Trent Green Press conference transcript
By Brian Miller
TRENT GREEN’S INTRODUCTORY DOLPHINS-RELEASED TRANSCRIPT
“Thank you. I appreciate that Cam. First off, to echo what Cam said, I want to thank Randy Mueller for his diligence and patience in getting this deal done. Also, Carl Peterson for working with Randy and getting this thing worked out. This is something, like Cam said, we’ve been talking for several weeks and the excitement for us has been building for some time to be able to get back together. We spent a couple years together in Washington and just the excitement of this offense and what we know this offense is capable of doing. We’ve been talking a lot about the personnel, the new guys that the Dolphins brought in and I’m just excited to be down here and looking forward to the minicamp this weekend, the OTA’s the following week and getting to know my teammates and get to be a part of something really special.
“I think everybody knows what this defense has done here over the many years and it’s time that the offense catches up. I’m just excited that I’m going to try to be a part of that and just really looking forward to that. I also want to take some time to thank Kansas City, thank the Chiefs, thank Carl Peterson and the Hunt family. It was a great six years there. One place that was very special to me and one that my family appreciated greatly. We had a great run of six years and it was a situation where they wanted to move on and go younger. I understand that and I had asked Carl if I found an opportunity to move forward with that. So I’m excited that Carl was able to follow through with that and that Randy, like I said, had patience enough to get it done. So I want to thank the Chiefs organization for that time there and for the six years that I had there. It was a great six years for me and my family, but the thing I want to mostly get across is my wife and I are extremely excited to come down to Miami and make this our home. We’re going to be looking immediately to find a home to move down. I always think that’s an important part of being a quarterback is to be a part of the community. It’s something that I’ve done in the different teams that I’ve been in. It’s important to live there. It’s important to get your family involved in the community. It’s important to have your kids in school there. It’s important to be involved in community work and that is something that is very strong in our hearts and something we want to get down here as soon as we can. So, we’re just excited about it. The kids are excited about it. My wife’s excited about it. We’re looking for a fresh start and to be a part of something really special. Having played Miami the last two seasons, I know what there defense is about and I’m excited about being a part of turning the offense around and putting a winner on the field for the fans of the Dolphins.
(On if the Dolphins offense is similar to Kansas City’s) – “It is. The base system itself is the same. Like Cam just touched on, it’s probably about 80-85 percent the same terminology. It’s all the same offense. It’s like part of the country calls it soda and part of it calls it pop, that kind of how it’s evolved. When you go Norv Turner, Ernie Zampese, Joe Gibbs, Mike Martz, Cam Cameron, Al Saunders, they all kind of put their own little twist on it. There are different variations that come with the offense, but the base part of the offense – the fundamentals, the reads, the shifts, the movements and those types of things – those aren’t different. I know when we moved from Washington to St. Louis, Mike and I did, there was some things that we had to change just to make it easier for the linemen to understand the protections based on what they had done in previous years. From St. Louis to Kansas City, Al Saunders got with the offensive coaches and said, ‘this is what we call it.’ They said, ‘well, in our system we call it this,’ so we tweaked it a little bit. It’s going to be the same thing. I don’t see it being too much of a problem. It is going to be more the terminology, but the base fundamentals of the offense have maintained the same.”
(On how unsettling the Dolphins offensive line is to him with there possibly being a new starter at every position) – “I guess you can look at it two ways. Maybe it’s an untapped resource that people don’t realize how good it is. The other thing is maybe there is going to be a learning curve. We’ll just have to see. I know that Cam excited about the changes that have happened on the offensive line and I trust him. That is one of the things that we talked about over the last several weeks. We went through some changes in Kansas City last season and there were some growing pains with the guys we had. I asked him about the changes he was making on the offensive line and what direction he was going to have to go and I feel comfortable with that. I feel comfortable knowing Cam as an evaluator and Cam as a play-caller to put people in position to have success. You look at what he was able to do last year as offensive coordinator of the San Diego Chargers and started a rookie left tackle and it ended up being one of the best offenses, if not the best offense, in the league last year. That was with a rookie left tackle. It’s getting different now with the shift to the right tackle position, but the left tackle position for most teams is the most important spot. His talent as a play-caller and a talent evaluator, I have the utmost confidence in so I feel good about that.”
