Xavien Howard – September 23, 2018 (Postgame)
Sunday, September 23, 2018
Postgame – Oakland Raiders
Miami Dolphins CB Xavien Howard (transcribed by Lexie Balboni)
(Tell us about that interception late in the game.) – “It was a tight space. He was trying to do a double move and I ended up reading the quarterback the whole time. He just left the ball in the air and I took advantage of it.”
(You’ve had some good games at the end of last year. You’ve had some good games in your career. That interception at the end, you might not win without that. How emotional was that one?) – “That was a game changer. That meant everything. I think we took the soul out of them when I caught that interception. Our offense got on the field and attacked and scored. That’s what it was all about.”
(The secondary has had seven or eight picks in three games) – “Wow, I didn’t even keep up with the numbers; but last year we had like nine interceptions the whole season. The team, we build together in the secondary. We hang out a lot together in the off-season together. We’re building off of that and keeping the chemistry strong in the back end.”
Albert Wilson – September 23, 2018 (Postgame)
Sunday, September 23, 2018
Postgame – Oakland Raiders
Miami Dolphins WR Albert Wilson (transcribed by Daniel Chavez)
(When you scored that final touchdown, could you see in the Raiders face sort of them resign?) – “They got behind me so quick, I didn’t really see their faces.”
(How surprised were you when that play call came in for you to throw the ball?) – “It’s something we’ve been working on. I’m ready for everything he called; every play, every run play, every pass play, every throwing play. Whatever he has for me, I’m ready for it.”
(When you saw WR Jakeem Grant that wide open, did you think don’t airmail it?) – “Exactly. That’s why I was just ‘Get the ball to him’ because I knew he was going to score so that’s pretty much all I had in my head.”
Adam Gase – September 23, 2018 (Postgame)
Sunday, September 23, 2018
Postgame – Oakland Raiders
Miami Dolphins Head Coach Adam Gase
Talk about the two plays at the end there, the reverse toss that WR Albert Wilson threw to WR Jakeem Grant and then the one where Wilson took it around the corner for the touchdown. Big plays when you really needed them the most.
ADAM GASE: Albert had probably two of the biggest ones we needed and it took four quarters for us to really get in any kind of rhythm. They did a great job versus the run game and we knew we were going to have to throw it to win it and had a couple plays we really liked that have been working well all week in practice and really we have been working on them for a couple weeks, so for those guys to go out there and execute it perfect, it was good to see.
It looked like for the good majority of the game that the running game on both sides of the ball would be your downfall. You had a hard time running the football, they ran it well. What were they able to do running the ball and what were they able to do to defend your run?
ADAM GASE: I think they did a good job on offense of really holding on to it and it was like death by a thousand paper clips. They did a good job of just getting first down, first down and it just felt like every drive was really long. It’s tough. You’ve just got to stay tight and just they have enough weapons where if you get too tight, then all of a sudden they go over the top and the drive becomes shorter. On the offensive side, we just couldn’t get it going. We were trying to do a bunch of stuff that we had to run through early and we just didn’t have the ball enough to really get into that kind of rhythm.
What can you say about the way CB Xavien Howard played? He comes up on a play where everybody else quits and he stays after it and makes the interception and then makes a huge play in the end zone and comes up with a big, big interception for you.
ADAM GASE: Yes. He looks like the guy we have been seeing since training camp, so I think he’s just trying to figure out a way to get better every day. He’s done it. He’s practiced well and we’re starting to see that translate to the game.
You win this game but I think that you guys have talked about it in each and every game, there’s still a lot of room for you guys to improve. Is this the kind of game today where you win, so that’s the good news; but a lot of things you can work on to try to get you guys better by next week?
ADAM GASE: I think there’s a lot of factors involved in this one. We had a lot of injuries. It felt like a lot of guys didn’t come back from what happened to them on the field. Having the ejection, that really hurt us up front. It was a sauna out there. Really, that’s why we keep as many d-linemen up as we do so we can rotate those guys. I think a lot of guys had to step up and play situations where they haven’t done it really in anything but a walkthrough. We had a lot of guys playing special teams that haven’t had a ton of live reps because we lost some special teams guys.
Where did you draw up that play? Do you remember?
ADAM GASE: It was just straight thievery. I mean we stole it. It’s an old (Mike) Martz play. It’s just nobody watches his old stuff. They might now. (laughter)
Have you used it before?
ADAM GASE: No. No. I think that he scored on it probably in 2001 or something.
What do you call it?
ADAM GASE: I don’t know. I’m not telling you guys that. There’s plays off of plays. I don’t want to tell our terminology.
You took that when Mike Martz was visiting?
ADAM GASE: No, it’s just … We’ve got all kinds of stuff of his and we kind of talked about some stuff when he was here and what we could do because we were really trying to expand Albert (Wilson) and Jakeem (Grant)’s packages and just keep growing them. We’ve got guys that can do a lot of different things. They can throw it, they can run it, they can … We have done a couple of things already this year that really has worked to our benefit.
How many more of those are there?
ADAM GASE: A lot.
What did you see of the defense that made you think that that play could work?
ADAM GASE: I mean it’s one of those plays that we … It’s plays off plays. We have run similar plays to it and it’s just one of those things where you just don’t think that’s going to come. I’m glad it worked and it was good timing. I thought those two guys made a really good execution of the play.
Are you playing down the trick plays that won this game for you?
ADAM GASE: Maybe a little bit. (laughter)
What do you think of the team’s confidence now going 3-0 knowing that next week you have the Patriots?
ADAM GASE: I don’t think they’re really focused too hard on that right now. We’ll enjoy this one for the next 24 hours and then after that, we’ll worry about moving on to the next one.
Has that play worked in practice?
ADAM GASE: Yeah.
Every time?
ADAM GASE: Mhm.
What was it like for your defensive linemen on the sidelines? Oakland had the ball at one point for 8:37 and then coming back they had the ball for 9:44, plus you were down three of them by the end of it.
ADAM GASE: Really, for me, I was just thinking, ‘How can we give those guys a rest and kind of regroup and be ready to go for the next series?’ That’s a tough situation to be in because there’s nowhere else to go. Those are the only guys … Those were the guys left and we knew they were gassed and they were, you could tell they were fighting though. And that’s why I love this locker room as much as I do. Those guys, they just kept laying it on the line, trying to find a way to stop them.
Did you get a good look at the DT Akeem Spence play?
ADAM GASE: I couldn’t see anything, so I just know that the guy came over and told me that he was out.
CB Xavien Howard with another pair of interceptions. Obviously it comes in a massive moment but where have you seen his development?
ADAM GASE: I just think his ability to stay tight in coverage and then he does a great job of finding the ball and finishing the play. It’s tough to do. When all of a sudden you become the receiver and the receiver’s hanging on you and it’s vice versa than what he’s used to, it’s not an easy catch to make.
Talk about the importance of just getting out of the game 3-0 and how important that is to your season.
ADAM GASE: Well, any time we play at home, our guys are taking a lot of pride in making sure that we’re coming out of this place with a W. I thought the crowd was … It got really loud, especially on third downs with the defense out there. There’s great juice to where you can feel it. Our players are feeding off it and we’ve just got to make sure that we take care of business when we’re playing home games.
