Postgame – L.A. Chargers
WR Tyreek Hill
(How do you feel? You’re on an accelerated pace for 2,000 receiving yards. You made a statement Game 1.) – “Oh yeah, it’s good. Very grateful to be in this position that I’m in. It means a lot, coming from a small town, being able to play on this platform, I’m very grateful. I’m very honored to be in this position, and I wouldn’t take it for granted. I was telling the guys today right before the game, I’m like, ‘We’re playing on the Lord’s day. So let’s come out here, and let’s ball. Let’s have fun. Let’s play fast and deliberate.’ I just, I don’t know, I kind of went into a zone there.”
(I feel like there are so many throws and catches to ask you about. Let’s start with that 35-yarder down the sideline for the touchdown when you were hyped coming around the side of field?) – “Our coaches, they do a great job of giving the defense a certain look. So I was inside releasing the whole game, and that’s what the corner was expecting. Inside released the whole game, and (Head Coach) Mike (McDaniel) and Tua (Tagovailoa) came to me and were like, ‘What do you think about Z-Sky?’ I was like, ‘You know what? That sounds like a great idea, because I’ve been releasing inside, the corner isn’t going to be expecting me to release outside.’ Sure enough, I hit him with an inside move, and I was wide open. I was able to use my speed. Tua delivered a great pass. I was so hyped though, because that dude, J.C. Jackson, a hell of a player. He had just caught a pick, and I’m like, ‘No, we need some momentum,’ so I got us.”
(What about QB Tua Tagovailoa? We’ve been waiting to see him since he went out last year. After the day he had and the way you connected with him?) – “Bro, Tua is a baller. I’ve been saying this since last year. I’ve been an advocate for him, and he definitely showed it today. Even during halftime, he was able to come in and get guys going a little bit. Even on the sideline with me, he was like, ‘Hey, Cheetah. Let’s get it, baby.’ Big time moment, big time players make big time plays. He kind of leaned on me a little bit towards the end. That just means more targets for me, and I kind of enjoy that.”
(You had 15 targets. That final drive, this is a league where that final drive matters. The poise and some of the plays that you guys were able to execute, if you could just walk me through some of the big plays, including your catch and then the TD catch at the end?) – “Right, that’s what training camp moments are for. I feel like me and Tua and the rest of the guys, the rest of the pass catchers, we’ve been working our tail off on being on the same page. We meet together after every practice, and we just try to find ways to just be in the right spot for the quarterback. We actually got that advice from the great Dan Marino, actually. He was like, ‘You guys need to start meeting together after the practice and don’t meet with your position coach.’ So we decided to start meeting together, and ever since then, it’s like everything has been on the same page with Tua. Everybody’s been on the same page with Tua, and the last drive was a perfect example of it.”
(Was that this year that Dan Marino gave you that advice?) – “Yeah, that was Dan Marino, the great Dan Marino.”
(Did he give you that this offseason?) – “No, it was actually preseason, because I just so happened to be at the bar in a preseason game. I walked in and he was like, ‘Hey, Reek. Man, you’ve been doing a great job.’ We began to talk about practice and stuff like that, and he was like, ‘You guys need to start meeting together. You know, I used to do that with all my guys back in the day, and we used to be on the same page.’ So Tua went to ‘Bev’ (Quarterbacks Coach Darrell Bevell), and we just came together, started watching film every day after practicing. It’s been working wonders.”
(I know it’s just Game 1 of 17, which you hope is more, but how satisfying is it? You said you wanted to start off with Los Angeles, how satisfying is it to come here to kind of get the stench off of last year to start the year off?) – “It feels good. It feels good, man, to come back here and win a tough game against a tough opponent. They have great talent on that side of the ball, and I’m just glad that we started with this game. Last year, those guys, they did a great job of pressing us. So I feel like this year, like I’ve been saying all offseason, we had a chance to go back and get a full understanding of the offense, and you see that the results were different.”
