All of these would be fair second-guesses, but Gase's solution also worked.
He had a guy make it into the endzone, that received the hand-off and fumbled without contact. It was just an oddity play. In fact, it's kinda nice that you have options of different ways to get that 1 yard.
Um you need to watch the play again. He was stuffed at the line of scrimmage and bounced off to get into the endzone but as he was disengaging the defensive player (Akeem Hicks) ripped the ball out of his hands. The play should have worked but he definitely didn't lose the ball without contact. It was a heck of a 2nd effort by Drake to get into the endzone and it was an even better defensive play by the guy to rip the ball out of his hands. See it below at 13:32. The defensive player clearly pulls the ball out of his hands just as he's disengaging to get into the endzone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxfH6rEDKag