Head Coach Brian Flores
(Are you are optimistic about getting C Daniel Kilgore back on Sunday? Do you think C/G Evan Boehm has done enough where starting at guard would be the ideal path for him based on his body of work at center?) – “We’ll see on Kilgore. That will be – no decision has been made there yet. He’s been able to practice this week and that’s good but whether or not we feel like he’s ready to play a 60-minute ball game, we still have to make a decision on that. Boehm is a little banged up as well. We’ll see how this thing goes. We’ve had guys in and out of the lineup all year. We’ll put the best group out we can on Sunday.”
(T Julién Davenport since he’s returned, what have you seen from him?) – “He’s really done a good job and really worked hard to get back. Obviously he has to get into playing condition, playing shape. When you are off for that amount of time, from a technique and fundamental standpoint – footwork, hand placement, just getting into your pass sets and your run technique – you’ve just got to get back into that. This has been a good week for him. He’s looked – physically, he’s looked good. Hopefully he just continues to get better and improve his technique. Hopefully we’ll have him out there soon.”
(Is T Julién Davenport cross-training playing both tackle spots or do you still have him at right?) – “He plays left, he plays right, he plays guard, we make him snap. Tight end. We just move him around.”
(We’ve seen probably the last three weeks that you’ve moved the walkthrough to Thursday. What was the thought process behind that and is it to get a desired result?) – “Look, every team is a little bit different. Last week we had the Monday night game so that was a Wednesday walkthrough. This week it was Thursday. It just really depends on how the week is going, injuries that you’ve got, from an install standpoint what you want to – you can probably do – let’s call it you get more looks, more plays with a walkthrough. There are a lot of things that go into it. Some weeks we walk through, some weeks we don’t. It just really depends on the week, the team, how the team is doing health-wise and the opponent that week.”
(Is this something that you’ve taken from New England? How did this come about?) – “Walkthroughs? I think every team in some form or fashion has walkthrough practices or lighter practices. It’s something that I’ve done in the past, for sure; but it’s something I did in college (too). I think every team…”
(I meant moving the day from Friday to an earlier part in the week.) – “From Friday?”
(Walkthroughs have usually been on Friday.) – “Where?”
(Here.) – “Oh. Is that the case? I don’t think that’s the case everywhere. I’ve never had a Friday walkthrough so I can’t speak to that. Maybe that works and I could see some merit to that as well, but we’ll probably do it earlier in the week – either Wednesday or Thursday – when you’ve got the early down and the third down. Red zone, that’s a pretty significant part or area, so I probably would move it earlier in the week if we were going to (do that). I feel like you need to practice that. You need to practice it all but to each their own. For us it’s Wednesday or Thursday and I think it’s from a physical standpoint, from a mental standpoint, it just depends on the week and the opponent as well.”
(Last Sunday, the three guys you signed last week – CB Xavier Crawford, CB Ken Crawley and TE Clive Walford – all got offensive or defensive snaps. The three you signed this week, obviously two are very young players – WR Gary Jennings and RB De’Lance Turner – and CB Marcus Sherels. Do you think it would be less likely that they’d have a role on offense or defense? Any feel for those three on how they’ve done?) – “It’s tough to get guys ready in three or four days. I think our coaches have done a good job of trying to do that. They will be small roles if they get in there, but we’ve got to inactive guys too. We’ll see how this goes. I could see a couple of those guys being active. I could see all three being down. We’re still kind of piecing that together.”
(Do you want WR Jakeem Grant to handle punt returns as well or would the preference be CB Marcus Sherels potentially in that role as WR Preston Williams had morphed into that role?) – “I think Jakeem is as explosive of a player in the return game as there is in the league. We’d like to have him back there. Sherels has done a good job over the course of his career, as well. So it’s good to have depth at that position. It’s a very important position and I feel good to have two guys that we feel confident in back there.”
(How have the receivers performed trying to fill that void of WR Preston Williams this week in practice?) – “I think they’ve all had their specific roles. Each guy knows that they’re going to have to step up to fill Preston’s shoes. Look, these are competitive guys and I think they’re fired up about the opportunity. I’m confident in all of them as I am in our tight ends, our backs, our line, our quarterback, the entire team. I think we’ve had an okay week of practice and hopefully we can take that into the game.”
