Kenyan Drake – November 1, 2017
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Wednesday, November 1, 2017
Running Back Kenyan Drake
(Your reaction when you heard about the trade?) – “I was surprised. I don’t think anybody really had an idea that it was going to go like that; but it’s a business, at the end of the day. You’ve just got to move on to the next week and prepare for Oakland.”
(How big of an opportunity do you see this as for you?) – “I’m just trying to go out there and help the team win any way possible. I’m not going to look at it as any big opportunity other than trying to go out there and help this team win.”
(Has Head Coach Adam Gase talked to you specifically about what your role is going to be?) – “No. He just wants me to go out there and play my best football, and that’s what I plan on doing.”
(Your first reaction after hearing the news of RB Jay Ajayi’s trade was what?) – “Obviously shock. I don’t think anybody that wasn’t initially involved with it knew it was coming. I wish him the best of luck in Philadelphia because he was one of my good friends.”
(I know you’re wording is not to look at it as an opportunity but it’s sort of like that. It’s a nine-game period to show them that you can be a bell cow NFL back. Is that exciting?) – “My most important thing is helping this team get to the playoffs and trying to win a Super Bowl. That’s my first and foremost opportunity.”
(What were the goodbyes like with RB Jay Ajayi?) – “Just wishing him the best of luck in Philadelphia. We know it’s a business. He’s going to go up there and give it his best shot. We’re going to do the same here and hopefully we can meet up one day in February (at the Super Bowl).”
(When it comes to running some of the outside zone stuff, what are some of the things that RB Jay Ajayi has taught you over time?) – “Just his patience. When he gets in the hole, he bursts through with a lot of power and acceleration. I feel like that’s what made him a special back because not only could he get to the hole with power, he could get to the hole with speed.”
(Is it just coincidence that both you and RB Damien Williams got a haircut during the mini-bye?) – “(laughter) We actually had talked about it. It wasn’t like we planned to do it at the same time but I’ve been thinking about it for the last couple of weeks, so I just decided to cut it. He cut it at the same time so here we are. (laughter)”
(Are you looking to bring more of a multi-faceted approach to this, like being a pass catcher and being a versatile threat out of the backfield?) – “I feel like that’s what (Head Coach Adam) Gase expects anyway out of all of his backs. Like I said, I just want to go out there and show my best ability and help this team win games.”
(People look at your current yards per carry average and say ‘Oh, it’s only 2.-whatever right now.’ What are some of the differences between being featured and getting a rhythm versus spot duty?) – “You just go in there and you give your best when you’re out there. With the opportunities I had, I tried to make the most of them. Now obviously I’ll probably get more opportunities in one game than I’ve had the whole season, so I’ve got to make the most of it.”
Adam Gase – November 1, 2017
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Wednesday, November 1, 2017
Head Coach Adam Gase
(Not looking long term but right now are the Dolphins better off? Why are they better off without RB Jay Ajayi?) – “I think it was just time for us to move on. We’ve had conversations about kind of what we were going to do down the road. (We) felt like this was a good opportunity. We were kind of putting some feelers out to see where other teams were at and we’ve got some younger players there that that we feel like we were going to move forward with, and that was kind of the decision we came to.”
(Do you feel this team is better than what it was a couple of hours ago?) – “I like where we’re at right now.”
(As far as RB Kenyan Drake, would you envision him becoming your lead back or do you expect to split with RB Damien Williams?) – “We’ll see how it works out. We’re going to go through practice this week and see what fits. I like the three guys that we’ve got – their skill sets – and we’re going to be able to maximize what they do well.”
(What has QB Jay Cutler been able to do? What’s he capable of right now?) – “Really, we’re going to kind of see how it goes in practice today. That’s the biggest thing for us – see how he feels during practice, after practice, moving into the next day. I know Matt (Moore) took a lot of shots last week and he’s trying to recover from that as well. I mean he’s still a little sore. He took probably way too many shots. We’ve just got to kind of see how this week goes. I know Matt’s always ready to go and we’ll see how Jay feels.”
