Adam Gase – September 17, 2018
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Monday, September 17, 2018
Head Coach Adam Gase
(You guys have obviously done a great job of stopping the run. As you look back at the two games, is it a combination of everyone or who has particularly excelled?) – “I think it’s been a group effort. We still have some missed tackles to clean up, where we could probably be better there; but I think guys are doing a good job of handling their responsibility and executing calls.”
(After yesterday’s game, WR DeVante Parker said he could have played. Your reaction?) – “That’s true. He could have played. I told him that he was going to be inactive. We went through the week … We weren’t really sure how it was going to go when we started the week, with once we got into actual contact periods where he had a defender hitting down on his arms and possibly his hand. So we kind of took that slow. By the end of the week … He did a good job. He did everything we asked him to do. It looked like everything was going smooth, but there’s a lot of moving parts to this thing. I explained that to him. I also wanted to … It’s a time thing with him as far as being healed and closer to 100 percent, so one more week wasn’t going to be a bad thing. I explained that to him the night before (the game).”
(Did the trainers tell you that playing WR DeVante Parker yesterday may have been a risk at all of a setback?) – “No, but he’s going to be stronger this week than he was last.”
(Can you take us through the third-and-19 play to RB Frank Gore? Was he where the pass was supposed to go?) – “No; but Ryan (Tannehill) did a good job of pushing up in the pocket. Really, his eyes had to come down because we were taking a shot. We were actually going for the touchdown. He did a good job. Frank was waiting for the defender that looked like he was going to blitz. The guy didn’t come right away, so Frank leaked out and that guy ended up coming, so Ryan pushed up and that’s why Frank was wide open. It was funny because (Defensive Coordinator) Matt Burke was saying that Frank scored like a 60-yard touchdown against him and the exact same thing happened when he was in Detroit and they were playing San Francisco. Frank has a knack of knowing when the right time to go is and when the right time is to stay in.”
(In the bigger picture of that possession, you guys run out the clock and I don’t think you had any penalties. I guess you had a negative play on third-and-19 to set that up, but what does that tell you about your team when it’s able to do that and in that fashion?) – “We’re making improvement. That was something that we’ve made a big point of emphasis is turnover margin and our pre-snap penalties, more than anything. If you have penalties within the game, whether it’s holding or pass interference or things like that – as we say, aggressive penalties – we can live with that. We’ll correct those in individual (drills) as far as technique. But the pre-snap stuff, we can fully control. That’s really been one of the things where if we can improve that, it prevents us from being in long-yardage situations or giving away plays. We get a sack (yesterday) and we have an offsides (penalty). That’s something that … it’s like football karma right there where you have a good play happen and it gets taken away. If you do it right every down, there’s a good chance that good things will happen.”
(As you watch the game again, you see on film that the effort it took just before halftime to stop Jets TE Chris Herndon from getting in the end zone with S Reshad Jones and CB Bobby McCain. Can you talk about that play?) – “It’s a phenomenal play. It was great effort. That’s really what it was. I liked what (Defensive Coordinator) Matt (Burke) called and those guys executed that thing, but it took everything both of those guys had to strain and finish that play. We were on the right side of that one.”
(After two weeks, there’s obviously stats that come out that teams that are 2-0 have this percent chance of getting into the playoffs and teams that are 0-2 are in this much trouble and all of that good stuff. Is this the kind of team that you have to caution or warn against that there has only been two games? Do you have to address that with these guys at all?) – “I mean, not really. We’ve talked about it so much leading up to this that everything that’s said outside our building is irrelevant. The only thing that matters is this week. It’s really the truth. I’ve been 6-0 and not made the playoffs. It doesn’t matter. You have to play every week. You have to reset it every week. You have to work to get better to try not to be a team that’s up and down. We’re trying to be consistent. You’re going to lose games in this league. That’s why there’s only been one undefeated team that’s ever won it all and another team didn’t win the last game, so nobody really cares about it if you won them all. If you don’t win the last one, nobody cares.”
(What year was that where you were 6-0 and didn’t make the playoffs?) – “2009.”
