Head Coach Adam Gase
Opening Statement…Injury-wise: (Blake) Cashman went out with a hamstring. Everybody else got out fairly clean. Just didn’t take any advantage of turnovers. Defense stopped the ball and forced those guys to punt, especially in the second half. We got opportunities. We just didn’t make the plays we needed to make. The red zone, we didn’t get it done. Obviously, three points is what we get for that. We just have to find a way to make the plays when they are there to be made.
Mark Cannizzaro, New York Post: Without looking at the film, how do you access Sam (Darnold) today? He didn’t get his team in the endzone and he had his three weapons for the first time…It’s hard to know exactly, the flow of the game felt one way the first half. I felt like we had an opportunity on one drive, (then) we have a drop. We sputtered after that. We had a couple of plays here and there, but nothing where we sustained any drives. We’ll look at this thing. We’ll correct off it. We’ll learn from it. I felt like he was throwing the ball well. That’s a tough secondary to go against.
Mark Cannizzaro, New York Post: You had a couple of fourth downs in the third quarter where maybe you could have taken a chance and spark things a little bit. I’m not talking about the fourth-and-one, but the two before that.What was your thought process about just to make something happen on the Miami side of the field, and not doing it?I’m trying to think of which ones you’re exactly talking about.(follow-up) Mark Cannizzaro, New York Post: There was a fourth-and-nine…one of them was right after the Quinnen (Williams) forced fumble.I thought about it. Any of the fourth-and-nine ones, those are always going to be tough to justify in my head unless its really late in the game.(follow-up)
Mark Cannizzaro, New York Post: Right before that, there was a fourth down and three from the 43…I debated it. It was just one of the deals where I called what I thought was one of our better plays, the play before (and) we didn’t make it. I just felt like that was the right decision at the time.
Rich Cimini, ESPN: Why did you take over the play-calling? I didn’t take over, we’ve done the same thing the last four games.
(follow-up) Rich Cimini, ESPN: We were watching Dowell (Loggains) through the whole game. He wasn’t doing anything. He was just standing there. He tells me. It’s not hard. This is not hard. We go through it the drive before. ‘Hey, these are the three plays.’ I do the third downs.
Connor Hughes, The Athletic: What happens after the three plays? We were watching one series where Dowell was talking to Frank Pollack and he wasn’t calling the plays, you were. What part of the game was it?
(follow-up) Connor Hughes, The Athletic: It was in the third. When we got down, I was trying to do some of the two-minute stuff.
Rich Cimini, ESPN: What were your thoughts on Sam’s first interception?I’m not really sure what happened. I’m not sure if he thought Crowder was going one way when he threw it, and Crowder went the other way. Obviously, I wish we didn’t throw it.
(follow-up) Rich Cimini,ESPN: Yes, but how disappointing? You’re in field goal range at that point and it’s third down and he’s throwing it across his body. Shouldn’t he know better by now? Yeah. We have to get those fixed. We can’t have those turnovers.
Connor Hughes, The Athletic: Why do you think (Darnold) is still making those same mistakes in year tree? This being his first game back, I think he’s trying to make something happen. I’m sure he’s frustrated when it feels like we’re not moving the ball and he’s trying to make some plays, especially when 82 (Crowder) is somewhere in the picture. He’s trying to make something happen.
Brian Costello, New York Post: At 0-11, how do you make a case that you are still the right guy to lead this team? All our guys are battling. They try to get better every day. It’s frustrating because I feel like we’re right there. We have to make one or two plays, especially this last game. It’s right there for us. There have been multiple games like that. It’s frustrating for myself, all the players, I know the fans, everybody’s frustrated. We’re trying to find ways to get it right. We’ve played tough teams and we have to find a way to beat them.
Rich Cimini, ESPN: We’ve seen instances of head coaches lose their jobs in the middle of the season. It just happened a couple of days ago with Detroit. Is that a concern of yours? I’m not going to be concerned about anything with that. I can control one thing and that’s making sure I come to work every day and try to do the best I can with our guys and put them in the right position and try and help them get better.
Brian Costello, New York Post: What happened with Alex Lewis? It was a team decision to make him inactive. It’s non-injury related.
(follow-up) Brian Costello, New York Post: Disciplinary? We’re going to handle everything internally.
Otis Livingston, NBC: 24-0 the first time in Miami, 20-3, Why is it so difficult to score points against the Miami Dolphins? Because they have one of the top defenses. They’re tough. Those corners are tough. They do a good job of mixing up their fronts and their defenses. We just didn’t take advantage of any opportunities. When we had guys open, we didn‘t hit them. When we made some good throws, we didn’t finish the play. They’re a tough defense to go (against). You have very, very small window of error.
