Adam Gase – December 28, 2016 (Conference Call)
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Wednesday, December 28, 2016
Head Coach Adam Gase Conference Call with New England Media
(Just wanted to start and ask you, you guys are 6-1 at home. Maybe talk about the importance of home field advantage for you guys. Also, this time of year it’s typically warm down there and a cold weather team like New England coming in there. I was wondering your thoughts on the weather giving you guys a little advantage given you practice in those conditions a lot more.) – “Well as far as winning games at home, I feel like we had a nice little stand there when we had multiple home games in a row and we lost one early, we won one, then we lost one and we got kind of got on a little bit of a run. We had a little home streak there to where I think our guys really got comfortable playing in our stadium. It’s a little different feel from what at least what I remember in the past when I would come down here. With the canopy, it gets pretty loud. Our players feed off that. Our crowd’s been great. Obviously, when you win a couple games, the louder it would get on third down and in big situations. So that’s been a good environment for our players. I think it really helps get them juiced up during the game. And then as far as the weather goes, I don’t know how much I really put into that. That’s kind of like when we go up north, everybody says, ‘You’re not going to play well because of the cold.’ At the end of the day, you’re talking three and a half, four hours. NFL players, they adapt. They know what it is and they just roll with the punches.”
(Matt Moore has stepped in for you guys. What are your thoughts on the job he’s done so far?) – “He’s done a good job. It hasn’t been … The first game he came into against Arizona, it was pretty much a monsoon down here, so he did a great job of making sure we had possession of the ball at the end of each series. He made some really big plays at the end of the game that helped us win that game and did a good job against the Jets and executed exactly what we needed to do. Last week, we had some good plays, we had some bad plays. I know there’s some things that he wants to fix but for a guy that hadn’t played in four and a half years coming off the bench, that was … It’s been very impressive to just see his commitment to what we’ve been doing and his professionalism. A lot of guys, after that much time not playing, can fall asleep at the wheel sometimes. It’s unusual to think that because this is really NFL players. This is their job. But it happens. I’ve seen it happen in the past with certain players and he didn’t allow that to happen. So when he had his opportunity, he came in and he was able to execute.”
(Linebackers Coach Matt Burke is Central Massachusetts native. I’m just wondering what you’ve seen from him and the contributions he’s brought to your staff this season.) – “He’s done a great job. I was really happy we were able to add him to our staff. The continuity him and Vance have are outstanding. The communication within the game, it’s really good to hear those guys communicate within the drives. He’s been very helpful to me. Very smart. He’s a smart coach. Obviously, being a Dartmouth grad doesn’t hurt us. He’s a guy that I lean on heavily when we talk before games as far as situations. He’s seen a lot of football over his career. He processes things very quickly, so he’s a good guy for us to have on the staff.”
(Just wondering about your perception of the Patriots ability of the defense when it comes to tackling. I’ve watched them for a while and they just are a team, especially in the secondary, that are very good at getting players on the ground. Sometimes, I think that might be a little bit underrated in 2016.) – “I think they do a good job of making sure that they get guys that have that ability to start with and then that’s always a good starting point – which they do – and then they develop them even further along with the coaching staff they have. The emphasis they put on it, you can see if there is a missed tackle at some point in the game, it gets corrected. It gets corrected down the road. I think it’s just that consistency of not getting complacent ever. I think as the season goes on and so many things they do in all three phases, there’s always improvement throughout the year and that’s just the sign of a really good coaching staff and it’s a sign of players that are willing to learn and willing to put forth the effort to get better during the season.”
(On a different note, I know that you’re familiar with, I don’t want to say close with Patriots Offensive Coordinator / Quarterbacks Coach Josh McDaniels, but I know that you guys have been together in the past. As he looks at opportunities elsewhere, and I don’t want you to spitball on any of that stuff, but what did you look for in an opportunity to take on a head coaching job? I know that Josh is certainly going to be a candidate. What would you think his suitability is and what does a candidate look for these days?) – “Well the one thing I can say for myself going through the 2014, after the 2014 season, and having the ability to interview with five teams, it was probably really good that I did not get one, and I was able to learn from those experiences through the interview process. Then coming into this last year when I went through the interview process, I had a better feel of the questions that they were going to ask me. But at the same time, I had more questions I was ready to ask. Really, at the end of the day, I was just going off of how I felt with the guys that I was talking to. That’s why this place felt right to me. I felt good when I interviewed and I felt good about the people I was talking with and interviewing with. I felt like it was a good group for me to work with. I think it’s just something that I did, learned being with Josh in those years in Denver where our discussions all the time were just kind of positive, as far as if you ever get a situation where I had this opportunity, it was about how do you fit in that organization and how do you work with other people in that organization.)
