Adam Gase – November 5, 2018
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Monday, November 5, 2018
Head Coach Adam Gase
(You’ll obviously address the S Reshad Jones thing shortly but as long as I can get a word in, I wanted to ask you about the RB Frank Gore/RB Kenyan Drake disparity. Obviously Drake caught balls yesterday but 20 to 3 with rushing attempts. Is that what you wanted? What was the thinking behind that?) – “I mean it’s never what we want as far as them being that far apart. There were a few opportunities where we were trying to do certain things with Kenyan that didn’t work out the way we wanted to where we were trying to get him the ball. I felt like we were trying to get him the ball. I felt like we had some chances for some matchups with linebackers. The way they were covering with the safeties on the tight ends, we thought (linebackers on Drake) was going to be a healthy matchup for us. We got caught in a couple of coverages that were not ideal when we were trying to do that. Some of the runs that we ended up calling when Kenyan was in there, they weren’t ideal looks for us. We got thrown out of a couple of them. At the end of the day, we always want to try to have more of a balance with the rushing attempts between those guys. Usually it should be with Kenyan probably more targets. Frank, it’s probably with a couple of more rushes. We don’t want to be that far apart.”
(Definitively did S Reshad Jones take him out of the game and have you talked to him?) – “Yeah, he came up and saw me last night. He came up to the office and we talked last night. I’m still kind of going through a couple of things. I need to talk to a couple of other people but me and him are on the same page right now. That conversation between me and him, that’s where it will stay.”
(Did S Reshad Jones have a viable reason for why he took himself out?) – “I know what happened and that’s where I’m going to leave it.”
(What about S Reshad Jones’ health? Can you just clarify where he’s at health-wise? Was that a factor in this and do you have concerns about that right now?) – “He’s playing through the same thing he’s been playing through all year. I don’t want to say whether or not it was that or something else but I’ll just leave it at that. I had a conversation with him last night. I have an idea of a lot of things that happened and it’s going to get cleaned up.”
(You sound like you don’t feel like it’s resolved though because you said you’re still going through some things. So is this still going to be a process with you and him from here?) – “Yeah, I’d say it’s less not me and him. There’s other factors involved so I’m going to get that addressed and cleaned up.”
(Obviously it manifested on game day. Did you guys have a clue last week that S Reshad Jones was unhappy?) – “No. Last week as far as when?”
(During practices – Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.) – “No. I did not. I did not know he was unhappy about anything. That’s why … But a lot of things got cleaned up last night.”
(Will S Reshad Jones play this week?) – “Yeah, he’s going to play this week.”
(Will there be any disciplinary action?) – “That will be internal if we do anything.”
(You said you didn’t know. Obviously that’s the other side of the ball. Is that something that Defensive Coordinator Matt Burke knew?) – “I can’t speak on that but I’m a little bit more involved right now. I know a lot of the things going on.”
(Why do you think there have been defensive players unhappy such as DT Jordan Phillips and S Reshad Jones?) – “I don’t know. Jordan is not here anymore. Reshad, we’ll get that fixed.”
(With Defensive Coordinator Matt Burke and his communication with his players, are you comfortable with where that is?) – “I’ll have more of an idea here throughout the day and tomorrow and I’ll figure out a lot of the things that happened throughout the week or towards the end of the week or on game day. Today is more of a … You’re going through the film and you’re trying to make sure that you talk to a lot of guys. I have to get some things cleaned up as far as how we go about things and that’s what today is going to be mostly about. It’s hard to do it all in five hours.”
(How concerned are you that it might be a lingering issue with S Reshad Jones?) – “It won’t. We’ll move on.”
(And why are you confident in that?) – “Because I’m telling you we’re going to move on.”
(Can you explain why the idea of platooning back there came about?) – “At the safety position?”
(Yes, with S Reshad Jones.) – “Well, we have to make some adjustments. We’re not going to sit there and do the same thing we did the last two weeks that you guys have been bitching about, right? We’re going to move some things around. We let up 1,000 yards in two games. We’re not going to stay the same. We’re going to move around. We’re going to have different guys playing spots. That’s what it’s going to be.”
(And will you continue doing that?) – “We’ll see. We’ll see what we do this week. We’re playing a different guy this week. I just know if we do a lot of the things that we did this last game, it’ll look … The results will be different. I know we’re results-oriented, but Aaron Rodgers is a little different than Sam Darnold.”
