It’s all about football again for Adam Gase, the Miami Dolphins

The Miami Dolphins are today back to work and back to football -- albeit at their temporary training setup in Oxnard, California.

The team is scheduled to practice later this afternoon in preparation for Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Chargers -- their 2017 regular-season opener.

Dolphins coach Adam Gase met with the media at noon (PST) Wednesday and said all the players are present and accounted for. Defensive end Cameron Wake was among the late arrivals, having joined the team Tuesday night.

The Dolphins are working out of the Dallas Cowboys’ training camp facility in California and got help from the Los Angeles Rams, who provided IT personnel to help the Dolphins set up their systems so they could work on game plans and other issues.

As for the players? They’re going to have to work off some mild rust at practice.

“It feels like it’s been forever but it’s been only a week,” Gase said. “I think our guys are ready to get going.”

Gase said there was “lots of energy this morning in meetings.”

The coach said he left town for the NFL-mandated bye week last Wednesday when Hurricane Irma threatened Florida. At that time, Gase had not named either his starting cornerback opposite Xavien Howard or defensive tackle to pair with Ndamukong Suh.

Gase declined to say if that decision has been made so the issue lingers.

Byron Maxwell and Alterraun Verner are vying for the starting cornerback job. Jordan Phillips and rookie Davon Godchaux are vying for the starting job at defensive tackle, although both will split time.

Suh said he arrived in California on Monday and has been thinking about football to relieve his mind of hurricane thoughts.

“In my personal opinion, it’s just back to business as normal,” Suh said. “I got here on Monday. I’ve been watching film the last couple of days, and we’ve had our first couple of meeting already, so really it’s just having an opportunity to take my mind off a little bit of what’s going on back home in Florida and focus on what important out here.”

Gase said he spent “a good amount of time” watching football over the weekend and he did watch the Chargers lose to the Denver Broncos on Monday night.

“It was interesting to kind of be a spectator that first week,” Gase said.

The Chargers have a new coach in Anthony Lynn but the offense remains the same. The defense has made some changes which the Dolphins were preparing for anyway.

“It’s not a different scheme it’s just a carryover of what we saw in preseason,” Gase said. “Myself being in this division in the past, it’s not far off from what I’ve seen in the past.”

Finally, Gase said he has “no idea” if his house back in South Florida was damaged.

“I haven’t asked,” he said.

It’s all about football again for the Dolphins coach.

This story was originally published September 13, 2017 at 3:38 PM.