Adam Gase – September 15, 2016
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Thursday, September 15, 2016
Head Coach Adam Gase
(On the update on WR DeVante Parker) – “It’s going to have to be the whole week. We’re going to have to see him go through a full week of practice, see how he feels on Saturday. And then we’re probably going to triple-check this whole deal if he makes it through the week and on Sunday, just make sure we work him out before the game and make sure we don’t have any issues. If he feels good, then we’ll have the chance to go. If there’s something that’s lingering there, then we’ll have a different guy up.”
(On who picks up the snaps and slack there if DE Mario Williams does not play on Sunday) – “It’s just going to have to be a group effort. We’re going to have to have some plans in place as far as how we’re going to rotate and how many plays we’re going to expect from each guy. I think last week, when you lose two guys on the defensive line, it kind of throws everything off a little bit because you have a plan going in and you have that contingency plan; but I think what happened was it just was a little more than what we thought. Obviously if the offense, if we stay on the field a little more, they wouldn’t have had 80-plus snaps in that game. So that kind of threw a little wrench in the plan there. We’ll have a good plan in place as far as how we’re going to rotate those guys.”
(On DE Cameron Wake’s snap count) – “I think when you start getting in that 50 range, 50-plus range, that’s probably where we want to avoid that, for the most part. Hopefully, once again, if we do a better job of staying on the field for those guys, hopefully we can keep it between 50 and 60 total plays as far as the defense goes. When we put them in the situation that we did last week, it kind of put a lot of guys in a bad position. If we can keep him on the lower end of that and keep him fresh, we think that’s going to help through the duration of the season. That’s what we’re looking to do.”
(On what type of role can he see RB Isaiah Pead playing once he’s fully healthy) – “He did a really good job on special teams. Just that value right there is important. I think we’re trying to find as many guys that can contribute in that area. We want to make sure that’s one of our strongest parts of our team. His ability to be able play multiple phases is obviously good for us. Anytime you’ve got running backs that can go into that role and fill in for some of the linebacker spots, that’s always helpful, especially with a guy with his type of speed and the physical-ness that he plays with. But at the same time, offensively we like him as a back. We like him when he has the ball in his hand. We feel like he makes a lot of plays and he’s able to protect and he’s able to catch the ball out of the backfield. He’s one of those guys that have a great skill set for what we do on offense and the special teams is very valuable. We’ve just got to keep getting through this week and see what we’re going to do.”
(On if setting up the run by passing is an approach he has used often) – “Yes. I think that’s probably been more my approach in the past than the other way around. I know last year was a little different for us. We kind of flip-flopped that. So it’s really about what are the players that you have (and) what are you trying to do as an overall team? Every week’s different. Like this week, it might be different than last week, and the week after that could be different than whatever we do this week. Our philosophy is we like to throw the ball. We like the skill guys that we have. We feel like a lot of the stuff that, when we get the ball in Jarvis’ (Landry) hand, he makes some plays. A lot of those throws are shorter throws that it’s almost like a run. The only difference is it’s a tally for an attempt instead of a carry. We feel like a lot of the throws that we do make are safe. We’re not really putting ourselves in position to where it could be any kind of turnover. It’s really kind of balancing out the run game.”
(On if he needs a third quarterback this week) – “We have a plan. We had one last week. I don’t have to tell you guys that one. But, I mean we’ve been working on it since training camp. You guys just didn’t notice.” (Laughter)
(On whether the team thinks about 2008 being the last time Miami won in New England) – “I think a lot of these guys are more focused on what’s going on now. I do remember that game though, because that was the ‘Wildcat’ game. I was in San Francisco, and we played New England the next week. So, I remember that very well.”
(On whether San Francisco incorporated the Wildcat offense into their game against New England in 2008) – “We had a little bit in there, but it was one of those things that (Mike) Martz had when he was in St. Louis – he’d do it with Marshall (Faulk) every once in a while – but it wasn’t zone-read stuff. It was really direct-snap stuff. I do remember that game. I know we were worried about (how) they might do it to us, because Matt Cassel was playing. We didn’t know if they’d incorporate some of that into their offense, because they were very flexible, and they did a lot of different things that year.”
(On his reaction at the time to seeing the ‘Wildcat’ for the first time) – “I think my biggest thought was the fact that it had been like eight years since they lost back-to-back games. We knew they were going to bring their A-game, for sure.”
(On whether WR Jarvis Landry will continue to field punts close to Miami’s goal line) – “I think every week we’re going to have a little different plan as far as going into the game (with) what we want to do, where we’re playing (and) what the situation is. We feel great about him anytime he goes back there. We feel like he can make a play. We feel like he’s going to make the right decision. That’s not taking anything away from Jakeem (Grant), but anytime we can get the ball in Jarvis’ hands – whether it be running the ball, passing the ball, punt return, kick return – we feel good about it. (It’s the) same thing with Jakeem. When he gets the ball in his hands, he’s a legitimate threat. We felt like for that game, that was a good situation for us to put him back there.”
(On the decision to have WR Jarvis Landry return punts) – “He has really been on us more than anything. He didn’t like he didn’t do anything in the preseason. He kept begging ‘Rizz’ (Assistant Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Darren Rizzi) to go back there. We felt like we were doing a good job in practice. He was getting his reps that he needed to get. We didn’t really need to see him do it live.”
