Tight Ends Coach George Godsey
(We’ve been interested to hear from you over the last couple weeks. Obviously you’ve had your role changed a bit because of the COVID situation. How is it for you to sort of have the quarterback role thrown onto you and sort of deal with that on game day?) – “I think everybody in this building kind of has the same mindset. It’s whatever we can do to help this team win. That’s really what our culture is: it’s about winning. So when this responsibility fell on my shoulders, that’s what I’m doing. I don’t look at it one way or the other, other than there’s a job to be done for the day, for the current week and just going and attacking it.”
(I’m curious how your conversations with QB Tua Tagovailoa went over the last couple of games. Obviously you see him every day at practice, you see him in meetings; but how was your relationship with him before the last couple of weeks, how has it changed and also how did QB Ryan Fitzpatrick help out in the last couple of weeks?) – “I think you guys know how I am where I like a lot of open communication between the quarterback and the tight ends, so there’s definitely dialogue that has gone on through the course of the season and of course from (Offensive Coordinator) Chan’s (Gailey) eyes. He’s the coordinator, so he’s portraying a message to the quarterback, the quarterback’s portraying it to the rest of the field when they see certain things. So I think it’s all about everybody being on the same page, seeing it through the same set of eyes. So whether it’s getting the message from Chan or from the quarterback or giving it to the quarterback; I think that’s just all part of the game that we’re working with.”
(I wanted to ask you about one specific play from the last game that involved the quarterback and the tight end. I haven’t asked anybody about it yet. Maybe you know. The play where QB Tua Tagovailoa threw the ball to TE Adam Shaheen in the middle of the field and it kind of went through the linebacker’s hands, was that a “oh, we got away with one, I didn’t really see the linebacker” or was that a “oh, I could fit that in there all day?”) – “It was definitely a tight throw, so we try to – I think from any quarterback’s perspective – we try to minimize those throws as much as possible. But it was a big gain. It was a big play in the game. It led to points, so it was good concentration, too, by Adam (Shaheen). I think through the course of the game, there’s always plays that you’d like to have back, you’d like to do a little bit differently. Fortunately we can learn from the ones that ended up being a successful play and not ones that are damaging.”
(How were your past experiences with QB Matt Stafford, QB Brian Hoyer, QB Brock Osweiler, QB Ryan Fitzpatrick and a bunch of other guys, how has that helped you help with QB Tua Tagovailoa these past two games? How have you been able to gauge where he’s at, help him during games, help him after games? How has that gone for you personally?) – “To me, with every new player, new coaching staff that you’re around, you’re always growing. I think as a player or as a coach, there is maybe one play, maybe 10 plays or maybe a whole week that you grow in this league. It’s a humbling league. Everybody is going to have their ups and downs. Like I’ve said before, you try to minimize the downs. There has been a lot of good players that I’ve learned from that have succeeded, and then as a group, maybe it didn’t turn out the right way. But you learn to fight another day and you learn to grow from that particular situation. That’s how we look at it. We’re always looking forward and you’ve got to earn your right every week. Every week is a new week, a new opponent, a new challenge, a lot of new variables, and that’s what we’re on with Denver. They present a lot of challenges defensively, so we’re getting after them and trying to get to know them as quickly as possible.”
(I have a tight ends question for you. It concerns TE Mike Gesicki. Against the 49ers, he had 91 yards receiving. Since then, he’s had 90 yards in the past four games. What’s happening, especially given that WR Preston Williams is not available. Why is Gesicki not getting more yards and what can you do to help him and to make that connection?) – “Each game is a little bit different. We had a stretch there where we got out to some really big leads early and it wasn’t necessarily turned into a throwing game. I think we’re always looking to improve and try to get open as much as possible, and give the quarterback a nice clear window to throw the football to. Then we’ve got to make the play when it’s thrown in our direction. I think we’re doing a good job of distributing the ball. I think that’s been a positive. If one of those balls goes to another tight end or a back or another receiver and we’re getting everybody involved to try to keep the defense covering all 53 yards horizontally and vertically as far as we can throw it, then that’s a good thing. That’s the balance we’re at in the season. We’ve still got plenty of time left in the season. Through the course of the year, you’re going to have to change your identity at some point. If that’s where we’re at right now, then maybe next week it will be something different. Again, each week presents its own challenges and we attack it that way.”
