RB Myles Gaskin
(Can you describe what was so effective about that opening drive? It felt like you had lanes to run through, QB Tua Tagovailoa had lanes to pass, you guys moved the ball so effectively on those first 10 plays. From your perspective, what was it that really opened things up for you guys?) – “I think we just came out, knew what we wanted to do, knew the plays that were going to be called and we just executed. We prepared all week for it and I think we were really hyped to be out there and ready to get this ball rolling.”
(On the flip side, did you notice any specific adjustments New England made in the series to follow? It seems like whatever it was, they figured it out until that opening drive of the third quarter.) – “I think they were coming in and out of different defenses, different looks, and they’ve got some really good players. New England’s defense is really good always. They were able to make plays on us, we were able to make plays on them, that’s just the ebbs and flows of NFL football.”
(I think on that opening possession, you had a really long gain out of the pistol, a run on third down. As opposed to running out of the shotgun next to the quarterback, what is so effective about running out of the pistol or even passing out of the pistol?) – “It’s all the same for me personally. You’re just trying to hit the holes wherever they are. Designed runs, just trust it. Being in pistol is a little bit different than being offset, because when you’re offset, they know which way you are going in the sense of if you’re on the right, they know the run will probably be going to the left. It’s all the same for me and I think all of the running backs. Whatever run is called, we trust the O-line that they are going to do their job.”
(We were talking to G/T Jesse Davis earlier and he was talking about from the O-line perspective some of the nuances of the RPO and what they need to know. From the back perspective, what are some things that when you run that, that we may not see, that you guys have as teaching points during the week?) – “For the running back, you just always expect the ball. I think it’s a little bit harder for almost every other position. Receiver, they’ve got to push their depth, they’ve got to do what they’ve got to do for wherever the play is. The O-line, like you were talking to Jesse with, just trying not to be downfield, not to get those type of penalties. As a running back, when RPO is called, you’re expecting the ball every play. It is no different. You just carry out the fake if you don’t get it.”
(Is there something about that style that you like, or dislike, more than a traditional running style?) – “No. I think it’s all the same.”
(I wanted to ask you about the responsibility of you leading the way in the running game for the team. How are you taking that responsibility and what are some of the conversations between you guys? Yesterday RB Malcolm Brown had an impact towards the end. It seems like there is room for everybody to contribute.) – “Like you said, there is room for everybody to contribute. I think we all bring different things to the table. Malcolm being the bigger back, Salvon (Ahmed) is doing a little bit of everything, motioning out and that type of stuff. Myself doing a little bit of that as well. Just playing to our strengths as players. Communicating on the sideline is always a big deal between the running backs because you might not get the same play twice, but somebody else might get the same plays you had. You can relay the message ‘hey, the hole might be on the backside,’ or wherever it may be. Just being able to communicate, I think that’s the most important thing as a running back group.”
G/T Jesse Davis
(Obviously a 3.2 yards per carry average is not something that is favorable in this league but where do you feel like you guys were as an offensive line from a physicality standpoint yesterday?) – “I think we flashed in some areas. I think we have a lot to improve on. It’s the first game and we can always get better; but I think we had some good moments.”
(You guys had a lot of success on the RPOs and usually when you talk to offensive linemen, they say they like to get downhill. They like run blocking more. Just as an offensive lineman, what do you like about the concept of the RPO and what you can do as an offense?) – “I think the RPO game was a big part of our game plan going in. We can get some good chunk plays out of it like we did. It’s also tricky not to go downfield as well. It’s kind of a double-edged sword.”
(We’re all in foreign land right now in terms of COVID and year two is different than year one, but what did you think about T Austin Jackson’s journey with COVID and flying on his own and coming back and being active? What was the whole process like for the line?) – “Going into it, we didn’t really think he would be available. When he was activated, obviously we had questions too. It turned into a we’re monitoring AJ, the game plan is still the game plan and if we ever needed to grab him, we’ll do so. It’s another thing with the COVID thing. You never know what is going to happen.”