(T Laremy Tunsil’s condition?) – “I’m still waiting to hear. I hope he’s all right. I’m just waiting for them to give me all of the information.”
(No indications?) – “Nope. They haven’t given me anything yet.”
(And T Ja’Wuan James too?) – “Same thing.”
(And CB Bobby McCain? Is he in the concussion protocol?) – “No. He is not. I do know that.”
(And QB Ryan Tannehill, what’s his status?) – “I’ll know Wednesday. I want to get through the next two days. I know you guys want it today but at least I’m consistent on doing it Wednesday.”
(What’s your approach with QB Ryan Tannehill?) – “That’s what I need to find out from (Head Athletic Trainer) Kyle (Johnston) is if we’re going to throw the next two days to see where he’s at or are we just going to say we’re going to wait through the bye and go past that. That’s my conversation with him today.”
(What’s the most QB Ryan Tannehill has done throwing-wise in a workout? What’s the most you guys have felt comfortable…) – “Well, we’ve worked some different distances. It’s just … I’m telling you, it’s weird. It’s like one time it’s good (and) one time it’s not. It doesn’t feel right.”
(Are you talking about from day to day or from throw to throw? Like one throw looks good and the next throw he seems…) – “I want to say it’s not really about what it looks like to us. It’s more like how does he feel if he says that felt good or this one didn’t feel good. It’s weird. We’re trying to gauge what we see (and) what he says. That’s all it came about because on that Wednesday and Thursday, he was throwing the ball down the field. Then all of a sudden (on) Friday, he was like ‘This feels different. This feels weird.’”
(What’s the most number of throws you’ve had QB Ryan Tannehill do in a session?) – “I don’t know. I haven’t counted.”
(Is it like 10, is it 40, is it 100?) – “I don’t know. I can’t give you a number. I think I’m going to have to go get the pitch count. It might have to be Wednesday.”
(How is QB Ryan Tannehill feeling the day after?) – “It’s the same thing. Everything is inconsistent.”
(Do you think you will have to take a bigger role in the defense whether it’s the prep during the week, meetings or anything like that? Is that something you’re considering?) – “I mean I’ve been more involved. That’s part of my job is to make sure that I communicate, they communicate back and we’re all on the same page. When I want to do something, that’s what we need to do.”
(When you say you’ve been more involved like…) – “Just having discussions and making sure that we’re all on the same page because when we’re in some of the situations that we’ve been in where we have some injuries on the offensive side and they have some injuries as far as when we’re missing some of our defensive front guys, we’ve got to play way more complementary football because if one side is a little more lopsided and we’re not working together, we’re going to have some issues. That’s why yesterday … I mean, things were not going well on offense and they were making sure that they were getting off the field on defense. It was more a field position game. Throw the stats out. Nobody cares. You’ve got to win.”
(Any given week you could wait it out until game day with QB Ryan Tannehill and you have not chosen to do that. QB Brock Osweiler has said that that’s been helpful to him to know when he’s starting. Is that why you’re doing that?) – “At least Ryan knows where he’s at for that week. It’s the same thing with Brock. I don’t want Ryan trying to … I don’t want him to go overboard where we’re saying, ‘Hey, we need you to take it easy for these days,’ and then we’re trying to figure out is he okay?”
(So it’s for both of their benefit?) – “Yeah. It’s something that … When I can’t explain why things are happening injury-wise, I’m trying to make things black-and-white for those guys.”
(S Reshad Jones obviously is one of the leaders in your locker room. Did he lose credibility among his teammates yesterday?) – “I can’t speak on that. I think everybody needs to be a little slow to rush to judgment. They don’t know all the facts of everything. There’s a lot of things that happen probably in the locker room or as far as decision-making goes, but I know this is a day and age of everybody will just go all in on something and Twitter and Instagram and all of that crap. We’ll handle things internally and we’ll make sure that the people that need to know, know.”
(Does S Reshad Jones plan to address his teammates?) – “We did not talk about that.”
(It’s understandable that you would try to keep it internal now; why did you expose it yesterday?) – “Well, it was obvious that he wasn’t playing. Do you want me to lie and just be like, well, he was really hurt and he didn’t go?”
