Adam Gase – August 12, 2018
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Sunday, August 12, 2018
Head Coach Adam Gase
(We saw a lot of LB Jerome Baker with the first group today. What did you guys like about how he worked Thursday?) – “He made plays. That’s all we’re looking for guys to do is to get lined up, be in the right spots, find the ball and make plays. That’s it.”
(An update on LB Mike Hull?) – “I don’t know the exact amount of time he’s going to miss, but it’s going to be a little bit. We’re just still gathering information. You know how that works. We think we have things diagnosed and then is anything else going to come up? We just want to make sure that we know all of the details of the injury.”
(How have you seen QB Ryan Tannehill evolve in the area of holding teammates accountable? We kind of saw that today.) – “I think it can be difficult because you’re trying to keep the tempo at practice and you can’t kick a guy out of the huddle all of the time. You can’t shut it down all of the time and have big discussions. It’s a feel, timing. When is the right time to be like, ‘You know what? We’re not right here. We need somebody else in here.’ He was right today with what he did. I would have been upset if I was him because he knows what the result in a game would have been. It would have been painful for him, for sure. I think he was in the right to kind of make an example there. When he does things like that, I think for our offense, that’s a good thing.”
(We saw some changes to both the base and the nickel first-team defense. I know nothing is set in stone but when we see changes like that, is it more based off the preseason games or an accumulation of OTAs?) – “I think it’s accumulation. We’re always going to be moving guys around and trying to figure out what’s the best 11, whether it be offense, defense or special teams. We’re always going to be challenging guys and keep the competition alive. We need guys to win their job every day.”
(When you watch the tape, particularly of the defense, what did you see?) – “Obviously I thought (Jerome) Baker played pretty good. We didn’t play as well as we wanted to. I know (Defensive Coordinator) Matt (Burke) wasn’t real happy. I know the coaching staff wasn’t real happy. We need to have a better performance this next game.”
(How is S Minkah Fitzpatrick developing throughout camp and the preseason? You had him on the first team today…) – “I mean he picks things up very quickly. The amount of time he puts in by himself is probably more than I’ve seen in a lot of players, especially a rookie. The guy is a relentless worker. That allows him to go out there and play fast. He’s just football savvy. You can throw him into a lot of different situations. He understands what’s going on. It’s probably a little bit of where he went to college and who trained him. That combination allows him to come out here and do a lot of the things that he does.”
(S Minkah Fitzpatrick talked today a little bit about playing all of those different positions that you guys have him at. Are you guys cognizant of how much is on his plate and when to put him where?) – “Yes. It’s really right now, how much can he absorb? I’m sure at some point – I can’t give you the exact date – we’ll say this is what we’re going to do. The more you can do, the better. You just never know what’s going to happen in a game where when you have guys that can play multiple spots … I always felt like Bobby (McCain) was good for us because we had him at nickel but he can always go outside. There’s just a lot of jobs that he can do. At some point, we’ll probably get to be able to say, ‘Here’s your two spots,’ or ‘Here’s your three spots that you’re going to be working at the majority of the season,’ and then if we need him in an emergency role, he knows what to do, he’s heard those calls and he’s played those spots before.”
(You mentioned CB Bobby McCain. He played some outside corner today. Is that something that you anticipate more from him going forward?) – “Really, it’s about getting our best 11 on the field. If that’s what it is, that’s what it is. We’re just going to keep competing. I think that’s something that Bobby, he’s the one guy that’s able to do that. He can give those receivers fits because he’s aggressive at the line of scrimmage. He can run with them and he can get his hands on the ball. He’s very aware of concepts, which gives him an advantage over a lot of corners.”
(What would you assess was the issue with the first-team defense in terms of how easily Tampa Bay was able to drive down field?) – “I mean we just weren’t good in fundamental things – getting in our stances, getting aligned, making sure we’re in the right gaps. We have to do a better job with that. That was such a point of emphasis from the start of camp. We didn’t get it done. That’s where it was nice today to see when you get ‘20’ (Reshad Jones) and ‘91’ (Cameron Wake) out there, all of a sudden things look a little different because those guys grab a hold of what’s supposed to happen and if somebody is not right, they make sure it’s right. You don’t have to say much when those two guys are around. We need other guys to keep stepping up and being able to do that if they’re not in there. We went 10 games without Reshad two years ago. Last year we were fortunate to where he was able to play every game. We have to understand when one of those guys aren’t in there, somebody else has to step up.”
(What did you see out of LB Raekwon McMillan on Thursday?) – “Like it was the first 14 plays of his NFL career. We’ve got to keep working. We expected it. He was pretty juiced up before the game. That’s kind of done and now we’re moving onto the next one and this week, just keep getting better and when we hit that game, just play fast and make plays.”
