MIAMI DOLPHINS HEAD COACH MIKE MCDANIEL

Postgame press conference
Sunday, October 6, 2024

Q: How does it feel to walk out of here with a win compared to what could have happened there in the final minutes?

MM: I think this is a cool game for our team because you know what it usually takes to be able to beat the Patriots is the type of game that I thought our team really needed in terms of winning when everything isn't great, winning when there's a ton of frustrating things that happened during a game and leaning into what we've really learned to be a strength of our team, which is the defense. Again, another valiant effort. It was a big deal. It's been 24 days since the Buffalo game. In the NFL losing streaks are real. They're not fun. So for the team to have to find a way to overcome a lot of sloppiness that wasn't to do with intent or preparation, but you know, things that we have to clean up in our game and to be able to still find a way it feels great. Kind of knew it was going to be a game like this, but you want to see your team take steps forward. I thought we did today.

Q: Both Wright and Mostert cleared 80 rushing yards today. Was that the plan throughout the week to be that ground-heavy, especially after your injury to De'Von?

MM: Yeah, I think we had been disappointed with what we've produced on the ground just in general. So it was a huge point of emphasis to really hone in on our fundamentals and the technique. To the credit of the offensive line, they punched some holes. I think the running back room was ready to put the team on their back, so to speak. I think having Raheem back was awesome. It was unfortunate to lose De'Von for sure. Then you saw a rookie play some snaps where you can feel his confidence just being established. So the plan was to be able to go toe-to-toe and win any way you need to, and I think that was the main objective led by the captains. I think they did a really phenomenal job of keeping everyone's head space correct. It was very fitting that one of our newly-minted captains this year, Alec Ingold, scored the touchdown because he was a heavy part of the run game production this week for sure.

Q: On the final drive there was a physical presence running the ball that we really haven't seen much of that yet.

MM: I think when I say the game we're looking for, we're not looking to be frustrated, but you know, you have some frustrating points during the course of a game, and nobody cares. Then you have a 17-play drive to get your first touchdown of the day. That's something that I think when you are talking about your football team and the types of games you want to win, you know, that's very similar to November, December football where certain weeks you have to strap up and be able to win the line of scrimmage and do it down in and down out. I think that's a huge piece of the puzzle to me that -- we weren't measured in our words to each other in team settings this week. We challenged each other to be able to win a game like that just in general and not have to have super explosive plays to win a football game. I think that that's what I'm really proud of is that I know what it takes for our team, in particular that has high ambitions, to put together a 17-play drive at the end of the game, and that means you're staying locked in regardless of result during the course of it. That's something we can built upon as we clean up the layers of things we have to clean up.

Q: It was a mixed bag for special teams today, but overall I think it's 11 penalties now for the season for that unit. How will that unit be evaluated?

MM: Very critically. I think you have to assess the common denominators. The thing I was proud of is you have several things that don't go your way, you hit a post, and you have a snap that you wish you could have back, but I think we were able to get several very crucial points after that. So the resolve. You don't want to have to test your resolve every week, but that was an important piece. And then, you know, you give up a blocked punt, but then had complete faith that that would get corrected and that we would be able with the game on the line to get New England to burn their time-outs and trotted that same unit back out there. So those are things to build upon, and they're much easier to do in the win column. I think that that gives you the opportunity to really assess the common denominators because that's what you're trying to find. A lot of times penalties come from particularly offensively and – really in all three phases. Sometimes penalties can occur because people are trying too hard to own their responsibility, and they're leveraged or edged, and then you hold or you – really all three phases that same thing can occur. I'm careful or judicious with looking at full sale this has to be better to continue to win football games. So you have to find some resolution, and that will come through collective study and effort by our coaching staff and then apply it to the players as we do across the board.

Q: Anything you can say about the injury to Achane and Holland?

MM: Yeah, just coming off the field. We'll be evaluating those in the next couple of days. I do know that De'Von was out with a head injury that I believe to be a concussion, so he will be in the protocol. Then we'll check out what Jevón -- the extent of that is, which fortunately we have a bye week, so we have time to figure that stuff out.

Q: Speaking of the bye week, what does this week mean for Tyler Huntley to be able to stay in the classroom, stay in the lab without having to play a game on Sunday?

MM: It's huge. You're playing catch-up the whole time that you're playing football and you're knowing your responsibilities, your knowing what the pass concepts are, and now you have a chance to study really the strengths and weaknesses of certain things. For him to play convicted, I think it's going to be huge for him just to have things settle down because you don't really have time for much when you are just jumping in in an NFL workweek. You have to orchestrate a lot of moving parts, and I thought he did a good job handling all that. He has done a phenomenal job really since he's been here, but it was a step forward today for sure.

