Adam Gase – September 25, 2016 (Postgame)
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Sunday, September 25, 2016
Postgame – vs. Cleveland
Miami Dolphins Head Coach Adam Gase (transcribed by Michelle Stone)
(Well, it was certainly a tough game offensively. Defensively you tried to get some consistency in what you were doing. It seemed to be tough on both sides of the ball out there today.) – “Yes. But I don’t have a great answer for you right now until I go back and take a look at the film, which I’ll probably have to do tonight. I’ll get to correcting the mistakes that we’re making and adjusting to get ready for Cincinnati.”
(How frustrating is it in the fourth quarter you get really what you want, you’ve got 3:14 left in the game, two timeouts, and you just need to put some points on the board to win it, and you go three and out again, which has got to be a concern for you.) – “Well, we had some pretty good drives the last two games as far as moving the ball down the field at the end of the game, and this one drive in the game…but then there’s a lot of times where there are two-minute drives that just don’t work out and this one didn’t. I probably had a call there on second down, I busted it, which is a little bit disappointing, but we’ve just got to go back to the drawing board as far as making sure everyone knows what to do and is on the same page. We need to execute a little bit better.”
(Adam, how will you look back at your first win as a head coach?) – “It’s just another game.”
(Is there more elation or relief?) – “No. It’s just that we’re moving on to Cincinnati here fast.”
(Coach, were you surprised at how they were able to move the ball throughout the game, whether it was [Cody] Kessler or if it was Terrelle Pryor doing different things back there?) – “It’s the NFL. That’s what they’re going to do. We’ve got to do a better job as far as what we’re doing tackling-wise. We had a couple of things going wrong on defense so Vance [Joseph] was trying to correct some things. Anytime you play Hue [Jackson] you’d better be ready for a lot of stuff coming at you. You’re going to see a lot of things you haven’t seen before. He did a great job insofar as pulling us out of some awkward positions and I thought our coaching staff did a good job as far as trying to make some adjustments. The players have just got to keep up with us a little bit. We’ve got to do a better job when things are going wrong on the other side of the ball, staying on the field, making sure that we have some time of possession in our corner, we’ll win these games.”
(When that field goal goes wide on the last play of the fourth quarter, what’s your reaction?) – “It’s a new game. We’ve just got to start over. I know in overtime you want to press, but I feel like I’ve been in quite a few of them…I feel like it’s been seven or eight in the last three years. You have to really reset yourself and realize that it’s a new game. You can’t just start going back there thinking it’s going to be a two-minute drive. You have to be very selective with what you’re calling, make sure you stay within the rhythm that you had during the game.”
(What did you tell your guys after the game?) – “That they’ve got to recover quickly and get ready for Cincinnati.”
(Reshad Jones – another big day for him. He seems to come up with big plays every time he’s on the football field.) – “That guy has been one of our best leaders since he’s been here, as far as my time around him and since he came back to mini-camp. He’s really shown me what a really great defensive player looks like. I don’t know if I’ve ever been around one that good in his prime. I know I was around Brian Dawkins there, but that was later in his career. Just watching Reshad day in and day out…the way he plays, I wish all our guys played with as much effort and heart as that guy plays.”
(What can you tell us about where the injuries are at?) – “I haven’t gone in there as far as going over every little detail. They were saying that they were still evaluating Jordan [Cameron]. There’s nobody else really, that I can think of right now. I haven’t gone in there to talk to the trainers.”
(So with Jordan [Cameron], you don’t know if it’s a concussion?) – “I still don’t know. I haven’t gone in there.”
(Was Ja’Wuan James hurt?) – “No. We pulled him out.”
(So what’s the overriding emotion you have right now? Is it relief that you pulled it out or is it concern over what went wrong?) – “I don’t know if I’m concerned. I just want us to execute better. I want us to play with some consistency. We come out here in our first game home to showcase to our own fans what we’re all about and offensively we’re out there flopping around. It irritated me a little bit. It still does now…it’s bothering me a little bit. I thought our defense did a great job as far as playing hard and keeping us in the game. We’re too up and down on offense. I’m going to get that fixed fast.”
(Were you surprised Cleveland elected to kick to start overtime?) – “The way we were playing offensively, it was probably a good idea.”
