Kiko Alonso – November 26, 2017 (Postgame)
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Sunday, November 26, 2017
Postgame – New England Patriots
Dolphins LB Kiko Alonso (transcribed by the New England Patriots)
(On the game)
“They made more plays than us. They executed better than we did. I don’t know. We have to watch the film. We have to make more plays. We’ve got to go back to work and we have got to get ready for Denver. It doesn’t get easier so we have to do more. We need to improve and we need to keep working hard.”
Mike Pouncey – November 26, 2017 (Postgame)
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Sunday, November 26, 2017
Postgame – New England Patriots
Dolphins C Mike Pouncey (transcribed by the New England Patriots)
(On giving up two sacks on back to back plays)
“We gave up two big sacks. It is not my job to call out whose fault it was, but we just can’t do that. When we have an opportunity to win the football game and put ourselves back in the game, we have to be at our best. Unfortunately, we were not at our best at that time.”
(On the pass protection)
“We were in a lot of passing situations because of the score of the game. That is a good defense that they [Patriots] got, and they did a really good job of getting after the quarterback today. A lot of picks and twists and they were just a better football team today.”
(On the five straight losses)
“Losing sucks and if anybody likes losing this is the wrong sport to be in, because it is tough. We had a great week in practice and we were really feeling good about it. Today we gave ourselves chance after chance to win this football game and we just fell short. We will get better and keep fighting and we have another big game coming up this week. Like I said last week, this is another must win for us.”
(On turning things around)
“We need start with one win. Just get one and then we will have a tendency to win a couple of after that. Our biggest thing is to win one game and get on the same page. Play team football and get back on track.”
(On playing at Gillette Stadium)
“I like it here and the crowd is really good. It is a good football team [Patriots] and you enjoy playing against teams like this. We just fell short today. It is not a good feeling right now being in this situation once again.”
Jarvis Landry – November 26, 2017 (Postgame)
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Sunday, November 26, 2017
Postgame – New England Patriots
Dolphins WR Jarvis Landry (transcribed by the New England Patriots)
(On Matt Moore’s performance)
“I think he did great. There are things we can do better on our side. Things all of us can get better at; we have to look at this film and go from there.”
(On preparing for the Patriots)
“The thing for us is you can’t make mistakes and you can’t turn the ball over against these guys. Truthfully, no matter who you play in the NFL, if they capitalize on your turnovers and your penalties, it’s going to be hard to win those games. This is one of those teams where you can’t get behind, and you can’t turn the ball over.”
(On the optimism early in the year)
“Honestly, it’s a mindset thing. As I said then and as I still say it. I respect the Patriots organization, and their players, but there is something for this team and for this organization to create a mindset. That we’re nobody’s little brother and we are here to play. On any given Sunday anybody can beat anybody. They got the best of us today.”
Matt Moore – November 26, 2017 (Postgame)
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Sunday, November 26, 2017
Postgame – New England Patriots
Dolphins QB Matt Moore (transcribed by the New England Patriots)
Q: Physically how are you doing?
MM: I’m alright – typical soreness of a game.
Q: After seven sacks were you alarmed both for your health and…
MM: Yeah. It was just one of those days. They did a lot of things, obviously, that got us, but I say this all the time; the physical game is part of the game. There’s stuff we’ve got to look at and see if we can do better next time.
Q: The pick before halftime you and DeVante Parker didn’t seem to be on the same page. What did you see there?
MM: It’s just unfortunate. I put the ball up and it was probably a little short. That’s all I can say about that one.
Q: He acknowledged that he has to do a better job of attacking the ball there.
MM: He said that?
Q: Yeah.
MM: And I can throw a better ball.
Q: What does this team play for these next five games? You’ve gone 11 games with what seems to be similar problems week to week. How do you turn it around these next five games when what you’ve ultimately set out to get to this year is pretty much out of reach now?
MM: You play for your guys. You play for the guys in the locker room. As far as getting things right, it’s the same story as every week, you get back, you work, you do what you can to get better physically, mentally, prep, but I think we’ve got a good group here. You play for those guys and you’re still playing to win the game – guys want to go out and compete. Every time you take the field you want to go win, so I think those will be the reasons why.
