very, very often.”
(I wanted to follow up on RB DeAndre Washington. What is the skillset that he has, in your opinion, that kind of will lead to him having success in this offense?) – “I think one thing that it starts with is his preparation and his work ethic. I think that’s one of the things that he did great coming in here. He took the extra time meeting with me and doing things and wanting to ask questions, wanted to know. He’s a professional in how he approaches his job and what it is. I think physically, I think he has vision. I think he’s got eyes to be able to find holes, I think he’s got good feet in the holes. He ran with some toughness the other day, which is hard for us to tell that when you get a player in the middle of the season because you’re not in pads all the time and you can’t bang those guys around. But I thought he ran the ball with toughness, with good pad level, downhill, aggressive – all the things that we talk about in our room that we’re trying to get done. And in pass protection, I thought he did some really, really good things in pass protection, picking up some pressures that we had. Then he caught the ball well. He had a nice screen play and he had another catch in the flat. I just think overall, I think he’s got a skillset that can help us and we’re looking forward to his skillset continuing to develop.”
Wide Receivers Coach Josh Grizzard
(We spent a lot of time talking about how QB Ryan Fitzpatrick makes life easier for everyone around him, including receivers and tight ends. When it comes to QB Tua Tagovailoa being in there, what are some ways the receivers who have been around can help him?) – “From that end of it, it’s just being in the right spot for him, running the route at the right depth. If it’s a conversion route versus a certain coverage, making sure you are seeing the safeties, that way when you break the route you’re in the right area. So having the trust of him knowing where they are going to be and then reading it correctly, that’s half the battle out there.”
(It looked like WR DeVante Parker, they played a lot of man-to-man on him this past game. He obviously feasted on it. When you guys see DeVante on man, do you look at that as that’s an opportunity and we’re going to try to get the ball to him every chance?) – “We do. We like that matchup. From week to week, it changes on is it going to be a man scheme, is it going to be a press-man scheme, is it going to be a zone scheme where you have to find the voided area? But yeah, we love him matched up. We have all the confidence in the world in him. It’s great to see that he went out and had a great game on Sunday. That’s always a matchup we’re going to try to take advantage of.”
(What’s the key in translating WR Lynn Bowden Jr.’s physical gifts and how productive he was in college to being an effective NFL slot receiver? Where is he in that process do you think?) – “He’s done a good job. He’s coming along. He got in the game last week. I think that was probably his season-high in reps. You’ll see him move around a little bit, whether that is to the backfield or lined up in empty formations. A lot of the same ways as the other guys that play in there, it’s a matter of the reps, the live reps on seeing coverages, the matchups with whoever is playing that star position, which we call the nickel. It’s just a reps thing for him, just seeing that and trying to use his abilities in ways of getting him the ball and letting him do something with it.”
(After the game, TE Mike Gesicki compared the way he reacts after making a catch where it’s like he won the Super Bowl every time he catches the ball to WR DeVante Parker, who just has a quiet little head shake that he does. I’m curious from your perspective, as a guy who is around him every day, what’s WR DeVante Parker’s temperament like – whether it’s the classroom, film room, the weight room or on the field? What’s he like day to day?) – “I think with the head shake and all of that, it’s what you get. He doesn’t say a ton, but when he does say something and voices his opinion, you know that it’s coming from something that he truly believes in. Whatever his reaction is to having success, going out there and shaking his head and having it again the next play is what we’re looking for. I think that when guys see that kind of reaction from him, it gives juice to the rest of the unit. It could be the running backs, tight ends – and I think the o-line sees it. They are in there protecting for whoever is throwing it to get him the ball. It’s a collective effort, they see it and it sparks some juice for the next play.”
