On Casey Rabach's injury status:"He had a second degree meniscus tear. We're just going to have to wait until during the week and see how he responds."
On Rocky McIntosh and Clinton Portis's injury statuses:"[Rocky McIntosh] sore right now. He had a groin injury and was sore during the game. We weren't sure if he was going to be able to come back in and obviously he wasn't. I don't think we'll know until Wednesday how serious it is. Clinton Portis, we talked about it after the game, after the MRI he'll talk to a couple of doctors and we won't know until Wednesday exactly how serious the injury is."
On Lorenzo Alexander's injury status:"He had that hamstring very early in the game. He just made a couple of plays on defense. [With] those hamstrings, you don't know. Hamstrings can be a few days or a few weeks. We'll have to wait and see."
On Derrick Dockery's injury status:"[Dockery] is sore right now. He's optimistic. He probably won't be able to practice for a couple of days at least. That's [Head Athletic Trainer] Larry's [Hess] first impression. So, we'll have to wait and see."
On Anderson Russell's injury status:"He's on IR with an ACL [injury]."
On Chad Simpson's injury status:"He's on IR, fifth metatarsal. He'll be operated on."
On if James Davis will join the 53-man roster:"Yeah, he's already signed. He's on our active roster."
On LaRon Landry and Carlos Rogers's injury statuses:"LaRon, I think, will be out. I'm 98 percent there. Carlos, still with the hamstring. We'll get a better feel for that during the week."
On Artis Hicks:"We'll take a look at him. He was biting at the bit. He was biting at the bit last week. We'll get a better feel of that Wednesday."
On Ryan Torain:"I think that's a long shot right now. [His] hamstring is still sore."
On Jeremy Jarmon:"I'm not going to say he's out because you don't know for sure. He tweaked that hamstring pretty good on Friday. So, we'll have to wait and see."
On if anyone took Anderson Russell's spot on the 53-man roster:"Not yet."
On if there will be limitations with practice on Wednesday due to the amount of injured players:"There are a lot of different directions you can go. You can't go full speed as much as you normally do. You just try to get quality reps, probably not as many because you don't have the same numbers on the scout team. But you can still get all of the work done."
On if Stephon Heyer has become a viable option at guard:"We had the opportunity to go in a couple of different directions. Heyer stepped in yesterday and did a great job, especially with not practicing at that position before. [He is] very smart, very aware of the different positions on the offensive line, which enabled him to go in there and at least know the assignments. He played at a very high level and I was pretty proud of the way he played. That's what we'll have to do. We'll have to get a feel during the week and what's the best combination for us entering the game. Who's healthy? Who gives us the best chance to win? I won't be able to tell you that until we start practicing."
On his decision to put Kory Lichtensteiger in at right guard and move Will Montgomery from right guard to center:"That's what's nice, when you have the flexibility with a guy like Kory and a guy like Will, who can play both positions. I've got a lot of confidence in both guys playing in the center and guard positions. Next week we might just do it the opposite, depending on what the situation is."
On if Rabach will have to get his MCL scoped:"I'm not sure of anything right now. I'm just guessing right now. I'm just kind of giving you my opinion. Usually with a second degree, you don't have to have surgery and be quite sore. Lichtensteiger had it and played the following week. Stephon [Heyer] had it. Usually you'll miss a couple of days of practice as well. Other guys have missed two weeks, too. So, I can't tell you."
On how Selvish Capers and Eric Cook have progressed since the preseason:"Good. They're doing a good job. They're getting a chance to learn your system throughout the season. They're in all of the meetings, so they see game plans. They get a chance to practice against our first-team defense everyday through practice. They get some good experience. So, when someone's not able to play, chances are we'll go in that direction."
On how he moves the team forward as a head coach with all of the injuries:"These guys that are on our team are pro football players. Not everybody has had an opportunity to prove what they can do. I think you saw yesterday, a bunch of players step up and they proved they can play. That's what we expect our guys to do. Even though we have injuries, that doesn't mean that these guys behind them can't play at a very high level. We expect them to play at that level. You referred to Denver, I think there were seven or eight guys that were IR, but they still averaged 4.8 yards per rushing attempt. That's pretty good. That was tied for second in the National Football League. Even though you lose people, guys step up and you're hoping play at the level you expect them to play."
