On the status of left tackle Trent Williams's and tackle Jammal Brown's knee injuries:
"I really don't [know]. They're getting treatment today. Obviously the MRIs were negative so that's good. There's no surgery needed, but they're quite sore. We'll get a little bit better feel of how they are on Wednesday. They're both ok. No surgery needed for either one."
On when he expects defensive lineman Albert Haynesworth back:"The services are tomorrow. I really haven't talked to him yet so I really don't know for sure. But I knew it would be after the services and the services are tomorrow."
On if the team being ranked last in yards allowed on defense concerns him:"The first thing you're looking at is do you win football games? The next thing you're looking at is how many points do you give up? You can move the ball around a lot, but unless you're scoring points and winning football games, it really doesn't matter. [It is] the same thing defensively. The object is not to give up points. If you don't give up points, you bend and don't break, you've got good things going. That's been the ongoing saga for years with offenses and defenses. Is it total offense or is it points scored, total defense or points given up? Then you get to turnover ratios. If you look over the years, that's probably the biggest factor when it comes to stats of all the things you look at year in and year out. There are a lot of different things we look at as coaches."
On if he has ever been a part of a team where so many of the games' outcomes were determined by the last play of the game:
"I don't think I've ever been involved in five games or four games where it was determined by the last play. The one game that we probably should have had under control was the game that we were ahead at. That was Houston and obviously we didn't get that one done. I don't believe I can remember any scenario like that since I've started coaching."
On if it makes him feel good when the players say that they believe they will win because of him:"To be honest with you, I'm very proud of them. It starts with your players. We've got a lot of great character. We have people that are really working extremely hard starting in the offseason program. They made a commitment to do the things that you need to do to give yourself a chance to win. I felt very good about the players we had on our football team. You still have to go out there and do it. There's a lot that goes into the equation. The ball bounces a lot of different ways but they give themselves a chance to have success and that doesn't surprise me."
On if playing with six defensive backs was a plan or if he changed it when he saw the Packers game plan:"The one thing Green Bay does is they use ten different personnel groupings and they're very good at changing them throughout the game. You've got to be ready to play with a lot of different substituting groups and you've got game plans depending on if they're four wides (wide receivers). They had four tight ends dressed and four wide receivers dressed so, they've got the building to do a lot of different things. You really have to be on top of things when you go against a team like Green Bay."
On if it is problematic that they are not putting teams away:"I think the perfect scenario is that we'd all like to put teams away early and we'd like to dominate teams. That's your goal. Obviously, it doesn't always work out that way but that's your plan. Ultimately, you have to find a way to win. At the end of the day, what you have to do is look at yourselves and say, 'Hey, what have I done, what did we do well or what do we need to improve on?' We need to improve in a lot of different areas. It's always nice to need to improve and still win and I think our football players are going to focus on that. They understand they've done some good things, but they understand we need to get better to be the type of team we're capable of being."
On how the confidence of winning these games carries throughout the season:"You focus day-by-day. You don't really focus week-by-week. My thoughts are that we're getting ready for Wednesday's practice and obviously the Colts. If you can really concentrate on Wednesday and not get involved about the game, then you've got a chance to take care of business. Relative to the length of the season, when you do find a way to win, you get a lot of confidence. So if you do get behind, you can say, 'We've been there before.' Or if you get ahead 17 or 20 points, you understand that this is the National Football League. If you don't take care of business and you don't keep on playing at a certain level, you can get beat very quickly. I think it's a combination of all of those things so that's part of growing up as a football team."
On what some of the mental tools are that he uses to get the players motivated in end of the game situations:
"I think, number one, you go through the scenarios that could occur at the end of the game. Maybe it's a Hail Mary, what do you want to do on a Hail Mary? When do you use a Hail Mary? What circumstances? What type of defense do you have if you're on the 50-yard line and there are 17 seconds and one timeout. What are the two or three scenarios that exist? Or they're ahead by two points and you're in a scenario where they're going to use the clock. They've got to get 50 or 60 yards. What's the focus of your defense trying to keep them inbounds. There are so many different things that you look at that you try to put them through so in a game situation like we faced, you're not surprised, they've been through it, they've practiced it, you've talked about it, they've walked through it and now they just go out there and execute it."
