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October 22, 2012
Redskins Park
Executive Vice President/Head Coach Mike Shanahan
On how newly-signed tight end Chris Cooley will be used on offense:
“I called Chris when we landed. I asked him what type of shape he was in. He said he was in pretty good shape. I asked him if he would like to come back. He said he did. We’re excited to have him. I trust Chris. If he says he’s in good shape, he’s in good shape. Hopefully he can help us this next week.”
On the play of the tight ends after losing Fred Davis to injury:
“Any time you lose a guy like Fred, it’s always tough. Fred had a heck of an offseason. I was really pleased with how he handled the OTAs and summer camp. He was having a heck of a year. Fred is really disappointed. He was excited about himself, his play, and we were excited about him. Like all injuries, guys have to step up and play at a high level. I thought Logan [Paulsen] played well and Niles [Paul] played well. I’ll have Chris come in knowing the system and we expect him to play at the level he has played at in the past. Now guys have more of an opportunity to show us what they can do.”
On the development of tight end Niles Paul after switching from wide receiver to tight end:
“Usually, when a guy makes that move, it’s tough to block for a wide receiver. I think he has come in and adjusted very well. I think that’s probably been a lot of his strengths since he’s been back is his blocking ability. It takes some time to make that transition because the routes are a little bit different; the blocking is a little bit different. I think he’s getting better every week.”
On tight end Logan Paulsen:
“Logan is a football player. He blocks well, he catches well. He’s a very accountable guy. He’s the first one here, last guy to leave. After every game, he’ll be in here watching film. He takes a lot of pride in what he does. It’s no surprise that he’s playing at the level he’s played at because it’s so important to him. I expect him to play at a very good level, a very high level. And he’s going to have to now that Fred is gone.”
On replacing Davis:
“We’ll take a look at our personnel groups. We’ll have the flexibility on offense. You kind of play whatever personnel group that you want. Sometimes, as in the last game, we had two tight ends, a couple running backs and a wide receiver. You could go with three tight ends, which we had a little bit yesterday. You can go with three wide receivers and a tight end. Offensively, the easy part is that you can adjust your personnel to who’s healthy. The problem with defense is if you lose too many people, too many corners or safeties, they may come out in a four or five-wide receiver set. We do have that flexibility and we’re going to do what we feel gives us the best chance to win.”
On the extent of Davis’ Achilles injury:
“Well, he ruptured his Achilles. They’ll go in there and fix it tomorrow. He’s going to have Dr. [Robert] Anderson fix it out of Carolina. Usually, it’s a five, six-month recovery time. I was told it was ruptured, and when it’s ruptured it’s usually torn.”
On the expectations for Cooley:
“I think the number one concern is if he has been working out, and Chris has. When a guy has been running and lifting, you feel like he’s in good shape, and it gives him a chance to get back a lot quicker than someone normally would not expecting to play at all. As I said before, I trust Chris. When he says he’s ready to go, he’s ready to go. We’re going to expect him to come in and contribute.”
On the injury to injured wide receiver Pierre Garçon:
“I don’t know what you were led to believe last week, I just keep on saying that we’re going to evaluate him. He wasn’t good enough to play, so if you’re not good enough to play, that means there is a lot of pain in there. I won’t know anything until Wednesday, because we’re not pushing him right now. He’s not running any routes. He’s not working out. He’s getting treatment. We’re hoping that, by him staying off of it for a week, that it’s much improved. I can’t tell you anything for sure, though. It’s the same thing that it has been. No change.”
On is he has an injury update for linebacker London Fletcher:
“No. His is the same thing. It’s a slight hamstring. You don’t know with those hamstrings until someone starts working out. He’s getting treatment. We’ll find out more on Wednesday.”
On the status of injured long snapper Nick Sundberg:
“He can practice on Wednesday. We’ll evaluate him over the next couple of weeks.”
On the Redskins’ new training camp facility in Richmond:
“That really hasn’t been my main concern. I do know that Bruce [Allen] is out there today, down there in Richmond talking about the facilities. I know we’re excited about getting the final plan done and getting the chance to spend close to three weeks over there.”
On if safety Madieu Williams was aligned correctly on Victor Cruz’s 77-yard touchdown reception in the fourth quarter:
“I don’t go through that. Obviously it is things we work on and it is unfortunate because we did a lot of good things in that game. They come up with that big play and people will talk about that for a long time and rightfully so. We will get those little things worked out in our meetings but I don’t go through who did what on what play, especially when it is a play like that.”
