Adam Gase – September 21, 2016
Download PDF version
Wednesday, September 21, 2016
Head Coach Adam Gase
(On his message to the team today) – “Get back to work, focus on this week, the details. We got to clean a lot of things up that we are doing to ourselves. I think every week we’ve gone in and worried less about the opponent and more about what we were doing.”
(On an update on RB Arian Foster) – “Right now, we are going through our process as far as evaluating him and trying to rehab him a little bit and see where his strength is at. I’ll have a better idea when I get back in tonight.”
(On today being an injury day of as opposed to it being a veteran’s day off) – “Yes, this was from him coming out of the game.”
(On if he has a starter in mind or if it will be an open competition if RB Arian Foster doesn’t play on Sunday) – “We’ll look at practice this week. When we put our openers together, we will have a better idea of who it’s going to be.”
(On what he needs to see from someone to win the starting running back job) – “I think we are going to use whoever we need to use this game. If it’s more than one, I’m not opposed to that. I think all of those guys have great skill sets and they’re all different, which is a strength for us, at least that’s the way I see it. We’ll just see how this goes. Like I said, as far as what we do at the beginning of the game, that could dictate too a little bit who the first guy is out there.”
(On the difference between guys like RB Isaiah Pead and RB Kenyan Drake) – “With (Kenyan) Drake, he is a guy that you can use in a whole bunch of different areas. Outside, he can be an outside zone runner. He can go out and run a lot of routes. There’s a big route tree there. He is good at pass protection, which he really proved himself last week. A guy like (Isaiah) Pead, he really showed us how he was as far as running in the outside zone scheme and then still being flexible enough to go inside gap scheme. His strength is more of the running game and we’ve been trying to open up more of what he can do in the passing game. It’s something that he hasn’t really been able to do a bunch of. That’s why in training camp, you’re always trying to give those guys as many reps of things that, maybe they haven’t done before, to see ‘How well can he do this? How far can we bring him along.’ He showed some good things in training camp and the preseason games, it’s just we haven’t had the chance to get him out there in a real game.”
(On how disappointing it is to have QB Ryan Tannehill as the leading rusher with 52 yards) – “I’m alright with where we are at right now. I know why certain things are what they are and you’ll know if I have a concern with the running game.”
(On what needs to improve with the run defense this week) – “We got to get back to doing some of the little things that we did that first game. Leading into the regular season, we did a lot of good things in training camp. I know we were very detailed going into the regular season. They did a really good job against Seattle, which I think that was pretty obvious. Last week, we put ourselves in a bad situation and we got behind. Once they kind of got going there, it becomes tough. The play count starts getting high, then you start to get worn down and all of a sudden they are running power football, and you have all these guys taking double teams, and we’re trying to set the edge. They ran some plays where they got to the perimeter. You have to go back, you have to clean that up. It’s a team thing because we have to do a better job as far as keeping them off the field on offense. And when the defense does get out there, we have to make sure that we’re all sound in our assignment. It’s hard to evaluate and correct things, as far as schematics, if we’re not doing what we’re asked to do. There were a few times where we didn’t do exactly what we were coached to do, and now we have to go back and basically go through it and (say), ‘This is the details of what we’re doing on this defense.’ And then move forward from there. But it’s hard to say, ‘Hey, this scheme is no good.’ We have to execute it first and then if we have some holes there, we have to adjust.”
(On DT Ndamukong Suh in the fourth quarter of the New England game) – “I think he came out like three plays in there. He’d go like three, take one, and then jump back in there. The thing is, when you’re getting some of the schemes they’re running at us, it makes it tough. He goes through the entire game and almost every play gets double teamed, and you never see him get moved. A lot of times, he’s penetrating. So, if you could imagine you’re 300 pounds and you got 640 (pounds) hammering down on you, and you’re holding the point, eventually that may fatigue you slightly. (Laughter) I’ll say this: if he comes out of the game, it’s never for long. It’s like one play, and he’s back in there. We have to keep figuring out what’s the right rotation, and I keep going back to playing complementary football. We got to get it to where those guys are able to play as many plays as they possibly can. If we get that play count down, that’s going to help us.”
(On whether LB Donald Butler is ready to help the team) – “I think so. When you have a guy that’s a veteran guy and you’ve been in a couple defenses, this is what these guys do. I know I’ve said it before. NFL players learn playbooks. They’re all the same. There are slight little tweaks here and there; the terminology is a little different. He’s a smart guy. He works hard. He has been so engaged. He has been spending extra time trying to make sure he’s caught up as fast as possible. He is a guy that can jump in there right now and help us out if we need him to. He has been really doing a good job as far as (being) engaged in special teams to really say, ‘If I get the opportunity – and I’m up – I can help, whether it be special teams, defense, whatever you need me to do.’”
