Adam Gase – October 17, 2016
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Monday, October 17, 2016
Head Coach Adam Gase
(Adam, we know, obviously, what DE Cameron Wake can do as a pass rusher over many years. We saw DE Andre Branch get 1.5 sacks yesterday. How did they play? And not only yesterday, but what’s your perception of them as run defenders – those two guys?) – “I thought they both did a good job. (They did a) really good job of executing the plan that ‘V.J’ (Defensive Coordinator Vance Joseph) and those guys had in place. When they tried to run the ball, they were … a high percentage of time they were in the right gap and doing the right thing. Obviously, everybody had mistakes across the board, whether it be players or coaches. The good thing is a high percentage of time we were right. So, that gave us the best chance to have a lot more smaller gains.”
(Why go with that switch now at this point?) – “Every week we’re always going to look for the best lineup for us for that week. That was the lineup we wanted to go with this week. I know Vance and myself – just in the discussions we’ve had – we felt like we needed to move some pieces around (and) see what we could do different.”
(So, it was matchup specific?) – “I think a little bit of it was the fact that we got crushed by Tennessee, and they ran the ball all over us. We’re not going to stay the same. We’re never just going to shrug our shoulders and be okay with poor production, so we made a change.”
(Adam, there was a real sense of a turnaround yesterday. How confident are you that what happened is something you can build on?) – “I think it all goes back to when you come back today, you fix what you need to fix on film and then when you come back Wednesday and you’re 0-0 again. If we come back and think that winning one game is more important than whatever happened the previous weeks, then that’s when you’re going to put yourself in a bad situation. We need to come back Wednesday, and we’ll start over again. We’ve got to get ready for our next opponent. When we hit Sunday, nobody is going to care what we did the last week.”
(How’s TE Dion Sims?) – “He’s in the concussion protocol. That’s where it’s at right now, and that’s out of my hands.”
(Adam, your highs don’t seem too high and your lows don’t seem too low. Has that always been the way you’ve modeled yourself, or did you learn that from someone?) – “I think a little bit of it was the experience that I have had, whether it be being with Coach (Nick) Saban, leaving college to where we won quite a bit – won an SEC championship – and then going to Detroit (and) being there for five years and then just realizing this league is very difficult. The talent is so tight and every week is so different. You just never know what team is going to come out on top every week. It doesn’t matter where you’re ranked in the power rankings. Nobody cares on Sunday. It’s about guys going out there, doing their job, being ready for that game. That’s why when you lose a game, you do everything you can to not let one become two. Same thing when you win. You do what you do as well as you can, you win, you clean things up and you try to perform better the next week and try to make it two wins. In this league, you can’t go one way or the other. You better be ready to go the next week.”
(You’ve been critical at times of your own play calling. When you went back and watched yesterday’s game, what were you glad you did?) – “I think Kenny (Stills) coming back after that first – I think it was a third-and-10 and we threw an incompletion to Jarvis (Landry) – and him coming back and he told me, ‘Next third down just take a shot. They’re going to sit all over anything.’ So, that’s what we did. It was the 2-minute, I think, when we had that double move with Jarvis. That’s good player information coming back, because you can’t see everything all the time. You’ve got guys up in the booth, but the players are your best source of information, because they can tell you exactly how a guy is playing (them). Him coming back, that was big for me, because that put that in my head – wrote it down – and then once we got that opportunity again, it was giving one of those guys a chance to make a play. Ryan (Tannehill) did a good job of getting the ball out there. Jarvis did a great job of making that catch, because that was not an easy play just for the fact that he took a good shot to the back. But that was a big play in the game.”
(Adam, you’re pretty much even keeled, but there was a point there in the middle of the third – toward the end of the third – you got everybody together and there was a message – a clear message – there. Were you feeling in a good rhythm?) – “I don’t even remember, so that’s not good.”
(You have three players that are eligible to come off PUP or NFI. How far away is DE Dion Jordan from being able to practice? Do you think CB Chris Culliver will be limited this week or might he be able to go full-go?) – “I think we’ll have Zach (Vigil) and (Chris) Culliver be able to go through individual (drills) and see where they’re at. I don’t expect the same for Dion (Jordan). We’ll see where that is. I think this is going to be really week-to-week for us at this point, with all these guys. You can feel good at about one guy thinking, ‘We’re way ahead of schedule,’ or ‘We think we’re in good shape,’ and all of a sudden they go out there and it’s not right. We’ll have to go about our process (with) trainers, sports science – that whole crew that we deal with – doctors, and we’ll see where it ends up at the end of the week. We’re in no rush for anything. We just want to make sure those guys feel as good as they can before we actually activate anybody.”
