Share This Article:
 
 
 
 

Last week, Phins.com had the opportunity to visit with Miami Dolphins QB John Beck (2^nd round, BYU). John shared his thoughts on the move from Utah to South Florida, learning to play QB in the NFL, and preparing himself to become the team’s starting QB.

 

On living in South Florida

We like it a lot. It’s actually very similar to where I grew up in Arizona. So I feel right at home. The heat’s a little different, whereas there is a dry heat (in Arizona) and here is that humid heat. My wife and I have enjoyed it a lot. We enjoy the place that we live at. We’ve had a lot of fun.

 

On if being 26 makes it easier to adjust to the NFL

You know, it’s funny because I don’t feel like there’s an age difference. When I’m with (the other rookies) I don’t feel like I’m the old guy. I feel like I’ve had a lot of experiences in my life where it has made the transition very comfortable for me. Nothing has really surprised me a ton. That might be due to the fact that I’ve experienced a lot of things in life that have been changes. I went from living in the United States to living in Europe (Portugal) for two years, not knowing the language. Adapting from the United States to a foreign country is a whole lot more difficult than going from the college experience to the NFL. I think age has helped as far as the experiences I’ve had in my life.

 

Comparing the complexity of the Dolphins’ offensive system versus BYU’s system

There’s a lot of similarities. I would say that the first thing that jumps out is the wordiness of everything at this level, because there’s so many things that (the Dolphins) do. It’s so much more specific to each person. The college system I came from (BYU), most of the playcalls are very short.

 

On if it is harder to read NFL defenses

All defenses get into the same thing. At this level (NFL), how they disguise things is better; you’ve got guys with a lot of speed, they’re more knowledgeable, more experienced. When you start looking at some teams, the guys in their secondary, one guy’s played 10 years, one guy’s played 8 years, one guy played 12 years. Those guys, they know the little ins and outs of how to confuse somebody. You’ve definitely got to be on your toes. The defense may be trying to do something to get you to think one thing, but you’ve got to take it for what it is and finally see what they end up into. Scheme-wise, everything is the same…3-deep/4-under, 4-deep/3-under…how they get to (their true look) at this level sometimes is a little different.

 

At the college level, most guys sit a year. Some of them, if they’re lucky, play as a sophomore. The majority actually play two years in college football. So you have two years where you’re not really getting the ultimate coaching until those last two years where you really start to study yourself. The way the process goes is, you learn, then you get more comfortable with what you learned, then you see how you can improve on what you learned, and then you perfect it. Well, when you’ve got guys in this league that (are in) their 9^th-10^th season, they’ve gone through that whole process and they’ve been years and years watching themselves and knowing how to perfect (their game), how (they) can make it look like (they’re) not coming. (For example), there was a play last year (involving) Ronde Barber (Bucs CB) and it was against the Eagles and he knew that it was his role to jump the inside receiver. But he knew that in the blitz they were in, as he jumped the inside receiver, the QB (Donovan McNabb) was going to throw it to the outside guy. So (Barber) jumped like he was going to take the inside receiver, went back out, picked it off and ran it back for a (37 yard) touchdown.

 

On how hard it is to be standing on the sidelines instead of playing

It’s very different. I had an opportunity to play a lot of games in college (and) I was always running with the main guys that were out there playing. I did that the whole time I was there. So it’s different to be in this situation. But I’m actually glad it’s happened to me because I’m learning a lot from it. They always talk about rookies coming into the league and you gotta earn your stripes. You go through this experience because that’s what’s going to prepare you. I think it’s a great situation that I’m able to have the opportunity to learn, to be able to have the opportunity to go against our defense every day in practice. Those are experienced guys on our defense, and they’re helping me to prepare.

 

On if he is surprised at the increase in the complexity of the game from preseason to regular season

Not necessarily, because you know how preseason is. Defenses are only using specific stuff, and so are we. The thing that’s great about the preseason is that it is a good opportunity for us younger guys to get out there and play and get used to this. When the season comes, we watch teams so much on film that, come Sunday, we know certain things so nothings really surprised me. I think the biggest thing is that when I see guys that have been in this league a long time, it’s almost like they just know, scheme-wise, offensive (tendencies) and that’s what makes some defenses really good because their guys are so experienced.