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The guys that didn't participate in practice were Ahmad Brooks, Antonio Chatman, Rudi Johnson, Reggie Kelly, Corey Mays, Caleb Miller and Madieu Williams. As I said, I think we're getting healed and moving forward a little bit.
Q: Willie Anderson saw some limited time? ML:
Yeah, Willie practiced today.
Q: How did Jeanty do?ML:
He did fine. Jeanty practiced.
Q: Was it nice to have a body come back to the LB position rather than going?ML:
Yeah, it's good to have Rashad back. He's worked hard. There's an opportunity for Caleb to be back tomorrow (Thursday). We'll wait and see. A lot of these other guys ... half will practice tomorrow, so we'll be fine.
Q: Talk about Courtney Roby:ML:
Obviously, he was one of the last cuts at Tennessee. He's shown great speed. He did a good job when he worked out for us a week ago. We just waited until we had the spot. We needed the spot, I should say. And we were able to get him signed.
Q: With Robert Geathers moving to LB, what has he shown you?ML:
Oh, he's what you want. He's got all the athleticism and skills to be a fine linebacker.
Q: Are you surprised Willie Anderson's back out there? ML:
No, I'm not surprised Willie's back out there. That's what Willie said all along, that he didn't feel like it was as severe an injury as people wanted to make it out to be.
Q: Willie's foot or knee? ML:
Both.
Q: Robert Geathers likes to move forward and run downhill:ML:
He's been doing that. He's been playing linebacker for us, and he'll play linebacker again this week. He's a linebacker now.
Q: Permanently?ML:
Permanently right now. As permanent as right now can be.
Q: Is RCB a problem spot with Leon (Hall) & Johnathan (Joseph)?ML:
I don't think it's a problem spot. We need to play better in every area. But I don't think it's a problem. We have two good young players. I think we're fortunate to have both guys like that. I thought Leon played a fine football game last week.
Q: You put in a lot of time on third-down drills?ML:
We had a little extra work on third down today.
Q: Chad said he's played horrible. What's your take? ML:
Well, his expectations are high. So are ours. I think the fact that we are where we are record-wise is why he's said he's played horribly. And we all have room for improvement.
Q: Chris Perry. Does he have a chance of returning to practice? ML:
Yes, he does. Chris Perry has a chance to return to practice.
Q: Do you know when? ML:
Yeah, I actually probably do know when. But we'll wait until we do that. Chris has really done well. He's working hard. If he doesn't have any setbacks here with anything, it should be in short order.
Q: Is Tab Perry's injury career-threatening at this point?ML:
Well, the doctors don't think so. When Tab originally hurt himself against Cleveland (in 2006), there was a certain diagnosis and a prognosis. And we've been able to follow that. We waited a long period of time last year because they felt that if he rested, he would be able to come back and play. So, we waited for a period of time. It never seemed to come around and we needed the spot, so we made the move (to Reserve/Injured list).
This year, he had a flare up in training camp and we shut him down, and had him looked at. It came back that nothing had changed. Go as long as you can go, as long as you're feeling good and want to do it, go for it. I think internally, he was having more problems than he let on to us. Then he hurt his hamstring and had a chance to come back. He spoke to someone else and they said. 'Why don't we try this now and maybe we can fix you for good.' I think he chose to take that route because he was having some discomfort. If it all goes well, then Tab should come back and be able to play NFL football.
Q: He had surgery?ML:
He had surgery yesterday.
Q: With regard to Ethan Kilmer, you mentioned his was a unique injury. Will he require additional surgery or just more time?ML:
No, I don't think he'll need any more surgery right now. The time kept changing and we needed to move forward.
Q: You kind of slipped John Busing into the special teams role:ML:
They're a little different, but we basically brought Blue (Adams) in for that role and John for a different one. And we have been able to settle guys into the right spots. That was another positive that came out of the game last week. Now we have a great challenge this week. They have the league leader in their kick returner Leon Washington, so it's going to be big. On the other side of the ball we have to get ours going, because they're struggling a little bit. We have to get our return game going and Glenn (Holt) keep hitting it the way he's hitting it. We had probably our best week of blocking in the return phases. We just have to stay after it and get better at it and not get sloppy with our hands.
