Miami Dolphins Week 7 what they said: Achane injury update, Tua status, run game

The Miami Dolphins are heading into a Sunday showdown against the Indianapolis Colts as part of the NFL’s Week 7 schedule. The Dolphins are coming off their bye week, hoping to level their season record at 3-3 on the year, and position themselves for a run through the final 12 weeks of the season. How are the Dolphins feeling about this week, and what have they said throughout the week?

This new publication may become a series here on The Phinsider if you enjoy it. It is long today – perhaps too long – but it is a chance to review the things that were said by the Dolphins coaches and players throughout the week. Let me know your thoughts on this format/article type in the comments. If you like it, but feel it is too much, I can re-work it for future editions to cut some of the comments. I also realize these quotes may have been used (or may still be used) in other articles. My goal was not to expound on what was said but simply bring you the quotes as if on a combined transcript.

I really would like to know your thoughts on this type of article. Please feel free to provide whatever feedback you want in the comments.

Running back De’Von Achane concussion update

Running back De’Von Achane on how he is feeling: “I’m good. I haven’t had any symptoms really since Day 2, for real. Ever since it happened, I hadn’t had no symptoms then. I’ve been feeling good, feeling great, feeling back to normal.” – running back De’Von Achane

Achane on the protocol process: “Yeah, basically. You do a lot of brain stuff, so it’s basically like you’re back in school going through steps and a lot of memorization stuff. But it isn’t too intense, it’s just regular.”

Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa concussion/injured reserve update:

Head coach Mike McDaniel on if Tagovailoa will practice next week when he is eligible to come off IR: “So everything has been the same. There’s been no negative; everything has been positive each and every day. And then yeah, you’d be right in that I am focused on the Indianapolis Colts who we play in 48 hours.”

Offensive coordinator Frank Smith on how quickly Tagovailoa could play in a game after he returns to practice: “I think whenever he’s cleared to return to play, we’ll just see how that process plays out. But the way he is, I’m sure it’ll be nose to the grindstone, here we go, and making sure that he can be ready to go for whatever the timeline is. He’s been great in the process and is trying to play, just his energy so whenever that happens we’ll make sure that we do the right things and his return to play is all handled appropriately.”

Safety Jevon Holland broken hand injury update:

McDaniel on Holland’s ability to use his hand: “I’ve seen him – it’s a little tricky because you’re trying to get work without making a vulnerable situation worse with having and determining whether or not trying it out with it at the point of attack is appropriate or if you’re vulnerable to regression. So in the process, the work has been good all week. I do think he’s day-to-day, and that one is a little more evaluation up in the air for me, because I think you’re kind of acknowledging that you’re trying to not overcook the testing process too early as well. I’ve seen him do a lot of things – engaging in shedding is the last on the list that you try to do, and you try to do it appropriately so that we’re doing right by him and not setting him up for a longer situation. So he’s been very good all week about being a responsible professional to the team, which means he has to do right by – doing right by himself is doing right by the team because he’s a very valuable asset that we depend on, and I think he’s very eager to continue his development within this defense because he’s a cool part of it. So we’ll be very responsible with that, with the long-term vision, but also be responsible to the player’s opportunity to play in a National Football League game – which for all players, those opportunities are finite. You don’t trivialize that and you take everyone serious.”

Defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver on Holland’s ability to play with a wrapped hand: “Yeah, we’re certainly hopeful as a staff. I think with that kid, I’m not saying he can’t do anything. So if I was going to count on anybody to get out there and play, it would be him – but we’re preparing for both situations.”

Holland on his ability to play: “Definitely going to be day-to-day. So yeah, just keep it at day-to-day.”

Holland on how he felt on Wednesday: “Felt good. It’s just my hand so the rest of my limbs feel good. (laughter)”

Holland on the difficulty of playing with a cast: “Presumably. Yeah, I’ve never really done it before so it’s my first time. But yeah, I’m going to assume it’s going to be a little difficult. If I have to club it, I’m not really sure yet, but yeah, I’m going to assume it’s going to be a little hard to catch the ball and whatnot because it’s kind of in the way.”

Safety Jordan Poyer and linebacker Emmanuel Ogbah injury update:

McDaniel on his thoughts about both players: “Poyer, I’m very optimistic. I feel really good about it. Ogbah is a little day-to-day, a little more in the Jevón category of I wouldn’t feel comfortable saying he will or won’t, just based upon the time before the game and how they’ve been in the past and how bad they want to be a reason for our success this weekend and contribute to the team as much as possible. So I’d put both in the day-to-day category and we’ll see how today progresses.”

Weaver on if he is optimistic about Ogbah being available on Sunday: “I am, I am. I mean you see the guy – he’s tough, he was out there through individuals yesterday. I know he’s nursing an injury, but just like I said about Jevón, I’m not counting that kid out.”

Quarterback Skylar Thompson ribs injury update

Smith on Thompson’s work in practice as he returns: “He’s still working himself all the way back to feeling comfortable, so ultimately with Skylar being here for so long, once he’s returned and everything and feeling completely ready to go, obviously we know what he brings. I think ultimately for us it’s just making sure that when guys go through their process to return to play, it’s making sure that we’re all clear, everything’s good and then we can get him back to doing what we do. Because ultimately for us offensively, it’s you want to do what guys do best and you play to their play strengths and then ultimately we have our way – our offensive system when we go – so each quarterback really provides a… like ‘Snoop’ (Tyler Huntley) has a different skill set that he provides than Skylar, but I think ultimately his ability to throw the football and play in the pocket and also move his feet, we feel very confident that when we need him to play, he’ll be ready to go.”

Linebacker Jaelan Phillips knee injury update

Weaver on Phillips following surgery: “Yeah, just what an incredible individual, right? The adversity that he was hit with, a lesser man, lesser person, you could see crumbling or going through a state of depression. He has not done that. He’s faced it head on, which you would hope particularly in this profession that we’re in, that’s what you do. After a storm comes the rain and this is a storm for him. I know he’s going to push through this and be the guy we expect him to be.”

Wide receiver River Cracraft injury update

McDaniel on potential Cracraft return: “I don’t see it this week. It’s a week-to-week deal. I don’t see it this week, but I am encouraged by his progress for sure.”

Quarterback Tyler Huntley’s comfort with the offense

McDaniel on being more comfortable play calling for Huntley: “It’s night and day because you have reasons and expectations for each and every thing that you’re doing. You do that every play that you put in, acknowledging the unknown, trying to bridge the gap and seeing what your forecasted strengths and weaknesses are within what we’re doing and what in actuality it is and being able to adjust. We’ve always been able to tailor and tool our offense to the assets and you do that by knowing the players inside and out. The way he’s gone about it, his consistency of getting better at things has made that easier because I’m not guessing as much and I think there’s been some overlapping themes of things that he’s been successful with that we try to lean into. Not necessarily a route or certain action or anything; more all-encompassing types of plays that he’s feeling comfortable with – the areas of the field, the tempo of the play, the timing of it, the launch points – all the little intricacies that make the offense go and tie to the run game and all those things. So it’s been very, very beneficial simply because of how he’s attacked it, and I think he’s done a very, very good job being at the helm of the ship. That’s a very tough thing to do in a foreign language and he’s already fluent in our vernacular and had a very, very good two-thirds of the practice week. We’ll see today, I’m expecting a continued trend because every day he’s got a little bit better and that’s all we ask players to do.”

Smith on how the bye week could help Huntley’s growth in the offense: “I think it was really good for everyone, not alone him. Yeah, it does – the familiarity with certain things, with how guys play live and the communication he’s having as he’s working with the guys – but I think when the season doesn’t start out the way you were anticipating, what do you do? You can either go into panic or disarray, or you really focus on OK, what have we done well and how do we really build upon that and then work and utilize our guys to get better? So I think that was really what last week allowed us to do, is to really focus on ourselves, ‘Snoop’ (Tyler Huntley) included. But I think really for us, it was getting back to some basic principles and making sure we execute them better. And then that’s the challenge now this week – what did we learn from last week? Areas we’ve grown and now being able to do it again on the road up in Indianapolis.”

Smith on adding Huntley’s running ability to the game plan: “We’ve weighed it each week and it’s just going – for us, it’s more of what is the defense, how are they trying to defend the run, what are the areas you can create advantages for yourself. So it’s like normally each week it’s all right, what are the areas that we think we can get a matchup or we can get an angle or something to that extent. Each week we evaluate it and it basically always comes down to what does the defense present and how can we challenge them when we’re deciding which stuff to do.”

