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**B:** We made one roster move we released Andre Dixon and brought back Sean Morey on the practice squad. Sean is going to work with us a little bit on defense as well as offense and also in the kicking game. I think that he may have an opportunity to provide some depth for us and utilize his versatility so we will see how that works out I know he did a little bit of that last year. Playing a team two weeks apart is a little bit of unusual situation. I think in this case looking at the Colts they really kind of changed their approach to the game a little bit last week against Seattle. It looked like they made a much stronger commitment to running the ball and they had obviously quite a bit of success. I think they probably played their best game of the year against Seattle or certainly one of their best games of the year. They ran the ball very effectively. They threw it well. They had 500 yards of offense, seven yards a play whatever it was. They made some big plays on defense, they had a lot of pressure on the quarterback, five or six sacks so they really played well. It will be very similar to the challenge we had a couple of weeks ago maybe a little more difficult given the fact that we are going to Indianapolis and playing in their home stadium and all of that, but that's kind of a recap of what happened last week. This is still a real good football team with a lot of firepower and a good cohesive defensive unit. They play people in the kicking game and they are still the team to beat in this division until somebody beats them.
Q: There has been some talk about Sean Morey playing other positions have you given any thought to that, defensive back or?
B: Yes. That's we plan on doing with him. We plan on using him on defense, playing receiver and also on the different phases of the kicking game. We talked to him about that a week ago or so and I talked to him about it this morning. That's what we are going to do.
Q: What qualities do you see in him as a potential player, what kind of things can he do?
B: I think he is a pretty smart kid and he has got some quickness. When you watch him hold up guys on the punt return team there are some defensive skills there. In talking to couple of the coaches that were here last year like DeWayne (Walker) and Ivan (Fears), he did some of that last year and they said that he did a decent job at it for not much practice. So we will see. I mean I don't have any illusions of him starting at corner next week, I am not saying that, but a guy that can play in the kicking game, that could be one of your extra defensive backs, that could be one of your extra receivers can give you some depth on your team and play a couple of different spots and compete in the kicking game. That is an opportunity for a guy to establish a role for himself and that is what we will look at Sean as. He may just be able to establish a role for himself as a receiver and on special teams I wouldn't rule that out either.
Q: There have been a number of coaches who have said players have a defensive personality and often times an offensive personality, but some can't go both ways do you see him as having the personality to do both?
B: Yes.
Q: Is that a unique quality?
B: Yes a little bit, I think it is a little bit. He plays at a very competitive level and a very physical level which not all receivers do, he does. A lot of receivers are not involved in the kicking game and that is one of his strengths. I mean that's probably at this point his biggest attribute in the three phases that he is probably closer to being a contributor in the kicking game then he is on offense and obviously on defense at this point. He brings a good attitude, he works hard and he was a guy that as I said at the end of preseason, if we could have kept more players he would have been on of the guys we kept, but we are limited by numbers. A few things have come by in the last few weeks and I just feel like this is a guy we want to try to spend a little more time with.
Q: Do you see him more as a cornerback or a safety?
B: Probably both. He did a little bit of both, physically he is probably built a little bit more like a corner, but I guess he played a little bit of free safety last year and showed a few things. So we will see.
Q: Your defense did very well with Indianapolis the first time out, but obviously with a couple of key players missing you had a vulnerability to the run last week, do you see the possibility of finding a way to compensate for the losses along the line?
B: Yes we will have to try to do that. Look this is a good football team and (Edgerrin) James is a heck of a back he is a great runner. He is elusive and he is powerful and he is in there every play. He was running the ball right until the last play of the game against Seattle with a thirteen-point lead or whatever it was. Yes that's our challenge.
Q: Did it hurt in terms of preparation last week because you lost Chad (Eaton) so late in the week?
B: It didn't help.
Q: Any chance he is ready this week?
B: I don't think he will play today, no.
Q: What about (Brandon) Mitchell?
B: Questionable. He is better than he was last week. We really won't know until we go out today and loosen up, go through warm-ups and then if he is able to practice then he will and if he is not then hopefully he will tomorrow. It is really just day-to-day. He hasn't done too much really since Friday other than lift weights and get treatment, I mean he has done a lot that way, but he hasn't done anything on the practice field. Hopefully in three or four days we can turn the corner, but we won't know that until we get out there.
