Miami Dolphins Media Conference

Sunday, September 19, 2021

Miami, Florida, USA

Josh Allen

Dion Dawkins

Visitors Postgame Presser


Q. You won 35-0, that's a pretty good position to be in. Not playing your best and to win by that much.

JOSH ALLEN: Yeah, we've got some stuff to work on. We really do. Just myself trying to find a rhythm early on. Hats off to our guys early on and trying to establish a run game early that helps us out so much. Did a hell of a job protecting all day, and our guys made some plays.

To feel the way we feel, knowing we could have played better, winning 35-0, that's a good problem to have.

Q. Could you take us inside that statement, trying to find a rhythm early on? We talked about that last week after you didn't hit that deep ball early or whatever against Pittsburgh. Out of the half, you got the drive together. Talk about that process today and maybe where your game is at.

JOSH ALLEN: Yeah, just finding some comfortable plays that the entire offense likes. Our receivers are comfortable with some of the stuff we're running the second half. I know I was. Not saying I wasn't early on, but we had more game plan stuff trying to put in.

Hat's off to them. They've got some really good players over there, and they made some really good plays today. There's some things we need to do better communication-wise, and it starts with me.

There's going to be a lot of stuff to learn from on this tape. Again, winning the way we did, it feels good.

Q. You probably played two of the best secondaries in the NFL, right? Because early in the game, your guys were having trouble winning, the first half especially. Can you kind of describe having to play these two secondaries the first two weeks?

JOSH ALLEN: Yeah, they got some players. They get paid on that side of the ball too, and they're supposed to make some plays. They did today.

Again, we can clean some stuff up, especially with myself, just finding some stuff early on and then getting off quicker, off the first read a little quicker, just forcing them to cover everyone on the field.

Q. I know the offensive line as a whole was really disappointed last week in your performance? How do you feel you guys responded this week?

DION DAWKINS: Definitely, we put the right foot forward. We still have a lot of things to clean up. Everybody sees the score, but there's a lot of little things that go into it that we take personal and we've got to do a better job because it will hurt us in the long end. As long as we stay on it and just keep pushing, the O-line will be all right.

Q. Devin's touchdown run, I don't think he got touched. When the O-line is able to get blocks like that, what does it feel like on the sideline?

DION DAWKINS: It's a great feeling. We care about our running backs just as much as we care about our receivers. For any time that a running back can run without getting touched or even just getting in the end zone, we also take very personal.

So hat's off to Motor and those running backs, the skinny guys I call them, and we're going to continue to get them in the end zone more and more and more times without getting touched.

Q. More repetition of the offensive line playing together, preseason didn't really play together an awful lot. You guys looked really more in sync, especially on the run plays.

DION DAWKINS: I guess you're talking about the rotation, like of the guys?

Q. The repetition of how you guys seemed more in sync.

DION DAWKINS: Like that all helps. Anytime you can practice what you're doing, I mean, it helps, yeah.

Q. Josh, Tua's in his second year. Obviously didn't get to see much of him today. You were one of those players that really made that leap in your second year to where you are now. Can you talk at all looking back to that second year. Do you remember what was most important to you then to make that leap?

JOSH ALLEN: Yeah, the game just kind of slows down a little bit. I don't know if he's got the same OC or in the same system or not, but that helps, camaraderie with your teammates helps. Just trusting what your coaches are telling you and trusting the guys around you.

I think that was a big thing for me, not trying to do too much. I still took my lumps in my second and last year too. I'm going to take lumps and learn from them as we go.

I'm going to say something about the O-line, to that question: We changed stuff yesterday into our run game, put in new plays, and our guys rolled with it and figured out a way to go out there and apply it. Being an O-lineman is not easy by any means. There's so many different bullets flying at you. They get the blame sometimes when they really shouldn't.

People don't know our blocking schemes and our run schemes and where our fits are supposed to be and stuff like that. So, again, these are my guys.

Q. Dion, to that point, how hard is that to do, what Josh is talking about, just to throw stuff in on Saturday? How difficult is that for you?

