Q: We just got the news about Osi. Did something happen in the first couple of practices?A: I don't think anything happened…It swelled up. He didn't want to continue like this; practice, swell up, practice, swell up. So between the doctors and Osi, the decision was made that they would perform this scope and hopefully eliminate that part of it. Allow the recovery time and then allow him to go back to the field without having this as an issue. Hopefully it will take less time than the other range, the other extent and we'll get him back as fast as he can.
Q: Your doctors and a specialist told him that he wouldn't need surgery. Is this a surprise?A: I don't think that was the case at all. As a matter of fact, Ronnie (Barnes) and Dr. (Russell) Warren talked about a period of time maybe 6 or 8 weeks ago when they talked about the possibility of having to have this cleaned out. So I think this is no surprise. There's no surprise.
Q: How does this change what you do now?
A: We just keep going. We'll keep going, thinking in terms of him being back. We'll use different combinations and (Dave) Tollefson will obviously be involved more with each combination and there will be some packages that we won't be able to use but probably we wouldn't use them anyway in preseason. So hopefully these other guys will take full advantage of the playtime and the practice time. We had a couple of issues the other day and some of these young kids got a chance to go. I thought it would be a good idea to play some of these guys extensively anyway.
Q: So you definitely will leave Kiwanuka at linebacker.
A: Yes.
Q: Are you thinking Osi will be out for the opener?
A: I don't know about that. I'm not going fit anything on the end of that. Maybe he comes back fast. Maybe it's three weeks.
Q: You knew this was a possibility but I thought the specialist told him he could manage it.
A: I don't know what the… I think that word was used. But I think the management part of it would have probably gotten into less field time and some frustration. So I think after a few days and looking at the calendar. He was very open and very positive with Jerry about getting back on the field, really enjoying the time he was out there with his teammates, really wanting to be a part of our team. So I thought, and I'm hearing it second hand, too, but I thought that those thoughts were very encouraging and if that's what the situation is, let's get this taken care of today.
Q: Does this mean that once he gets back here he should not be limited.
A: I think that's what he's trying to do. They're trying to eliminate the idea that whenever he works and goes hard in practice that the knee swells up. That's the point, to eliminate that.
Q: Could this also eliminate the nonsense as far as what has been going on the last couple of weeks with him?
A: Well hopefully, again, that's behind us and he's now focused on making a huge contribution to our team this year. Get healthy and do it.
Q: Has Travis Beckum taken any leaps this camp?
A: Well he started to. Then he had the two days where he was not able to go. For Travis that's always…he's got to stay out there. When he stays out there he becomes more confident, he does a lot more things with consistency. Just like any of us would, I suppose you could say that. There's no doubt, that was not…the way he was progressing was a positive thing and those couple of days without practice set him back a little bit and hopefully he's starting to get that back.
Q: Have you seen flashes in him that show why you drafted him?
A: You do see it. You see it. You see him maneuver and run and catch the ball in traffic and that type of thing. He even made some really hard catches there right before he missed a couple of days. You just need to see more of it. You need to know that he's out there and he's going to practice and he's going to get to work. He can experience a lot of these things on the practice field.
Q: You always say you're looking to get better personnel-wise but now that you've seen two weeks of these guys, are you comfortable with these tight ends?
A: Well that's a position that's got to get better. If the group that we have here can improve over the next couple of weeks, fine. If not, we've got to get better.
Q: What's the plan with getting Rosenfels back on the field?
A: Well we'll see whether…we had really…this was going to be a Carr game and Sage was going to play and Ryan was not gong to get any time but this may change. We'll see how these next couple of days go for Sage.
Q: Will JPP practice?
A: I think he's ready.
Q: Is Boley's back any better?
A: Boley still has some issues. He was tight this morning so we'll see. Maybe he can loosen up and practice a little bit today. If not, then the young guys are going to get more work.
Q: Is it usual to have this many camp ailments or does it seem like there's more this year?
A: This has been better than most, to tell you the truth. It looks like a long list, I know that, but when you dig into it, most of them are working. So I don't think it's… This is maybe one of the benefits of one-a-days. You don't have this extensive list that people can't work. A lot of this stuff they can get through.
Q: You talk about finishing the season strong. How do you build toward that during training camp?
A: Finish. You're constantly saying finish, finish, finish. Let the last drill be better than the first. Finish the practice in such a way that we can say we accomplished something. We were better at the end than we were in the beginning. Fourth quarter, stronger, win the physical battle, all those things.
