The Miami Dolphins beat the Las Vegas Raiders 34-19 on Sunday to improve to 4-6 on the season. The win kept Miami’s AFC playoff picture hopes alive, just 1.5 games out of the final wild card position. It was a good all-around win for the Dolphins, with the offense and defense both showing up on the same weekend for what seems like the first time in 2024.

How did the coaching staff and players react after the game? We look at what they said immediately following the win, as well as during the Monday media availabilities.

How the offense performed against the Raiders

Head coach Mike McDaniel on the offense moving from home run plays to a more ball-control style

Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images

“I think offensively, you’re trying to score points and it’s important to take advantage of what the defense presents. When you have some offensive production, or sustained offensive production, specifically with last year, I think we were No. 1 in yards from Week 1 to the last week of the season, you’re going to get offseason attention and people are going to have a different plan for you because opponents get paid, too. I think I’m very proud and very proud of our offensive unit when they’re able to sustain those drives. I think we had as many 14-plus play scoring drives last game as we did the entire year previous and that’s something that we’ve been talking about since the start of the offseason in conjunction with forecasting how do we win elimination games? How do you win down the stretch of the season? You have to adjust to what is being presented to you and people have different plans of actions and once people put two-high conservative and/or two-man coverages against your offense, until you’re able to take advantage of that through the quarterback extending plays or throwing shorter to space and staying efficient and maximizing those gains with YAC. Until you prove that you’re able to execute and have games like that where you don’t punt the ball, you’re going to get that type of defense. In the National Football League, in all three phases, once a formula has been put out there, coaching is generally – coaching and playing is good enough where people will identify that you’re struggling against that and force you to beat that. So it’s an important part of a winning formula for all three phases to be able to win in whatever type of fashion necessary. So I think that is something that has been on the forefront of our guys’ minds in terms of we’re finding different ways to execute and move the ball down the field and score points, and I think that’s an important part of the process when you’re talking about a winning formula for big games and elimination games in particular, which is what we’re trying to grow to.”

McDaniel on his growth as a playcaller

“Definitely, I think I’m right in step with players. In the National Football League, if you’re not getting better, tick, tick, tick. There’s too much competition; you have to continue to evolve and that includes myself. There’s a lot to learn. I don’t know the recourse – I can extrapolate or forecast, but I don’t know the recourse of having explosive plays and the offense we did last year until you’re actually in it and seeing how people defend. I have to, I think every year, adjust to players, and defensive presentations have been a unique necessity for evolution, as well as our roster has different assets and we have different guys to get the ball to. All of those things, you’re trying to find the flow within your particular unit. I think what the players have done a great job with and our offensive coaching staff in general is identifying the things in the game that they can control, that they can get better at. Overall, I think we’ve done a little bit better job of putting them in position for success, and as a result guys have risen to the occasion and found their success through technique and fundamentals that have been emphasized. I think that is kind of across the board, as plainly as I could put it, that is the game that we all are trying to play. That’s identifying weaknesses in our game and making them strengths and continuing an evolution in how we play football so we continue to position ourselves to win whatever type of game possible in whatever fashion. You just don’t have the liberty of saying, ‘Hey, it’s OK that we lost,’ because no one cares about that. You have to find ways to win. The more ways we find to have success, the better suited we are to adhere to the needs of the team which is maybe to not turn the ball over and score 17 points one week and then we might need 30 the next week. That’s complementary football that’s always evolving.”

Tight end Jonnu Smith on his six-reception, 101-yard, two-touchdown performance

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“Christ is king, baby. Man, that was – it’s a lot more than just a game for me. I’m extremely blessed, man, and just proud of where God has placed me with this team. Everything was rocky in the beginning – forget about the stat line, what we just experienced in the locker room is something that we worked all year for. I’m not trying to ignore your question, but I just felt like I needed to hit on that. It wasn’t about the stat line for me today, it was the joy that we had knowing that the work that we just put in, the work that was put in all the way from OTAs and just the expectations and the fight that’s in this team. Just proud of this group of guys. It’s a special group, truly, and I’m just excited to be a part of this as a team no matter which way it’s going. Today was another step towards the direction that we want to go, but it’s one step at a time mentality.”

