Coordinators & Select Position Coaches meet with the media | Miami Dolphins
Craig, I wanted to start out asking you about the um the decision not to kick the field goal there and how much input you have in that. Does Mike will he consult you? I know that’s kind of a strategy thing, but and it’s not a distance thing. Tell me about that process. Yeah, it’s a collaborated effort through a lot of people. Um you know, where Mike just says, “Hey, do you feel comfortable obviously kicking it whether it’s at the one yard line, at the 38 yard line, whatever it is.” And then I know Mike does a really good job of just gathering all the information and then you know seeing what what happens and making the best decision for the team. So uh we’re always behind Mike and whatever decision that he wants to make. Um if he asks us to kick a 56 yard field goal, we’re going to do it. If it’s at the one yard line and he wants to go for it, we’re all going to stand behind that and uh knowing that it’s the best decision for our football team. And how do you view the, you know, I guess from both sides of the if you kick off, kickoffs usually get returned to, let’s just say the 30, then you need what, three and a half first downs or three first downs gives you what, like a 58 yard field goal. How do you feel offensively and and defending that situation? Like what what are your your thoughts? I mean, yeah, our our biggest thing I think I told you this a couple weeks ago. Um you we we feel our standards not the 30 yard line as a kickoff team. That’s the biggest thing. Um you know we’d be kicking touchbacks if we were scared all the time of you know team’s kickoff return. Uh but yeah, everything goes into effect where, you know, it could be at the end of the game where, you know, there’s a minute 38 left or whatever it is where we don’t want to give them the ball at the 35 yardd line because it is just a couple first downs or it’s one big play where now the ball’s at the 40 yardd line and they got an opportunity to kick a field goal to win the game or to tie the game. So, um you know, our biggest thing is we want to kick it. We always uh want to cover um not let them get to the 30 yardd line. Um, you know, that was one of our big points of emphasis just to start out on our kickoff team. Uh, where we knew they were, I think, number one in the National Football League on kickoff return and our guys did an unbelievable job the first time going down there and making a tackle at the 21 yardd line. So, that’s the motto. We just don’t want them to get the ball past the 30 yardd line. Is that the scenario where like, let’s say you guys kick the field goal, right? Is that the scenario that you pull out the dairy ball to kind of give your guys some extra time to get down and now you you run? That’s a great question. Um because now you still run that risk too of you know if the ball lands short of the landing zone they get the ball at the 40 yardd line right now. Knock on wood you know Riley’s done an unbelievable job with that dirty ball of of kicking it in the landing zone giving us an opportunity to go down there and cover. Uh but yeah there’s all different types of situations that are happening throughout the league. You know whether it’s at the end of the half or end of the game where there could be 13 14 seconds left and maybe the opponent has a timeout. Well, we want to kick that ball deep sometimes where they got to bring it out and now, you know, they start at the 30 yard line, but they might have six seconds left where they might only have one more play um to get there. So, yeah, there’s all those different types of situations that we go through throughout the week. So, from being in that environment of a soccer stadium, did you feel the crowd more enthused by the kicking game or was it like a normal No, I did. I I one unbelievable venue that they have there. um you know whether it be the crowd you know you’re just looking up and it continues to go um whether it’s open or closed I I I thought it was unbelievable and I I felt a little bit more when we kicked uh or punted you know when Riley made all those field goals I felt like the crowd really got into it when Jake hit a big uh one the turnover all those different types of things I felt the crowd got into it a little bit more so it was pretty cool were there any things on that turnover done specifically right for that moment is just kind like, hey, it the ball’s there um because of a muff and go get it. Yeah, I think one Jake I thought hit a really good ball. Um it was outside the numbers. I thought Elijah Campbell did a really good job of putting pressure on that returner to come for him to come up and catch that ball. And then Ethan Bonner on the backside end up splitting a double team at about 10 to 15 yards past the line of scrimmage and just doing a great job of hustling down there to make that play. So, a little bit of everything that that helped out with that and plus they had their backup returner, punt returner in there, too. So, I thought the guys did a really good job of taking advantage of it. Craig, I’m curious if you saw the highlight of the Dallas Cowboys gunner who forced a fumble yesterday after basically being blocked to death shortly after the punt and what your thoughts were on that and if you see a lot of that from you guys sometimes. Yeah. Was that the same and I want to get this correct. Was that the same one where the returner caught the ball at like the one yard line? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, you know, obviously great play. Um, you know, our our gunners, we want to take advantage of football like that. If they’re going to catch the ball inside the five yard line, obviously we want to do a really good job of going down there and covering. And it really starts with our protection. Then it starts with the punt of not outkicking our coverage. Uh, and then our gunners just going down there and making a play on the ball. Um, you know, I I did get a chance to see that. that I thought they did a really good job of going down there and putting their hat on the ball. Um, and then obviously going to recover it. So, those are plays that we’ll continue to show the players. Um, we’ll show our returner punt returner too about that of, you know, there is sometimes there’s opportunities to make plays as a punt returner, but there’s also times to not be reckless uh, and catch maybe the ball inside the five yard line because usually bad things happen. Did you also get a chance to to teach some people some lessons about the Raiders and Cowboys free kick. Did you see that? I’ve been told that. I haven’t seen it yet. Um but there’s a lot of different ones that can happen. You know, whether it’s the fair catch free kick, the first touch rule. I think there was another team that had that where um you know, I think the gunner made an unbelievable play at the goal line, batted ball back in play. One of the returners end up trying to go and advance it, but he end up getting tackled in the end zone. We actually covered that today. we just talked about it, but just again knowing the rules and understanding that hey, it’s not a safety even though you end up tackling the guy uh the ball gets placed at where the first touch was. So all those different types of things we’ll end up continuing to coach our players up with. Can you update us as far as where the competition stands for those slots uh alongside Minka at safety and at nickel who’s competing now at at each and your thinking as best you can share? Yeah, all those guys are contributing and when they’re in the game you feel them. So, we’re just trying to find packages where we can get as many of them in the game based on what the offense is presenting to us uh and how we can how we can match them and utilize all their skill sets because they’re all talented players. Who’s best at nickel beyond mink? Obviously, we know he’s good at a lot of things, but beyond that, who would be your next best guys at the moment in the slot do you think? Who who the second nickel is? No, no, no. We could have shortened that question because I wouldn’t want you to compromise anything just in terms of who you tell us who the second nickel is. is best equipped to play that position. Not that they’re going to play it. Yeah. At at at corner at corner, Jason Marshall has has filled in that spot and has done a good job when he’s been in there. Uh and then the next safety at that position is probably Dante Trader who who’s filled in that role when need be. So the uh the tape of Chop late last year that was really good. Have you asked Shawn Ryan or view and Shawn showed Chop what he was doing at his best? Is there anything that he did you think late last year that he needs to get back to specifically technique-wise or something? No. Again, I kind of referenced this in Madrid. I think you’ll feel Chop the more snaps he gets. Thought he was really close to getting a safety a week ago in Madrid. and and the more he’s out there, the more he kind of gets the the rhythm of the game, the more he’ll the more impactful he’ll the more impactful he’ll be for us. So, I don’t necessarily know that he’s doing anything different than he was a year ago. I think his stat snap numbers were down just because of the the players we had in that room and trying to get the best rotation. But, uh, as his numbers gone up, as numbers go up now with Jaylen being in Philly, I expect his impact to be felt more. Has he shown you the improvement that you wanted to see from an edge setting standpoint? Yeah. Yeah. I I trust I trust Chop in all facets of the game. It’s not it’s not any situation where we’re like, “Hey, this is a rundown. Get him out.” I I don’t feel that way at all. Some of the things where like, you know, I know he didn’t start the last game, but that was all package based, right? I’m not trying to put him in as a primary cover guy where Matt Judon has done that job throughout his entire career. So, he felt comfortable there. if they would have came out in a smaller grouping than Chop would have started the game. So, I’m I’m happy with where Chop’s at. And again, the more he’s out there, the more I expect to feel him on Sundays. He once asked Vicio if he had reviewed tape of a player that the Dolphins signed. He said, “No, I found out when you guys did.” I am curious. I’ll again I’ll phrase this carefully, too. I I wouldn’t ask you what you said, but in the organization, Champion ownership, etc., deciding to move on from Jaylen. Did they seek your opinion about whether you saw Chop as a most down NFL player? Again, without asking what you said. Yeah, I don’t I don’t think they sought my opinion on Chop as much as I was told or warned that that could be happening with Jaylen. And again, for for us, we’re I’m very much in the solution business. So, there there are higherups above me that that make the personnel decisions. uh when asked my opinion I will give it honestly and uh what happens after that is completely up to them but regardless of whatever decision is made I know the expectation expectation for us on Sunday as a defense doesn’t change so we just got to try to find answers regarding the game deciding play in the grid um what did you see on that play how did uh what did you see in terms of Jack Jones reading the quarterback’s eyes and anything hidden that may have gone into that play? No, I think that play is just a product of of Jack’s professionalism and and paying attention to the detail of the coaching and then coach Roujo doing a heck of a job just just giving us some tips both in terms of technique and fundamentals and what to expect really when you have a nub tight end. We were fortunate in that particular situation where we were in man and this