Adam Gase – July 31, 2017
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Monday, July 31, 2017
Head Coach Adam Gase
(Anything you can tell us about RB Jay Ajayi? We saw him walking off?) – “He was getting evaluated for a concussion. I’ll know more this afternoon. I didn’t go get a full debriefing of everything today so far. I usually get it probably in another couple of hours.”
(What went into the decision to go live today?) – “I’ve been thinking about it for a while, probably since last spring. I think a lot of it had to do with just we made a lot of missed tackles last year. It probably took us a while to really get going in the run game and pass protection, kind of that sense of urgency to have. (I was) just talking to the coaches and seeing how we could set it up to where we could get great work in there. When you talk to some of your veteran players and you can’t even finish the sentence and they’re saying ‘Absolutely,’ that’s when you know it’s a good thing. We didn’t do it last year. We were still … I think we were just trying to feel everything out. A lot of times when we talked about going live, we’d get pushed in the indoor and that wasn’t ideal for us. This was the right time for us.”
(When a player leaves the field such as RB Jay Ajayi did, do you think “Oh man, I hope it’s not bad?” Or are you able to keep pushing through and focus on practice?) – “There’s nothing I can do right that second. I just keep going and then once I kind of … (Head Athletic Trainer) Ryan (Grove) comes back to tell me where we’re at as soon as he knows. He gives me a heads up. It’s kind of like a game. There’s nothing I can do right in that moment and you try to, once practice is over then you try to go find more information.”
(RB Jay Ajayi seemed to, I think maybe the first snap, DT Ndamukong Suh got him pretty good and took him to the ground. What’s the fine line between going physical and protecting your guys that you’re going to need?) – “You’re not going to win either way. If we don’t go live, you guys write that we don’t work on tackling. If we do go live and somebody gets hurt, then you say we shouldn’t. It doesn’t matter. You’re going to be wrong either way. We feel like that’s best for our football team. We needed to go live and tackle and it’s football.”
(LB Raekwon McMillian being a rookie going in there and making calls at times. Seahawks LB Bobby Wagner was a guy that came in and he expressed being a little shy, being nervous about making calls in a room full of veterans. Have you experienced that at all with LB Raekwon McMillian or is he kind of outgoing and…?) – “He’s not afraid to talk. He’s respectful. He understands where he’s at in his career compared to some of the guys, especially on his side of the ball. We’ve got more veterans; but he also knows he’s got a job to do. When it’s his time to do it, he does it the way he knows how to do it. He played at Ohio State. He’s played in some big games and he’s dealt with a lot of guys that are playing in this league right now and I think he knows how to handle himself.”
(Are there two or three things you look for in the first day of full pads, whether it is aggression or keeping blocks or anything along those lines?) – “Really, I mean, I know it’s not full pads but when we go with shoulder pads, we’re doing the same thing as we’re doing with full pads. You’re getting the same thud, wrap up, all those type of things. It’s just full pads we can actually say ‘Hey, we’re going live. We’re going to the ground.’ That’s the difference. So once we throw the shoulder pads on, whether we’ve got the leggings on, I mean we’re getting the same work. Just today we were able to go to the ground.”
(Did anybody look noticeably better because you could be a little more aggressive?) – “It’s a different feel for you because there’s no gray (area) when you’re doing a third-down period. ‘Oh, I would have got him down.’ That’s the beauty of … Like having Jay (Ajayi), on third-and-9 we throw him a 5-yard pass and we get the first, whereas in practicing you’re tapping off and you say you don’t get it. There’s no gray (area) which is sometimes a good feeling because that’s what it’s going to look like in a game.”
(What was your reaction about Jaguars T Branden Albert retiring today?) – “Yes I just heard about it.”
