Learning about Adam Gase
Hyde: Timmons issue is revealing.
DAVIE — You had to listen closely Wednesday, so closely, because Miami Dolphins coach Adam Gase was giving up words as begrudgingly as his defense should yards. He wasn’t offering anything on why linebacker Lawrence Timmons left the team on the eve of Sunday’s opener …
“Everything dealing with that, we’re just going to keep in-house,” he said. “We’ve handled it the way we feel like we need to handle it. And, really, I don’t have anything to add to that.”
… or if Timmons’ indefinite suspension could be lifted at some point …
“It’s going to be something that I’m keeping in-house and I’ll decide on that later.”
… or if he has all the information about Timmons’ disappearance.
“We’ll keep everything in-house — I’m not going to get into this.”
Only when asked if suspended players can come back in his world, if his coaching philosophy and developing team culture includes second chances, did Gase crack the door a little. Just enough to see how this should end.
“I think every situation’s different, and I would say that you can be forgiven if the right steps are taken,” he said.
So you can assume there’s a road map out there for Timmons to follow that leads back to the field for the Dolphins, if he follows it. The map most likely has little to do with practice or linebacking roles. It’s a
matter of shoring up whatever in his personal life that made him leave on the eve of the season without telling the team.
This is a situation that began to be about Timmons, but it ends up being about Gase. Bill Parcells said a head coach has five things come across his desk each day that he’s never dealt with before. The good coaches are able to deal with them in a way that keeps the team pointed to winning.
Gase started to answer last year if he could make the leap from star coordinator to in-charge head coach. That’s a sizable gap that a lot of coaches aren’t able to pass. It’s not just recently failed Dolphins coaches like Cam Cameron, Tony Sparano and Joe Philbin.
In Dallas, Jason Garrett went from being an offensive whiz kid to a head coach who doesn’t do much beyond slap backs and make weak adjustments in big games.
In New York, Ben McAdoo promised “drastic” changes this week after an offense that scored 26.3 points with him as coordinator has averaged 17.9 points since he took over the head coaching job.
The Chargers’ Anthony Lynn, in his second game as head coach, saw his offense slice through the Dolphins’ defense late in the game Sunday before getting in decent field-goal range. They then sat on the ball. Why not keep pushing for a chip-shot field goal instead of a 44-yard attempt that missed?
You keep waiting for Gase to swing and miss on something like that. Like many of his peers. He keeps staying right on message. Sunday strategy. Football culture. Dealing with an eve-of-the-opener surprise like Timmons not showing up.
The issue from Gase’s standpoint wasn’t why Timmons left. It wasn’t if the linebacker was repentant and wanted to return immediately. It wasn’t if the defense was in such dire straits a desperate trade was made with New Orleans for a backup, Stephone Anthony.
Timmons committed the biggest sin a pro player can commit. He wasn’t there for his team. He didn’t even tell the team, which filed a missing-person’s report, where he was going. That’s the issue as Gase understood it.
You can come back from anything in today’s sports world. You can come back from legal issues. You can come back from personal demons. The Dolphins just signed safety T.J. McDonald to a fouryear, $24-million deal despite him being suspended for the first eight games of the season for violating the NFL’s substance abuse program.
You can come back from anything — and Gase said as much about Timmons.
“You can be forgiven if the right steps are taken,” he said.
So it’s up to Timmons on some level. Gase has been right in staying true to his culture by suspending a player who didn’t show. He’s also right in keeping the door open for him to return, just as he should. This season needs him.