Adam Gase – August 22, 2016
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Monday, August 22, 2016
Head Coach Adam Gase
(On why WR Jakeem Grant played one offensive snap last Friday night) – “We’re just trying to find ways to get him on the field. It’s hard when you have those three guys (Jarvis Landry, Kenny Stills and DeVante Parker), it’s hard to pull them off the field. I know, just in the past, any time I’ve had a returner that was kind of a specialist – which he’s different than most of the guys I’ve been around in the past – you want to try to find ways to get him on the field, but you don’t want to overdo it, especially with the three we got right now.”
(On why he thinks C/G Anthony Steen is a good fit at center as opposed to guard) – “Everything started in the spring with all of these guys, as far as we’re always trying to cross train guys. In the quarterback-center exchange, you’ll notice a lot of different guys taking snaps. When somebody in that position goes down, you better be ready with the next man, then what happens when that guy goes down? You better have some plans beyond just two guys. I’ve seen some situations where, I’ve personally lost two and then three (centers) in a season. If you don’t have guys ready to go, it’s a problem.”
(On if CB Xavien Howard was able to do more during practice today) – “Yes, he did a little team and he did a little one-on-one – not a lot. We are just bringing him along. We’re just communicating with him and see how he feels. He’s saying that he feels good, but it’s such a different animal when you go through an actual practice and contact and running against wide receivers compared to just running by yourself getting in condition.”
(On what C/G Anthony Steen’s biggest learning curve will be at center) – “He’s got a lot of guys with him because there’s a lot of inexperienced guys; but that’s the NFL. If you’re on the roster, you better be ready to go.”
(On what he wanted to see out of RB Arian Foster at Dallas and how would he evaluate his performance) – “We didn’t have much to evaluate. The couple of carries that he had, there wasn’t much there. He tried to create a couple things on his own. Hopefully we can get him going a little bit this week. Obviously I don’t want to overdo it with him but I’m pretty sure, his resume speaks for itself.”
(On if he feels there is any correlation between the preseason and the regular season) – “I don’t think so. You got to get certain guys ready and you have to evaluate certain guys; that’s what you’re trying to do. The hardest thing is, when you’re playing a full game, a lot of things change in the second half. It’s funny … I’ve gone back, even last week before we played that game, to see how my experience has been in the preseason. Some of them haven’t been real pretty, so you go back and think about how you felt after those games and you just can’t overdo it. You need to evaluate and you’re trying to prepare guys for when they have to play four quarters. It’s a big jump from when you go from, ‘We almost got two quarters in.’ This week we’re hoping we go into the third quarter a little bit and then all of a sudden, some guys might not play in the fourth game. And now all of a sudden you’re getting thrown into playing four quarters against a really good team. It’s just about trying to get guys prepared as much as possible to play a 65- to 75-play game.”
(On how much RB Isaiah Pead has stood out since signing him in the spring) – “Well, he’s been pretty consistent. I don’t think he’s changed much as far as what he’s done from the first day he’s gotten here compared to what we saw the other night. It seems like every time he touches the ball, something good happens for us. We’ll just keep trying to get him in there. We’re trying to evaluate that position. It seems like all of those guys are playing really well and that’s a good thing. The fact that we are complaining about running back depth, I’ll take that all day.”
(On what he remembers from RB Isaiah Pead’s workout when the team brought him in for the first time) – “I think we had a pretty good feel as far as what we wanted to do going into that workout. We knew his background. We had some good research as far as what our guys felt about him coming out. He did enough. It wasn’t as bad as what he’s making it out to be. It probably feels terrible at the time because everything is so fast. It’s like you and two other guys, so you get tired real quick. I’m sure the anxiety level of you want to get signed plays a part a little bit; but he did well enough for us to say, ‘Okay, let’s give this guy a shot,’ and then he’s made the most of it.”
(On DT Julius Warmsley and what he has done well) – “Just the high energy he brings. You always see him finishing; you always see him penetrating. It seems like he’s always causing some kind of problems. In the time that he’s played and in preseason games, he’s always around the quarterback; he’s always around the ball carriers. That’s what you want to see. You want to see a guy that’s just relentless. You can tell there is something in him that’s saying, ‘I’m going to do everything I can to make this team.’ That’s what we want to see, especially from that group. We just want to see that relentless effort.”
(On what kind of scenario he would need to keep five defensive tackles on the 53-man roster) – “I don’t know. That’s going to play out. We still have this game and one more. You just never know what’s going to happen. You never know how anything is going to sort out. Everything is up in the air right now.”
(On if some guys can play both defensive tackle and defensive end) – “Yes, absolutely. We do a lot of cross training in that area, as well.”
(On DE Chris McCain) – “I think yesterday he got … I think in the game he got hit pretty good. And then yesterday he got knocked pretty good again, so we were just being a little cautious there, especially the fact that we went pads today, (we’re) just letting everything calm down with him.”
