Adam Gase – October 19, 2017
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Thursday, October 19, 2017
Head Coach Adam Gase
(Do you recall how long it was after Vance Joseph left for Denver that you had a commitment in your mind that Defensive Coordinator Matt Burke could be the coordinator? Was there a formal interview type session with him?) – “When I hired him with Vance, that was kind of the plan. That was the main reason why we wanted to make sure we had him, because we knew what direction we were going to head. I really felt like Vance was only going to be here a year. So we wanted to get the system in place and then we didn’t want to change it, so we wanted to make sure we had somebody that knew that system that could step up and really just take it over.”
(How have you seen Defensive Coordinator Matt Burke put his stamp on this defense?) – “I think what he did was he took last year’s stuff … We kind of … We narrowed it down from what it was last year. We figured we were probably doing too much. Vance (Joseph) was trying to really figure out what was best for us. That’s what’s tough about that first year, it’s a little trial by error. I think this year coming in, Matt had a better feel for what our players did well and he could lean on that. That’s what he did. So far it has been … Everything has been going good. It’s all going to be about staying healthy at this point.”
(With the offense, obviously you guys rushed for 30 yards against the Jets the last time you played them, but they’re a team that’s struggling against run. What was the factor there outside of physicality?) – “Really, statistically – if that’s what you’re looking at – then yes. Statistically it’s not ideal for a defense. But really, it’s one run per game that gets them every once in a while. Somebody will pop a long one. It’s tough if that’s what you’re counting on. If there are 30 runs, the 29 other ones are not making a lot of hay. They’re tough to run against, because the front is stout, the linebackers are tackling well. They’re getting through there and making plays and then those safeties are doing a great job of getting guys down. That’s what makes it tough. It’s going to be about how well do we stay on our blocks? How physical are we at the point of attack? That’s really what it’s going to come down to for us.”
(Do you mention the last game against the Jets when you talk to your players?) – “No. We just do our normal scouting stuff. That’s what it was. We’re moving on from that. We can’t worry about what happened last time. We’ve got to figure out what we’re going to do this time.”
(Do you have examples of how your nickel defense is different with LB Lawrence Timmons in there than previous plays or things you can do now?) – “The guy is … The guy is a really good player. I just know that wherever the ball is, he’s not far behind it. He’s got great instincts. He’s a really good tackler. He’s extremely effective when he does tackle because he squares guys up and he goes through them. He does a pretty good job in coverage. Every once in a while he’ll have one or two where he’ll kind of make the wrong decisions; but a lot of times he’s taking a chance of making a play. Really at that position, between him and Kiko (Alonso), when those guys do take a chance, I trust them that a majority of time they’re going to be right.”
(We noticed DE Andre Branch did not practice. I didn’t know if he finished the last game or what was up there?) – “I think it’s just something that came up after the game. That happens every once in a while where guys get through the game and then they come in for that run the next day to get that flush, do a workout and have a short run. Sometimes guys don’t quite feel right. Sometimes it even happens a day after that. We’re just going to be smart, keep an eye on him, make sure that we’re getting these guys to Sundays. We’re at that point right now where we’ve got to make sure we’re smart with Cam (Wake), we’re smart with (Ndamukong) Suh, because when those guys practice, they go hard. There’s not a half speed element to them. The same thing with Branch. We just need to be smart with these guys and do what’s right. Obviously we’ve got two games in a short period of time. There’s an element of understanding what 16 straight (games), what you’ve got to do.”
(When it comes to physical, aggressive play, how do your two young cornerbacks rate?) – “I think they’re up there. I like the way they play. I like the way they tackle. I like the way they try to get hands on receivers at the line of scrimmage. Right now, ‘X’ (Xavien Howard) is playing extremely well. He’s playing extremely confident. He’s talking a lot, which is great. I love it. ‘Tank’ (Cordrea Tankersley) is not short of confidence either. I do think the fact that those two guys are aggressive and mix it up in the run game is really helpful for us, because it’s eliminating big plays. I think the rest of those guys – linebackers and d-lineman – when they see those guys come up and tackle, that’s a big plus for us.”
(CB Xavien Howard’s ankle making progress?) – “We’ll see. It’s day to day. I don’t go down there and like feel it and check it out and stuff. (laughter)”
(With DE Andre Branch, it does sound like you’re optimistic. Was it more precautionary yesterday?) – “We’ll see. I always wait until the next day to see, ‘Did it calm down? Is it worse?’ We can say what we want when we come in, in the morning, but until guys go out there and start practicing, you just never know.”
(We’ve talked to all the coordinators and they’ve all said that the Jets were more physical than we were. When you have that sort of challenge, do you present it to the team and say, “These are the clips that show that they were more physical than us?”) – “It comes up when you’re going through your game plan and you’re showing guys what’s relatable to what you’re trying to do that week. It’s right there on tape as far as when that comes up on cutups or if that comes up on something that we’re preparing for in a situation, where we didn’t do a very god job in that game. We didn’t protect well, we didn’t run the ball well. Defensively, we were in good shape. A couple of things that didn’t quite go the way we wanted it to; but offensively, we were nonexistent. Really, for us, we’ve got to take what we’ve done the last game and a drive and try to replicate that to where we get positive plays and be more physical at the point of attack. Sometimes we’ve got to get downhill and actually grind out some yards.”
(Do you need to remind them at all how critical last year those division games were to get you into the playoffs?) – “You don’t have to remind anybody around here about how critical every week is. It’s pretty clear.”
