Adam Gase – October 10, 2018 (Conference Call)
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Wednesday, October 10, 2018
Head Coach Adam Gase Conference Call with Chicago Media
(When you first got to Miami and started to work with QB Ryan Tannehill, what was important for you to familiarize yourself with about him and how did that process go?) – “I think the first thing for me was I wanted to learn what had happened in the past and where he had success (and) where maybe there wasn’t as much success, to where I either stayed away from (it) or tried to help him improve it. Really, just getting to know him, getting to know how he thought (and) getting to know how he reacted when situations happened in a game. That’s why the beginning of that season, I was a little bit off on how I was doing some stuff and changed some things around. He took to it and was able to have a really – the back two-thirds of the season – have a good part of that season.”
(You’ve had a lot of different circumstances both good and difficult go on through your time in Miami. What have you learned about yourself as a coach and how you adjust throughout your time there so far?) – “I think it helps when you have the ops staff, equipment guys (and) support staff that we have. (They’re) outstanding. They do a great job because it’s been a lot of interesting situations. Then I think the coaching staff, being able to really handle everything in stride. The less things that are coming at you that you don’t have to directly deal with and guys can handle on their own, that’s a very helpful thing to have. Our guys have done that.”
(What about Offensive Coordinator Dowell Loggains attracted you to him to be your offensive coordinator this year?) – “When I got to Chicago … We had always talked about maybe working together one day if the opportunity ever came up. When I got to Chicago, I wanted to make sure that it was somebody that I trusted a lot and that I knew, that could do a good job to try to help Jay (Cutler), and I thought he did a great job. The way that we went about it, it worked out well. We had chances to win some games that we came up short. Then it was good that he was able to be the coordinator. When he came free, it was a no-brainer for me. It was just something that I felt extremely comfortable doing. I knew exactly how he would kind of fit in with what I wanted to do here this season. I really think he’s an unbelievable quarterbacks coach. For me, he’s great for me on game day and game-planning and things like that. He has a way to kind of get me to calm down a little bit when I get a little too juiced up on game day, to where he can get my mind right and get me settled back down.”
(How much, or not, does the experience of having first-hand knowledge of some of these players from your tenure here help you prepare for this game?) – “Well, I don’t know if it’s as many as … When I was there, there’s not as many guys there (now). Probably (Offensive Coordinator) Dowell (Loggains) and (Offensive Line Coach) Jeremiah (Washburn) know these guys better than I do. It’s hard because you never want to give your players too much information because then they start thinking about the wrong stuff. A lot of this is obvious for anybody. You know what you’re dealing with with the front defensively. The secondary, those guys have been playing well and the inside linebackers, both of those guys are really good players. As far as their offense goes, Dowell coached the quarterback (Mitch Trubisky) but Year 1 to Year 2 is a huge jump. It’s just such a difference for a quarterback because every day is not new (anymore). What we know about him from last year, I think it’s close to irrelevant for our guys.”
(As you emerged from your first year in Miami in 2016, having done the head coach responsibilities and the play-calling at the same time, what did you take away from that experience having to manage all of that for the first time?) – “I think it was more just preparing for the game. Probably dealing with a lot of the duties that you have to do during the week and how your time gets pushed around and back. There can be days where it’s hard to get into a flow of watching tape. It kind of gets choppy for you sometimes. I think that was probably the hardest thing to get used to. Game day, to me, wasn’t anything that was challenging to me. I have a lot of really good coaches on our staff to where the situational stuff was getting brought up really early. Having (Associate Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator) Darren Rizzi on this staff and (Senior Director of Football and Player Development) Joe Vitt and (Director of Football Research and Strategy) Matt Sheldon, all of those things really help me out.”
(What have you come to appreciate about Bears Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio from your time here and how does that factor in preparing, knowing that you’re going against a defense called by him?) – “The thing that … I think in the amount of conversations we had in the year that I was there, it helped me grow a lot as to how I looked at things from an offensive perspective. I really appreciated the amount of time that he would spend if I asked him a question about what he thought. He’s tough to go against. I’ve only gone against him one other time but they were pretty banged up and a lot of their really talented players weren’t playing. You can see … If you give him a good group of players, he’s going to make them that much better because he’s a good on-the-field coach and then he calls the game really well. He makes it very difficult to prepare for. You just know he has a good arsenal and he knows what he’s going to do to take things away. We have to be great in-game adjusting.”
(Bears Head Coach Matt Nagy is at the same point in his first year as an NFL head coach as you were – as you kind of referred to – when things really started to kick into gear around Week 5 or Week 6. I know you’ve mentioned it before but is there anything in particular that really helped get things going or made the difference around this time of year that really got you on that good run?) – “It’s hard to say. I think guys … We started off 1-4 and really we had a really rough game against Cincinnati and then Tennessee. Then we went to play Pittsburgh and it just felt like guys understood more of what we were looking for, whether it be practice, meetings, how we prepare. We kind of, as a coaching staff, had a way better feel of what our guys were good at and what we needed to stay away from. It’s just one of those things where things clicked at the right moment for us. If it probably would have been too much longer, we probably wouldn’t have had a solid year; but it came together at the right time for us. Sometimes it just takes a minute to get that cohesiveness between the coaches and the players.”
