On releasing Joe Salave'a:
"I am kind of like his stepfather. I brought him into the league. It is always tough when you do those type of things. I wish him the best. We tried to do the same thing we did for Lemar (Marshall) and give him some time to get on a team. He did all the hard work as far as getting in shape. Another story is that we have some young guys here that are doing better so we were able to make that move. We wanted to make sure Joe had an opportunity to hook on someplace else. I wish him the best because he and I were real close. My own kids had a tough time last night when I got home and told them."
On defensive end Chris Wilson (#77R):
"Our personnel department did a really good job of knowing he was a guy that had similar speed to Chris Clemons. One of the things that we thought we could use him as is a speed rusher. To his credit, he came in and worked very hard in the OTA's and off-season program. He spent a lot of time studying what we want him to do. He has taken advantage of the opportunities to date. He had a big error on a defensive offsides. That was eagerness on wanting to make a play. He has to slow his heartbeat down in those types of situations. We can't let those drives continue. That is the only touchdown drive we have given up this year and that was one of the big errors on that drive giving them a free shot there. He has done well. He has a real important game coming up this Thursday night and see if he can do it against some of their better ones too."
On if having guys like Phillip Daniels (DE, #93) play defensive tackle occasionally hurt Joe Salave'a :
"One of the things that we wanted to do is use as many ends as we could. Joe's forte has been run. It doesn't have anything to do with Phillip moving inside. We really want to do that with all of our defensive ends if we can. We have a hybrid tackle with Cornelius (Griffin, DT #96). He can do both. The fact that we are trying to get faster at this point in time in his career it was good for us to give a young guy a shot. It was a tough decision but it was one we had to make for the betterment of the team."
On if players perform a certain way when the regular season rolls around:
"Every year you are trying to do everything you can to do all of your leg work: to get guys in the best shape, best habits and best techniques, so they can have the best opportunity to produce in a regular season game. We have had real strong work. I have been really pleased with the health of the defense. I have been really pleased with what we have been able to accomplish in the off-season, in the mini camps, in the training camps health-wise. With the kind of work we have been getting in practice I think that Coach (Gibbs) has had a real solid and strong training camp. We have been able to get a lot of work that we sometimes do not get in preseason games. Even the guys that we have held out of the preseason games, we have gotten really good hard work in the practice settings. That will hopefully carry over and get us ready for the opener because we have to get out there fast."
On Marcus Washington (LB, #53):
"It was nice to see him get out there today. We will progress day by day with that. If anyone can do it, it is him because he is one of our toughest football players. I am anxious to see how he bounces back tomorrow. We will try and give him a little more every day."
On defensive end Alex Buzbee (DE, #90):
"He has taken advantage of the opportunities that he has. He has youth, a burst and he has an instinct to rush the passer. Those are some of the things that we are looking for and want out of our defensive ends and now Thursday night is a big game for him."
On if he is satisfied with the play of the defense:
"I am never satisfied. We have a lot to work on. We have a lot to do before the opener. As far as the quality work that we have gotten it has been good quality work."
On the secondary:
"It is a very competitive secondary. There is no one out in our secondary that doesn't belong here. You are going to see a lot of playing time by a lot of guys. We are going to mix and match a lot of numbers into the ball game so we can get some quality evaluation snaps for those guys. I said this in June, and I meant it then and it has come to fruition, there are guys that are let go that are going to make a other teams. I think that is a credit to what Coach Gibbs and the personnel department have done in a short amount of time to have a more competitive training camp this year than we did last year."
On how important it is to him to stop teams on third down:
"The years that we have been very good on defense we have been dominate on third down. You would like to be able to make a difference making plays on third down, not just get off the field. There have been years we have been good at that but you would like to take the ball away on third down. We were deficient in both of those areas last year and we need to improve. We need to make a significant jump in those areas."
On LaRon Landry (S, #30):
"He has come along very well. He has a long way to go yet. There are still a lot of things that he hasn't seen. Meaning people have not sprung on him yet or surprised him yet. As a coach we are trying to go through as many of those ?what-ifs' as we can in practice. You can't beat the game playing experience. The one good thing for him was that he was able to play in a pro style system for four years in college. Hopefully a lot of that stuff will carry over and he can put it into what we call ?same as' category. This is the ?same as' LSU in this particular category. This is what I see coach wanting us to do. I have been really pleased with his progress but he is still a rookie. I bet when we talk to him this time next year that he will still be learning."
On London Fletcher (LB, #59):
"The one thing that a Coach (Gibbs) is extremely high on is when as a scout or a coach watches film you see what that person is on film, but what do you know about him behind the scenes? What do you know about him off the field? What do you know about him from a leadership, character and communication stand point? When you bring him in as a free agent and you have no foundation or base of knowledge about him, you think you will be real thorough in the interview. I didn't have to worry about that because I have spent years with him. Those types of things that we thought we were lacking from a communication standpoint, or a quarterback standpoint on defense, or maybe a leadership standpoint in that part of the room we knew we didn't have to worry about. All I needed to find out was that the scouts and the other coaches liked what they saw on film because I knew him."
