https://www.palmbeachpost.com/sport...-dress-any-given-week/Mh9ZCItlUe1cAGmT7bX6EJ/ Interesting piece on the Gase's emphasis on, and culture of, competition. On any given Sunday - anyone could start. "“I think guys understand that we want to compete every week,” Gase said this week. Compete every week. It seems so simple and so obvious. But who’s been a healthy scratch in the first two weeks of the season shows the final decisions are not. Ask Kalen Ballage (inactive weeks 1 and 2). Ask Cordrea Tankersley(inactive week 2). Ask DeVante Parker (inactive week 2). What Gase has created in Miami is a culture where entitlement does not fly. Regardless of salary. Regardless of draft status. Anyone can be benched. Anyone can be scratched. “I think it’s healthy to be honest with you,” Dolphins associate head coach Darren Rizzi said. “The competition makes everything better.” ... Ballage, a fourth-round draft choice who may end up starting in the NFL, has sat out the first two weeks. He’s been odd man out because Miami has a strong starting duo of Kenyan Drake and Frank Gore and because running backs Senorise Perry and Brandon Bolden are special teams stalwarts. Interestingly, Ballage was a core special teamer at Arizona State. “Certainly, he’s done nothing wrong,” Rizzi said this week. “He’s going to get an opportunity here whether it’s this week or moving forward.” Asked about not playing the first two weeks, Ballage had an impressively mature response that would surely please his coaches. “I don’t think like I’m not playing,” Ballage, 22, said. “I act like I’m going to be the starter on Sunday. Period. With that mentality, you can’t go wrong.” Ballage is confident, but he says he’s patient. He believes his turn will come. He’s trying to impress in every practice. “Just being detailed in everything I do,” Ballage said. “Catching the ball. Picking up pass protection. Making the right reads in the run game. Just making sure I’m on, everything. Even though the physical part isn’t 100 percent there.” ... “It’s competition,” Gase said. “I think (Tankersley) is making a lot of strides at corner. We just need him to get a little better at special teams, which is something that’s fairly new to him over the last two years.” ... “We want to compete,” Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill said. “We want to push each other. You have to play well week-to-week. That’s what it comes down to is guys practicing hard, getting better week in and week out, pushing each other, and we want our best guys on the field.” ... “We just want to make sure a guy doesn’t feel like he’s out, to where he’s just going to be inactive every week,” Gase said. “That’s the hardest thing to do. You just want guys to keep competing because when something does happen and that player needs to be up, we need him ready. “We need him to improve just like anybody that’s dressing for Sunday. It’s a tough battle because mentally, for a 24-year-old kid trying to keep his mind focused on his job, it’s the first time that you’re probably being told, ‘You’re not going to play this game.’”" That, taken in combination with: Is encouraging!