(You were talking about it as a pain tolerance issue a week ago. You may know more about it now.) – “Yes, I mean that’s the thing.”
(Is it medically safe for QB Jay Cutler? Is there some concern with him playing as far as doing further damage?) – “No. From what basically I’ve been told is, it’s going to come down to how painful is it going to be when we start throwing and moving around the pocket, getting hit and that’s really what’s it going to come down to is how much pain is it? We won’t know. When he runs on Monday and throws a little bit, and says he feels pretty good, he was trying convince me that he could go. I feel like he’s feeling okay, but I thought it was the right decision to start Matt (Moore) last week and really give (Cutler) more time get healed up.”
(So if QB Jay Cutler takes another hit in the chest, ribs, does that expose him to bigger, further damage?) – “It sounds like we’re going to be okay in that area. It’s just really … I’m sure it’s not going to feel good; but as time goes on … We’d like to avoid those shots. I mean that was a pretty violent shot. The guy came down with all his weight on his body. I mean that was a big hit. We need to do a good job of making sure that he’s protected. Hopefully we have a good sense of urgency.”
(Was there an effort made to acquire a veteran back yesterday after dealing RB Jay Ajayi or are you looking seriously to signing one now or are the three guys you have enough?) – “No, we didn’t inquire about anyone else and we’ll just kind of see how it goes from here on out; but as for right now, I like the group I’ve got.”
(What are you looking for from your running backs that you’re not getting in that position so far?) – “I think really what we’re looking for is really – not just that position but all positions on offense – is the consistency and making sure that you’re doing your job down in and down out. We’ve been way too inconsistent and I think that’s obvious. The three loses we had, we’ve basically been shut out three times. When you go through those tapes, it’s very glaring for us – not only as coaches but players. When we watch it together everybody … I mean it’s no secret when somebody makes a mistake because we’re watching it together and we’re going through it as a group and coaches are correcting their guys. Everybody is aware of who’s either screwing up or not making the right play or not making the right read. Everything’s pretty much an open book in the offensive room because we’re doing everything as a group.”
(Did you talk to RB Jay Ajayi, and if so, can you share anything with us?) – “Anything that we do is always going to stay in house. It’s never a fun situation. It’s never fun for a guy – even though it’s a great opportunity for him, going to a team that’s probably one of the best teams in the NFL right now – anytime that you’ve been in a place for a minute, you really always envision that you’re always going to be there forever. We just all know how it is. Coaches change, players change, that’s the nature of the business.”
(What disappoints you most about the RB Jay Ajayi tenure, your relationship with him and how the whole thing played out over the course of a year and a half?) – “We’ve had ups and downs, but that (happens with) a lot of players. It’s just (about) getting on the same page and sharing the same philosophy of how we want to do things. I think he tried to do what we were asking him to do a majority of the time. He had a lot of really positive games. He had some really, really good ones. It was just time for probably us to go separate ways.”
(Was there a message sent to the other players on the team with this trade?) – “I don’t know. That’s something you’d have to ask those guys.”
(Was there a message you were hoping to convey to them?) – “I don’t think I was thinking of it that way. I was just trying to find some ways to make sure that we could move in the direction that we were looking to move into, not only for this year but the future. We needed to figure out what we want to do going forward, see what we have and give guys opportunities. Really, at the end of the day, we need the offense to play a greater role in these games, and right now we’ve really been holding this team back. I think there’s really a great sense of urgency right now. We watched this last game, really, as an entire team. There’s nothing that nobody doesn’t know right now. Offense, defense, special teams, when you watch all three phases together, the defense sees where we’re making our mistakes, the offense sees where the defense is making mistakes, and then really special teams is together a lot, so there’s nothing hidden there. It’s probably a good thing that we did that. There’s a great sense of urgency right now.”
