Miami Dolphins Quotes - Joe Philbin 9.21.12
(On how he would describe the athleticism of this offensive line compared to some of the other ones that he’s coached in the past) – “I think it’s good. I think we have some really good athletes. They (have) good lateral mobility. They have pretty good quickness, most of them of them. Yeah, it’s good. I’m not real good at the comparison game. I don’t really spend a lot of time thinking about those type of things, but I think it’s, hopefully, it’s a group that’s going to get better and better and keep improving and there’s some, kind of a blend of youth and experience there. I think, obviously, (Jonathan) Martin’s a rookie, John (Jerry’s) what in his third year I think. Mike (Pouncey’s) in his second year. Richie (Incognito’s) been around six or seven, I could be close on that. I don’t know if I’m totally accurate, but I think it’s a good group.”
(On offensive coordinator Mike Sherman convincing general manager Jeff Ireland to bring fullback Jorvorskie Lane in for a workout and how it’s gone since that time) – “Well, kind of, he mentioned that he was in good shape. That, obviously he’d been out of football in terms of National Football League type things for I want to say three years and that he was in excellent shape and that, when he had him, he was a talented athlete, a talented football player and so we thought just maybe taking a look wouldn’t be a bad idea. When we brought him in, you could see some of the natural balance that he has and the movement skill that he has and his ability to catch the football. Obviously, you can’t really tell about blocking in those type of workouts, but he’s steadily improved. He’s still got a long way to go, but he’s made a couple plays and we think he has a chance to contribute.”
(On the gamesmanship between him and Jets offensive coordinator Tony Sparano) – “Again, I think when the game kicks off, it’s going to more about just the simple fundamentals of football that typically, again, coaches spend a lot of time during the course of the week worrying about this, worrying about that, which we all do. I’m not saying I don’t either and then, when you come in, usually Monday morning, the first thing Monday morning or Sunday night when you’re on the plane, you look at the film and you’re like, ‘My gosh, it was just the (defensive back) didn’t stay deep enough over the top or we should have had this play, but we didn’t, our right guard didn’t step with the proper footwork.’ My experience in the 155 games is it usually comes down to execution and fundamentals. I really believe, sometimes, the game plans are overrated. Now, I’ve said before, if you’re designing runs and they’ve got two extra guys over there and you still run it over there, obviously that’s not smart. Overall, there’s a lot of good coaches in the league. There’s a lot of good players and it usually just comes down to execution.”
(On if it’s natural for Sparano to tell his players about Dolphins players’ tendencies) – “He could be. He could be. Yeah, I wouldn’t know, but it’s possible.”
(On if he’s ever had a discussion with his players about avoiding making possible bulletin board statements) – “Sure. After every game that I’ve been the head coach, whether it was preseason or… Again, I think the less you speak about yourself and what you’re going to do and the more you can speak about your teammates, you’re usually better off in every regard. I told our team after the victory we had that we should be acting the same way we acted after the loss to Houston – take accountability, we made a couple plays. I told Reggie Bush, I think I said it right to Reggie in the locker room after the game, ‘Look, when they ask you how you did, tell them the offensive line was great.’ Yeah, I mean, I just think it’s a better way to operate. I still think there’s some merit in sportsmanship and doing the best that you can do and not inciting your opponent probably is helpful.”
(On how he would evaluate running back Reggie Bush’s blocking) – “I think he’s been good. Again, we haven’t asked him a lot, but when he’s in pass protection, when his defender has come, he’s certainly more than willing. He’s a good athlete, so his recognition’s been good. He’s quick to break down the space. One of the things that backs do sometimes is they wait and they catch the guy and they let the good build up a ton of speed and they might be at a size disadvantage to start with. So anyway, I think he’s been relatively sound. He’s been good.”
(On if he’s had an experience in the past where a player talking hurt the team) – “I’m trying to remember if I’ve really been a part of that kind of… I spent so many years coaching college football where nobody really cared about the outcome of the game that I was coaching in. Nothing really pops in my mind right now in terms of that.”
(On where his philosophy comes from that players should be quiet and play) – “I don’t know. It probably came from my parents. You’re supposed to do the best you can do and, if you’re good at something, somebody should recognize that as opposed to you telling, ‘Hey, I’m this or I’m that or I’m going to do this or I’m going to do that.’ So I would say it probably came from my mom and dad. There’s still some merit in humility I think.”