(Last week, the Patriots threw a touchdown to a guy named TE Matt Lengel who never caught a pass before in the NFL. He’s only playing about 10 snaps per game. How much, when they do something like that, how much does that add to your preparation? Is that an extra piece you now have to account for?) – “Any time that a guy’s active for a game, you have to account for him. And especially just being with (Patriots Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach) Josh (McDaniels) for those couple years, he always did a great job as far as finding the right matchups, finding weak spots on the defense, finding the matchup he needed to expose someone in the red zone. He used those players to their strengths. So if a guy is really good at one or two things, those are the two things that he would emphasize. I feel that’s something I learned from him and really has helped my career, since we’ve been apart over the last six years, is taking that formula for myself. You just see, he’s still doing the same thing. He finds the right matchups, he finds what those guys do well and he uses them in every game.”
(Along those same lines, how do you think Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach Josh McDaniels has done adapting the Patriots’ offense since TE Rob Gronkowski went down?) – “It’s not surprising. It has been consistent over his whole career. He figures out what the guys that he has available to him can do, and he really puts an emphasis on that and doesn’t try to go outside that ability that those players have. He really focuses on, ‘What can I get this guy to do to help us win the game?’”
(For you guys, obviously, first playoff berth since 2008. I imagine there’s a lot of excitement inside the building with the fans. What’s your challenge for helping guys realize that that’s not necessarily the end result, the end goal?) – “Our guys have done a good job of bunkering down and focusing on the task at hand. We haven’t really talked about it that much. Obviously, when they tell you that you are in, we at least can say, ‘We’re going to get to play another game after Week 17,’ but our focus has to be on who we’re playing this week. That has really been our mantra all year long as far as we’re taking it one game at a time. We’re a young team. We haven’t been together for 10 years to where we can focus on that next week. We have to really focus and dial in on the task at hand. We’ve been such a small-focused team since the beginning of the season that we’re not afforded that opportunity to look past this week.”
(As you’ve established the culture in your first year there, I’m curious [about] your thoughts on General Manager Chris Grier, his contribution to what you guys are building.) – “Chris did an unbelievable job in the draft. He made sure we got the right type of players that we were looking for. He basically … He runs that whole deal on draft day and made sure that everything was set up the right way. At the end of the day, he made that happen on draft day to plug the right guys into what we wanted to start building. All these guys have contributed in some form or fashion, whether it be on the active roster or within the practice squad. When you go through a draft and you still have all your draft picks and guys are still getting better and they’re the right type of people for our organization, that’s to me … I know at the end of the day we’re going to be measured probably three or four years down the road to see where everybody is at, but right now, guys have been doing exactly what we need them to do and helping our organization go in a positive direction.”
(What have you learned about General Manager Chris Grier as a football guy?) – “For me, personally, I think I’ve learned a lot as far as the scouting realm – what he’s looking at, the type of players that he’s looking at. I don’t know how many guys I’ve been around in the front office that are as inquisitive as he is with trying to get exactly what you want and adjusting, really, what they were looking for from the time before I got here and throughout the spring and before the draft to make sure that whatever guys we did go out and draft – or brought in, in college free agency or even free agency – that they were the type of guys that would fit into the culture that we were trying to build.”
(Had you known General Manager Chris Grier before) – “I did not know him before.”
(I’d be remiss if I didn’t ask you about QB Ryan Tannehill. How is he doing? Are you guys holding out hope that he’ll be back for the playoffs?) – “I’ve purposefully avoided our doctors. I haven’t asked. I told them, ‘If something changes, let me know.’ I just know that he’s working hard to try to get as healthy as he can. I have no idea what our timetable is. Right now, we’re playing it every week of saying, ‘Matt (Moore) is our quarterback until somebody tells us different.’ That’s, really, the take I’ve been coming into each week as.”
(QB Ryan Tannehill seemed to have probably the best year of his young career so far. What did you learn about him as a player and as a person this year?) – “I didn’t really realize what a competitor he was. Sometimes when you’re outside and you have very minimal views of a guy, because you’re really worrying about your next opponent and last year me being in a different conference, we didn’t have a lot of crossover tape. Just being around him every day and seeing how he works and seeing how he practices and then competes in the game, there are so many positive things that it was a shame that he got hurt, because I really felt like it was slowing down for him. He had a great grasp of the offense. I thought he was doing a great job as far as leading our team. It’s one of those things. It’s a tough pill to swallow to see him have to go through this, especially when we’re having as much success as we were. But that’s football. If it was easy, everybody would do it, and that’s what makes this a great game. Now he has got to figure out a way to try to get healthy and contribute for us down the road.”
