HEAD COACH MIKE MUNCHAK
(on Matt Hasselbeck's health)
He is doing pretty good, he is sore. I think it's more of a muscle strain more than anything on the forearm/elbow. His tests were negative when he was checked out. It's going to be pretty much like how it was during the game is how he feels throwing the football the next couple of days. It will probably be a day-by-day thing so we will see how he is. A lot of these weeks he didn't practice on Wednesday anyways so we will kind of see where he is Wednesday and Thursday and then we will decide where we are at.
(on if Matt Hasselbeck was sore or stiff before the game)
No, it was definitely something that happened during the game from one of the plays when his arm got hit as he was trying to throw the ball or got nicked. It was awkward. You can see it on tape but it's kind of hard to see. He was stepping up and the tackler kind of reached for the ball and he ended up hitting his arm at the time he was going to throw it. Obviously, it caused an incomplete pass and I guess that's what created the problem.
(on if Matt Hasselbeck will practice this week)
Pretty much what he has been doing the last two or three weeks where we kind of limit him on Wednesday. We limit him on Wednesday for other reasons but just general soreness, but this will be more for something that happened during the game. We have done this before with him and Jake (Locker) on Wednesdays and we will have to see where he is at as far as throwing the ball and if he is comfortable throwing the ball and we will go from there.
(on if an injured Matt Hasselbeck is a better option than Jake Locker)
I think Matt (Hasselbeck) is smart enough just like he was in that game to know if he was comfortable playing. I have gone through it myself as a player who had a knee injury at the end of my career, you know if you can help the team win. If he feels that there is anything in question then I think he will be smart about it and he will tell us where he is at. It's different when you are throwing the football. He will know how that arm feels and if he can make all of the throws or not. I think if it gets to that than I'm sure the right decision will be made.
(on if he feels it would help Jake Locker to be named the starter earlier in the week)
I think the fact that he has been getting a lot of Wednesday work and he would probably this week anyway, that that's a plus right there because he has been doing that the last two or three weeks for us. I think that Thursday, splitting the reps if we did that then that wouldn't be a big deal, and then by Friday that you would hope that not just Matt (Hasselbeck) but other injured players that we have or have had during the year that we would have a better feel by Friday what we are doing.
(on the injured players from the game)
They are kind of all in the same boat. (David) Stewart with the calf, he is having his MRI and it's just one of those things that we will have to see how he is because it's that motion of coming out of your stance and pass blocking and backing up, so again like Matt (Hasselbeck) with the throwing motion, David will be the pass set motion and the backing up and see how that feels over the next couple of days. He probably won't be able to do anything on Wednesday and we will kind of see where he is on Thursday and Friday. Barrett (Ruud) is the same way, he reinjured the groin somewhere in the second quarter or somewhere by halftime. So he will be the same thing there. It's hard to tell now but no one has injured themselves where we would be able to say they are out right now. Everyone who had injuries during the game is in that same category of wait and see…Derrick Morgan, the ankle, I think it's something where we put him in the same category as the rest of them and kind of see how he responds over the next couple of days. All of these injuries, the MRI's were negative on all of them of having anything more serious. It's more of soreness and what you can play with, and how limited you are. Is it something that you can play with this week and get through it or is it something that may take a week? That's kind of where we are at and I think most teams are kind of in the same boat with a lot of players. This is the first game in a while where we have got hit with four or five guys being questionable.
(on Derrick Morgan's frustration to stay healthy)
I'm sure it is especially where it's a game going back to Atlanta and wanting to play well. He got the ankle real early and we were counting on him to have a chance to play well for us and he got that pretty early in the game so I'm sure he is very frustrated with that.
(on what he saw out of Jake Locker)
He did a nice job first of all of keeping his composure and his poise. He came into a tough situation being down the way we were knowing that we had to pass the ball throughout the rest of the game. I thought he handled himself very well there, good pocket presence, and good job in the huddle calling the plays and running the show. He checked protections, he is very comfortable doing that. You may have noticed him at the line of scrimmage making some adjustments, he felt very good doing those things. For us that was real encouraging for everyone to see that he was kind of picking up where he left of in preseason against a defense that knew he was a rookie that hadn't played much, especially in an important part of the game. He handled himself well in that regard. He made some nice throws. He probably would have ran on the one like he did on the second one. You could tell that he realized right after he threw the ball that he should have just ran with it and he probably would have got a 20-yard run and a first down. The next series you saw him go ahead and run when it was there and convert for us on a third-and-10 or third-and-12 and that's something that's good to see him do and make plays and move around the pocket. I think he saw the throws that he did make he bought time and moved around and found Nate (Washington) a couple times for touchdowns. That's some real positive stuff that we all saw. He had some balls that floated, a couple of balls that he over-threw while he was out there. Like I said, the one time he would have liked to run and the one sack we had he got confused on coverage and didn't get rid of the ball. He kind of held that one way too long. He probably should have ran or just got rid of it. It's things like that he is just going to have to keep playing but there were obviously a lot of good things to see him go out and perform the way he did. He got us back in the game with him out there and gave us a chance that if we got the ball back then maybe win that game.
(on if Michael Turner is a good test for LeGarrette Blount)
Yeah he is a taller guy but I haven't really watched him much since he left. I see him on highlights every so often. We liked him a lot when he was here. It looks like he is doing a great job for them and it ended up being a great fit for him last year with them picking him up and getting a chance to play and he has taken full advantage of it.
(on if Colin McCarthy is pushing Barrett Ruud for the starting MLB job)
Well I think the first thing is just staying healthy. The problem with that spot has been Colin (McCarthy) was playing a lot early and then had the injury with the hamstring and then he didn't suit up for two or three weeks so as a rookie you are going to fall behind a little bit there because you are sore and can't get reps. I think that kind of hurt him a little bit during the middle of the season. But like I said, we didn't even know if he was going to suit up until Sunday an hour and half before the game. He was able to and you saw that when he got in he played well. I think he is a guy that you want to get on the field but we just can't stay healthy at that spot so it's almost like whoever is healthy is playing right now. The good thing is that we have guys like him and (Mike) Otto, Jake Locker, step in and play well when some of the front line guys have gotten hurt.
(on if he anticipates LeGarrette Blount having more energy to go against that Titans since he was released here)
I hope he looks at it like we gave him the opportunity to be in the league. No one drafted him, I know Coach (Jeff) Fisher liked him a lot and our offensive staff did when we brought him in as a free agent. We thought he did well. I know our thinking was he ran well. (Chris Johnson) was coming off of a 2,000-yard season we had (Javon) Ringer. He was our third back, our change-up back which we thought would be a great fit. It got into trying to hide guys and numbers and try to cut and bring back and we obviously wanted him on the practice squad. Tampa made a great decision and picked him up. I think they are the only ones that claimed him. We saw what he had, it was just a matter of how do you keep it. I wasn't involved in the business side of that but I have seen it happen to many players over the years. I was telling Robbie (Bohren) about when we lost Steve Tasker when I was playing. He was with the Oilers and there is a guy that got snatched away from us and ended up going through the waiver system. It happens, it doesn't mean that we didn't think he is what he is. I think he would probably enjoy coming back here. He knows that we liked him, he knows that we felt strongly about him when we brought him in and gave him the opportunity to make our team and now he is doing well in Tampa.