(What makes you confident that the success that you guys have running the ball can be sustained?) – “Because of the five guys up front. That’s, maybe, the biggest difference for us. We actually had our five starters. Jay (Ajayi) did a great job as far as he saw a hole, he hit it. That’s part of the process of going through a new offense. Guys start feeling comfortable, they understand what’s going on, they know what their job is. The receivers did a great job of blocking. Tight ends did a great job. Guys knew exactly what they were doing, they knew why we were doing it and that started with the fact that the preparation was great. We had a good week of practice. Guys took extra time, made sure they knew why we were doing everything. When you do that, it gives you your best chance. And then obviously, with our five starting offensive lineman getting ready to play, it made a big difference.”
(How does disguising coverage as long as you guys did pre snap, how does that benefit the defense?) – “I think it gives them … It’s like being a step ahead. It makes the quarterback think maybe that half-second more than he wants to. You know in this league, the rush is coming quick. You’ve got to make a decision. When you’re a little bit late, that’s going to (cause) problems. That’s why we were constantly … We want to give that pass rush a chance to get going. If we can do some things and disguising coverages to where it makes them hold onto the ball a little bit longer, that’s beneficial to us.”
(Adam, was there any level of apprehension before the game regarding the offensive line, because it was their first game together, the five of them?) – “No. I felt good about it. Thinking back to the (preseason) Dallas game, that was really probably the last time where I really felt like we were rolling. So, I felt really good.”
(Adam, there was a play in the game where QB Ryan Tannehill rolled hard left and threw across his body down the sideline deep. What did the tape show you on that throw? It looked like one of the best throws he has had in a long time.) – “Especially rolling to the left, he never set his feet and then he threw it a long ways it seemed like. I don’t know the exact yardage. I know it was over 50 yards, but it was a good throw. Good play by him, because the scheme was really garbage, and he didn’t have anywhere to go, and he made a play.”
(How did RB Arian Foster get through the game?) – “I think okay. Obviously, you could tell that he wanted to have an extra gear there. I know he was trying to hit it a couple times. I don’t know if he’s really even close to 100 percent, but I know he felt like him being dressed and being out there and trying to contribute was beneficial to us, because his leadership means something to a lot of guys, and he does so many things right for us. He made some good plays in that game, especially in the passing game and the protection. I know even though he’s not 100 percent, he brings a lot to the table, and I know a lot of guys … He’s one of those guys. He has a calming effect on a lot of people.”
(QB Ryan Tannehill’s escapability showed in this particular game. Do you think that’s something that he could build on going forward, and do you think that can be in him?) – “I think a lot of guys will build off of this game. As far as what he was able to do, this game was good. I think it starts with the fact that our o-line was very good in protection. He didn’t get hit a whole bunch. The one time that he got hit was on that third-and-10, which was really good protection. We kind of just got stuck there in the back of the pocket. He was trying to hit that thing in rhythm and kind of got too deep on his drop. The other time was a quick pass and he just got bumped a little bit. I don’t know if he got hit really the rest of the day. Those guys did such a good job it made his job easier, and then all of a sudden it opens up the running game, because they start playing a little more two-high, because they’re trying to stop the passing game, and then all of a sudden the run lanes were opening up. It’s all phases of the game playing off each other, but it started with the o-line being able to be very good in pass protection, and then they were very good in the run game.”
(What has surprised you most about RB Jay Ajayi?) – “I don’t know if anything surprises me, because he did yesterday what he had showed us all through the spring. He had done it in training camp practices. I think I’ve said it; he had a rough seven days between the last preseason game and the first game, or 10 days, whatever it was. But every other part of it, he has been the same guy. I felt like yesterday was a good example of letting him get into a rhythm, and he’s a big man running down a hill at a good rate, and he can break tackles, and he knows where to go as far as what we’re doing in our run-scheme. If we get him going, we just keep trying to get him the ball.”
(How much did you enjoy WR Jarvis Landry on the first punt return coming face-to-face with a Pittsburgh player instead of going out of bounds are trying to evade him and basically lowered his shoulder?) – “That’s his game. He’s never going to shy away from anybody. We talked about trying to set the tempo for us. We felt like that was a big deal. We need to start playing more physical as an entire football team. I think he saw an opportunity there and he took advantage of it and wasn’t going to shy away from contact.”
