Monday, November 22, 2021
Head Coach Brian Flores
(What was your message for the team when the season reached its low point, a seven-game losing streak, and what do you remember telling the team at that point that kind of turned this around to these three wins? What do you remember you wanted to get across to your players at that point in time and how the players responded?) – “I think my message is I try to be consistent. I hope my message is the same every week. We want to get better and improve in really all areas. That starts with our preparation, our understanding of what the opponent is trying to do to us, how we are trying to attack them, getting into the scouting report, doing a good job in meetings and in practice. That’s my message every week.”
(I was just wondering if you had any updates on whether CB Jamal Perry and LB Brennan Scarlett injuries are serious and if you expect to have WR DeVante Parker and WR Will Fuller available to practice and potentially play?) – “We’re still waiting on tests with the guys who went down yesterday. I think some guys are still getting some of those tests, so I don’t have all the information on, you mentioned Jamal and Scarlett. When we have it, I’ll get it to you, but they’re still running some tests. As far as DeVante and Will, they’re eligible (to return off IR). We’ll see how this goes. We’ll know Wednesday for Wednesday practice. Nothing definitive right now though.”
(I wanted to ask you about what went into the decision to move up RB Duke Johnson and not dress RB Salvon Ahmed, and how you thought Duke did? Obviously, he got a chance there late in the game.) – “Duke’s been here a few weeks, kind of got his feet under him. He’s got a little better understanding of what we’re trying to do offensively. He had been doing a good job in practice. He’s an experienced player. He’s played a lot of ball in this league. I thought he went in and played well yesterday. He got us some positive yardage, was ready to go and I was pleased with his performance.”
(Speaking of Thanksgiving, I’m doing a story on Steven Rivera and how thankful he was for you and the Miami Dolphins organization for allowing him to do what he does and does well, which is cut hair in the facility and whatnot. He mentioned you being a fellow Honduran and how much he appreciated you. I just wanted to get your insight on that.) – “Steve is one of my favorite people around here, and not just because he does a good job with my haircut but I think he’s just a great overall human being. We’ve gotten to become friends since I’ve been here. When you go into the barbershop, there’s a fellowship that happens in there and the camaraderie in that environment. He’s someone who’s a great listener. We’ve had some great conversations and I’m glad to call him a friend.”
(A lot of people have talked about, among the many goals you guys have for the last six or seven games, to get a look at everything QB Tua Tagovailoa can do as a quarterback. Yesterday we got to see him rip a really long ball down the field. Is that something that you guys have wanted to incorporate more into his game and did he sort of show people? There have been people who have questioned if he could do it, but I imagine in the building that wasn’t a big surprise for you.) – “We know he can throw the ball down the field. It’s all about the opportunity to do so in a game. We try to create those opportunities with our play design and play calling. I think there’s a timing element to it. You can get the exact look you’re looking for, get the matchup you’re looking for and get an opportunity to push it down the field, get the protection you need to get it down the field. There’s a lot of things that play into that. That showed up yesterday and we were able to connect.”
(QB Tua Tagovailoa said on that play that he was going through his progressions, that he was looking for TE Mike Gesicki and that he was able to look off. Is that something that’s frequently designed in plays where you have a guy going deep as part of a progression if a play breaks down at the line?) – “Occasionally. I think you can read the post safety and if he’s low, you throw it high. Sometimes where a Cover 2 corner or a curl-flat player is supposed to play high-to-low and he doesn’t so you can get in behind him. Sometimes deep third corners are sitting on a curl route or sitting on an in-cut and you can get in behind him. I think oftentimes as you go through your progression, you expect to see a guy somewhere and he’s not there and that’s normally when you have an opportunity to go down the field.”
