Adam Gase – September 19, 2018
Download PDF version
Wednesday, September 19, 2018
Head Coach Adam Gase
(What can you tell us about S Reshad Jones?) – “He didn’t practice today. We’re taking it day to day right now. I don’t think it’s … We’re going to get him back. I just don’t know what day yet.”
(You’ll get S Reshad Jones back for this week?) – “That’s what we’re working on right now. He’s better than he was Monday.”
(Do you know what body part it is for him?) – “It was opposite the bad shoulder that he had surgery on.”
(You’re out there with the pads with the guys today. Was that kind of something to get them off press?) – “Yes. We were just working on some stuff. The tight ends, a couple of times we were trying to release and we got jammed up a little bit. We’re just getting them to be quicker with their hands. They work on it a lot in their individual periods, but every once in a while (I) just jump in there and kind of try to distract them a little bit. That’s all I’m trying to do.”
(When you see the Raiders on tape, what do you see? What sticks out?) – “Playing these guys, we know a lot of their personnel from last year. They have a lot of weapons to deal with on offense. It’s a new system for them with probably some similar concepts but probably different verbiage for them. You can see that they’re coming together quick. Their completion percentage is extremely high, which that happens a lot in Coach (Jon) Gruden’s offense, where once they kind of really get a good flow of the offense they’re going to complete a lot of balls. They’ll move it and then drain the clock at the same time. They’ll take their shots when it’s available and they have guys that can stretch the field out at the receiver spot and the tight end spot. (They’re) very tough in the run game. And then on defense, this is a completely different scheme than what they’ve been running the last few years. They’ve got some new pieces to the puzzle there. They’ve got some longer corners that can get hands on you, so we’re going to have be good, making sure that we can get off the ball this week.”
(With QB Ryan Tannehill, do you go into every week thinking we need to get him four designed runs, five designed runs? How does that work?) – “It’s just kind of the flow of the game. Situationally, like when is the right time to call them? When do we know we have a good number count? Some teams, it’s harder to run against than others. Just everybody plays everything a little different.”
(Is there a trust factor that QB Ryan Tannehill doesn’t get too greedy and knows when to go down?) – “No, he’s pretty good about it. He knows when to get down. He did a good job of it last week. He stays true to what his job is as far as who he’s reading, when he’s supposed to pull it, when he’s supposed to hand it off. He doesn’t force it, which is good.”
(How do you grade your defensive line through two games?) – “I think those guys have done a good job. They’re doing well as a unit. I love the fact that they’re all contributing and all playing. I think (Defensive Line Coach) Kris (Kocurek) has done a phenomenal job with the amount of reps those guys have gotten. It’s worked out. We’ve tried in the past to rotate those guys and it hasn’t worked out as smooth. However these games have gone, it seems like you look at the play count and they’re pretty close. I think Charles (Harris) probably has a few more total snaps than those other guys because he plays special teams; but for the most part those guys are staying pretty even, which is going to be a good thing for us.”
(With the rotation and the depth, what do you see happening in the second half as the game goes along?) – “We’re sticking with how we’ve been doing it.”
(As far as those guys being fresh?) – “Those guys … that’s the thing I love about when we get to third down. We’ve got four guys going out there that are ready to rush the passer. That’s a good thing. Between Robert (Quinn) and Cam (Wake) coming off the edge and (Andre) Branch, it makes it really tough with those guys with the speed they have.”
(How would you describe DT Davon Godchaux’s personality? He seems pretty personable, outgoing and usually smiling. How would you describe him?) – “I think it changes a little bit when he gets on the field. He’s an aggressive guy. He’s a violent player. You kind of have to be when you play inside there. He’s a very coachable player, I know that. He wants to do it right and he wants to be the guy in that group that guys know he’s going to get it done when he’s in there.”
(How would you evaluate how DE Charles Harris has played through two weeks?) – “I feel like he’s had some plays. We had a couple of penalties – I think it was the first week – where he was getting some pressure there, which they don’t make the stat sheet. But I think he’s doing what we’re asking him to do. We’ve just got to keep applying that pressure. He’s one of those guys and that’s why we have so many guys up because when we move from one guy to the next, it’s a different style of player and he still has that speed that those other guys have and he can turn the corner and put the pressure on the quarterback we need.”
(Aside from the two penalties in Week 1, T Laremy Tunsil appears to have played well. Do you view it as a continuation from the second half of last year when he upped his game?) – “I think he learned a lot from last year and then heading into the spring, I think adding the guys that we did and kind of him and Josh (Sitton) having a good relationship and really building something there between those two guys, I think that helped him. There’s some continuity there. Obviously now that Josh is down, Ted (Larsen) is at least somebody that he played next to in the past. Those guys have good communication and they’re able to work well together. It just seems like he’s trending upward and that’s what we need him to do.”
(Is LB Kiko Alonso playing how he was in 2016?) – “It seems like it. I mean, he had probably one of the more productive games I’ve ever seen by a linebacker, at least that I’ve been around. I mean, he was all over the place. I thought he did a great job hustling to the football, a good job of getting the ball. He had some really good hits. He was assignment-sound. I think it’s been good with him and the two young guys in there. They’re starting to develop a really good chemistry. We just need to, week in and week out, find ways to get better and keep on working throughout the season of getting better and improving on that chemistry with that group.”
