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BB: What are you working on today?
Q: With the offensive line, in terms of competition, you do have five guys
returning who started the last few games of last year. Does that count for
anything?
BB: Sure. I think you know what certain guys have done, whether it be last
season or through their careers. It still needs to be reestablished, but it
is some kind of baseline that you can work from and you have a lot of
respect for what they have done, especially [since] it is a pretty young
group. That being said, there are other young players who are also ascending
who are in the competition and pushing, guys like [Adrian] Klemm, who are
good players that didn't really get to play very much last year that have
gotten a lot of playing time this year and have been able to establish a
pretty good level of play for themselves. I think overall it is a pretty
competitive situation. We saw guys last year when we were sitting here
talking about offensive linemen whose names probably wouldn't have even come
up who ended up playing a lot of football for us, and a lot of good
football. Where it ends up and where it all starts, a lot of times, is two
different places.
Q: Is it hard to weigh the anxiousness of, 'All right, I want to find out
who our five guys are so we can start running with those guys,' and allowing
the competition to mature?
BB: Well, I think when the competition is clear cut and certain guys have
stood out above the other people, even as you've opened it up the following
year and it still comes out that way, then it is a lot easier to just take
those five, put them in there and let them get all of that continuity
together. The flip side of it is working five guys together and you are not
sure if those are the five that you want or not. Then you get into the
season and you find out, 'Oh, well it really should have been these other
two guys. That is really our best five now that we have seen it.' Then, you
have lost a lot of time to be able to get that ready. Sometimes you get an
injury in there and you have switch them anyway. For where we are, I think
we are okay for where we are for right now and I wish that I could stand up
here and say, 'Look, these are going to be the five guys every week as long
as they are healthy.' I don't think we are really at that point yet.
Q: Using your experience as a guideline, are there more questions in your
mind and the coaching staff about this team going into the third exhibition
game and where you might normally be or where you would like to be?
BB: No, I don't think so. I think every year you are going to have questions
at every game, including the opener, including the first four or five
regular season games. Even when you come out of preseason, there are still
going to be questions because teams are not game planning you. It is not
like it is in the regular season. They are evaluating their players just
like you are evaluating yours. A lot of the matchups and your weaknesses
don't get as exposed sometimes in preseason just because of the way it gets
dialed up. Whereas, when you get into the regular season, if you have a
weakness, you know that your opponents are going to come right after
it. Then you really see how big of a weakness it is or it isn't. You are not
going to really know that until you get into the regular season. I don't
think anybody does. You are going to try to play into your
strengths. Sometimes you don't really know how strong those are, or you
don't know how strong the other teams are until they really try to develop
it, which I don't think you can go through preseason and just say, 'These
are the two or three things that we are going to do best. That is all we are
going to do.' When you are in preseason, you are trying to work on
everything. I think we have personnel questions. We have some scheme
questions. We have a lot of questions about our team and certainly the way
we played last week. I am sure we have as many questions if not more than
the other teams do.
Q: Obviously it is a work in progress, but how is Dan Klecko's adjustment
going?
BB: I think Dan is doing well considering he has only played the position
for a month really. I think he is doing pretty well and a lot better than a
lot of guys who have played it a lot longer. Now, he still has a long way to
go. I am not talking about Dick Butkus here, now. I think he has done well
and I think that his versatility in other areas of the game, on special
teams, rushing the passer, a little bit on offense, he has really created a
good position for himself in terms of being able to be used by a team in a
number of different spots.
Q: Without looking too far into the crystal ball, has he done enough in this
early time at inside linebacker where you could say he is still a
possibility and is still improving?
BB: Definitely. He is definitely improving. You could even see it just in
one practice yesterday. There were things that he improved in yesterday that
were much better than they were a couple of days before. As long as those
continue, and now he can hopefully take those into game situations and get
those positive results on the practice field and it will carryover into game
conditions. A lot of them have and I think that he is doing fine. Again, he
has a long way to go, and there are guys that are playing the position that
have played it for several years, in some cases probably double-digit years
ahead of him. He certainly hasn't caught up with them yet. But for what he
has done, I think it has been good.
Q: With the veterans that you have brought in, do you feel like those guys
have given you what you expected and fit in?
