Adam Gase – November 13, 2017 (Postgame)
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Monday, November 13, 2017
Postgame – Carolina Panthers
Dolphins Head Coach Adam Gase (transcribed by the Carolina Panthers)
RE: Explanation for defense
We had an 8-minute span there where the game got away from us and it just snowballed for us after that. We couldn’t prevent the big runs once they got it going after the turnover – 14-point swing between the end of the half and the 3rd quarter there at the beginning. It’s one of those things you can’t do against a team like this.
RE: Regroup for remainder of season
We’ll have to come in tomorrow and watch the film and make the corrections we need to make. Really kind of figure out where we’re having our issues and get those corrected quickly because it’s not going to get any easier with the teams we’ve got coming up on the schedule.
RE: What was different about this game
It’s hard for me to say from just being on the sideline, so it’s going to be about just going back and looking at film and where we’re leaving on defense and where we need to make the corrections on offense. We have to try to stay in 3rd and manageable against this team and that was the one thing we made a huge point of emphasis on. Once you get past 3rd and 7 not a lot of teams have been converting.
RE: Jay Cutler’s interception
It was…we thought we had the right play on there. A little surprised that (Luke) Kuechly got over there – with the coverage – we really high lowed him, the other linebacker. He pushed all the way over there. He made it all the way over there. I couldn’t really see where the ball placement was. Jay was saying he might have left it a little behind him, but that was a really good play by him.
RE: Why not sit on the ball
I felt like we were moving the ball pretty good. Had a good feeling as far as what they were going to play. I just didn’t think that he (Luke Kuechly) was going push that far on that coverage.
RE: Carolina nearly had a franchise rushing record tonight
It’s hard to look at it like that. Every game is a different deal. It’s all about matchups and for whatever reason we didn’t do a very good job matching up against them today. I thought we were in better shape than what we ended up being. We’ve just got to kind of see what really went wrong for us.
RE: Panthers open receivers
That’s one of the things we’re going to have to do. Take a look at this tape and find out where we were not aligned. Something’s not going as planned and we just have to go back and look at this. Is it personnel? Is it calls? Sometimes just because a guy’s open you’re not really sure of the answer and you’ve got to go take a look at it and figure out where you need to make adjustments.
RE: You said your offense was “awful” 2 weeks ago
We’re doing things better. We’re kind of shooting ourselves in the foot at the wrong time. We get something going and we either have a penalty or we miss a throw or a hole, or we don’t get it blocked correctly. I’m sure there have been calls I’ve made I wish I could take back. We’re making mistakes at the wrong time.
RE: Would you relinquish play calling
No. It’s the one thing I like doing.
Mike Pouncey – November 11, 2017
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Saturday, November 11, 2017
C Mike Pouncey
(You didn’t take a day off this week. Just talk about how well you’re feeling as far as physically.) – “I feel great. I feel great. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be out there practicing, I’d just be playing the game; but I want to get out there to start moving around now that I’ve got my feet back underneath of me and finish the season the right way.”
(Losing T Ja’Wuan James for the rest of the year, just talk about that and how much confidence you have in G/T Jesse Davis.) – “We’ve got a lot confidence in Jesse. Jesse’s a big guy – big and strong – and we think he’s going to block guys really, really well on the edge. It sucks losing Ja’Wuan. He’s a guy that’s been here for a long time. (He’s) a good football player for us, so we hope and wish that he has a speedy recovery, and look forward to having him back next year.”
(What does C/G Ted Larsen bring to the offensive line?) – “He’s a veteran player that’s really smart. He really understands football. He’s a really good guard. He can pass block one-on-one by himself and to me, that’s what I think makes guards really, really good, whenever they can pass block one-on-one by themselves.”
(Now how much does that change your role in terms of not having to help the guards maybe get to the second level?) — “It’s not going to really change. Our offense is already built in for me to help everybody out and I think Ted’s (Larsen) going to do a great job. He’s been a good player his whole career. I think we’re just going to stick to what we’ve always done and if they need help, they’ll tell us on the sideline.”
(You were talking about your practice schedule. Do you think the extra day will help you on Sundays or just the team in general having you out there just benefits …?) – “We’ll see on Sunday if it helps at all; but I just think me being out there around the guys every day, especially a game like this when we’re practicing on our silent count, and Thursdays is our big pass days, so I need to be out there with the team.”
(Offensive Coordinator Clyde Christensen talked about this yesterday about the fact that two losses on national television kind of hurt him a little, it pissed him off a little. Would you say or feel this in the locker room that this is a chance, the last chance, to show the nation what this team is made of?) – “I mean honestly at the end of the day every game to me, I prepare the same way. I don’t care if it’s at 8:30 p.m. or 1 p.m. I’m going to go out there and play the same; but obviously when you’re on the big stage, you want to play as well as possible, and we haven’t done that these past two times that we’ve been on the stage. We want to go out there and play well just like we do every weekend, but we’re not going to put more into it than what we need to. It’s just another football game.”
(Does a Monday night game get you up more or is it just…?) – “It’s one game. It’s another game. It’s football. We’ve only got 16 opportunities and honestly for me, I cherish every one of them just because of my situation that I went through last year. Each time I get to step on the football field, it’s just truly a blessing.”
