Adam Gase – June 15, 2017
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Thursday, June 15, 2017
Head Coach Adam Gase
(These next seven weeks are usually a nervous time for coaches. What was your general message to the team between now and training camp?) – “Get your bodies right. Stick with really the training regimen that most of these guys did leading up to the spring. We were able to really get a good jump on the first phase and (Head Strength and Conditioning Coach) Dave (Puloka) was able to amp it up a little bit because guys came in in really good shape. We need to kind of be able to start fast in training camp and not waste time on getting guys in shape, so spend the time wisely. It is a time to kind of re-charge your bodies and your minds and get away from it for a little bit, but don’t go too far. Our guys, they understand how we’re going to do training camp, which is how we install and everything, so they can’t go too far away from their playbook. They just need to keep up with everything and when we get back, be ready to hit the ground running.”
(How do you ensure a faster start? That was an issue last year. How do you get to that point where you…?) – “You can’t predict it. You just have to … Things have to line up right and you just need to do a good of executing in camp and putting yourself in position to where, when you get to games, you play better than what we played last year. I feel like the first game we probably played about as well as we could have for our first time together. We just had a severe drop off there in probably games three, four and five. We just need to start off faster in this aspect of let’s not have the peaks and valleys. Let’s work on being consistent of improving.”
(What was your overall satisfaction level about the offseason program?) – “I thought guys did a great job. Attendance was outstanding. The effort was great. Guys were trying to build off of what they learned last year through what we do in our program and we gave them a little, the littlest things of let’s be better note-takers in the meeting rooms. Let’s make sure that we do a better job in individual and skill development. Skill development needs to be at a high level. Let’s make sure we know how we can get better. We really tried to explain why we were doing everything and let those guys really grasp that and take it from there, and they did a good job of that.”
(Physically how do you guys get through the spring?) – “I thought pretty good. I thought guys did a good job of trying to take care of each other. I know every once in a while we just … everybody is yelling on the field ‘Stay up. Stay off the ground.’ Guys did a good job of avoiding any kind of collisions. They did a pretty good job. We just need to keep getting better at learning how to practice without pads because you only get so many (padded practices) during the season. So you have to become an expert at that. We’re still learning. When you’re young and guys are trying to play fast and trying to impress, but we have to be able to protect each other. We have to play under control. We have to understand how we can get great work in without pads.”
(Guys like G/T Laremy Tunsil who seem to still be banged up. Do you expect them all to be ready for the start of camp?) – “Yes, I don’t see … Right now I’m thinking we don’t have any major issues entering into camp. We’ve got a couple of guys that haven’t done anything. I’m not going to … I know the next question you’re going to ask me; but we should be, we should be in good shape.”
(We did see the work that C Mike Pouncey was doing on the side. How’s he doing right now?) – “He’s really improving. We feel like we’re on a really, really good track right now and we’ll wait to the next doctor’s visit when we get kind of that report back and see what our next step would be. Or did anything change? Better? Worse? We’re just trying to really focus on the steps that the doctors have us right now. He’s done a good job of not trying to push ahead and say ‘Hey, I’m a fast healer and I’m tough.’ We all know that. The biggest thing for us is we need him healed because that’s really what it is, it’s time. He wants to be out there but it’s no good if we only get him for a couple of games. We need him for the duration.”
(What of the league restrictions on practice time in training camp do you think will have the most impact?) – “That’s hard for me to say. I don’t think of anything as restrictions anymore. I just think of it as this is the time allotted. This is when you’re allowed to be in pads or when you can’t and when you have to give players off. You’ve got this set of rules. You adjust to those. You try to maximize the time as much as possible and you may have to adjust during training camp because the health of your team really is … that’s where it’s going to be … that kind of can determine it. If you start losing a bunch of guys early, you might have to make some changes and you’ve just got to be ready to be flexible.”
