Adam Gase – December 24, 2017 (Postgame)
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Sunday, December 17, 2017
Postgame – Kansas City Chiefs
Dolphins Head Coach Adam Gase (transcribed by the Kansas City Chiefs)
On the amount of penalties, third down conversions and negative plays: “We just never could play together again. That’s the biggest problem. We get a stop, then we turn it over. We had an early turnover that’s just not going to cut it against a playoff team.”
On Jay Cutler moving the ball well: “Yeah, he was good. There’s a couple of things I’m sure he’ll, when he goes back and looks at things, probably want one back, but I thought for the most part he did a really good job. He controlled the game for as much as he could. In the second half, he didn’t really do much.”
On how he feels about being eliminated from the playoffs: “It’s tough. This is what you play for. We’ve had a couple weeks here in a row where we’ve had good opportunities to do something with the opportunity that we had. Instead, we just came out, didn’t perform well, and didn’t get it done.”
On what had been the issue on the defensive side of the ball: “We got beat by a couple of the guys who we talked about stopping. That’s really what hurt us. We thought we had a good plan coming in, got in a couple of situations that we couldn’t use what we had planned and we couldn’t find a way to be consistent and get them off the field.”
On how surprised he was seeing Kenny (Stills) and Jarvis (Landry) stripped balls: “Yeah we’ve been pretty good for the most part with the wide outs. That was the one thing we talked about was Marcus (Peters) does a good job. That’s what he does. He goes after the ball and gets those; probably the fifth or sixth one that he’s gotten out or recovered.”
On what the difference this year was this year with penalties: “Yeah, we had a really bad streak there the first eight games and then it looked like we were going to clean it up there for a while then we kind of got in the pre-snap penalties for a few weeks and then we get called for a holding at the wrong time and then we get some defensive holdings. We just have to play clean.”
On his perspective of Ted Larsen’s unsportsmanlike conduct call: “I didn’t see it. I was trying to figure out what happened the play before, basically on that play. It was a little bit of a surprise the way Jay (Cutler) threw the ball away. I was trying to figure out what happened on that and then somebody said there was a flag.”
On what happened when it appeared he was yelling at Jarvis (Landry): “It’s just part of the game. It just happens. Not the first time. You guys just noticed this one.”
On what Jakeem Grant showed today: “That he’s a guy we think we’ve got something there. Him and (Kenyan) Drake have done a great job of stepping up especially in the last eight games of the season making plays for us. I feel like Jakeem, we wanted to get him the ball. We’ve been trying to find ways to do it, it’s tough sometimes because when he goes into the game, it’s a big red flag. We’ve been trying to keep him in there. It’s tough with those other three guys because you like them being on the field too. So we just try to find ways to get him on the field and we kind of used him as really a relief for Drake a lot of the times. We were able to get him involved today and if he would have had a few more that would have kept the game closer.”
On a possible recurring theme for those nine losses this year: “Yeah that’s probably going to be more of an offseason deal. I wish I had a great answer of ‘this is why’. The best I can give you is we haven’t played one game of complimentary football the whole season. That’s just really not going to cut it and we’re not going to win many games if we do that.”
Adam Gase – December 22, 2017
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Friday, December 22, 2017
Head Coach Adam Gase
(With CB Cordrea Tankersley, what’s the challenge in terms of his road back?) – “I think it’s just getting out there and getting that confidence of being able to stick his foot in the ground and attack, not being cautious at all. I don’t know if he’s really thinking about that part of worrying about any kind of injury. I think he’s just ready to get out there and go play physical, play his game.”
(So RB Damien Williams is doubtful. In addition to RB Kenyan Drake, you have RB Senorise Perry and I don’t remember if RB De’Veon Smith was up last week; but to what extent have you or would you consider using one of those guys in a slightly increased role?) – “Yes, it’s kind of really how the game kind of goes. I mean sometimes we have some stuff in there for certain guys and we don’t get to it and it’s just no different than Jakeem (Grant), where we’re trying to do some stuff with, and the tight ends, we had certain packages in. We just never got to it. It just depends how the flow of the game is and how many touches (Kenyan) Drake ends up having. You just prepare for a lot of different scenarios and then see how it plays out.”
(With the linebacker situation. The perception is that from a coverage standpoint, you guys are struggling in that unit. Is that what film is showing you or are we overplaying what’s happening?) — “I think a little bit of it is we’ve played some good tight ends and so there’s been some times where we’ve had guys wide open and sometimes we’re in zone, where it’s not really their responsibility and possibly it was the safety’s or the corner was supposed to be in a certain location. If we clean a lot of those things up, we probably eliminate half of the issues that we’ve had. Have there been times where we get one on one and it’s not the greatest matchup ever? Yes. I mean it happens; but if guys play the proper technique, proper leverage and stay tight to make it hard for the quarterback to throw, if we’re contesting balls then that’s a good play. If they catch it, I mean that’s going to happen. It’s the NFL.”
(When you have an offense with talented threats, high-level threats at every level with the receiver, the tight end, the running back, how challenging is that for a defensive coordinator?) – “I think that’s what you want. You want to make them play the whole field. We’ve had situations before where they know they’re not going to get anything past 20 yards. That makes it really hard. If you got guys that can stretch the field, that’s where they start and then they work their way back down, now obviously we’ve got guys that can stretch the field, we’ve got guys that can hit in the intermediate game and then we’ve got a guy that’s really good in underneath and the intermediate game, which causes a lot of problems for those guys. That’s why you see Kenny (Stills) pop free down the field every once in a while and DeVante’s (Parker) had some one-on-one matchups. A lot of it starts with Jarvis (Landry) doing some of the dirty work and working underneath and the same thing with the tight ends, just finding those little, almost like annoyance catches to move the chains. Now when you add the backs to the passing game, now it becomes a whole different animal for them because just a simple check down turns into a 12-yard gain. It puts a lot of pressure on the defense and that’s what we want to do.”
(I know you don’t think about stats and I know this is how you are, but how important do you think it is for WR Jarvis Landry to maybe lead the league in receptions for the first time in his career and get over that 1,000 yard benchmark?) – “It’s one of those things, you don’t want them to think about it. When position guys come into the season, they have goals in the back of their mind; but it’s kind of one of those things they kind of keep to themselves. It’s really not necessarily, ‘This is what I want to have.’ They’re thinking, ‘This is what I can do to help us win.’ He’s a guy that we go to a lot and the hardest thing is when we know he’s getting doubled and he still gets open and we’re still finding him and not shying away from the fact that we can run certain routes and take advantage of some of those coverages, and he’s done that. I think if he’s in that position to where he ends up having the most catches in the NFL, that’s great. I mean it’s one of those things that’s great for the resume; but I’m sure he’d take two more wins. and be second. We’ll see how these next two games play out and if he is, great. If he’s not, I’m sure he’s not going to lose too much sleep because he still caught a ton of balls.”
