Adam Gase – October 22, 2018
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Monday, October 22, 2018
Head Coach Adam Gase
(What can you tell us about WR Albert Wilson’s hip?) – “I think he is on a flight to go see a specialist right now. I don’t think we’ll find out until tomorrow afternoon maybe what the results are. It doesn’t look good right now.”
(Are you thinking injured reserve is a possibility?) – “Yes. I’d say it’s probably a very high possibility.”
(Is there a concern beyond this year?) – “I have not been told that, so I don’t think so.”
(What were your thoughts yesterday on WR DeVante Parker’s agent and his comments towards you?) – “Nothing. I’m working on the next game. It’s something that doesn’t really bother me or really concern me. We’re going to do what we have to do for that game and every week changes.”
(WR DeVante Parker, you said yesterday he wasn’t completely healthy?) – “When we go through practice, there’s certain things that we ask guys to do to make sure guys are alright. The week before, we put him out there, he didn’t play many plays. It just came down to how good we felt about everything (and) who we wanted up in special teams. I was kicking myself the week before because I didn’t have (Kalen) Ballage up because I’m pretty sure on that goal line situation, it would have been nice to give our 6-foot-2, 240-pound rookie halfback the ball in that situation.”
(With the WR DeVante Parker situation, will that affect his place on the roster going forward?) – “We don’t have any more receivers so I’m sure he’s going to play.”
(Do you think WR DeVante Parker can play well for you?) – “Yeah.”
(If so, why? What’s your confidence in him?) – “Because I’ve seen him do it before. Those other four guys were playing good. The last two weeks, we’ve had some good football on offense. That was unfortunate yesterday, especially with Albert (Wilson). I saw him at halftime when he was leaving. He was like ‘I was one step away from taking it to the house.’ I’m like ‘I wish you would’ve because you wouldn’t be in the position you’re in right now.’”
(It seems like WR Albert Wilson has been one step away from taking it to the house every time he’s touched the ball this year.) – “Pretty much.”
(For a final thought or statement on that, I’m curious if that one hurts you because it seemed like that had fit exactly like you intended?) – “I think any time that any of our guys get hurt, it stings. Especially when guys have a grasp of what we’re doing and they fit in to what we want and they’re executing it the right way. Those guys were really enjoying … That group was really playing well together. Those four guys, they were all playing off each other. It was just unselfish football going on. Nobody cared who was getting the ball, it was all about how we are getting in the end zone. To lose both those guys (Stills and Wilson) in the same game was hard. That one is hard because you’re trying to figure out what’s next, how do we replace that, where do we go, how are we going to move things around?”
(What can you tell us about WR Kenny Stills’ situation?) – “It’s going to be this game and we’ll figure it out after that. He has a groin (injury). We talked about it today, we just have to see how he handles everything, how his body reacts to treatment and stuff like that.”
(But WR Kenny Stills is out this week?) – “Yes, he’s out this week.”
(Did you have to sit down with WR DeVante Parker or anything this week after things happened?) – “We have a protocol that we go through as far as when we tell guys they’re inactive. It’s just what we do.”
(Did WR DeVante Parker react differently than normal?) – “Nothing that got back to me.”
(How would you describe your relationship with WR DeVante Parker at this point?) – “It’s fine. I saw him this morning. We talked a little bit and that was it.”
(Do you have any other significant concerns coming out of the game injury-wise as far as guys that got banged up and might have come back in?) – “No. I think Mike (Gesicki) was a little better than I thought he’d be. That was really the one I was worried about because if he’s out, then we’re really depleted in numbers. We can move some things around, we can get him healthy enough to really be ready, feel good and go.”
(Do you feel particularly good about how WRs Isaiah Ford, Leonte Carroo or Malcolm Lewis has done in practice?) – “Yes. I feel like those guys keep getting better. They compete every day. I have no problems with those guys. Whenever we have to make a decision on who’s doing what, who’s coming up and all of those type of things, I have no hesitation with those guys.”
(I know you haven’t practiced yet, but do you feel like you have enough receivers to make it through Thursday night’s game?) – “Yes. We’ll figure it out. We have five running backs, we’ll play all of those guys. That was what we were doing yesterday. We were saying to Kenyan (Drake), ‘run straight, turn left.’ (laughter) We’ll figure it out.”
(How did RB Kenyan Drake do with that?) – “We didn’t get him the ball but we were trying to get creative as fast as possible.”