On if the penalty called on Joshua Morgan’s touchdown catch was legitimate:
“I looked over there when it happened and Fred came off the ball and looked over at Josh and told Josh to come up and Josh did go up to the line and Fred felt like he was set and then he went into motion. The official told me that he felt like Fred started to take off before he was stationary. When you take a look at the film, it is so close, but if it is so close, we should stay there a little bit longer and Fred should or Josh should come up more. But it was one of those situations that don’t come up very often and we probably had five similar situations like that in the game.”
On utilizing Paul and Morgan in the option instead of wide receiver Brandon Banks:
“We’re going to change things up so people don’t get a beat on us. We have wide receivers that can run and wide receiver that can move. Sometimes people can get a little game plan on you if Banks is in the game, and if you have the ability to do those things, that really presents problems for the defense. So we’ll try to keep people off-balance a little bit and change things up week by week.
On Banks’ fumbles:
“Banks usually does a good job of recovering his own fumbles. He has some experience fumbling the ball but he always seems to get it. I told him once the opposition gets it, then he won’t have those opportunities anymore so he recovers it very quickly.”
On if he is confident with the coaching in the secondary:
“Yeah, anytime there is something like that that happens, you take a look at that one play for a 77-yard big play, I mean everybody is sick about it. All of sudden, if we play it like we normally play it, we played a good game. We had a couple of turnovers, we get a sack, we hit [Giants quarterback] Eli [Manning] a number of times during that game where he normally hasn’t been hit that many times. Then all of a sudden when you do give up that big play, it takes away all the good things that we did on defense. Instead of having 260 yards passing, you got 340, you got the play of the game and it negates all of the good things. We are pretty tough on ourselves; we take a look at what we did well defensively with our run support and our passing game. One thing we have to get better on is our third downs. Anytime you give up 67 percent on third down conversions, they are going to keep drives going and come up with a big play every once in a while or there may be a busted coverage, someone’s out of position, but that is the nature of the game. You’ve got to fight through it and it is just not one play, it is going back and being tough on yourself throughout the whole game. Just when you take a look at the offense, some good things in the first half, you take a look at two penalties, cost us ten points. One touchdown, another one we got called for a leg-whip and we got 1st and 10 on the 13-yard line. Three turnovers at the start of the second half and we still had an opportunity to win with less than a minute and a half in the game. Those things probably don’t happen against good football teams, especially at their field. So, a lot of good things but not good enough to win and we are working on those little things to get better to win.”
On if there is a reoccurring theme week after week with the secondary:
“You’re going to have to have guys step up. We’re taking a look at guys. We’ve lost two safeties, we’ve lost a defensive end, and we’ve lost a starting outside linebacker. Guys are fitting into those roles, we are getting better, like I’ve mentioned, except for that one play, we’ve been effective enough to win. But when you do replace two safeties, you replace a guy like [injured linebacker] Brian Orakpo, [injured defensive lineman] Adam Carriker, [injured nose tackle] Chris Neild, you can talk about [injured safety] Jordan Bernstine, different guys are playing different positions. And it doesn’t happen just like that. Sometimes there is a break in a coverage or a guy not aligned properly, or maybe the stats aren’t quite the same as they were a year ago, but we are going to keep on working to try to fill some of those holes and hopefully guys who fill those voids can step up and play at a high level.”
On utilizing fullback Darrel Young:
“We really haven’t utilized DY that much as many times as we had like yesterday. But we used him in what we call our 'U Package, ' two tight ends, a fullback, a halfback, and a wide receiver; just change some things up for the defense to throw just a little different wrinkle. We will do that from time-to-time; try to give something to somebody that they haven’t prepared for.”
On how tough it is to lose another playmaker like Davis:
“The same thing we are talking about on defense. We’ve had lost some people. When you lose a guy like [tackle] Jammal Brown, when you lose a guy that gets injured like [former Redskins running back] Tim Hightower, you expect people to step up and play at a high level. Now are they going to play at the same level as Fred? Probably not. But you’re hoping that they can get close to it and they could do the things that give you a chance to win. And like I said before on offense, if you can’t find that guy, you have to use different personnel groups to make sure you get it done. And that is the fun part of putting a plan together is trying to be as effective as you can dealing with the players that you do have.”
On his thoughts about the leg whip penalty against tackle Tyler Polumbus:
“A leg whip used to be when a guy would leg whip, that leg would come up and he would almost break somebody’s legs. And if you take a look at Tyler on the fifth play of the game, you’ll see him making the same block and he rolls the same direction. Normally a leg whip is called when it interferes with someone’s productivity to get to the ball. In that case, I did not see that so I was disappointed when I did look at the film.”