Smith on being wide open for a 57-yard touchdown

“The Red Seas parted. It’s Sunday, I’m coming with my biblical terms today. It seems like if it was a busted coverage, and Tua, me and him, we just connected, locked eyes and just made the rest happen.”

Smith on his focus during the 57-yard touchdown play

“I was told a long time ago slow people look back. So when I caught it and I saw nobody in front of me, I wasn’t leaving without a tud, wasn’t leaving without a tud. The Red Seas parted, Uce found me and God did the rest.”

Smith on having 14-, 16-, 14-, and 10-play scoring drives

“I was messing around earlier in the locker room just now saying, Jake probably went home already. (laughter) That’s our brand of football. That’s who the Miami Dolphins are offensively, that’s who we are. Still not our best offensive game, still. A lot of things we can clean up, and that’s why we believe in — but that’s who we are. That’s the Dolphin standard of football, and still a lot of things that we need to clean up and we know that. We’ll get back to the drawing board and continue to fix those mistakes and just continue to try to be better, never get too complacent.”

Smith on catching his first touchdown on a fourth-down play

“Yeah, again, just getting my eyes around quick and just Tua having a feel for where I’m at. It’s funny, the ball actually got tipped. The guy tried to make a play on the ball, the ball got tipped and we still found a way to come down with it. Another big, big play just by the offensive group being it was fourth and one right there and definitely needed points. Another big play for us, and good way to start the game off.”

Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa on Smith’s performance

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“I think it’s super cool. We’ve had plans to implement him in the past within the offense, so be it, the defense doesn’t allow for him to get as many catches as we would like for him. But it’s been really cool to see his progression from the prime time game we had against the Rams to now. Just being in the right spots. It’s just a lot of the reps that we’ve gotten throughout training camp and leading up to this point. So all of this that everyone is seeing isn’t new to our team, but now that he’s being implemented more and getting the ball, going through the progressions, that’s just what it is. He’s a baller.”

Tagovailoa on game-planning to limit Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby

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“He’s a dawg. Everyone knows that around the league. If you watch his tape, he’s in every play. Dude has a motor like no other. Got a lot of respect for him. Got a lot of respect for his game. A lot of what we did was because of where he was on the field, so we had a lot of check outs of runs and things like that to go away from him. Once you get somebody like that going in a game and he gets a rhythm, it’s sort of hard to stop it regardless of the scheme or whatever. Players make the plays work, so got a lot of respect for him.”

Tagovailoa on the 57-yard touchdown to Smith

“You know, I don’t know – I think that was, for Jonnu, that was a feel-space kind of play because essentially that wasn’t what we called for that play to be. And I think he just felt space and was, like, ‘if I break it in, like, I could run into this guy over here.’ And he kind of just throttled going forward and was just, like, ‘yo, I’m over here.’ So I got out – I think at the beginning of it the motion kind of messed up what they wanted to do. I think they were trying to get into a (Cover) Zero look. And I think 5, with the communication in the back end, I think it was messed up. That’s why they dropped it. It was 2-for-3 and they were trying to bring 5. But it helped that they had that communication error because he ended up adding late. So that was cool.”

Tagovailoa on punter Jake Bailey not punting during the game

“Free money for him. Good for him. Great for him. We took a picture. Had zero punts. Happy for him. It should signify that, for the most, part things are going well offensively.”

McDaniel on digesting drives of 14-, 16-, 14-, and 10-plays (post-game comments)

“I think you know you’re diligently working at various things in our football. I think last year we might have had three drives that were 14-plus plays the entire year. So it has been a focus of ours in anticipation of how guys were going to defend us and then as we’ve gone through the season, adjusting to how defenses have adjusted to us, and I think that’s a lot of hours of practice, meeting room – that’s what comes to mind, as well as the collective effort of our coaching staff, starting with (Offensive Coordiantor) Frank Smith, but all the position coaches being connected with the players and really focusing on fundamentals and technique to improve our game because the idea is if the whole orchestration of your offense is right, it shouldn’t matter who you go against or what they decide to do. So a lot of execution, a lot of people making plays, and a lot of fundamentals and detail that go into that earned productivity.”

