Miami Dolphins coaches and players discuss their upcoming game against the New England Patriots.
On facing the Patriots...
"Excited to play a divisional opponent. Obviously, the Dolphins and Patriots tradition is rich. We're excited to go up to Foxborough and play some great football."
- Dolphins Linebacker Jaelan Phillips
On playing at Gillette Stadium...
"I say it every year, every time we play in New England, it's no secret that I was the biggest diehard fan of those guys. But now I am the biggest Dolphins fan. I have a lot of family and friends there. It's back home. It's a home game for me. I always get a little nostalgic, a little more emotional driving in on Sunday to that stadium. It just feel like home. It is home. It means a little more for me."
- Dolphins Defensive Tackle Christian Wilkins
On the playoff implications of the game...
"Everybody's fighting for a spot. Everyone is playing their hardest. It brings joy to a team to know they can knock out a team that has the potential to go to the playoffs. When you get in games like that people play even harder. There is no such thing as an easy game towards the end of the year."
- Dolphins Running Back Jeff Wilson Jr.
"Everything that we've set out to do is right in front of us. And I can tell you one thing, the New England Patriots don't care about our feelings. They're very aware about that. I see a very focused and determined group that recognizes the opportunity within the adversity."
- Dolphins Head Coach Mike McDaniel
On how the two teams have changed since their Week 1 game...
"Football changes so much throughout the year. The Patriots we're playing this week is not the same team we were playing the first week of the season. They're not going run a lot of the same things. They're going to look at things we've done well and things we haven't done well and so it's kind of a completely fresh game."
- Dolphins Linebacker Jaelan Phillips
On Rhamondre Stevenson...
"You've got to run your feet on contact and it's a team tackling mentality against a guy like this. So he's never down. You look at this guy and you watch his body of work over the course of his career and certainly this season, and he's a guy that finishes runs. So you've got to gang tackle, you've got to get off blocks, you've got to be physical. He's a physical back. And I think he's a very good player and our players are aware that."
- Dolphins Linebackers Coach Anthony Campanile
On Mac Jones...
"He's a competitive player. Obviously, I think there's a lot of things that you see on film that they're well-schooled in, and they're looking for certain opportunities. Obviously, the Vegas game comes to mind. Vegas was showing a max blitz look, which you knew that they were going to pop out of that blitz, based on the safety, so he saw the safety, he checked the play. It happened twice in the game. One time they hit him for a big play, the other time they missed the throw. Both plays should have been touchdowns. His awareness and understanding of things that are going on in the game, I think are at a high level, I think he has some escape ability in the pocket. He keeps his eyes downfield. I think they have guys that have made plays all year. I think he's willing to throw the ball to all of them. And, then he has the ability – you show pressure one side, he'll check the play. He usually gets them in the right plays. You don't see them running into a down safety very often. I think the things that they're doing over there schematically, you got to be very careful of showing them something that you've done over and over again, because they'll probably have something schemed up for it. And I think Vegas, that game was a perfect example of it. I know they got one big gain out of it but the reality of it is they probably should have scored on it both times."
- Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer
On the Patriots defense...
"Their defense is good. I think they're ranked, like, fifth in pass defense and overall they're ranked in the top 10. So it's going to be a challenge, but a challenge comes with great opportunity and that's what we have right now is a great opportunity for the offense to get after it."
- Running Back Raheem Mostert
"They're always going for the ball. So you've got to be very conscientious of it every time you're touching it, every time you're carrying it, even when you're thinking about it, because they go after the ball. And not only do they go after it, they come up with it. So ball protection and security is going to be very big and just honing in on our details. We're going to have to rally behind them because they're going to come out with a lot of fire. You've got to fire with fire and then just see what happens after."
- Dolphins Running Back Jeff Wilson Jr.
"We're going to have to lock in. Like you said, it's big time on details, big time on zero mistakes and killing yourself and come out and play ball because that's especially with that defense strived off of, turning turnovers into touchdowns and giving their team points. So we've got to eliminate as much of that as possible and come out and be ready to play football."
- Dolphins Running Back Jeff Wilson Jr.
