Adam Gase – November 3, 2017
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Friday, November 3, 2017
Head Coach Adam Gase
(How would you describe the overall week of practice from your perspective?) – “I thought guys did a good job. They worked hard, which we’ve been seeing for the most part; but I felt one thing that I kind of noticed was just the transition from meetings to field, being able to take the information and go to the field. There’s going to be physical mistakes, but I thought our guys were on it pretty good.”
(Are you optimistic about DE Andre Branch or DE William Hayes or both for Sunday?) – “Yes, I mean I’m always going to think everybody is going to be able to go until they tell us they can’t go. That’s the good thing about having tonight, tomorrow, Sunday all day. We’ll figure it out. We’ve got a lot of time.”
(How did WR DeVante Parker move in practice during the week and where would you say his ankle is?) – “He looked good. It’s just going to be all about when you start getting tackled live and moving in the game you just kind of … I think that goes on the backburner. You never know what’s going to happen and anytime you step on that field, its play every play because you never know. He’s doing everything he can to just get as healthy as he can, but you just never know how this game goes.”
(How much did he push himself relative to explosiveness and jumping? Was it kind of a light week or was he full?) – “No, I mean that’s what he’s been trying to do for a while. Whenever they kind of give him those guidelines of okay, we want you to start going in this direction, he does exactly what he’s asked. Last week we kind of saw him and he was really trying to push himself to show that I’m good, I can do everything. We’re doing a walkthrough and he’s trying to jump over the top of guys and things. I think he’s not restricting himself from what he’s doing.”
(Is there anything you can do as a play caller to help QB Jay Cutler protect his ribs?) – “Not really. I mean it’s just … you’re kind of at the mercy of what happens on each individual play. You can try to keep him out of harm’s way but at the end of the day, it is what it is and at some point, we’re going to have to drop back and throw it and we’ve got to protect it and get open quick, and he’s got to avoid getting hit.”
(We don’t ask you about LS John Denney often but I’m just curious of what you think about his streak of 200 games?) – “I mean it’s impressive. The thing about it is he’s the only guy that … I think I’m older than him by a few months, so he’s been doing this for a minute. It’s impressive to just see how consistent he is. If you watch him practice every day and he comes out there, he’s a grinder. You never see him just kind of standing around. He’s always doing something. He’s always working, whether it be the short snaps, long snaps, talking to those guys, just making sure those guys have the right mindset. That’s why you always feel good, no matter who your punter and kicker are, because he’s taking those guys under his wing and making sure that mentally, those guys are ready to go.”
(With RB Kenyan Drake in spot duty, he’s averaging just 2.5 yards per carry; but when you’re being more featured or you’re getting more touches, why should that be expected to go up?) – “Well I think you have to … I said it yesterday as far as you’ve got to know what we are asking him to do on certain plays. Some of the stuff that he was brought in for were situational-type things. Every play has a different story. Like I said, if its second-and-1 and he gets 1 (yard), he did his job. The last thing I usually look at is average. It doesn’t account for … You can have a 20-yard run and two minus-5s. What do you really want? You just want consistency. That’s really what you’re looking for.”
(Is C/G Ted Larsen likely to remain inactive?) – “We’ll see. I mean we’ve still got time.”
(You can’t give us C/G Ted Larsen?) – “No. (laughter) I want to just keep all of our options on the table right now. I haven’t had a chance to sit down with (Executive Vice President, Football Operations) Mike (Tannenbaum) and (General Manager) Chris (Grier), which I’m going to do today, so…”
(Is bringing up RB De’Veon Smith to have a fourth back a consideration that you think you all will look at possibly?) – “We’re going to go through everything today, so the good thing is I feel like that’s why we like these practice squad players that we have right now. They do a great job of preparing themselves like they’re going to play. All of those guys, they can see what’s going on. When there’s roster moves and guys going on IR and you might have a spot here and there, I mean they’re chomping at the bit to get out there. We’ve got a couple of moves that we’re going to have to eventually make, whether it be this week and then obviously next week, where guys are coming up on the roster. We’ve got some things to work through here, especially this week and then on to the next week.”
(Talking about mixing stuff up and changing some stuff up between now and kickoff, is there anything different in terms of how many walkthroughs, the time of the walkthrough, what you’ll do in the walkthrough? If you’ll see a movie? Just different stuff that …?) – “Well for us, it’s a different schedule because this is really the first time we’ve played a Sunday game but at night. That kind of changes what we do on Saturday and Sunday. We had the Thursday game but that was a short week so you’re just cramming everything in and you’re doing some walkthroughs that morning just to make sure that you’re good to go. This is really something our guys haven’t really experienced yet, so we’re going to kind of … We’ve got an idea of what we want to do and then just see how it goes. It’s really on paper right now for us. Hopefully we’ve got the right formula that we need to get a win this week.”
(Do you want to get WR Rashawn Scott back involved from a special teams standpoint, considering he did well there last year?) – “Yes, I just can’t wait to see him get a chance to perform because he does so many good things in practice and you know it’s just going to be a lot of opportunity. When’s the right time that he gets a chance? The thing about him is he’s just willing to do anything. I love the fact that he knows all three spots as a wide receiver. He’ll do anything that (Associate Head Coach/Special Team Coordinator Darren) Rizzi asks him to do on special teams and whatever he has that day, he’ll get it. That’s why him getting hurt, that was one of those one’s nobody really talked about; but he pushed a lot of other guys, especially in that room, because they knew he wasn’t going to be outworked.”