McDaniel on Smith’s role in the offense (post-game comments)

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“I knew it was a great add by Chris (Grier) and the pro (personnel) department just because of his skills with the ball in his hands, and then I knew secondhand from a couple of coaches that have been on staffs before the type of person we were getting. But I think the collective of his play and who he is has really added something very important to our offense. Ultimately, he’s making defenses pay for the over attention that Tyreek (Hill) and (Jaylen) Waddle get, and that space that’s added by, let’s say, call it you have a linebacker playing in the alley between the numbers and the hash and his landmark is three yards deeper based upon our offense and trying to stop the in-breaks for Tyreek and Waddle. Well, he’s making full use of those extra three yards and adding a real cool element to our offense that we needed every yard that he’s had for us this year. It was cool to see him make plays in opportune times today.”

How the defense performed against the Raiders

Safety Jordan Poyer on the defense not being satisfied

Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images

“Obviously, we won the game – there’s things we could do better and things that we want to do better, but 19 points, give up 19 points and you’re going to have a chance. But there’s definitely things that we want to continue to work on. It’s in the middle of the season, I think there’s not one team that would come out of a win or loss say there’s things that they don’t need to work on, so yeah. We’re still right in the thick of it and we want to continue to work.”

Poyer on his impression of Raiders rookie tight end Brock Bowers

“Yeah, really good player, got a lot of potential like you said. He’s going to be a good player for a long time.”

Linebacker Anthony Walker, Jr., on his impression of Bowers

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“I thought he was a great player, played well. We knew that coming in that he was going to be a focal point of their offense and they were going to try to get him the ball, so he was definitely in our game plan. Yeah, just executed. They made some plays, he made some plays at the end of the day, but again, we’ll take the win.”

Walker on if Bowers surprised the defense

“No, I mean he’s a good player. They had an emphasis to get him the ball. So like I said, he’s a good player. He’s going to be a good player in this league for a long time.”

Cornerback Kader Kohou on playing on the boundary more

“It was fun, whatever that really just helps the team. They needed me to play boundary so that’s what I did.”

Kohou on the Raiders having success on third down

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“I think just a lot of missed tackles because if you go back and watch the film, I feel like maybe not on those third-and-real short, but third-and-medium and stuff like that; they were catching the ball way before the sticks and just missed tackles or not really finishing the tackle and letting them kind of fall forward is what really was like our downfall this game.”

Kohou on having to play against 14-, 15-, 16-play drives

“It’s good when our offense is having them because you get a lot of rest time, but obviously being out there, you’ve got to get them off the field on third down when it gets to that. Like guys get tired, techniques maybe start not being as good as it was the first plays and stuff like that. So when you’re on defense and start getting those long drives, extended drives, it’s not really a good look on us because it just gives them opportunities to get points.”

Defensive tackle Zach Sieler on playing with defensive tackle Calais Campbell

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“He makes me feel young, and I hope I can make him feel young and give him some energy of mine – he doesn’t need it. He’s just an amazing example. He’s been so great for me and my career, learning from him and hearing from him and him just taking time to sit with me and other guys on the team and see how he sees things. And just off the field too, leadership, responsibility, how to be vocal, how to work through things, it’s really been a blessing playing with him this year.”

Defensive tackle Calais Campbell on nearly blocking a punt

“I can’t wait to watch it on tape. I don’t know how they blocked that. You can’t be more free. The funny thing is we were watching tape. I could tell by the way the guy short set that if we got in a situation I had a chance to block one. I never told anybody. I just in my head was like, I might have a chance to block one this week. Sure enough, I got my little swim move and I was right there. And I kind of got a little too big-eyed and kind of hesitated and I don’t know how I missed it. It had to go through my hands. Had to. But this is football. I will take that probably every day of the week. I’m glad my guys had my back and held them to three. But I’m going to go out and die on my sword by giving my best effort to make plays that win ball games.”

Campbell on the punter kicking him in the helmet on the near punt block

“Yes, he did. Yes, he did. (laughter) Right on top of my head. But that’s how close I was. But if I had blocked the punt it would have been much better.”