(You just came off of a road win and you’ve won on the road before. That goes without saying. But the fact that you’re home now for the next month, what kind of advantage could that be as you guys look to continue this surge, the fact that you don’t have to – everything will be very settled, you don’t have to travel. Can that be of help for you guys?) – “It’s only a help if we prepare the right way, meet the right way, walkthrough the right way, practice the right way and then go out there and execute against what’s going to be some stiff competition definitely this week. This Carolina team, I was taking a peek at them this morning. They are talented. They are fast. They’ve got a lot of good players. It’s going to be a big challenge.”
(I wanted to ask you about the other two guys who are eligible to return from IR – C/G Michael Deiter and RB Malcolm Brown, in terms of their level of readiness?) – “Like (Will) Fuller and DeVante (Parker), those guys are working every day to get back as quickly as possible. Definitely making a lot of progress and try to take it one day at a time. We’ve got a plan for all of these guys, and we’ll see if they’ll be available Wednesday. I’m hopeful that we’ll get a couple of guys back. There are a couple of more things we need to get through before we make those decisions.”
(What if anything have you noticed about LB Jaelan Phillips on Sunday, and also over the last wo or three weeks that has changed or improved?) – “He’s made a lot of improvements. We need to not have 15-yard penalties. I’ll use this platform to make sure he understands that. Obviously there is a lot of fire, a lot of intensity, a lot of energy. We’ve got to channel that the right ways, which he’s done most of the time, but not yesterday on one particular play. I’ll take this as another opportunity to use this platform to tell Jaelan to keep your poise.”
(I know you base practices and changes on injuries and the way you’re feeling about the team. But there has been this message that the practices have improved, they’ve gotten crisper, understanding is better. Do you think that has anything to do with the Thursday walkthroughs and then Friday practice, instead of practice Wednesday, practice Thursday and walkthrough Friday? Do you see any kind of correlation with that? I know when the team was struggling, you were changing up a couple of things and experimenting.) – “Perhaps. I think we always try to do what we feel is best for the team. The Wednesday practice, Thursday walkthrough, we’ve had a little success with that than other times where we’ve had different schedules. But at the end of the day it’s about our preparation and just getting a better understanding of how we want to play and then being able to execute on Sunday. Whatever works best for the team is what I’ll try to do. That’s likely how we’ll go this week as well.”
(You’ve made the point that every team is different. Every team reacts and handles things differently. Every team has to be coached differently. How long do you think it takes you to figure out the rhythms of the team that year?) – “I think you want to find out as quickly as possible. As a staff, we’re always trying to do everything we can to put the players in the best possible positions to have success. Always hopefully sooner than later, to answer your question.”
(Since you wanted to use your platform for LB Jaelan Phillips, I’ll tee you back up on it. The 19 penalties in the last two games is the most under you in a two-game span. How much of an emphasis across the board is that? I know it always is for you guys, but will there be a little bit more emphasis on this week?) – “We’ve got to do a better job. We talk about it at length every week – the officials we’re going to see, how we expect them to call it, how we’ve got to adjust to the way they are calling it within the game. We’re not doing a good enough job of that. They are calling pass interference, offensive pass interference. We’ve got to make an adjustment. Defensive pass interference or holding, we’ve got to make adjustments. We’re not doing a good enough job. I’ve got to do a better job in-game of reminding these guys that you’ve got to limit the penalties. They are hurting us. Again, I’ll use this platform to convey that message. I think they know that. Our guys know that. They understand it. They’re trying to play physical, trying to play aggressive, but we’ve got to play smart also. I’m not going to beat him down too much, even though that’s what you’re looking for. (laughter)”
TE Mike Gesicki
(Every time that there is success on the first drive of every game, and then there is a little lull, fans like to say ‘it’s because the first drive is scripted, and the other drives aren’t.’ Is there any truth to that at all?) – “You really can only follow the script for so many plays. It’s like the first two or three plays. Then it could be third down, it could be a different part of the field where you weren’t anticipating being. The script only lasts for so long. That’s why the fans are where they are and our coordinators are where they are.”