(I’m sure every coach everywhere emphasizes turnover margin. Was that really something that you all emphasized more this offseason than previous years?) – “Mhm.”
(It was?) – “Yes, because we were working on it every day, whether it’s ball security or tackling or a turnover drill. We’ve carved out time in our practice to say this is how important it is and we’re going to work on it every day.”
(Did you guys miss G Josh Sitton yesterday and if so, in what ways?) – “I think you’re always going to … When you have a guy that’s a really good player, it benefits when he’s out there. I thought Ted (Larsen) did a good job. He executed what we were asking him to do. He plays physical. I love the way that when he’s uncovered, he can help clean out the pocket. He brings good energy to the sideline. That group does a good job. Those guys play together. It’s a fun group to be around.”
(With the continuity on offense, it really showed when WR Albert Wilson called his teammates over to celebrate the touchdown. What did you think of that and overall, how is your offense…) – “I wasn’t paying attention to that at the time. I was excited that basically I called a really bad play versus what they called and our guys made it work. I didn’t hear about that until we got back last night. I love that because I love how our locker room is. I love how those guys are on the field, off the field, in the locker room, outside of this (building). These guys are tight. It’s fun to be around and it’s enjoyable to watch those guys go through a game and the ups and downs of a game, and they don’t waver. They just keep going out there, putting their head down, trying to help make plays, trying to do the right things and I feel like there’s accountability with each other.”
(Have you ever coached another player with a skill set like WR Albert Wilson’s?) – “No. I think I’ve had, or I’ve been around, a few guys over my time that were similar; but I don’t think as dynamic as what he is. He’s legitimately a guy that is almost built like a running back but plays like a wide receiver as far as running routes.”
(Does that challenge you I guess as a play-caller to figure out…) – “No. I love it. There’s no limit of all the things we can do. It’s like … You can go watch some really good stuff and people will be like, ‘Oh, you can’t do that;’ but (we) can do whatever, because (Albert Wilson) can do everything.”
(CB Cordrea Tankersley was inactive and CB Cornell Armstrong was out there playing special teams. Does Tankersley not offer enough on special teams?) – “I think it’s just one of those spots where there’s a chance that it could keep going back and forth. That happens sometimes. If you don’t do as well one game, the next guy gets a shot and then you just kind of evaluate that and go back and start over the next week, then challenge those guys in practice to say the best guy gets to dress. That’s just what it is. It’s competition. I think (Tankersley) is making a lot of strides at corner. We just need him to get a little better at special teams, which is something that’s fairly new to him over the last two years. The good thing is I like our depth at that position, so the fact that we have multiple guys that could be active or inactive, that’s a positive.”
(You guys are atop the AFC East. Is that something you think your team can maintain a mindset of?) – “I don’t even think … If you ask half these guys, they probably don’t even know. They don’t care. It doesn’t mean anything. The division stuff right now is irrelevant. We’re focused on getting things corrected from yesterday and then we’ll turn our attention on Wednesday to the next team, and that’s what our focus is going to be. No one cares what you’re doing right now. When it’s December and it’s really coming down to the end and you may need to … Half the time you don’t even care then. You’re just playing games and you’re trying to win them all.”
(What do you say to P Matt Haack and how important has he been to winning the field position battle and keeping the opposition inside their own 20?) – “Yes, that was one of our … That was a big point (of emphasis) for us this week of flipping the field. He’s a big part of that. He’s done an outstanding job. What did he have, six punts and five were inside the 20? That’s phenomenal. To make a rookie quarterback drive 80-plus yards every time in his second (NFL) game, that’s what you want to do. You want to try to put that kind of pressure on him and I’m sure the next time we see him, he’s going to be that much better as far as their quarterback goes. We might have to change our approach to that. I think with what we asked him to do and what we asked the offense to do and the defense to do, I thought we played good complementary football for the most part. I still think there’s some things we need to … I’d rather not let up a touchdown and fumble (at the start of the second half). That’s kind of one of those ones that was not complementary football; but then Xavien (Howard) did a great job of getting that interception, so that helped us.”
