HEAD COACH MIKE MUNCHAK
(on whether it helps having the officials at practice)
Just so the players have a chance to hear for four days. You know, they come in and they go through the rule changes, saw a tape from the league. But, I think when these guys can hear how it's interpreted and what's expected of them, I think it's better that way. They know they're open to what are you looking at, why are you calling this thing? I think it's more educational for our guys to know what they're going to call and why. You know, you always try to get something out of it. I think it's good for the officials obviously to hear our complaints I guess. It's good for the coaches so that we get a better understanding of what they're looking at when they're making the decision if it's holding or some of the other calls. What we've been doing is a good process. They'll do it again tomorrow which we'll do at the stadium, and then we'll see them live on next Thursday.
(on the format of tomorrow's scrimmage)
Tomorrow will be a dress rehearsal. A lot of these guys have never been to the stadium as far as what goes on Thursday night. We don't want to have guys worrying about what we're going to do. So, we'll go over there, get dressed over there like we would a game. Tomorrow we'll have to get up early, have a pregame routine in the morning here, go over to the stadium, dress at the stadium, tape at the stadium, go on the field like we would a pregame warm-up, same exact routine, do pregame warm-ups. Then we'll go to the locker room, come out like we would a game so they can see, get a feel for their bodies, get a feel for that, too. And then we'll start. It'll be more situational. We'll kickoff and do special teams. But, then we'll create situations that we want to make sure we see. We'll go through a first half, go in the locker room so they feel again kind of what we do at halftime as a team. The coaches will be in the press box. They'll be on the sidelines. They'll be wired up. We'll have pictures on the sidelines. Just really so everyone can get used to what's going to be happening on Thursday night so there's no surprises. We can adjust anything we're concerned for. Then, we'll finish up the second half again with some situations. We'll control more of it so we can make sure we get certain things we want to have happen in practice with two-minute, four-minute, backed up, green zone, goal line. So, we'll cover everything that we've basically put in the last eight days.
(on what playing tomorrow at the stadium will be like)
It will be full pads. It will be just like it's been. It will be aggressive, it'll be physical, but it won't be taking guys to the ground. Well, we won't be trying to. We'll save that for Thursday.
(on which defensive staff members will be on the field and in the box)
We're talking about that. I think at first, we'll probably put both coordinators upstairs. So, they'll go up there and do that and let the other guys be on the sideline. That's probably how we'll start anyway. We just have to experiment a little bit and see what we think is best.
(on Gregg Williams being on the field)
If Jerry (Gray) is up, Gregg (Williams) will be down.
(on Jake Locker under pressure)
I think it's just the timing, how much time he has, getting a feel for how to escape. On the hitch, the ball has to go somewhere or he has get the ball rolling. Those things. That's all. You don't want him to be caught up on "oh, I missed that," you can worry about that later. That's what we ask him to do out here. A lot of times in practice, he just wants to get a completion and throws a pass and sometimes he'll throw bad passes just to throw a pass. We don't want him doing that, because that becomes a habit. So we want him getting out of there like he would in a game, start running so that the linemen get used to chasing him, so he can get used to the timing of getting out of there. He's done a better job with that these last four or five days. It's just doing it over and over and not getting frustrated.
(on Locker taking on more this season)
Yeah, we want him pass first. After that, if things break down, someone ran the wrong route, or he looked the wrong side, or whatever it may be, and the play is over, he's got to realize the play is over and get out of there or move around the pocket and buy time, if it warrants it. We don't want him to get hit, but to go ahead and slide, which he's pretty decent at. That's the part I think we'll be ok with.
(on Warmack's attributes and what he brings to the field)
He's very conscientious and he wants to be at his best. He wants to know everything now. He thinks he should know the whole game already. In three or four days he wants to have everything down cold like the veterans do. So, he frustrates himself over that, but I think that's a good thing though. He looks good. He's getting better every day at different things we're working on. He's fitting in. Him and (David) Stewart haven't worked together. This is the first three or four days they've been together and that's going well, same thing for him talking to the center. So, that's the mechanics of it, of what is important. That he gets comfortable with Dave and what we're doing and the same thing with the quarterback. The cadences, those kind of things. He's getting used to that. We shift a lot and move a lot, so he's got to see the picture. It happens fast, all of a sudden I thought I was blocking this guy out here and with the three technique he moved inside where the ball snapped. Those are the things he's starting to get used to. I mean physically, jeez, he's going to be fun to watch all year round. His technique is getting better. He has a lot of things to work on, but he's definitely going to help us be a better offensive line.
(on Velasco missing practice and the center position)
He's OK. I think he's having an allergic reaction to something he ate. So, he'll be fine. He's not injured. It's hard to practice. Besides Schwenke being out for the time he's been out, Chris Spencer has been doing well. Fernando (Velasco) is doing well. (Rob) Turner's doing well. We got three guys there that can play center and can roll. When we get Schwenke back, you got four. We got more than most teams, and the good thing is they're all experienced for the most part, other than Schwenke, and they're talented. That's going to be a tough decision.
(on the possibility of Velasco playing tomorrow)
I would think so. I don't know that anything is a problem right now. It's not an injury, so obviously we're hoping he's OK tomorrow. We'll have to find out what happened there.
