Adam Gase – November 4, 2016
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Friday, November 4, 2016
Head Coach Adam Gase
(Have you made a decision on which players might be activated off PUP or NFI?) – “No. We’re just going to go through … we’ll figure it out here this afternoon. We’ll use the full allotted time.”
(With RB Arian Foster gone, has anybody emerged, from what you’ve seen, as maybe taking on a leadership role in that room?) – “I think Jay’s (Ajayi) trying to establish himself obviously. When you’re a younger guy and you start having success you just have to really … He’s trying to make sure he does everything right himself first, and then you’re able to establish yourself as a leader. I think Damien’s (Williams) a guy that’s been here for a minute and guys do look at him as a guy that does a lot of things right, especially here with football. He does both phases as far as offense and special teams. He’s one of our better players and he does do a good job in meetings and on the practice field.”
(I think we may have discussed this informally, but in the past this team has won a couple of back-to-back, looked really good and then backslid. What needs to happen for that not to?) – “I think it’s our preparation. It’s the way we practice. All of those things just need to stay the same. That at least gives you the best chance on Sunday. You have to bring the same energy that we brought the last two weeks. Obviously we’re playing a team that is very physical. They have a lot of talented players. They’re well coached. If we go out there and just flop around this team, they’ll wipe you out.”
(Are there any motivational metrics or mind games or anything for the players?) – “I think it’s just about just constantly talking the same language – both players and coaches – as far as making sure that you’re prepared, making sure that you are going out to practice with a purpose. As far as what I at least can see through the week, and what we do in meetings, I see a group of guys that are trying to stay focused on winning one game, one week at a time.”
(So you didn’t put Wide Receivers Coach Shawn Jefferson back in pads or anything?) – “No. Absolutely not.”
(Do you guys know if you’ll have TE Dion Sims?) – “He’ll be out. He’ll be out.”
(So TE Dion Sims will be not playing?) – “Nope.”
(So TE Dion Sims is not out of the concussion…) – “He’s not out of concussion protocol.”
(A lot of times you sign a guy like Benwikeré, for example, came in and needed a lot of time to acclimate and it sounds like Rambo maybe doesn’t?) – “I think sometimes when you’re dealing with a guy that’s been around for a minute and has played in and has good experience being in a few different systems, it happens a little quicker sometimes. When you start changing techniques and things, especially out in the position that (Benwikeré) plays, just as far as corner and nickel and things like that, some of the techniques that we do are a little different, and I think he’s trying to change really some of the things that he’s been taught in the past. When you’re playing safety, it’s more about alignment, assignment, things like that (and) less about technique.”
(Obviously losing S Reshad Jones is a tough challenge, but how do you get that secondary unit to basically close up the seams and play a little bit better as group?) – “I think the first step you always have to just realize is you have to be who you are and not try to replace what that guy’s skill set was. Reshad is a special player as far as his ability to do things a certain way and he has a lot of experience. He knows a little bit of the tricks of the trade to make sure that he doesn’t put himself in bad position. Sometimes when you’re a younger guy, you may try to do the same things that he does; but you don’t always understand all the little nuances of one: what the other team’s trying to do you, and two: what you’re doing within the defense. I think for us right now, it’s more about alignment, assignment – doing those little details right (and) making sure you’re in the right spots to give yourself the best chance to make plays instead of trying to do too much. That’s kind of the learning curve a little bit. That’s where we’re at right now as far as let’s just make sure that we’re doing our job right first and then you can evolve from there.”
(The unbalanced line, was that something that was already in your playbook or something you came across recently? Because we hadn’t seen it…) – “No. That’s something that’s like, we install it in the spring and you go through training camp and you throw it in there, for one: just so it’s not new to us. You just never know when you’re really going to break it out. It fit what we were trying to do last week and something that’s in there. You just never know when we’re going to put it in.”
(Why T Sam Young as opposed to another guy. Why does he work with that?) – “Well when you have a guy that’s playing tackle, and it’s just kind of fitting for him as far as coming in as like the big tight end. That was always kind of my thought process going into a situation like that where, like last year we used (G/T Jermon) Bushrod in Chicago, and the year before we had couple of guys that were tackles that were always up that we could use them in those situations.”
