Miami Dolphins Media Conference

Sunday, October 4, 2020

Miami, Florida, USA

Miami Dolphins

Coach Brian Flores

Postgame Presser


Seahawks - 31, Dolphins - 23

Q. A lot to unpack but wanted to get your thoughts on the third down spot. It looked like on TV they were even short of where the sticks were when they measured. What explanation did you get on that play?

COACH FLORES: They ruled their first down. Looked at it on replay and they let it stand. That's the explanation I've got.

Q. Can you assess what you saw from Ryan Fitzpatrick today? I know a lot of the -- some of the two turnovers were not on him but how would you evaluate his performance?

COACH FLORES: I thought we moved the ball pretty efficiently on offense. I believe, I know we picked up a lot of first downs and moved the chains. What we didn't do well was finish well in the red zone. You're never gonna beat a team like that kicking field goals. I think we all know and understand that.

Anytime you turn the ball over you don't want that. Those aren't good. But for the most part I thought we moved it well. Thought Fitz ran it, threw it, but at the end of the day you've got to finish in the red zone.

Q. Those two drives in the fourth quarter by the Seahawks to put it away, what were some of the things that weren't happening there for your defense during the fourth quarter?

COACH FLORES: Didn't play well enough in the fourth quarter. We've talked about finishing games and playing well in the fourth quarter. And we didn't get it done today -- offensively or defensively. So we've got to -- it starts with me; I've got to coach it better. And we've got to play better, try to place emphasis on playing well, playing our best in the fourth quarter. We didn't do that and we need to. We've been in every game. It's been close in the fourth quarter and we've got to finish better.

Q. Knowing Jason Sanders was perfect, were there any regrets with the fifth field goal in terms of aggressiveness, not going there on fourth down there, on the fifth field goal?

COACH FLORES: After a game you think of every situation; you could have done this, could have done that. In that situation you lose two yards, it's fourth and 5, third and 3 to fourth and 5, you pull within two. Just felt like we'd stopped them a couple of times prior to that. Felt that was the best move right there.

Again, in hindsight, you could look at it, given the score and given the way the rest of the game went, you could sit there and say, hey, we could have done this, that or the other. But we'll look at all of it and just hopefully try to be better the next time.

Q. Things were going reasonably well at the end of the half until the (inaudible) yard pass that Seattle hit. What did you see on that play and how did it affect your team at that point?

COACH FLORES: I thought we responded fairly well. We came back in the second half, got a turnover defensively. Went down, kicked a field goal. Kicked another field goal. I thought we responded well. I think they responded well from that as far as that particular play. We didn't play well. We didn't play well at all. I think we were out of position and that's what happens, especially against a good quarterback.

So that was the case on a few other plays and he found them on some of those shorter routes. Your opposition are a step too wide or too much inside and he found him. He found him on that long play. You've got to play well. You've got to be sound. We weren't on that play.

Q. Obviously you say that the Noah is a resilient young man when you play today like it was very noticeable about his struggles how do you respond from that? What's your response from that?

COACH FLORES: Come back, work tomorrow, watch the film, make the corrections, make the improvement, get better. That's what we all do. Players, coaches, doesn't really matter what field you're in, you learn from your experiences and hopefully get better.

Q. Last week -- against the Bills and the Jaguars, there was six touchdown drives, I believe seven total by the offense. What were some of the things not clicking for you guys offensively here that resulted in three instead of seven for you guys?

COACH FLORES: I think it's just execution down the red zone is what it boils down to. When you get down there, the run lanes are tighter, the safeties are closer to the blocks, so the run game -- more guys in the box. It's hard to score in the red zone and you have to have really good execution. We didn't have that today. And, again, against a good team, you gotta punch it in. Even though we didn't, we were close, but at the end of the day those points, three instead of seven, they add up.

And we need every point, especially against a team like that. But Seattle played well. They made plays in the fourth quarter and they played well.

Q. Obviously you guys are down Byron that's part of the reason Noah is playing as much as he has. Has the moment gotten a little big too much for him? A young guy, is it too much for him at this stage?

COACH FLORES: I don't want to make assumptions like that. I mean, look, he's a rookie. He's going to have his ups and downs. Last week he played well. This week he didn't play well. Two weeks ago -- you know what I mean, he's going to have ups and downs. He's a resilient kid. He's a talented kid. He's got to learn from this. We'll help, coach him, and I think he'll get better.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
102255-1-1045 2020-10-04 20:35:00 GMT

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