(Has S T.J. McDonald lived up to expectations?) – “I think so. I think it’s hard when you come in and you basically didn’t play any football for a long period of time and then he jumped right in there and was ready to go. I think in his first game he played 60-some snaps. I think he played every snap on defense. That’s tough to do to prepare yourself like that. As this part of the season has gone on, he’s gotten better every week. He’s a guy that we’re looking forward to, not only these next two games but down the road. We think we’ve got something with those two guys (McDonald and Reshad Jones) back there.”
(How is TE Anthony Fasano’s skillset at this point in his career compared to what you thought you might have been getting when you signed him?) – “I didn’t realize he was as good a receiver as what he’s shown me. We’ve done a lot of things with him in practice that we haven’t (done in the game), whether it’s been the wrong coverage when we were releasing on certain routes. He gives us flexibility. There’s nothing on the game plan that I say, ‘I don’t want to call that because he’s in.’ He knows exactly where to be and has been reliable for us as far as any time the ball is thrown to him. We’ve gotten a couple of big plays out of him. It’s always good to see a guy that everybody says is a blocker and you’re able to get him the ball in the passing game and throw him the ball every once in a while”
(It’s weird because it seems like, as the season has gone on, obviously you’ve gotten more and more hurt on the offensive line, but it has played better and better. How is that? How does that work?) – “I think you’ve just got a group of guys that have a great mentality and they’re fighters. A lot of times on the offensive line, that’s really what you’re looking for is guys that develop a little bit of a bond, a little bit of that chemistry that I’ve been talking about for the last two years. We’ve had so many guys in and out. These guys have actually been practicing together and playing together, it seems like, for a while now. It probably has only been like four weeks, but it feels like forever. They do a good job of sticking together throughout a game, adjusting during a game and I love the way that they battle down in and down out.”
(Have you settled in with G/T Jesse Davis at right guard or do you still think he could be a tackle?) – “We’ll look at that at the end of the year. It’s one of those things where we’ll probably put film together and sit there and watch both at the end of the season.”
(G/T Jesse Davis was one of those guys that when you picked him up last year, he was on the practice squad right? How did that even come about? Was he was someone that was on your radar?) – “Personnel guys, this is all they do. They look at practice squad guys throughout the league, looking at their preseason tape, looking at tape if they’ve played in games. They’re constantly coming through, paying attention to what’s going on with them on a weekly basis. When opportunities come up, they have to have a list ready to go. ‘Hey, this is a guy I like,’ and when we have a spot open, they go and try to get that guy on our team.”
(In years, even before you, this team put so many resources into that guard position and you kind of, not stumbled into a pretty good player in G/T Jesse Davis, but it wasn’t exactly a plan.) – “I think he’s done a good job of allowing himself to be put in his position because when he got here, I don’t know if you guys remember, he wasn’t as big as what he is now. He really spent a lot of time in the weight room with (Head Strength and Conditioning Coach Dave) Puloka and he continued it, not only through the end of last year, but all through the offseason, all of training camp, through the season. You can see his strength is one of his assets that we really, really like. When he gets his hands on guys, he really can tie a guy up for a while.”
(Where is TE A.J. Derby in terms of being able to help you on offense?) – “He’s smart. He’s done a good job of picking things up very quickly. It helped a little bit because Denver runs close to a similar offense. Some of the terminology is still carried over from a while ago, so I think that made it easier. We’ll see how it plays out for us.”
(We’re done, but I do have information for you. You asked me about RB Kenyan Drake, 148 scrimmage yards per game the last three games, that would make him the most productive back in starts over that three-game span. Now he started four games, so his 123 yards per game average, that makes him the fifth most productive back in the NFL.) – “I’ll take it.”
Jarvis Landry – December 21, 2017
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Thursday, December 21, 2017
WR Jarvis Landry
(Did you do Secret Santa or anything?) – “Not in the locker room, but we did it through the (position) groups and stuff like that, the receivers room. One of these guys brought somebody a car. It’s crazy.”
(Wait, what?) – “That’s all I’m going into it; but it’s crazy.”
(We need more specifics about this? Are we talking like a Hugo, a Lexus, a Beamer?) – “Like a Dodge something, a Dodge something.”
(Did the person need the car?) – “No, absolutely not. The person has 10 cars already. I think that was kind of the point. Who knows? We’ll see.”
(What unit, if you can?) – “O-line. They got all of the money anyway.”
(The important question is, can they fit in that car?) – “I don’t know. I haven’t seen the car. I heard about it. I haven’t seen the car, so I don’t know. Probably not. That’s probably part of being Secret Santa, pranking each other and stuff.”
(You’re good friends with Steelers WR Antonio Brown. Are you a little bit conflicted that he gets hurt, a friend of yours gets hurt; but at the same time him getting hurt puts you in line for a pretty good shot at the receiving title?) – “No, no, no. It’s always unfortunate; but obviously in this league, things happen. He’s a great player. He does great things for his team, and the biggest concern for me, immediately after our game – I kind of saw that going through the ticker that he was going through the hospital – was his health, his personal health. That’s the biggest concern for me. I’m sure he takes pride in catching the most balls in the league and hopefully next year it’ll be a tighter race. We get a couple of guys back as well. We’ll get (Giants WR) Odell (Beckham, Jr.) back in the race and a couple of other guys. We’re all friends, we’re all brothers at the end of the day and that’s what it’s about. It’s about competing; but also celebrating each other’s success.”
(How significant would it be for you to get that receiving title?) – “It would be good.”
(What did you think of the Pro Bowl picks?) – “I respect all those guys’ game. It is what it is. I didn’t get in.”
(Were you stunned?) – “Of course. That has always been a goal of mine to make the Pro Bowl each and every year. I’m sure that any player in this league feels that way, that that’s an accomplishment. It sucks, but it is what it is.”
(Are you still hoping to go?) – “Yes, of course. More importantly, I just want to try to focus on getting another W.”
(We always hear the final two games is a chance to put tape out there. I know you guys kind of have a small chance of making the playoffs, but if guys put together good tape, does that ultimately lead to the ultimate goal of winning a game in general?) – “A good tape? Like a good game?”
(Yes.) – “Not all the time. Our biggest thing is penalties and turnovers. If you go back and look at it, most of the games that we won the turnover battle, the penalty battle, we win those games. For us, that’s the biggest thing. Win those two and we give ourselves a better chance.”
(Did you happen to see the controversial play at the end of the Steelers, Patriots game?) – “That was a catch and a touchdown.”
(I was going to ask you, do you have a firm grasp on what constitutes a catch anymore, do you think?) – “That’s a little bit different considering that he crossed the line. Once the ball breaks the plane, it’s automatically a touchdown, just as Calvin Johnson’s was when this all started. He had two feet down and his whole body fell down and then the ball (came out) – after he placed it on the ground pretty much. Dez Bryant as well. It’s something that I don’t know if we have a true grasp on as far as refereeing it; but it never seems to work out in the receiver’s favor, ever.”
(Getting back to the secret Santa thing, what did you receiver?) – “I don’t know. We haven’t exchanged gifts yet. We’re going to do that later this evening.”
