Adam Gase – December 27, 2017
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Wednesday, December 27, 2017
Head Coach Adam Gase
(What has RB Kenyan Drake showed you since he’s entered the starting lineup?) – Well I think he’s proven to us that he’s able to handle a bigger load than what we were giving him early in the season. I still think it’s in our best interest to have more than one guy. Just when you do get in a couple of those games where that back, with him being by himself, it starts getting into that 30-carry range – and we do use him a lot in the passing game – that it would probably be a lot over the long haul. I think he has confidence and he’s kind of conditioned himself to be able to do that; but at the same time, the way this league is, you’d love to have the guy for every game instead of 13 games.”
(With guys like RB Kenyan Drake finishing strong to end this season, how much confidence does he give the coaching staff in him, heading into next season?) – “A lot. You want guys to improve as the season goes on and when they get their opportunity, take full advantage of it. That was something that … He said it to me before we even really started the season. He said if I get another opportunity, he goes ‘I wasted it last year.’ He’s like ‘I started a game and I didn’t do anything with it.’ I thought he had the right mindset coming into this season.”
(With two guys going on IR, did DT Vincent Taylor prove to you guys that he’s a rotational NFL defensive tackle? And with WR Leonte Carroo, how difficult is it to judge improvement based mostly on practice? Obviously your top three vets took most of the snaps.) – “I think we gained a lot this season from seeing Vincent do all of the things we asked him to do, from special teams to defense. There were a few games where he was down and we still saw him every week. He practiced like it was a game. He was one of our high-energy guys. He practiced hard every day and he gave us value on special teams, which is great to get from a defensive linemen. I do think he’s a guy that we’re looking forward to keep developing and seeing how far we can help him grow as a football player. Then, as far as Carroo goes, we saw huge strides in practice, knowledge of the offense. He didn’t get a lot of opportunity; but I feel like the times that we put him in, there weren’t errors. He was doing the right things. Now it’s just going to be the next step of the confidence level, making plays and taking full advantage of any opportunity you get.”
(Have you talked to QB Jay Cutler about his future?) – “No, I haven’t talked to anybody about (that). I’ve told those guys there’s a time and a place for all of this, when it comes to the postseason, offseason type things, and right know isn’t that time. We have one game left and everybody needs to focus on that.”
(Do you want some clarity from guys like QB Jay Cutler and G/T Jermon Bushrod quickly after the season? Or are you going to give them some time?) – “We’ve got time. I’m not going to be in a rush.”
(After the last game, C Mike Pouncey said that he had his best season and to ask the coaches. I know you’ve only had him for two years, but how well has he performed?) – “Especially down the stretch, he’s been probably our most consistent guy and he’s probably played his best ball in the back half of the season. We’ve done some things to make sure that he feels good on Sunday, which I know is frustrating for him to watch. He’s not a big fan of watching practice. He’s right in the mix, even when he’s not practicing. Our whole goal was to make sure that we had him for Sunday. Especially in these last two games when we needed him to play well and we needed guys to play well, he was one of the few guys that really stepped up and did what he was supposed to do.”
(Do you intend to treat this as you have all of the other games and play all of the usual guys or are there some guys you want to give a chance now to, because there aren’t actual playoff stakes in this game for you?) – “First of all, we’ve got to figure out who’s going to be healthy. We do have some guys banged up and we’ve had to make some roster moves. If we can put certain guys in the game that we haven’t played yet, that’s always great. We’ve just got to see how the week goes, who’s available and we’ll go from there. I’m sure all of us would like to see certain guys play that haven’t had a chance to play, but at the same time, there’s other guys that earned those spots for a reason.”
(What’s your plan at quarterback this week?) – “Jay (Cutler) will start.”
(Do you intend for QB Jay Cutler to take the whole game?) – “We’ll see how the game goes. Jay hasn’t done anything to come out. There’s no reason for him to come out of the game right now.”
