HEAD COACH MIKE SHANAHAN
On the difference between Miami this season and last season
“I didn’t study them a lot last year, but they are very impressive. They are playing some great offense, some great defense and they are keeping people off balance on both sides of the ball. They have (beaten) some good football teams by dominating a couple of those games, so they are very impressive.”
On Miami QB Chad Pennington
“Any time you are able to go into a situation and get a quarterback like Pennington—an experienced quarterback that has played and understands defenses—to come in and help the franchise immediately is something that you don’t expect. Very seldom do you have the Drew Brees’s out there, the Chad Penningtons. But when you come in as a new head football coach and are able to have a quarterback with that type of experience, I think you feel very lucky.”
On Miami’s ‘Wildcat’ formation
“You watch it quite a bit in college. You watch a lot of these formations and some of these plays at the collegiate level, especially scouting a lot of the players from Arkansas the year before. It is not like we haven’t seen it before. We worked against that when we faced the Raiders. We thought we might see it in the first game but we didn’t. They are having a lot of success with it, and (RB Ronnie) Brown is an exceptional back. Any time you have a guy with his type of skills and you put him at that position, he can make plays when nothing is there. It has a lot to do with type of offense and he is skilled enough to throw the football as well. It just presents some problems.
“It is a plus. Regardless of what type of offense you are running, if you can do things that keep a defense off balance and make them spend extra time (preparing), it helps you.”
On T Ryan Clady
“He has done a great job. You can’t ask a rookie to do much more than he has done. He is there every day, he has been very consistent and hopefully he keeps on getting better.
“You never really know until you have a guy come in. Obviously we felt very good about him before we drafted him. At the position we drafted him at (No. 12 overall), we didn’t think he would be there. We were very happy and surprised, and he has lived up to the billing.”
QUARTERBACK JAY CUTLER
On the finger he injured during the New England game
“My finger is good. I got lucky, but it feels pretty good though.”
On having key members of the offense back on the field after injuries
“We are getting those guys back (WRs Eddie Royal and Brandon Stokley) and maybe getting (TE) Tony (Scheffler) back. It helps our offense with what we are trying to do, and it doesn’t limit us.”
On if his finger is affecting his throws
“Right now, no. I am good.”
On the bye week
“I have been gone. We all just kind of got back into town. It was good to get a break and get refreshed a little bit. We will get back to work now.”
On the hit he took from Patriots DT Vince Wilfork
“I think it was on the second fumble. I got rolled up by (Rodney) Harrison and then on my way back up, I think he gave me a forearm to the head. I was a little dizzy afterwards. I guess they called it in on him. I didn’t even really watch the hit on film.”
On Dolphins LB Joey Porter being a threat
“Absolutely. Their whole defense is getting pressure and causing a lot of fumbles, which we have been prone to the last three or four games. You have to keep your eye on that guy. He is kind of taking (Shawne) Merriman’s place from last year being a guy in a 3-4 system that gets a lot of pressure off of the edge.”
On if he has noticed defenses playing WR Brandon Marshall differently the past few games
“Yeah. He is getting a lot of double coverage. We kind of struggled running the ball a little bit. If they want to play (Cover) 2 and roll over top of Brandon, we are going to have to take advantage of that and run the ball. Brandon is still going to get his catches and his yards. We just have to find ways to get him the ball.”
On RB Ryan Torain returning from injury
“He adds a little juice to the backfield. Those guys get rammed down, and they take a lot of punishment. We ask them to do a lot so to get fresh legs back there is definitely going to help. I am excited for him, and I think he is going to help us out a lot.”
On T Ryan Clady’s performance thus far
“He is there every day. You couldn’t ask much more out of a rookie, especially playing left tackle right now. We don’t have to worry about him because he locks down the left side and does a great job.”