(Do you feel unstoppable, like they’re going to throw it to you, and nobody is going to be able to cover you? Because you had so many big plays today.) – “I always feel like that. I always feel like nobody can guard me as a competitor. I feel like if you ask anybody in our room, they’ll say the same thing – can’t nobody guard me or them. I just feel like that’s just a competitive mindset. I want the ball. Well, that sounds kind of like crazy. But yeah, like I just feel like can’t nobody guard me.”
(You told us last year you really got by mostly on athleticism. The first time now that you get to apply what you’ve learned in the offseason, do you feel more second nature and instinctual?) – “Oh man, like everything is more fluid this year. Because last year, I was just banking on my speed and just banking on me just outrunning guys. But this year, I was in my bag a little bit more on release moves and just routes at the top and stuff like that. That’s how I was able to get my first catch, I had a dagger. Last year, we ran the same exact route, and I wasn’t open. But this year, it’s a whole lot different, because I know how to run it and I know exactly how many steps I need to be at and stuff like that. So yeah, everything was different. And I’m not just counting on my speed, obviously after the catch I am but yeah.”
(Speaking of in his bag, how much was Head Coach Mike McDaniel doing that for you this game?) – “Oh, yeah, he was definitely in his bag. I definitely got to give him a shoutout, also our offensive coordinator, Frank (Smith). Those guys do a great job of dialing us up, setting up plays. Also just aligning plays for really just everybody to make plays. So those guys do a great job of just getting everybody involved.”
(In the game, there were a lot of fans here from Miami supporting the team.) – “Oh yeah, I saw that. Shout out to the Fins fans.”
(You threw a ball over there in that section. How much energy did you guys feed off that, just having the crowd support?) – “I definitely caught a cramp after throwing that ball up there. I shouldn’t have been so hype. (laughter) But besides that, it was definitely a momentum swing for us. We definitely needed that. Defense had just got a stop, I believe. So, us being able to come off a turnover, defense get a stop and then score, that’s definitely huge, especially for a young team. So I just feel like me being that captain man, I have to be that dude. I sometimes got to get out of my shell and just turn up man and just show people that maybe I’m not a cheetah, I’m a lion, baby.”
(Tell us a little bit more about these meetings. How long do they last? And what do you think is the main gain that you get out of it? Is it getting down your timing or exchanging ideas on plays that you feel most comfortable with?) – “No, it’s not about that man. Because I feel like the players, our job is to play, so we just leave play calls and all that to Tua (Tagovailoa) and the offensive coordinator and head coach. It’s just about just understanding coverages together and just being in the right spot for Tua. So we ran a bunch of out routes today, and we knew that we were going to get a certain coverage from them. Just being on the same page about, ‘Hey Tua, I’m going to take this many steps,’ or ‘If he does this, I’m going to go inside.’ Or ‘If he does this, I’m going to keep going over the top.’ So just small things like that, but the main thing is just understanding coverage, because obviously this offense is about timing. And if it’s not on time, then it’s either a sack or something much worse, and we don’t want that. We want to be in the right spot for the quarterback.”
Postgame – L.A. Chargers
Head Coach Mike McDaniel (transcribed by L.A. Chargers)
(On the connection with Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa and Dolphins WR Tyreek Hill) – “That’s an offseason of — more than just two guys, but those two guys are a great example — of not focusing on anything but their craft. There’s a lot of noise that can occur. A lot of statements that can be made. It’s the National Football League and those are two guys that really worried about the right stuff. That’s the ultimate hope as a coach — all that time invested and those high standards that you’re holding yourself to, that that’s rewarded. I think, today it definitely was. They were on the same page for sure.”
(On the offensive performance) – “I think the biggest part was that I saw a lot of guys who have really maxed out their investment in themselves and their teammates. I think it was really cool to see guys make right of that. We really didn’t spend little or any time talking about last year. Just because it was erroneous, I thought. Week 1 is always interesting, that’s what I spent most of the time talking to players because the whole league — really, all fan bases kind of lose their mind Week 1 and it’s totally understandable. You have all of this build up and it’s the first game. You can really go sideways with your emotions when things don’t work out your way. People overreact, a two-score deficit feels bigger. A dropped pass feels bigger than it actually is. So, overall, I was just really, really fired up about the team playing through things — having leads, losing leads and then ultimately, say what you want, the game was won with the defense on the field. That will always be the story of how teams win or lose. There’ll be a game this year, I told the guys in the locker room, where we’ll have to win the game without scoring a touchdown. Teams find a way. I was really pumped about that. It was just weathering the storm, doing what you have to do on both sides of the ball. If we need points, go and get two points, and if we need to stop, get a stop.”