On what he does to inspire the team to have belief:"I really believe that the commitment starts in the offseason. When the players see people working together, they make a commitment to each other that football is very important. They're going to workout together, they're going to learn the defense and learn the offense. I don't know of an offense that maybe is ranked in the top five that they don't workout throughout the offseason. In order to get good, you've got to practice in whatever endeavor you're in. You've got to practice to get good. If it's one of the OTAs, if it's the offseason program, I think one of the reasons why our players believe is because I think they believe in each other. They had a good commitment relative to strength, weight lifting, getting in shape, learning the offense and defense and when you go over things time and time again you get luckier during games."
On guard Derrick Dockery being put on the inactive list and what his role is moving forward:
"Number one, we've got to make one of the toughest decisions to make, which is, who is in the top 45 guys dressing out? When Kory Lichtensteiger was supposed to start at left guard and Will Montgomery is a guy that can play center and the right guard position. That's where he worked. Stephon Heyer, with Trent Williams being up, he would be the back up tackle. We are very lucky that it happened this week, relative to our substitution because we didn't have to take Kory [Lichtensteiger] and put him at center or at the right guard position. With Doc (Derrick Dockery) being the left guard, Kory [Lichtensteiger] didn't practice the whole week at center or right guard, we could make easy adjustments. When we did have Casey [Rabach] go down for a play, Will [Montgomery] went in, and he practiced there during the week. When Artis [Hicks] had to go to the right tackle, obviously, Will [Montgomery] worked there during the week. One of the reasons Doc (Derrick Dockery) wasn't up and Will [Montgomery], was just because the position change."
On guard Kory Lichtensteiger's performance and the performance of the offensive line as a whole:
"Kory has played very well. I am very happy with his play. He'll get better and better as time goes on. The defensive line that we played against is probably the best in the NFL. If they are not, I don't want to play the team that has better personnel than they do right now. [They are] a very talented group. [I was] very impressed with all of their players. [I] couldn't give them enough accolades with how hard they played throughout the whole game."
On quarterback Donovan McNabb's ability to improve his performance as the game entered the fourth quarter:
"The bottom line is you got to find a way to win. What more can you say than a quarterback that scores 13 points in the fourth quarter and finds a way to get the job done in overtime? That's what you want your quarterbacks to do, find a way to win. To get that done, you got to have a lot of people working together too. As we all know, it is a combination of a group effort and people stepping up when the pressure is on."
On if Derrick Dockery can help the team going forward:
"Without question, if not he wouldn't be on our football team. This is about competition. Just because a person doesn't start, doesn't mean that he can't be on your football team. Doc (Derrick Dockery) has got a lot of playing experience. He's a winner. Doc (Derrick Dockery) has been nothing but supportive through this whole situation. I brought Doc up (Derrick Dockery) before the Jets game. I said, 'The competition is very, very close.' One thing I have always been able to do especially with veteran players who have played for a lot of years, I let them know when the competition is close so they know they are in for a fight. It's based on practice. It's based on play in games. I just think it's the right thing to do. Doc (Derrick Dockery) has been nothing but first class. When I did make the decision, I am sure he didn't like it. At the same time, he was very supportive of Kory [Lichtensteiger]. He said, 'Mike, I am going to make it very tough on you in practice to keep Kory [Lichtensteiger] at that starting left guard position because I want to give it everything I have.' That's what you expect players to do especially great competitors like Doc (Derrick Dockery) is."
On wide receiver Anthony Armstrong's development:
"When Anthony first got here, you saw a guy that had great speed, very smart kid. The thing you didn't know is how he is going to perform when the pressure is on. We saw through the preseason, him making plays on special teams, him making plays on offense and the game wasn't too big for him. Obviously, we have seen that in his limited opportunities but he has taken advantage of all of those opportunities when he has gotten them. He's a football player. He likes to compete. The game is not too big and he is going to keep on making plays as the year goes on."