(A small sample size obviously just two games in, but after 20 months off or whatever it was, has QB Ryan Tannehill’s accuracy surprised you with how sharp he’s been?) – “No. That’s how he’s always … Maybe it’s been too long. I don’t know. It seems like it was a long time ago, but I always felt like he was that way. He does a good job. He makes sure that we complete the ones when they’re open. His accuracy down the field is probably one of the better ones in the league, which I love saying considering that I was told he can’t throw the deep ball. (laughter) I always like bringing that up. He’s doing a good job. He’s being efficient in the short passing game. There’s some things that we’ve got to clean up, and we will. I think the more he plays, the rhythm will just get better and better. I think he’s really enjoying playing with that group of wide receivers and tight ends and running backs. Those guys are all feeding off each other.”
(Guys in the locker room are talking about they’re building something special here but still have room to fulfill that finished product. How far do you feel like you guys are?) – “It’s going to take all year. I mean, really, that’s what you work for. You’re just trying to avoid peaks and valleys. You just don’t want to have extreme highs and then you’re down, and then you’re back up. You want to just keep climbing and just getting better and better every week. You want to put out the right product on the field where you feel like you’re improving. It may not always result in a win, but you see it on tape. Because when you start playing really good teams that are elite, it’s 50-50 sometimes. You have to do everything you can to put yourself in position of winning at the end, because a lot of times in this league, it comes down to the last drive.”
(How did TE Mike Gesicki do as a blocker yesterday? Were there things that you practiced that you just didn’t get to that you wanted to?) – “We had a couple of opportunities in the passing game to get him the ball. It just didn’t work out. They did a good job. They cheated to him a little bit. When he gets singled up on a linebacker, the good thing is we weren’t the only ones that actually watched him in college, so the other defensive coordinators are aware of what he can do, so they’re taking him away and the ball’s got to go somewhere else. And that’s good. I’m glad Ryan (Tannehill) is doing the right thing and not trying to force it to him. I like the fact that he’s not concerned about how many targets he’s getting. He’s playing. I know this, he’s taking a lot of pride in trying to become a better blocker. He had a really good block on (Kenyan) Drake’s touchdown. Drake made a great cut and Mike did a great job of walling the d-end off and there was a nice little lane there and Kenyan hit it, and got in the end zone. That was a big play for us because it got us a touchdown after a turnover. Mike is improving. He’s going to keep improving because the guy is very prideful. He loves doing this. He studies. He works hard. Good things will happen for him.”
(You mentioned turnover margin and penalties as points of emphasis and you’re doing pretty well in them. Are there other points of emphasis and how have you done? Third-down offense? Third-down defense?) – “I bring up the ones that we’re doing good in. (laughter) Missed tackles and yards after contact were some of the ones that we made a big emphasis on. We need to improve on our tackling. I think that’s always going to be a constant theme throughout the whole league. I know a lot of teams are talking about the same thing. I think any time you see a team not play as well as they want on defense or special teams, it comes down to that where you’re giving guys extra opportunities after you probably had them stopped.”
(Your first and second-down defense seemed excellent. I think their average third down was third-and-10 and they had like five that were more than third-and-10. What were you doing on first and second downs? It looked like you were stopping the run.) – “That’s really where it starts. Any time you can try to make a team one-dimensional, it gives you a good chance to have success that day. You kind of have to step away from the yardage sometimes. If you look at both teams’ yardage … It really comes down to turnovers. It comes down to what happens in the penalties. And then the third-down stuff is important. We were better on third down if we got the first one. The three-and-outs need to stop; but our defense did a good job of making sure first and second down were not successful and then get them in third down. With our group of pass rushers, if we get third-and-7-plus, that’s ideal for us.”
(You mentioned tackling earlier. Is that something you feel has to do with the rule changes? Or do you think that’s just early…) – “You can figure that one out pretty quick.”
(Being around this game for however many years, you’ve seen some unconventional things. When you heard the story of CB Vontae Davis retiring at halftime, your thoughts on that? How crazy is that?) – “I don’t even know … That’s for somebody else to worry about. That was a new one for me.”