Campbell on playing special teams

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“You know, I like to be able to impact the game. And especially when it comes to like blocking field goals and stuff, that’s something I love to do. Even on field goal protection, I really try to – those are big points. Those are plays that’s going to win us ball games. So I know when I’m on the field my side is going to be protected. I haven’t given up a block my whole career and I don’t plan to. Those guys are getting good; they get those good jumps and stuff. But I just try to be out there to help the guys. I don’t mind playing special teams. This punt stuff is a little unique. I haven’t played a lot of punt rush over the years. But the Tennessee game I got my hand on one and still went forward, so I don’t know if they call it a blocked punt. And then today I should have had a block. It’s not bad. I’ve been having an opportunity to affect the game.”

Campbell on playing with Sieler and meshing as a duo

“I think some of it is just natural chemistry. He’s a great player that is very cerebral and he understands how to take advantage of what they’re doing. I’m the same kind of way. It allows for us to kind of communicate on the line and adjust based off what they’re doing and allows for us to make a lot more plays. And there’s times where we kind of do too much and it’s like, ‘oh, man, we messed up.’ And there’s times where it hits perfectly and it’s right there. And that’s football. But that’s my guy. Sieler, when he’s out there, when I’m out there with him, I feel like we can dominate anybody.”

Campbell on holding the Raiders under 60 yards rushing

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“Great game plan. We had a really good game plan. I think earlier in the year we really struggled stopping the run and we put a lot of emphasis on really our techniques and what we could do to stop the run. I think it’s been three games in a row, three or four, where we’re keeping teams at 100. But we still have – that’s the key, right, if we keep teams under 100 yards rushing we have a chance to win the ball game. Obviously we didn’t win all those games we did that, but we gave ourselves an opportunity. So I think it is four straight games and we’re trying to keep that going. That’s a big part of our success.”

Linebacker Jordyn Brooks on the defense’s play

“I thought we were OK. We weren’t our best today. We gave up some touchdowns I don’t think they should have got. We pride ourselves on being a Top 5 defense, so there’s some things we’ve got to clean up but I thought we finished well.”

Brooks on what he said during a defensive huddle on the sideline during the game

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“Just the timing of the game, I felt that the Raiders were gaining momentum and those times, you kind of want to get everybody back focused and let them know we’ve still got the lead, we just have to keep the lead and finish it.”

Cornerback Jalen Ramsey on his interception

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“He kind of just threw it to me, for real, and I had to get down there and make the catch, but that was it.”

Ramsey on his role in the defense

“Yeah, it keeps me in the game plan. It keeps offenses guessing a little bit. Just my versatility, going where I’m at, makes the linemen pay attention to me, makes the running backs pay attention to me, and of course, the receivers. So it’s fun. It keeps me motivated, it keeps me focused throughout the game. In the past when I’ve only played corner and things like that, it could at times get boring. I love the game and have fun but in the sense of being in the action, being in the game plan. So it’s cool, it’s fun.”

Ramsey on the Campbell and Sieler duo on the defensive line

“They’re literally big. (laughter) They’re big for us. Captains of the team, leaders of the team, they help set the tone with a handful of the other guys. They are super important to what we have going on this year.”

McDaniel on the defensive line play and Sieler’s return

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“I saw an uptick in generated pass rush from my live observation, from our big guys, and it was really cool. Zach Sieler and Calais (Campbell) together do some really, really cool things in terms of working together, pass rush lanes, stunts, and just bringing the much-needed juice. I would say they’re probably the heartbeat of our defense, for sure. And everybody plays off of that. And we have players on all three levels making plays from some of the production they do in the run and pass game. So (they are) very important players to us. Zach, personally, he’s probably like my binkie. I don’t like doing game day without him. He’s the guy when we pray together in the locker room that sits next to me every single week and a lot of guys have really, if they didn’t already appreciate it, appreciate what type of playmaker he is for us. Every opponent ends up saying that he’s probably better than they realized, and that’s good for us. Hopefully they can keep doing that.”

Officiating

Referee John Hussey on when the third-quarter facemask penalty was noticed given a hold had already been announced on the play and replays had shown the facemask (post-game pool reporter question)

“So I announced the holding penalty from one official. Two officials were talking to each other and they were piecing it together. I think they both had a feeling or a sense that there was something on the play. So, they came together and were talking and as I announced the holding penalty, they confirmed the fact that they had a facemask, threw the flag and brought that to my attention. I just took the next step and did another announcement to include the facemask and offset both penalties.”

