Quotes - M Shanahan, Haslett, K Shanahan, McNabb
Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2010 5:48 pm
November 2, 2010
Redskins Park
Executive Vice President/Head Coach Mike Shanahan
On reports stating that both Mike Shanahan and Offensive Coordinator Kyle Shanahan are unhappy with McNabb’s practice tempo:
“There are so many rumors that circulate once something like this happens. I don’t even attempt to talk about those rumors.”
On if he is pleased with quarterback Donovan McNabb’s tempo and work habits:
“Yes, I am pleased with him. If I wasn’t pleased with him I wouldn’t share it with you anyhow, I would share it with Donovan.”
On if he expects McNabb to fully practice in a week:
“I am hoping he will be. He was able to run today which is a good sign after the type of game we had. So, with a week’s rest and some rehab I am hoping he is 100 percent next week.”
On what he can do to make sure the team is picking the offense up at the rate that he wants:
“It is not just Donovan, it is everybody. For an offense to flake, it is not just the quarterback. It is the offensive line and the receivers. Everybody has to pick up their game for us to get to the next level and hopefully we do that in the second half [of the season]. It starts with practice everyday and there has to be a sense of urgency. There has got to be a commitment by all 11 guys to be the best at all times. That is how you get better as a team.”
On if there is something specific that McNabb can do:
“You got to do everything. Relative to – I don’t care if you run the ball, I don’t care if you are throwing the football, third downs and red zone – just probably tighten everything up. As the saying goes, have perfect practices and you have a chance to get better.”
On what the Redskins need to do better defensively the second half of the season:
“That is what we will be doing here the next few days – looking over the things that we can improve upon. That is what is good about the bye week. We will look at ourselves, analyze this and have a game plan when the players come back. We are at the halfway point of the year of where we need to go to hopefully finish with a very good record.”
On if he is frustrated that things haven’t come together the way he wants:
“There is always a frustration, but we have done it at times. We have put some great halves together even three quarters. I know we have the capabilities but you got to have all 11 guys in it together. Like I said, there is not a magic formula. It is everybody improving – running game, passing game and protection. If you do that you have a chance to get things to happen.”
On how he monitors the relationship between the offensive coordinator and the quarterback:
“I think it is not just a quarterback with a coordinator or position coach. I think it is every player with their coach. I think number one, there is a respect level. People understand that, number one, someone knows what they are talking about. Number two, that the whole offense is going in the same direction. There is accountability, not only from the players, but from the coaches and everybody working together to improve.”
On if the Redskins as an organization is starting to run the way he likes:
“I think all the players have a good feel of what we want as an organization and what we are trying to do on the football field and off – the standard which we practice at and which we play at. I like the direction we are going. I like our players and I like their attitude. We have a lot of people working extremely hard. There is a lot of disappointment that we didn’t win last week – rightfully so. We would have liked to go into the bye week 5-3 rather than 4-4, an obvious scenario there. But hey, there is nothing we can do about it except have a good bye week, hopefully get healthy, get ready for the second half of the season and take advantage of our opportunity.”
On if he sees improvement from last years 4-12 team:
“Number one, I wasn’t here with a 4-12 season so I can’t talk about improvement. All I can say is what our goals are and I really don’t pay any attention to what just happened a year ago, just what is happening right now. I like the direction we are going. We lost two tough games that we should have won, but that is history. Now what do we do about it in the bye week? We hopefully finish up the second half of the year very strong.”
On the offense showing signs of improvement:
“Yeah I think. You have written about it, talked about it and that there are signs that we played some good quarters and some good halves. So, we have the capabilities of doing that. But, we have to do it in the second half consistently. Instead of finishing with the 20th offense we would like to finish in the top 10. We have those capabilities of doing it we just have to play a little bit better.”
On running back Clinton Portis:
“He took a few plays today which is a good sign. I can’t tell you if he is 60 percent or 70 percent. He is biting at the bit to get back, which is a good sign, and hopefully he will keep on improving in the bye week.”
On if his decision to take McNabb out was because of the pounding he was getting:
“There is not just one factor. I think I shared a lot of different things that goes into the decision of pulling the quarterback out in a two-minute attack. I think I went over all those scenarios. That was one that I mentioned – that he did take a couple of shots in there. But, that wasn’t the deciding factor as I mentioned, I think, in detail.”
On how he determines how Portis is feeling and his ability push harder:
“I think where he has to determine how he is feeling is on certain types of cuts. He can go straight ahead and kind of get a good feel on where he is at. But, you got to really be careful when you cut. He made a few cuts today which is a good sign and he didn’t have any repercussions by it which is very positive. So, this week hopefully he will get some more endurance in and kind of test himself a little bit more. We will see where he is at on Monday.”
Defensive Coordinator Jim Haslett
On what the staff does the next few days:
“Actually, we worked yesterday and today, so we’re going to take some time off and go home. I’m going to go home and see my family. My son has a playoff game so I’m excited about that. I’m going to go home and watch him play for the first time this year. Hopefully it’s not his last game. Hopefully he can win this and go into the playoffs and keep going. I’m excited about it.”
On the Redskins’ defensive creating turnovers:
“Yeah, I think we’re No. 1 in the league in turnovers. I would be more excited if we had four or five more. We should be up somewhere around 25 or 26 turnovers, which would be off the charts. Nineteen is good, but hopefully in the second half of the season we can continue to do that and maybe do a little bit more because I do think they help win games. Obviously, if we didn’t have those 19 turnovers, it helped us win the four games we won. We had two the other day. We probably could have had a couple of more. It would have changed the tide of the game.”
