Kenny Stills – November 13, 2016 (Postgame)
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Sunday, November 13, 2016
Postgame – at San Diego
Miami Dolphins Wide Receiver Kenny Stills (transcribed by the San Diego Chargers)
On what he said to Tannehill after his touchdown:
“I went over to him and just told him thank you for trusting me.”
On what he saw on the play:
“It’s something that we practice all the time. Like I said, Ryan (Tannehill) just put a lot of trust and faith in me and threw that ball up there.”
Dominique Jones – November 13, 2016 (Postgame)
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Sunday, November 13, 2016
Postgame – at San Diego
Miami Dolphins Tight End Dominique Jones (transcribed by the San Diego Chargers)
On winning four in a row:
“Defense came through in the end for us. We struggled a little bit all day on offense, but DaVante (Parker) made a couple big plays down the stretch, Kiko (Alonso) got a pick and Lip (Tony Lippett) got a couple picks and sealed the victory.”
On what it feels like to be back in San Diego:
“It’s great. It’s always good to come back home. Good to come back home and play in front of my hometown friends.”
On if he still has the shoes he wore for the game:
“I do; a little Tony Gwynn tribute, 619 IPA Tony Gwynn. I just felt like coming back home, it was good to honor him. I know he just passed when I wasn’t home so I felt coming back home, it was a good time to honor him and being able come home and do that.”
Ndamukong Suh – November 13, 2016 (Postgame)
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Sunday, November 13, 2016
Postgame – at San Diego
Miami Dolphins Defensive Tackle Ndamukong Suh (transcribed by the San Diego Chargers)
On Kiko Alonso’s interception:
“I honestly don’t remember. I just came back in turned around and [Alonso] got the pick. [I was thinking] just go find a block.”
On penalties in tonight’s game:
“Yeah, very unfortunate but that’s part of the game. Seems like we were getting quite a bit of [penalties]. Like I said its part of the game. Just got to push through it no matter what the situation is whether it was our fault or not. We got to line up and get ready for the next play.”
On what the defense is becoming:
“At the end of the day it’s an ultimate team game. So were going to have some games where we perform on both sides of the ball and special teams. We’re a complete unit all together. If one of your brothers happens to make a mistake, the rest of us are there to pick them up. Being put in touch situations, it is what it is. We’re going to go out there and make the most of it. If were backed up we got to make sure we hold them to a field goal or get a turnover.”
On whether the team is getting better and better:
“I think if you watch the first eight games of the season, it’s really been big plays that hurt us. When we don’t play assignment-sound football that’s when we struggle. We’re starting to eliminate those things and eliminate the big plays. Obviously if we could play consistent football and improve stopping people in the run game and making them one dimensional. We’ve got an amazing group up front I think we’re gelling, getting more comfortable with each other, we know how to rush and last couple games we’ve been able to get the quarterback down there.”
On the momentum of the team:
“Yeah obviously today we can look back in the mirror and see a four-game winning streak but like [Coach Gase] said on Wednesday we’re 0-0. We’ve got zero wins against the team we’re going against, obviously we got to go up to [Los Angeles], take care of business, and hopefully get on the plane and look back and be 5-and -0.”
Byron Maxwell – November 13, 2016 (Postgame)
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Sunday, November 13, 2016
Postgame – at San Diego
Miami Dolphins Cornerback Byron Maxwell (transcribed by the San Diego Chargers)
On what he thought about the secondary’s day overall:
“We battled. That is the key word. We battled and we never gave up. We fought to the end so I am proud of my guys, proud of the defense, proud of this team and how we played today. Not everything went right but we kept our head down and kept pushing through.”
On the penalties that were called during today’s game:
“Yeah. You had to go back and look at it, I can’t judge and say it was a bad call or anything. I don’t know for sure yet now though.”
On the pressure that their defense put on Philip Rivers:
“That is what we do, we put pressure on the quarterback. Our defensive line is if not the best in the league, one of the best in the league. We have a lot of guys up there that are proven in this league and they bring it. I enjoy playing behind them.”
On if he had to characterize the secondary’s day, how he would characterize it:
“We made plays. We made plays when it counted. That is all that matters in this league, and we got the W.”
