Q&A with HERM EDWARDS - 8/18

Aug 18, 2007, 3:20:15 PM

VIDEO: Windows | Real | Audio

HERM EDWARDS: “It’ll be a rough practice for them tomorrow. It’s going to be hot; we’re going to be pads. If you don’t like it join the boy scouts. It’s going to be hard.”

Q: How good was it to see [injured starting left tackle] McIntosh out there today?

EDWARDS: “That was good to see. He’s a guy that’s slowly coming along. I know he’s out this week, but next week’s another week. But I don’t anticipate him next week either. As the thing gets closer now [moves his hand back and forth] we’ll have a pretty good idea next week where he’s at and if he can be there for the opener or not.”

Q: After looking at the tape from last week’s game are you any closer to making a decision on your starting QB? Are you going to name a starting QB?

EDWARDS: “Now, today, at ten till two? No ma’am. If there’s so much interest I may wait until opening day. I can do that. But I won’t. We’ll make a decision after this game probably I would assume.”

Q: Have you seen enough from Brodie Croyle to make a decision?

EDWARDS: “I just want to see some things that both of them need to do in this game. I’m not a guy that believes a quarterback is not going to throw an interception every once in a while or fumble the ball. That’s going to happen. His two errors were rookie mistakes. He was just assuming something that’s not there. The one’s he’s throwing away and the other he’s just trying to make a play when he doesn’t really need to. Damon’s was an overthrow and the guy made a great play on a high ball.

“I want to see them take the team and go on a good drive. Damon went on a good drive but the problem with his was we missed a field goal and we didn’t get any points. Brodie came in and made some great throws and got us going and scored a touchdown. They haven’t played a whole lot. We looked through the whole league and a lot of starting quarterbacks haven’t played a lot – they don’t get a lot of reps. The problem here is we’ve got a young quarterback that needs reps and a veteran quarterback who doesn’t need as many reps because he’s a veteran guy. That’s what I’m weighing and then I’m weighing opening day and who gives us the best chance to win. Everybody looks at it differently and anyway I go somebody’s going to have an opinion. It doesn’t matter; I’ve got to make the decision with the coaches. We have two good quarterbacks that I believe can win games for us.”

Q: Why is it that everybody assumes you will go with the veteran quarterback?

EDWARDS: “People can assume whatever they want but it’s like going to the prom. Eventually you’ve got to pick a date; you can’t go by yourself. Whoever the guy is going to be he will be the best guy on opening day that can help us win.”

Q: Is that going to be a tough decision for you?

EDWARDS: “No, not at all, not when you feel like you have enough information and your heart tells you. You don’t make them on emotion; you don’t make them on public opinion. You make them on the facts and what you anticipate and go with it.

“I live by faith, not by sight. I live my whole life that way. So, I don’t worry about what I can’t see. If you believe in certain things you have to have conviction that this is what you’re going to do. When you do that it might not work out real good in the beginning. But in the long run this is the thing you do and you don’t turn back.”

Q: You mention how rough tomorrow will be. Is that in part because this is the third pre-season game and there’s a higher priority put on it?

EDWARDS: “Great point. That’s what generally happens in the third [game]. Now, it’s going to be warm and I’m glad because what you see are guys’ mental ability to focus. They have to stay focused. There are going to be a lot of plays tomorrow. We’ll be out there a long time. They need to be out there.”

Q: Why?

EDWARDS: “Cause we’re in one-a-days and we’re in a good situation not playing until Thursday. We’ve got to start preparing for the things we are going to do on opening day.”

Q: Then why not practice twice a day?

EDWARDS: “I’m not a big proponent on two-a-days. I think at the end of the day you can get more done in the classroom and then go out on the field and make them go through it. You’re not going to get two good practices. You’re kidding yourself.”

Q: You’ve always cut back after breaking camp to one-a-days?

EDWARDS: “Yeah, always been that way. You get your best practices that way. We still have a lot of bodies and that helps – a lot of players, 86 or something.”

Q: Chris Terry OK?

EDWARDS: “Yeah, and we’ll anticipate that he’ll play.”

Q: There’s another guys that’s working at his [right tackle] spot now. Is there a change at starting right tackle to Kyle Turley?

EDWARDS: “They are going to go in and out with the ‘ones.’”

Q: What about Boomer Grigsby? Is he good to go?

EDWARDS: “He did a little bit today. But I anticipate he’s going to try and go this week. He needs to. He’s the folk hero who hasn’t played yet. It’s kind of important to play football. He’s hasn’t played fullback in a game yet. It’s an amazing deal. He’s on Hard Knocks getting letters. He hasn’t taken a snap yet. I’m pulling for the kid but he’s got to play.”

Q: Are you getting a lot of feedback on Hard Knocks?

EDWARDS: “I’m not. I haven’t seen a show.”

Q: When you are playing a vanilla offense how can you assess not getting into the endzone? What’s the balance?

EDWARDS: “It’s a fine line. Every team goes through the pre-season with a different agenda. That’s what the pre-season is about. You don’t know what the other team is going to do. For us, it’s real simple, real simple. On defense we’ve got about three coverages and that’s all we do. We want to give young guys reps and a chance to play.

“Offensively, we haven’t done that much. We haven’t done much in shifts and motions. That’s OK, too.

“Fundamentally, we want to see how these guys compete. We’ve played most of the players we’ve needed to see. That’s what you’ve got to do. You want to win the game and we were in position to win two games. We had the lead going into the fourth quarter as bad as it seemed [vs. Cleveland]. [Miami] was a little bit more disappointing. We had five opportunities in the Gold Zone [inside the 30-yard line] and only cashed in on two of them. We missed two field goals and threw an interception.

“I always tell players you get about 12 possessions in a football game. Out of those possessions about five of those you are going to be in the Gold Zone. What you do when you’re in there will determine your success.

“In the fourth quarter we’re winning 7-3 [vs. Miami].I know there are guys out there playing defense for us in the fourth quarter that are not going to be here. But if you are going to be a good defensive team you win the game. I told our defense that today.”

Q: On average how many different defensive coverages do you use in a regular season game?

EDWARDS: “Base coverages probably about five and then you have the nickel, short-yardage packages and then the blitzes. So far we’ve shown only one blitz. We’ve worked on it in practice but not in games. I don’t believe in doing all that in pre-season. Some coaches come off the bus in pre-season doing everything and they look great. But we’re not going to do it.

“There are a lot of things going on in pre-season and my deal is we wanted to show consistency and the second thing is we wanted to be a better coverage team, a better return team on special teams. We had one bad play in the first game but have been pretty good on special teams especially in the return area.”

Q: What is Priest Holmes’ status?

EDWARDS: “He’s going to practice tomorrow if he’s cleared [by the doctors]. I’m going to pray for him.”

Q: Are you going to pray for your field goal kicker too?

EDWARDS: “Naah.”

Q: You gonna live and die by him?

EDWARDS: “You have to. We drafted him. He’s going to make a lot of winning kicks. Maybe he’ll do it in Houston and everybody will be writing about it.”

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