(I imagine it’s a unique position for you being the first time position coach and having guys like RB/WR Malcolm Perry and WR Lynn Bowden Jr. as rookies, and WR Antonio Callaway trying to learn the playbook. With the youth in the position group, especially with a QB that’s young and trying to develop as well, how do you guys continue to try to make progress in developing all across the board?) – “I think it’s fun because those guys are young, because they come in here and especially with guys that might not have necessarily played full-time receiver their whole life, you’re just getting these guys and they don’t have a bunch of bad or good tendencies. You’re trying to put them in the right direction to go out and see coverages and understand why teams are doing this. Ultimately it’s fun because they are so young. They are just like ‘can we watch more film? Can we still some time at night?’ In this climate we’re in with Zoom, you can get on a call with these guys and watch the tape even when you’re sitting at home. Those guys are all eager to learn, not only the playbook, but taking it to the next level on their understanding of not only our scheme but what the defense is trying to do as well.”
Quarterbacks Coach Robby Brown
(What did QB Tua Tagovailoa do on Sunday while he was on the sidelines? I saw he made the trip and he was out there even though he didn’t play. What instructions did you give him for Sunday?) – “What we did, the backup quarterbacks and the guys that are down there, we always have things for them to look at. Just for him, per (Offensive Coordinator) Chan (Gailey) and ‘Flo’ (Head Coach Brian Flores), just use it as a learning experience. Look at all the pictures, try to look at it as if you are playing – in that way. So you go over all of that and he just tried to treat it as if he were playing or as if he were trying to help out. He saw some things and really did a good job of trying to use it as a learning experience.”
(I’m curious, we talked to QB Tua Tagovailoa a little bit about the balance between throwing it into tight windows versus waiting for receivers to separate. How do you teach a young quarterback when is the right time to take that chance for maybe a 50/50 ball versus holding on to it?) – “We stress a lot of things to him and he has a great feel for football in general. He’s a competitive guy. So I think the more and more reps he gets – whether it’s routes versus air in practice, 7-on-7 reps, team reps in practice, game reps – all of that kind of stuff is where you get a feel for that and I think his natural instinct will come in. You talk about it, you watch it on film, you pull those up, (and say) ‘hey, what did you think here or what did you think there?’ I think his natural instinct, he’ll get better and better at it as he goes. I think he has a wonderful natural instinct for the game of football.”
(During the Broncos game, it looked like QB Tua Tagovailoa was very uncomfortable. He didn’t show that he had a great feel of the offense or you didn’t see those natural instincts like you’re talking about there. What were some of the things the Broncos were doing that really affected him, in your opinion?) – “If I had the answer to that, I’d probably be the richest man on earth. You have games where you play good, you have games where you aren’t feeling great and those types of things. I’d say for us as coaches, we just go back and look at it. ‘How can we do a better job to make him more comfortable? How can he do a better job?’ I think the great thing about this team, and more so than some I’ve been on, but what’s really good with this team is everybody looks at themselves and says ‘how can we help, how can we make this better?’ I think that’s what makes this team special. It starts from the top. We’ve just got to try to figure out how to fix that when it comes about, and it comes about. It’s the National Football League, so there are going to be games where you play great and hang 38 (points), and there are going to be games where they get you. We’ve just got to figure out how to fix that.”
(I was curious about QB Reid Sinnett, obviously a developmental quarterback who dressed for the first time. I have no idea anything at all about Reid Sinnett. What do you think are his strengths, upside? What does he seem to do ok?) – “We brought Reid in for a workout early on in the year and signed him. Reid does a really good job on the mental aspect of the game. He studies like he’s supposed to. He does everything the right way. He really works hard when he is running the look squad. We’ve been pleased with what we’ve seen so far. He’s got to come in and do the same things that we’ve talked about with the other developmental guys. It doesn’t matter what position it is, he needs to come in and try to get better mentally, try to get better when he gets individual throws during special teams and whatever it may be. He just has to continue to try to raise the bar for himself and see what happens.”