isn’t any trade secrets but a lot of times we play man we try to hide it right with zone alignments. So they motioned Debo who was at number one at that particular point and they motioned him which now put Jack on the tight end as number one. So a lot of time when you have that tight end back on enough side you don’t get a lot of vertical routes right you get a lot of kind of in breakers and shallows and Jack paid attention to that right so we saw that um we did a great job on the front side of taking the throw away and Jack sliced the under and made the play so heck of a job to to all parties involved both him in a week with a lot of distractions right you’re traveling to Madrid you got family and friends in town you’re trying to do all these different things but but he paid attention to that coaching point again hats talked to coach Roujo too and was able to make a huge play for us at a critical point in the game. What do you feel for Guju after they filled in so admirably and then uh you might lose him for the year? Yeah, just uh heart goes out to that kid just because you knew all the work that he had put forth to to get to that spot in the Buffalo game where he was out there contributing in a in a full-time role for us. So, uh, disappointed for him, but just knowing the the character of that kid, I expect him to come back next year just just ready to go and compete for a starting spot. Soul, is it is it kind of like a pick up right where he left off before this? You do you see that in? Yeah. Yeah, I hope so. You know, that that certainly is a plan. Soul is obviously a guy who we have a tremendous amount of trust and faith in. Uh, if he’s not ready to go, then we we expect some other guys to step up, whether that’s Ethan Bonner, um, Jason Marshall, who filled in admirably, right, in the game. Uh there’s a bunch of guys and we we just picked up AJ Green from from the Rams. So we’ll we’ll see what what he can offer too. But the one thing I know is that whoever is out there will be ready to go for us. As a former player, what advice do you give guys just how on the by-week on how to balance obviously some much needed rest, right, with also getting a chance to work on something that you might not have the full opportunity to do, you know, on a week- toeek basis. Yeah. The thing the thing I always tell the guys whether it’s it’s that period of time before the season or the by-week, it’s time away and not time off. So, the first thing is obviously you need to you need to get some rest and recharge a little bit just to make sure your body can heal. But you also want to make sure you stay in shape and then figure out if there if there’s any facet of your game that you can improve upon. Whether that’s that could be mental, that could be physically, that could be in how you take care of your body with prehab and rehab and all those things. But you just want to make sure that you invest that time and not just go sit on the couch and play Call of Duty for six days. With Ziggers, he has been playing the last two weeks. What What had he done to enter that rotation or to to get onto the active roster? I think you saw his growth in maturation really each week of the season and it and it wasn’t obviously he wasn’t getting reps with the with the starters on defense but where you saw that growth in maturation occur was on the show team right and the way he was competing and the way he was making plays against our offense. So it’s it’s a tale you’ve seen over and over again, right? Some guys are put on essentially the show team or practice squad and they they take that as a negative. When I’ve always said it that that’s you’re not you’re not a show team, you’re not on practice squad, you are on a developmental squad. So, as long as you continue to develop and make plays, coaches will notice and you’ll earn the right to go play on Sundays. And that’s exactly what Zeke did. He attacked every day with that mindset. uh put forth all the work with with uh with coach Clark and coach Cotton and we’ve seen the benefits of that and he’s been able to go out there on Sunday and be impactful for us. If I can go back to Jack Jones for a second, going back to the day in Detroit in training camp, right, when they went after him and we trying to play more man coverage and it was new to him. When you think about Jack that day and what you had as a player in terms of just how he processed, you know, man and zone and being a mixture of both versus what he is today and what you saw in the commanders game, like how would you measure his growth in that arena? It’s it’s been huge just because I I’ve said this before, a lot of things we were asking him to do early on were were not necessarily foreign to him, but different, right? Not necessarily things that that he has excelled in throughout his career. Now, we were certainly going to cater to those obviously, but with all growth, there’s a little bit of discomfort, right? And we wanted to make sure that that we tried to push him through that. And as he did, while he he may have been frustrated at times, eventually he started to realize like, oh, this this stuff is starting to work and it starts to click. So, it’s it’s a true just it’s a credit to his professionalism and his willingness to to just try something different, right? Uh so, I love the kid for that, man. I love that he’s he’s put his trust in us. We’ve always just allowed him to be himself, and it’s awesome to see his his true playmaking ability and just who he is shine through. Something else kind of in that similar vein, you talked early this season about playing tighter in the hook zone, right, to some of those short throws to rally up and tackle. That feels like it’s gotten better as time has gone on. Would you agree with that? What would you say has led to that? Yeah. Yeah. No, it it certainly has improved. Uh there are some downs