The Miami Dolphins face the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, hoping to bounce back in Week 2 after a less-than-stellar Week 1 performance against the Las Vegas Raiders. Miami will be without their top edge rusher as Chop Robinson has been ruled out of the game, making an already tough game even more difficult.
What did the Dolphins players and coaches say about their preparations for the 49ers? We break down what they said throughout the week.
Chop Robinson’s injury
Head coach Jeff Hafley: “Everyone’s going to ask me about
Chop, so I’ll just jump right into that. Chop did sustain a concussion during practice; he is in the protocol. He will not play this week. He is doing well and I will leave it at that for Chop questions as that one goes.”
Jeff Hafley on how to replace Robinson and if edge rushers Malik Herring and Clelin Ferrell factor into the plan: “It’s all of the above and we might do some other things to help out. But those guys, I have confidence in. They’ve been getting better. They all haven’t been here for the entire time, but they’ve done a nice job in practice this week and it’ll be the next man up.”
Defensive coordinator Sean Duggan on preparing to use other edge rushers: “I think your job as a coach is to prepare everybody, right? I mean, you never know what could happen, it’s an unpredictable game. So we should always have the mindset that we’re trying to get everybody ready to play.”
Other injury updates
Jeff Hafley on long snapper Tucker Addington’s status: “We’ll see how Tucker goes today and how he feels. We have 48 hours to the game, so hopefully he’ll feel good enough to snap for us on Sunday.”
Jeff Hafley on tight end Syedou Traore’s status: “Traore will practice today. So again, we’ll see how it goes, but I would anticipate him being out there today at practice. I would anticipate – we’ll see what happens today, but I would anticipate him being out there on Sunday unless there’s some setbacks.”
Special Teams coordinator Chris Tabor on replacing Kyle Louis as a primary gunner on punt coverage: “I think we’re still working all through that. I think that it is next man up. We’re going to see who the next man up is and then see what kind of production we can get from there.”
Improving after Raiders game in Week 1
Sean Duggan on corrections the edge rushers can make: “I think the thing we’re talking to our guys a lot about is I felt like we kind of tiptoed a little bit early, especially early in the game. I think they got comfortable as the game went on and our play got better. What I really want to see is guys go play confident, cut it loose a little bit, but within the realm of our defense and within having great fundamentals. I think you can see the physicality and our ability. We can stop the run. We can rush and affect the quarterback. I know, the numbers are what they were, but Kirk was doing a really good job getting the ball out of his hand. But I think affecting the quarterback is more than just stats. It’s closing the pocket, it’s affecting throws, which I think we did, particularly in the second half. I really just want to see us continue to build on that.”
Defensive tackle Zach Sieler on improving the run defense in the second half: “You know, we just kind of settled down, made the right adjustments, started seeing the game as one and kind of was able to take a breath in the halftime and make the right adjustments, like I said. I think we were able to kind of get out there and really put our foot in the right direction.”
Offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik on quarterback Malik Willis’s performance: “Yeah, I thought really what we set out to do in the game was we wanted to make sure we went out, we competed, we fought, and we emphasized the style of play we wanted to have. I thought by and large we accomplished that. We need to clean up the football a lot. I thought the execution for us really wasn’t there at the clip we wanted to be at. I mean, we had a lot of mistakes through the course of the game. Now we have a lot of young guys playing, we got a lot of new guys to the scheme and the system and what we’re trying to do. I think we’re all trying to learn and figure each other out through this process. So there’s going to be a process to that early in the year, but we know the urgency we need to have to get better and for our young guys to grow and grow fast. And that’s really where we’re at right now.”
Bobby Slowik on allowing five sacks and if there were cases when Willis needed to get rid of the ball: “There’s usually a little bit of everything when you exit a game with multiple sacks or a handful of sacks. It’s typically a combination of maybe a poor play call on my part, poor protection up front, or the ball should have been gone and it’s not, or someone messed up on a route so we can’t get the ball out where we need to get it out to. And I would say on all five of those, and even some other situations in the past game where they were close to being sacks, it was multiple factors on all of them. Like consistently through the game for us, run game, pass game, as far as protection, throwing the ball, run IDs, getting connected and doing our assignment in the run game to give De’Von windows, like there was just multiple execution breakdowns that we know we need to clean up. That’s the emphasis for us this week.”
