Future in jeopardy?
Timmons situation runs against culture Gase built
“I haven’t gotten through step one yet. ... Kind of dealing with the guys that played.” Adam Gase, when asked about Lawrence Timmons’ status
First topic, first question: Lawrence Timmons’ status? Dolphins coach Adam Gase’s voice went flat and his tone smoldered like lava Monday afternoon.
“I haven’t gotten through step one yet,” Gase said. “I kind of got in late last night — kind of dealing with the guys that played.” Has he talked with Timmons? “No.” Is he in the building? A shrug. “No idea.” Gase later went back to that thought — “I’m dealing with the guys that played,” — and even later dismissed the lack of depth at linebacker without Timmons — “We’ve had a lot worse situations in other positions before.”
We’ll see where this goes. Timmons, who went AWOL on Saturday night and missed Sunday’s opener, wants to return to practice and play Sunday, according to a source. The fact that this wasn’t resolved Monday says Gase wants to mull over it a while in a way he should.
We don’t know exactly why Timmons left the team Saturday. His agent Drew Rosenhaus said the reason was “of a personal nature” in a TV interview Sunday night.
But Timmons didn’t tell the team as he left it on the eve of their first game. That’s not good.
The Dolphins were worried enough to file a missing person’s report with police,
according to a source with knowledge of the situation, and TMZ reported that Timmons was found at the Los Angeles airport, waiting for a flight to Pennsylvania to see his family.
While we don’t know exactly what was at work here, you can bet the Dolphins do. Gase sure does. And he isn’t ready to write it off as easily as Dolphins players were Monday, because he understands something bigger is at work here than just play at linebacker.
The bigger issue: You want to beat the Patriots? You create a culture like they have. That’s the only way. That’s what Gase started his first season, the one where he didn’t just win games but changed the mindset and values inside the team.
All the great sports teams, the ones that last, build a lasting culture. Look at the Heat, where Pat Riley has inspired “The Heat Way” into an accepted mantra in town for the manner they conduct professional
business.
Gase began injecting that his first season with the Dolphins. Working hard? He called out his team for bad outings. Holding players accountable? You can see how that’s working out with receiver DeVante Parker blossoming, as Sunday’s win showed.
Rewarding those inside the program? The Dolphins signed their own guys for big money this off-season rather than signing other team’s free agents for big money.
Building with players who care? This is where we are with Timmons. He cared enough in Pittsburgh to start 101 straight games. He had no public issues. But on the eve of his first Dolphins game something happened to set him off to leave without even telling the coach.
Again: Gase knows why he left the team. And again: Gase wasn’t dismissing the
problem Monday, as he easily could have. So the question becomes if it’s Timmons who gets dismissed.
The linebacking corps, already thin with the loss of rookie Raekwon McMillan, would be down to Kiko Alonso, Mike Hull, Chase Allen and the idea of Rey Maualuga. That’s not much. Hull is a good special-teams player who is a fill-in starter. He played every snap Sunday, had 10 tackles and drew Gase’s praise.
“It’s what he’s done since he got here and every time we put him in the game,” Gase said. “He knows how to play football. He has a knack for finding the ball.”
Undrafted rookie linebacker Chase Allen moved up to take Hull’s role as a part-time linebacker. He played a quarter of the game, had four tackles and “did a great job,” Gase said.
There are salary-cap issues in deciding what to do with Timmons. He signed a two-year, $12 million deal. But it looks like $11 million in cap money if he’s cut this year. We don’t know if he will be, but Gase didn’t rule it out when asked. Nor did he rule it in.
He was in full-Belichickian mode of few words on a Monday when the talk should have been about the Dolphins’ opening win after a displaced week in California. Instead, Gase talked of his two rules for players.
“Be on time and play hard,” he said.
His tolerance when they’re broken?
“What do you think?” he said. Uh, not happy. “I got two rules. It’s not hard.”
What’s harder: Building a winning culture. And a decision on Timmons.