Adam Gase – October 7, 2018 (Postgame)
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Sunday, October 7, 2018
Postgame – Cincinnati Bengals
Miami Dolphins Head Coach Adam Gase (transcribed by Cincinnati Bengals)
(It seems like a tough one to come to grips with, after leading 17-3 and then giving up 27 unanswered points, with most of the damage self-inflicted …) – “It was. We turned it over on offense and gave up touchdowns. I thought the defense did a good job, really being down a lot of guys. We had a good plan going in. We did a good job getting a turnover in the red zone and holding them to some field goals. We just didn’t do a good job on offense.”
(It seemed like the personal foul on Martrell Spaight caused the momentum to shift, and you couldn’t get it back …) – “We had two penalties on that drive that killed us. That’s going to lead to points every time.”
(QB Ryan Tannehill had under 200 yards again in this game, and for all intents and purposes had two pick-sixes. How do you evaluate what he’s been doing the past couple weeks?) – “We just have to take a look at what’s going on. We lost Laremy (Tunsil), and that kind of shook us up a little bit. We didn’t bounce back from that very well, and they started teeing off on us. We have to clean a lot of things up, and we have to figure out how to give him a chance to throw it. We have to make sure the ball is coming out on time. We have to get open. There’s a lot of things we have to get cleaned up.”
(The first half, you had a running game going between Gore and Drake. But it kind of died out in the second half and allowed them to put the pressure on Ryan and really created the small pocket for him …) – “We got behind the sticks. In the first half, we were second-and-five (a lot), and it’s a lot easier to keep running the ball. When you’re second-and-10, second-and-12, second-and-20, you’re just trying to get to third-and-manageable, because against this group, if you go third-and-forever, that’s not a good formula.”
(What did you see happen on that first pick-six that Tannehill threw?) – “We got beat real fast off the edge. He was trying to flush out, but he was walled off. He probably just has to eat the sack there. Then he’s trying to dump it down to Durham (Smythe) who was the check down, but he was kind of caught up with everybody. It’s probably a play where he just needs to eat it and take the sack.”
(How do you get this team to respond after two straight losses and in this one giving up a 17-point lead? How do you get them to rally back?) – “That’s what these guys will do. They always do. They’ll bounce back and we’ll get going on Wednesday. We’ll correct what we need to correct on Monday, get a little healthier which will help, and get some of our guys back. I thought the defense did a lot good things today and we just did not do a good job on offense.”
(You had a chance at the end of the game. What do you remember about the third down play?) – “We were just trying to see if we could get Jakeem (Grant) to shake free and it looked like he did for a second, but then Ryan (Tannehill) was under duress. I think he was just going to try to throw it as far as he could. That’s what happens when you’ve got third-and-forever. Those corners are going to be playing way off, so it takes a second to for those guys to get by them.”
(Talk about the decision on third and inches …) – “I thought we had what we wanted. We didn’t execute very well. We just want to make the right decision.”
(One thing that seemed to work was screens to Kenyan Drake. What went into the thought process to get him heavily involved in the passing game?) – “He is every week. It’s just when you have 47 plays most of the time, it’s just not going to work very well. The numbers are going to be (expletive).”
(You went with Frank Gore on first downs a lot. What went into that decision?) – “We were just trying to get into a rhythm to see if we could get something going. Frank does his best work when he’s getting consistent touches. I think Kenyan (Drake) does a really good job of being able to go in and out and just kind of pick up like he’s been in there for the whole time.”
(Does Ryan Tannehill remain the quarterback?) – “Yes. We just need to get a lot of things cleaned up. He’s getting hit too much. I’ve just got to find a way to get the ball out of his hands. Either get guys open quicker or figure something else out in the run game. We just have to look at a lot of things.”
(The offensive line survived through the first three quarters. What changed in the fourth?) – “Our left tackle wasn’t in. That kind of can do some damage. When you get behind, it causes problems.”
(Do you feel like you’re establishing an offensive identity or working to establish an offensive identity?) – “I was feeling good there in the first couple of weeks where I thought we were trending in the right direction, but now we have to look at some things. We have to look at who’s healthy, who do we have, how do we protect, what’s the right run game to really get to. So, we have to kind of reevaluate some things.”
(Do you look outside for help on the offensive line?) – “I don’t know. I haven’t even thought that far ahead.”
(Are you thinking that the game went south when you lost your left tackle?) – “It just makes it really hard to be able to do that. We hurt ourselves by not getting the first down conversion on the third-and-one. Then, we get a penalty and we’re second-and-forever and that’s just not going to be good business for us. It was like a couple of things went wrong, then when we lost him, it was an avalanche there for us to where now, I could tell that we were worried about being able to throw the ball down the field.”
(What is there to build on?) – “I thought we were alright early. It seemed like everything was working pretty smooth. That’s the kind of team that you don’t want them to get into a rhythm. That’s the hardest thing. You get those interior guys start rushing and the guys coming off the edge, and you become one-dimensional. That’s not a good formula.”