(On getting the field goal to close the first half) – “I think it was tremendous of the players on the field, Tua [Tagovailoa] in particular. He hit [WR Jaylen] Waddle and then bought some time in the pocket, stepped up in it, which in that situation is a huge credit to the offensive line, who I thought really put their best foot forward against some challenging players. To get those points is as big as any points, especially when you win by two points or whatever. Then at the end, that’s the stuff that you want to see. You put the ball in the hands of your best players, at the end of the game. I know it gives us a chance as a team because there’s multiple players that want the ball in their hands.”
(On if he puts stock in ‘coaching matchups) – “No. The reason I kind of scoffed at something early in the week — and it has nothing to do with anything, but I find it super insulting to players to make anything about myself or a competition between me and another guy who both are not playing. It’s really irrelevant to me only because the second I start saying, ‘I beat somebody,’ I have lost what this job is and it is erroneous. We did win an AFC game on the road and that fires you up against a team that will give a lot of people problems. As we’ve seen, [Chargers Head] Coach [Brandon] Staley and the boys have a lot of resolve, as well, so I’m sure they’ll come back.”
(On WR Tyreek Hill) – “I think there was a couple of them. The second play of the game was his first catch. It was a play that’s probably a catch-tackle last year, but understanding the timing of the play, I think that set the tone for everything. I think it was his first catch. Then, I think the one right before, he caught a deep over-route — really, all of his catches, now that I think about it, he probably would have had half [of the yardage] last year. Understanding how to beat coverage is not something that we needed to teach him, but understanding when to separate and how to get the ball, that’s what he’s really majored in this this year. He exaggerates, you know, he’s a natural performer so he did know some things, but it would be very, very accurate to say we saw a better version of him today within the offense. I think that is a big part of his success.”
(On the team’s resolve after the early fumble) – “Well, so that’s kind of what we’re talking about, is not making things that happen do anything negatively towards your performance. So we drove the ball down the field and we had a fumbled exchange from center to quarterback. That feeling is totally irrelevant towards what happened on that drive. That was one play and it can feel defeating. Then, when an opponent scores, it makes it even worse. That’s a huge challenge in Week 1 to not overreact. I didn’t see anybody, I thought the sidelines, really the captains and the players in leadership positions, had their mind right for what today was. I thought they were in for the entirety of it, were not going to get too high or too low. That’s a key component in the National Football League when games are won and lost with leads or with deficits.”
(On Dolphins WR Jaylen Waddle) – “He was fine. He wanted to go in more. He was straining through some pain, but it was nothing that he couldn’t play with. I was going in and out of, ‘Alright we need you on this one, we’re OK with that.’ He’ll continue to get treatment and be tough. I don’t see it as an issue moving forward.”
(On Tua Tagovailoa’s performance today) – “It’s validating to me because I don’t feel crazy. That’s kind of what I expected to happen with the work that he’s done. I think he needs to continue – literally, it’s the easiest most layup coaching point of all time – continue to do what you’re doing. Honestly, that’s where he’s at. He is tough-minded enough and accountable enough that he puts, probably even more than he should, on his own shoulders. Has very high standards for himself and wants to continue to grow and get better. With that relentless approach and that consistent understanding of who you have to be on a day-to-day basis if you want to be a big-time quarterback on a big-time team – which I know is the way he looks at it. The cost is real, and I want him to keep paying that cost at whatever comes across his plate. He’s as coachable as any player I’ve ever been around in my life. I want him to keep doing that.”