Otis Livingston, NBC: What was the difference between preparing for Tua (Tagovailoa) and Ryan Fitzpatrick? Fitzy is always tough to go against because you’re never really sure what he’s going to do. He can recognize, it’s hard to disguise against him. He understands leverages. There are a lot of things that he understands because he’s played so much football. When you’re playing a rookie quarterback, you might be able to get away with disguising some things, trick him into some stuff, get him to turn the ball over. Fitzy, you’re not going to be able to do that.
Sam Darnold
Connor Hughes, The Athletic: Sam, how do you feel physically? How’d the shoulder hold up throughout the game. You took a few sacks. Was there ever a moment you felt it? No, it feels good. Came out clean.
Mark Cannizzaro, New York Post: Sam, how would you assess today? It’s the first time you’ve had all three guys, your top guys, and it didn’t work out, couldn’t get in the end zone. Yeah, well, I mean, I feel like those guys, there were different times where they were doubling different guys on the field, so I felt like when those three guys had a chance to create separation they did that. I felt like I missed a couple throws out there. Obviously made two bad decisions which led to the two picks, so I’ve got to be better from that standpoint.
Mark Cannizzaro, New York Post: What did you see on the first pick when you were flushed there on the roll? Was Jamison (Crowder) supposed to go some place or was that all you there on that throw? It’s just a feel. I made a bad decision. I think I could have just put it more toward the sideline.
Otis Livingston, WCBS: Sam, your head coach Adam Gase said that it’s probably out of frustration or just in excitement for making a play when the team is not making a play. Do you feel that you’re trying to overcompensate or to make something happen? No, for me I’ve always kind of let the game come to me. It’s just in the moment you always want to try to make that play and I felt like I’ve been doing a better job of kind of taking things when they’re there and not forcing them. Again, I think the play with (Jamison) Crowder when I scrambled out to the right, if I just put it on the sideline we’re good, we’re not talking about it. Then the last pick was just a bad decision.
Brian Costello, New York Post: Sam, is that mechanics where you didn’t get it on the sideline to Crowder? No, I mean, I should have put it more toward the sideline. I thought he was going to break in. We talked about it on the sideline right after.
Zach Braziller, New York Post: Sam, you guys had the two possessions after turnovers. To not get any points out of that, how deflating is it? Yeah, we’ve got to capitalize on those for sure.
Otis Livingston, WCBS: Sam, in two games that you guys have played against the Dolphins you’ve mustered three total points. How frustrating is that and how do you guys change that? What are they doing that keeps you guys from scoring points? Yeah, I mean, they’re mixing in zones, they’re playing different types of man (coverage). We’ve just got to do a better job. Again, I missed a couple throws, but, yeah, we’ve just got to do a better job overall.
Mark Cannizzaro, New York Post: Sam, I don’t mean to sound trite, but you were so fired up to get back in there today. How would you assess your emotions right now? It seemed like numbers-wise you had things going a little bit today and had some opportunities. Can you assess kind of how you’re feeling right now? Yeah, it’s those two decisions that I made, the two picks, those suck. But, other than that I missed a couple of throws but, yeah, I’ve got to be better. I didn’t play well enough to win a ball game today.
Connor Hughes, The Athletic: Sam, I think a big topic of conversation and you specifically was the receivers that were never there, (Breshad) Perriman’s hurt, (Denzel) Mims is hurt, Crowder’s hurt, and once they got back, things would kind of right themselves, your play would return to strong form, same with the offense. Is it demoralizing at all that everyone’s on the field, you guys are all healthy, but the play still struggles both individually and as a team? We’ve got to watch the tape. We’ve got to getbetter. After that we’ll kind of look ourselves in the mirror and say, ‘Okay, what can we do better individually and what can we do better as an offense.’ I think it’s about going back and watching the tape and figuring it out from there.
Otis Livingston,WCBS: Sam, 0-5, 0-6, now up to 0-11. How hard is it to keep going to work and to figure out a way to get that first win of the season? Yeah, I mean, 0-11, no one at the beginning of the season thought that we’d find ourselves in this position at this point in the season. But at the end of the day it’s football. We love our job. We love coming to work every day. We have a great group of guys that come to work every single day. We’re just going to keep doing that and try to get a win this next week.
Brian Costello, New York Post: Are you worried about potentially going 0-16, Sam? No, I mean, we’ll find one. Again, we’ve got to stack the days. We’ve got to have good practices. We’ve got to do everything the right way and then come ready to play on Sundays.
Rich Cimini, ESPN: Sam, you’ve always been a strong supporter of Adam’s through some tough times. Where is your confidence level in him now and do you still believe that he’s the right guy for this organization? Yeah, I’m super confident in Adam and the way he coaches. Us players have got to be better and me, personally, I’ve got to play better.
Rich Cimini, ESPN: Is he calling more plays? He said he wasn’t, but it looked like he was calling more plays today. How did it work, that dynamic, work for you? Yeah, I hear one voice. I hear Adam’s voice calling the play in to me. I’ll let him kind of give you guys more, but, yeah, I just heard one voice today
