Adam Gase – May 25, 2017
Download PDF version
Thursday, May 25, 2017
Head Coach Adam Gase
(How would you summarize this first week of OTAs?) – “I felt the guys did a good job with the tempo of practice. Execution is always going to come the longer we go in the spring, but (there’s) a lot of carry over. The guys seem to remember a lot. They did a good job paying attention in the first two phases so when we got out there, it wasn’t a lot of mistakes. (There are) just little details we need to clean up.”
(What was your three day assessment of QB Ryan Tannehill?) – “I thought he looked the same as the last time I saw him playing. It was a good week for him. He looks good. The only thing that looks different is he’s wearing a knee brace where last year he wasn’t.”
(How would you assess the rookies? You had them for the minicamp in the classroom and your first look at them on the field?) – “It’s such a different ordeal for them to go through and just kind of getting used to the tempo and the structure of how we practice. For the most part, they adapted quickly. The veterans did a good job of showing these guys how we like to do things. They just followed right along and got thrown in there and got a lot of reps and a lot of guys made plays.”
(A few guys we didn’t see today. LB Koa Misi, DE William Hayes and T Ja’Wuan James not in team drills. Can you elaborate on them?) – “Yes. There are some guys in the spring you hold out. If a guy has a minor, some kind of minor injury or something, we’re not going to see how tough they are in May and June.”
(With the linebackers, what’s the thought process there with LB Mike Hull working on the inside in the top units and then the vision for LB Lawrence Timmons? Or is it just experimentation?) – “We’re just moving guys around.”
(What did you guys have C Mike Pouncey do this week?) – “He’s just working on the side. He’s doing a lot of … he’s been doing a lot of cardio. Doing more lifting. He has a lot more little steps that we’re taking each day.”
(What is your sense of QB Ryan Tannehill’s movements as he adjusts to the brace?) – “I can’t notice a difference. He looks the same to me.”
(I’m not joking … so LB Koa Misi, DE William Hayes and T Ja’Wuan James are nursing stuff?) – “Well, Koa’s going to … it’s going to be … I mean we’ve still got some time before we get him out there. We’re going through the proper medical procedures with him. We’re not going to rush a guy that had the type of injury he had. With Ja’Wuan and William, they had a couple things come up over the last two weeks that … William practiced for a couple of days and today we held him out. And Ja’Wuan has tried to do as much as he can. We’re trying to be smart with what we’re doing. We got four days before our next OTA and I don’t want to throw them out there just so we can say we throw them out there and he’s at 85 percent where in four days he might be 100 (percent).”
(Is it the same with G/T Jermon Bushrod? Have we seen he out there in team or no?) – “Yes, he’s doing the same. He’s doing the same thing where we’re just being cautious on little tiny things. The healthier we get some of these guys … working through some little tiny things. We pushed them pretty hard in the Phase II area with individual and running and we just want to make sure if a guy has … If he tightens up a little bit, we take him out. We don’t mess around with that trying to see how hard these guys can push through an OTA practice.”
(Did everyone that could be here was today? Is that correct?) – “Yes, I mean as far as I know.”
(One of the reliefs when QB Ryan Tannehill’s injury wasn’t as serious as it could have been was that he’d be here for stuff like this and this whole offseason. What’s the importance of this really I guess second offseason with you, but the first after he played a season?) – “Any time you can keep getting reps in the same system you’ve already been in, it’s valuable. Just constantly learning body language of receivers, all the things that go into communication with the offensive line, the running backs, the tight ends. That’s why spring, training camp, preseason games, regular season games, they’re all valuable because you learn something in every game.”
(Correct me if I’m wrong but it did not seem like you guys were going easy on him QB Ryan Tannehill, the defense with the rush. How important is that this early to see how he reacts to guys coming at him like that?) – “He doesn’t have any restrictions. I think we’re all in agreement that he’s probably fairly tough and I haven’t seen him shy away from many hits. He’s just doing what he always does.”
(When it comes to QB Ryan Tannehill, when you first got here, how different do you see you relationship with him and is it … I know guys are probably a little more tentative during the first time but what is that relationship like?) – “I think it’s the same with everybody. You start learning each other’s personalities. You kind of figure out what you need to ask, what you want to ask. You just find that balance of communication. Everybody always just early is trying to figure out where they really fit in. As a coach, you’re always trying to figure out what’s the best way to coach a guy because everybody’s not the same. Some guys like to be pushed hard. Some guys you’ve got to talk to more. That first year, that’s what all that was. And now it’s … Everybody’s got a good feel for each other. It’s fun to be out there because you have so many restrictions and when you can actually get out to practice and everybody’s communicating, trying to figure out the best way to do things, that’s when it gets fun.”
(You told us that you wanted these linebackers to cross-train and play in a lot of different places. We saw that today. It appears that LB Lawrence Timmons was both inside and out. How is he handling playing on the outside?) – “I haven’t noticed any issues. The guy is a veteran and he’s been doing it forever. You can put him wherever you want and he’s going to figure out a way to make plays.”
(The rule change of the cut down from 90 to 53 players. No 75-man cut down. How is that going to affect your outlook, your approach? Or will it have any affect?) – “It’s good for our young guys to be able to have another game of experience or guys that you are going to release to get another game. Whatever rules are made or whatever decisions are made in that area, we just go with the flow because that’s something that none of us can really control. We’ll find the right way to do what we want to do in that fourth preseason game.”
(Will that rule change affect any group of players like guys on the bubble? Will it allow you to rest veterans more? Can you foresee anything like that right now?) – “Whoever we need to play in that last game, we’re going to play. I don’t think we got too many guys that we’re going to say ‘You’re not going to play in the fourth preseason game.’ We like to go out there and it’s another game of experience. When you’re an eight-plus year veteran, sometimes we hold those guys out; but for the most part, we try to play as many guys as we can.”
(What were your thoughts on chopping five minutes off overtime?) – “Tell me how many 10-minute drives there are. I know I haven’t experienced too many and it’s kind of hard to do.”
(With the secondary, obviously OTAs are very pass-heavy. Do you think this is a good opportunity for you to evaluate some of these cornerbacks like CB Xavien Howard? And what have you seen from them in the first week?) – “Yes, this is one of those – for me – fun parts of the year because all of the skill guys are really getting a lot of action because you want to be smart with what you do up front in the run game, because you don’t want guys on the ground. By leaning a little more on the passing side, it gives you a lot of experiences with your corners and wide outs and safeties and tight ends and running backs to see who can cover, who can play fairly tight coverage and still stay up and play within the rules of what we have for OTAs. I think it’s just, once again, it’s repetition. Just seeing guys do it over and over and over again and see who can cover who.”
(So as an offensive play caller and you see pick-sixes like what happened today, your thought is what?) – “I like that you brought that up. (laughter) No, it’s good. I’m happy for Tony (Lippett) for about one second and then I’m mad at him because he figured out what we were doing and jumped the route, which is good. We’ll figure out a way to scheme up and get him on the next OTA.”
