Miami Dolphins head coach Adam Gase walks off the field after their 14-10 win against the Los Angeles Rams during an NFL football game Sunday, Nov. 20, 2016, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
DAVIE Adam Gase’s voice was pretty gravelly Monday afternoon after an all-night flight from California.
Or was that the growl of a young head coach who is in the midst of his first real feeding frenzy, who still hasn’t come back to normal after
Sunday’s 14-10 escape at Los Angeles and never wants life with the 6-4 Miami Dolphins to come back to normal again?
“That was either gonna be a pick or a touchdown,” Gase said when asked about Miami’s final drive and any consideration he might have given to the more reliable option of kicking a field goal to tie the game. “That game wasn’t going to overtime. That’s how it was going to be.”
When did he adopt that attitude? Was it when the Dolphins got the ball back on a Rams punt with 2:11 to play, trailing 10-7? A potential winning touchdown was still 75 yards away at that point.
Gase didn’t specify, but it was pretty clear what he was thinking a few big plays later, as Miami rocketed to the Los Angeles 35-yard line. Rustling through his play sheet like a teenager on a video-game rush, Gase kept pushing Ryan Tannehill to take chances, to think of grabbing a victory rather that postponing a defeat.
This is what the Dolphins lacked in
Joe Philbin, the coach who got queasy in such situations, or Tony Sparano, who flashed some of his heartiest fist-pumps for strategically-important field goals.
Gase is nothing like that. He’s 38, the freshest coach in the NFL by chronology and by chemistry. Right after Tannehill hit DeVante Parker for the winning score with 36 seconds remaining, the TV cameras even caught Gase briefly with his cap on backwards, whooping it up with Miami players on the sideline.
