Opening Statement: “I will just start with this. Yesterday was – or I guess leading into today – Austin Bryant is coming off PUP. So, he’ll start today. We’re just going to keep him limited to individual, and just kind of slowly work him, give him a little individual then see where he’s at tomorrow. Hopefully he gets his 40 up-downs tomorrow. Then he’ll do individual and then get him a couple of reps in team, and just kind of get him comfortable. But we think he’s ready to begin to come into practice. So, the kid’s excited. We’re excited. That’ll be good to see where he’s at. And then Quinton Dunbar, he’ll be out. He’s been out and it’s a personal issue. So, we’ve got tabs on him and so it’s all good there. Since we’re in the first day of pads – I was thinking about this and kind of told the team this last night- so I’ll never forget this. I was a rookie. I go to the New York Giants. Howard Cross was, I don’t know, a 10-year, 11-year vet. He was a tight end. He was huge and played a long time. But at that time, you just roll out there in pads. I mean, there was no acclamation to go. I’m a rookie and he says, ‘Hey Dan, are you ready?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m ready.’ He goes, ‘OK, so when this thing goes down, make sure you got my back.’ And I was like, ‘What are you talking about?’ ‘When this thing goes down.’ I said, ‘What’s going down?’ He’s just like, ‘Have my back. Make sure you got my back.’ It was like first period, team run, and it was like literally the first play and one of our D-linemen just slugs the crap out of our center and it’s all out. It’s an all-out brawl. I’m looking and there’s Howard and I’m like, ‘Somebody is on his back.’ I’m running over there. You’re just trying to get involved, but yet you don’t really want to be in there and fight in the middle all of it. It’s really changed a lot since then. But it was like every day, first day camp, ‘Here we go.’ That’s not what I’m looking for. That was the point of the story. That’s not what I’m looking for, guys. It was pretty funny. But anyway, this will be good. I said it yesterday, now we find out who can deliver some punishment and who can take some punishment and see if we can condition ourselves to hit a little bit.” On his former coach Bill Parcells motivating his players in practice: “When I went to Dallas with Bill (Parcells), you know what that was? That was – you’re two weeks into practice and you’d been through eight padded days, two-a-days, and guys are a little sloppy and he’d be like, ‘I want you to go up there and I want you to push Greg Ellis after the play. Just push him right in the back.’ I’m like, ‘Bill, you know it’s going to piss him off?’ ‘Yeah, I know.’ So then you do it, and then it’s an all-out fight, but guys got energy and juice because now all of a sudden you get a fight – and then he yells at me for starting a fight. I’m like, ‘Bill, you told me to push the guy in the back.’ It was classic Bill. We’re not there yet. Give us a couple of weeks to get acclimated here to pads and stuff.” On NT Alim McNeill’s performance throughout in training camp: “‘Twinkle Toes?’ I’d be careful gushing right now because I want to see him in pads. I’m telling you, for a big man, he’s a big man. He’s thick and he’s got really good feet. I think this kid’s going to be able to do more than just play a nose. I think there’s going to be more to this kid than just that. We’ll find out, but I’ve been impressed. He’s smart. He’s locked in. He works. He’s been good. (Defensive Line Coach Todd) Wash has done a heck of a job with him. It’s a good room to grow in. (Michael) Brockers is good for him. Nick Williams has been great for him. He’s been really good. He’s in a good place and I can’t wait to watch him today, see how he does. We’re going to have some pretty good battles between he and Frank (Ragnow). Frank’s going to make him better. And then in turn, the faster this kid gets, it’s going to continue to sharpen Ragnow as well.” On what he is expecting from NT Alim McNeill on the first day of practice in pads: “If I’m being totally honest, I expect him to get maybe pushed around a little bit today, because that’s the norm. He doesn’t know what he doesn’t know yet. We’re full speed in pads. So I think more than anything I’m looking to see, once that happens, after that happens, how does he respond? Is he able to adapt? How fast can he adapt? How fast can he adjust and play inside the scheme? How fast can he show that he can anchor in a backside A gap on a wide zone away? Can he push the pocket and run play pass stuff, or when the offense is passing the ball? I think more than anything, is this guy really a tree trunk? Is he really a tree trunk that’s got some pretty good feet? We’ll find out.” On what he wants to see from players on the first day of practice in pads: “I want to see these guys compete. I want to see them go all the way to the point to where it is almost an all-out brawl, but we’re not getting that. Like it’s so heated, and it’s so hot and guys are trying to win so badly that we get better. I think that’s the only way you really get better. There’s such a fine line between, ‘We took it too far and guys are getting hurt. We’re out of control.’ But yet, if you don’t push it almost to that point, you really won’t get where you need to get, in my opinion, in this league to be competitive at the very highest level. That’s what I’m looking for. I want to see guys strain, particularly up front. I want to see guys strain. I want to see you strain to win in your gap. I want to see you strain to not be blocked as a defensive end or a nose, at receiver, same thing. I want to see you strain. I want to see you finish at the second level. I want to see it on special teams. I want to see our jammers, our gunners. I want to see the front line. I think that more than anything is the strain and the finish across the board for all positions. That’s what we’re looking for.” On what he is expecting from T Penei Sewell on the first day of practice in pads: “I think it is a little different because he’s kind of out there on the edge. Those tackles are certainly different than being inside where the nose is at and the center and guards. If we’re going to run it to him, can he cover a defensive end, outside linebacker, and can he push and stretch? Is he going to be able to – is he going to be what we hope he is athletically and power-wise to hit his targets and move this guy or are we going to get bookended? He’s going to get opened up and he’s going to force the ball up too soon and those things and really how fast can he adapt and adjust? I will say this, I was watching film last night and went all the way back and watched everything that we had done up to this point and watched yesterday’s practice and just honed in on him. He is adapting quickly. Now, today is the first day in pads, but I’m just watching him against Romeo (Okwara) and there are some rushes in there and some run stuff and Romeo is doing a hell of a job with his hands and he’s jerking him. First day he kind of got him. He didn’t go to the ground, but he’s – I watched him yesterday and he’s starting to figure it out. He’s such a good athlete and he’s strong and he’s physical. That’s where I’m encouraged. I see him coming and so this should continue with pads. He should only get better.” On which player he would assign to energize his teammate by pushing him in the back like Bill Parcells did to him: “It would probably be (Jason) Cabinda. I’d probably be like, ‘Hey Cabinda, I want you go over there and just slap that guy right in the head after the play.’ It would probably be Cabinda. I think Cabinda would do it. He’d be like, ‘Alright, I got you.’” On how OLB Austin Bryant can build his confidence back up after his injury and LB Derrick Barnes sitting out of drills: “AB is – it’s tough. Coming from somebody like me who’s had – I mean, I had 13 surgeries when I played. So, I know what enters the brain when you – it’s hard to tell yourself you’re OK because when it happens so much and the only way to truly feel like you’re ready is you’ve got to go through some stuff. You have to do football-type drills. You have to be able to go against the sled and kind of a guy over you, because it does, it kind of takes your mind off of the injury. It’s the best way to acclimate yourself into it, more than just the – you go out there and he’s working with the trainers and it’s like, ‘You’re going to do this backdrop.’ All you think about is what is hurt. You do. Now all of a sudden, you get with the rest of your teammates, you’re getting coaching and you start to forget about the fact that, ‘Hey, this is where this thing was hurt.’ We know he’s ready. We’ll be smart with him. We’ll acclimate him. Like I say, today, individual, tomorrow, hopefully individual and a couple of reps, but we’ll see where he’s at. Then maybe the next day – we’re just going to slowly begin to bring him back. I told him that. I said, ‘Listen, we’re going to be smart with you as a staff. We’re going to get you to where you get your comfort level back and you’re able to grow and develop.’ We’re not going to just throw him to the wolves and say, ‘Alright, let’s redline you and blow this thing back out.’ That’s not our intention. We’re going to be real smart with him. (Outside Linebackers Coach Kelvin Sheppard) Shepps is going to do a great job. It will be good to get him back. Barnes just has a little tight hammy. He had it kind of back in the spring. So, it’s just lingering a little bit. So that’s why we held him back. But there again, we’re being smart with him. I don’t think this is a major issue. It’s just something that we do feel like if we put him back out there, we can make this thing worse than it needs to be.” On if he drank extra coffee before practice today: “No, you don’t need it today. You don’t need the extra coffee, not with the pads on. So, normal coffee today. The next cup of coffee will be out there when we do team run. So, this will be exciting. I can’t wait. Normally what I do is I get two venti. At Starbucks, I get two venti of the Pike with two shots in them. So, black in both. That’s what I come in with. That’s how I start the day.” On if he has considered using soft helmet coverings in practice: “It’s funny because (Executive Vice President and General Manager) Brad (Holmes) and I talked about it in the spring. I remember it came up and it crossed my mind and I was talking to (Senior Defensive Assistant) Dom Capers because Dom was out there in Minnesota last year. I know they had kind of begun that last year. It crossed my mind, but yet there was something I didn’t feel like – I talked to a couple of guys and they’re like, ‘I’m not going to wear that thing.’ So I just kind of left it alone. I did actually think about it because I know it’s supposed to help to reduce anything that comes up, concussions, things of that nature. Certainly like you said, if a quarterback is following through. We thought about it, but that was kind of as far as it went.” |
