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**B:** Today as a team we are going to work on a couple of different directions. One of course is to start getting ready for Buffalo and two is to address some of the things that we feel like we need to improve on based on previous games. Either the last few or the whole first half of the season or it could be a combination of things and three we are trying to look forward to what some of the challenges are going to be ahead both this week immediately and in future weeks and try to prepare a little bit for addressing some of those situations. So it is kind of a little bit of a combination of things we want to try to get done this week with the focus being to number one improve our team and number two get a little bit of a jump on the preparation for things to come both this week and down the road. Offensively a couple of things that we want to address, well first of all as a team I mean the main things to do is pretty clear we need to score a few more points and give up a few less. Anytime you are involved in close games a couple of points here or there make a huge difference and there are a lot of different ways those points can be scored or prevented so some of the things involved in scoring goal line, red area, big plays things like that, all of those things are to a certain degree we want to address those. But offensively we want to try to look at our running game and continue to make strides with that. I think that is a significant part of our passing game and our pass protection is what our running game is able to produce as we saw last week at Indianapolis. Pass protection certainly is an issue and again scoring, third down conversions are some of the things that are going to be points of emphasis this week on offense. Defensively, third down conversions, our run last defense the last couple of weeks has not been what is needs to be and the overall end of the game two-minute situations both ahead and behind. We are going to adjust those. We are going to have a practice today inside the stadium. It will be the first time we have done that this year for a number of reasons, but anyway. We'll try to setup end of the game situations with the scoreboard and the clock and timeouts and so forth and both look at execution and also strategy in situations to try to build our awareness and our ability to minimize the mistakes and maximize the execution at those critical timeframes in the game. That is what we will be doing today. We will be inside, we will be doing some situational work and we will follow that up tomorrow with a few more specific things on Buffalo and a continuation of some of the situational things that we did today. That is kind of what we are doing. We have a couple of guys, there is no injury report this week, but we have a couple of guys that are probably a little less than 100 percent. If we have an opportunity to back off a little bit there we will probably do that.
Q: When do you have to make a decision on (Adrian) Klemm and (Todd) Rucci, twenty-one days from when they came off?
B: No it's twenty-one days.
Q: So do you know when that is?
B: It is sometime next week Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, somewhere in there.
Q: Will you wait right up until then?
B: Right off the top of my head I don't think there would be a whole lot of advantage to do it earlier just in case something happened then you would have to backtrack and undo a move that you have already made so it probably would go down toward the end of that timeframe.
Q: If you activate one or the other will they play that Sunday or would it take more time than that?
B: That's a good question.
Q: And would you be inclined to kind of bring them along slowly a series here and there or would you…?
B: That's a good question. Both players are at opposite extremes. There is no real comparison between Todd and Adrian they are at opposite ends of the spectrum.
Q: In terms of experience?
B: In terms of experience, right and kind of their readiness to play football right now and they are also at different positions which is somewhat of a factor. It certainly has to be considered. You know what nobody has ever seen Adrian Klemm play in a professional football game, nobody has so regardless of what his preparation is or isn't, what he does or doesn't do on the practice field, when he goes in the game for the first time I don't know how anybody could know exactly what is going to happen. So there is a certain degree of uncertainty there that will only be answered once there is something to evaluate. Todd on the other hand has played a lot of football in the National Football League with this team and it is a much different situation. He is at a different stage in his career and at a different position so we are not really comparing apples to apples here. In the end the decision is based on what is best for the football team and obviously the Adrian Klemm situation puts to some degree the future of the football team into the question. Just as a perspective, I am not saying it is the same because I don't think it is the same, but just to put it into perspective with the J.R. (Redmond) situation. J.R is a lot better now than he was a month ago. With Adrian he will probably be better in a month then he is now. So that is the kind of thing we have to kind of project in making that decision and this will be a good week for us to look at both players because they have had a little time out there. They have passed the initial point now we are starting to get into a little bit more of the flow and we will see where they are. I think it will be important for both players and they have been spoken to, it will be important for them both to practice well this week.
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**Q: Is Max Lane definitely your right tackle for the foreseeable future?**
B:How long is the foreseeable future?
Q: Is he the guy that you want to go with now, does he give you flexibility along the line?
