Good afternoon. Just to reiterate what I said last night, we've been talking about this turnover business for an entire season and last night, unfortunately, in a very hard fought game, once again it reared its ugly head and the turnovers put our defense in very, very bad position in the first half. Fortunately, they rallied, held the Eagles to only field goals, which gave us a chance to come back and we did and then we got the game at 17-16 and had our opportunities and again, turned the ball over in that situation as well and didn't give ourselves a chance to win the game or to put ourselves in a position where we might have forced it into overtime. We're very disappointed. I told the players today, there is no feeling sorry for ourselves. We're not one of those outfits. We're going to remain very positive and we're going to indicate that if we would stop being our own worst enemy, then we would have a chance to go forward here and win some football games. I know you've all heard about Hakeem. I'm waiting to hear - late afternoon here - exactly how he is doing, etc. I have not been able to talk to him. That having been said, again, other people are going to have to do the job for us and step up and play and perform and at the highest level and as I looked at yesterday and I told you that I thought the defense really accepted the challenge. I thought we had a good plan and we had enough aggressiveness, we pressured, we forced some things to happen, we defended - certainly we gave up some big plays, we gave up those two long runs that were in the fourth quarter. I'm not even going to...there's no excuse for that, but I thought that our defense played well and certainly was forced to be on the field a lot and still managed - against a team that had 600 yards the week before - managed to play well enough to put our team in a position to win. I thought our special teams...we did have outstanding kickoff coverage, we did have, finally, late in the game, some kickoff returns that were worthwhile that gave us the field position. We thought we needed the ball at the 35-yard line on kickoff return to help ourselves offensively. Toward the end of the game we got three kickoffs that were in that area. We had one punt return. We had an exceptional play on the blocked field goal, which created a momentum changing play for us. The ball did not quite bounce with the scoop and score idea - it did not quite bounce into Corey's hands - however, I think that everybody in seeing the tape today again saw the facemask, which meant that the half shouldn't have ended right there. We should have advanced a 15-yard penalty and had a chance for a field goal right there, so that was an exceptional play in the game. I was disappointed that when we do get it to 17-16, we kicked the ball out of bounds and gave them the ball at the 40-yard line. Our first punt was not a good punt and we were fortunate at the end of the game that we didn't have a block on one when the ball was mishandled. He did finally get the ball away and kick it a long distance. I thought that our offense was very sporadic. We didn't run the ball the way we thought we would be able to. We had a couple of drives that were worthwhile, but basically for the night we did not do the things that we intended to do. Offensively, we ended up, again, being our own worst enemy, but even at the end of the game when it was 27-17, we should have done a better job with the ball and put ourselves in position to at least have a chance to tie the game.
Q: How does the offense compensate for the loss of Nicks?
A: We will have an answer for you by Wednesday, but the guys that are on the current roster will have to step up and play and play better than we did the other night.
Q: Is Derek Hagan far enough along that he knows all the spots?
A: Well, he knows all the spots. He's rusty, there's no doubt. He did some things on special teams that would give you the idea he was right up to par. Offensively, it's a little bit different. He needs some work there, but as far as knowing and learning, he can do that very well. He's done that before. He's been the guy that has played all three spots before.
Q: Would you consider converting anyone on your roster to receiver?
A: Not to the point where it's any further than just thought. Again, there are some other things mixing in here that...it could be a possibility, but I wouldn't be able to talk about that until maybe Wednesday.
Q: Will Travis Beckum take some reps there?
A: If you've been astute and you've noticed how he's been used, when he comes in the game, he draws the nickel, so he is playing like that right now really. Have we overextended that personnel combination? No.
Q: I mean more.
A: Perhaps. Perhaps that would be an answer.
Q: Are you going to be trying guys out?
A: There will be a tryout.
Q: What about Samuel Giguere?
A: Everyone here will be considered. It's just, again, until we see them all and what's available, there's really no sense commenting.
Q: You talk about remaining positive, but how do you keep the team's spirits up?
A: Well, they're men and they're going to have to handle this just like all of us. Everybody in this league experiences injuries and how you deal with them is as important as anything else. We'll have to do some things offensively to pull all of this under control, to be aware of what we have and what we don't have and hopefully the burden will go on - let's do a better job up front. We didn't run the ball well yesterday. We didn't create a whole lot of openings. We had one or two runs that were significant, but a lot of them were not and hopefully everybody is going to accept the challenge.
