Cristobal Answers Questions On Local Radio: "We Certainly Have To Improve"

“Tremendous job by Tyler bouncing back, very resilient, extremely productive, and just played with a lot of confidence, that’s great to see. It certainly bodes well for the future. Certainly, short yardage goal line were a problem, as well as turning the ball over so the red zone woes were not solved to the degree we needed to be successful. That’s the bottom line. No sugar coating it. So back to work.”

On Finding a way to win close games

“Resiliency is earned and it’s worked for, and a lot of that showed up. And learning to win requires that details be handled at the highest level because at our current talent level, we are going to be in a lot of close games. These things will come down to the wire, kind of come down to the fourth quarter. Ball security, re-pointing a Mike when he walks outside, maintaining leverage on a pass rush so a guy doesn’t escape and extends and move the chains and extend a drive. Those things have to show up consistently when we practice for them to show up consistently in the game. In the most critical moments because these games are going to come down to anywhere between three, five, eight plays. So they got to show up better in practice to show up better in the game and that’s what we’re working on.”

On Van Dyke in an uptempo offense

“Coming in obviously believe one hundred percent in Coach Gattis. Tremendous success when he was at Michigan and Alabama and the stuff that we did there, but it wasn’t working for us earlier in the season. So we adapted, assessed, and started moving to things we feel we can do as an organization. Certain areas of our team are ahead of others and just got to find ways to move the ball and score points. We found ways to move the ball. We had success moving the chains, we didin’t put up enough points, that’s the bottom line, and at the end of the day offensive production is about putting up points. So there’s been some progress, there’s been some improvement, still a ways to go.”

On the wide receivers

“They did, they certainly played better. Guys like Mike Redding. Mike Redding going to catch jugs out there until he is blue in the face. And they brought along Brashard Smith who took a tremendous step up. Colbie Young, credit to him. Hung in there, got here very late in the process from Lackawanna Junior College, goes in there, and makes a couple of really really big plays. Frank Ladson continues to get better so again guys are improving. We still got to keep improving in terms of every part of it. You got to be able to block out there too now right? Not just catching the ball, but in just purely catching the ball, definitely improvement.”

On staying aggressive on 4th down

“You got to Joe. I mean look, those plays are about knocking people back and I get it we’re not at the level from a size and power standpoint where it’s going to always look pretty, but damn it, you have to establish a mentality first. Keep getting it done in the weight room and develop. Keep getting big ole dudes that can knock them back. Have faith in your guys and if you know what, if it doesn’t work out, have faith that the other side is going to get the ball back for you.”

On the injuries to the offensive line and next man up

“No one really understands that lesson until you finally get tapped on the shoulder and it’s your turn, and it’s happened to a number of them. All of a sudden get your butt in there and it’s time to roll. The best part about practice and preparation is got to find ways to get through to the guys that you are always a snap away, and it happened at a couple different positions on successive plays on Saturday. Logan Sagapolu stepped in there, did a really good job. Jonathan Denis from South Dade, stepped in there, did really good job. Got to assess how these guys are the next couple of days medically to see exactly what that looks like going forward, but either way as the season goes on, that’s part of it.”

On the defensive effort

The point total was a fairly decent effort and again, that big play wasn’t on Tyrique [Stevenson]. We’re in cover two and the safety thought something and bam. Obviously he’s got to get his hands on that receiver and follow him and re-route him, but safety saw something that wasn’t quite there and jumped it. It’s the same play we pick off a few plays later. It took us a little while to get settled in man. The big play that we’ve allowed on defense are busts mentally that need to get rectified as the game goes on. We got to get better to avoid those big plays because these games can go 55-50 or it can go 7-6, you just don’t know, but we got to find a way to win.”

On Tight End Will Mallory

“Will’s a stud man. Always has been. It’s good to see him out there healthy running around. He’s so valuable in the pass game, the run game. He’s a great example and great team leader as well. You wish you had a ton of guys like that and he’s certainly doing a great job for this football program.”

On the big plays given up by the defense

“Well the big plays, the two real big ones, the long touchdown early were both coverage issues. And at the same time, the real good plays later on were actually very good communication on the back end and playing out like your suppose to. The big one was the cover two shot. Safety jumps in instead of playing off the hash and pushing the number one. And the second one, the post safety fell off and it’s not a post. Those are the two biggest plays that they had in the passing game. The one touchdown they had with the under route when Mesidor was sacking the quarterback, I think that’s a great play by the quarterback getting that ball up and Downs running underneath it, catching it and wiggling his way to the end zone. The other ones were things that again once they were corrected, they ended up, and I think I know one interception, almost another one, and then a couple deflected passes. It’s just much better results. You got to work through those things. Even though you want to have your base you have to continue to evolve. You got to be really sharp mentally when you face teams that use stacks, that use bunches, multiple formations. You go to communicate and be on point. There’s a lot of progress in that area.”

On tackling

“Tackling overall has improved. We signed up for all this stuff now and we knew we got some work to do, and we are all about it, so it comes with it. In terms of getting after it and finally getting it done right, our guys are, and they are trying their butts off. We are getting progress or what not, but we have to understand and realize the way we are and our current talent level and roster depth, we have to eliminate [and] avoid the avoidables. That’s what you got to do and continue to develop and ramp up and get better. I think guys are trying and we certainly have to improve.”

On an open positional competition

“You keep it open. You always do. You don’t let a guy get comfortable. In this industry, as you all know, the worst thing you can do is have anyone get comfortable so you provide the opportunity throughout the course of the week to get a shot at more playing time.”

On Tyler Van Dyke bouncing back from underperforming

“You always want guys on your team, on your side that always show a great competitive response, because if you play this game long enough you are going to get hit right in the mouth. You got to get right between the eyes, so what are you truly made of? For example, we lose a couple games, what are you truly made of? Are you going to buckle? Are you going to give in to the noise? Because if you are, you know what, you never had it to begin with. You really ain’t part of it, and you ain’t going to be a great one.

Tyler’s made of great stuff. He’s got the right DNA and he’s got a couple guys with him that their doing a really good job trying to infuse that amongst the rest of our players and our players are really working hard to try to get there, and Tyler he epitomizes that. After again you saw last year towards the end of the year he started putting up some big numbers. There’s a change in scheme, there’s a change in coaching staff, there are adjustment periods, you lose a set of receivers, and all of sudden the world is coming down on him. And all he did was buckle down, practice harder, get with the receivers, find a way to get extra work, and then boom, he finds a way to have a really really good game. And albeit if that ball doesn’t get tipped that might be a scoring strike because the big was coming open and he’s unfazed by it. He’s like damn, maybe I should have thrown it and found a way to get away from that hand that got up and tipped it. He’s the right kind of guy, he’s getting after it, and it’s time to go back to work.”

On Virginia Tech

“Ever since I’ve been here, talking about way back, that was always the toughest or one of the toughest games we ever had. We know the environment, we know the place so let’s wake up and hit the ground running. We’re flying in, we get there Friday early afternoon, early evening, and when you wake up, its boom, right to pre-game meal, your walk thrus, and your rolling through the stadium. Preparation began right away yesterday, Saturday late and our guys are enthused to attack this opportunity and recognizing that we have to be at our very best to give ourselves the best chance to win football games. That’s been the theme, it’s time to go to work.”

Miami travels to Virginia Tech this week. Kickoff is set for 12:30 eastern.

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