Adam Gase – November 12, 2018
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Monday, November 12, 2018
Head Coach Adam Gase
(Any indication yet whether WR Jakeem Grant or WR DeVante Parker will be back again this year?) – “They’re getting MRIs right now. That hasn’t even been brought up to me as far as those guys missing the rest of the season. I’ll know more as the week gets going here and then we can kind of come up with a plan to see who is available for the next game and further down the road.”
(CB Bobby McCain is in the concussion protocol?) – “Yes.”
(Can you update us on QB Ryan Tannehill and the plan with him?) – “Yeah, so he threw yesterday. That was kind of the start of their throwing progression after so many days off. It seemed like it went well. I mean it’s not like he’s out there throwing 60-yard throws. They have a progression of how they want to do it. They said it was a good first step and he felt good, so that’s a positive.”
(How are your two tackles doing?) – “I’m not really sure quite yet. I have to get with those guys and see where we’re at. Rest is always going to be good for those guys so this week came about the right time.”
(With QB Ryan Tannehill, do you think he’ll throw every day? Every other day? What’s the plan?) – “Yeah, there’s a good schedule they have planned out for the amount of time they can work this week. We’ll just progress through and see where we’re at next Wednesday.”
(It seems as if the one consistently positive area each week has been special teams. Can you talk a little about that and the way they played Sunday and in general?) – “Yeah, that was a big point of emphasis for this game was we had to get something going there. We needed some kind of … whether it be a turnover (or a) return, we needed some kind of steal-the-possession type moment. We had more than one. We just didn’t take advantage of it. It was close to being played out the way we wanted to. We just didn’t execute in the red zone. We need to find a way to score touchdowns in the red zone and then we need to find a way to get one or two stops with the defense and hold them to a field goal. Then at least we’re in a position at the end of the game to where it’s either us or them with the ball at the end of the game trying to win it.”
(Generally on special teams this year, what have you seen?) – “It’s probably the one area that we’ve stayed healthy, where our core guys are healthy and playing.”
(How much does the bye help, particularly with the timing?) – “Well, we haven’t had one in two years so it’s great. (laughter)”
(But with the timing?) – “I don’t even know if we’d have enough for 46 (active players) this week. It’s probably the right time. It’s a long, grinding season. We wanted a late bye. I’d rather have it now than Week 4, so I’ve got no complaints about that. I just wish we would have stayed a little healthier leading up to this; but this gives us a chance to … The guys that were kind of banged up to where they probably wouldn’t have played this week, now we’ve got a shot to get more guys ready to go for the next one.”
(With the injuries, obviously you lose guys. But also you just go through so much uncertainty, like with the tackles this past week. Can you just talk about that and the degree that which you’re handcuffed because you can’t even plan?) – “Well, we have a general idea of how we can get to certain things. The way that the system is set up, it’s just a quick change in the protection of we want to slide this way or we want to do this kind of … these three have these four or these three have these two, however we have it set up. So we can make adjustments up to the game within the game if something happened. Our guys have done a good job of handling those types of adjustments. It’s a lot easier when you don’t have to do that, when you can actually go into the game and what you think is going to be Wednesday ends up happening on Sunday. We just haven’t really had a bunch of those. It just seems like something always comes up.”
(I know this is football but the level of injuries that you guys have had this season is on a very high level. Have you looked at maybe you need to be doing something different from a training staff standpoint?) – “We’ve looked at everything. It would be one thing if we were having all of these soft tissue injuries but we’re having season-ending type injuries. And it’s always on game days. I think a lot of it is it’s almost across the league where every week you see big-name players going down. I don’t know if we’ve really been hit any harder than anybody else. It feels like it to us because we’re here every day. For me, it’s our team, so it’s affecting us directly. I don’t know if it’s any different anywhere else. It feels like it is, but it’s probably not. I wish I had an answer for you because some of these are just unexplainable. Like a guy gets tackled and jacks his shoulder up. How do you prevent that?”