On how well he feels he knows the personnel at this point:
“I have a better feel now than I did early. To be honest, you kind of learn something new about these guys everyday you’re with them. I think the last couple of weeks, we got a really good feel for where we’re at, how to use guys and take advantage of everybody’s ability. When you switch a scheme and change things, it does take some time. I didn’t think you would still be in this process at this time, but I think we have a good handle on it right now.”
On how understanding the personnel helps going forward:
“It helps us utilize guys. Like when we mentioned Albert [Haynesworth], trying to take advantage of what he does best and I think we’ve done a pretty good job with that the last couple of weeks. Some of the other guys we can kind of sput guys or role plays. Andre [Carter] has done a good job with what we’ve asked him to do the last couple of weeks. Hopefully we can continue to do that.”
On how comfortable Andre Carter has looked:
“He’s done a good job. He really has. I know the numbers aren’t there but he knows it. He rushed the quarterback about as good as he’s rushed that I’ve seen the last two weeks. His numbers will come if he keeps working the way that he’s working.”
On if he is content at the midway point with the defensive scheme:
“Yeah, you’re never going to be happy with the numbers because the number got blown out of the water early because of the teams we were playing. I don’t know if you could ever recover from that. The things we’re doing well, we’re getting turnovers and doing those things. We’re getting off the field on third down, trying to keep the points off as much as we can. We’re doing a pretty good job of that. Obviously the red zone wasn’t as good as we wanted. Last week they were 4-for-5, but there were some reasons for that. They kept us on the field on a fourth down and a couple of other things. We just keep working at it and chip away at those other things. I think the big thing is that if we continue not to give up big plays, do those things and keep getting turnovers, then we’ll be pretty good.”
On if the culture of the organization is still a work in progress:
“No, I think that part is starting to come around. I think it’s a phase on offense, defense and special teams. You always try to get a feel for the new guys. There has been a turnover of personnel here, at least on one side of the ball. It takes time. It’s not an easy transition.”
On if getting to the pass rush without the help of the blitz being an emphasis on the 3-4 man rush:
“Last game we mixed it up. We blitzed probably 35-40 percent of the time. We went coverage. On our Okie package, we need to get a better understanding or conversion from run to pass. On the sub stuff, we’re doing a pretty good job. We’ve got a couple of little issues that we’ve got to try to fix here in the next week. For the most part it’s coming along. I think they have a full understanding and let’s keep working at it.”
On Ma’ake Kemoeatu’s performance against the Lions:
“Ma’ake played really well. Ma’ake has actually played two good games in a row. What we were looking for in the beginning of the season, he was coming off the Achilles and he was struggling. I thought he played his best game last week. He had five tackles. He was active. He had five tackles in 25 plays. I thought it was a better game. It was probably his best game.”
On if he would say that LaRon Landry is the defensive MVP of the first half of the season on this team:
“He might be in the league. I don’t know. That’s brash saying that because I haven’t seen the whole league. Obviously, I don’t get a chance to evaluate the whole league but, I think he’s outstanding. I think he’s a heck of a football player. We’ll try to keep finding ways to utilize him and take advantage of what he does best. He was outstanding. Last week he had 13 tackles and he did a great job.”
On if he could have envisioned LaRon Landry fitting so well into this 3-4 defense:
“This scheme fits. Troy Polamalu does the same deal in Pittsburgh. When I was in Pittsburgh before, we had Carnell Lake who kind of did the same thing. You can do a lot of different things with LaRon. He can go out and play corner, he can play in the slot, he can rush, he can blitz and he can cover. We took advantage. He did a nice job last week. We put him in the box a lot, right on the edge and he does his thing. He does a lot in different spots and at a lot of different positions. I thought he was outstanding.”
On his philosophy of covering Calvin Johnson:
“I could have done a little bit more to be honest with you. We actually had LaRon [Landry] cover Calvin [Johnson] underneath and DeAngelo [Hall] over the top. I wish I would have did a little bit more in the red zone at the end of the game, probably. When you do it, you limit yourself on the run game and everybody else is playing by themselves man-to-man so you’ve got to be careful. We just thought that LaRon could go out and beat him up a little bit and have a guy play over the top and have two better players on him [Calvin Johnson].”
On getting the most out of the players you have:
“We’ve got what we’ve got. It’s not like you can say, ‘Well, we need this, we need that, we need this.’ Yeah, you can say, ‘I could use Reggie White and I could have this guy again,’ but you’ve got to coach guys that you have and try to make them better.”
On how the process has gone for him with putting guys in and taking guys out of certain situations:
“That’s something that you try to evaluate every week based off of who you’ve got and who’s healthy. You try to maximize your players. We have 20-21 guys up every week and personally, I like to get all 20-21 guys involved in some aspect. I feel that if they’re good enough to be on your football team, they’re good enough to help you win in some aspect. Whether it be short yardage, goal line, we try to get all 20 guys involved in some way to help us win.”
[SIZE="4"][CENTER]Offensive Coordinator Kyle Shanahan[/CENTER][/SIZE]
On the tough decision to put in quarterback Rex Grossman:
“It was a real tough situation and it was real tough for any quarterback. You have 1:46 left and you are down. No timeouts and you are on the road versus a good pass rush. It is extremely tough.”
On if he saw a change in quarterback Donovan McNabb’s play because of his injuries:
“I think you would have to ask him how much it affects him. I think it is not fair for me to say anytime someone is not 100 percent. I think he is pretty far from 100 percent and it is going to affect his play. It is hard for me to say how much.”
On how McNabb has fulfilled his expectations:
“He is a lot of what I expected. He is definitely the athlete that you have seen on tape. He is the type of person that I have always seen and he is what I expected. Now, us as a whole offense, we are not playing like I expected. That starts with me, and then it is him and the other 10 guys on the field. I would like us to get better and I would like him to get better. It starts with me though and we all got to do that.”
