Adam Gase – December 3, 2018
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Monday, December 3, 2018
Head Coach Adam Gase
(What’s the overall message that you tell the team this week now that you guys are back at .500 and pretty much face the cream of the crop in terms of the AFC East?) – “Just prepare for that week’s game. That’s all we can do. Every game at this point in the season is going to be meaningful no matter who you’re playing. We have to just focus on preparing, correcting the things we need to correct and just focus on our guys doing their jobs.”
(The first possession of games has not been kind to you for quite a long time. Now, you’ve gone a couple games in a row where you’ve been able to get things going. Did you change up anything other than the results?) – “No. Nothing is different. We executed those plays. It’s hard to explain.”
(Do you guys script?) – “I don’t know. Maybe. Maybe not. (laughter)”
(Did you script yesterday?) – “I don’t remember. (laughter)”
(Overall after scoring first, you guys are, I believe, 7-2 when you score first under you. Just having the first play, getting up early, what does that do for the rest of your team?) – “I think any time that you can get a lead, it helps the defense a little bit. If you could ever get a big lead, that really is ideal because then the other team becomes one-dimensional. All of these games are going to be close from here on out. We just have to do a good job of playing complementary football. We can’t turn the ball over. We need to get points when our defense gets turnovers, which we haven’t done lately, and have a play or two that are impactful on special teams.”
(The struggles that G/T Jesse Davis had in the first half – was that uncharacteristic of how he’s played at guard this year?) – “I think they had some tough matchups yesterday. Kyle (Williams) is … When you have a veteran player like that and he sees any kind of weakness, he’ll expose it quickly. You better figure it out and make some adjustments in-game because he’ll expose you as fast as possible. He’ll use everything he knows to his advantage. That’s what makes him as difficult of a player to go against as there is.”
(How do you think CB Cornell Armstrong came out of the game yesterday?) – “We’ll see how this week goes. It doesn’t sound like it’s going to be something that’s going to be a long-term thing.”
(You’ve now been outgained by 1,168 yards including 240 yesterday. How has this team won six games?) – “Turnover margin. The amount of turnovers that our defense is getting is what we need, and then we don’t turn it over a whole bunch. I think the guys have done a good job ball security-wise of making sure we don’t have fumbles. The quarterbacks have both, for the most part, done their part. Yesterday, I can live with that (interception). We took a shot. I’d like to see either Kenny (Stills) break it up or (Ryan Tannehill) maybe just put it out a little further. I don’t know. There’s nobody really to blame on that, it’s just you wish the result would have been different.”
(Everybody talks about how turnover margin is important. Do we maybe even underrate it?) – “It’s just one of those things that you just look at records off of that. It’s insane probably with us. I think New England is probably – that’s crazy, their plus-minus. Just the wins that they get. When they end up winning the turnover margin, they’re not going to lose a whole bunch.”
(What did you think about how your offense played yesterday?) – “I feel like we had some good. The penalties that we had, they were just the wrong timing for us. I think we overcame a couple of things that were critical. It was the right time. We missed an opportunity there in the 4-minute situation to get a first down to try to keep our defense off the field. We made it probably a little more exciting than what we needed to. We just have to keep correcting our mistakes and figure out a way to execute at a higher level.”
(I think it seems like you used the Wildcat more yesterday than what we’ve seen. Why is that?) – “It was just the situations we were in. We had a couple plays that we really liked and that’s just how the game plan was. There’s been other weeks where we’ve had it up, but then something happened to where we didn’t get to it or we got down or it just wasn’t the right time.”
(What makes them good at that?) – “I think it just makes it very difficult for the defense. The number count is a little off for them. (Kalen Ballage) is aggressive when he runs and he’s downhill. You have guys moving all over the place because you’re trying to make sure that they handle (Kenyan) Drake with the way they’re running that zone-read stuff. Guys kind of get out of position and then he hits it so hard and the angles are poor for the guys trying to tackle, and he just runs through arm tackles.”
(Any rhyme or reason to why you guys struggled to run the ball yesterday? Was it just the defensive line of the Bills?) – “I think their defensive line did a good job. I think there was some good opportunities for us in a couple of the plays that we had called and we just didn’t finish the right way. We fell off a block late and they just got a hand on whether it be Frank (Gore) or (Kenyan) Drake’s foot or Kalen’s (Ballage). We just didn’t maximize the yardage that we possibly could’ve had on a couple of the runs.”
(WR Kenny Stills was able to take advantage of his opportunities and WR DeVante Parker as well. How important were those two guys for you guys yesterday?) – “It was good. It was good to finally get DeVante in the end zone. I feel like we’ve had some stuff, some plays for him and we just haven’t either gotten them called or it was the wrong coverage when we called them. The same thing with Kenny. It was (good to) kind of get him going. It was good to finally throw him the ball and he didn’t have to do it himself. (laughter)”
(What did you see on tape of that final play to Bills TE Charles Clay and how was he able to get as open as he did?) – “The longer the play extends, the harder it is for everybody because everybody is trying to kind of see where he’s going. We were in a zone, guys start moving and he kind of shook free. I think we just lost him. When I saw that ball go up and then I turned around and I saw who it was, I started thinking about what I was calling in 2-minute. That’s a rare thing to see.”
(What’s your take on the standings today?) – “We have a long ways to go. I know that.”