(I know you jumped into the QB room because that’s what Head Coach Brian Flores probably asked you to do. I guess if I can ask an individual question, I know so many of the OC and head coach jobs are often tied to the quarterback room. I’m curious how was that for you to get reps in there to show that you can do more than just your position group?) – “Personally, I have my own goals; but right now during the season, to me that kind of takes a back burner. It’s all about winning. I think when the game’s over and you’ve got a smile on your face, that’s really the most important thing, especially during the season. That’s really where my focus is right now, I haven’t put much thought into that. I know there are a lot of different views whether it’s inside or outside the building; but to me, those are irrelevant right now. It’s all about trying to get a W.”
Wide Receivers Coach Josh Grizzard
(I wanted to ask, you guys seem to be really thin at receiver and running back. Those seem to be the clear weaknesses on the offense, but you’ve still been able to pull out these victories in recent weeks. How would you say your position group has performed last weekend and will moving forward?) – “I think that’s the fun part of the job and I think it’s fun for them, too, because from week to week, you don’t know who’s going to step up, who’s getting targeted. It gives guys an opportunity to go out and prove what they’ve done in practice. They can carry it over to the game. So I think that’s the fun part of it, is trying to put guys in a position to go make plays and when they do that on Sundays, it’s always great to see.”
(Question for you about WR DeVante Parker. Is he – the explosion you saw last year, are you seeing it this year? I know he dealt with I think it was a groin during training camp – is he completely over that and is he getting the separation that you were used to seeing last year?) – “Of course dealing with that back in camp, I’ll let DeVante (Parker) discuss how well he feels. In terms of separation, it was not really different than last year and he had I think it was around 1,200 yards. He’s always one of the bigger targets, bigger frames, so he’s not always going to get as big separation as other guys; but at the end of the day, if he’s high-pointing balls and beating DBs off the ground – I think like we’ve seen at times this year – that’s really all that matters. That’s just part of his game and we like him on those kinds of things and you just don’t necessarily see it all the time with the million yards of distance.”
(From your perspective, what’s worked so well for WR Jakeem Grant the past couple weeks? He’s got eight catches in two games and even in talking to him, he feels good both offensively and obviously what he’s been doing on special teams.) – “You took the words out of my mouth on the special teams side of it, too. The success he’s having there and then coming along and stepping up and making the most of his opportunities (on offense) is really the same vein we touched on a couple minutes ago. He puts the work in, he keeps his head down and he works. And I know that what shows up on the stat sheet is catches and touchdowns and things of that nature, but this guy blocks in the run game. We can use him in various ways on that. He’s incredibly tough and he’s just been zoom focused and it’s good to see that pay off on Sundays.”
(It looks like you guys have been creative with RB/WR Malcolm Perry. I’m curious what you’ve seen from his skillset in the slot and how it’s evolved maybe from when you first got him.) – “Yeah, Malcolm’s done good job. He’s quick. He’s dynamic. We’re trying to get him the ball in space. You saw it Sunday – he can make guys miss, so it’s us trying to get him in those spots where we can catch it and get some YAC (yards after catch). It really just comes down as a testament to – I know we’ve talked about it on here before, but this guy has put his head down,e he dosn’t say much and he just keeps improving day to day and week to week.”
(It’s tough obviously for any player to come off a long layoff plus a physical injury as WR Antonio Callaway has done. Where is he in his return from both? Do you still see much rust?) – “Really, it’s the same thing with like I talked about on DeVante (Parker). I don’t want to discuss how he feels or how he doesn’t feel. He’s done a good job coming in here and learning the playbook and trying to get on the same page, and I can see the progression with him from day to day and he’s trending in the right direction; but in terms of his level of health, I’ll pass that off to ‘Tone’ (Antonio Callaway).”