(With WR DeVante Parker, it’s kind of hard to assess what’s going on there because CB Xavien Howard knocks down just about every pass thrown at him. Is that Xavien’s really good or is DeVante not running crisp enough routes?) – “I think Xavien is really good. He’s a hard guy to throw against. It doesn’t matter who has been on him, all of the receivers. He’s playing situational football really well right now. That last knock down, he was daring him to run by him. That’s not what I called. DeVante did what he was supposed to do. It was unfortunate that he kind of jammed his finger up there in the middle of that one period, because I finally felt like we were getting in a little bit of a rhythm there to where we had a lot of man coverage in that period, and then he had to duck out. We still had a few plays left, then he came back in and we couldn’t get him the ball like we kind of started to.”
(What did you think of how CB Xavien Howard played against Tampa Bay?) – “What did he play, six plays? He didn’t play that many plays. I thought if he uses the other hand on that ball thrown to the sideline, he probably gets his finger on it. I was standing right there. That thing was as tight as you get. I’m always going to encourage him to be aggressive, because he does have the ability if a guy does win on the line of scrimmage, he can catch up. I just want him to play as aggressive as he does in practice.”
(At what point do you get concerned about chemistry with QB Ryan Tannehill and WR DeVante Parker?) – “I’m not concerned about that. Those guys have been doing this for a minute together. They didn’t have any problems in the spring. It’s just, sometimes, the ball goes other places dictated by coverage. DeVante’s the kind of guy you want man-to-man. You want him to be able to use his size and his body and box a guy out and go get the ball. You need to see press coverage to get that. We’ve had some opportunities. We haven’t made … some of those 50-50 balls haven’t been completed, but we’ll just keep working on it. I’ve seen a turn with those two guys before.”
(Is there a significance in meaning to the rookies getting the decals on their helmet for the first time?) – “They had to have them for the games. That was it.”
(You didn’t take them off?) – “That’s a lot of work for (Equipment Manager) Joe (Cimino) and those guys. (laughter) I’m not trying to make the equipment guys mad.”
(TE Mike Gesicki was telling us that nobody outside of this building thinks that he can block. Do you have to tell him to ignore social media and all of that kind of stuff?) – “He’s never said that to me. He knows how I feel about anybody else’s opinions. I’m always killing him on it anyways, just a reminder of what everybody thought. The thing that I really appreciate about Mike is he wants to do it. He wants to get better at blocking and he doesn’t want to be a receiver. I see him go out there and he tries to do it and he’ll get crushed a couple times; but you don’t see him shy away from it the next time. I’ve seen tight ends in the past that when that happens, they don’t want any part of it because they don’t want to be embarrassed. He just lines right back up and does it again. So, we’ll keep getting better in that area. I like that he’s embracing it, and he wants to be able to be left on the field. He doesn’t want to get taken out and everybody says what (you guys) think, (which is) when he goes onto the field it’s pass. (laughter)”
(How has CB Cordrea Tankersley done from last season to now?) – “I think we’ve had ups and downs. That’s the hardest thing about playing corner at this level, it’s the consistency. It’s being able to come back from getting beat, because you’re going to get beat at this level. I think he’s had good days where it looks like ‘here we go,’ and then we’ve had days where he’s probably wanted them back. We just have to keep finding that consistency. That’s why we have training camp, that’s why we have preseason, that’s why we have all this time to get ready for the regular season – to get your mind right, get better at your craft, and that’s what he’s trying to do.”
(Guys like S Minkah Fitzpatrick, TE Mike Gesicki, LB Jerome Baker – how soon do you know you can throw a bunch of stuff at them and know that it’s going to be okay? It seems like they’ve got it.) – “Those guys, they’re just running through walls right now. It’s just the way they operate day-to-day. If you walk into this building and everybody’s gone, they’re around. They can see there is an opportunity for them to play and at the end of the day, that’s what everybody wants to do. Sometimes when you get rookies that are hungry, they want to get out there. They’ll go earn jobs.”
(Do you have any word about WR Kenny Stills’ ankle?) – “He keeps trying to get out there, and we’re trying to make sure that he’s going to be okay. He tried to run with the team yesterday. We had to hold him back from that. He tried to go out there today. I want to make sure that he’s healthy before we put (him on the field). I don’t want this to be a thing that’s going into the season, or we’re four weeks in and he’s still hurt. I don’t want to do that because we keep having setbacks, so we’ll be smart with this.”
(Is this a good opportunity for some of those other receivers like WR Albert Wilson and WR Jakeem Grant to get that work with QB Ryan Tannehill?) – “One-hundred percent. That’s why we talked in the spring about Jakeem and Albert kind of working with Ryan. It’s going to work out. It usually does. We can do different personnel groupings to get those guys in there with him. I think Ryan’s done a good job trying to grab those guys after practice and keep working on certain routes and the timing of things. This usually happens – especially with wide outs in training camp – you usually have one or two that miss time and then the next guy has to step up. Sometimes it’s good because now, you get thrown in the fire. You have to know what to do, so that’s why everybody has to stay up on it.”
