Miami Dolphins players talk longest NFL game in history
By Brian Miller
The Miami Dolphins had their ups and their downs on Sunday and most of those were weather related. They spoke about those delays after the game.
For the Miami Dolphins, weather has been a big headline dating back to last years opening postponement. Hurricane Irma saw fit to wreck their home opener and local storms on Sunday made a big attempt to do the same.
Miami has now played in two of the longest games in NFL history. Prior to yesterday the longest game in NFL history from start to finish was in 2013 when the Bears and Ravens played a game over the course of five hours and 16 minutes. Yesterday the Dolphins and Titans eclipsed that by a couple of hours.
Sunday’s game lasted a total of seven hours and 10 minutes to complete. The longest game in NFL history that was actually played without interruption was in 1971 in a game that lasted 82 minutes and 40 seconds. That game, hosted by the Kansas City Chiefs was a playoff game between the Chiefs and Dolphins. A game Miami won in the 2nd overtime period.
Needless to say the Dolphins were asked a lot of questions about the game following its conclusion. Perhaps the best one came from Adam Gase when he simply said, “I’m ready to go home”.
"(How physically and mentally challenging were the two delays?) – “You have to be ready. Yes it was a challenge, but we got the job done and we got the win. That’s all that matters.”"
"(What were y’all doing when you were back here in the locker room?) – “Talking ball, watching the games, trying to stay in it and stay focused, stay warm, stay loose. I’ve never been a part of something like that, so it’s strange but I felt like we handled it well and got the win.”"
Amendola also said it was both physically and mentally challenging.
"“It was tougher the second time, because like I said, the first time we were kind of like in limbo the whole time, ‘hey, it’s going to be whatever,’ I don’t know what time it was at that point, 3:30, so you kind of get up, start getting loose, then it was 4:00, so you sit down a little while then get up, start getting loose. The second time they were, like I said, they said probably 7:30. They came in at 6:30 and said, ‘hey, you’re on in 10 minutes.’ That one was a little tougher to get up and get going just because of the quick turnaround and how fast we had to be on the field.”"
Tannehill played in his first game since 2016, a total of 637 days between starts. Naturally he was a little rusty but the offensive system and the speed of his team seemed to fit him well.
"(What was it like in the locker room? What were you guys doing to pass the time and stay fresh?) – “Just hanging out. Really just waiting to hear what they had to tell us. When they told us it was time to play, we had to go out there and do it. If you complain about it, get negative about it, then it’s going to probably show up on the field. We all just kept our spirits high and knew that at some point in time we were going to go out there and finish the game.”"
Cameron Wake however had a really good reply to the questions about the delay.
"What’s it like to be a part of the longest game in NFL history?"
CAMERON WAKE: You were out there. How was it?
"We ran out of snacks in the press box."
CAMERON WAKE: We ran out of snacks in the locker room. Lots of peanut butter and jelly (sandwiches) and turkey sandwiches gone. Lots of carbs, so we will do some conditioning tomorrow.
The question continued and he gave a rather great explanation about the life in the locker room.
"How did you manage that time off and get yourself ready to go out not only once but twice? You were going to go and then not go, go and not go both times."
CAMERON WAKE: Yeah, there’s no manual for that. The first time it was kind of like … kind of in your mind, okay, this is halftime, and just they kept pushing it back 15 minutes, so you were always on edge the whole time. Now, the second one was like, ‘Alright, you guys are going to be in here for an hour and a half.’ It was just like, do I take my pads off, do I lay down, do I stand up, do I get on the bike? There’s really no way, so everybody was doing a lot of different things. But at the end of the day, they always talk about football is more mental than physical, and when you come out on the field, you have to be ready to go. I don’t know how it was out there for you guys, but they told us 7:30, and then all of sudden, they’re like, ‘Alright, in 10 minutes we’re going.’ So you’ve got guys laying down, some guys on the bike, some guys (looking at) plays on the (Surfaces), and all of a sudden it’s like, ‘Alright, it’s go time.’ Like I said, the guys responded well. Everybody got back in the mode that they needed to be in, and obviously went out there and finished the game off.
The above comments and questions are courtesy of MiamiDolphins.com.