Adam Gase – August 9, 2016
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Tuesday, August 9, 2016
Head Coach Adam Gase
(On how QB Ryan Tannehill has handled taking on a bigger leadership role) – “He’s been good. I thought today was one of those days were I felt like he came out with a purpose and was very aggressive as far as he was chirping a little bit out there, especially amongst our guys. I think he was more focused on our group, just really preaching what we’ve been talking about like sticking with our process, positive plays (and) getting completions. I thought he did a good job of when we did get some pressure, he got rid of the ball (and) wasn’t trying to hang on anything. Today was a good day for him as far as, I felt I saw some growth there as far as his personality coming out and taking control of the offense.”
(On how significant was it for WR DeVante Parker to be back out at practice) – “It was good in the fact that I know he’s been driving (Wide Receivers Coach) Shawn Jefferson crazy as far as ‘Why won’t they let me back out?’ But that’s two (injuries) since spring so we were going to go through our process. We’re not going to have, you practice for two days and then we don’t see you for two weeks. So the trainers and the strength staff and the sports science guys did a great job as far as just making sure we were all on the same page. We all felt good about him coming out today, getting reps (and) going through individual. The toughest part for him is surviving individuals (and) what Shawn (Jefferson) does. You get through that then practice is a breeze.”
(On if he plans on WR DeVante Parker playing on Friday) – “I’m still thinking about that. I’m not sure what we’re going to do to be honest with you. We’ll keep looking at that. We really haven’t told our guys anything. I just told them just be ready to go (and we’ll) ee how it goes. It could be 30 plays (or it) could be six. I just really don’t know.”
(On how WR DeVante Parker looked today) – “I look more at just kind of where his mind is. I’m not worried about him as a football player. It’s just about learning the offense, learning the adjustments and seeing him just knowing where to go constantly and running the right route. That’s the biggest thing for me with him.”
(On how much of an impact could WR DeVante Parker have in the red zone and how big of a role he will play in the offense) – “It’s hard to say right now. I haven’t seen him practice enough. We haven’t really gotten into specifics as far as who’s going to do what. We’re trying to give everybody an opportunity across the board to do as much as they can (and) show us as much as they can. Then once we get into the regular season, then we’ll start getting specific as far as, ‘Hey, Jarvis (Landry), this is going to be your specialty or Kenny (Stills), this is going to be your deal or DeVante (Parker), Jordan (Cameron), Dion (Sims) like all those guys.’ It’s going to take a little time for us to figure that out.”
(On WR DeVante Parker’s skill set and what he might do a little better) – “I mean he’s a big man that can move. So when you throw a ball down the field, he can either go get it or if you underthrow a ball, he can make it right. You have room for error as a quarterback and those kind of guys, there’s not a ton of them.”
(On if he was pleased with what the tight ends have done for two weeks or if he’s looking for a lot more) – “I think we can grow that spot as far as what we’re doing. I think right now we’re probably doing enough to make sure those guys are still involved in the offense but at the same time not overloading them with information. It is a different system for both of those guys, especially the two guys that play the most. We’ve kind of pulled back as far as how much we’re doing with those guys. We really loaded them up in the spring and then now we’ve kind of cut it back a little bit and then we’ll grow it as we go.”
(On DT Jordan Phillips getting more opportunities and what he sees from him as far as consistency and intensity) – “I wasn’t really looking at those guys today as far as what was going on. I know the other night, for a guy that size, just seeing him finish and running down the field and being disruptive and penetration, he did a great job in the scrimmage. And then yesterday, he did a good job again. I mean he’s showing … two days in a row I’d be interested to see what it looks like today on film. So that’s the biggest thing for some of these guys – especially the young guys – it’s understanding that you want to constantly just keep putting good tape out there, every day. It can’t be like great, great, I didn’t really show up today. That’s when you get nervous as a coach because that means on Sunday, who are you getting?”
(On what he wants to see from QB Ryan Tannehill in Friday’s preseason game) – “I guess I’m not really so much focused on him. I’m more focused on the entire group. I just love to see our guys go out there with confidence and our execution has got to be the number one priority for us. And the more guys we can get to do their job and not go off on their own and go outside the box, that’s going to be a good step for us because obviously the other night was our first real test and we failed it miserably. So this will be another one and we’ll be going against some good players, if they play, a lot of their guys and a scheme that you got to be ready (for). In the first preseason game you’re going to see what we’ve been seeing here for (Defensive Coordinator) Vance’s (Joseph) 12th install or whatever. They’re going to have to be ready to go. This is not going to be one of those deals where they just line up and play one coverage. They’re going to see some different stuff. Our guys have got to use their rules of the offense and they’re going to have to make some adjustments.”
(On his general philosophy about playing veterans starters in the preseason) – “Every guy is different. We’ll take a look at basically who’s healthy (and) what’s the best for us for this game? That’s where you can run into some problems where all of a sudden we get some back end guys that get hurt and banged up and you don’t have a choice. We’re going to have to take a look at who do we have going into this game and then make decisions off that.”
