Wednesday night Dolphins chatter:
### The Dolphins have one player who spent three months with the Patriots this season: defensive back Don Jones, and he offered some insight into the extremely detailed and sometimes unusual way Bill Belichick does business.
“Belichick would say [to the team], I have [expletive] questions for you on Wednesday and I want [expletive] answers!” Jones recalled with a smile.
For Jones, the most unique element of his Patriots experience, which has sandwiched two stints with the Dolphins, was that regular Wednesday meeting in which Belichick went around the room and queried his players about the Patriots’ next opponent.
“He would say, ‘Don, who is the starting right guard of the team we’re playing this week? What college did he go to? Who is their special teams coordinator?’ Before we played Denver, he said, ‘Who is the linebacker who filled in for the one who was injured?”
Jones estimates eight of every 10 questions are answered correctly and said the purpose of the exercise is to make sure the players are as well-versed on their opponent as Belichick believes they should be.
“They make sure players are prepared for everything,” Jones said. “Bill is good to play for. There’s no rah-rah. He just tells you what to do, very straight forward.”
Jones said Belichick would regularly send players home if they were late to meetings, as he did with Jonas Gray a few weeks ago, but that never happened to him.
Jones, who was cut by New England on Thanksgiving, said the Dolphins haven’t asked him for any insight on the Patriots, but that the Patriots didn’t ask him for any intell on the Dolphins when New England signed him days before the teams met in the regular season opener.
He also said Tom Brady was the first player to greet him when he signed with New England.
### Belichick, as usual, made the Dolphins sound like a juggernaut this week, going as far as to say his team will need a great week of preparation to even “be competitive with them." (Now that's pretty funny.)
“Coach Philbin does a great job with that team,” Belichick said, sounding much like he has before every Dolphins-Patriots game. “They’re good in every area: offense, defense, special teams. They’ve done a great job in terms of doing a lot of little things: the return game, the turnovers, penalties. They’re not little things, but they’re not things that show up on the stat sheet necessarily, but when you put them all together –-- their kick blocking, their ability to create field position. They have the best field position in the league.
“They have a lot of good and explosive big-play type players, guys that can change the game in a hurry. They’ve got great inside players, like [Earl] Mitchell, [Randy] Starks and [Jared] Odrick. [They’re] strong outside, the ends, linebackers run well. [Koa] Misi is a big, physical guy in the middle. Their starting linebackers didn’t even play in the second half and we couldn’t run the ball against them down there. It doesn’t really matter who they have in there, it will be a big challenge for us. We didn’t seem to do very well against any of them.”
### A few other Belichick musings: He really likes Jarvis Landry: “Strong runner, breaks a lot of tackles, tough guy to bring down, makes a lot of tough catches, aggressive in the return game.”…
### Belichick, on Ryan Tannehill: “I think the thing he does the best is control the game, manage the game, manage the offense.”
A Patriots reporter then mentioned to Belichick that game manager is perceived as an insult to quarterbacks.
Belichick said that’s not how he perceives the term and then clarified what he meant.
“No, as I’ve tried to describe it, I think they give him multiple options on every play. I think it means they’re giving him a lot of responsibility. He’s the one who has to, at the line of scrimmage, get them out of a bad play if that’s what’s necessary and then after the ball is snapped decide what to do on the play whether it’s hand the ball off, keep it, keep it and throw it as the third part of the option, which some of their plays have.
"That’s a lot of responsibility to give a player. Obviously they have a lot of confidence in him and he does it well. Getting the team in the right play and then making the right decision after the ball is snapped is about as much responsibility as you could possibly give a player. I mean, what else could you ask him to do?”
### Belichick gave a simple answer to why the Dolphins have beaten the Patriots twice in a row, including 33-20 in the opener: “They played and coached better than we did in those games. Did everything better. We couldn’t move the ball in the second half against them. All I know is we couldn’t run the ball against them very well.”
### Tannehill, asked if he will avoid throwing against elite Patriots cornerback Darrelle Revis, said no: “We honor and respect him but you can’t eliminate a side of the field.”
### What determines whether Philbin uses Damien Williams or Daniel Thomas for carries not given to Lamar Miller?
Philbin cited three factors: matchups against a particular team; practice performance and “it might be our particular scheme that we are emphasizing for that particular week.”
Thomas has averaged 4.0 yards on 41 carries, Williams 3.2 yards on 33 carries.
### The Dolphins have had practice squad player Gerell Robinson, a tight end from Arizona State, serve the role of mimicking Rob Gronkowski during practice. Dion Jordan has been covering him a lot during practice, suggesting he will have that assignment at times on Sunday.
Jordan said covering Gronkowski --- which he has done successfully in the past --- is "definitely a challenge. A lot of people have tried and failed.”