Center Aaron Brewer on how the offensive line could have played better: “I’d say in all areas, it wasn’t a perfect game as we’ve seen. We had some good pockets and we held up for a while and also it was some that collapsed faster than we wanted it to. So in those areas could have been better. Run game, we had a couple opportunities. I think we ran it with probably 10, 11 times and in those times most of our runs was positive. We gained at least two, three-plus yards every run. In those that was pretty good as well, but we also need to be better. We didn’t score enough points. In those areas, we need to do better.”
Quarterback Malik Willis on quarterbacks keeping an internal clock to avoid pass rush: “No, I feel like that’s made up. There’s no such thing as a clock, there’s just what it is. I mean, sometimes they win fast, sometimes they win slow, it’s just understanding the feel of when are they going to get there more than a clock telling you, ‘okay, I need to throw it now.‘ Cause that’s bad ball if you’re working off of that. You got to see what’s going on out in the coverage and how that plays out. Maybe somebody got rerouted. It’s a lot of different stuff. I wouldn’t say I have a longer clock or not. I try to trust my guys to get open and our o-line to do a great job as they have been.“
Bobby Slowik on Willis’ comments about the internal clock: “I think the longer I’m around the game and offensive football, the more I think there’s so many different ways to play the position. Jimmy (Garoppolo) played it different than Brock (Purdy) played it different than when I was with C.J. (Stroud) and Davis Mills and they played different than Malik Willis and last year when I was here with Tua and Quinn. They all have like these little different ways of what fits them. I think the way Malik verbalized that is that’s very much how he plays the game. And what he’s focusing on right now is like, OK, when the play presents itself the way we want it to present itself, can I take advantage of it? Get the ball out to the guy we want to get the ball out to, and then that will take care of the internal clock on its own. But right now, particularly up front, like our o-line guys know what he can do. And they know how talented he is as a runner and how talented he is off schedule. So we’re trying like heck to make sure we’re straining to block and block longer. There’s been a big emphasis in practice on these pass plays aren’t just going to be like two, three second pass plays. Like you guys got to strain the five, six, seven, eight seconds on some of these to make sure that we can go make these plays that he’s capable of making, which is a change for them. And there’s a lot of change all the way across the field for us. So it’s just, again, a lot of moving pieces. We got to get better. We got to get better fast. But I don’t want to take away what Malik’s good at. I think that’s what makes him special.”
Chris Tabor on the coverage struggles: “Well we’ve got to play better, got to coach better, and that starts with me. There’s a lot of things we’ve got to work on. We’re, I’d definitely say, obviously a work in progress but it needs to get a lot better by Sunday. This is a really good unit. They got really good returners. Punt returner is electric, obviously Deebo Samuel is electric. But this is really more about us and what we need to get done and improve, so that’s what we’re going to try to concentrate on today and hopefully it carries over to Sunday.”
Safety Dante Trader, Jr., on how to make special teams coverage better: “It comes down to just doing our job – lane integrity, just preparing and doing more during the week. We try harder, that’s ultimately it. Special teams is a want to and a choice at the end of the day. Being able to do our jobs allows us to have more lane integrity so things don’t pop in and out. We all just gotta to be more clean at the end of the day.”
Chris Tabor on Jaylen Wright’s 79-yard kickoff return: “Really happy for him. I don’t know if you see it, but every day after practice he’s continuing to work on the jugs and working on catching and those type of things. I’ve always felt since I’ve been here that he’s a guy that this play is for him. He’s a big, strong running back with vision. He can break tackles. He has good speed. And really, since he’s kind of been doing it even preseason to this game, he’s been productive. So hopefully that can continue to grow. Hopefully what happened on Sunday excites him even more and we can build upon that.”