Huntley on if the team needs to add more runs for him into the gameplan: “I’m here to play quarterback, so no. I make runs when I need to.”

Huntley on what is working for him as he gets comfortable in the offense: “Just continue those reps. We keep going through reps, and the more you get more reps, the better you feel.”

Huntley on spending the bye studying the playbook: “Yeah, just honing in on the footwork and all the various calls. I’m just trying to recite them to myself and get a great feeling for them.”

Huntley on how his time in Miami has been: “It’s been going great and it’s only going to get better as much time as I’m here. We’re just going to continue to build off of that.”

Huntley on his confidence level: “It’s great. I’ve got great confidence in my team and especially our coaches. They’ve been prepping me, getting me ready every week, and it’s only going to get better.”

Wide receiver Tyreek Hill on Huntley’s growth in the offense: “He’s been doing a great job. He’s been doing a fantastic job overcommunicating with clarity amongst the guys. I can see the confidence each and every week from playcalling, from getting guys in line and just understanding the playbook. He’s been doing a great job.”

Coming off the bye week

Tackle Terron Armstead on the benefits of the bye: “Honestly I’ve never seen a study on the record of teams coming off a bye, but I would assume it’s probably pretty well. You’ve got extra time to scout a team and prepare the game plan, but then you’re also getting that rest to get your body back. It’s a physical sport we play so week to week it’s a grind. Nobody’s going in 100 percent. A team coming off the bye is a little better situation than the other in my opinion.”

Mostert on the bye week’s timing so early in the season: “I would say that it came at the right time, just because we came off of a three-game losing streak and then we ended up winning against the Patriots. It just feels like – I’m happy that it happened early. Yeah, it’s going to be tough because we have a long stretch, but we’re not the only team in the league that had a bye week that week. So we’re just excited to move on and our focus right now is the Colts.”

Mostert continuing on if the bye week allows for a reset: “In a way it does. When you’re able to win against a division opponent, against the Patriots, and then have the bye week, it almost feels like a reset in a way. But we’re getting guys back, guys are feeling good and that’s the most important thing. We we’re able to utilize our bye week.”

Huntley on the bye week timing: “Yeah, definitely. It was great to have the bye week when we did, it gave us time to get a break. I got time to move into my house, got settled in and able to get into my playbook.”

Huntley continuing: “Yeah, definitely. It was good to go into the bye week with a win and we’re going to build off of that. We got some days to rest up and be ready for this week coming up.”

Weaver on defensive self-scouting during the bye: “Yeah, the biggest one I think was just the explosive run numbers. If you take the biggest explosive run out of each game, we’re like top five in run defense and yards per carry. Now, unfortunately you can’t do that. (laughter) We have to get that fixed, but I don’t think it’s going to require wholesale changes. Pleased obviously with what we’re doing on third down but knowing that you got to continue to spin the dial and keep offenses unbalanced. So just trying to make sure we’re not doing anything that’s going to come off as predictable when somebody is studying us.”

Huntley on working with receivers during the bye week: “I didn’t really want to bother too many guys, you know what I mean? The guys that were able to come back early and had a chance to catch a few passes, it was good.”

Huntley continued on the bye-week work: “It was a couple guys. You got ‘Nu,’ (tight end Jonnu Smith). It was a couple guys there, it was good.”

Hill on using the bye to reset after early offensive struggles: “Oh yeah, for sure. The great thing about the NFL is it’s going to continue on going, and obviously we get a chance to learn form our mistakes from the past and get better from it. We’ve got a great head coach who does a great job of holding himself accountable, holding his players accountable. Today we had a great day of practice. Things aren’t going to go perfect but I believe our operation was great, guys were getting out of the huddle good. No pre-snap penalties as far as false starts from the wideouts, the running backs, the linemen, so I think today was a good start to where we used to be.”

Holland on if the bye week was a reset: “I would hope so. I hope everybody decided to reset this week. You’ve got like four days off, kick it, chill, come back with a fresh mindset. Everybody’s like, body’s fresh, so I would hope they use it as a reset.”