Postgame – L.A. Chargers
QB Tua Tagovailoa (transcribed by L.A. Chargers)
(On the final scoring drive) – “It was a situation where we needed to go down and we needed to score in order to give our team an opportunity to be in the lead. I think our guys did a phenomenal job of not losing their composure in the heat of the moment, especially with the plays that happened prior to us getting that thing going, like that shot down the sideline to [Dolphins WR] Tyreek [Hill]. I’m just very proud of our guys. Our defense, they only needed one stop, and that was at the end of the game. I’m very proud of them, how they went out there. They didn’t let anything hinder them from continuing to press forward, continuing to play the things that they play. Like I said, I’m just really proud of it. It’s always tough to come into another stadium and come out with a win. That’s a tough team, and we’re very glad that we got to get the win.”
(On the fourth-down conversion in the third quarter) – “For me, I have to see the sticks and have to know where our guys are. [Dolphins WR] Jaylen [Waddle] was first in my read, and Jaylen sort of slipped. I believe it was a three-man rush, so I was able to maneuver the pocket and step up. As I was looking at Jaylen, it sort of brought all those guys with vision on Jaylen outside-in, and Tyreek [Hill] was streaking on the sideline one-on-one, so I just tried to throw it out there, let him run under it.”
(On WR Tyreek Hill) – “You guys see what he can do for defenses, the problems that he offers – his speed, for one, his ability to catch the ball. It’s like ‘Man, I got to find a way to stop this guy.’ He can catch the ball and he can turn a two-yard route into a 20-yard route. Things like that. What helps him is the other guy, the guy we have on the other side, Jaylen Waddle. Although Jaylen didn’t get as much burn today as Tyreek [Hill], it just tells you about the competitive nature for both of them and it tells you the great teammates that both of them are. Jaylen was super excited when Tyreek caught his first touchdown on the sideline, and when Tyreek led us down there for that final drive. It’s a team sport. We’re very excited to have the guys that we have on our team. Like I said, it’s tough, tough to come out here and get a win.”
(On today’s win and ‘how much it means) – “They all mean a lot, it’s tough to win games in the NFL. They have a lot of really good talent on their side. You come out every day preparing day in and day out, and hoping for this result, to get a win. I think there are a lot of things out there that are underrated, in terms of the things that our coaches have put out there. For instance, the ending of our second-quarter deal. We were able to kick a field goal there, but no one’s necessarily looking at that, they’re looking at the last touchdown, and points matter in this league. To me, that was almost all the difference in winning and losing this game.”
(On his first game since Week 16 of last season) – “I was just really excited to be out there again. I don’t think anything else relates to the adrenaline rush that you get when you go out there. You have the fans – even when you’re warming up, you can smell the popcorn. There are just a lot of things that you just can’t really emulate. Being able to go out there with the guys, it was awesome. I was very appreciative of the opportunity.”
(On if he was ‘surprised’ by Dolphins fans in attendance) – “I really wasn’t, because last year, I felt like it was sort of similar to this year. We had a lot of Dolphins fans come to last year’s game. Shout out to the Fins Nation, they were probably just as loud, if not a little louder, than the Chargers home team. That could have made all the difference, as well for their communication. Shout out to Fins Nation.”
(On winning a close game) – “It feels good to win any game regardless of how you win. This isn’t the first time a lot of the guys on the offensive side of the ball have seen this, we were able to do that last year, the resilience and the focus that these guys needed to have today. It’s the first game, you don’t necessarily know what to expect from their team. I felt like they did their best and gave us their best shot. They ran almost everything that we’ve seen watching film. It feels really good to be able to come out with a win.”
(On competing against another quarterback from the 2020 NFL Draft) – “I don’t look at it as, ‘Hey, I’m competing to be better than this person or that person.’ My job is plain and simple, and it’s to help our guys win a football game and help lead our team to where we want to go, and that’s the Super Bowl. I don’t look at it in that sense. I don’t look at it as this guy is doing this and this guy’s doing that. We’re all different players. [Bengals QB] Joe [Burrow] plays different than the way I play. [Chargers QB] Justin Herbert, he plays different than the way I play. You take it for what it is. You’re not playing against them, you’re playing against their defense.”
