Dolphins Soundbites of Bucs Week

Running down the most noteworthy Dolphins comments heading into the game against Tampa Bay at Raymond James Stadium

Checking out the comments from Dolphins players and coaches that stood out heading into the Week 5 matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers:

Head coach Brian Flores on how the team looked at practice after the disappointing performance against Indianapolis in Week 4: “These guys always work hard. I can count on that. I can count on them to compete. I can count on them to work hard. I can count on them to come in and be professional and do things the right way so from that standpoint they’ve done a good job.”

LB Jerome Baker on what DT Raekwon Davis' expected return could mean for the defense: “I mean he’s a big, massive, strong guy. I think the one thing we don’t give him a lot of credit for is he brings a lot of energy to us. It’s not the energy of ‘let’s go hard,’ it’s the energy of you just want to be out there and play with him. He goes out there and he goes hard for us. He’s just a big, strong guy in the middle of our defense. It always helps when you have guys like that. I’m definitely happy to have him back.”

WR Albert Wilson on his season so far: "Just trying to get back in the swing of things. Just trying to be there when they need me. Trying to be available for the quarterback. It’s definitely not as I planned it coming back, but it’s a long season and we definitely got a lot of work to do. I think everybody on the team, including myself, is willing to put that work in.”

TE Durham Smythe on being able to draw inspiration from last year when the Dolphins also started 1-3 but found their way to a 10-6 finish: “Yeah, I think so, to a degree. Every year the team is new and it’s a different team. At the same time, I think last year, what happened was we were doing the same things but things started to click. Once they did, we went on a little bit of a run and being on a team that did something like that, we know it’s possible. It comes back to what I said originally, if we can be more on top of things and more consistent, things will start to click and hopefully we can go on a little bit of a run.”

Rookie safety Jevon Holland on where he is after the first four games of his NFL career: “Yeah, it’s exciting. I didn’t really have an image of how the first quarter of the season was going to go. I was just going to go out there and try to support the team as much as possible. I feel like I’m doing that. I feel like I’m getting better. The more experience, the better things get. I’m looking forward to the next game.”

T Austin Jackson on being able to learn from things that don't go his way: “Definitely. I’m on my second notebook this year already. I take notes. It’s something I’ve been working at since I was 12 years old and it’s not going to stop. I figure if I’m here it’s because it’s never going to stop for me. The only way is up. I think that along with my position group, we’re all kind of the same type of ‘we’re going to get it right’ guys. The only thing we know is to work harder when we get into situations like this. And work smarter.”

TE Mike Gesicki on facing the 32nd-ranked pass defense in the NFL: “Statistics can be a big misleading thing. They’ve got a lot of talented players between (Antoine) Winfield and (Jordan) Whitehead in the back. I know they just got Richard Sherman. They’ve got guys on the front in (Jason) Pierre-Paul and (Ndomukong) Suh and the ‘backers (Lavonte) David and (Devin) White. The list goes on and on. They have plenty of talented players out there. It’s going to be a great challenge for us and one that we’re looking forward to it.”

DB Jason McCourty on what he might have told younger teammates about facing Tom Brady and the defending Super Bowl champions: “I don’t even think for us as a team right now, and as an organization, that it’s a focus on Tampa Bay or Tom Brady. We’ve just lost three straight games. I think regardless of who’s on our schedule for this week, it’s very important that we have a sense of urgency to go out there and get a win on Sunday because we have been on the wrong side of the score for the past three weeks. That’s not a good feeling and we know in this league, it’s about production and it’s about wins and losses. Just for us as a team and as an organization, we want to do everything we possibly can, regardless who’s on the side of the field, to make sure that we come out of Sunday with a victory.”

WR DeVante Parker on his comfort level with QB Jacoby Brissett: “Yeah, I’m very comfortable with him. Certain routes, he sees things. We talk. We talk about it during that period or something in practice. Talk about what he sees and what he wants me to do and we just talk about little things like that, just staying on the same page.”

QB Jacoby Brissett on whether an up-tempo offense might help the Dolphins at this point: “We’ll see. Obviously we’re trying to figure it out. We’re obviously exploring every option. We’re still getting better as a team so it’s not like we’ve just got to change everything that we’re doing because things haven’t gone our way. Like I said in the press conference after the game, we are getting better in situations. Like pointing out the play to DeVante, the week before I missed him. This week I hit him two to three times on the exact same play on the exact same throw. It’s slowly getting better. I’m getting better in this offense. I’m learning the guys. I’m learning where my spots are on the field with these guys. We are getting better. We obviously wanted it to go a little bit better with the results of the game but at some point, you surrender the result of the game for the greater good of getting better each week and week out. I think that’s what we’re doing and hopefully the results will start to come.”