Adam Gase – August 29, 2016
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Monday, August 29, 2016
Head Coach Adam Gase
(On how much of the offense is installed to sit the starters on Thursday night) – “I’m looking at this game to where I don’t think we’re going to have all the starters sit. I mean were going to still play some guys. There are some guys we want to make sure we get some good work in. But we do have really the majority of this stuff put in and I feel like our guys understand what our philosophy is as far as being able to be flexible from week to week. We’re still kind of tinkering with a few things – seeing what some of the best things to do, whether it is protection, routes, run game. So there always is going to be a little bit of – throughout the year – where it will look a little different, whether it be week to week or if we figure something out to where we’re really starting to excelling in one area, then start leaning on that.”
(On updates about the few players that started practice but didn’t finish) – “I was still with you guys when you guys were in there. I’ll have more of an idea of what’s going on tomorrow. Obviously we’re going to pull them out as soon as we feel like anything’s going on and, precautionary, send them in with (Head Athletic Trainer) Ryan (Grove) and have him check them out and just make sure, ‘Hey are we good? Do we have any kind of issue?’ I’ll have a better idea this afternoon.”
(On the routes he is running appearing different from past years and what the difference is) – “I do think we try to mix it up a little bit. We do have some guys that have very good ability to do multiple things. I think you have, even though how young they are, Kenny (Stills) coming from a program like New Orleans and then being in the system he was in last year, he has quite a bit of experience running different routes. And Jarvis (Landry) coming from the program he did out of college and then being in the system that he was here for a couple of years, that gives him a lot of flexibility as far as inside/outside and then DeVante (Parker), he just seems to have that natural ability to run a variety of routes. Even for a big guy that can move like him you would think it would be limited, but he does have ability to really change it up and for me it’s just keep getting him out there and seeing how far we can help him grow as far as a route runner.”
(On the tight ends running a lot of routes the receivers run) – “It was something that we’ve kind of always done, at least the guys that I’ve worked with in the past, to where you want to coach the receivers and tight ends and the running backs. You want to teach them as many of the same routes as possible so when a wide receiver may run a route, we can still coach the half backs and the tight ends. They can see a wide receiver run it, we can coach off of that and then when they have their opportunity, at least they’ve seen it and know how it’s supposed to be done. You just try to keep making everything to where it’s interchangeable so you don’t get stuck on one thing. The more that those two positions can do outside of the wide receivers, the better it is for us (and) the tougher it makes it for people to basically defend us.”
(On wanting the No. 3 tight end to emerge from the group and where does TE Thomas Duarte stand) – “I think we’re still competing. As far as him (Duarte) not getting that many snaps in the game, it’s just kind of how the game went. We did a lot of 11 personnel, three wide receivers, one tight end and so Dion (Sims) actually got carried in to the second half and we wanted to make sure he got his work and then we had a process as far as how we wanted to do it. We had less snaps in the second half and that was just kind of how it fell. We want to get these guys as many reps as possible just so we can put it on tape. We can make corrections. We can get evaluations and sometimes in that third preseason game it doesn’t always work out that way because your starters are going longer and one slight little thing of we’re not using the two tight end package – because we wanted to work on some other things – it just carried over. He was a little bit of the odd man out on that particular day. Obviously I’ve seen him getting a good amount of reps this week so that would be good for him. That will be good for us as far as an evaluation standpoint.”
(On how much work did QB Matt Moore do today and will he be held out for Thursday night’s game) – “He did individual today and then obviously we need to evaluate to see where he’s at. If he progressed then we can do a little more tomorrow. We’ll hold him out on Thursday. I don’t see any need for him to go out there. We just need to make sure he’s 100 percent when we’re heading into that first game.”
(On if he would consider playing QB Ryan Tannehill on Thursday) – “Right now, I haven’t talked to him as far as what we’re doing. There’s only been a couple of guys that I’ve told, ‘You’re either not going,’ or ‘You’re going.’ We’re just going to probably go through it, at least tomorrow before we hit the practice field, to say ‘Okay, here is the final list of guys that are either playing or not playing.’ Obviously he’s going to have to stay available just in case something crazy happened. As of right now, it doesn’t look like he’s going to be going; but you just never know. Crazy things happen in this last preseason game, but he needs to be available.”
(On if the coaches are comfortable with WR Jakeem Grant returning kicks in the regular season and what strides has he made in that area) – “I think we are comfortable in the role we have him in right now. Obviously when we go up to Seattle, we’ll finalize that. But he’s done everything we’ve asked him to do; he’s done it well. We just got to get him more comfortable to understand that we are not looking for just a specialist. We want a guy that can do both – returns and contribute on offense – and just be ready to go in there, if needed. I think he’s making strides. I know it’s tough when you come to a completely different system than what he’s used to. That’s part of the growing pains of a rookie; but I think he is going in the direction of hit that wall and then he is starting to make some steps now.”
(On where he thinks WR Leonte Carroo and WR Jakeem Grant are in terms of understanding the offense) – “It’s one of those things where when we get in the classroom, they’re good. But then when you start having to make some adjustments, sometimes you just draw a blank – whether it is a signal or a code word – and that’s when it becomes tough because it’s happening fast. When you’re in the classroom and there’s no pressure of a guy lining up across from you, ‘Hey, is he press? Is it cloud? What’s going on as far as my adjustment?’ (In the) run game, there’s a lot of adjustments that you have to make but classroom-wise they’re good. And then we’re obviously always learning something out here every day. There are probably one or two things that come up where they haven’t run a certain concept or a certain route against a DB. That’ll happen every once in a while, but that’s why you practice. You try to get them to do as many things that they haven’t done before. We’re making strides though, because Carroo is about as sharp as they come and he works hard at it to make sure that he’s ready to go, if needed.”