(Last year you guys finished strong, winning nine of 11 games. What can help you get that hot finish?) – “I think we just do what we did last year. Last year we were at the same spot, 4-4, and we just started winning football games. We kind of were struggling at first and then we had the Tennessee Titans game, where offense started to turn over a little bit and the next week, the Pittsburgh Steelers game, we turned it on. Hopefully it works out the same way that we hit our stride and we finally find our groove of offense, and we can keep our defense off the football field and help them win football games.”
(Doing that last year, does that really help you as far as confidence going into this year?) – “Yes, just any other football season. Anything can happen. We know that the first half of the season obviously didn’t go the way we wanted. We had a lot of stuff going on. That’s no excuse. We still have to win those football games and this is a new season for us. We’ve got eight games to go out there and try and get into the tournament, and that’s our only goal.”
(What’s it like to have a non-distraction week?) – “(laughter) It feels good. This is what we expect at all times: just come in and worry about football and focus on football. That’s the kind of week we had this week.”
(You’re so consistent with your snaps that when you skip one it’s like … what happened on Sunday?) – “I’ll tell you (Michele Tafoya) jinxed me. She asked me about my snaps before the game and I said, ‘You know what, I hope it doesn’t happen this game.’ And (it) happened. Could you let her know that she jinxed me?”
(You were looking at your gloves.) – “Honestly, it was really humid out there, the field was wet, we were in a no-huddle drive where we just kept getting back on the football. I didn’t really have time to wipe my hands and it just slipped out. I felt it slip out and tried to turn back around and luckily Jay (Cutler) jumped on top of it.”
Adam Gase – November 11, 2017
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Saturday, November 11, 2017
Head Coach Adam Gase
(The decision with T Ja’Wuan James, I guess the second opinion validated the first?) – “Yes.”
(What is the nature of the injury?) – “I don’t know. It’s like a hamstring-ish type thing. They were trying to explain it to me, I was pretty much like, ‘Okay, we’re getting too deep here.’ This is the best decision for him. Really, it’s going to be about him just getting healthy again. He’s got a lot of time right now, so once he gets this going, we’ll just see how quickly this heals for him.”
(Does T Ja’Wuan James require surgery?) – “Yes, I think it looks like that’s what’s going to happen; but I don’t want to say 100 percent and be wrong, so we’ll kind of see.”
(Is there a chance that T Ja’Wuan James would be able to return for a playoff game if he was healthy enough?) – “That’s hard for me to answer right now. We’re a ways away from that right now.”
(Did he tear it?) – “Once again, a lot of the times I don’t ask all of the details because we’ve got to get to the next decision and we just knew where we were at as far as possibly him being out for a good amount of time and possible surgery.”
(C Mike Pouncey went back-to-back practices this week for the first time all year. What led to that?) – “Probably more him. He feels like he needs to be out there more. It was a good thing. We’ll be smart. We’re not going to give him a gazillion reps, but him going out there, especially on the day we work on third down, (was important). We have a lot to clean up there, which has been pretty obvious, so I think he feels like he can help in that area and it starts in practice.”
(The good teams, as you would know from experience, start playing their best football at this time of the year in November and December. What goes right in those scenarios? What do you have to do to make sure you’re peaking at the right time?) – “You get better in the beginning of the year. That’s why when people panic (after) the first four games, don’t. Just keep going to work and getting a good Wednesday, Thursday, Friday in, get better in the game. That’s what makes me excited in the second half of the season. I saw improvement over the last few weeks. Really it was last week. It was a big jump (from) that Thursday game to this last game. We’ve got some things to clean up, which we’re always going to have; but if we just keep finding ways to get better, it will fall the right way for us.”
(We talked to Offensive Coordinator Clyde Christensen yesterday, and he suggested that a pride factor of being on national television twice and not showing up – certainly in the first game and losing close in the second – bothered him a little. Do you feel that sense in the locker room?) – “I think any time we lose, it bothers guys. At the same time, they’ve got to look at big picture and they’ve got to look at process over outcome sometimes. They’ve got to see where we’ve done things better and they have to really take a look at things that we haven’t improved on and that’s what we’ve got to get better at. It’s fairly obvious that one of the things we need to correct is our penalty situation on offense. Sometimes it shows up; sometimes it’s been pretty clean. We’ve made a big emphasis to make sure we’re doing it in practice right. That’s why we have officials out here. We keep looking at, ‘Does it correlate between practice and games?’ It’s hard to really tell, because sometimes it may not be called exactly the same. We don’t have as many guys out there. If we clean some of that stuff up, I think we’ll see a different result.”
(Has it been relatively clean this week, would you say?) – “I think guys have really focused on doing things right. It starts in individual when you’re using the proper technique, you’re understanding what you’re trying to do, your assignment. When you put all of those pieces together, that gives you the best chance of having a clean play. I think our guys are really working towards that.”
(With the officiating, do you instruct the officials that are here to tighten it up or be more aggressive in their calls?) – “They’re pretty aggressive as it is, so I don’t think we have to tell them to tighten it up. The hard thing is we have three and it’s hard to see everything, so we may miss a few here and there, but those guys do a good job to make sure they call it like they would if it was an NFL game. They don’t have the numbers. That’s really the biggest thing.”