(QB Tua Tagovailoa has had four starts, so there is a little bit more tape on him for defenses. How do you guys go about adjusting maybe some tendencies he may be showing that defenses may lock on?) – “You’re going to try to do that. It doesn’t matter who is playing quarterback, you are going to try to look at tendencies that you may have as an offense, that you may have in different areas of the field, that you may have in all kinds of places. We’re always trying to do that, and look at things through the lens of who you are playing against. I don’t think it really matters who the quarterback is. It’s just Coaching 101. You try to figure out the best way to do things and then you go from there. I don’t think the quarterback really plays a role in that. You look at you as an offense and as a football team to try to fix that from a self-scout perspective.”
Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer
(I’m curious, what was the story of you going from the South Dakota School of Mines to the Patriots? How did that – kind of an odd step to take and I’m just curious how that happened?) – “Basically how it happened is Dean Pees was the linebackers coach for the New England Patriots, I believe in ’04 and ’05. I coached for Dean at Kent State. I was a graduate assistant. I worked heavily with the secondary with him, pretty closely with him, and after the ’05 season, Dean was made the defensive coordinator at New England and he called. That’s basically how I ended up at New England. It was really kind of by word of mouth, and I just went in there as a quality control coach and kind of worked my way up through the system that way; but I’d worked pretty closely with Dean Pees at Kent State, so that’s kind of how I went from South Dakota to New England.”
(Head Coach Brian Flores talks about how there’s a lot more to playing cornerback than intercepting passes. What is the thing that pleases you the most about the way CB Xavien Howard is playing?) – “I would say he’s really put in consistently some good all-around performances from a run-game standpoint, a pass-game standpoint, as far as his technique at the line of scrimmage, his leverage in pass coverage, his technique at the top of the route. I would say in the run game, making sure that he leverages the ball, being able to crack replace, really becoming a complete corner and doing it very consistently for a long period of time. It’s getting better and he’s working hard at it. That’s a credit to him and I know our guys in the secondary – (Coaching Assistant) Charles Burks and ‘G.A.’ (Defensive Backs Coach Gerald Alexander) – they work extensively with those guys and Xavien has put in a lot of work. I think the good thing about Xavien is he knows it’s a week-to-week league, so he’s got to put in that work each week and he’s striving for improvement. It’s really a credit to him and his work ethic that we’re seeing strides on a week-in and week-out basis.”
(I wanted to get your thoughts on why the run defense improved last week and were there a couple of guys that really stood out in that regard?) – “I think each week that we go into things, there’s things that we work on. Like the things that we’re doing well, we try to build upon that; and the things that we’re not doing as well, we try to correct because ultimately in this league, you’re going to see it again the next week, which we did. The Jets – they ran some of the same plays that Denver ran and I would say it’s a credit to the guys. Their work on their technique and their fundamentals, which is crucial this time of year because – we’ve had 11 games this season so there’s a lot of tape and film on us and coaches do a good job of scheming to get angles in the run game. And then obviously me personally, I just need to do a better job of putting those guys in position so they can make plays and I would say it’s really a credit to them to stay on task and work at their fundamentals and techniques, because that’s what’s going to carry us for the rest of the year.”
