Robert Quinn – December 2, 2018 (Postgame)
Sunday, December 2, 2018
Postgame – Buffalo
Miami Dolphins Defensive End Robert Quinn (transcribed by Paige Jefferson)
(On getting the defense to consistently play at a high level.) – “I guess it starts with the man in the mirror. Look at yourself and how great you want to be and you focus on being consistent yourself. Like I said kind of about the defense, you have to just trust everyone. We practice during the week, you work your craft and come Sunday you got to go out there and execute. As long as you believe in your technique, your coaches, your scheme, everyone believes in each other, we can make a run. Look at our record, it could be better, it could be worse. We keep giving ourselves a chance that’s all we’re looking for.”
(Is it frustrating chasing QB Josh Allen all game? The guy is pretty elusive.) – “Yeah, my lungs hurt. (laughter) What do you all call those? Dashers? Like I said, he’s deceivingly fast and elusive. It was a headache, but we made the plays when we needed to.”
(17 points, you’ll take that every week?) – “I’ll take that every week, especially when the offensive put up however many they put up. We’ll take it.”
Minkah Fitzpatrick – December 2, 2018 (Postgame)
Sunday, December 2, 2018
Postgame – Buffalo
Miami Dolphins S Minkah Fitzpatrick (transcribed by Anthony Gutierrez)
(Your thoughts on the run that CB Xavien Howard has had this year with interceptions, especially the last couple of games?) – “Yeah I mean, four in two weeks, that’s a pretty big deal. He’s been playing really well. I mean, the whole year he’s been playing really well, shutting down whoever is in front of him. Now you’re just seeing the picks roll in. It just comes from ‘X’ doing his job. That’s what he does day in and day out. In practice and off the field, he’s always doing his job. He’s a great player. He’s kind of an under-the-radar type guy. He’s one of the best in the league right now, no doubt about that. He’s going to keep doing what he’s doing.”
(What was going through your head at the end of the game when the ball was sailing through the air?) – “(Laughter) I put my head right down just like this, and then I heard our crowd go crazy and I looked and saw the ball was on the ground, and then I said, ‘Alright, we won.’ Man, my heart was … I was sweating a lot when I saw that ball in the air.”
Cameron Wake – December 2, 2018 (Postgame)
Sunday, December 2, 2018
Postgame – Buffalo
Miami Dolphins DE Cameron Wake
What was your reaction when you saw the final play?
CAMERON WAKE: Yes! (laughter)
Can you take us through what happened?
CAMERON WAKE: He zigged left, he zigged right. I guess everybody knew it was going to be the last play of the game and he was doing whatever he could to buy time to get his receivers down the field. I don’t remember who it was, but I know I was one of the guys chasing him around. He kept giving ground and he launched it up there. I don’t know who it was. Was it (Charles) Clay? Buddy Charles back there in the end zone. He didn’t make the play, so I guess that’s pretty much it.
There are people I talked in the locker room that said they had no idea who he was throwing to because all the action was going to the left and there was nothing to the right.
CAMERON WAKE: I can assure you I wasn’t looking at receivers or coverage. I had a job to do at the time, so I didn’t know what was going on back there. I’m focused ahead. A win for the good guys.
I imagine that it’s a royal pain when there’s a guy back there holding a football and he’s doing that. But what is the toll that, that takes over four quarters?
CAMERON WAKE: I think it’s two sides of the sword. If you have a guy who … (If) the necessity is for him to do that, that means obviously your front is getting after him, there’s pressure, guys are winning. Getting back there, I don’t know, I wouldn’t say it was easy, but it wasn’t necessarily the issue. It’s once you get back there, now you have to go from pass rusher to linebacker and you’ve got to corral somebody who’s trying to not necessarily throw the ball but run and get yardage and there’s more of them blocking there than there is of us rushing. It’s going to be a lane somewhere and good guys are going to find it. He got out there a couple times. But again, pick your poison: you want them throwing it or you want them running it? I think over the course of a game you can look at it either way. But it was exciting to say the least. I’ll say that.
I know you guys get measured by sacks. But what you just said is true. You were winning at getting, kind of, to the quarterback. It’s just that he wouldn’t cooperate.
