Miami Dolphins coach Adam Gase was in no mood to hand out over-hyped accolades or engage in pie-in-the-sky speculation Tuesday. There was no playoff talk, and no mention of anything beyond this week's game at Buffalo.
Gase acknowledged that Monday's 27-20 victory over New England was significant, but that's all.
"It's a good win for us because that was the most important game of that week, and I know you want more than that," Gase said, acknowledging many want him to comment on his team's playoff possibilities, "but really, if we lose next week, nobody really is going to give a (expletive)."
Gase might be right about that. But for now Miami (6-7) has put itself in the thick of the AFC playoff picture. The Dolphins are one game out of the final wild-card playoff spot.
If Miami can win its final three games, ending the season with a 9-7 record and on a five-game winning streak, there's a chance for a second consecutive playoff berth.
Gase admitted that the victory over the Patriots, the fourth time in five years Miami has beaten New England at Hard Rock Stadium, was meaningful.
"I think it means a lot to probably, first, the players," he said, "because they have to go out there and they have the physical battle they have to handle, they've got to handle the mental battle as well.
"Not everything's gone quite right this year and guys have done a great job of just plugging along, figuring out a way to get better. Find a way to win last week. Find a way to win this week."
And Gase said his team has had a little more pep in its step these past two weeks leading up to the back-to-back victories over Denver and New England.
"I think anytime you get in a situation where you've lost five games in a row, no matter how you win that game, it's nice to win a game," he said. "And then confidence can really build throughout a week the next week. I think that's really what happened for us."
Miami's last three games are against teams ahead of them in the AFC wild-card picture. The Dolphins are at Buffalo this week, visit Kansas City (7-6) on Christmas Eve and host Buffalo for the regular-season finale at Hard Rock Stadium.
Right now, Pittsburgh (11-2, AFC North), New England (10-3, AFC East), Jacksonville (9-4, AFC South) and Kansas City (7-6, AFC West) would be the top four seeds in the playoffs as the division champions. And Tennessee and Buffalo are the wild-card teams.
Miami trails Baltimore (7-6) and the Los Angeles Chargers (7-6) and is tied with Oakland (6-7).
The Dolphins have head-to-head tiebreaker advantages over the Chargers and Titans (8-5). The Dolphins would lose head-to-head tiebreakers against Baltimore and Oakland.
The Dolphins would gain a head-to-head tiebreaker advantage over Kansas City and eliminate Buffalo (7-6) if they win their final three games because they'd sweep the Bills, giving them eight losses.
Gase, who led Miami to a six-game winning streak and its first playoff berth since the 2008 season last year, was pleased with a number of things from the New England victory. Miami held the Patriots to 0 for 11 on third downs, held them, to 25 rushing yards, won the turnover battle (2-0), and finally took an early lead, which allowed the defense to go to work.
Gase, still careful not to tread into postseason speculation, said his players have had more purpose recently. He said they've had a "different way" about them.
"There was no change in effort or execution or anything like that," he said, "but it seemed like guys were walking around different, like they felt good about what we had going on and how they were going to perform."