(DT Ndamukong Suh has been selected as the team MVP. What in particular did you see him do well this season?) – “I just think back to the spring when he came back before OTAs, of how he took the young guys and helped those guys develop and get better every day. He was working with those guys. He had an overall goal to help those guys be factors in the season because he knew for him to be as effective as he needed to be, he has to have multiple guys that are playing well with him. He took a lot of pride in making sure those guys were up to speed and those guys did a great job of listening to him and taking what he was giving them. Once we got into the season, it has to be frustrating for him because every game it’s double-team and triple-team, and he still finds ways to make plays. He still finds ways to create pressure on the quarterback, especially in critical situations. I just think of that Oakland game, we needed a huge play and that was straight effort. He’s got three guys on him, somehow wiggles free and then you see a guy 320 pounds diving in the air and knocking the ball out and then trying to recover it. He did everything he could this year to try to help us.”
(DE Cameron Wake said on Sunday that he felt the talent was here to make a run. Do you agree and does it make it all the more frustrating that you feel like you let an opportunity pass you by?) – “I think when we go back and revisit this season in the offseason, it’s probably going to be a lot of frustration. I feel like we’ve let a lot of things slip through our fingers and that’s where we’ve got to understand, when you’re a young player, sometimes you forget how valuable every game is. We do have a lot of young guys that have to learn how to prepare each week, because you never know when that’s going to be the week that changes your season one way or the other. We have to understand that we’re going to play in every kind of environment weather-wise: hot, cold, rain, snow. It doesn’t matter. Whatever it is, we’ve got to figure out a way to play well in it. These last two weeks were a valuable lesson for us because we didn’t play as well as we needed to, it was a little bit cold and we have to play better in those situations.”
(Do personal records mean anything to you? The one that comes to mind is WR Jarvis Landry. I think he’s eight receptions away from a personal best. DE Cameron Wake, I don’t know what you can do to get him double-digit sacks; but would you try to help players achieve that or is it just the course of the game?) – “I think it usually just works out. Every time I’ve ever tried to do anything, it never works out the right way. I think you just let it happen. The one time that I tried to do something, it just totally backfired. I told myself I’d never do that again.”
(What was it?) – “I’m not telling you.”
(When is the last time you talked to Owner Stephen Ross and what has been his demeanor and opinion about the season?) – “The last time I talked to him was Saturday night. It’s been the same all season, just keep grinding and keep trying to find ways to get guys better. I know what his expectations were and they’ve always been the same where he wants to win. He wants to have a chance to play in the tournament and we didn’t really get that done this year. I’m sure that’s disappointing for him. He does everything he can to be supportive to us and give us everything we possibly need. For me, and I know (Executive VP of Football Operations) Mike (Tannenbaum) and (General Manager) Chris (Grier) feel the same, you feel like you let him down. He’s given us so much and we have to find a way to be more consistent throughout the season, and we have to find a way to put ourselves in position. We were lucky enough to be in position these last two weeks, to at least have a shot, and we didn’t get it done. We need to put ourselves in a better position to where we’re not fighting for our playoff lives, where we’re hoping eight teams lose, for us to have a chance.”
(There were several other players besides DE Cameron Wake on Sunday, who were saying they felt this team should have been better this year, even with some of the people you guys lost. There was a lot of ‘getting in your own way.’ Do you include yourself in that group? Do you feel like there were things that you did that didn’t fully maximize what you had?) – “I think we all feel that way. That’s why the offseason is a horrible experience to go through when you have a situation like this, where you start going back through and start telling yourself ‘I should have done this. I should have done this. Maybe I shouldn’t have called this.’ You have to be extremely hard on yourself so you make sure you don’t make those mistakes again. That’s why it’s the greatest team sport you can possibly be involved in because it’s not going to be one guy, it’s going to be everybody. That’s from top to bottom. We all have a hand in this and at the end of the day, we didn’t get it done.”
(Was it setting in for you at all the last two days, with the finality of Sunday knowing that the season is over?) – “Yes. You could say that.”
