Adam Gase – November 23, 2016
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Wednesday, November 23, 2016
Head Coach Adam Gase
(Can you give us an update on the left side of your offensive line?) – “Yes. We’re still trying to figure it out. It’s going to take the whole week for us to know. So we’re going to be repping everybody and just try to take the whole time and figure out who it’s going to be.”
(What is the plan, if any, now that DE Dion Jordan’s practicing? What is the plan?) – I don’t know. We’ll see. It’s going to be … We’re going to have to take the whole deal as far as how much time he’s allowed out there. I mean I don’t even know where we’re really at right now.”
(With the offensive line, not knowing [who will be available], does it impact your game planning at all?) – “It’s not an extreme, but obviously those two guys are really good players and if we had to make just a few minor adjustments, then we’ll make them. But we’ll figure it out as the week goes on. I’m not going to overdo it right now. It’s easy for me to adjust play calling compared to wiping out a whole part of the game plan.”
(With the offensive line, obviously you’re going with an entirely new left side. How do they develop chemistry in that short a time?) – “It’s got to happen quick. The good thing is the communication is really good in that room. Those guys are doing a good job as far as making sure the calls are clean. That’s never really been an issue, especially with those guys. (They are) really smart. They’ve been in the system long enough to where they understand what we’re doing. It’s just more about like how things get fit up. And a little bit has to do with Jay (Ajayi), too. They’ve got to get really used to how he runs. Like those little tiny details that we’ve kind of developed, especially in the last five games – starting with that Pittsburgh game, where we kind of got in a pretty good rhythm with those five guys that were in there – because they were all kind of playing off each other. Obviously you lose a little bit of that, but the more we practice together and get into games, they’ll have a better feel. That’s the one good thing about NFL players is they’re a quick study. Those guys have played enough ball to where they’ll figure it out.”
(How about C Mike Pouncey?) – “We’re going to be week to week. Right now, it’s probably not going to look good for him.”
(The penalties that you had last week and the week before. So what are you doing to correct that?) – “Some of them, that’s football. You’re aggressive and I think the things that we want to just make sure we really do a good job of eliminating is anything that’s pre-snap and post-snap. Any of the personal fouls, we absolutely have to clean those up and that’s just being a little more mentally tough as far as the guy that gets caught all the time is the guy that reacts. So we’ve got to be able to understand the situation and understand that, that stuff doesn’t help us and for four seconds of gratification, you’re killing the team. Those are the things that we need to clean up more than anything and I think some of the things that happen as far as penalties whether it be offense or defense, there are times where we need to make sure it’s just not smart what we did. When we have a block in the back, totally avoidable. But sometimes when you’re playing DB and you’re playing aggressive and the other guys kind of … things get a little hands-y. It happens. I don’t want our guys to lose their aggressiveness. They try to play as clean as they can; but I do think if we eliminate the post and pre-snap penalties, that’s going to help us a lot.”
(What was the thinking behind the light practice today?) – “So it was just something that, really when the schedule came out, we knew that travel was going to hurt us. I mean even the coaching staff were … We didn’t even do anything and you can see guys are kind of still trying to get back on schedule. So we just thought this was the best thing to do. The last thing we wanted to do was go out there and just start flying around and take a chance that we’re not quite back all the way. We felt like this was the best way for us to kind of get ready for this game. (It was) something we’ve been planning on doing since before we even started the season. Tomorrow we’ll get it back going and Friday we’ll do our normal Friday. We felt like we could get a lot of work done today. We could get a lot of the mental stuff knocked out and our guys did a really good job of wiring in and doing what we needed them to do today.”
(One-for-11 on third downs. I think that was your worst percentage of the season. Was it more of a product of struggling on second down or what did you se?) – “No, it’s more of a product of just not executing what we were doing on third down. We didn’t do our job right as far as some of the protections. We didn’t have as clean of routes, progression. Everybody took a turn. They made some good plays too. I think that’s the first time I’ve ever seen Jarvis (Landry) catch a ball and actually get hit and go down right away. I mean the guy made a really, really good tackle and we were six inches short. It just gets magnified when it’s that many in a row. There are some things we’ve just got to clean up and we have to get better in that area, obviously, because we’re worst in the league right now and we just need to really get detailed up in that area and understand what we’re doing is not overly complicated and it’s about executing what we’re doing on game day.”
(I saw WR Jarvis Landry with the red jersey. Is he getting healthy? Is he better this week than he was the week before with his shoulder?) – “I don’t know. That’s something you’d have to ask him. I just think it’s the way he plays. It’s a physical game for him. That’s how he plays and he’s bruised up and banged up. We felt like we haven’t really done that before, but it’s just kind of gotten to the point where we want to be careful and maybe at least give other guys on the scout team just (to be) aware like, let’s not give him any unnecessary bumps into him or anything like that. The last time, it was in practice. He’s playing like he does a game and all of a sudden he hits the route and we’re just trying to avoid him taking any unnecessary hits.”
(What is your sense on where CB Xavien Howard stands right now?) – “I mean, we’ll see. We’re not going to rush him back. We’re going to see how he feels every day and we’ll go through our process and see how it goes. I’m absolutely not going to rush him back. I’m going to make sure that when he comes back, he’s as close to 100 percent as we can possibly get him for this late in the season.”