(Is there any scripting for the second or third drive?) – “Yeah, there is. There is scripting for the first two drives. But it’s all dependent on – I mean you’ve got a script for the second drive, but you got a turnover and you’re in plus field position, now that changes how you’re going to call the game. There are a lot of things that go into it. It is what it is. I think we got into a groove a little bit in the first drive, got down there and scored a touchdown. I’ve said this before – these defenses are also getting paid a lot of money to play football and these coaches are also getting paid a lot of money to stop us from moving the ball. That’s how it happens in this league. I know everybody wants to see every drive end in a touchdown, but unfortunately that is not how this always happens.”
(You’ve consistently been a big defender of QB Tua Tagovailoa from all sorts of criticism that he’s faced. One of the things that people have said is ‘why isn’t he throwing the deep ball?’ Then yesterday he unloads a 65-yard touchdown pass. I’m wondering what you thought, and what the mood was of the team when he threw that bomb?) – “I was happy for him but at the end of the day, you don’t want to force a deep ball that’s not there to try to give people something to write about or people to be happy about. You’ve got to play within the gameplan and play within what the defense gives you. That’s really that. I’m not going to harp on it too much, but I talked to you guys in the spring and I told you guys what I thought about all of the criticism that he gets and all of that kind of stuff. That is what that is. I think he handles it great and yesterday was just another great example of that.”
(I’m sure you’d like to avoid any fines, if in fact they do fine players for criticizing officials. But did you get a helpful explanation relative to what you could’ve done differently or better in order to avoid two pass interference calls in five minutes?) – “When I was driving in this morning, I thought of two things when I was coming to this press conference. I knew that I was going to get asked the OPI call. I initially thought to myself ‘what can I say without getting in trouble?’ I’ll probably keep that to a small margin right there. The other thing I thought to myself was, ‘Wow, Durham (Smythe) went over his career yardage yesterday. He has a new career high so I’m going to wear his jersey in my press conference today and start the initiative to get him paid here by the Miami Dolphins.’ He’s a good player, has a lot of success, does a lot of things – special teams, offense, blocking, receiving. Did it take a trick play to get him an 18-yard catch? It sure did but nonetheless, nobody knows it on the stat sheet. An 18-yard catch is an 18-yard catch, which brings me back to your point – my 18-yard catch taken away which was obviously unfortunate. The refs were doing their job and I’m doing my job. We’re all allowed to agree to disagree and all of that kind of stuff I think that was another instance – I did talk to the ref after that play. I invited him to come to our film session today and we could discuss it. He said he watched it on the Jumbotron and got all of the film that he needed. Like I said, we’re able to agree to disagree and that was that.”
(TE Durham Smythe had a career high in what?) – “Yesterday he went over his season career-high in yardage. Last year he had 208 receiving yards on I think 26 catches maybe. Was the yards per catch great? No. But was the yards up there for him a career high? Yes. This year, with still six games left to go, he’s already exceeded that. I’m happy for him, so I figured I’d come in here wearing his jersey and give him a little boost. I know he wouldn’t do it for me, but I’ll do it for him. (laughter)”
(Are you kidding? He’s done nothing but campaign for you to get your money.) – “Absolutely. I know he’ll come in here and say it, but he probably won’t come in here and put on an 88 jersey. (laughter) But I’ll come in here and put on his jersey for him. I haven’t even seen him yet this morning. This was a, ‘Hey, good job Durham.’ We got home last night, went out to dinner at Louie Bossi’s, watched the game. We were having some fun, enjoying ourselves, congratulations Durham, we were talking about it and realized that he had a career high.”
(I didn’t even know. Thank you for creating that awareness for us.) – “That’s how this happens. See, Durham is a guy that goes under the radar and I’m just trying to elevate his – like he is not even on the Pro Bowl ballot. That’s another thing. Just get him on there. I’ll have to get in touch with NFL.com. Maybe we can get him on there. I’ll vote for him.”