B: There are probably a couple of different answers to that I will try to be as candid with you as I can here. Last week was really the first week that we legitimately felt like Max could go in and play right tackle and be the right tackle in the game given his injury situation, some other things on the offensive line, a multiple of reasons, but that was really the first week that everybody felt totally confident that Max is going as right tackle against the Colts. He is going to play right tackle and this is the best combination for us for right now. Having said that at the Colt game there were only seven linemen active and those sixth and seventh linemen were Greg (Robinson-Randall) and Grant Williams who have only played tackle this year, preseason, regular season, training camp, practice, walk through, scout team, those two players have only played at tackle. Even though Max is the tackle, if one guy gets his toe stepped on or his ankle sprained or his shoe comes off and Max goes to guard. I think one of the future considerations on the offensive line is Max as a guard and Greg as the right tackle. Which it had to be in the Colt game I mean after the second play of the game we could have had Greg at right tackle and Max at guard on the second play of the game if something happened. I mean that is the way it would have been. So in trying to answer your question is he the tackle for the foreseeable future? Well he was the tackle for the Indianapolis game, yet he could have been at guard where he has been for two of the last three years in one play.
Q: Who do you like better at tackle, who do you think is the better tackle?
B: Well I have got to do what is best for the football team. It is not about tennis, put this guy at three and put this guy at one and put this guy on your ladder, it is about putting five guys out there and if we need to play Max at guard then Greg is going to play at tackle and if we can play Max at tackle we will play him at tackle. I don't know if that answers your question. Right now I am not looking to change the three interior guys. I am not looking to change Sale (Isaia), Damien (Woody) and Joe (Andruzzi). I think that as the weeks have gone by they have gotten better, they have been consistent. Is there room for improvement? Yes, but that part of our offensive line has been solid and consistent and it has improved dramatically from the first couple of games of the season. I think the less we change that hopefully the better it will continue to be. Now with Jason (Andersen) not here somebody has to back those players up and that's kind of the next part of the equation.
Q: Who is your backup center now? Is Lonnie Paxton in that mix?
B: No it wouldn't come to that, (Joe) Andruzzi.
Q: As a coaching staff take pride in getting guys like Sale and Joe, seeing something and taking them over the course of a half season or less.
B: Yes to a degree, I would feel a lot better about it if we were 6-2 instead of 2-6, but there is no question though in my mind there has been a lot of progress made in that part of the offensive line from the beginning of the year. So yes that is positive and our scouts have done a good job. Bobby Hamilton, Sale Isaia, Joe Andruzzi, guys like that that you were right have pretty much been waived through the league have come in and done a good job for us and I don't think that slights them as players, I really don't mean it that way at all. I think that they have done a good job and I think other people are starting to recognize that.
Q: Is Damien Woody a Pro Bowl caliber player?
B: I think Damien has got good talent. The Pro Bowl question goes relative to some other good players in the league and that is a comparison that I am sure you will get some different opinions on that, but he is a talented player. He has got good athleticism, he is strong, he has got pretty good quickness and he is smart. He doesn't make many errors which is for a center is probably if not number one it is certainly in the top two up there in terms of qualifications.
Q: When drafted he came in with a wrap that he didn't work that hard has that changed?
B: Again I think you are talking in relative terms there. I mean I can't compare him to what he did in 1998 at Boston College or whatever. I think it has been okay, I think it has been okay.
Q: Monday you eluded that you might be looking at some of the younger plays in the second half of the season I was wondering if you could talk about that, who will you be looking at do you have people on mind?
B: The people that I want to see more are any people that I think will improve our football team and help us to play better. They get that opportunity through, number one performance on the practice field and then number two performance on the game field through their opportunities even though they may be limited. Again I think J.R. is a good example of a guy, he is an example of a guy who has gone through that stage, but I think that is a stage that all those younger players for them to be successful they have to go through it. They have to perform well in practice to give the coaches and their teammates enough confidence to have them out there and then when they get an opportunity to play in the game then they need to perform well in the game, but I think that goes for everybody. It goes for our offensive and defensive linemen, our younger receivers, our younger backs…
Q: So age is no factor as far as you are concerned or experience?
B: Well I wouldn't say it is no factor. If a guy can help us play better and help us win I mean I don't really care whether he is a rookie or a five-year veteran or a ten-year veteran. But realistically if you are not forced to make a move, you know if your backup quarterback is a rookie and your quarterback gets hurt then you put the guy in there and you are forced to make that move. There is a difference between being forced to make a move and making a move because you think it is going to improve your team. Again J.R. is an example of a guy who has come along that we weren't really forced to make that move, but because of his progress and the overall situation we felt like he would improve the position and I think he has. I think he has given us some improvement at that spot. So if you are not forced to make a move then the guy is going to have to earn his way up the ladder through performance either in the kicking game or on the practice field or a combination of both. If they don't do that then those opportunities will be limited.
