Thursday, August 13, 2020
DT Davon Godchaux
(I know that you’re looking forward to a big year and an improved year. Talk about universally the defense – how much better can this unit be than last year?) – “I think we’re just taking it one day at a time. Starting slow. Got on the ground yesterday and started fast with it. Just taking it one day at a time. We’re just – like I said – we can do a lot of things, but we have to come in and work hard, keep communicating as a team, as a defense; and like I said, we can do whatever we want as long as we do those things.”
(I heard this summer that you were the guy that coordinated the players-only workouts.) – “Man, who told you that? (laughter)”
(After getting in your feelings about seeing the Jets and the Bills come in your community and do their players-only workout, what was that process like coordinating it and what was the motivation?) – “It was kind of tough because you’ve got a lot of guys in the offseason – we would’ve been at OTAs, but the coronavirus – but you’ve got a lot of guys wanting to have their free time to themselves. A lot of guys got wives, a lot of guys got kids, so having to get it coordinated – we had to get a group message started specifically with the defensive line and get those guys, ‘hey, you’re going to be here at this time.’ And of course, you’ve got other teams doing that; I, of course, want to get my guys rolling and get my guys a head start on things like having rookies coming in and trying to get ahead, trying to get the playbook and things like that. So of course when I had the opportunity to do that, of course I took advantage of it.”
(Since you’re in charge of organizing things. I have an idea. What about a team private viewing of “Tua” the movie?) – “’Tua’ the movie? I mean, hey, if he’s got a movie – he’s got a movie coming out or something?”
(Yeah, it’s going to be on Fox.) – “Hey, I’m excited to see that. I hope they have the last game when LSU beat them (laughter), but hey, I’m just … That’s my guy though. He’s a great guy. He’s a great guy.”
(I wanted to ask you about some of the offseason additions made up front this year on the Dolphins defensive line. How do those additions help you guys be more multiple up front?) – “We have guys – Shaq Lawson and Emmanuel Ogbah – both of those guys can rush the passer. Both of those guys can set the edge, so I think when you look at those two guys, they’re very big, very strong, very physical guys; so with me and Christian (Wilkins) inside and to add some other guys to it, I think we’re just going to start off being a physical defensive line. We want to rush the passer. We want to stop the run first, but I think when you add those two guys, you’re looking at two guys that can really set the edge and really can play on third down, too.”
(I know you probably are keeping a very close eye on what is happening with college football. I wanted to get your views on what you think – what you’d like to see happen – and also there’s some talk about even spring ball and I can’t help but wonder, if you go to spring, is anyone who’s an NFL prospect going to play that kind of ball?) – “Probably not because you’re kind of throwing it off schedule with the guys are usually playing in the fall. Then the spring they’re usually getting ready for draft time, Combine time and things like that; but I don’t know. I’m very interested. I hope teams – if the ACC doesn’t play, I hope teams like Clemson can join the SEC and play a couple of those teams. Teams like Ohio State – the Big Ten – can come down and play the SEC, ACC. It’s very interesting. I see the Big 12 is going to still go. I think the SEC is going to go. I think the ACC is still going to go, but the other two – the Pac 12 and the Big Ten – hopefully some of those teams can come down and play SEC and ACC and Big 12 teams.”
(You were obviously on the COVID-19 list for a quick couple days there, but I just wanted to ask what was that process like and what do you think of the process of players jumping on the COVID list, being quarantined from one another – do you think it helps the teams keep their goal of keeping guys COVID-free and able to continue in practice and things like that?) – “Absolutely. Once you first jump on the COVID list – I mean, me, I jumped on it, but I knew it was like a false positive because I didn’t think I had it because the antibodies said I already had it back in June sometime. So I didn’t think – when I first saw it, I’m like, ‘hey, this can’t be right,’ but I got a second test, got a third test and both of those were negative. I’m just glad the NFL, I think they fixed it or something like that. Like once you test positive, you can test the next day where you can get it like, cleared, so I’m glad they fixed that because I think a lot of guys are going to be screwed in the season if you test positive on a Friday and you had to test two negatives, you’re going to miss that Sunday’s game. So I’m glad they fixed that, but at the end of the day I think it’s a good thing, a good protocol we’ve got to do. If you test positive, you’ve got to leave the building. You can’t be in the building. You can’t come in the building because right now you have 79 other guys on the roster. You can’t mess with those guys. You can’t screw those guys. So when you test positive, I think it’s absolutely a red flag (and you need) to leave the building.”