(I’d like to take you back to when Head Coach Brian Flores called you in whatever day that may have been and said, “Josh, I want you to be the defensive coordinator.” What was going through your mind at that point? Was it “Yeah, this is something I’ve been working toward for years.” Was it “am I ready for this?” How did that go? What was going through your mind?) – “Not much, to be honest with you. This was pre-pandemic. It was just after our season. We had some people coming over to our house and it was a pretty quick conversation. ‘Flo’ (Head Coach Brian Flores) – obviously we’ve known each other for a long time and he basically just kind of said, ‘hey, I’m thinking about this.’ I said, ‘yeah, that’s great.’ I said, ‘whatever you need, whatever you want me to do.’ And then it was getting ready for the dinner party that we had coming in. So there wasn’t a lot of worry, thought. Like I said, I’ve been around football my entire life. Things come up. Whatever my job is, whether it’s a position coach, coordinator; you take it very seriously. You work hard at it. I always feel like you can get better. Usually you feel like whatever you’re doing, that it’s not good enough and to me personally, I think if you ever got to the point where you’re like, ‘hey man, this is easy,’ then it’s probably time to call it quits or be done because I think you can always be better. I don’t think things stay the same. I think they get better or they get worse. It wasn’t a big – it was just, ‘hey, this is what I’m thinking.’ I said, ‘yeah, whatever you need.’ And that’s kind of how that happened. Probably not a very exciting story for you, but that’s how it happened. (laughter)”
(I know you want to be different as a defense more or less every week – multiple, as you say – what is the identity of your defense? What are your – what can you count on every week?) – “What I hope you can count on is that our guys are going to play with great effort, which they’ve done. It doesn’t matter the situation or what the score is, our guys are going to go out and they’re going to play with great effort. We’re going to get 11 hats to the ball and we’re going to tackle well and we’re going to play a physical style of football. Whatever people want to label it, they can label it. I think those are the things that we stress – the fundamentals, get everybody to the ball, be physical, tackle well – and week-to-week the scheme varies a little bit; but at the end of the day, we just want to play good sound football and get the ball back to our offense and eliminate as many points as possible from our opponents.”
(I wanted to ask you about some of the youngsters, who it seems have made improvements from the first game. You talked earlier about how you think that the unit and individual players will continue to improve throughout the year. I was thinking about guys like DT Zach Sieler, LB Andrew Van Ginkel, CB Nik Needham, S Brandon Jones, DT Raekwon Davis. They’re all young guys who seem to be improving. When you think about that group, what do you think are some of the reasons that they are, as Head Coach Brian Flores says, their arrow is pointing in the right direction?) – “I’d say it’s a credit to them and their work ethic and their consistency of coming in and striving to be better. Again, we preach this and I know I sound like a broken record: things, they don’t stay the same. You either get better or you get worse and you may hit some bumps in the road; but at the end of the day, the foundation – it’s like anything else in life – it’s your profession, it’s your craft. If you don’t practice it, you don’t work at it, your skillsets will diminish. I would say a lot of our guys, they put in a lot of extra work. There’s a lot of guys that maybe aren’t playing, but you can see the improvement in practice and we really push that with everybody. I would say it’s the same for the coaches. We try to get better from week to week and like I said, sometimes you have bumps in the road here and there, but I think it’s the process of constantly striving for improvement.”
(I wanted to ask specifically about CB Nik Needham. He kind of represents a player you guys were trying to identify and develop here since Head Coach Brian Flores has become the coach here. What can you say about his progression the last two seasons to becoming a key contributor on that defense, especially in the nickel role?) – “I think Nik’s becoming a true professional. I think he really comes to work like a sponge. He just wants to absorb as much information, whether it’s from coaches, players; and then his work ethic has really taken off to a new level. The extras he does before and after practice, the film study. It’s really an awesome thing to see as a coach that he’s taking his own initiative and again like I said earlier, I think Gerald Alexander and Charles Burks, they’ve done a good job with these guys in the back end. They push them and the players have really responded. And I think good things – whether you have success or you experience failure – that constant drive and work ethic has been the consistent thing and I think we’re starting to see a lot of improvement. I think Nik has made some great strides and I think he’ll continue to do that as long as his work ethic and drive and call it a chip – call it whatever you want to call it – that desire for him to be better, and he’s really put in the time and the work to that. We’re going to ask him to do more. He’ll probably willingly do it to see improvement out there on the field.”
Offensive Coordinator Chan Gailey
(How is QB Tua Tagovailoa feeling and how difficult was it for him not to play last week?) – “I think we all realize how competitive he is. I didn’t really get a chance to talk to him after the game about how he felt but just knowing him, I know he wanted to play. I don’t know until we get back into the office Wednesday exactly what the status is, but I know he’s working hard to get ready. He’s a tough guy.”
