Head Coach Scott Linehan
September 22, 2008
(Opening remarks)
“Just one injury update, (RB) Antonio Pittman has a small crack in his fibula bone by his knee. He suffered it on a special teams play early in the game. It wasn’t a contact thing; it looked like he just twisted it. But it does look like he will be out for a bit, Dr. (Matt) Matara is thinking 4-6 weeks right now, so he will miss this week and the bye week and counting 4-6 weeks, there is probably some more games in there before he will be ready. We have a couple more guys that were out that hopefully will get back this week.”
(On the status of (T) Orlando Pace)
“He had a mild strain to his groin so we will see on Wednesday. I don’t think it will limit him, he said he felt pretty good today.”
(On who he expects will be ready to play after missing the game because of injuries)
“(G) Jacob Bell was close last week, he did more but it was still tight. We were hoping that he did not take a step back, he would be good to go. We are hopeful with (DE) Leonard Little, he made progress last week as well but that is it. None of the other guys like (WR) Drew (Bennett) or (WR) Keenan Burton, those other guys who had injuries that put them out for awhile, will be available.”
(On the status of (G) Richie Incognito)
“(G) (Richie) Incognito really strained his knee but everything looked good on the MRI today. He looked like he was moving around pretty good last night and I know he is a little sore today but everything looked good. It doesn’t look like it will affect his status.”
(On who will back up RB Steven Jackson)
“(RB) Brian Leonard really was two/three right there anyway. He took reps in that spot during the week and will now be the No. 2 and will factor into a lot more things. Now it is good to have the depth, it was a problem not to have him up but it is a no-brainer now. He is close to a 100-percent right now.”
(On the offensive progress in the game against the Seahawks)
“You still have to score but there were positives in the game and something that, a year ago, we had some real problems on the road against a team that had just sacked the previous opponent eight times. To get through the game with one sack, although it was a crucial one and it was early, was a positive and it really didn’t factor into the O-line. I think the O-line, as a group, performed very well against a good defensive front. The bottom line is, you have to score and you have to out score your opponent. You can’t go into any road game in the National Football League or any league and spot the team 17, 24, or 27 points in the first half and expect to win the game. I don’t know who, in this league, that is equipped to come from behind those margins. I am sure there have been some great come backs throughout the years. But constantly, over time, you have to keep things competitive from a score standpoint. It is really hard to stick with your game plan and say you are going to do this on first, second and third down, when the whole second half you have gone into a hurry up mode or up-tempo mode where you have to basically come from behind. The way I look at it, in some games you would be happy with a 6-3 win or some games you may have to go 40-39 but we are not in that ballpark right now. We are not able to do either one. We have to figure something out.”
(On the results still not being there on the offense even with a healthy offensive line)
“You still have to score, but those were positives in the game and something that a year ago and with somewhat of a depleted group, but a year ago we had some real problems on the road against a team that sacked a previous opponent eight times, to get through the game with one sack, although it was a crucial one for us early, was a positive. It really did not factor into the o-line. I think the o-line as a group, performed very well against a very good defensive front, but bottom line is you have to score. You have to out score your opponent and you can’t go into any road game in the NFL or maybe any league spotting a team 17, 24, 27, points the first half and expect to win the game. I don’t know who in this league is equipped to come from behind with those kind of margins, I’m sure there’s been some great comebacks throughout the years, but consistently over time you have to keep things competitive from a score standpoint or you’re going to be; it’s really hard to stick with your game plan and saying you’re going to do this on first, second, third down, when the whole second half you’ve gone into hurry-up mode or up-tempo mode where you basically have to come from behind. The way I look at it, some games you say be happy with a 6-3 win or some games you might have 40-39, but we’re not in that ballpark right now, we’re not able to do either one. We’re going to have to figure something out.”
(On keeping the players confidence up)
“What did Coach Davis say in Oakland? “Just win baby”. That’s it. I think the only thing that I’ve ever been able to reflect on over my years that gets your attitude right and that’s a great performance and a win. There’s no, what do you call it, moral victories or whatever. They keep score for a reason and we are paid in this business to win. It’s what gives us the confidence and it’s the prize that we’re looking for each week and until we do that you can draw up any speeches or whatever you want to do and talk this and talk that and talk a great game, but until you go out and play a great game I don’t really know any other way.”
