Q: Osi was named NFC defensive player of the month. What are your thoughts on what he's done this year?
A: It's remarkable. I think that the guy has put his hard hat on and just came to practice mentally fit, he's been physically fit and he's just showing the talent that he has as a football player and I'm loving it.
Q: Has he surprised you given all of his problems last year?
A: I remember seeing him in the Super Bowl year and saying, Wow, what a football player, so no, his physical play does not surprise me at all. I know he was hurt the next year and then he didn't get on track last year, but it doesn't surprise me that he has returned to form.
Q: What can you tell your guys defensively about Marshawn Lynch and how good he can be?
A: Oh, he's a hard runner. I'll tell you, you better go and smack him in the mouth because he's tough, he knows how to break tackles, he's a bounce runner, he's a slasher, he'll cut the ball back on you, he has good vision - you better respect him or he'll make you gain respect, so we better bring our best game to play against him.
Q: What have you seen from Jason Pierre-Paul since Kiwanuka's injury?
A: We're just bringing him along. He's a physical guy. I thought he had some really good rushes in the Dallas game last week. We have a technique called the long arm and he long armed the right tackle from Dallas really well on the sack - he was just an arm's length away from making that sack. Jason is growing each week. What you have to understand about Jason is that he hasn't played a lot of football and so he's really playing good football for us, he just doesn't have the stats to prove it right now, but when you look at the coach's tape, he's doing good things every week and if we can just keep him moving in the right direction, he's going to be a hell of a football player.
Q: Your defense has a tendency to knock quarterbacks out of games. Hasselbeck is a little bit dinged up, they've had to re-shuffle their offensive line. Do you think he might be a little skittish back there?
A: We hope so. We want to command respect from the opponents that we play and we're going to put our best game forward and if he's back there, then we want to make him nervous. If that next guy is back there, we want to make that next guy nervous.
Q: He gets rid of the ball quickly, right?
A: That is true. It's a west coast system and we just hope that we'll make him release it a little quicker.
Q: Is it more difficult to prepare when you don't know if he's going to be there and the line is shuffled or do you just go in there and play?
A: Yeah, you know, it is a little more difficult because you're preparing against a guy, looking at his mechanics, what his reads are, we know his snap count and you're trying to get the feel and the flow of the game, so that is a little bit different whether he will or won't play, but you have to do your homework and look at the next guy also and look at some preseason games and find out what he's like.
Q: With your defensive front, when your guys know the QB is banged up and the O-line is struggling, is it a blood in the water kind of thing?
A: If we stop the run, I want our guys to have that mentality that there's blood in the water and we're going to be sharks. No doubt. That's my mentality, I know, going in.
Q: So it's as much them trying to match up with you as you trying to match up with them?
A: I would say that that's a correct statement, yes.
Q: Is it hard to prepare for a team that is so uneven between how they play at home and on the road?
A: We prepare for their best game. Even though they've been skittish on the road and they're really playing well at home, you prepare for their best game because we know that we're going to get their best game, so you just have to put that out of your mind and just say this is what they do well.