COACH DICK JAURON
Monday, November 12, 2007
Opening statement
It was a great win for us. To come out of there with that victory on that day was really tremendous and to get our record above .500 at 5-4 now is also a great feeling. I thought our players did a good job of playing through a lot of stuff and then finishing the game. They finished it the way we had to finish it. Made plays at the end in a lot of different areas as you saw to get that W and walk out of there. A lot of good things and a lot of things we know we can improve on and we'll get to work on.
On the status of Marshawn Lynch
He's sore. He's very optimistic and we'll certainly know more by the end of today and tomorrow. And Wednesday we should have a real good feel for where it is. But as he said last night, he feels like he'll play. We've got to kind of wait and see on that one but he's very upbeat and that's part of it. Kiwaukee [Thomas] not as optimistic there. That's a strained groin and I don't know. It could be a severe one; we're just going to have to wait on that a day or two also. Robert Royal, they feel okay about, kind of like John DiGiorgio was a week ago. Maybe a little better, so probably follow the same time schedule because we'll go through a number of different things with that. It's a concussion, I guess they called it a mild one but it's still a concussion. I think that's about it.
On Jason Peters and Langston Walker
They both left the field. Jason's [Peters] sore but he finished. Same with Langston [Walker]. Langston's got a sore hamstring, but he finished the game too. So that's positive and we're hopeful. We're hopeful there.
On the concern of Lynch's injury because it is an ankle
There is concern and we'll have an MRI. We have one scheduled and then we'll just have to see what happens there. He's really a terrific player. The touchdown and the two-point run for a total of five yards were maybe two tremendous runs. He's really something.
On if Lynch's ankle is broken
We don't think anything is broken.
On the concern of wearing Lynch out with the number of carries he is getting
Well, he's going to get a lot of carries. That's why we drafted him and you can see the talents that he has so in order to win games, he's got to get the ball. We do not like it when he carries the ball 30-plus times a game. We would like to keep it down in the low 20's, but there will be games over the course of his career when he's going to get the ball 30 times in a football game. Hopefully we can keep it down. You hope you have the opportunity to control that because it means that our offense is staying on the field for 70 plays in a game. When the offense is down in that 50 play range then you're not even going to have a worry there generally because you won't get the opportunity to carry it that many times. But we'd like to stay in the low 20's.
On if he gave any thought to having practice today since the plays have generally had off on Monday
Well it's really not general. It's as the year goes one. Monday's never a practice day anyway. It's a review day, you watch the tape, and you get them lifting weights. Most of our guys will come in anyway and they'll lift and they'll be in the training room. We just don't take them on the field.
On not practicing today
You almost always think about a lot of things but to do it, it didn't make a lot of sense to me right now.
On the feeling of winning four in a row and knowing New England is next
I don't know about the team. I don't know about anybody really but me. It doesn't wear off fast. I like the feeling of winning. I think you should enjoy it. I tell them they should enjoy it. It's really hard to win a game in this league. And we put a lot of effort to winning them and if you don't enjoy it, I'm not certain why you do it. Hopefully they will take some time. Once we get back on Wednesday the feeling still won't. Hopefully it'll last through the whole week. But we'll quit thinking about it a lot. But it's a much different feeling around the building, around the team when you win than when you lose. And it carries you through a week.
On if he is ready to announce his starting QB for New England
No. You all know now what we do personnel wise. We don't really announce publicly any decisions until Wednesday at any position so we'll just stay with that.
On Tuesday being the normal announcement day
Publicly, but not here.
On if he has made up his mind of the starter
Well I need to talk to a lot of people. Do I know? Yes, I pretty much know.
On the defense improving in the points allowed category
They really did a tremendous job yesterday and just kept us in the game, keep us in there. It's a 3-0 game, it's a 3-2 game. They just play, they play hard. Again Perry [Fewell] and the staff do a terrific job preparing them. They generally tackle well. They fit well. They're getting better at all of those things. They're a tough group and they like to play.
On the defensive scheme forcing opponents to long drives to score points
Well you hope so, but every defense has that philosophy. You don't want to give up big plays. You never want to give up fast scores in this league or any league probably. But they've done a nice job. Yesterday's game was really one of those ones where everything kind of fit together at the right time. We generally kicked the ball well, we generally covered it well, and we punt them down to the two-yard line. Justin and the whole team made a nice play. It was a terrific kick. Justin makes a terrific play, John Wendling downs the thing and then the defense has good coverage pressure. We get two and then we drive the ball all the way down, 10-2. We drive it and score, go for two and make that. And then the punt return by Roscoe was just… it's unbelievable. That's what he does.
On how encouraging it is to see different players make plays in crunch time
You have to have playmakers and they have got to make plays. Great players make great plays. In big games and close games they make them and change the game. Our defense then came back and stopped them. Because the last kickoff was not what we were looking for obviously. We wanted to drive that ball away from (No.) 19 but we didn't want it on the ground that early. So to give them the ball and then the defense just came right back out and stopped them. Everybody made plays. Coverage on the first one for plus four, they complete it, get out of bounds. And then the second one, coverage was terrific. And he threw it away. And the third, Aaron [Schobel] had great pressure, hit him right when he threw it. And then the fourth one, Jabari [Greer] makes a terrific play.
On if he is concerned that the offense might have taken a step back
It's kind of like everything, you're always concerned. You'd like to have production all the time, every play, every drive. It doesn't happen. The main thing is run the game, that they responded, made the drive that we needed to make, score the points and then we're on to the next one. And just go on to the next one and happy to get the win.
On JP Losman's performance
A couple of plays he'd like to have back and we'd like to have back. If he had made those plays then I'm not sure you'd be asking the questions. He under throws the ball to Lee. I think that's a touchdown in the corner of the end zone and you could argue Michael Gaines might have been a real good catch, but he's got the ability to make that catch. There's nobody I don't think's going to stop him on that play. And then there are a couple of plays… the interception he'd certainly have back, a couple of plays we'd like to have back for him too. Just get rid of the ball, throw it of bounds, and go to the next down. Other than that, he managed the game real well, made the right calls, again organized and get in and out of the huddle. Had a couple of balls dropped, maybe more than a couple. Probably like every player in every game you'd like to have some plays back.
On getting a sense of JP being the starter
Is that another of way of asking your question? Do you want me to talk about Trent [Edwards] for a while? I really like Trent, the kid's smart, very accurate and he's getting healthier everyday. Gibran [Hamdan] is really a good thrower too.
On Losman stacking wins
They've both actually done that.