Q: Will it be harder to run the ball now?
A: Might be, but it also might give us some big plays.
Q: Nicks is three weeks?
A: I don't know. That's what the initial thought was - perhaps that long. Until I talk to the doctors myself I don't know.
Q: Did you suspect this last night?
A: Well, we knew he had a little something last night. I didn't know what it was. He was limping a little bit, but I did not know what it was and I don't know that...perhaps the doctors suspected something. It acted like he had a kick - someone may have kicked him in the lower leg area and it caused him to limp and he felt as if he could continue.
Q: Is this like a blood clot or something?
A: I don't know what it amounts to. All I know is what the term that was used and they did feel like they had to take immediate action.
Q: Are Ahmad's fumbles all similar or connected in any way?
A: Well, there are obvious similarities. Do you have two hands on the ball? When you are hit and you are in trouble and you are beginning that spin thing, does the ball come immediately into your body and do you cover it up with two hands? He's fighting for yardage every step of the way, but people in this league are not naïve, they study too and they see and when the ball carrier goes into that position, then they're trying to get somebody with a hand on the ball.
Q: How do you deal with that and keep his confidence up but hold him accountable?
A: Well, he feels very badly today, obviously and the stressing of being accountable has gone on here for quite some time. To his credit and to everyone's credit who has turned the ball over, they do come back the following week with the re-commitment to having it not happen again.
Q: What's the problem with Matt Dodge lately?
A: I don't know if I can answer that. I think he did put together a couple of solid weeks, but that part of the inexperience does rise up again and he's as conscientious as can be, it's just...the shank ball and not being able to place the ball exactly where he wants to place it - that does show up. He drove the ball deep and it would have been nice if they weren't touchbacks, but...
Q: When you were going for it on fourth down, did Dodge's punting factor into it?
A: No. It was what I thought we had to do and the amount of time we had to do it in.
Q: Are you restricted in limiting Bradshaw by injuries?
A: I think no matter how we would do it, there would be a sharing...we wouldn't change, we might do whatever we wanted with the order, but people are going to get their carries.
Q: Why hasn't he been able to get as much yardage lately?
A: I think we blocked - we had a couple of things last night and probably one other opportunity with the run that could have been a significant gain, but other than that, there was not a lot of daylight. The receivers didn't do the job down inside, we didn't always adjust to the speed and sometimes the intensity of the defense.
Q: Will you start giving Jacobs more carries than Bradshaw?
A: Options are all open.
Q: Are you going to bring in some punters tomorrow too?
A: No.
Q: You said Nicks required immediate action. What does that mean?
A: Just this morning when he came in, the doctors were here and they thought that he needed to have that looked at right away.
Q: He was here this morning?
A: He was here this morning and then he went over to the hospital.
Q: How difficult is it as a coach and to see your fortunes turn so quickly in a span of two weeks?
A: I'd rather have it the other way around if that's what you're saying, but to a certain extent, you deal with what you have. This is the way it is. It's not going to change, but somehow, some way you've got to put all this together, come out swinging, which I'm confident we will, without a doubt, and find a way to get yourself a win.
Q: You've talked about resiliency and how much you like this team. What do you think now?
A: Well, I just told them the same thing - the same thing I'm telling you - I said that there would be some more disappointing news, but nevertheless, the guys that go on the field are going to give great effort, we're going to make sure they know exactly what they're doing, that they understand the responsibility and people have to do more. We have to have - perhaps our defense. We challenge the special teams and the defense every week - you've got to score, you've got to get the turnovers, you've got to get us in position to have some short fields. Last night we had a short field, boom boom, two plays later we're in the end zone. That'll be part of the challenge, but the other part of the challenge is that offense has to do their job as well.
Q: Any news on O'Hara or Diehl?
A: I don't know anything about that yet.
Q: Rolle said he would be willing to play wide receiver.
A: We're aware of Antrel's athletic skills and as I said, we'll take everything into consideration.
Q: What's the situation with Reynaud's health? Will he take snaps at wide receiver?
A: Oh yeah. He's done that on scout squad last week and he was actually healthier than I thought he would be.
Q: How did he look running routes?
A: He looked alright.