(Do you expect the chemistry between S Reshad Jones and S T.J. McDonald to pick up where it left off in the summer or is it going to be…?) – “I think we have a good chance for that to be a pretty good combination there. They have a good feel for each other. I think when you’ve got two veteran players like that, it doesn’t take a long time for them to click, especially when you got two guys that are as selfless as they are where they will do whatever they need to do to win the football game. It’s fun to watch them practice. It has been fun to see T.J. get back out there. It has been a long eight weeks for him. I know it was tough for him. When it’s taken away from you for that long, when you get back, you can tell he’s enjoying every snap.”
(To get back to T Ja’Wuan James for just a second, would you like to see him on the roster next year?) – “We’ve got to go through a long process before we even get to that. Obviously, I’m really big into making sure our guys stay here. We’re so far away from it. It’s hard for me to look past tomorrow. It’s hard to go that far.”
(How would you assess C/G Ted Larsen in a week of practice?) – “I thought it was good. I know he was tired on Wednesday. It was good though. It was good to get him conditioned.”
(Safe to assume C/G Ted Larsen will start Monday night?) – “We’ll see.”
(Does it feel like you’re starting a fresh new line considering they’re probably going to be two newcomers in that unit?) – “I don’t feel that way because we’ve rotated them so much since the start of OTAs that all of these guys have played together at some point. I know you’ve asked me about this in the past as far as the chemistry and trying to get guys together and how that all works out. Sometimes you see a group click sometimes quicker than others. We’re always going to hope for the best as far as how fast things happen. Really, we’ll see what happens. You never really know. Things start getting … Games start getting wild and it’s getting physical, how are we going to react with a new group? I’m excited to watch those guys play.”
(Do you expect teams to attack G/T Jesse Davis?) – “We’ll see. I feel like right now, we’ve been seeing some interesting (things), whether it be pressures or coverages. We’re getting good variety of stuff. Defensive coordinators keep getting creative. A lot of times it doesn’t matter who’s out there. Guys go in there with a certain game plan. I don’t know who they’re going to attack or what their philosophy is behind attacking our (offense) sometimes. When you start seeing things different, you’ve got to make adjustments really quick.”
(Does S Michael Thomas have a very good chance to play?) – “I hope so. We’ve just got to keep taking it one day at a time. I know what his mindset is; but at the same time, we’ve got a long ways to go and we just want to make sure whatever we do is the right thing.”
(With RB Damien Williams having the issue that he’s having and S Michael Thomas battling the knee, how concerned are you about special teams, the core unit?) – “The good thing is we’ve kind of prepared for situations like this. That’s why we do keep a pretty deep roster of special teams guys. (Special Teams Coordinator/Associate Head Coach Darren) Rizzi and ‘Mouf’ (Assistant Special Teams Coach Marwan Maalouf) always have a good plan to make sure guys are in the right spots and what do we take off, who do we put on, where can we have a newcomer in a group. ‘Rizz’ has got a good plan. I feel good when he’s at.”
(G/T Jesse Davis, how much will he benefit moving forward from focusing pretty much on right tackle as opposed to going back and forth?) – “The thing is you always have to keep getting prepared at multiple spots. If you have one injury sometimes, guys start shuffling around. Really at the end of the day, if somebody goes down, whoever it is, you’ve got to do what you need to do for that game to have your best five out there. We’ve just got to keep preparing guys to play multiple positions, because we only have seven up. One injury can really put you in a bind if you don’t prepare for it.”
(What gives you the most hope offensively, overall, that the second half of the season will be different than the first half?) – “Probably the last game. That was really what I I’ve been waiting for. I felt like guys were in a good flow. I loved the energy that we had. We made mistakes, but we were giving ourselves a chance. If we eliminate some of those penalties, it’s a different game. We were inside the 20 – at the 20 or inside the 20 – two other times that we get a holding penalty and we have a fumble. Those are two lost opportunities that we could’ve had points. So, if we can keep trending in that direction and then find a way to keep those possessions where they were at, I feel good where we’re going.”
Cameron Wake – November 11, 2017
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Saturday, November 11, 2017
DE Cameron Wake
(Obviously you’ve faced Panthers QB Cam Newton before but does it change at all in terms of how much you have to manage containment when the quarterback is that athletic?) – “No, not really. The main goal is to get back there. Once you get back there, the goal is always to get the ball on the ground, whether it’s a quarterback who is mobile or stationary. Sacks are hard to get no matter what. You’ve just got to focus in and do your job getting the ball on the ground.”
(Does Panthers QB Cam Newton maybe hold the ball a little bit longer because he wants to make that play? Some might just get it out of their hands but he hangs on and tries to make something happen.) – “You should ask him that. (laughter)”
(You watch more film than I do. What do you see on film about it?) – “He does hold onto the ball a little longer I think. I guess that’s him trying to make a play? At the end of the day, I guess it is risk (versus) reward. I don’t know what’s in his head. If you hold the ball longer and receivers are further down field, you probably have a better yardage type play; but then you’re also vulnerable to guys like me and mis compadres.”
(The reason I ask is that Defensive Coordinator Matt Burke yesterday was saying you guys have played really well despite not having a lot of sacks and pressures and stuff like that because they were getting the ball out of their hands so fast.) – “Yes, I think some of the quarterbacks we’ve played and offenses we’ve played have probably been in the top tier in the league as far as getting the ball out of their hands. I don’t know where (Cam Newton) ranks but I don’t pay as much attention to that as a pass rusher because I fight every play like it’s the play he’s going to have the ball in his hand when I get there and if he does, then finish the play.”
