Adam Gase – September 15, 2017
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Friday, September 15, 2017
Head Coach Adam Gase
(We need an update on WR Jarvis Landry? When did that surface?) – “Really, this morning. He just had some swelling. We’re just careful with what he was doing today and we feel good that we’ll be ready to go on Sunday.”
(If WR Jarvis Landry is not the slot receiver, what is your contingency?) – “We have kind of plans for if we ever lose a guy and how we move guys around. I’m not going to sit here and give you the exact game plan, but we’ve prepared for if one guy ever went down, what we were going to do and how we’d shuffle things around.”
(With WR Jakeem Grant, I know he worked in the slot last year. How much has he retained of that stuff?) – “I mean these guys, the way that they’ve trained really, they learn more in concepts than really letters. So for us, if we were really worried about a letter, we’d be able to formation things the way we need to do it to get guys where we need them.”
(What’s your kind of instruction or approach with QB Jay Cutler as far as just dealing with pressure in the backfield and obviously San Diego’s got some guys up front? I mean the Chargers I mean.) – “He’s been good in … The year that I was with him, he had a pretty good feel for things when things started collapsing of either getting out, getting rid of the ball or taking a sack if it’s just one of those situations where you have nowhere to go. I know Philly was a good experience for us to have just because we had a couple of situations. One, I figured it would have been really hard for anybody to really feel the guy come around the edge as fast as he did, and it’s a little bit of a learning, kind of getting reacquainted with how we need to play, when you do want to take a sack, when you can throw it away, things like that. I do feel good where we’re at right now. A lot of practice time and then he played enough in preseason to know the right thing to do.”
(On that note, just observationally, you probably have the actual data but observationally in the past it seems like WR Jarvis Landry has been kind of the emergency outlet in those situations for QB Ryan Tannehill or QB Matt Moore. Is that a relationship thing you kind of see already with QB Jay Cutler even though he hasn’t been in there in a lot games?) – “It’s hard for me to say just one guy right now. I feel like the ball has been spread out so much. I think this year, the way that we’ve kind of structured it, we’re kind of moving guys around a lot, spreading the ball out quite a bit to where all of these guys are on different levels. I think we’ve used Jarvis down the field a little more this year than we have in the past, or at least last year, what we did; and we’re trying to give guys opportunities at all levels of the field. If he’s underneath, he’ll flash; but it could be a different guy from play to play.”
(How ready are you for Sunday to finally get here?) – “I think it’s just … We’ve prepared for a week and we’re ready to go for the game. You know last week it was we were preparing and then it wasn’t there. It will be exciting for our guys to just finally stop practicing and play a game.”
(You have, obviously, a lot of moving parts to make these practices happen. Has there ever been a request to Equipment Manager Joe Cimini and the equipment guys that you were not able to meet? It seems Herculean what they do.) – “No. The way that really our operations, equipment staff, training staff (work), I don’t think I’ve ever heard the word ‘no.’ These guys move quickly and they get things done at an extreme rate. This getting put together as fast as it did and how efficient it’s been, and what’s been available to our players and coaches and everybody that’s really been out here has really been unbelievable.”
(Has there been any limitation to what you can do this week, practice-wise?) – “No.”
(When you think about arm strength and the throwers you have on your team, where do you rank Offensive Coordinator Clyde Christensen among those?) – “(laughter) Probably second. I think he’s got a stronger arm than Ryan (Tannehill) and Matt (Moore).”
(Second only to…) – “Well, if we’re talking about a 7-yard radius…”
(Only one throw. You’ve only got to make one throw, not forty.) – “I don’t know. It depends how loose he is; but I know if you’re within 7 yards, that thing is coming at you pretty fast.”
(With the tackle situation and as much pressure as Chargers Des Melvin Ingram and Joey Bosa bring and how they move, do you have to help these tackles?) – “It’s different from play to play, down and distance. It’s really going to be about how balanced are we? If we want to make this a throwing fest, those two guys are going to cause you issues. You have to do a good job running the football, you’ve got to be efficient in your passing game, you can’t stand back there and hold on to the ball forever because they’re not going to let you. Those two guys are coming and they’re relentless in their pursuit after the ball is thrown down the field, (which) is really remarkable. They really put a lot of good things on tape last week and we just have to make sure we do a good job, get them covered up, get the ball out on time, get open fast. When we’re running the ball, the same thing – getting guys covered up, letting Jay (Ajayi) hit the holes, whatever’s there, and be efficient in our running game, because if they make you one-dimensional it could be problematic.”
(In regards to the hurry up offense, when you do that, at what point can you begin communicating with QB Jay Cutler and how many things do you relay to him during that process?) – “Really, when the play before is over and that shot clock starts going, you’re supposed to be able to click in – it doesn’t always work that way. Then at 15 (seconds left on the play clock) they cut you off. Jay always says I talk too much; but I don’t care, he can deal with it.”
(It seems like QB Jay Cutler takes small little jabs at you quite a bit, like he’s fully free to say what he pleases to you.) – “Yes, I always tell him he gets away with a little bit because he played well for me in 2015. We have a good relationship. We’ve known each other for 10 years. That’s kind of how it is, though, in our meeting room. I’m as likely to get ripped on as anybody else. We’ve got good things going on in that offensive meeting room.”
