Adam Gase – August 1, 2018
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Wednesday, August 1, 2018
Head Coach Adam Gase
(How well has T Laremy Tunsil taken to G Josh Sitton’s mentoring and how hard was Laremy on himself last year? Obviously he’s a prideful guy. How hard was he after last season on himself?) – “I think he was … Really, he adjusted during the season. As we went through that first part, he wasn’t happy with his performance. He made some adjustments and some of his routine whether it was meetings, on the field, what he did off the field, post-practice, his recovery, his film study – I think he made some adjustments there which really helped him. Then when he went back, I think he almost looks at it as two different seasons. He knew he made the right adjustments and it made sense to him. I think adding Josh to the mix is a good mentor for him to where the communication has been really good between those two. Really, that chemistry when we watch them practice and some of the things that occur with what our defense does, they do a good job of talking about it before practice, during practice and after a play. I just think that relationship is really going well and those guys are working well together.”
(Was that the first time that QB Ryan Tannehill has gone to the ground since 2016?) – “I can’t say for sure but I think there’s been a couple of other times whether it was not this spring but I think last spring and in training camp a couple of times before he got hurt. He kind of got hit a little bit and knocked into the ground.”
(Did you hold your breath at all when that happened?) – “I wasn’t sure what happened. I just saw a couple of bodies there and it turned out he got some cleats to the shin.”
(Was DE Cameron Wake apologetic?) – “I don’t know. I didn’t ask him. (laughter)”
(A couple of housekeeping things … I think G Josh Sitton didn’t do all of the individuals or team stuff on Monday and then T Ja’Wuan James didn’t do all of the team stuff today. Veterans rest days for them?) – “Josh, really we were trying to not practice Josh. We’re trying to be careful about how many times we go in pads with him. He’s played quite a bit of football over his career. We’re just trying to be smart when we get the pads on with him and just kind of make sure that we’re not going two, three or four days in a row with him in pads. He wanted to do individual, so that’s why he dressed. With Ja’Wuan, we’re being a little precautionary. He kind of had a muscle strain, so we’re trying to get more information on that right now. I don’t think anything was alarming. We were just being a little cautious.”
(How is CB Tony Lippett looking to you coming off the injury in terms of mobility and not keeping the injury in the back of his mind?) – “I think he’s had some days where he’s looking more like he was in 2016. I think he’s had some days where he has a tough matchup a lot of the times because it seems like he’s on Jakeem (Grant) quite a bit and that will test you right out of the gate as far as being able to transition and trying to stay with a guy with really good speed. I think he just has to focus on what he’s doing right now. He has to put that injury behind him. I think eventually that’ll move away from him. I think it’s going to happen more when we start playing games and we can get tackling and it gets a little more physical and real for him. I think once he gets into a preseason game, all of that will just go behind him and he’ll be able to go play.”
(Is the TE A.J. Derby absence looking like more of a short-term or a long-term thing?) – “I don’t know if it’s long-term, whatever you consider long-term. I know right now it’s day-to-day. That’s the best answer I can give you right now.”
(How is DE Charles Harris looking?) – “I mean he’s doing what they’re asking him to do. For me, it’s hard sometimes because we’re asking these guys to stay away from the quarterback but at the same time, work their craft. Those guys … Those eight guys that are rotating in there with that first group, they’re applying a lot of pressure. He’s one of the guys doing that. He seems like he’s wired in. He’s doing every little detail that (Defensive Line Coach) Kris (Kocurek) is looking for him to do. Once we hit real games, then that’s going to be easier for us to say, ‘Okay, here’s where we’re at with his development and where do we need to go next?’”
(What would you like to see WR Leonte Carroo do throughout the preseason?) – “Really, for him, it’s just playing games. Sometimes in practice you get so many reps and we’re trying to be balanced as far as what we’re calling in practice, so we can work on certain things. When you play receiver in practice, with the limited amount of reps you get, you probably catch more balls in routes versus air or individual than a lot of guys do in practice. You never really see anybody with like 10 catches in a practice. It’s spread out pretty good to where guys are getting three or four balls. It can get frustrating but guys that we’re looking at, ‘How are we running routes? How are we coming out of brakes? How are our releases? How is our blocking?’ Really, when we get to those preseason games, that’s where guys need to separate themselves at that position.”
(Whether it was correct or incorrect, we blamed LB Kiko Alonso for a lot of tight end coverage stuff last year. Social media did. Do you think he paid attention to any of that stuff? Do you think he hears it?) – “(laughter) No. I don’t.”
(How would you describe LB Kiko Alonso in that sense?) – “I think he’s focused on what we’re doing in this building. I don’t think he worries about anything that’s going on outside of here. He’s a very good professional. He focuses on what he’s asked to do and he tries to get better every day. Whatever he has that day, he gives it to you. When he makes plays like he did today, that’s good to see, because he’s been a guy that’s just been steady since he’s been here. He’s played through a couple of injuries that I’m sure it wasn’t the most comfortable situation a few times to where he just doesn’t say a word, goes out and tries to make plays and help us win.”
(DE William Hayes is a guy that nobody seems to be talking a whole lot about. Is he one of those veterans that you just know come the regular season you can count on him?) – “Well, we notice him in practice. I know our players notice him. He does a great job. Every day is a game to him. He doesn’t take any plays off. He takes everything he does as serious as anybody I’ve ever been around. When we traded for him and when he got injured last year, that was a big swing for us because he was really our attitude guy on defense. He set the tempo a lot of times. He played through a lot of injuries, it seemed like. I think he was a little more hurt than what he led us on to believe. That guy is tough, he’s physical and he cares. He wants to win and he wants to do right.”