On McNabb’s tempo and work habits:
“I think Donovan has perfect work habits. He has done everything that I ever asked him to do. I think where this got blown out of proportion is this whole last week. It is hard to go full speed in practice when you got two pulled hamstrings and that is really what the case has been the last few weeks. Last week was more of the case then any. He was hurting and when you are like that you can’t go full speed. But, being the competitor that he is, he went. He tried to go and really the first time he was trying to go full speed was on Sunday.”
On ESPN reports stating that he and Head Coach Mike Shanahan were not pleased with his work ethic:
“Yes, I heard that from everybody – my friends and my wife. Everybody is blowing it up. I hear a lot of stuff.”
On if the ESPN reports are true and if he is offended by it:
“It is not true. I am definitely not offended by it. It is kind of expected in times like this. That is the hard thing about making the decision that he [Head Coach Mike Shanahan] did make. If it goes like this you just have to be able to take all the stuff. That is just part of the business.”
On if he had any input in the decision to take McNabb out:
“Yes, it was definitely, I will let you guys know, his [Head Coach Mike Shanahan] decision. He tells me what he wants to do and I definitely supported him.”
On another report stating the Redskins are working out quarterback JaMarcus Russell today:
“There are about 40 guys that are working out today. So, yes that is true. We have a few other quarterbacks too. I am not even sure all the ones that are here.”
On quarterback JaMarcus Russell:
“I haven’t studied JaMarcus [Russell] since he came out of college. I think me and everyone else in the NFL thought he was a hell of a talent coming out and a hell of a player. I know it didn’t work out for him, but I will go take a look when I am done with you guys on how he is looking today. We will evaluate him today and everyone else out there.”
On if JaMarcus Russell’s talent is enough to make his off-field issues go by the wayside:
“I don’t think you consider anyone just based off of talent. There has got to be a lot – I think everyone in the NFL is pretty talented and there is other stuff that really separates you. He is very talented and I think he can overcome some of the stuff he has struggled with. I don’t really know that personally, but if he looks like he is in good shape out here and he is working, then the rest is just hearsay. I think sometimes when guys do get a second opportunity they do change their stripes.”
On his relationship with McNabb:
“I think it is real good. I get along well with Donovan and I enjoy coaching him. I enjoy being around him. I think we have a good relationship.”
On if he feels like he has McNabb’s full respect even though he is younger than him:
“Yes, I definitely I do. I think I have been younger than every person I have ever coached. I was younger then our quarterback in Houston and younger than the receivers when I coached them. I look at it as an advantage. I think it helps our relationship and I think respect goes with if you can help a guy. Can you make him better? Do they respect what your knowledge is? I have always been pretty confident in that role. I think I can get along with most people too. I think it helps a lot when we are close in age.”
On if the offense now is what he wants to be running:
“No, we don’t hold back. You don’t have just a set offense – like this is ours and what can our guys do? Well, what you do is you evaluate a team on Monday and Tuesday when players are away. You evaluate a defense and put in the stuff that you think you need to beat them. You also put in a few extra things that you don’t see on tape so your players can be ready to adjust if they do something different. Now when you start to go through games, we have gone through eight of them, you try to see how much your players can do. They all can do it on the practice field and do it through the week. The more you get to know your team and the 11 guys going together, you get to see how many mistakes are there. You are always going to have mistakes, but we are definitely having too much of them. I think it goes with playing together and getting used to it more. I don’t think it has to do with the volume of the stuff that it is in. I just think we have to be a little more consistent.”
On if all the problems McNabb has is related to his physical problems:
“No, not at all. I think your quarterback is going to have problems when your offense is having problems. I don’t think we have been consistent enough as coaches or at any position. I am frustrated because our defense and special teams have been playing at a much higher level than we have. I think we need to do our part. It starts with me, goes to the quarterback and goes to all the other players. When you are not healthy, or not 100 percent, like most guys are, most guys are not at 100 percent, you are obviously not going to be at your best. So, it definitely doesn’t help him. When everyone is struggling, you are not at your best, it all kind of compounds.”
On what he needs to see from McNabb and his offense:
“I need to see him continue to get better just like I need to see our offense continue to get better. I think it all does go hand in hand. When the quarterback is struggling the receiver is struggling. When the offensive line is struggling the quarterback is struggling and the coach is struggling. We have had spurts. The thing that is frustrating is I know and I believe that we can do better. I feel we have better players than what we are showing.”
On what specifically McNabb needs to do to get better:
“I think we need to be more consistent in every aspect. We need to be much better on third downs, we need to score more points and we can’t turn it over as much. The defense is giving us the ball a lot and we need to capitalize on that.”
On if he feels like there is pressure from his dad versus when he coached in Houston:
“No, it is real similar. I enjoy it. I enjoy working for him [Head Coach Mike Shanahan]. He is patience and lets you do what you want. He allows you to do your thing and he shows that he has confidence in his coaches. If he feels like you are not doing a good job then he is right there to help. I think he has made me better and I look forward to the rest of the year with him.”
On if he sees improvement to the offensive line:
“I do see improvement. I think with the offensive line – when you have sacks, there are so many factors than the offensive line. A lot of the sacks are because the guys miss a block and the quarterback can’t do anything about it. A lot of sacks are because it is a bad play call and nobody is open and there is nowhere to go with the ball. A lot of sacks are because it was a good play call and the receiver couldn’t beat the cover. A lot of sacks are because the quarterback held onto it too long trying to make a play, which he does, and then couldn’t and then got sacked. There are so many more factors. When you see seven sacks there is no doubt that is not all the offensive line. They gave up some, but that is the offense. When you have a lot of sacks it means your offense isn’t doing as good as they need to.”