(On if he has had a chance learn the Dolphins playbook while waiting for the trade to be completed) – “None of that had taken place. I was still a member of the Chiefs so by no means did they give me a playbook. I just had conversations with Terry (Shea) because frankly we only live about a mile apart in Kansas City and Carl (Peterson) had left the door open in terms of conversations taking place. I have talked with Cam and I have talked with Terry. Terry had just expressed to me, ‘Trent you are not going to have a problem when you get here because it is about 80-85 percent the same of what we’ve done in Kansas City.’ Now there is going to be a learning curve like I mentioned. Some of the terminology is a little bit different, but like I said we tweaked it a little bit going from St. Louis to Kansas City. Other than them just expressing that it is not going to be a major overhaul for me – I just had a minicamp two or three days ago in Kansas City and had to call plays and run plays there. I wasn’t studying the Miami playbook because that would not have done me any good having success in the Kansas City camp. I am looking forward getting started on that.”
(On there was ever a point when he thought the deal would not get done) – “Like I said in some previous comments, I kept my mouth shut until the draft because at that point in time there were some things said from Carl and from the Chiefs that this would be done by the draft and we would do everything we could to have it done by the draft. When it didn’t happen, then yeah, some frustration mounted. That’s when I started to have doubts about whether it would go through or not. That’s when I make my first public comments as to how the whole thing was being handled. I’m just glad it’s done. I’m glad I’m here. I am looking forward to what we are going to do this season and years to come. I think Cam has put together a great staff. A lot of guys on the staff I’ve worked with in the past – or played against – so I know a lot of what they can do and I am just excited to be here.”
(On if there was a sense of urgency for him to get here before this weekend’s minicamp) – “There has been urgency on my part since the Chiefs made it known they didn’t want me back. So yeah, I’ve had some urgency for a while. It’s kind of awkward going into a facility to train everyday when I know they are going in a different direction. They’ve made that quite clear. There has been urgency on my part for quite some time.”
(On if Cam Cameron has told him what his role will be) – “We haven’t talked about Daunte’s role if that is what you are referring to. He hasn’t talked about how that situation is going to be cleared up. From what he said here, he and Randy (Mueller) are working on things and that will be cleared up Friday. They do expect me to come in from a leadership role as far as mentoring. It seems like when you look at my career I’ve been in all the different positions, like Cam said, four, three, two, one, back to two, back to one, injured, not injured, so I think from a leadership standpoint, I bring a lot to the table because I can relate to guys, whether they are undrafted, they are street free agents, they are first-round picks, whatever they may be, I’ve pretty much experienced it.”
(On if he expects to start) – “I expected to start when I went to Washington and was behind three other guys. I have always had that expectation. Always set the bar high. I tell my kids that all the time. Set your goals high and your expectation level should always be high. If you are shooting to be third best then you have to rearrange your priorities. My ambition and my goal are to be the starter and to help this offense be the best it can be. We all know what the defense is, it’s about getting the offense better and making us better as a team.”
(On if there are any residual effects from the concussion he suffered last season) – “No, no residual effects. That’s one of the things I would like to thank the Chiefs on. I think they set the bar on how the league should handle concussions. The fact that they gave me the amount of time to recover that was necessary – I was anxious to get back weeks earlier than they let me. What they did that I think should set a trend around the league is they handed it over to the neurosurgeon and said, ‘you tell us when he is ready to come back. If it’s up to him he’ll come back a lot quicker,’ because that’s just the way most football players are. And I did. Three weeks prior I was like, ‘I need to get back, I need to get back on the field.’ They handed it all over to the neurosurgeon. They said when you give us clearance to start practicing, to start running, to start lifting, to take contact, we’ll go on your guidelines. I commend them for that. They handled that situation great.”
(On if that was his first concussion and if he has any loss of memory) – “It was my first concussion. As far as loss of memory there is about a 20-25 minute window they said I won’t ever recover. From the moment I was knocked out on the field, the first thing I really remember was the ambulance ride to the hospital. They said that was a 20-25 minute window. Other than that I remember everything.”
(On if he is fearful that there will be lingering effects) – “There isn’t because I have had one. I think the majority of those studies that have been done are on multiple concussions and on recurring concussions happening in a short time frame – guys come back too quickly. It’s called stacking when you get a concussion stacked onto another one. The fact that I had eight weeks to recover, extensive testing in a number of different areas, I don’t have that fear. The neurosurgeon, the neurophysiologist that I dealt with in Kansas City and the ones that I dealt with in Pittsburgh told me there was no documentation as far as long-term dementia, Alzheimer’s, neurological issues if you, number one, let yourself heal properly, which I think they allowed me to do and number two, don’t get them stacked. Usually the problem with stacking is returning too fast. None of those problems occurred so I don’t anticipate them being any problems. The number one thing for me coming back to the field, because I know how scared my family was when that whole thing happened, was I had to have insurance from the doctors that I was at no greater risk going back in that Raider game as I was going into the opener against Cincinnati. They gave that assurance based on the fact that everything was clear for at least three weeks. The fact that there were no symptoms, I had passed numerous neuropsych tests, that they gave me those assurances and I have not had any problems and I don’t anticipate there being any more problems.”