Dolphins running game with Achane and running back Raheem Mostert both healthy

Armstead on what having Mostert back means: “He’s physical, he’s violent. The defenders know that they’ve got to bring it when they come in to try to tackle ’31.’ (Raheem Mostert) Like you look at him and you see him and he’s not the biggest guy, but he’s crazy strong and his mentality that he runs with – and he’s always a home run threat, too, so they know they can’t be late and you can’t mess around and play with him with you see ’31’ coming through that hole.”

Achane on if he will miss the “heavy” workload with Mostert back: “I wouldn’t say I would miss it, I mean, it doesn’t matter who’s out there. I feel like whoever goes out there can do for this team, so like you said, it’s good to have him back. It’s just more bodies and more talent on the field.”

Achane on what it means to have all the running backs available: “It’s good. So that means a defense can’t just kill one of us because like you said, all of us are healthy now. So any one of us can go in there and make plays and do what’s best for the team.”

Smith on potentially having Mostert, Achane, and Wright available for the first time since Week 1: “It’d be great. Guys are going their process to return to the game so we follow medical for all of that, but ultimately when we get back to full health Sunday with our guys, it would be a fun opportunity to really use our personnel to attack the defense in different ways.”

Run game improvement

Achane on if rookie Jaylen Wright has “picked his brain” to get better as a rookie: “I feel like we all do that. Even though we’re not a rookie like him, I feel like we all still ask each other questions about what you’ve seen or what I could do. Everybody’s different, everybody sees different things. So I feel like just because he’s a rookie, I ask him stuff, he asks me stuff, we ask ‘Heem’ (Raheem Mostert), ‘Heem’ asks us. It’s not like, ‘oh, he’s a rookie so he’s just the one that asks us,’ I feel like as a group, we ask each other.”

Mostert on re-establishing the run game: “Yeah, it’s very important, especially after what we did against the Patriots. Just trying to get back in the rhythm of the run game and it’s showing how important it is still. I’m always going to be a big advocate within the run game, so if we can come out here right out of the jump, put our foot down and establish the line of scrimmage and carry the ball and ease everything up for ‘Snoop’ (Tyler Huntley), it’ll go a long way. I’m excited about this week. I’m excited about what we got going on.”

Armstead on why the run game has to be a staple of the offense: “I believe it’s a part of what we do in order for us to be as successful as we want to be. Like it has to exist, it has to be the foundation of our offense because it opens up everything in the passing game and the other plays and gadget plays that Mike (McDaniel) wants to install, but you don’t really get the defense’s eyes or they don’t really respect a lot of their fakes unless you’re running the ball effectively. So in order to bring linebackers up, get the safety eyes and Tyreek (Hill) and (Jaylen) Waddle to get behind them, got to run the ball effectively.”

McDaniel on Armstead’s comment about the run game being a staple of the offense: “We’re in lockstep, ‘T. Stead’ (Terron Armstead) and I, in terms of understanding that football teams, if you’re wanting the end results that you talk about, that the fanbase talks about, that everyone is working towards; you have to be a team that can win any type of game, because at one point in time, you’re going to be in an elimination game. Whether it’s eliminating yourself from the playoffs or elimination in the playoffs, everything is going to come to a head and in those moments where your season is defined, you don’t determine the matchups. You don’t determine where you play. You don’t get to dictate those terms, so you have to be fully tooled to be able to win a game any way necessary that always, always in playoff football – always – equals run game. For sure, and stopping the run. You can probably list on one hand in the last 24 years or whatever number you want to pick of how many teams won the Super Bowl being just pass-game dominant on both sides of the ball. And I got I think 1999 was – what were they called, the St. Louis squad? ‘Greatest Show on Turf.’ You have to be able to take advantage of where the other team is vulnerable. From an offense perspective, you have to take advantage of what they’re giving up when they’re taking something else away. From a defensive perspective, that means you have to be good against teams that are good against the pass, you have to be good against teams that are good against the run, because you have to put people in non-normal down risky situations and create turnovers and do all those things. I think when Terron says moving forward the run game has to be something, he’s meaning if we want to win games, we have to be tooled to win games however we need to win games. And I do think the only positive of rough starts with some adversity and turmoil is early in the season based upon all the buildup from the offseason and what guys’ expectations are going in; the best way you can get everyone to only worry about winning is when they’re only worried about winning. And when you feel the results of early season losing streaks, those 24 days couldn’t feel like three months and that perspective of what is most important is very clear and ever-present right in front of the football team, and so you can make sure each and every thing that you’re doing and every motivation each coach has and every player has is what can we do to contribute to the ‘W’ column and not the ‘L.’”