(DE Cameron Wake won the Don Shula Leadership Award. How would you describe his leadership?) – “You guys have been around him forever. He’s the ultimate lead-by-example guy. I do think he tried to do more (the) last two years, as far as speaking up. When Cam talks, everybody listens. We don’t need him to say something all the time; but when he does say something, guys listen to him. You’d love for young guys to really pay attention to the way he does things. He says it best when he talks about (how) he does everything he can to make sure that he’s in peak performance, because once it’s done … Once it’s over, it’s over, and he’s going to sell out and do everything he can to make sure that he’s the best he can be until it’s time to call it quits.”
(Has WR DeVante Parker offered you some encouraging moments in the last two weeks?) – “I think last week was … There were a couple of times where it was good to see him go up and get one. You’re right, the week before it was the same thing. We had a couple of situations where we needed to get something going and we went to him and he made a play. It might be something as little as catching a slant, but it was just things were not going well (and) he made a play to kind of at least get the ball rolling. We didn’t finish drives but he has shown us that … You can tell he’s feeling better. He’s doing a lot of the things we’ve been asking him to do all season. We just need to get to the point where we have that consistency game in, game out. If we get to that point, he should be a very good player.”
(If you look ahead, is G/T Jesse Davis better suited for guard or tackle?) – “I don’t know. I’ll get to that after the season. Right now he’s playing guard.”
Adam Gase – December 27, 2017 (Conference Call)
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Wednesday, December 27, 2017
Head Coach Adam Gase
(What are the challenges facing a team just two weeks after you already did?) – “Well, since it’s the second time we’ve done it, it really … I have no problem with it. For me, you’re able to take at least some things that you might have liked that you already repped and be able to bring that back to where your guys still kind of remember what the other team does. In this case, being a division opponent, you have a little familiarity with personnel-wise and now scheme-wise – we have a better idea of what they do – (so) I think it’s good for the players.
(Are you putting emphasis with your team on trying to ruin the Bills party so to speak? Obviously they have to win this game to make the playoffs. Is that a talking point in your locker room this week heading into the finale?) – “No, it hasn’t been. We’re focused on ourselves right now. We’re trying to do a good job of getting better this week and being ready to go on Sunday and putting out a good performance.”
(Obviously in the offseason you study your division opponents. I’m sure every team does; but then you go into a year where you don’t play them until the last two weeks of the season. Is it worth it? Does any offseason preparation on a division opponent do you much good? What do you think about that?) – “It does. You can easily go back and check your notes and see what you were thinking at the time. A lot of times for myself, playing a coordinator in the past that I’ve seen, a lot of those type of notes carry over. You can always double check and see if the guy has changed over time or if he’s the same. A lot of us have gone against each other multiple times. Every guy usually has information on the other heading into a game. It’s really kind of how that game goes, how you play each other. You start feeling each other out to see if it’s the same or if it’s different. It’s really probably one of the (more) fun parts of this game, playing the same guys multiple times over a career.”
(How did Bills Head Coach Sean McDermott’s defense compare to maybe what you expected when you studied it?) – “It was exactly what we expected. It was a high-motor team that did a great job of covering our guys up. They did a pretty good job of tackling our guys. We really struggled to get any kind of yards-after-catch. We struggled to run the ball. I thought they did a good job of creating negative plays at the right time against us. Us getting behind, we tried to sneak a couple of runs in there and they weren’t having it. They did a good job of shutting us down in the red area. That was really a huge part of the game for us, to just try to make it close earlier, and they held us to field goals and then they got turnovers. They did exactly what they’ve been doing all year against us to where we turn the ball over and they did a better job of protecting it.”