Redskins Park
Executive Vice President/Head Coach Mike Shanahan
On how newly-signed tight end Chris Cooley will be used on offense:
“I called Chris when we landed. I asked him what type of shape he was in. He said he was in pretty good shape. I asked him if he would like to come back. He said he did. We’re excited to have him. I trust Chris. If he says he’s in good shape, he’s in good shape. Hopefully he can help us this next week.”
On the play of the tight ends after losing Fred Davis to injury:
“Any time you lose a guy like Fred, it’s always tough. Fred had a heck of an offseason. I was really pleased with how he handled the OTAs and summer camp. He was having a heck of a year. Fred is really disappointed. He was excited about himself, his play, and we were excited about him. Like all injuries, guys have to step up and play at a high level. I thought Logan [Paulsen] played well and Niles [Paul] played well. I’ll have Chris come in knowing the system and we expect him to play at the level he has played at in the past. Now guys have more of an opportunity to show us what they can do.”
On the development of tight end Niles Paul after switching from wide receiver to tight end:
“Usually, when a guy makes that move, it’s tough to block for a wide receiver. I think he has come in and adjusted very well. I think that’s probably been a lot of his strengths since he’s been back is his blocking ability. It takes some time to make that transition because the routes are a little bit different; the blocking is a little bit different. I think he’s getting better every week.”
On tight end Logan Paulsen:
“Logan is a football player. He blocks well, he catches well. He’s a very accountable guy. He’s the first one here, last guy to leave. After every game, he’ll be in here watching film. He takes a lot of pride in what he does. It’s no surprise that he’s playing at the level he’s played at because it’s so important to him. I expect him to play at a very good level, a very high level. And he’s going to have to now that Fred is gone.”
On replacing Davis:
“We’ll take a look at our personnel groups. We’ll have the flexibility on offense. You kind of play whatever personnel group that you want. Sometimes, as in the last game, we had two tight ends, a couple running backs and a wide receiver. You could go with three tight ends, which we had a little bit yesterday. You can go with three wide receivers and a tight end. Offensively, the easy part is that you can adjust your personnel to who’s healthy. The problem with defense is if you lose too many people, too many corners or safeties, they may come out in a four or five-wide receiver set. We do have that flexibility and we’re going to do what we feel gives us the best chance to win.”
On the extent of Davis’ Achilles injury:
“Well, he ruptured his Achilles. They’ll go in there and fix it tomorrow. He’s going to have Dr. [Robert] Anderson fix it out of Carolina. Usually, it’s a five, six-month recovery time. I was told it was ruptured, and when it’s ruptured it’s usually torn.”
On the expectations for Cooley:
“I think the number one concern is if he has been working out, and Chris has. When a guy has been running and lifting, you feel like he’s in good shape, and it gives him a chance to get back a lot quicker than someone normally would not expecting to play at all. As I said before, I trust Chris. When he says he’s ready to go, he’s ready to go. We’re going to expect him to come in and contribute.”
On the injury to injured wide receiver Pierre Garçon:
“I don’t know what you were led to believe last week, I just keep on saying that we’re going to evaluate him. He wasn’t good enough to play, so if you’re not good enough to play, that means there is a lot of pain in there. I won’t know anything until Wednesday, because we’re not pushing him right now. He’s not running any routes. He’s not working out. He’s getting treatment. We’re hoping that, by him staying off of it for a week, that it’s much improved. I can’t tell you anything for sure, though. It’s the same thing that it has been. No change.”
On is he has an injury update for linebacker London Fletcher:
“No. His is the same thing. It’s a slight hamstring. You don’t know with those hamstrings until someone starts working out. He’s getting treatment. We’ll find out more on Wednesday.”
On the status of injured long snapper Nick Sundberg:
“He can practice on Wednesday. We’ll evaluate him over the next couple of weeks.”
On the Redskins’ new training camp facility in Richmond:
“That really hasn’t been my main concern. I do know that Bruce [Allen] is out there today, down there in Richmond talking about the facilities. I know we’re excited about getting the final plan done and getting the chance to spend close to three weeks over there.”
On if safety Madieu Williams was aligned correctly on Victor Cruz’s 77-yard touchdown reception in the fourth quarter:
“I don’t go through that. Obviously it is things we work on and it is unfortunate because we did a lot of good things in that game. They come up with that big play and people will talk about that for a long time and rightfully so. We will get those little things worked out in our meetings but I don’t go through who did what on what play, especially when it is a play like that.”
