Adam Gase – October 5, 2016
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Wednesday, October 5, 2016
Head Coach Adam Gase
(On if CB Xavien Howard was out at practice today) – “He got tangled up yesterday. We’re still in the evaluation stage with him right now. We’re going to get through the rest of this week (and) kind of see where we’re at. If he needed to go somewhere, we can’t send him anywhere. Our doctors are still looking at him. We’ll keep doing our deal with our trainers and our local doctors and kind of see where it takes us here leading up to Sunday.”
(On if CB Xavien Howard has another knee issue) – “It’s a possibility. We’ve just got to see. It’s not a major deal. We’ve just got to make sure that we check all the boxes. We’re being obviously cautious because of what happened in the spring. The way he’s been playing, obviously we want to make sure that we’re doing right leading up to the rest of the season.”
(On opposing offenses utilizing three-step drops and if that is frustrating for the defensive line and how they combat that) – “The hard part about that is you try to say, ‘Hey, get your hands up,’ but the way that we pass rush, it’s tough to tell those guys to do that when the way they come off the ball. They come off very aggressive, very fast and they penetrate very quickly. That’s why I keep bringing up it’s a team deal, as far as helping that crew out, as far as giving them the opportunity to pass rush more. And when a team is up on you or is able to stay balanced throughout a game, now that limits their pass rushes. That’s why the offense and defense are so tied together because if you do your job on offense, you start putting up points on the board, you get a lead, and all of a sudden you’re letting those guys do what we’re trying to pay them to do, as far as letting them pass rush more often. That’s why the offense is critical in helping that pass rush out.”
(On how he expects CB Byron Maxwell to respond to his demotion at Cincinnati) – “That’s professional football. This is not the first time anybody’s ever been a starter, then dressed for the game and not played, and then had another opportunity to go back on the field. That’s what makes this game a little tougher than what a lot of people give it credit for, as far as you have to come to work every day, and when your number is called, you need to be ready to go. I’ve always expected him, no matter what has happened, to come out, compete every day in practice, and then when his opportunity comes in games, we’re looking for him to make plays. We’re looking for him to get hands on the ball. We’re looking for him to have tight coverage. When I watch him practice the last two days, he’s come out and he’s competed, and that’s what we expect from him.”
(On if he’s seen a change in WR DeVante Parker) – “I have over the long period of time, the longer we’ve gone through this thing. He’s done a good job as far as making sure he’s doing those little things. I can tell he’s way more engaged in meetings, for sure. So whatever he’s doing outside the building, he’s doing it right because you can tell when a guy’s either not sleeping enough (or) doing something outside the building that’s preventing him to sleep enough. He’s been engaged for probably, especially the last month. I can tell since we’ve started the season, the way that he pays attention to installations in team meetings and things like that. It’s important to make sure that he corrects whatever we were having issues with. As of lately, it’s just like every week we go and the more we practice, I can tell he’s feeling better. His body’s feeling better. We’re starting to see him stretch it out a little bit. We’re able to kind of do some deeper routes down the field, as far as trying to create some of that timing that we need when you run those kind of routes.”
(On what type of atmosphere he hopes to create at Hard Rock Stadium) – “The biggest thing that we need to do is we need to make sure that we’re putting a great product on the field. I felt like last game, the crowd was great. You could tell how in it everybody was. They were very energetic, especially when our defense was on the field; it got loud quite a bit. We have to put out a better product than we showed the last time we were out there. That’s what this season is going to be about for us, we’ve got to keep getting better every week. That’s going to be key to us. If we do that, that gives us our best chance. I think that the crowd, they’ll keep getting louder and louder and louder, (if) we start getting a lead, we let that pass rush go. That’s what we want to create.”
(On how valuable DE Jason Jones’ versatility is for the defense) – “He’s a key piece for us, because 1) He does a good job against the run game; but when we do a lot of the things as far as stirring the front up, he’s one of the ring leaders – him and (Ndamukong) Suh. (They) orchestrate that up front as far as who’s doing what. A lot of the ideas – between the d-line coaches and those guys – they’ve been through quite a few games. They know what works. They know what works against certain guys. They know what works versus certain defenses. Having another veteran guy out there, that’s always key. Experience is something that you really can’t measure sometimes. A guy like that, he can destroy the pocket by setting a pick for somebody else and really sacrificing himself to free another guy.”