(What led to the RB Brandon Bolden carry? Was it something that you saw last week?) – “I’ve been waiting for a while to get Brandon involved. He knows what we’re doing. The thing I’ve always liked about Brandon offensively is he runs hard. He was a good running back when he came out of college. They used him a lot in New England early in his career. He had been so special teams-oriented the last few years in New England. They were pretty deep at that spot. So are we. We’ve got some pretty good players that are playing a lot and we haven’t had a ton of plays. It’s hard to get all those guys touches. It just felt like it was the right timing for us.”
(Who do you want to rely on on offense? I know you have a bunch of different options, but who do you want to be your guys?) – “I like all our guys. Our skill guys, they do a lot of good stuff. Explosive-wise, you look at the way that (Kenyan) Drake is, and Kalen (Ballage), Kenny (Stills), DeVante (Parker). Those guys are guys that can create explosive plays. I think you just need the mix of that and consistency, and who are the guys that can grind out the yards for you. It’s hard to say there’s one guy you want to do that with.”
(Have you gotten the level of production that you want out of the tight end position?) – “There’s some things that we’ve done better than what we were doing earlier in the year, especially run blocking and the pass protection stuff. Passing game wise, there’s been times when we’ve been open and we haven’t got them or we’ve had some kind of protection issue. There’s been times where I wish we could get open faster. We’ve kind of moved directions due to who we have available. It’s really not fair to them to say … Especially early in the year, it was hard to get everybody the ball when you had Albert (Wilson), Jakeem (Grant) and Danny (Amendola). I mean, you’ve just got a lot of people you’re trying to get the ball to. I think Mike (Gesicki) is pretty much on pace with the rest of the rookie tight ends around the league. If you look at all their numbers, they’re all the same. They’re 18, 19, 20 catches. That position is tough to kind of be impactful right out of the gate and be great at everything because they do so much. There’s just a lot of information. It’s probably the next-hardest position to play next to quarterback.”
(In your mind, is CB Xavien Howard playing at a Pro Bowl level?) – “Yeah, probably. I mean, he’s pretty good. (laughter)”
(With New England, how much of this is a rematch and how much is a completely different kind of test because your team is so different now?) – “Yeah, I mean, it’s a different game at this point, us playing so far apart. Last year, I think it was basically one game in between when we played them. They’re different. We’re different. We’re both trying to do the same thing and figure out a way to win one game. That’s really what it comes down to.”
(How do you hold up at defensive tackle? Obviously you lost DT Vincent Taylor and brought in DT Sylvester Williams and DT Ziggy Hood to complement DT Akeem Spence and DT Davon Godchaux.) – “I think those guys have done a good job of learning our system and coming in and trying to help us the best way they can and be effective, whether it be the run game or pass rush. I think they’ve done a good job of moving guys around. You see (Andre) Branch and Charles (Harris) doing a lot of different type of things. That’s the thing. (Defensive Coordinator) Matt (Burke) is just going to keep trying to find ways with who’s available to him and trying to find ways to be disruptive, whether it be in the pass rush or run game. When you had issues early in the season where you’re trying to figure out what’s going on and then how to fix it, you start trying to maybe tweak some things here and there. We’ve done some different stuff to try to help us and stop the bleeding in the run game. I hate to say that we had good success against the actual run game when they were handing the ball off to the running back. It was just being able to contain the quarterback yesterday.”
(How did QB Ryan Tannehill get through the game? I know he got hit pretty good early.) – “Yeah, I mean, he’s as tough as they come.”
(How optimistic might you be regarding WR Danny Amendola and C Travis Swanson for this week?) – “We’ll see how the week goes. Hopefully by Thursday we can get a gauge. Both of those guys, they want to be out there. They want to be able to help us. I’m sure Danny is going to want to do everything he can to be ready to go. I don’t know how realistic anything is until Thursday, maybe even Friday.”
(How difficult has that been in terms of building an offense or coming up with a game plan when you have to go into a game with, like, WR Brice Butler, who’s been here for two weeks, as your starting receiver and figuring out what works at the slot?) – “It’s just more … When you get a new guy you’re trying to figure out … Like, you watch as much film as you can. With Brice, the good thing is he’s played a lot of football. So at least you can go back, watch his targets, watch maybe a game or two to say, ‘Okay, here’s what he does well. Here’s what we can emphasize with him. How fast can he learn the whole offense?’ Which he’s done a phenomenal job with that. That helps us because now he’s played two different positions. We’ve been able to move some guys around, then we can go out there and Ryan (Tannehill) is not just telling him what to do. He knows what to do, which is great. Just keep trying to get him to the point to where he can play fast. He fits in with those other guys. They do a great job working together. The chemistry with that group has come together pretty quick, which is good to see, because I think that’s rare to get a guy in that fast. It gets a little hard when … Really, like our body types have changed because you had Albert (Wilson) and Jakeem (Grant), who we were kind of using in a different way but now we’re taller guys. Everybody is like a tall, fast guy now. So we’ve kind of lost that element of different body types because everybody is kind of the same right now, but that’s where we’re at. There’s nothing … We can’t go back in time and change that right now. We’ve just got to kind of use those guys and use their strengths to our advantage.”
(One question out of left field: I don’t know how well you know Mike McCarthy. Any reaction? Were you surprised at the news yesterday?) –“Any time anything happens mid-season, you’re surprised; but that’s the NFL. That’s all I’ve got.”
