HEAD COACH MIKE MUNCHAK
(on players' statuses heading into Sunday)
The tight ends will be questionable, (Craig) Stevens and Delanie (Walker). (David) Stewart limited practice, questionable. Damian (Williams) practiced, but he's questionable. Everybody else is probable.
(on whether Delanie Walker was able to practice today)
No. He didn't practice today. We're going to evaluate him today and tomorrow and see how we want to handle that.
(on whether Delanie Walker passed the concussion protocol)
He still has to be evaluated. He hasn't done that yet. He still has to go through that process as far as finalizing that decision.
(on whether he prefers evaluating players before practice on Friday)
Yes. Sometimes we can't get it done the way we like. We'd like them at practice though, definitely. We want all these guys to be able to practice. Unfortunately, he (Delanie Walker) couldn't practice today.
(on whether it is difficult to play on Sunday after not practicing all week)*
It's harder. It makes it more difficult, no doubt. Guys have done it. (David) Stewart has done it. I used to do it when I played. Guys will do it, but you'd rather not have to do it. He's a veteran, so it's a guy you can get away with doing that and maybe use him in more of a limited package.
(on how much work Craig Stevens got today)
He did quite a bit. He did both sides of the ball. He's coming along pretty good, so I would think there's a good chance he'll be able to play.
(on whether he was surprised by Gary Kubiak's firing today)
It always is in this league especially during the season. I know that expectations were real high in Houston, as they should have been. I know all that is real unfortunate. Great coach, great guy. It reminds you how tough this league is.
(on whether Kenny Britt will be active Sunday)
We're not sure. We brought in (Visanthe) Shiancoe, so we feel that's another option we have that we didn't have last week at the tight end spot. We'll evaluate that and see really what would help us at the receiver spot, suit up the tight ends, and look at that. It won't change much.
(on David Stewart battling injuries all season and Mike Otto assuming more responsibilities this weekend)
That factors in where he's at. He (David Stewart) did everything today. This is the first time he hasn't been able to practice at least two days of the week in a little while. The last two, three weeks he has been able to practice the way we hoped he would. It's his shoulder. He did a lot of work today, so we feel good about that. (Mike) Otto's going to play some tight end, too. Otto's increasing his value. He'll have to play some tackle anyway. Those are all the things we have to consider. Just like you said, we have to consider after we watch the tape if there's an issue there, do we feel good about that. If not, you look at Byron Stingily and things like that. We look at all that. I assume he's (Stewart) going to be OK. We've had weeks, as you guys know, that we thought that on Friday and we put him down, and we started the other guy. All that is optional.
(on whether Mike Otto is an option at tight end)
He always will be. He always has been. He has always been the emergency guy, so he's always aware of the different packages we do. This week he got more reps than last week because of the injury issues and uncertainty. That's something he has been doing since he has been here, so he's comfortable with it. We're comfortable with him if he has to play a handful of snaps there. He's by no means a threat at tight end, but a lot of teams do the same thing. A lot of teams play a big tackle out there in that package.
(on whether Otto knows different passing routes)
He learned a couple just in case, but we don't want him to get hurt. If he ever catches a ball, then he needs to get down immediately because these guys go low, and he has bad knees.
(on when a decision about Delanie Walker will be made)
We still have tomorrow. He'll come in and we can evaluate him to see where we think he's at tomorrow. Tomorrow will be our final. We won't wait until Sunday to work him out. Tomorrow we need to see where he's at and go from there.
(on whether Delanie Walker will make the trip to Denver)
All the guys, the 53, always travel with us unless there's a medical reason to where they shouldn't travel with us. He'll be with us.