(On what he has learned about the depth on offense and defense through four games) – “I feel like we have more than probably what we give ourselves credit for sometimes. I know everybody is trying to nitpick at every little thing. Going into the season did we have some questions? Sure, just like every other NFL team. It’s really about getting guys prepared and making sure that when their opportunity does come, that they know what to do, and they show us physically that they can do it. For the most part, we haven’t skipped a beat as far as guys knowing what to do. It’s just sometimes we get beat physically sometimes. For the most part, we’ve been pretty good as far as what our assignments are, knowing what to do and putting ourselves in the right position.”
(On whether C/G Anthony Steen starting three games was the biggest surprise so far) – “I think we’ve talked about him during training camp, because it was … When he became the starter, I think it was a surprise to a lot of people. Seeing him from OTAs and then moving forward and once we got into training camp (and) put the pads on, you noticed that he was doing things a little different than everybody else. That’s what accelerated him ahead of a couple guys. I would say, yes. Has he been a pleasant surprise? Absolutely. I think we can keep bringing other guys along as well as far as (telling them), ‘Work hard. Know what to do. When you get your opportunity, take advantage of it.’”
(On whether DE Julius Warmsley was another pleasant surprise) – “I think so. It’s easier to see with him. When you sack the quarterback – (you) make plays, tackle for loss, you’re making tackles all over the field – that makes it easier to say, ‘That guy seems like a player.’ When you’re on the offensive line, it’s hard to see everything. You just know a lot of times if you’re a tackle, you either get beat or you don’t. It’s harder to see when you’re playing center and guard sometimes.”
(On proceeding as if CB Xavien Howard isn’t available on Sunday) – “We’re just going to have plans for both. (Defensive Coordinator) ‘V.J.’ (Vance Joseph) does a good job as far as making sure that we have contingency plans, so if for some reason we get to that point on Sunday – to where he can’t go – then we’ll have options. Obviously today we had to shuffle a couple of things around; but that’s ball. I mean that happens during games all the time. Except now, we’ll probably have a good idea (if he’s going to be) inactive (or) active. ”
(On contingency plans for Hurricane Matthew and what he is going to tell his players before they leave today) – “Our biggest thing is making sure that everybody’s being smart. We want the safety of our players and our staff and the people in our building, to make sure that everybody’s doing the right thing, making sure that they are putting themselves in a position where we get everybody back (and) everybody is safe and sound. That’s the scariest thing for us, is just making sure that everybody’s being smart once they leave here because we can’t hold everybody’s hand. Everybody has to be grown-ups, everybody has to be a man in that locker room and make sure that they do the right things to keep themselves safe.”
(On RB Kenyan Drake’s experience in a pro-style offense in college and if it is serving him well this season) – “It doesn’t hurt. Playing for (Alabama Offensive Coordinator) Lane (Kiffin), he’s got a good variety of things. Being in that system with (Alabama Head) Coach (Nick) Saban, that benefits guys quite a bit; just the way that you should practice, the way that you should go about your business. Sometimes, young guys get off track a little bit. They forget what the most important thing is for you, and that’s this. Whatever you want to do outside this building isn’t as important as what you’re doing here.”
(On the difference of running backs coming from spread offenses and pro-style offenses) – “I think sometimes guys aren’t used to the under-center run game – a little bit of the patience. When you come from the gun, things happen a little quicker. You might not have to read things out. It’s basically the offensive line is cut in half, to where you’re saying, ‘Read the back side,’ or ’Read the front side.’ When you’re under center, you’ve got a lot of room to work with. That’s probably the biggest change for these guys. It’s like anything else with NFL players, for the most part, when they get to the pros, and they get in the flow of everything, they adapt quickly.”
(On if he told the players to stay home tomorrow) – “The way that we had everything scheduled, obviously we practiced yesterday. So we treated yesterday like a Wednesday, today like a Thursday. Tomorrow, is kind of like what we did with the Seattle trip. Tomorrow was going to be a lift, recovery day with meetings and a walkthrough. And then we were going to head into Friday like a normal Friday. Well, obviously because of the situation that we’re in right now, it’s more than just the players in this situation. We have to make sure that our staff in the building takes care of what they need to take care of. We can’t just have all our players running around the building, so we’ve closed the building for tomorrow. That allows everybody to prepare for what they need to prepare for, and then we’ll try to get our players back in the building on Friday.”
(On if he’s staying home) – “I’m going to stay somewhere.” (laughter)
(On the possibility of the game being moved either to another site or another day and how that disturbs the season or practices) – “When anything like this happens, the one thing that I can say is that (the) only (thing) NFL players, coaches and staff members can do is adjust. You go with the flow. If somebody tells you, ‘Hey, you have to do this.’ You just go with it. There’s no use to worrying about it, complaining about it, because there’s nothing you can do about it. You make your plans accordingly and then you move on and get that done.”