Mostert on running against the Colts’ defense: “I mean yeah, we definitely could (be a three-headed running back moster with Mostert, Achane, and Wright), but we got to focus on our individual game, of course. We’re just excited about the opportunity to go out here and try to run against the Colts. They got a good defense though. They got (Zaire) Franklin at the linebacker position and (E.J.) Speed, they both are great linebackers that are running down, and they’re pretty fast and they’re making plays for themselves so. And then that d-line, I was told that maybe ‘Buck’ is coming back, DeForest Buckner. I’m very familiar with him, back in my San Francisco time with him, and he’s just a playmaker. He’s a stud and he’s a guy that is going to do everything in his power to make sure he plays a good game. So it’s going to be a challenge, but we’re excited for the challenge.”

Smith on running against the Colts and how important establishing the run will be: “I think when you look at all defenses whether statistically they’re doing something – like statistically it says they’re poor or they’re doing something well – I think it ultimately comes down to the backs being connected to the linemen and understanding how we’re trying to attack the defense through different schemes, being connected to the blocking allows them to be able to know where they can anticipate through their aiming points, where the reads will be. So I think just whenever you’re facing any defense in the league, because every week is challenging in its own right, even if someone statistically isn’t doing well, it’s the challenge of the execution to make sure we’re all connected. Because ultimately you don’t want the running backs to have to do it all on their own where it’s like guys are unblocked, they’re just making people miss. It’s like you want to make sure that everyone’s in phase so that way we’re able to connect and hit the pockets of the defense that we’re anticipating.”

Huntley on getting the run game established: “That opens up a lot of the pass lanes. The defense has got to stay honest and be able to get some passes downfield.”

Offensive line update

Armstead on the offensive line’s chemistry: “We’re progressing, we’re progressing. I think the thing that we need to do more as an offensive line and as far as our consistency is eliminate the negatives, the penalties, the ‘MEs’ (mental errors). As long as we can eliminate those or minimize those, our production has been there on film, but a lot of our best games have come back from penalties and the negatives so if we can eliminate those and continue to progress with our technique, I like where we are.”

Armstead on guard Robert Jones: “He’s a dawg. He’s a dawg. Like I said before, I love playing next to him. He’s physical, I know what I’m getting from him – somebody that’s going to fight no matter what the situation is. He’s about it, I’m about it with him so I love going to war with Rob.”

Smith on the importance of guards: “Guards in general, they help you control the front edge of the pocket obviously in the passing game, obviously they’re point-of-attack blockers in the run game. Whatever scheme you utilize, obviously there’s a different emphasis to the way they impact the blocking. Like my time in New Orleans we had Carl Nicks and Jahri Evans who at the time were about as good as it gets, and we were heavy inside zone in gaps schemes because of the way they could splice the line of scrimmage and the way they could set the front edge of the pocket for Drew (Brees), kind of we built from there. So I think it’s ultimately who do you have, what do they do well and how are you going to utilize your people, so with what they do, obviously he’s a very good player for their system – ultimately, I think when you’re building a line, you’re always looking at the matchups and how you can do different schemes. For us, we do a bunch variations to different things that allow our guys to be in positions to be successful.”

Tight end update

Smith on tight end Julian Hill playing the most snaps each week: “I think a lot of it was in training camp, a lot of things he was doing really well and he’s a young player still, as we see it, ascending. I know with him right now, he’s very conscious of certain areas he needs to improve on and those are things last week that we really worked on and we saw improvement. The big thing that we love about Julian (Hill) is his focus, how important this is to him and being an in-line blocker isn’t easy in the NFL. So just with us, it’s goes as a culmination of things and we’re looking to build upon what we did well last week and continue it this week versus Indy.”

