Dolphins Head Coach Joe Philbin

Opening Statement: I want to give New England credit. They certainly deserved to win the game. They played better, made plays at the end of the game to secure the victory, and they deserve to win.

(On DE Cameron Wake being on the sideline during the Patriots' last drive)
"They were running the ball. We have a play count that we want to keep guys to [in order] to keep guys fresh."

(On any injury update to T Jake Long – left the game with an injured triceps)
"No, I don't. [Triceps injury] Whatever it was reported…I know he didn't play after he was injured. [There was no consideration for him to return to play.] Not by me."

(On the play of QB Ryan Tannehill)
"Offensively, I thought the game kind of unfolded the way I had envisioned us playing it, winning it in a 27-24 type of game, in that scenario. Overall, offensively, I don't think, overall, I would say, our production was good enough to win a game against the New England Patriots. That would be my initial reaction. I can't sit here and tell you, analyze every throw, but I would say overall offensively our production wasn't good enough to win."

(On the play of WR Brian Hartline)
"It was a close play. The ball was in the air. I'd say 55 yards on one of them…it looked like it was close, but not good enough. You've got to make those plays. If you're wide open and you've got a guy like that, you've got to make those plays."

(On the play of the defense)
"They did some good things, but when the game was on the line they [the New England Patriots] were able to move the ball and make it a two possession game."

(On the penalties in today's game)
"We wanted them to earn every single thing they got. They're a very good football team. They're well coached. They have good players. That was not an ideal start for us, giving them the ball on the 12-yard line, and later on… It believe it was a three-and-out, it was going to be, and then we roughed the – we knew we had to make some plays. We wanted to be aggressive. We wanted to be aggressive in the kicking game. Certainly had no problem with what our call was there, but again, our execution wasn't good and gave them another opportunity. You're kind of asking for trouble."

(On the play of New England's offense)
"They're a well coached offense. They have kind of a multitude of different schemes they can go to. I thought we were playing our style relatively well in the first half, but they did a good job. They had some success in moving the ball, as well."

(On QB Ryan Tannehill taking hits)
"I think we got the part of extending the plays. I think he's doing a better job. He put us in a better position to go for it there on that fourth-and-one and he had another nice scramble in there as well. I think he's doing a better job the last couple of weeks, but obviously we do have to educate him in terms of when to slide, when not to, when to take a hit, when not to."

(On going for it on fourth-and-one in the third quarter)
"Our defense was playing pretty well then. We kicked it around. We'd talked a lot about it this week of going for it on fourth down in various situations. We thought the better of it there."

(On what he says to the team after a loss like today's)
"We've got to play better. To be a good opponent in December, you have to play better. We can't make excuses. We made too many mistakes. They made plays when they had to. It was a team loss. Last week when we stood in the locker room, it was a team win. All phases contributed. At the end of this game, you can say we had a couple of miscues on special teams that really hurt us. Defensively, as well, we did some things in keeping them out of the end zone, but we didn't stop them when we had to, when it was a one-possession game. Offensively, thirteen points isn't good enough to beat the Patriots. So really, when you went around it, we've got to do a better job coaching. It was a team loss, just like we say, we've got to go back and improve, and go on the road and play a very good team."

Miami Dolphins RB Reggie Bush

(On how he's taking the loss)
"Well, a loss is a loss. It's never easy to lose. I don't care how you lose, it's always tough. This is a game we wanted to win bad at home in front of our home crowd. So that was just unfortunate that we weren't able to pull the win off cause I think it meant a lot of things for us."

(On if there were a lot of missed opportunities in the game)
"Yeah, there were definitely some missed opportunities out there. There were some opportunities where we've got to do a better job of executing. I think for the offense today just comes down to execution. We didn't execute well enough and we had some good field position in some situations and we weren't able to come away with points or at least do something, but it was tough. We've just got to do a better job next week and find a way to get better."

(On how frustrating it was to play the Patriots tough, but not be able to get over the hump)
"Yeah, it's very frustrating. We talked about all week (that) this game was going to come down to execution. It wasn't going to come down to schemes or trick plays or anything like that. It was going to come down to us, our ability to execute, our effort to go out there and make plays, especially when we need them in crucial situations."

(On what happened on all of the critical third downs)
"Honestly, I don't know. (I'm) just trying to think about it right now. Obviously, there was some missed throws. I can't even remember all of them, but I know we weren't that good on third down today. Anytime you're not good on third down, that makes it tough to win a football game, especially against a good team like that."

