Adam Gase – October 22, 2017 (Postgame)
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Sunday, October 22, 2017
Postgame – New York Jets
Miami Dolphins Head Coach Adam Gase (transcribed by Michelle Stone)
(Could you update us on the quarterback situation with QB Jay Cutler?) – “Right now, they’re going to take him to get a MRI, x-ray, all that stuff, figure out what’s … Confirm. They kind of have an idea. I didn’t really get into it with them. It’s something with his chest – the chest, kind of ribs area.”
(You have a short turnaround, as you know. So, does that mean…) – “I’ll get there. I’ll probably have a better feel tonight, a little later. It’s just hard for me to say anything right now.”
(By far the team’s best offensive performance of the season. What turned for you?) – “I think early we were first and second down, staying out of third, then they really started giving us a lot of problems on third down. We were on the right guys, it was just we were getting beat one-on-one. (Jets Head Coach) Todd (Bowles) had a really good package. We prepared for the right things, we were just losing our one-on-one battles. We got a little frustrated there a little bit. We pressed. We pressed a little bit to try to stay out of the third-and-longer down and distances.”
(From the passing point of view, collectively, QB Jay Cutler and QB Matt Moore threw for over 300 yards. In terms of finally getting that going, there are some key plays in there as well. Your whole emphasis has been doing jobs. Do you feel like that was done today?) – “I think we were doing a better job at certain points. There were a few things where we missed some opportunities. We’ve just got to keep cleaning things up and trying be a little more detailed, and we’ll have less missed opportunities like we had today.”
(QB Matt Moore came in just firing away from the beginning. Was that what you expected?) – “Yes. When you’ve called like I’ve called enough games for him – and I know it hasn’t been many, but last year – but the best thing for me is just dialing up the things I absolutely know he knows and let those guys do everything they can to make plays. We had some good matchups. Jarvis (Landry) made some really big plays in critical times. There were a couple of times where he bought enough time and threw it to the spot he knew the guy was going to be at. Kenny (Stills) stepped up big time too and made some really big plays.”
(QB Matt Moore coming into the game, giving you a spark. What is it about him coming in that makes that happen for you?) – “I think we just … It’s one of those things when you know a guy goes down, other guys step up. The great thing about Matt is that he’s a veteran. We’ve done this before. He has a knack for going out there and playing the game without fear. He prepares the right way. He does everything right during the week to allow him to play like that. He just knows when his number is called, he’s got to go out there and pick up right where we were going. If we get some of those third downs cleaned up earlier, we would’ve had some more production. He did a good job of making some plays when we needed to.”
(I’m sure you were asked earlier, but QB Jay Cutler – his status and where’s at?) – “I’ll find out more tonight. Right now, he’s … They’ve got him … The MRI, x-rays – they got to do all kinds of stuff to see exactly what’s going on.”
(It looked like there was frustration on the sideline. Obviously, you were down 14 and then all of a sudden, you sprung back and everyone kind of had gone back into the game. You had WR Kenny Stills big play. WR Jarvis Landry served a big play. CB Bobby McCain big play. Where did the energy come from?) – “A lot of it comes from when we’re struggling a little bit, and we’re losing some one-on-one matchups, guys they get frustrated a little bit. The good thing was Jarvis did a good job of keeping the guys heading in the right direction. We had a few more injuries upfront when Laremy (Tunsil) went down. I was trying to get a feel calling plays to make sure I didn’t put Jesse (Davis) in a bad spot too early. I kind of let him get a feel for what he was doing. So, it took us a second to regroup. Defense did a good job of making some plays and keeping us in the game. It just took one [play], next thing you know you’re back in the game.”
(It certainly helped that you got TE Anthony Fasano involved. Big play down the middle that ends up with a touchdown. For a guy who hasn’t caught many balls, he certainly came up big for you.) – “We keep trying to get him more involved. We’ve called his number a few times, but we haven’t gotten the right coverage. He’s kind of our secret weapon in the passing game that no one knows about until today. We’ve been working him in practice. We just have to keep trying to find ways to get him involved in the offense.”
(You get another win, you put yourself at 4-2. It’s got to be a pretty enviable position for you right now.) – “Right now, we’re going to enjoy this probably for about two more hours and then we’re on to the next one.”
(We saw this last year with QB Matt Moore – what is it about his personality that just seems to put such a charge into the huddle?) – “Any time your backup quarterback goes in, you know he hasn’t had any reps all week. Guys know they have to be on it. They have to be exactly where they’re supposed to be, because he’s really going off of almost pictures and what he sees on film. There’s no margin for anybody else to really make any error, because that’s going to put him in a really bad spot. I think guys really dialed in. He did a good job of making the throws when we needed him to make the throws. They brought some pressure and Matt did a good job of buying time and made a great throw.”
(Why were WR Jarvis Landry and WR Kenny Stills able to excel with two quarterbacks today?) – “We tried to open it up a little bit and do some things to push the ball down the field. We kind of weren’t really worried about what was the result was going to be. We were going to try to make sure that we took the top off and made them play honest. That was one of the things we felt like Atlanta started creeping in, playing pretty tight. We felt like that was the best way to play the game. Towards the end of the game, we tried to push it down the field a little bit, but this game we were going to make sure that, that wasn’t going to happen again.”
(The field conditions looked less than ideal. How much did it hurt the run game, particularly, and secondarily have you been told as to what’s going on with it and how it can be rectified?) – “With the run game, every time we play these guys it’s tough. Any time you play a sivision game, upfront (and) those linebackers are playing well right now. I know nobody is really talking about those guys, but it’s not like we’ve ever really played those guys and ripped off a great running game. Even when we played them here last year, our two runs that gave us what looked like good numbers were the last two runs of the game, and they were really kind of gadget-type runs. So, they’ve always played us tough. They played us tough again today. We tried to stay committed to the run and see if we can pop one of those things off. Those guys are tough. The field, it is what it is. They’ve got to play on it too. We just go with what … However the conditions are, it is what it is.”