(Do you have a sense of whether RB Kenyan Drake could be a guy who could carry 15 to 20 times a game and be productive? Obviously you have to see it, but what’s your sense of that? What skills would lead to that?) – “You’re speculating. We’ll see how it goes between that crew and how the game plays out. The way you envision a game to go from week to week and how it plays out, usually it’s hard to be dead-on. Every game has a different story to it and a different feel. We’ve been seeing some different defenses then what we’ve been anticipating. Defensive coordinators have been doing a good job and when we’ve had to adjust, we haven’t done a very good job with it. We’ve got to be on it.”
(What’s your level of optimism that C/G Ted Larsen will be able to play Sunday?) – “We’ll see. We’ve got to go through this week. It’s hard for me to comment on it without going through practice.”
(When did you first start thinking about dealing RB Jay Ajayi?) – “I don’t really know the exact moment.”
(Within this season? After the season started?) – “Conversations come up all the time where you start talking about, even in the spring, you’re always planning years in advance, because it’s no secret that we’ve got some guys coming up contract-wise. We’ve got some guys coming up contract-wise and it’s going to be a lot of money. You’re trying to figure out how do you put the puzzle together, and that’s what you’re trying to figure out. What’s the best thing to do for the organization? Conversations come and go throughout spring, summer, training camp. It’s moving pieces so much. When opportunities come up, you act on them, you do what you think is best for the organization and move on.”
(Obviously, WR Jarvis Landry was not traded. How do you feel about – at this moment – about whether you hope he is in the long term eyes of the organization?) – “We told him a while ago … I can’t remember when everybody was saying that we were trading him but we told him a long time ago he wasn’t going anywhere. We have a vision for what we want that wide receiver room to look like, and we expect him to be a huge part of that. However it works out down the road, that’s hard for me to say, because I don’t negotiate the contracts. I’ll blame (Executive Vice President of Football Operations) Mike (Tannenbaum) on that one. I like that group. I like that group a lot. I think we have not only a lot of talent, we have a lot of guys that are trying to do it right, and they fight through the entire game. I think that’s why we see some moments where things look really good. We’ve just got to find ways to improve. We’ve just got to keep being on the details and make sure we’re accountable to each other.”
(You’re obviously aware of everything going on but with Executive Vice President of Football Operations Mike Tannenbaum and General Manager Chris Grier working the phones, when do you like to be brought in to decide whether or not to pull the trigger on a trade? At what point in that process?) – “There’s constant dialogue. When we play a Thursday game and you’ve got that time to really kind of think about a lot of things, there’s probably a lot more conversations going on there than say if we would’ve played on Sunday. Then things move a little quicker. We had some time to think about what we wanted to do going forward and what was our best steps. Thursday to Monday, it’s an eternity when you get waxed like that. You go through a lot of things. You watch a lot of film. You try to figure out what is going on.”
(Did talks with the Eagles commence after the Thursday game or before?) – “I don’t know exactly when they started. It wasn’t like Thursday, Friday morning or anything like that. I can’t really say what the exact timeframe was.”
(When a back is constantly looking to hit the home run, does that have an effect on the flow of the offense and is yardage kind of left on the field at that point?) – “It can. It’s great when it happens because it’s not an easy thing to be patient. Just watching a lot of football this weekend, watching other teams play, you can see when guys get tired of waiting for that explosive play. Then you see some guys call games that are very patient and can hammer out the 2, 3 (yards) and convert on third down. Our biggest issue has been we haven’t put ourselves in great position on third down. We’ve been in a ridiculous amount of third-and-10, third-and-11-plus. The percentages of converting those are so low just league average-wise. We have to … Right now, every yard we can get to get us in third-and-6 or less are really the steps we need to take.”
(What specifically on RB Damien Williams and on RB Kenyan Drake give you confidence that you have enough for now at running back – each of those two guys, what skills?) – “When you’re around guys over a two-year period, my confidence level is obviously going to be higher than probably your guys’, because you’re not around them every day, you’re not in meetings with them, you’re not in practice every day with them watching them work. Damien has impressed me from the get go. I was told when I got here that when the lights come on Sunday, he’s one of those guys you want with you. He has done nothing but make plays for us. Kenyan, we really feel fits the mold we’re looking for in that backfield. I like those two guys working together. And then Senorise (Perry) has knowledge of this offense. He has been with me enough to … When you know what a guy can do – what he does well – there’s a comfort level there. With those two guys, I like the fact that they’re able to catch the ball, they’re able to run good routes, they’re able to run the ball both inside and outside, they’re physical. It’s just something that we like their skillsets.”
