Adam Gase – October 3, 2018 (Conference Call)
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Monday, October 3, 2018
Head Coach Adam Gase Conference Call with Cincinnati Media
(What’s the secret to the big-play offense you’ve got? You guys consistently have big plays. You have three different players with a touchdown reception of over 50 yards and two over 70 yards, and all of the big plays on special teams. The big play is signature. What is it with your group?) – “I think most of it has to do with the fact that those guys have outstanding speed. They’re decisive with what they do. We’ve done it a few different ways to where, whether they get the ball in the backfield or if it’s a kickoff return, if it’s a throw down the field, this group has the kind of speed that you rarely see as an entire group. Really, it’s more about players than plays when it comes to that stuff.”
(Are you a believer in doing the same few plays in a myriad of ways and just trying to get to them with different looks that may cause some hesitation defensively?) – “I don’t know. I think there are some things that happen in this offense but for the most part, it’s different ways every week. It just kind of depends on who you are playing, how they play and how we work off of that.”
(How do the Bengals play? What do you see out of their defense?) – “Well, it all starts up front. Geno (Atkins) is still a nightmare to deal with. He’s going to cause problems in the run game and prevent you from doing a lot of things. If you leave him one on one at any time, you’re looking at the possibility of him shaking free. He creates a lot of pressure on the quarterback. I think they’ve done a good job at linebacker. There are a couple of young players over there and now getting one of their better players (Vontaze Burfict) back, that’s going to be a challenge for us. Then in the secondary, they’re keeping tight coverage and when the pressure and the coverage work together, they’re very hard to move the ball on.”
(I know Defensive Coordinator Matt Burke hasn’t been here for a while but is he still a resource, not in terms of schematics – you guys can watch tape for all of that – but about the players themselves and things that they can and can’t do from an ability standpoint?) – “We always try to be careful with that, with what we tell our players especially, because we don’t want to overload them with information that causes them to play too much of a different way. Matt has always kind of laid everything out on the line for us for what he knows. Playing them a couple of years ago, we thought we had a lot of good information but it didn’t really work out. I think sometimes it’s better for us to just focus on what we’re doing and worry less about what they’re doing.”
(How has QB Ryan Tannehill come along this year? What’s the biggest thing that you’ve liked with him?) – “I think his confidence in the offense. This is really the third year that he’s been in it. I know that everybody sees that he missed last season but he went through spring and through most of training camp. There were a lot of reps that he had in that time. It’s really, when you’re comfortable with what you’re doing and have control of the offense and the skill players around you are all working together trying to make sure they execute things correctly, that helps the quarterback in a lot of different ways. He really trusts what our guys are doing and he’s turning the ball loose early, just trying to make sure they can get the ball in those guys’ hands.”
(What kind of juice does a 35-year-old running back like Frank Gore, who’s fourth all-time in rushing, that guy has to provide all kind of inspiration and motivation to players of all ages and even the coaches, right?) – “Yeah. You watch him on a day like today and it’s 89 degrees out there and he’s grinding away. He loves practicing. He loves playing in games. He’s so engaged in everything. You can tell he loves everything you could possibly think about football. Guys respect him so much and when he speaks, it goes miles with our players. He’s done a good job of taking a lot of these guys (under his wing). I know everybody wants to just think it’s just (Kenyan) Drake but that whole running back room and other guys on the offense, he takes them under his wing and kind of tries to show them the right way to do things.”
(The two free agent offensive linemen you’ve signed in the offseason are both on injured reserve. You’ve had to scramble a little bit up front, but your o-line seems to be performing very well. The pass protection is in the upper crust of the league. Are they performing as well as the stats say they are?) – “Yes. I think there’s a lot of good that has come with our o-line. I know we’d love to be able to run the ball a little better. That’s kind of been some circumstantial-type things where at certain points in the game, numbers-wise it doesn’t look great; but they were really doing everything the right way. I do think we had good continuity there for a while where all five of those guys would practice together all spring and all of training camp. Losing Josh (Sitton) and Dan (Kilgore), those are two tough ones because those guys are good players. But the thing is, we’ll move forward and guys have stepped up. Our expectations don’t change, and I think that (Offensive Line Coach) Jeremiah (Washburn) will do a good job of making sure that that group is ready to go. Those guys will look to play physical and they know they have a challenge on their hands.”
(Your special teams coach seems to fly under the radar – Darren Rizzi. He’s done a lot of good things for a lot of years. With that phase of the game, are you satisfied with what’s happening?) – “Are you his agent? (laughter)”
(I’d like to be.) – “When I got this job, the guy I was with in Chicago, Jeff Rodgers, he told me right away. He goes ‘listen, he’s one of the best ones there is and you have to do everything you can to make sure he stays there.’ It was great that he wanted to be here. He’s been here for a long time. He knows the ins and outs of the organization. When I first got here, he was able to give me a lot of great advice. We have a lot of discussions. He has such a variety of information from what he’s experienced in the past. He’s a constant learner, so he’s always up to date on everything going on in the league. There’s so much value that he brings to our coaching staff. He’s a great asset to have on the staff.”
(You have a lot of personnel moves that seem to be geared toward building chemistry in the locker room. Has it worked out that way?) – “It’s early. I think these guys do work well together. I think these guys care about each other. Last week was a good indication to really see where we were going to head after that, to where you’re getting drummed by New England and you’re up in their place. It’s one of those ones where you’ve seen a lot of guys in the past maybe try to get themselves out of that game and pull themselves out. Our guys were trying to build for the next week and understood that every drive is going to be important because it was the drive we were in and it was a way for us to get better. I thought the guys worked extremely hard towards the end of that game trying to make sure that they did everything they could to get in the end zone and prevent them from scoring again. I liked the fact that our guys just kept playing and working and weren’t sitting there feeling sorry for themselves.”
(You’re a guy that is a quarterback expert. Everybody around the league looks at what you’ve accomplished with various quarterbacks. When you see Bengals QB Andy Dalton play, what do you see as a quarterback?) – “I see a confident guy that seems to really like the offense he’s playing in right now. I’ve always been a big fan of his from the time he came out. Just watching him over the years, watching him develop and watching him and (Bengals) A.J. Green do their thing, it’s been impressive. It’s fun to watch when you’re not playing them because he pushes the ball down the field and at the same time he knows when to get underneath and use those targets as well. Him and A.J., they’re a tough tandem to deal with.”
(DE Cameron Wake at 36 years old, is he amazing to watch?) – “He’s one of those guys that you watch him work and that’s just part of it. Us getting to see him as much as we do, just the way that he takes care of his body, the way that he eats – I don’t know if the guy ever has anything that’s not a salad, which is amazing the way he works out. The guy is a tireless worker. When you watch him on game days, that’s just such a small percentage of what you get to see on a daily basis. The guy is a rare person.”
