Adam Gase – December 1, 2017
Download PDF version
Friday, December 1, 2017
Head Coach Adam Gase
(What is the outlook for QB Matt Moore do you think?) – “We’re not counting on him playing this week or being available.”
(And QB David Fales? How confident or how prepared is he for this moment do you think?) – “He’s been in this situation before. I’m not worried. He’s one of the last guys I’m worried about.”
(What is it about QB David Fales that, obviously in training you had him and then you brought him back?) – “It’s hard to explain. When he gets in a game, it slows down for him. He doesn’t think, he reacts; and there’s a lot of things that he does that have always impressed me since I’ve been around him. I know everybody will say it’s preseason but every year I’ve been around him, he’s had success and he just finds ways to move the ball and get guys that are learning an offense to get them to play well. It’s just one of those things where he’s a guy that hasn’t had the opportunity. You kind of run out of practice squad eligibility and everybody keeps two quarterbacks now. I’d love to see him be able to keep trying to improve and get an opportunity.”
(You’ve been in tough situations before with other teams but a five-game losing streak, how would you compare the mood of this team and work ethic of this team in that situation compared to some of the others?) – “I don’t think I’ve been around a group that does as good a job as these guys do as far as focusing on the next game. They’re not … I mean if you talk about that, they’ve moved on from that and are trying to get things right for this week. That’s been impressive. When I watch them practice, the day that we actually translate practice to Sundays will be a good day for us. It’s really one of those things where you just want it to click on game day. I think we’ve had moments. We just haven’t had it consistent enough and we haven’t had it at the right time.”
(Anything to put your finger on why it hasn’t translated from practice to game day because I know you’re a believer in practicing well equals good play.) – “Yes, I mean a whole bunch of us looked at everything trying to figure out where a couple of games had gone the wrong way for us. Sometimes it’s about us making a play and being in the right spot at the right time and it just seems like we have … We do the wrong thing at the worst time. Early in the season there were a couple games where it was opposite. Last year a lot of it was opposite. We seemed to always have the right guy in the right place at the right time and that’s why I just believe in keep focusing on what you’re doing, get better every day, keep doing it in practice and it’s going to translate to games.”
(Are G/T Jermon Bushrod and RB Damien Williams out?) – “I think we listed him … Bushrod’s out. I’m not sure … (Yes, Williams it out). There you go. You guys always ask me this stuff and it’s … (laughter). I get you, but (the injury report) is going to come out in like five minutes.”
(I’m curious. Are you going to only have two running backs available and if that’s the case, how does that affect things?) – “We’ve got contingency plans, as far as what we can do and some of the things we have backed up. Who can do what? We’ve thought through all of this. We’ve had a couple of days.”
(Just to clarify though, RB Senorise Perry is still in the concussion protocol?) – “Yes.”
(When you guys drafted RB Kenyan Drake, he had been a backup for a large part of his career at Alabama. What did you guys see in him?) – “We saw a guy that was very versatile. We liked the fact that he was good in the passing game. He had some explosive runs when he got his chances and as a running back, we loved the fact that he was a special teams player. We felt like adding him with Damien (Williams) gave us two running backs that were going to be huge contributors in special teams and they did do what we thought they were going to do in that aspect of it. We wanted Drake to really come along as a running back and I think he’s kind of like the third guy for most of the time and by him and Damien having to split time, it’s been good for him. He’s been great in meetings. He’s done a really good job at practice. He really works to get things right. Sometimes guys just need an opportunity to know they’re going to play. When you’re kind of that third guy and you’re thinking well I might get one touch and I might not really get a lot of reps on offense, that’s the hardest part about when you go to pro football is understanding that your number can be called at any time. You’ve got to keep getting ready and then when you go so long, that’s what’s amazing about backup quarterbacks. Matt (Moore) didn’t play for four and a half years and to come in every week and prepare the right way and be ready to go all the time, sometimes guys just lose their mind. The monotony of that just crushes you..”
(Do you lower expectations for RB Kenyan Drake because of … I mean playing time have been inconsistent.) – “No. I mean it has been, but I think our expectations are always going to be high, especially for a guy that we feel like has the talent that we were looking for coming out. He’s shown some flashes of that and if we can get him to be consistent, we feel like we’ve got something good there.”
(Do you all view RB Kenyan Drake as a running back that can be a feature back in the NFL?) – “I don’t know if I’m ever going to have feature back-type situations. I like using multiple guys. I like guys moving in and out and I like having guys that can do multiple things and really put pressure on the defense where they can’t focus on one thing. I don’t know. We might be out of that game.”
(Is there a single issue that you’ve been trying to deal with, with your cornerbacks, that you want to see addressed over the final month here?) – “I want to see those two guys just play aggressive and you just have to move on from the next play. If you get beat one time, it happens. I mean if you haven’t been beat in the NFL, you’re probably not playing. I want our guys playing confident. I want them playing aggressive. I want them to challenge wide receivers. I don’t want them to play passive and off and just try to keep everything in front of them. I want them to put pressure on the wide receivers and make it a tight throw and if they make a good play, good for them; but the majority of the time when you watch the NFL, there’s a lot of missed throws down the field.”
