Adam Gase – October 2, 2017
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Monday, October 2, 2017
Head Coach Adam Gase
(Things that stood out as you looked at the tape, what are the most critical things do you need to correct offensively? What were your top two or three?) – “I thought the defense and special teams, they did exactly what they’ve really been doing to start the season out. I thought the defense played really well. I mean they kept us in the game as long as they could. Offensively, we’ve just got to … We have to do what we’re coached to do. We have to be more detailed at what we’re doing, and that’s where we’re putting ourselves in bad situations because we’re just not, we’re not getting it done. We’re not doing things right.”
(When you say not doing things right, can you elaborate?) – “It’s everybody. Guys just have to do what their job is and a lot of things will clean up.”
(How would you assess CB Cordrea Tankersley’s first start?) – “I thought it was good. It was what we were hoping for. I know he was excited when we told him earlier this week that he was going to be starting. The biggest thing was we were … We wanted to be careful because he hasn’t played a game in a month. We thought we had a good plan going into it and obviously it changed right before game time.”
(Is CB Cordrea Tankersley the starter now?) – “Yes.”
(Is there something in particular about CB Cordrea Tankersley’s game, his style, that you really like?) – “He’s just really what we’re looking for. We like the tall, long corners that come up and press and play physical at the line of scrimmage.”
(What did LB Lawrence Timmons add to the defense yesterday?) – “I mean he did exactly what we were all hoping for. He came out there and played his heart (out). He gave everything he had and was flying around the field. He got his hands on balls (and) made tackles. He did what we thought he would do.”
(LB Rey Maualuga, are you encouraged about him playing this week?) – “Yes, we’ll see how practice goes this week; but the sooner we can get him out there the better.”
(What would you say the confidence level is right now on the offensive side of the ball?) – “It better be high because we’re … If we do our job, if we do what we’re supposed to do, we’ll be fine. If we keep throwing crap out there and not doing what we’re supposed to do, then it’s going to be what it’s been the last two weeks. We can absolutely clean this up very simply by doing what we’re supposed to do.”
(CB Xavien Howard left the game early yesterday. Any update on his condition?) – “Yes, I mean we’ll see how this week goes. It just is what is. It was tough that it was towards the end of the game when it was pretty much over. Seeing him go down … But that’s how he plays. He’s going to play from the start to the finish. We’ll see how it goes this week. We’ll make an evaluation throughout the week.”
(On CB Xavien Howard, it’s not long term?) – “I don’t think so. Unless you know something I don’t.”
(You said a lot of detailed stuff but after the way you guys started last year 1-4 and now 1-2, do you warn players, like don’t panic but don’t think we can just flip a switch?) – “If you’re panicking, then you’re in the wrong profession. Your job is to come out each week. It’s a new week. Start over. You had 24 hours to bitch and complain about everything. Now it’s time to go back to work. Really, everybody needs to look themselves in the mirror and realize do your job and things will go right.”
(Do you tell them don’t rest on the fact that we were able to come out of it last year?) – “Nobody cares about last year. It’s a new year.”
(What are the challenges of playing a week without having a bye week coming back from London?) – “It is what it is. I’m fine. They’re fine. We’ll come out here and we’ll get practice.”
(Things that are going on obviously. A lot of things offensively are beyond QB Jay Cutler’s control. How would you assess how he’s played and your confidence in him is based on your history with him, or what?) – “Well, I know where the ball is supposed to go. I know who’s supposed to do what on every play. If we protect him and give him a second to throw the ball, we’ll be alright. If he’s going to get hit from start to finish, I don’t care who you put back there. We need to do a better job of protecting him, being where we’re supposed to be. There’s some things footwork-wise that he’s going to get better at. He knows where to go with the ball. We’re going to keep working on doing a good job protecting the football when things break down in the pocket; but we can’t let him just take hit, after hit, after hit, after hit and then expect him to stand in there. It’s not going to happen.”
