Adam Gase – October 24, 2016
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Monday, October 24, 2016
Head Coach Adam Gase
(When you’ve won two in a row, is it a good time for a bye? Do you like the momentum continuing six days from now?) – “I think where we’re at right now, this is probably a good time for us to have this week. I think if guys keep doing what they’ve been doing the last three or four weeks as far as their preparation, that has really been the biggest thing for us, and it’s translating to Sunday. They’ve stuck with everything that we’ve been talking about since the beginning. They’ve amped it up as far as how they’ve gone about their business and not listening to outside noise and staying together as a group, and they kept fighting. So, that was … That has really been our main reason for improving on Sundays.”
(Aside from the victory, what did you like most about your team’s performance?) — “I think just two weeks in a row now we’ve had the type of energy, attitude, speed that we’re looking for on Sundays. You didn’t see anybody waver when we were down. You saw a bunch of guys just kept fighting. You saw both sides of the ball trying to encourage each other. They were playing off each other. They were doing the best they could to do that. We let up a long touchdown, then we have a good drive on offense. We had some response instead of everybody, where earlier in the season (we) probably had a couple situations where heads went down. But you didn’t see that, especially the last two weeks. You just saw guys kept plugging along, understanding it’s a 60-minute game. It’s a new series every time we go out on the field and what happened the last series is irrelevant.”
(The sixth offensive linemen, what was the thinking behind that? Did you wind up doing it more than…) – “No. That was kind of our game plan. We wanted to go in. We were down on tight ends, and obviously ‘Q’ (MarQueis Gray) is one of our better special teams players. So, we just felt like that was a good way for us to give him a little bit of a break. Plus, you know having Sam (Young) there, I know he’s going to do the right thing, and he’s going to max out and give everything he has. He did a good job with what we asked him to do. We felt like that would maybe help us even in the run game a little bit. Dion (Sims) had been very effective for us for most of the season as far as a run blocker, and I didn’t want to put ‘Q’ and ‘D.J.’ (Dominique Jones) in a position to where they were doing a lot of things that they haven’t really had a chance to do. It was a way for us to get some snaps off those guys and, at the same time, see if Sam could help us in the run game.”
(Can T Sam Young run a seam route?) – “No.”
(Bills Head Coach Rex Ryan said after the game that they tried everything to stop the running game. How good is it as a play caller, how good does it feel to know that everybody knows what to expect, but they still can’t stop you?) – “It is a good feeling, because you have a lot of room for error. I think when you have the five guys we have up front, I have a lot of trust in those guys, and I have a lot of trust in our offensive line coach as far as putting together a great run game plan every week. We’ve stuck to our process. I think the attitude (of) the offensive line has been unbelievable the last two games, because they basically said, ‘Put the entire team on our back, and we’re going to flip this thing.’ They’ve done that, because it has made a difference on defense. Now the defense has had two games in a row of 53 plays. That’s what we’re looking to do, and I think the credit really goes to the offensive line. Jay (Ajayi) has done a good job of doing exactly what he had been doing since the spring – getting better, figuring out a way to where does he fit in this scheme. Now, he has a great understanding of how he needs to run behind this line, and it has paid off, especially the last two weeks. His production has been through the roof. He has been so decisive that even when we are wrong upfront, he makes them right.”
(What is the most special thing about RB Jay Ajayi? What is the thing that really separates him?) – “To start off – like you guys would say – I anointed him before there was really a competition. The reason why I felt so comfortable with him early was he understood the why, and he made the least amount of mistakes. He was doing a good job. He had a couple of setbacks here and there. Then like I keep saying, we had a rough 10 days. But he stuck with this process. He got back and centered himself and then started over and did the same thing. He knew what to do. He knew how to do it. He kept making improvements. When we hit that Tennessee game – and he had more carries and we were trying to make him … Really, the carries were centered around him. We just didn’t have a ton of plays, so it didn’t feel like that to anybody. Everybody was like … We had 44 plays. I think he had … I can’t even remember. It was like nine carries, 13 carries, right? That was kind of our starting point and if you guys remember when I came by, I was like, ‘He played well, and he was one of the few people that did play well.’ You kind of build off that and then when we got to the Pittsburgh game, we had more plays. We were able to give him more carries, and then you could see how effective he was, because that’s a big man running hard, not slowing down, sticking his foot in the ground, getting north and guys are trying to tackle him, and he’s running through arm tackles. Now all of a sudden we started getting all these explosive plays, and it carried over to this week. We went with the same mindset of, ‘If we get him going, let’s let him keep going.’ He makes it hard to go away from the run, because it’s just positive plays so many times. You just know if we’re in third down, it’s going to be third-and-manageable.”