(New tight ends are getting paid. I know you saw that TE Dallas Goedert contract. Thoughts?) – “Happy for him. Very happy for him. He’s a good player. I like Dallas a lot. I’ve met him a couple times, and I don’t have anything bad to say about him. He’s a good dude, great player and I think he got exactly what he deserved. We’ll see what happens”
(When you see tight ends raise the bar, you think what?) – “I like when people get what they deserve.”
(I take it based on what you started to mention a minute ago, TE Durham Smythe is unaware of your campaign?) – “Yeah. Yesterday he said ‘Yeah, you said I was slow last week. You said I ran a 4.9.’ I was like, ‘Bro it was a joke. Relax.’ So today, I figured I’d come in here and give him all of the praise and start his campaign to be a Miami Dolphin next year and moving forward. So Chris (Grier), if you’re listening, this is my campaign for Durham.”
(A few minutes ago, DT Christian Wilkins was talking about how the team wasn’t panicking when you were on the losing streak, which I can certainly appreciate. Was there a point where it crossed your mind about ‘Hey, the margin for error is really shrinking for us, if we want to make something of this season?’) – ‘Yeah, absolutely. I was coming into every postgame press conference telling you guys that we were close and we really were. To be honest with you, we’re still not playing our best football. But we’re making enough plays to come out on top. We’ve got six games left and say what you want, but I think what we want is still out there. You see each and every week that some teams go down and you’re shocked by it. This is a crazy league, so there is definitely an opportunity to still reach our goals as a team. We just take it day-by-day, week-by-week, and this week we’re on to the Carolina Panthers and have another opportunity.”
(What you want is still out there, so that raises the question, what do you want?) – “I’ve got to keep that internal. (laughter) We just want success. We want week-by-week success. I’m not going to put any expectations or big goals out there. We keep those internal because I feel like once you start saying stuff out loud, then the football gods work in an interesting way. We keep that to ourselves and let everything else handle itself.”
(I raised my hand before you referenced the football gods and I totally get that. But is it fair to say that the playoffs remain the main objective? It’s certainly not out of the question with the way you’re playing and with the schedule ahead.) – “I would say that for every team in the NFL, that is the objective. Then you just have to take it day-by-day, week-by-week, and go out there on Sunday and try to put another good week together and strive to reach our goals.”
DT Christian Wilkins
(I’ve got to ask, how close were you to breaking that after catching that fumble?) – “I was close and I got a little too excited. I think that’s what caused the little fumble on the end. But nah, I felt like I had a good chance. If I got past that little mosh pit there, I think you would have seen some track star speed out there, some open running and some power behind these legs. I think you would have seen that but I’ll do better next time. (laughter)”
(I was about to say, are you running a 4.3? 4.35?) – “I’m going to be real, I’m not a 4.3 guy. Never been that. But maybe 4.5. You would have seen some speed. You would have seen some getaway speed. (laughter)”
(I feel like G/T Robert Hunt is coming from your crown as big-man moving, big-man sexy swag. Do you feel threatened by his emergence lately?) – “I don’t necessarily feel threatened but what he did was pretty impressive so I can definitely learn from him. That was pretty impressive, like I said. I don’t feel threatened, I’ll just do better next time.”
(Do you feel like there could be a package where you’re the fullback and G/T Robert Hunt is the back that follows you?) – “I’m the running back. He would be the fullback. I think I could lobby and try to get that done. I don’t think that’s likely but I’ll try and see if we can get that done. Who knows. Stay tuned.”
(I got to ask you, did G/T Robert Hunt say anything to you after the game yesterday?) – “Yeah he did, and this morning and stuff too. He’s kind of been on me a little bit, just making fun of me. Not really saying like, ‘Ooh I did this,’ but he’s just kind of making fun of me like, ‘Oh how you have two hands on the ball and still cough it up?’ and all this other stuff. I just take it and laugh. It was pretty funny but I’m just glad we came away with it in the end.”
