From Pats comparisons to playoff hopes, Van Noy’s bold words should fire up Dolphins fans
The Miami Dolphins paid Kyle Van Noy a mountain of cash to change their defense.
On Sunday, he gets his first chance to pay them back — and at the same time, get a little payback after years of aggravation.
Van Noy joins his new team — the Dolphins, who in March pledged to pay him $30 million guaranteed — in a season-opening throw-down against his old team — the Patriots, who won two Super Bowls during his four years there.
This one means a lot, and Van Noy — the 29-year-old linebacker — didn’t even try to hide it Wednesday.
“They’re familiar with me,” Van Noy said. “I’m familiar with them. I’m excited for this task. They’ve been talking trash for the four years that I’ve been there, so I’m excited to see if we both can back it up.”
Bill Belichick always talks up opposing players more than he talks up his own. But he also knows Van Noy better than most any player on the Dolphins’ roster — and probably better than many on his own.
So his words on his topic carry extra weight.
“Kyle is a good football player,” Belichick said recently. “He’s versatile. He can do a lot of things. He’s smart. He’s got good size, good playing strength, very athletic, can cover, good football instincts. Good football player.”
And good talker, too.
Van Noy is a team captain in his first season with the Dolphins, a sign of his juice inside the Dolphins locker room.
The Dolphins are paying him to be a cornerstone piece on their organizational rebuild. And he doesn’t take that task lightly.
“This city I believe hasn’t won a playoff game in 20 years,” Van Noy said. “That is one of our goals. We’re reaching pretty high and we hope we can obtain it and bring this city some good football.”
When observers compare the Patriots and Dolphins, that side-by-side usually doesn’t put Miami in a flattering light.
Van Noy, meanwhile, sees important similarities.
“From the top down, [the Patriots organization] was ran a really, really positive way,” he said. “Just like here, it’s run really, really well. I’m excited to be a Miami Dolphin. I feel like they are investing a lot into our success. We have a new facility coming around. They invested a lot in off-the-field things that we as players want they really, really want us to be successful. I hope we can be successful for this city.”
When asked why the Dolphins, who have had just one winning season since 2008, are headed in the right direction, Van Noy responded:
“I know what winning looks like, structurally. [Brian Flores], I respect him a lot. He’s doing a really, really good job. We’re not taking any shortcuts. I wasn’t here last year, but the guys, you can tell, worked their ass off. This year, we continued that. For me to be a part of that and to be elected a captain from my peers, I’m honored and just hope we can take this first game — it’s a big game — and go up there with the mindset of winning.
“That’s what they want to do, that’s what we want to do. It’s going to be a really really high-competitive game right off the bat and I’m excited for it. It’s what you wish for as a kid, playing. You’re playing against a rival team, at their home, opening game, through all the craziness going on, try to be a light for people off the field and on the field. It’s a good way to start.”
▪ Van Noy will have many responsibilities Sunday, not the least of which is to keep Cam Newton in a box.
Van Noy, who sacked Newton in a previous meeting, said the key to slowing down the former league MVP is “just [having] all 11 on the same page. I think that’s what it takes. Every guy doing his job, as cliche has it sounds, it’s really what it takes. whether you’re blitzing, you’ve got to keep him in the pocket or you’re playing zone, everybody has their eyes back to the quarterback, everybody’s got to do those little things against a running quarterback.
“Be able to hit him, just like any quarterback, you’ve got to be able to continue to put that pressure on him and sustain it all four quarters. It’s not easy to do in this league, but when you do it, it’s usually when you come out with a good outcome.”
▪ The Dolphins released their first league-required injury report of the season, and it has six players as limited in practice Wednesday: Kyle Van Noy (hand); tight end Mike Gesicki (glute); cornerbacks Xavien Howard (knee) and Byron Jones (Achilles); and receivers DeVante Parker (hamstring) and Preston Williams (knee).