(On if he feels for Daunte Culpepper) – “I have been in this situation a few times. I do feel for his situation. It’s no fun. I went through it, obviously, in Kansas City these last few months. In St. Louis I got hurt, Kurt (Warner) came in, did a great job, obviously with MVP seasons and everything else, but I knew I had to move on and find a place to play so I completely understand it. The thing that gets missed in a lot of this – we play football, Daunte does that for a living, I do it for a living – you factor in the family part of it. That’s where the frustration came for me the last couple of months because I knew that I wanted to move down here, I wanted to get my family situated, I wanted to find an area, get involved in the community and all those things I touched on earlier. So I know Daunte is going through similar things having a family and those are issues you want cleared up. You don’t want it to drag out and that was something that there was potential for this to drag out that long. There was potential for Kansas City to take me all the way to training camp and see what happens. That is really what I didn’t want. I did not want to be a mid-August release or trade because then you are really put in a tough bind from a player standpoint. Like Cam said, that is going to be addressed here in the next couple days. I know they met with Daunte this morning, Randy (Mueller) met with him, and hopefully things will get cleared up quickly for him. I know it’s no fun. The whole hanging in limbo thing, that is not fun for anybody, but especially the stressed that it puts on your family. The football part of it, that’s our job and that’s what we do for a living, but he family part of it is something you deal with on an everyday basis. The emotions of dealing with your children, your spouse and your family members, that is tough on everybody.”
(On how he feels about grooming John Beck) – “It’s a little unusual. I’ve never really looked at it that way. It’s similar to what I went through last year with Brodie Croyle. The way I’ve always approached it, and Cam touched on it a little bit as well, is it’s not my job to pull him aside and teach him the offense. That is what Terry Shea is here for. That is what Cam is going to do. I think the best thing for him to do is to watch how I prepare, watch how I study tape, watch how I practice, how I interact with other players and then he has to develop his own way. I said the same thing to Brodie. I told him the same thing I’m telling you, once you see how I do it, once you see, in Brodie’s case, once you see how Damon Huard does it, you have to develop your own way to be a leader. You have to develop your own way to interact with guys in the locker room and take charge in the huddle and those kinds of things. You have to be your own personality. Don’t try to being me or don’t try being Damon. So I think John, number one, is watch and learn as much as he can. The other thing I told Brodie is I will answer anything you want to ask from an offensive standpoint – reads, progressions, shifts, movements, all those kinds of things – and I’ll tell John the same thing when I see him. Don’t hesitate to ask. I’m not trying make it a big secret. I remember a conversation I had with Bubby Brister and he was telling me one of his first few years in the league he was trying to learn and the veteran quarterback at the time, Bubby asked him a question, and he just kind of patted him on the rear and said go get him rook, you’re on your own. That doesn’t do anybody any good. Fortunately, Bubby was strong enough to overcome that and have a career. I’ll do what I can to help him. I am not going to hold his hand, but hopefully he can learn through that.”
(On being the latest to try to fill Dan Marino’s shoes) – “Well that’s a great honor. I’m a huge fan of professional football and the NFL. You’re not going to find anybody to replace Dan Marino. What he’s done for this community, number one, the charitable work that he and his wife have done, there aren’t many people that can say they’re even close to that level. As a player, his numbers speak for themselves. So I’m just going to try and be myself and try and lead the best way I know how and be a part of a winning football team and not trying to fill anybody’s shoes and trying to be Dan Marino or be anybody else for that matter. I’m just going to prepare as hard as I can, play as hard as I can and hopefully that comes across to the fans and comes across to my teammates and people realize that that’s what I’m about. I’m just about trying to help this team win and find a way to get in the end zone, score points and like I said win football games.”
(On how much longer he thinks he can play especially considering he has not played as much football as one would expect from a 37-year-old) – “My body feels great and you answered the question. The other 37-year-old quarterback in the league right now has played probably 100 or so more games than I have. So I feel from the body standpoint, I feel really good. Whether it’s two years, three years, four years, whatever it may be, as long as I feel good and I feel like I’m playing at a high level and I’m contributing to help this team win, I want to keep playing. I don’t want to put any sort of label on, ok I’m playing two more years, four more years, whatever it may be because I enjoy doing this. I enjoy coming to work everyday. I enjoy the mental part of it. I enjoy the physical part from training, the locker room atmosphere, there’s just a lot that I enjoy about it and I’m not ready to stop and I look forward to many years of playing and whenever it’s time, it’s time. But I’m not going to put any sort of restriction or cap on it.”
