Jets 24, Dolphins 31
COACH SALEH: Just real quick want to address the Alijah situation. He checked out fine. He'll travel back with the team.
Q. He checked out fine?
COACH SALEH: Yeah, well I'm still trying to get the details, but I know he'll be traveling with team so he's got motion.
Q. Is he with you guys now or did he go to the hospital?
COACH SALEH: He here now? (Indiscernible.)
Q. Coach, can you talk a little bit about the difference in the offense from the first half where it was very creative to the second half where you only gained 54 yards and three first downs?
COACH SALEH: You know, we had a good drive there going into the send half, the one that results in a turnover. Got explosive on the screen, explosive in the run game.
Give up a sack fumble and we just could never get anything going. If you want to get drives going you got to be good on third down and extend drives, and that's just something we weren't doing in the second half.
Q. Did you think the injury to Alijah in the short-term was a tough thing for the guys to deal with?
COACH SALEH: I can't answer that. You know, it's tough for anyone. It's their side, too. Those guys put in so much work, and to see one of their own, even for the Dolphins players to look at Alijah down, I can tell you it's not comfortable for anybody.
But that be would be a better question for them.
Q. Robert, some good drives in the first half. Seemed like you had a good rhythm, trick plays. What did Miami do differently in the second half to take that away?
COACH SALEH: You know, they did a good job getting the man coverage and all that stuff, which is the best way just playing with good eye discipline, and they were early in that third quarter establishing the line of scrimmage from a defensive standpoint and even the drive we had going with the two explosives, like I talked about, we finally get something going and we gave it back with a sack fumble.
We could never get anything rolling in the second half in sustaining drives, and that comes back to converting third downs and staying on schedule and staying in third and five, manageable third and fives.
Q. Robert, several weeks ago, a couple months, we were talking about your starts, how things were slow in the first quarter and then you guys would find it in the second half. It seems like it's almost been the flip of that against the Eagles and here today where you guys start well and really falter in the second half. Is there any reason for that? Is there anything you can put your finger on for the why?
COACH SALEH: No, again, it comes back to in the simplest terms, offensive football is a rhythm, creating sustaining drives, getting first downs, and keeping the balls you have ball in manageable situations.
It gets to third and five, third and six, third and seven, and you got to be man coverage and you got to win with your one-on-ones, got to win your one-on-ones in protection. Quarterback has got to deliver the ball where it needs to be delivered.
So obviously it's something we'll look at, but I don't know if there is anything that I can put my finger on now.
Q. You talk about the rhythm, and I think good rhythm early on there. Was it a matter of the coverages being better on Miami's part later? What did you see out of Zach?
COACH SALEH: Again, lack of rhythm, right? You're getting some three and outs. We had a chance to really do damage there. We have the ball to end the first half exactly the way we draw it up, see if we can score some points, see if get a lap opportunity. We missed out on both of those. Defensively we just couldn't hold up and gave up 14 straight.
But the resilience for the defense to stop back up and get a couple of turnovers, but as far as the offense is concerned with Zach, there is a rhythm thing. Yeah, they're going to change their pitcher, especially when things were going well in the first half. They're going to change their pitcher on you. They have to.
He's got to be table adjust in-game also.
Q. It seemed like in that second half too he was holding the ball longer than maybe like the first half the thing was out of his hand right away. Does part of that have to do with the receivers not getting open? Was the protection breaking down? Was he double thinking again and not just seeing it and throwing it?
COACH SALEH: Yeah, when we go back and look at the tape there will be one-on-one opps that we needed to better at from a receiver standpoint. There is also going to be situations where Zach will be able to look at it and say that he has to get rid of ball, he has got to find an outlet and get it to somebody.
To pinpoint on something right now, that would be doing you a disservice.
Q. You guys give up 185 yards. How disappointing is it that the run defense continues to be a problem?
COACH SALEH: Yeah, it's disappointing. A lot of missed tackles in the run game. It's clearly not good enough, so...
Q. (No microphone.)
COACH SALEH: Last three weeks? The same we way approached this one. The underlying message is this is December football. You have a Dolphins team playing to try to stay in the playoff hunt, so we got everything they had. We gave them everything we had and I promise you they gave it right back to stay alive and in the hunt.
Winning games in December is a grind. It is a back and forth battle, and it comes down the fourth quarter and down to a few plays that make or break you. So I'm proud of the guys for the resilience and the fight. There will be a lot of things we can learn from this game.
We've got, like I said, three games left of December football to learn how to win these games. I promise you we'll be in these positions, and what can we learn from this season in terms of December football and what it takes to win these games when we're in this position again to be able to close out.
Q. You had not had a first half lead I believe all year. What was the vibe in the room and what was your message?
COACH SALEH: It's the same message in terms of execution. Obviously we have a lead, you know, an opportunity to go -- the message didn't change from the beginning of the week in terms of a challenge of running the football, playing good defense, scoring points, and keeping points off the board.
It's not revolutionary. The adjustments are made, but the mindset to win in December always comes down to the second half, especially in the fourth quarter. The ball in your hand with chance to go score, that's all you can ask for.
Q. A long ways to go. A whole half to go. Was there any sense of anticipation? It was pretty good half for you guys.
COACH SALEH: No, I think the guys felt good about where they you stood. I know we did as a coaching staff. I know the players did. We were running the ball well. We were playing good defense. We were good on third down, moving the chains, Zach was doing some cool things off schedule.
So there was a lot of -- obviously the vibe was good. Just didn't come to fruition.
Q. You talk a lot about the rhythm offensively. There was struggles first and second half. The offense, they haven't cross the 300 mark. How much of that falls on Zach to try to keep -- continue to keep the offense on and in rhythm?
COACH SALEH: Every one is always going to look to the quarterback. That's just natural. Call me old school. It's a collective effort. It's receivers winning one-on-one, it's O-lin protecting, it's the run game going, and then obviously it's Zach delivering the football where it needs to be delivered and in a timely manner.
So it's not all on Zach. It's on all of us.
Q. We've talked a lot to you about the run game. Just going back to that a little bit, this isn't necessarily like when you have Kamara, an all-pro back that is gashing you guys and things like that. Is it getting to the point where you're almost lost for an answer or a way to try to find a fix?
COACH SALEH: Yeah, you know, credit to them first. They did run hard. But, you know, there is -- it's not good enough.
So, I just -- not that we don't have answers, but we got to do a better job from a schematic standpoint, got to do a better job tackling.
Q. On (indiscernible) was that the same thing he was dealing with and just got worse or pain or...
COACH SALEH: I haven't gotten an update yet, but obviously it's the same shoulder, so...
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