(The end looked a little sloppy. What was going on?)
I share your opinion. I thought it was sloppy. I thought the false starts of the offense were way too many. The two-minute mechanics is always a little rugged first time out, if you look in the spring, you look back to last year. I've experienced that. But there's no excuse for false starts, whether it's guys not concentrating because they're tired and so forth. But I thought offensively we started sluggish in the team run, so it really started for us early, and I thought they actually responded very well and put together a really good practice until the two-minute. I think the defense was playing with excellent tempo. I thought schematically they challenged the offense also. I think our defense is doing a good job. We had good special teams work. I thought the environment here was excellent to work in, and I thought we had a good night's work.
(How did Driver look out there?)
It's a big difference when Donald is out there. He's a Pro Bowl player, and he makes plays all the time. What we really missed was his leadership. I thought we've been dead on offense, and to have a sparkplug of leadership out here I thought was a big bonus for us.
(With Pickett and Jolly back, are you able to mix the defensive tackles more?)
I think that's a strength of our football team. We kept 10 defensive linemen last year on our roster, and you could easily make the same argument this year. Just to have the ability to rotate those guys in there, a bunch of big bodies that can really get after people in the two-gap scheme on first and second down. And we've got a bunch of athletic guys. I think Cullen Jenkins is off to an incredible start. He's having about as good a camp as I can recall looking across the line of scrimmage at him. Very pleased with the progress of our defensive line.
(What was the experience like being out here in this unique environment tonight?)
I think it's special, I think we all agree with that. It was a great idea, and I think it's everything we expected it to be. I think the crowd was great. They're always great. But just the history that's involved in it, the field looks in game condition. Just a great atmosphere to practice in.
(Will you hold practice here again?)
I think that's something we'll definitely discuss. I was very pleased with the way it went tonight.
(So maybe next year, not again this year?)
I don't have plans right now to be here this season. We get our schedules six, seven months ahead of time, but not a year, so we're not quite ready yet.
(Did the players get into this environment?)
I'm a little disappointed in a fragment of our players right now emotionally. I thought most of them did. We had tremendous energy in the locker room before we came over here. I thought it was a very spirited practice, but we're having these lulls that we need to get rid of. I know everyone goes through them in training camp, but I'm not happy with the way the practice ended.
(Why are Brandon Miree and Rory Johnson out?)
Brandon has an Achilles, and Rory has, I don't know what it is, his abdomen. They don't have a specific diagnosis on it yet. I'm told they're going to be day to day is their status.
(Did Bubba drop out at the end?)
I didn't notice. If he did I'm not aware of it.
(Does Lonie have a broken foot or leg or something?)
He has a foot injury and he's not doing very well.
(Did anybody get hurt tonight?)
Not that I'm aware. No.
(Why did you put Lonie on IR? Is it broken?)
I'm not getting into it. He's got a foot injury. How many times do I have to tell you that? He's got a foot injury. Anybody got anything else?
{sportsad300}(Tomorrow, the day off, will that help in terms of the lulls?)
I think that's an excuse. If it helps, then great. I'd love to be wrong. But we need to practice better as far as completing a practice. Everybody goes through the dog days as you want to say of training camp. It'll help, because that's why it's there in the middle of the week. I think it will help their legs. But I don't we have a leg problem right now. I think we have a focus ... we have to be a little tougher mentally down the stretch.
(Are you frustrated enough that you'll practice tomorrow?)
We will not practice tomorrow. Our schedule is set. It's in there for a reason. The rest and recovery is part of our training camp. That's why we'll do it. The opportunities that we have to get better we have to take full advantage of.
(What's your first organized team activity tomorrow and what time?)
I know I'm up at 7 with Jeff and then I just go from there. I want to say 9:00 we have a team meeting, and then we'll go through our normal special teams, quarterbacks, offense and defense (meetings). Then we have Willie Davis coming in to speak to the football team, and then we'll have lunch.
(You added Joe Werner to the roster today?)
Joe, we had him here on the rookie weekend. Very athletic. Everybody knows his basketball history at La Crosse. He's a young man that kind of sparked us, sparked our interest when he was here. Just came back from his honeymoon, so I'm sure he's ready to go. It's a good opportunity for him, and just want to learn more about him. Because he's a gifted athlete.