Hussey on why the holding was assessed then the facemask was called

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“I don’t think it was assessed or stepped off because I had just announced it. The two officials were talking behind me, and I wasn’t sure what they were talking about. But it did not cause me any concern. It is just one of those plays where they each had a different angle, and they wanted to collectively talk to each other to get to that result.”

Hussey on if replay or the crowd reaction was used to add the facemask penalty

“No, we don’t officiate that way.”

Turning around the season

Poyer on training camp efforts now reaching fruition

“I mean, yeah. Obviously, there was a lot of high expectations going into the year and we weren’t really living up to those expectations early on and just trying to find our stride, trying to find our rhythm offensively, defensively, special teams, and then even collectively. We’re hitting those strides, and we want to continue to get better. This is a pivotal point of the season. We kind of dug ourselves in a hole a little bit, so like I said, being able to focus on each moment, each day, each meeting and continue to just work and focus on what’s important right now.”

Walker on the defensive improvement against the run and in the redzone during the season

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“Just a collective unit playing together, understanding what we’re trying to get accomplished from ‘Weave’ (Anthony Weaver) calling it to the assistant coaches implementing it, executing it with individual drills and all that and meeting rooms. And then we’re all taking it to the field and just getting better at it. Better at understanding what he’s trying to call, why he’s calling it and then executing our plan when it comes to that.”

Walker on what he brings to the defense seeing being moved into the starting lineup

“Just try to do my job. As a Mike linebacker, you’ve got to control the tempo, control the calms and keep everybody calm in each situation and then the communication, make sure my communication is up to par so that the guys can execute and we all execute and do our job on the same page. So just trying to do my job. Not too much, don’t try to do nobody else’s job, just mine.”

Walker on developing his communication skills through coaching with his dad

“I guess so. I think I’ve played Mike linebacker now for – going back to college because I didn’t play at… yeah, since college. So what is that, 10 years now, 12 years now? Wow, I’m old. (laughter) Yeah, 12 years now, so getting that comfortability and then obviously my dad being a coach, you kind of take a lot of leadership and skills and stuff from him. So just adding that to my game, like I’ve been able to do that for a very long time now and I’m comfortable with it. So I take on that challenge. As a Mike (linebacker), you’re the quarterback of the defense. You’ve got to earn that and that’s your job each day.”

Sieler on winning two-straight games for the first time this year

“Yeah, it’s great but at the same time, we’re still in the hole. I mean, we’ve got a long ways to go and I think we got the team to do it. We just got to keep coming together as a unit, both sides of the ball and the special teams and keep putting this together week by week and build on this.”

Campbell on how rewarding the turnaround has been

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“We’ve still got a long way to go. It doesn’t get to be rewarding until we get to where we want to go. So just it’s a good opportunity. We gave ourselves an opportunity, but we still are in the hole. We’ve still got a long way to go. And the guys know it, but the good thing is there’s life. We’ve got a lot of life, a lot of fight left. This next one is going to be a big one. Division game at home against a team that’s playing hungry. I know Drake Maye had a pretty good game today. They lost, but he played well. We’re going to have our hands full. We have to go earn it again, but this next one is going to be huge.”

Smith on the offense’s success on third- and fourth-downs since Tagovailoa returned

“Best in the world. You’ve got the best quarterback in the world. Makes things a lot easier for everybody else. And those guys that came in during that time when he was down, they did a great job and helped us as much as they could and showed a lot of grit and a lot of selflessness. We are happy to have those guys, but 1 is who he is for a reason. But we’re excited to have him back and excited to where we’re back where we need to be.”

Ramsey on getting back-to-back wins

“It means a lot. It means we can start stacking them up, letting our preparation turn over to Sundays or Mondays or Thursdays, whenever we play our games. So it means a lot, but we’ve got to keep going.”

Tagovailoa on the differences of the offense between 2023 and 2024

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“I think what’s been different with the quarterback play is now not trying to force things down the field if it’s not there. Taking the checkdowns, allowing our runners in space to go get first downs. Hopefully they can break a tackle and you can use that also as essentially a run play if you look at it in that sense. And we like our matchups with our guys in space, so that’s what I would attest to today’s performance for us offensively.”

