Head Coach Adam Gase – December 24, 2016 (Postgame)
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Saturday, December 24, 2016
Postgame – at Buffalo
Miami Dolphins Head Coach Adam Gase (as transcribed by the Buffalo Bills)
Q: What did you tell the team after?
A: You have tomorrow off. I didn’t give them much. We have another game left so we have to take care of business.
Q: That game could’ve gone either way a few times. What do you take out of that for the team?
A: We have a lot to clean up. Our guys have a lot of fight though and they kept battling. We had some opportunities we missed, but so did they. It was just one of those games. Basically, last possession was going to win the game.
Q: Jay Ajayi’s running was obviously a big factor. He hadn’t had a big game like that in awhile. Was that just the way it played out today?
A: Yeah, a lot of it has to do with that our line has been banged up pretty good. We’ve lost a lot of guys and have really been in and out. This is probably the first game since San Diego where we’ve been pretty much healthy. And Jay’s been running hard the whole time but it makes a difference when those guys are healthy and running and feeling like we felt today and headed to the run game before the game even started.
Q: How much of today was about fighting for what you deserve and what you wanted?
A: I can’t say enough about how our guys fought through. A lot of things weren’t going the way we wanted it to go and we just kept battling. The chatter on the sideline was good even when things looked pretty bad. But, one side really was picking up the other side and that’s really how it’s been all season. Somebody has stepped up at the right time. When we need a big play for special teams and they delivered, and then offense does their part and defense comes through. It just seems like what the whole year has been.
Q: It seems like nothing comes easy for this football team, but you continue to come back and make plays and get wins.
A: It is what it is. That’s how the whole season has gone and our guys are used to it. Fortunately, we keep coming out on the right end of the results of the game. I wish they would make it a little less stressful but it’s just what it is.
Q: Were you sure about that 55-yard field goal going into it?
A: I was just glad it wasn’t 60. It was close enough. I’ve seen them make it in practice all the time. He hit it just good enough.
Q: What happened on the sideline with the commotion?
A: I just saw Jakeem [Grant] get hit and then it was just a bunch of bodies. After that I didn’t really see much. I just saw guys from the other team coming on our sideline. I mean there were a lot of bodies in there. We were just trying to make sure we kept everyone else back. We didn’t need one of our guys getting thrown out of the game because obviously we needed everybody.
Q: What about your range of emotions throughout this game? How was that train ride?
A: That’s a normal NFL game. I don’t know if I had any ups or downs. I think at the end I got a little irritated when the clock goes down to one second and they pump it back up and I had to burn a time out.
Q: Did you expect to have the same type of rushing game today that you did last time?
A: It’s a good front. When we had 200 yards earlier in the season, I don’t think we ever thought we were going to do it again. It’s tough. It’s an eight-man box most of the time. It’s not an easy thing to accomplish. I felt like our guys came in with a purpose today and we were just trying to make sure we established a solid running game and stayed ahead of the sticks. We tried to go first down, second down, first down and we played five quarters. Jay busted out a couple big ones there at the end.
Q: How did you feel about Matt Moore and the way he handled today?
A: Early, I didn’t get him in a very good rhythm. It was a little spotty when we were going into the wind. We kind of had our thought process of how we wanted to handle that. We wanted to make sure we were smart and shorten the quarter up as much as we could. He had a good run there with a couple series and we let him go a little bit and throw the ball. But, my thought going into the game was making sure Jay was in a great rhythm and stayed with it. Matt’s job today was really to fill in the pieces and be great on third down. We needed him to be accurate.
Q: Defensively, trying to stop the run: you still have another game left, what do you do here?
A: Look back, watch the tape, make the corrections. We knew they were the number one rushing team in football coming into this game and probably have the best back in football. The quarterback did a great job today. It’s a tough scheme to stop and it’s a good coaching staff. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy but we did everything we could to make sure we came out on top.
Q: You have one more regular season game to play, you’re 10 and five and with the turn around, it has to be an accomplishment that you feel pretty good about.
A: We have one more game left and then we’ll see what happens after that. But, right now, it’s no time to start popping champagne or anything.
Q: Will you take some time to watch the Denver game tomorrow?
A: We’ll see.
