(What happened to Coston yesterday?)
Juice turned his ankle, has an ankle sprain, in our goal-line work yesterday at the end of practice.
(Is it the same one he hurt before?)
I think it's the other one actually. I want to say it's his left ankle.
(Did it turn out to be worse than you thought?)
I thought he may be able to go today. They feel the extra day of treatment would help him. We may work him out as early as tomorrow, or prior to the game. He'll be a gameday decision.
(What's the plan if he can't go?)
Tony Moll worked at right guard today, (that) would be the starting point.
(Did you practice inside all week this week?)
Correct.
(What is your thinking there?)
Wednesday and Thursday I went inside because of the wind, based on the weather report I'm given every morning, and then I get another one about 9:30. We went inside because of the wind. And frankly, today, I got some bad information. My car confirmed it. I was told it was going to be 48 degrees, 5 mile-an-hour winds, so I'd actually scheduled practice outside. I'd rather be outside every day. And then I was told it was 34 degrees by 9:30, so we decided to go in. Now, I get in here relatively early so I really don't have an idea of what the weather is. In my car it said 34 degrees on the ride down here, so I didn't think anything of it, but then when I got out of my car, it didn't feel like 34 degrees. That's why we were inside today.
(What would the wind affect your decision?)
It was supposed to be in the 20s. I think anytime you get up to 25 mile-an-hour winds, or 20, it can affect practice. The point is Wednesday is an install day. You may have some new things. Maintaining your rhythm and continuity is important. And I'll say this, both our quarterbacks are very good bad weather players. They have strong velocity, so I'm not as concerned about being outside for them to adjust. Plus Brett's played so much. So the quality of practice is better when you're inside. It's just like last year. Our plan from practicing inside to outside is no different than last year, and I was outside from what I'm told longer than anybody that's been here for quite some time.
(With Spitz making his first start at center, and possibly Tony Moll going at guard, how big a challenge is it for the line to perform?)
That's a challenge, it's a challenge a number of teams go through week in and week out, and we don't view it any differently. Jason Spitz has played a lot of football for us in a short time, I know it hasn't been at center. And no different than Tony Moll. Tony Moll was a starter at this time last year. So we expect them to go in and play at a high level. We're not going to change anything we're doing as far as our approach to the game. It's a product of how you rep your linemen during the course of training camp and so forth. When you're the sixth, seventh, eighth lineman on the football team, you have to play multiple positions, and it prepares you for these situations.
(Did you get any clarification from the league on the Corey Williams penalty on the field goal from last week?)
We'll continue to use the formation or alignment of Corey, and we are correct as far as his alignment being, as long as his helmet is outside the shoulder pad. That's a player safety issue. I think everybody knows why they made it an emphasis because the snapper was in danger of hard rushes, and we're not doing that with Corey. Mike Periera actually was here last year for our officials' meeting, and we've been doing it since then. We'll continue to do that.
(Did they tell you they made the wrong call there?)
We'll continue to do that as we move forward.
(Is Coston the backup center if Wells is out?)
Juice is the backup center, and we worked a couple guys today. Daryn Colledge has some limited experience there. Mark Tauscher has been an emergency center for us in the past, so those two guys worked a little bit today.
(So if you don't have Coston and Spitz's calf flares up, you go to Tauscher?)
We'll be prepared. We have a backup plan.
(In the 2-minute drill at the end of the game, where did you lose time there?)
The time that was used as far as the alignment of the formation, the cadence that was used, the adjustment and the communication to get the protection and the play-call, was not as fast as it should be. It's a combination of the operation. We've always been a good 2-minute team in my view. With our no-huddle offense, there's a lot of carry-over to 2-minute, and we practice it all the time. But to me, that really wasn't the factor in the football game. That's something we could have done a better job in, but there's a number of things in that game we could do a better job in.
(Is it a given if Wells is the center that it goes faster?)
I don't agree with that. I think we'll be fine with Jason in there. The quarterback sets the plate. You have to get the formation set, you have to get the protection called. They have to make their line calls, and then the routes are distributed. We could just be quicker with the operation and the communication of the cadence.
(How do you decide when to spike it and when to keep going?)
It's all about time management. We have a meeting today at 1 o'clock. We have a game management meeting every week. It's something that Mike Eayrs is the lead person in that area. We go through every different situation. We work different 2-minute situations every week in practice. No different than the way we do it in training camp, and so forth. Time management is a constant practice that's part of the game. We have different landmarks as far as time when you do call a timeout, when you don't, things like that. A lot of it is based on experience, because some people have different opinions on when you should call a timeout. Just like the one before half. The ability to go clock right there was the proper call, but when it hit that 18-second mark, which is a benchmark in that particular situation, I didn't think we were going to get it done fast enough, so that's why I called the timeout instead of Brett getting the clock play. Those are situations you practice in your exercise all the time.
(Brandon Jackson is not on the injury report, so he's healthy enough to play. What does he have to do to get back in the mix?)
It's really a product of the running back group, trying to get those individuals ready to play. I've said it here before, we really don't have enough reps to go about the training for that position that you would like. I'm in favor of leaning more towards one runner and playing the others in situations. That's what we've done last week and this week. DeShawn Wynn, he would be the leadoff guy, and Vernand will be more of a situational package guy, and Ryan Grant will be the backup to those two and play primarily on special teams.
(Is this the first week you've been able to make the running back decisions on best man available?)
Wouldn't that be medical? What do you mean, best man available?
{sportsad300}(I mean this time you have four guys to decide on, medical issues aside.)
I think I've talked about this in the past here. My experience with running-back-by-committee, and I've done it one other time, and we talked about this, when I was in New Orleans. In looking at that group, you had Terry Allen, was a player that had a ton of experience. Jerald Moore I think was the other running back, he was in about his fifth or six year, and Chad Morton was a rookie. So your regiment of reps and training was sorted differently, where you able to get three guys ready to play. What I've found out with our group is we're getting guys ready to play in certain segments of the game, but you also have to get them ready for the backup part of it if something happens. Vernand hasn't been fully healthy, and a number of them have been nicked. The reps have been spread so thin, I feel that we can do a better job getting the players ready. Also the continuity of the offense will improve with the same runner doing the same things with the run-blocking unit. Getting more work with the same back in protection on third down, and so forth, and that's why I've gone this direction. We just don't have a lot of experience in that group, and it's hard to get them all ready.
(What's your level of satisfaction at running back?)
My level of satisfaction? I think those guys have been solid, because frankly they've done what they've been asked to do. Now, have they missed some reads? Yes, they've missed some reads. But as far as the comfort and continuity, we really kind of hit our groove last week in that first half and will continue to get better. I think it's just a product of reps. Everybody wants to talk about DeShawn Wynn. I like DeShawn Wynn, but he didn't practice. His first week of practice was the week of the Tennessee Titan game. That was the last preseason game. He needs work. He needs practice. And you're not going to expose your football team to more reps in the run game in season to benefit your backs. That's not the best thing for the whole. It may be the best for the group. Ryan Grant we acquired after training camp. Brandon is probably the most prepared, because he's had to do everything, and that's not an ideal situation for a rookie. Vernand did a nice job last year, but his is clearly a medical issue, and we're only able to rep him twice a week. So we've got a combination of a number of things going on, but we still have to get the continuity of the runner and the run-blocking unit in first and second down, and make sure they're getting proper reps in the protection and the route-running.
(Does that go to show how challenging running-back-by-committee is, that your most prepared guy might end up inactive?)
I think that makes for convenient ... He's inactive more because of his injury, and you had to move on and play the game last week. When we did the medical report on Monday, they weren't 100 percent sure he was going to be ready on Wednesday. And with the diversity of the group being what it is, with the highlight being inexperience, we have to make decisions on Tuesday. Ideally, if we want to wait until Wednesday to decide what we're going to do and who we're going to play, Brandon Jackson had a lot better chance of being up this week. But we had to make some decisions Monday and Tuesday, and that's what we did, and that's not normal. Just like Greg Jennings. We made decisions in the passing game Tuesday and Wednesday. Greg says he's going to be fine, and your medical department says they're worried, you have to make calls like that. Who do you trust? Not who do you trust, but which way do you lean?
(So that threesome at halfback could change after the bye?)
I think our running back group as far as exactly who's in the 1 slot, 2 slot, however you want to view it, it could change as we move forward. That's just kind of where we are right now.