(What do you see as the biggest difference between the defense now and the defense earlier in the season?) – “I would just say – I don’t know. I really can’t pinpoint one specific thing but I just feel like we continue to try to get better each week. When you do that, when you’re intentional each week you come in, you like the guys you work with, you compete every day and everyone is locked in and you’re focused on getting better and better each week, eventually you’ve got no choice but to get better and to improve on things you weren’t doing so well. Guys just stuck together. That was the most important thing. We’ve been able to do some pretty good things these last few weeks.”
(There was a shot during the broadcast, I don’t know if you guys saw it, after QB Tua Tagovailoa threw his 65-yard touchdown, up in the offensive booth where the coordinators are kind of looking at each other like, ‘wow.’ What was the feeling on the sideline when Tua finally unleashed a big throw like that? What did you guys think of it?) – “It was cool. We were just excited. It was a big play in the game. We were pretty lit on the sideline. Everybody was excited. It was a good play, a big play for us, a big play for our team and it was essentially the difference in the game.”
(You mentioned that next time you’ll do better if you have the opportunity to get out of that scrum and take it all the way to the house, showing off your speed. My question is if you make it 65 or 70 yards, what are you doing when you get in the endzone?) – “Yeah, I definitely threw away my shot. But if that happens, I’ll have something in store. You’ll just have to wait and see. It’ll be a surprise. (laughter)”
(Would you have enough gas after that?) – “I’d find it. I’d have to dig deep. I’d find it within. I’d be running on fumes but I’ll make it memorable.”
(A couple of minutes ago we spoke to LB Jaelen Phillips. I’m wondering what’s your perspective on his development as a rookie?) – “It’s pretty impressive to see what he’s been able to do. He’s just out there just having fun. just competing. And he works hard, works very hard. You could see it. He wasn’t a guy that came in thinking he was all that. He was very humble, willing to get better each and every day, each and every week. He has some want to. He’s competitive and he has all the ingredients to be a good player in this league. He just continues to put the work in and the other guys in the d-line room and the outside ‘backer room, we just try to keep him straight, try to keep him encouraged and he’s been able to have some success so we’re excited for that.”
(A lot of players have talked about, especially after this game, that the level of practice has improved or taken up a notch and Head Coach Brian Flores even addressed it. What does a good week of practice look like to you?) – “The first thing I would just say is high energy, guys out there working, competing and just enthusiastic. You can just see it’s clear that it’s infectious. Guys want to be there. That’s definitely important. It’s also just having a focus day in and day out to do your job and do your job at a high level. It’s not just one day, whether it’s a walkthrough or a full-blown padded practice, you’ve got to have the same mindset and the same energy. It’s just been fun to be around and that’s what we’ve been able to do. It’s definitely helped us.”
(How did you not panic during a seven-game losing streak? What was the key? What as the formula?) – “I don’t know. I know everybody else on the outside world wanted us to panic and just wanted us to bury our heads in the sand, but we weren’t going to do that. We just stuck together and just try to get better each week. One day at a time, one play at a time, one meeting at a time, one lift at a time. Just try to do those things, be great in those areas and everything else will fall into place.”
(I know obviously the most important thing is performance and execution, but is it a good thing that you all have an identity as a defense? Obviously, this started last year where you were known as a blitzing, attacking team that can be disruptive. Is that something you take pride in? Is that something good that that is the Dolphins identity defensively and that you have one?) – “Yeah, I guess. I don’t think too much of it. I just follow the gameplan, go out there and try to make plays and do my job. I don’t necessarily try to think about what everyone else sees us as per se. I just try to have fun and enjoy my time out there and be the best I can for the team.’
C Austin Reiter
(I don’t know if you’ve had time to meet with Offensive Line Coach Lemuel Jeanpierre yet but what was the feedback you got as a group about how you did yesterday collectively as an offensive line? It seems like there was an improvement in both pass protection and in the run-blocking aspect as well.) – “We’re about to watch the film right now. I think the feeling though – I liked the initial drive was really good. I think there were some times in the middle of the game that we could have improved but I think that final fourth quarter drive to chew up the clock and just run the ball, I think that was one of the highlights for the offensive line play there. That was a good feeling, keeping the ball in hand and taking the time off the clock.”