(QB Tua Tagovailoa talked this offseason a lot about of the operational things; getting in and out of the huddle, play calling and getting comfortable running the offense. Year two, game one, what did you see from Tua as compared to last year?) – “I think he’s done a good job. I think he commanded the huddle, the offense, getting us on the right page when we needed to. I think he’s done a good job. Our emphasis was getting in the huddle, getting out of the huddle, breaking it so that way we can get lined up, see the defense and play ball.”
(I’m curious kind of what that teaching standpoint is as far as the o-line perspective on RPOs and how to handle that?) – “It’s just staying on double teams. You can be attached to a defender and go downfield but once you’re off unattached to a defender and you head downfield, when we release the ball then it is obviously an illegal lineman downfield. Staying on double teams is the coaching point there.”
(You can go downfield as far as you want so long as you are attached?) – “Yup.”
(That’s the rule? And is there a certain yard amount that you can’t after that?) – “I think you get one yard if you’re unattached. In college it’s three, in the NFL it’s one.”
(You’re a guy who has played all over the offensive line, I’m wondering if you can put yourself in T Liam Eichenberg’s position for a second, just how challenging it is to move right to the left and then get thrown in at tackle in the last minute in your first NFL game. How challenging must that have been for him and how do you think he performed?) – “That’s always a challenge when you’re moving positions during game day or during the week. The good thing is you can just let it rip. I always go into those games kind of like, ‘Not a lot is expected out of it so let’s just let it rip and see how it goes.’”
(You’ve been a guy who has played just about every position but center – Offensive Line Coach Lemuel Jeanpierre says he’s going to get you in at center by the way. What’s it like to know that you are responsible for the most important spot for QB Tua Tagovailoa because he’s a left-handed quarterback? Is there a level of pride in that now that you are at that point protecting his blindside?) – “Yeah, I think with that position, I don’t really try to get in my head with it like I’m on his blind side or anything. Every game, every play, I want to keep him clean. I want him to be comfortable. I don’t want him worrying about the right side or worrying about one position. I want him to trust me and I’ll trust him.”
(How much pride do you take in your NFL journey? Waived by two different teams to practice squad, call up, starter, multi-year stater. Do you talk about that with some of the other guys?) – “I only bring it up when guys end up getting cut or traded or whatever. Just keep grinding. You never know what happens. The pride thing, yeah I look back on it; but right now it’s just like I’ll look back on it later. Think about that later. Right now, it’s just how can I become the best player with myself each day, each week, each game? But yeah, it’s an interesting journey but everyone has a story.”
S Eric Rowe
(I know this is nothing new for you guys on defense doing this, but it was very noticeable on defense that you guy seem to be going for the strips every time you got a chance. You got one and CB Xavien Howard had the one late in the game. Was there a special emphasis heading into this game even more than normal about let’s strip the ball away from these guys?) – “No, nothing more than normal. We’ve been preaching that probably since – even last year – but the spring, OTAs, this year, to training camp to preseason games and to practice. Just always attack the ball no matter how it comes, whether it is in the air or on the ground. Always get a punch at it because eventually somebody will give it up.”
(You guys gave up almost 400 yards of total offense but 16 points so in that light, how do you view the defensive performance? – “It’s Week 1. That was our first, probably for a lot of guys, live tackling since the Atlanta game. Really at the end of the day, points is what matters. Yards matter too but you win the game on points. Especially for Week 1, of course we’ve got a lot of corrections but we did a lot of good things too.”
(You’ve always done such a great job covering tight ends since you’ve gotten here but they sort of got back to doing some damage against you guys. I know it’s two tight ends but what were some of the issues you guys were having?) – “I wouldn’t say anything specifically to the tight ends. I know on a couple, Jonnu (Smith), he had a long play. We had a busted coverage and then the other long play they had down the sideline, he stepped out of bounds. I was like, ‘thank God he stepped out of bounds,’ because that was a big gain. It was just another busted coverage. (They are) fixable things that you correct on the film and there’s not a lot of mistakes that we made like that.”
