BB: Well, I'm sure as you're all
aware, the series with Miami has been a very, very competitive one. I
just was sitting there yesterday kind of going through my notes and stuff
and looking back at the games. The last seven or eight times we played them,
there have been three games in overtime. Last year, they were throwing into
the end zone on the last play of the game, and the second game, we're
throwing in the end zone. We had that one-point game down there in '04. They
beat us 29-28. A couple defensive games up here, where there was really not
much offense by either team, come down to the wire. I just think that this
is one of these teams, that for whatever reason, this matchup, every game
has pretty much come down to the last possession, or overtime, or deep, deep
into the fourth quarter and a very competitive game. That's probably the way
it's going to again this week. I think that Miami is a very talented team.
They're obviously well coached. They have a lot of players who are very
dangerous players on both sides of the ball, and in the kicking game. We
have an awful lot of respect for Miami. I think they've played a lot of real
good football. There have been a couple times, where, for whatever reason,
something has gone wrong or something has happened, and it's kind of made
the difference for them in a close game. But they're playing very good on
defense. They have some outstanding, talented offensive players that can
pretty much score from anywhere. [Wes] Welker in the kicking
game is probably as good a returner as we've seen all year. This team is
very dangerous and one that we're going to have to go a good job [against],
because they can turn it around on any play – whether it's strip sacks by Jason Taylor, or interceptions by [Will] Allen, or
runs by Ronnie Brown, or catches by [Chris] Chambers,
Welker or [Randy] McMichael, [Marty] Booker, and
all those guys. It's a good football team that's probably in about the same
position this week that we were in last week. We know how that can turn out.
That's kind of what it looks like to me on the Dolphins.
Q: When you've talked about Artrell Hawkins and Chad Scott in the past, you used the word
professional to describe them. How does that apply on and off the field?
BB: First of all, I think that their
level of personal conditioning is very good. They are always in shape. They
are always ready to go. They can kind of go. They have good stamina. They're
both experienced, smart, study hard, work hard, understand the total scheme
and how they fit into it and what their role is on a particular play and
call. They're very professional in their preparation off the field and on
the field in practice. Those guys don't necessarily get every rep out there
in practice. Sometimes there are other players that are getting them ahead
of them, but they are always attentive and they always learn from it and
then when they're called on, they're very well prepared to go in there and
do it. On the field, off the field, working with their teammates, giving
direction and guidance to younger players, offseason program, just as a
total person, as a total football player. They're great for this team.
Q: It seems like they are willing to
do whatever you ask.
BB: Absolutely. Yes, and are willing.
They will come to me and say, 'Is there anything else I can do? It looks
like we might need help with that. I'd love to do it. Put me in there.
Whatever you need.' They have a great attitude.
Q: Has that rubbed off on some of the
other guys?
BB: I'm sure it does. Sure. We have a
number of players like that. I think we have a lot of guys that fall into
that same kind of category but you brought those two guys up. They're a
pleasure to coach and they're great for our football team. They're good
players and they contribute in a lot of other ways besides just the play
that they go out on there on the field to play. There are a lot of other
things in there, in their makeup and their preparation that are positive for
the team and I do think that they rub off on other players and they're a
good example for all of us, but particularly younger players.
Q: How different of a team is Miami with Daunte Culpepper at quarterback?
BB: I think they're probably just as
explosive as they've been. They're very talented. Their skill players, all
of them, can do a lot of damage with the ball. He has a great arm. He can
get it down the field. It really forces you to defend the whole field. I'd
say they run the same offense, but their offense fluctuates quite a bit from
game to game. They're a game planning team that really tries to attack the
opponent's weaknesses. But within that framework, I think that they're very
similar to what they were last year. Mike [Mularkey] has
added... you can see some of the things that Miami is doing that he
did at Buffalo last year, part of his system. That's kind of been
integrated in there similar to what Dom [Capers] has done
defensively with some of their zone blitzes and that type of thing. But it's
still very, in general terms, it's very similar to what they did last year
going back and looking at our two games.
Q: When you have a player struggle
against a certain team like [Tom] Brady has a little bit
against Miami, is there any explaining it? Is it something that is a
coincidence?
