Adam Gase – November 4, 2018 (Postgame)
Sunday, November 4, 2018
Postgame – N.Y. Jets
Miami Dolphins Head Coach Adam Gase
Q: I know that you would like to see the offense score more points but you’re patched together in so many different areas right now. Do you come out of this happy with how the offense got through?
HEAD COACH ADAM GASE: I think I’m happy that we took care of the football. We didn’t put ourselves in a bad position or put the defense in a bad position by creating a short field. They had to drive it a long way and our defense did a good job of either getting a turnover or making them punt. We had a couple of opportunities and we missed them. (It was) one of those type of games where you get the right thing versus what they are doing and we just have to find a way to make those plays.
I think one of the things people find confounding about football is how things change one week to the next. You go from giving up 42 points and playing a quarterback who has four incompletions to having four interceptions on the day. What was the turnaround in the defense from your vantage point?
HEAD COACH ADAM GASE: I thought they did a good job playing together. We had all three levels trying to really complement each other, and that’s what you’re looking for. I’m sure we’ll go back and watch the tape and everybody will say, ‘Hey, we’ve got to do this better, we’ve got to do this better.’ Today we did a good job of all three levels playing together.
S Reshad Jones didn’t play for the majority of the second half. What was the reason why?
HEAD COACH ADAM GASE: Yeah, I’ve got to look at that and find out what everything entails. It sounds like he pulled himself out. So I’ve just got to find out kind of what happened there.
Was it injury related with S Reshad Jones?
HEAD COACH ADAM GASE: I’m not sure.
You said S Reshad Jones pulled himself out?
HEAD COACH ADAM GASE: Yep. I haven’t gotten in it. I haven’t asked a whole bunch of questions because we were having our own issues on the other side of the ball. It will be one of those things where I’ll probably learn a little more tonight and try to figure out what’s going on.
I know T Ja’Wuan James came back in, but how bad off was he and how bad off is T Laremy Tunsil right now?
HEAD COACH ADAM GASE: That I’ll find out probably more tomorrow. I know Ja’Wuan, going back in, was big for us because we were going to have to really start making adjustments there to where now one guy bumps out and we bring Jake (Brendel) in. Hopefully those guys will be okay, but obviously with Laremy not finishing the game, hopefully it not as bad as probably how it feels.
T Ja’Wuan James, it looked like he was doing drills to see if he could go back in. And just looking at his face, it looked like he was in a lot of pain.
HEAD COACH ADAM GASE: I’m sure he was. That’s the NFL. It’s hard. It’s 60 minutes, guys are battling and a lot of guys are hurt, especially at this part of the season. We’ll kind of see how he feels the next day. That’s what it is. It’s like a car crash every Sunday and you have to re-group for the next week and get your body right.
RB Kenyan Drake didn’t touch the ball much in the running game or the receiving game in the second half. Is that just the way the game played out?
HEAD COACH ADAM GASE: We tried to get him the ball a few times. Just they either called … (New York Jets Head Coach) Todd (Bowles) and his crew did a great job. Every time we called certain things, they had the right coverage to take it away. They were blitzing at the right time. We were trying to mix it up, call opposite of what they would; but he dialed up everything right and it made it really difficult to try to get our playmakers the ball.
RB Frank Gore averaged less than three yards per carry but do you still feel like he did the job you wanted and what was it like in the second half where it seemed like it was a struggle to…
HEAD COACH ADAM GASE: There was nothing there. We’ve got to play better up front. I mean, he created some stuff. There was nothing there. All you have to do is give Frank a crevice he’ll get you 4 yards. If he’s not getting anything, that’s not good.
Every running back probably would like to get the ball 30 or so times a game. Has RB Kenyan Drake stuck with you pretty well even though he might not get the ball as much as he wants?
HEAD COACH ADAM GASE: Yeah, he doesn’t … He knows the play calls. When he hears the play calls, he’s going, ‘All right, hey, he’s trying to get me the ball.’ He understands that. It just doesn’t always work out. I can’t know exactly what they’re going to do. A lot of times we try to make him the premier guy but if they run the right thing or they pressure us and the ball has to go somewhere else, it kind of screws that up.
RB Kenyan Drake has had some really good blocks this season, just anecdotally from things I remember seeing. It looked like you were having him help T Zach Sterup there a little bit at the end. Is he giving you what he can in that role?