(On how the offensive line played after Jake Long left due to an injury)
"You know what, Jake's a great player and it's tough losing a guy like that. I don't care how much you're winning by and it's tough losing a guy like that. His presence was definitely missed. It was definitely felt, but football has to go on and the next guy has to step in there and do the job."

Miami Dolphins LB Karlos Dansby

(On today's loss)
"It's frustrating. We had opportunities and we didn't capitalize on them. It doesn't get any more frustrating than that. Execution was the most frustrating part of today. When you have them lined up the way you want and you fail to execute. Failure to execute is what cost us the game today."

(On the inability to stop New England on their final drive)
"It's disappointing we didn't finish like we wanted to. It's technique errors, good teams will find them and once they do, they'll expose them."

(On how today's game affects post season chances)
"We have to continue to fight because anything is possible. We'll go out next week, continue to fight, and try to get a win."

(Can you take anything positive from game?)
"No, we have to get better all the way around. Go back to the drawing board."

Miami Dolphins WR Brian Hartline

(On the lost opportunities with the two incomplete passes thrown his way)
"I think it's just a tough situation. One was kind of an adjustment, and one we kind of just missed the mark, and I think you can't play the 'coulda, woulda, shoulda' game, but, they were big plays and to beat a team like that you got to make those kind of plays. I think, if anything, we fell short on our end offensively, making the plays, we need to make them."

(On playing a good game overall and having the chance to win late in the fourth quarter)
"Yeah, we had a chance to make it a tie. We put ourselves in tough situations. We lay in the bed we made. It was tough, and to keep ourselves in the ball game that late, you know, that's a positive. But, again, we put ourselves kind of behind the eight ball early in the game."

(On scoring only one touchdown today, and what the problem was)
"I don't you know. Again, what you saw, something, we were missing the mark. Could've been my foot down the second one. It's just, we're not capitalizing and executing when we need to. One thing we definitely have to fix."

Miami Dolphins G Richie Incognito

(On the job Dolphins Tackle Jonathan Martin did after Jake Long (Dolphins Left Tackle) went out with an injury)
"I think he responded well. Making a big shift like that during a game is stressful. But, you know, he came in and played well. We got things communicated real well and I think he made the transition real well."

(On how the offensive line felt about dealing with Patriots Defensive Tackle Vince Wilfork as the game went on)
"As the game went along we felt like we had to get control. He is a dynamic player, and anytime you play against a guy like that you want to play your best. So we got to watch the tape and see how we played. My feeling after the game is that we played pretty well inside."

(On if he looks back at today's missed opportunities)
"Yeah it's tough. It's tough to beat a good football team like that with missed opportunities. Whether it be big plays down the field, or turnovers, sacks. We are a team that there's really no margin for error. We have to make those going away. That's just the way the game went. We didn't make enough plays and they did."

Miami Dolphins S Reshad Jones

(On New England's offense)
"Every play we get, every chance, we need to capitalize off it. You can't make mistakes when you play a team like New England who has a great offense with Tom Brady who keeps his guys going, I mean, you got to correct on your mistakes. Playing against Tom Brady who is one of the best quarterbacks in the game can make that even more of a challenge."

(On his penalty on his interception return)
"It kind of hurt (the flags on the play) it could have helped us to win the game because it is all about winning the game. It definitely hurt man, it could have helped us do what we needed to do and close out the game. It was pretty much a snapshot of the entire game being so close, but still didn't do enough to get the win."

(On defense)
There are no moral victories, we lost the game. I mean we played well on defense, but at the end of the day it is still a loss we got to get back and watch the film and correct the things we did make mistakes on."

Miami Dolphins C Mike Pouncey

(On making mistakes and not capitalizing on opportunities against a team like the Patriots)
"When you play a team like this you can't make mistakes, and you have to make the plays that are there. We missed out on a lot of opportunities to make plays, and for the most part, they made more plays than we did and that's why they won the game."

(On how frustrating today's offensive performance was when the Defense was making plays)
"Very frustrating, man. I think all you guys know that you can't make any mistakes against this football team. Belichick does a great job having his team well prepared. Tom Brady runs the show. When we had the opportunities in this game, we had to make them. But, we get a chance to play these guys again, and hopefully it will be a different outcome."

