(No Spitz means Colledge will start again Sunday?)
It looks that way, yes.
(Tony Moll starts at right guard?)
Correct.
(When you picked up Rayner, were you leaning that way all along because of his youth?)
First of all, he earned the job. He won the job with everything he did in the spring and in training camp. What we knew about him bringing him in was he was a strong-legged kicker that just needed an opportunity to be the field-goal kicker. He's kicked off in the past. Just a young man who needed an opportunity and he's taken full advantage of it.
(Do you have any sense for his mentality?)
I like the way he goes about his job. He's the same guy every day. He works hard. He and Jon have put a lot of extra time in with Mike Stock and Shawn Slocum. I really like his work ethic, I like his demeanor, and I think once again he's taken full advantage of an opportunity and we're very happy with him to this point.
(Did Ahman not go today?)
Ahman Green did not go today.
(What's the injury?)
Hamstring.
(Will you add him to the injury report?)
Yes, we're going to add him to the injury report. Questionable.
(Do you know how it happened?)
Just the wear the last two days, it flared up on him at the end of practice yesterday.
(Any concern for Sunday with him?)
I hope not. We're just being smart. We'll know more in the morning.
(Do you feel good about what you say from Harris and Martin, that they're where you need them to be for Sunday?)
Yes. As far as our injuries as a whole, I think we're in good health as a football team. Al, we're just being smart with him. We feel very good where we are.
(If Green can't play, how much can you expect out of Morency in the offense?)
Morency is ready to go. He took all the reps today, him and Noah, so we plan to get him more involved this week just at the beginning of the week. He'll be ready to go. Him and Noah are both ready to go and we'll just move on.
(Do you plan to use Robinson more in a receiving role this week?)
Sparingly. We don't have anything put in for him specifically. He's part of the rotation. His primary focus is special teams and we like to get him more and more involved as we move on.
(Are you pleased to have threats on both sides of the defensive line with KGB and Kampman?)
When I look at Aaron and Kabeer, I see consistency. You see two men that come to work every day and do an excellent job, and it carries over to the way they play on the field. They're very steady football players for us, and that's important over the course of the season. We're very happy with their production to this point. The best competition you can have is on your football team, so it would be good to see those two keep competing in the area of sacks and everything else. Kabeer is playing the run much better. For the most part, both of those guys are very consistent.
(When you look at some of the stats, 14 explosive gains but 120 plays holding the other team to 3 yards or less, and with two more third downs, you go from 19th to 9th in the league. Do you use those to tell the players they're not that far away?)
I believe in maintaining factual information with your football team. I'm not into using statistics as excuses. That's the reality of the way we played in those specific situations. It's important for them to understand there are so many positive things they are doing, and it's the negative things we need to correct because it's costing us the ability to win football games. That's really what the message is there. Coaching is taking whatever you're trying to accomplish, creating the environment for the player to learn from it, and just repping it and teaching it and emphasizing it over and over again, demanding it be done properly. That's what coaching is. We're teachers, we're motivators, and that's what we're trying to do.
(How do you feel the players are from a mental standpoint, going on the road to a difficult place?)
I think as a football team as a whole, players and coaches, we can't wait to get going Sunday. This has been our best week of preparation so far this season. I think we've finally put together three good practices. I thought today was exceptionally sharp. We were off the field close to 16 minutes early. No penalties, it was a very sharp, brisk practice today. I think it really finalized a very solid week of work to this point. We need to get better, we're always working to get better. But to this point it's been our best week, and we need to carry it over to the football game now.
