Adam Gase – August 10, 2016
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Wednesday, August 10, 2016
Head Coach Adam Gase
(On how he knows there is trust in the red zone) – “I don’t if you ever really get there completely. You’re always working on things because once you get into the season and you feel good about a certain kind of concepts, defenses catch up very quickly. There’s not a whole bunch of things that you can do in the red zone that defenses haven’t really seen or studied. You always feel good coming out of camp probably about a few things and then as you get into the season, you have to evolve as you go. You can’t just be stagnant with one thing and (say), ‘Hey, this is what we’re just going to do,’ because defenses are so good. They’re so well prepared and there’s nowhere to hide. Everything’s on film. You have to keep evolving and that’s going to be an important piece for us. As we go through the season, we’ve got to keep (saying), ‘Hey, what’s our next thing? What’s our next thing?’ We got to keep developing trust throughout the season.”
(On if he has a number in his head for the touchdown percentage in the red zone and if that number is 60 percent) – “Yes. I mean that’d be great. It’s tough. You get down there and those windows close tight. You want to try to … at the end of the day if you can be two out of three every game, that would be great. But the top five teams, that’s usually probably where they’re about at.”
(On if he has a feel for how much the starters will play Friday night) – “I’m just going to go by feel. I think the better idea as far as the defense is going to go, I have less concerns on that side of the ball with a lot of those guys because they’ve played. I think on the offense, it’s mainly just kind of that chemistry of our guys getting used to playing what we’ve been practicing and, at the same time, Ryan (Tannehill) and myself getting on the same page – him being able to go through the communications of the offense. We probably need to try to play a little more in the preseason; but, it’s one of those things we’ll see how it goes. I know last year when we were in Chicago and then Miami came to us, I think they had a 17-play drive to start the game. You never know what’s going to happen. You always have a number in mind and then it could change.”
(On what was different about the offense today in practice) – “I think the last two days they’ve come out with a different mentality. I think Ryan (Tannehill)’s done a good job of jumping in that huddle right away and being that guy – chirping a little bit, getting the linemen going. And then I think the rest of those guys have really just been doing their job. The receivers have been in the right spots. I know we’ve had some drops here and there. It happens (when) we throw the ball as much we do during practice. I think for the most part it’s just going back to guys are just, instead of just worrying about the outcome of everything, they’re saying ‘Hey, we’re sticking with our process.’ We’re going to make sure that we do a great job of just doing what we’re supposed to do.”
(On if he sees things that ease his concerns from Saturday night’s scrimmage) – “Yes. I feel lightyears better. We needed to go through that. We needed to see what happens when just about everything possible could have gone wrong. Somebody screwed up on every play. It was like second-and-20 and then we were third-and-17. That probably needed to happen. I think guys just kind of took a step back and realized it’s about just doing my job and then things will work out. The more guys we have doing that, the better chance we have.”
(On the depth chart for the game and how much each string will play) – “We go by the person. Some guys may stay out there longer. Like on the defense, if it’s a younger guy that happened to be rolling with the ones, he might stay in there for a little longer. It’s really the feel of the coordinators of saying, ‘This guy, he needs more work. We want to get him some balls.’ If DeVante (Parker) doesn’t go and (Leonte) Carroo’s with the ones, we’re going to leave him in. He’s not going to come out because he needs snaps. Every guy is kind of treated a little different.”
(On RB Arian Foster is game ready) – “I would say he’s one guy that on offense, I’m not going to play him in this game. That’s strictly my decision. I have a certain way that I treat running backs that have played for a while and I don’t like them taking any unnecessary hits in games where it might only be a couple of snaps for him. It’s like, ‘How do I get him ready for the regular season?’ Plus I just want to be smart. We’re getting him back to where he’s almost to that point where we can go the full practice (with him and) there’s no restrictions. I just want to keep him on track on that and then the next week, we’ll reevaluate what we’re doing.”
(On if there’s anybody on defense that he made that same decision to keep them out of the game) – “Yes. We’re still going to talk about it. We’ll probably finalize it tonight as far as what’s going on. We got to talk to those guys first. Arian (Foster) knows that he’s not going to play. I’ve already told him. The other guys we haven’t told anybody anything so I don’t want to say it first here. We still got that last discussion to have.”
(On how far away is CB Chris Culliver away from being able to help) – “I think right now we’re on a day-to-day process. We’ve got to get our hands on him. I feel like we got a good feel for who we got (and) the kind player we have. I’m excited to see him when we can get him out there and get him rolling to see what he can do in this defense. I like the fact that we were aggressive and went out and got him and adding depth to that position. (Miami Herald columnist) Armando (Salguero) is happy, so that’s all that matters (laughter).”
(On what he sees in CB Chris Culliver) – “It’s a guy that wants to get up, he wants to press, he wants to be able to play man-to-man coverage. That’s what we’re looking for. That’s what we are. We’re an attacking style of defense and our corners have a lot of pressure on them to be able to cover and he’s a guy that can do that.”