(Earlier you mentioned about WR Jakeem Grant’s work in the blocking game and I had a question for you about WR Mack Hollins and also the receivers blocking in general. I saw some plays where he kind of comes across the formation and digs out the backside defender. I thought that was kind of cool to see. Is that like a mindset this room has as far as blocking in the running game and how do they approach that as far as producing in the running game?) – “If you don’t block in that room, you’re not playing; and they’re going to hold themselves to that standard. We see it on practice tape. We see it in the game. So if you’re not going to go in there and take care of a safety or a physical corner, you’re not going to get on the field. And so what Mack has done by doing that, what Jakeem has done by doing that, is ultimately helping us move the ball down the field and that’s all they care about. We know that all that stuff sets up play-action passes, which they want to get the ball on that, so it’s all tied in there together. But it’s a mentality and it’s those guys holding themselves accountable day in and day out.”
Running Backs Coach Eric Studesville
(I know obviously it’s probably a week or two before you get RB Myles Gaskin back, but did RB Salvon Ahmed do enough where you say to yourself, “this job is open when both Myles and both RB Matt Breida come back. We are going to take a fresh look at this every single week.” Or is one game of Salvon not enough to make that decision?) – “I think we take it week-by-week as it is. We’re not making long-term decisions. We’re trying to figure out this week, what we’ve got to do to beat Denver and we haven’t made any decisions past that. I think Salvon played really well this past weekend. We’re very pleased with how he prepared and what he did and how he performed, but we’re going to take it week-by-week every week.”
(I know it probably hasn’t worked out as much as you’d want with some of the veterans, but it seems like you guys have done well in getting good production out of some of the less-heralded guys with RB Myles Gaskin and RB Salvon Ahmed. Is there any threads – common threads – on why those two guys have been able to be successful when they have got their opportunity?) – “I think the common thread to any success is guys and how they come in and they make a commitment to learning and working and preparing and then going out and practicing and doing things. I don’t think it’s a magic recipe. I think it’s the same. These guys all come in – everybody in the room that I have, I’m happy with in how they come in as far as their meetings, learning in the playbook, the game plans, what we’re trying to do, why we’re trying to do certain things. The recipe’s not secret. It’s really not. It’s pretty simple, really. Just come in and work and do everything you can and jump in with both feet and then when you get your opportunity, go ahead and perform.”
(Obviously RB Myles Gaskin and RB Salvon Ahmed are in your room now, but I was just curious out of curiosity, did you ever watch any of their highlights together and how they kind of mixed and matched at Washington, or did you talk to anyone from up there or anything just because they were college teammates?) – “I didn’t really watch how they meshed because they came out at different times, so when I was evaluating Myles, that’s who I was watching primarily. You see flashes of other guys as they play in games as you watch them, and then last year obviously it was Salvon who I was watching and evaluating what he was going to do when he was coming out. So I don’t really group them together or compare them. I’m trying to evaluate each guy separately so that I have an opinion on that specific guy.”
(What stands out to you about RB Salvon Ahmed’s skillset?) – “I think the first thing that stands out to me is that when he comes in the room, he’s ready to go. He’s highly motivated, he’s asking questions, he wants to be good, he wants to work, he wants to learn and he does that. When he gets on the field, I think you see him. He can run. He’s got some speed, he’s got quickness. I think he has good eyes. I think he’s got good feet. I think he catches the ball really well, but he’s continuing to develop. He’s got areas that he needs to work on like everybody does, like all of us do, and he’s continuing to work on those areas and strengthening the things that he’s good at and just trying to maximize those things when we put him in there.”
(I want to follow up on RB Salvon Ahmed a little bit. Offensive Coordinator Chan Gailey was just on and a minute ago, he was talking about instincts and it struck me because it seems like it’s so integral to what a running back can do – I was asking about his ability to read where the holes are going to be and react and I’d like to get your opinion on how he’s able to do that as well as answer the question of how do you process whether this is a one-hit wonder or can he repeat that kind of performance week after week? Is he durable enough?) – “I think to answer the first part of the question, we spend a lot of time in meetings talking about blocking schemes, angles, where we think things could hit, where they might hit dependent on different things. We spend a lot of time talking about that, watching film; but a lot of those instincts that you’re talking about, those are gifts that they have and they’ve had them for a long time, to be able to react and see things. As far as the second part of it, I don’t know what the long-term prognosis is, but we’re going to get ready every week. We’re going to prepare every week and he’s going to get an opportunity to demonstrate; can he be consistent in his performance level? And I think he will.”