(You guys had [Byron] Maxwell shadowing Terrelle Pryor – why was that decision made?) – “We’ll make decisions like that every week. Both of those guys are capable of covering most of the receivers in this league. When our defensive coaches make any kind of decisions, that’s what they get paid to do. Our defensive coaches get paid to make those decisions. I’m always going to be good with it. Anytime Vance [Joseph] tells me something, I’m going to be good with it.”
(You don’t look especially thrilled with this victory.) – “We need to play better.”
Ryan Tannehill – September 25, 2016 (Postgame)
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Sunday, September 25, 2016
Postgame – vs. Cleveland
Miami Dolphins Quarterback Ryan Tannehill (transcribed by Sara Perez)
(Ryan, Adam was in here a few minutes ago and the look on his face was not one of a coach who just won his first NFL game, what do you think in terms of … just was there more to be pleased about that you won or just concerns over the way you guys won?) – “I’m always happy to get a win, first and foremost. We play to win. So, it was ugly, we didn’t play well at times today, but we stuck together and found a way to get a win. Sometimes that’s the way it’s going to be. It’s going to be ugly, it’s not going to be pretty; but if you find a way to get a win that’s really all the matters. Obviously, we have a lot of stuff to get cleaned up. Offensively, we didn’t come out and execute. We left a lot of plays on the field, just with poor execution, and we have to get that cleaned up, immediately. We’re three games in now and we’re too far in to be having the kinds of mistakes that we’re having. We have to be cleaner, we have to be better and we have to be better right now.
(Today was one of those days where you did some good things out there and there were some times where you just couldn’t get anything going and you talked about being consistent with your game, how do you find that? You have a short time before the next game and there’s still a long way to go, what do you guys need to do to get that consistency and be where you want to be execution-wise?) – “Just execute the way we do in practice. We have good practices, guys doing the right things and we’ve had some mistakes when we got into games. We just have to be consistent with what we’re doing in practice translating over to how we’re doing in the games. It’s every man out there, starting with myself down, every guy on the offense. We have to be cleaner, we have to execute and make the plays that are there and we need to make to win games.”
(Were you surprised at how well they played defensively against you?) – “They did a good job. Like I said, I don’t want to take anything away from them, but we had a lot of mistakes. You have to give credit to those guys. They came out and they battled. They played well, they played hard, didn’t give us anything cheap. As an offense, we just need to be cleaner.”
(What were you thinking when C/G Anthony Steen went down, C/G Kraig Urbik was in, and I saw you taking snaps from G Billy Turner over there, not sure who you were going to have in there, kind of an odd situation for you, wasn’t it?) – “Yes, we were comfortable with Urbik. We knew he was coming in the game, but God forbid something else happened to him, Billy would have been the next one up at center. Just getting some snaps with a guy that I don’t normally get snaps with.”
(Ryan, it’s easy to pick out the bad things from this game, aside from the victory are there two or three things that you liked out there today?) – “Yes, there’s always good things. There’s always more good than … the bad things stick in your mind, especially me. You think about all the things that went wrong, but there’s always good things. We did some good things, put some drives together out there. (We) made some big plays. Guys made big plays. We had some good protection on a few snaps, guys were able to get open and get the ball downfield. We had some good stuff. It’s not all bad. We had some good runs in there. We just have to be good and execute at a much higher percentage than what we did today.”
(The challenge of getting things cleaned up, how is that compounded by the schedule?) – “Well, it’s tough on a short week. Obviously, your time is compressed. You have to be able to make the corrections quickly, as well as physically get ready to play another game and mentally install our new game plan. We have our hands full. It’s going to be a job for us and the coaching staff, but I’m confident in the guys that we can get it done.”
(What were you thinking right before they kicked the field goal at the end and they missed and then what were you thinking right after they missed it?) – “I was trying not to think about it whenever they lined up to kick it. I couldn’t believe he missed it. I don’t think we deserved that other chance, but I’ll take it and take that win any day.”
(Do you feel more comfortable about the run game after today’s performance?) – “Yes, I think we did some good things in the run game. I think there’s still some things to be cleaned up, but I feel like we had good, positive runs on the early downs a lot of the day and a couple went for first downs, then the big one at the end to seal it. So there are some good things and I think we can build on that.”
