Adam Gase – December 12, 2016
Download PDF version
Monday, December 12, 2016
Head Coach Adam Gase
(Do you have a final diagnosis or an official diagnosis on QB Ryan Tannehill’s knee?) – “Yes. Right now it’s a … The information we have is an ACL/MCL sprain. We’re still going through that process, but we’ll know more as the week goes on.”
(Do you have any idea how long he would be sidelined?) – “Not yet.”
(You said sprain with a p, right?) – “Yes.”
(So this qualifies as good news?) – “Better than what we thought yesterday.”
(Are you definitive that it’s not a tear, though?) – “Yes.”
(What was your reaction when you got that news?) – “Mine was I called him (Ryan Tannehill) first just to see how he was doing, if he was feeling better, because that was a tough one for him to swallow yesterday. He handled yesterday about as well as you could. He got in about four fights in the locker room trying to get out to the field to watch the end of the game. He was better than what he was earlier and then now he’s already back in here and trying to figure out what the next part of the process is for himself.”
(Just to be clear, is there any chance he plays again this year?) – “I don’t know. I don’t know. I have to find the timetable. We just have to go through all the details of everything. We’re just making sure we’re taking all the right steps.”
(There won’t be any roster moves?) – “I haven’t even thought about it yet.”
(So he’s back in the building? QB Ryan Tannehill is?) – “Yes.”
(And what about QB Matt Moore? There was a report that his wife’s having the baby today?) – “Yes.”
(So what is QB Matt Moore’s status?) – “He’s not in the building, I know that. I might be a little behind on what’s going on. I don’t want to make any reports or say I don’t know anything.”
(Is there a sense of relief when you got that MRI back from QB Ryan Tannehill? – “I was happy for him. That’s a hard injury to come back from and rehab. It’s just a long, long process, and whatever we find out going forward with what his injury is, I don’t know the timetable right now. Any time you get hurt it’s never easy and there’s always a tough rehab, mentally, especially at this part of the season. Every guy wants to be out there trying to contribute as much as possible. It’s hard to sit on the sidelines and watch. There are a lot of guys that are in that position right now. I think we had five, maybe four or five of the seven guys that were inactive yesterday. They’re hurt. It’s tough for anybody to not be out there contributing.”
(Surgery? It’s your understanding is not going to be necessary for QB Ryan Tannehill?) – “Unless something changes, it doesn’t look like that’s what is going to be happening.”
(It’s kind of miraculous. We were expecting the worst today.) – “I don’t know what to tell you. That surprised me you guys were thinking something bad would happen (laughter).”
(Your obligatory weekly C Mike Pouncey question. Do you anticipate him being able to practice this week?) – “He won’t practice this week. He’ll be out. I’ll give you an early one on that one.”
(LB Kiko Alonso. Are you optimistic about him?) – “We’re going to have to go through all of the right steps, especially on a short week. We really pulled back last week and tried to let that hamstring calm down. But I do think we have a better chance this week than we did last week.”
(Although nothing bad ever happens around here, who would your next quarterback have been yesterday?) – “I still got that one I can keep a secret (laughter). I’ve got some options though.”
(Is it TE MarQueis Gray? Is he throwing a pass this year?) – “I don’t know. Maybe, maybe not. The good thing is we do have a couple of options because you get in a situation where your two quarterbacks … This has only happened to me one other time, where I’m down to one guy. Just having those other options available, we have two guys that can obviously … MarQueis, he’s played quarterback before. Jarvis obviously, he knows our offense well enough to where he can go in there and do some stuff. We have options with those two guys as far as finishing a game. (It’s) not ideal for sure. We’d have to be really smart with what we have for those guys to be ready to go.”
(Is it a same assumption that QB Brandon Doughty gets moved up from the practice squad this week?) – “I’m not sure what we’re going to do quite yet. We’re going to get together probably after this and finalize what we want to do.”