(Just wanted to ask if you were able to meet with RB Kalen Ballage either before or after the game and what did you think of his performance?) – “I did see him after the game and I told him I thought he played well. I’m happy for him that he’s gotten this opportunity out there with the Chargers, and I like the kid. I think Kalen is awesome.”
Special Teams Coordinator Danny Crossman
(I was curious how many kickers you’re bringing in for a tryout this week after that miss from K Jason Sanders.) – “(laughter) It doesn’t even register with me. He’s in a good spot. Those things are going to happen and the best thing about it was being able to come back and get one more after that, so I like where we’re at.”
(It feels like we could ask you about any part of the special teams. They all really came and performed this past Sunday; but I’ll ask about WR Jakeem Grant. Another good performance from him and actually something I didn’t even know – I saw a Tweet yesterday that he leads the league in punt return yards. It’s a repetitive question, but when he’s able to do that on now it almost seems like a consistent basis, how much does that help your team and help the offense?) – “Obviously I think any time you’re able to get good returns – obviously that was three returns of close to 20 yards, so you’re talking two first downs – based on how we played complementary, a lot of those balls were punted with a negative situation in terms of where the punt was coming from, from the Chargers, so our starting field position on those three drives after those returns were all either across the 50-yard line or just behind it. So obviously when you have that starting field position, it really puts the offense and really the team, in good position where a couple of first downs with Jason, we’re right back into field goal range where we have scoring opportunities.”
(I’m always interested and I know you sometimes don’t want to reveal secrets, but if there’s anything you can tell me about the two parts of the punt block – how rare is it for a corner to blitz on a punt from the outside like CB Jamal Perry did? I don’t know if you do that regularly or if that’s a unique call. And then also, if the punter didn’t drop or bobble the ball, did LB Andrew Van Ginkel still have a shot at it? So it’s kind of two parts.) – “I think No. 1, is it something you see a lot? No. More times than not, when you see that corner adding himself, it’s in a different timing sequence; but it’s just something that’s in one of our concepts that like everything, you have different things that you like some weeks, you don’t like other weeks. And then the opportunity presented itself to actually make the call, which is the hardest thing. You don’t have control over how many opportunities you’re going to get in certain phases and when those things do present themselves. In terms of being able to make the play whether it was bobbled or not, we thought Andrew (Van Ginkel) had a good get-off. He got on the edge. When you look where and how he blocked it, we felt confident that he would have an opportunity, but that’s the unknown. We liked it and fortunately it was successful.”
(When you have a head coach who has special teams experience like Head Coach Brian Flores does, how much easier does that make for you to sort of convince him to try some of the things that you want to do in the game?) – “I think it’s big with having that background that ‘Flo’ (Head Coach Brian Flores) has, the communication is – I don’t want to say ‘simpler’ – but it’s an easier conversation because he understands a lot of the concepts, techniques – both in terms of what we’re looking for and how it’s going to affect or what impact it could have on the opposition, because he understands both sides of it. So obviously having that background is big for me and big for us in terms of our communication.”
(This team seems to have a great deal of mental toughness; and I’m curious, when you’re evaluating players collegiately, maybe on other teams, how is that something – certainly it’s obviously something that’s very important to Head Coach Brian Flores and you all – how do you evaluate mental toughness and when do you know when you have a player, if that toughness shows up?) – “I think that evaluation – there’s a lot of things and a lot of situations and circumstances that you can look at that players have been through, whether it’s college, back to high school, the program that they’ve been in, maybe the individual circumstances in terms of play time, injury. There’s a lot of things that you can carry, but really you really don’t know until you get them in the building and put them in those situations. As we all know, this is a week-to-week league and it’s tough. It’s hard to win; and to put the time in in terms of meetings, practice, walkthroughs – and then you add to that the nutrition and the strength and conditioning – and you do all that stuff understanding that all it’s going to do is give you a chance. If you don’t do those things, you have no chance of competing in this league. So if you’re willing to make those sacrifices to just give yourself a chance, then sometimes you’re going to win, sometimes you’re going to lose; but the more that you can have a history and recognize a history of guys having to overcome some things, you feel better when those things do come along, that you’re going to be able to overcome them.”