(On if the offense let the defense down today)
"'Let them down?' No I don't. It's a football game. It's a team sport. I don't think we let the defense down. I think they just made more plays than we did."

Miami Dolphins DT Paul Soliai

(On what the Patriot's did on the final drive)
"They executed their plays, but it's no excuse. We just have to watch the tape and see why there was a gap that was open on the back side."

(On starting the game deep in their own territory)
"It was tough, you know New England's a good offense and they hardly make any mistakes. But we can't blame it on the special teams, we just have to go out there, try to stop them and keep fighting."

Miami Dolphins QB Ryan Tannehill

(On when he knew that Jake Long would not return to the game after leaving with injury)
"I knew pretty quickly after it happened. The doctors were taking him back (to the locker room) to look at him more, so I knew."

(On how that changed the game offensively)
"I mean Jake is a good player for us. He's been a good player for a long time, and he's the leader on the offense. So, it's tough to replace him. I feel like Nate Garner, and then moving Jonathan (Martin) over the other side, they did a good job. I felt like early on, they did a good job throughout the entire game and got settled in the more as the game went on. Changing sides as a tackle is not an easy thing to do, especially when you've focused on one side going back to April."

(On the missed throws to Brian Hartline)
"The first one, I just overthrew it. It was a bad throw. You've got to hit those; you don't get too many shots like that. He runs by the safety, and I've got to hit him and make the play. The second one was designed to be a hook up, so I looked off the safety and set my feet to throw short. He stuck his hand up and went deep, so I just didn't get enough on it."

(On how he views the way the game went offensively)
"I think we left a lot of plays out there; the ones we just talked about, and there were some other plays that were left to be made. Coach says it all the time; you have to make the plays that are there. I feel like we battled, we hung in there and were fighting to the end, but it's got to be consistent. It's got to be four quarters of executing the plays you get."

(On whether he thought the wind impacted his throws)
"I didn't think too much. I thought it knocked that one that was underthrown to Hartline down a little more than it would have been, but it's not something that we thought about or talked about at all."

(On the team's playoff chances with seven losses)
"I don't know. I don't know how things are going to shake out. I'm going to keep battling every game and I think this team will as well."

(On being willing to take some hard hits to get some extra yards on runs)
"You've got to battle. You're playing a good team, and you have to do everything you can to get a first down and get the ball in the end zone. I came up short on that first down the one time, but it's a game of inches, so you have to do everything you can to get as many inches as you can."

(On the amount of balance they wanted to have on offense in this game)
"We want to be balanced every week. I think everyone knows that's one of our MO's around here. We want to be balanced; we want to be able to run the ball and throw it as well. I feel like we did that for the majority of the game, but we just didn't hit the shots that were there. The one eraly to Hartline, I'm still kicking myself. You have to make that throw."

(On whether he called his own number on the touchdown run)
"Well it was a read play, so I had the option. I thought I could get it in and hold the ball."

(On what went through his head when he jumped and was flipped through the air on the touchdown)
"Touchdown. I knew I got it in, and I was pumped at that point."

(On whether the hit he took on the sideline is one of the hardest hits he has ever taken)
"He got me pretty good. He got me in the ribs and knocked out my air. Playing in this league, you're going to have to take some shots, and I've taken a few that hurt more than that one over the course of the season."

(On whether Coach Philbin told the team that they were going to have to score a lot of points to win)
"I don't think he specifically went to the offense and said, 'you need to score points,' but we're not dumb. We know they have a high powered offense and I think our defense did a great job of holding them to what they did. We've got to put more points up as an offense."

(On whether the ball was slippery early in the game when Brandon Fields dropped it on a punt)
"Every ball is different. They're might have been some water on that ball."

(On the fumble when he was trying to throw the ball)
"It's up to them (officials). I didn't really know if my arm was coming forward or not. I was trying to throw it; we had an open receiver down field, but it was close it is tough to say."

Miami Dolphins DE Cameron Wake

(On the loss despite success against Patriot's offense)
"It's one of those games where we knew what we were getting ourselves into. We had opportunities and we gave a couple plays away, yet even still, coming down to the end of the game we still had a chance and just didn't capitalize."

(On playing from bad field position after turnovers)
"The defense always has a mindset, regardless of where you are, to keep them off the board. You have to draw that line in the dirt and make the plays."

(On allowing them to run at the end of the game)
"That was frustrating. Not only is it something we do well, but we were doing it well up to that point in the game."