Adam Gase – August 2, 2016
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Tuesday, August 2, 2016
Head Coach Adam Gase
(On CB Chimdi Chekwa taking first team snaps) – “We’re moving everybody around. We’re just going to keep trying to rotate guys in there and let guys compete.”
(On WR DeVante Parker missing practice) – “He felt something yesterday. I wasn’t very smart and should have pulled him out of two-minute (drills). He felt something, so we brought him back in there. He was a little bit dehydrated. We felt like if we gave him today off – with tomorrow (off) piled on top – we think we should get him back soon.”
(On how the offense looks) – “We’re learning. We’re learning when you throw the pads on and all of a sudden you got to be physical plus the mental side of being a team that plays on the ball for the most part, it’s challenging, especially with the defensive line we’re going against every day. We can’t say they’re not being challenged by probably one of the better ones in the league.”
(On the offense doing pushups at the end of practice following an interception) – “It was just something (Oakland Raiders Head Coach) Jack Del Rio started in Denver. It’s good competition. Guys take pride in it. It’s fun for whatever team wins to kind of rub it in the other team’s face.”
(On CB Chimdi Chekwa’s skillset) – “I think he’s a guy that … He does a good job in press (coverage). He does a good job of mirroring. He’s had good ball disruption as far as what we’ve seen. We’re just going to keep giving him a shot.”
(On gathering the team during practice) – “We came out (and) we were supposed to be in full pads today. Once we came in here, we just went to the uppers; we went to the shoulder pads. We had a couple of guys get hit and go to the ground. The biggest thing about practicing with not full pads – being in shoulder pads – the last thing we want is anybody going to the ground, somebody to get rolled up on. It was just a reminder to make sure we’re staying on our feet. That’s the good thing about having a younger team is when you’re athletic, you should be able to do that.”
(On practicing at night) – “There was great energy, I know that. I thought our meetings today were good. Our walkthrough was good. I felt like the guys liked the fact that they could sleep in a little bit. We came in a little later. I felt like the whole day went pretty smooth.”
(On the hit on DE Farrington Huguenin) – “It’s one of those things (where) you don’t want somebody to do something that’s going to injure their teammate. We’re going to clean up some of the things that we did today. I think he was a little upset about what happened on the play before. He felt like the play went a little long. It’s not something we’re looking for in practice.”
(On how RB Damien Williams looked in practice) – “I think he did a good job. He was fired up to get out here. I know he was tired of conditioning with (Head Strength and Conditioning Coach Dave) Puloka and those guys. He did a good job. He was right on a lot of things. He played with great speed. We’re going to build off of that.”
(On RB Arian Foster’s leadership) – “He’s been vocal from what I’ve seen so far. (He is) not only a guy that’s come in … He didn’t know our offense. It’s completely different than anything he has done. To be able to pick it up as fast as he had, I guess I didn’t know that side of him of how smart he was. The football intelligence, obviously, it shows. You can tell this guy, he has been around. He has played a lot of ball. Having him around is good for our other running backs; it’s good for our players on offense.”
(On what he is looking for in the one-on-one drills with the receivers and cornerbacks) – “That one’s an offensive drill. It’d be like o-line, d-line is a defensive drill. A lot of times, with one-on-one, the receiver has the advantage. We should be completing a high percentage of balls. You’re on an island if you’re a DB. For the wide receivers, most of their game is one-on-one, and we got to win a lot, and that’s a great training tool for us.”
(On DE Farrington Huguenin being carted off the field) – “He’ll be alright. He got hurt before whatever happened down here. I just looked over and there was a bunch of bodies all over each other. He’ll be alright. I’ll get an update tonight, and we’ll find out what’s going on tomorrow as well. It sounds like he’s going to be alright.”
(On how much he has been able to evaluate RB Damien Williams) – “I watched a lot of tape on him, because when we first got here and we were trying to figure out what we were going to do – Lamar (Miller) was up in free agency, Jay (Ajayi) I watched tape on him – but when I started watching Damien, seeing his skillset and what he could do with variety and the routes and the way he runs that ball, I was really excited to get him going. I felt like we were on a good pace there early in OTAs and then the hamstring and then he came in here. We were a couple days behind, but I’m excited to see what he can do, because I love his energy. I love his physicality. I love his route-running ability. I’ll be interested to see when we hit the preseason, how it goes for him.”
(On QB Ryan Tannehill at the line of scrimmage) – “He has done a good job. I’ve thrown a couple things at him that’ve been tough, and he has really gotten us out of a few bad plays in some of these blitz situations. We’ve put the offense in a few rough spots as far as third-and-long periods. It’s tough, especially with that pass rush that we have. And (Defensive Coordinator) Vance (Joseph) is mixing in a lot of pressures that veteran quarterbacks sometimes will even struggle with some of the stuff that he has been showing. It has been a good start for us. We just got to keep building on it.”
(On whether anyone stands out to him at cornerback) – “It’s so early. How many practices are we in? Five right now? We’ll see. I’m interested to see when we get to the preseason games and we get really into that second and third preseason game seeing how that is.”
(On G Billy Turner and G/T Jermon Bushrod competing at right guard) – “Billy (Turner) has done a good job. (Jermon) Bushrod has never played guard before, so it’s a new position for him. He has never played on the right side before, so this is a whole new world for him. I know I’ve said this before: I never realized moving from left guard to right guard was such a big deal until (Offensive Quality Control) Chris Kuper told me when we were in Denver. He goes, ‘It’s a big difference.’ It’s a completely different view. ‘Bush’ (Jermon Bushrod) is trying to catch up as fast as he can and use his athletic ability to catch up with the other guys. Billy has done a great job. I love what I’ve seen out of him. I love the way he works. I love his intelligence. He has done a great job as far as picking up what we’re doing and trying to play as physical as he can.”
(On the benchmarks for success during training camp) – “It’s so early. It’s hard to tell. I think we’ll know more once we get in the preseason games and we can see the ones play more, once we get in the second and third preseason game. It’s just too early for us to tell right now.”
(On WR Kenny Stills dropping a couple passes in practice) – “I think he had a couple throws that were some tough catches. I know he was not happy with himself, because he expects himself to make those catches. When you’re being as targeted as much as him and Jarvis (Landry) have, it’s going to happen sometimes. We’re trying to minimize them as much as possible. I know we’re way down from what we were in OTAs, so we’ve made improvement there. The thing is with Kenny, I keep telling him, ‘If one goes off your hands, you got to be ready for the next one. We can’t dwell on this stuff and feel sorry for ourselves.’ What I’ve seen out of him is if something like that happens, he’s bouncing back.”
(On WR Kenny Stills) – “Since I’ve been here – in OTAs – he has been pretty much … Him and the quarterback have been the first ones in (the building and) last ones to leave. It doesn’t sound like he left much in the summer. He’s trying to do everything he can to put himself in position to have success.”