(Your three wins have come against 3-4 [scheme] teams. You’re playing a 3-4 team. Is there any correlation to that?) – “It’s interesting that that has actually been the case considering we go against a four-down front in practice and training camp. Usually it’s the other way around, that you have more success against teams that are four-down fronts, because you see it more. I don’t know if it has really had anything to do with the front. I think it has more to do with the fact that we actually executed a lot better, especially the last two games, compared to the games before.”
(Were you at all given a crash course on Dolphins-Jets rivalry?)– “Matt hasn’t really caught me up to speed. (laughter) I know it’s there though. I know it’s there, for sure.”
(I don’t even think your players know before it used to be a big, big, big deal – like Heat and Knicks now. Is it…) – “I guess the one thing I always think of is Dan’s (Marino) play – the fake spike. I know it’s there. I have a little bit of knowledge just (through) NFL football, but I haven’t really studied up on it as much as probably I need to.”
(Do you kind of have to start winning to get that back? Is that something … that rivalries are divisional opponents?) – “Yes. It’s not a rivalry if it’s one-sided deal. We need to keep pushing forward and keep building on what we’re trying to build right now as far as our process and try to take care of business on Sundays.”
(What do you guys get from the miles per hour gauge that you use on the players for practice?) – “I think it’s more to really push our guys to give them goals to hit as far as their play speed, because we want to try to get it as close to game speed as possible. The guys, really, they use it themselves more than any of us do. Our big emphasis is that’s how … We think that’s an injury prevention-type deal because if you don’t practice hard and then all of a sudden you ramp it up on game day, that’s usually when you have some soft-tissue injury. Your body is not used to going at those type of speeds. We really encourage our guys to push themselves in practice and try to max out, so their bodies are used to when you hit Sundays, you get as close to it as you possibly can, because even with a little bit of an adrenaline rush there on Sundays, now all of a sudden your body is even going harder than what it did in practice. We want our guys to really try to use that to their advantage. They do. We have so many young guys, and they used this in college. So, it’s like we’re getting these guys that are used to the GPS and gauging these types of things, and they use it to help themselves.”
(So, it measures their movement throughout the entire practice?) – “Correct.”
(It sounds like you’re saying if a guy was coming back and seeing that his number was too low, he didn’t go hard enough that day?) – “Maybe it might be he didn’t have a chance to really burst in that practice or be down the field. It just depends on what routes your running, if you’re a receiver or a DB, who you’re covering, how are you flying across the field if you’re a safety. It’s a good measuring tool for them to feel where their bodies were that day and if they were maxing out. They know. It’s not something that I’m sitting there checking all the time. It’s really more for them.”
(Does it ever factor into your decisions? Do you look and say a guy was only at this number this week, so we’re not…) – “I haven’t. When I say they use it for themselves, those guys are really adamant. They check it, and they’re always bugging those sports science guys and the strength staff, ‘Where was I today? How did I do?’”
(Have you ever had to tell a guy to take it down a notch after that?) – “We do get some red flags as far as if a guy did get overworked a little bit. It happens sometimes, especially with the lineman, when we move guys in and out, because we’re trying to get guys reps. Obviously, with a couple of older guys on the offensive line and between scout team and taking first team reps, and then you can get up there. We measure the volume just to make sure that we’re not overworking somebody.”
(We haven’t asked about CB Xavien Howard in a few weeks. Where is he right now in his rehab?)– “He’s doing good. It probably shouldn’t surprise anybody, because it’s the same thing as last time. He’s doing everything he can to try to stay ahead of schedule. We’re trying to be cautious with him. Obviously, we feel like he is a guy that’s going to be here for a long period of time, and we want to make sure we do him right and if he has that opportunity to come back, that he’s as close to 100 percent as we can possibly get him. Obviously, we’d love to have him out there. We feel like he’s a really good player, but we don’t want to make a mistake long term by bringing him back too early.”
(With T Branden Albert, I know you talked about the mentoring aspect of him earlier this week. Where is the play level for a guy who’s 32?) – “He has played really well. I feel like what I saw on tape last year, he’s really made even a bigger jump than where he was last year. He was a Pro Bowl player last year. Just seeing him, in the run game, he has really impressed me. I don’t think you see a lot of left tackles grind it out like he has been doing and being able to really move the line of scrimmage and then get into the second level. It really starts with his grit, will, that ‘want to,’ to be a successful offense. He has really been one of the guys (that) we’ve been running the ball behind him quite a bit, and he has done a great job. He brings that mentality, that work ethic day-in, day-out, and it’s transferring to games on Sunday.”