DION DAWKINS: Any time stuff goes in late, it's hard, but we're all pros. We learn how to deal with it, and we have a great quarterback and great guys on the offense that make it easier for us. They're up there, and they -- well, I think that the quarterbacks are the most smartest guys in the building. So when they can like put like little hints, and they're like, all right, guy, this is what we're doing, that's cool. That's exactly what Josh did to keep us all with that right foot forward. Hat's off to Josh.

Q. You're six in a row against the Dolphins with a win. What is it about playing Miami that kind of brings the best out of you or a winning effort out of you when you do play them?

JOSH ALLEN: We got 52 other guys on the team that contribute to this and going to the scout team as well. We've got 60-plus in the building that are working their tail off. Division games are the ones we need the win. You gotta win a lot of other ones too. You can't lose in the division. That's our goal, to win every game in the division. I don't know if it's an extra added effort, but we work really hard, especially when we play teams in the division.

Q. What was talked about at halftime when you came out in the third quarter and took the offense right down the field?

JOSH ALLEN: We knew we needed to get six there. We had a couple plays early on in the first quarter that helped us get a couple scores. We wanted to put something together that was long, sustaining, and really -- putting us up 21-0 coming right out of the third quarter, I think that's huge for a team to have that sense of like, okay, we still can play aggressive here, and we don't have to worry about any consequences. We don't have to be afraid. Let's just go and pin our ears back and play hard, and that's what our guys did.

Hat's off to our defense too. A shutout in the NFL, that doesn't happen too often. We've got to appreciate these moments and the types of plays our guys made today, that was awesome to see.

Q. What was the reason for the additions?

JOSH ALLEN: Just stuff in the game plan. Coaches see different things. Again, we don't really have much say of what goes in.

DION DAWKINS: Absolutely.

JOSH ALLEN: I think I have most say, but I still don't have much say. Whatever they put in, we've got to run it. It's our job to go out and execute.

Q. It's one game, you guys are like, don't panic, you're not panicking. What does it say for this team to go out there on the road and get the divisional win? What does it say about this team?

DION DAWKINS: It just says that we learn from our mistakes and that we know how to let things go and move on to what's next. That just shows the type of character of the guys that we have in our locker room that we did not let what happened last week destroy us because something like that can destroy a football team, any loss, especially home.

You know like with the media and itself, there's a lot of different parts that goes with it. For the guys that we have in our locker room, to put that to bed and move on with a fresh start, that just shows that we have the right guys to get this thing done.

Q. There was a hunger in this team. Did you guys feel that? Was it different this week than last week?

JOSH ALLEN: Absolutely. I think, especially the first week, it's such an overreaction from really everybody, media. People see that. Coaches see that. So around the facility, just slightly different feeling. As a team, we're like, calm down and take it one game at a time.

That's exactly what we've got to do with this week as well. After we look at the tape tomorrow, it's gone and put to bed. We've got a really good team in Washington coming to Buffalo next week. So we've got to find a way to put together a good game plan and go execute for that game.

Q. What did Moss show you guys coming back from that fumble to score twice in the second half?

DION DAWKINS: It just shows that Moss is a guy of character and he flushed that as well. Moss said, look, in the next time I touch this ball, I'm going to make it count, and he did that two more times, and he ran behind his big guys, and he just put his head down.

JOSH ALLEN: That last one was sweet too.

DION DAWKINS: And he kept on chugging along.

Q. (No microphone) about the touchdown today?

JOSH ALLEN: Obviously, just scramble, making a play. Again, me and Diggs just kind of have that rapport of like I see something, he sees it too, and he made a good play. He was running that way, he came back and ran the other way. Just one, two, and three really weren't open. The running wasn't an option. Just trying to give my guy a chance.

Q. When you see that play on film, is that something where you're like, oh, man, I probably shouldn't be doing something like that, or are you just happy at the result?

JOSH ALLEN: We call those "atta boys." You complete it, atta boy.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
112492-1-1253 2021-09-19 21:19:00 GMT

ASAP sports

tech 129