(Last week you were talking about offensive changes or possible offensive changes. Now you’re saying guys have to do what they’re coached. Are you confident you have the right personnel and they just need to do their jobs?) – “We’re just going to … Like last week, we played more guys this week. We moved some things around that a lot of people probably didn’t even recognize. We’ll find … I’ll put the guys in there that I think are going to do the job I need them to do. I don’t have to specifically name names. When we hit Sunday, we’ll go through the week. If I feel like I got to put somebody else in or play somebody else more, then we’ll do it.”
(Are you surprised the blocking hasn’t been better from your offensive line primarily?) – “Some of it is the defense does a good job and they win some one-on-one matchups. Some of it is we don’t get the ball out soon enough. Some of it is we didn’t run the right route. It’s something different every time. We can easily get this cleaned up if we get more guys doing exactly what they’re supposed to do play in and play out, and we’ll have more success. When we have all these leaks in the dam and we keep trying to plug all these holes, that’s when you’re going to get in trouble. If guys come out and do what they’re supposed to do, we’ll be fine.”
(Was there anything specific that led to WR Jarvis Landry being the one to return punts yesterday?) – “No. Would you want him back there every once in a while?”
(Sure.) – “Yeah.”
(Are you going to use the same sort of philosophy this week or will things change in terms of rest or going in pads at practice or anything like that?) – “I don’t know. We’ll see. I’ve kind of been looking at it, but it’s a possibility. You’re thinking one thing one week, flop out a 0-point performance and things change.”
(WR Kenny Stills’ right hand, I guess he’s kind of gutting it out being out there. It didn’t look like he’s able to cradle the ball or use it fully. Is that accurate?) – “I can’t speak on that. I just know when you go out there, you’ve got a job to do.”
(The QB Jay Cutler to TE Julius Thomas … The interception in the end zone. Can you tell us what went wrong on that play?) – “There are a couple specific coaching points that will be made clear when we meet with the guys that I’d rather see done differently. There are a couple of things that need to happen because Jay is throwing a fade throw, so we need guys to do things right – protection, the route, the way they played it, where we’re at on the field. It wasn’t really an ideal call that I wanted, but I had about 1 second to make that call considering (Cutler) had to come to me and run 40 yards (back to the huddle). (The call was the) first one I could think of. We just need guys to execute that play better. “
(You had some wrinkles yesterday, obviously – read option, you had WR Jakeem Grant in early in the game. You tried some new things. Any of those you liked in terms of how they worked?) – “There were a couple of things that I did like and I was a little disappointed that we busted on the Wildcat deal. If we run that right, that’s a good play for us; but too many guys screwed up what we wanted to do. It’s just listen in the huddle, hear the huddle call and line up right. I’m glad (Jay) Cutler did what he did because that’s what he’s supposed to do. Unfortunately nobody knows that.”
(Do you think people pick on the quarterback too much?) – “Yes, it drives me nuts. I heard when I got here Ryan (Tannehill) couldn’t play. That was wrong. The evaluation skills that everybody (has) about quarterbacks is really bad. I’m not going to listen to anybody else outside myself.”
(The penalties – how do you feel about them?) – “It is what it is.”
(Are they all correctable?) – “If there is something to correct, yes.”
(Third downs, is that more of a product of first and second down not going well?) – “We have … I don’t know how many third-and-10-pluses we had. We put ourselves in situations where we got third-and-1, one play we convert and we get called back on an offensive pass interference. Then another one, we had the right play; we bust a run. If Jay (Ajayi) had that one to take back, he would’ve just stuck it up in there, even though we had an unblocked guy and just went one-on-one and probably got the first down. I think he was a little surprised the guy was unblocked. We screwed that run play up and that hurt us, because right there, at that situation, we need to be right. You’re fighting and scratching for every possession. You’ve got third-and-1, you’ve got what you want – you’re in third-and-manageable – and we can’t have that bust.”