(You worked with a lot of quarterbacks. You’ve watched a lot of quarterback tape over the years. What do you think of the tape that QB Tom Brady has been putting out there at age 39?) – “It’s probably right on course for what you would expect when he came back. You knew he was going to come back and do exactly what he is doing – cutting people up and moving the ball and being an impactful leader and finding ways to score points and win games. He has done it his whole career. I’ve seen him play so many times being in Denver and unfortunately being on the wrong side of the scoreboard a lot of times, but sometimes when you get to see a guy like that play, people take it for granted, and I was lucky enough to be around a future Hall of Famer and when you look back on it, you really appreciate what guys like Tom and Peyton (Manning) bring to the table, because they’re really league-changing-type players. They make the league better. All of those young guys look up to a guy like Tom, and they want to be like him, and they want to do the things that he has done. He has been nothing but the ultimate pro and ultimate competitor. He’s a fun guy to watch play when you’re not playing him. When you’re playing him, it’s a very frustrating thing.”
(I know you talked about it a little bit with your reporters down there – I think they may have been asking you about your approach personnel-wise in this game and you guys are going to keep playing in the playoffs next week – do you manage it? Not the whole idea of this resting starters thing, but do you manage certain guys maybe differently than you would have knowing that you got a game next week and that game could decide if your season is over?) – “I think it’s such a hard … Whoever you go into the game active (with), you’re playing. I think it’s hard to have a guy up and say, ‘You’re going to play 10 plays, and we’re going to pull you out.’ I look at it the same way when you bring a guy up, and he’s active, and all of a sudden you’re two series in and he says, ‘I can’t go anymore.’ It makes it very difficult on a lot of different phases of the game, and it puts pressure on other people to have to play more snaps. The way that we look at this is this is a regular season game that means a lot to us. Whoever is healthy and whoever is active, those guys are going to play.”
Kenny Stills – December 26, 2016
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Monday, December 26, 2016
Wide Receiver Kenny Stills
(Does it feel good to know that you guys are in the playoffs?) – “Yes. That monkey is kind of off your back, but we still have a lot of work to do.”
(As humans, all you guys are kind of saying the same thing, it’s one game at a time. But you are human. It’s got to feel good to accomplish something that was the goal coming into the season, especially starting out 1-4?) – “Yes. As a team, we knew what we were capable of and we went out there and focused on it each week, and now we’re here. So we have to keep doing what we’re doing and we know that we’ve got a lot in front of us.”
(Athletes in general are confident. If we put truth serum in you, when you were 1-4, could you have envisioned this…) – “Yes. You don’t even have to finish that question. When we were 1-4…”
(Why did you continue to believe when things weren’t going well?) – “Because we knew the talent that we had in this room. We knew that we weren’t firing on all cylinders. We knew that we weren’t doing everything that we were capable of doing. You don’t get to be at this point if you didn’t believe that at 1-4.”
(Was there a certain game or time when you felt that things were turning around?) – “We just were … The one week, one game at a time mentality that we’ve had, that’s real. We’re not just saying that to you guys. That’s what we believe. That’s what comes from our head coach and that’s all the way down to us. We believe one week at a time, you take care of that, then everything else will fall in line. That’s literally what we’ve been doing. One week at a time.”
(Don’t change this week. Do everything that got you here in the first place.) – “Exactly.”
(That said, are you more and more impressed with yourselves when you see all the different ways that you are able to pull off these wins? Do you get more and more confidence after every game? An incredible OT victory like the one…) – “I wouldn’t say that we’re impressed with ourselves. I think a lot of the guys, we hold ourselves to a higher standard and we think that we should be winning games a little bit differently. And so when we go out and execute and do our jobs, we feel like teams can’t play with us.”
(How about the fact that, sort of what he said, sometimes it’s the offense, sometimes defense holds, sometimes special teams, starters, stars, reserves. It seems this team has won games in a variety of different ways.) – “Yes. That’s that ‘next-man-up mentality.’ That’s the ‘just go out there and find a way to win one week at a time.’ That’s the stuff that we always talk about. And so, that’s all we’re focusing on. That’s what we’re going to continue to do.”
(One thing Head Coach Adam Gase was just saying about you, obviously, proud of all you’ve done. Your availability has been a big issue with you [in the past] and you haven’t missed any practices. He mentioned about you talking before the season started, back in the spring, about things you wanted to do differently. Anything you’re comfortable expanding on in terms of maybe any approach that you’ve changed personally that Coach Gase is referencing?) – “I just knew one: that I had to be healthy. And two: to do whatever they asked me to do. If that’s going in there and blocking, if that’s going across the middle, if that’s going deep, if that’s coaching the younger guys – whatever it is – I just had to do whatever I had to do to help this team win and that’s where we’re at.”
(What do you like about the way that he’s used you the first year you guys have been together?) – “What do you mean? What do I like about it?”
