The Redskins defensive line coach met with reporters after
practice.
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On all the injuries:
They’re part of the job. I don’t worry about them I
don’t fret them. We’ll have some guys show up and play, if we’re lucky it
won’t have to be me! We’ll have some guys lined up and we’ll get after it.
We’ll make it, trust me.
How about the three starters that didn’t practice
today?
I don’t know, I don’t worry about it. I coached the
guys that were here today, I’ll coach the guys that are here tomorrow, and the
guys that show up on Sunday are going to play. Whoever it is, I expect them to
go fight, they’re going to have to fight somebody. If they don’t fight those
guys they’re going to have to fight me. They’re better off fighting the
other guys because they just have to fight them for three hours, they’ll have
to fight me the rest of the year. I’d go fight (the Eagles) if I were them.
Do some of the problems on the long runs have to do with
shifting the personnel on the line?
No. (The problem) will catch up with you if you let it. If
you keep running fast, even the devil can’t catch you.
On the big plays the defense has given up:
That’s all in the past. We’re not going to worry about
that. We game up some long runs over the last few weeks, but that’s in our
past. If I keep looking behind myself, I’m going to stumble over things in the
future. I’m looking at Sunday, I’m looking at Philadelphia, I’m looking to
improve on things and play better. We’re trying to get into the playoffs, if
we spend all of our time looking in the past we’re never going to accomplish
what we’re looking to in the future.
On getting back to fundamentals:
You ask me about the past, I’m not going to get into
that. In the future, we’re just going to try to get better at everything, at
each and every aspect of the football game.
On the focus for the D-line in practice:
What you’re trying to do is keep points off the board.
That’s the main thing; you want to end the game having more points than they
do. If they’re running the football you have to stop the run, if they’re
passing the football, you have to stop the pass. If you focus too much on one
area, you become slack in a second. We’ve just got to focus on stopping the
things that they do, getting after the quarterback when they’re throwing it,
tackling the runner when he’s got it and hopefully end up with more points on
Sunday night.
How do you balance the desire of a guy like Joe
Salave’a who wants to play hurt with what may be the long-term good of the
team?
I don’t make those decisions, those are medical
decisions. I didn’t study that hard in school. If I had, I wouldn’t be
standing here talking to you guys. I don’t do medical. I coach the guys they
give me. If they give me a guy, I coach him. If they don’t give me the guy, I
can’t coach him. I don’t go in the training room and coach; if he’s on the
field I coach him. If a guy’s there, we’re going to work with him as best we
can. If he’s not there, we can’t worry about it. We’ll let you guys worry
about it and write about it.
How much admiration do you have for a guy like
Salave’a?
I admire my guys all the time. I just told them that on
Monday. I’m not proud of my guys just when we win, I’m proud of them for who
they are, for the character they have, for their work ethic, for their respect
for each other, for their respect for the Redskins. I’m blessed to have a
great group of guys to work with every day of the week. I don’t take them for
granted, but I kind of expect them to have a passion for getting out on the
field, to want to help their teammates out. Those are the guys I have in my room
and that’s why I enjoy going there every day of the week. We always want to
win—losing hurts, losing sucks. But, you know what, I can still go in my room
and be proud of the people in my room even after a disaster like Sunday because
of the people that they are and the way they approach the game. They’re
special people on and off the football field.
On Philadelphia’s running game:
When they run it, they’ve got a great running back.
Westbrook is explosive, he’s hard to tackle, he’s very elusive. They’ve
had one of the league’s most potent offenses year in and year out and
they’re still in the top seven or eight in the league right now. They’re
moving the football, they’re putting points on the board, and they’re what
we have to deal with.
Is the preparation different when a team passes about
80% of the time?
Sure, it’s different. But at the same time you have to
make sure you don’t get lulled to sleep running up the field and give up the
big runs going the other way. We’ve got to be cautious, being where we’re
supposed to be, doing what we’re supposed to be doing and getting things
accounted for.
Do you expect them to show more balance or continue
their current pattern?
I don’t know. It’s still football. They could do
whatever they want to do; they may run it 50 times, they may pass it every down.
We can’t control that. What we can control is when we line up that we’re
doing what we’re supposed to do. Then we’ve got a chance, if not, woe is us.