Smith on tight end Jonnu Smith getting more involved: “It was great because once he gets the ball in his hands, he’s very, very much effective down the field. So I think this is something as we were looking at ourselves, and especially over the bye week, areas that we can really improve and help ourselves and it’s just making sure that overall, utilizing all of our guys to be involved in the passing game and utilizing all of our guys in different areas of the run game as well in different capacities.”

Wide receiver update

Hill on if he is playing up to his normal level and if losing Tagovailoa has hurt his performance: “I’m going to do my thing regardless. ‘Cheetah’ going to be ‘Cheetah.’ I’m not going to make no excuses; I’m not going to point anybody out because that’s not what I do, man. But I will say, I’m ‘Cheetah’ baby. I’m going to deal with any circumstance that I’ve got. I’m here for this team, I’m here for my brothers all day long. If I’m open, I’m not going to go to the sideline and point it out. We’re going to fix it whenever we watch film as an offense the next day. As long as I continue to put it on film, I’m good.”

Hill on if Miami’s pre-snap motions have been as successful this year as last season: “Yeah, they have. I feel like the pre-snap motions have been helping us a lot, whether that’s getting bump coverage off me and (Jaylen) Waddle so we can have those free releases. Whether that’s trying to figure out what kind of defense they are playing, are they running shell, are they running cover four – pre-snap motions have been helping us out a lot.”

Defensive line update

Weaver on defensive tackle Da’Shawn Hand: “It’s a nightmare because essentially, they always have another hat for you when you use him as a runner. I’ve lived through that, have got to watch that from my own sideline with Lamar (Jackson) for the last three years. So the thing we try to stress to the guys is that even when it’s empty, you got to play it like wildcat because he can certainly pull the ball down and they can do a bunch of scheme runs in that situation. So it certainly provides issues for our defense; you find certain ways to try to attack them and not leave your defensive backs vulnerable and we’ll try to do just that.”

Linebacker Update

Weaver on what more can be expected from linebacker Tyus Bowser: “Yeah, a lot. Tyus is obviously a guy I have history with, and unfortunately, he missed last season with dealing with some things with his knee. I think Tyus is a tremendous football player. I still think he’s kind of working himself into where he was prior to injury, but he’s extremely knowledgeable from a scheme standpoint. He can play multiple positions, so just when you’re able to acquire somebody that’s that familiar with what you’re doing, particularly at this point in the season, it’s huge for a defense because you don’t have to limit yourself when he’s in the game. So I think the sky is the limit for him as he gets more confident in where he’s at with his body, I think you’re just going to see more production from him.”

Weaver on targeting Bowser as an in-season addition for the team: “Yeah, I’ve been keeping an eye on Tyus for a while because when I first got here, he still wasn’t cleared to play. So we were just keeping an eye on him where he was from a health standpoint, just because I knew he would be a seamless add to the defense. And another thing that happens, and I saw it – you saw way back in 2008, 2009 when Rex Ryan went to the Jets and he brought Bart Scott and Jim Leonhard with him to the Jets, that you have guys that are scheme familiar that are able now to help you teach the other guys some of the intricacies of what you’re trying to get done. So in terms of his ability and his flexibility, he can play SAM backer, he’s a guy that’s had 9.5, almost 10 sacks I believe when I was with him in 2021. You can rush him from multiple spots – on the edge, inside, he can drop and knows every drop with detail, so just adds tremendous value for us.”

Weaver on the growth and development of rookie linebacker Chop Robinson: “Yeah, I thought his last game was his best game to date. You talk about setting the edge, falling back, playing gap and a half, impacting the passer – which we obviously expected and know that he can do. I’m pleased with his trajectory and how he’s grown so far this season. I know the sack hasn’t been there yet, but he’s close. And like I tell all rushers, they come in bunches. As soon as you get that first one, you usually get a bunch of them back-to-back. So just looking forward to that kid’s career as he pushes forward.”

Cornerbacks update

Weaver on cornerback Jalen Ramsey’s versatility to play all over the defense: “As expected – I don’t think there’s a position on the football field he hasn’t played. You blitz him sometimes like a SAM backer. We’ve put him all over the place, we’ve blitzed him from the corner position. I’m almost ready to put him at inside backer just to try to mess with these offensive guys. (laughter) But just love the kid and the intensity he brings to the game. His competitiveness and then just his overall football IQ allows him to play all of those spots seamlessly. To me, it’s incredibly admirable what he, and Kader Kohou as well – I don’t want him to get lost in all of this because when Jalen (Ramsey) does move, that requires somebody else to know the job too and Kader has been great. Just seamlessly moving those guys around and offenses trotting like the same people out there and when they don’t know where they’re going to be, that’s a problem.”

