Adam Gase – November 25, 2016
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Friday, November 25, 2016
Head Coach Adam Gase
(We noticed G/T Laremy Tunsil practiced again today. How has his week gone and how likely do you think he’ll be able to play tackle?) – “It’s going to be a game-time decision. We’re going to have to wait until Sunday and then we’re going to have to work him out and just see how he feels. At this point it’s more, like I said yesterday, it’s a mobility issue. It’s going to be a pain tolerance issue. We just got to keep going with the trainers and the doctors, everybody just checking their box and he’s got to feel good about it.”
(If G/T Laremy Tunsil were to play, would it be at the tackle position?) – “Yes. I mean it looks like it, unless all of sudden ‘B.A.’ (Branden Albert) feels good enough to where he can go. It’s just like one of those things. He hasn’t even been out there yet. It’s hard for me to say, ‘Yes, all of a sudden we’ll have a miraculous recovery.’”
(Is T Branden Albert one of those players where – you put C Mike Pouncey in that category – where you wouldn’t need to see him in practice to play him?) – “Absolutely. When you have a guy that’s a veteran player and he’s been through this quite a bit, he’s able to take the knowledge in the classroom and just go out and apply it to game day.”
(QB Ryan Tannehill said the other day that your offense is really fun to play in. I’m wondering what you think of the attributes of a quarterback-friendly offense?) – “I think because that’s the guy that really has to steer the ship. Not all of the time where he’s the main focus as far as have to make every play and do everything within the game. Obviously, when you get the run game going and you can get the ball in the receiver’s hands quickly, those guys really take over the game and you don’t have to do as much. A lot of people say game-manage type things. But when you have the ability to be flexible within the week, maybe from week-to-week, depending who you play, and the focus does start becoming on the passing game and controlling the line of scrimmage. Maybe it’s a no-huddle, whatever it is, 2-minute operation. That’s when that guy really has to step up and make plays and when a guy feels comfortable in that – in the system that you’re running and the scheme you have up for that week – it makes my job easier. Obviously if they enjoy playing in it, it makes life a little easier because guys are always looking, ‘Alright Wednesday, what do you got for us this week?’ And then they feel like they’re a part of it, which our guys are very … They’ve gotten to the point where they’re not afraid to make suggestions. They’re not afraid to say, ‘Can I run it like this?’ The more we can get that going, the better chance we have to improve.”
(What’s one thing about QB Ryan Tannehill this year that surprised you and would surprise us?) – “I don’t know if it would surprise you guys. I think his toughness, his ability to stand in there. It’s almost like a no-fear attitude where he knows he’s going to get hit and just, he’ll stand back there and make the throw. I think that has been a very impressive trait. I know it cannot be easy by any means to just know you’re going to get whacked pretty good and you still have to make an accurate throw. Really, at the end of the day, nobody cares when you do get hit. They just expect you to make the throw. That’s a quality that you’ve got to have something internally to be able to do that.”
(That’s something that doesn’t obviously show up when you look at his numbers in the paper. Can you see just how much better he makes this team by having that inate quality?) – “I think there’s been some – whether it be a touchdown pass or a third-down conversion that kept us going or kept us score points – that if he doesn’t do some of those things where he stands in there and takes a shot, we don’t get those plays. I think guys respect the fact that he’s sacrificing for them – a little bit of his body – to make those throws.”
(Do you not cringe at times?) – “There have been a couple that were pretty … Any time anybody gets around his legs, that’s a little … You just never know what’s going on there because if you bend a certain way … We’ve seen it in the past, right? You’ve seen quarterbacks not be able to get up from some of those. Any time you see a defender go at somebody’s head, especially with the quarterback – you’re defenseless – that can be a little scary there.”
(You’re going to say I’m jinxing you but the fact he has never been concussed is something that’s astounding to us because of the hits he’s taken. You would think at some point he would get a concussion.) – “Yes. It’s just one of those … You just never know in this game. Sometimes guys have a long streak of nothing ever happens to them and then I’ve seen guys that once it happens … We’ve seen that once it happens once, if you don’t take the proper time to recover and go through the proper protocol steps, that’s why they’ve changed the rules. That’s why the rules are what they are now, to make sure that there’s not multiple (concussions). That’s why we go through all the tests and we take the precautions we do to make sure if something does happen to a guy, we can get him back at the right time; but that it doesn’t occur again. I think that’s a good thing for our players to just know we’re trying to put their safety first and then worry about the football second.”
(Where does this team’s chemistry compare with other teams that you’ve been on and how do you read that year to year when rosters change in and out?) — “It’s hard to say we’re all the way there because I think every day’s a learning experience for a lot of our guys. This is our first time we’ve gone this route together – all of us coaches, players, front office, staff members. It’s hard to compare to anywhere else that I’ve been, because like in Denver, we were together for a while and we got some things going. We had some changes in personnel and that kind of changed some things as far as the dynamics of the team chemistry. It’s always hard to compare because it is, it’s such a year-to-year deal in the NFL. That’s what makes this league as interesting as it is and that’s why so many people love it is the fact that once you start the new season, last year is wiped away. No one cares. No one cares that you won a Super Bowl last year because the next year you’re expected to do it again and you have to develop the same chemistry. So you have to start over almost. Are there some familiar faces? Absolutely, but it’s still new guys coming in. You’ve got to bring those guys along. You’ve got to find a new bond with that group.”
