Adam Gase – September 27, 2016
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Tuesday, September 27, 2016
Head Coach Adam Gase
(On if the way Kenyan Drake and Jay Ajayi played Sunday inclined him to go with two backs this week or are Damien Williams and Isaiah Pead going to see time there too) – “I think it’s going to be a four-man rotation. We’ll see. I think the biggest thing for us is we have to figure out who we actually have healthy. Who can go? If something changes where we can’t go (with) four (running) backs, then it would be a three-man rotation. So hopefully – if we have enough healthy bodies for the inactives – if we have to make that decision as far as one of those guys being down, then we’ll make it. But right now we’ve got quite a few guys that we’re kind of trying to figure out if they can go or not.”
(On if he’s ever had a four-man rotation at running back as a play caller) – “I think so. At some point, I probably have.”
(On what makes a four-man running back rotation a challenge) – “Just knowing who is in the game. The good thing is we try to let them go for the whole series. The one thing that is a little unfair to them is when they have the series and it might not be their fault, and they get a three-and-out and then we’re kind of rotating. But we try to, if there’s a three-and-out, we try to keep them in the next series just so they can try to get into a rhythm and see if we can get something going with that guy.”
(On if he expects to have T Branden Albert in the game) – “I mean he looks better today than he did yesterday. That’s encouraging to us. When you’ve got a veteran guy like that, that knows how to get his body right fast … He’s a very, very tough guy. We’ll just see how it plays out. I don’t know. I probably won’t know until right before the game.”
(On his contingency plans if T Branden Albert is out) – “We have an idea of what we need to do, if it goes down to that. I don’t really want to make that (known now) because it’s probably going to have to be some moves we make on the offensive line, maybe through our roster. We just have to figure out who we have available. It’s going to be last minute for us. We’re just going to take it up as far as we can.”
(On S Reshad Jones and how important is open-field tackling to the defense) – “I don’t know if it’s his greatest strength. I’m glad that he’s able to do it as well as he does because it seems like he’s been the last guy, the last line of defense. He does what every good defensive back does, is figure out a way for us to get another down. He does a good job of making sure that, that guy doesn’t break his tackle or he doesn’t miss. It’s one of those things where it’s nice when he’s back there doing that; but at the same time, it kind of takes him out of some of the other things we’d like him to do. We’d rather him not have to make those tackles. If we can use that front seven to really … that’s where you want all the action to be. When it gets back to him, it’s usually not a good thing.”
(On the tackle he had on Browns RB Isaiah Crowell towards the end of the game) – “Anytime … I feel like anytime it gets like five yards (past the line of scrimmage), you just never know what’s going to happen in this league. Once you kind of see any kind of daylight and the backs that are around the NFL, you just never know when it’s going to be an explosive play. When they get to the secondary and you just see one-on-one with a lot of green grass, that’s not a good feeling.”
(On using a lot of stack formations and if this is a new trend and how does it impact these defenses) – “I don’t think it’s a new trend. I think just some teams … I think we’ve run into a couple of teams that obviously … we are a little bit similar to what New England does because of my background with (Patriots Offensive Coordinator and Quarterbacks Coach) Josh (McDaniels). That was just something that I’ve learned a lot from him as far as it makes it tough on the defense. They have to make a lot of decisions as far as how they want to play it. It’s the same thing for us when we get bunches and stacks. You have to figure out what your call is going to be, how are you going to play man that week, how are you going to play zone that week, is it a three-man bunch, is the back involved in the stack with the two wide receivers? There’s a lot that goes into it and there’s a lot of decision making. There’s a lot of coverage adjustments. So anytime you can get guys to have to talk like this all the time within the play, that’s really to your advantage as an offense. We try to make it as hard as we can on the defense to make them have to think quick (and) go execute without having any kind of bust. And it’s the same thing that we’re going through on defense when you play a team and they’re doing all that stuff. You have to think quick and you have to make some adjustments. Some teams lean on it a lot. Some teams don’t. For us, when you’re going through a game and you just stay stagnant the entire game, by play 60, you’re asking Jarvis (Landry) ‘Hey, win versus man one more time.’ That’s fatiguing after a while. If you can help him free up to where he doesn’t have to be pressed every time, both of those guys the same thing, it kind of at least helps them. It’s almost like that breather release of, ‘I don’t have to win every time versus man to man by staying on the ball. I get a little rub here from the guy in front of me or I can set something up.’”
(On how the system challenges cornerbacks like CB Byron Maxwell) – “That’s the tough part is you’d love guys to be able to say, ‘Go press them. Who cares if they’re stacked?’ All of a sudden they start doing some different releases, and they twist it and all of a sudden it’s straight release and it becomes a problem, because you start getting picked. Now all of a sudden you have an explosive play on your hands and you have a problem. There are things that you have to do. Sometimes it’s off; sometimes you combo the two guys. Sometimes you have to … We use a term to where the point guy ends up taking the guy off the ball. You just keep trying to mix your things up and try to put your guys in the best position possible. The problem is, when you’re on defense, you don’t know what they’re going to call or when they’re going to get into it. You have to have these contingency plans all the time and it makes it really tough on the defense.”
