LB Jerome Baker
(People are saying that your coach cracks jokes, he keeps things loose but we’ll see when the crap hits the fan. Well at halftime, the crap hit the fan last week and you guys responded. Can you talk a little bit about what the connection with your coach, with your teammates, and what happened from halftime to the second half?) – “I think as a team, we all knew that the first half wasn’t us. It wasn’t just our head coach, it was the leaders on our team, our captains – just everybody. We all knew we had to lock it in. In years past, we all have been in tough games and we came back and gave teams a challenge. We knew we had it in us and it worked out for us in the second half and we got it done.”
(You’re playing a better quarterback and a better offense this week. What do you guys have to do to make sure that you’re not in that hole again?) – “I think the first thing is to start fast. We can’t come out there and give a team like Buffalo the lead or anything like that. We just got to got out there and play what we do, play together, play hard and we will be alright.”
(You talked about containing QB Lamar Jackson. How do you contain QB Josh Allen?) – “That’s going to be a big test. It’s one of those things that’s the same thing as Lamar. The d-line has got to lock it in. We can’t have him rolling out and just throwing the ball anywhere. They’ve got a lot of weapons with (Stefon) Diggs and guys like that. It’s going to be a good one. It’s going to be a tough one, but I think we’re up for the challenge.”
(How do you assess the pass rush you guys have had so far this year?) – “I think it’s one of those things where of course we can get better. It’s easier to say that when you’re 2-0. A guy like Josh (Allen), we’re definitely going to have to lock it in and get to him and affect him a little bit. I think we’re up for the challenge with that.”
(Did you watch Monday night’s game?) – “A little bit, a little bit. I ended up falling asleep so I only watched a little bit of it.”
(You can attack a stationary quarterback, but you didn’t play one last week and you aren’t playing one this week. Talk to us about that pass rush. What do you have to do?) – “It’s more of a contain thing. You don’t want him rolling out and just having free access to look down the field or have that option of throwing it down the field or just running the ball. You really have to contain him. Even when you have free shots at him, you have to be under control because he can easily make that first guy miss and now you’re leaving a big gap. It’s really a team effort, a defensive effort, and I think we’re up for the challenge.”
(It’s clear you have a good team, but in your mind as a veteran that’s been here for a while, can you be the team you want to be without beating Buffalo? Or do you need to beat them at some point?) – “That is a good question right there. I think for us, we know how good we are. We know how good we can be. I think Buffalo is our big test we have coming up. Ultimately, we just got to get it done every week. Sunday is going to be a great test for us.”
LB Jaelan Phillips
(On facing QB Josh Allen) – “He’s tremendous. He’s a really talented guy both physically and mentally, his knowledge of the game. Somebody like him, we’re just going to have to bring our A-game, for sure.”
(You guys carried the team to so many wins last year. To have the offense do what they did to sort of carry you in the fourth as you were getting stops, what was that like on the other side of the ball?) – “I think having a team or having an offense that can put up that many points definitely gives us some relief. But at the end of the day, if we as a defense don’t make all of those stops in the fourth quarter and especially that goal-line stop in the first half, the game might be different. It all comes back to complementary football and playing well for each other and with each other.”
(You’ve been around Miami for a while now. Even though you are inside the locker room, have you felt a different kind of buzz about this game coming up?) – “I mean we try to treat every game like any other game because you don’t want to inflate any game and get too high and play outside of yourself. But it’s definitely an exciting game. Two talented teams. We’re super excited for this game. Obviously a divisional (game) and it’s a big rivalry, so we’re going to bring our A-game.”
(Tackling a guy like QB Josh Allen, do you go for the legs? The midsection? What’s the best way to tackle him?) – “Just anything to get him down. (laughter) Wrap him up and make sure you get him to the ground.”
(On the difference when rushing a passer who can run) – “It’s all about a team-rush mentality, so marrying the outside rushers with the inside rushers so you’re not creating lanes for the quarterback to step up in. So yeah, you definitely have to be diligent in your rules and what we’re doing as a defense.”
(Did you watch last year’s tape of the Bills games or mostly just their first two games against the Rams and Titans?) – “We’re watching both. We watch our games a lot obviously because they are playing us and they’re going to repeat certain plays that worked well against us in the past. But they’re also going to have new things. Definitely watching these last two games that they played and our games from last year and their games from last year and two seasons ago. There’s a lot that goes into film study.”
(Is this a statement game for you guys?) – “Like I said before, we try not to inflate any one game over the other. Really, it’s just about taking it day-by-day and being present in the time. We’re going to play our asses off like we do any other week. It’s a big game, for sure.”