(Do you anticipate play calling changing in the running game because of the change in personnel?) – “Well, it’s hard to do that because really, it’s more than one guy. Surprisingly, some of the things, it’s flipped so much over the two years that we’ve been here where Jay (Ajayi) wasn’t a big fan of the outside zone and then he had a lot of success there and really started to like it; and the other guys have been a little back and forth as well. Really, the good thing is they have the ability to run all phases of the run game – whether it’s outside, inside, gap scheme, dive plays, things like that. It’s just really how that game is going and what you’ve really planned. That style of running game can change throughout the game.”
(You had a lot of things you were upset about with particularly the offense last week. When the guys came back, did you sense a different approach or a different mentality towards some of the things you addressed?) – “Yes, we’re just not going to stay the same. We’re not going to keep doing the same thing and bang our head against the wall. We made some changes with how we’re meeting, how we’re going to walk through, how we’re going to schedule things, how we’re going to practice. We’re going to make changes. I’m not talking about personnel, I’m just talking about the way we’re going about things and the way that we’re teaching, the way that we game plan. That’s what we should be doing. If we sit here and do the same thing over and over again and just keep saying it’s execution or I’ve got to call different plays and things like that, then we’re really kidding ourselves. At the end of the day, we’ve got to find the right way to teach, we’ve got to find the right way to learn and then we have to find what allows us to execute best on Sunday.”
(Have you sensed a different approach from the players though since they’ve been back?) – “I do sense a sense of urgency, from the offense especially. Just kind of with what we’ve been doing with our walkthroughs and the way that I see guys in meetings, they know that the mistakes we’re making, they’re unacceptable; and we need to get this fixed. I sense a sense of urgency from the coaching staff as well.”
(What do you need T Laremy Tunsil to do differently or better?) – “I think those few days off helped. This is a physical game and when you’re playing that position, you always want to have all of your quickness and athletic ability and as the season wears on, it just kind of slows down for you a little bit. He really had a tough matchup last week. There’s been a lot of good. For us, it’s really just about that constant consistency week in and week out, play in and play out, of just knowing that side is good. That’s really why you draft him. When you’ve got a guy with that kind of athletic ability, you anticipate that and you expect it. There are spurts in a game where it looks really, really good, and then there will be a few plays where you wish he would have done better. The good thing is he’s very prideful. He wants to do it right. It bothers him a lot when he doesn’t do something right or when he gets beat. When you see that from guys, then you know you’ve got a chance to get them better.”
(The overhaul that you just described and the way you go about doing things, would you describe that as a bigger overhaul than you’ve ever experienced midseason with any of the teams you’ve been with?) – “Not necessarily. Every year has been different. I don’t think I’ve ever really done anything the same for an entire season, whether it be coordinating or these two years. I think there’s always going to be some kind of an adjustment, and that’s kind of the NFL season. It’s such a long year. When things kind of start going off track, your job is to go find solutions, whether that means you’re making some changes in how you’re going to do meetings or do extended walkthroughs, you spend more time up here at the building, guys start working together when we’re not here. Things have to change for us to be able to have some success on offense.”
Adam Gase – October 27, 2017
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Friday, October 27, 2017
Head Coach Adam Gase
(The whole issue of players maybe not being able to retain and execute information where you’ve had to sort of dumb down what you’re doing, should this be happening with a team that’s … I mean you’re not playing a lot of rookies on offense. Should it be happening? Do you need players who can retain information and do what …?) – “I don’t think it’s a retain information thing. It’s we’re not putting the work in. That’s what it comes down to. If you can’t remember it, you shouldn’t be in the NFL. At the end of the day, guys have got to actually take this stuff home and study it. They’re not going to just learn it all in meetings. We’ve got to find guys that will actually put forth effort to actually remember this stuff and really, it starts with our best players.”
