Hatcher is doubtful, he took some turns today but I don't know. He's making improvement but I need healthy bodies that can play hard on Sunday.
Haven't seen enough from J'vonne Parker yet, he got 6 plays.
TT is on IR, I wanted to make sure we got someone [Kincade] who knew the system. He was pretty good in preaseaon, We discussed a few other guys. I don't know if he'll be active on Sunday. Elam, Austin, Green and Barber are the four main candidates at kick returner. Working Aaron Glenn there too, but he needs to do it better than he did the other night. TT had been doing a good job in field position for us, that's a hole to fill. Glenn would be a spot guy, not fulltime.
On TT going to IR: They told me 6-8 weeks on TT, so it was only a possibility he could come back; it was a difficult decision but based on what I heard I think 6 weeks would be optimistic. Had he not been a RB, it might be different.
Tony Romo was prepared for the game, but this week is different, they can see film on him, they'll see him under fire. We're not too far down the road in this process. I think he's mature enough not to "eat the chesse", I asked if he answered all his congratulatory emails yet, he just gave me a dirty look.
Romo was pretty good in practice today. The problem with Weds. is we don't have time to cover everything, it's a little chaotic. But I like this schedule; we'll put closure on the day with relaxed meetings after practice. Weds can be a scramble day, they only practiced in shells today; I wanted to get the mental part across today.
It's going to be less than perfect with Romo.
Do you need to remind yourself of that? No, he reminds me, he does that. The first 7 on 7 pass today was intercepted, he reminds me about it, I don't remind myself.
On Romo and Owens' chemistry: I don't know about him and Owens. I think he's trying to get the ball to the guy that is open. He's just going through his reads; if Terrell is open he goes there. There was no effort to make Terrell a bigger part of game plan. I thought the Panthers thought we would run on them like last year, so I tried to do the opposite to start the game.
It wasn't a conservative game plan. But it depended on how the game unfolded. But Romo made some clutch 3rd downs throwing and running. If you can keep the big defensive linemen out there for more than a 3-down series, its good.
It's early in the Romo process, I know the media, we go coast to coast pretty quick, but I've told you that QB's are judged by staying on the field, sustaining physical damage and responding. They have to get in the huddle on Weds and pretend they can move the team. There are a lot of intangible things the layman might not see, more so at that position. It's demanding, you can't have a bad day at the office.
They got 14 quarters of film on him from the preseason. You're watching the guy play, you can tell about him a little. It's different than the regular season film but you can still get an idea about the player.
The best thing that happened to Tony Romo was Testaverde coming here. He was a meticulous planner and Tony witnessed that, Romo has told me that. Both Drew and Vinny were a help, Vinny especially because he was the first one he took advantage of, the first veteran. Here's Vinny at 40 still doing meticulous preparation. It woke Romo up, told him there is a lot more to play in this league.
The Skins have had a chance to be better than they are, just like we have. I would never underestimate a Joe Gibbs team. They got good skill people, a veteran o-line, the defense is healing up, they were beat up. They got explosive returners, like Randle El, and Cartwright who ran one back against us, I showed the team that film this morning.
I wasn't out of the game as much as Joe was, I was a GM so I was still in the loop, so Joe had a bigger transition. But things are appreciably different from the Giants and Skins teams we coached in the 80's. If you had 4 rookies make the team that was different, there just wasn't room. Some guys just couldn't get on the team or the field. Joe had a veteran team for many years, there wasn't that much change in our teams. Now there's the temptation in free agency, the urge to fix things. There's a lot more transient nature in the coaching staffs, we used to have the same staff year to year.
I got to get DeMarcus Ware more rest in the game. Last week I was going to sub Burnett and Singleton, but the offense had a long drive and he went back out there. I need to decrease his time to make him more effective. He's 250 lbs going against those big linemen. Burnett is playing on the nickel and on special teams, and I want to work Carpenter into the game more.
Are they doing anything special to stop Ware: They slide the blocking to him some, play-action is usually to the right, and they had 3 blockers sliding that way. It's not that way on drop back passes. But that team we played Sudnay was a protection team, they were going to keep in blockers, more than you send. We did try to blitz them quite a bit, we tried that a little bit to get some pressure on them.
I do feel more comfortable with Coleman and Davis back there. You'll probably see both of them again this week. Keith is feeling good, he's healing up and Marcus wasn't lost out there, I talked to him about it today. Coleman and Keith both played special teams and we got good balance in terms of playing time out of both them. Elam and Roy also play on special teams, our safeties are a big component in our special teams.
Is Watkins fighting to get his position back? Watkins is fighting back, but what's he going to do if I don't let him in there. He practiced well last week, he's not in the tank. He knows he's got work to do, he's no fool. When the opportunity comes again he has to take advantage.
I would like to get MB3 in earlier; I talked to him and JJ about that today. I want to get him in the 1st half, but sometimes in the heat of battle it just doesn't happen. He is a physical runner, if you can get a lead its helpful in the 4th quarter. Sometimes I'll give specific orders before a game, play him every 3rd or 4th series, that usually works better.
Hoyte played 42 offensive plays and 10 on special teams. Hoyte is a little more physical than Lousaka. Polite was strong but you got to take it to the dance. I liked Lou, I would consider bringing him back, but Lou wants to be too perfect on everything, and that caused some hesitation. At the end of the day, if you're in a fight, you just got to just throw some punches in the fight.
Hoyte is just a player. Some guys you just throw them in and they take to it. The game isn't too big for him, he loves to play football. Now it's a high-collsion position, it puts some tread on the tire, and pretty soon they are over there with the other parked cars.
It's important to keep momentum; this is a key stretch on the road. It's definitely important to play consistent, good football and then you have a chance. We have tough games coming up. We need to get going, the players have a sense of that, I talked to them about it, we got work to do on this game.
I wouldn't say I was all that pleased with today's practice, But the Redskins offense and defense is not the easiest to prepare for. If we aren't better tomorrow, I will be concerned. I can build that concern into Mt. Saint Helens pretty easily.
You can't be a poor practice player and be a good QB, not that I've ever seen.
Tony's been here, he's been here on the preparation for a few years, he's seen the Redskins defense on film, he doesn't need Drew to tell him about it.
Ferguson is a lot better this year, he's playing more plays and that has helped. He has some pride. He's a player that I feel I can get to if have to, I can rely on him to do things, and he helps the younger players. He's a fun-loving guy but when its time to get serious he does that. He's got more stamina and endurance this year. He was a good player when we picked him in the 7th round. I just needed to hit him with a bat. One swing, and he was fine.
You didn't pick up a Louisville Slugger and hit him, what did you say to him? Trust me, it may not have been made out of wood, but it was a bat.