(S Bacarri Rambo is playing starter snaps. Have your ever seen a guy join a team in one week and instantly…?) – “It’s rare, and I think it’s rare that a guy that wasn’t in our system jumps in there, and does what he’s been doing for us. He brings a great attitude back there, as far as there is a physical presence back there. He’s a really good tackler and he’s a great communicator. It’s been fun to see him jump in there and do that. The fact that he was still on the street, it was lucky for us that we were able to go out and get him. The personnel department did a great job as far as going to get him and get him in here, and then he’s done a great job as far as getting caught up as fast as possible and developing a chemistry back there.”
(You know that this team isn’t going to get complacent or comfortable with what it’s done because of why?) – “I don’t think we have those type of guys. The way that I see these guys coming in and work, and the way that we’re doing meetings and the way that guys have constantly been the same, especially over the last six or seven weeks, I only can go off of what I see. I see guys spending a lot of time in our building doing things and using resources that we have; but then when I see the execution in practice, that gives you a good feeling as far as we’re headed in the right direction as far as Sunday goes. I don’t know if our coaching staff would allow it. I think our coaching staff is very hard on our players. There’s that constant grind mentality. I think our guys; they’re trying to do the best they can as far as keeping their bodies healthy. It’s kind of on the player – availability and making sure when you do have an injury, how quickly can you get back on the field, and how quickly can you get at practice. Our guys are doing a good job of that right now, but Sunday is really the test. Every Sunday we show up, no matter who we’re playing, that’s the ultimate test to find out if you did what you needed to do that entire week.”
(Sort of in that regard, what’s the biggest challenge facing a team that has lost nine games in a row?) – “For us, against these guys, it’s a different style of football because we haven’t really seen an up-tempo team before, except for in practice with us in the spring and in training camp. Defensively, they do a lot of different things. They have a lot of different personnel grouping and they have a lot of players that’ve been on different teams before that have won. There are still a lot of guys on this team that were in NFC Championship games and they have a quarterback that’s played in a Super Bowl. He knows what it takes to win games. Things haven’t exactly gone scripted for them. There have been a lot of close games, a lot of tough games for them that possibly could’ve went either way. That’s how this league is. I know this – on tape, when we watch tape, we know the challenge we have ahead of us. We don’t look at rankings; we don’t look at records. We look at the tape and we know we’re going to be in for a big-time battle this game and we have to bring our A game.”
(What stands out from your time in San Francisco, I know it wasn’t that long, but what stands out for you?) – “I think there are still a lot of people there that I worked with. I think it was an interesting experience for me because I was coming from Detroit and going there and just kind of that history they have, seeing a lot of the guys that have played there before, being around the York family. They were great to work for. That whole front office, Scot (McCloughan)’s not there obviously anymore, he’s with the Redskins now; but (49ers Chief Strategy Officer & Executive VP of Football Operations) Paraag (Marathe) and (49ers General Manager) Trent (Baalke) and those guys still being there, they were always great to me and I enjoyed my time there. I met a lot of people and I was able to develop there – them giving me the opportunity to go from Detroit and becoming an offensive assistant there. They created a position for me to go with (Mike) Martz. That was a great opportunity for me because it was a great learning experience, and I was around a lot of good players and a lot of good coaches.”
(Jay Ajayi had 200-something [yards], then 111, 79, 77. Just curious if teams are defending him different or … I know the number of carries have gone down a little bit too.) – “Yes, we didn’t have as many plays last week. I mean, what did he have? Nineteen carries or something? I think we were like 15 less snaps then we were the week before, or something like that. I think he’s doing exactly what he needs to be doing. We have to do a better job as far as giving him a few more lanes. With guys going in and out in the San Diego game … (The Chargers) did a really good job. Those guys up front were really tough to go against because there was so much movement. Sometimes, we were playing so many teams that were straight 3-4 and everyone stayed where they were supposed to be. I know San Diego is a 3-4 team, but they do a lot more front movement, and that was kind of the first time we’ve seen that. This last game, you’re talking about probably the best d-Line we’ve seen. We’ve played some defenses that are pretty tough as far as, 1) scheme; but 2) the physical presence that those guys have. Some of those inside guys, like Aaron Donald, I don’t know how many guys are really blocking him right now. That was a tough matchup for us.”
(Are you seeing more eight in the box right now than you were seeing in September?) – “It’s the same.”
(Can you explain the ‘Strain?’) – “It’s just something that we’ve been kind of talking about, probably since training camp. (Head Strength and Conditioning Coach Dave) Puloka kind of jumped on it and we were just talking about finishing every play, straining every play, making sure that we were just selling out and it kind of became one of those sayings a lot of guys are using as far as making sure that we are straining every play. Our biggest thing that we keep talking about is, you never know when that one play is going to make a difference in the game. There’s no reason, if we are on the 1-yard line and we have goal-line out there, let’s hold them out of the end zone and give the next play a chance. Maybe something good happens. A good example is in that San Diego game, we kept fighting, fighting and fighting. All of a sudden, we get an interception after we just dropped a punt return. That was a good example of what we were talking about as far as we’ve got guys straining. They are trying to win that one play.”
(What did you learn about your team during that West Coast trip? It may have been on the field, off the field, whatever. What did you learn about the team over those two weeks that maybe you didn’t know?) – “I think the one thing I learned was that we were a little more mature than I thought. The guys handled that road trip very well. I saw a lot of guys that were invested in what we are doing. Monday and Tuesday was an easy kind of get away, you can do what you want (day). There was no curfew. I saw a lot of guys in that office area where we were at and a lot of guys watching tape, just hanging around each other, kind of doing football things to try to help us win a game on Sunday.”