Q: What type of pride do you take or a challenge do you see it as when people bill you as the guy that had success stopping Drew (Bledsoe) in the past and you have a reputation of slowing down Peyton Manning, do you pride yourself on that, see it as a challenge?
B: You always want to do well, but I think anybody that saw the game or watched a tape of the game would say we really shut anybody down, they moved the ball. You try to hold the points down against the Colts that is all you can do. I don't think you are going to totally shut them down you just try to keep them from scoring a lot points. Like I said after the game I think it is a real credit to the way the players played. I didn't cover Marvin Harrison, I didn't tackle (Edgerrin) James, I didn't sack Manning, I didn't do any of that stuff. The players had to do that and that's hard to do so I think they are the ones that deserve the credit.
Q: They have been trying to get James more involved in the passing game, do you think that was something that maybe they found they didn't have the luxury of doing that?
B: No I think he has been in the passing game, I think he will continue to be in the passing game and I think that they will just try to keep things a little more balanced between run and pass. I don't think realistically he is going to go out and gain over 200 yards every week running the ball, I would be surprised if that happened, but it happened last week against Seattle and I am sure that Indianapolis would rather see him at his 110-120 yards a game type pace then 50. It just gives them better balance. They are throwing for over 300 yards a game and if they can balance that off with a little running it just makes it harder to defend.
Q: With the bye coming up next week do you approach this game any differently?
B: We are trying to prepare for this game and trying to correct the things that we need to do better either from last week against the Jets or some problems that we had in the first game against the Colts. We will try to go out there and put together the best team and the best effort we can and try to beat a good football team. That's what they are. The bye week doesn't really have anything to do with it.
Q: What can you do to protect Drew better, do you cringe every time he gets hit?
B: No one thing we can do better is not get behind by two scores or three scores in the early part of the game. There aren't many teams that can handle that situation there might be a few in the league from year to year, but by in large when it becomes a one-dimensional game it's hard to play it that way. The teams in this league are overall pretty evenly matched. It is a very competitive league and when the scale is tipped too strongly it is more than what most teams can handle. It certainly was for us last week, no doubt about that. I think if we are in that situation a lot it's a good chance what happened last week will happen again and if we are not then I think the chances of that happening are a lot less. I think you can see that in the last two or three games that we played. We have been able to balance things off and have a balanced offense and part of that has been reflected by the score that we have been able to score some points and move the ball, keep good field position and not turn it over and all of the above. When you are trying to gamble and make plays and get the ball down the field in a hurry and do a lot in a short amount of time every once in awhile something will happen, but most of the time the percentages are against that especially when they know it's coming.
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**Q: At the beginning of the season I asked you about your long work hours and you said it beat working, when you are 2-5 does it feel a lot more like work to you know with the time that you put in and the team has put in, obviously it is less pleasurable?**
B: Yes I think that is the best way to describe it. I mean every week I enjoy the challenge of competing and I enjoy the game, studying the game, seeing what other teams are doing, seeing what we can do, putting it all together. It is always better on Mondays when you win, but the game is still a great game. It is a great game to compete in, a great game to be a part of and I do, I enjoy the game. I try to look at each week independently so whatever your record is, is what it is and those games are in the books and you can't change history all you can do is look forward to the next challenge and maximizing your opportunity.
Q: So it is not like if you have a course in college like calculus and you really were struggling to understand calculus when you new you had another test in calculus would it still be pleasurable to study the process?
B: I can't say that I like calculus as much as I like football.
Q: In terms of bouncing back is it easier for this team knowing the team you are playing this Sunday is the team you beat two weeks ago?
B: I don't think it is easy any week. I don't think any week is easy in this league. I don't think any league is easy. I think that every week is a new week, it's a new challenge, our tank is empty right now. It is as empty now as it was after the Denver game, it is as empty now as it was after the Miami game. We put in a hard week of preparation the results were what they were in each of those weeks and we are starting on a new week. The only things that are a little different this week is that there is some carryover because the game was fairly recent, but I don't think that is any more of an advantage for us than it is for them. Both teams played it, both teams were here and each team will have an opportunity now in the next six days, five days whatever is left to put together whatever they need to put together and I think every week is tough. There is always a new set of problems, a new set of circumstances. Each team has its' own issues to deal with personnel, injuries and scheme and momentum and so forth and so on. You can go right down the line there is a hundred of them and you try to manage them and maximize them and deal with things that are problems and emphasize the things that are strengths and that is the way it is every week. I can't think of any weeks that I have tried to prepare as a coach where there is really a huge degree of differentiation between this week and the next week. They are all hard, some are harder than others, but every team is tough.
