Q. When it comes to physical, aggressive play,
how do your two young cornerbacks rate?AG: I think they’re up there. I like the way they
play. I like the way they tackle. I like the way they try
to get hands on receivers at the line of scrimmage.
Right now, “X” (Xavien Howard) is playing extremely
well. He’s playing extremely confident. He’s talking a
lot, which is great. I love it. “Tank” (Cordrea Tankers-
ley) is not short of confidence either. I do think the fact
that those two guys are aggressive and mix it up in the
run game is really helpful for us, because it’s eliminat-
ing big plays. I think the rest of those guys — line-
backers and D-linemen — when they see those guys
come up and tackle, that’s a big plus for us.Q. Do you have examples of how your nickel de-
fense is different with LB Lawrence Timmons
in there than previous plays or things you can
do now?AG: The guy is a really good player. I just know
that wherever the ball is, he’s not far behind it. He’s
got great instincts. He’s a really good tackler. He’s ex-
tremely effective when he does tackle because he
squares guys up and he goes through them. He does a
pretty good job in coverage. Every once in a while
he’ll have one or two where he’ll kind of make the
wrong decisions, but a lot of times he’s taking a
chance of making a play. Really at that position, be-
tween him and Kiko (Alonso), when those guys do
take a chance, I trust them that a majority of time
they’re going to be right.Q. DE William Hayes has been very productive
on limited snaps as compared to his defen-
sive line peers. Is that something you talk to
him about to keep him upbeat?AG: You don’t have to talk to him about anything
with him being upbeat. When you put him on the
field, you’re getting everything he has. He’s been one
of the most impressive players I’ve ever been around
with his work ethic, the way he is in the building.
Everybody respects him. He’s not afraid to speak up, I
think when he talks, everybody listens. He’s made
some big, big plays for us this year so far and it’s
early. Those guys playing defensive end right now in
that group ... we like that group a lot.Q. Are you ever amazed with how this team deals
with any kind of adversity, no matter what it is?AG: I don’t know. That’s what they do. I feel like if
it’s happened, we’ve seen it. I’m not going to press my
luck, though, and say, “What else can happen?” Guys
have done a great job. They come in, whatever’s hap-
pened we address it, talk about it and they do a great job
of moving on. That is what they do. That is what the
NFL is. You face adversity all the time. It is only going
to get worse the deeper the season goes, and it will be
different things. You just stay focused on your job, push
through, fight, put it on the back burner, and do your job.Q. Can you talk about your decision to stick with
Jay Cutler at quarterback despite the team’s
offensive struggles at the start of the season?AG: I don’t care what anyone says. I’m going to
do what I want to do, and what is best for the team.
That is how we operate. That is how we did it last
year. I know the direction we are headed. I watch
them in practice every day. I go through these steps
with these guys. We are practicing well. Why were
we not doing that well in a game? I still felt like he
was doing a lot of good things. We just got him in
August, and were a little bit behind from where I
thought we would be. The longer we keep going, the
better we are going to get, and that is the goal.Q. What has DT Jordan Phillips done well?AG: I think it’s just he’s doing his job. I see a guy
who every snap he’s out there, he’s playing hard. It
was really impressive (against Atlanta) to see — in
that second half, especially. He made two or three
plays right in a row. It’s just good to have him back
out there, a guy that size with that kind of movement
skills and to see how excited he is to be back out
there. He has been doing it really since that Philly
week. He has just been doing such a good job of
practice day in and day out, everything has been con-
sistent. He’s just doing everything right, and it’s
showing up on game day. For him to go back out
there — his first game back out there — and play as
well as he did, that was a good thing for us.Q. Have you seen defensive coordinator Matt
Burke put his stamp on this defense?AG:I think what he did was he took last year’s stuff
... we kind of ... we narrowed it down from what it
was last year. We figured we were probably doing too
much. Vance (Joseph) was trying to really figure out
what was best for us. That’s what’s tough about that
first year, it’s a little trial by error. I think this year com-
ing in, Matt had a better feel for what our players did
well and he could lean on that. That’s what he did. So
far it has been ... everything has been going good. It’s
all going to be about staying healthy at this point.Q. What have you seen from WR DeVante Parker
this season that’s different from past seasons?AG: I think he just has a good rhythm of how to
practice, how to prepare, how to get ready. When
you’re a bigger guy, sometimes some of these
smaller guys can just go out to practice, stretch a lit-
tle bit and get going. He’s got to get loosened up and
really have his body ready to go to really hit full
stride there in individual, which that’s what we want.
So he spends a little more time pre-practice to be
able to play full speed in practice.Q. In your experience, can extra practice, repeti-
tion, help cure dropped passes?AG: Yes. That’s the only way I know how to do it
to where you just catch as many balls as possible and
keep your focus and understand that once the last
play’s over, you’ve got to move on to the next one.
You can’t let it carry over. I think (against Atlanta)
was a good example of, in the first half, we had a cou-
ple of balls where we didn’t come up with and we
kind of figured out a way in the second half.OCTOBER 28, 2017 Dolphin Digest 5coach SPEAK Adam Gase
Head coach Adam Gase offers his thoughts on a wide variety of topics,
including the solid play of his two young cornerbacks, the difference in
WR DeVante Parker this season and how his team deals with adversity
CB Cordea Tankersley Digest Photo / STEVEN MURPHY