last, particularly third downs, last game where I thought it could have little been a little bit better, but uh as coaches, we’re always chasing for perfection, right? So, you can nitpick everything, but but as a defense, I think just holistically what we’re trying to get done, everybody is is starting to be on the same page, which is why you’ve seen the results you have. When you see Chris Ave on there, what do you think when you see Chris Ave on He’s a stud, right? He he can do everything. He can run every route. He can play the slot. He can play outside. He can he can get in and out of his breaks. Um, I I I did a lot of study on him obviously in the offseason just going through that interview process, but he is absolutely their their go-to guy as a receiver. What’s the thinking with third and fourth edge? Matthew, of course, a little bit older, but still good player. I think 38 defensive snaps against Washington. Cam good had seven. What are the conversations with you and Sean about whether that you want to remain that way? maybe can Cam a little more, conserve energy with Matt or No, I I trust I trust all the guys in that room to go out there and play on whatever down it is in that particular game, right? Matt Judon is a guy who’s played a lot of football. So, so there’s a high trust factor with him. We obviously Chub Chop, those guys are going to play. They’ve been impactful players for us. Cam good is a guy that I know exactly what I’m going to get when he’s on the field. And I think it’s important for us to just understand again with those guys, particularly with some of the guys that we have that are a little bit longer in the tooth, we need to protect him to make sure we have they’re at full speed uh come the end of the season. So whether Cam’s at seven or 15 to 20, I trust and know exactly what he’s going to do when he’s on the field and I know he’ll be he’ll make a positive impact for us. I don’t think any receiver played more than half the snaps except wall. Obviously, a lot of heavy packages and as you and Mike had said, so much of this is matchup based, but is it possible that regardless of how teams are playing you, maybe your best packages might be bigger packages? Is that something that you and Mike have talked about or thought about? And what do you think? I think it’s just basically for us it was, you know, looking at what Washington was trying to do defensively and for us to be able to kind of dictate the terms with different things. we thought in the heavier groupings uh will give us some good looks and um you know angles and defense and coverage stuff we’re anticipating. Um but yeah, I think ultimately when you’re looking at um how we want to play, you know, I mean the more personnel groupings, the different variations we have allow us to be versatile in what we want to do. When when that heavy package began, obviously it was out of necessity because you you guys basically ran out of tight ends. Why and how much has it grown since then? Um, I think ultimately why it’s grown and how we’re using it is just it’s a real tribute to Dan and how Brunskill prepares and um his ability and how quickly he’s able to learn and grasp kind of the things we want to do. And then also it’s just it adds another variation to what um the defense has to prepare for, you know, because the minute they think that they can clue into one thing, you know, trying a different variation or a different formation alignment, you know, allows us to be versatile inside of it. So I think ultimately um for us to dictate what we want to be able to do offensively, having Dan and different variations allows us to do that. After having one week of practice, the buy for additional recovery time, how close do you feel Austin Jackson getting? Uh, I think we’re very optimistic. I mean, obviously, we have to go through the week of work and make sure that he’s ready to go and we’re all prepared, but yeah, I mean, it’s credit to him and, you know, we’re looking forward to when he rejoins the lineup sooner or later. What kind of strides have you seen Larry Borum making uh over the time he has been filling it? I think him and the whole line the last couple weeks, you can feel us really kind of jelling as a group. Um, establishing um the line of scrimmage, playing the way we want to play. Uh, run game. I think when you looked at Washington, uh, uh, our ability to control the line of scrimmage really allowed us to, uh, run the football effectively. You know, not all the time. There’s a couple times where we’d like to have a couple plays back, but overall u, I think that Larry and the guys have really been jelling the last couple weeks. Mike said he’s not sure if James Daniels will come back this season. What’s the extent maybe of interactions what you’ve seen from him uh during all this down time? Yeah, he’s working to get back, but you know, everyone’s timeline’s a little different. So, um as in all the guys are trying to recover to get back to be able to help us and whenever the guys are able to get back and um work to their windows, you know, is when we’ll be ready to go with work with them. Brandon, a question about Devon Aan’s health, and I hope you’re not superstitious. I’m not trying to curse the man. Um, but his rookie year, he had a couple of little bruises and things. Last couple of years, he’s been great. Uh, I think he had the concussion last year, but didn’t miss a game. Uh, Stuttersville told us during training camp, he had noticed that Han is falling forward and and gaining yards. And so, he’s it’s not like he’s running out of bounds and avoiding contact. What has gone into him staying healthy for the last couple of years? Um, I don’t know if there’s one thing specific. I think what helps as you get older and you play more, you kind of you have a good understanding of the space, angles, pursuit angles, and you’re able to um you know, find the creases and maybe not necessarily take um a contact hit maybe did when you’re earlier because like sometimes the speed of the game, you know, not not not to say specifically for him that was it, but you can just see with him he has a good natural field of space. he did at&m um pursuit angles. He’s always able to when I mean the big thing when we were watching him coming out of college was his ability and vision to feel pursuit to feel kind of where everything’s going and to uh to be able to make the cut and slash before contact comes. So I think a lot of that just comes with experience and comes with playing more and more understanding of your blockers, where they’re going to be, how your guys are going to set things up. So I think there’s a multitude of things that necessarily come and I can probably place it to one thing specifically though. Do you guys watch his workload because of his size or do you watch it um you know because you want him to be fresh at the end of the year? Can you tell me about that as you know as far as his health? Um I think ultimately when you’re looking at the backs you know there’s times we want to have guys and we have packages of guys trying to get them u involved in different parts of the offense. Um, but ultimately when your guys are ready to go and they’re they’re playing as well as he does, I mean, you’re you’re going to play them and um trust that they’re always going to make the right decisions and, you know, work within the offense to get things done. With uh Larry Boram’s experience, I believe at guard, would you guys give any thought because of how well he’s been playing to maybe moving him over to to guard? um that really hasn’t been something that we’ve like discussed right now just because like the last couple weeks he’s really been playing well at tackle and I think um you know like everything when you come into a new system new place getting used to how the quarterback and drops in the pocket how you’re playing with new guys and I think that’s just something Larry’s done really well with but ultimately when we look at um fielding the best group of guys we can for each week you know we’ll make sure we work through all variables and weigh all, you know, avenues that we would potentially go over a three or four week period. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a higher percentage of touching the ball per snaps on the field than Jaylen Wright. One snap against Washington, one carry, it’s like seven carries out of nine snaps previous week. What is it that you and Mike see in him that you want to inject him a little bit? What’s the thinking behind that? Well, I think that like the carry he had um in the game versus Washington, it was a good feel. He felt uh the perimeter blockers have expanded, put his foot down for a good cut. Um I think he has a we think he has good zone running ability and he has versatility to the offense. So, I know that with him, Ali, and uh Devon, you know, those guys who want to get involved and making sure that we’re doing that, it’ll be something we’re going to be sure of over the next couple weeks. Well, I want to ask you one more about uh Hayden Ruchcci. What skill was it that you and John and Mike saw in him last year where you said to yourself, I think we have something here. Was it run blocking? What what specific thing? I think it’s uh run blocking and when you’re looking at developmental players, it’s more of um the intangibles are sometimes things that you that you’re looking for. I mean, I always remembered my time back to with Shawn Peyton in New Orleans and we used to always talk about developmental guys who want guys who love the weight room that love the process because they know that it’s going to be a process to for their development to get to play. And I think Roo is just he’s a machine with working as hard as he can to get uh the most out of what he wants to get done. And the one thing he has is a physicality and tenacity to him. And that was one thing that was evident in the preseason when watching his run blocking. And I think that’s just something that a lot of guys if you love if if you play tight end, you love blocking, all right, it’ll show up and you’ll find yourself a way to the field because um it’s it’s always a a benefit to have guys who love the physical strain of that position. What did you guys like uh Champ and everybody about AJ Green? Yeah, AJ’s um a veteran in a sense of of the poise he plays with, the instincts he plays with. He plays a very calm style of quarterback. Um so you can tell with that, you know, he he understands when to anticipate. He understands how to read routes um on the line of scrimmage. He’s aggressive, but still puts himself in position to be able to play the ball down the field. So you saw a guy who was able to join the roster that was, you know, far along in terms of his development. So, it was a great option for us. I know a lot of your job is problem solving. Um, can you tell me about keeping the frustration level down from the start of training camp when Kater is there, then he’s not there. Sheffield, Mike Hilton, you know the list better than I do. And you’re constantly going through and guys get their footing. Now, Juju Brent goes down, but Rasul is ready to come. I know that’s the NFL, but how do you keep the frustration level down? How do you stay calm with you and the guys? Yeah, I think like we do everything. Uh what we can control, that’s what we focus on. You know, those some of those injuries um are not preventable by by me, by the other players, by the guys themselves. You know, it it’s playing football. It is what it is. So, uh if we focus on the frustration of losing somebody, you know, that’s less focus than we’re putting on getting the job done. So really all we focus on is the standard playing up to that point and whoever’s up next, they’re ready