Adam Gase – October 20, 2017
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Friday, October 20, 2017
Head Coach Adam Gase
(Is C Mike Pouncey still in the concussion protocol?) – “Yes.”
(Practice today, did C Mike Pouncey practice fully?) – “Yes, as much as you can when you’re in basically shorts and helmets. It’s not like there’s any contact or anything for the most part. I’m waiting to see like you guys are.”
(Last year, DE Mario Williams was the only guy I’ve ever seen be in the concussion protocol and then play the next week. What did he do differently that sort of got him to that point?) – “That’s hard for me to answer. Once they go in the protocol, I let those guys do their job. This is a serious thing that everybody makes sure that they go through the right steps. The training staff does a good job and goes through the steps they’re asked to make the player go through. I remove myself from it completely and whenever they tell me a player is cleared, that’s when I say okay.”
(How confident are you that C Jake Brendel is ready to start his first NFL game?) – “I’m confident. I mean after what I saw last week, you talk about getting thrown in the fire. He’s aware of the situation. He’s done a good job all week and understands what we’re trying to do. That’s what ball is. That’s what you’re supposed to do. You’re supposed to get ready and expect to play and if you don’t, you just wait until your opportunity happens.”
(What can you do as a playcaller to get your offense off to a faster start?) – “Score points. We just have to make plays. I just try to put the guys in the best position possible. We’ve got to make a throw; we’ve got to make a catch. We’ve got to give Jay (Ajayi) a hole to run through and see if he can bust one and drive the length of the field and score through the goal line. It really, at the end of the day, it’s just trying to stay on track first and second down and keep the third downs to a manageable position and put a drive together.”
(I can’t remember if I asked you this last year. Are you the type of coach that scripts plays? Sometimes you do, sometimes you don’t?) – “Sometimes I do. It depends. Every once in a while you start that way and then it goes off-kilter, you scratch it and start over in the middle of the game. Every game is different.”
(I’m sure as a coach, when something doesn’t go right like the starts, do you look at everything? Do you look at pregame, the night before, anything like that for the slow starts?) – “Not really. It’s just more about whether they run a defense we haven’t seen or they have something that gets us, or if it’s self-inflicted. I’d say more of ours have been self-inflicted than anything.”
(Are you optimistic for WR DeVante Parker?) – “I mean, we’ll see. It’s hard to predict anything. Even though when I see him walking around, he looks good. It’s hard – running, jumping, contact, trying to jump up and get a ball and you’ve got a guy draped all over you. I’m just going to keep talking to the trainers, keep talking to him and just see where he’s at. He’s done it before where he hasn’t practiced all week and been able to play. It’s not an ideal situation for him, especially when we’ve got two games close together. We’ll just kind of see how it works out here in the next couple of days.”
(With the young cast of receivers, WR Leonte Carroo and WR Jakeem Grant, how much are you seeing in terms of their understanding of the offense and their readiness to contribute?) – “I think the understanding is there. Now it just comes down to less thinking, more reacting. I think you can see occasionally where Carroo looks smooth and everything is fluid and easy for him. Then occasionally, if something changes where he’s never seen something before – you see a coverage that you haven’t really practiced against – the wheels start turning. You’re trying to figure out ‘What’s my adjustment? What am I supposed to do?’ That’s where you can slow yourself down and you lose a little bit of focus. You don’t catch the ball or you’re not in the right spot. I think Jakeem is in the same boat where when we get him to where he plays as fast as he can, that’s when he has success. We try to keep everything fairly tight with him so he can be a playmaker for us.”
(Do you put WR Leonte Carroo and WR Jakeem Grant in one spot or one side?) – “You try to say ‘You’re the X, you’re the Z,’ whatever it may be. We always try to do some things to adjust because Kenny (Stills) and Jarvis (Landry), when they’re out there by themselves, it’s no secret we’re going to try to put them in the best position possible. At the same time, the ball does get dictated by the defense sometimes. Guys just have to be on it and make sure they know what to do, play fast and get open when we’re counting on them to get open versus certain coverages.”
(Is WR Kenny Stills back to a full workload with catching and everything like that with his hand?) – “Yes, it looks like it. I haven’t really seen him have any problems in the last 10 days.”
(Was it just soreness?) – “Yes, I think so a little bit.”
(A broken bone in there?) – “I think there was a lot of soreness there. I’m sure it didn’t help a couple of times when Jay (Cutler) rifled a couple at him. I think it just hits a spot in his hand every once in a while and it’s a good feeling for him. It looks like he’s catching it better. I know he’s been catching a lot of balls. I don’t see any problems with it right now.”
(With WR Jakeem Grant and WR Leonte Carroo, where do you feel they are with their route detail and the depth of their routes right now?) – “They’re better than what they’ve been. I know Carroo has made a lot of strides. He’s really worked on it hard. Kenny (Stills) has spent a ton of time with both of those guys making sure they understand what they’re supposed to do and some of the details of the route. They’ve gotten into that a little more. I know (Wide Receivers Coach) Shawn (Jefferson) and (Assistant Wide Receivers Coach) Ben (Johnson) have spent countless hours doing the same thing. We’ve got all hands on deck right now making sure those two guys are ready to go. It’s experience. It’s the more they do it, the more they talk about it, the more they see it on film, the more they get to do it at practice, the better they’re going to get.”
(What has QB Ryan Tannehill been contributing to you guys the last couple of weeks?) – “He’s been doing a lot really inside, just with suggestions on if something goes a little haywire in practice of how to fix things. He’s always up to date with what’s going on with who we’re playing, what their scheme is, what are some of the things we should lean on. He’s been good just trying to give me suggestions occasionally during games. He’s been really good with that of just giving me subtle reminders of some of the things that he’d be thinking of in those situations. I think him and Jay (Cutler) have done a good job of talking through stuff and Ryan has been able to get to me sometimes during a series to where he can suggest some calls.”