(What do you want to see from the team practice-wise this week heading into the scrimmage?) – “I think it’s just the competition. We just want to stay competitive. Today I thought it was good. It kind of started leaning one way. I thought it was great to see Cam (Wake) call the defense up and put an emphasis on, ‘This is not how we’re going to play.’ You saw a change in tempo there. When we have turnovers on offense, it’s easy for me to sit there and go, ‘We’ve got to hold onto the ball.’ But the defense is causing those. There’s some really good clean hitting going on to where a guy is popping some of these running backs or wide receivers and they’re applying pressure to the quarterback. They turned it up and that was good to see. The offense, we’ve got to do the same thing. When it starts getting to be one of those types of practices where the intensity is going up, both sides have to match each other. When one side gets higher than the other one, that’s when you see that side of the ball probably dominate the rest of practice.”
(Is the offense overall – from the six days I think it’s been – has it been what you want it to be or do you feel like there’s a lot of work to do there?) – “I mean there’s always going to be a lot of work, no matter what phase you’re talking about. You’re always going to be pushing to get better. I like a lot of the things that we’re doing. We’re making such an emphasis on the pre-snap penalties and turnovers. We just have to stay clean on those types of things. There can’t be any lackadaisical moments for either side of the ball. Us being in the back half, really the worst team in the league the last two years, that’s embarrassing. That has to be not part of our storyline anymore. I think that’s the biggest thing we’re always looking for is let’s have a clean practice to where we don’t have those kinds of issues.”
(And how have you done with that?) – “There’s been good days and then there’s been a couple of days where it’s beyond frustrating and guys feel it, whether it’s from me or (Offensive Coordinator) Dowell (Loggains) or from (Defensive Coordinator) Matt (Burke). You want to put that kind of pressure on those guys and you want them to feel that because when we get into a real game, that’s what it is. If you’re feeling it and you start to make those mistakes and it’s too big for you, then we’ve got to get somebody else in there.”
(What kind of improvement have you seen from DT Vincent Taylor from last training camp?) – “A lot of these guys that are in their second year, they take that step up. They know what they’re doing already. To me, it looks like he’s able to play faster, he’s able to attack more. Seeing him pursue the ball, he is really taking in how Kris (Kocurek) coaches. He’s one of those guys that just loves what he does. He loves being out there and you love the effort that he gives day in and day out. He’s making plays, he’s getting in the backfield, he’s disrupting the run game. He’s just trying to find a way to get a little bit better every day. That’s all you’re really asking from your guys. Are you a guy that’s getting better every day or are you trying to stay the same? Are you in it? We want the guys that are always trying to work to improve a little bit each day because by the end of the season, it pays off for you.”
(What do you need to see out of LB Raekwon McMillan in the scrimmage and the rest of the preseason to prove and ensure that he is ready to be the play caller?) – “I think we’re in a good place for us with what he does. We’re trying to just make sure we keep it tight to where his mind doesn’t go out. Being a smart player, he’s not thinking about too much. We don’t want to slow him down. We want him to play fast. I think he’s doing a good job of making sure that group is good with the calls, there’s communication going on. It’s just the more looks he sees right now, the better. It’ll get easier for him in that capacity, to where it’s just instincts instead of ‘Alright, if they do this, I’ve got to think of this adjustment.’ So, there’s some work to do still; but overall, we like where he’s at. We’re just going to keep working on improving.”
(What have you liked about LB Stephone Anthony going into his second year here and what he brings to your linebacker core?) – “It’s very similar to some of the younger guys that were here last year and it’s their second year, to where he’s more comfortable, he understands the defense, he’s able to play faster. Really, I see his value as when we can actually go into a game and there’s live tackling. I think that’s where he has that experience of making a lot of tackles throughout his rookie season. He had a phenomenal season and made a ton of tackles. He does it well. When we played him a little bit this past season, he was involved in a lot of plays. He’s around the ball. We just want to keep growing him in that capacity. The more spots he knows, the better. I think it’s just, he can give us a lot of flexibility because there is a lot he can do. He’s a good-sized guy that can run really well. When you have a guy like that, we just have to keep getting him better.”
(How much do you learn in terms of K Jason Sanders during training camp? Is that just more of an in-game situation?) – “I can’t believe you’re asking me about kickers. (laughter) You can try to apply pressure in practice. We try to make it feel like a game. That’s why we do field goals when we do them and just kind of the transition of what’s going on with the offense and defense. Then, we will do situations to where it’s a two-minute drill and it’s on him really to win the game, whether it be a field goal or extra point or however we set it up. But really, it’s going to be preseason games – how is his reaction there, how is his consistency? That’s really how we’re going to evaluate it. Plus, my trust in (Associate Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Darren) Rizzi and (Assistant Special Teams Coach Marwan) Maalouf is off the charts. I’m always going to lean on those guys.”
(How would you describe what WR Leonte Carroo’s situation is right now. He seems like he’s on the very outside.) – “He has to just keep battling. He can’t look at what anybody is saying, depth chart or however you want to look at it, how many reps – just keep playing football. He knows that preseason games are where his best opportunities are going to come.”
(Why do you say that, as opposed to practice?) – “I mean, some of the times, practice is scripted. There’s just not a ton of plays. You’re working on the run and pass game, and then when you get into a preseason game, his snaps go up. It almost feels like it triples, especially in the beginning of the preseason. Guys get a lot of opportunities between preseason (games) one, two and four. That’s where you can get great evaluations on the wide receivers.”