Defensive success

Weaver on the defense only recording nine sacks and allowing 100 yard rushing each week, but being ranked fifth overall: “The run defense numbers, obviously we got to improve there. That’s certainly a thorn in our side at this point. It’s particularly the explosive plays that have hurt us in the run game. In terms of our success, I think a lot of that has been our pass defense and then just guys collectively starting to grasp big picture wise what we’re trying to accomplish. I think as long as we don’t give up those explosives and let the ball go over our head in the pass game, we have the guys that are going to make plays if we force offenses to try to matriculate the ball down the field, which nobody wants to do, particularly this team we’re going to play this week.”

Weaver on red zone struggles: “I don’t think (it is the struggles against the run). Some of those numbers, just situations we’ve been put in bad spots. We’ve had a couple of pass interferences where they’ve gotten the ball on the one – those obviously kill your red zone numbers. We had a couple long third downs that were converted where, I mean good throw, good catch, hats off to them. I was encouraged by the last game where we went 0 for two and that’ll help. Hopefully that’s a sign of things to come, and like I said, I think it’s just a matter of finishing particularly when they get down there.”

Weaver on third-down defensive success and where he wants to have success in his system: “Scoring defense. That’s it. I’m pretty sure that you win 100 percent of the games where you score more points than the other team, pretty sure about that. (laughter) So we’re trying to hold offenses to as little points as possible. All the other stuff is incredibly important but ultimately, I think that’s all. All those measurables are to justify not allowing offenses to score, so that’s what’s most important to me. I love the stats, and it’s incredibly important. Obviously, you want to be great on defense but most importantly, we want to win games. That’s the most important stat and there’s going to be certain games that are required to win a certain way, and whatever way that is, we’ll try to play that way and get it done.”

Special Teams Update

Special Teams coordinator Danny Crossman on the Week 5 blocked punt against the Dolphins: “It was a combination (of us and the Patriots). It’s the same rush they worked later in the game. Just slightly off on technique and you can’t be slightly off on technique versus good players. That’s probably their best player and he did a hell of a job with effort and lean and bend the corner and was able to get a hand on the football. But again, your technique is off a little bit some bad things can happen. Especially against good players.”

Crossman on linebacker Quinton Bell and the field goal defense: “I think we’re doing a good job with that unit overall. It’s the old adage; you’re close but it doesn’t matter. We’ve done a good job on that team. We’ve had a couple of guys get close and I think as that happens the emphasis goes in certain directions which creates maybe some opportunities for some other players. I think ‘Q’ (Quinton Bell) did a good job and was ready to answer the bell, and when those opportunities came for him did a good job. We just got to, again, clean up the little bitty things which could be the difference between getting a hand on it and not getting a hand on it.”

Crossman on what special teams meetings have been like following a week that included a blocked punt, a missed field goal, and a botched long snap: “They’re the same. There is always going to be issues. Some of those things can’t – that snap issue is something that, I’ve been around this thing a long time, that’s the third time that a group that I’ve been involved with has had that happen. You’re going back to when I’m 12 years old. So those things can’t happen, but they do. You see it around the league, it doesn’t happen a lot, but those things can’t happen. We miss a field goal; we bang it off the upright which is our nemesis, as you guys know, and then we have a little breakdown with the technique. Those things we got to get cleaned up and they can get cleaned up. We also steal a possession by quick counting them and getting 12 guys on the field so it’s a turnover. We get a possession we do a good job on punt return twice. Doing a good job with the returner and the vice players on their gunners to get touchbacks against good players. There’s good things – I like a lot of things we are doing in the play; we’re just doing too many things that we have to do better before the play or at the end of the play. We had another penalty last week; we’ve got to eliminate the penalties. We’ve talked about that in here. The things that in my opinion we can control, that’s what we’ve got to do a better job of. They’re good players, we’re going to play good players. There’s going to be plays made. I can live with some of those things. The hard thing is living with the pre-snap, the post-snap things and the things that you can control. If you can control it, we’ve got to do a better job of it.”