CAMERON WAKE: Just stay there. (laughter) Generally, that’s not the case. If it was easy, everybody would be doing it. Defensive line is hard. You’ve got to wait for the ball to snap. 300-pound man to deal with. And once you get him off of you, now you’ve got to contort your body and get to the point of point of contact. And once you contact, now there’s a whole other set of rules about how you contact. So it’s a lot, again. But at the end of the day, that’s our job. We got one part right, getting back there, but then we got to probably do a better job of getting them down. But yardage is yardage one way or another. That’s defense.
CB Xavien Howard is a guy who is making a name for himself this year. What have you noticed about him, maybe since training camp or since the offseason?
CAMERON WAKE: He must have a tremendous d-line that’s forcing some errant throws that he’s getting lots and lots of interceptions. (laughter) Make sure you tell him I said that. (laughter) No, I’ve said it all along, obviously we have a thing: left side, we want to make sure … I’m going to help him out, he’s going to help me out. But take nothing away from him. He’s a tremendous football player. We call them ball hogs. A pass rusher’s best friend is a great corner. I say it all the time. I’m going to do my best to keep getting errant throws and he’s going to do his best to keep getting quarterbacks to pump the ball. We work hand in hand. It’s not just him and I, but obviously that’s how it should work, complementary football – front to back, side to side. He’s been on a run and I have enjoyed watching every time he’s been out there and I’m looking forward to continue.
When you say the left side, how aware are you of the cornerback? Do you guys play off of each other?
CAMERON WAKE: We do. I tell him all the time, ‘You give me two and a half seconds and everything else after that is on me.’ As I’ve said all the time, again, you’re getting the quarterback to his second and third progression, that’s my job. You shouldn’t have to cover it for five seconds. If that’s the case, that’s not on you. These are elite receivers. That’s the d-line. I put it on my back that I should have been there by then. Now, if he’s getting the ball out in one and a half (seconds), hey, come on now, let’s tighten up, let me do my job. Again, that’s the way it’s supposed to work. He’s obviously doing a tremendous job at that and we’ve got to continue to help him out.
Big topic of conversations this week was missed holding calls.
CAMERON WAKE: Missed holding calls? That never happens. What are you talking about?
I feel like you got held by two different people on a potential safety. Do you remember that?
CAMERON WAKE: Just drawing a blank here. I can’t remember ever being held. It’s an interesting game. There’s some interesting calls that happened today. Obviously, football is changing. We had a couple … Was it helmet to helmet? I don’t know the actual … Kiko (Alonso). I don’t know what the word is that they used. Targeting or whatever. I think I had a personal foul today for shoving the quarterback, so o I got to stop doing that I guess. I don’t know.
It’s huge. Takes points off the board. There are two different guys that held you on the play.
CAMERON WAKE: I had two guys blocking me on the first play. It’s interesting. I told you this, was it Friday, I don’t ever want to put them in that position. You wouldn’t leave your keys in the car and leave it unlocked, because you don’t want it to get stolen. I try my best not to allow the holding to happen. If it happens, I can’t blame them. I’ve got to blame them myself. I let them do that. My job is to lock my car and eliminate that process from even getting started. You saw it. You said it. I didn’t.
Overall, having this win, still being in the picture for the playoffs, how can you take this and build on this the next couple of weeks?
CAMERON WAKE: You’re probably thinking much further down the line than I do. Especially in December, it’s a one-game season every week. I think everybody knows I’m not a statistical guy. I don’t count. I don’t look. But in December every game you’re playing is probably going to be meaningful. I say it all the time: it doesn’t matter if you win or lose. You’ve got about 24, 36 hours depending to enjoy it or to lick your wounds. Tuesday afternoon, you got to wipe your slate clean and get on to the next one. Playoffs and end of the season is not on my radar. I’m looking forward to, like I said, 24 hours of enjoying this win and then it’ll be on to the next game.