(What changes are you making, if any, in your routine to make up for the loss of any time on the field?) – “Well, down here it’s different. We probably have shorter practices than most teams in the league because we have to think its July to December, right? We’re out there. We’ve got to maximize the time we’re on the field and then when we get in the meeting rooms, we have to understand you can’t waste time in there. We have to use the fact that we are going to have more meeting times than most people because we’re not on the field as much and we’ve got to make those count. It can’t just be going through the motions.”
(You’re talking about the weather factor?) – “Yes. I mean it does. When I first got down here, I probably said the same thing that most people do and you’re like ‘It’s not that bad,’ and then you start getting out there and you’re like ‘Okay, this is real.’ And it’s a good thing because you’re training in conditions that are tough. You really have to … it’s a mental test every day. That’s why we like to do it the way we do it – play fast, get out there, whatever amount of time we’re out there, make it count.”
(So do you feel that it’s a good thing? You say conditioning in that, but do you feel that less practice time is any kind of handicap?) – “I guess we’re just use to doing it the way we do it. Our guys take advantage of it, whether it be in meeting time or our walk-throughs. That’s what’s nice about having the bubble. Getting those walkthroughs in, just getting them out of the sun and locking in and just trying to make sure we’re doing a good job when we are doing the walkthroughs so when we get in practice, (there are) less errors, we’re not repeating things and we’re hitting it on the first time we’re doing it live. The more times we can do that, the better it is.”
(What was the comparison of busts, you guys needing to coach mistakes in these three days as opposed to the three days last year in camp?) – “It feels like we’re not talking about the same things over and over again. I don’t have any numbers to really support what I’m saying, but that’s just my feel. I feel like when we correct something, guys listen to what … Like last year, when we said if somebody makes a mistake, take that as your own mistake and don’t make that mistake, because if you are waiting for every guy to make a mistake one time on the same play, it’s just a never ending cycle of death. Guys were … somebody would make a mistake and you didn’t hear about it again. Those guys did a good job of if Jarvis (Landry) had a mistake there, Kenny (Stills) went ‘Okay, I can’t make that mistake.’ Or DeVante (Parker). And it was good because those guys kept talking about ‘This is how if you get put in this position, this is what you have to do.’ And it was good because there was a lot of communication going on this spring. You could tell the guys were a lot more comfortable.”
(How difficult is it for you to mentally get away for some time over the next month or so? Is it hard to do for you?) – “I’ll have my moments where it’s just some days I just don’t do anything, but I don’t go too far from it. This is fantasyland. You get to do something you love and it’s not really a job. I enjoy it and I’m around it a lot. This is kind of our whole family, that’s just what we do. That’s what we enjoy and if I’m not hearing from everybody in the building, my kids are talking about it or my family is talking about it. It’s what it is.”
(WR Francis Owusu didn’t get to practice the entire spring. Is that unfair to the player?) – “That’s not my call. Rules are what they are and that’s what it is.”
(How far behind is he because of that rule?) – “Where’d he go to school?”
(A pretty good one [Stanford].) – “Alright. He’ll be alright.”
(What has WR Drew Morgan done to improve his chances of making the team and what are you looking for in August from him?) – “Some improvement and just keep getting better. I think he has a really good sense of how to play the position we’re asking him to play and it gives him a great opportunity because when we hit the preseason games, now it’s going to be about making plays when we get in real games. When you start getting looks that you haven’t seen before because you start playing different schemes, different players, different style players, what’s his production going to be like? What’s his execution going to be like? What’s he actually going to show when we get to games in the preseason. I think he’s put himself in a good position to compete and that’s all really you can ask for. When you have an undrafted rookie who came in here with … Nobody even probably knew who he really was coming in here, and he’s put himself on the map and competed.”