(How big has it been for you guys to have this long home stretch to kind of get things turned around and not really have to worry about travel?) – “In this league, you go with the flow with those kinds of things. What we have is rare. I don’t know if anybody’s really been able to do this before. The fact that … I know the answer to that, I was joking on that. I know being able to be home this week, a bye and then home again, that’s good for our guys for things as far as injuries and being able to kind of sleep in your own bed and not worry about making two-day trips and staying in hotels. That’s always kind of a refreshing thought for players and coaches.”
(You have (Dion) Sims and (Jordan) Cameron in the (concussion) protocol. Have you seen enough from (Thomas) Duarte on the practice squad to justify maybe bringing him up or might you have to look outside?) – “I’m not sure what I’m really looking to do right now. (General Manager) Chris (Grier), (Executive Vice President, Football Operations) Mike (Tannenbaum) and myself will get together tonight and we’ll kind of plan out what we want to do. But we’ve got a lot of options, whether it be him or someone else, or not bring anybody (in). We’ll just see how this whole thing shakes out.”
(TE MarQueis Gray and TE Dominique Jones, did they exceed maybe what you expected yesterday? We saw some great blocks and obviously 90 receiving yards between the two of them) – “They’ve been doing a good job. ‘D.J.’s’ (Dominique Jones) been with me a couple of times. I’ve always felt comfortable with him. That was one of the main reasons he’s back is he knows the system. He knows how to operate in it. He did a good job and run blocking. ‘Q,’ (MarQueis Gray) he did an unbelievable job as far as being able to step in and he knew exactly what to do. And Dion (Sims) was doing a great job as far as the physicality part of the game and ‘Q’ (MarQueis Gray) did a great job of stepping in and keeping that rolling. They were very aggressive with the outside linebackers and d-ends. It was good to see those guys really step up.”
(Any update on TE Jordan Cameron and his possible return?) – “Not really. He’s still in the protocol. We’re kind of just going through the steps that we have to go through. It’s one of those things that you have no control over it. I talk to him just to see how he’s doing and get as much of an update as I can, but the league kind of handles all this and then we just play off of that.”
(Is there point where you’re going to have to make a decision on TE Jordan Cameron?) – “I don’t think we’re on any time table or deadline or anything like that.”
(What impresses you about Jarvis Landry, technically speaking as far as a receiver?) – “I think what he’s trying to do as far as, you don’t have many guys that are going to try to set the tempo of the game. Even that first reception he had, he wasn’t trying to run out of bounds. He tries to cut it back in and takes on the defender head on. He’s always trying to get every inch he can and you appreciate guys like that because it’s rare. I mean you don’t see a lot of guys do that. You don’t see a lot of receivers really fight for every inch. When he is the primary guy and he knows it, he’s going to make sure he gets open. When you have a guy like that, it’s kind of that I won’t be denied attitude, it makes it really easy for the quarterback because you don’t have to look anywhere else.”
(And the effort WR Jarvis Landry gave you on Pittsburgh’s onside kick?) – “Yes. That makes you … I know this, when I saw them go in that direction, there’s a comforting feeling knowing that he’s the guy that’s going to be handling the ball. He’s one of those guys that will just get the job done, no matter what it looks like, no matter how hard he’s going to get hit. That ball went up in the air, I saw him going at it and I was like, ‘We’re good.’ And that’s a good feeling to have.”
(Speaking of onsides, take us through your thinking in the first half?) – “We were looking to steal a possession and it didn’t work out. But it was good. It was a good thought. That’s kind of what … We wanted to be aggressive in this game. We felt good because we had so many guys healthy. We felt like we had our team ready to go for this game and those guys were ready to go. We told them we weren’t going to play scared in this game. We’re not going to play … We were going to play to win.”
(What was the difference from the defensive standpoint, outside of the edge setting, that made you guys so successful in the pass coverage?) – “I think the first thing that helps is they had 53 plays instead of 76. They did a great job that first series of getting off the field. We had a long drive, they’re on the sideline, they’re fresh, they come back out, three-and-out and we have a long drive. I mean it just … It makes life a lot easier for those guys when they don’t feel like on offense we are going three-and-out, three-and-out, three-and-out and they’re trying to hold everything together. That’s how we built this defense was we need to figure out a way to get a lead so those guys can do what they do. And then, we have good pass rushers, and we want to get a lead so the other team has to throw it, so we can go after them.”
(This might be a dumb question. You have a touchdown called back on T Ja’Wuan James, the illegal formation?) – “That wasn’t Ja’Wuan’s (James) fault.”
(They called it back. They check … don’t they review every touchdown? Couldn’t they check the formation?) – “The penalties … Once the penalty is thrown, that’s it. You’re not going to get that one back. And (the officials) weren’t wrong. I thought they were but they weren’t wrong. (laughter)”