BB: Well, I think it starts with Miami. They're a good defensive football team. They've been a good
defensive football team. You can look at a lot of teams that play Miami and
it's hard to move the ball, it's hard to score points and they're not giving
up much this year. They have a good front seven. They have a good secondary.
They have good linebackers. Whatever you want to call Jason Taylor, a
defensive end or a linebacker, he plays both. They're well-coached. They
have a good scheme. They tackle well. They're a sound fundamental football
team. They do a good job against everybody. Offensively, it's a big
challenge for us this week. We'll need 11 guys playing good football on
every play to be successful against them. It doesn't take much to break it
down. They have players at every position that are productive players.
Q: You said they're a game planning
team, which I guess would kind of make them like you guys. Does that make it
more difficult to prepare?
BB: Right, they're a very hard team
to prepare for. They run things against us that we can't prepare for because
we haven't seen them and we'd just be dreaming them up and the chances of us
hitting that right probably aren't very good. They mix up their blitzes from
week to week. They don't keep running the same way. They run some of the
same ones, but they mix them up. You never really know what you're going to
get. They change up their coverages. They do it against us. They do it
against everybody. They're very good at it. They have a good way of taking
away the things that you want to do and make you do something that maybe you
don't want to do or read the coverage differently or run the ball not where
you think it's going to go but ends up having to go somewhere else where
you're not really expecting the ball to enter the line of scrimmage and that
type of thing. They do a really good job of that. They're a very tough team
to prepare for. Probably as tough as any defense that we'll face all year.
They have good players. They have a very good scheme. Obviously they're well
coached and they make good adjustments on game day. What they've gone
through the past two weeks on defense against Tennessee and Houston, both of those teams really game planned Miami a lot
differently from what they normally do offensively and they gave Miami, and
I'd say in some cases, pretty much a totally different look from what those
teams have done. So I'm sure what Miami practiced that week really didn't
have too much application in that game. They had to adjust to it on-the-fly.
They do a really good job of it. I think that's an indication of the
flexibility that they have on defense. They're very tough to get ready for.
Like I said, even if you do something against them that they're probably not
expecting, or they're not working a lot on, they can adjust to it pretty
quickly there. They're very flexible in their scheme.
Q: When you're that type of team, do
you almost have to guard against getting too complex and changing too much?
Is there a point of diminishing returns there?
BB: Yeah, it's hard. It's hard.
They're a hard team to get ready for, because if you just say, 'Okay, well
we're just going to simplify it and have a few things,' well now you're
sitting there at the end of the first quarter and they've pretty much seen
all you have and then they really tee off on you. If you have a lot of
stuff, then the problem with that is they start throwing some stuff out that
you haven't worked against because you're just trying to rep too many
different plays or too many different formations, then it doesn't matchup
well and then pretty soon they chase you out of it. 'Well, we didn't think
they'd do this,' and they do it, then it's like, 'Well, we don't really have
enough out of that formation,' or, 'We don't have enough of the
complementary plays that we need there, so let's skip that and go to
something else.' Pretty soon, you're running for cover. That's a bad
position to be in too. So it's hard. You don't want have too much but you
don't want to go in there with just a couple of things because once they've
seen those, then they're ready to knock those out. It's hard to find the
right balance against a defense like this. That's why they're good.
Q: Besides Daunte, what are
some of the other personnel changes that they have this year?
BB: This is a team that has only a
few rookies playing. A few guys in the kicking game, but not much, because
they have a pretty sophisticated scheme on offense and defense, I think it's
hard for younger players to break in pretty quickly down there. They have
talented players like [Jason] Allen, their number one pick on
defense, but he really hasn't played a whole lot for them defensively.
Again, they have a lot of other good guys to put in there too. I don't think
it's any commentary against him. I think it probably just takes a little bit
of time. They've had a little bit of a revolving door there at right guard.
They started with Benny Anderson and he got hurt. Then they had [Kendyl] Jacox in there and then they had [Damion] McIntosh in
there last week. Otherwise it's pretty similar. [L.J.] Shelton is at left tackle. McIntosh is now in there at guard. They moved [Rex] Hadnot from guard over to center and bumped him over, but the rest of
the skill players are pretty much the same. They added [Derek] Hagan. He plays a little bit in there as a third or fourth receiver.