(On what he sees out of the Jets run game) – “I think they have a good, everybody makes a big deal, they have a good mix and blend of everybody says they’re just a gap-blocking team or we’re just a zone-blocking team. Again, I think that’s a misconception. I think they have a good balanced attack in the running game. They run the ball inside well. They have a good perimeter attack. They have some good runners individually, but their scheme’s more varied than everybody paints it out to be. They do a good job. They have some, a nice one-back run game, two-back run game, multiple-tight end game, multiple tackles in the game. It’s a varied run game. It’s good. It’s very comprehensive and they do a good job and obviously it’s going to be a big challenge for us.”
(On whether he would compare Brian Hartline to Jordy Nelson and where he sees Hartline’s potential) – “No, I wouldn’t (compare them). Obviously we like what we see, no question about it. He’s contributed in both games and when the ball is thrown to him, he has come down with the ball almost every time, which is an important part of playing receiver. I don’t know that you can count on nine receptions every single game; that’s hard to manufacture every time. That takes you to 144 for the season. So while we’re delighted that he had nine last week, game plans change, coverages change and so forth, but I do think he’s making improvements and he’s developing. Obviously the more he can contribute to the offense, the better.”
(On giving Jovorskie Lane more carries in future games) – “He does have good running skills, no question about it. I think there will be a point in time based on a game plan and how we see a substitution pattern of the opposition, I think there might be a point in time where we can take advantage of that. I think the good news with him is he also can catch the football too, but that’s certainly a possibility.”
(On the level of expectation for Tebow playing in the game on Sunday) – “We’ve spent a lot of time preparing for that possibility of him entering the game. I think the thing we have to be careful of, and Kevin (Coyle) was talking about it today, is that you can’t just assume that when 15 is in the game it’s going to be run, run, run, run because the guy has demonstrated success in this league of making plays with his arm and his feet. So I think we’ve got to be alert. Obviously we have to have a strong commitment to stopping the run, the quarterback run. It gives you an extra blocker when the quarterback is running the ball; that’s an advantage for them. It puts a premium on our guys to get off blocks, making sure we maintain leverage, but we’ve got to be aware. He’s a multiple threat as we like to say, so it will be a challenge when they get into those personnel groupings.”
(On whether he is big on fining players for misconduct) – “I think it’s important that everybody adheres to the discipline of the program, absolutely. And if we’re going to do something, you know there’s that saying, ‘say what you mean and mean what you say,’ so if we say we’re going to do something, then I think we should do it.”
(On whether comments to the press fall under those guidelines) – “It can be.”
(On whether he feels that it is realistic for three running backs to get significant carries) – “It’s possible, but let’s face it, it’s tough. I don’t think you could go back over my 28 years of coaching and point to a lot of games where I remember three guys getting a good chunk in a tight game. It would be one thing if you pull away from the opposition in a game and one guy had a big game, and then the next guy came in and had 10 carries and then you’re playing another guy to avoid injury or something. In a close football game, have I been around where three runners, one guy gets 12, one guy gets 10 and one guy gets seven (carries)? Probably not; not that I recall.”
(On whether he would think Ryan Tannehill is playing like a rookie quarterback if he did not know anything about him) – “I think he’s been poised, so I would think he doesn’t appear to be rattled out there. I think the people that watch him at the line of scrimmage see a guy that knows what’s going on. A player that can maybe move a particular player, whether it’s a guy in motion, but it appears that he has relatively good command of what we’re doing, at least to me on tape. Again, I’m not good at comparisons; does he look like a rookie or not? I don’t think there’s a lot of pictures on film where he’s throwing the ball and there’s four white jerseys around, four different colored jerseys, so I think those are good signs.”
(On the team’s biggest strengths and weaknesses) – “I think the biggest strength has been our ability to run the football and stop the run, that’s number one. We’ve played relatively well in the second half of games, that’s another strength of ours. Weakness wise, we’ve got to do a better job in the passing game both from an offensive standpoint of creating more big plays and defensively limiting them. We haven’t had a fast start in either game from a production standpoint, points. That’s been a weakness. And I think we have to do a better job creating takeaways on defense and also conversely on offense, protecting the ball better. We’re still minus three; we had four in one game and zero in another. But I would say those are some weaknesses that we have to get corrected quickly.”
—DOLPHINS—