(On how he would describe the performance of the right guard position in the preseason games) – “I think it’s been a little inconsistent. It’s like, we’ll have some really good snaps, but then we’ll have that one snap that’s just not good enough. Nobody has really separated themselves right now and we’re taking that evaluation into this last game. Once we get to the first regular season game, that’ll be for that game. You never know what’s going to happen. One guy could emerge himself after this game to where we can say, ‘This is the guy the whole game.’ Will we have guys rotating in and out? It could happen; it wouldn’t be the first time.”
(On if he feels the offensive line is athletic enough to run gap and zone drop) – “The thing about mixing schemes up is you try to hang your hat on something. At least my experience has been, when you try to do a whole bunch of different things, that’s really when you don’t anything well. Right now, we feel good with what we have going on as far as the run game. We have a few changeups, but for the most part, whatever we ask our players to do I think we have the talent or the ability to be able to do it. It’s just what do we want to focus on? Obviously you guys have watched enough practice to at least see what we are up to and what we’re doing. We’ve put a lot of things on tape, it’s not going to be a secret at what we’d like to do, but we have the ability to do multiple things. Right now we’re just trying to get good at what we’ve been practicing.”
(On CB Tony Lippett getting more reps on the right side) – “We’re moving him around a little bit. He’s been on one side really for the entire time. We just got to make sure that the closer we get to these games of when we make the final decision of who is going to be opposite of (Byron) Maxwell. Whoever’s not out there as a starter has to be able to replace either guy as far as if we have any kind of injury or if a guy needs to come out for a few plays. He has to get some experience on both sides and obviously in the past, at least in OTAs and stuff, ‘X’ (Xavien Howard), we were doing some things like trying to move him around a little bit, as well. Bobby (McCain) can obviously do both. We just need to make sure we do a good job of cross-training guys, so we don’t just have a replacement for one side. We’ve got to be flexible.”
(On how encouraging it is that QB Ryan Tannehill has only been sacked once this preseason and what the biggest key is to that) – “I think he’s done a good job of getting the ball out on time. I think the line has done a good job of trying to avoid letting any kind of leakage. I think any time you have a guy that’s mobile, that helps a little bit as far as actual sacks. The biggest concern I usually have is not necessarily sacks because more times than not he sees those coming, it’s really the hits. When we look at it, pass disruption for us is sacks, hits and pressures. So we kind of really look at that as a whole. In this league, it’s like one out of every three attempts – which doesn’t seem like that many – that occurs. If you’re one out of three attempts, you’re probably in the top five. That’s kind of a scary number if you really think about it but in this league, everybody is throwing the ball. You have to find ways to help the offensive line – whether it be nakeds, run game, screens, quick game – just making sure it’s not a seven-step drop mentality the entire game because that’s when you really put them in a bind.”
(On QB Zac Dysert and if he saw the previous familiarity Dysert had with the offense transfer over to what he’s doing here) – “He was with me last year for a week in Chicago, as well. My experience with him is he’s had ups and downs and obviously when you bounce around a little bit, that’s tough on a guy mentally because you’re trying to figure out, ‘Am I going to get a chance to stick somewhere? Am I going to get a chance to develop?’ That’s the tough thing about that position. When you’re moving to different teams, you’re learning different systems (and) you’re being coached a little different. That’s the toughest part as far as when you’re kind of in that two-three range as quarterbacks. The way the league has been going where most teams are keeping two and keeping one on the practice squad, it’s tough to hang somewhere. Most coaches want to keep a veteran backup or somebody they really trust if something happens. He’s in that stage where he’s just trying to get over the hump and, ‘Hey, when do I get my next step as far as being a two?’ when he’s been a three for as many years as he has. I feel like the other day was a huge step for him. He did a really good job as far as running our offense, getting the ball out on time, getting completions, getting first downs. The whole week he had a different mentality and then he played like he practiced.”
(On if he expects this game to be mostly QB Zac Dysert’s game) – “No, I’m going to split it up between those two guys (Dysert and Brandon Doughty). I want to try to give them both a fair shot to compete both in attempts and play numbers. Obviously it never really works out that way but we’ll just keep an eye on it. If for some reason, Zac has a heavy play amount in the first half then maybe Doughty goes in early. We’ll see how it goes. It’s just one of those things you just can’t predict how the game is going to go. What if they have a couple of really good drives that are long and all of a sudden you lose your play count? You got to kind of guess a little bit and hope you can get an equal amount of reps.”
(On if there is concern about playing veterans in the fourth preseason game because the other team may play guys who are on the roster bubble and will be relentless in their hitting) – “It’s football. Once you step on that field, there’s no half speed. When you’re playing in an NFL game, it doesn’t matter if it’s the first or fourth preseason game, you better strap it up and be ready to go. There’s not going to be any kind of, ‘Hey, you take it easy, I’ll take it easy.’ These guys are all fighting for jobs; they’re fighting for starting spots. Some of them are just fighting to make the roster. Some of them are trying to put out great tape so somebody else sees them and gives them an opportunity. Every snap you take and you’re on film in an NFL game in the preseason, you want to do well because you don’t want to put bad tape out there.”
