(On the up and down play of
(On whether he expected that
(On whether the number of short catches Hartline had in week two against the Raiders was due to them respecting his speed) – “Possibly. I don’t know if they knew enough about him at that point to say that. That could possibly be, but again I think that was a function of their coverages as well. I think they want to stop the run game so they added another defender to (the box). They were hurting a little bit at that position so they kept him up.”
(On what area of the offense has improved most from Week One) – “I would have to say our quarterback position is the most dramatic improvement on the offensive side of the ball. He just keeps getting better and better. Very seldom does he make the same mistake twice. You tell him that you need to do this and he does it. So I think that his maturation throughout the course of the NFL season, going into Week Six, he has taken steps every single week. He will continue to do that throughout the course of the season and the course of his career. So I would think that’s the single biggest jump this season.”
(On the right side of the offensive line) – “I think
(On some of the things they did as an offense to close out the game against the Bengals) – “Well I don’t feel like we did close out the game because we turned the ball over to the defense. If we had finished the game with the football, I know the defense got the pick and we ended up on the field, but I feel like we didn’t close out the game yesterday. I hate the fact that we had to turn the ball over there on third and eight. So I don’t feel like we did, honestly. The biggest thing is that we didn’t turn the ball over in the fourth quarter and allow them an opportunity to score points. That may be a difference.”
(On what he can do to improve the short yardage offense) – “Yeah that’s certainly been a bone of contention with me and with our offense. We have to be much better there. I think it’s a matter of repetition in practice. I think there’s no excuse for us not to be able to get a yard. We knew the play going in that we were going to run, we didn’t get it on fourth and one. We did come back on third and one and got it. I think it’s a matter of me putting them in those situations in practice, live contact situations where it’s full-bore. It’s a little bit different when it’s full speed and the defense can tackle as opposed to just playing on your feet and reacting to the play on defense. We have to liven that period up a little bit, but I’ve got a plan that will hopefully enact a good short yardage situation and hopefully we can get better that way. But it definitely needs improvement. The last couple of weeks we’ve been stalled in those positions and they kill drives. We’ve had great opportunities. We had great field position on the one that we don’t take advantage of. The defense gave us great field position and then we go third and one, fourth and one and we’re done. That’s unacceptable, but we’ll get that fixed, I promise you.”
(On whether he has scrambling rules with Ryan Tannehill on when to slide and such) – “He understands and he has been coached that in college for the most part. He understands his value to the team and how he needs to be able to play the next play for us. So he’s very much in tune with that. He took a couple of hits but they were in the pocket. He didn’t take any hits on scrambles, and he's smart enough to go down. But because of your question I will remind him even more.”
(On his ability to throw on the run and whether he saw that at Texas A&M) – “It’s also something that we practice here. When a play breaks down in practice we don’t stop. We keep working and I think they know, the receivers, when you have a quarterback who you know will extend the play with his feet and his arm, you have a tendency to really work harder and try to get open. That’s been the case a couple of times, and he's a very accurate thrower on the run. Sometimes those throws aren’t the easiest when you’re running away from a 295 pound defensive end chasing you down. To make that accuracy is not the easiest thing. But I thought he did a great job of not only pushing the pocket, escaping the rush, but then finding the receiver and making some big plays. I thought it was his best game.”
