Adam Gase – August 14, 2016
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Sunday, August 14, 2016
Head Coach Adam Gase
(On what he thought about the offense after he reviewed the film of the first preseason game) – “It would be nice to get into a little bit of a rhythm and get more than seven plays. I think our guys knew they weren’t going to be in there long and pressed to try to get something to happen. It just didn’t go the way I think any of us thought it was going to go. I felt like our guys felt really good about being able to at least getting that first first down and get going – that’s usually what it takes. It didn’t go the way we wanted and now we go back to work this week and have another shot next week.”
(On if there will be any lineup changes – specifically at left guard) – “I know everybody is really itching to fire everybody and bench everybody. (We ran) seven plays. I understand everybody’s concern about every little thing. When certain people have history with guys that have been here in the past, but I said this right when we started this thing – everybody has a fresh start with this crew. Our job is to evaluate what we see. I’m not putting … Anything that happened in the past is irrelevant. It doesn’t matter to me. It does not matter. Every guy is going to get a true evaluation and we’ll make our final decision the first game of the season. That’s what we are going to do. This is going to be the process that we go through.”
(On how G/T Laremy Tunsil played Friday night) – “He’s got a lot to learn. We need him to keep getting better. His thing is it’s new for him. That (shift from tackle to guard) inside, that’s a different animal. He’s learning and the thing I love about him is that he works hard. All those guys came out to practice today and they turned the page from that game and whatever reps they got, they made them count.”
(On if he has talked with G Dallas Thomas about getting a fair shake at the left guard spot) – “I feel like it hasn’t been necessary for me to sit down and try to explain anything because he hasn’t put anything towards me like he’s concerned. He’s been going out there every day and he’s been working hard. I feel like he’s focused on himself and not worried about anybody else. I think that’s what I’ve appreciated about him is that he’s not worried about what anyone else says. He cares about what his position coach says, he cares about what his coordinator says and he cares about what the head coach says, and that’s all that matters to him. He’s going out there and he’s trying to do everything he can to put himself in the best position and then he’s working to get better. That’s all we’re asking our players to do.”
(On how he goes about correcting mistakes that happen in games) – “The way that we’re doing this, we come in every morning and we’re right out of the gate and we start practicing. We have a lot of meeting time today so we’ll be able to get through as much as we can (while) trying to get this practice going plus installing a little more tonight. It’s going to take a couple days to get through the whole film but it’s a good process because you’re removed from the game so the emotional part of it is taken out of it. Now it’s about getting yourself better and making those corrections throughout the week. That’s the one thing that I do love about doing it a couple of days after is you’re not still worked up about what actually happened in the game. Now it’s a learning experience.”
(On if there are guys that the media doesn’t publicize that he thought stood out in the first preseason game) – “It’s a small sample size. I don’t want to say one guy has done better than the other. I love the way that our young guys played. All of those guys that played in that second half really showed me a lot as far as not having a lot of reps and then being able to get through a lot of plays in that game. It just shows that (Head Strength and Conditioning Coach) Dave (Puloka) and his crew did a great job in the strength and conditioning program of getting our entire team ready to go and then a lot of those guys did a great job this summer of making sure they came in in shape. They’ve been doing the extra things in the weight room whether it be on the field or after practice so for them to go in there and all of a sudden you get 50 plays and you’ve been getting eight reps a day, that’s a big swing. So I was happy for those guys to be able to go out there and compete but the conditioning level that they showed was pretty good.”
(On what he thought about the run defense in the first preseason game after watching the film) – “Early, we were in position, I thought (Defensive Coordinator) Vance (Joseph) made a couple of really good calls where we had one more (in the box) than they did and we’re in position to make the play but we missed some tackles. That’s what the preseason is for. You’re going to see that throughout the league. It’s not just going to be us. That’s part of the preseason – you’re going to have missed tackles and you’ve got to correct them. As you get going and your ones start getting more reps, they need to try to clean that up as fast as possible because when you hit that first game, if you want to be one of the better teams earlier in the season, (tackling) could give you an advantage. As you get going throughout the season, that’s usually when you see a lot of the tackling gets cleaned up throughout the NFL.”
(On what he saw out of QB Brandon Doughty on Friday night) – “I saw a guy that was very comfortable. I felt good calling plays for him. I didn’t have any concerns. I wasn’t sitting there (saying), ‘I can’t call this, I can’t call this.’ I felt good, for myself. Watching him react to everything I called, it was like there was nothing that was bothering him. He’d get hit, he’d bounce back up (and) he’d look right at me. I love that part of him and then his progressions were really good. He was always in the right spot, which is good to see (because) it’s different in practice. (Laughter)”
(On if QB Brandon Doughty’s performance was typical of a rookie based on his previous coaching experience) – “Probably not. I’ve been (around) a few times where it looks like, ‘Uh oh, what’s going to happen?’ He was good. The under-center stuff, he’s been in the (shot) gun a lot in his career and we probably have to just keep working on that. If there’s one thing that I would say he needs to really work on is just to make sure that he feels comfortable working under center.”