(On the adjustment from college to the NFL with motion in offenses for a guy like CB Xavien Howard) – “The good this is, at the end of the day, it becomes football. A lot of these guys have seen … The majority of what NFL runs – and college – it looks a little different. The field is wider. There are some things that you can get away with there, where everything is in the middle of the field in the NFL. It’s not that they haven’t done it before, it’s just some of the things it’s probably not as often. Sometimes when you’re a younger guy, it’s maybe the first time you’re working with somebody else, and that’s why you have to practice it as much as you do. The communication level has to pick up, and you have to talk. If you don’t say anything, then there’s going to be some bad things (that) will happen. Somebody gets dropped, and all of a sudden you get an easy touchdown. I think the more that our younger players keep doing it and keep working together, the better they’ll get. Obviously, when you see the really good defensive backfields, usually a lot of time they’re experienced guys that have been through it together and understand exactly what their adjustments are (and) they can do everything really quickly.”
(On whether WR Jarvis Landry practiced today) – “Yes.”
(On WR Jarvis Landry’s shoulder) – “I think what happened was in the game, he was hurting a little bit. I’m trying to remember when it happened. But he was taking … He took a couple shots. He played so hard. It’s probably going to happen to him throughout the year when he has those games where he’s making contact with guys. I know that last punt return, he didn’t turn anything down. He went up there, and he was trying to get every yard. He plays so physical even when he doesn’t have the ball. When he’s run blocking – when somebody else catches the ball – he’s trying to throw a block for somebody else. When you play that way, he’s probably going to be sore Monday, Tuesday, probably even Wednesday. Obviously, for us in the short week, we’re not in pads, so we’re able to do more walk through. It helps him heal up a little quicker.”
(On WR Jarvis Landry’s durability and not recalling the last time he missed a practice) – “It just shows a guy that does a good job of taking care of his body. He does a good job as far as what they do in the weight room of the constant activation-type things that we do, making sure that their body is right. These younger guys are trying to do a better job as far as their eating, hydration. All those things come into play, especially here with the weather and how hot it is. You’re losing fluids all the time. The way he takes care of his body – the way he has been going about his operation – I know that whole group has been making an emphasis of, ‘Let’s make sure we’re going to bed early. Let’s make sure we’re getting sleep,’ so they can recover. If you got guys that are trying to really invest in themselves and their body, so they’re available every week … That’s the hardest thing in the NFL. How can you be available for 16-plus weeks?”
(On how he would evaluate G/T Laremy Tunsil the past few weeks) – “I think he’s done a good job. He looks a lot more comfortable than he did when we first started. I feel very comfortable with him in there as far as his guy being taken care of for the most part. I know there has been a couple of times where he has made slight mistakes to where he’s been taken advantage of by some of the veteran players that kind of set some things up and get past him. It’s just one thing that goes into his brain of, ‘Okay, I have to be ready for this now.’ ‘B.A.’ (Branden Albert) has done such a good job as far as mentoring him. You don’t see those guys far apart hardly ever. You can tell that ‘B.A.’ is really trying to teach him, ‘Here is how you watch film, here is how you take notes, here is how you go about your day, here is how you practice, here is how you do individual.’ ‘B.A.’ doesn’t have to do that. He’s really gone out of his way to make sure that’s his guy. He’s trying to make sure he’s good to go.”
(On does it mean more when it comes from a player and not a coach) – “Absolutely, 100 percent. I mean coaches can scream and yell until you’re blue in the face. It doesn’t matter. When other players say stuff to you and try to take a guy under their wing and that guy accepts that, it makes a big difference. It helps their growth. It accelerates everything.”
(On what WR DeVante Parker and WR Kenny Stills can do to increase their catch percentages) – “I feel that DeVante (Parker) probably has more targets than Kenny (Stills). I know there have been a couple of times where Kenny has been in good positon and we haven’t finished making the play. There have been a couple of times where maybe it was a poor throw or there was some kind of miscommunication. I think that’s going to go up, because we’ve had success from OTAs until basically the season, starting in practice. They’re hooking up all the time. DeVante, I feel like a lot of times when he’s catching the ball, it’s more down the field. Your percentages are going to go down a little bit. Obviously when you’re catching things under 10 yards, they should go up. I know with Kenny, it’s the same thing; we’ve gone after him a couple of times down the field, so your percentage will go down. If we can get those guys involved in the underneath passing game a little more, that will help our percentages as far as completions go with those two guys. I feel really good about that entire group right now as far as what they’re doing and how they’re doing it. I know it’s a lot on their plate – between those guys and the quarterback –there are a lot of things going on. Those guys are really working at it and trying to make sure they’re on the same page all the time.”
