When it comes to football, the object of the game is simple: win. Sometimes there’s a little more than that at play. For Dolphins head coach Adam Gase, the former Broncos offensive coordinator, Sunday’s 35-9 was personal.
Adam Gase riled his former team with needless, but fun onside kick
Miami already had a commanding lead against Denver, but Gase wanted his team to keep its foot on the gas pedal.
Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images
With a commanding 33-9 lead in the fourth quarter, the Dolphins decided to attempt an onside kick — which surprised some fans and players. Gase wanted his team to keep its foot on the gas pedal until the game was over. It worked too; they got the ball back.
The resulting drive didn’t produce any offensive points. The Broncos muffed the punt, and the play resulted in a safety for the Dolphins.
Gase, like any coach in this situation, defended his decision to attempt the onside kick — telling the Denver Post’s Nicki Jhabvala that his team was “just playing 60 minutes.“ “We’re not going to slow down. I don’t care what the score is.”
Yes, there is some “bad blood” here
Gase reportedly has an issue with John Elway, the Broncos’ executive vice president of football operations.
Gase, who just finished his second season as the Broncos’ offensive coordinator, left to join John Fox’s staff in Chicago in 2015, and a year later his name was on the short list of head coaching candidates.
In 2014, Denver finished with a top-five offense and scored 30.1 points per game, which was the second-highest in the league. But the Broncos and former coach John Fox decided to part ways after four seasons, and the decided to hire Gary Kubiak, Elway’s former teammate and coach, in 2015. Gase went on to serve as the Chicago Bears’ offensive coordinator.
Several Broncos players took exception with Gase’s decision.
“It looked like he was trying to embarrass us,” cornerback Chris Harris said. “But I guess that what happens, they haven’t won too many games, a big game for them. Guess he wanted to take it personal and guess he still had some bad blood left over from before.”
”Gase is a savage,” Emmanuel Sanders said. “He loves to win, he loves to embarrass you. That doesn’t surprise you.”
Von Miller wasn’t worried abut it.
“I was ready to go back out there. I was still trying to get a sack — a sack for a fumble,” he said. “That’s the game. I’m not going to sit on the sidelines and say, ‘Man, why is he kicking an onside kick? Just give us the ball.’ That’s loser football”.
Miller went on to say that this is pro football, so the Broncos cannot be upset about the onside kick.
Why does this matter? It doesn’t. Coaches, like players, are passionate about football. Rivalries and grudges make for more entertaining games.
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