I'll start with the injury report. Al Harris, a limited participant today, he'll be listed as probable. Carlyle Holiday did not participate; he'll be questionable. Greg Jennings did not participate; he's questionable. Aaron Kampman was a full participant today; he is probable. Donald Lee was a limited participant; he's probable. Tony Moll - limited participant; I have him as out. Michael Montgomery is still out. Vernand Morency did not participate; he's questionable. Aaron Rouse did not participate; he's doubtful. Jason Spitz did not participate; he's questionable.
(Will Coston start at right guard?)
Junius will start at right guard, yes.
(How has he progressed, and is he ready for this?)
I though he's had a good week of practice. The thing that we've talked about here in the past is that he played every position in training camp. It's nice to see him settle down and get the reps in one spot. We look for him to get in there, compete, and do a good job. I think there is some continuity because he has repped at the right guard position throughout training camp.
(Would you still like to keep Spitz active?)
That's what we're going to find out. He'll be a Sunday decision.
(Are you considering bringing up Francies or Clowney for this game?)
We've talked about it. Carlyle Holiday's condition Sunday, or probably really tomorrow before we get on the plane, will be part of that discussion.
(When did Holiday get hurt?)
It swelled up on him in the game. It wasn't a certain hit or certain play that he recalls, and once they checked it out, it's just not a very good knee. He has some swelling. The swelling has decreased. He feels better today, but we're just trying to get all the swelling out of the knee.
(Did he have problems with that in camp?)
No, he's had a history in college with his other knee but this was not something he had in training camp.
(Did Donald Lee get hurt in practice yesterday?)
I thought it was more of a setback from his collision against Jacksonville. We're just being smart with him. He practiced today, I just held him out to be smart, cautious.
(Was Morency any better this Friday than last Friday?)
I think physically yes. I think mentally it's wearing on him a little bit because he's in the fourth quarter of the injury. He's chomping at the bit. In his mind he was anticipating being able to go this week. He's getting better and he's close - that's the information Dr. McKenzie and Pepper have given to me.
(So he's not a surgical candidate right now?)
Surgical? I would say not at this point. We're six and a half weeks out.
(With Kampman's injury, is it something that could get worse? Do you have to monitor that?)
It's one of those things, obviously your abdomen, you're going to use that part of your body all the time. That's why I rested him on Wednesday. He felt better today. We were smart today. He needs to be shut down. We actually have a couple guys that had the same thing, and a lot of times you don't know if it's a bruise or a strain just because of the particular area of the injury and the collisions that are a part of it. In Aaron's case, he feels like he's progressed through the week so hopefully we can get through this in about a two-to-three week period.
(Did Jennings aggravate the hamstring this week?)
He's been kind of up and down. He felt really good Wednesday, pushed it Wednesday. He was sore yesterday and when you're dealing with hamstrings with perimeter players, you don't want to go on this merry-go-round where you're doing this every week. It's kind of the same thing for Spitz with the calf for offensive lineman. We just need to back off him and get him healthy and see how he feels Sunday. We'll do the same thing with him Sunday and that is our plan. Sunday as we did this past week here before the game. How he feels tomorrow after his rehab today will drive the decision.
(If he can't go, are you considering shutting him down for a week?)
That's pretty much what we did. We sat him down. His last practice was Friday until Wednesday and we pushed him yesterday, so we'll probably take the same approach.
(How has Brandon Jackson responded to everything the last six or seven weeks?)
I think he's handled everything well. He's been asked to do everything. I think it's helping him now frankly that you're putting these things in the packages because the young players can focus on a particular part of the game plan and don't feel the load of doing everything. Now, the competitiveness, they want to play in all aspects of it, but as far as what we're asking them to do, given the reps, the footwork, timing, seeing the particular blitzes that occur in normal down and distance as opposed to third down, I think this will help him.
{sportsad300}(Are you in favor of the rule proposal to put a speaker in a defensive player's helmet?)
No I wasn't. Ted and I and Bob Harlan, we voted against it. Really the reason behind that was really the intent of the rule. Putting it in for the quarterback, they improve the communication, the time of the communication with the way the game has gone over the years. And the other part of it was frankly if it's your middle linebacker, there is so much defensive substitution, then who's the next guy? How are you going to juggle having two on there at the same time? I thought the mechanics of it weren't particularly clean, but I thought they did a much better job this past year than my first year at the meetings on trying to identify it. I think, and this may sound like the old quarterback coach in me, no one on the field, and they're making this argument, no one on the field has as much communicative responsibility, the ability to process information, as the quarterback. I think it's in for the right reasons. I'm sure with what happened of recent here will enlighten this topic even further as we move forward, but I don't feel the defense is at a disadvantage because there is a way to get around people stealing your signals. There is an alternative to that, and I don't feel that the defensive communication helmet is the best answer.
(Will you reconsider your vote in the wake of the Patriots thing?)
I'll just say this. Ted and I talk about every one of those issues when they come out. I think Bruce McKay and the competition committee, Jeff Fisher, that group does an excellent job of getting all the facts and so forth, and we'll look at it and talk about it again. But when Ted and I talked about it before we went down to the meeting, and then as the meetings went on, that was our opinion. And we were in the minority, so it's close to being put in.
(Regarding spying, did you sense last year in that loss they were one step ahead of you?)
Because of that? No, we didn't play very well. Based on if they had the signals and so forth, there's a number of things that didn't go well in that game. Our offense didn't play (well). I was not thinking about signals when that game was completed or even after I had the opportunity to view it on Monday.
(Have you ever had a quarterback play on Sunday who didn't take a snap in practice all week?)
Quarterback? I'm trying to think through the years. I know Montana had a hamstring in 93. I think they always did something on Friday, or at worse Saturday. In those days, a lot of teams did Saturday jog-thrus and those types of things. I don't recall one doing it.
(How tough would that be if Manning does end up playing?)
I think mentally he'll be fine. Just as we went through the training camp schedule, the offseason program has to count for something in my opinion. But that weekly timing of throwing the football, and I think the biggest hurdle he'll have to overcome is to throw with that soreness, because it's going to be different. Based on the adrenaline and everything going into the game will help him and so forth, but when you play with a joint injury, particularly to your throwing arm, you have to do things a little differently. Just making that adjustment, some guys can, and some guys can't.
(Being short at receiver and tight end, can you overcome it?)
Absolutely. That's our plan, and we have a number of different ways we need to be ready to go if the course of the game flows that way, and we're prepared to do so.
(In practice, you started doing stretching by positions instead of as a whole team. How did that come about?)
You like it? I'm trying to be part of that new-school coaching. I don't like it, but it was a request that was permitted for the football team.
(Who requested it?)
The old one, No. 4. And then it wasn't the way he wanted it. They've got six minutes to get stretched, that's what we come down to. Thanks.
