Adam Gase – November 27, 2016 (Postgame)
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Sunday, November 27, 2016
Postgame – vs. San Francisco
Miami Dolphins Head Coach Adam Gase (transcribed by Michelle Stone)
(What did you think of Ryan’s [Tannehill] decision-making under pressure today?) – “He did a good job. I’m sure we want to get back that sack that we had there late in the game when we had a chance for a field goal. I think it was after [Kenyan] Drake’s kickoff return. That would probably be the only time. It was more the play call than anything. You heard that call come in. He’s turning away from Jarvis [Landry], coming out of his break, and the pocket collapsed on him. For the most part he made some great decisions. He got outside of the pocket. He saved us a couple of times, made some great plays on the move.”
(Were you surprised at how well San Francisco’s run defense held up against you? It seemed like they kind of sold out.) – “Not really. They’d been showing that with what we’ve seen on tape. That’s what we go off of. We don’t look at the rankings or anything like that. We just knew that we had a tough matchup and we had some new bodies in as far as guys trying to play together so far as chemistry goes. There were a couple of times where we may have had a couple of things that were just kind of click off. It’s something that we have to learn from. Guys being able to jump in there and play together…Jay [Ajayi] did a good job of sticking with his courses. He did a great job so far as trying to make some suggestions that he felt like he could contribute and gain some yards on.”
(With them controlling the running game, how important was it for Ryan [Tannehill] to have the type of day that he had today?) – “That’s what we were talking on the sidelines [about]. We noticed how they were playing early. We look at is as [being] a little disrespectful, as they didn’t think we could really throw the ball, so we thought that was something we wanted to lean on.”
(How comfortable – it looks like Ryan [Tannehill] is a lot more comfortable just doing everything out there – getting out of the pocket, throwing the deep ball, doing everything. It just seems like his confidence is getting better and better every week.) – “Any time you get in a new system, it takes a second to kind of get used to it. You have to go through some growing pains. Obviously we did. I think just the timing, the group being together, and the group being able to practice together, develop through some games, go through some rough patches, that’s just part of the process. The longer the season goes, the better you hopefully get. You just don’t want to go down. I don’t think we have. I think we’ve gotten better. This week was a tough week for us as we’re a little banged up again outside, so we didn’t get as many reps as we wanted to in the passing game. I thought the guys went out there and executed our plan pretty well.”
(There have been times where you guys have won and you haven’t been pleased. Are you pleased with the way your team played today?) – “I’m pleased with the way our guys fought. That was a tough game. I thought San Francisco really came out today as tough as anybody we’ve played. They had a great scheme. The defensive scheme was tough. Any time you go in there against Colin [Kaepernick] it’s tough. You are slightly wrong as far as what you’re rush scheme is. And if someone just makes the slightest error, he’s able to get into the open field. It’s tough. He’s a tough guy to bring down. He makes good decisions as far as when he is running, when to get down, when he can keep going. Then he made some really good throws on the move. It’s a tough offensive. You start getting a little bit of the up-tempo, the fatigue…there are a lot of factors that go in there when you play that offense.”
(San Fran has one play at the two-yard line to tie, fans are holding their breath – how do you experience that and the result?) – “The good thing for us is that every Friday we do a ‘last play of the game,’ offense versus defense. I feel like the defense has won the last seven weeks. I was like, if they don’t win this one, I’m going to be slightly upset because they drum us every week, so it was good to see. It was what they practice. It’s what they do every week. They do a good job of figuring out how to stop the offense on one play.”
(Are you starting to feel more and more about this football team that it’s becoming the complete football team that you’re looking for?) – “I think it was a good sign for us as far as if one side struggled on a series then the opposite side would try to get something going. The same with special teams where we’d allow a score and then all of a sudden we’d have a good return. It’s just that everybody is trying to pick each other up. That’s part of the team-building part of this, and that’s what our process is. That’s what we’ve been talking about since the beginning. Things haven’t always gone right and guys haven’t wavered. They’d just keep on working, they practice hard. It’s great to see our guys have fun at the end of the day. That locker room was excited because they understand that a win in this league is hard to come by. It’s about being 1-0 at the end of that week.”
(How about those three guys on the left side of the offensive line. It seemed like they held up extremely well.) – “That was not an easy thing to do. Just jumping in there and know you’re starting…they did a good job as far as the reps they got this week. Feeling what’s going on with the quarterback, the running back. You try to get that chemistry brewing as fast as possible. It’s not always an easy thing to do, but I thought our guys did a good job of wiring it in, staying on the details, and they fought. They fought for 60 minutes.”
(When you saw how they were playing defensively early, were you tempted to go away from the running game? You did – you had 17 passes, 16 runs at the half, I think.) – “My thought was, it’s always going to be stay with Jay [Ajayi] because as the game goes on, he wears on the defense. He’s a big guy who if he breaks loose of just one-arm tackle it can be an explosive play. A couple of times he came back and he was a shoelace away from popping a couple of these and there were a couple of situations where we felt like the passing game was the best call with what they were doing. So that’s why we leaned on him a little more today. When we start up next week, we reevaluate what’s the best thing to do for that week.”
(We saw Kiko Alonso make a few more plays today. What has he meant for the defense?) – “He’s been consistent all year. The energy level he brings, he works, like every team does, from the beginning of the week to Sunday. He’s been a great addition for our organization. He’s one of those guys where you’re glad he’s with you. We just love watching him play. The way that he hits and tackles, his ball skills are probably rare for a linebacker. He really plays with a passion for the game and that’s what you want all of your guys to have.”
(Any news on DeVante [Parker]?) – “We’re still in the evaluation stage right now. I know he fell on his back and his lower back just kind of locked up on him. We’ll evaluate that a little more. I’ll know more tomorrow.”
(Jakeem Grant – what about his status as a punt returner?) – “He’ll be back there next week. It happens. That was a good decision by [Assistant Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Darren] Rizzi as far as what he felt like we needed to do for the game. It’s just like everything else. You reload next week. You’ve got to just keep getting them better and just know what he can do when he gets into a rhythm. He pops one of those, no one will be upset.”
(You guys came to a decision…I think it was fourth down, I think it would have been a 57-yard field goal. You didn’t try to get them to jump.) – “At that time, it was fourth and…I don’t know what it was, forever, right? I mean, they’re not going to jump. That was my decision. I just felt like the way that [P Matt] Darr seems to come through for us – it was a good punt, I think he slipped on the play. We had a chance to pin them back there. I know it’s not really something that everyone looks at and loves when it’s a touchback, but I have a lot of confidence in him to put that thing inside the five.”
(Did any plays or passes of Ryan’s stand out to you? You know the calls, you know what goes into the decisions he has to make.) – “He made a lot of them because there are a couple of them that were really bad calls, and he did a really good job so far as making the play. It would have been nice to see if DeVante would have got the – that was a really, really good play. Anytime I see him move to his left and he starts to throw it downfield, I get a little nervous. But that was a great throw and he made a great catch. It’s just that his hand touched the ground first.”
(This team hasn’t won six straight games in 11 years. Is this significant?) – “We’re not looking at it like this. We just know our job is to win each week and now we’ve got to reload and we have another tough game coming up. We have to go on the road again and we’ve got to find a way to be 1-0 at the end of next week.”