(The good teams seem to separate themselves in November and December late in the year. What does it take to win this time of year?) – “I think at this time of year all around the league, there’s situations that every team has to deal with, regardless of what it is. It could be injuries. It could be a whole host of things. At this time of year, you have to play consistent and you have to play together. There’s no way … Things we haven’t necessarily done will in the first half of the season is playing together. The offense will have a great drive and put points up and then we give up points and vice versa happens; or special teams is doing well and we’re not complementing each other. This time of year, consistency and playing complementary football is the way to be successful and that’s what we did last year; but the reality is nobody cares about last year. Nobody cares about last week. It’s a one week season every week and this week we want to be 1-0.”
Reshad Jones – November 10, 2017
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Friday, November 10, 2017
S Reshad Jones
(What kind of conversations have you had with S T.J. McDonald, even before this week?) – “We didn’t have too many conversations. He’s been pretty much away from the building so we haven’t really talked; but when he returned I said, ‘We’ve got eight weeks to go to work, so let’s go hard and see what happens.’”
(Is it an adjustment for you playing with so many safeties over the years – Isa Abdul-Quddus, Louis Delmas – it’s been a pretty long list of good safeties?) – “Not at all. I just control what I can control. I go out and do whatever I can to help this team win. Whoever is next to me or whoever is playing with me, it really doesn’t matter. Luckily, I’ve been fortunate enough to play with a lot of good safeties throughout my career here; but it really doesn’t matter.”
(The biggest thing is being on the same page from a call standpoint?) – “Yes, that’s it. We’re the quarterbacks of the defense so we’ve got to make sure we get everybody lined up and make sure we’re both on the same page and we’ll go from there.”
(You don’t see any adjustment period to playing with each other?) – “No, we played early on in OTAs and minicamp and different things like that, so we’ve got a little bit of experience together. We bonded a little bit on and off the field, so we’ve got a relationship. It’ll be fun. I’m ready to see this guy play and for both of us to go out and make plays.”
(Does S T.J. McDonald’s skill set complement yours, or how does that work with two safeties in the back?) – “I think it does. I think he’s a versatile safety too. He can play free or strong and I, obviously, can play free or strong. I’ve played both throughout my career here, so I think we do complement each other well.”
(It’s rare for you to play a game where you’re not at a really high, elite level, so when you have a game like Sunday that’s maybe not up to your standards, how tough are you on yourself and how much does it weigh on you all week?) – “It was just a play or two I had and that’s part of the game. I know I‘ve got to make those plays; but like you said, I think I’ve been playing good. Sunday, I think I had a solid game, I just (had) one or two plays I wish I had back. I’ll learn from that and move on, and keep doing what I’ve been doing.”
Jarvis Landry – November 10, 2017
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Friday, November 10, 2017
WR Jarvis Landry
(On Jason Taylor’s ping pong tournament…) – “C Mike Pouncey brought it to my attention that they do a ping pong tournament for Jason Taylor every year, so we just got that going.”
(I know you wanted to win obviously on Sunday, but does the receiving record, the most receptions in a four-year career mean anything to you?) – “It does; but for me, I haven’t even taken the time to let that soak in yet. Right now, I’m really just focusing on Carolina.”
(That was more fun for you when it was you and Odell Beckham Jr., wasn’t it?) – “What do you mean?”
(The record, when it was you and Odell Beckham Jr. going back and forth for it. Now the race is kind of over.) – “Absolutely, absolutely. Hopefully, through his recovery process and through everything, the push for the five-year mark, whatever that number is, is going to be something we both will be fighting for again.”
(Are you getting different coverages this year than you did the last couple of years, or even last year?) – “Not really. I’m getting more of the same stuff. If I’m answering the question, I’m getting more of the same coverages that I’ve been seeing for pretty much my whole career.”
(Because you’re on pace to have more receptions than past years, but for less yards, and nobody knows why really.) – “I don’t know. All I can do is the best I can when I get the opportunity and the type of opportunity; so for me, just getting the ball in my hands regardless of the defense, the play call, whatever, and trying to make something happen from there. That’s all I can do, that’s all I can control.”
(It’s the third straight primetime game for you guys. It didn’t go so well in the first two. Is there a sense of wanting to show the nation that you’re a good team?) – “Yes, we want to show the nation every week. For us, it’s another opportunity for us to be on the primetime stage and try to come back home with a W.”
(I know you’ve talked about people not respecting you in the past. Do you still feel that way and do you feel like you have something to prove on Monday night?) – “Yes, of course; but we’ve got to go and take that respect, regardless of if we’ve earned it or not. Nobody is going to give it to you and I feel like we’ve got to go out there and take it, and that’s the mindset.”
