Adam Gase – September 25, 2017
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Monday, September 25, 2017
Head Coach Adam Gase
(After looking at the film, what did you see about your defense yesterday? Because statistically it didn’t look that bad) – “I thought the defense did what they were supposed to do. They fought as long as they could to keep us in the game. We had … (their) longest run wasn’t even that long. (It wasn’t like they) had a bunch of explosive runs. There’s a couple of things that we want to clean up. I mean for the most part, guys were doing what they were supposed to do.”
(How do you think DT Davon Godchaux did in his first start?) – “He did well. I mean it wasn’t … He didn’t blow the doors off or anything; but, he did his job for the most part. You know he’s still … There will be some times where we have the neutral zone infractions and some of these guys feel veteran quarterbacks have some ways of getting young guys to jump. Josh (McCown) has been around for a long time. He kind of, when he sees a weakness, he’ll keep trying to expose it as many times as possible. That’s just one of those things you’re going to learn over time, when you’re a defensive linemen, of how to kind of hang in there and don’t get too engrossed in the cadence. You’ve got to stick with what you’re being coached (to do).”
(There was a report that LB Lawrence Timmons went to a Pittsburgh Steelers practice. Is that report accurate and if so, how much did that factor into the suspension?) – “That’s nothing I can really comment on right now.”
(Is there any change in LB Lawrence Timmons’ status with the team?) – “I don’t have an update for you on that.”
(What’s your diagnosis on the offense after looking at the film?) – “The only game I can think of that was as bad as that was the Tennessee game (last year). We’ll make the proper adjustments. We’re probably going to make some changes. We’ll figure out what we’ve got to do to get that thing rolling. I’ve been watching it for two years. It hadn’t worked, so we’re going to figure some things out and make some adjustments.”
(Very much a collective situation you think?) – “Just a lot of bad football. We had more mental errors than we’ve had in the last two years. We’ll just make some … I’ll find the guys that want to do it right and those are the guys that will play.”
(So personnel changes? That’s what you’re…) – “Possibly.”
(What was one thing that just vexed you yesterday that you, again and again, the same issue came up? Or is it something different every time?) – “It’s just surprising some of the stuff that we don’t do right. We’ve basically skimmed it back as much as we could over the last year and try to make it to where we can play fast and win one-on-one matchups. We’re not doing it, so we’ll figure out a way to make adjustments.”
(What was it about the Jets defensive front in the run game that made it a little bit tough sledding there?) – “I mean they’re good. Over the last two games really, there’s like four runs (against them) that were not very good, against the other two teams they played. Everybody got hung up on stats because of a couple of bad runs. We knew that was going to be a challenge. We weren’t buying into the hype of they weren’t a very good run defense. We played them twice last year. They penetrated and caused issues, made Jay (Ajayi) stop his feet which, the whole thing that makes him very successful is getting his shoulders squared downhill, and getting guys that have tackle him on the side, because they can’t. We just didn’t really create much for him.
(What on the film, if anything, did you like?) – “Nothing.”
(You mentioned the hurry up offense. Is that something you want to scale back now?) – “We’ll see. I don’t know. I’ve got some ideas, but it’s not really a hurry up offense when we snap the ball at two seconds every time.”
(How did QB Jay Cutler play on film?) – “Not as well as I’d like him to. He took a couple of vicious shots early. When you’re 34, it’s a little different than when you’re 25.”
(WR Kenny Stills left with I believe his right hand wrapped. Is he ok? Will he be okay for this week?) – “Yes, as far as I know. I think we’re day-to-day right now. With practice, I’m not really sure yet. I haven’t got that far yet.”
(It’s only a two game sample size, but the defense is allowing 3.1 yards per carry. It’s a big improvement from a year ago. What’s going right in that area?) – “I think guys are doing their job. We’re having less missed tackles. We had more yesterday than obviously we had the first game. I think we had nine yesterday; we had two the first game, somewhere around there. That’s really the biggest improvement we’ve had. Even last game, we felt like if we can get that (average at) 5 (yards) or under, that’s really what we want to be at. I think the guys are taking a lot of pride in it. I think the d-line is doing a great job trying to … They are eating up so many double teams with the tackles. We just have to make sure we fit everything right and then when we have them stopped for 2 (yards), let’s make it two. We can’t have a good play and we’re hitting a guy for 1 or 2 yards and then they’re still gaining 4 of 5. There were a couple of times where (Defensive Coordinator) Matt (Burke) called some really good defenses that we should have negative plays on and we’ve got to make sure we make that count.”
(How did LB Chase Allen do yesterday?) – “He did alright. It’s hard to say anybody really stood out on any phase. Any time you get a younger guy in there, it’s a learning experience. Every week you play, the schemes changes dramatically – run scheme wise most of the time – when you’re on the defensive side. One week you’re playing a team that’s outside zone, inside zone or gap scheme – it depends on what their flavor is – and then the next week you see something completely different. It takes time to get used to.”
(What did you think about what happened before the game? The Dolphins owner, Mr. Ross, came out and joined in solidarity with players to support their rights to protest. Did you have any thoughts about all of that?) – “No. I was focused on the game. That’s where my focus is.”
(Do you feel like President Trump’s comments were appropriate?) – “I’m not going to comment about any of that stuff because I’m a football coach. I just worry about trying to win games on Sunday.”
(It seems like you’re most upset with how the line of scrimmage was for you guys on offense. The offensive line didn’t…?) – “I’m upset about the way our offense played. I’m just tired of watching it for two years, just garbage. We’re going to figure something out.”
(I know you’re not interested in excuses, but the reality is you guys have been gone a lot the last couple of weeks. Now you have to get on a plane and fly to Europe. What can you do to keep these guys fresh both mentally and physically?) – “Well, for the most part, we scheduled everything we thought the right way. We feel like this week’s schedule is the same way. We’ve talked to the right people as far as how we want to sleep, nutrition, what we need to do to combat flying as much as we have so far. It’s really about following what everybody is advising our players to do. It’s just whether or not guys want to do it that way. You can’t hold everybody’s hand. At some point you have to be a man and do it right and be a pro athlete. Guys that want to do it right are usually the ones that have success. The guys that don’t, don’t end up lasting very long.”
(I think RB Jay Ajayi may have sat out the whole fourth quarter or something like that. Was that an effort to get him some rest in light of the way the game was going?) – “Any time we can get Kenyan (Drake) in there to take reps in a game situation … We were going to be throwing the ball more at that point. Jay had already taken, even though he didn’t have a ton of carries, he took some pretty good shots. I told (Running Backs Coach) Danny (Barrett) just keep him out unless we have to put him back. We just thought it was the best decision at the time.”
