Adam Gase – October 24, 2017
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Tuesday, October 24, 2017
Head Coach Adam Gase
(Every coach stresses the need to finish and the need to close, how important it is, and says a lot of the same things you told us. Why is it that some teams are good in the fourth quarter and some aren’t?) – “I think a lot of it has to do with probably more of the personality of the players more than anything. Guys around here just seem to embrace it more than worry about failing. They kind of enjoy being in that moment and when they get opportunities, somebody seems to step up and make a play.”
(Does that person only come primarily from the leaders on the team?) – “I’d say yes. I think that’s where it starts. I think some of it came from some of the guys that we drafted last year. I always go back to (Kenyan) Drake. He made a big play in a big moment and helped us keep that thing rolling. It was a guy that was from a very successful program and he had done really big things in big-time games.”
(You’ve done it now with three different quarterbacks. There’s been so many different people on the team. Are you comfortable that it’s ingrained in the culture here?) – “I think so. I think guys just know nobody cares who’s out there. Nobody cares how many injuries you have, hurricanes, losing players, coaches – nobody cares. It’s all about what are you going to do? Are you going to win games or are you going to lose games? That’s all they care about.”
(Given the talent level that you know CB Byron Maxwell has, is this a disappointment that you guys and him weren’t able to figure something out here to make this work?) – “I think he did a good job with … Last year, he battled and played well for us at the end of the season – the last 10 or so games that he played. We’ve just got a lot of young guys and we had to kind of make, shake room for a roster spot. We’re kind of looking right now and down the road.”
(What went wrong with CB Byron Maxwell?) – “I don’t think anything really went wrong, I just think we’ve got a lot of good players and a lot of guys that we like. It’s tough when you become a veteran player and you’re not a special teams guys. You get thrown into being inactive and you don’t get opportunities. That was just … we’ve got a lot of guys that do both.”
(What do you like about QB David Fales?) – “I’ve been around him for multiple times. He’s smart. His recall is really good. He has a game … I don’t know, he’s a gamer. (He’s) the kind of guy you throw in there, it looks bad and he’ll figure out a way to make a play. It seems like we’ve got a couple of guys that are the same way. Sometimes in practice it might not look great, but when we get out into a game, he just figures out a way to move the ball.”
(Why QB David Fales instead of the other choice which was QB Brandon Doughty?) – “We’re just kind of looking at how long this is really going to be. We felt like this was the best decision for the organization right now.”
(Of all the guys who would not have practiced yesterday or would have not been able to practice fully had you held a practice, who are you most optimistic in that group?) – “I really don’t know. I’ll have a better idea probably Thursday right before the game.”
(Offensive line concerns obviously, just being on top of what T Laremy Tunsil is dealing with, how worried are you about that group?) – “We’ll figure out a way to move the ball.”
(The way that you’ve used TE Anthony Fasano and TE Julius Thomas the last few weeks, obviously matchups played a part but is that a way that you settled on where you think it’s a good use of both and to get Fasano in more, they play similar snap counts, keep guys rested and a little TE MarQueis Gray?) – “That’s been a conversation. I think that was something that maybe hurt us a little bit in Denver, where Julius (Thomas) was playing close to 75 plays a game, and I think towards the end of the season – he’ll never admit this – but it wears on you a little bit. It’s a lot of snaps. We really like all three guys. We want them to play and we think they can contribute in different factors of the offense. I kind of like rotating those guys in. It just gives us some good and bad tendencies that you can kind of use to your advantage. It’s hard to pick one and just go with it because I like all three. They all have three different skill sets, but I like when all three guys that are out there at different times. It’s easy to call plays.”
(When QB Matt Moore threw a touchdown to WR Kenny Stills to make it 28-21, he ran over to the sideline. It looked like he kind of bumped you and then he was shouting something in your ear and you had the biggest grin. What did he say?) – “(laughter) It was a very similar play to the Arizona game. Teams seem to want to bring everybody against him and for whatever reason, every time that happens, we have the same route on, and he hits it. It was really almost the exact same thing in the Arizona game where he just threw it up and Kenny was where he was exactly supposed to be. He threw that thing early too. There was a lot of trust there and that’s him. That’s how Matt is. He’s going to get fired up.”
(The term you hear a lot with QB Matt Moore is gunslinger. Does the term tough guy fit also? He seems to take a lot of hits and be able to bounce right back up.) – “I think you look at all three of these guys (Ryan Tannehill, Jay Cutler and Matt Moore) that have played since I’ve been here. That’s something that they all three have in common is they’re extremely tough. I’m not sure if I’ve really seen anybody take as many violent hits as Ryan had and he kept getting up until finally one got him, and then same thing with Jay, just being around him for two different seasons – the amount of hits he’s taken. That was the first time I’ve ever seen him not get up. Matt, we’ve all seen him take probably one of the worst shots that I’ve ever seen in person and somehow the guy battles back and was okay. This guy’s got something that you just can’t coach it. You’re born with it. Those guys, they want to be out there for their teammates and I think there’s some kind of internal drive with those guys to make sure that they’re out there.”
