Mike Gesicki – October 12, 2020
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Monday, October 12, 2020
TE Mike Gesicki
(When you guys started the rebuilding process last year, obviously when General Manager Chris Grier made all the changes and Head Coach Brian Flores. Did you wonder in the back of your head how long will it take for us to be a playoff contender again? Had you worked about that and do you feel like you guys are now after your play yesterday?) – “Honestly, when you’re going through anything, you just kind of focus day by day. Last year when we had guys coming in and out and all of that kind of stuff and there were changes, you don’t focus on that. You leave that to the guys upstairs and you trust in what they are doing for this organization. I think you just take it day by day, like I said. I think that’s what we are doing now. We’re just going to continue to focus on getting better today, coming in here lifting, running, making some corrections, and looking forward to this upcoming week against the Jets.”
(It’s not every day that you wake up as an NFL player and you find out the teams upcoming on your schedule are no longer upcoming on your schedule. I wonder how you took that, and what is your level of confidence in the protocols right now? Is it as high as it may have been a week or two ago?) – “I think that the NFL is doing everything and anything to keep the players safe and keep the games to be able to continue to be played. There were protocols set at the beginning of the season and we’re still abiding by those. When things change and all of that kind of stuff and your bye week gets moved and opponents get changed, it’s not like we can go anywhere anyways. We’re here, so it doesn’t matter who we play next week or the week after that. It could change again by the time we come in here on Wednesday because we haven’t started up yet. It is what it is.”
(We talked to you about QB Ryan Fitzpatrick before, but can you describe how unique he is as a quarterback and as a guy?) – “He’s the greatest teammate I’ve played with. He’s always having fun. Just the things that he does on the field, the energy that he brings, and the confidence that he gives out to everybody else, it’s contagious. I think playing with him – the thing that makes him special is that he makes the guys around him better players. If I could play with him for the next 15 years, I would do it. He’s the man. I love playing with him and he’s helped me out a ton, so I’ll always be appreciative of him.”
(I wanted to ask you about the very end of the game when DT Christian Wilkins recovered the fumble and he came sprinting over to the sideline and handed the football to Head Coach Brian Flores. It was a whole team celebration around coach there. I just wanted to get your take on what it is about Coach Flores that makes guys love playing for him so much?) – “When you see ‘Flo’ (Brian Flores) during the game, normally he’s yelling at a ref or he’s mad or he’s trying to keep a straight face on. So when Christian – he has that positive personality and he makes a play at the end of the game and wraps things up and hands it to ‘Flo.’ Now everybody wants to see him do something funny and act like he’s enjoying this thing. Everybody is trusting ‘Coach Flo.’ They rally around him. We believe in what he’s coaching us each and every day, and the message he’s getting across. You’ve got to buy into the head coaching. I think that’s what everybody in this locker room has done. We’ve just got to continue to stack good days and continue to get better.”
(Does the preparation itself – you’re going from preparing for the Broncos to preparing for the Jets – does that change at all?) – “Not really, just because we didn’t get into it yet. I’m sure the coaches did, so it kind of stinks for them; but for us, we didn’t really get into it yet. We were just kind of locked and loaded on the 49ers. Then you hear a couple of hours before kickoff that next week we’re playing the Jets and not the Broncos. Really, it is what it is. It’s really no big deal. Now we’re moving onto the Jets and getting ready to play them; but like I said, it’s not like changing a bye week or changing an opponent or anything – because we’re here. You can’t go anywhere. It’s not like a normal bye week, ‘Oh, I’m going to fly here, or do this or do that.’ We’re here. We can’t go anywhere. It doesn’t matter if they change next week’s opponent or move our bye week again. We’re here for the long haul.”
(That 70 yard TD, is that the longest play you’ve had in your career? And what do you think looking back at it today?) – “You said 70-yard TD. (laughter) It was fun. It was cool. I kind of knew I was getting the ball before the play because when we came out of the huddle, ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick) said ‘Hey, Mike come on.’ Whenever he says my name, I’m like it doesn’t matter if I have 10 guys around me, he’s going to throw it up to me. I just tried to run my best route and he put it just over – I don’t know if it was the ‘backer or the corner, whoever was dropping tried to get their hand on it. I just caught it and tried to go. It was fun. It was a lot of fun. It was cool. It was fun to get out there and make a play down the field like that. Normally you would kind of see me go up and try to high-point a ball and catch it and end up getting hit and all of that kind of stuff. That was really the first time I had the opportunity to catch and run with it, so it was cool.”
(You talked about the beard game a couple of weeks ago. I see you’ve got some stubble coming in there and a victory in your back pocket. If you win on next Sunday, you have a bye week after that. Are you prepared to go three or four weeks without shaving that thing?) – “I think that the superstition of the facial hair is gone unfortunately. I think that there was an opportunity there for the goatee to stick around and that’s gone. Halle, my fiancé, is happy about it. We’re probably going to have to keep that in the rearview mirror and that’s pretty much it for the superstition. I think I’m going to stay away from them, honestly, just so I can stick with my best look here moving forward.”