(On if we’ll see a lot of G/T Laremy Tunsil on Friday) – “I haven’t really thought about it but I’m assuming that we’re probably going to give him a pretty good amount of action.”
(On the reasons behind S Michael Thomas taking as many reps at nickel as he has) – “I think what we’re looking for on defense is we’re giving guys opportunity and we’re moving guys around. Once again, I know I talk about the o-line making sure you have multiple guys being able to play multiple positions. On defense, it’s the same thing. We don’t want the first time … Let’s say Bobby (McCain) is the guy in Week 1 and then something happened to him and all of a sudden Michael (Thomas) gets thrown in there. It’s not new for him. He’s working with those guys in training camp. I know it seems strange but you always want to work on those contingency plans and move guys in and out so you get used to different guys being in there. The communication factor like we talked about yesterday – the DBs have to communicate. (When) a different guy is in there, we have to get used to that.”
(On WR Jarvis Landry catching so many passes in practice and if he wants to see the ball spread around more) – “I told him, I said ‘One day, I tried to script every play to where he wasn’t in the progression and somehow the ball gets to him.” The guy is like a magnet. It really is. I’ve never seen anything like it. He does his job right and the coverage seems to take Ryan (Tannehill) there a lot of times. I’d be more concerned if I was like, ‘Why are you forcing this throw?’ But that’s not what’s happening. (Landry)’s in the right place at the right time and they play certain coverages and the ball ends up going to him where (Tannehill) loses a progression or he ends up getting taken there by the coverage. There is (some chemistry). The guy (Landry) just has some kind of thing going on where that ball just wants to go to him.”
(On a situation where a team decides we aren’t going to let WR Jarvis Landry beat us) – “Then the ball goes somewhere else. We still are working on certain things. You see Kenny (Stills) catching plenty of balls and today Griff (Whalen) had some good plays and then DeVante (Parker) will always have his opportunities. The more we can get the tight ends involved and the (running) backs involved, the ball will start getting spread out. Practice is … we have some periods where it is labeled and certain periods it seems like one guy is getting the ball because of whatever the defense is doing. I think it will get to the point when we get into games, it will equal out; but like I said, somehow that (football) just seems to find him.”
(On the trend of fullbacks disappearing) – “This has been a discussion, at least for me, because working for (Chicago Bears Head) Coach (John) Fox); he had a history with having a fullback. Where we kind of ran into the problem was that we liked staying on the ball, we didn’t like changing personnel and we always liked the fact of having a guy that could play the fullback role slash still be a guy that we could flex out plus play in-line. We’re really being a little pickier as far as we want a guy that can do it all, and then play special teams as well. We didn’t want to get stuck in a spot where we had some experience with a fullback when we were first at Denver and he was getting like eight plays a game. We just felt like let’s get the guy out there that is going to play 30 plays a game on just offense, plus special teams. We just kind of looked at it like that. We just wanted to make sure that it wasn’t a specialty position. We wanted a guy that can do the entire thing.
(On his thoughts about having tablets on the sideline during games) – “I’m going to pass on that one. I’m not a big fan of it. I like using the pictures. I just feel like when you’re looking at video, it’s not for me. I like the fact that it’s kind of a chess match. When you have the still shots, you don’t always know what is going on. It’s kind of that being able to go to the sideline and talk to your players, that’s part of the game as far as who is giving you the right information, who is working hard enough that week to prepare yourself to where if somebody does something on the field, you either see it or somebody in the box sees it. To me, that’s part of the challenge of being a coach. I love the fact that when you get players that are really smart and they understand it, and what they see on the field and they can bring that information back to you, that gives you an advantage. When you start using the video tablets, it takes that out of it.”
(On his thoughts about using QB Ryan Tannehill in the read-option game to move him out of the pocket) – “We’ll see how it goes with that. I haven’t had great success in the past because I haven’t had a ton of mobile guys. We have some things that we could use. We’re just going to take a little bit at a time. It’s hard to run against our defense. If we want to run it and just make it … it’ll look terrible. We’re trying to get some more positive plays, especially in this part of camp. We’ll probably focus more on that in walkthroughs and things like that. There will be a time and a place for it but once again, when you’re putting your quarterback out there, especially in the zone-read game, you just better make sure you’re right because you don’t want him taking unnecessary shots.”
(On if moving the pocket is part of his playbook) – “It can be. It’s in there but against our defense … Every time we run a naked, I love watching Mario Williams run past (Tannehill’s) face and tell me he just killed him. That’s a great feeling. That’ll discourage you real quick against the defense.”
(On if moving the quarterback cuts off half the field) – “It does. That’s the one thing, if it’s not open, it’s a frustrating thing. You really got to feel comfortable with what you called and just know, ‘Hey, it’s either going to be here, here or that thing is going out of bounds.’ Or hopefully you get a lane where you can take off and run. But once again, now you have these guys coming from here and (your quarterback) doesn’t see it and it’s going to be a deadly shot.”
