Adam Gase – September 14, 2017
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Thursday, September 14, 2017
Head Coach Adam Gase
(Could this week possibly benefit QB Jay Cutler? I know he already knows the offense but from a chemistry standpoint? Or would you have rather had played a game?) – “I mean this is the only option we had. One more week with all of these guys and another week of practice, it’s not going to hurt us. The situation that we were in, we were just really trying to get him caught up to speed and get him used to being in the pocket. The more we practice, the better. It’s really just an extended training camp for us.”
(How much does the no-huddle offense – I know you tried to do it last year – but how much does QB Jay Cutler’s experience with it benefit the offense?) – “It helps us. If somebody had come in that was just trying to learn the offense, that would have probably made it very difficult for us to do anything up-tempo or if we wanted to be on the ball all the time. A lot goes into it. There is a lot of little nuances that you have to be aware of and go through to really know the best way to handle the line of scrimmage.”
(Does the no huddle, is it based mainly on your relationship with the quarterback or comfort level with the quarterback or just execution?) – “It’s really everybody. You have to evaluate it as a group more than anything. When you get into a situation where the quarterback feels comfortable but then you have 10 other guys that it’s hard with, you really have to go away from it. If you have 50 percent, it’s just not enough. Last year we just got into a situation where we needed to settle everything down and really keep learning what we were doing and get better at that. We just had so many young players it was probably a little much for us at that time. As the season wore on, we got better at when we had to do it, we got better at it.”
(Was it the Pittsburgh week that you started to scale it back?) – “Yes. We scaled it back and we started huddling and we started doing different things with personnel groups. I think we were just trying to figure out who we were and what our identity was. It worked out for us. We just wanted to keep growing as the season went on. We wanted to evolve and we did. We did different things every week. Sometimes we were on the ball. Sometimes we huddled. Sometimes it was a little bit of both. Having that kind of flexibility is critical for our offense. We just like to be multiple.”
(How far would you say that RB Jay Ajayi has come since this time last year? Not as a player necessarily, but as a pro.) – “I think anytime you do anything, you learn so much through experience. In this league it just feels like one week seems like a month or two. You learn a lot in a short period of time and you kind of have to because careers are so short. You don’t have a lot of time to say ‘I’ll get it in three or four years.’ When you play and you gain experience from that and you actually learn, that’s really the key to everything.”
(When did RB Jay Ajayi hurt his knee?) – “I don’t really see him as being hurt. He’s just a little sore. I think that’s been like that for a while.”
(LB Rey Maualuga?) – “That kind of came up last week when we were ending the week of practice. We had a little bit of a setback. We’re going to keep working on him, strengthening him, getting him ready. We’re looking at this thing as duration. We’ve got a long ways to go. We’ve got a couple of new guys at that position right now so we’re trying to get everybody caught up to speed as fast as possible.”
(Does that put LB Rey Maualuga out for this week?) – “We’ll see how this week goes but I can’t give you a definite answer right now.”
(With QB Jay Cutler, he seems to have a ‘nothing to prove’ attitude. Is that been beneficial to you guys? Is that healthy? Is that accurate?) – “I don’t know if that’s necessarily accurate. I know how competitive he is. I know he wants to play well. I know he’s invested a lot of time since he’s arrived here to make sure he’s part of the solution. I know he’s developing a good relationship with these guys at a very quick pace. I think he wants to make sure that he comes through and plays well and does what he needs to do. He wants to play well because I think his relationship with those guys means something to him and he wants to make sure that he does his part.”
(Is legacy something that is important to QB Jay Cutler?) – “I don’t know. It’s hard to talk about legacy. I think he’s looking to play well one week at a time right now.”
(You mentioned leadership yesterday. Can you call out one or two guys you feel have emerged in a leadership role?) – “The guys that come to mind for me – Cam (Wake), (Ndamukong) Suh, (Jay) Cutler has done a good job, Kenny Stills, (Mike) Pouncey, Mike Thomas. I look at a guy like Lawrence Timmons. When you watch him practice and you watch how he plays in preseason games, you would think this is his first or second year in the league. He doesn’t say a whole bunch but the way he operates and the way he goes about his business, I think guys respect that and understand why he’s been in the league so long and why he’s been so successful. That’s the great thing about the NFL. Each year is so different. Last year, we were looking for guys to step up and be leaders and this year, Reshad Jones is a very vocal leader for us. Just to see how these guys have taken over this program and it’s their locker room, it’s been fun to watch.”
(Have you named captains?) – “Yes, we have. We’ll let you know on Sunday. (laughter)”
(No doubt on Sunday, this devastated Dolphins fan base is going to be looking to the team for an escape, a chance to take their mind off insurance papers or homelessness or trying to find a hot meal. If you could sit down with one of those families and impart what the Dolphins have gone through and what kind of message you want to send, what would it be?) – “For us, it’s going to be about representing our area the best we can. I think the effort that our team puts forth on Sundays, that’s why we talk about one game at a time. We’re trying to sell out every Sunday, Thursday, Monday – whenever they have us play – and I think our guys are looking to make sure that we do it right, especially this week and moving forward. Our guys, whatever they have, they’re going to give it.”
(Are you going to mention adversity, the hurricane or anything in your pregame speech?) – “No. Our guys, (this) is kind of our deal. Things come up, we adjust, fight through it and just battle.”
(What’s your schedule like? Obviously it has a camp feel but it’s probably not camp hours right?) – “We’re just on a normal… The thing for us, it’s probably rare for us to be on the road and not have to travel to some place to go practice. That actually helps us. It makes our day a normal day for us.”
(Do you guys have movie night planned or something?) – “No.”
(Who is a guy that you have really worked with a lot or seen a lot of good things from offensively in the offseason and you can’t wait to see how that translates to real games?) – “Really, I just want to see how our wide receiver corps, our tight ends, backs and skill guys just together. (I want to) see how the flow of the game goes, the personnel groupings. Just really see what our strength is. You have an idea but it’s so fluid from week to week and even during a season, just how it can change. I’m excited just to see that group, see what we can do, see how we come together from week to week. It’s a long season and it’s nonstop evolving. Who gets better and who kind of flattens out, you just want to see how it plays out.”
