Dave Hyde:
New Dolphins coach is refreshingly intriguing.
DAVIE — He bounded to the front of the room in ball cap and blue jeans like it was a timed sprint, and then Adam Gase, already the most energized coach in Miami Dolphins history, said, “OK, I’m going to hit you with a couple of roster updates.” And so we begin again. We begin another Dolphins training camp Friday. We begin another Dolphins era in September. And we begin with yet another first-time coach who, this time, is young, brash, opinionated, wonderfully profane and carrying an open personality that the previous coach, Joe Philbin, lacked.
Change can be good that way. A measure of preseason optimism can be, too. But progress is measured in victories, and anyone predicting more of those right now needs to review the past 15 seasons and see how little July predictions matter.
Here’s a prediction, though: Win or lose, Gase will be more interesting than any of his immediate predecessors. Rise or fall, he will offer more of himself and a bigger personality than any Dolphins coach since Jimmy Johnson.
That, in itself, can be fun to listen to. It can hold a room. And holding a room can help him win. The players, you see, became just as bored by Philbin as anyone else. So here’s a change. Just listen to
what Gase said in his precamp news conference Tuesday.
On his team: “We were 6-10 last year. The team up in New England has won the division, like, 13 of 16 years. We got a lot of work to do.”
On practices in South Florida’s heat: “I’m a little disappointed, to be honest with you. Baton Rouge is way hotter than it is down here. So if I hear anybody complain about weather, I’m going to be severely disappointed.”
On his top priority in camp: “Probably just to see where our mental toughness is. Because it’s going to be tough in camp. We’re going to work, and we’re going to make it hard, and we’re going to see — when it really gets tough — who’s going to rise to the top and who’s going to fall off.”
The new coach has arrived.
His team remains en route.
There’s the other measured question of the season, of course: How much talent does this team have?
And with the secondyoungest team in the league, how much of that is NFL-ready? And how does that NFL-ready talent mesh with what Gase wants to do?
The two roster moves Gase announced Tuesday at this edge-of-training camp news conference came with cautionary tales: Veteran running back Arian Foster officially signed, and second-round draft pick Xavien Howard was lost to a knee injury until maybe the first game.
The fact the Dolphins need Foster, who is 29 and coming off an Achilles’ injury, tells of the runningback questions. The loss of Howard from an alreadythin cornerback unit says the Dolphins better get someone else signed soon.
Leon Hall? Antonio Cromartie? As training camp approaches, they barely have enough hopeful talent to field a secondary. Wait until they put on pads in camp, much less the season in September, and the real injuries begin.
Gase, meanwhile, will be under the brightest spotlight this season. He says what they’ve all said their first July, all the first-time NFL head coaches preceding him in this job — Philbin, Tony Sparano, Cam Cameron and even Nick Saban.
“It’s feels no different for me right now,” he said. “It feels like what it always has been.”
That will change soon. That’s the nature of the job. We’ll see how he is after a tough loss. Or, more truly, after three losses in a row. There are a lot of ways up the mountain in coaching. New England’s Bill Belichick has a closed mouth and somber attitude. Seattle’s Pete Carroll is open and emotional. They’ve each won Super Bowls.
Gase ultimately will be judged on wins and losses, but his way represents one the Dolphins haven’t tried for a while. Youthful energy. Brash passion.
“Time will tell,” he said. “I’m interested to see it myself.”
He was talking of how his players evolve into a team. The same can be said of him as a head coach.