Anthony Weaver meets with the media | Miami Dolphins

Anthony Weaver meets with the media | Miami Dolphins

two specific guys I was curious about that had a bit of a surprise. One was Dante Trader, third most used safety. What led to that? And with Willie Gay, was there thought as you obviously had trouble all day stopping them to insert him coming off his very strong preseason? Yeah, I I’ll start with Willie. I got to find a way to get Willie on the field and and I told him that the next day. There was a plan certainly to get him in the game. Plans changed, right? We were we there’s some chaos there for a little bit, but um but I I need to get him. He’s he’s impactful. He’s earned the right to get on the field. So, I got to make that happen. Um Trader had a good week of practice. We’re a little bit nervous just because of the the injuries he’s had since he’s been here and exposing him too much. Uh we didn’t want to risk any further injury, but when he when he out there, he did some good things. So, we’ll continue to get him the game because uh he’s he’s earned that right just through it. Maybe not. It’s funny because he hasn’t practiced a ton, but he’s a guy who’s been in the building and has been working at his craft regardless of time on the field. So, there’s a lot of confidence in his ability to go out there and communicate for us. The skill set within Anthony, what intrigues you about him as a safety? Yeah. Elite instincts, very good quicks, and he takes direct angles to the ball. just how just to follow up on that, just how impressed were you with that goal line tackle that he had where he kind of diagnosed it perfectly and you know, yeah, he he is he’s a ball guy, right? I I think he has an incredibly bright future. He he’s one of those guys eventually you’re going to be talking about being a coach on the field because he just puts so much time into his craft. So really excited about his trajectory. What do you think of the Jack Jones and Russell Douglas quarterback combination now as as it Russul was inserted into the game? Very pleased with how Jack played right. I thought Jack went out there, competed, was was spot on his assignments majority of the time and he’s just he’s a juice guy, right? And inevitably he’s going to find the ball. It’s just what he does. Rul, right? Certainly didn’t plan on on playing him that much. I think it’s harder particularly for an older player just to, you know, to come off the bench and like a relief pitcher like got to go, right? No warm-up, all those things. But, but he he did a great job when he was in there. There’s still some some scheme things that that sometimes get lost just because he’s it’s all new verbiage for him, but he’s a pro and he he’s leaps and bounds where ahead of where a rookie would be at this particular point. I saw a chart that said the Dolphins led the NFL in cover two zone coverage percentage in week one. Don’t know if you know that. don’t know how much you care, but it’s I’m kind of interested if you could help me expl understand a little bit about the the the strengths and weaknesses of the zone 2 coverage plan and and how much you plan to vary from week to week zone man. Yeah, it it’s it’s based primarily upon what you’re getting from the offense, right? The weaknesses are going to be in the in the kind of between the hashes in that little low hole area and then you got some fade to flat weaknesses, too. and and you’re just you’re not going to be particularly tight if you’re not have if you don’t have vision on the quarterback as underneath defenders. I thought when we were in those particular coverages, uh we didn’t do a great job of having vision on the quarterback and melting with him. So, we were a little bit too drifty and that’s why some of those some of those things that were being thrown underneath we should be tighter and it should be either bang bang or we should be breaking it up. Just a follow up. I’m sorry. We What went wrong on the Pitman touchdown? That was the one after after the sack. First play. Yeah. First play. After the sack. Yeah. Um it’s unfortunate. So from a call standpoint, we were essentially in Tampa. We were in Tampa, too. Um Storm probably had too good of a reroute. So then our safety only saw that as one vertical and didn’t split the didn’t split the difference between the two. So we tried to get hands on those guys. He kind of stumbled out of there and then it ended up as a second vertical with a safety not seeing it as such. So, too good a job by Storm on the disruption. Yeah. I was going to ask is it is the is that the teaching point you you got to should he have knocked him more off the route or No. No. Storm I think Storm did exactly what he’s supposed to do. I think between the safety and then our middle runner as the mic that that safety as that as that that that number two running that seam ball as he starts to bend. He needs to trust that our middle runner is going to be there for that and he can continue to keep his width so he can get over the top of one if need be. We going into the season it was kind of obvious everybody you mentioned it that the strength of the defense needed to be the edge defenders and creating havoc with the pass rush clearly wasn’t there on Sunday. What went wrong there? I I didn’t think Let me let me I think all credit goes to the Colts. I think they did a great job of keeping him out of predictable passing situations which is obviously going to slow the rush. And then when we did have our ops, we had self-inflicted wounds, right? We jump off sides on a third and 10. Um, we get a holding penalty on first and 30, right? There just there was just we we’re in too many second and one to sixes, third and third and one to fours, the threes where we didn’t really get enough to just pin our ears back and go get them. We did that the first play of the game. Uh, Tyler Warren catches the pass. Um, did Jaylen Phillips slipped trying to get out there? Yes, but that to me that again that was that was a scheme play, right? That was that was one on an out. We were essentially in quarters covered and he just he was going to run away from leverage anyway. So regardless that play was going to gain yards. We ended up holding the three on the on the drive. And again, I think the the play that was most impactful for us was really that the play that we just talked about, the go ball to Pitman. That was the one where