COACH DICK JAURON
After Practice– JULY 30, 2007
On practice today
It was a hot one. They struggled through it. As JP mentioned, that first day in pads is a little bit different. It's our seventh practice so they're a little bit weary legged to begin with anyway so it wasn't as crisp as we would have liked. It was about what we had expected. We had to push a little bit to get them through it and they worked hard. It wasn't as hot as it's going to be but it was pretty hot out there. All in all it was a good day's work but we have to get a lot better.
On the offensive line
It's ok, but everywhere I thought there's a long a way to go on a football team and that's not unusual at this time of year. When you review the whole practice you look at the team stuff but you also look at the individual breakdown and the pass rush. The segments that I saw of each, I watched some pass rush live for a while. They won their share and lost. It was give and take. It was good. We're definitely better. We're definitely a better football team. The problem is you never know how that translates into wins and losses. It's a tough business but it sure is a lot of fun. It's great to get started and that's just where we are, just getting started.
On Kevin Everett
It's a foot problem. It's a sore foot and we're going to be cautious with it. (Head Trainer) Bud (Carpenter) thought that he may be able to come back tomorrow night. We're not looking long term. We'll put it on the day to day thing but we're hopeful that he won't miss much. He worked awfully hard the first six, seven practices and he just has a real sore foot.
On whether the Darwin Walker trade is a vote of confidence for the guys who are here
It's a combination of a number things, but we have confidence in our guys. They've all got to develop and all have to play well. We made the deal that we thought was in the best interest of us and we're moving on from there. We do like our guys.
On how much the loss of Walker falls on John McCargo and the young players
Darwin was never here so no more or less than it's been any day. We just made the deal that made sense to us and we're moving forward. They have to come through but they're not alone. A lot of people, coaches, players, everybody has to come through.
On his expectations from Terrence McGee this year
Terrence is really a good player. He played well last year. When you go back and look at the year and look at the number of plays that he gave up it's not unusually large. Terrence McGee is really a fine player and how good can he be? I don't know. There's not a lot that can stop him. Clearly al the opponents are talented. They can make plays and they make plays on the best corners. They're made some plays on Terrence. He's got things that you can't beat. He's got size and strength and toughness. Those are all things that our game is built on. I'm really looking for Terrence to have an even better year. To keep getting better and better every year and I know that he will work at it. It doesn't mean he won't get beat. They all do. I'm excited about Terrence McGee. I feel like we're lucky to have him.
On Terrence McGee and how he has said his weakness is trying too hard
I don't think you ever tell a guy to stop trying hard. It is technique and it is confidence. If you feel confident you have a much better chance at succeeding. His confidence level should be high. It should get better and better. He knows he will get beat sometimes. The guys who can't play out there are guys who get beat and can't deal with it and there's a lot of them out there.
On whether there will be a scrimmage on Saturday
We may. In our scripts we left room to say on these days we may have live portions of practice. We may have our young guys hit a little more than that.
On night practices
I like the change up obviously because I make the schedule. I like the change up. We do it for a number of reasons. It gives us a lot of recovery time. Practice hard and get some recovery time then practice hard. It also changes up the time of day we work. It gives more of our fans the chance to get out here after a work day. We do it for a lot of reasons. I really do like it. I like the fact that the atmosphere is generally pretty hyped up with the number of people who come out and support us. I really do look forward to it.
