Miami In The Words Of Matt Ryan

The Miami Dolphins have been an enigma since they powers in Davie took over.  With the draft a short 28 days away, we hear less and less about what the Dolphins are doing at their private meetings and at the pro-days they attend. 

What do they ask of the rookie’s?  What do they look for in the classroom?  Not all questions are answered here, but simply a peek inside is enough for now.  Of course that’s because all we get is a peek.  While reading the below, keep one thing in the front of your head…this quote of Matt Ryan. 

“Ireland and the Dolphins group had pretty much dissected my career to a T.” 

I myself would have to believe that this is what our staff has been doing since day 1.  Dissecting every player, every play, both on the roster and potentially for the roster.

 This is an excerpt from Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer’s interview with the Boston College soon to be NFL rookie QB.  You can read the full article and the 1st two parts of his interview here.

In the words of Matt Ryan:

"The Dolphins came on Monday, and they were different from the Jets. They too had me throw for them, but the real work started when we got into the classroom. Ireland and the Dolphins group had pretty much dissected my career to a T. They popped in film of the good and the bad and asked me to explain what I saw on certain plays and what I was thinking when I made my decisions. They were trying to get a gage of what went through my mind when I saw certain things unfold on the field and why I either made a decision that paid off and why I did something stupid out there. We all do some stupid stuff at times, and sometimes it’s warranted and other times we just take the heat. They then picked my brain on the blackboard and asked different things about our protections at BC and our reads. But they also asked me to re-identify blitzers and the MIKE (middle linebacker) after a defense shifted. But despite the throws and the classroom and the interviews and meetings, that Dolphins interview brought about that fateful question. I’ve since had time to think about it some more and it is by far the most difficult question I’ve ever been asked in this sport. The question came … and I had no logical answer. Certainly nothing prepared me. The question: “If you don’t make it in the NFL, what is it that got you to fail?” You have to understand the mind of any competitive athlete, any successful athlete. Failure? I’ve never anticipated it. Never believed it was ever an option. It’s honestly difficult for me to comprehend because in order to succeed, you have to visualize making that pass, throwing that TD, standing in there for that one final millisecond. There is no room for failure to make its way into your mind. That pretty much became my answer. If I was ever to fail, it wouldn’t be because I wasn’t incredibly prepared. If I will fail it’s because of something unforeseen, something I have yet to experience. I will work my butt off to make sure I succeed. There won’t be any shouldas, couldas, or wouldas with me. I feel I have the talent to succeed, and I have no idea why I would fail, so I couldn’t give a specific answer. For that I am thankful, yet humbled by the question and even the fact that they make you think about failure. Maybe there is something out there — a great unknown that has certainly swallowed up other top prospects. I don’t know what it is. Don’t want to know, don’t want to meet it. Don’t need to fight it. Call it the ignorance of an athlete, but I don’t mind living with that question and never finding an answer."