it’s like, ah, you know, after a sack, it kind of felt like that all day. Like we would make a play, potentially get a chance to turn momentum, and then they answered back and counter punched, and we could we could just never stop the momentum from flowing. What have you noticed about Drake May and the Patriots passing offense? Yeah, I I think it’s it’s evolving, right? You you can tell there’s still he’s still adjusting probably to Josh McDaniels and what he’s trying to do. The kid has all the ability in the world, all the arm strength, right? He has he has skilled players and he’s just going to gain confidence through reps, which I think really for our defense, we’re trying to do the same thing. You have a bunch of new guys that just haven’t played a lot of live football together. So, we’re all learning each other, right? We’re all learning what we need to hear on the field. I’m learning what they do best, right, and how to use them and then how they’re going to react in those situations. So, um there’s a growth in maturation, I think, going on with him and with us. Four talented passers. Oh, I’m sorry. I was just going to ask about Bonito. I’m sorry. uh if he can’t play, who would you envision getting some of those snaps? Yeah, the next guy up is Zeke Biggers, right? So, we’ll roll out there with the three rooks and uh I expect them to go out there and and train and do what they’ve been trained to do. So, uh yeah, so I I assume his number will be called with four talented pass rushers. They were all within the 45 to 55% range of defensive snaps. Is that kind of what you envision is getting them all out there or the starters a little more? That was certainly the goal. And again, I think there you’d love more opportunities to get more than two out there at a time, but again, we just didn’t have those opportunities because we weren’t winning on early downs. It was mentioned a lot this week that guys were trying to do too much or not necessarily trusting that their teammates were going to, you know, be where they were supposed to do, do what they were supposed to do. What What do you think, you know, was a result of that? And was that expressed to you guys as coaches? like we, you know, that was I didn’t feel that as much like I didn’t feel guys necessarily going outside of scheme to make plays. I think the there was a lot of want to and build up to that game. And I think a lot of guys put pressure on themselves to go out there and make plays when they just got to do their job and the plays will come to them. And then I think there were times where just from a communication standpoint, there were 10 out of 11 guys getting the call, right? And and when you talk about making stuff, I I think that’s what our guys were referencing. There’s about four or five instances that hurt us on critical sits where where there was one guy somehow some way that didn’t get the call. With that, like Mike gave an example of Zack Cer who kind of was trying to, you know, get the sack but voided the rush lane. I mean, with a guy like Zack, do you even have to say anything to him? Absolutely not. To me, like that, you know, that that play being referenced was such a footnote in the game, right? Zack, Zack Caler, he he does what he’s supposed to do at a high level 99.9% of the time. So, I’m certainly not worried about Zack at all. I understand that dropping a defensive tackle back into coverage is a very small part of the game, but I’m curious, what are the teaching points when like a guy like Kenneth Grant um has to drop back into coverage? You know, I assume the one you’re talking about when he made the tackle in Tampa. So, in Tampa, like I just we just talked about there’s a there’s that low hole area kind of in between the hashes about five to seven yards. That’s a that’s a dead spot. So, they went empty and we try to account for that dead spot with the with the tackle. All we do is say, “Hey, turn turn run towards three and if the ball comes out quick, make the tackle,” which he did. Um, but we’re I’m certainly not afraid and we’re certainly not afraid as a staff to drop defensive linemen. Most of the time they’re flat defenders or they’re hooked defenders. We give them landmarks, hopefully get them somewhere near the area they need to be, and someone throws them the ball. I have three picks as a D lineman, so someone’s going to someone’s going to throw them throw him one one of these days. We just got to make sure we catch it. A little bit more on Zeke, just what he showed you in camp. And then when you’re done on Zeke, would you mind addressing how Jordan Phillips played? What do you think on Sunday? Zeke I thought was growing throughout camp. I thought he kind of he had some ups and downs right along the way. He he had some ups particularly in the joint practices. I thought he did well versus Chicago and Detroit and then he kind of had like a something going on with his shoulder which kind of that that set back set him back a little bit. But he he’s continued to go out there and work hard every day. I love the potential of him because you can’t teach his size and length and as soon as he refineses his technique to go along with that, which again he is he has vastly improved from when he got there, I think he can be an impact player for us. Jordan Phillips, I thought, went out there and and had a pretty darn good game. Uh continues to be stout in the run game, which is which is why he’s here. as first and foremost and he’ll inevitably become an effective pass rusher because of his ability to compress the pocket and play off of some of those ends. So really pleased with how he played game one. You mentioned you mentioned the Colts being an advantageous down distances that reduces your ability to rush the passer. How much does that limit what you can do from a creativity standpoint in dialing up pressures? Yeah, a lot. A lot. Right. Usually you try not to some of those pressures and exotics that you do throw at teams, they’re going to expose you particularly in run situations. So whenever it’s it’s first and 10 kind of 50/50 rundowns or second and one to six or seven depending on the team, you’re going to be a little bit cautious of running those because you’re going to put yourself at risk to giving the offense a big play. So certainly certainly limit you.

Anthony Weaver meets with the media.

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