Cam Wake – December 21, 2017
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Thursday, December 21, 2017
DE Cameron Wake
(On the defense accomplishing its goals.) – “It’s hard to say. I don’t know statistics. The feeling is that we could do better, but I felt that way last year and probably the couple years before that, as well. It’s hard to please me. I’d be a bad person to ask, because I’m always looking for more. I think, especially with the guys we have in this locker room, that expectations are high and that can go both ways.”
(You guys have been very good on third down, but not so good in red zone. It’s hard to imagine that those two things could be true at the same time and yet they are. Do you have any ideas as to how those two things could be true at the same time?) – “I don’t know. It’s interesting. (laughter) It seems like an oxymoron, I don’t know how to phrase it. When you’re in that situation, it’s literally one play. It’s not like you get multiple chances, usually. In (the red zone), if they get a first down it’s a touchdown, and you have to do whatever you can to make sure that they turn the ball over or kick a field goal. Moving forward, that’s something even still we’re working on to fix. I don’t have the exact answer.”
(Defensive Coordinator Matt Burke basically said that in order for you guys to play better as a defense, the stars need to be playing better and be more consistent. How much pressure, obviously you put pressure on yourself; but how much ownership do you take on that?) – “That’s not a new concept. It’s an old saying, ‘Big players step up and make big plays in big games.’ That’s not something that I didn’t know already. I put a lot of pressure on myself, probably not much more can be added. I expect to be one of those guys he’s talking about.”
(Defensive Coordinator Matt Burke said he called a perfect play for that sack you missed on the first drive and it hit home.) – “I missed the play, and I put that on myself. He’s been doing a great job of calling plays all year and it’s up to us, me included obviously, to execute. When you have somebody lined up in your sights, you’ve got to put him down. Moving forward, that’s something we’ve got to continue to do.”
(On the lighter side of things, I understand through Secret Santa that one of you offensive linemen got a Dodge, got a car for Secret Santa. Have you heard anything about this?) – “I have not. I would like to put my name in the hat if people are giving away cars for Secret Santa. That’s news to me.”
(Defensive line, do you guys do something as a unit for the holidays?) – “We haven’t done anything as of yet, but there’s still time. We might have something coming up in the future.”
(Which unit do you think gives the best gifts?) – “D-line.”
(Why would you put your guys up there?) – “Because we’re the most stylish, we’re the most attractive, the toughest, the smartest, hardest playing. Of course we give the best gifts.”
(What’s the best gift you’ve gotten from a defensive linemen?) – “I don’t know. It’s a family friendly show. I’ll keep that to myself. (laughter)”
Clyde Christensen – December 21, 2017
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Thursday, December 21, 2017
Offensive Coordinator Clyde Christensen
(It’s clear, obviously, going forward that T Laremy Tunsil is going to be your left tackle. That being said, after watching him at both positions, do you think he’s a better guard than a tackle?) – “No, I think he’s a left tackle. I really do. The unfortunate thing for him, just because of circumstances, is that he has had back-to-back rookie years. They’re two different positions. (He has) spent a ton of time trying to get acclimated to a position he had never played at left guard last year and then now after a year off, he comes in and plays arguably the toughest position other than quarterback on the offense in this league. I think it has been more that you’ve got a guy who has had back-to-back rookie years, which takes a toll on you mentally, physically, learning-wise, everything; but I do think that’s his position and that he can really excel at it going forward.”
(Do you think T Laremy Tunsil has been better run blocking or pass blocking this year?) – “I think he’s really been good run blocking. He has done both adequately, but I think his run blocking – especially last week – was really good. His pad level was down and he did a nice job.”
(Just one other thing on T Larmey Tunsil: How angry does the staff get with him on penalties? He’s obviously into double digits.) – “I think there’s probably a frustration level probably led by him. You can’t (do that). It has been a point of emphasis. We’ve cut them down a little bit, but I know he’s disappointed in it and it’s frustrating for everybody, because now all of a sudden there are those third-and-longs that you’re talking about.”
(With TE Julius Thomas out, the receiving ability of the tight end position, how does that look right now?) – “We’re kind of treating it as one-for-one. A.J. (Derby) can run; he can run and catch. Julius will be hard to replace in a lot of ways, because he did both okay. He certainly excelled in the pass game, but he had really bought into the run-blocking stuff; and just experience, he was kind of a guy who was heating up a little bit if you will. Now you go back to a guy who really hasn’t played for us. I think there’s going to be a tradeoff there; but as far as running and catching and having some things that he can do, (Derby) has been impressive. I haven’t seen him in pads. I haven’t ever seen him in pads, so some of it is speculation.”
(When you’re talking about speculation, you’ve watched TE A.J. Derby basically going against your first team defense on the scout team?) – “Yes, sure, for a couple weeks; but A) for a short time and B) you’re not in pads ever. It’s just different. It’s hard to measure a football player when you don’t see them in pads. A lot of guys, it’s like the Combine. It has some value, but it’s nothing like … You have to see football players in pads, when the fur is flying and etc. And we haven’t seen that apart from just a few snaps.”
(With TE MarQueis Gray, is his role going to change at all, or is he still going to be in that H-back role?) – “I think it’ll stay the same. I think the plan is for it to stay the same. His reps could slightly go up; but his role will stay the same. Does that make sense? To think the (Derby) is going to be able to go as many snaps as Julius (Thomas) went, (he) probably can’t. MarQueis (Gray) will pick up some of those plus he has already got a pretty big role in what we ask him to do.”
(How would you evaluate RB Kenyan Drake’s progress?) – “I think it has been good. It’s progress. He just continues to grow. I had a funny conversation with him yesterday; but he is, he’s maturing. From a year ago until now, it’s night and day. I think one of the good measuring sticks for us on players is what you look like in December. Those are big games. We talked about it this week that a playoff team, a playoff-caliber performance showed up … It was us in the New England game. It was Buffalo that did it to us up there. We didn’t get it done and they did in all of the things that are key. But Kenyan has been consistent in December. He has played winning football both games in December, which is really good. It’s two good teams. It’s some pressure. It’s all the things I always talk to you guys about: it’s a sore body, it’s mental – mentally it’s the 15th week of the season – it’s all of those things. So, he held up. I always kind of measure it by ball protection and quarterback protection and he has been pretty darn clean for two weeks on those things. I was kind of teasing him, it’s not that painful to kind of be mature, and he said, ‘No, it really isn’t;’ but he hasn’t quite arrived yet. He has bought in. I think he’s having fun with the role. I think he’s having fun seeing himself as kind of a key guy in this thing and not just the guy coming out of the bullpen as I mentioned to you last week, who knows he has to somehow find a way to play 10 good snaps well. This is a different thing, and it’ll get harder as we mentioned to him. You remember last year, Jay (Ajayi) had the two 200-yard games and then all of a sudden, people are tattooing you. You get a mark on you and they’re after you. It gets harder and harder to just keep repeating it. This league doesn’t let you just roll on through. They do things and this is a great defense and they’ll do a good job and he’ll have to do it again; but we have to learn how to win a … One thing in the AFC is you have to learn how to win big games. Things go through the Northeast and Pittsburgh and Kansas City. These are great venues you have to be able to go in and play in December and win and then again do it in playoffs and beyond the season. That’s something we have to do. We didn’t get it done last week. It was really disappointing how we played last week.”