(You guys are last in third-down offense, which is surprising considering how good your receivers are. I’m sure you’re surprised at that. What do you think have been some of the third-down struggles?) – “I wish I had a great answer. It’s frustrating because it’s something different every time, whether we break down in protection, we don’t have the right read or we drop a pass. We really put ourselves behind the eight-ball. Early in the season, in that first quarter, I think we had about three games where the first game we were okay and then the next three games, we were just awful. That kind of just started the trend. We had about two or three weeks where we were better and then it just fell back off again. It’s one of those things where when we hit the offseason, we’ll be able to really look at and figure out where we were going off-track on a lot of these third downs. I know a lot of the problem early in the season was we were third-and-10-plus way too much. Once we finally did get to third-and-2-to-5 or third-and-6-or-less, we didn’t convert as high a number as we needed to.”
(Not to throw an excuse out, but on third down and red zone, precision is even more important and you’ve got a quarterback who doesn’t have 400 practices with his guys. QB Ryan Tannehill has got 400 practices with these guys. It matters, do you think? What do you think about that?) – “It does matter, but when you have a guy that’s a veteran quarterback … I have a lot of confidence in Jay (Cutler). I know he knows where to go with the ball. We’ve just shot ourselves in the foot so much in so many different areas. There was no consistency. That’s really where we hurt ourselves more than anything, whether I tried to do something to pop somebody wide open versus the right coverage and then it wasn’t exactly the way we thought it would be, or one person makes a mistake and it kind of throws the whole thing out of whack. We found a different way to not convert each week, whether it be in the red zone or out in the field.”
(Why do you think you guys have had such a tough time with QB Tyrod Taylor the last couple of years? He seems to really play a bit better against you guys.) – “I’m aware, unfortunately. (laughter) I think he has done a great job of one, protecting the football, and I think he has done a great job where a lot of guys, when they play our defensive front, they do panic, and those guys get to them, where he has done a good job of staying in the pocket and when he does see a lane or he can get outside of the pocket, he does it and really hurts us when he does, whether he runs it or they scramble drill us and we don’t stay tight on the defender or stay tight on the receiver and he gets us for a big play. I think his patience has just been really good against us. He is not affected as much (as) some of the other guys that we’ve played with our pass rush. He just does a good job of taking each play as it comes. If something bad is going on, he’s finding a way to get out of it.”
(How much of a headache does that make QB Tyrod Taylor to prepare for, for you guys?) – “It’s tough when you play a guy that’s athletic and he has a really good feel in the pocket. Then he’s hitting the receivers or running backs when we’re playing them. It makes it extremely tough. When you got the guy that you got in the backfield, then it makes it even scarier, because if he gets the ball to him (LeSean McCoy), and there’s a lot of space, that’s when you’ve got some issues.”
(CB Xavien Howard had – for a lot of people that don’t see you that often, see you every week – this great coming out game against New England on national TV. Is that reflective his whole season? How has he played the whole season?) – “He’s actually played close to that most of the year. The difference is he caught both those passes that were thrown on (him) where a lot of the season he has either had breakups or he has been that tight in coverage and they’ve made really good plays. He has been a split-second late on getting his head around on a few things where he got hit. The same thing happened last week. He does a great job of covering some of their receivers, but Alex (Smith) makes a good throw, the receiver makes a great catch and that’s a completion on him. The more he plays, the longer he plays, the tighter the coverage is going to get, the more he’s going to see, it’s going to register in his brain – the faster he’ll get as far as being able to break up some of these passes. Guys get so frustrated with young corners or the kid themselves gets down on themselves because balls are completed on them. They get better with time if you stick with them and you don’t allow their confidence to waver.”
(Kansas City does so much misdirection. Last week, is it maybe a tougher prepare because – not that I’m saying this week isn’t a tough prepare – but maybe more unusual, different because you’re not seeing that week to week? What do you think about that?) – “It’s still a challenge because when you have possibly the best running back in football in the backfield and you have a quarterback that has hurt us the way he has hurt us, their tight ends have always played well against us the last three times we’ve played them, it’s a tough group to prepare for. You better know where ‘Shady’ (LeSean McCoy) is all the time, because he can hurt you in a million different ways. We can’t give them short fields, which we seem to have done a little bit too much this year to where it puts out defense in a bad spot and now all of a sudden, that just amplifies everything that you’re trying to stop, when they have less of a field to go down. No matter who you’re playing in this league, every week it’s just different challenges. Kansas City was one thing, because you’ve got three guys you’re trying to take away. This week, it’s just a different challenge for us, because we’ve got to play a different game.”