(Just the type of routes. Like what’s gone well? Or what’s been different or new that Head Coach Adam Gase has done with you that’s worked out well for you?) – “I don’t think I’m doing anything new or different. I think he just does a good job of putting guys in a position to make plays.”
(What he said about you kind of doing things differently yourself, it sounded kind of like a different approach dedication-wise. That you were maybe more dedicated to it now. Was there some kind of change in that regard?) – “No, I wouldn’t say that. I just knew and understood how young our room was, and in order for us to go where we’re capable of going, that somebody had to really lead by example every day, in every situation, in everything that we did. I was lucky enough to be with a group of veteran receivers in New Orleans and they showed me the way and the right way to do things. So I’ve tried to emulate that and really show that to this young group of receivers and get them to follow in suit. That way, we could kind of lead towards our potential.”
Branden Albert – December 26, 2016
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Monday, December 26, 2016
Tackle Branden Albert
(On finding out that the Dolphins clinched a playoff spot last night) – “My old team (Kansas City) gave me a gift last night. I’m happy about it, but we’ve still got a big game this week. The most important game right now is the game we are worrying about, and that’s against the Patriots.”
(I know you guys are looking to be 1-0 this week. Head Coach Adam Gase said so much. But to check that box off…) – “Well, it’s there. We know it’s there, but we’ve still got big business this weekend. We’ve got a division game coming up against the Patriots, and one game at a time. That’s what our mentality has been, and that’s what we’re going to stick to.”
(You guys have beaten the Patriots at home for the last three years. What would it be like to achieve that, continue and extend that to a fourth?) – “I think it would be good for our team, especially going into the playoffs. But, like I said, it’s more important that we just worry about this game, one game at a time and one play at a time.”
(You are committed to being an outside zone-type team. As far as the gap scheme plays that you guys have run, you’ve had some success with those. How has that really helped this offense kind of keep defenses off balance?) – “Well, you know everybody is keying on the run, so we’ve got to be more diverse in the run game. And it’s helping us, everything with the passing game, and what we do, mainly what we do. But, as long as we are diverse with the running game, it’s going to help us out.”
(What are your thoughts on maybe resting this week?) – “That’s not my call. Whatever (Head) Coach (Adam Gase) has me doing, I’m going to be out there prepared like I’m going to play this Sunday and go full out.”
(How much more solidified is this team as a whole when you can see all the different ways you guys have pulled off wins, whether it be the defense, offense, special teams. I mean, is the confidence through the roof?) – “I think, we being well-coached, I think guys are in-tune to what we need to do, and we’re making plays at the right time, and that’s good. Football is the ultimate team sport, and we’re doing a good job playing good team football.”
(Was there a time in the season between 1-4 and now, that you felt that we’ve turned the corner now? You aren’t the 1-4 team you showed the first five weeks?) – “I think the Ravens game kind of was a … We kind of realized that we’ve got to play up to par every week. There are teams out there that are more experienced than us. I think that was a wakeup call for all of us. I think since then, the adversity we’ve been playing with all season, I think we’ve been doing a good job. Everybody’s been doing a good job stepping up. You’ve got to give the coaching staff and the organization (credit), bringing in guys that can step up when guys are down. We’ve got to tip our hats to the guys that are stepping in there and playing and making plays.”
Adam Gase – December 26, 2016
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Monday, December 26, 2016
Head Coach Adam Gase
(Did you watch the Chiefs vs. Broncos game last night and your reaction to being in the postseason?) – “I had it on (as) kind of background noise. I was watching our game. I didn’t watch it the night before, so I was cleaning up our game. I was trying to get a little bit ahead.”
(I can’t believe I’m asking you this considering you were 1-4, but are you going to rest some starters in the final week of the season?) – “I think we need to do everything we can to try to make sure that we’re 1-0 at the end of this week. Our guys are going to get ready. We’re going to practice and see how many guys we got healthy.”
(Any nice calls late last night from the owner, Stephen Ross, or anyone close to you? Just with congratulations?) – “Yes. I talked to Mr. Ross last night and (Executive Vice President of Football Operations) Mike (Tannenbaum) and (General Manager) Chris (Grier). We were just kind of talking about our plan going forward this week and really that’s been our big focus. We have an opportunity to play after Week 17, but our main focus is this week, and we’re going to stick to the plan that we’ve had this entire season of not looking past the opponent that we have ahead.”
(Any updates on RB Jay Ajayi and S Isa Abdul-Quddus?) – “Isa (Abdul-Quddus), I’m still waiting for MRI results and kind of figure out where we’re going there. Jay (Ajayi) was just a little banged up for 32 carries; but, I think he’ll be okay.”
(Is QB Ryan Tannehill certainly out this week?) – “I don’t know yet. I don’t know where the doctors have him right now or how he feels. I haven’t really asked. I just tell them once you guys got something different then come talk to me.”
