Dolphins
Despite losing a third-straight game to open the season, the Dolphins performed better in Week 3 and nearly pulled off an upset in Buffalo. Miami HC Mike McDaniel took note of the team’s improvement but acknowledged the growing pains that come with getting new key contributors integrated into the scheme.
“The team has gotten better in a couple weeks and is getting to the point where you can reasonably expect to go to a game on Sunday and have the expectations to win through good football,” McDaniel said, via ESPN’s Marcel Louis-Jacques. “However, there’s still things that we are falling short of and we’re trying to make that it’s not the same thing over and over.”
“The growing pains are real and what I think you see from a group is guys getting frustrated with not playing in cohesion but attacking it through their relationships that they’ve built. They’re not tapping out, they’re not being lethargic to the ball so these are works in progress. You want it to be soon, you do everything in your power to be sooner but you can’t replicate — as much as I try — you can’t replicate game situations, especially in hostile environments.”
“Last year it was a new defense to everyone. This year it’s a new defense to several players that we’re counting on.”
Jets
- Jets WR Garrett Wilson feels he needed to be more aggressive on a play where he could have broken up an interception: “I can’t do that. I can’t give the DB a right to the ball. That was inexcusable. I gotta help my quarterback out there.” (Zack Rosenblatt)
- New York HC Aaron Glenn talked about if QB Justin Fields will take back his starting job when cleared by doctors: “We’ll talk about that today as a staff. We’ll make sure we come out with the right answer for that. I know what you’re trying to ask, but we’ll make sure we talk about that as a staff, first and foremost.” (Rich Cimini)
- Glenn is tired of the narrative surrounding the Jets’ franchise: “These guys are not the same… These guys are going to fight no matter the situation.” (Rosenblatt)
Patriots
Patriots RB Rhamondre Stevenson had two fumbles in the team’s Week 3 loss to the Steelers, including one on the goal line. New England HC Mike Vrabel admitted they need Stevenson’s skillset, but he has to protect the ball better to be trusted in big moments.
“We were so excited about him and everybody is excited about him, the fans are, and we know what his capabilities are, and we’ve got to get him back,” Vrabel said, via Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk. “We need him. We absolutely need him. You see what he was able to do for us last week, his ability to make some plays. Again, we’ll just have to look at the technique and we’ll have to look at the ball security, but we’re going to need him. We need his ability, but we also need to take care of the football. It’s a long answer to tell you that I’m not really sure 20 minutes after the game what we’re going to do, but we need him because he helped us win the game last week, and it was a different story today.”
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