(You mentioned RB Kenyan Drake’s workload. I think he has had over a 20 carry average the last three weeks. That’s over 300 for a season. Is that something you could see in 2018?) – “You would hope not. His has been unique, because Damien (Williams) went down kind of simultaneously. We probably run him more than we wanted to. It’s not excessive. It’s not in the 30s or something, so you could do that. The more you give it to him, the more chance you have of a big play. A lot of it will be how does his body hold up? How does he hold up? Ideally, you get Damien back healthy and are able to split those reps a little bit more and keep people fresh.”
(The last interception of the last game, when you guys still had a chance, the very last one. Forgive me if there was an explanation – I haven’t heard it yet – I don’t know if it was a route issue or just a poor throw. What do you know happened?) – “I think what (Head) Coach (Adam) Gase said, which would be accurate, was that we did not want to take a sack and (Jay Cutler) probably threw it a little bit early. I think in his mind he was throwing it away. I don’t want to speak for him or Coach Gase, but I thought I saw a statement by Coach Gase just that it was first down, if he didn’t feel good about the look initially, get the ball out of his hand quick and it got picked.”
(What have you thought of QB Ryan Tannehill when you’ve seen him working out lately?) – “In Buffalo, I saw him jumping around and made a comment. He was jumping around. I think he was just trying to stay warm, but it did look good to see him bouncing off those knees, jumping and running. I watched him a little bit out of the window, here and there, doing some workouts. I haven’t seen a ton of it; but his feedback is that he really feels good and that he’s on pace and on the timeline that he needs to be on. That’s really encouraging. That’s great for him. I’m happy for him. I did make a note, because he was bouncing around there in pregame and stuff. I do remember noticing that and saying the thing looks pretty darn strong.”
(From a pass protection perspective, you mentioned RB Kenyan Drake in that area, and it’s been good. How has he been as far as knowing his assignment and how has that helped him in terms of being able to beat defenders?) – “His comfortability, if that’s a word, his comfort level with protections, is going up and up. His focus on protections has gone up and up. I’ll say one thing about him that he’s always had, he has a lot of pride. He has a physical pride. He doesn’t back down from people. He’s never been afraid to hit. We all saw him chip a couple of folks in the midseason there that were violent. They were violent. I’ve always admired that he has a physicality to him and a pride to him that he takes pride in it. I think the knowledge has helped and just doing it over and over, and I think the focus of just knowing, ‘Hey, I better learn all of them. I’m going to be in a lot of different situations.’ Then he had a couple of slip ups that I think were embarrassing to him where he said, ‘Hey, I’m going to commit myself to making sure that doesn’t happen.’ That’s like the fumble he had early. He has a personal pride about him that I like, where he fixes things. He was embarrassed that he laid one on the ground and he’s been better since. He’s practiced better since. I think the same with protection. He had a couple of screw ups early and I think he was embarrassed and fixed it. He takes pride in it and works at it. You always see him asking questions and you always see him watching the film where the board’s out there and making sure that he’s on it. I think all of the above, the arrow is pointing up. More knowledge, more commitment to it, more experience doing it, all of those things are better.”
(I assume you’ve seen the controversial play at the end of the New England-Pittsburgh game, the touchdown that wasn’t a touchdown…) – “I actually have not. I heard them talking about it, but I haven’t…”
(Well I was going to ask you, what do you tell your guys about securing the ball and taking it out of the officials’ hands as to whether it’s a catch or not a catch? How do you define a catch?) – “That’s hard. I have not seen (the play from the Pittsburgh game), I just heard the talk about it. The hard ones are those ones at the goal line where you’re so close. ‘Do I reach it out?’ We try to discourage (that). It just kind of comes natural to take the thing and reach it out; but especially in traffic, it’s extremely risky. That’s a hard teach, but it is a teach that we say, ‘Hey, in traffic, don’t reach the ball out.’ Just try to get it in there and if not, we’ll get it in the next play. There’s some catastrophes that can happen from that thing. The definition of a catch, we just talk hard – especially down there in the red zone – of just getting the ball into my body as quickly as I can get it in there. The rest is up to the official. We make a lot of one-handed catches and those things, so I don’t know that it’s a teach as much as it’s an experience. You do have to be careful with the ball. Get it into my body and get it secured, especially when you’re down in there, because you have points. You have points on the board already. You have 3 (points) and you don’t want to put those at risk by taking unnecessary chances. Did that answer your question?”
(Well in the case of the Pittsburgh game, it was a thing where the receiver was going to the ground and does the ground cause the ball to move and that sort of thing, especially after the ball passes the goal line’ but there was only one defender around him. Now when you say in traffic, don’t do something like that, are you telling players if you have more than one defender around you or is one defender enough to not reach the ball out?) – “It’s really one defender is enough not to do it. Again, let me say, I didn’t see that play. I really don’t have a mental picture of what it is. When I say traffic, all of the time you see a quarterback jump from the 1-yard line and stick the ball out. That’s extremely risky. Just traffic would be any time where you’re not 100 percent sure you can get it across without it getting knocked out, and that could be one guy. We’re better off keeping it secured and going from there. You can’t take chances with the football, especially down in there tight.”
(The role that QB Ryan Tannehill has had in game planning this year, has there been any with you and Head Coach Adam Gase and has it been different, at all, from his role as a starter last year?) – “Yes, sure, it’s been different; but there has been a role. I’ve been really impressed with him that he’s in all of the meetings. A lot of guys disappear. You go on IR and you just kind of disappear. It’s hard. IR is hard, because you don’t feel part of the team and you’re doing your treatment and you really aren’t (around). But I see him in there. He has his notebook, he takes notes, he has comments. You can tell he’s studying and he’s engaged. I think that’s an impressive characteristic to have. Not many guys can do that. It’s hard to focus – when you are going to play – in Week 15 of the thing. Week 15 of IR, to stay attentive, to stay engaged, to not just say, ‘Hey, I don’t need to be at the short yardage/goal line meeting this morning, I’ll just get some extra treatment or I’ll get my Christmas shopping done or something,’ is really hard to do. I don’t think that would surprise any of you that he has been an extremely conscientious guy; but I’ve been impressed with him. Every meeting when you come in to watch the practice tape, he’s right there in the front row and he’s trying to help the young guys out, which I think would be one of the things he’s done a good job of, of helping the young guys out. We’ve had new quarterbacks in here, he’s helped them out. I know he goes up and visits with Coach Gase like he always does and they kick around things there. I think he’s stayed extremely involved and it’s a hard role. That’s really a hard role, because it’s just an uncomfortable position, plus you have another guy, who you’re helping and hoping is taking over the leadership of the team and the huddle, whether it’s Matt (Moore) or (Jay) Cutler. You’re not sure what your role is. Are you still in charge of the whole thing or are you trying to be in the background? He’s handled it well and it’s really, really not easy. I’ve watched it. The quarterback position, especially; but a lot of guys – there’s a ton of guys – who disappear when it’s all over and you just don’t see them. They do their rehab and they do what they’re supposed to do, but it’s hard to stay engaged.”
