I missed the beginning of the press conference because of technical difficulties on my computer. I got that fixed, but I stole the first part of the PC from trickblue at the Zone.
trickblue
Brought Kincade back on the PS today. We didn't have to make any moves since Green was claimed by Cincy.
Reeves will be listed as questionable. Hoyte practiced today.
I have nothing to say about Romo making the Pro Bowl. I am happy for the player. Am I surprised? That would not be a strong enough word. I'm happy for McBriar, but I am not going to comment on any of them.
We didn't practice a real long time today, and probably not long tomorrow either.
Philly continues to run their system. You can tell Garcia feels comfortable back there. I told you guys a while back I didn't think they were through. He improvises well back there and that beat Carolina. He also got some first downs vs. the NYFG
Carpenter is doing a little bit better, getting his feet under him. He's coming along, it is encouraging.
Austin is a tough guy. He functioned fine today with the device on.
Grizz
When did you know you had something in Colombo? Around the first weekend of camp, we saw things we liked. Tony [Sparano] gets credit; he's done a good job with him technically. Colombo has attributes you can't see, that allows him to do what he does.
Pass rush over the past two weeks? I thought it was pretty good against Atlanta, we tried some special things on him, it was OK. Late in the game I thought we got good push. Vick is an athletic guy; if Schaub had been in there on some of those we would've had him.
Lot of Bob Knight stuff.
The coaching staff? I think they work well together, there's a good division of labor, specific assignments, somebody has blitzes, another goal line, the nickel etc. So everybody gets their time. Collectively they're creative. The thing I'm happiest about, with rare exceptions, is that however I want them to approach a game, they can adjust stylistically to that. I give them guidelines, I want to see this and this, but more importantly how to approach the game, my job is to see the big picture. In the game I need to keep them thinking about the other side of the ball as well. As a head coach I'm looking at the defense, do we need a rest here? Instead of going 3 and out in 42 seconds. They need to stay with you. Todd asked at the beginning of the last drive last week what we wanted to do. I said we're going after them, we need a TD to win, and we did. Even when we got in close, they thought we might take a shot, but when I saw us go off tackle for 6-8 yards, I thought we can get it in this way. We only had one bad play on the drive, when MB3 got popped in the mouth near the goal line.
I have two young guys Anthony and Freddie [on offense], and the other three, a veteran in Chris, Tony's been around a while, and Todd's a creative guy. That`s a good combination, good balance. Experience plus young guys who push the envelope, then a line coach who has to live with it.
Terence Newman doesn't have as many interceptions...? I don't know anything about it.
About what? You were going to ask me about that thing [Pro Bowl].
I wanted to ask if he's playing as well this year as he did last year? I think he's done a good job, he covers well. He made a technical mistake in the last game, he used his back arm instead of his front arm to deflect the ball and gave up a TD. He was just off the ball about 3 inches, if used the other arm he would've got it.
Did you envision Barber in the "closer" role before the season? I don't know if I would've use that term early in the season. He's done a good job in improving his ability to play the game. He got it pretty quick for a young player, he trains diligently, he'll be in there lifting the day after the game.
Did he get that from his dad? I never met his Dad or talked to him, yet I know there's a presence there. I can just tell by the kid's actions, I assume his Dad was the one that influenced him, and I think he did a great job with that kid.
Is his nose for the endzone something that is taught? We're all taught things, there's nothing in football, besides maybe running and jumping, that your born with. His college coach - Glen Mason - I talked to him a lot about the player, everything he told me is exactly right. He said I was going to like this kid. He knows me, and he was giving me good information. The scouting dept. deserves the credit; they brought him to my attention, and if you have a contact there [Mason], you use it.
Is it hard to coach him because he's quiet? He communicates with me, there's an environment he's not comfortable in, but in football he's comfortable, there's give and take there. I was talking to him today about his pass routes, I want him to have the same attitude in the passing game as he does in the running game. It's good to remind these kids.
Does the Eagles defense present anything new for Romo? Atlanta had a few things in their package that are similar to Philly. It's not what you're doing but when you do it, that's the hard part with defensive coordinators. They have to try and stop offense, they don't change a lot of what they do, they take their system and adjust to defend the offense. What do you want to stop, who do you want to stop?
They show more pressure up the middle than most teams? Yes they do.
Hopefully we can do a good job getting Romo ready, this is his second time around this year with this team, he saw the film, he was in on the practices, he was here that week.
Tony Parrish? I gave him some reps today. I got a few problems, it's a domino problem - we didn't have Hoyte, so we had to bring up a PS-player at TE, where he's going to be this week? Reeves, he looked better than I though today, I was thinking about a contingency plan but now I'm not sure I'll have to. All those things combined make it difficult to take an extra player, but I want to get him game time before season is out. But with these other things, I don't know if I can, I hope it won't discourage him.
Have you talked to him about that? I'll talk to him later if I need to, but I gave him some reps with our defensive team.
Reps with the 1's? He was in with the 19's, you shouldn't use the term "the 1's" because it takes 19 guys to play this defense. (laughter)
Where would he play? He'd play some for Watkins.
Could you take all three (Watkins, Davis, Parrish)? I don't know if I could take all three, I'd have to leave someone home that I just mentioned, or maybe Elam. But Elam is playing good on special teams, he had 2 tackles the other night. I got a decent group of core cover guys.
What does Parrish have that Davis doesn't? More game experience at that position. But I'm not leaving my best special teams player at home, they could all die, and he's still going. (laughter)
More confident in the kicking game? I feel better about the kicking. I have a more confident feeling. I'm not jabbing at someone else, and I don't know why, I just have it. He kicked off pretty good the other night. There was a lot of pressure on him, hew was out of football for a while. He's to be commended, he's already made one game winner, and that was a big kick the other night to get us to 24.
Are you thinking about him longer than just this year? We haven't discussed that yet, but it probably would be a strong consideration, but that is just my opinion.