On if he was surprised at the cohesion of the team once other players stepped in:"That's what you're hoping for. You're hoping for guys that are practicing and have that opportunity to prove what they can do. Given that opportunity, they do play at that level. It doesn't always happen that way, but a lot of guys got their first opportunity to enter a very meaningful game and prove that they can play. Like we've said all along to these guys, 'Hey, here's a team that's won 12 straight against the NFC and it's a chance to prove as a group that you have a chance to do something that's kind of special.'"
On DeAngelo Hall, Brian Orakpo, Santana Moss and Kedric Golston leaving the game and coming back:"They're OK. They all should be fine."
On if he is looking for a safety for the open roster spot:"Yeah, right now we are."
On how satisfying it is to have guys come up from the bottom of the depth chart and win:"We talk about it all of the time. The first day we actually talked to the players, we talked to them about losing people during the season. It's going to happen and sometimes it happens in bunches and sometimes one a game or two a game. You've got to be ready. These guys are preparing themselves every week. They're one play away from being the starter, but you've got to prepare yourself to be a starter each and every week. It's tough. It's a grind, especially when you're playing special teams. You're proud of [your backup players] when they play well because they get their opportunity to take advantage and show people that they can play at a certain position on special teams and a bunch of players got their turn."
On if he saw the confidence of the backups throughout the game and how it can help for the next game:"It always helps you, especially when they get practice time. The thing that's tough about guys going down during the week is they haven't had a lot of snaps during the week. When you know a starter is going to be out and get a chance to practice during the week, they get a lot more confidence because they know the things they see during the game."
On if he is proud that the fill-in guys are doing their assignments and are following closely to what he's trying to put together:"When you have 45 guys, and that's all you have ready to play, you're second or third team, depending on how deep you are at each position, they have to be ready. You have to practice at a certain standard during the week to make sure that happens. We've got that type of football team. It's still nice to see guys doing it once that occurs, especially when it happens in bunches."
On what he has noticed about teams responding to coaching changes midseason:"It's hard because there are so many different situations that occur. I'm sure they'll be ready to go. Most teams are. It's preparation. It's us preparing for a game and Minnesota preparing for a game. There are a lot of different sidebars that go into the preparation and different mindsets. We've got to let them do what they do and we've got to be ready for a football team to break out."
On possibly seeing things he hasn't seen from the Vikings' new head coach:"Usually that doesn't happen. Whoever the head coach is, whether it's an offensive or defensive guy, he has ran the system and he believes in that system. Sometimes they may tweak the other side of the ball a little bit or tell the offensive coordinator or defensive coordinator to get a free hand. He might tell them to run the ball a little bit more or throw a little bit more. Normally, since you have the same staff, usually it doesn't go too far outside the box."
On how much he knows about Leslie Frazier, the Vikings' new head coach:"No, I really don't. I've met him before, but I don't know him very well."
On their success on third downs:"We knew that if we kept working on it that eventually we'd do better. We had our stretches but it was nice to finally make some third downs and go 50 percent. We kept some drives going. We were four-for-four in the red zone the week before and all of a sudden we're one-for-three. We didn't score as many points as we'd like but we did make some strides in moving the ball, obviously getting some first downs and time of possession and things along those lines."
On if he addresses the team directly about the postseason:"I really don't. At the midway point, I look at every game as a playoff game. You've got to have that type of mindset because the second half of the season, we all know how important those games are. Each game is a playoff game in my mind and you've got to take advantage of opportunities."
On how confident he was in Graham Gano in overtime after missing two field goals in regulation:"Very good. I've got a lot of confidence in him. He's doing a great job on kickoffs. With the field goal kick, a lot of times there's a holder and a snapper, guys working together. You've got to have that protection. I think he'll be an excellent kicker for many years to come. He's got a lot of confidence. He's got great leg strength. The two balls that he missed were not perfect snaps. We expect perfection from everybody. Nick [Sundberg] will put some pressure on himself and I thought Hunter [Smith] did a good job getting that ball down. Usually when that ball is pretty consistent with the snap that ball's going through the upper right side."