Adam Gase – December 21, 2017
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Thursday, December 21, 2017
Head Coach Adam Gase
(We didn’t ask you about WR DeVante Parker yesterday.) – “Yes, at some point in the game, I don’t know when it was, he kind of got rolled up on and he just kind of kept playing. We thought he was going to be alright and we should be good for the game. We were just … I mean him going out there running around and just keep getting stiffened back up; but we should be alright.”
(Obviously as long as you’re in contention I’m sure we’ll see TE Anthony Fasano, TE MarQueis Gray on Sunday. Have you come to any conclusion just being able to watch TE A.J. Derby in practice or is that an evaluation that’s coming next spring?) – “No. I mean if we’ve got guys that are healthy, whoever’s healthy is going to play. It’s all about how fast he learns the playbook and how much he knows and I think he’s at a pretty good place right now. If things work out and he ends up being up, we’ll use him.”
(What is TE A.J. Derby’s skill there that you like that you’ve seen?) – “He can run, catch and block.”
(All three?) – “Yes.”
(The guys that do the scouting, they were great.) – “Yes.”
(C/G Ted Larsen since he’s come back, how would you assess how he’s done?) – “I think the longer he’s played, the better he’s felt. He kind of got thrown in there pretty quick coming off that injury. I think those first couple of games were … the speed of the game, I think we talked about that when he first came back, about him getting that back. You can see improvement every day, just even watching practice yesterday. You can see he’s more comfortable than he was last week at this time. I think we just, those guys are getting a chance to keep working together and we’ll just keep looking for improvement.”
(How much has C/G Ted Larsen’s presence helped T Laremy Tunsil?) – “I think any time you have a veteran player next to a younger player, I think that’s a good thing. Ted’s seen a lot of things over his career and he communicates well. I think those two guys are getting really used to playing with each other and I think it helps Laremy. I think Laremy’s really doing a good job of communication back and asking questions and trying to look at the fine details of what really the defense is doing over what we’re doing.”
(I know that DE Charles Harris going back home to Kansas City to play pretty much. Have you found that that makes a difference to players or maybe if you’re younger, does it make a bigger difference?) – “I think sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn’t. I know when we played in Atlanta, if ‘20’ (Reshad Jones) can give more, whatever that was … We knew he was going to do something special in that game. He wanted to make sure he was felt and made some kind of play and he did. Every guy is not like that though. Every guy, each game is the same. Some guys get in a situation like that and maybe it does give them a little bit more of an adrenaline rush.”
(What went into the decision to activate T Eric Smith?) – “We’ve just had so many guys banged up and he’s looked good in practice, so he’s deserved a chance to get up. If we have an opportunity where he ends up having to play or be on the active (list) then it means he’s showing a lot of good things in practice.”
(Assuming RB Kenyan Drake is healthy the next two weeks, is it fair that he’s done enough that you expect him to start?) – “I don’t know. I mean I’ll worry about that (later). I don’t care who starts. I might just throw no backs out there just to piss you off. (laughter)”
(Associate Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Darren Rizzi told us that WR Jakeem Grant’s an arrow up kind of guy for you this year. Are there others that you might … I know RB Kenyan Drake obviously would be one, but are there arrow up guys …?) – “I think that these two draft classes have shown improvement. I think the last year’s guys, they didn’t get … a lot of those guys didn’t get opportunity. I think it can kind of … it makes it hard for the young guys sometimes because they’re so used to playing and then all of a sudden now you take a back seat to other guys and you have to understand you have to earn your role. You have to find your way into the lineup and whether it’s an injury, whether it’s you have a special skill set that can make you valuable on game day. I think Jakeem kind of just kept finding ways to get better and we noticed it different in the spring. We noticed all (of us) noticed a difference in the preseason, that he was different, a different guy as far as a receiver. As the season has gone on, he hasn’t fallen off. We just hadn’t been able to get to a lot of the stuff that we were talking about doing with him. Then the last few weeks, we’ve been able to get him in the game and find ways to get him the ball and he’s done a variety of things. I think it really is him understanding what to do and he’s not making mistakes, and that’s huge. When you’re a coach, that’s all you’re hoping for is when you put a guy in that doesn’t play 60 snaps a game, your margin for error is so little because you don’t want to be one-for-five that you screw up. You’ve got to hit every time you’re out there.”
(RB Kenyan Drake last week – 16 carries, 78 yards. I’m wondering how you look at that because he had the one 31-yard carry, the 19-yard carry. The big plays were good. Do you look at 14 for 50? Do you look at whether he was good on first and second down? How do you look at that?) – “Yes, I mean you have to look at it, what did they do? What did we do? What was called? All of those type of little things. There were a few times whether it was they beat us just on the play or if they called something that was really, really bad into what we called – they kind of got us on the second play of the game where we’re running a trap and they bring the safety. It’s just ideal for us. The biggest thing we talked to him about is when things like that happen of trying to make it, just get us back to the line of scrimmage, and he’s done a pretty good job of that. The only time that he really had some negative play is if there’s absolutely a free runner and there’s nothing he can do about it. I thought he was trying and did exactly what we were asking him to do and when we get guys covered up and he’s able to find some kind of crease, he’s making it worth his while.”
(How did RB Damien Williams look yesterday?) – “He’s still going through that process of trying to figure out where his strength is. There’s certain things that I feel like he looks normal doing. I think there’s some things that make him uncomfortable. We’re still going to keep going through that process and kind of see where it takes us for Sunday.”
(If I told you that RB Kenyan Drake is giving you 140 yards per game of total offense in the three games that he’s started, would you say that that’s a good level of production or what you expect from your backfield or?) – “I don’t know. What’s the league average? Then you tell me and compare it to that. I feel like he’s very productive when he’s in there. It feels like that to me. That’s why having both of those guys is just … If you look at the duration of the season, we’re talking about three games and what if this if Game 12 for him? That’s why both of those guys are valuable because they both have very similar traits to where they can do everything. If you mix those two guys up and it’s just a little bit of a change in each guy as far as whether it’s their running style, what they like to run, some of the routes that they run. I mean those two guys together are … it’s fun to call plays for (them) and they’re dangerous for the defense.”
(As a running back, everything is not always going to be ideal. Everything’s not going to be blocked up perfectly and the running back has to create. What have you seen as far as RB Kenyan Drake’s ability to create? Do you think that he’s done well in that past type of things?) – “Yes. We’ve had a few unblocked guys. He’s made them miss and made some big plays. You can see it. Anybody can see it when they do that. When a guy makes a play, you (can be) sitting at home and say that guy is unblocked and he didn’t make the play. He has a special ability to make a cut in a very small, small area. He has an incredible burst and changes speeds very quickly.”