(No, but we didn’t know whether he was injured or not, or why he wasn’t playing.) – “Right. And I answered the question the best I knew it yesterday when I was asked the question in the press conference. I don’t know what you want me to say. I don’t know what you’re asking me.”
(Okay, so, it’s internal now?) – “I’m just saying I’m not going to say, ‘Here was our conversation’ … I had to answer the question. Should I just say, ‘Hey’ … I don’t know what you want me to say.”
(It’s internal.) – “Yeah. You guys would have let that go.”
(Did you talk to Defensive Coordinator Matt Burke yesterday about the whole situation?) – “I didn’t see him after the game because by the time I talked to you guys, everybody is gone.”
(What’s the plan with S Minkah Fitzpatrick? Is he the starting boundary cornerback? How do you want to use him?) – “He played, I think, three or four different spots yesterday. We’re moving him around. We’ve got some different roles for him. We’re just going to keep shifting and moving guys around.”
(It’s a small detail, but did you call S Reshad Jones in or did he ask to speak to you?) – “No. He came up there. He was up there. He came up there.”
(Late at night?) – “Yeah.”
(Does this feel like the day after a win?) – “No. It’s slightly irritating.”
(How do you react to that?) – “It is what it is. This is every day for me, so I’m kind of used to it.”
(With the way QB Brock Osweiler is playing now, do you say to yourself, he is definitely our guy until Ryan Tannehill comes back? Or did anything happen to give you pause for thought to think about David Fales at all in the last couple of weeks?) – “You’re unbelievable. (laughter)”
(I know.) – “I knew you would be the one. (laughter)”
(I must say, there were balls that QB Brock Osweiler threw that with better throws would have been completed. So that’s why I asked did QB David Fales cross your mind at all.) – “Yeah, there were two plays that I wish that we would have completed. The one to Danny (Amendola) and the one that Jamal Adams batted down in the red zone. There’s a lot of things that he did well. There’s a lot of things he had no chance. That’s not on him. It’s hard when you have two attempts in a 60-minute game. That’s a little frustrating.”
(I know every team has injuries. Have you ever dealt in your career with the enormity of what’s going on this year?) – “I don’t know. I’m trying to think … I can’t say if I’ve really experienced this much, especially on one side of the ball. Once you had those two tackles out yesterday, basically that’s eight starters from our starting lineup that weren’t in there. But it is what it is. Guys are on the roster for a reason. There’s been times we’ve done a good job of making sure that we’re using everybody to their strengths and found ways to move the ball and at least give ourselves a chance to score some points, but yesterday I’d say was not one of those days.”
(One more thing on S Reshad Jones, did you have a chance to talk to him at halftime or is that something you could talk to a player about?) – “No. I mean those guys just tell me if a guy is in or out. I’m worried about the game. Maybe that’s coldhearted of whatever if a guy gets hurt, but there’s nothing I can do about it at that time. I’m moving on to the next thing. There’s a whole bunch of other guys I’ve got to worry about.”
(You had four guys yesterday who hadn’t played for the team at all before on defense or barely played, with the two new defensive tackles, CB/S Walt Aikens obviously at the end of the game and CB Cornell Armstrong. Any of those four who impressed you in early feedback talking to Defensive Coordinator Matt Burke?) – “When it’s their first game, those guys are trying to get used to playing with that group. I didn’t think anybody stuck out as, ‘Wow, that was terrible.’ It was good to see Walt out there. Any time he gets a chance to make some plays, he’s one of our guys that gives us everything he has on special teams. I know he wants to do whatever he can on defense when he can. He was in the right place at the right time.”
(On QB Ryan Tannehill’s shoulder, are you guys waiting for it to be good enough for him to play or for it to be 100 percent?) – “I don’t think we’ve gotten that far. I think we’re just trying to get to the point where he feels good throwing and then we’ll go from there. It’ll be interesting to see what happens the next few days and then when we make a decision, whatever it is, what’s the bye week do for us? Those type of things.”
(Did players come in today?) – “They just lifted. That was it.”
(Are there any changes you can make offensively for you guys to have a better output than Sunday?) – “I don’t know. Who do we got left? There’s not a lot of guys left.”
(Did S Reshad Jones come in today?) – “Yep.”