(Can you compare this situation to the last time you had an in-season starting quarterback injury?) – “It wasn’t as late. It wasn’t a situation like we’re in right now. Last year, against Arizona, Jay (Cutler) pulled his hamstring and Jimmy (Clausen) came up and we had David Fales already on the roster, so he bumped up. That was just kind of the natural progression of everything. Jay (Cutler) missed one game. This is a different situation. It’s not going to be one game. It will be longer than that. I don’t know the exact timetable, but it is going to be longer than that.”
(How big yesterday was QB Matt Moore getting a big pass to WR Kenny Stills late and being able to pull out a win after it was a little conservative when he first checked in?) – “One, we had a lead. I was trying to be smart with what we did. The rain started coming down. It was like right when he went in, it starting coming down pretty good. I just was making sure the quarterback-center thing was good. We were good with cadence. Sometimes when you haven’t played a ton with a quarterback, you’re trying to make sure the line is good with the cadence. All of those type of things. There was a lot going through my head to make sure everybody was good. I wish it would have happened for me a little quicker than what it did. I had a couple of chances to make some plays there. It wasn’t quite exactly what we wanted, but when we need that last drive there was no hesitation from me as far as, ‘Alright, here we go.’ We knew how we wanted to attack it. We talked about that situation on Friday. It’s funny that it came up. It seems like that seems to happen quite a bit around here, where we keep talking about these end of game situations and we seem to get in them. Matt knew exactly what I was doing as far as the play calling goes, and he was on it.”
(Can you break down the differences in QB Ryan Tannehill’s game and QB Matt Moore’s game and what the means for you?) – “It’s hard for me. I don’t have a lot of experience with Matt (Moore). I’ve called, what 20 plays for him? Not including yesterday. I’ve watched him in the past. I think he was a free agent at some point and I watched him when I was in Denver. I know Matt (Moore) will do whatever we need him to do to win a game. He has a lot of ability, as far as being a down-the-field passer. I don’t think he ever gives himself credit for the fact that he sees coverage well. He can throw the ball underneath. He can throw the intermediate ball. I like the fact that he’s not afraid to scramble outside the pocket and kind of play a little looser than a lot of coaches like. I like it. I like calling plays for him because you never know what you’re going to experience in that play and I kind of like that. I like that about him. He’s aggressive. It was fun when we were going through preseason to kind of see how he would develop in this offense.”
(Do you feel limited at all with what you can do going forward with QB Matt Moore as opposed to QB Ryan Tannehill?) – “No. Nope.”
(QB Matt Moore is right next to you [on the sidelines] the whole time. You’ve gotten comfortable with him?) – “Absolutely. Like I said yesterday, I’m glad he’s here, because I think he’s the only backup quarterback with a winning record. It’s nice to always know going into that; you just have no questions about him going in there. He knows what to do on the game plan. You know the other guys respect him. Guys know that he knows what he’s doing. When he walks in there, there’s no nervousness by him. It’s more ‘Give me the call and let’s roll.’”
(QB Matt Moore has a gunslinger reputation. Have you seen that in practice?) – “Yes. That doesn’t bother me one bit. I want a guy that wants to go out there and be aggressive and try to win the game.”
(Has a final determination been made on the roster status of DE Dion Jordan?) – “No. You guys can wait for that one. (laughter)”
(How much practice has QB Matt Moore seriously had since…?) – “Well, he does all the scout team stuff and the way we practice is very competitive, so he’s actually out there trying to beat our first-team defense. The problem was we’re trying to get Ryan (Tannehill) ready to go all the time, and he doesn’t get a lot of reps with the ones. He does kind of his own thing on Fridays. He goes through the game plan with our quarterbacks coach Bo (Hardegree). When we do routes versus air, he does throw to Kenny (Stills) and Jarvis (Landry). He gets in there with those guys sometimes. But when you’re a guy of his experience, that’s the least of my worries.”
(What did it say to you that QB Ryan Tannehill really wanted to back there on the sideline at the end of the game after he got injured?) – “When I turned around and saw him. I don’t know. I didn’t get to talk to him. I turned around, I saw him behind me and I was surprised.”