(In your opinion as a coach, how much does good chemistry, bad chemistry have to do with winning and losing?) – “I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that when guys love playing for each other, that gives you that little bit of an edge in a good way. When things aren’t quite right, that’s when you see things get torn apart. That’s why I love where we’re at. We’ve gone through a lot of struggles early in the year and some of it was that we played some good teams; some of it was we didn’t perform the way we needed to. Just to see our development throughout the year and watch guys try to fight for each other and do everything they can to give ourselves a chance in the fourth quarter to win, it’s been great to see guys who really embrace our process.”
(Do you think those struggles are what molded you as a team?) – “I think at the end of the day we’ve still got six games left, but I think it did. It did help us get to where we’re at least at right now. We went through a lot of adversity. I think last week was a great example of what we did earlier in the season and built through those beginning games was able to help us go through this last game where the defense was doing a good job of just holding those guys as much as they could and the encouragement we saw from our defense to the offensive players and special teams, they constantly (said), ‘Hey, keep this drive going. Get a first down. Let’s get this thing rolling.’ I think that helped because when we did get in a situation with 6 minutes left, there wasn’t frustration on the defense’s part. They had confidence that the offense was going to score, we were going to stop and get the ball back and we were going to give ourselves a chance.”
(A question on CB Xavien Howard. How did he look in his first week of practice in about six weeks and how encouraged are you that at some point this season maybe he’ll be able to help out?) – “To start, I can’t predict when or if he’s coming back some part of this season. Obviously, we’d all love for that to happen; but we’re going to really lean on our medical people and him to let us know when the right timing is. As far as how he looked, I thought it was about right for what he has had to do the last few weeks. You get out there, you start doing some different things movement wise and anytime that you start getting around other players and you’re going against a guy, it’s just a different feel for him. I know he’s one of those guys that he’s always going to work as hard as he can to try to get himself back. He’s trying to get that feel back and we’ll just see how it goes here in the next few weeks.”
(WR Jarvis Landry wore that red jersey all week. Is there a concern?) – “We were just trying to be cautious as far as guys not – him and Spencer (Paysinger) we did the same thing for. We didn’t want any unnecessary contact. Obviously the way Jarvis – you know how he plays – he gets enough contact during a game. We’re just trying to be smart. It just seems like the way he practices and the way our scout team defense practices, which is very … They try to make our guys feel like it’s a game. It’s very competitive, which is what we want, and we were just trying to make sure that we didn’t have a setback there during practice and not have him available for the game.”
(So you’re not overly concerned for Sunday?) – “No, it was more of cautionary thing for us.”
(What has enabled S Bacarri Rambo to come in and contribute the way that he has and know so early on?) – “I think experience and the fact that he’s a very smart player. I think there was a hunger there. We’ve talked about it. The great thing that he has brought was he hadn’t played and just when he came in there and just the way that he talks to the other guys on the team about, ‘Hey, I promise you. You don’t want to be on the other end of this thing. You don’t want to be on the street. You don’t want to be a free agent looking for work. You want to be on a team.’ I think he’s done a great job as far as not being shy about expressing the fact that he’s happy to be here. He’s happy that he gets an opportunity to compete and I think he’s made the most of every opportunity that we’ve afforded to him. We gave him a shot to get in there and show what he could do and he took advantage of that.”
(What’s intriguing about 49ers Head Coach Chip Kelly? Going back to Oregon, and I’m sure you looked at a lot of different concepts and some folks have tried to use some parts of it throughout the NFL, but what do you think when you look at what he has done?) – “He has always been a guy that I’ve looked at and admired from afar. I spent some time up in Oregon after he left and came to the NFL. (Former Oregon Offensive Coordinator) Scott Frost is a good friend of mine, so I spent some time with him going up there and talking through a lot of the things that they were doing up there and an idea-exchange thing we put together between me and him. I always liked, not just what Chip did as far as a schematic deal, but how their whole operation was as far as the sports science thing. I was starting to get interested in that. So, we tried to take a few ideas in that aspect of, ‘How do you take care of players? How do you get guys fresh enough for the game, but still practice hard?’ and things like that. Even some of the teaching methods that they have and how they go about keeping guys engaged. That’s the hardest thing in this league now is we do have a lot of young guys. The game has changed over time, and there’s a little bit of … It’s a different style with the iPads and phones and all these things. The way guys go about their business nowadays, it’s completely different than at least what I remember when I first got in the league. So, you have to find different ways to teach guys. I thought they did a good job up there as far as finding those ways and getting their guys going through, ‘Here’s what we’re going to do. Here’s the phone,’ (and) doing things as far as their body goes (and asking), ‘Are you hydrated?’ things like that, ‘Did you sleep well?’ I thought all that stuff was very interesting to me.”
(San Francisco 49ers Head Coach Chip Kelly was in Oregon and you were where?) – “I was in Denver, but he had just gone to Philly. So, that was a little bit of an in there to go up there and talk to those guys (at Oregon after Kelly left).”
