HEAD COACH MIKE MUNCHAK
(on players' statuses heading into Sunday)
(David) Stewart and (Jurrell Casey) are questionable. Everyone else will be probable and playing. Neither one of them practiced.
(on whether it is common for players to be inactive Sunday if they don't practice all week)
Usually. It just depends. We've had guys play before that haven't practiced on Friday but did stuff Saturday…depending on other positions, too, how healthy we are, if nothing comes up between now and Sunday, all those factors. We would like them to practice. They haven't. They weren't able to, so we'll wait and see.
(on whether Jurrell Casey is physically able to play)
It's just a matter of being cautious a little bit when you have a knee that is a little sore and something has happened. I think we're being cautious. We're being smart with that, letting it settle down. He's had soreness in the knee before since he's been here, but it's more of just being smart with it and giving it a little bit of rest.
(on who would replace Jurrell Casey in the event he is unable to play)
(Mike) Martin would play. He'd get a chance to play more. Depending on what packages we play, you probably have two big guys in there when they're running a lot more two-back. They're running a lot more two-back than they have, so you might have Sammie (Hill) and Mookie (Antonio Johnson) in at the same time. You have Mike still rolling when it's maybe more of a passing situation. It would get the bigger guys a chance to play on those downs. Mike would get a chance to play a lot more this game if that happened.
(on whether Byron Stingily will start in place of David Stewart)
Probably. We would lean that way I would think. He'll get a chance to play this week, also.
(on getting Blidi Wreh-Wilson and Byron Stingily more playing time)
I think Blidi (Wreh-Wilson) is a guy we're happy with his development along with Coty's (Sensababugh) at corner. You're happy with what you have there going into the offseason. You have two corners, J-Mac (Jason McCourty) and Vern (Alterraun Verner), playing well this year, so you're in a good situation there. (Byron) Stingily is the same way. You're trying to see with tackles where you're at because of the injuries that Stew (David Stewart) has had the last couple years. You want to get a better feel for him (Stingily), so this will be a big chance for him to play two games back-to-back and play well.
(on getting Blidi Wreh-Wilson reps this game)
This will give him some experience in there. He hasn't done it, but you want to see. I don't know how many reps he'll get this game, but you're hoping that they play a little three wides and he gets a chance to be on the field quite a bit.
(on Tyler Wilson's development)
It's hard to tell. He's been running scout teams and slowly trying to learn our offense. He's definitely a guy that we're excited to have here. It will be fun to work with (him) in the offseason, having him for a normal offseason routine, having a young guy and seeing how quickly he can develop with us. So far you like what you see. You really just go off what you saw in college, and we kind of liked what we saw there. Now it's just a matter of seeing how he fits in with what we do as we get started with next year.
(on whether Delanie Walker is a good fit with the team)
He has been. I think what was hard for him was missing all of training camp. That has really hurt him quite a bit with I think understanding what we're going to do, working his way back in. I think the first part of the season I felt he was still trying to get comfortable with the offense, and the quarterback was still trying to get comfortable with him. It kind of slowed him a little bit, but we're thrilled with him here, all the things he can do. He has created just what we thought he'd create. He creates mismatches for defenses. He's made some big catches for us in big situations. He had the area where he missed two games in the middle, so he definitely would have easily had probably what he was shooting for if he didn't miss the few games and didn't have the thing starting off missing camp. For him, he's a guy like we talk about with Chance (Warmack) and (Andy) Levitre and with (Brian) Schwenke. You have guys that all of a sudden next year are going to be so much better just because of the understanding of what we're doing, the feel of our offense. I'm excited to see how much they're going to progress in one year.
(on facing Wade Phillips head-to-head for the first time in his career) We've gone against their defenses so much when he was here and when he was in Buffalo. He's been successful pretty much everywhere he's been. I think unfortunately for him, his bad memory will be being part of the Music City Miracle when he was in Buffalo. He's done a great job with the defense. I know he's probably doing a great job with the team in a tough situation. It'll be a good opportunity for both of us.
