A look at what the Miami Dolphins coaches and players are saying heading into their game with the New England Patriots this Sunday.
On playing the Patriots...
"It's towards the end of the year and we're looking at it like it's a playoff game. Take one game at a time and just stay together and stay as one and go out and try to get a win."
- Dolphins Running Back Frank Gore
"I think first and foremost, when you play this team, you have to play smart football. You can't have penalties. You can't have turnovers. You can't put your defense in a bad spot. I think that's all where it starts and then all the other things, we look for each and every game. You convert on third downs, score in the red zone, get explosive plays – all that is something we look for every game. I think this team, more than any other team, they're not going to beat themselves. They're not going to give you cheap flags, cheap penalties, cheap anything, really. So you can't give them any. You have to play clean football and everyone has to do their job."
- Dolphins Quarterback Ryan Tannehill
On the Patriots defense...
"They're playing physical right now, which you see every year. They still do some of the same stuff, mixing up their pressures. I think over the past five weeks compared to the last time we played them and in years past, they're bringing a lot more Cover 0 pressures – bringing everyone and trying to get a guy free up front. I would say that's probably the biggest change-up from what I've seen as opposed to what we've seen in the past and even earlier this year."
- Dolphins Quarterback Ryan Tannehill
"It's always going to be different. There's always going to be some moving pieces. They're going to do a good job of mixing things up and making it hard. Even from us playing them when we did until now, it makes it difficult to try to game plan because there's so much stuff that they've done. You've just got to be careful about overdoing it, because you'll start preparing them for a whole bunch of stuff that they might not do against you. You've got to be smart in how you game plan this."
- Dolphins Head Coach Adam Gase
On Rob Gronkowski...
"He's a big body. He's tough. He has great hands. You have to kind of disrupt him. If he gets going, he can get hot. Tom Brady is going to put the ball where it needs to be, so you have to be sticking (to your receiver) and try to disrupt the timing of their routes."
- Dolphins Safety T.J. McDonald
"Every year, he seems to take the brunt of the blows when it comes to anytime he gets a ball thrown to him. No one wants to tackle him high. Everybody goes for his legs. He's getting pulled in every which direction. Just because he's bigger than everybody else, it's hard to tell who's really getting pushed around or not. He's got to fight a lot of factors. He's getting double-teamed all the time. I'm sure that takes a toll on his body, but he shows up every Sunday and he competes extremely hard. He's a good run blocker. He's a good pass protector. He does a great job any time the ball is thrown to him. He's a hard guy for any defense to defend, because it's like a grown man playing with a bunch of kids. He's such a big target. He's one of those guys that when you go to face him, you try to do everything you can to contain him. You know he's going to get his catches. When he gets in the red zone, you just have to try to keep him out of there."
- Dolphins Head Coach Adam Gase
On playing the Patriots in Miami...
"We train in this heat and humidity every day so we're pretty accustomed to it. I think that's probably the advantage of teams from the north coming down here is they don't have the luxury of practicing in the heat and humidity. They have to be able to adapt and keep their conditioning high in other ways."
- Dolphins Quarterback Ryan Tannehill
"We're a good team here. We're comfortable. I think that's kind of the story of the NFL right now. Teams are winning at home and losing on the road. For us, we want to protect home field as much as possible."
- Dolphins Safety T.J. McDonald
"It's tough playing in this heat. We're just going to go out and believe in ourselves and our coaches and try to get us a win. We're looking at this like a playoff game, from here on out."
- Dolphins Running Back Frank Gore
On the Patriots offensive line...
"They're well-coached. They're disciplined. You don't see them making many errors where guys are turning free. You see those guys fight until the very end. It hasn't changed. Obviously, there's a good reason why. (Offensive Line) Coach (Dante) Scarnecchia does a great job. He prepares those guys. When they show up on Sunday, you know you're in for a dog fight for 60 minutes."
- Dolphins Head Coach Adam Gase
On Josh Gordon...
"He's a tough guy to defend. He can catch the ball at all levels. He can stretch the field. He can work underneath. He can win in the quick game. He makes some incredible catches. He's a tough guy to deal with."
- Dolphins Head Coach Adam Gase