(I wanted to ask you, everybody always looks at sacks where there are teams or individuals to kind of grade things and I know Head Coach Brian Flores talks about scheme and pressure – what do you think about the concept of scheme and pressure and how effective that can be for a defense maybe in lieu of the exact numbers?) – “It works well. You have ‘Flo’ (Brian Flores) was with New England and they had the scheme – scheme pressures – and you just have to have everybody do their jobs. If the nose tackle’s got to penetrate, he’s got to penetrate and the Buck probably has to do a stunt or he’s got to do something; so you’ve just got to have everybody on the same page. I think once you do that as a defense, you’re going to get sacks, you’re going to get the numbers you want. You’re going to get the TFLs. You’re going to do all of that, but you have to do it as a team. It’s 11 guys on the field as a defense. I think once you do that, you can do pretty much anything you want – like I said the first time – but you can’t have guys out there being selfish. ‘Oh, I’m going to jump this gap when I should be in this gap,’ to try to make a play. It’s not going to work like that. You’re going to have teams getting gassed in the run game and in the pass game opening up big lanes for the quarterback.”
(I do want to ask you a question about how important it is for you to step up your role as a leader. I know you were a leader last year, but you did say something that kind of confused me and lit up a red flag about false positive tests and being on the positive list and the NFL changing some of the rules. Can you clarify that so – this is the first time I’m hearing about it?) – “I think the rule – I was talking to (Head Athletic Trainer) Kyle (Johnston) the trainer – usually when you get a false positive test, you have to be out for two days. You have to take two negatives in order for you to get back in the building. Now they have a thing where if you test false positive, they can get you immediately to the cardiologist – correct me (if I’m wrong). They can get you to take some tests that same following day or the next day, and you can get those results like in 10-15 minutes. And you do that and then you see whether you were negative or you were really positive and you come back and be back in the building or you’re at home.”
Thursday, August 13, 2020
CB Byron Jones
(I’m wondering from what you now know of the Dolphins defense, what kind of defense are you all going to have in 2020 and how personally does that change from what you’re used to in the past?) – “In terms of our defensive style, it seems like we’re more man, which is fun. We have the corners for it. We have the secondary for it. I’m used to it. I’m used to being out there guarding receivers, running around with tight ends, slot receivers and X’s and Z’s; so it’s nothing different, per se. It’s just a different roster, a different system. It’s exciting but definitely new.”
(I thought of you when I saw UConn Football wound up being one of the first schools to say they were not going to play football this year. That was a sad deal and obviously a lot of dominos after that. You can comment on that if you want, but my football question is if CB Xavien Howard is not able to return quickly, how do you feel about your confidence level, your comfort level, in opposing and covering the opposing top receiver?) – “I feel great. This is a big reason why I was brought here. It was to build on the already-good secondary. We have really good young players. We have good players who have been here in the past, so it’s really just, I’m just another piece to the puzzle in terms of a really good and just really excellent Dolphins secondary. Hopefully we’ll have ‘X’ (Xavien Howard) back. As soon as he gets back, we want to make sure he’s fully healthy first. We’re not going to rush him at all, but we’re good. We’re a good team up and down the roster, I’d say.”