Kiko Alonso – November 13, 2016 (Postgame)
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Sunday, November 13, 2016
Postgame – at San Diego
Miami Dolphins Linebacker Kiko Alonso (transcribed by the San Diego Chargers)
On what today’s win says about the team’s defense:
“We just kept at it man. We had some bad situations but we came out of them,”
On if his pick-six was the best play of his career:
“Yeah. That is was my first touchdown on defense ever. I felt good.”
On what the conversation was in the huddle when the Chargers had the ball and the opportunity to win the game:
“We had to make a play. We have been in that situation and you just have to make a play.”
On what this win says about the team:
“We just have to keep it rolling, keep going, keep battling.”
Tony Lippett – November 13, 2016 (Postgame)
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Sunday, November 13, 2016
Postgame – at San Diego
Miami Dolphins Cornerback Tony Lippett (transcribed by the San Diego Chargers)
On the interception in the end zone:
“We were just trying to finish the game. I was just trying to make plays on the ball and just be there for my teammates like they’ve been there for everybody on the whole team for the whole game. We just try to do our best to finish the game and happily we won.”
On what he saw on the interception in the end zone:
“My receiver just stopped on the line and I just looked at Philip (Rivers) and I saw his arm go back like he was going to throw the fade so I just jumped and tried to make a play on the ball. I was able to make that play. I was just trying to be there for my teammates.”
On what four interceptions in one quarter off of a future Hall of Fame quarterback does for team confidence:
“We’re just trying to strive for excellence. You can’t reach excellence, but you can definitely continue to pursue it and that’s what we are trying to do. Work out the little kinks and everything about our defense and just be there for each other on every play.”
On winning four in a row, but this being the first of those on the road and what that does for team confidence:
“It does a lot for us. We are trying to continue what we are doing now, continue to prepare right, and continue to get our bodies right for every game. We just take it one week at a time and just try to come out victorious in the end and that’s all we are trying to do.
Ryan Tannehill – November 13, 2016 (Postgame)
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Sunday, November 13, 2016
Postgame – at San Diego
Miami Dolphins Quarterback Ryan Tannehill (transcribed by the San Diego Chargers)
What is different about this team in terms of fourth quarter play?
“I think it’s just a belief in each other. Our energy, the way we prepare, the belief that we have in each other. There’s no panic if things don’t go well. Especially in the last month. We’ve seen guys face adversity, we just keep fighting. That belief is there. There’s been a few games where we’ve been down ten plus points, but on the sideline you can’t tell that we’re down. There’s a sense of urgency but there’s no panic, there’s no stress there’s just hey, we have to go play. This team finds a way to win. That’s what you want is a team that finds a way to win whatever it takes and that’s what we have right now.”
Where does it come from?
“It’s to a man. It starts with leadership, starts with the head coach, to the leaders on the team, and from there it’s to a man. You build the energy, you build the mindset, you build a culture. That’s where we’re at right now. We have the culture in a good spot and we’re heading in the right direction.”
Did you see that last Kiko Alonso return?
“I saw him buzz out on that last snap and as soon as Philip (Rivers) started looking that way, I was hoping he didn’t see him. Kiko got a good read on the play. He saw the receiver coming in, made a great catch, fully extended and ran it for the touchdown. They made some big plays today, not just him, but the defense as a whole. The really sealed the game for us.”
Where was your head when that play happened?
“We were getting ready to go. I was talking to the guys on the sideline saying you getting ready to go? Don’t know how much time we’re going to have left, but expect to get the ball back and have a chance to go back in and win the game. Two weeks in a row to have a defensive and a special teams touchdown to take the lead is huge.”
Walk us through the touchdown pass to Kenny Stills:
“We ran a naked fake, came around the edge, Kenyan (Drake) ran a little double move and the safety turned to run with him. I saw Kenny getting some speed on him and I put my foot in the ground, let it go and trusted that he was going to run into it.”
Walk us through the deep pass to DeVante Parker:
“Again, another double move. I didn’t really get to see much of the route. I got the ball out pretty quick and got hit right as I let go. I just trusted him, trusted that he was going to win. We liked the match-up out there on the safety and just let it go and let DeVante go get it.”
What goes through your mind when you know you’re going to get hit?