On if he is satisfied with what he has seen out of the group:
“No, not at all. I am not satisfied with any group. I am not satisfied with myself. I am not satisfied with anything on offense I think. Right now we are the weak link and I think we need to step it up in the second half [of the season].”
On wide receiver Randy Moss:
“Wish I could talk about it, but that would be tampering. He is not released yet so I can’t do it.”
On Donovan McNabb’s health:
“I do want to clear up what I saw yesterday with the cardiovascular stuff. I think that came off wrong for him [Head Coach Mike Shanahan]. It came down to last week on Monday and Tuesday because of his [Donovan McNabb] hamstring issues. We were deciding that this guy is hurting and we know he won’t take himself out and we don’t think he should play. We have to rest him up and get him better for the rest of the year. Donovan, being the competitor that he is, came in and said that he will rise to the occasion and he will play. He talked us into it and we said we understand. ‘We will let you go, but if we do feel you are struggling in the game and we think it is possible because when you can’t practice full speed it is hard to be as good as you are. If we do see you struggling we do have to go in a different direction.’”
On what he means by struggling:
“On just physically struggling and how it all goes hand in hand.”
On what it means that it came off wrong:
“When I know why it happened, how we have all talked and I hear from my friends, my wife and the ticker that it is because of endurance problems. Endurance isn’t because he [Donovan McNabb] doesn’t work hard. He can’t work hard when you can’t go full speed. When you have a guy who has got two pulled hamstrings you cannot go full speed. When you can’t go full speed for six days you are not going to be in shape as much as you should be. I think the way it came off was an insult to Donovan.”
On if this incident strained their relationship:
“No, not at all because that is not what happened. I think Donovan is used to that stuff and he is a big person. He knows that that is all speculation. Rex and him went out for beers last night and invited me. So, I think they still like me and we are doing alright. I didn’t go because I had to get in a little earlier than normal.”
On if it bothers him that someone at McNabb’s stature was affected by this:
“It bothers me when I got home last night and I was watching the second half of the Monday night game. I saw how it was coming off and I thought it was unfair to him [Donovan McNabb]. To say that a guy can’t be in because he isn’t in shape is wrong.”
On if he or Head Coach Mike Shanahan told McNabb that he could be pulled out of the game:
“Yes, without a doubt. We told him that we were going to let him rest and we were going to bring him back verses Philly. We know he was playing hurt and he did what we expect him to and he said he wanted to play.”
On if he thought about taking him out earlier during the game:
“No, I didn’t.”
On if he realizes that the media was just going off of what Head Coach Mike Shanahan said:
“Yes, but there was a lot more to what he said than just cardiovascular endurance.”
On clarifying what Head Coach Mike Shanahan was saying concerning McNabb’s cardiovascular strength:
“When he said there was a cardiovascular situation or endurance it was because the guy has two pulled hamstrings and he can’t practice at full speed for about three weeks. It is not because he is just sitting around playing video games – that is the way I thought it came off. I don’t think that was fair to him.”
On if he had to clarify this situation with Donovan McNabb:
“No, we didn’t have to clear it up with Donovan. He [Head Coach Mike Shanahan] talked to him yesterday about it and I think Donovan understood the situation.”
On when they decided to pull McNabb:
“When he was pulled.”
On if it was after the fourth and 10 or after the kickoff:
“He [Head Coach Mike Shanahan] said if we get a chance to go to this two-minute drill we are not going to have any timeouts left lets get Rex in there to go.”
Quarterback Donovan McNabb
On if he feels his injuries have hampered him:
“You’ve got to play. There’s a difference between getting hurt. My team relies on me to be there. I want to be there for my team. If I can’t walk, then I can’t go. That’s just the way I play. No matter if you’re banged up or what, you’ve got to be in there. Coach makes those decisions. I can only say how I feel and what I feel is best for me.”
On if it surprised him that Mike Shanahan said Sunday that Rex Grossman was more equipped to run the two-minute offense based on terminology and yesterday he said there were physical reasons:
“Again, Coach makes the decisions. I don’t know what kind of answers you guys are looking for. Like I said, he makes the decisions. I can only just say what I think is best for my health and my situation and for the team.”
On if he feels he could have finished the game:
“Yes.”
On reports talking about needing to play at a higher tempo and questioning his work ethic:
“You can ask these guys how I work and my work ethic. My work ethic has never been in question. My tempo has never been a question. There is a lot of digging going on right now. I think when situations happen like this, people start to reach for stuff that’s really not there. It’s really not even a question to answer. There’s nothing more I can say about that.”
On if he feels insulted answering questions like this after 12 years in the league and with what he has accomplished:
“Absolutely, but it’s part of our jobs. I know that and that’s why I’m standing here right now, to give you guys a little bit because I know you guys are probably wondering how I felt. I’m just going to make myself available when I need to. That’s my job. But again, I need to just focus on what we need to do here as a unit. There are a lot of things we need to clean up. With this bye week, I expect good things when we get back.”
On if he feels he needs to look over his shoulder in games wondering if he’ll be taken out:
“That’s not the way I play. I think if people begin to wonder and have concerns then that takes you away from what you want to get accomplished. We set high goals here and I’m going to play to make sure I try to do my job to achieve those goals.”
On if he would have preferred Mike Shanahan tell him before the game that he might get pulled:
“No. Why go into the game with any more things on your mind? That’s just like you guys writing a great article and your employer says, ‘I’m not going to put it in.’ Then you say, ‘Well, why didn’t you tell me? I wouldn’t have wasted my time.’ I have a job to do and I try to do it to the fullest and make sure these guys understand what I set to do.”
On his relationship with Kyle Shanahan:
“Kyle and I are great. We’re a work in progress. We’re both enjoying this moment and going to make sure we take full advantage of it.”
