Adam Gase – August 22, 2017
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Tuesday, August 22, 2017
Head Coach Adam Gase
(Now that the two days of practice with the Eagles are done, what do you feel was accomplished?) – “I thought today was good. It was toasty. I thought we got good work in, guys had to battle through. (It was) good competition on both sides. We’ll be able to take a look at the defensive side tonight, but on the offensive side of the field, we were able to see some good looks. It’s good for our guys to go against different DBs and linebackers and our front guys going against their d-line, it felt like home going against our guys. Those guys are getting off the ball and do a great job.”
(In terms of the C Mike Pouncey plan, what thoughts do you have going into this Thursday night’s game?) – “We’ll play it by ear a little bit. It’s going to be a lot of communication between me and him. Right now, we’re going to start the game with him and see how it goes. I just wanted to make sure I got my last confirmation from him that he’s ready to go and wanted to play in a preseason game. We’ll play it by ear. I’ll go by gut a little bit.”
(With T Jesse Davis, what has he done to sort of elevate himself from the practice squad to a potential starter?) – “I think he has just put his head down and kept working. We were actually talking about it probably about two weeks ago about how he has really improved in the weight room. His knowledge of the offense is as good as anybody else. It doesn’t seem too big for him. He gets in there and competes. I like the way he has been handling himself with a lot of the injuries that we’ve had and he has had to move around quite a bit. Last week he practiced at right tackle the whole week and we thought we were going to go with (Anthony) Steen at left guard and (Jake) Brendel at center, and then we kind of made a switch when (Kraig) Urbik went out. We didn’t want to have both our centers there playing together in that first group, so Jesse got thrown in there at left guard. He battled and knew what to do. It was very short notice for him.”
(Not today, because obviously you were with the offense, but through yesterday, what kind of camp has DE Charles Harris had?) – “I think it’s one of those situations when we get in the preseason, and we’re actually in games, he’s creating a lot of pressure. You just can’t get frustrated because you don’t have sacks. We’ve been talking about it as you can’t focus so much on sacks. We’ve got to think about pass disruption. Are we getting hurries? Are we getting hits? Are we getting sacks? Altogether, that’s what’s really the most important thing. If the quarterback has to get rid of the ball sooner than he wants to, that’s what we’re looking for. We might not always get home; but he’s feeling you rush. He’s doing that right now. It’s just we haven’t had the sack numbers, which for me, I really don’t care about. I want pressure on the quarterback, and I think he’s doing that. There are some things that are going to be a little bit of a learning curve. You see some of the run games that you see at this level, it’s different. You start seeing traps and whams and guys are starting to pop runs up the middle and you’re not really involved in the play, and then all of sudden you get the power run schemes. It’s going to take time. We’re going to have to keep developing him. We’re going to have to keep learning. When you’re in college, you see a lot of zone reads. You don’t really see the two-back offenses. You’ll see it more at this level.”
(To my untrained eye, S T.J. McDonald looks like an intimidating guy in the backfield. Would you say that’s one of the things he would bring once he comes back?) – “That’s a big man roaming around at free safety. When you’re 6’3 and 220 – I might be being nice there – but he’ll come downhill and reacts fast and he has no regard for his body. He has got good ball skills. He knows what to do. (He’s a) smart football player. With him back there, guys know that he’s roaming around. It’s a little different for him, because last year he was doing completely different … He was almost playing linebacker last year. To see him back there and the way he moves around is really impressive for a guy his size.”
(I know, obviously, training camp is advantageous for everyone, but there’s someone who might not need the work it’s DE Cam Wake, and yet, he says he loves it. What do you see out there from him?) – “That’s why you see a guy coming back year after year. When that stuff becomes … (When) you don’t want to do it anymore, that’s probably when most guys are … They don’t do it anymore. They retire. I don’t see that from him. I see a guy that comes out every day, he works hard. He goes as hard as anybody that’s on the defense and on offense. He’s always trying to get better. He’s trying to get in a rhythm with the d-tackles and when we do some things where him and other ends are together. He has a special knack to be able to keep coming back. He looks like a 25-year old kid out there running around full of energy and looking to get better every day.”
(Do you anticipate T Ja’Wuan James playing on Thursday?) – “I think so unless we have any kind of setback. I think we’ve got a shot to have closer to having our first unit out there. But I just don’t want to get too far ahead of myself. I’ve still got to talk to him, make sure that he feels good, and then we’ll get through tomorrow, which is only a walkthrough. But I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself after some of my experiences last year.”
(How would you describe sort of any internal conflict or discussions that you go through about the preseason, how many games there are, how long starters should go in each game, the risk of injury? How much do you think about that?) – “Zero. You’ve got to play. That’s how you get better. It is what it is. If they tell us to play four games, we play four games. When it comes to playing time and things like that, we kind of have our routine. Sometimes the flow of the game can change that, whether it be more or less. I know last year we were playing Dallas and we came off the field and I thought we were coming off a good drive and all those guys were like, ‘We’re not coming out. We want to go another round,’ so that’s what we did. When those guys communicate like that and they want to stay in there when we thought we were going to take them out, that was good to see from our guys. This last game, it was really the same thing. What we got was really what we were looking to get and Matt (Moore) went in and those guys stayed in another series. That was good work for us. It’s the same thing for this game. You always plan, ‘Alright, the third preseason game, we’re going to go into the half, we’re going to come back out, kind of get in that rhythm.’ It has been like that every year since I’ve been calling plays. I don’t even know how many times I’ve actually done it, because something good has happened at the end of the half or we’ve gotten enough plays. (You) just kind of have to be flexible.”
