The Dolphins gave up 13 fourth quarter points to the Colts on the way to a 27-24 loss on Sunday afternoon and their offense had two chances to run down the clock in between Indianapolis scoring drives.
They did not make the most of those opportunities. Two incompletions and a five-yard loss by Kenyan Drake ended the first drive after 43 seconds and the second drive saw them run two times, including a third-and-10, before punting the ball away. The latter drive started on their own 6-yard-line and the former was on their own 25, which Gase cited as the reason why he didn’t try a throw on third down either time.
Gase said he would have thrown if the team had been “in a more manageable situation” and that he had faith in the team’s defense to come up with a stop. He also said he trusts Tannehill.
“I trust him,” Gase said, via the Palm Beach Post. “It wouldn’t matter who was back there. That’s a s----y situation to be in. It’s third and long. You’re backed up. It’s a bad situation. I’ve been in that before and watched a Hall of Fame quarterback [Peyton Manning] take a safety. In this building.”
Tannehill was 17-of-25 for 204 yards and two touchdowns in his return to the lineup after five games on the sideline with a shoulder injury. He said it was “tough” as a competitor to not have the ball in his hands on those plays, but understands that Gase “was trying to get us out of that backed up situation.”
It was an approach that didn’t work out for the Dolphins and they are 5-6 as a result of the inability to keep the ball out of Andrew Luck’s hands (or stop him once it was) down the stretch on Sunday.