When Adam Gase took his talents to South Beach, no one could have expected this.
It is far too early to consider him a young Don Shula, but Gase, at 38 the NFL’s youngest head coach, has changed the culture and the perception of the 7-4 Dolphins. And he has been the quarterback whisperer that has locals, wishing for too long that Dan Marino would return, now brimming with hope that Ryan Tannehill can be the long, lost franchise quarterback.
Peyton Manning swore by Gase in Denver, and if Tannehill (15 touchdowns, eight interceptions, 66 percent completions) truly has been fixed, the poor Jets will have a new mortal enemy not named Bill Belichick and Tom Brady and the Patriots. Tannehill never has been better than 8-8 in his previous four seasons and never had won six straight games … until now.
How did Gase earn Tannehill’s trust?
“I think he did a good job of coming in the door when we first started, trusting as far as really putting himself out there in saying, ‘What do you need me to do?’ ” Gase, by phone, said of Tannehill. “And, that was something that was very helpful for us as a coaching staff, because there was no convincing, ‘Hey, we want to do it this way.’ He just put himself out there, and rolled with the punches. And if he didn’t like something, he didn’t really say anything, he just kind of went with it, and as we’ve gone along and the longer we’ve kind of been together.
“It’s easier for him now to say to me, ‘I’d rather do this than that,’ or, ‘I like this concept better than this concept.’ The communication’s easier for him. He came in very open, and didn’t judge anything off of whatever we were doing in the past or whatever they did in the past. He basically wiped the slate clean, and started from scratch.”
Gase said he has taken to the new scheme.
“When you’re in a new system, it’s one of those things where you’re really trying to get a grasp of what’s going on, and understanding the fine details and getting yourself to the point where you’re almost reacting more than thinking,” the coach said. “When you get to that point, then you’re able to help other guys be in the right spot, if somebody struggles and isn’t lined up right or doesn’t know what they really should do — being able to help those guys out, being able to be in a meeting and help coach a guy up as far as how he sees it or how he would like maybe a receiver to run a certain route, a certain run course.
“There’s more of a communication there because your knowledge is greater than what it was before. And I feel like that’s been a big stride for us, especially the last six weeks, where I felt like he really got a good grip on what we were doing. It does take some time because we’re limited in what we do in the offseason and in training camp. That process kind of has been taken away a little bit, and it does take time during the season, sometimes you have to develop through the season and kind of learn on the fly a little bit.”
The play caller and the quarterback — even Bill Walsh and Joe Montana — are never immediately two heads on one body.
“I think we had some growing pains,” Gase said. “Every time you get with a different quarterback, you kind of get a little bit of a rhythm going. It may have maybe took a little longer for me to adjust from my past. He’s the third quarterback that I’ve been around in the last three years, and what he likes is different than what Jay [Cutler] likes and was different from what Peyton likes. So, it does take time to kind of adjust.
“Sometimes you get a false sense in practice as far as guys running plays, and you might think that he likes something and then you get into a game and then he doesn’t so much. You go through a little bit of a process trying to figure out what’s best for the group that we have here.”
Gase doesn’t find it too much of a burden to be the play caller and head coach.
“That was something that I have no interest giving up, because at the end of the day, you do this because you enjoy it so much, and I like being a part of that group. I like calling plays. I like having a dialogue with our players on offense,” Gase said. “Just knowing enough guys around this league that have done it for a while, they all said the same thing: It’s not going to be easy, but that’s why you got the job is because you can call plays good enough to put your offense in a good position.”
With Gase by his side, Tannehill never has been more respected as a leader.
“He’s put in all the time, he works as hard as anybody I’ve ever been around,” Gase said. “I think guys appreciate how much personal time, and how much time when he is in the office that he’s put in to help us get better each week. I think guys respect that, and I think guys go out there and the communication’s really good on and off the practice field, so I feel like there is a good bond with that whole offensive union.
“And I think some defensive guys are seeing him as far as somebody’s that’s really taken control of our offense.”
When you ask Gase to define his ideal football player, he makes sure to mention the indefatigable Mike Tannenbaum, the Dolphins’ executive VP of football operations — who fearlessly stole offensive guard Laremy Tunsil with the 13th overall pick in the draft and is haunting the Jets — along with GM Chris Grier.
“I think what we’re looking for in our organization, between Chris Grier, Mike [and myself], is we are looking for guys that this is their No. 1 priority,” Gase said. “You always want talent as far as that upper-tier talent. We all can say that around the league, but we’re looking for those little, tiny, tangible things. … ‘Are you one of those guys that loves ball so much where practice is meaningful to you? Where you love being out there?’ We love guys with great energy. We love guys that constantly love talking about football. And the reason why we like that is those type of guys are usually the guys engaged. And always asking questions or always trying to better themselves. Attitudes like that are very contagious within the locker room.”
Sounds like Patriots South all of a sudden.
“I can’t speak on what’s gone on here before we were afforded the opportunity really to start over,” Gase said, “That was something that we really made an emphasis on with all our guys, players, coaches, support staff … whatever you’ve been in the past is really irrelevant to us, because we’re going to go through our own evaluation process. So if you want to be the first guy in the building and work hard and go things right, that’s all we’ll know. So that’s the opportunity that you have ahead of you.”
Gase is a breath of fresh air, comfortable in his own skin, tough when he needs to be. Gase left pouting running back Jay Ajayi at home for the opener in Seattle but showed he was fair by letting him out of the doghouse at the proper time. Gase said he isn’t quite sure how to label his motivational style.
“I would just say the environment that we’ve tried to create from the get-go is one of energy, attitude, even having a little bit of a swagger, enjoying playing this game,” he said.
“The window’s so short and so small for these guys. We want them to be able to be in an environment, one that they enjoy coming to work, they love going to practice, they enjoy being around their coaching staff, because they know they’re going to get coached. They’re going to get guys that want to help those guys improve and put them in a position where they can play well on Sunday. And at the end of the day, that’s why we like being around these guys that love football, because when you create that kind of environment to where everybody’s kind of pulling in the same direction. Now players can just go to work and find ways to get better.”
Gase has been influenced by the likes of Manning and Nick Saban and Mike Martz and John Fox.
“I think there’s a whole bunch of different forms of leadership,” he said. “I will say this: I’ve always respected guys that go out, do things right — whether it be within the building, on the practice field outside the building. Those are the type of guys that I’ve always really gravitated to as far as if I was ever one to follow somebody. It’s always those guys, that it’s more action than what they say.”
Gase said he is fortunate to have the savvy Tannenbaum, who knows the ropes, as a resource and teammate, along with Grier.
“There’s always great dialogue as far as, ‘What’s our plan for this week?’ ” Gase said. “And constantly just making sure we’re all on the same page within the organization, and we gotta keep our circle very tight, and I think that’s been a big key when we had some bumps in the road early on the year, us three trying to figure out a way to improve for the next week. And that’s kind of really been our mantra since the get-go is, ‘How are we going to get better?’ There’s no message that’s delivered to the players is off kilter from one guy to the other. All three of us are always in line with each other as far as the message we’re sending out to our organization.”