DeVante Parker – December 2, 2018 (Postgame)
Sunday, December 2, 2018
Postgame – Buffalo
Miami Dolphins WR DeVante Parker (transcribed by Daniel Chavez)
(Coaches said after the Texans game that getting you more involved, getting you more plays so you’re more comfortable in the mix has helped you into being more of in the mix in the games. Did you feel more comfortable being involved early and being able to catch that touchdown that you were able to help the team?) – “I felt comfortable. Even if I don’t get any targets, I’ll focus on other things – blocking, doing whatever I can to help the team.”
(How important was it for you guys to get this win today?) – “It was very important. We’re still in it. Take it one game at a time.”
(With all the injuries that you guys have had, how significant is it that three different guys got into the end zone and it really was a spread-out effort on offense despite all the injuries and all the problems you guys have had?) – “Injuries are tough. Sometimes you can’t avoid them, it just happens. People step up and make plays and it’s what we need.”
Xavien Howard – December 2, 2018 (Postgame)
Sunday, December 2, 2018
Postgame – Buffalo
Miami Dolphins Xavien Howard (transcribed by Savanna Bell-Stevens)
(What was it like there in the second half because it felt like that game was slipping away from you guys) – “We got the W. That’s all that matters right now. We got the win. There is still some stuff we can work on and we can get better at. We’ve just got to watch film and see what we do.”
(Can you take us through that last play, what you saw, and your reaction when Bills TE Charles Clay didn’t catch that) – “The ball had hit the ground. It was short. Thank the Lord for that. The ball was short and came out of his hands so he didn’t catch it.”
(What’s this stretch been like now with back-to-back games with two interceptions. What’s the feeling like when you are out there and you see the ball thrown?) – “I want to be a ball hawk. I want to be around the ball every time the ball is in the air. That’s what we preached this whole offseason … I see it paying off.”
Ryan Tannehill – December 2, 2018 (Postgame)
Sunday, December 2, 2018
Postgame – Buffalo
Miami Dolphins QB Ryan Tannehill
What was your reaction when you saw Bills TE Charles Clay’s drop?
RYAN TANNEHILL: Well, I was holding my breath for what felt like an eternity. I saw him scrambling around. (Robert) Quinn was trying to corral him. He went left, right, back left. When he turned and wound up the throw, I looked out and saw Charles scot-free over there. From about that point until the ball hit the ground, I was holding my breath. Thankfully, they weren’t able to connect.
You guys have been on the bad side of a lot of these close games. Now you’re on the fortunate side. What is that like?
RYAN TANNEHILL: It beats the heck out of the alternative, I’ll tell you that much. To finally be able to pull one out feels really good. I’m proud of the guys, the way they battled. It took all 60 minutes today and thankfully we were on the right side of it.
Your touchdown to WR DeVante Parker seemed to be kind of the play that you have been hoping from him for a while now. What happened there?
RYAN TANNEHILL: It was a big-time catch. It was a great call. We got the coverage we were expecting there. I got hit as I was making the throw so I didn’t get to put as much velocity on it. I kind of adjusted it as I was throwing it. DeVante did what we expected him to do – go up and make a big-time play for us. (I’m) excited to see what he can do there. Obviously, we have seen that from before, but great to see him make that play.
Your best throw of the day might have been the WR Kenny Stills touchdown. Take me through the play. It was double coverage. You just laid it up there for him?
RYAN TANNEHILL: Yes. It’s a play we’ve been working for a while. The safety played more to the left than we wanted him to. It took a while for Kenny to get around him and make the play. I just trusted him that he was going to get around that guy. He did a great job of getting around and making that play on the football.
What were they doing – you go down, score the first touchdown and kind of struggled to get first downs after that. What were they doing that created issues for you?
RYAN TANNEHILL: They did a great job up front. I think that’s where it started for them was up front. They were doing a good job shedding in the run game, making our runs short. Especially there in the first half, they were doing a good job of getting pressure. I wasn’t able to get the ball off downfield. I have to give a ton of credit to their front and the way they were playing.
Were you involved in any of the conversations with Bills DT Jordan Phillips out there?
RYAN TANNEHILL: No. I talked to him a little bit before the game, but no on-the-field conversations.
What is this team’s offensive identity?
RYAN TANNEHILL: I think it’s something that’s kind of changed throughout the year. Obviously, losing the guys that we did, we’ve kind of had to navigate that. It’s tough. It’s tough when you lose — ultimately, we’ve lost five or six day one starters on offense when you include (Josh) Sitton, (Daniel) Kilgore, MarQueis (Gray) at tight end. Jakeem (Grant) and Albert (Wilson) played a lot. You lose those type of guys, you kind of have to shift the way you’re attacking defenses and change things. It’s tough to say exactly what our identity is at this point, but I know we’ve had to change it a couple times throughout the season.
Frustrating for you, I would imagine?
RYAN TANNEHILL: Yes, it’s tough. It’s tough whenever you lose guys and you feel like you’re finally starting to get an identity and then you kind of lose guys and have to change it. But that’s football. Unfortunately, injuries are part of the game and you have to be able to adapt and respond.
Like you yourself?
RYAN TANNEHILL: Yes, unfortunately.
You were pretty banged up and bruised in terms of the amount of hits they got on you. Your jersey was pretty gray. What was that experience like and how much of that was just what Buffalo was doing?
RYAN TANNEHILL: They did a good job. I think most of the hits were early. After that first drive – a couple in the first drive – and then right after that the consecutive drives after that. (I spent) way too much time on the ground. I think they did a good job of giving us different looks up front, moving guys around, running their games up front and got a couple guys free. It made it tough to get the ball off.
What happened on the pick?
RYAN TANNEHILL: We had a double move outside to Kenny (Stills). They played quarters. The backside safety did a great job of coming across. I tried to put it more on the line, let Kenny go up and make a play, and the safety was able to get in front of it.
Was your arm hit or no?
RYAN TANNEHILL: No. I put it where I wanted to. The safety made a good play of getting in front of Kenny (Stills) as opposed to the other way around.
Adam Gase – December 2, 2018 (Postgame)
Sunday, December 2, 2018
Postgame – Buffalo
Miami Dolphins Head Coach Adam Gase
Crazy game.
COACH GASE: Who cares? It’s a win.
You guys get outgained 415 to 175 and win. Do you feel fortunate?
COACH GASE: I don’t care. It’s fine. We didn’t turn it over. We left too much out there on offense. We had opportunities. It’s a good defense, one of the top teams in yardage. But we knew if we won the turnover margin that was going to give us a good chance to win.
What was going on in your mind that last play with QB Josh Allen and TE Charles Clay getting open?
COACH GASE: I was just thinking, ‘Get him down,’ and the longer he extended it, then you start getting concerned, because you just figure somebody’s going to free up. I know both sides were gassed. It was just going to be who was going to keep fighting. I think both teams did everything they could today until the end.
As far as rookie quarterbacks go, it seems like he keeps you on your heels a little bit, keeps you guessing a little bit more than normal.
COACH GASE: He’s a big guy that can run and obviously (if) somebody shakes free down the field he, can throw it a long way. So, he causes a lot of problem in that area. You’ve got to stay in your coverage when he starts scrambling around. That’s why it’s hard for guys to just take off and start chasing him because they know if they leave their guy and he sees them, it’s going to be a touchdown.
I know you watched them in the pre-draft lead up. This is the first time actually playing against him. Were you impressed?
COACH GASE: I think it was what I would expect. I think last week he played well. He’s only going to get better. He’s going to be a tough guy to go against for a long time.
You guys are still alive I guess in the playoff race and what you guys want to accomplish. What does that mean to you?
COACH GASE: I think it’s one game at a time for us right now. We’ve got to focus … When it hits Wednesday, focus on the next week. Just worry about that one and do everything we can to win that game. These guys should enjoy this one for the next 24 hours and then we’ll move on.
How do you think QB Ryan Tannehill played?
COACH GASE: I thought there was a lot of good. There were a couple things that right away, he knew that he missed. But we ended up scoring on those drives anyways, which was good. It didn’t hurt us. The interception, I thought he threw a pretty good ball, it gave us a chance. I think we go back and watch that one and Kenny (Stills) will probably think, ‘Maybe I could have stopped and went up and got it,’ and Ryan will probably say he should have probably put it out there a little more.