(On if RB Steven Jackson is seeing things good on the field)
“He’s coming around. Again, he’s in his third or fourth week, which is the middle of August at this time for us and so he’s come around. He looked more comfortable within the system this week than he did the week before and the week before that, but nobody’s playing perfect right now that’s for sure.”
(On if there will be more lineup changes this week)
“I forsee evaluating everything. What they are right now does depend on the health of our team in spots, but I would think that anything’s possible at this point as far as our lineup.”
(On if he is tempted to try something different because the results have been poor thus far)
“Yeah, I think we’d be crazy if we didn’t try something different because what we’ve done for the first three weeks is not working.”
(On how he thinks WR Donnie Avery played in his first game)
“Not bad for his first game; played fast, was confident. You could tell really it was his first ball game. But, I’d like to see him play more and he does bring that element of speed and play-making ability to the field, you can see it. Hopefully he can help put some points on the board.”
(On T John Greco’s performance)
“He didn’t play bad. I think he did have play that was a minus in the game. Other than that, for his time in there, that was a positive for him.”
(On if there is anything that can get QB Marc Bulger going in addition to the good protection his had against the Seahawks)
“I think I used an analogy, maybe I didn’t, if you have a 15-foot putt, you have to make it. You have a third-and-7, you have to be able to hit the guy, even if your protection isn’t perfect. Guys have to get open for him and have to protect for him, the running game has to be there, the score has to be even and all of that stuff. That’s what gets any of us going. We have to make plays even when the plays aren’t easy to make. Marc’s no different than anybody else on our team. I think it’s time for the playmakers to step up and make plays and coaches have to give them an opportunity to do it.”
(On if RB Steven Jackson is still getting his legs under him and on him seeming winded after the 50-yard reception)
“I think he was a little winded after that. I think that’s probably fair. I think he’ll get closer and closer each week to getting there.”
(On how disappointing the defensive performance has been after high expectations)
“Losing is disappointing. The way our team is playing is disappointing, the way we are coaching, everything. The expectation is that the defense in the third year of a system with, I would say, everyone that is playing for us was hand-picked by us. We’re at the no-excuse time. It’s time to perform. I don’t think anyone has ever made excuses, but it’s easy to say first-year this and second-year that. We’re in the third year of a system with players that we’ve picked to play within the system and it is what it is. We have to go out and perform and play, if need be, we need to go out and shut people down too. That’s the way this business is. It might sound kind of cruel and to the point, but it is what it is.”
(On if there were one or two things that broke down on the run defense)
“Missed tackles is No. 1. The bottom line is, to me, great defense is you have 11 guys running to the ball and it seems like there’s 12 or 13 guys on the field. When I think of great defenses that I’ve gone against as an offensive coordinator, it just seems like everyone is running to the ball. People are taking shots at the guy who has another guy stood up and guys are hitting at the ball and those kinds of things. That’s how you tackle well. We could say this guy missed a tackle or this guy missed a tackle, but I’ve rarely seen three guys miss a tackle that are all tackling the ball carrier. If we can get more guys around, some really good player making a juke, is still going to get hit by another guy, because there are two, three, or four guys there. To me, that is how you become a great tackling team, you get more guys around the ball carrier.”
(On if he could sense a drop in confidence more after this week than after week one)
“I don’t know the level of confidence. We’re not playing confident, because we’ve been out of two games early in the game. Something’s vanishing from our competitive state of mind on the field and I take total responsibility for that, trying to find out what it is, what buttons we need to push, what lineups that can get it done. After three games, I don’t know that I have any better answer for you than I did after one, because I felt much better after game two until the fourth quarter, but I felt very similar to how we were in game one in this game in the first half. I was very pleased with coming out in the second half with a long drive and a score, which it had been a while for that and put ourselves back to a two-score game. I just felt we had an opportunity to get in there to maybe set the tone for the rest of the season, play a great half and really put a half together, but it didn’t happen.”