(You said last night that you think that maybe the offense has become too predictable?) – “Oh, it is. Definitely. One-hundred percent.”
(So where are you at on this now? Are you looking to expand it again or…?) – “Yes, we’re going to have to figure something out. We’ve got to kind of figure out really what’s best for us to do, how we really want to approach it; or I guess I’ve got to figure it out. I’ll look into it, but I’m done compromising with anybody. I’ll do what I think is best and those that want to come on board, great. Those that don’t, we’ll get rid of them.”
(The ongoing struggle with the offensive line, do you see it as fixable with the current group?) – “To me it comes down to more than just the offensive line. The majority of the time, the offensive at least knows who to go to and knows what to do. You’ve got to get the other guys to know what to do too. (The offensive line) can’t block the running back’s guy. The running back, we never block the right guy. I don’t even know if we know who we’ve got. We’ve got to get that fixed. They can’t block their guy too. (The offensive line is) trying to do what they can and they’re fighting. There’s times where I wished they would do things better, but at least I’m getting effort.”
(With QB Jay Cutler, obviously you addressed it after the game last night, but are you cautiously optimistic he’ll be healthy to play against Oakland?) – “Cutler, you’re talking about? Yes, he’s playing. He could have played last week.”
(I noticed, as you said, the mental breakdowns are not happening from the offensive line. That being said, from a run blocking standpoint, do you expect more from those five? I know that includes tight ends.) – “We’ve got to stop trying to hit home runs all the time. How about take the 4 or 5 yards that we’re going to get? It comes down to everybody doing their job. If we actually start doing that, it might help.”
(And with the home runs, is that responsibility then on RB Jay Ajayi?) – “It’s on the running back. Do your job. That’s what you’ve got to do. It’s not hard.”
(Players are off until Wednesday?) – “Until Tuesday.”
(How do you hope they use this time?) – “I hope they get their minds right and try to figure out why they’re here. Hopefully it’s to win some football games.”
(How long have you sensed issues with studying or not studying enough?) – “Two years. Yes, I’ve been addressing this for a while, so I’m kind of fed up with it.”
(What was your impression of the defense’s performance after you looked at the film? What were the problems?) – “We didn’t tackle very well. It’s hard to explain because we’ve tackled so well for so long and we just had some of those breakdowns. We’ve got to have guys make sure that they stay responsible with their gaps. I think when we get a little leaky, guys try to compensate for each other and then it becomes worse. It’s a fine line on defense when you have guys that can make plays and they start going outside, really, the box that you’re trying to stay in with your responsibilities, and they don’t make those plays. Then all of a sudden that 4-yard run becomes 12. We had some of that going on. It is surprising when we’ve tackled so well for the majority of the season, to have those kind of breakdowns. I don’t know if it’s that place. Both years we’ve gone there, we’ve not done well against them. We’ve just got to find ways to regroup on defense, just clean up the little tiny things of … Just do your job, keep your responsibility, keep your gap integrity and things have worked out. Our defensive front does try to maintain their responsibility and at the linebacker and safety level, if we stick with what we’ve been doing, we’ll be alright.”
(How did you think S Michael Thomas did at strong safety?) – “He’s always ready to go. That’s the thing about Mike, he’s a true pro. He gives you everything he has on special teams, makes a ton of plays; and then when he gets thrown on defense, he always knows what to do, whether he’s playing safety or nickel. It’s a tough role to get thrown into when you don’t get as many reps during the week. For him to go in there and be able to do his job and make sure he’s doing the part of his job that we need him to do. He did a good enough job for us to have a chance. When he gets a full week’s worth of work, that’s going to help a lot to where he’ll really understand what’s going on.”
(Does that mean S Nate Allen could be…?) – “Yes, it could be a minute with him. I’m not really sure the exact timetable, but right now it doesn’t look promising for us in the next week.”