(I wanted to go back to when you first signed here with the Dolphins. You mentioned that you had heard great things from around the league about Head Coach Brian Flores and the program that he’s putting together down here and your opportunity at being a leader. I just wanted to get your up-to-date take on how that’s going now that you’ve experienced the atmosphere here firsthand and taking on that leadership role with such a young team.) – “It’s been very exciting to actually be here in person and get to know the coaches, get to know my teammates. This is a young roster. There’s no going around that, but that’s exciting. These guys are hungry. They’re hungry to build a name for themselves. They’re hungry to build a special team here and you see it every day, and ‘Coach Flo’ (Head Coach Brian Flores) has been great with his communication – definitely during these times where things are very different. Meetings are different. The way we practice is very different. His intensity when he speaks to us, it’s apparent right away. It’s very exciting to see that in person instead of just on a Zoom meeting, so it’s something that I’m looking forward to trying to build on this and going in the right direction.”
(You and CB Xavien Howard are two of the top-paid cornerbacks in the league. Do you feel like you can be the top duo in this league and why so, if that?) – “We’re certainly working towards that. There’s no doubt about that. We both excel at playing man coverage. I think he excels at attacking the ball better than me, so that’s something I’m learning from him, but it all – what we need to understand is nothing really matters what you did last year or the year before that. What matters is what you build today and now and going into the 2020 season, so our focus is really on building our skillset now and not really relying on what we’ve done in the last. So it really starts all over again in 2020.”
(I know a lot of corners like to look at each other and compete and rank each other, who’s the best corner in the league. How do you choose to motivate yourself? Do you view yourself as one of the top corners and how do you kind of do that sort of ranking system?) – “For me truthfully, I pay very little attention to outside noise because we’re all different. We all play in different schemes. We all play different systems. Some guys follow the best, some guys don’t. It’s really hard to compare. It’s a fun game for fans – no question – but for me, I focus on myself. I focus on making sure my craft is the best it can possibly be – my footwork, my eyes, my hands, my feet, my tackling. I just choose to focus my intention on myself and that’s how I’ve been since I was young and I just want to keep that same mentality.”
(You talked a little bit about Head Coach Brian Flores and what he’s like. Can you talk about Defensive Backs Coach Gerald Alexander and just what it’s like interacting with Gerald? Does he offer that unique perspective just because he is younger and maybe a little bit more relatable?) – “I’ll tell you this. He is a really good teacher. Him and ‘Coach Chuck’ (Coaching Assistant Charles Burks) together as the secondary coaches, they do a really good job at making sure the DBs understand what defense we’re in and where our help is and understanding what our leverage is, how the entire defense works together in our favor; so those guys have been on it in terms of leverage, in terms of where your help is, where the rush is coming from, looking at quarterback tendences. Both coaches – ‘Coach Chuck’ and ‘Coach G.A.’ – they’re both very good teachers and they’re really implementing these important lessons and foundational lessons on us very early, and I think it’s going to pay dividends in the season.”
(I guess you’ve had now two practices. I assume you guys practiced already this morning. Have you had a chance to defend a pass thrown by QB Tua Tagovailoa and if so what has gone on in those matchups?) – “I have not. No, we haven’t gone against the offense, per se. It’s been more of a walkthrough pace, so we haven’t had a chance to really go one-on-one yet; but that’s coming in about a couple weeks, so hang tight.”
(Just to piggyback off of something you said, how do you tangibly prove attacking the ball better? How do you work on that?) – “It’s a skillset, so like any skillset you work on it on a daily basis. When there’s a special teams period, I go with ‘Chuck’ (Charles Burks). We go off to the side and we work seeing the ball in all the way, and then we work on high-pointing the ball as the ball is in the air, looking back, looking over the opposite shoulder. We make the drills uncomfortable so that when it happens in the game, it’s natural at that point, so it’s just a skillset. It’s a skillset like anything else – eyes, hands, feet. This is what we work on daily basis, so it’s a skillset that I’m working on and every day we’re doing something to improve in that category.”