(On DE Cam Wake playing 16 snaps against the Patriots) – “He knew we got in a weird situation there, because being down what we were down … What were we down? We were down 31-3. We know what’s coming. We know it’s going to be a pound-the-rock situation. What happens is, sometimes you play these fronts, and he’s not a pass rusher anymore. All of a sudden, now you’re playing a five-technique, and you’re stuck inside, and all of a sudden you’re getting hammered with double teams. That’s really not what we want to do with him. We want to make sure we’re in the game – whether we have a lead or in the game – to where he can rush the passer. That’s what we want him to do. We want to get him up there to where it’s 35, 40, 45 snaps, to where we’re maximizing him as far as what he does so well. The couple of times that he was in there and got one-on-ones, he’s right by the quarterback. Going into next week, what we’re trying to make sure that we’re doing is, on first and second down, we’ve got to be ready to get him in there earlier. We’ve had our discussions as far as how we can do a better job. It’s going to be about making it more of a balanced game between the two sides, so we don’t get lopsided as far as the rep count goes.”
(On if there are more busts on defense than what he expected thus far) – “What happens is, it’s the minute detail of, maybe you were supposed to go through a guy and you took an edge. (It’s) things like that to where you have to be so fine-detailed in what you’re doing, because – like you said – when you play this type of defense, it’s about penetration. It’s about attacking; it’s about speed. When you do take the wrong angle sometimes, it can be a chain effect to everybody else. I know (Defensive Coordinator) Vance (Joseph) is very hard as far as what everybody is supposed to do, the exact detail of it, and he goes through it so thoroughly in his meetings you would think, ‘Why are we screwing that up?’ But that’s what happens; that’s what this game is. You’re trying to get perfection, but it’s an imperfect game. People are going to make mistakes, and it’s about how can you make less than the other team.”
(On whether mistakes made on defense are mental or physical) – “I think a lot of the times, it’s more physical than mental. I want to say for the most part, mentally we’ve been pretty sound. It’s just a couple things in coverage every once in a while. Sometimes it’s formation predicated. When you get thrown something different – guys are in different spots – you start getting that conversation, that’s when you get in trouble. You’ve seen a couple times where guys are pointing at each other – who has who – and now all of a sudden they’re snapping the ball, and you’re slightly late. In this league if you’re late, you’re probably in trouble.”
(On RB Jay Ajayi) – “I think as far as what we’ve been doing with him in practice has been really good. I feel like, personally, I have a better feel of what he likes to do. He has been very engaged. He has done a great job as far as a special teams role. I think that’s a little different for him, because he was a starter for so long – (during) OTAs, preseason – and sometimes when you’re in that role, you lose track a little bit as far as understanding that it might flip flop one time. All of a sudden, now you’re needed on special teams. I think what he did was he reevaluated what was going on. He really did focus on making sure that he could be helpful to (Assistant Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Darren) Rizzi. That’s why he was able to do what he did last week as far as coming up, playing, doing a good job, whether it be the running game or pass protection. He had a couple times where he really saved the day on pass protection, where he stoned a guy inside, and with his size, helped us because those linebackers are big guys. When (Jamie) Collins was coming through, he got in there and shielded it off to where we could get a throw off. In the running game, he did everything right. He had the one bad play, which was unfortunate. It was bad timing. I think if we keep growing with him from where we’re at right now, he should improve through the year.”
(On if he did any pre-draft work on Browns QB Cody Kessler) – “I didn’t personally do anything with him. We had a very small target group that we targeted as far as guys that we may take late. I think he kind of fell into the group that we thought was going to go earlier than what we were looking to possibly take at quarterback if somebody fell to us in that late round. I didn’t do a whole bunch of stuff on him. Obviously your scouting staff has plenty of information because these guys … there are 100 reports on every guy that is involved in the draft. When you go through those, you’re kind of like, ‘How many guys wrote this guy?’ The good thing is, you get the information. The tough thing for us right now is when we see him, there’s not really a ton of tape at this level and now it’s going to be adjust on the fly. We’re going to have to see what he does well at this level against our group, how he is going to react, what are they going to do (and) what are they going to emphasize. So we are going to have to do some adjusting during the game.”
