Wulfman
09-23-2004, 12:04 PM
[BEGIN of PC]
Same status report as yesterday.
Stop Portis the way you play any good RB. You try to hold him down and plug the holes. He can go all the way on you. They’re doing some things to try to free him up, some things they did in Denver. He’s a good back. I don’t how far along they are. Coles and Gardner can both be factors. Coles for sure.
The run defense is doing pretty good. We gave up that long run in the 2-minute last week, and that’s going to happen in that defense. But we played better last week than in week one. We tackled better. We didn’t tackle very well in week one.
It’s different playing Washington now than it has been, but not as different as last year when Spurrier changed a lot of what they did.
Coaching in the second year is easier in ways, because you know the guys better and they know what I want better. But there are always changes too, with injuries and necessary moves. And we’re into this now, so it’s getting ready for every week. Everyone is in that boat, us and Washington, and everyone else.
I don’t really have to get them up for a Monday night game. There are some rookies that will be wide-eyed, but the intensity level has been pretty good.
Monday night on the road is the hardest thing, and we have one of those at Seattle this year. If I had my way, I’d play all the games at 1:00 or 12:00 on Sundays. But that’s not the way the league works now.
Sunday night after the game I pretty much don’t sleep at all. So by Monday night, I’m pretty wiped out. I watch the game as a fan unless it’s a team we play in the future, but other than that I don’t really care who plays on Monday night. I fall asleep at halftime like everyone else. I watch college games to watch players, particularly if there are some guys that I want to take a look at.
Monday night games, I try to be the same. There may be a little more to it, but you get used to it.
Do you have a handle on your defense yet? Minnesota has more weapons than Cleveland offensively, so I think people are going to have trouble stopping the Vikings. Philadelphia had trouble—they had over 400 yards against them. There were some unfortunate plays that cost Minnesota. But it’s a little early yet to tell. I told the team yesterday that there’s a big difference between a good team and what we are right now. That’s exactly what I told the team. I told them about the things that cause you to lose games. It’s the obvious stuff, and that’s the stuff that has to be changed. Like I told them that teams whose defense scores are 8-2 so far. That’s the kind of things I tell them. That doesn’t mean we can’t get there, but that’s where we are. And I think that’s where most teams are right now. You have to have all things clicking right now, and it’s not just the record. I tell teams that once you have the game won, you don’t do things to try to give it back. We were doing the opposite on Sunday.
It’s a psychological thing that not a lot of teams get a grasp on right away. I’ve had some teams that, if they had a 10-point lead in the second half, you were going to have to make a number of very good plays in order to come back on us. Buddy Ryan’s defenses were like that, and so were Gibbs’ teams in Washington the last time around. They could hold the ball on you. Bill Walsh’s team was like that. They had a running game, and no one really noticed anything but Montana. No one could even name the RBs aside from Roger Craig. That was the West Coast offense.
You’d have to talk to Jason Witten to find out what he got from Ben Coates this summer, but I know he was lapping it up. Coates is a young guy who hasn’t been out of the league long, and they’re very similar style guys. They are about the same size. We’re using Witten in motion, and that’s something that a lot of TEs can’t do because it’s tiring. A 250-pound guy in motion a lot of the time is very demanding. I know I saw Ben work with him on little tricks, some of them I taught to Ben, and some are his own or that he learned from other coaches. Some specific techniques about how to get off the line. Vinny came aware of Witten early in camp, and I think he likes him. I wish he had thrown to him a little more on Sunday.
{Someone – Sean Salisbury?} said he thought last year’s Monday night game against the Giants was the best game he’d seen. What did Parcells think? Well, we gave up a big lead, I know that. {Talked about some specifics of that game and what he remembered about it.} There’s a greater satisfaction to me winning on the road than at home. That’s just me. That’s the fun part of the game. Monday night doesn’t have anything to do with it for me.
Washington’s turnovers were an inordinate number. Seven’s a lot. I don’t think they’ll have that many. They won’t win many games, if they do. We were the same thing, we had 4 turnovers, and that could have cost us. If we do that, we won’t have as good of a chance to win either. Sometimes those turnovers disappear the next game, and sometimes they spread like the measles.
Campbell is one of those guys who brings a toughness. He has a role, and you don’t worry about him. He works hard, loves the game. He’s the kind of guy that you can point a young player to and say to watch him.
{Talked some about the history of the old NFC East, and how everyone talked about the rivalries. But there were a lot of teams that were good in the conference, so you couldn’t just zero in on a single division. Depending on the era, people talk about different teams—Packers in the 60’s, Steelers in the 70’s, etc. That’s just the nature of the game, and what makes it great. There are a whole lot of life lessons learned in this game. Also gave some of his philosophy, and looking ahead instead of looking back.}
You can’t talk to young guys about the historical facts. They don’t know the guys. I talk to some of the coaches about guys and they don’t know what I’m talking about. I laugh about that with Al Davis all the time. That’s just your generation.
I don’t want to get into the old Giants-Redskins games. There is one that I really remember, but I’m not going to tell you what it is. I just don’t want to. But I’ll tell you this—every one of those games with the exception of two could have gone either way. I don’t want to talk about that anymore. {laughing} It’s 12:00. I’m getting out of here.