(On the advantages of having taller corners) – “I just think it’s hard to get balls over (their heads). If you get beat, you got to throw a great ball. You got to get it over the top of the guy. And unfortunately I have a lot of experience watching (Byron) Maxwell break up balls. I’ve seen it first-hand where I’ve seen some good receivers get by him and he recovers and it’s because of his length. When you’re trying to get off the line of scrimmage versus press and he gets his hands on you, it’s challenging to get around him because he really extends and gets around. It’s hard to get his hands off of you. When you got a long guy like that it’s the advantage to that player. It’s tough on the wide outs.”
(On WR Leonte Carroo and his progress so far in training camp) – “He’s been doing good. He’s been making some positive plays. His biggest thing is mentally, what are we going to do? Is he going to keep growing? Are we going to get stuck? Are we going to have that rookie wall hit? He’s going to keep rolling on that.”
(On if he wants to see the offense get more vertical or if he’s fine with things the way they are) – “I’m fine with it. I’m the one scripting the plays and calling the plays. I had a little success with what we do. There’s a time and a place (to get vertical) but there’s also a time and a place not to get sacked 60 times in a year too.”
(On if he has been pleased by S Walt Aikens this training camp) – “Yes, he’s been doing a good job. Obviously we know his value on special teams, as well. The fact that he’s showing up at safety as well, that’s a bonus. We know we’ve got a guy that when we put him in on defense, he’s going to make plays.”
(On RB Jay Ajayi catching a deep pass in practice today and if that is good for his confidence) – “I thought it was great because, I don’t know, it’s been like five years since I’ve seen a guy actually lay out for a ball in practice. The fact that he went and got it, you know he’s a big man running down the field. It’s good to see. Any time we hit a shot like that, that’s a good thing.”
(On DE Cameron Wake coming back from an Achilles injury and if he’ll play on Friday night since RB Arian Foster will not) – “I haven’t talked to him yet. We’ll finalize it tonight.”
(On what the conversation is like when you tell a veteran he won’t play when you know he wants to play) – “More times than not, I personally haven’t had any bad experiences in that area. They want to play but at the same time, there’s certain guys that know that we have to be smart. You’re looking to get work in the preseason and at the same time you’re looking to get the guys you want to the regular season, so where’s the fine line of (staying) healthy but still getting what you need to get to get ready for that first game?”
(On if the short plays run in practice are a result of play calling or plays getting checked down) – “The whole league is 10 yards and under. That’s what it is. Nobody is going down the field like that. There is one team that does it really, maybe two – Pittsburgh and Arizona. They hold onto the ball and they chuck it down the field. More teams than not, it is 10 yards and under. That’s where all the passing game is. The d-ends are too good. If you want to stand back there and have your quarterback get his brains beat out, go at it.”
(On WR DeVante Parker’s status for Friday) – “I’ve got to watch practice and see how he looked. We’ll see how it goes. I want to make sure he’s good. I don’t want any setbacks with him.”
(On if he can tell when guys are pressing in preseason games and if he takes that into account when he judges them) – “Yes, you can tell. You start watching the game … Really it starts going with the mental. When guys start busting their assignments with things they don’t normally do, that’s when you start to realize there’s something not right. You keep an eye on it. You evaluate it after the game. You evaluate everything – how was he on the sideline? What was the look in his eye? That’s the good part about being down (on the sideline), a guy like (Wide Receivers Coach) Shawn Jefferson will be able to tell me, ‘Hey, this guy did not have a good look in his eye.’”
(On if he takes that into account when he makes the final 53-man roster) – “Yes, because if a guy is freaking out in a preseason game, there’s a good chance he’s going to … like Seattle. I don’t know if you’ve been there lately; it’s interesting.”
(On his first preseason game as a head coach) – “I’m lucky to have the two coordinators on offense and defense and then to have a special teams coach as involved as we have him right now with (Assistant Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Darren) Rizzi. I don’t know. It feels comfortable to me. The fact that having those guys around you and even a guy like (Linebackers Coach) Matt Burke, who is a smart guy and involved in what we’re doing situationally and the conversation that we have every day in practice. That’s why we do as much situational work as we do because if we screw something up, that conversation is happening fast and we’re like, ‘Okay, maybe we should have done this and maybe called timeout here.’ So those discussions are going on. I feel like the biggest thing is going to be getting into that rhythm of calling plays and now we have to start thinking about timeouts and things like that in 2-minute drives.”
(On if that was something he was involved with in previous stops) – “I mean, having (Chicago Bears Head Coach John) Fox, because him not calling either side of the ball, it made it really easy on me. I was just calling plays until somebody told me to stop, which was nice. It won’t quite be … we don’t have that luxury.”
(On what he expects from his team on Friday night) – “I just want energy. I want energy and I want guys flying around. If guys screw up, oh well. Just go 100 miles per hour. I know with what we’ve done out (on the practice field), that should take over. We’ve been practicing in some tough conditions. Today wasn’t easy. The guys battled. Nobody said anything. (They) just grinded it out. If we come out with that kind of mentality and enjoy what we’re doing, we should play fast.”