Q: Coach Gase talked about guys playing hard trying to do all the right things, but the mistakes keep playing them and that’s been 11 games. How do you shake out of that?
MM: I don’t know. If we had the answer we would have fixed it already. It just goes back to grinding during the week, understanding what your job is and playing mistake free football. We’re going to go back to work and we have however many [games] more we’ve got and we’re going to go out and try to win each week.
Q: It seemed like the majority of the seven sacks came on blitzes.
MM: Yeah. There were a couple – I don’t know for sure – I have to watch it. They did a lot of different things up front, so we’ve just got to iron out that stuff and get it right.
Q: You got the ball back near the 40 [yard line] when you were down 11 and then there were back-to-back sacks.
MM: Yeah. It’s hard when you’re going backwards and still in the game. We go down and score the touchdown. After that is what you’re talking about, right? You’ve got to be going the other direction and we didn’t and it puts you in a tough spot.
Q: The Patriots, today, clinched 17 consecutive winning seasons. We all know the history. You’ve been watching them on film for seven years here with the Dolphins. What is it about this team and what’s consistent with them?
MM: They’re well coached, obviously. The word you just said, consistent in pretty much everything that they do. They’re a smart football team. They limit their mistakes, limit their penalties, they have good players, but they don’t beat themselves and they make it hard for their opponent – whoever it is – which is why they have the record they do.
Q: You’ve had two starting opportunities for you this year. Obviously the outcome isn’t what you had wanted. How would you assess your performance?
MM: Two losses. The only stat that matters is the win and loss, so it’s not how I wanted it to go. You want to go out and win a game. When you get that opportunity you want to go out and play well for yourself, play well for your teammates and you want to win and we haven’t done that.
Q: How would you describe the overall mood of the team following this loss?
MM: It’s never good after a loss especially after coming up here and playing a divisional opponent. It’s hard. It’s an emotional game. Guys take it to heart when you put so much into it and you don’t get what you want out of out. It’s frustrating sometimes. I think the overall pulse is okay. The world is not ending, but it’s not what we want for sure.
Reshad Jones – November 26, 2017 (Postgame)
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Sunday, November 26, 2017
Postgame – New England Patriots
Dolphins S Reshad Jones (transcribed by the New England Patriots)
(On the fumble and touchdown)
“I saw the bad snap by the center; I scooped the ball up and scored a touchdown.”
(On the frustration of the loss)
“I don’t like losing, so we just have to get it fixed, go back to the drawing board. We have another tough opponent next week; we need to be ready to play next week.”
Ndamukong Suh – November 26, 2017 (Postgame)
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Sunday, November 26, 2017
Postgame – New England Patriots
Dolphins DT Ndamukong Suh (transcribed by the New England Patriots)
Q: The Patriots had two turnovers, you had good pressure on Tom Brady. It didn’t seem like they played that great and they still scored 35 points. That’s got to be frustrating and disappointing.
NS: Yeah. Our goal going in there is understanding that he was going to give us opportunities, especially in the two-minute situations, and four-minute situations, and Bobby [McClain] took advantage of that by getting an interceptipon. Obviously then they had a must snap on whatever it was and [Reshad Jones] was able to make a play and we just knew we had to roll with the punches at the end of the day. So looking at it, I’ve got to go back and look at the film to see exactly where we made our mistakes. I know we weren’t perfect in a lot of areas and we’ve just got to continue to drive.
Q: It seemed like early in the game they were able to get yardage in the first series or so running right up the middle under the strength of your defense. Were they doing something different? What did you see there?
NS: I’m not sure what you’re referring to. I saw they got some plays. There was one, primarily, the biggest yardage play was on the sweeps. I think that was [Brandin Cooks]. Getting to our edge and obviously not tackling, so we have to figure that out from there.
Q: Looking at five losses in a row now what is the vibe of the locker room and how do you stay positive as a team?