Redskins Park
Executive Vice President/Head Coach Mike Shanahan
On reports stating that both Mike Shanahan and Offensive Coordinator Kyle Shanahan are unhappy with McNabb’s practice tempo:
“There are so many rumors that circulate once something like this happens. I don’t even attempt to talk about those rumors.”
On if he is pleased with quarterback Donovan McNabb’s tempo and work habits:
“Yes, I am pleased with him. If I wasn’t pleased with him I wouldn’t share it with you anyhow, I would share it with Donovan.”
On if he expects McNabb to fully practice in a week:
“I am hoping he will be. He was able to run today which is a good sign after the type of game we had. So, with a week’s rest and some rehab I am hoping he is 100 percent next week.”
On what he can do to make sure the team is picking the offense up at the rate that he wants:
“It is not just Donovan, it is everybody. For an offense to flake, it is not just the quarterback. It is the offensive line and the receivers. Everybody has to pick up their game for us to get to the next level and hopefully we do that in the second half [of the season]. It starts with practice everyday and there has to be a sense of urgency. There has got to be a commitment by all 11 guys to be the best at all times. That is how you get better as a team.”
On if there is something specific that McNabb can do:
“You got to do everything. Relative to – I don’t care if you run the ball, I don’t care if you are throwing the football, third downs and red zone – just probably tighten everything up. As the saying goes, have perfect practices and you have a chance to get better.”
On what the Redskins need to do better defensively the second half of the season:
“That is what we will be doing here the next few days – looking over the things that we can improve upon. That is what is good about the bye week. We will look at ourselves, analyze this and have a game plan when the players come back. We are at the halfway point of the year of where we need to go to hopefully finish with a very good record.”
On if he is frustrated that things haven’t come together the way he wants:
“There is always a frustration, but we have done it at times. We have put some great halves together even three quarters. I know we have the capabilities but you got to have all 11 guys in it together. Like I said, there is not a magic formula. It is everybody improving – running game, passing game and protection. If you do that you have a chance to get things to happen.”
On how he monitors the relationship between the offensive coordinator and the quarterback:
“I think it is not just a quarterback with a coordinator or position coach. I think it is every player with their coach. I think number one, there is a respect level. People understand that, number one, someone knows what they are talking about. Number two, that the whole offense is going in the same direction. There is accountability, not only from the players, but from the coaches and everybody working together to improve.”
On if the Redskins as an organization is starting to run the way he likes:
“I think all the players have a good feel of what we want as an organization and what we are trying to do on the football field and off – the standard which we practice at and which we play at. I like the direction we are going. I like our players and I like their attitude. We have a lot of people working extremely hard. There is a lot of disappointment that we didn’t win last week – rightfully so. We would have liked to go into the bye week 5-3 rather than 4-4, an obvious scenario there. But hey, there is nothing we can do about it except have a good bye week, hopefully get healthy, get ready for the second half of the season and take advantage of our opportunity.”
On if he sees improvement from last years 4-12 team:
“Number one, I wasn’t here with a 4-12 season so I can’t talk about improvement. All I can say is what our goals are and I really don’t pay any attention to what just happened a year ago, just what is happening right now. I like the direction we are going. We lost two tough games that we should have won, but that is history. Now what do we do about it in the bye week? We hopefully finish up the second half of the year very strong.”
On the offense showing signs of improvement:
“Yeah I think. You have written about it, talked about it and that there are signs that we played some good quarters and some good halves. So, we have the capabilities of doing that. But, we have to do it in the second half consistently. Instead of finishing with the 20th offense we would like to finish in the top 10. We have those capabilities of doing it we just have to play a little bit better.”
On running back Clinton Portis:
“He took a few plays today which is a good sign. I can’t tell you if he is 60 percent or 70 percent. He is biting at the bit to get back, which is a good sign, and hopefully he will keep on improving in the bye week.”
On if his decision to take McNabb out was because of the pounding he was getting:
“There is not just one factor. I think I shared a lot of different things that goes into the decision of pulling the quarterback out in a two-minute attack. I think I went over all those scenarios. That was one that I mentioned – that he did take a couple of shots in there. But, that wasn’t the deciding factor as I mentioned, I think, in detail.”
On how he determines how Portis is feeling and his ability push harder:
“I think where he has to determine how he is feeling is on certain types of cuts. He can go straight ahead and kind of get a good feel on where he is at. But, you got to really be careful when you cut. He made a few cuts today which is a good sign and he didn’t have any repercussions by it which is very positive. So, this week hopefully he will get some more endurance in and kind of test himself a little bit more. We will see where he is at on Monday.”
Defensive Coordinator Jim Haslett
On what the staff does the next few days:
“Actually, we worked yesterday and today, so we’re going to take some time off and go home. I’m going to go home and see my family. My son has a playoff game so I’m excited about that. I’m going to go home and watch him play for the first time this year. Hopefully it’s not his last game. Hopefully he can win this and go into the playoffs and keep going. I’m excited about it.”
On the Redskins’ defensive creating turnovers:
“Yeah, I think we’re No. 1 in the league in turnovers. I would be more excited if we had four or five more. We should be up somewhere around 25 or 26 turnovers, which would be off the charts. Nineteen is good, but hopefully in the second half of the season we can continue to do that and maybe do a little bit more because I do think they help win games. Obviously, if we didn’t have those 19 turnovers, it helped us win the four games we won. We had two the other day. We probably could have had a couple of more. It would have changed the tide of the game.”
On how well he feels he knows the personnel at this point:
“I have a better feel now than I did early. To be honest, you kind of learn something new about these guys everyday you’re with them. I think the last couple of weeks, we got a really good feel for where we’re at, how to use guys and take advantage of everybody’s ability. When you switch a scheme and change things, it does take some time. I didn’t think you would still be in this process at this time, but I think we have a good handle on it right now.”