(We did see QB Ryan Tannehill without the cast. Is there any sense of improvement or progress?) – “I haven’t asked. I said if something changes, let me know.”
(You’re in the playoffs. You’re going to be on the road in the first round. Why is this Sunday important to you and the team?) – “Because that’s the game that we’re playing this week. That’s our focus and we know who we’re playing and we know we’re playing a very good team that’s as well-coached as you could possibly get. We know we have a team that we lost to earlier in the season that we have to make sure that we bring our A-game.”
(What does it mean to you personally to know that even though there’s still more on the table, you’ve gotten the first check mark of the season to qualify for the playoffs. What does that mean to you?) – “I think for me, it’s really more about our players – the fight that they’ve shown. A lot of people doubted those guys as far as how we would react when we were 1-4. They did a great job of ignoring the noise outside our building and focusing on the task at hand, which was that one week, and they slowly found ways to improve each week. That’s all we asked our players to do was to focus on that one week. I know it’s very basic and simple. It’s just not always easy to do, and guys did a great job of just taking care of business one week at a time.”
(With all the coaches you worked for are there one or two of them where you can draw upon them for how they prepared for the playoffs?) – “Well my only experience has been with (former Denver Broncos Head) Coach (John) Fox. I thought the way that we handled our business when I was with him was very good. We never … We had a lot of times we were in position, multiple weeks before we entered the playoffs, and we just focused on that one game. And we found a way to get better that week and our goal was to go out and win that week.”
(With all the one game at a time talk in the locker room, would you be disappointed if your players talked about the playoffs? Would you think that that’s looking ahead or breaking the mindset?) – “I think our players are focused on this week because they know exactly who we’re playing. This is absolutely a team, if you look past them, they will embarrass you. So our focus needs to be on playing New England, and if it’s not, you’ll see it on the field on Sunday.”
(As far as defending the option and playing assignment football, what were some of the things that were missing in order for you guys to have a little bit more success stopping the run there?) – “It’s a tough matchup being on the other side of that experience, watching defenses try to stop an option team in this league. It’s just something so unusual that you have to be on it. Your week of practice, you have to be sound and it’s just not going to be the same as it is in the game. They did a great job executing their game plan. They made it very difficult on us. We had … If one guy’s wrong, there are a lot of guys that are going to look really bad, especially when you get ‘25’ (LeSean McCoy) in space. There are not a lot of people in the league that are going to tackle that guy one on one.”
(How much changed in the way you and Defensive Coordinator Vance Joseph call games from the time you were 1-4 to the past 10 weeks?) – “I don’t think it’s been that big of a difference. For offense, it’s been more leaning on the run game probably a little more. I mean once we went with Jay (Ajayi) and said that’s going to be our guy the rest of the way out, I think that made things a little easier because I knew for myself what he liked and what he didn’t like. That made it easier to call games as far as what we were dialing up in the run game and, on Vance’s (Joseph) side, we shifted some guys around. We put some different guys in as far as starters go and he’s had to adjust a lot with injuries and just kind of guys moving in and out. He’s done a good job of trying to put those guys in good position and give them the answers to the test. It doesn’t always work out the way you want it, but every week they’ve made plays, especially when we really need it.”
(Has the team notified the league as far as what happened with Assistant Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Darren Rizzi on the sideline in the Buffalo game? Secondly, is there any hope that CB Byron Maxwell can go this week?) – “Maxwell, we’ll see how this week progresses; but I know he felt better towards the end of the week. We just weren’t going to put him out there and possibly further … really kind of hurt our chances for him to possibly play this week. So that was really the mindset there. Then as far as it goes with what happened on the sideline, I didn’t really make a big deal about it. It’s football. Sometimes things like that happen.”
(With RB Kenyan Drake’s touchdown run, was that a coach’s ‘o, no, no,’ and then ‘yes, yes, yes,’ type of run for him?) – “Yes. It was a big ‘no, no, no.’ He did a great job as far as kicking it into another gear down the sideline. But when he spun around, there were some interesting comments by myself.”
(It’s been a great dynamic with you and Executive Vice President of Football Operations Mike Tannenbaum and General Manager Chris Grier in assembling the roster. Can you talk a little bit of the job Mike has done putting this team together with you?) – “I think the direction that we started with was a good mindset when we first got together and started talking about how we want to develop the roster. I thought Chris did a great job handling the draft, putting everything together and made sure that we stayed on course throughout the draft. The communication has been outstanding. There are very few days where we’re not together at some point in the day just making sure we’re all on the same page. That’s really been the key to constantly saying the same thing, because we’re always communicating. That’s really how we wanted it when we started and we were able to maintain that throughout the year.”