(Do you know anything more about QB Jay Cutler that you did not know 24 hours ago?) – “No.”
(Is there an inherent tug of war between a coach and a quarterback about the quarterback wanting to be more aggressive and the coach kind of wanting him to be a little more careful and conservative? And does that apply at all with you and QB Matt Moore?) – “No. I don’t really kind of look at it like that. A lot of times my concerns have to deal with are we getting guys covered up front, are we picking up the right guys when they’re pressuring? The thing that you’re always trying to just make sure you avoid is when you’re getting pressure and guys are trying to make throws and they can’t set their feet and it’s kind of an up-for-grabs ball. We’ve been kind of on the positive side of some of those, which those are the ones that you’re not really sure what’s going to happen on those because the guy is covered and you’re not throwing a strong ball sometimes. You’d rather have it where you pick everybody up, (you have a) clean pocket, step into the throw, be able to have proper mechanics when you’re throwing the ball. When we do that, that makes you feel better as a coach – whether it’s short, intermediate, down the field – but when you’re getting leakage and guys are making off-balanced throws, that’s the only time you’d like to tell them ‘Hey, don’t do that,’ but sometimes when they make a play, you’re okay with it.”
(That’s where the instincts are at odds, yours and theirs?) – “Yes, because the way I look at it, I’m standing on the sidelines. It’s a lot easier to question a lot of things over there.”
(What do you see when you look at the Ravens on tape?) – “You see a lot of similarities to what you’ve seen the last 15 years, or so. (They’re) physical. They’re sound. I think it’s gotten a little more difficult since (Eric) Weddle’s gotten there. You just never know what they’re going to be in. He’s moving around so much and he’s impacted so many guys on that defense where they disguise so well, it’s hard for the quarterback to figure out what’s going on. That’s added a different element to them over the last two years. They still do a great job. They set the edge, they’re physical, the linebackers are downhill and they’ll do some really good things in the run game. In the pass game, they have good guys – both outside and in the back end. It’s one of those matchups that when you watch the tape and you look at stats and things like that, it doesn’t really match up, because you see a lot of the things that they’re doing makes it very difficult.”
(When you look at what you have at corner now, CB Xavien Howard and CB Cordrea Tankersley, CB Bobby McCain, CB Alterraun Verner, and then I guess CB Torry McTyer, CB/S Walt Aikens and CB/S Jordan Lucas, how do you feel about the overall depth at the position?) – “Good. I like that group. I like that whole – you can throw the safeties in there, too – and you’ve got (T.J. McDonald) coming back soon. That’s a pretty talented group, a pretty physical group. I think that’s one of the things I’ve been most impressed on with those two young guys is they’ve really helped our run game. When guys get to them, they get them down, and (when) they get them down, they’re physical and they hit hard. I think it’s rare to have two guys that tackle as well as those two guys do.”
(You mentioned toughness earlier as being one of those things you can’t coach. Doesn’t ‘being ready’ ready fall into that category as well, specifically talking about QB Matt Moore, because he’s been in this position quite a few times now?) – “I think that goes across the board for most of our guys. I think they keep preparing the right way and every guy knows … We talk about it so much about being one snap away. In this game, we’ve all watched it long enough to know, the injuries, they come out of nowhere and then all of a sudden you’ve got somebody else in there and everybody around them expects them to know what to do. It happened to us up front last week in a couple spots and guys went in there and figured it out. It’s the same thing. Matt prepares every week like he’s one snap away. Especially at that position, you see some of the violent hits that quarterbacks take when they don’t see a guy coming and the next thing you know, you’re in there. The way that he’s prepared, week after week, it’s allowed him to have success when he comes in the game, whether he’s been the backup or the starter.”
(With the game just two days ago, what actual work are you guys doing practice-wise this week? What can you actually expect them to do?) – “We’re sticking with a similar format we had last time where we went (with) our walk-through. We just do multiple walk-throughs. We’re not going to actually practice. We did it a little different with how we structured things, just to change it up, just talking to some of our guys, just what we didn’t like about last year. We changed it up a little bit in that aspect but the guys have done a good job. There were a ton of guys that were making sure they were (in the) cold tub, hot tub – all of those types of things – recovery stuff on Sunday after the game. Once we got done talking, guys were getting ready for this one.”
