Adam Gase – November 2, 2017
Download PDF version
Thursday, November 2, 2017
Head Coach Adam Gase
(While not obviously giving away any specifics at all, is your hope in general to be able to incorporate more in your offense to be less predictable? You mentioned the predictability thing of simplifying it last week. Is that your hope to be able to add a little bit more, substantially more, over the next couple weeks?) – “Well see how it goes. Right now, our guys are doing a good job of trying to take what we’re doing in the meetings, get onto the practice field, execute what we’re talking about and play fast. (We had a) good sense of urgency yesterday. I saw a lot of guys communicating, that was good. It’s just all about getting better every day.”
(I know there wasn’t contact for QB Jay Cutler yesterday, but how did he respond physically with the ribs?) – “He’s not going to say much. He’s always going to say he’s okay. Until he pulls himself out of practice, for the most part, he’s not going to tell me he’s hurting or if he’s not. He looked good to me, so that’s what I have to go off of.”
(The early part of practice, QB Jay Cutler’s throwing looked like it always does. Did that seem … If you didn’t know something was wrong, did he look off at all to you?) – “No. That’s just … I’ve seen him take some really big hits. Like I said, that was the first time I’ve ever seen him stay down. He’s tough. I just don’t see any restrictions for him.”
(QB Jay Cutler has already sort of thrown balls off his back foot. Do you feel like some of the pressures could force him to be a little bit more tentative in the pocket?) – “No, I don’t see that. Sometimes that’s just what I was talking about earlier in the season where just kind of being aware of what you’ve done when you were younger, it’s not always the same. (Age) 28 and 34, it’s a big change. I think sometimes it is just old habits. The biggest thing that we’re always talking about is using his legs, using his body, making sure that alignment and all of the little details that you want to do mechanically as a quarterback (are good). Sometimes you don’t have a choice. We were taking some shots that last game he played where there weren’t a lot of options as far as coming underneath.”
(Offensive Coordinator Clyde Christensen told me to ask you, so I’m asking you that as far as with RB Jay Ajayi absent now, how do you guard against calling plays that were beneficial for Ajayi and doing more things that benefit RB Kenyan Drake and the other running backs now that you have?) – “The good thing is our offense is pretty fluid. We adjust things; it’s not hard for us to adjust. At the end of the day, it’s what we’ve been talking about for really most of the season is everybody doing their job correctly and giving ourselves a chance. How much is different? How much is the same really? It’s kind of going to be the flow of the game and what they’re doing. It can change within the game pretty quick. They can get a different feel for what they’re doing too, where they might not necessarily like something that we were doing in practice and we get in the game and we’re running something similar and that’s when the suggestions start flowing of, ‘I like this, this and this.’ You just keep communicating with the guys that are playing and they usually lead you in the right direction.”
(How accurate a predictor are your practices to performance?) – “I’d say defensively and special teams, it has been pretty spot on.”
(So if they practice well they usually play well?) – “Correct.”
(And offensively?) – “It has been a little inconsistent. There have been a couple weeks where I felt like we were going to play really well, and we didn’t. Like that Atlanta week, I did feel good the way that our guys were doing things. I still feel like we moved the ball well, we just didn’t get in the end zone in that first half. I felt good, especially at the end of the week, because we went through some bumps in the road the second Jets game, where what they do on third down is tough to pick up. We kind of struggled early in the week and by the time we hit Friday, they were locked in and they understood what we were trying to do, and I felt good about it. Really at this point, we do have a decent indication, because when we have had a couple bad practices, we’ve really performed poorly. Really, it comes from that execution standpoint and the energy level. We’ve just got to be consistent. That’s really the biggest thing for us.”
(And that wouldn’t apply to last week?) – “How can you tell? We’re doing a walk through. I felt great, but we’re walking through.”
(Why has there been a difference in energy level?) – “Some games are more physical than others. When some of these guys get banged up, and they come in on Wednesday, and you expect them to take almost all the reps, it’s a mental game you’re playing with yourself where you can’t allow yourself to dip down. You have to find a way to fight through the grind of the season. What I’ve noticed over my career is the really special ones, the really good players, they find a way, and they find a way to make sure that they keep everybody else up as well. That’s really what we’re always looking for is we need our good players to be good players, but lead at the same time. Show the right example and make sure that we’re all kicking on the same cylinders. We’re trying to get everybody doing the same thing where it is high energy level, understanding we’re a little beat up and keep grinding.”
(Who’s the best at doing that?) – “I think Kenny (Stills) is up there. (Anthony) Fasano for sure. Fasano is always a guy that … I feel like he never has a bad day. I think he loves playing here. I think he’s really enjoying this part of his career. That has been fun to watch. I never really see (Mike) Pouncey … He likes being out there. He’s going to give it to me a little bit during practice, but you know he loves the opportunity to practice. He’s relishing every moment.”
(With RB Kenyan Drake and RB Damien Williams, when you had those days were RB Jay Ajayi was not practicing, did you run a different package or different plays for them or you just ran the same stuff?) – “There were certain things that we like to try to use with each guy a little bit differently; but for the most part, our offense didn’t make an overhaul on those days. A lot of times though we were installing when we were doing that stuff. So in training camp, whatever we were putting in that day, that would be the point of emphasis. If it was a Thursday – which is a lot of our third-down stuff – we were able to say, ‘Let’s hit these few runs, because these are his favorite deals, and let’s just get him ready to go.’ Because if that guy’s number is called … I always get four or five suggestions from them if they’re in the game. Those are what I go to just because I don’t need the full menu, because I knew it wasn’t going to be eight straight plays. That’s kind of how we went about practice. I had an idea of what they wanted to work on, and it just made it easy.”
(There have been only 99 career carries for RB Damien Williams. He has a 3.3 career average. Do you think that’s not reflective of what he can be as a runner if there’s more than average, something more substantial?) – “The average is … You can take that for what it’s worth. I always look at efficiency and a lot of times Damien’s carries … There have been a lot of situations where he has done exactly what you need him to do. We’d have second-and-2 and you’d call a certain play, he was trying to make sure we get the first down. There’s a lot of trust there with him for me. He does a lot of different things, wears a lot of different hats and he does it well. I know this, it’s rare to see him go down, one guy bring him down. We’ve seen it time and time again. A lot of times it happens in the passing game where it’s third down or fourth down, or in the red zone where one guy takes a shot at him, he spins off and then runs a couple more guys over. He’s a relentless runner and he’s one of those guys that he’d rather not hit the ground.”
(Where is RB Kenyan Drake right now in pass protection?) – “He’s actually pretty good. If you haven’t seen him as much as we have, he’s a little more stout than what people realize. His height and I think he looks like he’s thinner than most backs, but he’s put together well. When he steps up … He does a good job of stepping up and meeting contact and delivering the blow instead of waiting for the linebacker to hit him. Any time you got a guy that has done as much special teams as he has – whether it be punt, punt return, kickoff coverage, kickoff return – he has had over his career, including college, there has been a lot of opportunities for him to do those type of blocks.”