(With S Isa Abdul-Quddus potentially being sidelined, is S Michael Thomas the guy who is going to step in?) – “I haven’t even gotten there yet. I’m waiting to find out what’s going on. It seems like that seems to be the position of where we lose a guy here and there during the season. We have to take a look at what it is first and how long, or if there’s a time period on this. Once we find that out, which I’ll know shortly, then we can kind of make our adjustments from there.”
(WR Kenny Stills has been a very explosive player for you. I know you were familiar with him from his time in New Orleans, but you also studied last year’s tape quite a bit. What did you see that you liked out of last year’s tape and what were you thinking about the different ways that you might use him?) – “I didn’t really focus on last year. I remember when we evaluated him in Chicago, we had an idea that he possibly could get moved. I really loved his speed. He consistently made big plays. I know there were a couple of times where he had some opportunities and it didn’t quite go the way he wanted it to. When he came in, when we first started and the first time I met him, I could tell he wanted to do it different than what he did in years past. We had a great conversation of the steps we needed to take. He really grabbed a hold of the offense, did a great job of making sure he knew it better than anybody else, and was able to put himself in a position where he worked so hard to where when he did have little tiny nagging injuries in the spring, he never missed any practice time. He never missed any practice time in training camp. I think that’s really helped him because running routes and being in the huddle with the quarterback every time, that allows him to get a great feel for what we’re doing on offense, the timing; and he’s really created that on his own. It’s really been about availability for him.”
(When you say do it differently, you’re talking about that or something else specifically?) – “However he went about his business before this year. Sometimes young players, the focus may not always be just on this. That’s part of the growth process of young players in the NFL. I could tell the first time I met him that he wanted to try to do something special as far as being a guy that was a big time contributor for us; somebody that we could count on every week and every practice. And he’s been that for us.”
(Just to be clear, when the Denver game ended you were watching Buffalo film?) – “I was finishing up watching our game.”
(Your reaction? Was there high fives to the staff?) – “I was at home.”
(High five with the wife?) – “I don’t think there was a high five.” (Laughing)
(Did you allow yourself a smile?) – “I’m happy for our guys. Our guys worked hard to get to this point and gave themselves an opportunity to keep competing. I’m happy for our coaching staff, (Chairman of the Board/Managing General Partner) Mr. (Stephen) Ross, (Executive Vice President of Football Operations) Mike (Tannenbaum) and (General Manager) Chris (Grier) and all of these guys who have put in so much time and have been here. There are a lot of people who have been here for a long time and they’ve been waiting for an opportunity to compete and have an opportunity to keep playing after the regular season is over. That was our goal when we started this whole process of what we were doing in the spring. This is the first step but we need to focus on what we’re doing right now and that’s New England.”
(How about the fans? They’ve been high fiving and really excited the team has been winning. What are your thoughts on Dolphins nation, that are just so excited they haven’t been to the playoffs in a long time?) – “My experience in all of these home games is … The last time that I had been in the stadium (before this year) was 2011. It doesn’t even look like the same stadium anymore. When we go to play games and those things get tight, the volume that our stadium is generating right now has been outstanding. The excitement – you feel it when you walk into the stadium; you feel it through the players when they step out on the field. There’s a different juice for us when we’re on our sideline, when we’re at home. Our guys do everything they can to try to maintain that when we go on the road, but it’s not the same. You feel a big-time difference. When we’re at home, our players feed off it. You can feel the excitement in the stands; you can feel the excitement, especially when our defense is on the field. That’s probably one of the (most fun) things for me as a coach that’s able to step back – being an offense guy, watching our defense – and feel that energy coming out, especially on third down. It’s something that’s rare.”
(This record has exceeded fans’ expectations and pundits’ expectations. What part of this year, if anything has exceeded your expectations?) – “As coaches, you always have different thoughts of how a season is going to go. This is kind of what we expected. That’s how you think as a coach. You don’t think you’re going to have a sub-par year.”
(This is a big breakthrough for this franchise. It’s been a long time. Does it feel differently today being the coach of this team?) – “I feel the same as I did last time I was up here.”
(Will you mention to the guys, ‘Yes, you have a check mark to make the playoffs. But one of the things you can still get done this week is to finish as high as possible in the standings?’) – “We just talked about focusing on getting better with our film from the last game, making our corrections and then focusing on New England when we get back in on Wednesday.”
Cameron Wake – December 24, 2016 (Postgame)
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Saturday, December 24, 2016
Postgame – at Buffalo
Miami Dolphins DE Cameron Wake (as transcribed by the Buffalo Bills)
Q: Cam the numbers might not look great for you defensively on that one, but it looked like a very aggressive game plan for you. How did you feel about the defensive performance?
A: Of course we wish we had a couple of plays that went differently but, the ultimate goal is to win the game. You had opportunities to go out there and make plays and we made them when it counted and we won. Of course we would love the stat sheet to be great but the only stat that matters is the W.