On how understanding the personnel helps going forward:
“It helps us utilize guys. Like when we mentioned Albert [Haynesworth], trying to take advantage of what he does best and I think we’ve done a pretty good job with that the last couple of weeks. Some of the other guys we can kind of sput guys or role plays. Andre [Carter] has done a good job with what we’ve asked him to do the last couple of weeks. Hopefully we can continue to do that.”
On how comfortable Andre Carter has looked:
“He’s done a good job. He really has. I know the numbers aren’t there but he knows it. He rushed the quarterback about as good as he’s rushed that I’ve seen the last two weeks. His numbers will come if he keeps working the way that he’s working.”
On if he is content at the midway point with the defensive scheme:
“Yeah, you’re never going to be happy with the numbers because the number got blown out of the water early because of the teams we were playing. I don’t know if you could ever recover from that. The things we’re doing well, we’re getting turnovers and doing those things. We’re getting off the field on third down, trying to keep the points off as much as we can. We’re doing a pretty good job of that. Obviously the red zone wasn’t as good as we wanted. Last week they were 4-for-5, but there were some reasons for that. They kept us on the field on a fourth down and a couple of other things. We just keep working at it and chip away at those other things. I think the big thing is that if we continue not to give up big plays, do those things and keep getting turnovers, then we’ll be pretty good.”
On if the culture of the organization is still a work in progress:
“No, I think that part is starting to come around. I think it’s a phase on offense, defense and special teams. You always try to get a feel for the new guys. There has been a turnover of personnel here, at least on one side of the ball. It takes time. It’s not an easy transition.”
On if getting to the pass rush without the help of the blitz being an emphasis on the 3-4 man rush:
“Last game we mixed it up. We blitzed probably 35-40 percent of the time. We went coverage. On our Okie package, we need to get a better understanding or conversion from run to pass. On the sub stuff, we’re doing a pretty good job. We’ve got a couple of little issues that we’ve got to try to fix here in the next week. For the most part it’s coming along. I think they have a full understanding and let’s keep working at it.”
On Ma’ake Kemoeatu’s performance against the Lions:
“Ma’ake played really well. Ma’ake has actually played two good games in a row. What we were looking for in the beginning of the season, he was coming off the Achilles and he was struggling. I thought he played his best game last week. He had five tackles. He was active. He had five tackles in 25 plays. I thought it was a better game. It was probably his best game.”
On if he would say that LaRon Landry is the defensive MVP of the first half of the season on this team:
“He might be in the league. I don’t know. That’s brash saying that because I haven’t seen the whole league. Obviously, I don’t get a chance to evaluate the whole league but, I think he’s outstanding. I think he’s a heck of a football player. We’ll try to keep finding ways to utilize him and take advantage of what he does best. He was outstanding. Last week he had 13 tackles and he did a great job.”
On if he could have envisioned LaRon Landry fitting so well into this 3-4 defense:
“This scheme fits. Troy Polamalu does the same deal in Pittsburgh. When I was in Pittsburgh before, we had Carnell Lake who kind of did the same thing. You can do a lot of different things with LaRon. He can go out and play corner, he can play in the slot, he can rush, he can blitz and he can cover. We took advantage. He did a nice job last week. We put him in the box a lot, right on the edge and he does his thing. He does a lot in different spots and at a lot of different positions. I thought he was outstanding.”
On his philosophy of covering Calvin Johnson:
“I could have done a little bit more to be honest with you. We actually had LaRon [Landry] cover Calvin [Johnson] underneath and DeAngelo [Hall] over the top. I wish I would have did a little bit more in the red zone at the end of the game, probably. When you do it, you limit yourself on the run game and everybody else is playing by themselves man-to-man so you’ve got to be careful. We just thought that LaRon could go out and beat him up a little bit and have a guy play over the top and have two better players on him [Calvin Johnson].”
On getting the most out of the players you have:
“We’ve got what we’ve got. It’s not like you can say, ‘Well, we need this, we need that, we need this.’ Yeah, you can say, ‘I could use Reggie White and I could have this guy again,’ but you’ve got to coach guys that you have and try to make them better.”
On how the process has gone for him with putting guys in and taking guys out of certain situations:
“That’s something that you try to evaluate every week based off of who you’ve got and who’s healthy. You try to maximize your players. We have 20-21 guys up every week and personally, I like to get all 20-21 guys involved in some aspect. I feel that if they’re good enough to be on your football team, they’re good enough to help you win in some aspect. Whether it be short yardage, goal line, we try to get all 20 guys involved in some way to help us win.”
[SIZE="4"][CENTER]Offensive Coordinator Kyle Shanahan[/CENTER][/SIZE]
On the tough decision to put in quarterback Rex Grossman:
“It was a real tough situation and it was real tough for any quarterback. You have 1:46 left and you are down. No timeouts and you are on the road versus a good pass rush. It is extremely tough.”
On if he saw a change in quarterback Donovan McNabb’s play because of his injuries:
“I think you would have to ask him how much it affects him. I think it is not fair for me to say anytime someone is not 100 percent. I think he is pretty far from 100 percent and it is going to affect his play. It is hard for me to say how much.”
On how McNabb has fulfilled his expectations:
“He is a lot of what I expected. He is definitely the athlete that you have seen on tape. He is the type of person that I have always seen and he is what I expected. Now, us as a whole offense, we are not playing like I expected. That starts with me, and then it is him and the other 10 guys on the field. I would like us to get better and I would like him to get better. It starts with me though and we all got to do that.”