Then defensively, it's pretty much the same cast of characters. They added [Dan] Wilkinson upfront and Allen in the secondary. Actually they've turned
over the secondary a little bit. [Travares] Tillman stepped in
last year when Tebucky [Jones] got hurt. So he's taken over
there. Renaldo Hill has come in at the other safety. Will Allen plays the corner and they move him inside and bring [André] Goodman in. You have a couple of new corners. [Travis] Daniels has been out, but he's now back. [Yeremiah] Bell is there as their dime back. Zach Thomas, you won't have any problem
finding him. Jason Taylor. Kevin Carter. Keith Traylor.
I don't think you'll have any problem identifying those guys. Welker is returning kicks. There's a lot of carryover personnel wise from last
year. I'd say the biggest transition for them has been in the secondary.
Q: Stephen [Gostkowski]
has done some good things for you on kickoffs. He's struggled a little bit
on field goals. Do you have to have a different kind of patience with him as
a rookie kicker?
BB: No, I think at every position
really, you try to coach all of the players pretty much the same. Everybody
has things they need to work on. It doesn't make any difference whether the
guy is a 10-year all-pro or first-year whatever. I think you do that. You
identify things to work on and work on them. That's how you get them better.
Q: How typical is it in your
experience that rookie kickers struggle?
BB: I think every young player that
comes into this league is probably better in his second or third year than
in his first. That's not saying you can't have a good year your first year.
I'm just saying there so many things that you have to learn. It's such a
different culture and lifestyle and the pace of the game. Everything. It's
different than college football. That's all there is to it. I think that's
an adjustment for every player. Every guy that comes in the league as a
rookie coach or a rookie player, whatever is, football is football, but
there's a lot of things in the NFL that are different from any of the level
of football. That's something that we've all had to go through at one point
or another.
Q: How concerned are you about his
confidence taking a hit?
BB: I think our players have good
confidence. I think Stephen is confident and he should be. I'm
confident in him. He's confident in what he does. We just have to do a
better job with it. That's everybody doing everything. It's a total team
operation of protection, our whole operation in kicking the ball. He has to
do a better job. We've got to do a better job with the snap and the hold. We
have to do a better job on protection. That's all part of it. We have
problems all the way around.
Q: When will you decide on [Ellis] Hobbs having surgery or not having surgery?
BB: Whatever our medical people
think, I don't know. He's questionable. He's day-to-day. That's how I treat
it. What the specifics of whether to put ice on it, or put two ice packs on
it instead of one, or three instead of two, massage it, that's medical
treatment. I don't have anything to do with that. I don't care anything
about that. That's why we have doctors and trainers. That's what they do.
You think I sit around trying to figure out how many ice packs to put on a
guy? We can barely hold them on third down.
Q: Would the bye week factor into
whether or not somebody would play this week if you could give them two
weeks rest?
BB: It's a one week season right now.
All I care about is Miami.
Q: How much do you consult players on
a game plan? Can they give you feedback on something they might be seeing on
film?
BB: Absolutely. I think you're in
constant communication with your players. I think it varies as to when that
communication occurs. I'd say it's more toward the end of the week than the
beginning of the week when the players have seen the game plan and they've
been out there and practiced it and they've watched the other team and there
are some things that they're more comfortable with than others. Sometimes
they see something that they bring to the coach's attention and say, 'Hey,
what about this? What about that? I think I have a good key when this
happens or when that happens. How can we take advantage of it? I think I can
take advantage of it by doing this or that.' We do the same thing with the
players. Feedback with them, 'What routes are you most comfortable running
against this corner or this coverage? What pass rush moves do you think will
work best on this particular blocker and make them come out with what their
game plan is?' Most of the time it's the same, but sometimes a player and
coach see it a little bit differently and I think there's enough mutual
respect there to try to work that out. Sometimes the players are right.
Sometimes the coaches are right. Sometimes they're both right. Sometimes
they're both wrong. I think that's an important part, but I think as you get
further down in the week, I think that's when it comes together more. If the
quarterback says, 'I'm not really comfortable with this pattern. I think I
might have a hard time reading this or reading that,' well you're probably
going to throw it out. There are enough other plays that we can run that we
feel good about. Certain coverages a returner feels good about, one type of
return versus another type of return, that doesn't mean that we'll just do
whatever the players feel like doing. I'm not saying that. But, I think
there is a give-and-take there. Usually when they see the plays that we have
designed and they feel like, 'Okay, this has a chance.' Sometimes after you
get out and start running it, it doesn't look quite as good on the field as
maybe what you think it's going to look like in the meeting. We adjust and
modify the game plan Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. It's a process.