Thursday, August 13, 2020
QB Tua Tagovailoa
(How have things been? How have you felt physically and what’s it been like out there practicing?) – “It’s been good. It’s definitely a different learning curve than what I’m used to at Alabama. There’s not as much time that we get on the field whereas we spend a lot more of our time watching film than really anything else – not to say we don’t get a lot of work out there, but it’s more in your meeting rooms watching film.”
(What has been your impression of Offensive Coordinator Chan Gailey’s offense and I guess what’s the timetable do you think it is for a young player like yourself to learn it?) – “I think to answer that question, no matter what offense you’re stepping into, it’s always going to be a process of learning and I think that’s where I’m at. I’m still in the process of getting to understand Chan’s (Gailey) offense. Now from a perspective of personality with who Chan is and whatnot, I mean Chan is phenomenal. Really great guy, down-to-earth. When it’s time to work he’s out there, we go to work. It’s a very friendly environment with him and the other quarterbacks as well.”
(I wanted to ask you about Dan Marino. Anything you can share about the time that you may have worked with Dan? Some of the advice maybe he’s given you and if there was any kind of awe factor at first or whether it was just two quarterbacks talking football?) – “The first time I met Dan (Marino), I think Dan reached out to me after I got drafted, which was super awesome. That was cool, but the first day I got into the building, Dan was in our meeting and I got to talk to Dan. He’s also a really down-to-earth guy – someone that you can just chat with. For someone who pretty much is the talk of the town with Dan, he’s super humble. He doesn’t hold his head high or walk around here like he’s the man – which he is, but he’s super humble.”
(I know you just mentioned Dan Marino and obviously Miami is a high-profile city. He’s been the man here for a while. A lot of people are expecting you to be the next man here. How do you sort of look at that pressure and are you ready for maybe all the expectations people are going to put on you?) – “I think for me, my focus right now is just trying to get into the playbook – literally trying to understand what we’re doing offensively – and really just trying to build relationships with the guys on the team. I definitely believe that ‘Coach Flo’ (Head Coach Brian Flores), (Offensive Coordinator) Chan (Gailey), (Quarterbacks Coach) Robby (Brown) – all those guys that are going to be making the decisions – they’re going to put the team in the best position they think is possible; so if that means supporting someone or not, that’s what it’s going to be.”
(I wanted to ask you, a lot of know about your faith and your toughness and how battle-tested you are; but in regards to your culture and where you come from being Samoan and obviously coming from Hawaii, how do you think that’s helped shaped you in who you are? There are some proud former Samoans, Hawaiians who played in the NFL, for you to maybe join that line?) – “I think football definitely intertwines with the Samoan culture that I come from with my background because in our culture, respect is the biggest thing and in football, respect is almost demanded from the head coach, from your OC (offensive coordinator); so it’s one of those things where you grow up not knowing how to talk back to an elder when they talk to you about doing something. You learn how to take advice. You learn how to – when you get chewed out, you learn how to eat it, is what I’m trying to say. So I definitely think it’s helped shape me to the person that I am as well in that regard with being respectful and whatnot. That’s what I can say.”
(Obviously you’re wearing a QB Ryan Fitzpatrick jersey. We spoke to him about a week ago and he talked about the growing relationship between the two of you and how he’s trying to mentor you and bring you and the other quarterbacks along, so I was wondering if you could tell us a little bit about your relationship. It seems like things are going well if you’re already sporting his jersey.) – “Yeah, 100 percent. I thought I could break ice making you guys laugh wearing a ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick) jersey because you know ‘Fitz’, (laughter) he’s very personable as well. But kind of to start it off with ‘Fitz’ – (he is a) very, very down-to-earth person. Very humble. I got to meet his family about two days ago and it was pretty funny because everyone while we were on FaceTime, everyone’s just scattered around the house. So he introduces me to his kids and then he introduces me to his wife and he’s like, ‘This is it. This is everyone and this is my family,’ and then (laughter), lo and behold he forgets two of them. It’s like, this man really has a family. He’s really been in the league for so long. To be behind a professional like that, to me it’s kind of mind-boggling how down-to-earth he is. It’s one of those things where it’s, this guy gets it. I don’t know what it is, but he gets it and that saying goes true. It says ‘if you want to get somewhere fast, you go alone, but if you want to do it with purpose, then you bring people with you,’ and I think ‘Fitz’ has done a tremendous job in trying to help shape and mold me and Josh (Rosen) as well. So it’s been really cool to go through that process with him.”
