Adam Gase – October 23, 2017 (Conference Call)
Download PDF version
Monday, October 23, 2017
Head Coach Adam Gase (Conference Call with Baltimore Media)
(With the short week, is it going to make it tough for your starting quarterback, Jay Cutler, to be ready for the Ravens?) – “Yes, I mean it’s not ideal to say the least. He missed the majority of the second half. We’ll just kind of see how it goes. We’ll just get the guys ready that we know are ready to play.”
(What did you see from QB Matt Moore when he went in?) – “I thought he did a good job of just kind of calming everything down. We were having some issues on third downs. They were getting us into some deeper distances and they were making it really tough on us. They did a good job of changing up a lot of things and giving us some different looks. (New York Jets Head Coach) Todd Bowles has done a good job against us every time we’ve played them. Matt did a good job of just kind of settling things down and finding a way to make some plays.”
(Yesterday, I think seven teams didn’t score an offensive touchdown. Another two scored one in the final minute for their first touchdown. I know you’re focused on the Dolphins but do you have any thoughts on why offense seems to be down in so many places around the league?) – “That’s hard for me to answer just because I really don’t pay attention to what the other teams are doing. You’re so focused on what you’re doing that week. I’m all for it, people scoring less points, considering that we haven’t scored a lot of points this year. (laughter) I’ll take it; but I don’t know why that’s happening”
(Going back to QB Matt Moore, how much confidence do you have in him filling in for QB Jay Cutler if Cutler can’t play on Thursday?) – “I have a lot of confidence. I mean Matt and I did this last year. I don’t know. It just feels like we didn’t really skip a beat. It’s easy for us to kind of just start going again. Matt’s an easy guy to call plays for because you never really hear him say ‘I don’t like that’ or ‘I don’t like this.’ He just kind of says the play and then rolls.”
(I know you guys are 4-2 and the Ravens are 3-4. Does this feel like a crossroads game for both teams?) – “It’s hard to say that early in the season. I guess we’re both trying to find ways to get better. We’re all working on the different parts of our games. I’m sure they’re not happy with certain aspects and we’re certainly not happy with certain aspects of our total team game. Really, at this point, when you get into this part of the season, you’re just trying to make sure that you’re getting better every week. You’re trying to avoid being inconsistent. You’re trying to avoid having one good game, one bad game. Until somebody tells you you’re out of it, you just keep trying to find ways to get better and you don’t worry about all of the other noise.”
(Has there been one area where you’ve really seen dramatic improvement with your team during your winning streak? Something that’s really made a difference for you guys in recent weeks?) – “Yes, I mean we scored some points and crossed the 50 a few times. That was good. (laughter) We were struggling. We had two really, really bad … If you look it, we probably had about 10 really bad quarters. It was good in that Atlanta game. We were moving the ball. We didn’t get any points in that first (half) and then we finally did in the second half. In this last game, we were a little inconsistent as far as when we were doing it; but for the most part, we had some really good drives and we had some good execution. We had guys making plays down the field. It was good to see the offense kind of be a positive impact on the game. I think our defense, they’re always going to be working on some things. We do have some young players on that side along with some really good veteran players. You’re always going to have those situations that come up to where a younger guy makes a mistake and veteran players are going to kind of look at it like ‘How did we screw that up?’ But that’s part of the process. That’s part of the growing experience of young players playing week to week. We’re always going to have to keep plugging along and learning from our mistakes.”
(I think DE Cameron Wake had 2.5 sacks yesterday. What sort of impact does he have on the defense?) – “He just creates a lot of pressure. Both in the run game and the pass game, the quarterback feels him. Just the way he comes off the ball, everything is violent. Even in the run game, when tackles are trying to get on him, he’s so strong that he’s able to set the edge and then hold the point when he needs to, when it’s any kind of downhill running game. He’s been very impressive to watch over the last two years. You wouldn’t realize what his age is. You feel like he’s a 25 year old player with the amount of energy he plays with and the amount of passion he plays with, and just the physicality he plays the game with.”
(You guys have played the Ravens a lot over the years. It almost seems like you guys are in the same division with how much you’ve played. I know the Ravens are struggling now but do they look to you like a typical Ravens team with the same characteristics that they’ve had over the years?) – “I guess personally, I have a lot of experience going against them, just from my time in Tampa and basically carrying through here. I just know (Head) Coach (John) Harbaugh does a great job. The way he tries to build a team personnel wise, it’s always going to be a little bit different because over time, things change; but you can see the same personality traits in certain aspects of their game. To me, it’s so early in the season. I know a lot of people don’t think that way but we’ve got a long ways to go here. It really is all about getting better every week. That’s the one thing that I’ve known about Coach Harbaugh. I feel like I’ve heard too many times that things aren’t going in the direction they wanted and then all of a sudden, it’s like six straight wins or seven straight wins and then they’re in the playoffs. When I was in Denver, that’s how it happens. They got in the playoffs and the next thing you know, we’re going home and they’re going to the Super Bowl a couple of years later.”
(The Baltimore Ravens defense has given up a 100-yard rusher in three of its last four games. Do you look at that as an opportunity for RB Jay Ajayi?) – “My experience has been that it’s always been tough sledding against these guys. When you turn on the tape and you watch what they’re doing, there’s a lot of runs that aren’t very good. There have been a few that have kind of popped out of there – a couple of explosive runs here and there – but for the most part, there’s not really a lot of air to run into. It’s not an easy defense to run against. Their scheme is tough. Then when you add the way that some of these guys are playing and their gap responsibilities and how those outside guys really do a good job of setting the edge and they funnel everything back inside, it really makes it difficult to have clean lanes all of the time. Unfortunately, you’re counting on your running back to make a great play the majority of the time to really pop one free.”