(It seems like a bunch of mature guys on this offensive line – T Liam Eichenberg seems like a mature, smart guy for a rookie. Have you had to try to keep his spirits up – you and G/T Jesse Davis at all – because obviously it’s been a tough adjustment playing left tackle for him? He did some good things yesterday.) – “No, I don’t think I’ve had to keep his spirits up. He’s a smart guy. He’s played a lot of football just not at this level but it always kind of surprises me and I have to remind myself sometimes that he is a rookie, which is pretty impressive on his part for the way he composes himself.”
(What do you think – obviously you guys have been trying hard, very hard, to develop a run game for the last month and a lot of it with you being there as the starting center. What was the difference this week against the Jets? What were you guys doing differently that led to success?) – “I think getting in a rhythm in part of the game helped. I think kind of finding our groove there. I think there’s some runs that we do well. About to watch the film right after this with the whole o-line and we’ll have a better sense of what we’re doing well and what we like. I think just consistently working, it’s day-by-day in this league and getting the whole o-line ready to cohesively work together, it doesn’t happen overnight. I think our hard work is starting to show on film.
(You obviously are into the mix, three centers. You’re a center so you know that’s never a good thing. How difficult is it to just learn everybody as a center as one of those leaders in terms of on short notice from a communication standpoint?) – “It’s tough. You understand that. I think in pass protection, it’s kind of knowing where guys’ feet are as far as the guards. You’ve got two guys on each side of you. In the run game, it’s kind of fits and where guys are going to be on defensive linemen when you’re trying to run block them. It isn’t easy to just come in and cohesively gel with everybody. It’s something that we work on in practice a lot so on Sunday there’s no excuses for anything less than what we want.”
(You arrived in Miami during a rough patch that was getting worse at the time. Now that you’ve strung together three straight wins, what’s the difference in the locker room vibe that you’re seeing if there is one?) – “I think we’re gaining some confidence. Three games in a row, I know that’s a good thing. That’s hard to do in this league and you see it across. It’s a big confidence game and when you’ve got a team that plays with confidence, every game you’re going to have adversity that hits whether it’s turnovers or anything. If you get down, you’ve got to have that confidence knowing that you’re going to win the game no matter what. I think that’s kind of where that switch mentally flips for a team.”
(I know you guys are programed to think of one game at a time, but have you given any thought at all now that you’re on this three-game winning streak, to making a playoff run? Has it crossed your mind, ‘Hey, we can get back into this playoff race now.’) – “Not me personally. I’m looking week-to-week. You’ve got to take small bites of the apple to get to the whole thing. I’m week-to-week. I think a lot of the team is focused the same way. I know coach is focused that way too. We’re all Panthers this week and beating them.”
(I heard last week that there were good practices last week. Obviously everybody thinks that they practice well but when you talk about having a good practice, what does that mean to you?) – “First, I would start by saying no mental errors. People are going out there when we run the plays that are scripted and we are not having to start things over. We don’t have to re-run a play, we don’t have to go back after we get through that set and ‘hey, pull up play six.’ We’re lined up right. We’re not chewing up the clock in the huddle. I would say those types of things. Just being efficient is probably the No. 1. Guys are going to get beat. That happens all the time. But I think No. 1 is not beating yourself mentally, everybody knowing the assignment and operating efficiently as an offense.”
(How do players hold players accountable for when they do have these mental errors, busts and preventable penalties, preventable mistakes and missed assignments? How do you guys hold each other accountable for that?) – “I think that comes down to the position group. That matters which position that would happen at. I know as an offensive line, if we have people jumping or missed assignments, we’re going to vocally let them know like, ‘Hey, this can’t happen.’ I’m sure that goes across the board for other position groups and I’m sure that the coaches would feel the same way.”