On McNabb’s tempo and work habits:
“I think Donovan has perfect work habits. He has done everything that I ever asked him to do. I think where this got blown out of proportion is this whole last week. It is hard to go full speed in practice when you got two pulled hamstrings and that is really what the case has been the last few weeks. Last week was more of the case then any. He was hurting and when you are like that you can’t go full speed. But, being the competitor that he is, he went. He tried to go and really the first time he was trying to go full speed was on Sunday.”
On ESPN reports stating that he and Head Coach Mike Shanahan were not pleased with his work ethic:
“Yes, I heard that from everybody – my friends and my wife. Everybody is blowing it up. I hear a lot of stuff.”
On if the ESPN reports are true and if he is offended by it:
“It is not true. I am definitely not offended by it. It is kind of expected in times like this. That is the hard thing about making the decision that he [Head Coach Mike Shanahan] did make. If it goes like this you just have to be able to take all the stuff. That is just part of the business.”
On if he had any input in the decision to take McNabb out:
“Yes, it was definitely, I will let you guys know, his [Head Coach Mike Shanahan] decision. He tells me what he wants to do and I definitely supported him.”
On another report stating the Redskins are working out quarterback JaMarcus Russell today:
“There are about 40 guys that are working out today. So, yes that is true. We have a few other quarterbacks too. I am not even sure all the ones that are here.”
On quarterback JaMarcus Russell:
“I haven’t studied JaMarcus [Russell] since he came out of college. I think me and everyone else in the NFL thought he was a hell of a talent coming out and a hell of a player. I know it didn’t work out for him, but I will go take a look when I am done with you guys on how he is looking today. We will evaluate him today and everyone else out there.”
On if JaMarcus Russell’s talent is enough to make his off-field issues go by the wayside:
“I don’t think you consider anyone just based off of talent. There has got to be a lot – I think everyone in the NFL is pretty talented and there is other stuff that really separates you. He is very talented and I think he can overcome some of the stuff he has struggled with. I don’t really know that personally, but if he looks like he is in good shape out here and he is working, then the rest is just hearsay. I think sometimes when guys do get a second opportunity they do change their stripes.”
On his relationship with McNabb:
“I think it is real good. I get along well with Donovan and I enjoy coaching him. I enjoy being around him. I think we have a good relationship.”
On if he feels like he has McNabb’s full respect even though he is younger than him:
“Yes, I definitely I do. I think I have been younger than every person I have ever coached. I was younger then our quarterback in Houston and younger than the receivers when I coached them. I look at it as an advantage. I think it helps our relationship and I think respect goes with if you can help a guy. Can you make him better? Do they respect what your knowledge is? I have always been pretty confident in that role. I think I can get along with most people too. I think it helps a lot when we are close in age.”
On if the offense now is what he wants to be running:
“No, we don’t hold back. You don’t have just a set offense – like this is ours and what can our guys do? Well, what you do is you evaluate a team on Monday and Tuesday when players are away. You evaluate a defense and put in the stuff that you think you need to beat them. You also put in a few extra things that you don’t see on tape so your players can be ready to adjust if they do something different. Now when you start to go through games, we have gone through eight of them, you try to see how much your players can do. They all can do it on the practice field and do it through the week. The more you get to know your team and the 11 guys going together, you get to see how many mistakes are there. You are always going to have mistakes, but we are definitely having too much of them. I think it goes with playing together and getting used to it more. I don’t think it has to do with the volume of the stuff that it is in. I just think we have to be a little more consistent.”
On if all the problems McNabb has is related to his physical problems:
“No, not at all. I think your quarterback is going to have problems when your offense is having problems. I don’t think we have been consistent enough as coaches or at any position. I am frustrated because our defense and special teams have been playing at a much higher level than we have. I think we need to do our part. It starts with me, goes to the quarterback and goes to all the other players. When you are not healthy, or not 100 percent, like most guys are, most guys are not at 100 percent, you are obviously not going to be at your best. So, it definitely doesn’t help him. When everyone is struggling, you are not at your best, it all kind of compounds.”
On what he needs to see from McNabb and his offense:
“I need to see him continue to get better just like I need to see our offense continue to get better. I think it all does go hand in hand. When the quarterback is struggling the receiver is struggling. When the offensive line is struggling the quarterback is struggling and the coach is struggling. We have had spurts. The thing that is frustrating is I know and I believe that we can do better. I feel we have better players than what we are showing.”
On what specifically McNabb needs to do to get better:
“I think we need to be more consistent in every aspect. We need to be much better on third downs, we need to score more points and we can’t turn it over as much. The defense is giving us the ball a lot and we need to capitalize on that.”
On if he feels like there is pressure from his dad versus when he coached in Houston:
“No, it is real similar. I enjoy it. I enjoy working for him [Head Coach Mike Shanahan]. He is patience and lets you do what you want. He allows you to do your thing and he shows that he has confidence in his coaches. If he feels like you are not doing a good job then he is right there to help. I think he has made me better and I look forward to the rest of the year with him.”
On if he sees improvement to the offensive line:
“I do see improvement. I think with the offensive line – when you have sacks, there are so many factors than the offensive line. A lot of the sacks are because the guys miss a block and the quarterback can’t do anything about it. A lot of sacks are because it is a bad play call and nobody is open and there is nowhere to go with the ball. A lot of sacks are because it was a good play call and the receiver couldn’t beat the cover. A lot of sacks are because the quarterback held onto it too long trying to make a play, which he does, and then couldn’t and then got sacked. There are so many more factors. When you see seven sacks there is no doubt that is not all the offensive line. They gave up some, but that is the offense. When you have a lot of sacks it means your offense isn’t doing as good as they need to.”