(I’ve got a two-parter for you about your transition down to Miami. First question – real simple – do you wear a mask when you’re out in public these days?) – “Yeah, that’s a great question. I’m not out ever. I just stay home or go to the team hotel; but in those instances where I do have to be out in public going to the hotel and whatnot, I do wear a mask so I have my mask right here.”
(Obviously we don’t know yet when your NFL debut will happen, but are you hoping to be tackled before that game or whenever it is, and are you feeling any or are you totally over the pain and discomfort deal with the hip?) – “I think to answer that question, honestly, you just never know until it actually happens. I won’t know the feeling until I actually do get tackled, so it’s almost like that trial and error kind of thing. You’ve got to go out and do it in order to know if does hurt or it doesn’t. That’s pretty much what I can say, but as far as how I feel right now, everything’s going well.”
(What’s your approach going into the season? We don’t know how many games are going to be that will actually be played. How would you feel if you were ultimately unable to play this season whether it’s COVID-related or Head Coach Brian Flores wants to go with QB Ryan Fitzpatrick or QB Josh Rosen?) – “Like I said, I think our coaches – I think they’re going to put the best 11 out there. Whether I’m in that lineup or not, I think they’ve done enough evaluation throughout the week, throughout the month and leadup to that game; so in that regard, I know they’re going to put the best out there. But to say if we didn’t have a season, I don’t think it would just be me that would be bummed, I think our whole team would be bummed and other teams as well that we don’t get an opportunity to play. This is something a lot of people work for. It’s our job for sure, but it’s also been a dream for a lot of us to get an opportunity like this and for a lot of the undrafted guys to get an opportunity. That’s going to mean something to them as well.”
(You were asked earlier a little bit about pressure and that’s something you dealt with obviously in college being in the spotlight and things. How do you deal with the spotlight now? You know every Dolphin fan will watch this and say, “hey, we can’t wait to see Tua on the field playing in that Dolphins uniform,” so how do you handle that pressure – the expectations that you’re the guy for the future?) – “I think the best way to handle it is really not pay attention to it, if that makes sense. Not being someone who just says, ‘oh I don’t like it, I don’t care about it.’ I understand that it’s there, but I just feel like the focus – the main focus – is just being able to get into my playbook, being able to – like I said – build relationships with the guys on the team and just focus on what we’ve got to do inside of the building. Just like almost every athlete has said, fans are good and fans can … so when we’re doing good, we’re all we’ve got as a team. The fans are going to say whatever. That’s all that outside noise, and really, we’ve just got to pay attention to what we’re trying to do and accomplish as a team here in the Dolphins organization.”
(I’m kind of curious if you’ve really been able to grasp how different the NFL is from college football without having a preseason, without having a full training camp. Is there kind of anyone that’s kind of designated to teaching you the rules or figuring out, “hey, here’s how we manage the clock here,” or “hey, here’s how we do certain things” to kind of get you adapted without seeing a real game yet?) – “That’s a great question. It’s definitely going to be different not having a preseason game. Not to say we had one in college, but college is a lot different. We have school involved. There’s just a lot of other things involved with that; but with the NFL not having a preseason and understanding game management in a real live scenario – what to do end of game, end of half and whatnot – how we do that here is ‘Flo’ (Head Coach Brian Flores) gives us kind of game-situational awareness football during our team meetings, so we probably go over about three or four things as a team and how we want to go about running the clock out in this situation, how we want to do things in situation, and that’s really how we go about doing that. Then we would walk through it on the field and do things like that. That’s how we’re going about that.”