(On starting fast and facing adversity) – “Adversity is great because it shows you a lot about yourself but obviously we don’t want that much adversity. (laughter) So we’re going to come out and try to correct some of the things that we were doing poorly and just keep it pushing.”
(How excited are you for Greg Rousseau and seeing the success he’s having?) – “It’s great for Greg. I love it, man. He’s a great kid. Him and I are close. I’m always excited to see my guys have great success like that.”
(Any fun wagers going on between you and him this week?) – “No. I don’t talk to him game week. We don’t speak when we play each other. It will be fun. It will be great to see him on the field.”
(On winning at the line of scrimmage) – “You never want to chase numbers and chase stats. It’s all about just the effort and focusing on honing your craft. I’m just going to continue to try to improve and bring some pressure.”
(Can you describe on the field what it’s like playing defense a guy like QB Josh Allen?) – “I mean it’s a war. Every time you go out there, every single play is a battle. When you have an offense that is as dynamic as the Bills are, they can really take the top off at any time. You have to prepare for everything and you have to bring your A-game when you come, so you better believe we’ll be playing hard.”
(Do you know LB Von Miller at all?) – “Never personally but I’ve spoken to him over Instagram and things like that.”
(When you see him on the field, is he a guy you’re going to seek out? What will you ask him?) – “How he’s still doing it after 12 years like he is. (laughter) He puts on these pass rush summits in the offseason and that’s something I am looking forward to and hopefully next year I’ll be able to attend. But yeah, just studying him, being a student of the game. He’s incredibly talented. He has an arsenal of different moves that he can do and a lot of juice for how long he’s been doing it. It’s impressive.”
(The University of Miami plays Middle Tennessee State this week. Have you and OL Robert Jones been trash talking throughout the week?) – “He’s trying to make bets and stuff and I don’t even listen because we’re going to dog them boys. (laughter) I don’t have anything to say. It’s Middle Tennessee. They’ve got to bring their A-game for sure, but it’s Middle Tennessee.”
QB Tua Tagovailoa
(On his t-shirt) – “’I wish it were hotter.’ That’s a phrase that Mike (McDaniel) likes to say. More so reverse psychology, if you will. It gets really hot out here and so just say it, believe it.”
(What was your reaction to winning AFC Offensive Player of the Week? Was it expected after the game?) – “It was cool. That’s my first one, but I’ve said this in many other interviews that individual success is only done within team success. If we never won that game, if the defense never did what they did, if our offense didn’t go out and put points on the board; none of that would have been possible. So I amend that to our team.”
(You got that award, but were you also getting a lot of congratulatory messages from friends and family after that game?) – “Yeah, I got a lot of messages after the game. But yeah, just normal congratulations.”
(There’s a bunch of stats through the first few weeks of the season to show how you’ve proved how you’re a better player. Through two weeks, what is something that maybe the average person hasn’t seen that you think you’re executing at a higher level than years past?) – “Well, I think it’s hard to look back at the things that I did last year or the year prior because of what the offense entails for us. You got to be locked into every play. You’ve got to understand the landmarks, motion points. There’s a lot to the offense, so it’s kind of hard for me to evaluate myself from years prior. But that’s not something that I would say I necessarily do on my own as well. I don’t just go back and look at all the years that I’ve played and all the games that I’ve played in and then compare it to this year. They’re all three different systems and they all work differently. So I’ve got to hone in on what every play asks of me and go out there and execute.”
(Is there a particular part of your game that you feel that much more comfortable about right now?) – “Well, I think I feel comfortable distributing the ball to our playmakers. Just getting the ball into the hands of our playmakers and letting them go to work.”
(I’m doing something on home-field advantage and I’m wondering from your perspective and your experience, what makes home-field advantage – the venue, the crowd, the actual team that plays in that venue? What makes home-field advantage?) – “Well, I would say the crowd for one and then I would say the atmosphere, like our first game. I would say that was probably the most people that I’ve seen in our stadium and it got really loud for the opposing team’s offense and that’s probably the loudest that I’ve heard since I got here with the Miami Dolphins fans at Hard Rock (Stadium). I think that plays a big key with how they operate within their offense, but, yeah, I would say there’s not much more to it than just that.”
(We talked with Head Coach Mike McDaniel about stacking good days in light of success. What’s your approach to that?) – “Yeah, I would say the same thing, just one day at a time. Got to continue to go out there and take what we’ve learned from the meetings out there to the field and get it corrected when we watch film.”