Ndamukong Suh – December 24, 2017 (Postgame)
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Sunday, December 17, 2017
Postgame – Kansas City Chiefs
Dolphins DT Ndamukong Suh (transcribed by the Kansas City Chiefs)
Seemed like it was tough early on for you guys getting off the field on third downs, always seemed to come up with a play to get a first down – frustrated about that? “You hit the nail on the head. We didn’t get off on third down, due to our own fault. Whether there was a penalty or there was missed tackles. That’s as simple as it gets.”
Officially out of the playoffs now – how do you look back at the season? “Personally I’m not going to look back at the season, I’m going to look forward to the Buffalo game. Play as hard and fast as I can. Postseason, then I’ll look back at the season. See what the mistakes were. Review with the coaches then go from there.”
Next week, Buffalo at home – with your pride how do you expect this team to come out? “We’ve got a lot to play for. It’s against a division opponent. It’s always an important game, even more important because we’re at home. You never want to allow people to come into your home and beat you up and win games. At the end of the day we have to stop them and go from there.”
How much were you guys thinking of the playoffs coming into this game? “You can’t think about it, you have to focus on the game. Task at hand. Kansas City Chiefs were in the way and we didn’t accomplish our job.”
As far as the defensive penalty holdings, was that frustrating? “That’s our coaches job to deal with the penalties and if there were controversy around it. Me, personally, whatever happens, happens. I’m going to go out there and beat the man in front of me. Impose my will, make plays and go from there.”
Kenny Still – December 24, 2017 (Postgame)
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Sunday, December 17, 2017
Postgame – Kansas City Chiefs
Dolphins WR Kenny Stills (transcribed by the Kansas City Chiefs)
On being eliminated from playoff contention: “I’m still processing it. There’s been a lot of ups and downs, but I wouldn’t say it’s been hard. It’s the NFL.”
What happened on the fumble lost? “He [Marcus Peters] just stripped it out. He’s good at creating turnovers. We knew that going into the game. He got it out at the last second as I was trying to get down and it popped out.”
Are you sick to your stomach over that play? “Yeah, it’s frustrating to individually let the team down, but knowing that one single play doesn’t determine the game. We had an opportunity to make a comeback at that point in time, a crucial part of the game and I let the ball slip out of my hands. Yes, I’m sick.”
Regarding the missed opportunities, did you guys get in your own way too much this year? “You could say that. That’s something we talk about every week. We lose a game, it’s penalties, turnovers. We definitely feel like we’re shooting ourselves in the foot. That’s something we got to clean up going forward if we want to win games. I feel like we left some games out there and we have no one to blame but ourselves.”
Jarvis Landry – December 24, 2017 (Postgame)
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Sunday, December 17, 2017
Postgame – Kansas City Chiefs
Dolphins WR Jarvis Landry (transcribed by the Kansas City Chiefs)
What was the most disappointing part of today? “We lost.”
What went differently than you expected from an offensive standpoint? “Turnovers, penalties, most of the things that cause us lose a game. They showed up today, starting with myself on the first drive and carried on throughout the game. It’s hard to win like that.”
What happened on your fumble? “He made a good hit. It was a hell of a hit, honestly. He hit the ball perfectly. The ball was tucked, I tucked it. I was going down. He made a good tackle. Peters made a good play and made sure he got his feet down.”
You had another milestone for catches, do those things mean something? “Maybe when looking back, but not immediately after a loss.”
Can you explain what happened between you and Head Coach Adam Gase? “Nothing. We were in the red zone with third and 10, fourth and 10 and we didn’t get the first down. The game is on the line right there. Everyone knows it. We need to score a touchdown right there. I think it’s normal for anyone to show frustration at that point. Understanding that this is our season, our season is on the line on this drive. I think we didn’t get the ball back until under two minutes after that drive. Anybody would be frustrated. I’m sure you guys were frustrated as well. I wasn’t yelling at Adam [Gase] or anything.”