to rock and roll with, you know, everything we do daily. But every guy we have in that room uh is here because they can play on Sundays and help us win. So as much as you feel for the guys who get injured, um you know, there’s never a step back in in our expectation of what Sunday should look like. Spain, Jack Jones said one thing, he’s been trying to he’s been trying to tone down his aggression that he’s a little bit too aggressive. So, he’s been trying to to uh uh temper that. Uh what have been some of the teaching points in order to get him to do that? Yeah, everything with Jack starts with his eyes. Everything with with everybody starts with their eyes. But for him, that was the biggest emphasis. Um the progression we always talk about is eyes feed hands. Your eyes by your feet. Your eyes tell your feet what to do and your hands by your feet time. And for him, it starts with his eyes. When his eyes are right, he’s right. When his eyes are in the back field, that’s where you see he can get himself in trouble. So the biggest uh not hurdle but what I tried to make sure as the position coach I did was never take away from what makes him great. You know his instinct, his football feel, his anticipation is what makes him Jack Jones. Now at the same time we can take that and we can dial it in with that eye discipline with some technique uh to make it where it’s not make a play, give up a play. It’s stacking great plays over and over and over again and putting yourself in position so when the play’s there to be made like at the end of the game he can he can make that play. So it’s really focusing in on just that progression each rep starts with your eyes. Get your feet in position, your hands by your feet time and then go do what Jack Jones does. We talked in the off season, I believe you said the same exact thing about Jack Jones, right? So what’s it like now to be in a position where you see the thing you’ve been preaching since day one kind of come to life? Yeah, it it’s awesome for him um to see him be able to take his career to the next level based on applying all those things that that he invested in. Uh it’s awesome. You know, that’s that’s why we coach is to help guys become better versions of themselves. You know, it has nothing to do with um myself looking at it from, you know, oh, what did I do to help him? No, that that’s it’s all for him to to get the best version of him. So when I look at that, I’m just extremely excited for where his career is going to continue to go as he continues to play, you know, with those tools he has. You have an affiliate as to where you think Jason Marshall’s going to be best long-term boundary or inside? Um, I think it’s most natural for him to play on the outside. You know, we’ve we’ve definitely asked him to do a lot, especially as a rookie and moving inside. A lot of it is just because we needed it. you know, we’ve had a ton of injuries and uh really we’re trying to get the best 11 on the field as as often as we can. So, moving him around has really just been to get him on the field, you know, and some of it’s out of necessity, but other is really just his skill set and and we felt like he could do that and he’s done a phenomenal job, especially at being able to play both. Uh, you know, Kater obviously did that for us last year. Um, but to do that as a rookie is very difficult. So for him, learning the inside piece uh was the most learning and and kind of getting the feel of the game from in there. But once we move him outside, that’s natural for him and he can pick that up. Do you think it was important for him to have a good play as he did late in the game? Because he had given up most targets, you know, obviously in the opener before he got hurt. It been a struggle initially, small body work. Was that important from confidence standpoint? Yeah, every every stride that any of these guys take, but take Jason specifically, every stride that he takes um is just a notch in his confidence because it’s experience. You know, like early on in the year, uh we did we made it hard on him by moving him inside, having him get comfortable playing inside. Some of those plays, you know, he’s playing in space he’s never really played in before. So, you know, as as the coaches, we take as much responsibility on some plays that he might not have made, you know, over him. Um, but all of that was experience. So, as he got that experience, uh, that builds his confidence and and now he’s not doing stuff for the first time. He’s, you know, now his feet are under him. He’s comfortable. Uh, so I think what you’re seeing is just like any rookie, uh, he’s got experience, so confidence is coming with that. He can anticipate a little bit more. Um, so you see him playing a little bit calmer, eliminating routes, um, understanding what the offense was trying to do to him at the end of the game. Um, and first play he came in, I mean, he cracked replaced, made a tackle for one or two yards. Like, he’s been taking strides. Um, and a lot of that is just due to him playing more football. Regarding Rasul Douglas, I know trade deadline seems like it was a while away, uh, a while ago rather. Um, were you worried about people coming after Rousul? Did you think it was realistic that you guys could lose Russul? Um, for me, I I have really no impact on that or focus on that. So, it really goes back to control what I can control. I mean, I absolutely love him. He’s been phenomenal for us here. Um, so without question, want him to be on our roster and and really happy he is. Have a quick Douglas question as well. What have you learned about him in your time together that maybe you didn’t know? Um, Rousul quickly became one of my favorite guys I’ve ever coached. He is a veteran who wants to be coached like a rookie. Um, he has zero pride in this is how I’ve done things. This is how I always do it. He wants to get