(I wanted to ask your thoughts on slot receiver. I know WR Antonio Callaway only had about a half-dozen catches out of the slot in Cleveland. Do you view him as a viable slot option for the rest of the season? Where is WR Lynn Bowden Jr. in his development? And your thoughts on RB/WR Malcolm Perry, who seemed to be playing well obviously before getting hurt?) – “Yeah, we’ve got some options there and obviously we have to be able to use everybody at our disposal here. We try to not pigeonhole too much where guys are going to be. We know that DeVante (Parker) has been more of an outside guy, but we have played him inside and we can still do that. He’s good in there. He’s done it and he can go make some plays inside in the slot. We try not to pigeonhole guys, but I think as the rest of the season unfolds, we’re going to have to use these other guys in different and varied ways to be able to move the football in the best way. We’ve got to use them all. Malcolm has come a long way, Lynn has come a long way, Antonio is learning as he goes; but it’s going to take everybody.”
(We know that QB Ryan Fitzpatrick has a good mastery of this offense and has the ability to alter and change plays. Does QB Tua Tagovailoa have that same level of mastery and same ability to change plays?) – “Not to the level of ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick). Very few people have that ability. He’s an amazingly smart guy and Tua hadn’t been in the offense six games yet. It’s like comparing apples and oranges. Is he where ‘Fitz’ is? No, he is not. But has he come a long way and is he making progress? Yes, very definitely.”
(What is the identity of the offense right now?) – “I think it’s week by week. We’re one of those offenses that tries to take what the defense gives us. I don’t want to pigeonhole who we are offensively. I think we try to run the ball effectively, we throw it when we need to throw it. We’ve got to be more consistent with what we’re doing. If people are going to stack the box and we have to throw it, then we’re going to throw it. If they play soft and let us run it, we’ve got to be able to run it effectively. It gets back to execution and being consistent with the things we’re trying to get done. I don’t like to worry too much about identity. I just want to make sure we’re being consistent and moving the ball on a consistent bases.”
(In light of what happened in Denver – obviously all the quarterbacks missing the game – some teams are separating their third quarterback from meetings and all of that. I’m just curious did you guys take any precautions like that beyond the normal mask wearing and all of that?) – “The thing about it is right now in the situation we’re in, we are all separated. We’re doing all of the meetings at home. We’re spread out at practice. So it seems like a moot point at this time to talk about that because we do try to keep them separated at practice where they’re not standing huddled together without proper precautions. Meetings from home are kind of handling the separation there.”
(I wanted to revisit a topic we talked about last week at various points about contested catches and the quarterback having the confidence to trust his receiver to make a play. We saw QB Ryan Fitzpatrick do that with TE Mike Gesicki and WR DeVante Parker on Sunday in New York. Where is QB Tua Tagovailoa now in his development in terms of having that confidence, and how do you bring him along to get him to make those throws that the receivers have to make the play?) – “I think there are a couple of things involved there. I think one, ‘Fitz’ had last year with all of these receivers, so he knows what to expect, how to read them and how to read body language and know break points and things like that. Tua has had four games with these guys. I think there is a learning process that goes on there, that you have to get a feel for it and you have to understand that. Is Tua at that point yet? No. But I think we will get there at some point in time. I’m hoping it’s sooner than later. I think he’s getting a better idea of it. He threw a couple of balls in Denver that were sticks right on the right side to DeVante that was like that, where he’s not just standing wide open and you’ve got to throw it and give him a chance to make a play. I think we are getting there, but we don’t have that kind of experience yet with these receivers with each of the guys yet to be able to do that.”
(You guys have had a lot of guys leading your backfield throughout the season for different reasons. It seems like you guys are getting close to getting RB Myles Gaskin and RB Salvon Ahmed back. Do you anticipate Gaskin presuming his previous role? How do you think that’s going to work out not that you have had different guys in the backfield?) – “I think it depends on everybody’s health. I can’t answer that question today. I think we’ve got to see how healthy everybody is. Somebody like Myles who has missed three weeks, what’s his conditioning level? There are just so many things up in the air right now to try to answer that question. I think that’s a question for maybe even all the way until Sunday before we really know what’s going to happen on that.”