Q: Can you talk about Jarvis Green?
BB: Jarvis is a good football player.
He's a good football player. He makes good plays in all phases of the game.
When he goes out and has a couple of sacks like he did last week against Cincinnati, there's a big hoopla about his great production and all of
that, but really on a game by game play basis, he has a lot of other plays
like that are good on a consistent basis. Since they're not sacks, nobody
really cares about them. I'm just saying as a coach, you appreciate Jarvis Green on the day to day, week to week basis and you appreciate
him when he makes the strip sack on Carson Palmer, too. But he's a
good football player. He's well prepared. Like we talked about with Chad and Artrell, he's very professional and always ready to go and can do
a number of different things for us. He's a multiple responsibility player.
He adds great value to our team.
Q: Will you fill that final roster
spot before the end of this week?
BB: Yes, we'll have something this
afternoon.
Q: You haven't lost back-to-back
games in quite some time. Is that because of that give and take that you
have with the players during the week after a loss?
BB: I don't know. When you win a
game, it comes down to the players going out there and making big plays,
more plays than the other team. That's why you win. Right now our biggest
focus is trying to get on a two-game winning streak. That's really what we
need to do. Whatever happened in some game in the past, that's great. We
respect it and all of that. Right now, we just want to get on a two-game
winning streak. That's the only streak we're interested in.
Q: What do you think that speaks to?
Is that something that you're proud of?
BB: Sure, but I don't want to think
about that now. What difference does it make? We could have lost 10 in a
row. Right now it's Miami. That's it. Whoever plays better on Sunday,
that's who will win the game. Records mean nothing. Go back to two years
ago. We were 12-1 going down there and they were 2-11. Everybody in here
already had the story written and we got beat 29-28. Don't tell me about
records. Don't tell me about streaks. Don't tell me about last week. None of
that means anything. It doesn't mean one thing in a football game. The only
thing that matters is which team goes out there and plays better on Sunday.
It doesn't matter who has more talent. It doesn't matter what anybody's
record is in the standings. The only thing that matters is how you play on
Sunday. That will determine the winner out here in five days. That's the
truth. That's all it is.
Q: So you don't think it matters that Miami's back is up against the wall?
BB: You always expect your opponent
to play their best game against you. We expect that every week. We expected
it from Cincinnati. We expect it from Miami. We'll expect in
the next game we play. They have good coaches and they have good players
down there. I know they're working hard. I know that for a fact. I know they
will come in here and play their best football game and I think that we need
to play ours. That's what we're going to prepare to do, is to play our best
game of the year in all three phases of the game, because that's what is
going to take. Absolutely, we know what we need to do. Standing up here and
saying it and then actually getting done, that's two different things. So
it's going to take a lot of work. It's going to take a lot of preparation
and it's going to take a lot of good execution on Sunday. That's what it
will come down to.
Q: Would you say Nick [Saban]
is a pretty positive guy? He seemed pretty positive after their loss last
week.
BB: Look, I have a tremendous amount
of respect for Nick. Like I said, I worked with him for four years at Cleveland and I've known him and been very close with him before and
after that. There's no other coach in this league or any league that I have
more respect for than Nick Saban. I've said it before and I'll say it again,
I learned a whole lot more from him when he was at Cleveland than I'm sure
he learned from me. I mean that in a very respectful way. That guy is a
[darn] good football coach. Whatever he needs to do, he can do. He can be
positive. He can be critical. He can be conservative. He can open it up. He
can do whatever he needs to do, and he's not afraid to do any of it. I think
whatever he feels like is best for his football team, that's what he'll do.
If it's go out and walk through practice, then he'll do that. If it's go out
and scrimmage for two hours, then he'll go into that. He'll do whatever he
thinks is good for his team. That's why he always has good teams. That's why
his teams are always competitive. That's why he's a good football coach,
because he has a good way of reading his team and knowing what it takes and
knowing what he needs to do and he gets it done. Last year they were sitting
here at 3-7. Everybody was shoveling dirt on them then too. They come back
and win the next six games, after they lost to Cleveland up there.