(What do you think of the career Jaguars T Branden Albert had in the NFL?) – “My respect level for him is extremely high. Even his career before he got here, he was an outstanding player and then him getting hurt … I didn’t understand really what he had to go through until I got here and his makeup and his ability to come back from that injury, just talking to trainers about what he did to be able to play again. That was even in question when that happened. It went from all accounts that I’ve been told that it was about as nasty as you can get. It just shows the toughness he has. The mental strength to be able to fight through and really prove everybody wrong and then come back and play at a high level and going to a Pro Bowl, being part of a team that he helped really get to the playoffs last year, getting injured and then coming back probably earlier than most guys would have, and him actually almost inspiring guys to play through a lot of injuries that most teams probably wouldn’t see guys out there. Guys were just trying to do everything they can for each other to win. I think he was a big part of the reason why we had success last year.”
(Is there an update on WR Isaiah Ford you could share with us?) – “Yes, I’ll have to get back to you guys on that. I need to find out. We’re getting a second opinion and stuff, so I don’t have … Everything’s not clear for me right now.”
(With WR Jarvis Landry, was he being held out of some team stuff?) – “I mean we were having some scuffles and stuff. We were just getting him to cool down. You know how it gets out there when you get full pads and everybody gets going a little bit. We will be fine. He’ll be alright. He’ll be back not tomorrow (because of a day off) but the next day, and we’ll get rolling again.”
(How close do you think you might be on S Reshad Jones?) – “Good question. I’ll have to … I’ll know more tomorrow. We’ll have a better idea of kind of where he’s at. I’m taking this a little slow just because with that being a calf injury, I don’t want to bring him back too fast. It’s like one of those deals that in my experience, especially talking to the trainers where, if you have any kind of setback on that, it’s a long period of time. So the last thing I want to do is lose him for an extended period of time. If that means we kind of lost him here at the beginning of camp, I’m okay with that, especially with him … You’ve got to tell him he’s an old man now (laughter). So we just want to be smart with it.”
(Does DE Cameron Wake, two years removed from an Achilles, is there a chance that he could be better than one year removed from an Achilles?) – “Yes.”
(Because?) – “For me, I think the fact that he can do everything in training camp … Last year we were trying to be smart, which I know didn’t really bode well for me in the first five games.”
(I didn’t say that.) – “I know you were thinking that though. (laughter) I noticed a difference in our run game, like the way that he’s setting the edge. He’s really done a great job of being a presence on that edge. His strength is really remarkable, how strong he is and the way he contacts a lineman and the violence he plays with. He’s really caused a lot of … We’re trying to run the ball to his side and there’s nowhere to go. It really is amazing. You forget how long he’s been playing and his age. That just seems to go out the window and he does a great job of taking care of himself. He looks like he’s 25 years old.”
(Does DE Cameron Wake get a veterans day off?) – “It was supposed to be today but he was like ‘No chance.’ He was like, ‘We’re going live. I’m not sitting out.’ So we had to move it. But yes, we will make sure that we do the right thing with him during camp.”
(DE Andre Branch was in here a little earlier and he spoke about how impressive DE Charles Harris has been with using his hands. Is that something that has really stood out to you guys? Because he’s kind of earned the respect of the veterans with that.) – “I think the veterans, first of all, saw that he works relentlessly. He’s one of those guys that he’s always doing something. I’m watching him after practice and quarterbacks are working on drops and he’s out there pass rushing, giving them a feel of what it’s going to be like. He’s always doing something. As an offensive guy, I just feel him coming around the edge; but those guys are looking at more detailed-type things. I just know the quarterbacks can feel him very quickly.”
(QB Ryan Tannehill has … most of his interceptions have come in between the hash marks. Is that him just being too aggressive? Is it his comfort level with his targets? Is there a rhyme or rhythm to what’s going on there?) – “I think every one (of them) has a different story behind it. He had a tipped ball one time. (Andre) Branch did a good job of getting a hand up. Maybe he could have went somewhere else on a couple of them. I’m alright with it. I want him to be aggressive. I don’t want him to be sitting back there and trying to evaluate stuff. Go through your progression and throw it. If we throw a pick, I have a lot of confidence in our defense to walk out there, go three-and-out and we’ll get the ball back.”
