Adam Gase – November 24, 2016
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Thursday, November 24, 2016
Head Coach Adam Gase
(We saw G/T Laremy Tunsil out there again today…) – “I won’t know … It’s going to be to the wire.”
(You got through well yesterday, though [with G/T Laremy Tunsil]?) – “We did what we could with him. We’ve got time. We’ll see what happens. We’ve got to see how he feels.”
(Can you give us a more specific idea of what was actually wrong with him? Is it like a strain?) – “I don’t know the exact details. I just know it’s painful for him right now as far as whether it be contact or movement. That’s why we’re a little questionable in that area.”
(When it comes to closing out games, do you think that this team knows how to do that? Or are you still in the learning process?) – “I think the last four or five weeks, somebody has done something to help finish it off, whether it be the offense putting another touchdown up on the board or special teams coming through with a kick return or (the) defense coming up with a turnover. Somebody has stepped up (and) made a play. At the end of the day, in this league in the fourth quarter, that’s usually what it comes down to is somebody making a special play at the end of the game, because everything gets real aggressive, and it really comes down to one-on-one matchups.”
(What was your expectation of S Isa Abdul-Quddus when you signed him, and what has he given you this season?) – “I think that we felt like we had a reliable guy both in the passing game and in the run game. We felt like he was a really outstanding tackler. We thought him and Reshad (Jones) would be a good marriage back there as far as both guys could be in the middle and both guys could be down in the box. I think he has done an extraordinary job as far as us losing Reshad and him stepping in and being a little bit of a leader back there – being vocal. The last few games he has been outstanding as far as making sure he has been really sound in his fits in the run game. He has been very physical as a tackler. He had some really nice hits last game. When he is back there, he understands – as far as in the middle of the field – he understands the angles and what to do. When somebody breaks free, he’s a really reliable tackler.”
(Staying on the secondary, there has been a lot of different faces out there – no S Reshad Jones, no CB Xavien Howard, CB Bené Benwikere, CB Chris Culliver, CB Chimdi Checkwa. Why is it still working so successfully?) – “I think between (Defensive Coordinator) Vance (Joseph), (Defensive Backs Coach) Lou (Anarumo) and Daronte (Jones), they do a great job of keeping their guys prepared. I think our guys that had been backups or new (to the team) have done a great job as far as understanding the why of what we’re doing on defense and playing to their strengths, and at the same time, doing their job down-in and down-out. When you have guys that are engaged like that and understand what’s going on with the full defense, that’s really the critical part, because when you have guys back there that aren’t really sure what other people are doing, that’s when you can get in trouble. Those guys really understand what the whole defense is doing, not just their job.”
(One more question on G/T Laremy Tunsil. Is it a matter of pain management or is there a question whether he can do something worse to it?) – “It’s more of how much movement does he have. That’s the hardest thing. When you play that … If he has to play left tackle, he has to be able to get his hands on guys. You’re getting hit every play. It’s a little bit of everything. It’s movement; it’s mobility. You’re going to have to really play through some uncomfortable circumstances.”
(CB Byron Maxwell has said that traveling with wide receivers across the field has really helped him. Are you viewing it the same way? Do you feel like that’s something that has kind of helped him kind of improve his play?) – “Yes. Sometimes when you stay on one side, you have a specific view of how you see things. With our guys kind of moving around with certain wide receivers in certain games, I think it is helpful. It opens up their skill set. It opens up how they see things as the full defense. He’s done a good job. That whole group has done a good job as far as when we do matchups of getting lined up quick, finding their guy (and) understanding what the call is. It’s not really as easy as you think sometimes because now all of a sudden the calls start switching, you have some kind of motion or shift, now assignments change, coverages change because the way defenses are played nowadays, there’s double, triple calls coming in, in certain personnel (groups) and there’s a lot of little tiny details that you have to be on. When you’re on one side and you expect certain types of calls, it’s a little easier than when you’re traveling all over the place and all of a sudden it can get a little much as far as volume goes.”
(You guys are being outscored by a pretty significant margin in the first quarter. You’ve been very good in the fourth but struggling in the first. What’s going on there as far as…) – “I think every game is different. I mean a lot of times you see that we’re deferring, so the other team has the ball first. We’ve had some games where we’ve started out okay on offense and then there have been some games where we’ve just been absolutely inept. When you start as poorly as we did on offense in the beginning of the season, it piles up. Then we’ve had a couple games here and there where we haven’t started off real well. That’s why it’s a four-quarter game, though, and that’s why you can never panic early in the game. Sometimes that first half, it doesn’t look as smooth as you want it to, but you make your adjustments at halftime, then you come out in the third and fourth quarters and those are the most important ones.”
(Yesterday was kind of a lighter practice. And today were you guys back to normal?) – “Yes. Back to normal today.”
(We saw CB Xavien Howard out there yesterday, which again, as you were saying, wouldn’t require too much of him. But then he was also out there again today. Has there been some development on him?)– “I think this is kind of where we’re at right now with his rehab, where he can practice. He was doing individual. I know when he feels comfortable, we’ll get him out there as far as really competing in practice and going against the wide outs. I know next week, when we’re able to do one-on-ones and things like that, I’m sure he’ll start jumping in on things like that. We’re just going to keep progressing along and, like I said before, we’re not in this rush phase of, ‘Hey, let’s hurry up and get him back.’ We’ve had two injuries here in a short period of time so we just want to make sure that when we get him back, we get him back as close to 100 percent as possible.”
(And then DE Dion Jordan also practiced again today?) – “Yes, he did. He did individual today. It’s a little bit of … when you haven’t done anything in a long time and all of a sudden you get thrown in there and you have ‘T’ (Defensive Line Coach Terrell Williams) and (Senior Defensive Assistant/Pass Rush Specialist Jim) Washburn down there doing their drills, it gets pretty intense pretty fast. We just have to take it day-by-day right now and see how he feels. Obviously tomorrow, that’s really the first time he’s actually had to do this type of work so we’ll obviously evaluate tonight and tomorrow, and just see how he feels and see where we’re at in that process.”
(I was wondering how you evaluate him because I know you have a standard but you know that he’s been out for two years so what’s your criteria for a successful practice for him?) – “A lot of it is communication with him, just how he feels. It’s really the next day that you want to figure out where he’s at. So we just keep collecting that information and with the amount of time that we have, we can kind of each day track where he’s at. That’s why it’s nice to have the amount of people we have that track all of those little details with the GPS and how it is he feels, his workload for that day and how it looks like he’s moving the next day. We just constantly keep track of these things and then we have a good idea if we’re trending upward, if we’ve kind of plateaued or we’re inconsistent. We really do have a good amount of information as we get through, and the days pile up. We’ll see. It’s going to take time, obviously.”