better. and if he feels like you can help him in an area, then he’s going to go all in on you helping him in that area. So, it’s it’s a lot of fun to coach because you have conversations um with someone who’s played in the league for eight, nine years. You know, you have those advanced conversations, but you’re coaching him as hard as you would ever coached anybody in your life. You know, like you’re back coaching division three where I where I started. Like, you are just having fun coaching football and he’s giving you everything he’s got. Um so, that has been a lot of fun for me as his coach. Um, and then just the impact he has on the people around him. Like when he is in the room, uh, everybody lights up. He brings such a positive energy out of everybody around him. Um, so he he is an amazing teammate and we’re lucky to have him. How much do you think to his confidence might have been hurt this year by the pick? Not all of which were his fault obviously, but is that something with him that you have to be aware of to boost his spirits? Um, I don’t I wouldn’t say necessarily him. you know, I think you’re always trying to be conscious of of those things and those plays with with any quarterback, you know, or anybody that’s that’s has to has the ball in his hand every play and has to make um important decisions with it. And so um but you know, we analyze each and every one and as you said, you know, everyone is not created equal. Like the the last three that he’s thrown, I mean, he was doing exactly what we’ve asked him to do, you know, so um you just you just move on to the next play. the average fan might not be able to understand this idea like, okay, we’re going to try to push the ball down the field and even if it kind of ends in a pick, like it’s still the right play to make. Can you just break that down a little bit? Well, um yeah, I I wouldn’t necessarily, you know, we’re not just doing it willy-nilly, you know, and just just say, “Oh, yeah, we just want to take shots just to, you know, say that we take shots.” And um there’s things that the defense presents to us. there’s um players in certain positions obviously that we’re we’re trying to put in situations to give them opportunities down the field. Um you know I think back to the um the two in the Buffalo game we got we got the exact look that we were looking for and we said if we get this look this is what I want you to do. So you know two is is following following the instructions and um those are the ones that eat him probably the most you know because he he might not have have made the throw but it’s something that we asked him to do. So, um, he he he did exactly what, you know, like I said, what we told him to do. Um, same thing. I think it was the next one in the the Baltimore game was another one where, you know, where we threw it deep down the field and and trying to take a shot there as well. And, um, the defensive back made a great play on that one and, you know, we didn’t come down with it. So, um, but there’s there’s times where you you really want to put pressure on the defense, particularly if you can find the matchups or find one-on-one opportunities. We want we don’t want to necessarily throw it down there when you know you got two high safeties and guys are just camping back there. Um you want to do it versus the the right looks. Inquiring minds and interested observers. What’s the Quinn Euer’s progress report at this point? Yeah, Quinn’s Quinn’s doing a really good job. He’s he’s working every day um and you know to to get better one within our offense. then he’s getting reps um on the scout team and you know uh we kind of switch up with with Zach and and Quinn in terms of the um the reps for the scout team and I think really both those guys are are doing a great job. There’s good there’s good competition between them. Um, and there, uh, you know, at the end of the week, I I sit down and watch, uh, watch his reps, you know, Quinn’s reps that he’s had and try to make sure that that he’s getting coached, that it’s not, you know, he’s just taking these plays and we’re never watching them again. So, he’s getting opportunities to to be coached. And anytime that we can translate the play that another team’s running into our verbiage and then say, you know, go through it this way, we try to we try to do that so that we can um, you know, steal reps, you know, where we can steal them. But I like the progress that he’s making right now. Two dealt with the up and down of which one was the active backup as it switched one week, went back to I mean, I think it’s I I think it’s a good thing that, you know, that Mike did. It was uh, you know, it keeps you on your toes. It keeps you competing. um it makes makes you feel like the things that you’re doing are, you know, are valid and are worthwhile and you’re not going through the motions and um doesn’t doesn’t really let you get complacent. So, um I think it was a good shakeup. I think Tu has probably lost some support from the fan base because of the Cleveland and the Indianapolis games and the two late picks. You also could say he’s had some good moments. All the quarterbacks from that class have have had ups and downs this year with Herbert and Herds, etc. If you had to candidly assess how you think his year has been overall, you you would say what I would say it was up and down. You know, just basically how you described it. He’s had good moments. Um and and he’s had not good moments. And we’re what we’re trying to do is is, you know, kind of recapture what we’ve done in the years previous like 22 23 where he was playing really well and at a consistent level. The only thing that was holding him back was he wasn’t in there in the in the games. Right now he’s now he’s in here. He’s done a great job of taking care of all that. U we just need to get back to the consistency level that we know we’re