(Looking ahead a little bit, you have at least three guys that are supposed to go up to Jason Taylor’s Hall of Fame induction – DE Cameron Wake, LS John Denney and C Mike Pouncey. Really I guess for Cam, how do you manage that with the scrimmage on Saturday?) – “We’ll have a good plan in place. It’s not like that thing is too much for him. It’s not a ton of plays. We did it last year. The coaches did a great job as far as getting guys reps. We’re kind of getting a little bit of a feel of that game day process of what we’re going to go through because we’ll be able to do what we normally should do when we have that scrimmage at the stadium where we can get headsets out and the communication factor and all of those types of things. That’s really why we’re doing it is to make sure if there’s anything that goes wrong, we can fix it before the first preseason game. That’s really one of the main reasons why we’re doing it. Guys getting used to us calling it in, substitutions and things like that.”
(By my count, you’ve had one bad snap in the first week of practice. Am I correct?) – “I think you are.”
(Is that normal?) – “Yes, pretty much. Usually it’s hard to go perfection. That’s what you want but realistically, usually you have three or four probably. Even there, we had just a little bit of a miscommunication where we thought he was under and we were in the (shot)gun and that happens every once in a while. It doesn’t happen a lot. Having one bad snap, I’ll take that, especially early in training camp.”
(How have so many guys – because there are three guys in there working with four quarterbacks – how have you gotten to the point where it looks pretty seamless?) – “Well, we’ve been working on it since the spring. When we do our quarterback/center exchange (period), it’s a long seven minutes for those guys. You’re trying to get rapid fire and you’re mixing everybody up. We only go a couple of snaps with one quarterback with one center. We just keep rolling those guys to where everybody gets used to them. It’s about a little bit of the quarterbacks. Everybody has to mirror Ryan (Tannehill)’s cadence and do it the way he does it, just because if you come in there with a different feel for the cadence, then it kind of screws up the line. They’ve been working on it for a long time and they’ve spent a lot of time making sure it’s right.”
(There was a moment I noticed where QB Ryan Tannehill – maybe after one of the scrums – he was in the middle of about 30 guys and he was really vocal, really loud and really passionately going around and delivering a message. I’m not sure what the message was but how have you seen his assertiveness evolve since you met him?) – “I think any time you get comfortable with a system you’re in, you gain confidence, to where you can take those type of roles. It’s harder when you’re trying to figure out what you’re supposed to do. I think he felt like there was a moment in practice where he needed to say something. You don’t have to constantly be saying things. A lot of times your actions are what’s going to count. For whatever reason, he … I saw something going on but I wasn’t really paying attention to it at that time. We were setting up for the next period or something like that. If he feels like something needs to be said, I don’t think he’s afraid to say it.”
(Obviously having a young developmental third quarterback, what was your message to QB Brandon Doughty going into this offseason about where you wanted to see growth and how much growth have you seen?) – “It’s a little bit frustrating because when we were able to do some of the rookie stuff, being able to work with him one on one and spend a lot of time with him, he’s a very relentless worker. He wants to be coached constantly. Those are great opportunities where we can kind of work with him and really try to fine tune him to help him on a couple of the things we want him to do. That’s where the rules kind of make it really tough. You wish you just had more time to be able to work with him one on one. For him, it was just all about he has a really good feel for the offense right now, he knows what he’s supposed to do a lot of times, it’s just getting to reactionary as fast as possible. We keep working on some things mechanically. Sometimes it’s tough because you’re … You take one then you’re waiting forever then you might take three. That’s when it gets hard for a quarterback. You don’t feel a rhythm. It’s not like you get six in a row. That’s the tough part about developing a young quarterback in the NFL is you’re trying to get your starters ready, you’re also trying to get your backup ready and then you’re trying to develop guys. When you don’t have a ton of reps to do that with, you want those to count. He just knows he has to make every rep count. Really, his money is going to be made when we hit the preseason. He gets 30 plays, 40 plays in a game and just make sure mentally you’re ready to go and react when you get into the game.”