What does this win mean for your football team? Keeps you alive in the postseason.
COACH GASE: I think our guys were excited we won a tough game, a division game. It seems like, against those guys, it’s always, it’s just tough. It’s tough to play their defense. They have a tough scheme and they do a good job executing everything. Their offense, it’s a little different than what we’ve seen the past couple of years. The young quarterback and his ability to move around, that causes problems.
You’ve got a quarterback last week that was staying in the pocket and throwing, you got a guy here that rushed for 135 yards. Got to be some frustration level with that knowing that you’ve got good coverage and guys figured out how to get a first down.
COACH GASE: I’m not frustrated about anything right now. We won. That’s all we cared about this week. We’ll correct the things we need to correct. We’ll have to make adjustments next time we play them to make sure that he can’t do that to us. I thought we did a good job of trying to bottle up (LeSean) ‘Shady’ McCoy and keep him contained. We did a decent job there. There was a couple times where it got a little scary seeing him in the open field. We just got to do a better job of making sure the quarterback can’t run for that much on us and that’s a couple weeks away, next time we play them.
They came in with a good defense. Go down, score easy. After that, it was tough. Was it the defense exerting their will or was it breakdowns? What did you see?
COACH GASE: Probably a little bit of both. They are a good defense. We hurt ourselves sometimes. We get a first down and then we get a holding. We had two holding calls. So we hurt ourselves a couple times. We just need to clean up some of those penalties, because it just goes back to technique and fundamentals, all the things that we work on every day. The day that we get a lot of that stuff cleaned up and avoid those type of penalties, it’ll help us a lot.
Two more interceptions from CB Xavien Howard and he’s just playing at a very, very high level.
COACH GASE: I just wish we could turn those into points. Those are game-changing plays and he’s doing a good job of making it hard to throw to his side. We need him to keep doing that. We need whoever is on that side that he’s covering, just lock that guy down and the rest of the guys just got to keep getting better.
On the last touchdown in the corner of the end zone, when you saw him throw into double coverage – tell the truth – when you saw QB Ryan Tannehill throw into double coverage, you wanted to kill him. And then when WR Kenny Stills caught it, you wanted to hug him.
COACH GASE: I wasn’t sure … That safety was kind of flatfooted, so I was hoping at worse it was going to be an incompletion. I didn’t think any negative thoughts at all.
Was WR Kenny Stills open on that play?
COACH GASE: He caught it.
Was he open on all the plays?
COACH GASE: He might have been.
You played WR Brice Butler more than we’d seen. What exactly has happened there? Was it to the point you were trusting him to that extent?
COACH GASE: I think he’s done a good job learning the offense. He’s had two weeks of full practice to be able to get a lot of reps. He’s picked everything up really fast. There’s a lot of cross-over (with) what he’s done before and here. He’s just a guy, he’s been around for a minute, so he understands what we’re trying to do for the most part. He’s a big guy that can go get the ball if we throw it to him. There’s something about that size that makes it comfortable for the quarterback.
How did it work out today?
COACH GASE: I thought he did a good job. I don’t remember looking at … I know he had one chance for a ball down the field to where he didn’t like his release and Ryan (Tannehill) got off and we got to a check down.
Reshad Jones – December 2, 2018 (Postgame)
Sunday, December 2, 2018
Postgame – Buffalo
Miami Dolphins Safety Reshad Jones (transcribed by Paige Jefferson)
(So can you take us through that final play? Your vantage point of it?) – “(Josh Allen) is a running quarterback, scrambler. Charles Clay came free and I guess the ball (was) just short. We did enough to win the game.”
(What about CB Xavien Howard and the way he’s been playing? Two interceptions again today.) – “He’s one of the best corners in the league. I say that all the time. I think he’s one of the best in the league. I don’t think he’s finished yet. We (have) some more important games coming up – division games coming up – and we’ll be ready. ”
(It was your first look at QB Josh Allen. Just your initial take and what you thought about him, you’re going to be seeing a lot more of him.) – “(He’s got) a little Ben Roethlisberger (to him). He (has) a similar game, a big guy. He can run. Probably one of the strongest arms in the NFL. I think that guy is going to be good.”