Matt Burke – November 10, 2017
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Friday, November 10, 2017
Defensive Coordinator Matt Burke
(What do you remember about the time that S T.J. McDonald and S Reshad Jones were in the secondary together during camp?) – “It seems like a long time ago. Obviously we felt really good about the way that they complemented each other, played together. We were moving groups around at the time obviously with the awareness of T.J.’s situation. We were working Nate (Allen) in and some other guys; but I just remember them having a good connection and kind of being able to work together in a lot of different areas. We felt good about their skill sets complementing each other in terms of both being able to play down and being able to play back and being able to do some different things with them in that sense. We got them back out there again yesterday for the first time and kind of went right back into it, so hopefully it’s a positive sign moving forward.”
(Did S T.J. McDonald just jump in? He’s just totally good to go?) – “Yes, until someone tells me otherwise.”
(Did S T.J. McDonald look like a guy that’s been out for eight weeks?) – “No, no. He did look good. I mean physically, he’s been really working hard. One of the benefits of being able to have him in the building at least in terms of … We haven’t been able to do anything with him in terms of on-the-field stuff, but with our strength staff and conditioning and getting him ready to play, I didn’t notice personally, anything in terms of lack of fitness and that sort of thing. I think physically he’s ready to go. There’s always going to be a little bit of dust in terms of some mental stuff; but again, another benefit of having him in the building is (him) being in some of the meetings that we’ve been able to have him in and in a classroom setting. I think he’ll be ready to go.”
(Are both of those guys, S T.J. McDonald and S Reshad Jones, for those guys, is playing back the bigger challenge then playing up in the box?) – “I don’t think so, necessarily. I think that’s, especially with T.J. for example, I think that’s … I don’t want to say a stereotype but you see a big, a 6-3, 225 pound safety and you just assume those things. It was probably sort of a bias I had when we signed him. Going back to your earlier question, I thought that actually was one of the pleasant things about him we noticed in the spring. He’s a tall kid that can range back there too and do some things. I think it’s just sort of human nature to say let’s put this big guy in the box and that’s where he is, but we try to find safeties that are multi-dimensional and multi-talented that can do different things that don’t hamstring a play caller or a defensive scheme. I don’t have any reservations of putting those buys back in the back end.”
(I know some of this is dictated by how fast the ball comes out, but are you okay how much pass rush you’ve gotten out of your front four and is there any you could do to ramp that up?) – “I’ve been actually pleased with what they’ve done. I mean there’s nothing I can do to make a guy not throw the ball quick if they really want to. Really to combat those things, we have to … Teams that want to neutralize a defensive line, they’re going to run the ball, which I feel like for the most part in the big picture, we’ve done a decent job of taking that away from teams, so they can’t do that. One of our struggles in the Baltimore game was we weren’t doing that. That’s a way to neutralize a rush. The other thing is when they do throw quick throws, at a minimum we have to tackle. I think one of our failings or issues has been … I think it’s really hard, I think it’s difficult for a team, for offenses, to put together 12- to 14-play drives if you’re just throwing the ball so quick. If it’s a 2-yard pass here, a 3-yard pass there, if you’re tackling well, if you’re matching things up well, I think one of our failings has been that we’ve actually given up more sort of chunk plays in the last few weeks than we had earlier in the year. If a team wants to throw the ball in 1.4 seconds, there’s nothing I can do about it.”
(Is that what it was last week?) – “I don’t know. I’m just throwing random numbers out that sound lower than they probably are. (laughter) But no, we have to make that not a successful plan of attack, is what we have to do. That comes from tackling those quick throws and limiting a 2-yard throw to a 2-yard gain or 3-yard gain, not a 10-yard gain. Now the issue is, I thought last week for example we got pretty aggressive in our zone coverages and we were trying to … We can’t get frustrated by that plan of attack. I think it’s hard for a team to keep doing that for a whole length of a field. I thought we were a little bit over aggressive in some of the shallow routes and now we’re opening up stuff behind us. It’s kind of a fair trade there a little bit. We have to do a better a job of mixing our coverages where maybe they think this is a time I can get a quick throw off, where now we’re matching it up a little tighter versus giving up stuff behind us. That’s the sort of game you have to play. In general I’ve been pleased with our d-line. I actually thought they played really well last week. Even a guy like (Andre) Branch, who didn’t practice as much during the week, I thought he played really well. He rushed really well. Again, the message to some of the guys in the back end is I’ll pause the tape and you see the pocket collapsing, but the ball is coming out and stuff. (We have to) keep mixing up our coverages, giving different looks, getting a little bit tighter in that area of things to give those guys that extra half a second; but I’ve not been disappointed with the way line has played.”
(In Cincinnati, you had a guy in S Taylor Mays who essentially at some points, even though he was listed as a safety, played linebacker on occasion. Do you view S T.J. McDonald in the same light and can kind of do those types of things?) – “I mean he’s capable, absolutely. I’m a little cautious, again just getting him back into things – T.J. – in terms of putting too much on his plate right now in terms of multiple positions and all of that stuff; but yes, we did. Taylor was actually in my room (when I was) the linebackers coach (in Cincinnati) for some of the time. We moved him around a little bit and did some different things. I mean T.J. has that skill set for sure. It’s just a matter of, again sort of mentally and sort of learning and as we move forward, and again what other pieces (do you have)? If you’re putting him down there, you’re taking somebody else off the field and who you’re putting on, and all of those sort of issues. I think he has that ability for sure to be sub dime or linebacker, and move back, and you can do some different things with him. It’s just a matter of how it fits into the big picture.”