BB: I think they are working hard. I think they have adapted to a different
system. All of them have come from a little bit of a different program or a
different system. I think they have tried to adapt to it in varying
degrees. Overall, I think they have given us competition or depth, or in
some cases, they have given us some production even already in camp and in
the preseason games. I think that is all right. Again, how that all really
plays itself out, I think we are still quite a ways away from knowing. At
this point, it is pushing along.
Q: On the offensive line, what you guys have done in the last three years,
has that kind of diminished what continuity means? It just seems like if you
have enough players, the way you guys have done it, you can just put them in
and play.
BB: I think continuity is important. You want to try to maintain as much of
it as you can. When you don't have it, then you have to adjust to it. You
would like to play the same players every week on the offensive line. You
would like to play the same line multiple years and you would really like to
build on that experience rather than kind of starting all over on some
things. Sometimes that is what you have to do. I think that is true of any
position though. You would like the secondary to play together. You would
like your quarterback and receivers to play together. You would like your
coverage units to play together. You would like all of that to stay together
as much as you can. Probably if you go through the league, I don't know how
many teams' offensive line stays the same for multiple years, two to three
years. I don't know, [there are] not too many that I can think of. The
Eagles did. They played that line together for three or four years, [Jon]
Runyon, [Jermane] Mayberry, [Hank] Fraley, [John Welbourn] and [Tra]
Thomas. Those guys probably had two or three years together. I can't think
of too many other ones that have had that kind of continuity. There may be,
I just don't have them right now.
Q: Adrian Klemm, you mentioned that he was a good player. I think, on the
outside looking in, the fans and the media haven't seen him play enough
football to see the same thing. Is there still an upside to him as a
football player on this team?
BB: Sure. Clearly what has hurt Adrian has been the durability. He just
hasn't been out there. He has missed significant time in each of the
seasons. Last year was another one where he, due to a lot of other people
getting injured on the team, we ended up having to put him on injured
reserve there around mid-season. It wasn't something that we wanted to do
and it wasn't something that he wanted to do, but we needed some roster
spots for those weeks. So, that is what happened there. I think that he has
had a good, consistent camp in terms of being out there, getting a lot of
reps and working hard. I think he is in good condition. I think he has had a
good camp. He has really helped himself.
Q: Does he challenge for that spot over there with [Tom] Ashworth and
[Brandon] Gorin?
BB: Yes, I think he is challenging for playing time at tackle. I think he
also, in terms of the best five, could challenge for playing time at guard,
if that is what it comes to. Now, he hasn't gotten a lot of work there so
far because of our tackle situation. He and Brandon have played a lot of
tackle with Tom and Matt [Light] out. Now that they are back, that kind of
heats up that competition, and we will try to get our best guys out there.
Q: Do you envision Dexter Reid playing more of the role that Eugene Wilson
would play or Rodney Harrison or both?
BB: I think he is probably somewhere in the middle, just more of safety
rather than trying to pigeon hole him into one type or another.
Q: With Guss Scott going down, does that increase your scouting of players
who may get cut from other teams?
BB: I'll say the same thing I've always said. We're always looking to
improve our team, however we can do that. If we can do it in a way that is
beneficial, then we'll look into it and try to do it. Sometimes those
opportunities are there, sometimes they're not. I haven't told the scouts,
or Scott [Pioli], 'We've got to go out and do this,' or, 'We have to go out
and do that.' Just procedurally, we're looking at all the things we normally
look at, and we don't know what the opportunities are going to be. You can't
sit here and predict who is going to be released or who is going to be
available or not be available next week. You just have to do your homework,
take your best guess. We think these guys are going to be there for sure. We
think these guys aren't going to be there for sure, and we're not really
interested in them. We have this other pool of guys on every team who are on
the bubble. They're going to keep some of them. They're not going to keep
some of them. They might not even know who they're going to keep if you ask
them today. They're on the bubble for them, just like we have guys that
we're talking about in that category. I think you just do your homework,
look at all your options, and if you see somebody based on your situation,
and we all know it can change in a minute, I think that's why you have to do
it that way. We could be sitting here next week and be looking at a
situation that is different from what we're looking at today. We just have
to be prepared, and if an opportunity comes up, we'll make a decision on it
at that point.
Q: Has Eugene Wilson had a good preseason?