(Looking ahead to the Bills game, what stands out to you from the jumps that QB Josh Allen has made from rookie year to now and how much of a transition is it going to be to game plan for a different offense? That’s an offense that likes to spread it out compared to the Patriots who seem to kind of want to stick to base personnel.) – “Josh Allen, he’s gotten a lot better since his rookie year. I’ve played him every year, twice a year, and I remember his first couple years he’s always had a strong arm but just accuracy wasn’t really his thing because he was too strong. But now, each year he’s gotten better and he’s gotten a lot more accurate. Now he’s easily one of the elite quarterbacks in the league. Going against him, it’s a totally different game plan but that’s how the NFL is. You have to put one win or loss behind and you have to focus on the next person.”
(I understand it’s a new season but is there a sense among the defensive players a little trial for redemption after the number that the Bills did on you guys in the season finale last year with their offense?) – “I really wouldn’t put it like that. They did kick our ass last year, the last game of the season. We remember that; but we are not taking that as a revenge game because it’s a new season, new players, new coaches kind of like that and whatnot. Now we are just taking it as a big division game. It’s the 2021 season. It’s not 2020. We need to get on them.”
DT John Jenkins
(Literally, how are you after the extensive playing time that you got? I’m sure you didn’t go into the game thinking you’d be getting that many snaps.) – “Why do you think that? I mean I’ve been around for a while, so you just never know what might happen. My mind is always thinking playing every game, every snap.”
(In terms of the productivity they had running the football, obviously it wasn’t a great day considering their two tailbacks fumbled. How would you assess the team’s performance against the run last Sunday?) – “I think ‘E-Rowe’ (Eric Rowe) said it better. It was the first game, the beginning of the season, and not everybody is perfect. The goal is to win the game and correct the things we need to correct. The biggest jump is from the first week to the second week. I know things weren’t ideal but we were still able to be good in situational – play good situational football.”
(New England went 11-of-16 on third down. I don’t know how you’ve been able to break that down over the last 24 hours or so, but what were they doing that allowed them to have so much success against you guys on third down?) – “They were able to execute. I’ll just leave it at that. This is a grown man sport and everybody gets paid to do their job. They were just doing their job and we were able to do things when we were able to do things at the right time.”
(When you pick apart situation by situation, is it generally things that are correctable?) – “Yes. Without a doubt. Obviously we caused fumbles when we needed to cause fumbles, we had stops when we needed to cause stops. Granted, our defense in the red zone, we stopped them – they were in the red zone four times and they only had one (touchdown). That’s a good thing for us to look at.”
Head Coach Brian Flores
(I’m wondering whether you have any indication if DT Raekwon Davis’ injury might be long term or if we are looking at a day-to-day deal?) – “It’s still early. We are still doing tests. We will probably have more information later on today and in the coming days. Raekwon is a tough kid. He’s eager to get back out there so we will take it one day at a time. We’re still kind of running some tests. We don’t have any final results there.”
(With DT Raekwon Davis, could he have gone back yesterday or would it just have been too risky health-wise?) – “We held him out so that’s the decision we made. We are running tests now. Look, nothing is more important than the health of a player. That’s the approach we will take and that’s the approach we took with him yesterday. We held him out, which kind of lets you know we didn’t want to put him back in there.”
(Is T Austin Jackson your starting left tackle moving forward or did T Liam Eichenberg do enough things yesterday to where that’s now an open competition moving forward?) – “Liam did a nice job yesterday. That was obviously a tough environment against a team that shows a lot of different fronts and gave him a lot of different looks. I thought he played well. But yeah, Austin is our left tackle.”
(Nobody hangs a banner for 1-0 starts. I get that of course; but can it be a nice emotional boost when you guys look at the standings and see that you’re alone on top? After all the work you guys put in all spring and all summer, to get at least some sort of little payoff and that good feeling, can that permeate a little bit and be a nice little booster going into Week 2?) – “The guys are excited that we won the game. But now it’s about – and look, you celebrate and you’re happy about it but then we have to turn the page and move on to our next opponent, which is another big game against a very good team. That’s the approach. I think there was definitely excitement but there are tough games on the horizon so we have to get prepared for that.”