(Of the four fill-in offensive linemen, obviously C Travis Swanson has been doing it for a while. Have you gotten a sense yet from who among that group played particularly well among C Jake Brendel, T Zach Sterup and T Sam Young?) – “Those guys did a good job up front. They executed a lot of things in the run game very well. I thought for the most part, the pass protection when it was tight and more of a run/pass balance, those guys did a good job of getting those guys covered up. I thought there were a few times where it looked like … I was worried that Zach maybe got beat by Clay (Matthews) and he did a great job of pushing him around the quarterback. I thought those guys did a pretty good job of kind of getting thrown in there and having to work together, where that five hasn’t really done a whole bunch together.”
(What did the tape tell you about the hit on CB Bobby McCain?) – “I mean I just know that it wasn’t good for him. There’s nothing we can do about it. We’d rather that not happen. We’d rather not lose a guy.”
(What’s your thought process on how you’re approaching this week with the players?) – “They’re done. They’re gone for the week.”
(Is that because of the injuries?) – “I mean it’s just we’ve played 10 games.”
(Six games to go and you’re in the mix. What needs to change?) – “I think it’s really, for us, it’s get healthy as much as we can. If we can find a way to clean up our red area stuff on offense and eliminate the explosive plays on defense, I know that sounds like a broken record but that’s what this season is about. Can we get those types of things fixed to give ourselves a chance that week to win? It becomes a one-game season. There are certain teams that have kind of separated themselves from the rest of the pack; but right now, the only thing that’s really been eliminated for us is an undefeated season. Everything else is on the table. Other teams are having a lot of the same issues we are and it’s really who can pull it together these last six games and find a way to get in.”
(With the run game philosophy, did you get the right mix with RB Kenyan Drake in there?) – “I don’t know. It’s never going to be perfect. We’re trying to get those two guys in there and get them as many touches as we can. Frank is doing a good job of keeping us ahead of the sticks. I think Kenyan does a good job of bringing us that element that he could take it the distance any time. We’re trying to find ways to get him the ball where he can get space. Some of the outside zone stuff, he gets to the edge but if we miss one guy on the second level, he’s dealing with some traffic issues there. We’re trying to find ways to just get him the ball to where it’s like him and one or two other guys in space to where if he can split them or if he makes a guy miss, then maybe we have a chance for a big play.”
(With QB Ryan Tannehill, I know you’ve paid attention to the medical stuff but is your understanding that he can throw softly this week and practice next week and be ready to go for a game on Sunday?) – “Right now it’s such a one … Because of what we went through the last whatever weeks where there was some soreness one time, they’re trying to get it to where every day we’re not getting him saying ‘I’m having pain.’ It’s the progression of when we hit Wednesday, hopefully we can get it to where now they’re saying ‘let him practice and this is where you need to keep the throws at.’ Or they just say ‘let him go, he’ll be all right.’ I’m just waiting for those directives from those guys. If we can get through this week and he feels great every day, then we’ve got a shot.”
(With QB Ryan Tannehill’s throws, you’re talking about a pitch count for the week of practice?) – “I think it’s a pitch count, distance … I mean there’s a lot of factors involved. It’s just like what they’re doing right now. It’s like ‘Hey, don’t throw any balls over 15 yards. Don’t throw any over 20, 25 (yards).’ It’s going to be a progression. He didn’t throw a ball there for a while. We’ve got to be careful because it’s going to have to be built up from that.”
(Do you have any idea how much distance QB Ryan Tannehill had on his throwing session the last couple of days?) – *shakes head* “I’m sure you’ll find out. (laughter)”
(Another one of your favorite topics I’m sure, but you weren’t asked about S Reshad Jones yesterday. Was that a difficult decision for you? What were the factors that you considered in going the route you did?) – “That was just what I told him that I wanted to do. He didn’t have anything to say and we moved on. I told him after this is done, we’re done with it. We’re moving on.”
