Head Coach Brian Daboll
Daboll: How's everybody doing? Normal Friday for us. Really not much to add with what I talked about yesterday. That's a decision that we made. I wish (wide receiver) Kadarius (Toney) well and really don't have a lot of details or anything to add. So on to Seattle and looking forward to having a good day.
Q: How about the flip side of it. You're 6-1, are you hoping you guys add somebody? Make a move? Go for it?
A: I'd say that, and I've said this plenty of times before, (general manager) Joe (Schoen) and I talk a lot about a lot of different things. Whether it's workouts on Monday or Tuesday, adding players, trading players, there's conversations that happen everyday and we'll always have those. Whatever we can do to try to improve our team or (what) we think is best for our team, that's the decisions that we make.
Q: You believe that kind of things sends a message to the locker room when you add a player? Like, 'ok they're all in. We're going for it'.
A: I mean you'd have to ask those guys.
Q: What was your players' reactions from your perspective to learning that you traded Kadarius?
A: Went out and had a good practice.
Q: That was it? Nobody said anything to you?
A: Nope. Those conversations we have are all private. I think you understand that. Told them we traded a player, open and honest with them, and we went out to practice.
Q: How do you respond to Kadarius with Tweets about not being hurt?
A: I'm not adding much more to what I talked about than yesterday, guys.
Q: When you trade a player that gets you draft picks for the future, as a coach is that hard for you to do sometimes? Because you want to win on Sunday, you're not really thinking about draft picks down the line.
A: Look, the conversations that, again, Joe and I have and some other people that have them, we try to do whatever we can do that we think is best for the team. Go through a lot of different things. Not just in terms of players but a lot of different things organizationally and try to make those decisions that we think are best for the team.
Q: In regard to making moves, how do you balance the short term versus the long-term vision?
A: Everything we do here, we try to win the day. Everyday we can, come in here, have a good attitude, work hard. There's obviously long-term stuff, there's short term stuff, I'm focused on short-term getting ready for Seattle and I understand there's other things that go along with that long term-wise relative to Joe and the decisions that we make together. But it's real easy, when you're in the season, your focus is day to day. Which that's where mine is at. I know that's where the team's at.
Q: I asked you because you got rid of a player, you didn't get a player in return. Unless you consider it a net gain by getting by rid of the player, you lost something.
A: That's the National Football League. Things happen, transactions happen, injuries happen. We just go out there and do our job.
Q: From your experience, not talking about Toney, but generally speaking, subtracting players, can that sometimes help a team? Can it help a team in terms of chemistry without adding a player but subtracting a player in general?
A: I don't know. I've been part of this league so long, there's been releases, there's been additions. I think the most important thing is just control the things you can control, which is our preparation and getting ready to play Seattle.
Q: Do you expect to start Sunday the offensive line you finished with last week after the injuries?
A: Leaning that way, yep.
Q: I know you look at everything week to week, but after seven weeks you're 6-1. Would you say you're ahead of schedule?
A: I don't look at it that way. I just take each week as it comes, try to put everything we got into it, empty the tank on Sunday, then go back and do it again.
Q: You have eight healthy offensive linemen on the 53, so (center) Nick (Gates), is he ready? If something happens, he can go in and be the backup center?
A: He's ready to go.
Q: He'll be active?
A: We'll get to that point, but probably. I'd say probably.
Q: With him, are you leaning more towards center or guard in terms of position?
A: He's played all of them, so he's got to make sure he knows all the spots. He's had reps at center, he's had reps at guard, I know he's played tackle before, but he should be ready to go.
Q: How do you approach not having a number three tight end? Obviously, you've got (tight end Chris) Myarick, you've got (tight end) Tanner (Hudson), and then you've got to figure out the practice squad. You could use a o-lineman. How do you approach that?
A: We'll go out here and practice today and then talk about it after practice.
Q: Is (tight end Lawrence) Cager up to speed? Does he know the offense well enough that you have confidence you could put him out there?
A: Yeah, he's had a good week. (Tight end coach Andy) Bisch (Bischoff) has been meeting with him early, late, so if we get to that point, again, we'll go out there and practice and see where we're at today and make that decision.
Q: This is known as the loudest stadium, if not it's close. How do you handle preparing for noise during the week? Are you one of the guys that blasts the music? Is there another approach?
A: As loud as we can get it. Whether it's music with crowd noise, that's how we've done it this week. We've blasted a lot of crowd noise. It's very loud there. They have a 70 percent winning percentage there since (Seahawks head coach) Pete (Carroll) has taken over. It's a tough place to play. Their crowd is outstanding. It presents challenges relative to procedural things that we have to practice them out here and hopefully translate that to the game on Sunday.
Q: Do you have to make any contingencies knowing that (offensive coordinator) Mike (Kafka) is up in the booth, with the sound, if (quarterback) Daniel (Jones) can't get it out of the headset?
A: Yeah, we kind of do that no matter what each week just in case something happens, so we're prepared for that. I've played in a lot of loud stadiums before, it's certainly challenging for the offense and we're going to have to do a good job of just focusing on the things we can control.
Q: I'm sure you spent a lot of time in the draft looking at (Seahawks tackle) Charles Cross, what'd you think of him then and what have you thought of him on tape?
A: Athletic, very good balance and body control, good pass protector. They threw the ball a bunch at Mississippi State but had enough knee bend and power that you thought he'd be good in the run game, which he's been. He's been a good player for them.
Q: Speaking of Pete Carroll, it seems they're getting their defense going a little bit. What have you seen from that?
A: A lot of respect for Coach Carroll. He's built a program there; it's been established for a long time. He's always had good defenses, he's a heck of a football coach. He's had good teams. It's challenging. They're fast, they fly to the ball, create turnovers, they've got a lot of good young players. It's a good team.
Q: Was that a difficult conversation with Kadarius yesterday for you?
A: Yeah, I don't have anything else to add on what I talked about.
Q: What made (guard Tyre) Phillips the guy to go in there and play tackle last week? Because you have guys who've been here longer.
A: I think he's earned it. Since he's been here, he's done a good job, he's picked up our system, done a good job on the look teams, and we thought he was the next guy up. He did a good job.