Q: The snap that went by him, was that -- what happened there?

MM: We were executing a no-huddle play. He was communicating to the line of scrimmage and communicating to the offensive line what the play was. Then after he did that, he was communicating to the Z receiver. Brew thought he heard the cadence, which Snoop hadn't given any sort of indicator of a cadence, but he thought he heard one. So he snapped it, which is why it was a gigantic negative. Moving the ball pretty well, but it was one of the three drives in the first half that you felt like you should have points in some way, shape, or form on that drive hoping to convert and get in the red zone and score a touchdown. So that was part of the things that we got in our own way, which is why it's -- you can clean those up all day, but you know, for our team we needed to find a way to win a football game with that adversity right in our face, which is what I was happy about.

Q: Alec used the word to describe Tyler, "command." How much of a sense for his command of this offense when he's not on the field? Like do you get to interact with him on the sideline? You hear coaches report back to you about him?

MM: Absolutely, I can tell by the conviction with the other ten people coming out of the huddle. When you're in a huddle and people have conviction and ownership of -- and command of the huddle, you see people leave with certainty from the huddle. Then on top of that, every single play his technique and fundamentals I think I'm connected with. So after the ball is snapped, whatever coverage is presented, you have an idea where the ball should go, and you are watching his technique through to the defensive structure. I could tell all week that he was going to operate in a high fashion, but I could feel during the game simply through his teammates and how they're approaching each play even if it was a run, and it was with conviction to the line of scrimmage on almost every snap. I think we did have one presnap motion penalty, but beyond that, it was -- that was much improved from the week before.

QUARTERBACK TYLER HUNTLEY

Postgame press conference
Sunday, October 6, 2024

Q: What's it feel like to get a win after a few crazy weeks here for you?

TH: Man, we needed it. The city needed it, our team needed it, everybody in the locker room needed it and that's what we came out here to do and we got it.

Q: Mindset on that final drive, that 80-yard drive down the field?

TH: We knew we had to score to win the game, you know? And that's what we did.

Q: As Calais Campbell said, lot of things to work on, even on that final drive you had two holding penalties that you overcame. How much of today was just overcoming some mistakes?

TH: You said it right. We just had to overcome our mistakes, and we knew once we overcame them, we were going to do good things. We just have to hone in on the details, and it will be better.

Q: Did you expect to run the ball as much as you did coming into today? I think the final 52 yards of that drive were running.

TH: We did whatever we had to do to get that win.

Q: You come from a team with a good physical presence. Did you see a glimpse of that today? It really hasn't been around this team too much.

TH: Yeah, we were going straight downhill at the defense, and it showed that they couldn't hold up.

Q: How comfortable did you feel out there?

TH: It felt good to be out there with the guys. Just every play, every drive I'm feeling more comfortable, in tune with my guys. I know they feel the same with me.

Q: Did you feel a difference coming into this game as opposed to -- ?

TH: Yeah, 100%. It was my first week last week. It's my second week this week, and we're just going to continue to build off of that. We have a bye week coming up. We're going to get in the lab, work on the things that we need to fix, and come out the next week ready to fire.

Q: What wasn't going right for the offense for so much of the day?

TH: Mistakes. You know, a couple of penalties, a couple of miscues. You know, all it takes for us to get it rolling, and it will look a whole different.

Q: The bye week, what will you be doing on the bye week?

TH: We're going to be self-evaluating ourselves, you know, see how we can get a step ahead of guys. Definitely heal up and be ready to come out.

Q: Actually, on that final drive you had a second and 20, and you hit Tyreek Hill for 21 yards.

TH: I know we got a first down.

Q: Was he the guy you were going to all along and you saw him break open?

TH: No, I saw him break open, and I went to him.

ADDITIONAL PLAYERS

Calais Campbell, DT

(On his thoughts after a game like that)

"That's a character-building win, you know. A lot of stuff went wrong, it's like, man that was a pretty ugly ballgame, especially in the first half. But one thing we didn't do is we didn't flinch. We didn't relax, we just stayed hungry, kept fighting, kept believing and found a way to get the win when it mattered. Your big-time players have to come up with big-time plays in big-time games and the way we started running the ball in the second half was inspiring. We still gave up too many yards rushing on defense, there's a lot to clean up, lot of ball that we can work on. But we've got a bye week, we're going to study ourselves, we'll figure out how to get better and come out of this bye and try to get another win."

(On if it was a frustrating day even though the Dolphins came away with the win)

"When you get a win, especially after we haven't had a win for a few weeks, I don't know, you can't be too frustrated. I feel pretty good right now. It could definitely be better. We will grade it, we will clean it up and we will try to improve. But you know, it's been so long since we've got a win, I'm just going to enjoy this one. 24 hours, 24 hours to enjoy it."