(You’ve had three guys on IR all year. QB Ryan Tannehill, LB Raekwon McMillan and CB Tony Lippett. Do you get a chance during the season to interact with them much? What’s the process like?) – “Those guys are here all the time. They’re at practice and they’re in meetings. I think that’s just something that we’ve talked about of you kind of make that decision as an organization. I’ve been in places where they’re like when you go on IR, you’re not involved in that stuff. My experience going through some of the things that I’ve went through is I had a situation where I told myself after that I’m always going to make sure that the IR guys are still involved. It’s been good for our players. It’s been good for Raekwon because he’s around it all the time. He’s trying to get better mentally, which we need him to, because we’re going to count on him next year. Tony’s a guy that’s played but it still doesn’t hurt him to keep hearing these things over and over and seeing mistakes other guys make. Ryan, that’s just going to be him. If I told him he wasn’t allowed to be around, he’d still be around. He’s never going to be too far away. He kind of wants to hear what we’re doing and he knows how offenses go. It evolves during the season. He just wants to make sure that he’s staying with us.”
(In CB Tony Lippett’s case, his career was really on the ascent, wasn’t it?) – “Yes, he was doing … At the end of the year he was making plays. He had some good games. It was very obvious in some games where he wished he would have played better; but we thought things were going, trending upward for us with him.”
(What’s QB Ryan Tannehill been like?) – “He attends all the meetings, comes to practice, is at the games. Just suggestions, whether it would be in-game, practice, game-planning. He stays locked in.”
(Physically, what is QB Ryan Tannehill up to in his recovery?) – “He’s with the trainers, lifting. Any time I’ve ever seen him in the weight room, seeing his movement, his ability to do some of the things that he’s doing, it’s been impressive.”
(With T Laremy Tunsil, two things that have been said about him consistently this year is that the consistency needs to improve and then toughness considering he’s facing the best pass rusher of every team. How do you get to that point as a second-year player?) – “Yes, I don’t know if I agree with the toughness part, because to me, I feel like I’ve seen a lot of good things from him and I haven’t seen him shy away from anything. I’ve seen there’s been times where he’s been blocking guys for an extended period of time and done exactly what you look for a linemen to do. I do think it’s just the experience of being a young player at that position and it is one thing to play left tackle in the SEC. It’s a different animal all together to play it at this level and to be really good. When you watch the really, really good players there, you know it. When you watch Dallas, you watch ‘77’ (Tyron Smith). He’s dominant from the time the first play occurs until the last play. I know that’s something he wants to strive for is to be that type of player. A lot of guys … this whole league it’s inconsistency of good or bad, game to game or within a game or however it goes. I know he’s striving to be a consistent guy and we talk about it all the time. He tells me, ‘Don’t worry about my side. Don’t worry about my side.’ He has confidence in himself to get the job done one on one and I love that about him. He’s always trying to make sure that I never have to worry about that side. He’s like, ‘Go worry, go worry about the other side.’ You want that kind of confidence from your left tackle.”
(How’s LB Raekwon McMillan doing physically?) – “Good. He looks good. They’re always doing something. When you don’t have to practice and you’re not playing a game, (Head Strength and Conditioning Coach Dave) Puloka’s going to keep you busy. He’s just going to keep getting stronger and hopefully we’ll be ready to go when we hit spring.”
Matt Burke – December 21, 2017
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Thursday, December 21, 2017
Defensive Coordinator Matt Burke
(I was asking Head Coach Adam Gase about guys going back home and playing. DE Charles Harris is doing that this week. Gase said sometimes it matters, sometimes it doesn’t. Do you think it will matter to Charles Harris?) – “Maybe. You’d have to ask him. Obviously any time you’re playing in front of family and friends and have some extra people there, it ups your emotional level a little bit and maybe brings a little juice to things; so yes, maybe. Hopefully.”
(How has DE Charles Harris handled the biggest challenges of the year, when you look at guys that he’s gone against?) – “I think with Charles, we’ve tried to take sort of a long-term approach. I thought he actually played fairly well last game. He played with a lot of energy, was running around and chasing. It was a big game for him – obviously with some faster guys in terms of quarterback and running back and those sorts of things – for his athleticism to show. We’ve just been trying to have Charles progress and progress and I think he’s done that. It’s another, obviously, big challenge this week with the offense we’re facing and I think he’ll be ready to play.”
(What’s your thought process defensively in the red zone? When an opponent gets down in there, it’s almost certain they’re going to score one way or another. What is a success for you down there?) – “It’s two different things. Obviously, you’re trying to not let them down there. That’s the best thing.”
(Once they’re there, though.) – “Once they’re there? One of the things we just talk about is, again, especially if they’re close inside the 20, at that point, like you’re saying, you’re at least conceding a field goal attempt. So our focus is basically saving 4 points. I tell those guys, ‘If you get a third-down stop in the red zone, that’s a 4-point play.’ If it’s third-and-goal on the 8(-yard line), and you get a stop, you’re earning 4 points back for us, at a minimum. Who knows what happens on field goal attempts. I think at that point, the process is, ‘Hey, we’ve got to get a stop.’ Obviously, we haven’t had success in whatever measure to let them get down in the red zone. The goal there is then, ‘Hey, let’s get a stop and save 4 points.’ In a big picture sense, you hope that over the course of a season or games, that field goals aren’t going to beat you consistently. If you’re holding teams to field goals or field goal attempts, that 3 points over the course of time, those are still going to balance out; then if you can clean up your stuff, the issues that got your down there in the first place. Really, we just talk about really trying to get a stop down there and basically save 4 points once we get in the red zone.”
(You’re 28th in sacks. Is that a surprise to you and how do you explain that?) – “Again, we’ve talked about this. I think our guys have been disruptive. It’s disappointing, sure. I obviously would like to see some more success there in terms of finishing some of those plays. Earlier in the year, we talked about some of the situations. I feel like lately we’ve missed some opportunities, which has been the more disappointing part. You look at the first drive of last game, which was extremely disappointing – I’m not sure if I’ve gotten over it yet – we missed a sack opportunity to get off the field there, which we can’t do. We designed that up to literally go exactly how it went and then we missed the opportunity. Yes, we haven’t had numbers there in the success we’ve had. There’s some other stuff where we feel we’ve had some disruption and those things; but it’s kind of like interceptions were for us, in terms of finishing some of the plays that were getting to the quarterback. Last week we had a few where, obviously, we let (Bills QB Tyrod) Taylor out of the pocket and didn’t finish on those things. Yes, obviously we’d like to see some more success there.”