Q: Is it difficult though to keep the team focused. They have had such extremes they have played extremely well against Denver and they played extremely poor last week. Is it tough to convince them that they are not as good as they were in that game and not as bad as they were in the last one, but they have to maintain a certain level to keep going?
B: I don't think it takes a lot of convincing. I think the game is important to our players, I hope it is. I think preparing is important, I think playing well is important, I think winning is important and if they are then I think we will take the right attitude and approach the game as it should be approached whether it is this game, last week's game or next weeks game. That's what I expect and I think that's what we are going to get, but in all honesty none of us can sit here and know for sure what is going to happen, but that is the way we have been doing it, that's the way as a staff and as an organization that we are going to approach it and that is what we expect to do and hopefully that is what we are going to get. There were a lot of people saying the same thing at 0-4 that they are saying at 2-5.
Q: Does having played them two weeks ago allow you to become more introspective about your team?
B: I think it is a combination of all of the above. I think you have to look at your team and I think you also have to look at what your opponent is doing. I mean this is kind of like the Tampa game. We played Tampa, it was preseason but we played them and then we played them two weeks later. You look at the things that you did and maybe they setup some new things this game and you can play off of them. Maybe there were some things that you tried to do that weren't very successful that you feel like either we better stay away from those or yes they are still good we just didn't get it done and we are going to do it a little bit differently this time and get it done. Those are all of the decisions that you have got to make. There is always a certain reflection on what happened last week. There are some things that the Jets did and will the Colts try and copy them and do those things? I am sure they probably will try to do a couple. On the other hand you look at the Colts and say, 'As well as the played against Seattle why would they want to do a lot of things differently from that?' As a coach you have to defend both of those fronts.
Q: In preparation for the first game did you keep in mind that you were playing them again in two weeks?
B: No and I think that is a good question, but we were just trying to win the first game against them we weren't trying to save up stuff to play in the second game. On the other hand whenever you come out of a game like that I think there are always going to be some things that for whatever reason you didn't get to things that maybe you thought were a good idea, but maybe the situation didn't quite come up. Like for example the fake field goal. If maybe we hadn't of used that in the first game maybe an opportunity would come up to run it in this game. That type of thing just as an example I am not saying that would or wouldn't happen. So there are definitely some things that happened in the game that didn't play out maybe quite as you thought they would, the situation wasn't quite right and you can sit there and say, 'This is good, we practiced it, we didn't get a chance to use it two weeks ago it's still good let's use it this week', and tell the guys, 'Hey you guys remember what you were looking for here, here is what we are trying to do. If it comes up this week we are going to do it.' There is some of that.
Q: Do you find Indy a tough place to play?
B: If you don't play well it is real tough. I mean it is because it is loud in the dome and the game is a little bit faster because it is on turf. It is either you get the crowd going as the visitor or they get them going as the home team. It does make it that much harder to communicate and to execute out there. So you go out there and make some mistakes early in the game. As a visitor you get penalties or turn the ball over or put yourself in bad field position and you are just trying to incite a riot. That is definitely not the way to do it, but I mean that was true in Denver, the same situation. You get those people going out there it is just that much harder.
Q: How about (Todd) Rucci and (Adrian) Klemm are you closer to a decision or do you see one ahead of the other at this point?
B: I think they are definitely further along than they were last week, there is no question about that. Those guys have done a lot of pre-football training. Last week was the first time they really got a chance to play football so I think that the contact, being out there, being in pads, hitting people, doing techniques live rather than on bags and running around cones and things like that they definitely made some progress. I think Todd is probably a little ahead of Adrian right now because of experience and techniques and what he has done on this team and in the league. I think both guys are definitely closing the gap on where they were last week. It will be interesting to see how after a couple of days off how they come back today. Is it getting close to decision time? Yes and are they making the decision harder? Yes because they are definitely showing some positive signs.
Q: Did you watch the Presidential debates for comic relief last night?
B: No I missed it. I just saw (David) Justice's three run homer.
Q: Mets or Yankees?
B: I am going to pass on that one.