Rookie update
Sean Duggan on assessing the rookies during Week 1: “Yeah, I think it’s kind of similar to what I was saying when we talked about the d-line. I think early we were a little uneasy, if I’m just going to be honest with you. I think as the game went on, we got better. That’s one of the biggest takeaways I had is we improved as the game went on. Guys started playing more confident. You could really – well, I’m in the box – you could see the communication level rising when you watch the film, which makes guys play more comfortable and it leads to anticipating plays. So that was really good to see. I think and that’s going to be something we have to continue to stress and get better at. Like we kind of talked about last week, we’re never going to use youth as an excuse. We got to continue to coach these guys and they got to continue to prepare and grow, but I think they did a nice job. We got to keep building though for this week.”
Bobby Slowik on assessing the rookies during Week 1: “When you watch the film, you get really excited about them as players. They’re talented, they’re doing what we ask them to do as far as play style, grit, effort, competitiveness, but we just got to be way better in our assignment. First game on the road, crowd noise, like there’s a whole lot of stuff that goes into it. I got to coach better, obviously. Like we don’t go execute, I always think that’s on me as a starting point. But I mean, we got to grow. We got to grow fast. They know that. We know that. That’s what we’re going to set out to do.”
Zach Sieler on linebacker Jacob Rodriguez serving as the “green dot” play caller: “You know, he’s flying around. It was a great job as a green dot, making the calls, being loud and communicating very well out there. So just really excited to keep working along with him and keep growing.”
Dante Trader, Jr., on Rodriguez’s performance: “His poise is crazy. He’s very, very calm. His presence is calming to everybody else. To be a rookie to go out there with the green dot, making all the tackles, commanding the defense and just being a dawg at the end of the day, it’s infectious, especially, next to Jordyn Brooks. His play is infectious too. So just having both of them out there having the ability to play around, it’s going to be a fun year.”
Sean Duggan on cornerback Chris Johnson’s Week 1: “I think really it’s a lesson for all of our guys. You got to challenge guys, you got to trust your training. You could say [Raiders quarterback Kirk Cousins] targeted Chris, I think he put the ball where we allowed him to and maybe we weren’t clean on all those calls or we could have been better, whether it’s technique or execution of a call. But one thing I did like about him, and you can see it this week in practice, is he’s responded. He hasn’t gone in the tank. He’s a confident player who knows he’s good, knows he has ability. So that’s been good to see, especially at DB where everyone knows who the ball gets caught on. They don’t know the ins and outs of the call, or maybe this guy should have been here, or maybe his leverage is this because of this in the call, they just go, ‘oh, he caught the pass.’ I think Chris has done a really good job and he’s a really good player. He’s going to continue to get better as this year goes.”
Dante Trader, Jr., on Johnson’s play and the Raiders targeting him during the game: “There’s a lot scheme wise that was out of his control, that he could have had help in certain situations. He’s always going to be hard on himself. And again, I’ve been there, so I was like, listen, let this be your worst game and if this is going to be your worst game, shoot, you’re going to have a great career. Because again, I was like, I’ve been there and got beat up for it and had to respond because we need him. And he made some big plays, big tackles, big coverage points. It’s like, ‘hey, bro, the pressure is going to be on, but it’s a privilege to have that pressure.’ He’s a baller at the end of the day and don’t let this carry over to the next week.”
Bobby Slowik on guard Kadyn Proctor’s first week performance: “You just feel the energy, the way he plays. It kind of spreads through the whole team. The first play was a great example. I think it was the third play of the game, he also took an interior lineman, drove them all the way from outside the hash to across the opposite hash. He had like five knockdowns in the game. He plays the game the way we want our left guard to play. Now, again, there’s a lot we got to clean up because there’s sometimes he’s finishing pancakes and he’s not pancaking the guy he’s supposed to be on. So we got to work through some of that stuff, but the energy and the style he plays with is really exciting for us. We just got to channel it in the right direction.”
