Head Coach Chan Gailey
Monday, September 24, 2012
On the status of RB C.J. Spiller:
Maybe not as bad as originally thought. Not going to completely rule him out this week, but I think it is more of a chance that he will not than he will.
On what the injury is:
I do not know. Do not ask me all that stuff.
On RB Fred Jackson saying he is 70-75 percent confident he will play this week:
From the workout and rehab this morning, it went extremely well. It looks like he is going to practice Wednesday and we will see how he feels during the course of the week. I am very optimistic.
On he feels they caught a break without losing Spiller or Jackson for the long-term:
We lost Fred and C.J. You say we are catching a break?
On that the injuries could be worse than they are:
They do look like they could have been and if you look at it that way, we probably are fortunate they are not long-term.
On maybe getting Jackson back as Spiller goes down:
It is big. Anytime you can get a good player back, it helps your football team. I do not care who you are or what league you are in It helps your football team when you can get a really good player back.
On the likelihood Spiller can play in two weeks:
I think there is a good possibility for the second week, whoever we play after this week. We go to San Francisco. Yeah, he will be back for that. He has a good chance to be back for that one.
On WR Stevie Johnson maturing:
I do not know. You would have to ask him. Maybe. He is doing what we ask him to do and doing a great job of it right now. I see him being the player that we all thought he could be. I think he is going to get better and better every week to be honest with you--as long as he and (Ryan Fitzpatrick) keep working together.
On Johnson calming down his celebrations:
I do not worry about that. I did not worry about it or we should not have signed him back, to be honest with you.
On calling QB Ryan Fitzpatrick 'underrated':
A lot of people give him a hard time. He is not your prototypical guy. He does not have the big name. I think he is better than people give him credit for. That is why I said that. I think he is better. I am biased, I understand that. But I think he is better than people give him credit for.
On the team showing resilience after Spiller went down compared to what happened when Jackson got hurt:
I cannot compare the two. I think it was different, but I think that the way our team responded in the fourth quarter was different. It was different. I think that I saw a better football team-a team that believes in itself a lot more. Hopefully that bodes well for us in the future.
On the play of the linebackers on Sunday:
They did a lot of good things. They ran on a ton of tackles, made a bunch of big plays and defended the pass extremely well during the course of the day. The thing that stood out the most for me in the course of the ball game was our tackling. I thought we did a great job of tackling in the ball game. And when you play against a back like (Trent Richardson) you better be good at tackling during the course of a game. I thought we made some open field tackles. I know we missed a couple here and there, but for the most part we tackled extremely well during the ball game.
On not having to worry about point production:
You do not worry about it. I worry about it every day. It just does not happen. You have to have players who go make it happen. We have been fortunate that we have had guys to make the plays that are needed to play. The line has played extremely well to this point, which always helps you. When you do not get sacks and you can run the football, it makes life a lot easier.
On how the cornerbacks are playing:
They have become a more aggressive group. To me that is one of the things that has been bright spot--the way they have played more aggressively in the last two weeks. I thought they were kind of on their heels in the first game. Since that they have started to come on and play a lot more aggressively. That has been something we needed.
On CB Leodis McKelvin's ability to return punts and kicks:
He is probably another guy that is underrated in his area. I think he is an extremely talented returner and he has a chance to take every ball, whether it is a kickoff or a punt, he has a chance to take it all the way as we saw two weeks ago. Our guys will keep working because when they know he is back there, they are working extremely hard to block and to do their assignments. It takes everybody. One guy cannot do it. You cannot have one guy back there and him do it all. Everybody is working extremely hard to get that done.
On if teams might start kicking the ball out-of-bounds on punts:
They might. If they do then they might get one of those 32-yarders that really helps field position. That would be good.
On the Jets losing CB Darrelle Revis to injury:
People were probably asking the other coaches in the division about losing Fred and about losing C.J. and how does that effect things. You do not know. We will see how it plays out. They have good players. They are all pro players.
On McKelvin always wanting to be aggressive in the return game:
Oh yeah. He was mad at me right before the end of the half because I called for the block instead of the return. Has he become a better decision maker? Yeah, I think he has. I think he knows how to set up things. He has a feel for setting up things better than when I got here. I know that.
On McKelvin having a positive outlook:
He has a great outlook. He wants to win. That is the great thing about him is that he wants to win. He will do his role, whatever it is and try to be the greatest he can be at it. Whatever that is. I am glad we got him. I know that.
On what RB Tashard Choice showed yesterday:
I am not shocked, as I said yesterday. Everybody else seems to be but I am not. I know what kind of player he is and what kind of competitor he is. He is great to have on our football team. I have a very high comfort level when he is in the ball game.
On cleaning up WR Stevie Johnson's holding penalties:
One of them was debatable. One of them probably was. They can get you a lot of times. He just has to be a little bit more careful, which is true for everybody.
On why Fitzpatrick has struggled to play well against division opponents:
The team is not playing very well. It is not him only. None of us are playing that great when it comes time to play. That is the challenge, to win our division. That is our division.
On the opportunity to put the Patriots in a hole:
It is big. It is a great opportunity for us. They are going to be at an all-time focus level for this ball game just because of who they are. They are the defending (AFC) champs until somebody knocks them off. You are going to get the best they have got and we have to go play. It is a great opportunity.
On how the team came through the Browns' game injury wise aside from Spiller: I think fine.