going to get week in and week out. It’s it’s been a little bit of an up and down and I think the last few weeks we’ve started to steady it and uh we need to continue to to steady it and then kind of take a little bit of an uptick on something that we can expect each week. I mean I I know you guys don’t ever want to make excuses but Tua has been without Tyreek. he has been without Waller recently. Why are you guys playing so effectively recently with without those two? And what has Tua done with with his game? Well, I think the important thing is is you know, anytime you lose great players like that is um it’s a next manup sport as we know and you know, we don’t get to just go complain about it and say we don’t have them. we have to adapt and you have to uh gain a comfort level with other players, other guys, um other ways to get the ball to those different guys. I think number one that we’re running the ball really well right now and um so that that takes pressure off of of the passing game, but then um you know, Wadd’s done a nice job of stepping up, Malik’s done a nice job of stepping up. Um you know, Greg stepped up a little bit for us in some of those moments as well. So um there’s it’s it’s ever evolving. you know, nothing’s ever going to stay the same. And, you know, you’re going to get tacked by by the opponent different ways. Um, you know, when when Reek and Waddle in there, those are a different set of problems. When now you have one, now you got a different set of problems. Okay, we got we got Darren. Well, they got to cover him this way, but you, you know, you still have Waddle, but a chance back in the back field. It’s just, you know, keeping those those chess pieces, using them as best as you can and keeping it moving around. What has the offensive line’s role been in, I guess, the the surge recently? Oh, they the offensive line done a really nice job. You know, when when you can establish the run, um I think that really makes everything go. Uh when you can turn around, put the ball, you know, hand the ball to Han, you know, to to Jaylen, to Ali, whoever we we have in there. We, you know, we got a lot of um of good backs, but then also when you can turn around, put it in front of them, pull it, and now you got guys running down the field into into open lanes because they had to step up and respect the run. Um that’s that’s great football and that’s a great way that you want to play and I think we’re seeing some of that that we’re able to do right now. Kind of getting back to what you mentioned earlier about Waller just how will his return benefit how how will his return Waller’s return benefit to him? Well, I mean we we got to, you know, make make sure we make it through these next 21 days, you know, and see where he’s at. Um this obviously be the first week that he gets back out there. So, um I don’t know to be truthful, you know, where he’s going to be at right now. And um but I know that um we respect his abilities. I know Tua loves having him out there. As you know, it’s a big target. It’s a big catch radius. The guy can run. Um so, you know, as soon as he’s back full speed and ready to go, then we’ll be able to use all that skill set. Now, please forgive me if I’m incorrect here, but it seems from the untrained eye to be all of us here, uh, Tu has had more throws this year where his feet were not set properly in the absence of pressure than in past years. Uh, to what would you attribute that? I don’t I don’t know. I don’t know if I’d 100% agree with it. Um, so maybe I maybe I need to go back and and check all that stuff. But um you know we we really try to do a good job of staying on top of of the feet. That’s that’s something and that we you know we preach and believe in wholeheartedly here and that your base needs to be under you. There was a couple throws in the last game where where it was not. Um so every time that that it’s not where we want it to be, you know, we we point it out, we coach it, we work it on the field, we practice it. Um, but there’s no question that your feet um are a huge part of throwing and and helping you throw accurately. How often this year have you seen Tua have internal angst of looking back at a play where maybe he thinks he could have gained yards scrambling, but also having in the back of my mind, I can’t get hurt. They told me I can’t put myself at risk. Has that come into play where he’s confided in you that this year? Um, I wouldn’t say he’s he’s confided in me in that. No. Um, you know, I think that’s always decisions that you have to make in in real time. And I, but I, you know, I would say obviously just to, you know, to the naked eye, you’ve seen, you know, maybe three or four plays where, um, you know, where he could have done something different in, you know, whatever he did that he could have done something different. But, um, you know, that’s that’s going to be there all the time because, you know, it’s it’s important for him to to take care of himself and, uh, and take care of the team. And we, you know, we know what that means, but there will be moments, and he’s he’s done it already as well, where he has taken off and done a good job of getting down the field and then getting down.
STC Craig Aukerman, OC Frank Smith, DC Anthony Weaver, Cornerbacks Coach Mathieu Araujo, and QBs/Pass Game Coord. Darrell Bevell meet with the media.
Subscribe: http://www.youtube.com/channel/MiamiDolphins
#MiamiDolphins #NFL
For more Dolphins content: http://www.MiamiDolphins.com
Like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MiamiDolphins
Follow us on TikTok: http://tiktok.com/MiamiDolphins
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/MiamiDolphins
Follow us on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/MiamiDolphins
Follow us on Reddit: http://reddit.com/yourmiamidolphins
Get the app: http://apps.apple.com/us/app/miami-dolphins/id563617073