“You don’t really think about it until the ball leaves your hand then you just try to prepare to take it. You try to find the best way to move if you can. If you can’t get out of the way you pick your feet up so you’re not getting a knee or an ankle. Hope the guy catches this and then get up and have some energy to go down the field.”
How it feel going into that locker room being 5-4?
“It’s huge. I think the way we played as a team in the second half, we kept battling, kept fighting, got ourselves back in the game and then the defense came up huge right there at the end. A lot of fun, a lot of belief. We’re heading in the right direction so we just have to keep riding the wave.”
Did you know going into this game that you were going to have to throw the ball as much as you did?
“Yeah, we knew they had a tough run defense coming in. Coming in we compared them to the Bills and the Jets up front. They’re physical up front, they do a good job shedding blocks and just making it tough in the run game. We knew we were going to try to establish the run and try to stick with it like the past two games. There were times where we were trying to get it going and eventually we hit a big one right there in the second half with Jay (Ajayi) with that huge 50 or 60, I don’t know how many yards he had. We just kind of stuck with it. I think that opened up some things in the pass game for us and we were able to execute them.”
On 19-yard run:
“It was a fun play. I think they did a good job covering down field. We didn’t really have a play for that defense that they called. I got some good protection up front. They had a three man rush, so I knew I was going to have some time to try to move around and find a guy down field on the scramble. I saw Jarvis (Landry) take two guys and I knew I had some space there so I just tried to get free and get the first down.”
It’s been such a struggle for DeVante Parker was there something different you saw in him this week?
“Yeah, by far this was his best week of practice. He’s been struggling with his hamstring for a while now. I think he’s starting to feel a little better. He had a great week of practice. He ran hard in practice, he got open in practice. That built my confidence in him. I think it built a confidence among the coaching staff in him that he’s ready to go. He has the talent. We’ve seen him flash it at times. He’s just scratching the surface still. Being injured and being banged up, I think he’s been held back by that. I think today, really this whole week, he’s had a mindset that I’m going to go play and show them what I can do. He made a huge play, it got called back because of holding but that’s the type that you can see him making. He has all the tools that you want and the ability to go get those 50/50 balls. It’s what you want in a big time receiver.”
You’ve won four in a row, do you feel a sense of momentum?
“Yeah, we’re on a good path right now. I think as a team, we just have to keep that hunger, keep that drive to just keeping pushing ourselves to get better in practice every day. That’s what we’ve done up to this point. When things weren’t going well early in the season, there was no panic in the building. We weren’t down around the building. We stuck to the path. We kept pushing ourselves in practice to get better. Throughout the past four games and weeks of practice, we’ve been doing that. We just have to continue that.”
Is there a feeling inside that locker room that you guys will fight back?
“Yeah, there’s a belief that we’re going to find a way to win. Whether it’s offense going down on a two minute drive, defense like we had today, we also had a special teams play so as a team, that mindset that we have is until that clock hits 0:00, we’re going to keep fighting and find a way to win.”
Adam Gase – November 13, 2016 (Postgame)
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Sunday, November 13, 2016
Postgame – at San Diego
Miami Dolphins Head Coach Adam Gase (transcribed by the San Diego Chargers)
On Ryan Tannehill:
“It’s been a tough week, when two of your guys aren’t 100 percent a couple days of practice. We didn’t get to go through a lot of new things that we wanted to put in. We kind of had to bag a lot of new things before the game. [We] made a couple of things up on the fly and guys did a good job at executing. He did a good job. He hung in there. He took a couple of shots today, but he stood in there and made the throws he needed to make.”
On the team coming back:
“Yeah, I don’t think this group is really worried about what the score is [or] what part of the game it is. They’re putting their head down, their just playing, and we talk about it all of the time as far as we play until they tell us to stop playing. So our guys aren’t worried about what the score is. They’re in the moment, they’re in their process and our job is to try to get the lead by the time the clock hits zero.”
On the interception by Kiko Alonso:
“Yeah, I’m not sure exactly what the concept was. I was kind of going through some timeout scenarios and things like that and looked up and just saw him get his hands on the ball. He’s a very instinctive player. I know there have been a couple of times [when] he gambles and he loses, but there have been a lot of times [when] he gambles and he’s right, and that was a situation where he was right.”