Special Teams Danny Crossman
(We all know that K Jason Sanders makes all of his field goals. I don’t know a ton about him other than that. Since you met this guy, is there something kind of interesting that you’ve learned about him other than he kicks the ball straight all the time?) – “I think Jason is an outstanding young man, first and foremost. Obviously he’s very, very talented. We feel very, very fortunate to have him. There are a million things I can talk about, just like with a lot of these players – a lot of them I’ll keep private. Just a great kid and a joy to work with on a day-to-day basis.”
(It seems like in a league where touchbacks are so often the outcome, that you guys are consistently forcing returns and getting stops inside the 25-yard line. Jason, like you’ve mentioned, can put it into the end zone anytime he wants to. So I’m wondering, is that just a confidence thing in your kickoff team’s ability to win some of the hidden yardage there?) – “I think it’s a combination of a lot of things. I think it’s something that we look at on a week-to-week, game-to-game basis based on our opponent, based on other situations once we truly get into the game. But we feel good about Jason. We feel good about the coverage guys. There are a lot of things that go into it, but to be able to have some of that ability – for lack of a better term – to dictate what’s going on is something that ‘Flo’ (Head Coach Brian Flores) talks about. I’m sure you guys have heard it from him time and time again. That’s an advantage we’re trying to take advantage of.”
(K Jason Sanders is so consistent and so dependable that it’s almost easy to assume he’s always going to make kicks. I’m wondering going back into your career, I’m not asking you to name any names but have there been times when you were a special teams coordinator and had a kicker that just made you nervous as hell when he went out there? What’s that like?) – “I’d tell you it’s not fun. I’ve been very fortunate in my almost 20 years in this league that I’ve got to work with a lot of very good kickers, a lot of very dependable kickers. But when there is not that feeling – and maybe not as much for me, but in my opinion, when you send that guy out on the field for the team, the organization, the guys on the sideline, they are the ones who have that great feeling of who that guy is when he runs out on the field, that we’re coming away with a positive result. That’s very important for the team”
(I think you guys rank No. 1 or No. 2 in kick and punt coverage. I believe you are No. 1 in punt return average. You’ve got K Jason Sanders. At what point in the spring or in the summer did you have a sense that you might have a really special group?) – “To me, it goes all the way back to last season when we started working towards our goal of building this team, of the type of players in the classroom, on the practice field, to games – the kind of players and people we were looking for. We have a long way to go to really build a vision of what we’re all trying to gain. But when you have a good nucleus of guys who work hard and take a lot of pride in what they are doing, we felt that we were going to have an opportunity to have a solid group. Like I said, we have a long way to go and there are a lot more things that we can be a lot better in a lot of situations.”
(WR Mack Hollins, what makes him so successful as a gunner? I don’t even know if you call it that position; but in terms of taking on two blockers and still getting where he needs to be?) – “I think No. 1, you have to have great desire to play that position and really any position on punt. When you look at anybody that plays on punt, I have a great amount of respect for players because of what you’re asking them to do. When you talk about the punt play, you’re taking really all the elements of football and putting it into on play. When that play starts, those inside guys are protection players like offensive linemen. Then you’re asking them to become defensive players to be able to shock and separate and get off. Then you’re asking them to sprint, 30, 40, 60 yards down the field, and then go make a play. It’s the same thing with outside guys, whether you’re dealing with single or vice or stack. In a lot of those situations, you try to defeat two players, and that is just the start of it. You’ve got to defeat those guys but now you have to go make a play. I think desire is No. 1 and then he puts the time and effort into the practice field in studying and taking notes. When you put all of those things together, you give yourself a chance to be successful, which is the least you can do.”