(No, I meant what did that say to you? What does that tell you of Ryan’s…?) – “That’s what he is. He’s a team guy. He just cares about his teammates and wants to do whatever he can to help win. He probably wanted to be there to make sure Matt (Moore) was good. That’s who he is.”
(A sprain as opposed to a tear, I don’t know if that’s an element of luck in there or not. But did you shake your head at QB Ryan Tannehill’s resiliency? He seems to be as tough as any.) – “I don’t know if I’ve been around anybody tougher than him. The guy has taken a lot shots since I’ve been here, unfortunately. He just keeps bouncing back. I think the mental part of it is really what’s been impressive. He takes … It’ll mess you up every once in a while when you start taking some of those shots. It can kind of get it in your head. It doesn’t seem to bother him. Of course you think a little bit more maybe, ‘Get out of the way.’”
(Does the game on Saturday – it’s not a Thursday night so you don’t have as much of a crunch – but especially getting QB Matt Moore up to speed?) – “It’s not. Once again, it’s not like we’re pulling a guy off the street here and starting him. He’s been here since the spring. He knows everything we’re doing. It’s really not that big of a deal for us, as far as the game plan. I’m not going to change anything. I feel comfortable with him going out there and executing our offense.”
(Do you think it factors at all that he actually will be playing against the coach that he played for last time in N.Y. Jets Head Coach Todd Bowles?) – “I don’t think so. I don’t see that being an issue.”
(Does the fact that QB Ryan Tannehill most likely will not need surgery, obviously, the next few weeks are a question mark, but the offseason … He’ll be available the whole offseason? Is that your understanding?) – “I hope so. I’d be shocked if he couldn’t do anything in the offseason.”
(The advantage that you’ll have him…) – “It’s going to be … It’s just another year in the system. The more he does this offense, the better he’s going to be. It’s telling throughout the season that he’s made improvements. Everybody has. Guys really worked hard to make sure they stayed on what we were doing and each week we get a little better. There are a couple of things we need to do a little bit better, but we’re improving.”
(The hit on QB Ryan Tannehill, not that a flag would bring back his health, but did you think that it should’ve been penalized?) – “That’s not for me to say but, playing Calais (Campbell) as many times, he’s never been a guy that I would say is a dirty player. I’d be shocked to say that he did that intentionally. I think the direction we were heading on the protection and kind of how he had to slant, I think he was kind of leaning in when he was getting blocked. I think it was just kind of one of those football things. I don’t think he meant anything intentional by it.”
(Just even from a low hit, not a dirty hit, but a low hit standpoint, it’s…) – “I don’t know if he could’ve caught himself. As a big man going fast, the direction he was heading, that would’ve been very tough.”
(What do you do to get to know QB Matt Moore’s game? I can’t remember how you phrased it earlier, can you only call so many plays for him? What do you do? Can you do anything to…?) – “Not really. Just practice and talk. If you don’t like something, tell me. The only problem with Matt is he’ll always say he likes everything. I’ll be like, ‘You alright with this?’ ‘Yeah, call it.’ (laughter) That makes it easy.”
(When he’s next to you on the sidelines, does the game permit, maybe during timeouts or stoppages, to say what he’s looking at from the sideline to get an idea of what he’ll see when he’s under center?) – “He does a great job. He’s always talking to me about what he thinks for Ryan. It’s not really for him. So he does a really … He’s very helpful for me. To where, if we get kind of in a jam and I’m stuck between two things, he’ll be really quick to be like, ‘No, go with this one, because he likes this a lot.’ So he’s on it on the sidelines as far as really to help Ryan out, being kind of the guy on the sideline that could speak for him at the time.”
(Have you been around a quarterback as agreeable as QB Matt Moore?) – “That’s a bad question. (laughter) Can I pass on that?”
(So it might be a little different when he’s in there as opposed to when QB Ryan Tannehill is? What he likes for Ryan and what he likes for himself?) – “Yes. Absolutely. But that’ll come through the conversation throughout the week. The one thing that I have, in my experience with quarterbacks have been is, they won’t be afraid at least to tell you going into preparation into a game of, ‘Maybe this and this, I didn’t get a good rep of that week.’ You’ll get it out before you even hit Sunday, or Saturday in this case.”
