Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
The way we word
Hyde: Coaches’ language influences Dolphins.
You don’t have to open your eyes to see the changed culture of the Miami Dolphins before their biggest game of the year today in Baltimore. Just open your ears. Listen to how Dolphins coach Adam Gase talks this season compared with Joe Philbin the previous four.
“Hey, let’s tie your shoes.” — Philbin to Brent Grimes before practice. “We don’t have many rules.” — Gase. “We need cleaner [lockers].” — Philbin to assistants on HBO’s “Hard Knocks.”
“Be on time, be ready to work, take care of yourself. That’s about it.” — Gase of his rules.
“I want to congratulate Tennessee, the coaches and players. They clearly deserved to win the game. They played better than we did, without a doubt.” — Philbin after losing to Tennessee by 34 points in 2012.
“We were inept.”— Gase after losing to Tennessee by 13 points in October.
“We’ll utilize the players the best way we see to it. That’s my answer and I’m sticking to it.” — Philbin when asked if Ryan Tannehill would start at quarterback before facing Oakland in 2014, unintentionally starting a quarterback issue.
“[Tannehill] is why I took the job. That’s a starting point. When you feel comfortable with the quarterback you’re coming in with, that’s always a good starting point. — Gase.
“I was the one who told [offensive coordinator Bill Lazor] to run the ball on third-and-9, absolutely. I certainly did. I got a little queasy when I saw those guys running free with the quarterback running for his life. So we punted the ball, and that was that decision. That was totally on me.” — Philbin after punting to Green Bay with 67 seconds left in 2014 and then watching Aaron Rodgers win the game.
“We were going to win or lose throwing the ball and going for the touchdown.” — Gase after the final-seconds victory at the Los Angeles Rams.
“We had, up to that point, 48 or 49 yards of offense? I wanted to come into halftime and give our team a chance to get back into the
game.” — Philbin on running out the final two minutes of the half despite having three time-outs against Buffalo in 2014.
“We’re always going to attack.” — Gase after getting the ball at his own 14-yard line with 58 seconds before halftime and down 24-0 to New England and salvaging a field goal.
“We’ve got to play better, no question.” — Philbin after a preseason loss to Chicago in 2015.
“We got drummed. Let’s call it what it is.” — Gase after a preseason loss to Dallas.
“We do what we think is best for the team.” — Philbin when asked about reports saying Tannehill could not call audibles.
“In this offense, you’re not really locked in on what the play call is. For [Tannehill] to have the ability to know what to get to — that kind of flexibility — being able to do that as a quarterback is very valuable.” — Gase on why Tannehill can audible.
“He’s a good football player, and we’re excited about getting him on the ball club and seeing how he fits in. I think he’s a very good scheme fit for our style of defense, how we play, and that’s a positive.” — Philbin after signing Ndamukong Suh.
“He’s unique. I’m glad he’s on our side.” — Gase on Suh.
“I’m getting a little queasy about you. You got to take responsibility for your own career, what you’re doing and when you’re doing it. — Philbin to running back Daniel Thomas after he was late to practice twice in four days.
“We eliminated all of the type of nonsense that most of the teams around the NFL don’t have during the week: guys being late, guys getting fined, having practices that really are not energetic, and you’re not getting things done the way you need to. We’ve really turned around as far as a maturity standpoint of our younger guys doing things right, our veterans doing a good job of showing these guys the right way to do things.” — Gase.
“You’re certainly entitled to your opinion.” — Philbin on people’s thoughts after 2014 draft.
“Between [Tannehill] being able to play in the fourth quarter and the deep balls, I’m kind of questioning your guys’ evaluation skills right now. I’m just glad you’re not in personnel.” — Gase on questions about Tannehill.
“We had another good practice and finished three minutes early.” — Philbin in 2013 (as he would say repeatedly).
“Offensively, there was no juice whatsoever. It was like a walk-through. You get to practice one time a day and you have a limited amount of practices, and how many times are you going to be in pads? I think it’s like 22 for the whole year. To not take advantage of that, it’s bothersome.” — Gase after a scrimmage in training camp.
“We’re going to have to correct some things.” — Philbin on offensive line issues in 2014.
“I think when you get smacked in the mouth, you’ve got to step up. Somebody’s got to either make a play or we’ve got to stop the defensive line from penetrating or we’ve got to pop a run, complete a ball. Something.” — Gase on offensive line issues in August.