Adam Gase – January 1, 2017 (Postgame)
Download PDF version
Sunday, January 1, 2017
Postgame – vs. New England
Miami Dolphins Head Coach Adam Gase (transcribed by Michelle Stone)
(Did you get the feeling that if it had not been for the RB Damien Williams fumble there that you guys were making the plays to come back to mount a comeback victory there?) – “I felt good about where we were heading on that series. We still had some work to do. I think we were going to be on the 6-(yard line) … the 6- or the 5-(yard line). We were going to go for it. So we had two downs to try to figure out a way to get in. We just can’t turn the ball over down there.”
(What was your diagnosis on the slow start?) – “I know we had some opportunities. We just didn’t quite execute a couple of things quite right. There are probably a couple of calls I’d take back. We just didn’t stay ahead of the stakes, which you can’t do against these guys. You can’t. You can’t leave yourself in third-and-longs and expect to consistently move the ball. We didn’t stop their offense fast enough. We just didn’t really play as well early as we needed to.”
(Defensively, early on, you were down 20-0 and it was tough tackling guys. It seemed like everything they were doing was working, even getting moves on the interior line of scrimmage to pick up yards. What do you have to do going forward next week to try to get that resolved?) – “We have to look at it to see what’s really going on and make corrections and make sure guys are doing their jobs the correct way. It’s hard to really see everything from the angles that we have on the sidelines. Sometimes it takes watching the tape to see where we were loose or if somebody was doing something they shouldn’t have been doing, or if they were just being more physical than us. It’s hard to tell from the sideline.”
(How frustrating is it to be there and watch QB Tom Brady meticulously work the ball down the field and seemingly at will?) – “He’s a Hall of Fame quarterback. It happens. A lot. We have to try to figure out a way to get a negative play or get our hands on a ball and possisbly get a turnover or create some kind of fumble. You’re looking for that one play. He’s a tough guy to defend and it’s a tough offense to defend and they have a lot of answers. You have to try to find that one negative play.”
(What did you do or what did you change when you got the touchdown at the end of the first half? You came out and put a drive together and scored. It seemed like things were headed in your direction at that point.) – “We felt, getting the score there in the end, them missing a field goal, and having an opportunity to start the second half, that was a big thing for us. We talk about it a lot, trying to get points at the end of the half to start the second half out and try to score again, and try to swing the game without their offense trying to touch the ball. We felt good. We felt like we had a chance, that we were right where we wanted to be. We let up the long touchdown but still there was so much time left that we felt like we had the opportunity to at least be in the game in the fourth quarter.”
(You touched on it a little bit before, being on the 6-yard line and getting ready to make it a 27-21 ball game and you get the fumble that takes it all the way back and pretty much was the end of the deal then. How tough is that?) – “Any time you have the opportunity to get back in the game and where we were and [how] guys kept fighting … It’s frustrating. I know it’s frustrating for those guys; it’s frustrating for the coaching staff – certainly on the sideline when you’re down there and you turn it over. It crushes you, especially with the turn of the field position that we had. We put the defense in a bad spot. That’s tough sledding when you’re trying to mount a comeback.”
(What was your message to your guys in the locker room after the ball game?) – “That we have to learn from this. We have to forget it quickly and understand that we are playing next week and we have to get ourselves ready.”
(I know you haven’t asked the question and you don’t know the answer, but from a protocol standpoint, what is the protocol for finding out if QB Ryan Tannehill can play next week?) – “I’ll have to ask the doctor where he’s at. I don’t even know where he’s at right now. I see him walking around, so I don’t know what that means.”
(Does that question come on Monday?) – “Probably. Like I said before, I’m going to make the call on it. If I don’t feel comfortable with it, then Matt [Moore] will stay the starting quarterback. I need to get a lot of information: I have to see him practice and I have to see him move around and I have to feel really good about it. I’m not going to jeopardize his career by throwing him out there and then extending this thing longer than what it already is. I’m going to make sure that the right decision is made.”
(How did you feel that QB Matt Moore played?) – “I thought he did well. The turnover … I know what he saw. Kenny [Stills] snapped his route off and his guy fell off and didn’t come with him, and he had already thrown the ball. He was trying to make a play. In that situation, you’re fighting for every inch and just trying to make sure that we’re possessing the ball. It was bad timing, especially at that moment of the game. I feel like he’s done a great job being in there. He’s protected the football, he’s operated the offense very well, and he’s led those guys. He’s done a good job and we just have to build on what we’ve done the last three and a half games with him and just try to find a way to put him in the right position.”
(Does your victory over Pittsburgh earlier this year give you any confidence or give you guys a better mindset for next week?) – “We’re a different team now. They’re a different team. Both of us have different players. I don’t know how much our rosters really match up. If you look at our roster at that time and our roster now and the same thing for them, that’s what makes this part of the season interesting. We have a lot of different guys playing and really what it comes down to is who’s going to win the turnover margin, who’s going to be the best team in the red zone, and who’s going to convert on third down. Whomever usually wins those sections of the game, those are the teams that win.”
(You got a nice round of cheers from the fans coming off the field, a send-off since you’re going on the road. What are your thoughts about that?) – “I think our fans have done a great job. It’s disappointing that we didn’t do a better job today. They’ve supported us all year. They’ve been great for our defense, how into the game they are and how loud they are, making it hard for the other team’s offense. For us to come out there and put out a performance like this … We didn’t execute. We just didn’t play well. They outplayed us, they outcoached us, and they did a better job than what we did. It’s unfortunate that we put that kind of product on the field today.”
(With DE Mario Williams not playing today, what went into that decision?) – “I just felt like (Terrence) Fede was playing really well. At some point I have to make a decision with some of the special teams things we have going on and some of the injuries we’ve had, we’re moving a lot of guys around. We had been going in with nine defensive linemen a lot of those times, which we feel like has been good. We feel like that’s been the strength of our defense. I don’t think anybody would disagree. But we’ve had some situations where we need to get special teams guys up in the defensive backfield.”