(On what the secondary means when they say they’re playing with eyes) – “Offensively, people try to … When you have a team that might play vision defense and they’re looking at a lot of things, you try to put things in front of them to try to get them to bite up so you can go over the top a lot of times. One of the things that I think ‘VJ’ (Defensive Coordinator Vance Joseph) does a good job of is his guys seem to be always disciplined. At least that’s my experience from playing against him in the past. What I’ve seen here is it’s not like you see us being able to go over the top of the safeties all the time. To have eye discipline, knowing where your eyes are supposed to be as far as not biting up hard on play-action fakes and making sure that if you’re in some kind of zone that you’re in the right window. They’ve done a good job of that in practice, I know that for sure.”
(On the tight end group being invisible in practices and preseason games and where he’s at in the evaluation phase with them) – “We’re still kind of working through that. The two guys that have been playing the most with the ones, there are two different skill sets there. Trying to get those three receivers going as well, and the backs, sometimes it feels like that. That’s why you can’t really … it’s not completely ‘judge-able’ yet. When you play four quarters and then you start figuring out what the defense is doing … Every defense, it could be a little different – if you get a man team and you have a great matchup with a tight end on a safety or a linebacker, all of a sudden they become a bigger part of the game. If a team is playing true zone, that’s when you start seeing balls go up the seam. Sometimes the defense predicates how much those guys can get involved. Sometimes we need to do a better job as far as getting open, catching the ball and things like that. They’re two different roles. Dion (Sims) has been primarily so far used as more of a blocker in the run game than the pass game. But the other night, he showed me he has a little more speed than I realized. Going up the seam one time, he just blew past one of his safeties. Jordan (Cameron), we just have to keep bringing along and figure out the right way to use him.”
(On if QB Ryan Tannehill threw some passes in the end zone last week that weren’t caught and should have been caught) – “Yes, any time it hits a receiver’s hands, it should be (caught). A couple of those were scrambles and I thought (Ryan) did a good job of avoiding getting sacked and then making a play. It happens sometimes. You want guys to catch every ball but when DBs are tight to you and you’ve got a guy draped all over you and you try to pull one down, it’s not going to be 100 percent.”
(On QB Ryan Tannehill’s ball placement and accuracy in last week’s game at Dallas) – “He was pretty good. There’s a few things that we could pick at a little bit, at least that’s what (we all) do. You’re looking for perfection in a game that’s really imperfect. You keep striving for it and try to get it as good as you can.”
(On how G/T Jermon Bushrod did at Dallas) – “He did pretty good. As a group, I thought those guys did well. I know we made a change there on that last drive and those guys did well. We had good protection for the most part. We had the one hit that Ryan (Tannehill) took – the defensive end jumped offside and (Ryan) stood in there and threw that thing. It was a pretty vicious hit and he popped right up. I think I learned something there about that guy.”
(On if anyone has jumped out to him between G/T Jermon Bushrod, G Billy Turner and G Dallas Thomas) – “I think we’re still competing right now. It looks like it’s going to be Seattle when we’re going to be able to say this is where we’re at, at this game, and then if it changes within the season, it does.”
(On his stance on how structured the quarterback needs to be in the pocket versus improvising) – “It’s tough the way that defenses are playing nowadays to have the passing game be such a timing game like it used to be. Learning under a guy like (former Detroit Lions Offensive Coordinator) Mike Martz where it was seven, hitch, throw, you were seeing a lot of teams playing zone defense. You’re getting a lot more man now. There’s a lot of times where your receiver needs to get open and you’re trying to anticipate as much as you can. You’re putting the ball in front. It’s just the game, like always, it’s always evolving one way or the other. Right now I think we’re seeing a lot more press, man, four-man rushes and the ends are getting there because it’s a tough matchup for the tackles.”
(On the team’s travel plans to Orlando) – “No, we’ll stay with our normal routine. We’ll go the night before.”
(On if the team is flying or driving to Orlando) – “I’m going to blame (Senior Director of Team Operations) Scott Bullis on this, we’re flying. We’ll be in the air for about seven minutes. (laughter) I’m not taking the hit on that one.”
(On how QB Matt Moore is doing and the quarterback plan for Thursday night’s game) – “I’m not going to say he’s doing okay; obviously that was a pretty vicious hit. I saw him this morning. He’s still sore – neck. It’s going to be a minute. As far as our plan going forward, we’ll talk to our quarterbacks and figure out who is going to go second and third; but I anticipate both of those guys playing a healthy amount.”
(On if he anticipates QB Matt Moore’s injury forcing him to keep three quarterbacks on the 53-man roster) – “As an offensive guy, I’ll keep five if I want to, if I could. We’ll evaluate this when we get closer and see where his health is as well.”
