Adam Gase – September 9, 2016
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Friday, September 9, 2016
Head Coach Adam Gase
(On whether there is a chance WR DeVante Parker will play on Sunday) – “There’s a chance. We still got time, and we’re going to keep evaluating him, see where he’s at. My biggest thought that goes through my head is I want to make sure this is for the duration. I do not want to have a setback. I do not want to let, basically, one game determine, ‘Does that mean he’s going to miss three more (games)?’ if we say, ‘He’s good to go this one,’ but he’s not really. We’re going to keep evaluating him. Obviously, he’s trying to get back as fast as possible.”
(On RB Arian Foster leading the team in a discussion regarding the National Anthem) – “The one thing that they asked the coaches to (do is) give them their privacy. I know I made a comment earlier as far as when you guys asked me about it with (San Francisco 49ers QB) Colin (Kaepernick), and I just know everybody has the right to their opinion, and I know we’re here to beat Seattle. I know whatever decision they come to, really, anybody will (not) know what’s going to happen until we get to game time.”
(On players choosing to protest) – “It’s one of those things where everybody has a right to their opinion.”
(On LB Jelani Jenkins) – “I think right now he feels good. We still have one more day to go. We’ll evaluate all the way up to game time. I just don’t want to say it’s 100 percent, because after today, (you) wake up the next morning, you’re not feeling right and maybe Sunday he does. It’s a day-to-day thing with him right now. He has worked really hard to get back to this point. We’re hoping that it’s a good thing for us on Sunday, but at the same time, we’re still being cautious.”
(On the message to the players regarding free time in Seattle) – “This is no different than when we’re in Miami. It we had a home game right now and this was Friday, there’s no curfew. At least here we’ve been really talking to them about understanding if it’s three hours (behind Eastern time), we’re still on that clock of if you show up at 11 o’clock tonight, it’s 2 (a.m.) your time. Guys were really good last night as far as getting to bed fairly early. We had a little protocol as far as what we encourage guys to do on the flight, what we encourage guys to do as far as getting up this morning and getting their bodies right, getting food and hydrating. The guys have been great. It was good for us, because with the way our training camp is structured, I don’t think we’ve spent that much time altogether in the same area. We were on the go so much in training camp. To see guys being able to hang out in the hotel, we get to go do things – go to dinner last night – that was good for us.”
(On whether C Mike Pouncey will play on Sunday) – “He will be out this game. I felt like it was … We’re close enough to where I know it’s not going to happen. Pretty sure that’s not going to be a secret to them as far as they probably weren’t really counting on that – him playing. Instead of all the riff-raff of trying to hide anything, it is what it is.”
(On whether he has any nerves before his head coaching debut) – “At the end of the day, it feels the same for me as far as it’s going to be a Sunday and (I am) calling plays and dealing with the game-day situations. That’s why we put the staff we did together and (I) trust a lot of those guys (for) all of us being on the same page. We had a lot of discussions as far as how we can make this as smooth as possible. My biggest thought goes with, ‘Are players going to be ready? Are we feeling good with our game plan? Are we going to execute the way that we’ve talked about?’ We want to make sure that when we get to that fourth quarter, let’s see what it is. Is it going to be us in a two-minute drive or them on a two-minute drive? That’s what we’re looking to do.”
(On whether he has been nervous in a new coaching role before) – “I would say probably the most nervous that I’ve ever been was when I had to call the Pro Bowl in 2012, because that was my first game I had to call. (Laughter) I just remember like (Peyton) Manning getting sacked. The left tackle, (Andrew) Whitworth fell, which he owes me big for that one, and he’s coming to the sideline telling me, ‘You’re having a hell of a debut.’ That was probably the most nervous I was. Once we got back to Denver and started on our thing there, it just felt normal.”
(On playing with intensity) – “I think for us it’s about coming out every day and working. That has been our biggest point of emphasis and being about getting better every day. When guys do that, that’s going to give us our best chance to compete. We have to understand it’s a long season. You’re going to lose in this league at some point. There’s one undefeated team ever. How do you bounce back from games like those? How do you come back and get better that Wednesday? Our focus is on getting better every day.”
(On importance of protecting the quarterback league wide) – “For me, my experience has been it’s so tough for the officials sometimes to see everything that’s going on. The game is fast. It’s easy for us to sit there and we get replays and we don’t know the angles. It’s hard to comment on something where we’re not in that position. We’re in position where we’re sitting there with the TV and we got replay. When I’m on the field, sometimes you can’t tell what happened. You think something happened and it’s not really what you saw the next day on video. So, it’s hard for me to comment on something like that.”