(You guys held Bears LB Khalil Mack to not having a sack last year when Oakland came to you guys. What can you take away from that game and how you schemed against him to keep him from getting to the quarterback?) – “I don’t know how much. He looks really good right now, I know that. I know last year we played them a little later in the season. I think he was pretty banged up. He had some really, really good pass rushes that we just happened to barely get the ball off. You try to do everything you can to just get it to where he can’t destroy the game. It’s always hard to stop him from affecting it in some capacity. This is probably the best I’ve ever seen him and I thought in those early years – the first couple of years in Oakland – it was impressive to watch him play. But right now, I think he’s just playing at a different level than anybody that I’ve seen.”
(What have you seen in S Minkah Fitzpatrick’s skillset that really stands out to you?) – “I mean the variety of things he can do. It’s really impressive to see how much he can retain information-wise and then go out and execute it on the field. I think he just has a knack for being around the ball. He’s a good tackler. The guy just has incredible instincts. He’s just a football player. You can tell the amount of work he puts in and what he can translate, it’s impressive to see a rookie be able to do some of the things he does.”
(With that variety, what has been the challenge for you finding how to use S Minkah Fitzpatrick or what’s the best way to use him?) – “It’s been a challenge. It’s kind of been … He’s had to do some things out of necessity. We’ve had some injuries and we’ve had to move some pieces around. He’s jumped into wherever he needs to, whether it’s a safety that goes down and he has to go back there. We moved Bobby (McCain) outside and he had to go play the nickel. The good thing is he does such a good job of preparing that no matter what happens, he doesn’t blink. He just keeps on doing what he does.”
(What have been your impressions of OL Kyle Long on film? Maybe compared to the guy that you got to know pretty well in your time here.) – “Kyle is one of those guys that he’s such a freak athletically. He’s as tough as they come. I don’t know if there’s been many players that I’ve been around that were as tough as him. I always loved being around him. I loved his energy. I loved how much he enjoyed just doing everything that came along with football. It’s strange to see … What year is this for him? It’s amazing that’s where it’s at now. He’s one of those guys (that) can neutralize interior guys really quick.”
(It sounds like OL Kyle Long looks all the way back? He’s been through a lot in the last couple of years but he looks like the old Kyle to you?) – “Yes, I mean I didn’t really watch … After I left I kind of had my own thing I was worrying about but it’s hard for me to tell a difference between when I was around him and what I see now.”
(In your estimation, what are the important elements of the partnership between a coach and a quarterback?) – “I think when you’re the play-caller, I think it’s really important – those two guys being on the same page. You spend a lot of time with each other and you go over a lot of things and you talk a lot of situational stuff. You talk about play calls. The more in-sync you are, the more you’re thinking alike, the better. That’s probably the biggest challenge when you first start with a guy because you’re trying to get used to how he thinks, how you think and however you do it, just get on the same page.”
(What are your impressions of Bears QB Mitch Trubisky then, in what you’ve seen with him?) – “It seems like things are going well, especially that last game. It’s always good to get a quarterback to have a game like that to where the confidence just shoots through the roof. Sometimes playing this position, that’s what it is. It’s feeling confident with what you’re being told going into the game and then going and executing it. When you have success, that just helps you as a quarterback. You just keep building on the things that you’ve been working on. I feel like his skillset of being a threat in the running game and being a threat as a scrambler, being able to throw the ball as well as he does and get that receiving crew and all of those guys contributing, that’s a good sign for him.”
(What have you come to like about the two backs you have with RB Frank Gore and RB Kenyan Drake and the way you can use those guys and the different things they do?) – “I think we’re finding a better rhythm. I think when you have two guys that you like having in the game, it’s hard to just have one in there. You find ways to get both of them in there going. You try to give both those guys as many plays as you can and as many touches, because they both affect the game in a different way. Obviously Drake does a lot for us whether it’s in the backfield, outside, in the slot. He can do so much stuff. Frank, he’s still Frank. He can find a way to grind out some yards and then all of a sudden he pops one 15-20 yards. It’s been fun to be back around Frank and just see and watch him work every day and watch him have an effect on our locker room. That’s one of those things that I’m glad that he’s here.”
(What has WR Albert Wilson brought to your offense in his first year?) – “Well I think his skillset is probably something I’ve never really been around before to where he can do so much. Anywhere from being in the backfield, being outside, being in the slot. He does a lot for us on special teams. He’s just like one of those guys that whatever you ask him to do, he’s going to do it to the best of his abilities. Getting him in the open space is always fun to watch. I feel like a couple of times he’s gotten the ball and it hasn’t looked real good and I’m sitting there going, ‘Wow, this is a really bad play call.’ Then he makes it right. He seems to do that quite a bit.”
(What do you think is between you guys and having success on third down? What are some of the difficulties then?) – “Most of it has come because our second down – our first and second down stuff – had not been good. Last week we finally stayed ahead of the sticks. We were more second-and-5 and less. Now all of a sudden we’re getting third-and-3, third-and-1, third-and-5. It gives us a better opportunity to convert. Once we start getting into that third-and-7 range and teams get exotic, they start pressuring and showing pressure and dropping out. It just puts a lot on the quarterback’s plate and it gives (the defense) more variety. It makes it really hard and that’s why you see the conversion percentages on third-and-7-plus aren’t really the best around the league.”
(Is former Bears Head Coach John Fox enjoying retirement?) – “I don’t know. I haven’t … I get a text every once in awhile from him but in season, it’s hard to really pick up the phone and have long conversations with anybody. He checks in and makes sure that I’m still breathing and getting after it.”