Q: What was the mentality you sensed from your guys coming into this one?
A: Leave it all on the field. Play for the guy on the left and the right. Do whatever it takes to win, no matter how long it takes; 60 minutes or a little longer like today. This one went a little longer, but like I said, we’ve been in battles- battle tested. We know how to win, so I don’t think it’s an accident. I enjoy it.
Q: You’ve never had a winning season, never been playoff bound, now you guys have done your part to be on the verge of being playoff bound, what is that feeling like?
A: I just enjoy winning. That’s the whole goal every week. Go in and win one game. That’s been our mindset from months and months ago so that’s no different. Each week go in there and do your job; that’s what feels good. I feel like all of the rest of that stuff will take care of itself as long as you do your job.
Q: You had a chase down on [Tyrod] Taylor coming from the opposite side late in the game, how much energy did you even have left at that point?
A: That’s the thing about this game: you never have energy left until the next play. The play before that didn’t have any energy, I’m sure the rest of the guys on the field felt the same way, but your brothers need you and you have to make a play and find it. That was this game. Every guy had strain, everyone had their fight. When you think you’re done, you look across the field and say “I need one more play from you” and you made that promise to go out there and get it done. It’s just the way this league us, if you don’t leave everything on the field you probably won’t win. It took every guy and I’m just myself. Every guy out there making plays and they counted for sure.
Q: You guys have played like 6 or 7 one score games and you’ve only lost like one of them this year. What is the key to winning a game that is so close that can go either way and that you come out on top most of the time?
A: It’s that one play. That’s the thing though, you never know when that play is going to be. You never know if it’s going to be that play where you chase down the Quarterback from the backside, you never know if it’s that 9 ball that you pass interfere on, you don’t know if it’s a batted ball- it might be the first play of the game, you just don’t know. So every play you have to play like this is the play and every guy has to be that way and when we’re doing that it’s going to be tough to beat us. My hats off to the guys on the other side of the ball. I’ve been getting up and talking about that for the whole season, playing complimentary football when it counted. The defense got on the field, off the field and got the ball to the offense and they went down and scored points. Every time I’ve mentioned that it’s been a formula for success. It would have obviously been great to go out there and win by 30 points but this is the NFL- the best players in the world and every time you step on the field you have to play. We went out there and knew it was going to be a battle and every guy fought and we won.
Q: This team hadn’t won here since 2011, and today you leave with a very important win. Do you shrug it off and say okay, we won or is it really meaningful for you?
A: It is meaningful, but so was last week, and the week before, and the week before that. It’s hard to win in this league, it takes everyone and it’s hard to win. Every week, every time we win, it’s important and very meaningful. Again, our whole goal is to be the one and I guarantee nobody was thinking about that stat. I didn’t even know it, but I don’t care. It’s about this play; win, put the ball down; win, win the game. So a lot of that stuff that other people make a big deal about, I guarantee it’s not about that, it’s about this play and the next play.
Q: Considering everything you’ve been through here, to see your team at a spot where there is something there to take and you do go take it, how do you feel about your teammates?
A: Like I said before, I enjoy winning. I’ll take a quote from somebody close to me that played here, “I hate losing more than I love winning,” so that’s always been the goal. I’m not a guy who is into looking ahead and the crystal ball and all that. Our goal is to go win one game and if we win this game we’re going to enjoy tonight, Merry Christmas and all that, and get back to work. That’s the entire goal. All the rest of that stuff is kind of irrelevant if you don’t do your job so your main focus should be on the task at hand.
Ndamukong Suh – December 24, 2016 (Postgame)
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Saturday, December 24, 2016
Postgame – at Buffalo
Miami Dolphins DT Ndamukong Suh (as transcribed by the Buffalo Bills)
Q: How did it feel when you saw the ball go through the uprights for the win?
A: At then end of the day, we got the win. We definitely made it tough on ourselves, no question, especially on the defensive side of the ball in the second half. They were just running the ball on us and we had to tackle and we really weren’t playing great assignment football. But at the end of the day we got stops when we needed to get stops and get the offense the ball back to make plays.
Q: What can you grasp out of their ability to run the ball on your defense?
A: Yeah, without seeing the tapes in my opinion they have great athletes over there and they put them in great positions to make plays. It’s our job as a defensive line and a defensive front to hunt that down. Obviously we struggled with that in the second half. I think in key positions and key situations we got the ball down and the running back down enforcing the pass in certain situations and made plays.
Q: What was your thought process when (Andrew) Franks was lined up for the 55 yard field goal?
A: I watch him every Wednesday in practice and he knocks them down so, as long as he has a good clean kick he’s going to be fine.
Q: How does it feel to get to double digit wins?