Offensive Line Coach Steve Marshall
(I’m just wondering how you think T Austin Jackson has played in his first two games back at left tackle after the foot injury?) – “Austin is getting better. In the Arizona game, his first game back, I thought he did some things. Fundamentally, he was a little bit rusty, I guess is the best word to say. He did a little better this week. I anticipate him getting back into the swing of things after a month off. It’s still like training camp for him. He’s got the (Bradley) Chubb kid this week in pass protection and of course if you’re a left tackle, you’re going to have those every week. He’s got a big challenge in front of him.”
(Obviously you guys have rotated with the linemen the past few weeks with T Robert Hunt and G Solomon Kindley and G/T Jesse Davis. Do you anticipate at one point getting a solid group, or do you anticipate rotations throughout the year?) – “I think we do have a solid group and I think one of the things that we can do is be able to rotate guys when we need to or have to – whether a guy gets hurt or a guy get nicked up for whatever reason. Really, the key factor is Jesse. Jesse has been a guy that’s been able to function and play at a solid level at – obviously he’s played at multiple positions this year. It affords us the opportunity to stay solid, as you say. The ongoing thing is to have five – everybody thinks you need to have five guys every single week; but those guys work well together. To answer your question, I’m not real sure. I think we’ll see how it goes. This is a long, tough season and guys get nicked up and we’ll kind of see where it goes with that. Like I said, Jesse’s flexibility and experience playing inside and outside affords that opportunity to always try to get the best five on the field for that particular week.”
(I wanted to ask you about a comment C Ted Karras made after the game. He said that he thought that this was the offensive line’s best running game performance. I’m curious if you agree and if so, what was it about this game that was the best so far this year for the running game? – “It’s kind of hard to rank them per each game. I think that each game, you have a set game plan for that. I thought we were very productive running the football this week. When I watch the film with the guys, they are not maybe seeing it was the best because there were some things we can definitely do better. It’s been a big emphasis. I think we’re trending in the right direction, kind of where we’re going and what we want to do. Each week, we need to have – you hear Coach (Chan) Gailey talk about it all the time – we have balance in our offensive attack, whether it’s run or throw it. If we’ve got to throw it 50 times, we’ve got to throw it. Or if we’ve got to run it 30 times each game, that’s going to be the thing. I thought we trended in the right direction against a very tough front. We’ve got a lot of work to do in that regard, but we’re trending in the right way.”
(Staying with what C Ted Karras said after the game, he really owned up to the mistakes, specifically the fumble. Is it just a matter of getting more reps between Ted and QB Tua Tagovailoa to prevent…) – “No. The ball slipped out of his hand. His hand was wet and it just slipped out of his hand. Very unfortunate. I feel bad for the kid, because obviously that scenario – it wasn’t a matter of reps. The ball hit him in the ankle. It just slipped out of his hand. We always take procedures. As you know here in South Florida, there is a little bit of humidity in the air and we had been on our 14th or 15th play I think of that drive. There is no other explanation other than it slipped out. Do we need extra reps? No. I think we can try to get extra towels. That’s really kind of an unfortunate deal there. I know there is nobody that feels worse about it than Ted Karras. I know that.”
(Is the offensive line different than other positons in this way: the Dolphins are very opponent specific. So a certain linebacker or corner might get more reps based on the weakness or strength of an opponent. Is it true that you guys might say for this week, G/T Robert Hunt matches up well with this guy we think, or G Solomon Kindley matches up good with this guy for this week? Or is that going too far?) –“Well, you make a great point. There is some of that, but the thing obviously with our position is how they practice and how they do things. There is some specificity as far as what we’re trying to do that particular week. I don’t know if we’re quite at that level with those young guys yet. They are playing in their ninth game. But I have been in this league and I have been around teams and been part of teams that say, ‘hey, this guy is a better pass protector than run blocker so to speak. Maybe we need this guy against player X or player Z.’ I think there certainly is room for that and we do take that into consideration, absolutely.”
