Anthony Weaver meets with the media | Miami Dolphins

Anthony Weaver meets with the media | Miami Dolphins

I just was going to ask you about about Kenneth. Obviously, there’s always a lot of pressure on first round picks and it’s accentuated, I guess, in his case, with the difficulty stopping the run on plays that maybe he’s not defending the run as well as some guys would like. Is it a physical issue of him just not getting off the box? Is it more technique? What what what have you and Austin diagnosed? Yeah, I think the the biggest thing for him is just a it’s a technique and fundamental issue, right? Where he’s just had to continue to master those. really there isn’t a person on defense that should never not constantly be working at that, right? The second you become complacent is the second you’re on your way out of this league. So, uh I understand the expectations of a first round pick. Nobody puts more pressure on that kid than himself. So, I I try to exercise caution and just not let’s not judge this kid after four games. All right? He is uh he’s going to be a good player in this league because of his work ethic and his want to. So, um, there’s been flashes. It’ll be more consistent. Just we got to allow that maturation and growth to occur. Just outside of KG, just what are some of the issues that you’ve noticed with the um inability to stop the run? Yeah, I I I think it it all starts up front for us and and there’s just been technique and fundamental lapses at different times from multiple players. I don’t think you can pinpoint any one particular group, any one player. um had some misfits, some missed tackles, some guys up front not being violent with their hand usage, right? Shock and shed, getting extension. So, all those things need to improve from top to bottom and and ultimately that starts with me, right? But it’s certainly something we’re emphasizing and something I go I know our guys have take a tremendous amount of pride in. When Brooks and Tyrell Dodson are first and second in the NFL in tackles, I don’t know that I’ve ever seen two guys on the same team first and second in tackles. What’s so good about that and what’s the not so good about that? Yeah, the good thing is is those guys are are war daddies, right? They’re out there, they’re hunting, they’re constantly attacking the ball. Uh, excellent communicators. The bad part is means a lot of those balls are getting to the second level, which means we got to do a better job on the first line of defense. And it goes back to what I what I started with, right? Just just being sound with our technique and fundamentals, winning at the line of scrimmage, and then disengaging from blocks and getting these guys on the ground. You know, you try to I think sometimes you can you can be so hard on these guys and again, you don’t want to you don’t want to coach the instincts out of them. At the end of the day, the ball is the issue, right? We’re not offensive linemen trying to keep these linebackers free. After your call for violence, how do you think the defense did play in that? Yeah, I think I think we saw some results of that, which which is is important, right? It’s it’s like I I told him the night before the game, I I gave Elijah Campbell my phone, right? And I said, if I if I told you this phone and I said, you cannot drop it because you’re holding the the hopes and dreams of the football team and a community in your hands, like you’re going to hold on it for for dear life. I’m going to get that from you. I’m going to have to violently take it from you. And that’s what we needed to do in the game. It’s no different with the football. That’s what ball carriers are being told, right? They’re constantly drilling ball security, making sure we don’t put it on the ground. In order for us to get it, we’re not going to be able to just pickpocket it all the time. We’re gonna have to take it. Is that is that about as animated as you’ve gotten since maybe you were a player after that? What? After the turnover? Yeah, I might have been a little edgy. Yeah, we’ve we’ve been uh we had been longing for that takeaway for a long time. So, to finally get it obviously felt good on multiple levels. What was the decision to start with a 44 to go three TB? They came out in a a bigger personnel group, so we just tried to match personnel. Was involving sending a message. No, no, no. Certainly not. Certainly not. We have a question about your quarterbacks. Rul and Jack seem to be doing a good job. Cornell has come in there, I I guess, on short notice maybe, and he seems to be doing a good job. What are they doing right? What do you like about what you’ve seen from them? Yeah, the good thing about those guys is all very experienced vets, right? So, when we got them here kind of all at different times and it’s important on on every level of defense like but particularly in the back seven, it just takes it takes time to gel, right? And and trying to work as one and uh our back end, they’re they’re starting to do that, right? They’re starting to know how each other plays and and what each of them do best. And then some of the both verbal and non-verbal communication is getting better. But I love love of all those guys just their competitiveness, right? You see it in Jack. He’s this fiery and he gets excited. I mean, he plays he’s got instincts, but he plays the game with his hand his hair on fire. And then Russul is just a constant improfessional, right? Knows exactly where he’s supposed to be at all times. Plays to his strengths, knows his matchup, knows the game inside and out. I was with Cornell in Houston. So, so I I know what I knew what he was about, right? I knew he was going to know all the jobs, be able to go out there and execute at a high level. uh really when we were in Houston really the reason he didn’t play probably more is just he he battled some injuries so knew exactly what I was getting with him and just just really pleased with the competitiveness of that group and and how professional and they have they have so much attention to detail like just just love them. Zack Zack had two tackles for loss on consecutive plays but the defense is 26th in the league overall on tackles for loss. What are some things that Zach did on those plays and has done in general that might the his teammates might be well served paying attention to? Yeah, Zach is just he’s such a incredibly smart football player in that he can he can take in all the information in real time both stances, communication, backfield sets. So some of those things he can take advantage of. Now, like we talked about early in the season when he was trying to help so many other people, he we we weren’t giving him the opportunity to do that. So, I think now with again some of the maturation of the younger guys around him, maybe playing not both rookies with him and trying to take some of that off him at times, that’s going to allow him to be him, right? And take some of the stress that we had on him early in the season. A philosophical question for you. You talked about the offense coming out a heavier formation and you wanting to match that. Do you