(In your opinion, would three preseason games be enough to prepare an NFL team?) – “I have no idea. Whatever they tell us to play, that’s what we’re going to do.”
(The defensive tackle job not manned by DT Ndamukong Suh, is it far to say that DT Davon Godchaux has passed DT Jordan Phillips and is there a chance that that could be turned around before the season?) – “I don’t want to say that he’s passed him; but I would say right now, we’re going day to day, and whoever plays better that day, that’s going to be the guy that’s going to be in the starting lineup. I know (Defensive Line Coach) Terrell (Williams) is making that competition live. Godchaux has played well and Jordan has had good days too, but maybe Godchaux has had a little bit of a better day. I think everything’s open. I know this, we’re going to play more than two d-tackles. We’re going to get those guys rotating in there and if we get less plays, that’s great. If we do a better job on offense this year to where we hold onto the ball a little longer to where those guys don’t play 75-80 plays a game, that’s ideal. But we’re going to need four guys rolling in and out of there to be effective.”
(So DT Davon Godchaux has been the starter for weeks, so he’s got a good string of day to day?) – “He’s done a good job day to day. (He’s) been consistent.”
(Talking about S T.J. McDonald. When he signed, he said that he knew there was going to be no leeway in any regard with you guys as far as going forward. What type of stipulations did you put for him and how has he done holding up his end of the deal on that?) – “The biggest conversation we had was I just told him to do right. Just do what you’re supposed to do, be where you’re supposed to be and you’ll be in good shape. When you get on the field, that’s the easy part for you – just play hard. He’s done everything that we’ve needed him to do. He’s been a guy that’s come in here and has fit in well with our locker room. I’ve really enjoyed being around him. He’s a guy that has a lot of football knowledge. We’ve talked … actually I’ve called plays against him quite a bit over the last few years – probably four years in a row, three years in a row, something like that. He’s been an impactful player for (former L.A. Rams Head) Coach (Jeff) Fisher for his entire career. Getting him here and being able to do whatever we can to help him get better, it’s been a good experience for us.”
(With S Nate Allen, this has been his second week working with S Reshad Jones. How concerned are you with their chemistry or communication?) – “When you have two guys that are veterans like that … All three of those guys really do a good job because they talk a lot. When they’re having film sessions, those guys are always together. They’re always figuring out ways ‘How do we work off of each other? How do we work off the linebackers?’ Plus having those two guys at linebacker too helps. When you have ‘L.T.’ (Lawrence Timmons) and you’ve got Kiko (Alonso), they know what they’re doing too. We’ve got some veteran guys back there kind of in that middle back half, that they are not afraid to talk to each other. Nobody’s going to be shy about helping the other guy out or correcting the other guy, or ‘Hey, I thought we were doing this.’ There’s not a lot of conversations that aren’t being had by those guys.”
(I felt like I saw some good stuff between QB Jay Cutler and WR Kenny Stills out here. What was your perspective on that relationship?) – “I think that whole group … Whether it be the tight ends, wide receivers, running backs, all of those skill guys, they are working a lot together. Their communication has been outstanding. Everybody understands that we were a little bit behind. I don’t know how many days it has been for Jay now. He’s just trying to figure everybody out, body language, what have we changed since we’ve been apart in Chicago. Our guys have really done a great job of going to him and talking to him. He’s done vice versa with him, of what he’s thinking and how he does certain things that are a little bit different. That’s really the biggest thing for us, they have to speed it up, which they are trying to do by having constant communication. Everything that happens that we are not sure on at practice, they are having conversations in our meetings and film sessions. They are talking everything out. Those guys have taken it upon themselves. They’re not waiting for me to say something, they’re not waiting for (Offensive Coordinator) Clyde (Christensen), they’re not waiting for any of the other coaches. They’re taking it on their own and they’re trying to make sure everything’s tied up pretty tight before we hit this next game. They’ll be doing the same thing leading into the first regular season game.”
(CB Cordrea Tankersley came out.) – “Yes, he was sick.
(How much would you say, obviously losing a quarterback is going to cause a little bit of a change. How much would you say it was a set back to where you were before QB Ryan’s Tannehill injury, for the offense?) – “I think the biggest thing for us was just there’s a few things that we have to move some pieces around with what we do schematically. It’s not a lot. I think really most of the things we had to get caught up was just Jay (Cutler) getting more comfortable in the pocket and then kind of understanding how our guys will play sometimes. When there’s a broken play, just getting used to everybody in that aspect as well. It’s really just trying to get used to the guys you’re playing with. I think that’s really the thing we were trying to speed up as fast as possible.”
(When you say CB Cordrea Tankersley is sick, do you mean illness or hydration?) – “It was just illness, as far as I was told.”
(With QB Jay Cutler, he sort of has a pocket presence to him or an ability to extend plays. Is that something you game plan for or you talk to the playmakers about?) – “it’s really a feel. That’s what I’m talking about with broken plays and guys getting used to playing off of each other. That’s something that (Bears Quarterbacks Coach) Dowell Loggains worked really hard on when we went to Chicago, just not staying back there. He came up with a lot of really good drills to really get (Jay Cutler) used to not just standing back there. Let’s keep moving around, let’s find the open lanes. If protection breaks down, let’s get outside the pocket, let’s not just take a sack and just stand back there thinking we have to hold onto the ball until somebody comes open. I really felt like that helped us a lot in 2015, especially on third downs. He would find ways to get out of a lot of things that are not great play calls and he would make it right.”