(Why are you and Head Coach Mike McDaniel seemingly a perfect fit?) – “Why are we a perfect fit? That’s a unique question. I mean…”
(Or what about him allows you to be the best version of yourself and play the best football that you have of your career?) – “Yeah, I think what Mike does with our offense is he complements everyone’s talent. He complements everyone’s ability within the offense. For instance, if I’m good with RPO’s, he’ll find some way to get the RPO implemented. If I’m good with something else or if someone’s good running a certain route, we’ll find ways to get him the ball within that route a few different ways. So things like that.”
(There was obviously a lot of talk about broken coverages at the end of Sunday’s game, but I’m wondering from you and this offense’s perspective, were there things that y’all did to maybe set the defense up to bust their coverages or what have people missed about that fourth quarter?) – “Yeah, I’m not too sure if what we did offensively with motions screwed them up, but then again, we have no control over what they do on the other side. All we can do is go through our reads, go through our progressions and then get the open guys the ball.”
(How much of a measuring stick is Buffalo for you guys?) – “We understand that they’re a really good team. That’s no secret. Everyone knows that they’re really good team. They’re tough defensively, they’re explosive offensively. So I wouldn’t say that we have a measuring stick for how good that these guys are because when you look at it, their opening game, they beat the Super Bowl champions of last year. And they didn’t just beat them; it was by a lot. And the next team they played, a really good team; they beat them by a lot. So for us, we’re just looking at playing the way we play and playing the way we’ve played for the past two weeks and we’ll go out there, they’ll get our best and we’ll get theirs.”
(You mentioned motion a second ago. I think you guys lead the league in pre-snap motion. Can you explain what that does for you as a quarterback getting it to WR Tyreek Hill or WR Jaylen Waddle?) – “Well, we get to see what kind of defensive front they run. If they do adjust their fronts with our motions with our tight ends and then with our jet motions with Tyreek (Hill), Jaylen (Waddle), and all our other guys in the back end, we get to see how they move within their coverages and it’s going to be a real good challenge for us this week because of how sound Buffalo plays defensively with those.”
(If I could quickly follow up, have you seen example maybe in this game or the first game of how a defense has reacted on that motion that has affected the play?) – “I would say in one instance where Chase (Edmonds) ran the ball in the fourth quarter to get us down into the red area. I don’t know maybe it was like the 10-yard line or the 5-yard line – somewhere down there – we’ve been we’ve been running a certain play where I keep the ball and just dish it out to guys and that motion helped get guys to move out of their gaps and Chase was able to run and get a tremendous amount of yards. So I would say that’s kind of how we look at plays complementing other plays.”
(Obviously the comeback was fun because you won the game, but is there an emphasis this week on starting fast so that you don’t have to play come back?) – “Yeah, we talk about adversity as an opportunity, but I think that was a little too much adversity. I don’t think we want that much adversity. (laughter) But for sure, we definitely want to start a lot faster. We want to get into the game and just stay on top of what we got to do.”
(We know that WR Tyreek Hill obviously thinks your coach has lot of confidence. The fourth-and-7 call coming back from three touchdowns down, when did you have a sense that this guy was going to go for it, that this wasn’t – you know first year coach sometimes get scared – he wasn’t…?) – “I mean, you never know with Mike. I’m just like, are we going for it? Are we not? He’ll just say, ‘hey, just stay in there, we’re kind of waiting to see where they mark it’ or just things like that. But I think Mike has the utmost confidence in our offense, that if he does call a play, we’re going to go out there and we’re going to execute it to the best of our ability. And yeah, he just has trust in us.”
(I just wanted to ask you your impressions of Josh Allen?) – “Beast. I mean, he’s a beast. I don’t know what else to say about him. I mean the guy runs the ball when he needs to, extends plays with his legs. He can get the ball down the field and he gets the ball to his playmakers. That’s the biggest thing. But beast. The guy’s a beast.”
Head Coach Mike McDaniel
(Could you please update us on where you stand at tight end? Any update? Will the four players who worked out for this week be signing? Are TE Cethan Carter and TE Hunter Long healthy this week?) – “That was more you try to get in front of potential situations. We don’t have a situation now. But we’re very close to having one. So instead of – (General Manager) Chris Grier and the staff do a great job of staying in front of that stuff. So you get that done on the front end so should we have any more issues at the position, we know exactly where we want to go. That was the purpose of that whole deal. And right now, we feel good about Hunter and Cethan in terms of the progress that they’ve made.”
(Is TE Cethan Carter out of concussion protocol?) – “I don’t know when the protocol ends, but he’s still protocoled. And that’s the protocol for me to explain that. (laughter) But he’s doing well and progressing. He was watching walkthrough from a stationary bike, sweating, and that’s always good sign.”
