The San Francisco 49ers lost their 10th straight game in Miami but they did accomplish a few things in the process. One of those things was stopping the run. The Miami Dolphins were held to only 95 yards on the ground and their top running back Jay Ajayi was only able to get 45 yards on 18 carries. After the game, Dolphins players talked about the respect they have for the 49ers run defense which forced the Dolphins to rely on their passing game, which unfortunately for the 49ers was quite successful.
Head coach Adam Gase spoke about their struggles in the run game. He wasn’t surprised that the 49ers focused on the run after watching film on the team.
They’d been showing that with what we’ve seen on tape. That’s what we go off of. We don’t look at the rankings or anything like that. We just knew that we had a tough match up and we had new bodies in as far as far as guys trying to play together so as far as chemistry goes.
When asked if he was tempted to move away from the run game:
My thought was, it’s always going to be stay with Jay because as the game goes on he wears on the defense. He’s a big guy who, if he breaks loose just one arm tackle it can be an explosive play. A couple of times he came back and was a shoelace away from popping a couple of these and there were a couple of situations where we felt like the passing game was the best call with what they were doing.
QB Ryan Tannehill also remarked on knowing that the run game could be limited.
Yes, we knew it was a possibility and we kind of figured that out early in the game that they were going to load the box and make it tough on us. We tried to stick with it there for the whole game, just tried to keep pounding away. They did a good job in the run game. They were physical up front. We knew it was going to be a battle up front and they loaded the box and made it tough for us.
WR Jarvis Landry spoke about the need to stay balanced when the run game is struggling
It’s very important, it’s very important. Obviously we know that there’s going to be games we may not be a able to run the ball. We’re going to have to pass the ball 30-40 times a day. I love it, I love it, but at the same time there are days we have to be more balanced. When it doesn’t permit, we have to step up and make plays in other areas.
When RB Jay Ajayi was asked about his struggles in the run game, he replied:
Just got to go out there and get what you can get. They did a good job. They got good players over there. It’s tough but at the end of the day we got the win.
Ultimately the 49ers continue to flash good things, but they still can’t seem to put a full game together enough for a win. The turnovers cost the teams yesterday but the team showed fight all throughout the second half which had been a problem in the past.