(I’d like to follow up on something you just mentioned with the crispness of practice and not having to re-run plays. How’s that maybe compare if at all when you first got here and the team wasn’t doing so well? Were the practices maybe not quite as crisp as they are now?) – “There’s been so many practices. I wouldn’t say at the beginning when I got here that they were bad. Obviously in the course of the seven, eight weeks, there’s been some days the second week that I was here, the third week that I was here that were maybe a few mental errors. It’s hard for me to notice that because I’m so locked into what I’m trying to do that sometimes I don’t see if the defense is having errors. When coach says we have a good practice, some days I’m thinking to myself, ‘I could have done this better.’ It’s tough for me to assess the whole team sometimes.”
LB Jaelan Phillips
(Are you aware of your sack numbers? Obviously fans and media are into that sort of thing. Do you know how many you have? Do you keep track of it at all?) – “I mean yeah, afterwards. My mom is the one who keeps track. She’s the one who tells me. I know it’s like 3.5 now or something like that.”
(It is. I know obviously you’re measured on far more than that. You’re measured on pressures, on how you contain the run as an edge player. But did you have a sack goal coming in and is 3.5 you think a good number for a rookie after 11 NFL games?) – “I really didn’t try to set too many expectations on myself just so that I can manage it. I didn’t want to come in with over lofty expectations and say I need 10-plus sacks or else I don’t feel like I’ve succeeded or anything like that. I feel like that’s kind of setting myself up to fail because the reality is you can have a lot less numbers and still be productive and still learn and improve every week and do good things. So for me, it’s not necessarily the numbers that are important to me as the production. But it’s obviously always nice to get to the quarterback. I love getting sacks. It’s great for the team. It’s great for everybody.”
(There’s a little bit of a difference between QB Lamar Jackson and QB Joe Flacco. I’m curious what the thought was inside the defensive meetings when you found out the Jets were going to be starting Flacco on Sunday.) – “Obviously it’s a different gameplan. Every week is a different gameplan, regardless of who it is. Obviously there’s a pretty stark difference between a guy like Lamar Jackson and an older guy like Joe Flacco. Not that he’s not athletic in his own regard but he’s obviously more of a pocket passer. So this week we still wanted to be aggressive and when it comes to rushing the passer against guys who are less likely to roll out of the pocket and be very elusive, you can kind of be more aggressive when you rush and it kind of changes things up a little bit. But yeah, we game-planned this game and I think we executed for the most part. There’s definitely some things to improve on. But obviously the most important thing is that we got the win.”
(Did you personally think, ‘Okay, QB Joe Flacco is back there. I should be able to take this guy down?’) – “I called it out. I’ve been trying to manifest it so I always tell my friends, ‘I’m going to get this guy. I’m going to get a sack.’ But I wasn’t underestimating him by any means. Obviously he’s an elite quarterback. He’s won Super Bowls and been doing his thing for a long time. I definitely didn’t underestimate him but I was definitely glad to be able to get back there.”
(I know this is not a favorable thing to address but the penalty that you had with the shove, maybe not shove. What were you thinking and do you feel like there was a bit of acting involved or was that just a bad mistake?) – “Yeah, I mean that’s just me. I know better than that and obviously that won’t happen again. It’s just in the heat of the moment. Obviously, sometimes you make mistakes. It’s something I’ve got to own up to. It’s not great. Not smart.”
(I wanted to ask you from the team perspective – we usually ask you guys questions from your individual perspective – but from the team perspective, what the different has felt like within your first NFL season from that early impression of a seven-game losing streak to now reeling off three straight.) – “The thing is, I feel like as players and even as coaches and as a staff in general, I feel like our energy has always been very optimistic and very positive. Like even during that seven-game winning streak, I didn’t feel like every day I came into the facility people were hanging their heads and people were down and out and worried about that. I think everybody realized that we were really close and we just had to execute better and we just had to do the little things better. I think the energy in the building is great right now. Obviously it’s great to win three in a row but our focus is just on continuing to improve and stacking these days and stacking these weeks. Right now obviously we have Carolina ahead of us, so that’s what our focus is on.”
