Obviously the coaches…as they were looking at this tape, trying to analyze it and as is normally the case…you have some things are done well, but they are not done consistently enough. You have got some people that played well and were physical, and others that weren't. So I think it is a tape that we can all learn from and I think it is something, quite frankly, we are going to have to turn into a positive in terms of, ok, this is the way that we played the other night, it is good that it is a preseason game, we have an awful lot of things to get corrected. We need to focus on improving as a football team. Quite frankly, stop listening to all the media telling us where we are good and where we aren't good and all of that stuff. Get our team on track knowing full well that we don't have a lot of time to do this. This having taken place right now, I hope it is a wake up call.
Q. Do you have any further information on Jay Alford?
A. The only thing that I have at this point is still what I mentioned last night. I do know that he is down in the city doing all the examinations at this time.
Q. Is there any timetable for when you might have information?
A. I don't know if I will hear anything tonight or if it will be tomorrow.
Q. Any other injuries out of the game? I know Mathias Kiwanuka had the ankle and Danny Clark got hit in the head.
A. Well, Clark got hit in the head early on and in the chin, and we believe he had some stitches but he was able to come back, so that was a good thing. Mario Manningham had a hip pointer and he will end up being day to day. I think Orrin Thompson had a left quad contusion. We will see how he is tomorrow. He may miss a day, I don't know exactly how that goes. We will have to see about that.
Q. When you said you hope this is a wake up call, is that an entire team thing or was there one area where you were most concerned about after watching the tape?
A. All three areas really present issues in terms of improvement, so you don't have to worry about selectively picking out areas that don't require improvement. When you look at our cover teams, our punt cover team, and our kickoff coverage team, you know that we need improvement in those areas. We also need the ball kicked deeper. Again, make sure that our directional punting puts us in the best position to cover. I think when you look at the run success Chicago had you are back to that as being something that is worthy of all of our attention. We were directing an objective last week the same way, so that is an area of concern. Offensively it becomes one of consistency and then breakdowns in pass protection, which have been an issue. To be honest with you, this is not something that has just cropped up. We have had these problems throughout camp. Anybody who has watched camp knows this. This is something that must be corrected now. I don't know if this particular time that there was problems with recognition, it wasn't necessarily that, but we just flat-out got beat a few times on pass protection. Of course when that happens, it is very difficult to evaluate not only the quarterbacks, but the ball going down field, because it doesn't.
Q. The part about not listening to the media or anybody else who tells you where you are good and where you are not. What makes you say that? Do you think it is affecting the team at all?
A. I just think that for so long we have been (hearing) that we have so much depth. I don't know what you are watching, but the guys who are supposed to be the depth have hardly even practiced. Some haven't practiced, some haven't played. I think you are talking about something that looks good, but hasn't really materialized. Until we get this thing straightened around with everybody on the field, this rotation and this depth that we are talking about really is a non-factor right now. We need people practicing and we need to be able to accomplish that. There are areas of concern just like there are on every team. But I think you have to earn that is said about you. What we believe in is that talk is cheap, let's do it on the field. It has been very spotty on the field, so obviously it is time to get to work and get this the way we want it to be, for people to come to grips with the reality and be serious about making these corrections and then go out against a good football team and accomplish that and see if we can get it done on the field.
Q. Having said that, are any of the guys that missed the game expected back tomorrow or this week?
A. We are expecting (Rocky) Bernard to be able to practice and then perhaps looking forward to him playing this weekend. We did get Fred Robbins in the game for a few plays last night. I think we are going to see (Chris) Snee and Richie Seubert back on the practice field. Let's hope we can play them this weekend. I don't know who else you want to ask me about.
Q. (Antonio) Pierce, (Kenny) Phillips, (Chris) Canty and (Aaron) Ross?
A. I think Phillips is going back out there even if it is in a limited way. Ross will be limited, but he has been out there before limited. He hasn't really been able to step on the gas, so to speak. I am not sure how that will go. Canty, no, that is not progressing the way we want it to. As far as Antonio goes, that will be as we go forward here, it is going to end up being, I don't know if I can even say day by day, but I know that's what the feeling was.
Q. Canty has been a while now. What exactly is his issue and are you surprised it is taking this long?
A. Naturally I am surprised. It is a hamstring. It is an injury now, this is something that did occur and it is a serious injury. But, the expectation of getting healthy, on a couple different occasions, has been there, but there is not a lot of progress being made.
Q. Was it a tear?
A. it was a tear, if that is what you call it, yeah.
Q. Is this week's game more important now just because of what happened last night and just getting the team back on the track you want them to be on?
A. I think that goes without saying. When you don't play well, then you make it very important for us to see improvement next week. I just think that goes with the territory. That is what preseason is all about. You have vivid illustrations of areas that need improvement. That is where you have to go. We will stress that, and then we will look to see if we have made improvements as we play our third preseason game.
Q. Historically, the third preseason game has been the one in which the veterans play more as if to get ready for the real stuff in two weeks. Do you subscribe to that?
A. We have done that in the past. We have extended this week, this past game we went roughly fifteen to twenty-five snaps. We will go a little bit further this week.
Q. Do you intend to make any cuts prior to the day when you have to?
A. Those haven't really been discussed. I don't think we have done that here. I would say that is unlikely, but you never no.
Q. Thoughts on the Danny Ware's kickoff return?
A. I thought it was outstanding. I thought he showed great power, great purpose, determination, broke some tackles. Did the same thing when he was running on the field. I think Brandon Jacobs ran with power, I think Bradshaw made his contributions, I think Danny Ware did also. Those individuals, when they had the ball in their arms, they did well.
Q. How would you assess the play of Jonathan Goff?
A. Jonathan did a good job last night. Jonathan did well on special teams, and played a lot of football and did well in the middle, as a middle backer. I thought that was a plus as well.
Q. Was Steve Smith also a positive sign, especially his reception for twenty-five yards?
A. Getting him on the field was positive. He has missed some time so that was very important. He had that really nice catch on the in-cut, and we think probably in another week or so he will be able to do a little bit with that even. So, yes that was a plus.
Q. What about (Clint) Sintim, did he play well or not so well?
A. He played okay. I think he drew more attention a week ago. He had an opportunity on teams and from down and distance. First, second down, he contributed and third down. He did some good things, did some good things. Got another game under his belt.
