Highlights from Monday’s Dolphins news conferences with Joe Philbin, Mike Sherman and Kevin Coyle: (Please see the last post for lots of Heat stuff from Monday and other Dolphins tidbits.)
JOE PHILBIN
As usual, no great pearls of insight from the head coach or any shred of visible disappointment or anger about the four-game losing streak. Among Philbin’s musings:
### “I have a lot of faith in our guys. I believe in them.”
### “After watching the tape, there were a lot of positive things on the tape. Very good effort from the team. We need to play a better 60 minutes of football. We need to make those corrections quickly. I thought our guys were ready to play physically, mentally. We did not play well after” the first missed field goal.
### On Bryant McKinnie: “He did some good things for the short period he was here.”
### On Mike Wallace: “I like what Mike’s done. To get the ball thrown with distance down the field requires precision by the route running and the quarterback and a certain amount of time to get the ball down the field. I would love to have more lengthy touchdown passes and I’m confident we’ll get more out of them as the season unfolds. Things take time.”
### Asked why the team went away from the running game in the second half, Philbin said: “I don’t know that we went totally away from the run.” The Dolphins had 21 carries in the first half, 9 in the second half.
### Philbin blamed the defense’s problem on “missed tackles here and there” and the fact on “a couple occasions, our gap integrity wasn’t what it needed to be.”
MIKE SHERMAN
### On the loss of Brandon Gibson: “We expect Rishard Matthews to step up in that situation. Gibson is a special player but Matthews has really improved in the last year. I never thought he would end up being an inside receiver. He has really developed as an outside and inside receiver, as has Gibson. I have a lot of confidence in him.”
### Why didn’t the Dolphins handle the blitz better in the second half? “When we motioned across the formation, it was on a couple of third down formations. We’re not a big motion team. We needed to re-ID some things. I’ll take responsibility for that. It shouldn’t have been a problem. It was a problem. They hadn’t been a big pressure package on third and short situations. They got us twice.”
### On Ryan Tannehill’s fumbling issues: “There’s always things you can do to be more protective of the ball.” He said when Tannehill gets hit from the blind-side, “he’s been susceptible to that a couple times. That’s something you’re always working on.”
### Sherman, who blasted Michael Egnew in front of HBO cameras during 2012 training camp, volunteered Monday: “I’m really proud of Michael Egnew. Couple weeks ago we didn’t have a fullback. Mike is like an ostrich type of guy. You don’t see many ostriches playing fullback.
“That son of a gun has become a tough guy. He made some really good blocks in the game. I’m really proud how he’s come around. We spread him out, too. He brings a dimension I really enjoy. Charles Clay has come on strong. Dion Sims has a ways to go, has made some progress. The guy that really caught my eye is Michael Egnew.”
KEVIN COYLE
### On Patriots’ success on the ground in the second half: “It wasn’t a matter of we were getting the ball rammed down our throats.”
### Cameron Wake played only 34 of the 68 snaps because he’s not yet playing at his normal effectiveness because of a knee injury. “He’s still getting stronger every week,” Coyle said. “We felt we would continue the rotations. He’s getting better. I feel good we’re on the verge of Cam getting back to himself.”
### On second- and third-round rookie corners Jamar Taylor and Will Davis not being active: “They’re working extremely hard. It’s just a matter of numbers and how guys fit within the packages we’re going to play in a particular game. You can’t carry 10, 12 defensive backs and not be short on another position.”
### On Dimitri Patterson: “He came up with another big play, played well the entire game.”
FYI
Likable John Offerdahl, who will be inducted into the Dolphins’ Honor Roll at halftime of Thursday's Bengals game, held a news conference Monday that was overshadowed by the team’s on-field issues.
“This is a dream come true,” he said. “I had four older sisters. I played the French horn. I was not your prototypical linebacker. I went to Western Michigan. Just good enough to make the NFL.”
Please see the last post for Monday Heat news and more Dolphins items. Twitter: @flasportsbuzz
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