Malik Willis on Proctor’s debut: “I think he played with great edge and we just got to continue to clean stuff up. He’s willing and he wants to learn and he wants to keep getting better so I’m super excited for him in this next opportunity we get this week.”
Aaron Brewer on Proctor’s debut: “Demeanor wise, I feel like demeanor was good. His head, it was pretty level throughout the game, but also like it was his first game, so he had a couple little mistakes here and there, but it’s like his first game. And for that to be his first game, I feel like he did pretty good.”
Bobby Slowik on wide receiver Caleb Douglas’s quick adaptation to the NFL: “Yeah, that was pretty cool to see. I think he’s had some really awesome moments in practice. You see the talent in practice. I would say in practice, as we kept going through camp, he became more consistent. I think early in camp he flashed, but it was some inconsistency in what he was doing. And as we kept going through camp, preseason, everything, he really was able to kind of lock in, settle in and feel confident and comfortable about what he was doing so that on Sunday when the lights were on, he showed up. He made some really nice plays or even some routes he ran where he was on the backside or away from where we were trying to get the ball to, and he was still winning on backside routes. He did a really good job. And then as important as anything for us and what we want to be this year, he showed up in the run game. He was physical in the run game. You could see the ‘want to.’ You could see the ‘want to’ with all our receivers. Chris Bell had a knockdown like 15 yards down the field. Like they are about the right stuff. Got to clean up where we’re going.”
Aaron Brewer on Caleb Douglas’s performance as he tied Tyreek Hill for most receiving yards in a Dolphins player’s debut: “It really shows you how bright it can be. Like for him to have that many receiving yards in his debut and that wasn’t like just the prettiest game for us. For him to have that much success in his first game, like that just allows you to see how bright the future could be.”
Jeff Hafley on wide receiver Chris Bell’s development after missing most of training camp recovering from injury: “I think he’s a guy that he started late, I mean, he missed all OTAs, he missed most of training camp. So this is still the development process of him of learning the scheme, being confident because sometimes, if you haven’t done it a whole lot, you’re not playing as free, you’re not playing as fast. He’s got to build his confidence and I think the more we go, the better you’ll see him be, but he flashed in that last game. He had the catch across the middle. There was a couple shots he had on down the field and putting DBs on the ground. I just I think with Chris, and even a lot of these rookies, but even more so with Chris it’s just a little bit of patience. I mean he’s ahead of schedule with his knee, probably playing sooner than we thought he would, and now we’re counting on him. So just excited for him and I’m not going to put any expectations on him. I like where he’s at right now.”
Malik Willis on holding rookies to a standard but understanding there is a learning curve: “I think the game last week kind of balanced it for them and I didn’t have to do anything. Obviously, it was their first real live game and they were put in situations they hadn’t been put in and stressors they probably hadn’t had. At the same time, I remember when I was a rookie, I had the same mistakes and same mess ups. So, I try not to be too hard on them, but at the same time, you do want to hold them accountable because they’re out there playing ball and whoever’s out there playing ball, you want them to do their one-eleventh and that goes to me as with myself as well.”
49ers preview
Jeff Hafley on the setup for the team staying out west between the Raiders and 49ers games: “Yeah, it’s actually pretty cool. The set up – our operations staff has done a great job, it is outstanding. There’s a big courtyard with a pool, there’s games set up, there’s fire pits. All the meeting spaces are tight. So guys are spending extra time with their coaches and then they’re sitting out by the fire talking, they’re playing ping pong. It’s like being on a college campus and everybody’s kind of going back to their dorms at the end of the night – certainly they’re a lot nicer than dorm rooms. Guys are sitting and playing cards at 8 o’clock when I’m walking out, sitting in the meal room for longer and just spending more time together. I think for a young team this week is very important. I think it’s a big connection piece, getting to know their teammates, getting to know some of the new guys that we brought in. But I’m really happy with the decision.”
