**
**
HEAD COACH MIKE MUNCHAK
(on injuries heading into Sunday)
Sammie (Hill) will be out. Shonn (Greene) will be out. Stew (David Stewart) practiced in full and should be questionable. (Patrick) Bailey practiced full and is questionable. Ropati (Pitoitua) practiced, questionable. Kenny (Britt), probable.
(on how Kenny Britt looked at practice this week)
He had a real good week. I thought he looked good, confident, practiced hard, caught a lot of good balls, so I think it was a good week for him. Now it's just a matter of carrying that into the game.
(on the next step for Justin Hunter)
He'll get more playing time as we go. We have to be smart with rotation depending on how the games are going, get him on the field more. The good thing is each week there's more things he can do. Certain games you're running certain things, defenses are playing certain coverages, and you may want him in. I think now that he's more comfortable with the offense, he's up on more plays.
(on the importance of punt coverage against a good Chiefs unit)
It's exciting, it's a challenge for them. You can see the focus a little more when you got someone special that can return kicks the way they can. It's a great challenge for the defense, the punter, to put the ball in the right spots so that we can cover. We want to get one. We thought last week we had one. D-Rey (Darius Reynaud) had a 35-yarder (return) and we feel like we got a weapon, too, that's getting closer. Now we think we'll get a shot at some kickoff returns. That should be good especially if the weather's a little wetter; we'll probably get more opportunities to bring the ball up.
(on monitoring and preparing for the weather)
Last week was the same way; we thought it was going to rain all day on Sunday. We kept thinking last Sunday was going to be a mess, but it turned out to be just a little light rain. So, you just never know. We monitor it. The guys have played in it, practiced in it, so it's not a big deal that way. They know what shoes to wear, what gloves to wear, whatever the deal is, everyone's different. Some guys love it, some guys are more getting used to it. We'll see how it is. It might be like last week, maybe a little worse, but I don't think it should really matter.
(on whether the team practices with a wet ball)
We did some today. We mixed and matched some. We thought we were going to get some rain this week—I thought we were going to get it naturally, but we didn't. Guys catching it is just a little different. They'll get it in pregame, too, which is good. I think you don't go overboard with anything, you just expose them to everything.
(on promoting Rusty Smith)
We're trying to keep the suspense. The problem is more of making the roster move.
(on deliberating the roster move)
We wanted to get through the week by making sure there was nothing else happening out of the ordinary that could affect the decision. There was no hurry to do it, so we thought we'd let the week go like normal and then make a decision on Saturday.
(on whether it is hard to make roster moves during the season)
It is hard, emotionally hard, too. You have guys now you're letting go that have been here, and it gets harder during the season when you have to make these kinds of moves. That's the hard part of the business as a coach and player; you don't like it at all because it's a tough decision. You have no choice, but it's still very hard to have to do it.
