Dolphins 42, Panthers 21
FRANK REICH: Injury updates. Yetur did not finish with a hamstring. Laviska didn't finish with an ankle. Frankie Luvu didn't finish with a hip, and Throck Morton with a calf.
You know, tough loss. Came down, obviously got a good start in all three phases. Weren't able to sustain. Give the Dolphins credit for coming back. I thought our guys played hard. Just need to play better in all three phases.
I'll open it up.
Q. What do you think led to the success of you guys being able to put together those...
FRANK REICH: Just thought there was good execution, like I said, in all three phases. Thought we ran the ball well. Had a good mix of run and pass. Had a chunk play to Adam, and then we were able to run it in the first one.
Second one we moved it down there. Had an incompletion on first down, and then Bryce made a great throw to Adam in the back of the end zone.
So just two drives really. Bryce was super sharp. The offense was good. We were protecting well, running the ball well, mixing it, feeling like we should feel, and then we -- I think it was the next drive or maybe a couple drives later then we crossed mid-field, we go with the fake punt. Obviously just missed that.
So we just missed an opportunity there.
And then on offense, too, we got down in one time and had a fourth down and we threw into the end zone. So we missed some points there. Missed a field goal. So we had a few opportunities to score more points on offense that we didn't convert.
Q. How much did you do differently today in terms of playcalling and changing things up?
FRANK REICH: Compared to?
Q. The first five games.
FRANK REICH: I have to go back and analyze it, but we went anything it was going to be a mix of huddle and no-huddle. I was thinking we were going to come out primarily in no-huddle.
Then what happened was we had success early. We were running the ball and I called a couple huddle plays that were successful, so I thought, well, we'll just eat up clock, move the ball down the field.
Then that stalled out. I felt like that was a part of plan. Our plan was to go some no-huddle, some huddle. Thought we did that at times. Moved the ball effectively, especially early on, but didn't feel like it was much different.
Q. Plan on getting the running game to get a little balance to the offense? How much closer was what we saw today to what you envision this offense can be?
FRANK REICH: I mean, that's what we want to do. We're a little bit of spread them out, run the ball. I think at the end of the third quarter I asked the guys how many runs do we have right now. At the end of the third quarter we had 23 runs and we're behind by two scores.
So that feels to me like a pretty good mix of run and pass. You know, 23 runs, because if you're playing good football and it's a close game, you're winning, you're going to get a bunch of runs in the fourth quarter.
There are positives things too. You lose by three touchdowns, so nothing feels good about it. Nothing. We will look at the tape, and I know there is good things on the tape, so we'll get better from the good and the bad.
Q. What's changed do you think between 14-0 and 35-14?
FRANK REICH: We know their offense, when they get hot, they're hard to stop. Tyreke just is -- man, he hits that thing running, it looks different and feels different. He goes in that motion and hitting it full speed. You watch that on film, but when you feel it on the field, he's a difference maker.
Obviously he had a huge day. I mean, averaged over 20 yards a catch. Credit to him and their offense.
Q. What kind of self-scout do you do you during the bye week?
FRANK REICH: Yeah, we'll really dive hard into the self-scout. I think it's a good -- you know, sometimes you like the bye to be a little bit later. After six games it's a good sample size to feel some things from a self-scout standpoint, so we as coaches will work hard on that. We have a process that we'll go through that's kind of a systematic process of how we look at ourselves in all three phases.
You know, before we take the weekend for the bye the players will come back. I'm going to have the players come in this week for a couple days. Monday, tomorrow, to watch the film, and Tuesday and Wednesday just to have something on Tuesday and Wednesday for us to learn and get better from tape and looking at some of the self-scout.
You know, because we're looking for ways we can continue to build on the positive. You know, what we're talking about is we're doing it the right way with the right people, and we just got to keep fighting and believing.
So that's what we're going to do.
Q. Is that the message to the guys when you cut them loose next week?
FRANK REICH: Exactly. We've got 11 games left. Anything can happen. But anything can happen means just come back and get better. That's what I think we all know in our room. I think that's what we all believe.
If you commit to getting better and you commit to hanging together, then we can have -- we can do some damage. We can win a lot of football games. So that's what we'll do.
Q. Bryce, I mean, seeing gradual improvement every week. Was it a little steeper improvement today or what did you see?
FRANK REICH: Yeah, I think he's getting better every week. I thought he was seeing the field very well today, you know, particularly in the first -- really the whole game he saw the field well.
Really liked the direction that he's going. The offense overall has to be better. There are some positive things there. Our defense, when you look over six games, our defense has done a lot of good things. When you look at over six games, special teams obviously has been rock solid pretty much most days.
So we got to build off that, correct the bad, and build off the good.
Q. Frank, the decision to use the fake punt there where you did, what were the officials were telling you on the spot?
FRANK REICH: It was close. It was close. Laviska made a nice effort. We knew going in all week just talking to Coach Tabor, he does a great job, the guys did a great job. As a head coach that's the first fake punt I've called. They made me a believer during the week that this could work, and it actually -- we just missed it by a few inches. Missed by a few inches.
We said we would go anywhere to all the way up to fourth and ten because we thought it would be a big play. Obviously we got to be a little bit more -- would've been better to run that on fourth and six rather than fourth and ten, but it was executed well. Just came up a few inches short.
Q. Was there a way that you (indiscernible) the big hitter you envisioned?
FRANK REICH: Well, you know, they did a good job of reacting. If I'm remembering, I have to look at the film, when Laviska went to make the catch he had to stumble to make the catch. Maybe if he catches it clean he hits it running. When I say thinking it's a big hitter, I'm really just thinking plus ten yards -- it's going to be a first down. Any first down is going to be good.
We kind of went in saying, hey, we got feel like it's going to make ten yards. We said, hey, ten was the longest. And plus when you're -- it played out -- everything played out right except we didn't -- we just missed it by a few inches. It was the perfect spot to call it at. Good time in the game.
They're an explosive offense. You can punt them down there and they're going to get it at to 20 yard line or whatever, and in two plays could be right back at the 50. So I felt good about the decision, the execution; just came up a couple inches short.
Q. ... (regarding Laviska ankle injury) like it could be bad.
FRANK REICH: Don't know yet. It is ankle so you know how these guy are. We got to wait probably 48 hours to determine how severe and what the timetable is.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports