Adam Gase Pleased With Tannehill's Health, Excited For New Season
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Miami Dolphins head coach, Adam Gase joined the Joe Rose Show on 560 WQAM Thursday morning and opened up about a bevy of interesting topics.
Miami is coming off a surprising 2016 season in which they won 10 games and made the playoffs, the first time either had happened since 2008.
While most head coaches would be more than pleased with those kind of results in their first season, Gase seems more anxious to improve on Miami's problem areas.
"The good thing is I don't know if we can get much worse on offense or defense so we should be better," Gase said. "We should see a different style of football going on."
After beginning the season 1-4, the Dolphins turnaround was as stunning as it was needed amongst the players and fans.
Following Miami's Week 5 loss to Tennessee, Gase raised a lot of eyebrows by cutting two offensive lineman who had started that game.
Dallas Thomas and Billy Turner, two lineman that were recent 3rd round draft picks by Miami (2013 for Thomas, 2014 for Turner), were shown the door.
With the notion that nobody's job was safe, there was a clear change in atmosphere in the Dolphins locker room.
"I believe our season changed because our players held themselves accountable," Gase simply said.
Another big reason for Miami's turnaround was the play of quarterback Ryan Tannehill.
When Gase was hired by the Dolphins it was believed that he would come in and help Tannehill take the next step in his career progression, and that's exactly what happened.
"He really improved," Gase said of Tannehill. "As the year went on, he was able to get better and feel more comfortable. That Arizona game, things stared slowing down for him and I'm looking forward to building on that."
Yes, the Arizona game. The one where a low tackle by Calais Campbell late in the game ended Tannehill's season by partially tearing the ACL and MCL in his left knee.
Fortunately for Tannehill and the Dolphins, reconstructive ACL surgery was not needed and by Gase's account, his quarterback is good to go.
"He looks good to me," Gase said. "I'm not a doctor but nobody has said anything to me. He looks normal to me."
MORE QUOTES FROM ADAM GASE
On Miami's offseason- "I thought we did a good job when we finished free agency. We were able to draft the best player we had and we liked. [Dolphins GM] Chris [Grier] did a good job sticking to the board, getting to meet those guys we feel good they can come in and compete."
On free agent addition TE Julius Thomas- "The one thing that impressed me is the maturity, he really grew up. The thing I see off [his time in Jacksonville], he has a better feel than he had when he was with me [in Denver]. When I watch him now, the detail he does everything with is really impressing me. It will be fun for both of us being together. He knows what I'm thinking and I know what he likes to do."
On the guard position- "I like where we are at right now. I like that we were able to draft a guy. I think we got the right kind of guy we drafted in the 5th round and we have two vets and we like where they are at and we will have them compete."
On the Dolphins running game- "We tried to get Damien [Williams] and Kenyon [Drake] more involved but I think we had the fewest amount of plays in the league. If I can have Jay [Ajayi] between 22-25 carries, that's ideal. If I can get him to 22-25 carries that a good sign because it probably means we are winning the game."
On Miami WR DeVante Parker- "I'm really excited to see how things keep progressing. We had a really good three game stretch before he got banged up and I think that's carried over. He's healthy, he's come in great shape, he dove into the playbook."
Listen to the full interview with Adam Gase on the Joe Rose Show: