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"I'm going to start one of the two on the roster."
(will it be your decision?)
"Yes, an organizational decision. I think a lot was made over the last couple of days about everything regarding Mr. (Bud) Adams, but we talk about things and this, we do things collectively together so this will be our decision."
(so the owner will be involved in the decision?)
"We keep him informed as far as everything that we do."
(does it help having played the Jaguars four weeks ago?)
"I think for both teams, not that we don't have that sense of familiarity, but I think if you talk to the coaches there are still pitches on both sides of the ball on both teams that weren't used. That's always the case when you come back and play a second time fairly quick. Now obviously we didn't play very well at all and I thought they played very, very well and we're going to have to play a lot better to compete with them."
(what do you think of Josh Scobee as a kicker?)
"I was concerned at the end of the half because we had turned it over and then we got a sack. He has terrific range. I think he's got a strong leg. He can put it where he needs to."
(does his touchbacks impact the games too, in field position?)
"Of course they do. In the first game we were starting the ball at the 20-yard line and field position was certainly a factor, but yeah it does. Nobody likes to give up scores but one way to kind of offset that is to get good field position offensively, and when you start on the 20 it's difficult."
(are you going to have practice open to the media this week?)
"Yes, it's always open."
(it wasn't open last week was it?)
"Last week was a bye week."
(will you split time with Vince Young and Kerry Collins at practice this week?)
"I guess you'll have to wait and see if that leaks out."
(is it a situation where the media is not allowed to write what they see?)
"Typically we have a pretty good understanding when we're dealing with a competitive situation or a lineup change or things that are strategic-related. They do a pretty good job of kind of protecting our information."
(are you more concerned this week with it being such a hot topic with the quarterback that it might leak out somewhere?)
"I said last night I think it'll be obvious sometime before kickoff who our starter is going to be."
(have you decided who's going to start and just not telling us or do you still want to see what they both do this week?)
"No, I know it's going to be one of the two on the roster. I told you that earlier."
(but do you know which one of the two it's going to be yet?)
"I have a pretty good idea, yes."
(so what do you gain by not telling us?)
"I think you can answer that question yourself. If you have two quarterbacks that are cardboard cut-outs and they're identical in their athletic ability and such, then I think it's one thing, but if you have two that have similar qualities… We've seen over the years with Vince here and Kerry that people defend them differently."
(do you think people have lost their sense of humor in the game? Your Peyton Manning thing was pretty funny but guess you got a lot of flack about it.)
"I'm not really too concerned about what people think. Regardless of your record I think you have the right to have fun and as I spoke after the incident, I was honored to be there and honored to be in a position to introduce Tony (Dungy) and I would do it all over again, and I'm not just because we've lost games not going to have a sense of humor. Most people that took it out of context didn't get the whole picture, didn't know the background of where I was or what I was doing. If some people were offended, again I apologize to them, but those that were there were certainly amused to say the least."
(it seems now that pro football people don't have any fun anymore. Everything is so serious.)
"It's a game and you're supposed to have fun. The challenge is to have fun when you're not being successful. That's difficult, it's hard. It's the nature, it's the nature of the critic, it's the nature of the outside influences, the distractions. And that's one of the things we try to do and we tried to do it last week on our bye is get better, improve, work on detailed things over the four days and then get as far away as we possibly could. I was really happy to see the mood and the attitude that the team brought back to the building yesterday."
(has the season become un-fun for you at this point?)
"No, it's not. It's a challenge. Every week's a challenge, every opponent's a challenge and you have to create that. Certainly there's a difference between 6-0 and 0-6, but I think you have to carry the same level of enthusiasm out on the practice field and in the meetings. You can't lose your sense of humor. You can't change. I think it's important to be consistent, wins or losses."
(it wouldn't be a fair assessment to say it's beaten you up then?)
"No, it's not."
(are you concerned about your job security?)
"No, I never have been and I think the moment that I become, and I'm not planning on it, but I think if you let that happen then you're not doing everything you possibly can. I wouldn't be doing what I was hired to do, so I'm not concerned about that."
(do you think John Henderson is back to where he was a few years ago, back to playing that kind of dominant role?)
"Yeah, he is. He does such a great job with his hands and anchoring and in the new scheme he's really effective. He's that dominating nose tackle in the 3-4 that is playing all three positions. He'll lock up, separate and make the play. He's very, very hard to block. He's getting good pressure. It looks like he's working his lower body. He's got tremendous strength and he's playing really well."
(you lost three close games that could have gone either way and then you had three one-sided games. Is there a snowball effect?)
"I think there is a contributing factor. Last year we were plus-14 in takeaways-giveaways. Right now we're minus-10. That pretty much tells the story, especially the last three weeks."
(how do you go about avoiding turnovers?)
"You give it back to the official or you kick it back to your opponent."
(how much of that is pressure on your quarterback?)
"No, it's not. I think our offensive line has done a good enough job protecting the passer and not every interception is the quarterback's fault. He's got something that he should not have thrown but there are also other reasons for it. And then of course our issue is that our skill players are putting the ball on the ground and our defense is not getting its share of turnovers."
(people here are still wary of your team thinking that the Jaguars are going to go up there and you're going to knock them off)
"I don't think I'm doing anything different than Coach (Jack) Del Rio is doing right now, nor are the staff. We're doing the best we possibly can to try and win this game. That's the objective for this upcoming Sunday."
(are you surprised at all you're favored in the game?)
"I wasn't even aware of it. Ask me in 30 seconds."
(are you surprised at all you're favored in the game?)
"I was just informed that. Yeah, I'd have to say so but we don't pay much attention to that."
(I assume you don't believe in the jinx of the Terrible Towel either?)
"Actually one of my comments at that event was regarding the Terrible Towel to Coach Dungy, and that I was interested in the mystique about it and I wanted him to inform the Steelers family that we've enshrined one here in the building and I have one hanging in my driveway because we haven't won a game since we stomped on it."
