“I believe it’s about the players, not the scheme." - Adam Gase | Page 2 | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

“I believe it’s about the players, not the scheme." - Adam Gase

I think three different traits are getting mixed up here.

One is, not being a slave to a scheme in terms of making your players fit the scheme rather than shaping a scheme that accommodates the abilities of your players. Obviously, as someone said, you can't have no inside running game, just because you don't have an RB who averages more that 2.5yds on inside runs. BUt presumably that guy is on your roster because he's great on outside runs or receiving or blocking, so you build your playing style to accommodate that. Over time, presumably you train guys to be more complete or you churn the roster, but all the time trying to accentuate the positive of what your various players can do really well.

The second is adapting your "scheme" or playing style heavily to tackle each opponent every week. This is seemingly Gase's calling card. To do that, you need adaptable players, so this coaching trait influences the first one. Given we just had to dumb down our defense because players thought it was too complicated, I'm interested to see how the roster adapts to a HC who throws a new "scheme" at them every week.

Thirdly is in-game adjustments to your playing style. I think this is where guys like Belichick and Payton and Carroll really stand out from the crowd. Sure, they vary their gameplan from opponent to opponent - making them harder to read and attacking opponent's weaknesses. But in-game they are masters of varying it too.

Gase has said he wants to make the scheme fit the players. Music to the ears of most of us on here, but it doesn't mean much in terms of W:L ratio unless you have a roster where players can do a lot of things well.
Gase's modus operandi is fastidious preparation for opponents and varying the gameplan. A separate trait that is also welcome, but it also doesn't mean much if your players can't handle the complexity of the week-to-week changes. Miami has some previous here in rejecting complexity.
The sample size of how Gase adjusts in-game to opponents is small and limited to a team with a lot of injuries. But, we could certainly say there's no evidence he's at the Belichick level of tactical manipulation in-game.

So cautious optimism seems about right. But in order to play to players' strengths , they have to have some strengths to start with. Guys like Thomas, Fox, Damien Williams, Walt Aikens, Michael Thomas, Brice McCain, Kelvin Sheppard don't have many strengths to start with and a whole other bunch of guys are using all their strengths just to be acceptable NFL roster players.

Then, you still have to play the game. How Gase adjusts in-game and at halftime will probably be the making or breaking of this roster, imo.

Great post. Thanks.
 
But this does beg the question. How do you make it all fit under one offense scheme? Doesn't it mean you have to pick players to some degree to fit a certain scheme? For example lets say L.Miller can't catch and runs best out of I-form. But TE C.Jordan can't block but can catch etc.

How do you mesh players with different strengths into a cohesive scheme?

This highlights the importance of the same understanding and goals between the HC and GM. This is why Seattle and NE have been so good. The coach has a vision for the team he wants to field, and the GM shares that vision.

You can't just grab any group of players and maximize their strengths on a consistent basis.
 
Thats the reason huh? Why did McDaniels team suck while employing the same strategy then?
mcdaniels gutted all the talent on the team first. He didn't employ BBs philosophies - except cheating / filming for which he got caught. He went rogue and sucked.
 
This might be the single most impressive thing I have heard Adam Gase say so far. I have been beating the drum about wanting a coach that can adapt to his players and not the other way around. ALL teams in the NFL have talent and you need to adapt your scheme to that talent! There are so many schemes that a coach can choose from. Why not use the best one for your current roster?!?!

Belicheck has been doing this for years and it is exactly why his teams are so damn good. They change the identity of their offense and defense all the time. While it’s still built around Brady, the offense they run seems like it changes yearly. This is why teams have so much trouble game planning. Just when you think you know what they are going to do, they change the entire thing up and run the ball 35 times in a game.

Of course some of our former coaches have said this before, but I don’t think using those words. Most have a system they run and want to players to adapt. Failbin was the epitome of that. From the small sample size that Gase has provided with Tebow and Cutler, I feel like Gase might actually hold true to this. While I’m not discounting the year Manning had with Gase, Manning is an all-time great, so it’s hard to judge how much Gase helped (Manning did have his most ridiculous statistical year ever with Gase at OC).

I just hope this isn’t coaches speak and that it actually translates to the field. I truly hope that it does, because if so, we may have stumbled onto a damn good HC.

I’m cautiously optimistic.

This is the only positive think I heard coming from our new HC so far.....but talk is cheap, hope to see him put it to practice week to week.....
 
This is great to hear and a terrific philosophy by Gase. Too many coaches are sunk by their inflexible arrogance and insistence on forcing players into their scheme. Great attitude and approach by Gase. Actually the best thing I've heard from him.
 
I think three different traits are getting mixed up here.