(What’s the biggest challenge when you’re facing an athletic mobile quarterback like Panthers QB Cam Newton who is basically a running back?) – “It’s funny. I think Cam (Newton) is a unique athlete. I mean a really unique (athlete), just probably mostly due to his size. Even then, compared to running quarterbacks, he’s just such a big man. It’s a different sort of element. It’s just, I think the biggest challenge is being disciplined in your assignments and your techniques and how we’re playing that, because it adds another element to the run game. I mean it’s one thing if they’re under center and they’re loaded up and you can just play the runs. At this point of the year, you’ve seen most of the run schemes from a normal standpoint. But when you add the quarterback element of the game, and with them there’s pitch elements and there’s all sorts of stuff going on. You just have to be disciplined in how you’re doing that and it just makes it mentally challenging over the course of the game because every play you have to be on point with who’s got the dive, who’s got the quarterback, what are we showing them? Basically all of our calls have to be able to match up versus all those elements in the run game. That makes it a challenge. I think it’s as much of a mental challenge as it is physical. The physical part with him is getting him on the ground when you do have that chance because he’s a big person and when he gets a head of steam and gets in open field, he’s tough to take down. That part physically is just something we’ve got to deal with, but the mental aspect of play in and play out, having the discipline and having the awareness of what my assignment is and what my responsibilities will be, will be the challenge this week.”
(Who are your roster do you think is best equipped in coverage – and when I say on your roster I’m speaking linebackers, safeties, CB Bobby McCain I guess you could throw in there – who’s best equipped to defend big pass-catching tight ends in coverage? Obviously it was a problem last week.) – “I feel good about a lot of our guys. Last week we were mixing guys up. I feel good about Kiko (Alonso) matching up the guys in coverage. I feel good about Lawrence (Timmons). I feel good about T.J. (McDonald) and (Reshad (Jones). Probably not Bobby (McCain) in terms of size wise (laughter). But last week, in terms of tight ends stuff, I didn’t feel we did a good job taking some of the stuff we had talked about during the week, sort of the information that we give these guys and putting it into play on the field. I thought our issue with the tight end was two-fold last week. We talked a lot about not wanting to give him free space. (Jared) Cook, when he gets going, he’s a big guy. He can run when he gets going, we felt like we wanted to disrupt him off the line a little bit more than we did when we had those opportunities. One of the things I was disappointed in is I just felt that we didn’t execute sort of that – not that it was part of the game plan in terms of schematically but in terms of a scouting issue. If he gets going as we saw, when he was climbing and got in the seams and got down field, I mean he’s a big man. He’s tough to keep up with and we wanted to take that away before it got to that point. I didn’t think we did a good job of putting hands on at the line of scrimmage and trying to disrupt his releases, which was part of what our plan of attack was. Then the second part I thought was, again we were probably getting a little too nosey on shorter routes and letting him get behind us. If we were in man or we were in something where it was a little bit more aggressive, we didn’t do a good job of getting hands on, and when we were in zone coverages, I felt like we were getting a little bit too jumpy on some shallow routes and giving him some space behind us to complete some of those balls. I honestly don’t really worry about matchups. I think we have different athletes at linebacker and safety –slightly different body types and skill sets – that I feel good about trying to give different looks to tight ends in terms of man coverages and some type of coverages. I just think that we have to execute the scouting reports out of the game plan better than not just the schematic stuff.”
(With three interceptions in the first half of the season, what are some things you’ve noticed as reasons for limited interceptions and what might be some ways to…?) – “Well we’ve got to catch the ones that come to us, first of all. Not to keep harping on last week but I mean probably the biggest disappointment for me, personally, was the 2-minute drive at the end of the (first) half. There’s 28 seconds left in the half. We should not give up points there, period. We jumped down on a shallow route and gave up a long play to start the drive. If we just let them check that ball down there in the first play of it, they probably run the half out at that point. Then the next two plays we have our hands on balls twice and we drop them both. Kiko (Alonso) kind of stumbles, it gets tipped, then (Davon) Godchaux kind of gets his hand on a tipped ball so the path redirects and Kiko stumbles and it hits him in the facemask. Then they try to take a shot and ‘Mo’ (Maurice Smith) is in really good shape and he goes up and he just doesn’t come down with it. The starting point is I’d like to catch some of the ones that come to us. That would be a plus. I think it ties into similar stuff with the rush. It’s hard to pick balls off. A lot of interceptions come – I always hear (Defensive Backs Coach) Lou (Anarumo) talk about it – on tips and overthrows. There’s that part of it but also if they’re throwing the ball quick and they’re not letting our rush affect it, most of your picks are coming on a little bit down the field throws or again, if you’re in 2-minute drive situations or have to throw it situations and they’re trying to force balls down the field in coverage, and those sort of things. We haven’t been in a lot of those situations and then we have, we haven’t taken advantage of the opportunities that come to us. It’s like anything else. I mean we preach … If you start trying to go get interceptions, you’re going to give up some other things. When the opportunities do come, you don’t know. That was pretty much my message after last week’s game was that there were probably … I mean that’s an NFL game to me. That’s a battle, right? They made some plays, we made some plays. (Ndamukong) Suh makes a hell of a play. It is 20-16 with 12 minutes left. Suh makes a hell of play to get the ball back at midfield. That’s how NFL games are going to go, but you don’t know what those five or six plays are that are going to be the difference. If you get your hands on the ball and there’s a chance to get a big turnover and change the game, then we have to be able to take advantage of those chances. Sometimes you can’t dictate when those chances come. Some of that is game situations, some of that’s sort of the byproduct of what we’re playing and things; but when they do come, we have to take advantage and we probably … they’re not easy plays but we had three or four chances at least last week to make a play on the ball; and honestly, even on the long touchdown, I’m sure if you ask Reshad (Jones), he’d say he expects himself to pick that ball off.”