(On how RB Arian Foster and T Branden Albert are doing) – “Branden is still recovering. He’s been sick the last two days. He was here for a walkthrough and meetings. He should be okay and hopefully he starts feeling better. As far as Arian goes, we had him out there today. He did some individual. He was running around quite a bit. I know he’s itching to get back. We just want to make sure that we’re smart. We don’t want to do the, ‘Alright you’re up, now you’re down for two games.’ We want to make sure when we get him back, we’ve got him back for the duration.”
(On if teams are more reluctant to play Cover 1 against QB Marcus Mariota and why that is the case) – “It’s an interesting situation when you have a quarterback that can do what he can do. When you have a guy that can move and then take over a game with his feet, now all of a sudden you’re in man coverage and everybody can get dragged out of one area of the field and he takes off – there’s nobody there. That’s why you see a lot of teams don’t play Cover 1 versus guys that can move outside the pocket. That’s why you have to be careful with a guy … you have to be very careful how you play a quarterback with the ability to do so much. You have to be smart and you have to be disciplined. That’s going to be key for us.”
(On how you contain Titans RB DeMarco Murray who you know will get the ball but is hard to stop) – “You do the best you can. It’s hard to compare the two because they’re two different positions, but it’s like (Cincinnati Bengals WR) A.J. Green. You know that they’re going to get certain statistics. You try to do everything you can to prevent them from scoring, trying to change field position. You just try to make everything they do hard. You try to make sure that it’s not a 35-yard gain. You try to hold things into non-explosive type plays and make him earn everything he gets. We know he’s going to get a certain amount of yards. We know he’s going to get touches in the passing game. We have to do a great job of making sure that we’re disciplined on defense, making sure we’re gang-tackling. When we have a chance to get him down, get him down. Don’t let him break a tackle. We have to be swarming to the ball. When he has his big games, it’s because you have one-on-one and he ends up running a guy over or making a guy miss. So we have to play team defense against him. If you do that, it gives you your best chance. You might walk out of the game and all of a sudden he has 90 yards and you might say that was a good day. It’s the same thing when you’re dealing with a great wide receiver. If you get out of the game and he has no touchdowns but he might have a few yards and he didn’t really change field position and he had 12 catches, you might look at it as a good day. Every situation is a little bit different. You can’t go over the top and be like, ‘Oh, we got smoked by that guy,’ when details-wise, you might go back and look at it and be like, ‘It really wasn’t that bad.’”
(On if he takes the approach of containing Titans RB DeMarco Murray and letting others beat you or do you pick your poison) – “You go into your game plan and you decide, ‘Who can’t you let beat you?’ And that’s what you try to do. Sometimes that’s what happens with the great players in this league – they figure out a way to still do it. That’s what makes it tough. You have to do everything you can to try to make sure their best players don’t beat you, and then you have to be good everywhere else, as far as when you get one-on-one matchups, you can’t let somebody that you anticipated, ‘Hey, we think we’re going to be able to shut this guy down,’ and then you don’t. It’s a tough assignment. When you have a really, really good player, you’ve got to try to take him away but sometimes those guys still figure out a way to be heavily involved in the game.”
(On why RB DeMarco Murray wasn’t in the conversation in the offseason trade with Philadelphia since they traded him too) – “I don’t remember his name coming up when we were discussing the defensive guys. I’m trying to think back, but I don’t remember them ever really offering him to us.”
(On if he has a general rule of when he pulls a quarterback in a blowout) – “Not really. I keep thinking about to 2013. If we were ever up and we tried to pull (Peyton Manning), it was like World War III. (laughter) The way I always looked at it is, the quarterback a lot of times, if you’re up, he’ll tell you, ‘We’re good.’ But a lot of times, these guys don’t want to come off the field. They want to be out there the whole time. They don’t want to be looked at any differently than anybody else. I know (Manning) was always kind of like, ‘Well, my center is in, why am I not in?’ That would be the first thing he would say, ‘D.T. (Demaryius Thomas) is in, Emmanuel (Sanders) is in, (Eric) Decker is in, why am I not in the game?’ When you go into a game, there are only so many guys that are up so somebody is staying in the game. It’s not like college where you have 85 reserves in the back end. These guys don’t like to come out of the game and I’ve never been one to really … I’ve never pulled a quarterback. That’s just not something that I do.”
(On if it enters his mind that fans want a starting quarterback pulled during a blowout) – “No. It’s football. That’s what it is.”