Offensive Coordinator Chan Gailey
(One thing that I guess will be helpful to determine this year with your two rookies who were college quarterbacks – RB/WR Malcolm Perry and WR Lynn Bowden Jr. – is whether they are going to be change of pace gimmick players or whether one of both players will develop into legitimate NFL slot receivers. Could you talk about each of them separately, about where each of them stand in terms of becoming a legitimate slot receiver as opposed to being a gimmick guy?) – “I think that anytime you get a player, you hope that they are going to develop into something unique for your football team. That takes on different roles, whether it’s doing some specialty things or playing a bunch of snaps at one positon or the slot position. Malcolm has come a long way. He didn’t play receiver; he’d been a quarterback. He’s really tried to work to become a better receiver. He’s still learning. Lynn’s the same way. Lynn is a gifted talented athlete, and he’s showed that in college and we’ve seen flashes of it here, and hopefully he’ll continue to develop the way we think he can. Both of them have some unique talents to themselves and we’ll see if we can develop them and make them be an integral part of our offense. What direction it’s going to go in right now, I don’t think anybody knows.”
(I wanted to ask you about your offense’s flexibility with different guys playing multiple snaps every week. You have so many guys whether it’s RB/WR Malcolm Perry, who was mentioned there, some of the tight ends playing, RB Salvon Ahmed. Have you been impressed or surprised by how flexible this team is with this next-man-up mentality? Does it surprise you at all with how much success they’ve had with different guys playing so many snaps?) – “I think college programs are really good now. I think guys come to us in a very good frame of mind, and they are able to go out and play. We shouldn’t have them on the team if we don’t think they can play. I think the next-man-up mentality is exactly what we have, and we’ve been fortunate to have. These guys are very strong mentally and they want to play. They are eager and when they get the opportunity, they try to take advantage of it. Am I surprised? No, I’m not really surprised. I think that’s the way a guy should be. I think all players should be that way.”
(We figured you and QB Ryan Fitzpatrick would have some chemistry because of your time together. It looks like you and QB Tua Tagovailoa have started to have some rhythm too. Where would you say you and him are as far as your comfort in what each person wants out of the offense?) – “You’d have to ask him on his part; but from my part, he’s getting better every week and doing what we hoped he would do. He’s taking care of the football, being very smart about that. He’s making plays. Is he missing some things? Yeah, he’s missing some things; but that will come with experience, that will come with time. We just have to continue to help him grow and hopefully he learns and as he continues to learn, I think it slowed down. I’ve made that statement a bunch of times, I know; but I think it’s slowed down for him each week. The more he plays, hopefully the better he gets and the more comfortable he’ll feel.”
(Can you, as an offensive coach, coach accuracy and anticipation to a quarterback?) – “It’s hard to coach accuracy. You can teach anticipation a little bit; but they’ve got to believe it. If a guy doesn’t believe it, it’s very difficult. It’s hard to coach accuracy. I can’t get a guy more accurate than he is. I think we can help him on the anticipation part.”
(With RB Salvon Ahmed, we got to see him in his first start this week. What about his skillset allowed him to be as successful as he was early on?) – “I think he has very good instincts as a runner. He can see a crease and then he’s got the ability, once he sees a crease, to go make something happen. We had a couple of long runs by him – two or three this week. I shouldn’t say long runs. Unfortunately they’ve been long by our standards this year. We’ve got some good execution there from him seeing things, understanding where his cuts are probably going to be. That doesn’t mean that they’ll always be there – that’s where the instincts come in – and then the ability to explode. He’s got that ability. He’s got that explosive ability. He’s taking care of the football. If he wasn’t taking care of the football, it would be a tough deal.”
(The last time the Dolphins were 6-3, do you know of the offensive coordinator was?) – “No.”
(It was Chan Gailey in 2001 – 19 years ago. That was QB Jay Fiedler and WR Chris Chambers and QB Ray Lucas and RB Lamar Smith and RB Travis Minor. It just interests me. It was so long ago. What do you remember about that group and how you’ve changed and how the locker room’s changed and how football has changed in all of that time?) – “That was a strong, tough – I mean they were tough football players. Really tough football players. But you had to be. It was more of a ‘let’s run it down your throat’ mentality then. Now it’s ‘let’s spread it out and throw it around the park.’ That group, they were really a strong, tough football team. We could run it. We had a tight end that played – I can’t remember his name (Hunter Goodwin) – but he was a tackle at Texas A&M and he was playing tight end for us. We just ran the football. Jay did a great job and Chris had a good year that year. It was a fun year. Those two years were fun years.”