Crossman on what was said at halftime against the Patriots following the special teams struggles: “To answer your previous – I’m harder during the week. On game day, game day is game day. They know when the mess up those things. There’s technique stuff that we’ll talk about, schematic stuff that we will spend a lot of time talking about, but when guys mess up, they know they mess up. They don’t need me reminding them; they know that. (long snapper) Blake (Ferguson) knows he had a poor snap. (Kicker) Jason (Sanders) knows he missed a field goal. What did we see technique standpoint that we can correct and let’s move on from that. Now when stuff happens in practice, then I get a little bit more upset because it’s private, it’s inhouse and nobody needs to see and hear about it. On game day, they don’t need to hear about it from me. They know. I mean you guys know – when you guys mess something up, you mess something up. When you mess something up, you don’t need somebody reminding you. Sadly, we all get reminded then you get even more mad. (laughter) But that’s part of life.”

Crossman on special teams players jumping over the long snapper: “It’s going to be an interesting thing because technically when that’s happening, there’s holding. In those situations that it’s happening, guys are grabbing the guard and grabbing the center and pulling them in a direction enable that player to jump through. By rule, it is legal if you’re at the line of scrimmage and leap over as long as no part of your body touches any of the offensive players. You can’t touch them on the way over, you can’t land on them – legal. The process of that, using hands to grab and pull people is something that you’ll see the league is looking into because that goes outside of what is viewed on paper as legal. That’s something that’s in everybody’s gameplan and a lot of times it’s based on the technique you see the field goal team. There are some things that the field goal team can do to help themselves, but I think that is something you’ll see being talked about here in the near future.”

Crossman on conversations with linebacker Duke Riley after multiple issues on special teams play: “Believe me, we have conversations all the time. Again, a little bit off on your technique against a very good player and that’s the kind of stuff happens. If you guys want to go back and look at it, it’s the exact same alignment, outside, wide 1, 2, 3, that they run later in the game and you get it protected. Again, the technique is a little bit better and it doesn’t happen. I don’t care what it is; when you play good players and you’re off a little bit, I don’t care what position. If you’re off a little bit, there is a chance of something negative happening and it happened to us. Credit to them and more importantly credit to the player. He makes a hell of an effort, leans around the edge and still it’s almost like, how the heck did he get a piece of that.”

Colts scouting

Weaver on challenge of facing Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson: “I mean you’ve seen him. He’s back there, when he pulls the ball down to run, he looks like John Riggins. He’s enormous, he’s big, he runs through people and then he has a hose for an arm. The throw he made against Houston, which was like 70 yards in the air falling backwards was incredible. So just his skill set, his physical attributes, he is certainly still maturing as a player, but I think his ceiling is incredibly high.”

Weaver on the red zone challenges of facing a quarterback who can run: “It’s a nightmare because essentially, they always have another hat for you when you use him as a runner. I’ve lived through that, have got to watch that from my own sideline with Lamar (Jackson) for the last three years. So the thing we try to stress to the guys is that even when it’s empty, you got to play it like wildcat because he can certainly pull the ball down and they can do a bunch of scheme runs in that situation. So it certainly provides issues for our defense; you find certain ways to try to attack them and not leave your defensive backs vulnerable and we’ll try to do just that.”

Huntley on being familiar with the Colts defense: “Yeah, we played them a couple times in Baltimore. They’re a good defense, fly sideline to sideline.”

Holland on facing Richardson: “It’s going to be fun. He’s got a strong arm. He can make plays with his feet. They’ve got a good offense and I’m looking forward to it.”

Holland on the challenges a running quarterback presents to the secondary: “Just extending the plays, that’s really kind of the difficult part. A lot of the time like in zones or whatnot, if we’re in a big zone and they spread the field, it opens up the middle for him to run so that makes it difficult. Obviously, we’ve got to come off coverage and make the tackle. If he can extend plays and keep his eyes downfield, we’ve got to cover for longer, so just that and even in the front, they’ve got to keep their run lanes and that’s hard for them because a lot of the time, there are gaps where they can go make plays on the quarterback but because he’s so athletic it’s easy for him to evade and get into open lanes.”