A: Yeah it’s a tough situation when you start winning three but, it’s the position that we put ourselves in and we had to take it one game at a time as coach continues to preach and that’s what guys have been doing. Focusing on their task, doing their job and that’s it. And that’s all we have to do. We’ll make plays and the guys that need to make plays are going to make plays and go from there.
Q: This seems to be a real tight team, does this help you win close games?
A: Yeah I sent something last night to more specifically our defensive guys. At the end of the day, we can have fun, joke, be a tight knit group. But when it’s time to work, we got to work and we found a way to have a great combination. Definitely proud of the way that we’ve been able to do that especially as we move into the later part of the season, and that’s the right time to jet.
Dion Sims – December 24, 2016 (Postgame)
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Saturday, December 24, 2016
Postgame – at Buffalo
Miami Dolphins TE Dion Sims (as transcribed by the Buffalo Bills)
Q: You know, just Jay (Ajayi)’s game today—
A: Oh man he’s a grinder, he’s a work horse. He goes a hundred miles an hour and that’s why he’s got the nickname “train” because he is just going nonstop. He balled out thanks to the guys up front.
Q: He (Ajayi) put 214 (yards) on them last time. I mean they were fired up all week that this was not going to happen again. How does it feel to, against a division rival, pound it on them?
A: It felt great. Great feeling to pound it and then everything else opens up. I think the guys up front did a great job. They battled it out. It wasn’t easy, it’s never easy, but we’re getting it done.
Q: You know Jay killed them on cutbacks the first week. It seemed like the game plan today was we’re hitting it hard, you know we’re attacking. Can you comment on that? Was that talked about during the week?
A: Just holding blocks. You know, guys just doing their job backside. Collapsed play, bring it all the way to the backside tackle. It was there. The creases were there.
Q: Did you know this was going to be a little “extra something?” You guys have had that history with the Bills and it’s been a little chippy. Did you have an idea coming into the game that it would have this kind of atmosphere?
A: Yeah. It’s always tough playing on the road – you know, the weather. The Bills are always a tough opponent to play, especially with Rex Ryan over there on the other side. We knew that they were going to throw a lot of different things at us – variations of coverages. And we just did our thing up front. We just kept pounding and we had some creases there.
Matt Moore – December 24, 2016 (Postgame)
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Saturday, December 24, 2016
Postgame – at Buffalo
Miami Dolphins QB Matt Moore (as transcribed by the Buffalo Bills)
Q: Your feelings on when the field goal went in for the win?
A: Yeah, all good feelings obviously. For the run game to get us down there in a situation like that is bigtime. The guys up front and all the backs really all played huge rolls today. We just kind of kept chipping away a little bit in the run game. That was tough. It was a tough one. No doubt. Just kind of kept chipping away and Jay (Ajayi) stayed strong and kept going and really busted out that big one in a crucial situation.
Q: How much did Jay Ajayi’s big day mean for you guys?
A: Yeah, to have a guy like that … you know I think he’ll tell you also he’ll probably credit the offensive line foremost. I mean those guys, we saw a ton of different looks. A lot of guys down in the box. We knew we wanted to run the ball and we had to run the ball so for those guys to deal with Buffalo’s defense which is always tough, it’s just a great feeling.
Q: Comment on all three running backs playing huge roles in todays game.
A: They all did. They all did. And Damien (Williams) had a big catch. I’m not sure if it was third down, I think it was third down, big catch and run down the left side there which set us up for a touchdown on that drive. Then Kenyan (Drake) coming in and and providing that spark and scoring on really a broken play. His talent really showed there and that was nice.
Q: How tough was it throwing the ball against the wind?
A: Yeah, it was challenging, it was challenging. But, short throws it wasn’t bad, but it definitely played a part I think in the ballgame. Not by anything crazy but just you had to be aware of it.
Q: What is it about this team?
A: Yeah, well … I mean it’s a team. This is a true team and I said that a couple weeks ago. I think everybody in that locker room will agree. We have a great message in the week coming from coach (Adam) Gase. The mindset of these guys has been extremely focused and really eyeing just the one game that we going on that week. But yeah like you said, we won a couple close games which was big. It’s always hard to fall on the other end of a game like this so to be on the other side is good.
Q: How does it feel to be part of this team where you are right now?
A: It’s great, it’s great, and guys can see, at least these past couple of weeks, the changes. What we were and kind of what we’re trying to be or kind of morphing into. And again, it’s nothing crazy but it’s just guys playing for each other really straining out there and finish is a word that’s always used and today is a perfect example of that,
Q: Last drive of regulation, do you feel that you got far enough for that field goal?
A: Well I know Andrew (Franks) has got a big leg but, I knew it would be close. I knew he had a shot, and sure enough, he put it through which was a big hit. Credit to those guys blocking for coming through on a big play.