(Looking at this roster up and down, it would appear that you guys would be weaker at running back and weaker at receiver without WR Preston Williams. But you guys have been able to run off five straight wins because of the help of the defense and special teams as well. Offensively, what is it a factor of that you guys are having success? Is it QB Tua Tagovailoa not turning the ball over? Is it the next-man-up mentality like you talked about earlier? What’s really working for this offense that you guys are done some bodies at some important positions?) – “I think we have guys who understand the system and what we’re trying to get done. I think they have realized the importance of being where you’re supposed to be and when you’re supposed to be there, and doing what you’re supposed to do. They take what coach says about, ‘let’s pay attention to details,’ and I think they’ve done that. The thing about it is we’ve had some success – not a ton, but we’ve had some success. But we can get better and we need to get better. I’m looking forward to seeing what we can be, not what we are at this present time.”
(QB Tua Tagovailoa is a year past his hip injury. My question is this, why is his mindset the perfect guy to not only recover from that, but now immediately play at a pretty high level – at least to our eyes. What is it personally that makes that click?) – “I think he is a glass-half-full guy. Everything is going to work out, everything is going to get better, everything is going to be just fine, let’s keep doing what we do. If the trainer says hop on your right foot 20 times, he hops on his right foot 20 times even if you’re not looking. He will do all of the little things to get where he needs to be. He has no reservations about any of that. He enjoys it. He enjoys the challenge.”
Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer
(I’m writing about DE Emmanuel Ogbah today and his turnaround. His career turnaround, at least on the sack side, is pretty stunning, pretty remarkable. How important is he to what you do and how many different ways can you use him?) – “I think as we talk about Emmanuel, I think that the thing is he’s shown ability to be multiple and we can move him around in multiple spots. He does a lot of things for us. He can set the edge, he can handle double teams, he can rush the passer, he can rush the passer individually, he can do it with games. Like I’ve said numerous times, he’s a diligent worker and he constantly is striving to get better, so hopefully we can continue that, continue to do multiple things with him, continue to get some improvement. I know he works at his craft and takes it very seriously.”
(How much of your game plan every week is designed specifically to try to create confusion in the opposing offense?) – “Each week we look at it. We look at what we have available to us and we look at what our opponent’s trying to do. And as always, any time that we can put pressure on the offensive line, put pressure on the quarterback, which hopefully in turn puts pressure on the coordinator, just to get them a little bit off-balance; that’s always the goal. It’s easier said than done. There’s a lot that goes into that, but we’re always trying to make sure that we put pressure on the offensive line, put pressure on the quarterback. Some weeks that’s by scheme, some weeks it’s by varying fronts, some weeks it’s by varying coverage. Ultimately what we’re trying to do is just put our guys in the best position to succeed on a week-in and week-out basis.”
(I also have an DE Emmanuel Ogbah question. What has clicked for him this year? Why is he having a breakout season now?) – “Watching him on film at Kansas City and Cleveland, you obviously like some things that you saw there. Again, my experience with him has been this year and I think you always kind of try to go into a season with an open mind, regardless of what you’ve done in the past or haven’t done. I’m not sure how much different it is than years ago for him. Again, like I said, he works hard. He works at his craft. He’s constantly trying to get better, puts extra time in at it and he’s had some production out on the field. And like I said, there’s a lot of other things that he does for us that probably doesn’t get noticed and we’re going to continue to try to improve that week by week.”
(Two defensive touchdowns, special teams touchdowns. You guys are getting a lot of turnovers forced with CB Xavien Howard and DE Emmanuel Ogbah doing their jobs. Do you see your players really taking on being happy to see some success and striving for more because they have been successful in certain opportunities?) – “One thing is I would say we put a good amount of time into creating turnovers, forcing turnovers, scoop and score, cradle a fumble. There’s numerous different techniques and drills that these guys do. They put in a lot of time and effort at it and obviously we only get so many shots at it; and for all the time, effort and energy that they put into it, I’m sure that they’re gaining confidence in it and I’m sure they’re thrilled and excited. Our guys genuinely like playing for each other and they’re excited when guys make play,s and it’s kind of something that we stress. We’re trying to get the ball. We work at it and it’s showing up a little bit in the game and we need to keep continuing to work at it so it does show up for us week by week.”
