Adam Gase – December 2, 2016
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Friday, December 2, 2016
Head Coach Adam Gase
(It looks like T Branden Albert has practiced every day this week. Are you still feeling good about his chances for Sunday?) – “Things look good. We’ll keep going through the next two days and see how he feels. I haven’t really talked to him as far as, ‘You’re a definite yes,’ yet, but I’ll have a conversation with him tomorrow and have a better idea.”
(G/T Laremy Tunsil says he’s playing. Is that accurate?) – “It’s good that he’s feeling comfortable enough to where he feels like he’s going to be able to go. Unless we have some kind of setback, we have a great opportunity for him to play Sunday.”
(How much is that going to help you as far as play calling against this defensive line knowing that you’ve got potentially T Branden Albert and G/T Laremy Tunsil on that left side?) – “We have a big challenge. Obviously, this is one of the top defenses in the league. Anytime you can get your starters out there and competing against these guys, that’s critical for us as far as having success. When we were moving the ball pretty good, we had all five of those guys out there, and it makes life fairly simple. You’ve got veterans and talented players, and when you start shuffling everybody around, that chemistry kind of goes away, and you’re trying to get that going as quick as possible. This will be nice. The more guys we can get back, the better.”
(I can’t recall a team that has gone this late into the season without playing a cold-weather game. It’s going to be 50 degrees on Sunday – which isn’t that cold – but Buffalo, New York is probably going to be colder. Any thoughts on that as far as … I know you guys use the heat as an advantage here early in the year, but flipping that in December …) – “The one thing that we’ve talked about at least – as far as our strength staff and sport science and nutrition – is you get a little lackadaisical as far as your hydration, nutrition, things like that, thinking you’re going to colder weather (and) it’s not important. But we’ve made a big emphasis that even though we’re not playing in the heat, it is important still as far as what you need to do to get ready for the game. You never really worry about the temperature, because it is what it is, no matter if you’re playing down here or you’re playing up north. It’s one game for three-and-a-half, four hours. With all of the things that they have to allow you to stay warm during the game, it’s really – for the players – it’s really not as bad as what you would think.”
(What you’ve gotten from your defensive backfield in light of S Reshad Jones’ injury and CB Xavien Howard has been hurt, how pleased have you been with the whole group?) – “I think the guys have done a good job of working together and playing off each other. The communication has been outstanding. It could’ve easily gone the other way, but guys stepped up. We added some – a couple – new faces there that came in and contributed right away. I think (Defensive Coordinator) Vance (Joseph) and (Defensive Backs Coach) Lou (Anarumo) and (Assistant Defensive Backs Coach) Daronte (Jones) have done a great job as far as getting those guys prepared – up to speed – as fast as possible. They’ve put them in some good positions, too. He has called some great defenses at the right time, and those guys have executed.
(K Justin Tucker made 34 straight field goals, obviously he’s perfect this year. Is there anything you can do to get pressure on him on Sunday?) – “It’s tough when you have a guy that has such a great rhythm, and he’s not fazed by anything. At least my experience has been, when you play a team that does have a kicker that’s outstanding, it’s hard to throw those guys off. You try to rush as hard as you can and try to penetrate, but it’s almost like any other phase of the game – kickoff return, punt return – when you feel like you have a special guy there, things amp up a little bit. I’m sure those guys up front know, let’s not give any leakage up, because we know this guy’s going to split the uprights. That point of emphasis for them probably kicks in big time when that guy is back there kicking.”
(What would have to change, what would have to happen in order for WR DeVante Parker to play?) – “Just how he feels. Today, him running was a big step. He’s really pushing himself. I’ve been really impressed at how he’s not letting anybody else control whether or not he’s going to play or not. He’s really taken this, taken this injury … You can tell there’s something different about him. He’s really trying to get back. He doesn’t want to let his teammates down, for sure. I think that’s the biggest thing. He doesn’t want Jarvis (Landry) and Kenny (Stills) to have to go out there without him. I think he’s taking a lot of pride in that. He’s been up here a lot trying to figure out a way to be able to play on Sunday. Obviously, we’ll be smart as far as what we’ll do. I’ll have to make that final decision. He might even tell me ‘I’m ready to go,’ and I might say no. We’ve got to be really smart with this.”