(Was it at all a surprise to you that at the game’s most important times WR Jarvis Landry made two huge plays to put you in a position to win?) – “No, it’s no surprise. The guy’s a football player. He shows up in practice, he shows up every game and he’s one of our best players, so if we can get him the ball in a critical position, we’re going to do that.”
(How many times did you practice the final play?) – “I think we got one rep, one rep at it. I felt good about it. Went in, their corners were pretty aggressive all day, (so I) felt good about it. I had some pressure so I just had to get it up quickly, but he ran such a good route that he was so open and it was easy to get him the ball.”
(Could you take us through the two picks?) – “The first one, it was Cover 2. I tried to hold the Will (line)backer. We had a slant (and it) should be a good window there. (Browns CB Jamar Taylor) just turned and anticipated it and he jumped it. The second one, I was going to throw it and my arm got hit and the ball just fluttered up right to the guy.”
Ndamukong Suh – September 25, 2016 (Postgame)
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Sunday, September 25, 2016
Postgame – vs. Cleveland
Miami Dolphins DT Ndamukong Suh (transcribed by Sara Perez)
(Nobody seems happy that you won the first game. How do you feel?) — “It’s a terrible way to win, but we’ll take it, for sure. We didn’t play as well as I’d hope, especially on the defensive side of the ball. We knew what they were going to do. But at the end of the day, we’re going to take a win. We, in essence, earned it. (We) made it very, very tough for ourselves (and) kind of go from there.”
(What was it they were able to do – running the football in particular – to move the ball and pick up first downs?) – “They had a good scheme. (They were) moving us – as defensive tackles – moving us around and taking me out of the three technique, putting me in the two technique, putting our other defensive tackles in three (technique), really getting to our edges at some points in time. But at the end of the day, I have to go back and look at the film and see what we have from there.”
(It looks like the outside run support getting up the field kind of turned things in, seems to be a soft corner out there, what will you see when you watch tapes?) “I’d have to go back and look for this particular game, but we’ve had some issues on the edge, and that’s all-in-all good scheme as well as us missing tackles at the same time. We’re not doing exactly what we need to get done.”
(When the field goal goes wide at the end of the fourth quarter what was your reaction?) “Obviously, you have to buckle up and get to OT.”
(WR Terrelle Pryor, what he was able to do coming in doing both at quarterback position and receiver – and however he got the football – he seemed to be able to do something every time he had the ball.) “Yes, he’s a dynamic athlete. Whether he’s playing quarterback, or he’s playing wide receiver, he’s obviously effective. Obviously, (he is) a good threat for them, someone we knew going into the game that we were going to have to take care of. We didn’t do the best job, but I think we did a good enough job to get ourselves a win and go from there.”
(What do you as a defense need to do to get consistently where you want to be?) “I think execution. I think as we get more into a groove of understanding how everybody fits into where they need to in a particular defense, and we start executing at a very, very high level, we will be successful.”
DeVante Parker – September 25, 2016 (Postgame)
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Sunday, September 25, 2016
Postgame – vs. Cleveland
Miami Dolphins Wide Receiver DeVante Parker (transcribed by David Norwood II)
(Talk to me about your touchdown play.) – “(It was) a regular post route. I got the defender going the opposite way, and I cut underneath him, tapped the ball, and I was in the end zone.”
(QB Ryan Tannehill made a nice delivery in there to you.) – “(It was a) great ball.”
(Offensively, it looked like there was some good stuff today and some not so good stuff. What do you take away offensively as a unit today?) – “Like I said earlier, (we have to) execute, especially on third downs to get the drive going.”
Jarvis Landry – September 25, 2016 (Postgame)
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Sunday, September 25, 2016
Postgame – vs. Cleveland
Miami Dolphins Wide Receiver Jarvis Landry (transcribed by Armando Gonzalez)
(What can you say about how that game went today?) – “Well it ended how we wanted it too. It had its rough patches, but being in that position three times in a row, three weeks straight and having an opportunity at the end for us to finish the game. We didn’t, defense went out there man, guy missed a kick, got it in overtime and we were able to battle through some adversity and find a way to score.”
