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Head Coach Chan Gailey**
Monday, October 22, 2012
On DE Chris Kelsay questioning the team's lack of effort:
We all fall into that category. Is there more everybody can do? Yes. And that is a challenge for each of us to do the very best that we can every time we walk out there. Everybody can do a little bit better. You say you are doing your best but you have to find a little bit more because we are not where we want to be. I think we can be where we want to be still. But we are not there yet.
On if it is disturbing that effort is a concern seven games into the season:
I think we are playing hard. It is not that I do not think we are playing hard. I think we play hard. Can we play better? That is the key—being consistent. That is the term I used with the players this morning: being consistent and everybody being where they are supposed to be when they are supposed to be there. Being more consistent—that is the key to the whole thing. You walk out onto our practice field, guys are working hard. To me, I watch the film and everybody is playing hard. Can we play harder every snap? Yeah, we can. Everybody falls in that category a little bit. You have to do more. When you are losing, you have to do more.
On if the effort is acceptable to him:
Are there plays that guys do not do 100-percent every snap? Yeah, there are plays that happens. You have to correct that.
On how disturbing it is that some guys do not go 100-percent on every play:
Sure, it is disturbing every time you look at it. It goes on for every time, on every level of football. It really does. You have to squelch it. You have to get everybody playing to the top 100-percent every snap. You just cannot take plays off. I am not saying guys are taking plays off, I am just saying I think we can lay out, for lack of a better term, a little bit better at times.
On Kelsay saying players were taking plays off:
Kelsay is entitled to his opinion. That is true.
On if he knows how much DE Mario Williams' wrist is bothering him:
No I do not. I cannot speak for him. I cannot tell you whether he is being affected by it at all, a little bit or what it is. I cannot tell.
On if Williams has those conversations with him:
No. I ask him how it is going and he says it is alright.
On if Williams' play is where he wants it to be:
I wish everybody was doing a little bit more right now. Not just him, but everybody was doing a little bit more.
On how DE Kyle Moore seemed to produce more at left end yesterday than Williams:
I cannot answer that question other than I know at times (the other team) will chip when Mario is over there. They do not feel like they have to chip right now on Kyle Moore. They may in the future, but they do not feel like they have to right now. When Mario is on one side or the other, people tend to find an extra blocker, find a chip, a tight end on that side or something. They tend to do that.
On if better players normally find a way through what the other team presents:
We have to put together a defense that works. Everybody has to do their very best. I think (Williams) is working hard. I think he is playing hard, but we have to get production out of everybody. We have to be more productive.
On how to fix the defense:
Well, that goes back to the consistency I was talking about. We have to get everybody in the right gap at the right time. That is going to be key. That is where we are lacking right now, the consistency factor. We will stop the same play twice and the third time it gets out of there. I think there were four runs yesterday that accounted for about 140 yards of the 190 yards rushing. The big plays are what are hurting us right now and it is happening in the running game.
On if changes can be expected during the bye week due to poor effort:
I hope that everybody gives the best that they have got. That includes all of us as coaches. Everybody has to give their best effort to have a chance to win in this league. That is part of it. It is not easy and it is not fun when you lose. You have to get better, and right now we are not where we need to be. We are not close to where we need to be. Hopefully we will get some of that straight this week.
On if Defensive Coordinator Dave Wannstedt will be reevaluated over the bye week:
There is no question about that. There is no discussion there. He is it and is going to be it.
On if the problem is a lack of talent or a lack of effort:
I go back to consistency. Everybody has to do the right thing on every snap. Right now we are not doing the right thing on every snap. If it falls back on anybody, it falls back on me making sure everybody is doing the right thing at the right time because that is what coaches are supposed to do—get people in the right place at the right time is what they are supposed to do.
On why Wannstedt is the right man for the job:
His wealth of experience coaching defenses, being around great defenses and I have known him for a long time. I've worked with him. I know his knowledge of defense and what people are supposed to do. I have a great deal of confidence that he can do the job.
On if there will be any changes to the starting line-up after the bye week:
Who knows? We are going to evaluate everything and nothing may change. We may just try to get better at what we are doing or there may be some changes. We just have to evaluate it.
On the status of OG Chad Rinehart:
He has a long-term injury. Whether it is season or not, I think they have further evaluations today and tomorrow where we will know more probably tomorrow.
On if Rinehart injured his ankle:
Yeah. Ankle.
On if OL Sam Young stays in the reserve role or if they need to get OL David Snow up to speed:
Probably Sam (Young) has to be a jack-of-all-trades knowing guard and tackle. David (Snow) has been working more at center than he has at anything else at this point, but he has to start learning the guard spot, too. It depends on how quickly we get (Kraig) Urbik back and how quickly we get Cordy (Glenn) back. We expect to have both of them hopefully for this ball game coming up.
On if the use of RB C.J. Spiller and RB Fred Jackson was ideal yesterday:
It was good. I am not sure if ideal ever hits. First of all, nothing is ideal unless you win. There were some opportunities we had to score more points so it was not ideal. But for them to touch it 35 times between them and about four, five other times we tried to get the ball to Fred (Jackson) on some throws and did not connect on them. If we can let them touch it between 30 and 40 times a game, I think that is pretty good for us.
On when DE Mario Williams needs to step up and make the impact he is supposed to be making:
I think that it is all subjective to statistics. The impact that a guy has on a football team in a lot of people's eyes is viewed by statistics. We do not necessarily view those by statistics. We view them by what kind of influence and impact a guy has on the game. Right now, Mario is having a good impact on the game. Is it great at this point? No, it is not great. But he is having a good impact on the game. Every one of them is doing OK at times, but nobody is consistently doing it exactly right enough for us to be a productive defense. And I am going to use that word now because I think that is the word that we are searching for: creating consistency on our defense throughout the defense. Not just the defensive line, the defensive backs or the linebackers—all of them. Every one of them included. We have to be more consistent. Being where you are supposed to be and when you are supposed to be there that will allow us to improve our defensive statistics and defensive production.
On if Williams is being unfairly criticized:
Everybody gets singled out from time to time. Not everybody, most everybody. High-profile people tend to get singled out more than anybody else other than quarterbacks. Quarterbacks get singled out every week one way or the other. Most players that are high-profile players get singled out one way or the other either positively or negatively each week depending upon how the team does. And that is the bottom line.
On if it is possible for guys to quickly become more consistent:
It better or we are going to be in for a long year if we do not create consistency.
On if they are getting the bang for their buck for the defense:
I am not interested in bucks. I am interested in production. All I am interested in is production and we are not producing like we need to defensively. There are other areas we need to work on as well.
On how DT Marcell Dareus is performing on and off the field:
I cannot speak to off the field. You probably need to talk to him about off the field. He has had to deal with a lot, but he is coming to work every day and that is what I see. I do not know how he is handling all that other stuff. The play on the field is to me in line with the other people on the football team. Can he play better and can we be better? Yes. Everybody can step their play up a notch and improve our defense. They all have to. I am not going to talk about individual play one way or the other. It is a group thing. Everybody has to do what they are supposed to do.
On if he thinks it is necessary for players to hold each other accountable: I think accountability to each other is vital to any football team. This is the most unique team sport in the world because of the numbers of people that are involved that have to do their job on a daily basis. I think the people that are accountable to each other understand that they are accountable to each other. If they do not, they need to understand that they have to be accountable to each other when it gets down to it that is who they play with and for. That is why you go to championships is because you are accountable to each other.