(Do you have an estimate for catchable or not caught picks?) – “No, I don’t. If you remind me, I’ll try to dig that up for next week.”
(S Reshad Jones’ late hit/unnecessary roughness play, what did you think? Is that an example of something you would send to the league for explanation?) – “Yes, we did send it to the league. We do that stuff. To me it’s more about coachable moments. That’s a hard play. They ruled, and the NFL said that they felt he led with the crown of his head. That’s tough. It’s close. They also claim that they missed the facemask where his helmet got ripped off by the receiver in the aftermath. It’s a bang-bang play. To me, Reshad came over. I always try to, in the moment, get a sense of what those guys are feeling and what they are seeing. The kid caught the ball and was sort of tip-toeing the sideline trying to get more yards up the field. He was still in play. It wasn’t like it was a hit out of bounds, that the receiver had been out of bounds or anything like that. They just ruled it that Reshad kind of dipped in and led – a lot of times he’s trying to gather some force to try to pry through on the hit. I thought it was with the shoulder pad, they thought it was with the helmet. It’s kind of a judgement area. That’s how they ruled it. I think it’s just the world that we’re living in, with the defense especially. The NFL is going to error on caution on those things and error on protecting players. If we tell them to keep that head out for that much more and just make it truly a clean hit with the shoulder on the sideline, I think that’s where we’ll try to get to. It’s tough. It’s a tough call.”
Adam Gase – November 10, 2017
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Friday, November 10, 2017
Head Coach Adam Gase
(You mentioned about penalties, obviously, last Sunday being timely. College coaches have the recourse of having their players run steps or something with penalties. Beyond playing time, is there any recourse that an NFL coach has if he’s troubled by penalties by specific players at bad times, are far as consequences?) – “There’s really nothing you can do. You want to do it right in practice. That’s really where it starts. Make sure that you’re keeping clean with everything you’re doing, whether it be pre snap penalties, holding penalties, defensive holding, pass interference – those type of things. You just want to try to make sure you do it right in practice.”
(There’s a report out there that T Ja’Wuan James has a groin injury that will cost him the rest of the season. Can you clarify or…) – “It’s not a groin. So, I guess that’s wrong.”
(A hamstring?) – “That’s what I said yesterday: we’re still going through the process of trying to figure out the main issue. I’m just gathering information when they bring it to me. I’m sure I’ll know something here in the next few hours of the exacts.”
(WR Jarvis Landry is averaging nearly 5 yards less per catch than he did last year. Why do you think that is?) – “It’s nothing that he’s doing wrong. We’re going to take what the defense gives us and complete balls and try to move the sticks and stay in third-and-manageable. That’s really what it’s all about. Earlier in the season, the biggest problem we had was we were third-and-10, third-and-10 probably because we were trying to push the ball down the field too much. That’s why your conversion rate gets down and low. It’s tough to complete balls in that area. Some of the defenses that we’re seeing, they’re going to try to take him away. What does he have, like 50-some catches? (They) kind of know we’re going to go to him. They’re playing tight. We’re not seeing a lot of middle field, open zones where in the slot, that’s where really that guy makes his money. We’re seeing a lot more single-high safety, zone-type defenses. It forces the ball to go outside most of the times. So when we try to get the ball to him, he has to break a tackle or something like that, which he does a lot of times. It’s not easy.”
(With TE Julius Thomas, you’ve always talked about getting the right matchup, which would make him come alive. Has that been what you’ve been getting, or are you seeing him create a little bit more separation?) – “That’s what happened last game. We got the right matchups. We tried to find some ways to get him going a little bit. It worked out. We’ve just got to keep going, and that’s going to help the other guys.”
(Are you expecting WR Jakeem Grant and RB Damien Williams back at practice today?) – “I’m still … I’m not sure yet. We’ve got to see … They both still don’t feel good. I don’t know exactly what it is, but I just don’t want to put them out there if they’re dehydrated and then something else happen (and) make it worse than what it already is. I’m going to keep checking in with the trainers. They’re keeping an eye on it. I know Jakeem is trying to go. I don’t know if Damien is going to be able to.”
(What’s the challenge with Panthers RB Christian McCaffrey and how unique of a player is he?) – “I think when you’ve got a guy that does as many things as he does, it always makes it difficult, because you’ve got to know where he’s all at the time. When you take a guy that can play slot, outside, backfield, then he can run the ball, then he can pass – when you add all those things up, it makes it very hard to really key on what he’s going to do and how they’re going to use him for that game. That’s why when you play this offense, you have to be very sound at what you’re doing. If you’re not, that’s where you can get gashed pretty bad. With my experience, whether it be playing these guys or being on a team that was similar to some of the things that they do, you have to be very sound at what you’re doing.”