(You guys have won seven straight at Hard Rock Stadium. When you look at home field advantage, do you think it’s a venue and a location? Or is it the team that plays at that venue and location?) – “I think it’s a little bit of both, for sure. There’s something to be said about the team that’s playing in front of their fans. It takes the human beings to appreciate what the home crowd is doing. And then it takes a home crowd that’s vested and committed. And I think both of those things are occurring, I can tell – obviously I wasn’t here last year, but the feedback that I got from the first game from all the players really, was that they could tell the difference in that there was an added excitement and really energy. And that helps players more than fans can realize. When you bring the juice, football players are normal human beings as well, where they can feel that and it energizes them to push them possibly beyond where they’d otherwise go.”
(Is it a bit of a cram this week with the Monday night game for the Bills, getting the game plan for today ready?) – “No. If it’s a new coordinator or new head coach, that’s a issue. When you have – I’ve been fortunate to be in the NFL long enough to know exactly – really, for all the way back from the Carolina days. Really, Coach (Leslie) Frazier – they both (Ken Dorsey) have done a great job. And so you kind of understand, like any really good high-level coaches, they have a principality to them, a starting point, and then it’s whether or not they’re doing little nuances within it – points of emphasis. But you guys know that regardless if it works or not, you’re going see outside zone. They’re going to play unbelievable strenuous defense. They’re going to play hard and run to the ball. And they’re going to force you into mistakes because they can get home with their four-man rush. It’s always good to see and you get a different perspective of where they’re at, especially Game Two, but it didn’t really put us behind, just because that defense in general, it’s kind of like you know what it is. That’s what I appreciate so much about it as because they’re not hiding from what they are. They say we’re going to take our guys and line up and we’re going to play the same type of defense against every offensive structure and our guys are really good players that play hard for each other and do something about it is what they kind of do. So, in this circumstance, it wasn’t that big of a deal.”
(You played against QB Josh Allen in San Francisco in 2020. What was your first impression of him then? How have you seen him grow in the two years since?) – “Well, it goes further than that. I saw his growth in Wyoming. That’s what was really cool was it was an example of young in his career, the guy is a giant with a giant arm. But he had kind of like a stigma about accuracy or something that, I think each year in his college career, he drastically improved. You can tell – which was a big deal to me with him coming out because you learn a lot, not by hearing, but by seeing. And what you could see was a guy diligently working at his craft, who’s however old he is. So fast forward to the league and I think we’ve all been witnesses to he’s steadily become one of the best players in the National Football League. (You could) easily argue he’s the best one. And it’s not because he’s God’s gift. It’s because he’s unbelievably talented. But it’s because you can tell more than that, it’s because he works at his craft. He’s developing every time he’s on the field. He’s a really, really good player that you’ll never, I don’t think, see him stopped necessarily. It’s about minimizing and containing all together.”
(When you first found out that you’ll have WR Tyreek Hill, and Jaylen Waddle together, was there some kind of vision of what you could scheme up with the two of them? Was last Sunday some validation of that coming to fruition?) – “I don’t think – it’s always kind of difficult. I hadn’t personally been around two players in the same position group of that caliber. I think it’s the, ‘What if you had two?’ It’s an exciting thought. But then more than anything, I tried not to get ahead of myself with any of it. You’re trying to acquire, you’re trying to get your hands on some talented players for our quarterback to throw to as well as to hand it to and etc. But I think it’s important to put stuff in the players’ hands and kind of see how they digest all the stuff, and really to kind of let your offensive scheme evolve. So I wouldn’t say I would envision it. And I probably didn’t allow myself to hope that they would be that productive on a given game. But the best thing about it is I don’t think, if you ask them point blank if they were very happy with the game, I think they were happy with being able to make plays. But there’s a lot of stuff for them to clean up, especially in the first half. So while they were making plays, that’s not the final product of the vision to me. I think the final product is better execution with other things that were not at the point of attack and then offensively it would be everyone – I don’t think you ever want to go that extreme with targets. I think the best your offense can be is when you can distribute the ball. But shoot, I’m not going to argue with hot hands, so I’m also not hard-headed that way. So I think there’s a lot more to see from them for the rest of the course of the season. But they also know that’s on them to develop their game within the offense because I’m pretty sure every other defense also took note and will have a plan to get in front of them as well.”