(You had another look, obviously, on film, on the LB Kiko Alonso hit. What did you see?) – “It’s a tough one. I know Kiko was … He’s in a tough spot, because he’s (Joe Flacco) running for the first down, and I think he’s (Alonso) kind of waiting to see, ‘What’s he going to do? What’s he going to do?’ When he’s sliding, his body is kind of … It’s not like a true slide that you normally see. He’s kind of half in, half out. It’s a tough, tough play to tell a guy what to do. If he completely stays away from him, and all of a sudden he keeps running and goes head first and gets the first down, then we all go, ‘What are you doing? Finish the play.’ He comes in like that and Joe slides. I don’t think Kiko was trying to do anything maliciously.”
(Could WR DeVante Parker have played last night?) – “He wanted to play. I held him out. We didn’t have a full week’s worth. He didn’t get work like a normal practice. He was running around with more tempo than everybody else. He looked pretty good, but I just knew that it was going to be a game where it was going to get physical outside and he hadn’t really been challenged in practice yet. I just thought it was the right thing to do to keep him out for one more week.”
(Regarding C/G Ted Larsen, do you think it’s realistic that he could practice and play next Sunday?) – “There’s a possibility of him practicing. I can’t say about playing though.”
(Quick two-part question: How did G/T Jesse Davis do at guard and could C/G Anthony Steen’s injury be long term?) – “Steen’s injury is going to be a while. Jesse, I thought Jesse did alright. I didn’t see him being the main culprit for anything that was really causing a lot of issues. The good thing about Jesse is he is strong. That was a good matchup for him with getting his hands on guys and anchoring and not allowing penetration.”
(Did C/G Anthony Steen have surgery or is he going to?) – “Yes, he did have surgery.”
(What was your take on some of the extracurricular stuff towards the end?) – “Obviously it’s stuff that you don’t want to see. I think it all stemmed from when Kiko (Alonso) hit Joe (Flacco) and then Kiko gets hit their twice, (Ndamukong) Suh jumps in and I think it just carried through the whole game. I know the officials were trying to make sure they kept some control and order and when the score gets lopsided like that, it’s a tough position to be in when you’re an official. We’re talking to our guys about keep your cool, play smart and just finish the game the correct way. Things get a little chippy and the next thing you know, you start getting some of those things happen.”
(Was anyone besides S Nate Allen banged up last night that you could be without next week?) – “Nobody that I can think of right now but I could be forgetting something.”
(Was your level of disgust as such last night that you considered shortening the amount of time you’re giving players off?) – “No, because I think this is the only chance we have to at least kind of recharge. From here on out, we’re going for the duration. This is as close as we get to a bye, these next few days.”
(Does the fact that you’re still over .500 give you any solace or are you just so disgusted with how you’ve played that you take no solace in that at all?) – “Well, I guess I look at it like this: Whether you win or lose, the whole process of all of this is about correcting things, mistakes that you make and understanding the why of everything that you’re trying to do. When we win, what happens is everybody brushes it under the rug and just tells everybody how great they are, and then I’m just an (expletive). Well, that’s what happens when you lose 40-0. Now all of a sudden, all of those little things become an issue, that we’ve been talking about. When you win and you address them and guys just think, ‘Oh, he just wants to fix something.’ Okay, well we’ve been embarrassed three times in three losses, so maybe at some point, what we’re saying might make some sense.”
(With S T.J. McDonald coming back into the mix soon, how do you see him meshing with S Reshad Jones? Will they have to each make some adjustments to work together?) – “No, because T.J. can do anything we need him to do. When you put two good players back there, we’ll have no problems adjusting. His is going to be just a conditioning level (to be in) football condition.”
(Back to WR DeVante Parker, is it safe to assume that barring any setbacks, he should play against Oakland?) – “I mean, we’ll see. I hope. It would be good to have him out there.”