On Ryan Tannehill’s performance and deliverance:
“Yeah, it was good. We had a good week at practice with DeVante (Parker) and we kind of came in this game and thought that he could probably be a big impact for us. And those three guys together, we’ve been talking about it since the beginning. ‘When you three are 100 percent, when you three are healthy, we’re going to be a tough group to stop,’ and today was a good first step for us.”
On being 5-4 this season:
“We will be 0-0 on Wednesday, so we’ll worry about winning one more game.”
On his first road victory of the year:
“I think it’s a different part of the season for us. We’re better as a group. We’re used to how we do our operation. I think coming out here Thursday really helped us and we did it in Seattle. We felt like we played fairly well, we were energetic, we felt fresh on Sunday and once again we felt the same way. It was a great energy level on the sidelines, guys were fired up. This game could’ve gone either way. When you’re playing a quarterback who has been one of the better quarterbacks in the league for a long time, and he’s got the ball in a tight ball game, that can go either way, and our guys made one more play then they did.”
On the secondary being flagged multiple times but responding with turnovers and what that says about them:
“That we’re just moving on to the next play. You have to have a short memory as a defensive back. It’s like playing quarterback. If you worry about what happened the play before, you’re going to be in trouble. So, those guys did a good job. I know Bobby (McCain) was mad in the red zone that he got called for a flag, but we kept talking about, ‘we have to move on to the next play. We have to make sure that when you’re number is called here and they go to third down, we stop them, and you’re going to be an important piece to that.’ So, he had to regroup and he did quickly, and the guys did a good job. If something bad happened they just moved on to the next play.”
On if the Dolphin’s are 0-0 tomorrow, does he not believe in momentum:
“We’re going to worry about winning the next one when Wednesday comes.”
On taking more shots downfield:
“When we do certain things with certain guys, as far as their skill sets, some things are set up different than others. I think any time you get 11 (DeVante Parker) out there, it makes a difference. It starts opening some things up for the other two guys and Kenny (Stills) does a lot of things for us down the field, catching another big one for us. It’s just a different style between him and DeVante, so sometimes when DeVante goes down the field the ball comes up a little quicker. It doesn’t have to be a perfect throw. Kenny a lot of times, he’s going to run by guys and you have to get it out in front. You don’t want it to be short. You want to let him catch it and run it. Our guys have different skills sets and today having 11 basically look like he was healthy to me, and he had a great week in practice, so we felt good about it.”
On the touchdown to Damien Williams:
“Yeah, it was just something that when they played that particular defense we felt like we could get a matchup like that. We’re going to call it to win it. We’re not going to call to just get the first down sometimes. Sometimes we’re going to go for the touchdown.”
On Branden Albert’s injury:
“He came back in [and] he played. I’m sure with what we know right now, it wasn’t easy for him, but he battled through and I’ll know more here in the next 15 minutes. I didn’t go through that whole injury deal. I just know that he wasn’t 100 percent by any means.”
On Jakeem Grant having a tough game and how he assesses where he stands on the team:
“Go back to work Wednesday. I’m sure everybody likes it when he runs them back, so that’s why he had a couple of mishandles. He’ll be back there. When we put the lineup next Sunday, he’ll be back there.”
On how he feels about his defense:
“I think it starts with Vance. He has really been making a big emphasis as far as straining every play [and] selling out every play. We’ve been talking about that in all three phases as far as it might be on the one yard line, what are we going to do to keep them out? There is no give up play. And I think our guys are really trying to do that and we had a couple of situations to where we’re on the one and all of a sudden they’re back on the six, and the same thing on the other end. We turn it over. We’re not going to hang our heads. We have to go back out there, we have to hold them to a field goal and end up getting a turn over. You never know what’s going to happen. You have to play every down.”
On how Ryan Tannehill gets drilled and stays in the game:
“You’ll have to ask him. The guy is a beast. He just stands back there. There was one of them he threw, I thought he was pressured a little bit, and he got rid of the ball and he comes in and he says, ‘I have to stay in there’. He just has some kind of toughness where he just is going to stand in there. He takes a shot. He takes care of his body and he’s able to bounce back up.”