(On the fact that other than the turnover that set up the Patriots' touchdown, how the Dolphins defense didn't give up many yards)

"One of the things we try to preach is coming off of turnovers, having a sense of urgency and keeping points off the board or hold them to three. We had opportunities there. It was a bust and also (inaudible), they capitalized. It's the NFL and they've got some good players. They made a big-time play. That's something we know we can fix and we fixed it and we played a lot better. They had a really good game plan in the run game and way too many yards. One thing we've learned is we'll fix it the following game, let's just keep playing ball. Nobody has to try to do more than their job, just keep doing your job and we'll be okay."

(On the bye week and if it comes at a good time for the team)

"It really doesn't matter, right? This is the time, so we're definitely going to study ourselves and during the bye week, I always try to go back and watch every play and see what I was doing. See what works, see what didn't work and then kind of figure out going forward, do more of the stuff that works and do less of the stuff that doesn't."

Alec Ingold, FB

(On his touchdown)

"Any fullback dive might be the day-one install for every offense in America, high school to Peewee, Pop Warner, everything. It was cool to end a 17-play drive like that. Credit to the offensive line, I didn't have to do anything. Center, left guard watched their guys, they climbed up to the linebackers, so for a two-yard run to cap a statement drive is something that we needed desperately. As a team, to score a touchdown at that moment, it was a team drive, it was a team touchdown. So, I think it's really a testament to all of our work over the last month or so, trying to get back right. It was a long drive capped off by a nice touchdown."

(On this being the first time the team has had a real physical presence this year)

"I think it goes back to trusting things. We were running the ball quite a bit in the first half. Whether it's a penalty here or a little procedural thing there, it kind of got us off track. We get four-yard runs, six-yard runs, but we trusted each other. Coaching staff, all the way down to the players. Doing your one-eleventh. That's all that a running game is. A full team playing all four quarters. And I don't think, like you said, we haven't seen that quite yet out of our team. It's something we're working on, it's our process that we're building towards, so to see a seventeen-play drive in the fourth quarter, when we need it, I think was pretty cool for our entire process, for our entire organization to go through that together."

(On going back to Miami with a win)

"I think you're a couple plays away from a win or a loss, and somewhat of a sloppy execution game you could say. Being able to validate that the process that we're building towards something. You see glimpses on tape, week-in and week-out, then you have the results of a loss, it can sting, it's frustrating, it's demoralizing, it's tough. When you get that win, you're able to say, 'okay we're on the right track, we're building towards something right.' But it's not good yet, it's not good enough yet. So, that little tweak in the mindset, fighting to find that silver lining I think is extremely important for our team going into a bye week 2-3, to be able to right the ship, to be able to continue to cross the Ts and dot the Is and make sure we're a better football team at the end of the season than when we started."

(On if any other plays from the game stand out to him)

"Yeah I think Jaylen Wright (RB), definitely stepped up big. One of his biggest runs of the day was called back because of a holding call. To see him not blink, to be able to go back and convert on a first down later in that same drive, that I think was really cool to see. Raheem (Raheem Mostert, RB) to come back and be able to play physical, you see him, he's the fastest guy on the team, one of the fastest guys on the team. To be able to run, yards after contact and push that pile, doesn't seem like a whole lot but second and three is a whole heck of a lot better than second and eight. To be able to find those creases, I think both of those guys played really hard, really physical and it was really cool to see them flourish in the fourth quarter like that."

(On Tyler Huntley in the huddle)

"His personality was coming out in a number of different ways, and I loved it. It's more than just a play call, right. As a quarter back, when you get a little bit more comfortable, he's been here a couple weeks now, to be able to see his little impacts, his little points of emphasis in the huddle, being able to make guys lock in on their assignments and details and understanding the circumstance of the game, I think that was really cool for Snoop to be able to do that for our offense because that's what a leader is. He's coming in a tough spot as a quarterback and to be able to have command, to be able to find that confidence to voice himself, for guys to listen and respect that was everything that you could hang your hat on for this offense right now."

(On if there was a point where the offense could feel the command from Huntley)

"I think that was in the second half. To understand that we were going through adversity, mishaps, things we can't control. Whether it was a wild snap, a blocked punt, a missed field goal, we had all those things happening in the first half. To be able to have that confidence and command and say 'no matter what happens, we can't control that, we can control this right now', that was pretty special to see. Anybody can have command when it's all going good, but when you're playing from behind, when it's gritty like that, when you've got to get a couple first downs to string along a drive and have command when it's not going well, I think that was the biggest respect Snoop got from all of us."