DB Elijah Campbell
(Does it take a special mindset as an NFL player to be content and entirely motivated if you’re only pretty much playing on special teams and not on offense or defense, in your case?) – “I guess you could say it could take a special mindset to be a specialist and accept that role as a specialist. I take pride in special teams so I’m just thankful for having that opportunity and being able to go out there and do what I can to help support the team.”
(There’s been talk about how practices have been better lately. Not necessarily that being the reason behind the three-game winning streak but what does a good week of practice or crisp practice look like to you as a player?) – “I would just say that coach, about halfway through the season, we hit the halfway mark and he said from here on out, ‘We’re going to have a better half of the season. We’re playing a whole different type of football.’ I think when he said that, the whole team kind of bought into that and ever since we started our little streak, practices have had a little more energy to them. Can you ask the question again? Sorry, I don’t want to get off topic.”
(You’re doing great. What does a good week of practice look like?) – “A good week of practice? You come out and start with good energy the first week. You kind of want to minimize the mistakes in the beginning. There’s always going to be mistakes in the beginning of the week but as long as every day we continue to gradually get better, then by the time Friday comes, we have that crisp practice, we can put Wednesday and Thursday out of the window. As long as Friday we come with that crisp practice and everything is completed and we’re confident, I think that’s when we know we had a good week of practice.”
(Does the shift from a walkthrough on Friday to a walkthrough on Thursday, does that impact it do you think? That happened maybe a month ago.) – “I don’t know. I don’t try to get too deep into that. I kind of just go with whatever the schedule is. If it’s been working, it’s been working so we kind of just roll with it. You can say that had an effect on it but I just think we came with a different attitude the second half of the season and things have been going in our direction. We’re just trying to keep stacking these wins up.”
(I wanted to ask you more about that turning point that you mentioned. When you said coach said we’re going to play a different type of football, I assume you mean Head Coach Brian Flores, not one of the coordinators right?) – “Yes.”
(For you personally, hearing those words, what were you thinking and what were you feeling about this sort of reset that the team was undergoing?) – “I think it was just a mutual understanding amongst the whole team. We were 1-7 so I felt like we all knew that something had to change. We all knew that we just weren’t playing our best football. I think it was just something that needed to be said and once we all – you kind of just have to put it out there in the air and then it was the elephant in the room, so he kind of went into the team meeting and said it and everyone was kind of like, ‘Alright, we need to turn this around.’ We kind of all bought in and things have been on the up trend from there.”
(Just to follow those two questions, when it got to 1-7 with a seven-game losing streak, was Head Coach Brian Flores positive with the team as part of that message as opposed to chewing you guys out a lot? Was there an optimistic tone in his voice and in his message?) – “Yeah. I mean he’s always an optimistic coach. There’s always the goal of winning. You’re never just going to lay down and accept what was happening to us. I feel like every week we were optimistic and we always believe we should win every week. I don’t know. It was just a shift. We had so many close games in the beginning of the year. I just felt like it was a time that the ball was going to start going our way. I think it was just that time of year that everybody knew there needed to be a shift. He wasn’t necessarily chewing anybody out or getting on anybody individually. It was just accountability like we’ve got to do better.”
(Was there any message with it that he believes in you guys? Because there were never any cuts, firings or anything like that when it got to seven losses in a row. So was the message delivered that he believed in you guys?) – “I wouldn’t say that was what he said verbatim but pretty much. He did say we’re sticking with our guys and we trust in you guys. Yeah, he did believe in us and he still does. We have all of the pieces on this team from defense to offense to special teams. Like I said, it’s just certain things and certain plays didn’t go our way in big games and now the ball is going our way. We’re just going to keep rolling with it and just keep stacking these wins up hopefully, and keep our head down and keep grinding.”