That was it. That was the end of their season. They couldn't beat Cleveland.
They come back and win the next six games, including us. You can never count
Nick Saban…you can never count the Miami Dolphins out of anything.
Even when you're 10 points up in the fourth quarter, four minutes to go or
whatever it was.
Q: Are they kind of merging some of
what [Scott] Linehan did with what [Mike] Mularkey does?
BB: Exactly. That's exactly what it
is. It's the same thing on defense with Dom Capers. It's a similar
mergence. You can see Dom's blitz zones. You can see some of Mike's
schemes in the passing game and the running game. There is still a lot of
what they did last year. There's a lot of carryover and there's a lot of
carryover in personnel. It's certainly not a totally new system by any
stretch. They've added some things and things that complement what they were
doing. You can certainly see the mark that Mike and Dom have had there.
Q: Is there a familiarity with Culpepper then since Linehan was in Minnesota? Is there
some continuity there?
BB: I'm sure there is. Yes, I'm sure
there is.
Q: How far back did you have to go to
find tape of Daunte playing well from start to finish?
BB: I watched it last week's game.
But though he did a pretty good job against Houston. He really did.
Q: So he's on the up-tick?
BB: He's a good player and he's a
good quarterback. Just like anybody else in this league, if you want to find
a couple of bad plays that any player in this league has, you can find them,
or if you can't find them, I'll find them for you. A quarterback throws a
pass and the guy drops the ball or the quarterback goes back and there's
some breakdown in protection, that happens. There's going to be plays where
guys are open and the quarterback is going to miss them. There's going to be
holes that the running back misses. There's going to be tackles that whoever
the best defensive player in the league is, whoever you want that to be,
he'll miss those too. If you want to find a guy that has a couple of bad
plays, you can find them on every player in the league. I thought he played
well last week against Houston. That was his best game to be honest with
you. So that's about as far back as I needed to go, three days ago. Anything
else you want to lob up there for me?
[Laughter]
Q: If a team is having significant
protection issues, there must be a finite amount of scheming you can do. Is
it guys just blocking better? How much can you change the scheme?
BB: You can change the scheme however
much you want to do it, but I think what the passing comes down to is the
timing and execution. That's true of every team in this league. It
doesn't matter what level you throw the ball at. It's a combination of
the throwing and the catching of the skill players and the protection of the
blockers, which includes backs and tight ends. If a team pressures, they are
involved in the protection, too. What you want to do is protect the
quarterback. Whether you're throwing three-step drop or seven-step drop or
whatever the pattern is, protect him long enough so he can drop back and get
set and throw the ball on time. The receivers need to get open and come open
on time when the quarterback is ready to throw. Not a second before he's
ready, not a second after he's ready. That's just not the way to do it. You
might get away with one here or there, but that's not the way to do it. So
all of that needs to be synchronized and if it is, then you have a well
executed passing game. If it isn't, then something's going to go wrong. We
are all part of that. Sometimes the receiver is open and the quarterback
can't throw. Sometimes the quarterback can throw and the protection is good
and the receiver is not able to get open on the route, or the distribution of
the receivers is wrong and then the quarterback doesn't have a clear
throwing lane. Sometimes the guy drops the ball. Sometimes the quarterback
makes a bad throw. Sometimes it gets tipped. There's a lot of things that
could happen in the passing game. If you throw the ball well, you're
completing in the mid-60s, the high 60 percents. Not 90 percent, that's a
good passing game. You're completing 68, 67 percent of your passes, that's
good. If you're the best passing team
in football, you're probably going to miss one out of three. The difference
between hitting one or two more per game is the difference between having
an okay passing game and having a good passing game. Being a couple of
percentage points higher, just a few more yards, that's a couple more
third downs. You're on the field longer and third down is a big part of
that. We've been in that boat before too. You hit them on third down then
everything else kind of falls into place, even if you miss a couple on first
and second. If you hit the couple on first and second and you can't get them
on third, then you're not going to have a productive offense and you're not
going to have a productive passing game. As it relates to our passing game,
as it relates to Miami's passing game, probably any other passing
game in the league, there are quite a few good plays out there and there are
some plays that aren't as good and what we're all trying to do is improve
those plays and get them up to a higher level and get more consistent.
That's how you have a more consistent passing game. It's really no different
than the running game. |