(With the offensive line, I’ve heard them make that pitch to, ‘If we run the ball, we can be good,’ for years. What made you actually buy into what they were selling?) – “When you get into situations to where … It really comes down to third down. If you’re in third-and-10 all day and you’re running the ball on first and second down, the chances of you converting – the percentages – are very low. But when you’re first down, second down, first down – or anytime you do get to a third down – and it’s third-and-5 or less, that makes you want to keep staying with it, and that’s them basically saying to me, ‘We can run the ball. Keep it going.’ Really, it’s all about positive plays. If you have tackles for loss, or you’re having no gains, that’s when it makes it tough, because now you’re in long situations on third down. They’re hard to convert in this league. These guys have done a great of making sure that we’re having a lot of positive plays in the amount of rushes we’re having.”
(So, it’s their success that makes you say, ‘Okay, let me stick with it?’) – “I think when you’re a play caller, you’re thinking ahead all the time. When we’re on second down – and it’s second-and-6 – my mind is going right away to, ‘What’s my third-and-6 call? What’s my third-and-2 call? What’s my short-yardage call? What if it’s first down? What personnel?” There are a lot of things going through your head, and these guys make it easier, because it’s second-and-6 and then we’re first-and-10. I’m not having to worry about a lot of these things, because these guys are doing such a great job of executing everything that we’re calling in the run game, and you’re seeing the movement off the line of scrimmage. I mean Jay (Ajayi) is getting 2 yards before he gets anybody near him. These guys have taken our scheme and (are) executing at a high level, which is a lot of reason we’re having the success.”
(From a physical standpoint, it’s physically taking a toll on their bodies. How can you manage that to make sure that it stays at a high level?) – “I think they’re doing a good job as far as I see – that group especially – but you’re seeing a lot with the defensive line as well, and a lot of the guys that have to do a lot of the hitting on defense, to where they’re doing things on Mondays and Tuesdays to try to re-generate their bodies. That’s the key in this league is availability. If they keep doing the right things as far as when we’re not playing and not practicing, that’s going to give us our best chance to keep these guys healthy. But it’s the entire week. They’re not going to make it to Sunday in the weather down here, as far as conditions go, if they’re not good Monday through Saturday. That’s hydration, eating, the way they do their activation, the way they practice. Everything they do is going to add up on Sundays. If we’re not taking care of ourselves during the week and expect Sunday we’re going to be alright, that’s when we’re going to have issues. But guys have done, especially the last two weeks, they’ve done everything right leading up to the game. That’s why we’re having different results.”
(A couple of questions about WR Jarvis Landry from yesterday. Have you talked to him about his actions, and also, when you went back and watched the clip, what did you think of that hit?) – “I think as far as the hit goes, obviously hitting him high, that’s what’s going to get the flag. I think it was such a fast play. His job is to come back on that play. His job is to take care of the safety, and that guy showed up really fast. He was coming downhill hard, and he was in a low position. I think, for him to make that hit, he has got to lower his target zone. It’s just like on defense. The rules are set up for players’ safety, and we have to do a better job as far as adjusting. When we put ourselves in that kind of position, you have to understand the situation that we’re going through. I know the way that Jarvis plays, it’s going to be aggressive, it’s going to be intense. And for anybody to start thinking (it was a) dirty play and things like that … I’ve been around the guy for less than a year; I haven’t seen that from him. I’ve seen a guy that tries to go … When we coach him up on things, he’s trying to do it the right way. I know things happen really fast in the NFL, but those rules are put in place for a reason. We have to do a better job as far as coaching it and explain to him how he has to go about that play and then we need him to do it right, so we don’t get that kind of situation (and) then you’re avoiding guys getting hurt as well. So, that’s going to be something – moving forward – we have to just do a better job of it.”
(Have you sat him down though and talked about these things?) – “I’m not going to change the way he plays. I call plays for him early in the game for him to set the tempo. When he goes down in the Pittsburgh game, and we’re first-and-20, and he gets 22 yards and puts his head down and runs three guys over and our entire sideline explodes and it sets the tempo for the game, that’s why he is who he is. The taunting penalty, that’s not what I want. But I need him to play the way he needs to play. We need to be smarter on those things. Between taunting and the post-play activities, we need to be smarter there, because we’re losing yards; but I want him to keep bringing his intensity every week.”
(With RB Jay Ajayi and the offensive line, do you feel like you guys have established an identity on offense?) – “I think we have a good idea of what we can do. I mean, we’re going to have to … every week, you’re going to have to prove yourself over again. I know when we do get to the (New York) Jets, we’re going to have to prove it all over again because they’re not going to care what we did last week. They’re going to come in and they’re going to be like, ‘Okay, run it, because we’re going to stop you.’ So, we’re going to have to go back to work when we get out for practice for that week and re-establish everything all over again. This league has not changed for I don’t know how many years. It’s all about what you do the next Sunday.”
(You touched on WR Jarvis Landry and you’re not going to change him for nothing, when his first down celebrations are starting to become legendary, I know that one caused him a penalty, but you kind of…) – “I guess I don’t really notice them because I am on to the next play. All I know is, if we get a first down, I don’t care what he does if it’s within the rules.”