(On how you limit the explosiveness and speed of WR Corey Coleman) – “You better do a good job of tackling and staying on top of him because when you have an explosive guy, when you have a guy that I think is averaging almost 25 yards per catch right now, that makes it tough. You have to do a good job. You cannot let him get by you because if he does, there’s a good chance it’s over. Defensively, we have to be smart. We have to make sure that we try to do the best we can to eliminate explosive plays. That’s the tough part about playing a guy like that because all it takes is one little slip up and now all of a sudden you’ve got a guy going 60 yards.”
(On if he could describe his perfect running back) – “For me, it’s a guy that’s flexible. I like a guy that can do multiple things. If you can contribute pass protection, run the ball and in the pass game, that’s ideal for me. I always like to figure out what their strength is and just really attack that. That’s why our running back room is interesting to me because every guy is so different. When (Running Backs Coach) Danny (Barrett) tells me somebody is going in, I have to be like, ‘Okay, he likes this, this and this.’ A lot of times I’ll go to the sideline, ‘Who is the next guy? Okay, you want outside gap scheme and you want to release from the backfield.’ So (I’m) going through, checking the boxes for myself to understand who is in the game and how to use them.”
(On how much of a challenge that presents for the offensive line) – “I don’t know if it is so much of a challenge for them because the play call kind of dictates to them what their course is, what their scheme is and things like that. So I don’t know if it’s so much of a challenge for them as more of a challenge for us (coaches) making sure we’re calling the right plays. That’s probably the hardest part because now you’re switching gears if you only get one series and then somebody else goes in. That makes it a little tough. I think the o-line listens to the call, they know where everybody is supposed to be and they stay on their track.”
(On if he has to have a package for each running back going into the game) – “Sometimes I have, if I have multiple guys. There were a few times in Denver where I had to do that just to make sure I didn’t call the wrong play. Knowshon (Moreno) was different than C.J. (Anderson). Ronnie Hillman was different than both of those guys. So you had to box everything off and be like, ‘These are the runs that I can call with this guy.’ Here, so far, I’m still feeling some things out. I know some strengths for the most part, but every once in a while I’ll be like, ‘You good with this?” They’ll say, ‘yes,’ then you watch them run it and you’re like, ‘I don’t think I’m going to call that one again.’ That’s the fun part, kind of the beginning of the season, because you’re still trying to feel some guys out and experimenting a little bit.”
(On if he has ever had a running back that tells him they’re not good at something) – “Yes, definitely. There have been some guys that I’ve had in the past that are very honest because they know the amount of touches they get. Rarely … how many running backs get 30 touches a game? They know they usually get between 12 and 15 so they want to make sure that you’re calling the stuff they like as much as possible. C.J. Anderson was always like, ‘Give me inside zone; give me inside zone,’ I’d call one outside zone and he’d be like, ‘Thanks,’ (and the play would go for) minus one. (Laughter) It’s the same thing with these guys. They want positive plays. They want a chance to be able to make some kind of play. So that’s why you have to be on it. They know those touches are limited.”
(On clarifying if LB Donald Butler is ready to play defense and not just special teams) – “Right. I’m saying (he’s ready to play) both.”
(On if RB Kenyan Drake can do everything) – “He has the ability. When you are a rookie, a lot of things are happening. Last week there were a couple of times where he was misaligned and I’m pretty sure I blacked out a couple of times yelling at him, trying to get to him but he couldn’t hear me. (Laughter) Those are the little details that you have to get. When you’re a rookie, you make some mistakes, that’s where you kind of lose a little bit where you want a guy to be able to play fast and when you see him walking around not sure what to do, that kind of puts you in a bad spot. He does have some ability. He did some really good stuff. Pass protection, him picking up a corner blitz, that’s something that you really don’t see young (running) backs do but he was aware of what was going on and did a good job.”
(On QB Ryan Tannehill’s durability having never missed a game) – “Some of the hits I’ve seen on tape and a couple of the ones I’ve seen so far, he’s done a good job as far as getting his body ready. It’s a tough position to play. You’re getting hit. I saw a couple of hits the last few days, especially watching the Philly/Chicago game the other night, where (Eagles QB Carson) Wentz took a couple of shots and popped right back up. Sometimes it’s age, sometimes it’s the way your body is structured. Some guys take those hits better than others. The thing is, you just hope that nothing happens and that quarterbacks are able to play the entire game. Some of these guys are big men running fast, and if you’re not right on your protection, it could be a bad injury.”