(RB Damien Williams running around back there at the end of the game with 1 second left, what’s going through your mind at that time?) – “That I should’ve never ran that play to begin with. But I didn’t anticipate what happened happening. I was trying to get to the other hash, which looking back on it, (it was) probably not worth it.”
(Why didn’t you guys run the ball as well yesterday as you have in many weeks?) – “Number two defense in the NFL. They’re pretty good”
(You played the No. 1 defense the week before and you ran average.) – “’93,’ (Calais Campbell) is a tough guy to go against. He’s very disruptive.”
(Personality-wise, between QB Matt Moore and QB Ryan Tannehill, for us when Matt is up there, the presser is very kind of entertaining – the California cool personality. Ryan is a little more serious. He jokes around. But what do you see in their personalities and how might it translate to the players?) – “I mean everybody is different as far as the way that they are in front of you guys, how they are in the classroom, meetings, around other players. It’s hard for me to get into detail in all of this. They’re a little bit different, but at the end of the day they’re the same as far as they’re competitive, they’re hard workers (and) they do everything they can to help the team. Those are the kind of guys we like being around.”
(How confident are you on CB Xavien Howard’s availability for this week?) – “Better than last week. That’s the best I can give you. Until we start practicing, it’s hard for me to say he’s going or he’s not. We want him to feel good. We want him to say, ‘I’m ready to go.’ So last week wasn’t the week.’
(Did you get the QB Ryan Tannehill news this morning?) – “No, last night.”
(So was there a period last night where you figured he was going to be out? Or what was your mind through yesterday afternoon…) – “It’s like I told you guys yesterday, when we left the stadium, it didn’t look good. I didn’t … I waited ‘til (the) doc called me, whatever … I was watching the Sunday night game. He called me and told me. I talked to (Executive Vice President of Football Operations Mike) Tannenbaum and (General Manager Chris) Grier. That’s kind of where I was, and I talked to Ryan.”
(What were the first words out of your mouth?) – “I was just trying to get the details. I don’t remember every little thing of the conversation. I was just kind of, ‘What does that mean? Where do we go from there?’”
(You were obviously happy.) – “Yes, I was happy for him that you don’t have to … That’s a tough injury to go through. You see a lot of guys go through those ACL injuries where they … They come back fast, but they always say you’re not the same, and you have to go through another year and it’s a lot of work.”
(You have said from early in the season that QB Ryan Tannehill was the clear cut No. 1 coming out of camp and everything. If he were able to come back in the late regular season or mid-playoffs, does he go right back to No. 1? Does it depend on how QB Matt Moore plays the next couple of games?) – “Ryan, he’s the starting quarterback. So whenever he’s healthy, he’s the starting quarterback.”
(With RB Kenyan Dranke and the punt return with Jarvis Landry, what happened there? And is Drake okay?) – “Drake’s okay. It was freak, kind of what happened with him getting … really running into Jarvis. At the end of the day, we have to make sure we do a better job of understanding our situation of this is a field position game. We just have to make sure we have the ball. I know Jarvis is always going to look to make a play. And he understood the situation as far as what was going on. I think he got a little surprised. I don’t know if he didn’t see him or was a little surprised it was one of our own guys that jarred him there. So, at the end of the day, we just want to make sure we have the ball at the end of that possession.”
(What have you seen from QB Brandon Doughty?) – “Improvement. He’s done a … It takes a second sometimes when you’re a young player to really get a grip on the playbook. He’s done a good job of making sure he’s ready to go every week. He’s been preparing like he’s going to play. You can tell because the amount of time. When you see these guys still hanging around after our meetings are done at night, and they’re working as a group and going through their steps to get ready for the game, when you’re on the practice squad, what are you really getting ready for? You don’t think you’re going to be up. And he always took it serious to, ‘Maybe I’m going to get called up.’ He constantly was being the guy ready to go. So we’ll kind of see what we do going forward and what’s the best move for us.”