(With the changes that you’ve made this week to the schedule, to the roster, are you expecting these guys to come out kind of breathing fire on Sunday or do you expect a tangible, visual up?) – “I mean I can’t say that I know that for a fact. I know that every week we’ve talked about playing with passion, emotion, having a swagger to us that we know … You know what to do. You’re going to play fast and you’re going to react to what’s going on in the game. I don’t know if any of that will have any bearing on Sunday because every guy is different. Every guy handles their preparation and game different, and the majority of our guys come out that way. It might now be visually; but you can tell when you look in guys’ eyes and you kind of talk to them, you can tell if a guy is really, really locked in or if he’s kind of not there. The majority of the guys when you talk to them, Cam (Wake), the (Ndamukong) Suhs, Kiko (Alonso), (Lawrence) Timmons, those guys, if you go talk to those guys before a game, you can tell they’re dialed in and ready to go.”
(You’ve only lost one fumble in seven games, which is a pretty impressive pace. And the guy who fumbled is actually no longer here. Just curious of what your teaching point is with that, because obviously whatever you’re teaching is working in that regard.) – “I’m glad that you’re not trying to jinx us on that. (laughter)”
(It’s a compliment.) – “It’s fine. Just don’t talk about it. (laughter) I think (Running Backs Coach) Danny Barrett does a good job. Really, you see it a lot of times with the running back coach, he takes a lot of pride with the entire offense. It’s something that I actually took from Steve Mariucci. Tom Rathman used to get up in front of the group and he’d go through the basic fundamentals of carrying a football, and how to lock it down and how to prevent yourself from ever putting it on the ground, and we carried that over here. I think Danny does a good job of whether it’s a wide receiver, a tight end, running back, of if he sees something where the ball is loose in practice, he’ll go correct it. I think there’s a little bit of personal pride too with each coach of making sure their group isn’t the one to put it on the ground. It’s one of those things where you just always have to be mindful of it, because every week you play a different style of defense when you play these teams, that their d-line gets out and they run fast and you get slowed down. All of a sudden you get drilled from behind and you have to be able to hang onto the ball. Really, it’s just awareness. It’s focusing on what you’re doing right now and make sure you keep that ball tight.”
(Do you teach one technique for every player? Because I would think every player would like to hold it a little differently.) – “You try to make sure that you keep it pretty consistent. We got a way that we teach it. I think guys for the most part have bought into that. Every once in a while you see somebody get sloppy with it and start carrying the ball with one hand and trying to act like Walter Payton. That’s when, as a coach, you start getting a little nervous; but I think guys for the most part, they try to do the right thing.”
(Where are you guys on pass defense right now just considering the way I guess QB Philip Rivers and QB Drew Brees hit you, getting LB Lawrence Timmons, putting CB Cordrea Tankersley in there, DE Cam Wake’s sacks, the late game interceptions – CB Bobby McCain and S Reshad Jones?) – “We’ve been watching it since training camp, the improvement that was made from last year. I think a lot of it has to do (with) you have 11 guys playing together. Sometimes it takes you some time to realize our defense is built through our front. The rest of us are there to try to do everything we can to make sure those four guys get home. The best way that we can do that is by everybody doing their job on every play. When a guy goes freelancing or tries to do something where that ball can come out quicker, that’s really not what we’re looking for. We’re looking to make sure that quarterback cannot throw to his first progression and go to his second one, because we feel like we’re going to get home if we do that.”
(We know that RB Senorise Perry has developed into a core special teams guy. We only saw eight carries from him in preseason. Has there been anything that you’ve seen that intrigues you about him as a ball carrier?) – “I’ve been around him. This is my second time being with him. I’ve actually called plays with him in the game. I just feel like I have a good feel for what he likes. He’s one of those guys that, really at the end of the day, whatever you call, he’s going to do everything he can to execute it. What you see on special teams is exactly what you get from offense. He’s going to give you everything. If he gets an opportunity to carry the ball, I know whoever tries to tackle him, it’s not going to be easy. That’s what I appreciate about these three guys is they are tough and they have multiple aspects of their game that we really like and it makes us very versatile.”
(How big is that trust factor for coaches in general and you specifically? Because we know you’ve gone back to the past with RB Senorise Perry and C/G Ted Larsen and QB David Fales and QB Jay Cutler. How big a factor is that specifically to coaches and you?) – “When you know a guy and you know how he works, you know how he goes through the day, you know how he practices, you know how he’s going to be on game day, that eliminates a lot of things. Sometimes like last year, for me, it took me a minute to kind of figure our guys out. We start off 1-4. I felt like I was a big reason that we were kind of jacked up on offense, because I didn’t get a good feel for Ryan (Tannehill) early, calling plays with him, and made some changes and we kind of got in a better rhythm. And then this year, it has been some different things that really have caused us to not be productive; but when you know the guys that you’re going to work with every day and you know the kind of effort they’re putting in, that’s what helps you bring in the guys that you’ve been around before, because you just know what you’re going to get day in and day out, and they know what to expect as far as what’s coming from me, and then they can help facilitate a lot of these things to other players. When things aren’t quite going right, they can help get you right back on path of saying, ‘This is how we need to do it,’ because they’ve done it before and they’ve been through some experiences with me to where they know what we’re trying to do is the right way.”
(Is there any even general or rough analogy to a college football coach trying to install his program – get his players in – to what you’re doing?) – “It’s tough in the NFL. We’re talking about a handful of guys when you come to a place you might be able to get, because guys are under contract. It’s tough to go from one team to another and try to get guys to come with you because you’re just not able to. Any time you can get at least a few guys in the locker room that at least know what you’re about and how you want to do things, when you do that, it really helps you really get your system installed and ready to go.”