NS: I think we understand the mistakes that we’ve made and the position that we’ve put ourselves in, so we have to get back to the drawing table and understand that we have to go home, take care of business at home and go from there.
Q: Is just trying to win all the remaining five games enough for you guys as your expectations coming into the season were probably more lofty than that?
NS: I think once you understand what you’ve done and understand we are going home. We need to go out there and win. You make the mistake when you look at the five games we have left – that will hurt us if we do that. I think we focus on what we have in Denver. Clean up the mistakes with the Patriots that we had this week and go from there.
Q: There are been consistent problems the first 11 games. What leads you to believe that over the next five games you can turn things around?
NS: I think it comes down to execution and executing your own job, myself included in that. That’s the best way we can look at it.
Q: What did the Patriots do? How were they scheming towards you today?
NS: I have to go back and look at the film. I know they wanted to run away from me. In a lot of situations I was moving around just so they could have an idea of where I was at. At the end of the day, they are a good game planning team. You’ve got to figure out what they want to do against you. Most of the time, they were trying to run the ball away from me.
Q: You’ve gone against these guys a lot. What’s this Patriots team like?
NS: What do you mean?
Q: You’ve faced them for many years. What do you see from this team that may be different from others?
NS: They are still executing at a high level and that’s really what it comes down to and you’ve got to combat that. It’s as simple as that.
Davon Godchaux – November 26, 2017 (Postgame)
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Sunday, November 26, 2017
Postgame – New England Patriots
Dolphins DT Davon Godchaux (transcribed by the New England Patriots)
(On the fourth down stop at the start of the fourth quarter)
“It doesn’t matter. I mean, we got our butts kicked. It was a great play by Reshad, I ended up coming over the top but it doesn’t matter because we still lost the game.”
(On the game)
“A couple calls didn’t go our way, but that’s football. We just have to execute better. Everything we practiced, they did. I felt like we got some great pressure on Tom Brady. We got him frustrated but we just have to execute better.”
(On Tom Brady)
“Yeah. Yeah, still five for five [in the red zone]. Still won the game. No matter how many times we hit him. He still got back up and still won the game. At the end of the day all those hits look good but it doesn’t matter when you get a loss. Everything has been said, he’s the greatest of all-time. But at the end of the day, they can be beat. You just have to execute and I don’t feel like we executed as a team tonight. We have to execute better. We all have to execute better.”
Adam Gase – November 26, 2017 (Postgame)
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Sunday, November 26, 2017
Postgame – New England Patriots
Dolphins Head Coach Adam Gase (transcribed by the New England Patriots)
Q: Coach, first series of downs and three and out, then they run the fake punt. How demoralizing was that for the team?
AG: That was one of the areas we are trying to emphasize – win the special teams battle. Losing that one on the first one of the game was a little disappointing. But it was a 60-minute game, so we have to figure out how to get a stop and make them punt again.
Q: Seems like out there, we are 11 games into the season, it still seems that on defense there is confusing at times when guys are lining up and offensively some of those situations. Is there a big concern with that?
AG: I mean, when the defense, when the team, breaks the huddle, they are trying to figure out where everybody is at. You know, it’s tough against these guys, especially because you are seeing multiple [running] backs and three wide outs in this game. You know, we are trying to make sure that everyone is kind of communicating, knows where to go and our end zone man [coverage], pressuring – there were a lot of things going on there. So you know, those guys communicating, to me, isn’t a negative thing on defense, offensively. You know, I didn’t kind of see that today.
Q: Adam, season-high seven sacks allowed. Quarterback sacks. What went wrong with the pass protection?
AG: It was an overall effort. I mean, we were throwing the ball almost every down there. When we were down to one running back, so there were a couple times when we had some missed assignments, but you know, we were trying to get some chunk plays and try to find a way to shorten the field up.
Q: What happened on the [Bobby] McCain play when he was ejected?
AG: That’s something you guys will have to talk to him about. What happened there, I just saw the replay.
Q: Coach, you get down on 14-0 in the first two series. How much does that change what you try to do offensively? What you can’t do offensively? Play calling-wise…
AG: I didn’t change anything. I kept to what we kind of talked about. Nothing really changed for us until we were down to one running back.