Q: What do the Jets do well offensively?ML:
They have a fine running back (Thomas Jones). He's a guy who starts the first play of the game and a guy who jumps out of the gap, and the next thing you know it's a 35-, 40-yard gain. A couple of his runs (last week) were that way. They weren't that far off from where they needed to be, but he's quick enough to burst in there and see it. He has great vision. Has the ability to jump back through that opening where the linebacker stuck his head back the wrong way and the next thing you know, he's in the secondary. He's a fine back and that's one thing they do well.
They have good quickness, speed at wide receiver. Their guys are very competitive for the football. I think those are two good areas. They have a very experienced quarterback, and right now he is under fire, and he's going to come in here ready to play, so we have to get going.
Q: On the defensive side of the ball, another 3-4. Third one in six games:ML:
Well, we knew who we were playing this year. We knew we would face some 3-4 teams and they're another one. They're kind of the Cleveland, New England mode and little bit more than the Pittsburgh, Baltimore mode, which are two different scenarios. They're big, physical guys and give a lot of two-gap looks. They run a lot of pressure. Probably more pressure than we've seen from teams. We play different than that, but we have to be prepared to go forward and adjust our plan to how we're getting played and attack them that way.
Q: Willie Anderson:ML:
Paul Alexander had to call security because he thought someone was stealing number 71's pads. It's good to have Willie out there.
Q: Are you surprised?ML:
No. Willie keeps me updated. He's a team guy and he wants to win very badly.
Q: How has Levi (Jones) bounced back?ML:
I think he has bounced back fine. We're counting on him to bounce back. I believe he will. He's a pro. He's a very prideful young man. I know he's excited to go back and put his best foot forward again and get back on top.
Q: Is this 1-4 start different from the other two (in 2003 and 2004) because of the expectations coming into this year?ML:
I think so.
Q: Will Levi (Jones) get a shot right away?ML:
He will start.
Q: You made a spot for Courtney Roby. How will he contribute?ML:
We have to get him going. I keep telling them to press him in. It's funny, the offensive coaches don't want to put guys in right away and defenses kick them in right away. Special teams kick them in right away. I keep thinking, if that guy goes down, then he's got to play so you might as well let him practice. If you're going to get him to play you better let him practice. We got him up to speed. He spent the day here yesterday and ate all three meals here. He's very smart. Very intelligent guy. I think that will be helpful and he'll get up to speed very quickly.
Q: Can he contribute to special teams right away?ML:
At some point. I'm not going to divulge, right now, his role, but I do think he'll be able to give us a spark that way.
Q: (Anthony) Schlegel is a guy who kind of grows on you. He's played through this and played through that, and shows up:ML:
Anthony played at a very high level of college football and won a lot of games. He knows how to do some things right. Because of his inexperience with us, it's important that he gets every step right. He's still a young guy. Whatever he has in shortcomings he makes up for in his knowledge of the game. When you have that, you have to be right in your footwork and foot patterns and everything has to be right. He's worked very hard at it. He's a very diligent worker, very smart guy. He's very intense and the kind of guy you want.
Q: You think he will be a little amped up for the Jets game, the team which let him go?ML:
You think? We have to keep control. Have that controlled rage. It's an important football game. I know our fans will be excited, and loud, and it's a four o'clock game so they'll have a little extra time to get revved up. It's going to be fun. We had a good practice today. A good, spirited practice, and that's what we're looking forward to. We're not walking around here as a team who has won one football game. That's the approach we have to continue to take, until we've won the second one, and then continue to go one after one after one.
Q: How hard is it to keep it positive in the locker room?ML:
I'm getting pretty good at it. Unfortunately.