(Is there schematically things you could do differently or just make those plays, like you said?) – “I don’t know. We got Cam Wake free at the quarterback. I’m not sure how much more you can scheme up besides that. Again, there are some pressures we’ve had that we’ve had some success with. We examine the best things. Looking ahead to this week, it’s a fine line with the weapons they have. Any time you pressure and bring more people, you’re exposing your coverage a little bit and the way you do those sort of things. Schematically, I don’t feel like we’ve been hindering the rush with our scheme. We’ve just got to make those plays. I think our great players have to make plays when we put them in an opportunity and put them in a position to do that. I think they have to continue to finish those plays.”
(Your third-down efficiency has been very good. Why would you say that that is and is there something beyond that that you are zeroed in on that you definitely need to improve on this defense?) – “Third-down wise, we spend a lot of time on it. I do think some of the rush things, that factors into play in those situations. Again, if it’s third-and-longer and guys are worried about our rush and getting rid of the ball quick, then we can get off the field. Those help your efficiency numbers. Obviously we weren’t very good last week but big-picture wise … We spend a lot of time on it so it’s a chance to do some different things. We’ve talked in here about rush opportunities and those types of things. Obviously when you’re taking a run factor out and you know you’re getting a pass most of the time in those situations, we can do some different things and get some exotic stuff going. We’ve been pretty multiple on third downs. We do a lot of different things week to week, depending on what we’re getting. I think that probably helps. I know (Head Coach) Adam (Gase) looks at some of our stuff for me and does some cross-scouting for me and I know he’s talked about ‘Man, that would be hard to prepare for because you do a lot of different things.’ Again, we’re going to try to do … We take things week to week so we try to do things, like that week, what’s going to help us? It may be totally different from what we did last week and stuff. We really try to hone in on the challenges for the week and I think the guys do a good job. Today is Thursday. I think we’ll spend half the practice doing third downs today. That’s something that we do well with. The other side of it is when you talk about red zone. The other half we basically do red zone today, and we haven’t been good there. Obviously we’d like to be better. Overriding philosophy stuff, we’re about getting stops. That’s how I was raised. ‘Yards don’t matter; points do.’ Red zone stops are one way to get them, third-down stops, turnovers. The ways you get off the field are what keep points down. We’ve been pretty good on third downs but we haven’t been very good on red zone. Those are always areas we’re going to focus on, as a defense, getting off the field without giving up points. We’ve been streaky with the turnovers. We had a little stretch there where we were kind of rolling and then obviously didn’t get any last week. I think in terms of improvement, those are things we’re constantly stressing. That’s the disappointing thing, to be honest with you, is that those are things that we stress. It’s one thing if something is going on or whatever but for us to spend so much time in the red zone and to stress takeaways so much, that we haven’t been able to really see the results from that (is disappointing). Those are things we need to continue to improve on.”
(Last year, Defensive Coordinator Vance Joseph said – as everyone noticed with their own eyes – there were highs and lows with DT Jordan Phillips. He said at his best he was very good and at his worst, he put us in problems. Has he become a reliable player in your eyes where you can assume you’re going to get quality work most weeks?) – “Yes, I believe so. His snap count was a little down last week, more just some of the things we were doing. We ended up going to some three-man fronts and some different things with not being able to get to the quarterback and things; but he’s been really good. I would say the two weeks before that in the two wins we had, he was probably the best he’s been in a long time and everyone is seeing it. I feel like he’s definitely been more consistent this year and to a point where I’ve had some conversations with him, even pre-game and things, like ‘Hey man, you’ve got to be a guy that’s kind of one of our leaders now.’ He’s kind of an energy guy. I think he’s kind of found his way a little bit. Even last year, he wasn’t as outgoing as he’s been this year. I think he’s sort of just feeling himself a little bit more. I’m trying to encourage him to – I don’t know about his sack dances (laughter) – but just be more of an energy guy and get into it. Part of that responsibility comes with being consistent and being reliable. You can’t be a leader and can’t be out there and bring energy one time and not making plays or being in the right position the next time. I think with him feeling himself being more consistent, the energy and the leadership and the emotional part of it is coming out in him even more so, as well.”
(Two guys you’ve injected in the last month, LB Stephone Anthony for about four weeks ago and DE Cameron Malveaux for the last two weeks. Can you share with us how Malveaux and Anthony have graded out?) – “They’ve both been good. Sort of our decision-making to getting those guys active and going has been what we’ve seen on the practice field from both of them. It’s kind of a parallel tale of really good energy and motion and young bodies that are kind of flying around and what we want as part of our identity. It’s probably as much as anything a testament to them, their practice habits. Those were two guys that, to me, stood out in practice in terms of their energy, their speed, play tempo and those sort of things. We’re like if it looks good there, why can’t it look good on Sundays? When they’ve been given their opportunities, they’ve both performed very well for us.”
(When you have playmakers at three different levels for the Chiefs – wide receiver, tight end and tailback – how difficult is that for a defense, particularly the linebackers?) – “It’s everybody, to be honest with you. Our emphasis this week with that issue, if you will, is at some point, guys have to win their matchups at the end of the day. For us, I can’t double everybody and I can’t put 10 guys in the box to stop (Kareem) Hunt and leave nobody covering the tight end or nobody covering ‘10’ (Tyreek Hill) and those sort of things. You’ve got to mix targets. You’ve got to pick your spots. We’ll have calls to sort of help on each one of those guys in certain instances and we’ll try to mix it when we’re feeling it. That’s on me a little bit, to try to pick the spots where I think I’ve got to take away this guy in this instance or I’ve got to take this guy away in this instance. You can’t take away all of them. You don’t have enough guys on the field unless we go up to Canada or something. (laughter) For us, it’s going to be, at the end of the day, whether it’s our Pro Bowl safety (Reshad Jones) on their Pro Bowl tight end (Travis Kelce), he’s going to have to make some plays on him. Or, who we think is a really good linebacker in Kiko (Alonso), their running back (Kareem Hunt) makes a lot of his plays on missed tackles. He’s one of the best in the league statistically, even in terms of yards after contact and broken tackles. Our linebackers have to tackle this week. Period. Our DBs, we have to know where ’10’ (Tyreek Hill) is at all times. They do a lot with him. I don’t know if he’d win the fastest man – do they still do that thing anymore? I’m not sure; but he’d be in the competition. So we have to know … He can take the top off like that. They also obviously do some jet sweeps, they put him in the backfield and so we have to have awareness of him obviously our DBs when he’s on the outside part of the field but everybody has to know where ‘10’ (Tyreek Hill) is. I think call-wise, it’s going to be a little bit of just trying to pick the spots of where we’re trying to take away whom. Then, at the end of the day, if I put you on that guy, you’ve got to win your matchup sometimes. Everybody has their day in the barrel. Sometimes a call is this guy’s getting help but this guy’s not. The next time, that guy is getting help and that guy is not. The guys that aren’t getting help, you’ve got to win. That’s how it’s going to come down to. We feel like we have some good players on defense too. They’ve got to earn their paychecks this week and win their matchups.”
