Adam Gase – October 16, 2017
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Monday, October 16, 2017
Head Coach Adam Gase
(Your Pro Bowl Center Mike Pouncey goes out and you score 20 points in the second half. How did his replacement, C Jake Brendel, play?) – “He did good. I’m sure there’s some things that he wants to clean up. A couple of things that, overall as an offense, that we did some things really well, and then we did a few things where we probably got away with it, where Jay (Cutler) got rid of the ball and Jarvis (Landry) happened to be looking and they made a big play where it probably could have been bad. We’ve just got to keep cleaning things up and being a little more detailed.”
(Did C Jake Brendel surprise you to go in that seamlessly or is that…?) – “That’s what we’ve been seeing in practice. That’s what this game is about. You’ve just got to go next man up and we expect that guy to play well.”
(And how is C Mike Pouncey?) – “I saw him in the building but I didn’t say anything to him. We were all running around this morning so we’ll see. He’s in the protocol. I kind of wait until somebody tells me different.”
(I know you’re laser focused obviously on the next game as all coaches are, but in light of the fact that you scored on all four second half drives, your defense has been good all year and you’re 3-2, do you feel a level of optimism?) — “We live in a different world in our building. What everybody else thinks and what we think are way off. We felt good coming into this week. We felt good coming in the week before. We’ve been practicing hard. Guys have been doing well in practice. We just haven’t been executing on offense and even this last game, we got two shots in a scoring area. We go for it on fourth down. Looking back on it, maybe (I should have) called something different. The ball gets batted down and we throw an interception, which if he has the exact same throw and puts it out in front of Kenny (Stills), we score a touchdown. We had six chances to score points and we had four of those drives where we get a touchdown or a field goal. We’re close. We’re close from going six-for-eight basically and scoring points on drives.”
(Multiple players are talking about a 24-hour rules that they kind of put on themselves, whether it goes good or bad, to get over it. What’s the importance of this team to be able to shift your focus onto the next opponent right away?) – “I don’t think that will be a problem. I think we’ve been through … We’ve had enough tests to be able to move on to the next thing.”
(You had a couple of fourth-down conversions there in the second half. Number one, how important were they toward the ultimate result and number two, is there maybe a message that the coach is sending players when he goes for it on fourth down?) – “No, they just know that’s how we’re going to operate. They’ve known that since last year. We just haven’t had a lot of opportunities this year. I think maybe there was one where we were fourth-and-short but I think we were on our own end against Tennessee. It was just one of those gut reactions of not feeling it; the defense is playing well, why put them in a bad situation? Let’s see if the other team can drive the field. Yesterday, we were playing the guy that was the reigning MVP and we felt like that was our game plan. Be aggressive and if we want to win the game, we’ve got to go take it. They’re not going to give it to us. I felt like our defense was doing a great job so if we wouldn’t have gotten a fourth-down conversion, we felt good about what they were doing; but we felt like we had to be on the attack.”
(Did WR DeVante Parker have any chance yesterday and what’s your prognosis going forward?) – “I feel like he always has (a chance) after what he proved to me last year, where there was a 0.01 percent chance of playing and then he played. That was … He proved to me that he’s got a toughness level and a pain tolerance level that I hadn’t really heard about or seen before. We just kind of waited as long as we could and then we finally just were good with what the direction we were going in, and we decided not to play him. We’ll just see how this week goes. We’ll just keep taking our steps. The training staff is doing a good job of just bringing him along. I know he’s itching to get back out there. Whether or not he does, time will tell.”
(Why have CB Xavien Howard shadow Julio Jones and how did he do?) – “I thought he did well. ‘X’ is playing with a lot confidence right now and we have a lot of confidence in him. He knows that. We’ll just keep bringing him along. He’s as tough as they come. I think it’s rare to have two corners that both can cover and tackle. It’s really helped our run defense as well. Those guys are … Guys get to the edge and they’re not getting much.”
(What did you see as the biggest difference in the defense that enabled them to shut the Falcons out in the second half?) – “(Defensive Coordinator) Matt (Burke) just came in, I was talking to the offense, and the only thing I heard him say was, ‘Alright, we gave up all the points that we can, so we’ve got to pitch a shutout.’ That’s what they did. They found a way to do it. They tightened a few things up. They just made sure that they were very sound versus the run game and they just stayed as tight as they could. (They) executed the defense. That’s what they’ve been doing all year and it’s been impressive to watch. It’s fun to watch.”
(Are you ever amazed with how this team deals with any kind of adversity, no matter what it is?) – “I don’t know. That’s what they do. I feel like if it’s happened, we’ve seen it. I’m not going to press my luck, though, and say, ‘What else can happen?’ Guys have done a great job. They come in, whatever’s happened we address it, talk about it and they do a great job of moving on, especially with the amount of guys we have that are probably 25 or younger. We’ve got a lot of guys that are fresh out of college, for the most part, and the veteran players have done a great job. When you have Cam Wake, (Ndamukong) Suh, Reshad (Jones), (Jay) Cutler coming on board has helped. He’s the oldest guy. Him and Matt Moore, they’ve done outstanding jobs trying to be somewhat mentors to some of these younger guys. Julius (Thomas) and (Anthony) Fasano, you’ve got (Jermon) Bushrod, (Mike) Pouncey’s been around. You’ve got some guys that have been around and have seen a lot of things. They’ve been able to put things in perspective and help guys focus on what we’ve got to do.”