BB: Yes, he's had a good preseason. I think it's been a lot different than
last year's preseason when he played exclusively at cornerback. This year
he's been splitting time, I'd say pretty equally, between corner and
safety. He has built on his safety experience from last year by getting a
lot of training camp snaps there. At the same time, he's taken quite a few
snaps at corner so that he can also give us some versatility to either play
corner or play corner responsibilities even when he's lined up in the game
as a safety, when the offense gets in a multiple-receiver set. I think his
camp has been good. I think it's been different than it was last year.
Again, we're talking about a guy that has really spent a lot of time at both
positions, whereas last year, coming in as a rookie, he was just trying to
learn one.
Q: Was that an easy switch to make, going from corner to safety?
BB: I think it's a hard switch to make, but I think Eugene [Wilson] made it
pretty easily, let's put it that way. He's a smart kid, and emotionally he's
pretty steady, so he was able to understand it and emotionally deal with it
in a way where there are not a lot of ups and downs. It's pretty level and
pretty consistent. I thought he handled it very well for a guy playing 15
games at safety in the regular season and not taking a snap there in
preseason or training camp and not really getting ruffled by it. There were
some good plays. There were some other plays that weren't so hot, but he was
pretty consistent, never lost his confidence, and continued to play a smart
game back there in terms of adjustments and making the checks and doing the
things we ask the safeties to do. Of a lot of the guys we've seen move from
corner to safety, I'd say it was probably about as smooth as you could hope
for. A situation that totally contrasted that, when I was with the Giants,
was with Everson Walls. He played corner his entire year. We're talking
about whatever he was at that point, a 12, 13-year veteran, who was going
from corner with the Cowboys in a different system to playing safety with
the Giants. [It was] not only a different position but a whole different
terminology and a whole different system. He made that transition very well,
but again, you're talking about a very experienced player in terms of
playing time. That was another one that, when you do it you're not sure how
it's going to work out, and that one worked out pretty well. This one has
too, fortunately.
Q: Would Eugene Wilson be your first option to move back to corner?
BB: He would certainly be an option, yes. I think you have to build the
depth on your team somewhere. You build it wherever you can, and that's a
natural one. That's an easy one to work towards at this point. We didn't
know that last year at this time, but as it turned out we've got a guy that
can play two spots in the secondary. That's a big plus for you.
Q: How much do you rely on veterans to talk to the younger players? Does
that make your job easier when you have veteran experience on your team?
BB: I think it certainly helps. It helps from a coaching aspect, and it
definitely helps the young players. It's not something that I think you can
totally orchestrate or program. I don't think you can go to a player and
say, 'I want you to do this with this guy,' and he buys it. If there's a
nice relationship there, and there is some mutual respect or a friendship or
whatever, that can work out great. That's not always the case, and again
it's not something that you can dictate as a coach, but it's nice when you
can see that happening. I think that's a reflection of the maturity and the
character and the team-first attitude that a lot of players on this team
have and put forth and do it unselfishly. That's great, but it's just not
something you can dictate, 'Okay, this is the way it's going to be.' It's
nice when it works out that way, though. And we have a good veteran
group. They've done that consistently since I've been here. They've been
very helpful with the younger players, not that those guys don't pay their
dues. They have to carry in the pads and the helmets and go get donuts and
all that, but there are some other aspects to it. The veteran players are
very willing to stay out and work with them, and they can look at a guy and
see that he's having trouble doing something and say, 'Here, let me try to
help you out with that.'
Q: How is Scott Farley progressing?
BB: He's way ahead of last year. There's no comparison. I think the year in
Europe helped him. He got a lot of game experience. Again, that's NFL
football. It's our rules. A lot of the same schemes that we play are played
over there, formations, all that kind of thing. The level of competition was
competitive for him. I think he's taken another step here in training camp.
He's another kid that has been out there every day. He's been durable. He's
been consistent in terms of his effort, his toughness and his availability
in practice. He's continued to get better because he's worked hard. I think
Eric [Mangini] has done a good job with him. Even though he's from Williams
and Eric is from Wesleyan, they've found some common ground outside of
that. Anyway, I think he's picked up a lot of things. He's got a long way to
go. I'm not saying he's a finished product, but compared to last year he's
significantly further ahead. He's made some plays for us. He's showed up in
the kicking game, and he's made some plays out there in practice. He's a
pretty good-sized kid, a pretty good athlete, and he's smart.
