**
HEAD COACH JEFF FISHER, DEC. 29, 2008**
(On the number of coaches already fired)
Well, I've always said this. It seems like this comes up every Monday after the season's over. Continuity is very important. It's extremely important. It's important to me, it's important to our organization. We don't have all the information but clearly three or four years in my estimation is not enough time, not enough opportunity for someone to get a program going. But people make their decisions for their own reasons and it's difficult. There's going to be a lot of families affected not only today but perhaps over the next couple days.
(On acquiring players that fit together and fit your system as opposed to going after big names)
I think when you address free agency in particular you have to be careful and you have to be sure that the types of players that you're pursuing fit into your system. Now, that not only means fit into your system offensively and defensively but also means fit in your locker room. I think over the years we've seen teams take a real aggressive approach to free agency and almost "go out and try to buy a championship" and have it not work. Although we haven't won a championship yet, we've had some success and we tend to lean a little more heavily on the draft and selected free agents and try to develop our own players.
(On if it's hard to resist the temptation go out and get the big name free agent)
Well, we're going to do whatever we can within reason to help our football team. There were years where we simply couldn't afford to keep our own players but when you have cap room now I think you have to be wise as far as the decisions that you make.
(On the approach this week)
Well, what we're going to do is the players are going to obviously follow a normal schedule today and tomorrow but Wednesday, Thursday, Friday we're going to come back and we're going to practice and we're going to work to fine-tune, to stay sharp, to get better and we're going to compete against ourselves. We're not going to prepare against a particular team on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday if you will. We're going to go out there as if it's training camp and we're going to work in practice. That's going to be the most important thing in addition to bringing back some of the guys, or at least try to get everyone back on the practice field that we possibly can. At the same time, work hard, rest and get our legs back under us. We won't have any difficulty with the players as far as that's concerned. I think they're looking forward to working on the things we need to work on. They certainly let this one go. We agreed when we walked out those doors yesterday that we wouldn't revisit the game, wouldn't bring it up, wouldn't look at it. We're going to move forward.
(On specific points of emphasis this week)
We're going to continue with the things that have been good for us. We want to work in the plus territory. We set out last year as a goal to improve our offensive efficiency in the plus territory, improve scoring. I think we've had the second-highest offensive output in the last 15 years. We kind of have an in-house goal of touchdowns to field goals. You want to score more touchdowns than you do field goals. We recently surpassed that. I thought we were very good there. We're going to continue along those lines. We have to work third downs and work on protecting the football and continue to work on running the football.
(On if there's any change in mindset entering the postseason)
I mean it's clear in their mind that we're now in sudden death but I think our responsibility as a staff and players is not to get too consumed with that. You do what you did that got you here. That's the one-game approach, the one-week approach and have fun doing it and do the best that you can to prepare.
(On if the team will have physical practices this week)
There's a chance that we'll be in pads at least once, maybe twice before kickoff.
(On if they'll start prepping for prospective playoff opponents or wait until they know for sure)
You can't wait, you can't possibly wait for the outcome of the game, you don't have enough time. We're always a week ahead so those guys have their work cut out. They've been working. They've already used most of last week to get work done so we'll be ready to move Sunday afternoon once we know.
(On if he has any idea who they might play)
No, I mean we have a good chance of playing either the fourth, fifth or sixth seed.
(On what they saw on the tape of the Colts game, specifically out of Vince Young)
If the players want to look at it, we gave them the opportunity to look at it either today or tomorrow. But we're not going to revisit it once we come together on Wednesday. The staff's looked at it. They played hard. It was a physical game and everybody played hard and we got to play a lot of people. Vince made some plays, he had some opportunities, he got flushed a couple times. We could have had a drive continue, we were set up for a big play. We had a pass interference that was not called or an illegal contact which would have kept the drive alive but I thought he was in the right place at the right time. He himself admitted to being a little bit rusty but you can appreciate that. He enjoyed playing. As I told you yesterday, he enjoyed preparing and knowing he was going to play and he said he had fun playing.
(On the play of Leroy Harris)
Leroy was fine.
(On the fact that fans have been camping out at LP Field for playoff tickets)
Well, fortunately we give them a chance to camp out a second time this year, they were out when we put single game tickets on sale in the spring. We're fortunate as an organization that we've given them an opportunity to do that and it's just that reminder of what a great fan base and what great support we have.