On if he is satisfied with what he has seen out of the group:
“No, not at all. I am not satisfied with any group. I am not satisfied with myself. I am not satisfied with anything on offense I think. Right now we are the weak link and I think we need to step it up in the second half [of the season].”
On wide receiver Randy Moss:
“Wish I could talk about it, but that would be tampering. He is not released yet so I can’t do it.”
On Donovan McNabb’s health:
“I do want to clear up what I saw yesterday with the cardiovascular stuff. I think that came off wrong for him [Head Coach Mike Shanahan]. It came down to last week on Monday and Tuesday because of his [Donovan McNabb] hamstring issues. We were deciding that this guy is hurting and we know he won’t take himself out and we don’t think he should play. We have to rest him up and get him better for the rest of the year. Donovan, being the competitor that he is, came in and said that he will rise to the occasion and he will play. He talked us into it and we said we understand. ‘We will let you go, but if we do feel you are struggling in the game and we think it is possible because when you can’t practice full speed it is hard to be as good as you are. If we do see you struggling we do have to go in a different direction.’”
On what he means by struggling:
“On just physically struggling and how it all goes hand in hand.”
On what it means that it came off wrong:
“When I know why it happened, how we have all talked and I hear from my friends, my wife and the ticker that it is because of endurance problems. Endurance isn’t because he [Donovan McNabb] doesn’t work hard. He can’t work hard when you can’t go full speed. When you have a guy who has got two pulled hamstrings you cannot go full speed. When you can’t go full speed for six days you are not going to be in shape as much as you should be. I think the way it came off was an insult to Donovan.”
On if this incident strained their relationship:
“No, not at all because that is not what happened. I think Donovan is used to that stuff and he is a big person. He knows that that is all speculation. Rex and him went out for beers last night and invited me. So, I think they still like me and we are doing alright. I didn’t go because I had to get in a little earlier than normal.”
On if it bothers him that someone at McNabb’s stature was affected by this:
“It bothers me when I got home last night and I was watching the second half of the Monday night game. I saw how it was coming off and I thought it was unfair to him [Donovan McNabb]. To say that a guy can’t be in because he isn’t in shape is wrong.”
On if he or Head Coach Mike Shanahan told McNabb that he could be pulled out of the game:
“Yes, without a doubt. We told him that we were going to let him rest and we were going to bring him back verses Philly. We know he was playing hurt and he did what we expect him to and he said he wanted to play.”
On if he thought about taking him out earlier during the game:
“No, I didn’t.”
On if he realizes that the media was just going off of what Head Coach Mike Shanahan said:
“Yes, but there was a lot more to what he said than just cardiovascular endurance.”
On clarifying what Head Coach Mike Shanahan was saying concerning McNabb’s cardiovascular strength:
“When he said there was a cardiovascular situation or endurance it was because the guy has two pulled hamstrings and he can’t practice at full speed for about three weeks. It is not because he is just sitting around playing video games – that is the way I thought it came off. I don’t think that was fair to him.”
On if he had to clarify this situation with Donovan McNabb:
“No, we didn’t have to clear it up with Donovan. He [Head Coach Mike Shanahan] talked to him yesterday about it and I think Donovan understood the situation.”
On when they decided to pull McNabb:
“When he was pulled.”
On if it was after the fourth and 10 or after the kickoff:
“He [Head Coach Mike Shanahan] said if we get a chance to go to this two-minute drill we are not going to have any timeouts left lets get Rex in there to go.”
Quarterback Donovan McNabb
On if he feels his injuries have hampered him:
“You’ve got to play. There’s a difference between getting hurt. My team relies on me to be there. I want to be there for my team. If I can’t walk, then I can’t go. That’s just the way I play. No matter if you’re banged up or what, you’ve got to be in there. Coach makes those decisions. I can only say how I feel and what I feel is best for me.”
On if it surprised him that Mike Shanahan said Sunday that Rex Grossman was more equipped to run the two-minute offense based on terminology and yesterday he said there were physical reasons:
“Again, Coach makes the decisions. I don’t know what kind of answers you guys are looking for. Like I said, he makes the decisions. I can only just say what I think is best for my health and my situation and for the team.”
On if he feels he could have finished the game:
“Yes.”
On reports talking about needing to play at a higher tempo and questioning his work ethic:
“You can ask these guys how I work and my work ethic. My work ethic has never been in question. My tempo has never been a question. There is a lot of digging going on right now. I think when situations happen like this, people start to reach for stuff that’s really not there. It’s really not even a question to answer. There’s nothing more I can say about that.”
On if he feels insulted answering questions like this after 12 years in the league and with what he has accomplished:
“Absolutely, but it’s part of our jobs. I know that and that’s why I’m standing here right now, to give you guys a little bit because I know you guys are probably wondering how I felt. I’m just going to make myself available when I need to. That’s my job. But again, I need to just focus on what we need to do here as a unit. There are a lot of things we need to clean up. With this bye week, I expect good things when we get back.”
On if he feels he needs to look over his shoulder in games wondering if he’ll be taken out:
“That’s not the way I play. I think if people begin to wonder and have concerns then that takes you away from what you want to get accomplished. We set high goals here and I’m going to play to make sure I try to do my job to achieve those goals.”
On if he would have preferred Mike Shanahan tell him before the game that he might get pulled:
“No. Why go into the game with any more things on your mind? That’s just like you guys writing a great article and your employer says, ‘I’m not going to put it in.’ Then you say, ‘Well, why didn’t you tell me? I wouldn’t have wasted my time.’ I have a job to do and I try to do it to the fullest and make sure these guys understand what I set to do.”
On his relationship with Kyle Shanahan:
“Kyle and I are great. We’re a work in progress. We’re both enjoying this moment and going to make sure we take full advantage of it.”