Q: How great is it to be practicing?
A: It is great. It is terrific to have a chance – how about the two minute drill?
Q: Your offense completed some long balls. Do you think that it is so spacious in here it will help practice?
A: There is no doubt. I told you, if I was playing defensive back, I think I could take the underneath stuff away and count on the wall behind me in the bubble to run guys into. The quarterback is not going to run a guy into the wall. I think it will. It is definitely going to help us, but not only from that standpoint, it is just the idea that as we go about our business, whether it is a DB or receiver or TE or runner, you can have an opportunity to work with them on some deep stuff. Which, really, quite frankly, even the ….. routes – the corner routes you were hesitant to do. So it is no excuse, it is just the fact that we have a better facility now. But one of the objectives is going to be to try to throw the ball down the field more. And that is one of the things that we are trying to get done.
Q: Is there an adjustment; is it like a kid at Christmas to have a new facility like this?
A: Oh, no question. Everybody is excited about it. It certainly is a tremendous lift to have the opportunity to work in this environment. Everything was new for a week. Every time you turned around it was something new – some new experience. We are starting to get a feel for where we are now. But we are still very much enjoying a new home and going through the idea of making sure we are as efficient as we can be in trying to help with some of the suggestions for even improving it a little bit more when we go away and then come back.
RE: Training camp last summer. You focused on going down the field a lot and then kind of pulled back on that.
A: It seems like it is always an objective. A lot of it is what you face on Sunday. You do have some opportunities, not always. You have to match up with the proper coverage, etc. But it is always an objective and it will be because I think you really need to know what these young guys can do. And so that will be a part of it.
Q: What is the spirit and the attitude in these OTA's?
A: Great. The guys have been really good – smiles on their faces, working hard, good attitudes, working hard in the weight room, in the meeting rooms. Practices have been high spirited. So that part has been very good as well.
Q: You build a foundation for the season here now.
A: You build that right from the first time you come together – whether it is a meeting ----. Every day is a day in which we have to take full advantage of in order to improve our team. Guys right now are trying to learn how to practice with each other. And I'm hoping we can get that established.
Q: Just on the field, the guys are getting that chemistry. They watched the movie yesterday together. What is that all about; that building process?
A: Anytime you do these types of things where your team is together and they are sharing – you watch how the rookies come in. They are on a little mini bus and they go and they come together and they are here most of the day and they have all kinds of projects going on. The other day we had the – we tried to introduce them to a new computer set up and how this would work and if they could learn how to maneuver it, then some of the segment of their study guide they could do on their own. But when you see that, you see how they start to get to know one another and you can see how beneficial it is to an entire team.
Q: Eli said that you don't necessarily have to have that one guy like a Plaxico or Amani to go to. Do feel the same way?
A: Yeah, I have a lot of very competent guys who can do multiple things and create the kind of flexibility that you do need. And when you have that kind of ability where you have different players accomplishing your objectives basically on a game to game basis, very good things, then I think you have the ability to spread the ball around; you have the ability to force the defense to have some multiple coverage worries. And if you have got those one or two guys that can win those one on one situations, you are going to cause some serious thought on the part of the defense in terms of their overall package.
Q: You don't feel that you need to have a veteran really established at receiver if you can ……?
A: We have some, whether you want to call them veteran receivers or not, they have been around enough to know the system. I think right away you have seen Steve (Smith). Steve seems to be having a really nice spring. Domenik (Hixon) comes right out and literally looks like the Seattle game right away the first time we came out here. I think Sinorice has improved and he is doing a lot of good things. Mario is a guy that we sort of saw a little bit of his surface last year when he was working but we are seeing more on a daily basis. And the more these young guys get involved, the better off that is as well. So I think you want to be as good as can. I don't know what you need to do in terms of, say how many years it takes for a guy to be classified as a veteran, but you want as many qualified individuals as you can to spread it around.
Q: Sinorice made some pretty good plays out there today. Do you sense that he is taking advantage of his -- I don't know if it is his last opportunity, but it has to be running out at some point?
A: I wouldn't put it that way. What I would say is that he seems to be a more comfortable, confident guy right now. He seems to know what he has to do, what is expected of him. And he seems to be a guy that is looking forward to that opportunity. And he has always been a highly conditioned athlete. He is strong. We know he has that very, very quick jitterbuggish like maneuverability. So let's just encourage him and see the continued growth.
Q: What is it like to have Osi back and how does he look to you?
A: Osi looks very good. He has done a real good job in the weight program this offseason. He has been very serious about his work. He has been very good in the meetings. He has done a good job in practice. He has really worked hard to make sure that his rehab and his physical and mental approach are exactly the same as they were prior to the injury.
Q: You had Sam Madison and RW McQuarters here for several years – real veteran cornerbacks. Now with them gone is it kind of like a drain a little bit. And do you think Corey Webster can – I know he is an established guy here – fill that void a little bit?
A: I think so. I think what you saw last year was Sam and RW kind of took the role of – they were supporters, they were guys that had little tips for younger players and the younger players were very much attached to them because of that. Obviously now these guys have been here a little while. Corey, of course, is the guy that has had the most experience so he has got to kind of assume that position.
Q: A couple of days ago Fred Robbins revealed that he had microfracture surgery on his knee. Is that serious enough that he may not be ready for the start of the training camp or do you expect him to be ready?
* *A: We are looking at a guy that has made really good progress. According to Ronnie Barnes, he is on schedule or ahead of schedule. It was non-weight bearing for awhile but that was a minimal amount of time for someone with a "microfacture." He seems to be well on schedule. We are just going to have to see how it goes for the next ---once we break here in another week or two, how it is going to be over the next six weeks.
Q: This happened in the playoff game – his interception?
A: I don't know if there is any one time that it occurred on. It may very well have been the point at which he needed to – wasn't going to be able to play. That is all I knew. I knew going into that – after the playoff game the quote that was given was that Fred probably wouldn't be able to play if we had to play the next week.
Q: Was Barry Cofield's the same procedure?
A: No, not the same procedure.
Q: Was it a microfracture?
A: That is not going to come from me. He had a scope and he is doing well. You see him running.
Q: It is a great opportunity for Ahmad Bradshaw. How is he doing?
A: I think he is doing well. He is excited. He has a smile on his face. He is a worker. He is having a good time at what he is doing. It is an excellent opportunity for Ahmad.
Q: Did anybody miss practice?
A: Today?
Q: Yeah.
A: Yeah, Danny Clark was asked to speak at the Frank Ganz Memorial. I don't know how many of you ever had an opportunity to get to know Frank. He was a great guy. I coached with Frank in Philadelphia. I had him on my staff in Jacksonville. He was with Dick Vermeil for a long time. He was just a class, class guy; a very, very positive guy. People that played for him loved him. He had all kinds of great sayings, "head across the bow" and things of that nature. And players just enjoyed – he would tell stories in his meeting rooms and the guys were --- he was an Annapolis grad so there were inevitably stories about WWII or some great accomplishment. But the coaching profession is going to miss Frank Ganz because he was an exceptional guy. And a guy you could rely on to lift everybody's spirits. That is really the kind of role he took on.
Q: Was Justin Tuck similarly excused?
A: No. I'm trying to make contact with Justin.
Q: Rocky Bernard was limited; was he hurt?
A: He just got a shoulder or something that he is – we are trying to stay away from contact for him.
Q: David Tyree?
A: He just had a little leg thing.