(What did you think you learned about your team today?)– “Just what we have always known. We’ve always known that we battle through – perseverance, we have perseverance, we battle through a lot of things and for us we just needed another opportunity. It was no doubt in our mind that we were going to win this game.”
(What was that play on the 32-yard reception?)– “It was just a double move, a double move that we have been working on all week. Well actually it was a late install, we threw it in there and their corners are aggressive. We called a pick on the first drive obviously, so we decided to go after the same guy and it worked out.”
(How late of an install was that?)– “Like a Friday addition, so we got it two days ago. It was just something that just seeing how their corners play we figure we have a shot at it.”
Cameron Wake – September 25, 2016 (Postgame)
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Sunday, September 25, 2016
Postgame – vs. Cleveland
Miami Dolphins Defensive End Cameron Wake (transcribed by Ted Leshinski)
(Adam Gase looked more like a coach that lost than won after the game. Did he relay that feeling to you? Could you blame him?) – “Well, I think everybody is frustrated. But you rub a little W on it and it makes you feel better. Guys fought all the way through to the end and beyond. But to be honest we still got things that we need to work on. But to close out games and to move on and do things we want to do during the season we got to play better at the beginning of the game.”
(What do you want to clean up first on the defense? Run defense? What concerns you most?) – “Just consistency. We go in there sometimes three and out, sometimes they can’t do anything. And then they’ll go in there with an explosive run, a power run. Just making sure that everyone is detail oriented. Making sure the ability that you have is not just one series here, one series there. If we focus in on those details we’ll be better off.”
(Cam, what’s the primary challenge of going on the road for a Thursday night game? Is it the game plan or keeping your body healthy? What’s the big challenge?) – “Well, I’d like to think everything is even. (Cincinnati) just had a game as well. The turnaround is quick for both teams. The challenge is playing in the NFL. You have to do everything right. The travelling may be a little more taxing on the body but the reality is you have to go out there and win. I don’t care if it’s Thursday night or Sunday afternoon. It doesn’t matter. Whether it’s here or whether it’s there, that’s the situation.”
(Cam, did you lobby for a bigger role for this week?) – “My role is usually predicated on situations and sometimes a situation calls for more of me and sometimes it doesn’t. But again, I work with the staff and we work together that whatever the situation is that’s best for the team.”
(Cam, this team as a whole seems to have the same issues – looking for consistency on offense and consistency on defense. As a unit, how do you come out and play the way you want to play?) – “I think the most important thing is to start out fast. We’ve had a couple of games where we rally the troops and fight at the end but that’s not the way this league is. You’ve got to go out there from the first snap and first whistle and give it your all. I think that’s definitely something we have to focus on. It’s encouraging to see the ability. It’s there. I know I said it earlier but we’ve got to be more detailed oriented; starting fast and making sure we’re not rallying behind or scratching for a win. “
(Cam, I saw some frustration from number 67 (Austin Pasztor). I think he had six holding penalties. I think they had a sack and a half against him. He had a long day out there.) – “Hey, that’s the NFL. You got to go against the best on both sides of the ball. Every time I step on the field, that’s my job. Whoever I’m going against is hopefully having a bad day. I just hope that that continues.”
(What were your emotions like on the big strip-sack fumble and when Bobby McCain is running into the end zone and then that happened.) – “You never want to see yellow flags on the ground, especially after a big play. But that’s football. I don’t know if they said I lined up off sides or if I jumped into the neutral zone but that’s something I have to make sure I fix. I’ll look at the tape and hopefully that’s a good call. I don’t know yet but we’ll see.”
(Are you not sure you jumped the gun on that one?) – “You all have the video somewhere. You tell me.”
(Yes.) – “Yes. Ok.”
(Obviously we had a moment of silence for Jose Fernandez, the tragic death of a superstar. As another Miami superstar, what are your thoughts?) – “I actually literally minutes before I went out there heard about it. I still don’t have all the details but it’s just … It’s so funny because we go out there and we’re playing a game and there are so many things going on that are bigger than football, bigger than sports. And to have someone lose their life … again, I don’t have all the details but it’s just seems early. The moment of silence is obviously well deserved. I know from speaking to guys that he’s a great player and a hell of a person as well. I think to everybody here and around the city he’ll definitely be missed.”
