Adam Gase – December 11, 2016 (Postgame)
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Sunday, December 11, 2016
Postgame – Arizona
Miami Dolphins Head Coach Adam Gase (transcribed by Michelle Stone)
(Any word on QB Ryan Tannehill, the status of his injury?) – “We don’t have [word] officially yet, but it doesn’t look good. We’ll get it confirmed tomorrow.”
(Sloppy game out there with the weather and all things. Seven turnovers I believe was the total at the end of the football game. Are you happy with the way your team bounced back after a very difficult week last week?) – “We found a way to win against a tough team. There was nothing pretty about that. We knew it coming into it. We talked about it last night. It was going to be about who could hold onto the ball and who could handle the fact that it was going to be off and on rain. Our guys did everything they possibly could to try to do that. We had a couple plays where it was competitive, and we let the ball slip out a couple times on offense. Our defense did a great job. They just kept fighting and finding ways to get us the ball back.”
(Can you talk a little bit about QB Matt Moore? It seemed like the first couple [of plays] you were kind of conservative handing the ball off and then when you needed to move the ball down, he came up with a couple of big throws. Certainly, the big throw to WR Kenny Stills when he had a lot of pressure on him and Kenny made a great adjustment on that play. Can you talk about that a little bit?) – “My thought process initially was to try to get him comfortable with me calling … I haven’t called a play for him since (preseason Week 2 at) Dallas. So, it has been a minute. I just wanted him to be able to hear me call the plays. It’s one thing to do it in practice; it’s another thing to do it in this situation. I was trying to get him into the flow of the game that way. I was a little conservative early, but when we needed it, we knew exactly what we wanted to go to. We were talking about that quite a bit with the quarterback group. He executed exactly what we had talked about a couple of days ago. The guys did a great job. Everyone stepped up and did their part.”
(Is the concern that QB Ryan Tannehill has an ACL?) – “Yes.”
(The resilience that your team showed once again, what can you say about it? Where does that come from?) – “I think we’ve just got a bunch of fighters. Guys were … When we started this thing off, we said a lot of the right things, and it was more about going out and doing them. I think once we got out of training camp, and we started off the way we started off, I think there started to be less talk, more action. Guys really took it upon themselves to find ways to get better, find ways to execute more consistently. That’s why we’ve had the results we’ve had in some of these tight games where they lean back on their preparation, they’re executing correctly – and at the end of the day – guys are making plays.”
(It’s one thing to lose whatever player – X, Y, or Z – it’s another to lose your starting quarterback, potentially. What do you tell the team in terms of moving forward?) – “You’ve got to go next man up just like every other position. That’s why we signed Matt (Moore) back this offseason. It was one of those things where he looking, we were kind of looking, and at the end of the day – when we had our meeting – we felt like it was the right fit for both of us. I just know that I’m glad he’s here.”
(Can you tell us anything about QB Ryan Tannehill’s demeanor? I saw reports that it appeared he had tears in his eyes on the sideline.) – “I couldn’t tell you, because I had a couple other things I was trying to deal with at the time and waiting for them to tell me what was going on and no one would really come talk to me at that point, so I figured it wasn’t good. Eventually, I just grabbed one of the guys and asked him how everything was going, and they were like, ‘We just have to get the final results the next day.’”
(Knowing how tough QB Ryan Tannehill is – he has been so durable over the years – as a coach but also someone close to him, do you feel for him not being able to go at the end of this one?) – “For a guy that has done what he has done here, the shots he has taken all season … He throws a good ball. It was a good play. We felt like we were finding ways to move the ball against a good team. For him to to not really see it coming and couldn’t really defend himself, it’s just a rough way to get knocked out of a game. He’s tough. Whatever it is, he’ll bounce back. He’ll find a way to be out there, whenever that time table is.”
(Have you seen the hit?) – “It’s football. I don’t know what to tell you. It’s what this game. It’s sometimes … Things happen.”
(Could you touch on your defense a little bit? LB Mike Hull coming in to fill in for LB Kiko Alonso comes up with the interception early. It seemed like he played pretty well.) – “I thought that our entire defense did a great job. We had more than just Kiko out. Guys stepped up again and found a way to do the job they needed to do today to get us a chance at the end. We talk about it all the time. All of these games, especially this part of the season, it’s going to come down to … Whoever has the ball last, usually that’s what it’s going to come down to. Our defense did a great job of getting the ball back, and then the offense did a great job as far as finding a way to get us close. Special teams, that last one, it looked like they came around the edge pretty quick, so I’m just glad it went through.”
(How much of the sloppiness of this game was the weather conditions?) – “All of it. It’s tough to do anything. You saw … We go under center and fumble the ball; they do the same thing. It was not easy by any means.”
(What did you see of the extra point that DT Jordan Philips blocked and S Walt Aikens returned?) – “I just saw Walt running with the ball and hoping that he scored. It’s always a nice surprise when you get a free two points.”
(Have you had a chance to talk to QB Ryan Tannehill? Did you say anything to him?) – “Not yet.”