(A lot of players this offseason have said how impressed they are with their coach/player relationship. How would you explain your ability to relate with various players?) – “Our entire coaching staff does a good job of communicating with our guys, and consistently … When we’re in the building, it’s not always football. Our coaches do a good job investing in what our players enjoy doing outside of the building – their families and kids. I think that’s something to be said for our coaching staff because our players know that we’re actually are invested in them, not only as a player but as a person. (Director of Player Engagement) Kaleb (Thornhill) does a great job of helping those guys as well. It’s tough. You’ve got him and (Player Engagement Coordinator) Yves (Batoba). You’ve got two guys taking care of 89 (players). They’re trying to make sure that they’re all over it with every little step of the way from the time they’re a rookie or if they’re a 15-year vet. I think it’s a pretty cool thing to see how our guys like being around and want to be in the building and enjoy coming to work.”
(Is there an update you can give on TE Julius Thomas and how he’s fit in since he came here after these OTAs?) – “It’s not hard for him to fit in. He’s going to fit in because he’s going to talk to everybody. He’s going to know everything about everybody. I think he’s just enjoying being back in this system. I’ve enjoyed it because it’s fun for me. I was with him when he was a rookie. Watching him go through some really low moments in his career and then I saw him at the highest of the high. To get him back and he’s a veteran, it’s been really fun to be around him again.”
(How do you ensure that TE Julius Thomas gets back to that level?) – “You just keep working. You keep putting him in position in plays and when we get those chances, he’s going to have to make a play. That’s what this game is about, it’s about players making plays. I guess I just have a history where things have worked out. I’ve seen him be at his lowest moments and he’s a fighter. He’ll give you everything he has and he’ll keep swinging.”
(RB Damien Williams was saying that he stayed in touch with you from the end of the season all the way until him showing up. I’m wondering what was your reaction when he said that he was visiting the Patriots and then the day he showed up?) – “Damien is a guy that always goes out to the West Coast. I just check on him, just to make sure everything is all good with him. I always like guys just being in this area because you kind of hear what’s going on a lot easier than across the country. That’s the business; it is what it is. You never want to lose your guys and he’s a guy that I really love being around. When he’s in the building and when he’s on the practice field, he gives you everything he has – heart and soul – and on game days, if he can possibly take it to another level, he does. To lose a guy like that would be tough for me because he energizes so many people on offense, defense and special teams, that he impacts. He might not be playing at that moment. I just think when he was inactive against New England, he could’ve been in the tank, sitting on the bench, pouting. He wasn’t. He was … I kept seeing him and I’m like ‘Get back.’ He’s in the white (paint on the sideline) and getting yelled at by the officials, but he was in it. He knew ‘If there is one thing I can do, I can help bring energy.’ He consistently is trying to improve every day. It’s been fun to watch him develop.”
(We’ve seen the high school kids out here a lot. My understanding is that it was largely your idea. What was the thinking behind that?) – “It was just kind of … (Senior Vice President of Communications & Community Affairs) Jason (Jenkins) and myself, we were talking about what we can do with some different things, and we were trying to pinpoint some ways we could help with anything as far as football in the community. We couldn’t put our finger on what it actually was going to be. We started texting I think when (Uncle) Luke’s documentary (came out). We saw that and we started texting about that, about Liberty City. We started kicking some ideas around of what can we do? What can we do to help? What can we do to encourage kids that this is a great sport and there is something about when you’re a part of a team. It’s not all about the individual. There is something about when you have that family feel. We felt like this was something we could do to really help, especially really young kids, but high school kids as well. You realize NFL players do exactly what we have to do every day. I think that’s cool for kids to see.”
(Was there one cool moment you had with any of the kids?) – “The funniest thing I saw was when some of the really young kids came in and they were almost on the field. The d-line was doing their drills and they were yelling at the d-line. I was like ‘What are they yelling at them about?’ I loved it. It was so fast how engaged and how our players reacted. I wasn’t sure how smooth it would go. Would kids be paying attention? Would it be a distraction? We took a shot on it and what we realized was it really energized our practice. You guys weren’t out there, but it was pretty close a lot of the times where that was just one team. Whether it was little kids or high school kids, our players don’t want to disappoint. They want to put on a good show. The competition was outstanding through the whole spring and a lot of it was because they want to look good for the kids that look up to them.”