(Are you surprised at all by how well the offensive line played the last two weeks because of the fact they weren’t together at all the first five weeks?) – “Not really. I mean they had the mindset from the get go, if that group got together, that there was going to be a big-time change in what happens. That starts with (Mike) Pouncey and I think ‘B.A.’ (Branden Albert) is right there with him. Ther ewas something different last week. When we played Pittsburgh, those guys let me know early. ‘You just keep calling runs and don’t worry about the quarterback, he won’t be touched,’
(How tempting is it to go play action when RB Jay Ajayi is running so well?) – “It … I mean it’s tough. It’s tough for me sometimes. What we did yesterday was best for what we needed to do to win the game. We called some play actions and there were a couple times where we either got to get open or … they actually, there were a few times where they called some really good coverages against what we had called on offense. Ryan (Tannehill) made the right decision. He bailed some of those play calls out, especially … the third-down play that he made to Jarvis (Landry) was … I mean he had nothing. We had leakage and he made a great play. It’s nice when you run those play-action passes, being two-man routes though, sometimes it’s tough. You don’t have a lot of options and you need the wide outs to win and if they play the right coverage, they can take everybody away.”
(S Michael Thomas played every snap plus 17 snaps on special teams. He took responsibility for the touchdown to Marquise Goodwin. How did you assess his performance and what does it say that he accepted responsibility for that bad play?) – “Well, that’s why he’s one of our captains. That’s why he’s a leader. Obviously, with as far as the coverage goes, sometimes we overthink things – players and coaches. The thing at the end of the day we have to remember is: that’s why there are 11 guys on the field. Everybody’s trying to do a job and it takes all 11 to be able to cover that route and make sure that doesn’t happen. So we’ll learn from that. Him playing that many plays, he’s almost doing our team a solid. He’s selling out for our team because he knows if he comes off of special teams, that’s going to be a big void for us. That’s one of the reasons why it’s probably good this bye week happens because we do need to re-evaluate some of the situations we have as far as who’s our guys on special teams. Damien (Williams) played quite a few snaps on offense as well. Obviously, he’s very impactful for us and he’s one of our core special teams guys. (Kenyan) Drake, same thing. So we need to keep figuring out a way to balance between playing offense or defense and special teams. Obviously, Mike (Thomas) is in a different role now. We need somebody else to step up so when (Special Teams Coach Darren) Rizzi puts these things together there’s a trust factor there. Yesterday was a good example of when you lose one guy, sometimes it can start a whole chain reaction. And that’s kind of what happened to us yesterday, where we had a couple of poor things happen to us on special teams and now we have to go re-evaluate and figure out the right guys to put in those situations.”
(Can you disguise coverage first of all, and do you feel like that’s kind of what took place there?) – “I mean, absolutely. If you disguise … You have to get to your landmark. It’s really, what can you do to get to your landmark? And sometimes, once again, you overthink it. You try to make sure … The quarterback is late kind of identifying what’s going on, but if you can’t get to your spot, that’s what happens. The angle is not right for you and you can’t make a play. I mean it’s an experience thing for the most part. A lot of guys you see that are veteran safeties know how to do it. The more times you get to do it, the better feel that you have for it. The way we have to practice, especially if you get thrown in a week, you tried in practice but going in a game and playing against that guy and having scout team run are two different animals.”
(The bye week, do you guys do a lot of self-scouting as coaches? What are you going to be doing?) – “We had that Thursday night game, so that kind of helped us a little bit as far as getting ahead of that. We’re going to go back and re-assess some things we have been doing. Obviously, the way we’re running the ball right now, we’re going to have to just make sure … like yesterday, it almost felt like we didn’t have enough in the running game. I kept trying to reach for formations and trying to make some stuff up there just trying to figure out a way to disguise some of the stuff we were doing. I feel like they pretty much knew what was coming a lot of the times. We’ll have to go back through and just kind of make sure we’re putting our guys in a good position and if we’ve got to formation some things different, but I’m pretty sure most defenses will be able to figure out what we’re doing in the run game.”
(Are you and your staff taking any time? Are you getting away from football?) – “Yes, I’m sure we’ll take some time here at the end of the week. We’ve got a process of how we want to do things. It’s really kind of on our coordinators how hard they want to work these guys this week. So they might have a mutiny on hand.” (laughter)
(How do you re-create more runs?) – “Just formationally. You try to hide them. I mean teams know what’s coming. We’ve just got to do the best job we can to try to put our guys in position to where we’re leveraged right, just disguising the formation, the personnel groups, things like that. You just keep mixing things up and keep executing what your game plan is as far as what you do well.”
(How difficult is that? I mean, you’ve been on the other side where a team has a new identity during the season.) – “It can be tough on the defense if you start moving things around. And then offensively, it’s not as hard because it is just formationally, it’s the same scheme. The thing that you can do, you can put yourself in a bad position if you’re doing something that gives them better leverage than what you’re looking for. So you just have to be careful there. Sometimes there isn’t a whole bunch of things you can do. You just line up and you say ‘We’re doing this and go ahead and try to stop it.’”