(If RB Damien Williams can’t go, can one guy replace him – RB Senorise Perry – or because of scrimmage and special teams, would it take…) – “He’s going to be able to go, he just might not be able to practice. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here.”
(Were either of those guys hospitalized or anything? Was it that serious?) – “No.”
(Have you kept them away from the rest of the team to avoid…) – “Yes. I can bring them in here. (laughter)”
(Why would you do that? You’re in here too though.) – “I’ll leave. (laughter)”
(Was the snap count and the usage for each last week about what you would consider ideal? It was 37 for RB Kenyan Drake, 30 for RB Damien Williams.) – “We thought it would be close to 50/50. I think Damien’s role, whether it be on first and second down, third down, red zone, we were just trying to make sure we didn’t load up one guy. I thought (Running Backs Coach) Danny (Barrett) did a good job getting those guys in and out, communicating with me who was in. It helped to keep those guys fairly fresh. Damien was doing a little more on special teams. The amount of effort he exerts takes a lot out of him. He’s wiped out after the game, I know that for sure. He gives you everything he has. We’ve just got to keep doing a good job of balancing it out.”
(How did C/G Ted Larsen look in practice and how did he come out of the practice?) – “I think he’s just trying to get it going. All of a sudden you get thrown out there and you’re taking a lot of reps. I know he feels good. It’s really just getting him in the best condition we can as fast as we can, which he has been working on; but when you start going out there and you’re leaning on guys and run blocking, pass pro, all those type of things, going through a full practice, it’s just completely different than just running on the side and lifting. He seems to feel good. An NFL game, that’s a long time to play.”
(But you saw out of C/G Ted Larsen what you wanted to see?) – “Yeah.”
(What does RB Kenyan Drake need to do to elevate his level of contribution for this team and to sort of gain the coaching staff’s confidence a little bit more?) – “I think he has got our confidence. A majority of the things he did this last game is what we’re looking for. I’d like for him to hold onto the ball. We’ve just got to keep improving on all of the things he has never seen before, whether it be third down stuff, a lot of the different looks and coverages when we release him on routes. He’s going to be learning through the rest of the season. I think he has just got to stay on the track he’s on right now. He’s studying, trying to make sure he knows everything to do; but it’s one thing to know what to do and react to what the defense does. We’ve just got to keep working on that. The more reps he gets, the better.”
(What types of challenges does their guy LB Luke Keuchly pose?) – “It’s probably easier to say what challenges doesn’t he pose. The guy is a special player. I don’t think I’ve seen a guy communicate as much as he does on defense. I can think of one other guy (Ray Lewis) and he played in Baltimore for a long time. It’s impressive to watch. As a coach, you just kind of sit back and you can admire what he’s doing, how he runs that defense, how he gets those guys in the right stuff. When teams give him oddball formations or plays and things like that, he seems to iron everything out, get everybody lined up. Everybody knows what to do. You don’t see them make a lot of mistakes. It starts with him, and then he makes a ton of plays sideline to sideline. He does a great job in coverage. He stays as tight as you’ve got to stay, whether it be zone or man. He’s a very tough player to go against.”
(Looking at Panthers QB Cam Newton’s rushing numbers, I think he has got like 28 first downs, which is maybe fifth or sixth in the NFL. Does he get a lot of those on third down? Is it a lot of them against nickel defenses?) – “It’s hard to say, because they do so many different personnel groupings. Whether it’s a run or a pass, he has designed runs. When you get in third down and all of a sudden you spread everybody out and you get the smaller guys in there, he takes off and he’s tough to bring down. I feel like he’s playing extremely smart right now where he knows when it’s time to go get one and when it’s time to get down. He has always been a tough matchup to go against. You’ve got to stay in your coverages as tight as possible and then guys have to do a good job of trying to keep him in the pocket and not let him get outside, because when he becomes … When he has the ability – whether it be to run the ball or pass the ball – that’s where he can get some really explosive plays, especially in the pass game.”
(Speaking of Panthers QB Cam Newton, how big has assignment football been preparing for this game, who has the pitch, who has the dive, things of that nature?) – “The hardest thing about playing this crew is they just don’t do … That’s something they do, but that’s not exclusively (what they do). That’s what makes them tough because they can line up in the shotgun and do normal drop-back passing. They have the full gamut. You’re talking about a guy that won MVP a couple years ago. He knows how to move the ball, whether it be in the running game, the passing game, whether he has got to do it himself. He knows how to put together drives and get the ball in the end zone. That’s what makes him dangerous is he can do everything. I think a lot of people forget that he was rolling really good a couple years ago. Everybody forgot about him last year, but he looks like he’s playing pretty good to me.”
(I don’t know if you can say your offense is in now. It’s less of a power-running offense, but two guys – QB Jay Cutler and TE Julius Thomas – seemed to have their best performance in your offense last week. Was that just the way it happened or was that because you’re closer to what they know?) – “I think Julius, we got some of the matchups that we wanted. Jay, really, the last two games he has played well. The Jets game, that was probably one of the best games that he has had. Then this last game, I think he topped it. I don’t know if that has anything to do with that. We just got finally rolling a little bit last week. We’ve just got to figure out a way to eliminate a couple of those penalties, don’t turn the ball over and we’ll probably have a different outcome.”
