Tuck did not practice today. He had a sore shoulder so we held him out of all of the team stuff.
Q: Is that an issue for Sunday?
A: I hope not.
Q: Is that related to last year?
A: No.
Q: When did he hurt it?
A: I don't know. He was just sore this morning.
Q: Wasn't his shoulder bothering him after the game?
A: Yeah, he had a little burner the other night. I'm not sure that it's the same thing.
Q: O'Hara's status for Sunday?
A: Doubtful.
Q: How did Koets look?
A: Okay, yeah. He's done a good job.
Q: In making the calls and everything?
A: Yep.
Q: Because of O'Hara's experience, is he a guy who could play if he feels okay even though he's missed practice?
A: Oh, yeah, we'd consider it. No question. That's why I say it's day to day. You never know.
Q: Do you know Blackburn's status?
A: No. (Questionable)
Q: I think that it's only something like ten games lost by your starting offensive line since 2006. How blessed have you felt?
A: It's always nice to have that unit intact. We'd certainly like to get back to that. I will say this now, we've had quality reps for a lot of guys out there. Shawn Andrews has gotten a lot of work, Petrus has gotten a lot of work, so those guys are...one side of this that may be looked at as a plus is that those guys are getting a ton of work.
Q: What takes the longest for guys like that to come along? Is it physical? Technique? Mental?
A: It's a tough job, I mean the guy is this far away. They're not just sitting there. They've got to be able to handle things full speed, on the fly, all of the adjustments, all of the movement, the multiple protections, the multiple run schemes, all the techniques that are involved...it takes time.
Q: With the injuries in that area, how tough is it to maintain your confidence in the running game as far as the play calling goes?
A: Well, we've got to go. I mean, this is what we've prepared for and Koets has played in there before. He's played in there with big people on his nose and done a good job.
Q: What does Boss mean to your offense?
A: We've got our starting tight end back, a guy that's played in an awful lot of big games and made an awful lot of big plays for us. He and the quarterback will get on the same page a lot quicker.
Q: How about also in the running game with him as the blocker?
A: Well, he gives us the size dimension at the tight end spot and allows us to...there's no run from the standpoint of a power run that we would not run with Kevin over there.
Q: Last week you sent Koets in as the eligible tight end. With him at center, do you have other linemen who could go in there?
A: Possibly.
Q: Do you need that if Boss is back?
A: It's nice to have the multiplicity.
Q: Where does Michael Johnson stand right now?
A: He's out of the game.
Q: Is he getting worse with that disc issue?
A: Earlier in the week they decided that that's what it was and so we're just going to see where we are.
Q: After the Baltimore game you said that you felt good about how practice went. How has it been this week?
A: I think we've had a good couple of days.
Q: With the young guys you've drafted on the defensive line, is it possible that some veteran jobs could be on the line this week if they don't step up?
A: Well, when you have quality defensive linemen and you keep them, then you have the depth on your own team, so that if in effect you start into the one week on and one week off business where somebody gets nicked up, you've got the help right there because otherwise you're not going to be able to find the quality people that you'd need if something did happen. So, we'd always keep as many as we could of those that could play.
Q: But in other words...
A: I heard what you said, but no, not necessarily. We play a lot of people and will continue to do that.