(On if he would continue playing if he was a backup) – “You know what, I’m just not there mentally right now. If I were I would have stayed in Kansas City. My mindset is to be a starter and I still feel like I can play at a high level. I still feel like I’ve got a lot of football left in me and I guess when that time comes when I have to make that decision there’s a lot of quarterbacks that have made that decision and have held on for three, four, five years in a backup role and done that. But right now that’s not my mindset and if it was you guys would be really worried. If I had that mindset, like I said, I would have stayed in Kansas City because that was a role they wanted me to take. I can’t say anymore than that.”
(On him not playing well after returning from his injury) – “Well I think the injury obviously has a lot to do with it. Anytime you take two months off and then try and return, it’s going to affect you even though I had practiced for a couple of weeks. The timing was different. I think a lot that had changed was our offense. Our offensive philosophy had changed – new head coach, new offensive coordinator. They had tried to maintain the offense in the preseason and then I get knocked out in the first game. So the focus really changed on offense and then kind of our approach. So when I came back I was coming back really to a new offense. Just kind of how I fit into it and how it was run, how it was called, how we all just kind of meshed together, we just never really got in sync. We did have a couple of games here and there – the Cleveland game, the Jacksonville game, series from time to time, but there never was really any continuity or fluid sustained drives. There was just a comfort zone there that was missing. But like I said, any time you miss a couple of months during the season and try to come back it makes it hard. But there was definitely a change in the atmosphere on the offensive side.”
(On what he thinks of the Dolphins offense) – “I think the potential is great. Chris Chambers obviously has been to a Pro Bowl and has played at very high level. I’ve know Chris for a couple of years. I don’t know him from the football sense but I’ve been with him at different functions and so I’ve gotten to know him and I think that I like what I read. He’s had some quotes about last year was disappointing for him and so I think anytime you come off of a disappointing season it gives you a little bit more fire, a little bit more desire and everything I’ve heard and even watching some tape today, he’s playing at a very high level and excited about what this offense is going to do and be a part of this year. Then you look at some of the young guys, Ronnie Brown and Lorenzo Booker they brought in. Did I say that right? Is it Lorenzo? I am trying to learn everybody. I know Marty Booker. I’m just trying to get everybody’s names down. You can go down a who’s who of the running backs I’ve been with, but Ronnie, I guess his rookie year, he had about a 70-yard run against us when we were here for that Friday night game. He went about 65-70 yards to open up the second half so I’ve seen it first-hand what he can do. After watching film today, he has a lot better hands than I thought. They’ve never really utilized him in that standpoint, but he did a great job of catching the ball out of the backfield from what I saw. I’m excited to work with him. There’s a lot of good, young talent and I’m excited. Like I said earlier, Cam does a great job of calling plays and putting guys in position to have success. There’s a talent that comes to calling plays and putting guys in position to have success and he has that. He’s proven that in San Diego and so I’m looking forward to that combination of things to happen.”
(On if he said he has watched film and what he has watched.) – “I’ve already watched an hour or so of the practices that have been going on the last few days just to kind of get to know my teammates. This is what this guy can do. This is what you need to work on with this guy. This is some potential plays we can do with this guy and you just start looking and evaluating and figuring out guys. I love that part of it. I spent some time today doing that.”
(On if he thinks he owes the jumpstarting of his career to Cam Cameron) – “He had a big part to do with that. He definitely did. I don’t know how much of the story Cams’ told you but in Washington there’s no indoor facility. So I went there in February of 1995 having sat out most of that year and spent a couple of weeks in Canada up in B.C. I said, ‘how are we going to do this?’ He said, ‘well there’s this little indoor soccer arena over here that the youth soccer league plays on.’ So we actually went over to this indoor barn and threw routes around there and I thought that was a little unusual, but that’s all they had at the time. He came back and talked to Norv (Turner) and Norv said, ‘what do you think?’ and he goes, ‘I think we should sign him,’ and Cam was a little shocked when Norv said okay, well let’s sign him. He just took him on his word and went from there. I definitely feel a connection to Cam and owe him a lot. Like I said, I think the world of him and his family. I think he stands for everything that’s right, just the values that he and his family have. I’m excited to reunite with him and hopefully do some great things for the Dolphins.”
Harvey Fialkov – Sun Sentinel