tend to want to match coverages with the the offense or do you are you more of a mind of like, okay, whatever they’re playing, I think this is what we should play. No, I if they’re going to get big, we’re going to get big, right? That that’s that’s truly what that that was. Um it’s no different than when you’re trying to adjust fronts to take angles away from offensive linement based on what they’re trying to do schematically, right? So, in that situation, I think they they came out like some 13 XL grouping. So, it would be foolish for me to try out four D linemen and, you know, five corners and wouldn’t do that. You expect other teams now to try to mimic what the Jets did? I mean, running the ball? Yeah, I expect people to try to run the ball, right? Most most coordinators, they look at you statistically, see how people are trying to attack you, and it’s it’s a copycat league, and until we stop it, that’s what we’re going to see. Um, I have the utmost faith in our ability to do that. It’s got to start this week and we got to we got to start the game faster. That’s really been a theme for us. I thought we had an op in New England on fourth down to get off the field. We didn’t. Um really probably the same thing in Indie. I think it was a fourth down conversion that led to the extended drive and then uh and then Buffalo we gave a touchdown too. So fortunately Jack turned the tides but we had about an inch to work with. Um so we got to we got to we got to be able to start faster in these games. On top of that, you talked about the rookies, the progression. When you look at rookie defensive tack like we Christian Wilkins recently, Zack, it takes a while. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, is that your You’ve been around these guys. Is that is that your development isn’t like an overnight thing for these guys? It’s not at the college level. And I I can speak from experience. Like you can you can be disruptive and an all-American just because you’re better than everybody, right? You’re going to play against some younger guys, particularly as you start to mature and grow. Like you’re just you’re just better athletically. You become smarter, more physical. Like you’re just better all the time. Once you get to the league, everybody’s good. Everybody’s good. It’s it’s the guys that can master their technique and fundamentals that can go from average to good and from good to great. So KG, he’s he’s a he’s got tremendous talent, but until we match that talent with the necessary technique and fundamentals, it it won’t be reached. Defense, what what does Hubard What his numbers aren’t that great, but what what do you have to guard against? What danger does he pose? Yeah, man. I mean, he’s he’s a three down back. He can do it all. He’s got change of direction, contact balance, he can run with physicality, he can make you miss. So, I know he’s nursing an ankle or something like that. So, if he wants to take a week, I understand. Yeah, then go ahead. But uh but the guys behind them, you know, Rico, they’re they’re all they got very good backs and the ATN kid. So, we’re we’re cognizant of all of them and it’s going to take all 11 at the point of attack on every play to stop them. What can shop do to warrant an increase in snap percentage? Yeah, so much of that is a feel thing with Shawn Ryan, and I think again, he was kind of thrown into this right before the start of the season. So, he’s trying to develop a feel for how to rotate these guys and make sure that they’re one getting enough reps and making sure that they can feel comfortable in the flow of the game. You don’t want to just roll guys to roll guys because they’re on a snap count because it’s not it’s not natural. You can’t set up offensive tackles. You can’t set up rushes. It’s hard. So, that that is also there’s there’s a there’s a growth happening there, right? because of situation we went through with our outside backers coach playing I was just going to follow up on Joe. Sorry. How is Chop playing in your view? Is he setting the edge effectively? Yeah. Yeah. I think I think Chop’s Chop’s gone out there and played well in his opportunities. There was there’s a couple snaps in the in the Buffalo game when he was nursing the knee, right? He hurt his knee in New England. You definitely tell it affected him on the short week. But last week, I I thought he was great. We just got to we can’t lose him in the in the fold just because of what’s happening in the game. We got to make sure he’s out there because he’s going to be impactful and be disruptive for us. Anthony, last year your unit was ninth against the run. Um, what was the biggest reason for that and what’s the biggest difference from last year to this year? Yeah, it’s it’s funny because I felt like last year started very similar to this like we we were near the bottom early, right? Tennessee came out I felt like rushed for like a thousand yards against us. Um, Jacksonville had success ran for like 130 140 in the first game. So, so I I felt like just where we’re at now is a very similar situation. The NFL to me is it’s a it’s a growth league, right? The league is designed for Perry, the B8 Nate, whether it’s the the draft, right, the waiver claim order. It the teams that continually to attack every day and try to get better are the ones that are going to be there in the end. And we we we intend on being one of those teams. Your blitz rate, how much is that intentional? How much do you feel it’s in the flow of of calling things? Yeah, unfortunately I feel like I’ve been calling a lot of blisters to stop the run, which you don’t want to do right now. There there were signs in the last game where we were able to play some split safety and and Stone Run got some TFL. So So that was encouraging. So I trust me, I I I got a little bit of Rex Ryan in in me. All right. And and I love the pressure, but a lot of these pressures in the past few games have been run stopping pressures. Final question. How do you, I guess, correct the issues on uh Justin Fields 43 yard touchdown? I I saw like a few guys fell and then Brooks kind of took an inside angle and yeah and and probably well on the play Jordan Phillips was unblocked first off in the A gap. So I was like, “Hey, hey buddy, go tackle the quarterback.” All right. Um Jordan Brooks was the the backside chase defender on that play, which most of the time that’s a that’s a defensive lineman, right? You’re thinking about defensive lineman on the backside of toss plays and boots. And from a coaching point, it’s their job to stay in backside pursuit at the depth of the ball so that you could stand cut back leverage. That’s not Jordan’s natural spot. All right, we were blitzing him off the edge. He’s trying to make a play. God bless the quarterback. He’s an elite athlete. He made a play himself and we paid for it. So, it was a learning lesson for the entire defense, but again, not something that second level defenders who truly most of the time blitzed in the interior, they’re that they’re not just not in that. They don’t are not trained for that a lot.

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