On Jon Jansen (OT #76):
"The best place for me to start is it's just a big loss for us with Jon. I was down in there in the training room, talked to the doctors and talked to the trainers. I want to say sorry to Martha (Jansen) and everybody. I thought this year Jon had made unusually good preparation. He hadn't missed a snap in practice, or a snap in games. He made great preparation. It is just one of those things that can happen and we hate it. I took a look at everything with the doctors and the best thing we can tell is that the injury is similar to what Randy (Thomas, OG #77) went through and of course Randy is back now and has never had a problem with his ankle, so that's good news for us. I think they are going through a process right now with what the best way is to get everything fixed. I wanted to start off by saying that certainly is a big loss for us and we will be talking about what the best thing for us to do. Both, for adding somebody and how we are going to proceed--we have Todd (Wade, OL #71), and I think that is good for us. We also have (Stephon, OL
74) Heyer with us, who stepped in there and just played exceptional football for a guy getting thrown into a situation like that. It was really a heck of a day for him."
On special teams against Miami:
"We felt like on special teams we played real physical. We got off to a good start by covering kickoffs. Both our kicker and our punter had big days. To go 3-for-3 on field goals like that was a great start for us there. I appreciate Shaun (Suisham, K #6) stepping in and getting that done for us. Derrick (Frost, P #4) punted the ball extremely well. We did a lot of good things on special teams. Mostly, I was proud of how we played very physical. Our award winners were Shaun and Derrick, both those guys had big days for us. James Thrash (WR #83) always plays well for us. Reed (Doughty, S #37) had a great day and fought hard. LaRon (Landry, S #30) stepped in there for the first go ?round on special teams and made some real big plays for us."
On defense against the Dolphins:
"I'm really proud of our defense. From day one, we started out this season and played real physical against the run. They did that this game. A 3.3 average per rush is an outstanding day for us. We did real well on third downs, 4-for-13; put real pressure. They played real well when we put them in a bad position several times which I think says a lot about the character of everything. You can go in there on a turnover and say, ?woe is me, we have been put in a bad position' or you can rise up like our defense has done all preseason and did again in this game, which is crucial for us. We felt like we were also very well prepared in the heat. We felt like our guys came through that extremely well. We had no IV's or problems from that standpoint. We felt pretty good about that from our conditioning standpoint. Our game ball and some of the other things we give out as an award: Rocky McIntosh (LB, #52) had a bunch of tackles, a sack, a QB hit, and played extremely well. Other award winners were London Fletcher (LB #59). London played great in his first game for us with 15 tackles: Andre Carter (DL #99) is in great shape, his energy level just never drops off, even at the end of games. He did a great job, extremely well. Shawn Taylor (S #21) made five tackles for us, but not only that, he played the middle of the field and so far has been outstanding. People just don't want to put anything down the middle of the field with him there. Cornelius (Griffin, DL #96) played extremely physical and hard."
On offense against Miami:
"I'm really proud of the way we rushed the football. We had four good drives in there for scores. We would like to convert those field goals to touchdowns, but we had a very good rushing day. We were 50% on third downs, which is a big day for us. The award winners: (Antwaan, WR #82)Randle El had a great day for us. I mean, five receptions, 160-something yards. Both of our running backs had 17 carries and played as physical and hard as they could. I'm really proud of those guys. Chris Samuels (OL, #60) stepped in there, he really had us concerned going out in the heat like that. He matched up against one of the best players in the league for most of the day, matter of fact, NFC Player of the Year. To play like that, we thought that was an outstanding day for him. Pete Kendall (OL, #66) got an award also, his first outing for us he played extremely well. So did Casey Rabach (OL, #60). I think the thing for me that means the most in this game for us, there were a lot of things in there that we didn't do well. Very consistently there were some things our defensive coaches would like to see us do a better job of. Certainly on offense, it was the same, and special teams. But what I think meant the most to me in this game, was that there were some things where all three areas just kept fighting. That was a hot day, against a very good football team, against a physical football team. I think all the way across the board what that football game showed us was heart, and great fight, and guys stayed after it. I thought it was a real physical effort for us. We overcame a lot of the things I thought we did poorly with a real physical hard-fought effort and just stayed after it the whole way. In a game like that, what I think is important is for us to learn from this. We will spend a lot of time right now on the film, going over it with the guys. I'm always humbled from the standpoint that you always know what is facing you next week, going to Philly. We need to get better in all these different areas that we are going to be showing the players today. We need to step up and play better, obviously, if are going to be the team we want to be. I think the focus immediately goes from, you like to look at this and celebrate a lot of the things and I think we stepped out personality-wise and made some statements there. At the same time, I think you are very conscious of the fact of who you are playing next week, what kind of effort its going to take, and we are going to have to play better in those areas. So I think the focus today is we want to celebrate all the good things we did, but also study all the things where we feel like we can be a better football team, individually and as a group and as offense, defense, and special teams. My focus immediately after a couple of hours today will be to focus on what our job is going to be this Monday night, which is a huge one."
On Todd Wade (OL, #71):
"He is going to play a huge role for us. I have not had a chance to talk yet. I have not even sat with Buges (Assistant Head Coach ? Offense Joe Bugel) and talked about it. The good thing is that we have two excellent players in Stephon (Heyer, OL #74) and Todd. It is just a matter of us seeing what is best for the team and the best way for us to align ourselves."
On Stephon Heyer (OL #74):
"He has amazed us since day one. He is one of the great stories of our camp. He is a local guy that stepped in for Chris (Samuels, OL #60). In this case I don't know if he has ever played right tackle. We worked him there because we had too. When you go down the stretch and you cut down to your players for that week, guys have to play a couple spots.
We worked him more at left tackle because I was worried about Chris and the heat. Chris breezed through the game and did extremely well. Then the injury happens to Jon (Jansen, OL #76) and we say get in there. Playing the way he did is exceptional. I can't brag enough about him."
On Antwaan Randle El (WR, #82):
"What this guy does, this guy blocked on a couple of those key runs. He was one of the reasons that they went. He is very physical for his size, even standing back there for punts. He is not fazed at all. Those things all impressed me. On that nine route a lot of guys would have shut it down because it went passed where he thought he was going to get the ball. Jason (Campbell, QB #17) fired that deeper that what you would normally expect. He never backs off. He is going 100 miles per hour. That was a great play for us. He had a great day. The team really respects him. He is a leader. He is not a big guy. He is just a football player."
On Jason Campbell (QB #17):
"There were some things that obviously he would have liked to have done better. As a young quarterback when you start off the year with an interception, that is a tough one to come back from. What you see in him is what some of the players said. He came to the sideline and said ?I know what exactly what I should have done and I didn't do it.' You watch him and he does not get flustered, which is a great sign for a quarterback. He made some great plays later on with the blitz break off, the fade down the field to (Antwaan, WR #82) Randle El and the deep hook route to Santana (Moss, WR #89). His day was back and forth but for a young guy he hung tough and made some plays that really helped us down the stretch."