Q: Given the speed of guys in the NFL today, do you think anybody could
do what Bob Hayes did? [Wide receiver for the Cowboys who won two gold
medals in track in the 1964 Olympics.]
BB: I don't know, maybe, depending on what their background was. Hayes,
[Renaldo] Nehemiah, guys like that ... if a kid had any kind of a football
background, or he could adapt to it, you might have something. Take guys
like Steve Neal or [Michael] Jennings, guys we have on our team that didn't
really have a good football background prior to coming here, [they] have
been competitive. I wouldn't really rule it out, but I think it would depend
on the specific background of each kid or, if he didn't have a good
background, how quickly he could adapt to it.
Q: If the agent for one of those types of kids came to you and asked you
to take a look, would you be intrigued if the athlete was really fast?
BB: Again, I think we would have to evaluate the whole situation. When you
take a player, you take everything with the player. You get his speed. You
get everything else, too. It could be good. It could be not so good,
depending on what it is. You look at the whole thing and decide whether
that's something you're interested in or not. When we looked at Steve Neal,
you see a big guy who is a good athlete, but there is a lot more to it than
that in terms of his work ethic, his intelligence, his balance, his
durability, so forth and so on. You go right down the line, and you either
decide if you're comfortable with that situation or you're not. Believe me,
we see plenty of fast guys. I'm not saying they are all gold medal winners,
but the difference between a guy running 9.82 and 9.89 is still pretty fast,
probably faster than a lot of guys that we have out there. That doesn't make
them all good football players, and that doesn't make them all guys that you
would necessarily want to go through the process with. The one thing about
track guys that you really have to take a look at is just their ability to
change directions laterally. They can run fast. They can be the fastest guys
in the world for whatever their distance is, but there's only a certain
amount of football that is played in a straight line. A lot of football is
played with a change of direction or two. If we're talking about guys that
are fast, can change directions quickly and have some size and are tough,
now we're talking.
Q: Is there anyone on the roster that you would move to safety in an
emergency?
BB: It would depend on what the situation was. If you're talking about
finishing a game, that's one thing. If you're talking about going 16 games
with him, that's probably a different story. At this point, I think what our
depth is at safety, it is what it is. I think our depth at corner is that we
pretty much need those guys at corner. I'm not sure that we would have gone
through the whole exercise with Eugene [Wilson] this year if we hadn't had a
background with it last year. He's already so far along in playing both
positions that it isn't that big of a deal. I think that those guys are
pretty well set in where they are. When you play a position in the
secondary, again, Eugene is a unique situation, but when you go to your
multiple defensive back situations, your nickel and your dime situations,
when your corners move inside from outside, essentially they become
linebackers. When your safeties move from playing safety and they are the
fifth or sixth guy and they play close to the line, they're playing
linebacker. When you start getting into safety and linebacker
responsibilities or corner and linebacker responsibilities, there's a lot on
that plate now. There are a lot of things that, when they go to that
linebacker spot, that comes into their job responsibilities, their job
description, that is not in there at corner or safety. It's a whole new
ballgame. So, playing an inside, when I say inside, not a perimeter position
or not a deep position, but playing those inside nickel and dime spots in
sub defense, that's really like playing another position. It's like playing
linebacker in a lot of respects, in all the blitzes, in a lot of the zone
matchups underneath. If it's straight man-to-man coverage, that's not too
bad. The techniques are a little bit different, but that's not too bad. But
when you start getting into all the zones and getting into all the blitzes,
now the guy is learning to play linebacker. That in itself is a big, big
step. When we talk about who can play those positions, that's almost like
going from corner to safety. It's going from one of those spots to
linebacker, and then that's really how you have to balance out your
secondary. You have so many guys that can play outside, so many guys that
can play deep, and so many guys that can play those inside positions, and
you have to have enough guys to be able to play in there so you can match
up. If they're a team that uses four wide receivers, you're probably going
to want to have corners be able to do that. If it's a team that plays three
receivers and a tight end or three receivers and a couple backs, then a lot
of times the guys you want down in there are going to be more of a
safety-type of an athlete than a corner who is going to be covering the big
tight ends or have to get involved a lot in the running game with a couple
of backs, with lead backs, and that kind of thing like linebackers would
do. That's really where you get stretched on that one, and that, to me,
really is like playing a whole new position. By the time you get through
covering all that, that usually gets to about the end of the road. |
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