Tagovailoa on the satisfaction of practice and camp work starting to pay off now

“It’s cool. It’s cool. We’re glad that everyone gets to see it. One thing that I know with the players in the locker room is they’re not satisfied. There’s a lot of things that we wish we could have done better, especially on my end with my play, with some throws. I wish I could have had back for certain guys. But that’s just the way the game goes. It’s football. You learn from it and you continue to play the game as it is.”

McDaniel on the offense’s third-down success since Tagovailoa returned (post-game comments)

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I think the development of like when Tua was out, our offensive skill positions didn’t throw their hat or they didn’t tap. This year, those tight ends, receivers, running backs, have done a very good job at developing their game within the season, which is very hard to do. So their attention to detail in situations today, the Raiders coming into the game were a very zone-oriented defense on third down. And today, they played virtually all man, specifically the first half, which is, as we are a group working together over time, we’ve learned to adjust faster to the unexpected because it’s been a long time since a defense has just shown up and done what they’ve done against other teams against us. You don’t get that exact work, all the plays that we’re running on third down during the week against man coverage. That’s the idea of them showing up and surprising us, but we’ve been focusing on fundamentals and technique to beat man each and every week from a route tree perspective. So being able to do that, having the amount of time, the protection plan being executed and then I think Tua has just been very, very – he’s taken a gigantic step in his game. He’s got control of the emotional piece of the football game and isn’t trying to force things unnecessarily, isn’t trying to make plays when they’re not there, but also finding ways to extend plays and making more plays than maybe the play that I gave him enabled them to do. So a lot of work, and I think the good news is although we haven’t gotten a 30-point offensive output all season, that’s been kind of the standard and expectation of the guys and they’ve been unrelenting in that expectation standard for themselves. So I think today, we got to tap into all that work and I don’t see our crew really taking the foot off the gas just because there’s a lot to prove each and every week. It was fun to get our first consecutive win of the season but we’ll have another tough journey next week and the week after that as that continues. I like where we’re at. We have a lot left to do.

Maintaining focus despite a rough start to the year

Poyer on taking the season one game at a time

“Just one game at a time and focus on what you have in winning the day, winning the meeting, winning practice, winning the walkthroughs. Just attention to detail, being present in those moments and focusing on what’s important now. Yeah, we got two wins in a row, but we’d like to keep that going, but it starts in the week.”

Walker on approaching each game with little room for error

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“I think the guys put it on themselves. We’ve kind of basically entered the playoffs a little early in our mindset; we’ve just got to keep stacking wins and just taking it one week at a time. Each game has pretty much come down to must-win, so that’s our mindset.”

Brooks on balancing one win versus the rest of the season

“Enjoy the win. Always have to enjoy the win because it is hard to win in this league. Enjoy and then the next 24 hours, get back to work because we’re not where we want to be. We’re heading there, but we’re not where we want to be. Be content but don’t be satisfied.”

Ramsey on building momentum for the season

“We got to keep building so that’s all that matters. It’s what we feel in here and just continuing to build. Obviously we are happy, don’t get it twisted, but we can’t get too high or too low. We’ve been preaching that all year, even through the tough times and the good times like today. So, yeah, we’re going to keep building.”

Tagovailoa on building momentum for the season

“I would say any time you can get a win in the NFL, it’s a momentum builder for your team, for the locker room, for the organization. It always feels better when your body is hurting after a win than a loss. I would say we’re looking forward to New England next week. We’re going to enjoy this game and move forward.”

Dolphins running backs

McDaniel on running back Raheem Mostert’s hip injury

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“He came out positive. It kind of adjusted our plan of action through the game as well as I think De’Von’s (Achane) play merited some extra snaps that we were kind of anticipating being a little more level. But he came out of the game good, he’s a warrior and fought through it to make a play on third down for us and stay involved. So I’m expecting him to have a positive week this week.”