(Of all the backs, is RB Kenyan Drake the closest one or the easiest one to transition to receiver?) – “I don’t know. He might be. Maybe (Kalen) Ballage can do a lot of stuff, because he was staying after with Luke (Falk) every day throwing and running routes. Those guys always talk about some of the routes that they actually got him to do and he does well. That whole group is talented. They all have different skillsets, so it will be interesting to see how we do it this Thursday.”
(We saw QB Brock Osweiler on the injury report. It is him starting this week, right?) – “Yes.”
(How bad of shape is QB Brock Osweiler in?) – “He’s alright. He’ll be alright. You kind of get banged up every once in a while.”
(It’s kind of a unique situation, QB Brock Osweiler returns to a place where he played and did not have a lot of success and faced a lot of criticism. What have you said to him, what will you say to him? What kind of approach do you want him to mentally take into this particular game?) – “Just focus on this game, just us. He’s not going to worry about anything that’s happened in the past. It’s over. I think he’s in a good place being here. He’s doing a good job. He’s played well the last two weeks. We won one game. He played well enough to win the last one. We didn’t come through in the other phases. The past is the past and all of us have been on different teams. Help us win this game.”
(Have you reached out to any of your mentors in regards to how snake-bitten this team has been with injuries– “No. This is not the first time that I’ve personally been through this in different places. Every coach in the league has gone through (this) where guys are going down. You have to figure out a way to make it work and move some things around and put guys in the right position. That’s the whole job. Whoever is healthy, you get those guys ready and you have to have that next-man-up mentality. Are we going to be able to replace Albert Wilson tomorrow? Probably not. You’re going to have to try to figure out a way to spread the ball out to where different guys kind of replace certain aspects of the game.”
(When somebody puts up 248 rushing yards on you, obviously you have to go to the film. What did the film show you?) – “That we didn’t play well as a group. It was bad. We have to clean up a lot of stuff. We have to get on the same page and everybody needs to make sure they play as a group. We just did not do a good job of all three levels working together. It’s unfortunate because I felt we had an opportunity to do something at home, win a game where we could put ourselves in a really good position. We didn’t take advantage of it. They gutted us on defense. There was too many big holes. We didn’t play well as a group. That’s what happens.”
(Do you have time this week to make lineup changes or is that something to consider?) – “It’s not about lineup changes, it’s about everybody being on the same page and doing the right stuff to make sure that we have a chance to stop the run.”
(What did you see from TE Mike Gesicki Sunday?) – “I thought there was some good stuff there before he went out. It was nice to see him get a big play. At least we’re not the only ones that think he might be good one-on-one, because they doubled him down there in the red zone. We’ll just keep bringing him along and hopefully as the season goes on, he just keeps getting better and better and we keep using him more.”
(You all are at toward the bottom of the league with 11 sacks. Are you and Defensive Coordinator Matt Burke puzzled at all there hasn’t been more of a consistent pass rush with accomplished pass rushers?) – “Where are we at in pass disruption? Where is our pass disruption as far as hits and pressures and sacks and stuff like that? That’s what I care about. Sacks are irrelevant. If you’re causing pressure on the quarterback and he’s getting rid of the ball faster, that’s what we care about.”
(Is that how you guys are playing?) – “It’s not good enough because we want to be up in the top five and we haven’t done that. Getting Cam (Wake) back and another game under his belt, that will kind of help us. We just have to keep figuring out a way to free a couple of guys probably early because they’re keying on those defensive ends. I think every game that (Andre) Branch plays, he’ll keep getting stronger and keep coming. We’re kind of in that middle of the season where everybody is banged up and we just have to push through it.”
(With injuries piling up and inconsistent play as you said, nearing the midpoint of the season, what gives you reason for optimism for the rest of the season?) – “Because we’re 4-3 right now and we’re going to get better. They’re not going to cancel the season.”
(Why is the arrow pointing up?) – “Because that’s how we think. I know you guys want to just fold up shop and go home, but that’s not what we’re going to do. We’re going to grind it out and we’re going to figure out a way to get wins.”
(How do you feel about QB Ryan Tannehill’s progression in his recovery right now?) – “I think he’s in a good spot. This being a short week, it would have been tough. We’re probably going to be able to start doing some things with him throwing and kind of seeing how that feels. Once we get through this game then we’ll have a better idea once we head into the weekend as far as where he is, how much further along he has or if he feels good. It’s really going to take the duration of this week and we’ll probably have a better idea by the weekend.”
(You said he’ll throw this week?) – “I think so, at some point. I don’t know if it’s going to be an NFL football. We might grab one of our kids’ nerf balls or something.”