(Going back to the whole issue of players and their study habits, how widespread are we talking? Are we talking like everybody or half the team?) – “It’s not on defense. The defense is fine. On special teams we seem to be alright; but maybe that’s because it’s just easy – just run straight and hit somebody. Offensively, it’s a joke. We’ve got too many guys that don’t want to take it home with them. Until our best players actually put forth some effort, it’ll be (expletive).”
(Were you tempted to do at all what you did after the Tennessee home game last year in terms of players?) – “Who are you going to get? It is what it is. At some point, guys have to realize that it takes a little effort outside of this building to actually be good.”
(For a head coach, does this break come at a good time or a bad time? There’s a lot of days off for you to fume about this.) – “Yes, it’s probably not a good time for anybody that’s not me. I’m pissed. I’m tired of this. I’m tired of the offense being awful. Guys need to get their heads right. The coaching staff needs to do a better job because obviously our players not knowing is a direct reflection on them.”
(How tempting is it – and this has to be a very tough call for any coach – when your best players are not doing what you want them to do, to go to players who maybe are not as skilled or as experienced, just to have consequences for your best players not doing what they’re supposed to. Are you tempted to do that?) – “I wouldn’t say I’m tempted to do anything. I’m going to play the guys that know what to do. The fan base might not like it, but oh well. We’re the worst offense in football. It’s hard to go lower than that.”
Rey Maualuga – October 26, 2017 (Postgame)
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Sunday, October 26, 2017
Postgame – Baltimore Ravens
Dolphins LB Rey Maualuga (transcribed by the Baltimore Ravens)
(on the defensive play) “I wouldn’t want to say we came out flat. We had a good gameplan, but we let some plays get out of our hands. Tackling was a big part of it, or not tackling was a big part of how we performed as a defense.”
(on the loss) “I don’t think I’ve ever lost this big before. I guess the good thing about it is we still have a lot of games to go. It’s still early. We’ve just got to get this fixed. Thank God we have a couple days to rest. Get our bumps and bruises fixed, get our legs rested and our bodies rested and come back next week and get ready for Oakland.”
Cameron Wake – October 26, 2017 (Postgame)
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Sunday, October 26, 2017
Postgame – Baltimore Ravens
Dolphins DE Cameron Wake (transcribed by the Baltimore Ravens)
(on what was the most surprising thing about the game) “Everything was disappointing. Obviously, we’re all very disappointed. It seemed that everything that could go wrong went wrong for us tonight.”
(on the problems with the run defense) “We had a lot of missed tackles. There was a lot of poor communication. We were all very frustrated. We need to get back on the right page, and we need to fix it. We’ll do that over the next week or so.”
(on the Dolphins’ recent comebacks and when he felt this one was out of reach) “I really don’t know when I figured that out. We’ve been coming back from deficits all year, but tonight we just didn’t make the plays. We didn’t make them on defense or offense. Any chance there was for us to turn the game, we didn’t take advantage.”
(on the Dolphins’ 10-day break) “The first thing we need to do is put this behind us and move forward. Whether you lost by one point or 100 points, it’s one loss. We need to fix this and move forward.”
(on Kiko Alonso’s hit on Joe Flacco) “Kiko plays hard. He plays until the whistle blows. Sometimes things just happen. I don’t like to see anybody get hurt, but it’s football. But I hope [Joe Flacco] is OK.”
Ndamukong Suh – October 26, 2017 (Postgame)
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Sunday, October 26, 2017
Postgame – Baltimore Ravens
Dolphins DT Ndamukong Suh (transcribed by the Baltimore Ravens)
(on what happened in the game) “We didn’t play well enough to win the game. This is two years in a row for Baltimore that we’ve come in here and lost, and that’s unfortunate. They did a really good job of finding ways to beat us.”
(on whether the short week of practice had an impact) “I don’t think that had any effect on the game. We’ve done it before, and we’ve won. We just didn’t execute to the best of our ability.”
(on his confrontation with Ryan Mallett) “He came right at me, and he tried to tackle me. I just defended myself.”