(Considering the game TE Jared Cook had against the Dolphins last season and the type of season he’s had so far, do you feel better equipped to handle him defensively this time around?) – “I think it’s tough when a guy is a really good player. It’s hard to just completely shut a guy down. You’ve got to find ways to make sure that guy doesn’t beat you. I know last year we had our struggles against them and, like you said, right now he’s playing really well. We’re going to have to just make sure … it’s just tough when it’s that position and they start spreading everybody out but the back is still back there, (because) there’s a lot of things they can still do. So if you make it too light of a box, the next thing you know you’ve got ‘24’ (Marshawn Lynch) running there and if everybody is blocked up there and he gets some open field, then it becomes a bigger problem.”
(I think QB Derek Carr is second in the league completing 80 percent of his passes in two games. What are you seeing from him that makes him so accurate?) – “He’s always been one of those guys that he’s going to put the ball where it needs to be and he’s going to be accurate throughout the game. We have to do a good job of trying to disrupt him and get hands up if they go quick game and try to find ways to just get him off rhythm. It’s harder (to do) than it is to talk about. He has a great release to where he can change his arm angle. He knows where to go with the ball. It’s kind of to that stage of his career where there’s not going to be too much that he hasn’t seen because you learn real fast in the NFL, when you’re at quarterback and you’re playing, you get thrown so much at you that you see a lot of things early, especially when you play in your first year.”
(It struck me that when you think about CB Cordrea Tankersley, WR DeVante Parker and others, whether or not they’re up and down, starting or not, it seems like there’s a thought process that goes into that relative to in this environment, you’re not going to be guaranteed a spot in the starting lineup. You’re not even going to be guaranteed a spot on the active roster week to week. Can you talk about your mentality and mindset on what I just talked about?) – “I think guys understand that we want to compete every week. When he hit the practice week, it’s a new week. You have an idea sometimes, but there’s usually a lot of spots that we’re saying, ‘Hey, it’s between you guys and whoever plays best, both special teams and whether it’s offense or defense, that guy is up.’ That’s why we just want to make sure a guy doesn’t feel like he’s out, to where he’s just going to be inactive every week. That’s the hardest thing to do. You just want guys to keep competing because when something does happen and that player needs to be up, we need him ready. We need him to improve just like anybody that’s dressing for Sunday. It’s a tough battle because mentally, for a 24-year-old kid trying to keep his mind focused on his job, it’s the first time that you’re probably being told, ‘You’re not going to play this game.’”
(From what you saw throughout the offseason and in the preseason games, do you have a pretty good idea of what you have in CB Torry McTyer as a cover corner?) – “We’ve got a pretty good idea. I think there’s a lot of trust there. He’s not afraid to put hands on anybody and try to stay as tight as possible. He’s not afraid to throw his body in there when running backs or any kind of receiver catches the ball and try to make a tackle. Since the time he’s gotten here, he’s done nothing but improve. Really, that’s the No. 1 thing we’re always for from players.”
(Do you know Raiders Head Coach Jon Gruden at all?) – “I mean, yes. We’re not talking every week or anything.”
(Do you have any good Jon Gruden stories?) – “I don’t. I don’t have any.”
(You guys have more running plays than passing plays right now; is that a function of having the lead more or what the defense gives you? And does that even mean anything through two games?) – “We did what we had to do to win the game. This last game, it just kind of worked out that way to where when we got to the end of the game, I looked at the numbers and I was a little surprised that we had that many more runs than pass attempts. That happens a lot of times when you do have the lead and you get into a 4-minute situation and you’re trying to work the clock down. What, we had the ball with 5:56 left or something like that in the fourth quarter? You’re not just going to start throwing it all over the place. You get a couple of first downs and you realize if we actually stay in bounds, we’ll keep this thing moving.”
(If S Reshad Jones is unable to go, will you move S Minkah Fitzpatrick into that spot, or do you kind of like what Minkah is doing…) – “We’ve got a whole bunch of different scenarios we worked out and just kind of talked about. It’s not really something I’m really willing to put out there right now.”
(With RB Kenyan Drake and RB Frank Gore, it’s basically 2-to-1 in touches right now in favor of Drake. Is that kind of where you want to live? Or are you looking more for something like 50-50?) – “Our plan wasn’t really for that the first game. It just kind of worked out that way because of the breaks we had. We were trying to be really careful, especially after that second one. I mean, it had been a long day. We were a little concerned about some of our older guys to where we were like ‘Is this going to affect some of these guys?’ We were smart with how we put those guys in the game, that first game. And then this last game, there’s been a couple times too where we’ve called plays and they’re runs but the ball ends up going out to one of the wide receivers because of what the defense does. It just keeps happening when Frank is in for some reason. We’re always going to try to keep those guys close. That’s the plan. We like when both those guys have the ball.”
(Does the fourth-quarter heat factor go into game-planning at all considering what they’re wearing or you guys or wearing?) – “I think you really wait to see how the game is going. You can kind of try to have a plan, but it depends. Is it raining out? Are we going to have cloud cover? You don’t know. Every time I check the weather, it’s a different percentage of rain. It was like 99 (percent chance) the other day, it was like 6 the next day and then it was like 77 the next day.”
(Do you have a lightning forecast?) – “No. I’m not even going to look at that.”