(The vast majority of the runs were out of a 12 personnel and sometimes 13 personnel. Was that more of a by-product of WR DeVante Parker not being available or is it also what you thought was your best chance to run the ball this week?) – “Probably a little bit of both. I can’t give you the exact reason. (That) just was the feel. They caught us a couple of times. We jumped into 11 personnel and (Falcons Head Coach) Dan (Quinn) called a perfect defense for what I was doing. We were getting some good looks and guys were executing well in certain personnel groupings, so we just stuck with it. We were just, basically at the end, we went with what was working for us.”
(“We are not normal.” I’m referring to the t-shirts, not the media. What was the thinking behind that? What’s that mean?) – “I’m trying to remember. I was going over something and (Director of Player Engagement) Kaleb (Thornhill) found some sign and we threw it up there in our squad meeting. I just remember Cam (Wake) walked by me and goes, ‘Now that’s a shirt.’ I just banked that one. When things start going in different directions and the sky is falling for everyone else and our guys are just plugging along, I felt like it was a good week to give those out and see what happened. I think those guys embraced that. They know a lot of the things they’ve been through and a lot of the things they’ve fought through, a lot of people wouldn’t have done what they’ve done so far.”
(Do you ever envision a day when you will be able to, essentially, change personnel without substitution with this offense? If so, how does that help you as a play caller?) – “When you’re huddling, it makes it a lot easier. When you’re going no huddle, you’d like to stay in the same personnel grouping because you don’t want them to change out and you have the illusion that you can go fast. You can take your time. There’s a lot of different things you can do to where you tire out the defense, especially the defensive line. In the situation we’re in, we were moving personnel around, and it’s what we wanted to do for that game. Every week will be different. Next week, who knows what we’ll end up doing? We’ll go through our preparation this week and it’ll probably look different next week.”
(The quality of play you got yesterday from T Larmey Tunsil and T Ja’Wuan James, was it as good as you’ve seen all year and should you expect that every week considering their talent, their pedigree?) – “I think the whole offensive line did a good job. It was a … They put a big emphasis this week – including the coaching staff – of strain and finish and making sure that if we make a mistake, we’re at least going 100 miles an hour and we’re just trying to find a crease to create for Jay (Ajayi) and trying to keep the pocket firm for (Jay) Cutler and give him a chance to make some throws. Jay (Cutler) was getting the ball out quick. Jay Ajayi was doing a great job of he saw a hole, and he hit it and, he ran through arm tackles and he fought. I thought the receivers did a great job of blocking. Tight ends were trying to finish every block. I just thought the whole group did a better job of trying to finish the plays.”
(Do you expect WR Rashawn Scott to practice on Wednesday?) – “We’ll see. I’ll get with those guys and figure it out. I don’t get that far ahead. I’m cleaning up this one today and then I’ll start moving on to the next step tonight.”
(You saw more signs yesterday that QB Jay Cutler is looking more comfortable?) – “Yes, I felt like he … I thought he played well. We had the fourth down, it gets batted down. We were moving the ball on really every drive. We had a couple of drops early. When you have five in a game, that’s going to hurt you again. They had them early. He shook those off and then started making some plays. I thought he did a good job of getting the ball out. I think guys realized that he wasn’t going to wait for them to get open. It was, ‘Get your head around, because the ball is coming out.’ I thought it was good. He hung in the pocket. He took a couple of shots that I’d rather not see him take. He made some big plays. I think that’s the third time that we’ve had a fourth-quarter comeback since he has been here. We’ll just keep finding ways to improve.”
(What did you see from your pass defense yesterday?) – “I always look at it like this: when their offense is trying to get rid of the ball really fast, that means that they’ve already affected the game before they even really stepped on the field. It’s obvious that if you hold onto the ball against those guys, it’s going to be a long day.”
(From your vantage point, what happened on the touchdown pass to WR Marvin Hall from QB Matt Ryan?) – “That’s a tough play. When you got a lot of misdirection, things going on, it’s one of those plays where they got us. It’s hard to say, ‘Is it the call? Is it execution of the play?’ That was a good play call versus what we were running. The guy, he was flying. He made a great play and a great throw. That’s football.”
(You’ve now won 11 straight games decided by 7 points or fewer, it shattered a team record. It’s got to be close to a league record. Is that a skill to win one-score games?) – “I don’t know if it’s a skill. I think it’s a great mindset that our players have of when the game gets tight, they’re going to play better or at least they’re going to make the plays necessary. I think this year it’s a little different, because it’s a lot more comforting when you look out there on defense and you actually see all our guys out there. When you see ‘20’ (Reshad Jones) out there, you know something good is possibly going to happen, and it did. That was an element we were missing last year. Our lead dog in the secondary didn’t play 10 games. When you see him back there, and the ball is still being put in the air … I know that’s what I kept hoping for was hoping he gets a shot at getting his hands on the ball. I think adding veteran linebackers too has really helped us, because this year those guys have really – the past few games – we’ve noticed a big difference.”
(Do you put any stock in point differential as a way to gauge the team? Or is it just the record?) – “I just look at the record. I’m still waiting for your guys’ comment section next to win, loss and tell me each game what should’ve happened, what would’ve happened.”
(That doesn’t appear in the Miami Herald.) – “I don’t know; I don’t read it. Sorry. (laughter)”
