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Adam Gase – December 30, 2016 Download PDF version

Friday, December 30, 2016

Head Coach Adam Gase

(I saw on social media TE MarQueis Gray mentioned he was happy for his two year extension. I hadn’t seen anything official. Can you confirm and if so what went behind that?) – “Yes. It was something that we’ve been working on some of our current guys that had a possibility of being up and he was one of the guys that we were able to get done. We’re happy that we got him to begin with. Over and over he’s proven exactly what we thought he was and who he was and the kind of person he was and player. He’s done a great job as far as being a leader in that room and really for the offense.”

(The one other guy this week it was learned had a contract extension was T Sam Young. Can you talk about what he’s brought in those six offensive linemen packages?) – “Sam’s done a good job coming in after being here before. (It was) probably a little surprising that he was still out there when we were able to get him. I feel like any time we can keep the guys that we have currently in the building, that’s really what we’re looking to do.”

(Has anybody in the last couple of games focused on stopping the passing game as opposed to the eight man fronts stopping RB Jay Ajayi?) – “Not really.”

(Would you expect to see that on Sunday or it’s definitely RB Jay Ajayi because of what he’s done?) – “I’ve learned playing these guys don’t try to guess what they’re going to do. They’re going to do what’s best for them for this game. They’re going to try to take away what we do well. The game is going to have changes within it. They’ll adjust as they need to throughout the game. That’s why they’re a very good coaching staff – both sides of the ball and special teams. That’s what they’ve made a living on for over a decade is being the type of staff that can affect the game.”

(I know you can’t enter a game quite thinking like this but how important is leaving this game healthy going into the postseason?) – “We’re worried about winning this game. I’m not going to try to guess what could possibly happen. We’re playing football.”

(In your first year working with T Branden Albert, what’s the biggest thing that was stood out to you both on the field and off the field?) – “I think with the way that he’s really tried to help that group as a leader has been something that’s really stood out to me. The way he plays through just those little bumps and bruises. He (dislocated his wrist) and came back in that game and every week he kept telling me, ‘I’m going to be back this week I’m going to be back.’ We’re trying to be smart thinking we’ve got a lot of football left and he kept trying to come back and then when he did come back, he did everything he could going against a very good pass rusher (Terrell Suggs) and was able to keep him at bay as long as possible, and the way he’s been there for (Laremy) Tunsil. We lose Mike (Pouncey) and he really has stepped up as being a leader of that room. And just the way that he works. When you see a guy that’s been around for a minute and practices hard and goes out and plays hard and gives everything he has for these guys, it’s been very impressive.”

(You guys are near the bottom of the league in terms of yardage allowed defensively, but you’re, I think 14th in points allowed. There’s a big discrepancy there. How would you explain what your defense has done to hold down the scoring while the yardage is not what you…?) – “Yards don’t mean anything. You can get yards. We could average a ton of yards on offense if we wanted to, but when you don’t turn the ball over and you’re getting turnovers and you can stop them on third down and score in the red zone or you can prevent the scores in the red zone, that’s all that matters. Winning games is all that matters. The yards don’t mean anything.”

(You’ve sent out the message that you guys are going to try to win this week as opposed to resting players. Do you have a general philosophy on resting healthy players once you’ve clinched or is it always a case by case?) – “I’ve never been a part of resting players in my career. (We were) 13-3 two years in Denver and 12-4 (one year). I never rested anybody. Peyton (Manning) was playing the last game of the year every year.”

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