(I wanted to ask you about DT Raekwon Davis. How did he do? How is he doing?) – “I think when you turn on the film, Raekwon, he’s been working extremely hard at practice and I think there were some good things. I think the thing that we’re striving for is consistency on a play-in, play-out basis. I think we’re working towards that. There were definitely some good things that he did on the game that I think we’re improving. There’s still some things that we need to work on to get better and he’s working hard at that, as all of our guys are. That’s really what you want as a coach, is when a guy is given an opportunity, you really want them to make the most of it. And I know it’s important to all of our guys because you see the work and the time that they put into it.”
(Yesterday we had DE Emmanuel Ogbah on and he talks a lot about the trust that has been developed between the players and the coaching staff and how he kind of has a perspective that he gives you guys to help you craft up plays for him and stuff and fill in behind him when he makes a rush or whatever it might be. I was just curious to get your perspective on how that trust works for you and the players – not just with Emmanuel but with the entire defense.) – “As a coach, there’s some things that you can’t see in real time or on the field or from the (Microsoft) Surface that you have at the sideline. You can go back when you watch the game film and you can kind of see it; but the players, they can give you some good information on the sideline and obviously when that’s confirmed and they’re giving you the correct information and if there’s things that they see that they can do that will help us, we’re all for that. It’s no one-man show. Everybody has input and ultimately we’re all trying to make sure that we’re successful as a group and if guys are seeing things and sometimes it’s not even an individual thing. A guy will say, ‘hey look, if I do this, this can open up this for such-and-such.’ It’s a constant battle to gain information and you’re looking for as much good information as you can possibly give and obviously when players give you good information, you can use that. I think they trust us, we trust them. I think that’s a good working relationship.”
(This is the second week in a row you went into battle without three of your assistants. I was wondering how this experience has been like for you personally with the kind of double challenge. One, putting together a game plan and executing it without guys that you rely on and two, coming into a place where the virus has been and how it’s been concerning for you. How has this experience been?) – “I think you just kind of take things as they come, and you kind of deal with them. It’s another challenge, it’s another obstacle. I think that’s the great thing about football. I think football has a lot of life lessons in it. It’s why I enjoy it and love it so much. I think it’s very closely-related to life. There’s plenty of ups and downs and adversity in the game, and whatever it is, you kind of deal with it. You don’t run from it and you just make the best of the situation, and I think that’s what all of us try to do in everyday life because problems always come up. I can see you’ve got blinds back there. The blinds at our house, they stopped working. So we’ve got to get those fixed. So there’s things that happen on a daily basis that I think you just kind of deal with it as it comes and I think live I’ve said time and time again, ‘Flo’ (Head Coach Brian Flores) and (General Manager) Chris (Grier) have done a great job of bringing guys into this building that are mentally tough, that can handle ‘hey, we’ve got to go through this protocol, we’ve got to do this, we’ve got to do that,’ and they don’t skip a beat because they’re focused on the task at hand. I don’t think you really reflect on it or think about it. You’re just like, ‘what do I need to do to get the job done?’ And I think that’s the way our coaches, our players, everybody in our organization – I think that’s the way they approach it.”
(You’ve had some, I guess, some ballhawk corners in your career from former Patriots CB Malcolm Butler to Patriots CB J.C. Jackson and now CB Xavien Howard. I’m curious for you as a play caller, how does that change what you do when you know you have a guy who can make plays on the back end?) – “I think ultimately, what you’re doing is – it’s for every position – is you’re trying to put the guys in position to highlight the things that they do well. So especially for guys in those situations, sometimes you try to put them where you think the ball is going or you try to put them on routes that you think that if they throw up a 50-50 ball here, it’s more than 50-50; we’ve got a chance. So I think it goes back to whether you’re a corner – a ball-hawking corner – or you’re a defensive tackle. I think from a schematic approach, you’re just trying to put guys in positions where you can highlight their talents and they can make plays because ultimately the turnovers help, the ball disruption plays help, the tackles for loss – they help – and I think that’s what goes into it. You’re just trying to put them in the best position to succeed. Obviously we’re not 100 percent at that and there’s obviously things that we can work on as a coaching staff to put guys in better spots, but that’s the goal and that’s what we’re trying to do. Obviously we’ve been fortunate to have some good players that have a good skillset and they’re able to make plays.”