(You mentioned Chiefs WR Tyreek Hill. How do you take away a guy with that type of speed? Everybody is fast in the NFL but he ran a 10-second 100-meter in high school.) – “Yes, he’s fast. Again, we’re probably not going to necessarily leave him out on an island and say, ‘Here you go, go cover him.’ We’re going to have some things. We’re going to try to put our hands on him and give him some different looks. I think for some of us, our awareness of where he’s lined up and what he’s doing from certain spots; again, because they move him around so much and utilize him in a lot of different ways. There’s no hiding it. I mean, he’s fast. I don’t think anyone’s going to argue that. We’ve just got to try to put our hands on him a little bit. The risk/reward is if you’re putting your hands on him and you miss him and he gets a clean release, then obviously there’s some issues there. We’re working some techniques with some of the things we want to do. We’ll have some calls where we can kind of help on him a little bit and try to give him a little bit of a different look and mix some things up.”
(How did LB Kiko Alonso do on Sunday and in what areas do you think he can improve?) – “He obviously had a lot, statistically, a lot of tackles and was involved in a lot of plays. I think in general, this will apply to Kiko but also to sum up some of the other guys from Sunday, our good plays can’t – not take plays off – but can’t miss on plays. He missed a couple of tackles that he can’t miss, period. If we want to be the defense that we want to be and we want to win games that we want to win, he can’t miss a couple of those plays. Reshad (Jones) can’t miss a tackle. Cam (Wake) can’t miss a sack. That’s just facts. So Kiko did a lot of good things. I feel like one of our issues is, with a guy like Kiko, we say there’s 60 snaps in a game and he played really good for 55 of them but there were five that he didn’t. We can’t have those five. That’s the next step for Kiko and for a lot of the guys on defense, especially from Sunday. He made a lot of good plays. He had a lot of tackles. He was active – very active – but he missed a handful of plays that he can’t miss for us to be the defense we want to be.”
Darren Rizzi – December 21, 2017
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Thursday, December 21, 2017
Associate Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Darren Rizzi
(What do you want out of the year over the last two weeks? Obviously you have something to play for still, but are there certain areas where you’d like to still see improvement or want to build for next year? Is there anything you’re looking for?) – “There’s been zero talk about next year. Really the mantra, I know sometimes it gets old with you guys I’m sure, but our ‘one game at a time’ philosophy really hasn’t changed. Obviously, in terms of our approach per week, special teams-wise, we’re always looking to improve. We’re always looking to get better on every phase. There’s plenty of things we need to improve on and have improved on, which is good. I still want to see our guys playing hard, which they have been all year. What I told the players is we’ve got to be a little bit more detail-oriented, in my opinion. I thought last week we played really hard, guys were flying around, we played fast and physical. I think some of our detail stuff, our fundamentals, our technique stuff … We’ve got a lot of young guys playing special teams as well, so for those guys, every week is a chance for them to improve and that’s no different than the team. Until someone tells us we’re out, we’re in. That’s how I look at it.”
(S Michael Thomas didn’t make the Pro Bowl. Patriots WR Matthew Slater, with the great reputation, did. Was that a surprise to you?) – “No, that Matthew Slater made the Pro Bowl, because Matthew Slater is a great special teams player with a great reputation. I think, whether you like it or not, you get into those situations and guys that are from winning organizations that have made the Pro Bowl time and time again are going to be guys that are hard to unseat. I think (Head Coach) Adam (Gase) might have mentioned this, but making that first Pro Bowl is very difficult and then a lot of times what happens is guys are making it over and over again. Matt Slater, I’ve got a ton of respect for Matt Slater as a person and a player; but I think it’s a little bit of an imperfect system when a guy that plays less than half games is in the Pro Bowl. That’s not a knock on Matt Slater. That’s a knock maybe a little bit more on the voting process. Mike Thomas, as you guys all know, I have a very high opinion of him. I think he’s played at a Pro Bowl level this year. As I mentioned last week, you never know how the voting is going to go and we can’t control that.”
(WR Jakeem Grant, his league rankings in punt returns and kickoff returns are pretty good. Has he had a good year in your opinion?) – “To me, he’s been an arrow up the whole year. We’ve talked about this. We weren’t as good in the early parts of the year as I wanted to be in the return game. I really feel like in the last three or four weeks, Jakeem’s really shown us a lot of what he showed in the preseason. I thought he had a really good preseason. I thought we hit a little bit of a lull there in the middle of the year and I think we’ve been really improving in that area. I think his decision making has been better, his fielding the ball has been better. He’s obviously made some big plays. We’ve had a few 20-plus yard returns here the last few weeks. The thing I really like about Jakeem is his approach. His approach in Week 1 and Week 14 is no different. He’s always looking to improve. I’ve said this a million times, I don’t think there’s a guy that works harder at it – the return stuff – than he does. He catches as many balls now as he did in OTAs and he stills works at it every week. I think we’ve improved. I think that’s probably the overall theme of the return game, is it’s been an improvement as the year’s gone on.”
(Do you think if WR Jakeem Grant pops one, if your impression of his year changes because he had that touchdown last year.) – “The return game is funny. That’s why sometimes, I don’t even look at the statistics, because sometimes you can go from 14th to first with two returns. So sometimes I take the statistics with a grain of salt. To me, we needed to be more consistent. He almost popped one last week. We were one guy away from having a big one. We had a pretty good return last week, one guy away from maybe even a bigger play. I think sometimes we get wrapped up into, ‘How many touchdowns did the guy score?’ To me, I’m looking at how effective are we? How efficient are we? That’s more important to me. To me, those are going to come. If you get Jakeem Grant in the open field, he’s eventually going to score. We’ve got to keep getting him in the open field. We’ve got to block better, we’ve got to field better, we’ve got to do all of those things. I think that those plays will come. I think sometimes – coaches too, believe me – we get wrapped up into how many touchdowns does a guy have and all of that. I just want to see him be more consistent and continue to improve and I think he’s done that. I think he’s really improved as the year has gone on.”
(You’ve had three successful onsides kicks on the year, which is an unusually high number. Is there a common theme here for the success in that area?) – “The number one thing is Cody Parkey hit some really good balls. I’ll start with that. Obviously, the couple of surprise onsides kicks that he’s had. Both times, the dribbler against the Raiders was a great kick, the one against Denver was a great kick and then last week in a regular onsides situation, he hit another good ball. The impressive thing about that is we’ve had three different types of onsides kicks. It hasn’t been the same one every time. That’s really saying something for Cody. Hats off to Cody on that, because we’ve had three different types of kicks that we’ve recovered. It was a great kick last week and a great onsides recovery by Matt Haack. He was in an opportunistic spot at that time, but that’s how the plan was. He was the trailer in that instance and did a great job of staying alive and finding the ball. It is a high number. Hopefully that’s a good thing. It really comes back to Cody and the execution. A lot of times on those onsides kicks and I’ve told our players this, you see guys be offsides. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve seen offsides on onsides kicks and our guys have done a great job of taking a line and just really running the play the right way. That’s been the good thing; but really again, hats off to Cody, because he’s really been the major part of that, the major component.”