(How often does QB Ryan Tannehill make a suggestion to you during a game?) – “It’s not a ton but it seems to be at the right time. He has a good feel. He knows me well enough to know when a good time is and when it isn’t a good time. It’s almost like he’s playing the game. It’s very helpful for me because he’s got a very good grasp of what our offense is and what we’re trying to accomplish. He knows the right way to kind of defuse me when I’m going off the rails. (laughter)”
(It seems like that’s a lot of people’s jobs.) – “Yes. (laughter)”
(With QB Ryan Tannehill physically, he’s obviously got to be able to protect himself on the sideline. Is there a point where you felt confident in him being out there?) – “Yes. I pretty much have said that to him every week of ‘Stay out of the way.’ Any time we’ve got a guy down there that’s coming off an injury, that’s the last thing that you want to see is something else happen. He’s staying away from the play for the most part. I think sometimes he creeps a little too close to where you’ve got to remind him. For him, he feels like he’s already alright and he’s doing a lot of the things that it looks like he’s alright but we just know that it’s a process. We’ve still got a ways to go.”
(With RB Jay Ajayi and the hands situation or the pass catching, obviously he puts so much work into it in the offseason. Why is it not translating in games?) – “I think a few of the opportunities that he had – I know last week he wasn’t really happy with himself – one is to just get his head around quicker. He’s trying to run a good route and the ball needs to come out because we’re getting a little pressure in (Cutler’s ) face to where you’ve just got to understand that the house is burning down and you’ve got to get it out. The other one, he’s trying to run before he catches it. It’s just, no matter who it is, I haven’t seen many guys that consistently catch it where they start turning their head and don’t look it in. I think you just learn from those mistakes and understand that we’ve got a long way to go and we’re going to keep putting him in situations to where it’s another touch for him and for us it’s almost like a perimeter run. If we can get him the ball in open space, that’s a plus for us.”
(Does it make it difficult to work on that when RB Jay Ajayi is not practicing once a week?) – “Well, when he does practice, he’s constantly catching balls. He’s trying to work on route detail. (Running Backs Coach) Danny (Barrett) does a good job of making sure he hits as many things as possible in the days that he’s practicing. I think that what we’re doing with him is the right thing for what he needs to make sure that we can get him fighting through the whole season. Obviously, last game, you don’t go into the game thinking he’s going to get that many touches but when he does, it seems like we’re productive. We just want to make sure we’re doing the right thing of keeping him healthy on Sundays.”
(A lot of coaches look at those swing passes as, essentially, extended handoffs. How beneficial is it to be able to hit those consistently if you can?) – “It’s good when it works. It looks terrible when a linebacker goes flying out there and he matches it pretty good and now all of the sudden it looks terrible. When you can catch a team when they’re blitzing and he’s free releasing, that’s really when it’s best. When you don’t catch them in those, it’s brutal.”
(We know RB Damien Williams is one of your favorite guys. How do you get him incorporated a little bit more in the offense?) – “I think we have. He was very productive for us last game. We’re trying to find that balance between him and Jay (Ajayi). I think there’s a lot of trust there, especially on third down, with Damien. It seems like he’s (in the) right place, right time all of the time and he makes plays when the most critical situation comes up. He’s very detailed in what he does. It’s hard to find guys that are in a backup position and is as valuable on special teams and at the running back position as he is, and then still is a playmaker on offense. I think he’s done nothing but get better since we’ve been here. He’s very passionate about what he does. When he gets the ball, it’s rare to see him go down on the first hit. He fights for every inch.”
(You’re one of nine of 16 AFC teams with three wins. What’s going on this year? Is it just parity?) – “I have no idea. I’m not worried about anybody else. We’ve got to worry about us.”
(How much preparation for regular season games do you do back in August or in the offseason? Do you dedicate days to where you’ll scout out the Week 13 opponent or whatever?) – “That’s not really us.”
(So you really don’t do anything until you get to the week of the game?) – “Yes. I’ll forget everything. (laughter)”
(How do you begin? Obviously you’re not finished wrapping up with the Jets, but when do you begin the turnaround for next week’s Thursday night game?) – “After this one’s over, so (Sunday) night. A bunch of us just end up coming back to the office and just start working on the next one. It’s tough because you’ve got to shake – no matter what happens, win or lose – you’ve got to shake (the previous game) and move onto the next one. It’s a very short period of time. If you win, it’s very short to feel good about yourself and then when you lose, you better get over it fast because you don’t want one loss to become two just because you can’t shake it.”
(Normally these games are divisional games. Is this out of the norm that it’s not a divisional game?) – “I don’t think so. Maybe I’m 50/50 on these Thursday night games as far as non-divisional games. Last year, what did we play? Cincinnati? I’m trying to think. It’s been probably 50/50 for me.”
(What do you give up, logistically, in terms of what you can work on? What do you say, ‘We’re going to not have to spend as much time on this or that?’) – “Really, it’s everything. You’re cutting corners all over the place and you try to keep everything as tight as possible. You just don’t give your players a ton of stuff. You try to narrow it down as best you can. Anytime you play a team like we’re going to play, offensively, it’s tough because they do a lot of stuff and they can get to a lot of things very quickly. They can change up on you. For offense, some defenses don’t have to prepare as hard as what we would have to do for next week because maybe an offense is a little bit more cookie cutter or maybe there’s something that a team’s chameleon all over the place and that’s when it gets tough for your defense.”
