(Last year the Cincinnati game was the third preseason game and the team looked tired. Did that affect your approach to this preseason?)
It was a small factor. It was really the whole offseason program as far as building off of this. We have two factors that I need to be aware of. One is the medical condition of our football team. With this latest group of injuries, it's all two to four weeks. The timing is not very good for us going from 75 to 53. That's the first problem. The second is that we have a number of positions that aren't answered yet. I need to clear those things up and I don't want to wait until Tennessee to do that. That's really why we're changing gears as far as playing our ones for three quarters in this game. We're going to play bunch of combinations. We need to sit down as a staff tomorrow and do that. I told the players today that they'll be working with someone they haven't gotten a lot of reps with because we have to get all the information to answer our questions.
(Where was KGB?)
KGB has a personal issue that he's attending to.
(How is his knee?)
I haven't seen him yet so I don't have an update on him. Based on after the game, he's day-to-day.
(What do you like about Cobb?)
Our personnel guys thought he had a good workout today. We'll take a look at him this week. I'll get him in the game. That's not the deepest position that we have. We'll take a look at him.
(Is Miree going to be able to play?)
As long as he got through this practice, I'd say yes.
(What was the thinking in releasing Underwood?)
We have a lot of depth at that position, a lot of competition. We only have so many reps left to get answers on finalizing that position. With the type of individual he was, he's an excellent pro, especially as a young guy. We thought it was in his best interest if we gave him an opportunity to move on now.
(What steps does Rouse have to make to contribute?)
I think Aaron Rouse is continuing to improve. Like all the young guys I would like to get him a lot of reps. Special teams will be a big part of his responsibility for this upcoming year. He needs to continue to improve on that, as well as the safety position.
(Your thoughts on Atari being with the first team today?)
Like I stated at the beginning of the week, we have a competition between Atari and Marquand (Manuel). We want to give Atari a chance to be the first one to go out. MM has done that in the past. We need to find out exactly what we're going to do there.
(Will Hall start at fullback tomorrow night?)
We'll answer that tomorrow. If I had to make a decision today I'd say yes.
(Any other decisions made about playing time?)
We're going to meet on that tomorrow.
(Noah didn't get any carries last game. Will he get some Thursday?)
I think so. With the way the game was played and the number of reps we had set up for him, played a factor in how many reps he got.
(Will Paul Thompson or Ingle Martin be the third QB Thursday?)
Right now I'm leaning towards Ingle, we'll finalize that tomorrow.
{sportsad300}(What do you think so far of Spencer Havner's camp?)
I think Spencer's had a very good offseason. He was a young guy that came late to us last year. I thought he played okay in the first game. I thought he improved in the second game on special teams and on defense. Spencer's another individual fighting at that linebacker position. I really like his versatility. He can play all three positions. He'll see a lot of action Thursday night.
(Are you doing much game-plan wise for Jacksonville?)
We went to an in-season schedule today from a time frame. That's the most we've been able to do to get into in-season, playing a Saturday night game with a short week we didn't get to go through the traditional in-season schedule that you're (usually) able to do in the third week. We'll operate on an in-season schedule in the fourth week. I'm worried about the new players and the players that have been here because you have to change your time clock from a training camp time clock to an in-season time clock. As far as the game plan, we'll probably watch more game film on Pittsburgh and Seattle because we're on a short week. But they have the same problems that we have.
(Is there anything more you'd like to see defensively?)
I think schematically we're at the point where we're going to show what we've done already. The biggest thing on defense is that you'd like them to stay at the level they've been playing at. That's their challenge coming off the Seattle game. There are a lot of jobs that are open. My biggest goal coming out of this defensively, outside of winning the game, is to get some clarity to the positions.
(Any update on Morency?)
They keep telling me his rehab is going well. He's week-to-week. He's not going this week, I know that. Whether he goes against Tennessee is something we'll look at in the middle of the week. I'm very hopeful that he'll be close for that game. I think he'll definitely be ready for Philadelphia. That's his timetable that we're looking at.