(on Kiko Alonso’s hit on Joe Flacco) “I didn’t see it, but I know Kiko’s not a dirty player. He just plays hard all the time.”
(on the chippiness late in the game) “I don’t know about all that. I am always going to play hard, no matter what the score is.”
Jermon Bushrod – October 26, 2017 (Postgame)
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Sunday, October 26, 2017
Postgame – Baltimore Ravens
Dolphins G/T Jermon Bushrod (transcribed by the Baltimore Ravens)
(on the offensive performance) “We just have to be better. We have to start faster. We’ve all got to execute better.”
(on the difficulty of establishing the pass without the run) “Whatever play is called, we have to go out and execute our assignment. It sucked that we couldn’t get anything going today. We need to be able to get it going, and today we did not at all. We have to go back and look at what they did. Why were they successful? We need to figure out why we weren’t successful in the run game.”
(on bouncing back from this loss) “We are a resilient group. At the end of the day, it didn’t show today like we needed it to. We’ve been in that situation where we’re down 14 or 17 [points], and we’ve come back. When we couldn’t put up points at the beginning of the game and can’t help out the other two side of the ball, it was going to be a long day, and it was a long day out there.”
Adam Gase – October 26, 2017 (Postgame)
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Sunday, October 26, 2017
Postgame – Baltimore Ravens
Dolphins Head Coach Adam Gase (transcribed by the Baltimore Ravens)
(on how much physicality played in the outcome) “At the end of the day, they played 60 minutes a lot more physical than we did. We just didn’t match them right from the get-go.”
(on the two interceptions for touchdowns) “The one [C.J.] Mosley had was a good play by him. He was engaged in the line, jumped up, got it. Matt [Moore] got pressured on the second one, tried to go to one of his shorter routes, and Jimmy [Smith] sat on it.”
(on what surprises him most about tonight’s game) “Probably more about the offense. We’re just inept. We’re not doing anything right now. I’ll have to look at the film and kind of see where we’re going. When you play a game like that and get shut out again, you just have to start looking at if it’s one guy, multiple guys. It’s just one of those things, but we have to comb through it. We have a few days to do it, to try to reset everything. We just have to figure out what’s causing us to lose out on opportunities to give ourselves a chance to score points.”
(on if simplifying the offense made it a catch 22 – making it easier for the offense and defense) “Yes, 100 percent. That’s what it is; that’s what happens when you cut back like that. It becomes a little easier to defend. We have to start doing something right.”
(on the Kiko Alonso hit) “I didn’t see it. I just saw a melee of guys, and then just tried to figure out what happened.”
(on how much frustration he sensed) “That’s going to happen every once in awhile. It’s going to get chippy when it gets a little lopsided like that. We’re trying to keep everybody’s tempers down, but frustrations go up. We couldn’t score any points, and I’m sure the defense was frustrated. They had to keep coming out there after three-and-out, so we have to try to keep our composure better than we did tonight.”
(on his emotions at the moment) “For me right now, I’m just trying to figure out the reasons why we can’t sustain drives. You start looking at everything from ‘Are we calling the right things?,’ ‘Why can’t we get it third-and-manageable?,’ ‘Are we using the right people?’ It’s just one of those things where you have to go back, and we have to figure out what we can do to fix this.”
(on chances of Jay Cutler being available for Oakland) “I’m not 100 percent sure. Monday he ran with the team, and then he threw. He felt pretty good. I wasn’t going to put him out there tonight, and I think it was the smart thing to do. I know he’s tough, but I didn’t want to put him in a bad situation, basically, where he could get hurt worse.”
(on what was his message to the whole group) “We have to reset. We have to take this time off that we have, because this is really kind of our bye week and kind of re-focus our mind, get as healthy as we can, and when we come back, be ready to work. We have a lot of football left, and we’ve won enough games so far to at least put ourselves in a position where we get a chance to keep competing. We just have to find a way to get better. Right now, we’re so inconsistent. We’re up and down. Until we actually stack one good week on top of the other, it’s never going to be right. Right now, we’re just all over the place.”