HEAD COACH ADAM GASE: Oh, yeah. He does a great job. Today, like the third down one he had, that’s rare. We usually see him clean up a linebacker and we never have any pressure there. If he works the edges and he’s working with the defensive end with the tackle, he usually makes sure that that guy is probably either on the ground or he’s not rushing very good.
Has S Reshad Jones ever voiced an issue with his role or the scheme or anything that would indicate what happened in the second half?
HEAD COACH ADAM GASE: No. We were doing some different stuff this game, obviously. I don’t know. I’ll find out more tomorrow.
What were you doing overall in the secondary? It just seemed like there were so many different guys moving in and out.
HEAD COACH ADAM GASE: Yeah, we moved some guys in and out. We’re trying to keep guys fresh and they played 80-plus plays today. So they had to play a lot of guys. We had a couple of guys get pulled out and then go back in or stay out. That’s what we had to do to win the game.
Did you think that would help after how the last couple weeks went, just to get some change in there?
HEAD COACH ADAM GASE: Yeah, I think any time that we can either … When things don’t go right and you try to shuffle some guys around and get some guys in maybe some different spots; I know any time Bobby (McCain) is inside, I’m a big fan of that. He does a great job. If he’s playing true zone and they throw any kind of underneath routes, he’s going to make the play. He’s going to make the tackle. He’s going to be in the right spot. He’s always going to be in the right leverage. There’s a lot of comfort there, especially for me when he’s playing nickel. We had to make, with ‘Tank’ (Cordrea Tankersley) going down, we had to make some adjustment and that got Minkah (Fitzpatrick) pushed outside a little bit. We just knew we had to make some adjustments and we didn’t think they were that big of a deal. We want to play some guys in some different spots.
There was a point where on your offensive line you had T Zach Sterup, C/G Ted Larsen, C Travis Swanson – the right side was normal at least – but do you feel like that group is surviving right now?
HEAD COACH ADAM GASE: I think that we’ve had some good days and we’ve had some rough ones. When we play a d-line like this, it’s tough. Those are some good players and their scheme is tough. We try to go big and they go big and it’s a disadvantage for us. When we tried to stay smaller, to see if we give ourselves an advantage, we just didn’t quite get it done as well as we needed to.
What did you think about your defense on the Jets drive late in the third quarter. It ended with a missed field goal and you guys had a couple of bad face mask penalties, but DE Cameron Wake came through with a sack and ultimately they’re kicking from 50 yards.
HEAD COACH ADAM GASE: Yeah, if we can eliminate some of those type of penalties, that’s what we have been talking about – the pre-snap and post-snap type penalties – and you can probably throw that in there as far as the face mask. We just have to be good with our hands and understand when we’re reaching back end and up getting somebody’s helmet, that’s really going to hurt us in the end.
It could have been a place where the game slipped away though because giving up 30 yards in this game is a lot and you forced them to kick from so far.
HEAD COACH ADAM GASE: Yeah, it was a good job. They found a way to get a negative play and knock them out of … really make it tougher. So that’s what you do. That’s why you keep fighting. You never know what’s going to happen. We witnessed it in the Chicago game where guys fought down to the 1-yard line and got a turnover.
What was the big difference? What were you able to accomplish in those 10 days that made the defense play the way they did this afternoon?
HEAD COACH ADAM GASE: I think the guys just did a good job of, really, it’s like complementary football. All three levels, they played together. They did a good job of, for the most part, really stopping the run and trying to make it as one-dimensional as they can. I thought they did a pretty good job of keeping the guy in the pocket and then forcing them to kind of make some throws under duress. Guys did a good job of finishing the play.
Offensively, the struggles you had, what did you see there?
HEAD COACH ADAM GASE: We just didn’t have a very good day up front. We had a couple opportunities on plays that possibly were touchdowns or explosive plays that we didn’t hook up on. (It was) just one of those games where we didn’t get … Just not a lot right for us.
I’m sure this question has been asked, I wasn’t here. S Reshad Jones, him not playing late in the first half and the whole second half?
HEAD COACH ADAM GASE: Yeah, I mean, I haven’t really gotten with those guys yet. So I mean, I’m going to find out more of that either tonight or tomorrow.