Twitter: @flasportsbuzz
Read more here: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/spor...fins-gronk-conundrum-notes.html#storylink=cpy
### The Dolphins have one player who spent three months with the Patriots this season: defensive back Don Jones, and he offered some insight into the extremely detailed and sometimes unusual way Bill Belichick does business.
“Belichick would say [to the team], I have [expletive] questions for you on Wednesday and I want [expletive] answers!” Jones recalled with a smile.
For Jones, the most unique element of his Patriots experience, which has sandwiched two stints with the Dolphins, was that regular Wednesday meeting in which Belichick went around the room and queried his players about the Patriots’ next opponent.
“He would say, ‘Don, who is the starting right guard of the team we’re playing this week? What college did he go to? Who is their special teams coordinator?’ Before we played Denver, he said, ‘Who is the linebacker who filled in for the one who was injured?”
Jones estimates eight of every 10 questions are answered correctly and said the purpose of the exercise is to make sure the players are as well-versed on their opponent as Belichick believes they should be.
“They make sure players are prepared for everything,” Jones said. “Bill is good to play for. There’s no rah-rah. He just tells you what to do, very straight forward.”
Jones said Belichick would regularly send players home if they were late to meetings, as he did with Jonas Gray a few weeks ago, but that never happened to him.
Jones, who was cut by New England on Thanksgiving, said the Dolphins haven’t asked him for any insight on the Patriots, but that the Patriots didn’t ask him for any intell on the Dolphins when New England signed him days before the teams met in the regular season opener.
He also said Tom Brady was the first player to greet him when he signed with New England.
### Belichick, as usual, made the Dolphins sound like a juggernaut this week, going as far as to say his team will need a great week of preparation to even “be competitive with them." (Now that's pretty funny.)
“Coach Philbin does a great job with that team,” Belichick said, sounding much like he has before every Dolphins-Patriots game. “They’re good in every area: offense, defense, special teams. They’ve done a great job in terms of doing a lot of little things: the return game, the turnovers, penalties. They’re not little things, but they’re not things that show up on the stat sheet necessarily, but when you put them all together –-- their kick blocking, their ability to create field position. They have the best field position in the league.
“They have a lot of good and explosive big-play type players, guys that can change the game in a hurry. They’ve got great inside players, like [Earl] Mitchell, [Randy] Starks and [Jared] Odrick. [They’re] strong outside, the ends, linebackers run well. [Koa] Misi is a big, physical guy in the middle. Their starting linebackers didn’t even play in the second half and we couldn’t run the ball against them down there. It doesn’t really matter who they have in there, it will be a big challenge for us. We didn’t seem to do very well against any of them.”
### A few other Belichick musings: He really likes Jarvis Landry: “Strong runner, breaks a lot of tackles, tough guy to bring down, makes a lot of tough catches, aggressive in the return game.”…
### Belichick, on Ryan Tannehill: “I think the thing he does the best is control the game, manage the game, manage the offense.”
A Patriots reporter then mentioned to Belichick that game manager is perceived as an insult to quarterbacks.
Belichick said that’s not how he perceives the term and then clarified what he meant.
“No, as I’ve tried to describe it, I think they give him multiple options on every play. I think it means they’re giving him a lot of responsibility. He’s the one who has to, at the line of scrimmage, get them out of a bad play if that’s what’s necessary and then after the ball is snapped decide what to do on the play whether it’s hand the ball off, keep it, keep it and throw it as the third part of the option, which some of their plays have.
"That’s a lot of responsibility to give a player. Obviously they have a lot of confidence in him and he does it well. Getting the team in the right play and then making the right decision after the ball is snapped is about as much responsibility as you could possibly give a player. I mean, what else could you ask him to do?”
### Belichick gave a simple answer to why the Dolphins have beaten the Patriots twice in a row, including 33-20 in the opener: “They played and coached better than we did in those games. Did everything better. We couldn’t move the ball in the second half against them. All I know is we couldn’t run the ball against them very well.”
### Tannehill, asked if he will avoid throwing against elite Patriots cornerback Darrelle Revis, said no: “We honor and respect him but you can’t eliminate a side of the field.”
### What determines whether Philbin uses Damien Williams or Daniel Thomas for carries not given to Lamar Miller?
Philbin cited three factors: matchups against a particular team; practice performance and “it might be our particular scheme that we are emphasizing for that particular week.”
Thomas has averaged 4.0 yards on 41 carries, Williams 3.2 yards on 33 carries.
### The Dolphins have had practice squad player Gerell Robinson, a tight end from Arizona State, serve the role of mimicking Rob Gronkowski during practice. Dion Jordan has been covering him a lot during practice, suggesting he will have that assignment at times on Sunday.
Jordan said covering Gronkowski --- which he has done successfully in the past --- is "definitely a challenge. A lot of people have tried and failed.”
Twitter: @flasportsbuzz
Read more here: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/spor...fins-gronk-conundrum-notes.html#storylink=cpy