Sean Duggan on the challenge of facing 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey: “I think he’s obviously a really good back. He’s done it for a while and at a really high level. I think first talking about his ability to run the ball, his vision, his ability to stop, start in the hole and accelerate. Extremely shifty and he runs hard. Sometimes you see guys that are super shifty when maybe they don’t run as hard and they’re a little bit easier to tackle. He does a really good job running behind his pads and has good contact balance. And then his ability out of the backfield to catch the ball. He’s just a guy when he gets the ball in his hands you got to be aware. You got to be aware where he is.”
Jeff Hafley on McCaffrey: “One, he’s a great runner. He can hit explosives. He’s got big play capability. He’s strong. He has good contact balance. The threat of him out of the backfield is, I mean, it’s kind of like our guy, you got to know where he is. He can catch the ball. He can run routes. He can do it all. I think he’s one of the best backs in this league and I have a ton of respect for him.”
Sean Duggan on the 49ers using wide receiver Mike Evans in the slot: “What I think they’re doing a good job of is they’re moving them around. I think when you put somebody in one place the whole time and you kind of, OK, he’s going to align here on early downs, maybe he’s the X on third down or maybe he’s always the slot guy. I think you can kind of craft a plan to kind of take care of that or definitely put resources to where you know he’s going to be. When they move guys around it does make it challenging.”
Jeff Hafley on the challenge of facing the multiple weapons the 49ers have on offense: “It makes it a big challenge, right? And then you combine that with, in my opinion, one of the best play callers in all the game. You know it’s funny, even looking back, think about a lot of these guys were there when I was there back in ‘18. So it’s the same guys in the same system with the same coach and they brought some guys back and added some weapons. But it will be a big challenge. I have a ton of respect for all those players and obviously Kyle (Shanahan).”
Bobby Slowik on preparing for 49ers edge rusher Nick Bosa as compared to the Raiders’ Maxx Crosby: “Both are elite players. Both do like the elite part of their game a little bit different. Nick is one of the best pass rushers we’re going to see all year. And based on what he did Week 1 in the run game, like clearly a factor in the run game, especially on the front side of runs, he just didn’t stay blocked. So us being aware of that obviously is a big deal. This is a good week for us. For a young team, it’s a really good challenge because it’s not just Bosa. As good as Bosa is, they have the rest of the d-line that’s pretty good. They got Fred (Warner) and (Dre) Greenlaw at the second level. They got a young backer that also shows up and plays well. They got two corners that are really good. They got two safeties that have jet packs on them when they fit in the run game. This is a really good challenge for us to go see what we can do and see if we can execute better longer against a really good team.”
Bobby Slowik on reminding himself to keep calling on running back De’Von Achane even if the run game struggles early: “Yeah, it’s something we definitely want to do. I mean, like I go into a game with my man’s plays highlighted on my call sheet. You know what I mean? Like that’s the emphasis. We want the offense to roll through the o-line into 28. Obviously, harder to do when you’re down multiple scores, but really the fourth quarter is what got us there. As I reflect on my own play calling, like could I still have mixed in some runs here and there to give them the ball and just let them get some ops as we roll? Which is always like a yes and no. There’s some games where it works and you can do it. There’s other games where there’s 11 minutes left in the game and two scores and as soon as you run the ball, you’ve just lost three minutes and now all of a sudden you’re down on the clock. So me personally, I’ve definitely looked at that, but we don’t want to leave a game with Achane only having 14 touches. We definitely want more than that, without a doubt.”
Dolphins promote cornerback Jaylin Simpson to active roster
Jeff Hafley on Simpson: “Had him in Green Bay. We really liked him in the draft. I remember watching him coming out of Auburn, played safety, played nickel, played corner, very physical. He actually started for us against Minnesota late in the season last year, so I got a chance to see him. I know what he’s all about. I know his makeup. He’s a tough player. He loves football. He’s gotten stronger since the last time I’ve seen him, and I’m excited that he’ll have an opportunity.”
