Adam Gase – December 1, 2016
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Thursday, December 1, 2016
Head Coach Adam Gase
(What adjustments would the offense have to make if WR DeVante Parker isn’t ready by Sunday?) – “I don’t see there being too much, because we are pretty flexible as far as what we can do. A lot of times, the things that we do are based off of what the defense does as far as our game planning goes. We’re able to move pieces around pretty easy.”
(Where are the young guys – Leonte Carroo, Jakeem Grant and Rashawn Scott – as far as ready to step in and contribute?) – “We’ve made some big strides, especially since Kenny (Stills) and Jarvis (Landry) have been banged up the last month or so. Those guys have been able to take a lot of reps, which when you’re a young player, that’s critical, because you can look at everything on a piece of paper – you can look at everything on a board – but at the end of the day, until you really do it, that’s when you can make some strides. I think that’s what has happened with those guys.”
(And why WR Rashawn Scott called up to the 53-[man roster]?) – “We feel like what he has shown us since the first day we put him on practice squad, he has made improvement. At the same time, he does have something about him as far as his attitude and his intensity and his confidence in himself. I think there is some trust there with the knowledge of the offense and the same time with his ability.”
(With all the guys cross training at multiple wide receiver spots, how clutch is that at this point in the season now that you are facing some injuries?) – “It makes it a lot easier. I think the thing that with this offense that helps us is it’s easy to move guys around. Nobody is really assigned a letter or anything like that. We’re able to keep our offense pretty close to what it has always been. With those guys being able to play multiple positions, that makes it even that much easier.”
(What are some things that WR Leonte Carroo has really worked hard to refine since his arrival?) – “I think the thing that has been very impressive as far as … He stays with it. He stays with the fact that early he was struggling a little bit with the volume and what he had to do and knowing multiple positions. The longer we’ve gone, the better he has got a grasp of our offense. You can see he’s a lot more comfortable right now. (The first) game was a good example where last time he went in there, he struggled a little bit as far as doing the right thing a lot of the time. Last game, he was on point. He did exactly everything right that we needed him to do.”
(Do you feel like WR Leonte Carroo is playing faster also as a result of knowing what to do?) – “That touchdown tells you everything you need to know right there as far as he was able to run that route crisp, be exactly where he was supposed to be and then catch the ball and make a play. A lot of times you call that play not thinking that’s going to happen, and he did a good job finishing that one.”
(How would you describe CB Bobby McCain’s personality?) – “I don’t know if I have a good description of it. He seems to be a little bit of a jokester. I know that. He’s always messing with me. I really like the attitude that Bobby has. I know a lot of people were down on him early in the season, and he has really stuck with it. He has always remained confident. The longer the season has gone on, the better he has got.”
(What do you see on film from Ravens DT Brandon Williams?) – “It’s always hard to point out one guy with this defense, because they play so well together and guys do benefit from having so many good players up front in that front seven. It’s a very disruptive bunch. They’re very sound in their scheme. That’s the one thing: besides being good players, they play well together. They do their job. When guys do get singled up, somebody makes a play. Whether it’s him or one of those other guys, they make it very tough for the offense.”
(Assistant Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Darren Rizzi explained to us earlier today about game circumstances dictated not trying a 50-plus yard field goal with K Andrew Franks. In general, not pertaining to that situation, do you think his range can get to the mid-50s with as strong as his leg is, depending on weather and wind?) – “Yes, we watch him bomb kicks all the time in practice. He does a god job and that situation there, probably a lot of the times I would probably just kick it. I think it was more, I was mad at myself for the third down call. That was probably the decision. That was kind of the thought process where we put ourselves in a bad spot, and we felt confident as far as we needed to keep them backed up and (Matt) Darr has been so good as far as pinning guys back. We had a chance to make a play there, we just didn’t make it. It really had nothing to do with Franks. He’s done exactly what we’ve talked about since the beginning of the year. We sputter out once we cross the 50, we have a lot of confidence in him getting us three points.”
(With G/T Laremy Tunsil and T Branden Albert potentially back into the lineup, how critical are those guys to being able to execute, balance things out and execute some of the front side and back side runs. Being able to execute on both sides?) – “Any time you have your starting lineup out there, obviously it’s going to be more consistent as far as they’ve been together for most of the year. When we lose a guy here and there and we have to plug somebody else in there, that goes back to their chemistry thing we’ve talked about before where sometimes guys can step in and play well together. Sometimes it takes a few games and it’s nice to have a chance that if those guys end up being out there, they have very good chemistry with just those two. It is nice that you can lean on a side if that’s what you want to be your point of attack, and protection-wise, you feel really good with those two guys out there.”
(I know the status of G/T Laremy Tunsil and T Branden Albert still remains up in the air, but how do you go about who’s working where at left tackle since both of them have to kind of be prepared to play left tackle?) – “That’s a nice thing about having Sam Young being able to take some reps at left tackle. I don’t have a lot of concerns if Tunsil has to play left tackle. That’s what he does and that’s an easy move for him, and he knows what we’re doing. Once again, when we had those … We’ve kept him on the left side for a reason because we felt like that was an easier transition for him – all the calls, nothing changes for him. So we feel confident that if we have to bump him out to left tackle, that’s not a problem.”
(With little practice?) – “Absolutely.”
(So he’s primarily working as a left guard now?) – “Yes.”
(How does T Branden Albert seem to be doing with whatever apparatus they’ve tried for him?) – “He’s doing good. I think he has a lot of confidence in what they have for him. If he didn’t feel like he could function, he wouldn’t go. He’s not going to put the team in any kind of jeopardy as far as he can’t function at the level he needs to function at. When he says, ‘I’m ready to go and I’m good to go,’ I’m going to have a lot of confidence in that.”