(The two touchdown drives both happened the first time you touched the ball – the first one the first time you touched the ball in the first half and the second one the first time you touched the ball in the second half. I’m wondering if there is any reason that the offense was clicking so well the first time they possess the ball?) – “I think we try to execute on every drive. It just so happens in this particular game it happened on our first drive of the game and to open the second half. I think we need to do a better job executing in between. I know we are going through those corrections right now. I don’t think there’s any real correlation. We try to move the ball and be productive on every drive. It just so happens it happened in those instances.”
(A win is hard to come by in the NFL, but how much better is it a teaching tool or opportunity when you can have a tough game that you pull off and there’s a lot of correctable things that you can show them on film?) – “There’s always corrections in every game. It’s always nice to make those corrections after a win but definitely a lot of corrections that we ae making now. If we make them, we’ll be better for them. That’s where our focus is right now.”
(If I could look a little bit ahead to Buffalo, you get WR William Fuller V back this week. What impact does his speed have on this offense?) – “We didn’t have Will last week. He missed some time in training camp. We really only had him for, I would say, a handful of practices. We’ll work him in and see how to best utilize him in the offense and see how things go during practice this week. I think we got a lot of guys in that room. We will see how practice goes this week and take it from there.”
(I wanted to ask you about the stretch in the second quarter there with LB Elandon Roberts, the miss call there on the touchdown, and the stretch at the end of the second quarter. How do you feel your poise was as a coach, as a team, to close out that half and tie things up when some calls didn’t go your way?) – “That’s kind of how the game goes. Just move on to the next play and try to take it one play at a time. There are ebbs and flows in every game. A good call, bad call from the officials. That happens. You just try to move on and try to have a good play on the next snap. Make a good call on the next snap and put guys in position to have success. The end of the second quarter was a lot of ebbs and flows there. They took the lead, we had a good two minute drive and tied it up. We were able to get the ball back in the second half and take the lead again. It was a back and forth game, a tough game. That’s how games are in this league. I think our team showed some resiliency and some mental toughness, and we need that.”
(I wanted to get your thoughts on the running game. RB Myles Gaskin was out there for most of the game. RB Malcolm Brown came in late as well and was able to provide important first down opportunities for you guys. Can you share your thoughts on that after watching the video?) – “I thought specifically at the end of the game, when we needed some first downs running the football, to run the clock out, it was good to see us finish the game with the ball. They knew we were going to run it, we knew we were going to run it, and we were able to pick up a couple of first downs there, so that’s always good. I thought Myles ran hard. I thought Salvon (Ahmed) ran hard. I thought Malcolm ran hard. I think there is a lot to build on there, we can block it better, we can run a little bit better. We’re making those corrections now and we’ve got to put it into action on the field when we get out there on Wednesday.”
(The first opportunity, obviously T Austin Jackson not being there, but how would you assess how the offensive line performed in their debut this year?) – “Like every position, there is a lot of improvement that needs to be made. The first game – the first 60-minute ball game for everyone on the offensive line, and defensive line and really the entire team. I think improvement is the big mantra or coaching point right now across the board at all positions. We make the necessary improvements and we’ll get better. That’s where our focus is right now.”
(I asked you a little earlier about WR Will Fuller and you mentioned you haven’t seen him a lot with practices. Have you seen enough of him to know where maybe he will fit when you put him in there, just given the lack of time out there?) – “He’s got a lot of film from his time in Houston. We’ve had him all spring. We have an idea where we will want to play him, but we’ve got to practice. We’ve got to get timing. We can put people on the page as far as drawing something up; but getting timing with the quarterback, getting timing in the running game, getting timing from that standpoint, those are things you have to practice. We need to get more of that. I think we’ll get that this week.”
(This is the first regular season game, Co-Offensive Coordinator/Tight Ends George Godsey and Co-Offensive Coordinator/Running Backs Eric Studesville kind of called and ran this offense. How would you evaluate how the offense looked against a live defense that mattered?) – “I thought we moved the ball effectively on some drives and on other drives we didn’t. I think they’ve got a good defense. They played well. They made some plays, we made some plays. They won some matchups, we won some matchups. It was a tough ball game in a tough environment. I thought our operation was clean as far as dealing with crowd noise, getting in and out of the huddle and things of that nature. Eric and George did a nice job of getting the guys prepared and putting guys in positions to make some plays.”
