August 4, 2009 Redskins Park REDSKINS HEAD COACH JIM ZORN On guard Randy Thomas:
"He had a sore knee. He felt like when he tried to anchor and really put a load on it, it was a little bit abrasive so we held him out today. I don't know how many practices we'll have to hold him out. With Randy it's probably not going to be long."
On tackle Mike Williams:
"Mike Williams hurt his groin a little bit. He's got a little muscle pull. Stephon Heyer got banged up in that goal line drill and has a little bruise on his knee. I don't what the extent of it is. Haynesworth practiced and did great. His knee is just fine; perfect and no worries."
On having a physical practice:
"It was a very physical practice. This was the first day we really had a chance to work goal line and short yardage. It's always a challenge because you have tighter splits and guys that are really coming off the ball. We've got a couple of great plays. Our defense stopped our run, which they should. It was very competitive. It's hard because you have to do that to get ready to play a football game. So we hit them pretty good. The amount of receivers we have has been going down, with Roydell [Williams] going down with his finger, which put a little extra stress on the receivers and they've got sore legs too right now so they held a couple out."
On how long wide receiver Roydell Williams will be out due to injury:
"I know it will be a couple weeks before he can start running. It may be three weeks until he starts running. It's going to probably be a four-to-six week deal, but I'm really speculating."
On fullback Mike Sellers' improvement since last year:
"I think he's working hard. He's just using all the speed he has. I don't know if he's trimmed down or lost any weight to gain more speed, but I think he's just more confident in the offense. He really knows the language, and I think Stump Mitchell has done a great job of teaching. Mike Sellers is helping our young fullback learn the position and learn the assignment vocabulary and that's been great."
On if he was concerned that Mike Sellers wasn't at OTAs:
"We were in touch a couple times. He wanted to be here but he was working his deal, and now he's playing."
On wide receiver Antwaan Randle El:
"I always told him, 'you can not get injured, we have to have you.' He's practicing everyday and every play. He's got a little wear and tear but he keeps going. He's a great football player, leader and person for our football team and I think our team respects him so his presence out there is just perfect for what we've got to do."
On concerns with injuries of the offensive line:
"Casey Rabach was down getting his calf muscle stretched. We're looking at Stephon Heyer. We're going to get that looked at, but everybody else, it's all muscular."
On Stephon Heyer going down during practice:
"It was just a big pile and I heard a little, 'ughh,' so I knew something had happened. It was Heyer. If he's out because we have to rest him, we'll do that but I don't think it's a major issue. We'll see. This will be a practice setback, not a season setback."
On tight end coach Scott Wachenheim:
"He's a great addition. He's replacing a long time coach Renny Simmons. Wachenheim and I worked together in 1991 and 1992 at Utah State University. The thing I love about Scott is that he's always been an excellent teacher. He's very serious about being a great football coach and I think he relates very well. He's getting the most out of Fred [Davis]. I think those players appreciate what he's brought to the table. He's elevated their game, not just kept it the same, and that's what you look for every year. I hope I can do that every year I'm in the league. He brings a kind of consciousness, and we're going to get better, he's awesome. Another thing I love about him is that he has been an offensive line coach, so he understands blocking schemes just like any offensive line coach, and he brings that to the tight ends. That's why we can be more versatile with our run-block, our run-game and our passing game because of things that the tight ends can do with his blocking knowledge as well."
On his feelings of players using Twitter:
"I don't tweet on the Twitter. I don't worry about it. We've talked about that. There are so many things that players can do that other people can do. You can Facebook, blog, Tweet, text, Email, you can do all these things. How many things are there? But I can't worry about that. We talk about it and we try to educate about the perils. They already know about the advantages, but they have to know about the cautions that need to be taken."
On how he would assess camp at this point in training camp:
"Up to this point we've really accomplished a lot. I think now we're in this grind area where guys are starting to pull and getting tired so now we've got to push through this to get in a recovery period where we get these guys ready to play a game. It's not going to come until next week. We're right in that grind of training camp."
On how proud he is of the team:
"I'm proud of the defense, that their swarming and playing together. They're really doing a nice job communicating and they're playing fast as well. On the offense, I'm really proud of the amount of offense we've put in thus far. We don't have it all down, but we've got a larger amount at this time than we did last year. We've really come a long way."
On how he thinks quarterback Colt Brennan has evolved since last year:
"I think Colt has come a long way. I think the way I get on him, he probably doesn't feel like he's come a long way, but I'm pushing him and he has come a long way. He's done well. He's becoming more disciplined. When he first got here he was a little bit all over the place. Now he's being more disciplined in the pocket. He's starting to read the throws. But he's a work in progress and this preseason is going to be very important for him. I'm not tinkering with his arm yet at all. I'm really trying to get the mental part of his game and really the footwork part of his game. I'm trying to get him to move."