Q: Adam, right before the half, you had a 21-10 game. You had the ball at the 15, you threw a lot of passes to Devante Parker and he didn’t make a play on the ball. Did he not see it?
AG: That would be a good question to ask him. I thought Matt [Moore] made the right read. I would have to watch the film, don’t know if he was early or DeVante didn’t think it was coming to him? You know, that quickly. It looked like the ball was in the air, when he got his head around, he was trying to stop then fell.
Q: He’s had four interceptions come at him. Is this something in his game that you are seeing?
AG: I mean, that’s hard to say. I mean, every place, is a different play.
Q: Seems like every week we talk about the same issues with this team. Converting first down, converting third down, gaining first downs, penalties, mistakes. You have five games left, can you clear it up?
AG: We had less pre-snap penalties, so that was a positive. You know, we just seem to be having the wrong things happening to us at the wrong times. You know, we just have to go back to work and find a way to clean a lot of these things up. I see a lot of those things as fixable. You know, we are basically in a situation where we need to put a good game together here real quick.
Q: You lost five in a row, where is this team?
AG: I think they are still battling. I mean, we have been practicing good. That’s the frustrating part, more than anything and it’s not translating to Sunday. We are still making a few mistakes that are really hurting us. You know, get a little too aggressive underneath things and kind of put everybody else in a bind there. To where I thought Matt had a good call on and everyone does their job, we are in better shape. And we were just having too many situations like that. You know, guys just have to do their job. They have to trust what they are being told and do exactly what they are supposed to do and that’s when we will start having better results.
Q: The Patriots have shown a little more balance this year and Dion Lewis, every week, seems to be getting better. He had over 100 yards, first time in his career. Can you talk about how dangerous their offense is when they run the ball like this?
AG: I think anytime you got a group of running backs, especially like they do, you can stretch the field. You know, and then all of a sudden – you throw it underneath, and you have one-on-one matchups across the board. That makes it tough and you know, when you expect a team that historically, with certain guys, they emphasize certain parts of the game, whether it be run/pass game. Now all of a sudden you start running the ball with them and you are expecting pass or vice versa. That’s what makes it tough, the [more] versatile those running backs are, that’s what makes it more difficult to defend.
Q: Is there a fine line to toe between playing aggressively and still allowing yourselves to be efficient? There was a drive that the Patriots had where there was the ejection of McCain, a facemask penalty. I haven’t covered you guys, but heard about the number of penalties…
AG: Yeah, that was a terrible series for us. I mean, that was one we really couldn’t have at that moment in the game. We really put ourselves in bad position, especially losing Bobby like that. That puts a lot of guys in a bad position. And then we have to start moving things around. The frustrating part is when you have the facemask penalties, that’s just going back to fundamental football. Hands in the right place and doing the right things through the entire down. You know, we shoot ourselves in the foot when we do things like that.
Q: They’re [the Patriots] not perfect, but they are somewhat maddeningly efficient. I mean you got a three-and-out in the first drive, bam they hit you with something. Are they a measuring stick or do you have enough to worry about in your own place?
AG: Yeah, I think I have enough to worry about in my place.
Q: You now have one healthy running back, where do you go?
AG: Obviously going to have to reevaluate where we are at right now. Probably have to move some pieces around. I don’t even know how bad everyone is right now.
Q: What else do you tell the team in terms of last year, 10-6, you made the playoffs. This year, you have surpassed that in terms of the number of losses. What do you tell the team in terms of overall goals?
AG: Well, right now we just have to worry about winning one game. That’s what we have to worry about.
Q: Early in the second half, there was a play in which they dropped a punt return, and Michael Thomas came up with the ball. They ruled it dead. How did you see that?
AG: Well, sometimes when you [see] those scrums, as soon as they see someone with the ball, they think that’s who has it. They just say it’s blue and then they go with it and it doesn’t matter who gets up with the ball, so assuming that’s what happened. I didn’t really get an explanation on that one.
