Adam Gase – August 17, 2017 (Postgame)
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Thursday, August 17, 2017
Postgame – Baltimore
Miami Dolphins Head Coach Adam Gase (transcribed by Michelle Stone)
(What was your assessment of QB Jay Cutler?) – “I thought he was good his first time out. He looks like we really weren’t apart for a year. I thought his tempo was really good. I think we have to get used to that a little bit, the rest of the guys, because he’s ready to go a little sooner than everybody else. That’s going to take a minute. It’s going to take game experience. It was probably good for him to get hit and to have to move in pocket. He did a good job there and he made some good throws.”
(Was the attitude going in with QB Jay Cutler, ‘Just a couple of series and that’s it?’) – “I wasn’t really sure. I just told the starters to be ready to go half. I went off of that and once you got enough pocket movement and we kept getting in those third-and-longs, we had that screen where he got hit pretty good and I was like, ‘Well, he’s experienced everything so…’ I didn’t want to overdo it and plus I wanted to get Matt (Moore) in there with that first group.”
(It looked like they were getting a pretty good rush in there.) – “Yes, that’s how it’s going to be. It’s the NFL. These guys are coming pretty good. When you have your ones in there and you’re in the second preseason (game), everybody knows there’s only so many snaps that you’re going to get, and every guy is going to try and make the most of them.”
(What was the decision process to play RB Jay Ajayi and how do you think he did out there?) – “I thought he did (well). It’s preseason. You’ve got to play. It’s part of the process.”
(RB Jay Ajayi took a shot, took a pop there towards the sidelines – did he shake it off? Is everything alright?) – “Yes.”
(QB Ryan Tannehill – did he have knee surgery today?) – “No.”
(Was the idea going in … it looked like QB David Fales and QB Brandon Doughty got most of the work today.) – “I was just trying to switch up who went first. I really thought – my plan initially was once David had enough plays, I was going to try and get Brandon like a whole half. It didn’t work out as well as I wanted it to. Next week we’ll flip them again and we’re just trying to get those guys as many reps as possible and get as much tape to keep evaluating. We just couldn’t really get anything going with either guy. We kind of had some busts and missed a couple of opportunities. We just couldn’t really sustain anything. Nothing was clicking, really.”
(Your cornerbacks, they seemed pretty active – CB Byron Maxwell caused two fumbles, CB Xavien Howard had an interception, CB Cordea Tankersley had an interception…) – “It was good. It was good to see. I thought it was an unbelievable catch by ‘X’ (Xavien Howard). It was good to see that. And then ‘Max’ (Byron Maxwell) – I guess that was my experience going against Max so many times, he comes out of nowhere and knocks the ball loose. That’s kind of his ‘M.O.’ It’s good to see our guys active. It was good to see that first team defense. They only gave up seven yards rushing, I think, in the first quarter.”
(LB Mike Hull, I think he had five tackles, or six tackles, one tackle for a loss – was he active enough and good enough for you?) – “Yes, he’s always going to be active. That’s what he does. It was a different scenario for this year. Last year he was filling in for Kiko (Alonso) and we were playing with other guys who were our second-string type guys. This year he’s got ‘L.T.’ (LB Lawrence Timmons) and Kiko next to him. That makes it a little different.”
(The special teams overall had some miscues there.) – “That’s the fun part of the preseason. You’re looking for guys. When you get to the second, third group, you’re looking for guys on the bench because they’re playing defense and then you’re running them back out there on special teams. You’ve got 90 guys on the sideline. You’re trying to find guys. It’s not easy. We had 10 guys on the field on the one where we snapped it (early). That was a disaster. We had a fumble. It’s just unlike our special teams.”
(T Sam Young had a couple of holding calls. I think one was negated. Do you worry about him?) – “No. I don’t worry about Sam.”
(What about the decision to start T Jesse Davis at left guard?) – “Once C/G Kraig Urbik wasn’t going to play, we just wanted to make sure that we didn’t have two centers on that starting line. We wanted to make sure that we were good throughout the game.”
(With QB Jay Cutler, how do you strike that balance between doing things that he’s comfortable with, as he said, ‘putting good things on tape’ with guys he’s not used to yet, but also kind of pushing him out of that comfort zone since it’s a game situation.) – “It will come naturally for us. I’ve got a pretty good feel of how to call plays for him. He’s really honest with me as far as what he’s feeling and how he’s seeing things. I feel really good with where we’re at right now. This next week will be really good for us because going against another team and playing that third preseason game. We’ll just keep trying to improve and get in that game flow. I liked what I saw tonight. I’m ready to get this going next week.”
(That chemistry between QB Jay Cutler and WR DeVante Parker. It seems like they’re already on the same page.) – “I think Jay’s had a lot of experience playing with a lot of different guys. He’s able to adjust. He comes in nine days ago, figures out what these guys do, and gets them the ball.”
(On kickoff returns, is WR Jakeem Grant still in the mix?) – “Yes, we just don’t want him back there. We wanted to see what these other guys could do, too.”
(Did WR Jakeem Grant injure a foot?) – “He’s had a couple of things bothering him. We’ll hold him out every once in a while when it starts bothering him and see if we can kind of get him right again. (With) a couple of days off, he’ll probably be feeling better.”
