Wow, what a difference it makes when reporters don't waste all of our time with T.O. questions. We learned a lot more about the Cowboys today, and Parcells was very talkative and to the point because he didn't have to deal with the stupidity of yesterday. Maybe the press is finally learning something. Nah, I doubt it.
Doesn't look like Flozell will play Thursday, some concern about the Jax game.
Still wrestling with 3 or 4 spots. McQ will play Thursday, want to see him against Erasmus James. Surprised by his ability, physically he's the same as his brother. Took a chance on him in the 7th round. He is inexperienced, he had a couple of elementary things against the Saints go wrong. But he is improving, told him before the game you got our starting QB out here so pay attention.
Wrestling with the numbers on the offensive line. We talk everyday (Jerry, Stephen, Jeff and Parcells) about contingencies because teams are interested in our players. We are getting questions about our offensive line players.
A couple of them (offensive line) have improved significantly from last year. And McQ coming in was a surprise. He does have the ability and he can assimilate the information, it's just a question of being able to do it.
McQ this year vs. Petitti last year? This kid (McQ) has more overall ability than Petitti. Petitti is excellent on the mental side, only made 4 mental errors all last year. McQ doesn't have the experience that Petitti did coming out of college.
Polite is considered a utility player, that I would hope to get 15-18 plays on offense and the same amount on special teams. Polite is more helpful on game day because he is versatile. No, he hasn't made the roster yet. (Some reporter asked the very question I suggested yesterday, is he a FB or TE? Neither I guess, Parcells called him a utility player).
We are discussing keeping 5 tackles.
Suisham I think is practice squad eligible. Used to be only two season on the practice squad, but now it's three. Vandy kicked today, to my satisfaction. Hoping he can do FG's and would really like to see him kickoff against Minnesota. He kicked off 10-15 yesterday at 80-85%, according to the specail teams coach.
The o-line is more talented and more versatile. Colombo, Fabini and Petitti have played both tackles. Gurode can play G/C, Procter can play both guards. Kosier has played tackle before, I haven't asked him to do it yet. There was sentimnet to move McQ to guard early on, but I said this guy could eventually be your LT at some point in time, and that's a valuable commoditiy. I don't want to go overboard with him because it's early.
The WR positon is down on the list of trade needs. Some of the kids have come on pretty well.
In trades I'm looking at soft spots on the roster, how can we replace the position if the starter goes down. (NT possibly, maybe SS?)
Talked with Bill Belichick this summer and he said he used to get mad when I made him do all these thing in camp (referring to working the team extra hard), but he said he's going back to it. And he reminded me of some of the things we used to do. This has been a very tough camp, I've worked them hard.
I'm going to change my practice format, I'm going back to what I did 10 years ago. Right now I rotate my 2nd and 3rd groups, some guys I'm interested in seeing play down on the depth chart, I'm taking some time to see them. I'm ending that next week because they won't get the reps in practice so they will need to develop on the scout team.
I'm going back to working the team unit segments of practice longer and with less rotating.
Very happy with Colombo's progress. He's lifting weights now and it's showing up on the field. He's got some limitations, but he covers them up well. If he continues he can be serviceable.
Gurode has had his best camp, he's more mature, he's much more serious mentally on the job. He's showing some leadership. I blamed him for the time-out we took the other night after the long pass to Glenn. A long play breaks, you have to run 40-yards down field and get the play going. I told him it's his job to get all those fat asses down the field. So I spoke to him about doing that. He understands.
(So much for the Belichick/Parcells feud. They talk all the time on the phone. They ask each other questions about the teams, how they run practices, etc).
I told Terry Glenn he's a better player than he was 3 years ago. He's grown up, he knows how to train and he's very seriuous now, a professional. I don't know why we hit it off so well, but we did. I told Jerry when we I wanted to trade for him that he would be one of our best players. He's very competitive. That route he ran the other day for the TD, there aren't 10 guys in the league that can run that route like he did. The only time he has problems with his route is on the short ones, sometimes he cuts them too short. He knows exactly how to set up a CB on his routes. We used to laugh about the "she" comment together when everybody else was writing about it. I told him if he kept catching passes I was going to call him "Miss America". I don't know what I was doing when I said "she", it wasn't planned or anything.
Rector will keep wortking as a punter returner. I'm going to give Skyler some returns Thursday night, but Rector might get one too.
Crayton looked OK in practice, hoping he can play Thursday.