One is, not being a slave to a scheme in terms of making your players fit the scheme rather than shaping a scheme that accommodates the abilities of your players. Obviously, as someone said, you can't have no inside running game, just because you don't have an RB who averages more that 2.5yds on inside runs. BUt presumably that guy is on your roster because he's great on outside runs or receiving or blocking, so you build your playing style to accommodate that. Over time, presumably you train guys to be more complete or you churn the roster, but all the time trying to accentuate the positive of what your various players can do really well.

The second is adapting your "scheme" or playing style heavily to tackle each opponent every week. This is seemingly Gase's calling card. To do that, you need adaptable players, so this coaching trait influences the first one. Given we just had to dumb down our defense because players thought it was too complicated, I'm interested to see how the roster adapts to a HC who throws a new "scheme" at them every week.

Thirdly is in-game adjustments to your playing style. I think this is where guys like Belichick and Payton and Carroll really stand out from the crowd. Sure, they vary their gameplan from opponent to opponent - making them harder to read and attacking opponent's weaknesses. But in-game they are masters of varying it too.

Gase has said he wants to make the scheme fit the players. Music to the ears of most of us on here, but it doesn't mean much in terms of W:L ratio unless you have a roster where players can do a lot of things well.
Gase's modus operandi is fastidious preparation for opponents and varying the gameplan. A separate trait that is also welcome, but it also doesn't mean much if your players can't handle the complexity of the week-to-week changes. Miami has some previous here in rejecting complexity.
The sample size of how Gase adjusts in-game to opponents is small and limited to a team with a lot of injuries. But, we could certainly say there's no evidence he's at the Belichick level of tactical manipulation in-game.

So cautious optimism seems about right. But in order to play to players' strengths , they have to have some strengths to start with. Guys like Thomas, Fox, Damien Williams, Walt Aikens, Michael Thomas, Brice McCain, Kelvin Sheppard don't have many strengths to start with and a whole other bunch of guys are using all their strengths just to be acceptable NFL roster players.

Then, you still have to play the game. How Gase adjusts in-game and at halftime will probably be the making or breaking of this roster, imo.

Fantastic! As you mentioned the Patriots ability to not only change-up their scheme seemingly every week but having the players that can keep up is the holy grail IMO of being a formidable team. Simply, put opponents have a hard time keeping up with which team(your changing scheme) to prep for from game to game. Moreover, I'm positive NE as team has the ability "in-game" to change schemes. Clearly, something like that requires GMs and Coaches that are on their A+ game and players they select and coach are sharp as a whip and adapt to changes fluidly. Hell fluidity is static to them.


Excellent insights sir! I salute you!
 
He's right.

You need to have players who will make plays out of bad situations. Eli Manning gets blitzed on a bad play call by the OC, and he breaks away from a sack, runs out of the pocket and launches a ball down field to David Tyree, who leaps in the air and catches the ball with his helmet for a first down to save the Super Bowl. That's what you need. Football playmakers.

We don't need overpriced used up free agents from other teams. We don't need players blaming the coaches. We need players who will go out there and use their own talent to win games for the coach.
 
He's right.

You need to have players who will make plays out of bad situations. Eli Manning gets blitzed on a bad play call by the OC, and he breaks away from a sack, runs out of the pocket and launches a ball down field to David Tyree, who leaps in the air and catches the ball with his helmet for a first down to save the Super Bowl. That's what you need. Football playmakers.

We don't need overpriced used up free agents from other teams. We don't need players blaming the coaches. We need players who will go out there and use their own talent to win games for the coach.

Bad example as a play like that from Eli is farrrrrr from the norm.


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Sorry, but I disagree. It is more about the players yes....but you have to have the players that can run the scheme PERIOD!
 
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Sorry, but I disagree. It is more about the players yes....but you have to have the players that can run the scheme PERIOD!

I think the whole point is that you adjust the scheme to fit the players, not the other way around.

Its a great thing to say, but there are few coaches that can pull it off. And no matter how brilliant an offensive coordinator he may be, hes only going to be as good as his QB.
 
RIGHT HERE is where I find hope in Adam Gase.

For the last 10 years or so, across all of Football from the Jr High level to the NFL, it has all been about Scheme, Scheme, Scheme. It is a dumbed-down way to build teams- to make them do certain things which a coach likes at the expense of all else.

I refer you to Bum Phillips' famous quote about Don Shula: "He can take his'n and beat your'n, or he can take your'n and beat his'n." GOOD coaches do that. We shall see if Gase is a good one.
 
I guess no one remembers the wild cat. There is an example of a scheme that was employed to take advantage of the strengths of the players on offense. Call it a gimmick. Call it a crutch. It worked because it capitalized on the strengths of a few key players, and then it ultimately fizzled the following season when a couple of key players went out for the year and teams were able to plan for it better.

Many around here don't think fondly of Bill Parcells, but I maintain that while he was involved it was the best coaching we've had since Jimmy Johnson.
 
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