Read the full transcript from QB Malik Willis' media availability on October 28, 2026.

What are your memories of being coached by Mike Vrabel, your time together in Tennessee? How would you characterize those seasons for yourself and your career?

Malik Willis: I think it was hard coaching, trying to get guys better.

How was the last week for you after the victory? Was it any different as far as adulation? Did you get any phone calls from anybody? Can you tell us anything about that?

Malik Willis: No, it was about the same. Just continue to focus on – I mean, 24 hours after the game, you got to focus on the next week. We got another game coming this week and if we're stuck worrying about that, we won't get any better. And I feel like we lost five games in a row and we continue to get better. So why wouldn't we try – when we go out and win a game, you try to get better. I think you got to keep it the same, the process.

Did you have a moment to celebrate? I mean, parents, family, cousins, brothers and sisters, anybody text you? Did you chop it up with anybody for a little bit?

Malik Willis: I think we did a good job celebrating as a team in the locker room after the game. And that's when you have the most excitement and the most joy from going out there and putting it all on the line for 60 minutes. And I think that all the guys celebrated, as well as myself, and we had a great time. And obviously my family was happy for me and I got to chop it up with them. But like I said, we on to the next.

Is this how you handle victories always? I mean, this seems like a low-key approach, especially for your first victory as a starter with the Dolphins. Is this a pretty low-key approach, a pretty typical Malik approach? What would you say?

Malik Willis: I mean, the totality of things, we're 1-5. So it's not like, we won the Super Bowl. We got to continue to get better and continue to work. We want to obviously stack more of those and to do that, we got to continue to get better from what we put on tape this past week and the weeks before that. And I think that's what's important, keeping it in a focus on, let's try to go 1-0 this week. That's what it's about now.

I know you talked about – I think it was The Pivot – about like not feeling like you had a fair shot with the Titans. Obviously you face Vrabel on the Sunday, how do you focus on beating the team versus beating the coach?

Malik Willis: You play the team, you don't play the coach, you know what I mean? And I can't say anything but great things about Coach Vrabel. And I mean, he taught me a lot about ball in general in this league, at this level. So I can't be any type of way towards him. Obviously, he had to do what the best thing was for his team at that point, in his opinion. You can't control other people's opinion. All you can do is keep working and when your opportunity arises, take advantage of it.

What were some of the things that he taught you?

Malik Willis: I mean, a lot. That's a very broad question. I'm sorry.

About the league itself and the league and how it works.

Malik Willis: You do your job or they will find somebody else to do it, that's important. Even just the structure of defense and how teams are trying to attack other teams and how just the schematics and mental breakdown of how the NFL works versus college because college just running your plays against whoever you're playing this week, instead of trying to attack them always as far as structurally. You might be trying to attack just a player or this and that. But now you're trying to attack the scheme, you're trying to attack, tendencies and all that and being able to realize those while you're in the heat of battle. I think that's what he taught me a lot of.

Do you feel you have some familiarity with his defense from being coached by him?

Malik Willis: I feel like that's hard to say. It's been what, three years since I've been around that defense? Obviously, took a lot of notes and you try to maintain what you have but they're every evolving just like players are. They continue to build things into their scheme and change things that they feel can be better. So I feel like I just got to watch the tape and see what they got going on.

He was complimentary this week, Vrable. He said, "I think Malik's starting to see things a little quicker, a little clearer as he's developed in the NFL." How do you feel about that in terms of how you're seeing the game now compared to like '22?

Malik Willis: I think it's totally different. I mean, I was worried about more stuff in '22. I hadn't taken a snap under center before I got to Tennessee, you know what I mean? So it was just a lot more going on that I had to worry about than I do now. I have just a lot more reps. That's what it's all about, continuing to get reps. And it's just hard to make it in this league, to get those reps because everything is very results oriented. So a lot of times people don't maybe get the opportunities that, I won't say deserve, or that they need to continue to get better, and that's just how it works. So you just got to keep going until you get an opportunity, like I said.

