Head Coach Steve Spagnuolo-Press Conference
December 5, 2011
(Opening Statement)
“The important issue is, like in previous weeks, has been these injuries, so I’m going to jump right in here and kind of get you updated there. We’ve got a couple things we’ve got to dodge this week, just seems to never end, but the most concerning one is (G) Jacob Bell. He’s got an MCL, grade two, (Head Athletic Trainer) Reggie (Scott) and the trainers are calling it. We might be looking at like a four week injury, so we’ll have to make a decision there. We’ll let you know on that, but that’s a tough one right now. The next one is (QB) A.J. Feeley. I mentioned to you yesterday after the game that I saw him holding his left hand and then the injury report said something about right thumb and I wasn’t sure if it was right or left, well it is his right thumb. He does have a small fracture in his right thumb. Now, we don’t know what we’re sitting on right now. Reggie and the medical staff are researching what it exactly is, what does it mean, can he grab a ball? All those other things. So we’re not really sure until we get through today and probably into tomorrow where A.J. is. Now that’s obviously very concerning based on the situation (QB) Sam’s (Bradford) in right now, so something we’ve got to work through.
“Sam, again, for those that were not there, after the game I did talk immediately about the decision to sit Sam. That was strictly to protect him. He was more than willing to try to go out there and do it. That’s the kind of guy he is. He wanted to be with his team. Reggie, myself, the doctors just felt like we were putting him a little bit at risk, more so than in other weeks and certainly after he came off the injury before. It was a hard thing to do, but we thought it was the right thing to do to protect him. We’re always going to protect the player first.
“(DE) Chris Long got through OK. He’s sore, but he toughed it out. Didn’t practice all week, you guys know, and he got through, he’s sore. (DT) Fred Robbins also has a sore back. That I don’t think I reported to you yesterday, wasn’t really aware of it, but he’s kind of day-to-day. These next batch of guys are probably in that limited area if we were to practice tomorrow, which we’re not. (S) Craig Dahl with a knee, (OL) Adam Goldberg’s got a…he bruised his rib. They’re going to check it. Take an x-ray, MRIs, whatever test whatever test they’re going to do to make sure we’re not sitting on anything real concerning. (P) Donnie (Jones) got through ok with his ankle, Donnie Jones. Hopefully we’ll get (T) Mark LeVoir back and (DE) Eugene Sims you saw hobble off with an ankle. It was just a normal lateral ankle sprain, hopefully he’ll be OK. (DT) Gary Gibson was sick throughout the game. They don’t know if he has ulcer symptoms or what not, but he’s going to be checked. But hopefully we’re OK there. And we should hopefully get (S) Darian Stewart back. There’s other names on here, everything else is pretty much bumps and bruises.
“Just in a nut shell with the game I would just say this, that it’s hard to win in the NFL when you don’t win the turnover ratio and when they generate explosive plays and you don’t. As I looked at all phases of the game and watched it, to me that sticks out and we’re going to have to find a way to do that. We had been generating some takeaways in the prior two or three games and that has helped us. In this particular game we didn’t and we turned it over twice and that, it’s an uphill battle. They had some big chunk plays; I think it was three reserve type plays and two passes that really hurt us. And then we were only able to generate one of those on (WR) Brandon Lloyd’s long pass completion over on the sideline. So to me that’s what kind of sticks out. Other than that we’ll go back to work on Wednesday. We’ve got an extra day here with the Monday night game. Wednesday’s practice will be really light and then we’ll really get into a Wednesday, Thursday, Friday type season starting on Thursday. Thursday we’ll be a Wednesday, Friday will be a Thursday, etcetera, etcetera. So with that I’ll open it up.”
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December 5, 2011
(Opening Statement)
“The important issue is, like in previous weeks, has been these injuries, so I’m going to jump right in here and kind of get you updated there. We’ve got a couple things we’ve got to dodge this week, just seems to never end, but the most concerning one is (G) Jacob Bell. He’s got an MCL, grade two, (Head Athletic Trainer) Reggie (Scott) and the trainers are calling it. We might be looking at like a four week injury, so we’ll have to make a decision there. We’ll let you know on that, but that’s a tough one right now. The next one is (QB) A.J. Feeley. I mentioned to you yesterday after the game that I saw him holding his left hand and then the injury report said something about right thumb and I wasn’t sure if it was right or left, well it is his right thumb. He does have a small fracture in his right thumb. Now, we don’t know what we’re sitting on right now. Reggie and the medical staff are researching what it exactly is, what does it mean, can he grab a ball? All those other things. So we’re not really sure until we get through today and probably into tomorrow where A.J. is. Now that’s obviously very concerning based on the situation (QB) Sam’s (Bradford) in right now, so something we’ve got to work through.
“Sam, again, for those that were not there, after the game I did talk immediately about the decision to sit Sam. That was strictly to protect him. He was more than willing to try to go out there and do it. That’s the kind of guy he is. He wanted to be with his team. Reggie, myself, the doctors just felt like we were putting him a little bit at risk, more so than in other weeks and certainly after he came off the injury before. It was a hard thing to do, but we thought it was the right thing to do to protect him. We’re always going to protect the player first.
“(DE) Chris Long got through OK. He’s sore, but he toughed it out. Didn’t practice all week, you guys know, and he got through, he’s sore. (DT) Fred Robbins also has a sore back. That I don’t think I reported to you yesterday, wasn’t really aware of it, but he’s kind of day-to-day. These next batch of guys are probably in that limited area if we were to practice tomorrow, which we’re not. (S) Craig Dahl with a knee, (OL) Adam Goldberg’s got a…he bruised his rib. They’re going to check it. Take an x-ray, MRIs, whatever test whatever test they’re going to do to make sure we’re not sitting on anything real concerning. (P) Donnie (Jones) got through ok with his ankle, Donnie Jones. Hopefully we’ll get (T) Mark LeVoir back and (DE) Eugene Sims you saw hobble off with an ankle. It was just a normal lateral ankle sprain, hopefully he’ll be OK. (DT) Gary Gibson was sick throughout the game. They don’t know if he has ulcer symptoms or what not, but he’s going to be checked. But hopefully we’re OK there. And we should hopefully get (S) Darian Stewart back. There’s other names on here, everything else is pretty much bumps and bruises.
“Just in a nut shell with the game I would just say this, that it’s hard to win in the NFL when you don’t win the turnover ratio and when they generate explosive plays and you don’t. As I looked at all phases of the game and watched it, to me that sticks out and we’re going to have to find a way to do that. We had been generating some takeaways in the prior two or three games and that has helped us. In this particular game we didn’t and we turned it over twice and that, it’s an uphill battle. They had some big chunk plays; I think it was three reserve type plays and two passes that really hurt us. And then we were only able to generate one of those on (WR) Brandon Lloyd’s long pass completion over on the sideline. So to me that’s what kind of sticks out. Other than that we’ll go back to work on Wednesday. We’ve got an extra day here with the Monday night game. Wednesday’s practice will be really light and then we’ll really get into a Wednesday, Thursday, Friday type season starting on Thursday. Thursday we’ll be a Wednesday, Friday will be a Thursday, etcetera, etcetera. So with that I’ll open it up.”
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