McDaniel on running back De’Von Achane’s increased workload

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“I think we have the creative challenge of having a fully tooled backfield. So you go into a game with kind of like an outline of how you think things, the ball will be spread out amongst them, but then also leave room for adjustment as we communicate directly – myself and Eric Studesville – and adjust for in-game play. I think De’Von was really at the top of his game yesterday, was doing some things on the field that – there’s a lot of plays that he made maybe weren’t the 40-yarders that he’s broken in his career, but were seven-yard gains that could have been minus-three. There was a nine-yard gain that could have been a two-yard gain. He was really playing well, so in those situations we kind of lean on the hot hand, so to speak, and I think he’s really made it difficult in in-game situations, the last two in particular, to take him off the field, but we try to leave that room for guys to decide for us during the game on how much play-time they’ll get and respond appropriately.”

Rookie review

Poyer on what it means for the defense to have rookie cornerback Storm Duck on the field

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“Yeah, I enjoy playing with Storm. He’s a great player, a great young player. He’s going to play in the league for a long time; smart, instinctive, can run, he can play off, he can press. He’s someone that I trust out there on the football field to know what he’s got to do.”

Kohou on playing with Duck

“Storm, he’s a great athlete, great corner. Even Cam (Smith) got in there sometimes, too, so just having those young guys going in there and just doing what they’re asked to do and it’s hard going from not playing a lot to just going into the game and having to play all those snaps; so salute to him just going out there and handling his business.”

McDaniel on rookie linebacker Chop Robinson seeing an increase in production

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“I think it’s a guy that’s a football guy that has a skillset for pass rush disruption that’s very unique and natural. And so understanding the winning edge in the National Football League has to do with the small details of snap count anticipation of pass rush adjustment based upon a tackle’s set. All those things, he’s found a way to disrupt the passer for us which is exactly what the doctor ordered and the right time. Now, for talented players in the National Football League, it’s always a step-by-step process where you find ways to make plays and then once you are making plays or you’re creating disruption, then you have to find a way to impact the game once people devote the appropriate attention, which always comes when you’re making an impact on the game. So it’s important for him to continue to take advantage of every opportunity given to him, or that he has available to him, in situations that he is just pass rushing the tackle. And any player that’s a good player, and especially one like Chop (Robinson) where he has ambitions to be great, you have to anticipate the next step where you have to find production when they start devoting more attention to you which is the natural progression in things. And when someone devotes extra attention to Chop, he needs to be productive in those situations and then his teammates have to take advantage of the extra space when you’re devoting – whether that is a half-back getting out late because he’s trying to chip his way out or the turn, the guard getting out to the tackle to provide help which in turn gives some lightness in protection internally. All those things play off each other, so we’ll have to take his positive plays, make more positive plays and have counters to the natural attention that he’ll start receiving when you put back-to-back, or three-game stretches or four-game stretches together with production.”

Injury Updates

McDaniel on offensive lineman Isaiah Wynn’s return to practice and when he might be back in a game

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“There were no setbacks, it looked good. I’m having to be pragmatic with – when he comes back, I want him to stay back so we’ll be working through that as the week progresses based upon our feedback from him, from his field work. Hoping to have a week like we did last week because it was a good week.”

McDaniel on if there are any anticipated IR/Illness List practice windows opening or moves being made

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“There’s a lot of possibilities right now, and you’re approaching a two game in 10-day stretch or whatever the math is, I can’t remember, so there will be a lot of fluctuation. We do have some guys that are approaching the readiness, but we also have some stuff to iron out with the roster. There’s a lot of to be determined, and when I say a lot there’s like at least a handful of guys that of variance that we have to work through in the coming days.”

McDaniel on if quarterback Tyler Huntley could be activated off injured reserve with the team maintaining just two quarterbacks on the roster

“I think the taxation on the arms in this portion of the season through the practice week isn’t necessarily the biggest mover of the needle. We’re trying to be pragmatic with his arm to make sure that he’s a fully tooled quarterback when he’s back. We’re feeling better about that. I think ultimately, it’s important to have three guys over a long stretch of time, but in the short term, we’ll adjust by the needs of the team for sure.”

Kohou on cornerback Kendall Fuller’s recovery from a concussion

“Kendall is good. Hopefully we can get him back this week because he’s a big help for us so hopefully we can get him back, but he’s doing good from what I’ve seen.”