On coaching defensive takeaways:
"I can't say with other coaches but what we try to do is practice it. We'll have turnover drills on the defense. You'll see people out there for five or ten minutes everyday and they will be stripping the ball carrier. We ask for our defense throughout practice to constantly work on stripping the ball from our players, three or four guys down the field. It becomes a standard of the way you practice. Unless you practice that way, it's really hard to get turnovers because when one guy stands a guy up the other guy is pulling at the ball. Our offensive guys get better at it because when they see it everyday in practice, or they feel it, they get a little bit more ball security. I am kind of proud of them because I don't even count the Hail Mary as a turnover. You go in that game and really not have a turnover. You feel pretty good about the ball security of your football team especially against a team that has been very good at getting turnovers."
On Derrick Dockery moving to another position on the offensive line:
"If he is looking good in practice and making it very tough on you to make a decision on who is a starting left guard then you move another guy over to another position. It could be center, it could be right guard, it all depends on where the competition is or maybe you are not strong at one position. We're going to find the best players to play regardless of the position. Sometimes we'll move a tackle over to guard, sometimes a guard over to tackle. If someone is not getting the job done, we're going to find somebody that can get it done. You never know."
On Will Montgomery replacing Casey Rabach for one play:
"The official thought Casey was shook up enough to stop the play. Once he stops the play, he's got to be out for a play or we got to utilize a timeout. So he came out for a play, then Will went in. Obviously, Casey went in on the next play."
On wide receiver Brandon Banks' impact as a punt returner:"He's got great quickness. He plays with a lot of confidence. When he went in for the last punt return, he said, 'Coach, this game is over.' I said, 'I hope that is a positive not a negative.' He's got a lot of belief in himself. You can see his quickness and his speed. He can make something happen. Hopefully, he keeps on doing what he's been doing."
On the significance of questioning Devin Thomas' professionalism:
"I don't think it is. When you're talking to people and you're honest, I sat down with Devin a number of times and I go through somebody's strengths and weaknesses. What I did say, he's a very good person. I think he's grown up a lot since I've been here. I've watched him make tremendous strides. He's got ability to play in the National Football League but I got to keep our top five wide receivers because we lost a guy. We lost a running back. I had to make a decision. Devin was the next guy to go. Does that mean he can't play in the National Football League? Absolutely not. Does it mean I don't like Devin? It doesn't at all. I just encouraged Devin, I said, 'Hey, you are a big kid. You're strong. You got a lot of speed. If you want to get to the next level, you got to have a heck of an offseason program working to be the best wide receiver you can be. If you want to be good, you got a chance to be good but you got to make a total commitment. This profession that we're in is not based on talent. It is based on people working extremely hard.' I got some strong feelings for Devin. I like him quite a bit but I was being honest with him. Hopefully, he takes advantage of it down the road."
On if Devin Thomas committed to the offseason program like the organization wanted:
"First of all, he was hurt. The next thing is that everybody has got a different mindset on work means, what dedication means, what commitment means. All I told him was, if you want to be the best player that you want to be that commitment has got to be stronger. That was my feeling. That doesn't mean that it's right but that's what I shared with him."
On if he was confident Brandon Banks could successfully transition to kick returner:
"You never know for sure. Again, you do have injuries. You got to make decisions on who you are going to have on your football team. I got a lot of confidence with the people blocking for our returners, that we'll have good kickoff returners. I look at somebody's total game. It's not just returners. How do they play on special teams? One of the great things about [Anthony] Armstrong, is the guy would make plays every position you put him in. I knew [Anthony] Armstrong was going to be a football player. It's too important to him. He loves to play. How can a guy 180 pounds make tackles all of the time, beat people five yards down the field? The guy is a competitor. He wants to play. He's here everyday. He knows all three positions. He'll play every special teams position. Those guys help you win. That's why you got to get a pecking order for second, third, fourth and fifth whatever it may be. You got to go with the people you think give you the best chance to win as a team. Not just based on talent."