(On if he likes the fact that they're playing on a Saturday)
Yeah, you potentially have an extra day on the backend without travel, which gives you an extra day of rest and advantage. But the league will be wise about that. They tend not to make somebody travel and go on a short week for a championship game but it gives us a chance. And knowing now it gives us a chance to go ahead and plan a schedule.
(On if there have been any requests from other teams to talk to assistants about coaching opportunities)
You know, this situation comes up on occasion when the season's over and our philosophy, our perspective is we're not going to confirm or deny whether we've been contacted or not. I believe that's up to the contacting club and so we'll leave that up to the requesting club.
(On any negotiations with Albert Haynesworth's agent about a possible extension)
There will be some discussions, yeah. I can't confirm or deny whether we've done that yet or if we will.
(On if there's a sense of urgency to get Haynesworth signed to a deal)
Well, clearly we've expressed a great deal of interest, as he has, in working things out. We'll move forward but the most important thing right now is the playoffs and getting him ready. Getting him back on the practice field, getting him ready to play at the level he was before he got hurt.
(On the front office and Haynesworth's agent having any communication)
Yes, of course there's the possibility.
(On if the experience of having the number one seed before helps in preparation now)
Well, I think it helps from a player's standpoint because you can say, 'Hey look, we've done this before. This is why we're doing what we're doing. This is why we're going to do these things on the practice field.' They trust that, I mean, we've done those things all year. Having been through the experience before, having a number of players that have been in big games and playoffs and championship games and such, it certainly helps as far as the younger guys are concerned. I really have no concern about the maturity level of our younger players. I know they understand what's important and they'll responsibly prepare for this.
(On if they feel like the favorite heading into the playoffs)
No. You know, what we're going to do is win the next game and really buckle down as soon as we know who we're going to play. The players know that all you have to do is win the next two home games and then good things happen.
(On if he thinks the team has peaked at the right time)
I'm clearly confident that we played our best ball against Pittsburgh and we've gotten better and better. This one is an exception. As I said, we did what we needed to do to be ready for the first playoff game. I felt like from an injury standpoint and a rest standpoint we were successful.
(On if he's surprised teams like the Jets or Patriots missed out on the playoffs)
I was surprised at a number of teams. There was a lot of pressure on a lot of teams and a lot of things happened for a lot of reasons. For Denver to have to go through seven running backs. Injuries are usually the reason that a team will taper off. As far as the Jets are concerned, we have a great deal of respect for the Jets, their personnel, Brett [Favre] and everything. There was a team yesterday that played better than they did, made plays. That's the league. You have 12 teams in it and you have 20 teams that are going home. For New England to do what they did this year with the injures they had at all these positions and to win the number of games they did and not get in, that's just the way the league is.
(On what he thinks about three rookie head coaches making the playoffs)
You look at all three of those teams, they have basically two things in common. Those teams that turned around as quick as they did, they have a quarterback that knew how to make good decisions, wouldn't lose the game for them and they got their running game back. That's what happened with all three of those teams. Atlanta went out and got a running back and a quarterback and have a great one-two combination in the backfield. Miami healed up, Ronnie Brown comes back and they've got the running back and an experienced quarterback and that's also the case in Baltimore.
(On if the AFC is wide open)
Well, I wouldn't say wide open. I'd say there are some things that are in common in the field. Six of the top 10 teams in rushing in the National Football League made it and six of the top 10 defensive teams in the AFC made it. So if you can play good defense and run the football, you have a chance to make the playoffs.
(On if their approach to the Colts game would have been any different if there were implications for other teams)
No, it would not. We were focused purely on ourselves. If you're asking if the roles were reversed last year in Indy, if there were another team involved and we were in Indy's role, we would have done the same thing.
(On if any team conduct rules change now entering the postseason)
No, we constantly talk about on-the-field, off-the-field decisions. We've got New Years we have to deal with. We have the potential for them having a couple days off this weekend and they know what's at stake here. I thought they did really, for the most part, a really good job with all of those things and they understand we're now in a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Or at least once-in-a-rare opportunity to have home field [advantage] throughout the playoffs. The priority should be coming to work and doing the right things here at work and not be distracted with anything outside. **
(On the status of Albert Haynesworth)
Our hope is to have everybody back on the practice field this week and if not this week, there may be a few players we'll get back on the practice field next week.
(On Josh Stamer)
We're still currently doing tests right now as far as Josh is concerned.
(On Ryan Fowler)
Yes, he returned.