(On whether the Patriots having the ability to move receivers around presents challenges) – “It does, because they can move them around. We keep seeing different guys. It’s not like you’ve got the same guy in the same spot all the time where, if you are the nickel defender, you get used to how this guy releases, the routes he runs, maybe the patterns that they’re trying to go to him in certain big situations. But when you have guys that can play inside and outside, and they all know the offense really well, and they move everybody around, and you’re constantly getting a different guy, it makes it tough on the defense, especially whoever is playing inside. You have to be on it. You have to make sure that you understand, ‘What does this guy do well?’ Every time you go in there and a different guy keeps showing up, you have to really retrain your mind (to think) of, ‘Okay, this what I have to worry about with this player.’ That’s what makes them hard to defend. They all have very good knowledge of the offense, and (New England Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick is) able to move all these guys around, because of that. On defense, you have to be on it. You better understand who you’re going against each time, and you’ve got to make adjustments.”
(On CB Bobby McCain bouncing back from last week’s game) – “That’s part of playing in this league. There’s going to be good plays; there’s going to be bad plays. The professionals bounce back. You go back to work on Wednesday and you figure out a way to clean up whatever happened to you on Sunday. That’s why it’s a long season. You can’t focus on what happened last week. You got to move on to the next one and be prepared, and next time your number is called, you make a play.”
(On Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick’s consistency as a head coach) – “Anytime you can win the division as much as he has – like you said in an age where there’s a lot of players transitioning and he has been there long enough to where, not only that, it has been retirements and bringing in new groups of draft classes and getting a free agent here and there as far as some of the bigger names, there haven’t been a ton of them but every once in a while, you’ll have a guy there a year or two, like (Darrelle) Revis going there and (Brandon) Browner the one year when they won the Super Bowl – it’s an impressive thing to do considering all the moving parts you have all around the league, whether it be coaches, front office, players. To be able to be consistent like that … (In) my short time in the NFL, it just seems like they’ve always been at the top since I’ve been in the league. That’s the challenge we have here is going up there and understanding to win against a team like that, we have to play very well. We have to play smart. We have to understand that they’re not going to give us anything. We have to go up there and figure out a way to put ourselves in position in the fourth quarter to give ourselves a chance to win.”
(On what he has seen from WR Justin Hunter and if he is ready to contribute on offense) – “Yes, if we get the right situation and he happens to be up. I think he is more ready than he was last week. It was a very quick transition for him. I think he has a better feel as far as what we’re doing on offense and terminology and things like that. Some of it is close to what he was doing in Tennessee, so that helps him a lot. And like I said before, Shawn (Jefferson) being his coach before (in Tennessee), he can translate a few things. He seems like when he goes in there in practice, he knows what to do. I don’t see him making a lot of mistakes. We’ve just got to keep getting him in there.”
(On the most impressive thing he saw from his safeties in Week 1) – “I think the fact that they tackled so well is really good for us because they’re limiting explosive plays. If a guy breaks through into the secondary, they get him down. Obviously, Reshad (Jones) does more than that. He really makes sure that they know that he’s there when he ends up making a tackle. The fact that both of those guys are around the ball so much and they cover up any kind of holes we have. They can really move from side to side and track the ball and actually finish the play. There’s a lot of guys out there that will be in position to make the play and they don’t. These two guys seem to make that play. I’ve seen it a lot in practice and then when you see it translate to the game, that’s very encouraging for us.”
(On if you can build out more for the safeties from what you saw in Week 1) – “I’m sure. The longer we go, the more we’re going to be able to kind of experiment with certain things. Right now, we’re so early in the season. We’re in Week 2. We’ve got a tough opponent we’re going against right here. You can’t just start changing everything up. We’re still in that stage of, ‘How are guys going to react in games? What can we get away with? What can’t we? Who is going to play up front? How long can they hold onto the ball?’ There’s a lot of things that go into the thought process of game-planning and seeing how much you actually can do with different kinds of positions.”
(On divisional games and the Jets playing the Bills tonight) – “We focus on what we have to do. One of the things on the offensive side, there were enough mistakes that we did for ourselves. It wasn’t about what they did. We have to clean some things up on that side of the ball. Special teams, (it’s) the same thing. In talking with (Assistant Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Darren) Rizzi, we had a long conversation that was the same thing. We were saying that we need to clean up the little details that we didn’t do right during the game. (On) defense, they’re just trying to build upon that performance as far as that was why they had success. They executed the plan that they had in place and the problem was that we left them on the field too long. We didn’t help them out in any of the other phases and it was almost like they were on their own. They did a good job. They set the tone for the team as far as, ‘We did it the right way. We made it hard and we executed (Defensive Coordinator Vance (Joseph)’s plan,’ and they had a good result. The other two phases, we have to follow in line on that.”
(On WR Justin Hunter’s athletic ability and if he’s still transitioning into being a wide receiver) – “I guess I don’t know enough about his past as far as what he’s looked like before. He looks smooth to me as a route runner. Any time I see him go up for a ball, it’s been impressive. The length and his ability to jump have been very impressive. When you get a new guy on the team and you’ve only been around him for 10 to 12 days, it’s hard to make a full evaluation on a guy.”