(WR Jarvis Landry wasn’t wearing the red jersey this week. Is that a sign that he’s progressing with his shoulder?) – “I think he feels better than he did last week, for sure. It’s still … The way he plays, he’s always kind of going to banged up. He sells out and he gives everything he has and he sacrifices his body. I’m sure he doesn’t feel good on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. He’s just trying to get himself as close to where he can feel good for Sunday.”
(With LB Jelani Jenkins, it’s been off and on, sometimes practice. How difficult of a season is that for a guy like that, when you are trying to be out there contributing, but you’ve got one thing, and it just continues to progress?) – “I’m sure it’s frustrating. I love the fact that he keeps coming back and he keeps working. I know that’s not the easiest thing to do. It has to get somewhat annoying that something is breaking down, but he keeps fighting. He keeps trying to find ways to get back on the field. Obviously he wants to contribute; he wants to be a part of what the defense is doing. We’ve tried to manage the situation a little differently. Neville (Hewitt) stepping up has been huge for us; (Donald) Butler developing a role for himself; Spencer (Paysinger) coming in when he has to come in, he’s done a great job. We’ve had a lot of guys step up, which if we can get into a situation where he’s playing less plays just so we can have him on game day, that helps us so much, because it’s one more player that we feel like is an impact player on our defense. If we can just keep getting him to where he feels better, that’s going to be beneficial to us.”
(LB Jelani Jenkins played right after having his knee scoped. Do you guys feel like that was the right decision to make in hindsight? I know you can’t play what if.) – “We felt really good about when it happened. It feels like five years ago. It feels like a long time ago, but when that went down, he was pushing us. We would try to hold him back (and) he was like, ‘I’m good. Let’s go. Let’s get this thing progressing.’ He was aggressive in what he did rehab-wise. We went through our normal procedure. The timing was right as far as what we thought it was going to be and he did a good job and just kept pushing himself to try to get as strong as he possibly could. But we felt really good about it, at the time of him going out there.”
(C/G Anthony Steen kind of got throw into the fire right away, Week 1. In what ways is he a better player now in Week 13 than he was during his first stint?) – “Any time you get a handle of the offense, that helps you play faster. That is as obvious as you can be. He really has a great grasp of what we’re doing and it makes it easier on the quarterback. He becomes more comfortable with what the center does and then when he has to get plugged in there, the rest of those guys feel good about it because they played with him. They know what he’s going to do. They understand the tempo of how he’s going to make calls and how he’s going to snap the ball as far as when you’re on the road and things like that. It’s never easy to replace a player like Mike (Pouncey), because you’re talking about one of the best centers in football, and he’s done a good job as far as stepping in and doing everything he can to fill that role and be a guy that can help us move the ball.”
(With C Mike Pouncey, we haven’t seen him all week. We know it’s a situation that you guys are monitoring but how much of this has to be concern about the long-term ramifications of this hip issue?) – “It’s hard for me to answer that because I haven’t dug deep enough as far as what this injury could be as far as long term goes. Knowing him and how he battles and how he tries to take care of his body and figure out what went wrong to where we can make some adjustments, he’s really invested himself into figuring out, ‘How can I get in a situation where I’m out there for 16 weeks.’ I think that’s really his mindset right now. One: how do I get back so I can be a part of this at the end of the season? And then when we finish – whenever this finishes for us – it’s probably going to be, go back and reevaluate more of how can we help him to where we can get a full season out of him, because he’s extremely valuable to not only the offense but the entire team. He’s one of our best leaders. He’s one of our best vocal leaders for sure. He’s one of those guys that when young guys see him operate, if you follow him, good things will happen, because I don’t know if I’ve been around too many guys that work as hard as him on the field, off the field. The amount of time he spends doing what he does is very impressive and we need him. We need him here. Obviously, we want him here. So we need to figure out a way to make sure that we can get him on the field for 16 games.”
(Do you have any early indication about practice next week? How are you listing C Mike Pouncey?) — “I’m way not even close to that.”