[END of PC]
Same status report as yesterday.
Stop Portis the way you play any good RB. You try to hold him down and plug the holes. He can go all the way on you. They’re doing some things to try to free him up, some things they did in Denver. He’s a good back. I don’t how far along they are. Coles and Gardner can both be factors. Coles for sure.
The run defense is doing pretty good. We gave up that long run in the 2-minute last week, and that’s going to happen in that defense. But we played better last week than in week one. We tackled better. We didn’t tackle very well in week one.
It’s different playing Washington now than it has been, but not as different as last year when Spurrier changed a lot of what they did.
Coaching in the second year is easier in ways, because you know the guys better and they know what I want better. But there are always changes too, with injuries and necessary moves. And we’re into this now, so it’s getting ready for every week. Everyone is in that boat, us and Washington, and everyone else.
I don’t really have to get them up for a Monday night game. There are some rookies that will be wide-eyed, but the intensity level has been pretty good.
Monday night on the road is the hardest thing, and we have one of those at Seattle this year. If I had my way, I’d play all the games at 1:00 or 12:00 on Sundays. But that’s not the way the league works now.
Sunday night after the game I pretty much don’t sleep at all. So by Monday night, I’m pretty wiped out. I watch the game as a fan unless it’s a team we play in the future, but other than that I don’t really care who plays on Monday night. I fall asleep at halftime like everyone else. I watch college games to watch players, particularly if there are some guys that I want to take a look at.
Monday night games, I try to be the same. There may be a little more to it, but you get used to it.
Do you have a handle on your defense yet? Minnesota has more weapons than Cleveland offensively, so I think people are going to have trouble stopping the Vikings. Philadelphia had trouble—they had over 400 yards against them. There were some unfortunate plays that cost Minnesota. But it’s a little early yet to tell. I told the team yesterday that there’s a big difference between a good team and what we are right now. That’s exactly what I told the team. I told them about the things that cause you to lose games. It’s the obvious stuff, and that’s the stuff that has to be changed. Like I told them that teams whose defense scores are 8-2 so far. That’s the kind of things I tell them. That doesn’t mean we can’t get there, but that’s where we are. And I think that’s where most teams are right now. You have to have all things clicking right now, and it’s not just the record. I tell teams that once you have the game won, you don’t do things to try to give it back. We were doing the opposite on Sunday.
It’s a psychological thing that not a lot of teams get a grasp on right away. I’ve had some teams that, if they had a 10-point lead in the second half, you were going to have to make a number of very good plays in order to come back on us. Buddy Ryan’s defenses were like that, and so were Gibbs’ teams in Washington the last time around. They could hold the ball on you. Bill Walsh’s team was like that. They had a running game, and no one really noticed anything but Montana. No one could even name the RBs aside from Roger Craig. That was the West Coast offense.
You’d have to talk to Jason Witten to find out what he got from Ben Coates this summer, but I know he was lapping it up. Coates is a young guy who hasn’t been out of the league long, and they’re very similar style guys. They are about the same size. We’re using Witten in motion, and that’s something that a lot of TEs can’t do because it’s tiring. A 250-pound guy in motion a lot of the time is very demanding. I know I saw Ben work with him on little tricks, some of them I taught to Ben, and some are his own or that he learned from other coaches. Some specific techniques about how to get off the line. Vinny came aware of Witten early in camp, and I think he likes him. I wish he had thrown to him a little more on Sunday.
{Someone – Sean Salisbury?} said he thought last year’s Monday night game against the Giants was the best game he’d seen. What did Parcells think? Well, we gave up a big lead, I know that. {Talked about some specifics of that game and what he remembered about it.} There’s a greater satisfaction to me winning on the road than at home. That’s just me. That’s the fun part of the game. Monday night doesn’t have anything to do with it for me.
Washington’s turnovers were an inordinate number. Seven’s a lot. I don’t think they’ll have that many. They won’t win many games, if they do. We were the same thing, we had 4 turnovers, and that could have cost us. If we do that, we won’t have as good of a chance to win either. Sometimes those turnovers disappear the next game, and sometimes they spread like the measles.
Campbell is one of those guys who brings a toughness. He has a role, and you don’t worry about him. He works hard, loves the game. He’s the kind of guy that you can point a young player to and say to watch him.
{Talked some about the history of the old NFC East, and how everyone talked about the rivalries. But there were a lot of teams that were good in the conference, so you couldn’t just zero in on a single division. Depending on the era, people talk about different teams—Packers in the 60’s, Steelers in the 70’s, etc. That’s just the nature of the game, and what makes it great. There are a whole lot of life lessons learned in this game. Also gave some of his philosophy, and looking ahead instead of looking back.}
You can’t talk to young guys about the historical facts. They don’t know the guys. I talk to some of the coaches about guys and they don’t know what I’m talking about. I laugh about that with Al Davis all the time. That’s just your generation.
I don’t want to get into the old Giants-Redskins games. There is one that I really remember, but I’m not going to tell you what it is. I just don’t want to. But I’ll tell you this—every one of those games with the exception of two could have gone either way. I don’t want to talk about that anymore. {laughing} It’s 12:00. I’m getting out of here.
[END of PC]