Raheem Mostert, RB

(On the offense playing from under center)

"Either way it doesn't really matter, just get the ball in our hands, and we will try and make it work. They were giving us some good looks, at the end of the day we just try and exploit them and take advantage."

(On overcoming the first half mistakes)

"It was fairly tough. You see what's going on like when we were in the red zone, and then the ball gets snapped behind us and Ally [Alec Ingold] recovers the snap, little things like that, are just putting us in a bind, but honestly we just have to overcome those things."

(On how not to have the mistakes get the team down)

"I guess you just have to have a talk with the guys and you know after that the whole thing happened, I just jumped right in and said, 'everyone let's go, let's pick it up, and that's not how we play ball. We have to stop making these critical mistakes and go out there and do what we do.'"

(On how it feels to be back)

"It's been good and I don't know what my stats are but I really don't care. I'm just happy we got the biggest stat which is that W, and honestly it feels good. Just watching the team from afar and the sidelines these past couple of weeks, it has been a little bit of a mental stressor but at the same time it has been one of those things that I just have to get healthy and get back out there for the boys and I was able to do that today."

Jaylen Wright, RB

(On getting the run game going this week)

"It felt good, after a hard-working week of practice. We were able to focus on the details and paying attention and having the right aiming points and right tracks and everything. I just feel like it all came together in the second half. I felt like we were getting good movement thanks to the offensive line. We were getting good movement you know and getting it up to the second or third level. It opens things up for the run to produce great runs."

(On the drive at the end of the game and Tyler Huntley's play)

"He is a pro and he is here for a reason. Coach brought him in for a reason. He is somebody we can lean on, you know someone who he is leader already and he has only been here for like three weeks. I feel like he has done a great job in the system for how short of a time he has been here. Just him being out there, just him getting everyone lined up and paying attention."

(On the getting the win)

"This win has been needed. We have had a rough past few weeks, you know what I am saying. But that is just the beat of the game. We put those past games in the past and you know we just have to stay in the present. We got a win this week going into a bye week and then we come back with the same mindset to win."

Jonnu Smith, TE

(On getting the win in a close game)

"The only satisfaction relies on winning. We got the job done and that is all that we came out here for and I am going to enjoy this one. It's just another game on the schedule. Winning in this league is all that matters. Each week is its own challenge. There are different ways of winning, but at the end of the day, in that column there is only win or loss. Every week defensively, offensively, special teams, there are different scenarios that help you win games and sometimes you have to lean on certain things. Obviously, objectively, you want every group to come together and operate as one. It doesn't always go that way but at the end of the day we figured out a way to win."

(On getting a win heading into the bye week)

"You don't want to go into a bye week with however many days off with a loss. You want to go into the bye week with momentum and I'm glad that we got it. Now we've got to keep rolling. I'm going to spend some time with my family, relax and kick it a little bit. Spend some time with my wife and kids. I'm going to try and catch a game (at his college, FIU)."

Zach Sieler, DT

(On getting the win heading into the bye week)

"We're 2-3 and the whole season is ahead of us. It's great getting a win going into the bye week, but there's a lot to correct. We did it, we won, but I think we have a lot going forward for us to work on and work on what worked today."

(On how he thought the game went)

"Our offense was moving the ball and I had total faith. We have powerful running backs and the ground game was awesome today. I don't care how we win, if we move the ball, we move the ball. There's no ugly victories. It is hard to win in this league. I don't care who you are or how good your team is, or what the score is. We did it, we have things to clean up, but we did it."

(On if he thought the defense played well)

"We played good, but we can play better. That's how we look at it, always get better; always keep improving."

(On if they had a specific goal defensively to control the game)

"Defensive line-wise, we always go in thinking we are going to stop the run and take control up front to do our part to win the game. You can only control what you do and when you try to do too much that is when things go bad."

Liam Eichenberg, OL

(On his thoughts about the offensive struggles in the first half)

"There are definitely things we need to improve on. I can only speak for myself and I need to go back to my technique and fundamentals. We'll watch the tape on the plane and see what we need to correct."

(On being able to run the ball in the fourth quarter and get the win)

"It's great. We were effective in the run game during the game and especially at the end. It's something we are going to keep building on. It's something we can't give up on so we have to keep working and keep trying to improve."

(On what was working well today)

"With us, it was just staying committed and trust in what we are being coached. Throughout the week we were coached to go outward and not upward and I think that carried over to the game. Pad level was emphasized and that is something we worked on that came through today."

(On the seven-and-a-half-minute game-winning drive)

"That was tiring. You never really count the plays, but you're kind of just looking around and just waiting for the next play, but it's all about one play at a time. Definitely at the end though, that was a tiring one."