(Where are they at with their grasp of what’s being asked of them as far as scheme and assignments?) – “They’re pretty good. I mean there will be occasional things where things get messed up but it hasn’t been a whole bunch. ‘X’ (Xavien Howard) has been outstanding. He’s really done a good job. He understands what we’re doing and doesn’t make a lot of mistakes.”
(As far as your young defensive players, how has their progress been? I mean you’ve planned on playing most of them – DT Davon Godchaux, DT Vincent Taylor, CB Cordrea Tankersley, RB Xavien Howard. I guess we can throw in there maybe LB Chase Allen is the guy who came in unexpectedly, but as a group your youngsters, how have they done? And DE Charles Harris also.) – “They’ve done a good job. That’s a different crew. They do a good job. They’re in here early. Those guys spend a lot of time together. They make sure they’re not the weak link and they’re not going to be the guys that don’t know what to do. When you see the amount of time that these guys spend and the amount of film they watch, they always seem to be … When you’re walking down the halls at night, a lot of those guys are still here. They’re trying to make sure that they’re doing their part because they know they’re behind. These other guys have been around the NFL for a little bit and they’ve seen a lot of the things that teams do, so it’s not like the first time for them when they go out there and play. For some of these rookies, it’s the first time that they see some of these run schemes and pass concepts.”
(What are some of the, I guess the positives, of having two safeties that are seemingly interchangeable and also what’s kind of the downside of that as well?) – “I don’t know if there’s a downside to it because anytime you can have two guys that you can play in the box on the line of scrimmage, put them in the middle of the field, you can play split safety – I mean those guys you can blitz them both –they’re both good run defenders. I mean any time you’re interchangeable and an offense can’t figure out well who’s going to be the guy down all the time and who’s going to be in the middle of the field, it makes it challenging. It’s something that a lot of guys look at right away of ‘Alright, can we figure out where everybody’s going to be at on the field?’ Then when there are really good players, you try to eliminate them, and if they’re in the same spot all the time, it makes it a little bit easier. The thing is defensive coordinators know that, so they try to make it really hard on you when you have two guys that can play at really both spots. It makes it hard to really take them away.”
(How much has DT Jordan Phillips’ better consistency might come from the fact that he’s been pushed a little bit by DT Davon Godchaux and DT Vincent Taylor?) – “I can’t really speak on that. I just know that those young guys being around has been good for him as far as we’ve got a group of veteran guys and then we’ve got all of these young guys. I think Jordan was a younger guy that just had no other younger guys with him. I think it’s been good for him. It’s helped him kind of grow up, for the most part, and he’s been trying to help those (younger) guys as well. I know he’s taken a lot from those older guys, but I think those younger guys have energized him a little bit to where he’s having fun and he’s trying to make plays.”
(With DT Davon Godchaux, is it that you guys really, like he’s better than you thought he was when you drafted him? Or did you guys know at the time it was a heist to get him in the fifth round?) – “I know the scouts and (General Manager) Chris (Grier), they loved him. He’s probably the only player that I can just vividly remember his Combine interview. I remember being shocked he was so … we were showing him tape and we weren’t even hitting play yet and ‘Here’s what happened.’ He’d go through everything. ‘I screwed up here. I should’ve been…’ I just remember (Defensive Line Coach) Terrell (Williams) saying ‘How do you know what play this is?’ He was like ‘This is all I do.’ I just remember being floored by that because he was so football … That’s all it was. That’s all he was about. He was about football. When he kept sliding, he just kept staying right at the top of our board. We were just waiting. I know the scouts and Grier, they loved him. We were just waiting until the right time.”
(Did DT Davon Godchaux impress you personally in that interview? Because there were some red flags coming in so it could have been a tense conversation.) – “Yes. We’ve got pretty good connections down there. I have a pretty good background with the LSU people from being down there and there are a lot of people in our building that have a lot of good relationships down there, so we felt really good with what happened with him in college. We were just surprised he was there.”
(What type of pro do you see in DT Davon Godchaux daily?) – “He’s been exactly what you want a guy to be, especially for a young guy. I don’t know how many times you’ve seen a rookie be a captain for a game.”
(Does DT Davon Godchaux follow along DT Ndamukong Suh?) – “I think there is a lot he takes there. I know Suh spends a lot of time with him. It started in the spring. I just think that’s kind of how he is built. He’s just kind of got that natural leadership about him to where those young guys all kind of follow him.”
(Was there anything specific DT Davon Godchaux did that made you decide to make him a game captain last week?) – “I think it’s just the consistency that he’s had and the fact that he always does everything you ask and he does it right. I don’t think there’s a guy … There’s not many guys that can challenge him with the energy he plays with. Every down he’s on the field, he gives you everything he has.”