How would you contrast going from a 10-win season to a 9-loss season? “It happens. It’s the NFL. A lot of the games we could have won this year. We didn’t due to turnovers, penalties, things that showed up today. That will get you beat any day in the NFL.”
Jakeem Grant – December 24, 2017 (Postgame)
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Sunday, December 17, 2017
Postgame – Kansas City Chiefs
Dolphins WR Jakeem Grant (transcribed by the Kansas City Chiefs)
On today’s missed opportunities: “We got to capitalize and not have those penalties. We started moving things forward, but then we started shooting ourselves in the foot with penalties. We just got to get those corrected.”
Did you feel that the passing game was the best that it’s been? “It was good, but I’m not worried about the passing and being involved, as long as we win is what I’m more focused about and we didn’t do that today. All that doesn’t mean anything to me.”
Is “missed opportunities” going to be the one thing that stands out when looking back at this season? “Yeah, there’s some things you wish you could go back and change. It’s the game of football, you got to execute it right there. We just got to hope and get better next week, each and every week. We just have to worry about this next game and executing it as best as we can.”
On his touchdown reception: “It was just a screen, like a previous screen I ran before. I just made a play and lowered my pads and ran over the guy. I didn’t think I was going to run him over, but I did. When he fell off, it was easy running. It was great execution by the whole offense.”
On being eliminated from playoff contention: “It sucks, just going off last year being in the playoffs, you just want to get back into the playoffs. It didn’t happen this way. You can’t say anything about it and we just got to go and execute the next game.”
T.J. McDonald – December 24, 2017 (Postgame)
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Sunday, December 17, 2017
Postgame – Kansas City Chiefs
Dolphins S T.J. McDonald (transcribed by the Kansas City Chiefs)
On today’s loss: “We just didn’t do enough. Point blank. We just didn’t do enough. We got to be more consistent. Hats off to them.”
Did the defense under achieve this year? “You always think that you can do better. I feel like we have good players here. We have guys that can play good football, but it didn’t happen for us. We have one more game and we’ll go out there and put on some good film and it’s something to build on.”
On being eliminated from playoff contention: “It is what it is. It is what it is. It sucks. It sucks. You want to go to the playoffs, you want to continue to keep playing. The whole goal is to win and when you don’t win it sucks. You can’t sugarcoat it. It doesn’t feel good.”
Jay Cutler – December 24, 2017 (Postgame)
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Sunday, December 17, 2017
Postgame – Kansas City Chiefs
Dolphins QB Jay Cutler (transcribed by the Kansas City Chiefs)
Seemed like offensively you had to settle for field goals instead of touchdowns – how did that aspect of the game hurt you? “It’s hard to win football games only kicking field goals. The offense was rolling pretty good at times. I thought we moved the ball really well. There was only one three and out and other than that, a couple fumbles and missed opportunities here, a penalty when we were driving. It’s those types of things can hurt you in a big way.”
Does it just seem like the same story to you over and over again? “I think all those things are recipes for teams, win a few, lose a few. If you’re going to be consistent in this league those are the things that you have to eliminate. You got to eliminate turnovers, key penalties, got to be in the red zone, third down efficiency. I think it’s a hard recipe or solution. You look at the top 10 teams and the guys that are getting into the playoffs, probably doing all those things really well.”
With the playoffs out of the picture now, how do you approach next week’s game? “Same as this week. We’re going to keep going until they tell us not to. I think there’s still a lot of fight left in that locker room. It’s a good group of guys. We’ll get ready for next week and we’re going to give it our best shot.”
Anything you can say about the season right now through 15 games? “No. I don’t think it’s fair. These things, after 12 years it takes a little bit of time for these things to sink in. To gain perspective I think you have to step away for a little bit to really look back at it and know exactly what happened.”