(Cam, Ryan [Tannehill] said he couldn’t believe it when that last kick was missed. Your reaction was?) – “I think everybody was willing it wide left, wide left. But again, that’s what I mean about the frustration. I feel like we shouldn’t have been in that situation to begin with because odds probably say that that’s a made field goal. But you wouldn’t want to be in that situation 10 out of 10 times because nine out of 10 times they’re probably going to make it. We shouldn’t have to rely on someone else’s mistake. We should be in the forefront with the game in our hands whether it’s offense or defense because we have the guys in the locker room who can do it.”
Kenyan Drake – September 25, 2016 (Postgame)
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Sunday, September 25, 2016
Postgame – vs. Cleveland
Miami Dolphins Running Back Kenyan Drake (transcribed by Armando Gonzalez)
(Overall, obviously a back and forth game, and then the second life with the field goal miss at the end. What were your thoughts when he missed the field goal, when it probably looked like the game was over and then you turn around and were able to win in OT?) – “We just have to take advantage of that opportunity. Obviously playing against professionals, they don’t make many mistakes, so when they do, we’ve got to capitalize.”
(So do you look at it, a win is a win, it does not matter the fashion that it was an ugly game, you guys pulled it out?) – “Oh yes, it does not matter at all.”
Reshad Jones – September 25, 2016 (Postgame)
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Sunday, September 18, 2016
Postgame – at New England
Miami Dolphins Safety Reshad Jones (transcribed by Renzo Sheppard)
(How do you assess the defense’s play?) – “We’ve just got to break down tape. We;ve got to look at it tomorrow and look at the things that we didn’t do well; but any time you get a victory in this league, it’s always a plus.
(You banged up your knee late in the game and went back in the game. How does it feel?) – “I think I’ll be fine (with) short turnaround (and) a little treatment. I have to give credit to our (training staff). We have some great guys and I think they’ll have me ready to play Thursday.”
(You’ve been playing at a high level and had a big game today, is this as well as you’ve played in your career?) – “I’m just trying to be consistent and do everything I can to help the Miami Dolphins win football games. I think that’s what I’m doing.”
(How hard was it to play when the Browns continued to rotate QBs?) – “It was pretty tough, but I think we were prepared. We knew what we were going to face. We knew Terrelle Pryor Sr. was going to come in and do the ‘Wildcat’ and different things like that. So, I’ve got to give credit to ‘Coach VJ’ (Defensive Coordinator Vance Joseph) for getting us prepared and getting us ready for those kind of things.”
(How much did you see the ‘Wildcat’ in practice this week?) – “We’ve seen it a couple of times. We were prepared for it.”
(Was it a normal locker room after victory today, or was there relief?) – “I think it was normal, the first win at home and like I said, it wasn’t pretty. It didn’t go the way we wanted it to go. But we have some resilient guys in this locker room, we kept fighting and found a way to win the football game.”
(How do you get your run defense better?) – “Practice, breaking down the tapes and seeing the things and the gaps that we misfit and different things like that. Making tackles, yards after catch, we have to do a better job tackling.”
(The only good thing that Head Coach Adam Gase said after the game is how you played and he compared you to Brian Dawkins. Does that make you feel better despite the fact that the defense didn’t play well?) – “We didn’t play well. Like I said, I had a pretty good game, but that’s my job. That’s what these guys rely on me to do. I’m a leader on the defense. I’m expected to go out there and have those type of games.”
(Head Coach Adam Gase praised your consistent effort day in and day out. How do you impart that to everyone on the team so it’s more of a unified effort?) – “I’ve never been a vocal leader. I’ve been the guy to try and go out and have my play and have guys follow. (I) try to lead by example, (Head coach) Adam Gase said that he wanted me to be more vocal and be a leader on this team and on defense. I took that role on and wanted to step it up a notch and do whatever I could to help the Miami Dolphins win a football game.”
(What makes Terrelle Pryor so difficult to line up against?) – “He’s a big body. He’s fast. He played quarterback in college all of his career. He’s good. He’s a good player. You have to give credit to that guy.”