(On the biggest area of growth he’s seen from QB Ryan Tannehill) – “I’d say the way that he’s taken control of the offense. There were a couple of times in this last game that he went to some plays, where I was kind of like, ‘What’s going on right now?’ And he made the right decision. He got us out of a couple of bad plays and did a couple of things protection-wise that, if he doesn’t do it, we have no chance. We didn’t execute it as far as getting to the right protection, the right Mike (middle linebacker) point. We didn’t execute the protection, but he put us in position to where if we executed the protection, we’re going to have a good play, whether it be a completion for a first down or a bigger play than that. Anytime you can get a guy that keeps – knowledge-wise – ascending, that’s what we’re looking for. I think that everything will start coming together as far as hooking up with the wide outs and tight ends and running backs, everybody being on the same page. It’s kind of like that first year of an offense where you have these minor glitches that are critical to get them fixed fast, because it can cost you a game.”
(On LB Kiko Alonso putting the blame on himself for not communicating) – “It’s hard to blame one guy. When you’re playing defense, all 11 have to be on the same page. Like I said the other day, (Defensive Coordinator) Vance (Joseph) and I have talked about this a lot, it’s both sides of the ball. It’s one guy. We’re not doing it on purpose, it’s just we’re not doing our job on that particular play; it just kind of shuffles around. When that happens, sometimes you don’t know exactly whose fault it is, and all of a sudden when you’re a linebacker or in the secondary, you get exposed quick because you’re kind of the next line of defense. Between the d-line, linebackers and secondary, we’ve all taken our turns. If we can just clean a few things up, it’s going to make each level better. I know each group is taking a lot of pride as far as trying to get this thing fixed as fast as possible, and execute what we’re trying to do just a little bit better than what we did the week before. Hopefully we’re going to go in there Thursday and we need to see if we got this thing cleaned up.”
(On it being a short week and how many walkthroughs he will have this week) – “We’ll do some things with our meetings. You have to install quite a bit, fast, as far as situationally. It’s not really the volume of plays, it’s trying to introduce, ‘Here is what they do. Here is what we’re going to do.’ Now all of a sudden you’re cramming all of these situations into a short period of time. You get a chance to do that pre-practice and walkthrough. We kind of stayed on our same routine where it’s almost like a practice, but it’s not. We’re not wearing helmets; we’re not necessarily running around. Guys have done a really good job of just getting loose and getting a little bit of a sweat in there, which is good for them. It’s kind of like a practice, we’re just separate, we can get a lot of reps in the walkthrough. So we cover more in this than we actually do in a normal day’s work. If you look at it in practice, you have to be careful how many reps you are taking because it is 93 degrees out and as practice goes on, you’re getting crushed, so if you get 40 snaps, you’re lucky, plus individual. Here you end up getting 70-plus snaps, maybe more than that, just through a walkthrough, just because you’re not dead. You’re able to keep coming back and keep repping and repping and repping.”
(On whether the team will have a walkthrough on Wednesday before leaving for Cincinnati) – “Correct. When we get to the hotel, we’ll find a room. We’ll do a walkthrough there – both sides of the ball – (and) find some rooms to go in. We’ll talk through things. It’s the constant (of) keep preparing all the way up to the game.”
(On whether the turnaround from playing on Sunday to Thursday is too short) – “That’s not … I just show up when they tell me to show up. I’m going with that answer.”
(On not using a fourth wide receiver against Cleveland) – “I think if we would’ve had more plays – if we wouldn’t have had the 25 three-and-outs it felt like – we probably would’ve been able to put (Leonte) Carroo in there. We weren’t playing enough snaps of offense. Those three guys are in pretty good shape, especially Kenny (Stills) and Jarvis (Landry), because they’ve been practicing the entire time. They come back to the sideline, it’s like they sit down for a minute, and they’re good to go. It’s hard … I like those three guys being on the field. That’s nothing against Carroo. That’s our group. Carroo has done a great job as far as being ready when his number is called. If something happens to one of those guys, I feel confident with him going in. He has done a great job as far as when he gets on special teams, he does what he’s exactly asked to do. I feel like he’s in a room that’s, probably, one of the strengths of our team.”
(On the third down struggles) – “It’s tough. You want to give your guys the best opportunity possible for them to execute. There are a good amount of plays you want back. You want to make sure that you call the right plays to give them a chance. This last game, it was frustrating, because you felt good on certain times. You feel like you have a good play call, we have a false start, and then we have to go to something else, then we don’t get it, then you call it again, and they dial up the perfect defense for that play, and then it’s a pick-six. It’s frustrating sometimes when those types of things happen; but the thing is, the next time you get it, you’re trying to figure out, ‘What’s the best thing for this situation?’ You’ve got to let that call go. And then the next day you can beat yourself up about it. I think we’ve got to keep trying to put our guys in the right position, keep studying what we’re doing and figure out where we’re making mistakes, where we’re falling short and make some adjustments. The good thing is, we get a chance to line up on Thursday and do it all over again.”