(On what he learned about WR Jakeem Grant in the preseason opener) – “Well, after I saw him cut one up (field) and just put his head down and try to run about three guys over, there’s no mistaking that this guy is as advertised. (Texas Tech Head Coach) Kliff (Klingsbury) had told me that you’re not going to find a guy tougher. He just said to bypass his size because he’s strong and he’s tough and he’s not afraid of anything, and that was true. It’s fun to watch him return kicks and return punts because the whole time you’re sitting there thinking if he makes one cut and gets in the open field, he could be gone. That’s an excitement … It’s fun to be a part of that on the sideline, just watching. I felt that there were a lot of guys that every time there was a punt or a kickoff return, everybody was creeping up (to the sideline) to see if he can do something here.”
(On if it is worth it for WR Jakeem Grant to keep taking kickoffs out of the end zone since touchbacks are now placed at the 25-yard line) – “In the preseason? Absolutely. You want to see what he can do, for one. But then you also want to see the guys up front, how we block things or certain schemes you want to work on. So in the preseason, that’s your time to say we’re bringing this thing out unless it’s X number (of yards) in the end zone.”
(On if the kickoff return philosophy will change in the regular season) – “I’m sure it will. We’ll talk about that when we get there. I don’t think … (Assistant Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Darren) Rizzi is going to understand our situation as far as we can really get an advantage if we take a touchback here. But who knows? Maybe it won’t. Maybe we’ll say let’s give this kid a chance to house call one. He’s a weapon and he can change field position.”
(On S A.J. Hendy and if he just has a nose for the ball) – “It seems like it. In OTAs it was the same thing. I just remember his name being constantly brought up. Anytime you get your hands on balls, it’s going to get (the) coaches’ attention. Guys are going to turn around and be like, ‘Who’s that? Who’s that? Who’s that?’ His name just keeps coming up and that’s one way to keep trying to find a way to get on this roster.”
(On if WR DeVante Parker participated in any team drills today) – “No. We did individual (with him), which I always love when we do individual with (Wide Receivers Coach) Shawn Jefferson and then take him out of team. It doesn’t make any sense to me because that’s harder than team. (Laughter) But we wanted to make sure we put him through a running program to really get him feeling good about ‘I’m in a good spot right now.’”
(On why CB Byron Maxwell was held out) – “We just wanted to make sure that he was all good. That kind of crept up on all of us as far as him not playing. We thought he was going to play and then he just could not get going. He just felt tight. That was my decision. I’m not taking a risk on that.”
(On if anything is different for him logistically on the sidelines) – “I feel like I’m lucky having a guy like (Assistant Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Darren) Rizzi and you’ve got (Defensive Coordinator) Vance (Joseph), you’ve got (Linebackers Coach Matt) Burke (and) you’ve got (Offensive Coordinator) Clyde (Christensen). We’ve got a lot of guys down there that make life easy. Rizzi is all over the place. He was in rare form. Maybe that’s normal. I’ve seen him on film a lot of times but he almost ran me over about three times.”
(On if he trusts Assistant Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Darren Rizzi with the red challenge flag) – “Absolutely. We’re doing that just to protect me from myself because I’m sure I’d be a little … if a player walks by me and (says), ‘Yeah, it wasn’t a catch,’ and I’d probably throw (the challenge flag) so (Rizzi’s) a precautionary measure.”
(On how important it is to get the first team more playing time this week at Dallas) – “That’s the plan. We’re going to get … I told those guys, ‘Listen, let’s not put a play count on this thing, let’s just go. Don’t worry about how long you’re in there. Let’s just play.’ I feel like that’s partially my fault of putting pressure on those guys of, ‘Hey, we’re playing X amount of plays. You’re playing 8-10 plays and then you guys are out.’ So I feel like they were trying to get something going and we just need to go out there and play and not worry about how many plays we’re playing. Let’s just go play until we feel good about it.”
(On what he and the team did during the weather delay before the Giants game) – “A lot of guys were trying to stay loose. There was a point where you’re trying to debate what the right thing to do here (is). Do we put our ones in or do we take those guys out? You’re trying to figure out the right thing to do because I know if I had pulled out the ones on offense, they were not going to be happy with me because I could tell they were ready to go and they were itching to go. I know we didn’t have as many guys on defense that were playing. The energy level was good, it was just guys trying to stay loose because you come right in off the field and you feel like you’re ready to go and then all of a sudden you have to sit for almost an hour.”