I thought there were three significant offensive possessions last week. The game opening possession that you guys score, take the 7-0 lead. The possession to close out the first half, where you guys take up all that time, you go up 21 to 7. And then the possession to close out the game. Would you agree with that and why or why not? And are there things that you guys learned from those possessions, do you think?

Malik Willis: I think those were good as far as the whole of the game. I can't say they're more important than any other drive in the game. Obviously, if we execute a few plays differently, you might be saying that about another drive in the game. So it's hard to look at it that way, but I definitely feel like guys showed up and did a great job. A lot of guys were executing. It was more 11-out-of-11 than nine-out of-11 or eight-out-of-11 or 10-out-of-11. So that's what we want to continue to try to improve and become consistent doing.

There was a point on the last drive of the first half where you scramble for a first down, but instead of going out of bounds, you slid in bounds, obviously keeping the clock rolling. Is that like a sign to you or comfort to you that the game is really slowing down for me that I can just in that moment know exactly what I'm supposed to do?

Malik Willis: I think, like I said, it's more really reps and messing up and going out there and messing up and doing it wrong and having to learn from it the hard way. I did that a lot of times. You just try to take those and bring them with you. And that's what you do to get better. It's not more or less being perfect every time you get a chance to go out there. It's learning from those mistakes and when the opportunity arises again, you execute and now you're getting better. That's the only difference. So I feel like I've messed up the clock sometimes. I took a sack probably my second year in the league. We were in the red zone and we're trying to score twice before the game ends. I take a sack, they have to burn the time out. Like it really like matters within the scheme of the game. Obviously, it was just end of the half this past weekend and they had all three timeouts. So we definitely were trying to make sure that we ended the half with the ball. They didn't end up taking the timeout, but it worked out for us.

On that play, it looked like Hafley was signaling on the sideline for you to slide in bounds. Did you see him or were you like cognizant of what he was doing on the sideline?

Malik Willis: No, I can't be looking at the sideline. (laughter) I appreciate it though. I appreciate Coach trying to – maybe it got to me, telepathically.

He was kind of on the same side as where you were. So I wasn't sure if you saw him out of the corner and that's what signaled for you to slide or if that was just a kind of decision that you made.

Malik Willis: No, it was just a decision. I was looking downfield. I was trying to see if we could get one.

So you've got a couple different types of touchdown passes, right? You got the bomb to Ryan Miller, which I'm sure when you let it go, you had a pretty good idea of, I think he can score on this. But you also have one now to Caleb where I think he ran like 60 yards. I guess what goes through your mind when you kind of make a throw like that, OK, this is an easy completion, he's open, and now all of a sudden you're watching him take it to the house?

Malik Willis: Yeah, you're appreciative. I mean, that helps the drive. You go get points. Anytime we can get points, that's awesome. And it was just cool to see him come back and you could tell he had fresh legs, he's flying out there. He looked fast during practice though, so I'm just super excited for him.

To that end, we talked about like correcting mistakes that have been made. The rookies have had issues with the sideline and stepping out of bounds. How great was it to see your guy not even touch out of bounds as he's going down the sideline?

Malik Willis: I mean, that's what it's about. That's growth, that's going out, taking advantage of an opportunity you get, learning from it and then doing it better the next time. And that's how you get better as a team, not only as a player. So I think it's cool when you see, not only him, but a lot of guys on that offense, on that defense, even on special teams doing that after we come in here and watch the tape. And then they go out there and they fix it and they make corrections. And we go out there and do better as far as team success. And I think that's awesome and that's what we want to strive for each week.

What are you learning about throwing against the blitz? It seems like you were finding the areas vacated by the defense.

Malik Willis: Just trying to take advantage of what they give us. I mean, that's the name of the game. Like I said last week, Coach Glenn has a great scheme and it's really tough on guys and it's really tough on myself. It's not like it was easy out there, you know what I mean? It's more or less just trying to do what you can to execute your rules and how you've been coached throughout the week.