Friday, December 20, 2019
(On how WR D.J. Chark Jr. has looked in practice this week) “I’m expecting him to play unless there’s some type of setback or tomorrow he comes in and it’s sore from today’s practice. He was limited today, but he didn’t miss that much. So he’s done a great job. When you’re having a type of season like this, he’s a guy that as soon as he was injured was like, ‘I’m going to play. I’m going to be back next week,’ which he wasn’t. But, the attitude, that’s what you want to see. And I think it’s that attitude that has put him in position that he should be able to play this week. So that helps us.”
(On how much he would like to see Chark eclipse the 1,000-yard receiving mark this season) “I wasn’t even aware of that until you just mentioned it. But I think for everyone, especially when the overall of the season has been obviously a disappointment that you do like to see those individuals that have worked extremely hard get to a goal or what they want to do. So he’s worked extremely hard to be in the position he’s in. We obviously know he’s talented, and he’s a player that I believe is just going to continue to get better, so if that was one of goals, and probably it is, then hey listen, that would be great.”
(On the focus of the team this week) “They’ve been good. I told them today, I got up in front of the team and I told them, I said there’s so much really when you look at it from OTAs on that has gone on. It’s like everything that is difficult from a standpoint of, I think when you’re on the outside, you can easily look and say, ‘Well it’s their job and you have to stay focused.’ And I think we all can take a step back and think of ourselves when we’re doing our jobs, and we have other things going on, we may still be doing our job, but we’re kind of not there 110 percent. I think everyone’s at a different level of what can pull them away. I think over time for myself, what I’ve learned, is that I’ve gotten better at staying focused and maybe from experiences where you feel that, and you look back on the season. I think from the standpoint of the coaches and the players, even though we’re disappointed in our performance on Sunday, they’ve really shown some resiliency as far as handling that, and not getting pulled away and working together for themselves and working with the coaches, and the coaches are the same way too. So, we try to address those things. Obviously, I want to show good leadership and address those situations, and as a coach you address them and you hope that everyone understands it and they follow it. Pretty much the team has done a good job, they really have, even though it hasn’t shown on Sundays from our performances. So, they’ve done a good job of staying focused.”
