Adam Gase – September 22, 2017
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Friday, September 22, 2017
Head Coach Adam Gase
(We saw RB Jay Ajayi, WR Jarvis Landry and WR DeVante Parker all practice, but DT Jordan Phillips was in a boot from what we saw. Your optimism on all four, I guess?) – “The guys that practiced, I feel a lot better about. Jordan at this time, we’re trying to see where he’s at. It has been a little rougher week than what we anticipated.”
(What needs to be done in the red zone? You were 0-for-3 last week.) – “We probably have a couple of better selections. We wasted a couple plays on some bad calls versus some of what they did on defense. We had a couple opportunities to hit some things, whether it be hit Jarvis (Landry) on the 1(-yard line). I know we ran an end-around pass, (and we could have) possibly hit that. Who knows? Just clean up a few things. We’ve worked a lot on it. Our guys have been pretty successful at it. Usually when we get down there, we find a way to get in the end zone. The biggest thing for us, we just keep talking about getting points, getting down there as much as possible. That’s really where we struggled last year was we didn’t have a lot of opportunities. I think I was just more excited that we got in the red zone that much. We’re just going to keep working at it. We’ll get better. We’ve just got to kind of find our rhythm.”
(Are we likely to see both C/G Anthony Steen and G/T Jesse Davis at left guard again?) – “We’ll talk about it more this afternoon. Nobody has really separated themselves. I think both those guys did a good job last week and play hard. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with us playing two guys.”
(Would you be alright with three defensive tackles going into the game or would you rotate somebody else in there?) – “I mean we’re going to have to … What are our options? We’ll figure it out. We’ve got some contingency plans; we always do. We’ve got multiple guys playing multiple positions. You’ve got different fronts you can run, so there are ways around it.”
(What do you want to see from LB Chase Allen in his second NFL game?) – “Just keep getting better. He seems more comfortable than what he was when we first started back in the spring. I know this, the guy can run and hit and tackle. It’s not real hard sometimes. Sometimes it’s just see ball, get ball.
(Is DE Terrence Fede a guy who can play inside?) – “Yes, he has done that. We’ve got him and (William) Hayes and those guys. Basically everybody has played inside at some point.”
(RB Jay Ajayi got 28 of the 29 carries for running backs last week. That’s a little bit different than last year where RB Kenyan Drake and RB Damien Williams got more in the mix. How do you determine that? Is it just the flow of the game?) – “A lot of times you try to do it by series; but we had three series over 10 plays. We only had eight (possessions) for the game. It felt shorter than what it was probably. You also don’t want to take (Ajayi) out of his rhythm. We’ve just got to see how the game goes. I think we have a pretty good plan – kind of feel – of how we want to do this, this week. We like having those other two guys on the field, too. It’s just it’s hard to take out the guy that’s really, really good.”
(To piggyback off that, how did you see the time of possession advantage paid off for you guys?) – “I think it’s something that we enjoy on the offensive side being able to do, because it gives us our defense a rest, which we really didn’t do that for them last year. This year, having three drives over 10-plays was nice for them to be able to go back over to the sideline, get things squared away and then get fresh and get ready to go. If we can avoid the three-and-outs and getting crushed on time of possession, that’s ideal. Sometimes in preseason, I think we had a couple drives where we’re scoring in four plays or something and we have the ball for a minute; but when the defense sees us score touchdowns, they don’t really care at that point.”
(Do you have a feel right now for how you’ll use LB Stephone Anthony on Sunday, if you’re using Anthony?) – “Not really. We’re going to talk about it this afternoon.”
(How much does it help to have familiarity like you do with Jets QB Josh McCown?) – “It’s been a while. It’s been 10 years since we were together. He’s developed a little bit over the years. I saw him in July, so I don’t know if that really counts for anything. When you get game experience in this league and you’ve been on multiple teams and different systems, you grow. He’s a different player than when I had him. You can tell the game has slowed down for him a lot. He can see things. When you pressure him, he can see it and he can react and make a throw and turn it loose. That’s a thing you always have to be a little cautious with a veteran quarterback because they know how to get out of it.”
(How do you view WR Jarvis Landry’s 13 receptions for 78 yards. You would think he would have more yards, but understand the routes that he was being hit on. How do you view it overall?) – “My thing with Jarvis is he does so much of the dirty work. A lot of those catches are not easy plays because he’s got a lot of guys running at him. He did a great job getting us first downs. There were a lot of situations where he caught balls that were 7 or 8 yards that were huge plays because we got another first down. That’s really what we’ve been talking about all spring and all of training camp is we have to find ways to accumulate these first down conversations instead of waiting until third down and then someone’s trying to make a great play. It gets tough on third down. It becomes multiple and everybody knows what you’re doing, especially once you get past third-and-5. The fact that he was able to move the chains consistently, he did a great job of catching the ball and getting north and really being aware of where the sticks were. If we can keep that up, that’s ideal for us. I think it’s going to be hard to get him that many catches every game. I didn’t even realize it. It just kind of happened. We want to keep spreading the ball out because we have a lot of different guys. We never want them to be able to just target one guy.”
(I’m curious on your philosophy on 50/50 balls. The guy’s covered obviously, it could be an interception it could be a big play. It’s been working for you at least in the preseason and last week. But what’s your philosophy on that?) – “I think I’m good with it when it’s a completion. I think with DeVante (Parker), you feel like the percentages go up. It’s just not everybody’s forte. When you got guys that will fight for the ball, at worst you’re hoping for an incompletion. I think Jay (Cutler) has done a good job of understanding what everybody does well, when he can do that and when he might think twice about doing it. With ‘11’ (Parker), it’s tough not to do, because he is a big guy that can go up and get it. I think there’s a time and a place for it, and there will be some times where we won’t do it.”
(Your overall feelings about that Jets defense so far and the challenges for this week?) – “They had two hard matchups those first two games. Anytime you’ve got to go against ‘Shady’ (RB LeSean McCoy) and then you get Marshawn (Lynch), all of a sudden Derek Carr and those guys, it becomes very tough. Historically their run defense has been top five, and statistically right now, it’s not what they want it, obviously; but they’ve been playing two good teams. We know it’s going to be a challenge to run the ball because we’ve gone down this road with them before. We have to be very good in everything we do. They have youth in that secondary and they have linebackers that can run. Upfront is still tough and we have to do a good job and make sure we get guys covered up, and then we have to hit the holes when they’re there. That’s the problem with these guys. There’s not a lot of holes. You have to try to create them and see if you can find them and poke through there and then try to break a tackle, which is not easy to do against these guys.”
(Is there any danger of your players – I don’t want to say taking the Jets lightly but kind of – the talk about the Jets tanking and I’m sure they’ve seen it on social media?) – “I think our guys are excited to play a football game. To them its … We get to the point where it’s the second game of the season and we’re in the third week of the season. I think our guys are just excited that we’re going to get an opportunity to play on Sunday. I think they’re focused on themselves and doing their job and making sure they execute the right way. I haven’t heard our guys really talk about what anything is going on outside of here. They’re focused on what they’re doing.”
