(Linehan
Opening Remarks)
“(Brett)
Romberg sprained his other ankle. The seriousness of it has not been determined.
Compared to the other ankle he now has two pretty, badly sprained ankles. That
leaves him fairly questionable for the next game.
“Leonard Little’s limited appearance in the game was because of his big toe sprain. I
believe it’s still a concern for us and we’ll determine that by Wednesday or
Thursday, his availability.”
(On
RB Steven Jackson being active against Cleveland)
“There’s
a good chance.”
(On
WR Drew Bennett and WR Dane Looker returning to the lineup)
“Looker
would have been able to play. That was a tough decision on my part. We felt with
him not being able to work at the beginning of the week was the main reason he
did not play. I would like to get him back on the field. Bennett, we’ll
see.”
(On
why he’s optimistic about Jackson returning to the lineup)
“Based
on how he finished the week. My feeling is that it’s not 100 percent, but close
to what it looked like. He had the burst he needed to have and the confidence,
based on practicing last week, that he has in it is a good sign.”
(On
what Jackson
will bring to the offense after a long absence)
“You
know what he adds to the table for us. He gives us an explosive player on the
field; one that can affect the game in a positive way with his ability to run
the ball and catch it out of the backfield – his
leadership.”
(On
DE Leonard Little’s injury)
“It’s
a ligament tear in his big toe, now it’s an official injury. It’s something you
can play with. It’s very painful and swollen. He wasn’t able to play a whole lot
and it was still affected. Not being able to practice does affect your ability
to play on Sundays. We weren’t able to practice him based on the pain and
swelling.”
(On
Little’s injury)
“It’s
just an untimely thing.”
(On
if Bulger suffered any pain after the game)
“He’s
okay. He has a bruised knee that he’s had. He’s alright.”
(On
when WR Dante Hall will return)
“Dante
will be out this game. There is an outside chance after the
bye.”
(On
when WR Drew Bennett will return)
“We’ll
wait and see. He seemed to improve a little bit at the end of last
week.”
(On
if it is harder for Hall to return from injury because of his running
style)
“I
just think it was a real serious high-ankle sprain. He tested it a little bit
today and it’s not ready.”
(On
the opening kickoff of the second half, which Seattle returned for a
touchdown)
“We
worked the return quite a bit all week and it ended up coming behind a couple
blocks. When you’re covering from that part of the field you don’t want to run
behind the blockers because you’ll be behind the runner and that’s what ended up
happening.”
(On
if LB Will Witherspoon is playing as well as his statistics
indicate)
“Yes
and it’s a direct reflection of our front playing better than a year ago and
keeping him free to the ball. He’s always had the ability to get to the ball
carrier. Last year, as the year went on, our inability to keep him clean was a
lot of the reason why, towards the end of the year, he wasn’t able to have the
production and tackles that he’s having so far (this
year).”
(On
what contributed to the play of the offensive line)
“From
blitz pickup to picking up the line movement to our inability to maintain our
pre-snap discipline that you need to have, which kept us sitting in there a
little too much worrying about jumping offsides – all the things you have to be
able to handle when you’re on the road and I don’t think we handled it very well
up from as an offensive group or up front in the first half. It affected our
ability to time our cadence as well as execute our technique. It’s a combination
of a number of areas. Sometimes it’s technique, certainly, and sometimes it’s
anticipation, but they all add up to a poor performance. It’s not just one
person or the line. Sometimes you have to protect [the quarterback] by throwing
the ball away. Sometimes you have to do some other things. You can always put it
on the line, but it’s a team effort in pass protection or run blocking.
Sometimes it’s the receivers getting a block downfield – just straining to get a
guy on the backside of an eight-man front. That would be a good place to start,
too.”
(On
how to improve the play of the offensive line)
“You
keep coaching them and keep them moving ahead and not focused on a performance
that certainly isn’t good enough. You have to improve the group you have. We’ll
have another starting unit again this week and hopefully we can stay that way
for a while. That will help if we can maintain some kind of continuity up front
as far as the group that’s playing.”
(On
the new look along the offensive line for Week 8)
“Right
now it would be Andy (McCollum) at center and Claude (Terrell) back there at
left guard. That’s probably what it’s going to be for a while. I would say Brett
(Romberg) is not out for this game, but it’s highly doubtful and with the bye
who knows what’s going to happen after that.”
(On
if he would have preferred QB Marc Bulger throw the ball away rather than take a
sack late in the second quarter)
“Yes.
I think that’s part of it…if it’s not that throw it away. Hopefully you learn
from it. I would think that would be the type of play we can avoid and we have
to avoid. Marc had his fair share of mistakes, as well as the line, and you
can’t just point to that play or any other play. That’s what you have to do in
that situation. If the play is wide open, you throw a touchdown pass; if it’s
covered you throw it away. Everyone up front needs to do there job as far as
trying to do there part. We don’t take sacks and Marc know that. It’s a mistake,
it’s something we can correct.”
(On
what he’s most optimistic about regarding this week’s game against Cleveland)
“We
play a home game – get a win before our bye. Just focus on improving. There’s
not a lot of things to be too happy about as far as wins and losses are what we
play for. Stats mean nothing. None of that has any bearing on what we do and the
objective is to win the game. Optimistically speaking, I would say regardless of
where we are right now, we put in a good performance at home. Now that we’re
getting a few players back, and I know we got a few back last week, we can
salvage some things this season.”
(On
if he would consider going for it on fourth down instead of attempting a field
goal early in the fourth quarter)
“No.
[A made field goal] makes it a two score game, makes it a 14-point game. It’s a
44-yard field goal, I would do it again.”
(On
if S Corey Chavous played the entire game)
“He
played the whole game. He came through fine.”