Adam Gase – December 6, 2018
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Thursday, December 6, 2018
Head Coach Adam Gase
(Just to clarify something, did CB Xavien Howard have a surgical procedure on his knee this week?) – “Any of that stuff we always keep in house. I’m not getting into all of that stuff.”
(Is the prognosis still week to week for CB Xavien Howard?) – “Yeah. It is. We just have to see how fast of a healer he is. We have to make sure we do the right thing for him. When he’s ready to go, he’ll be ready to go. We can’t put him in a bad position to where his movement isn’t what it needs to be to play at the level that he wants to play at.”
(Is CB Xavien Howard here in the building?) – “Mhm. He came out and watched practice (and was) just making sure he knows everything.”
(Was CB Xavien Howard on crutches?) – “No. He was not on crutches.”
(The Patriots use RB James White a variety of ways. Is he like a RB Dion Lewis type of player? How do you approach defending him?) – “It’s hard because he can do everything. He can come out of the backfield, empty (sets), run it, pass protect, catch the ball. He’s got all of the traits you want at running back. Obviously he gets a lot of touches, both in the passing game and in the running game. He’s a tough guy to really know where he’s going to be and what they’re going to do with him from play to play.”
(What’s the latest on C Jake Brendel?) – “I’d say week to week but we’re almost done with the week. In practice yesterday, we just had one of those situations where he was running and felt something. We’re just going to see how he progresses through the rest of the week.”
(Is this the same calf or a different calf for C Jake Brendel?) – “I think it’s the same one.”
(When you said CB Xavien Howard was kind of watching things to see he’s on par with everything, is there a likelihood he could play this week?) – “Yeah, that’s what these guys do. They want to make sure that whether the guy ends up playing one week or not, it’s still gaining knowledge. It’s football. Guys like being around it and even though he can’t practice, he still wants to take it all in. I don’t know how this is going to go. Like I said earlier, we’re going to do what’s best for him and to make sure that he – the physical ability that he has – can maximize that.”
(Would CB Xavien Howard be a player that you could foresee yourself playing if he didn’t practice all week or do you need him to test out the knee?) – “If that point came about, we’d want to make sure that he’s good.”
(How is WR Danny Amendola doing?) – “He seems like he’s doing well. Him going out there and being able to run routes and practice, that’s encouraging. We’ll just keep an eye on it and see how he feels tomorrow. It’s the same thing. We’ll just progress through the week and see where we’re at on Sunday.”
(With the interior of the offensive line having a rough game last week, how much of that is chemistry versus the players that you have in there or all of the mismatching of…) – “I think some of it was we played a good defense. Their d-line has played well this year. That’s one of the highest ranked defenses that we’ve gone against. We let those guys loose a couple of times and they made some plays. The thing about it is you just have to keep battling, clean up technique, get your hands on those guys, use our size to our advantage. We just didn’t do a very good job of that last week.”
(With C Travis Swanson, is he looking better? Healthier?) – “Yeah, he is. So that’s a positive for us.”
(Patriots RB Sony Michel went for over 100 yards the first time you faced. What made him so effective?) – “He’s a tough runner physically. He has really good vision. He picked up their system very quickly for a young guy. Usually it takes time, but he was able to just jump right in there. That was one of the reasons that we had him here and visited with him and took a hard look at him. Obviously they loved him too. He’s been a huge part of what they’re doing this year.”
(I was talking to LB Kiko Alonso a couple of weeks ago and I asked him about that play against Detroit where he bats down the pass and an offensive line knocks him on his back. I asked him if that pissed him off and he said ‘No. We got off the field on third down.’ I said ‘But you were kind of an unprotected player,’ and Kiko goes ‘I want football to be a blood bath.’ Does that kind of square with your understanding of his attitude?) – “Is that how he said it? (laughter) Yeah, probably. I just can’t picture him saying it like that. (laughter)”
(LB Kiko Alonso’s success this year, do you attribute it more to an attitude like that or physical gifts such as speed and things like that?) – “I think it’s both. His ability to run, hit, tackle. He’s sharp with what’s going on within the game and what we’re doing on defense. Sometimes he has to find that right place where it’s that emotion amped up for the game and being able to kind of hyper-focus on his job. That’s where sometimes he puts himself in a bad position. It’s almost like he’s too emotional and he’s going so fast. That’s where he’s made mistakes in the past. It’s like finding that fine line. You see a lot of top tier guys over time that could do both. He’s working to get there and trying to control the emotion and keep his focus, but it’s always great to have a guy with that kind of intensity and emotion throughout the game.”