On if the penalty called on Joshua Morgan’s touchdown catch was legitimate:
“I looked over there when it happened and Fred came off the ball and looked over at Josh and told Josh to come up and Josh did go up to the line and Fred felt like he was set and then he went into motion. The official told me that he felt like Fred started to take off before he was stationary. When you take a look at the film, it is so close, but if it is so close, we should stay there a little bit longer and Fred should or Josh should come up more. But it was one of those situations that don’t come up very often and we probably had five similar situations like that in the game.”
On utilizing Paul and Morgan in the option instead of wide receiver Brandon Banks:
“We’re going to change things up so people don’t get a beat on us. We have wide receivers that can run and wide receiver that can move. Sometimes people can get a little game plan on you if Banks is in the game, and if you have the ability to do those things, that really presents problems for the defense. So we’ll try to keep people off-balance a little bit and change things up week by week.
On Banks’ fumbles:
“Banks usually does a good job of recovering his own fumbles. He has some experience fumbling the ball but he always seems to get it. I told him once the opposition gets it, then he won’t have those opportunities anymore so he recovers it very quickly.”
On if he is confident with the coaching in the secondary:
“Yeah, anytime there is something like that that happens, you take a look at that one play for a 77-yard big play, I mean everybody is sick about it. All of sudden, if we play it like we normally play it, we played a good game. We had a couple of turnovers, we get a sack, we hit [Giants quarterback] Eli [Manning] a number of times during that game where he normally hasn’t been hit that many times. Then all of a sudden when you do give up that big play, it takes away all the good things that we did on defense. Instead of having 260 yards passing, you got 340, you got the play of the game and it negates all of the good things. We are pretty tough on ourselves; we take a look at what we did well defensively with our run support and our passing game. One thing we have to get better on is our third downs. Anytime you give up 67 percent on third down conversions, they are going to keep drives going and come up with a big play every once in a while or there may be a busted coverage, someone’s out of position, but that is the nature of the game. You’ve got to fight through it and it is just not one play, it is going back and being tough on yourself throughout the whole game. Just when you take a look at the offense, some good things in the first half, you take a look at two penalties, cost us ten points. One touchdown, another one we got called for a leg-whip and we got 1st and 10 on the 13-yard line. Three turnovers at the start of the second half and we still had an opportunity to win with less than a minute and a half in the game. Those things probably don’t happen against good football teams, especially at their field. So, a lot of good things but not good enough to win and we are working on those little things to get better to win.”
On if there is a reoccurring theme week after week with the secondary:
“You’re going to have to have guys step up. We’re taking a look at guys. We’ve lost two safeties, we’ve lost a defensive end, and we’ve lost a starting outside linebacker. Guys are fitting into those roles, we are getting better, like I’ve mentioned, except for that one play, we’ve been effective enough to win. But when you do replace two safeties, you replace a guy like [injured linebacker] Brian Orakpo, [injured defensive lineman] Adam Carriker, [injured nose tackle] Chris Neild, you can talk about [injured safety] Jordan Bernstine, different guys are playing different positions. And it doesn’t happen just like that. Sometimes there is a break in a coverage or a guy not aligned properly, or maybe the stats aren’t quite the same as they were a year ago, but we are going to keep on working to try to fill some of those holes and hopefully guys who fill those voids can step up and play at a high level.”
On utilizing fullback Darrel Young:
“We really haven’t utilized DY that much as many times as we had like yesterday. But we used him in what we call our 'U Package, ' two tight ends, a fullback, a halfback, and a wide receiver; just change some things up for the defense to throw just a little different wrinkle. We will do that from time-to-time; try to give something to somebody that they haven’t prepared for.”
On how tough it is to lose another playmaker like Davis:
“The same thing we are talking about on defense. We’ve had lost some people. When you lose a guy like [tackle] Jammal Brown, when you lose a guy that gets injured like [former Redskins running back] Tim Hightower, you expect people to step up and play at a high level. Now are they going to play at the same level as Fred? Probably not. But you’re hoping that they can get close to it and they could do the things that give you a chance to win. And like I said before on offense, if you can’t find that guy, you have to use different personnel groups to make sure you get it done. And that is the fun part of putting a plan together is trying to be as effective as you can dealing with the players that you do have.”
On his thoughts about the leg whip penalty against tackle Tyler Polumbus:
“A leg whip used to be when a guy would leg whip, that leg would come up and he would almost break somebody’s legs. And if you take a look at Tyler on the fifth play of the game, you’ll see him making the same block and he rolls the same direction. Normally a leg whip is called when it interferes with someone’s productivity to get to the ball. In that case, I did not see that so I was disappointed when I did look at the film.”