(WR Tyreek Hill said after the game it looked like you were playing Madden with your play-calling in the fourth quarter. What is your experience playing Madden as a play-caller, if you have at all?) – “Hmm, I don’t know about all that. I think when players are doing some video game stuff, it can look like it has maybe something to do with me but I don’t think it has anything to do with me. I think that’s players executing plays. I was a college football – I used to love back in college is probably when I last really did it. And I was more into like building the program. For like whatever it was, I’d be like the Colorado Buffaloes and they’d be a historic national championship team, which you can tell is a video game. (laughter) I love the Colorado Buffalos still, but with Madden, I never really – once they started taking it to the next level where you could do multiple buttons for multiple moves and stuff, I’m kind of like a poor sport. So when I can’t dominate, I just tap with stuff like that. My video game prowess isn’t that high, to be honest, and I really haven’t played since I was a couple years ago in college, which is like 20 now. (laughter)”
(You made some waves with the sunglasses on Sunday.) – “I did?”
(Yeah, on social media a little bit they were noticed. The watches, the shoes, you seem to have a little bit of swag, so to speak. Where does that come from? How long have you had that going on?) – “If you’ve been to your optometrist lately, you’d know that there’s some – which, I did trying to get contacts here, is they let me know that I had some sun damage on my eyes. And so how do you protect that? You wear sunglasses. Watches are important to tell time. And I like to know what time it is. There’s nothing worse than the boss who is like, ‘What time is it?’ But outside of that – I don’t even think about it, to be honest, which probably gets some judgment here or there. But I think it’s important, when you do have the opportunity to be in a leadership role, to if you’re going to ask people to be honest with themselves and take an honest look at how they approach their stuff, I think it’s important to lead by example. I don’t want people feeling judged about trivial things because I think that’s an opportunity cost. If you’re trying to sit here and guess what I expect you to act like, that seems like the most inefficient process known to man. And when you’re doing that, that opportunity cost, you’re not thinking about what’s important. So I think it’s important from my vantage point to worry about the stuff that I think is important to my job and them and the players and the team. And to be honest, I don’t put that much thought outside of my normal thought. I like shoes, so if I’m like ‘Hey,’ on a given day, ‘that shoe looks cool,’ then I’ll wear that. But yeah, outside of that I was just trying to keep my retinas protected and know what time it is.”
(I don’t know if you’ve crossed paths with Ken Dorsey at any point in your career. He’s a big name down here obviously winning a title with the Hurricanes. What’s impressive about him as an offensive coordinator?) – “I was in that generation that was very enamored with – I respect really thin ballers. Because if you’re balling in a bunch of chaos, it means you’re kind of fearless. Otherwise, because you’d probably break. So as a player, I loved him. As a coach, he has been very impressive. just because it’s no tall task to replace the guy he replaced. Their offense has had a ton of success. So that is a subconscious burden and you’re interested to see how people react to that. I think what’s been obvious on tape, and I don’t know him personally, but watching the tape is he is not rinse and repeat. He’s not just doing what they’ve done, which I respect and it takes some guts. I think he’s done what they do well and then it’s obvious that he’s locked into what the quarterback likes. But you can also tell he’s working at it because there are different presentations of things and different concepts week in and week out, which is very telling to me. So I respect not only the coaching that he’s doing, but I respect his authenticity for whatever he wants to be because people really didn’t know. And what I do know is if you do anything a little different and it doesn’t work, you leave yourself vulnerable for naysayers. So I really respect the fact that he’s done whatever he’s done for the right reasons, which is obvious on tape.”
(How about QB Tua Tagovailoa being named the player of the week?) – “Yeah, how about that? Yeah, it’s awesome. It’s a team award to me, but an award that he tremendously deserves because when you’re around the guy and you see him work amongst noise and you see him – who doesn’t appreciate an earned achievement? I think he’s done a great job handling all the stuff that he can control and not worrying about the stuff that he can’t. And I think our entire team felt a little ownership too, because they all have his back. And if as an organization we’d allow it, you’d hear a ton more rants from players because they see him work each and every day. And like I said, whenever I talked to you guys last, I don’t think his teammates were totally surprised. They were just excited.”
(Stacking it something coaches talk about a lot – stacking good days on good days. What’s the next stack for QB Tua Tagovailoa after a record day?) – “Oh, I mean, it’s using that day in a beneficial manner moving forward. So what that means to me is I mean situations, numbers, all those things I’m not talking about – statistically his rating or any of that stuff. It’s using that game for confidence, understanding how he got there – that was a ton of prep on the game week and harnessing that moment where he – the second pick he threw was the worst that he’s thrown in practice or games for me. And what he did after that, that’s something to hold on to. So I think stacking – it’s impossible. The people are too good. Teams are too good. Coaches are too good. You’re just not going to get better stats week in, week out. It’s bigger than that. It’s how he approaches his position and whether or not – if he feels himself pressing, like he did when he threw that second pick, how fast can you get out of that yourself and utilize that whole experience for confidence moving forward.”
