Q: Any updates on Marvin Austin?A: He's not "go" today again, I guess.
Q: How did that happen?A: Just normal strain. He'll be back soon, I hope. I hope he's here Wednesday.
Q: What's wrong with Lawrence Tynes?A: Just the non-kicking leg and I think they're being protective more than anything else.
Q: Is it not a surprise that Marvin Austin got hurt this early in camp since he hasn't played in a while?A: I really don't think there's any correlation. It's something that happened. I don't think it's going to keep him down for long. It's soft tissue and you've just got to keep going.
*Q: After you lose a guy like Barry Cofield, what's the level of concern with your young defensive tackles? *A: Well the level of concern is they're going to have to pick up the pace. They know what the numbers are and no matter what the rotation is, whether it's 4 and 3 or 3 and 4, they've all got to play and they've all got to contribute. You don't want them missing any time obviously but it's not only the time on the field but it's the time just being here, learning the Giant culture. All of those things are important.
Q: Are you looking for two guys to replace one at defensive tackle?A: Well Barry is an outstanding football player and we hope that these guys will be the same. I see flashes of that kind of ability and we just have to continue to develop.
Q: Sash was mixed in with the first team. What have you seen from him?A: He's done a nice job. He's been physical and he's been very quick to react. His angles have gotten better in the secondary. He's had a couple of interceptions, been on all our special teams. He's actually been a fullback on the punt team, which is a pretty good job for a young guy.
Q: The consistency that you had on the offensive line for so many years, is that really a luxury? Do most teams not experience something like that?A: Well that develops over time. When they get to know each other well and they communicate well. I look and see guys like Beatty who have been around here for long enough to be able to communicate with Diehl. Diehl has kind of taken him under his wing in terms of the communication process. The right side is the right side. Snee and McKenzie worked together for quite some time. We've got to get David Baas involved in probably being a little bit more vocal and he's trying to get comfortable and each day he practices more and more and I can see it coming. It'll be there. It'll develop.
Q: Have there been any issues with the center-quarterback exchange?A: I think right away we saw a couple but I think it had more to do with the perspiration than it was anything else.
Q: Your thoughts on David Carr so far?A: David's had a few snaps and worked some. A little bit rusty with our system but getting there. Starting to feel more comfortable each day.
Q: Was Kenny Phillips hurt or did Tyler Sash earn those reps with the first team?A: Kenny's fine. We just cut back his reps a little bit last night.
Q: With all of the injuries so far, is "opportunity" the right word for a lot of these guys here in camp?A: That's the way it has to be looked at. It is an opportunity. If you just play a position and something happens at that position, whether there's a player here or not, take full advantage of it. This is what it is. This is the NFL as we know it today. Players that make up their mind that this is what they want, make it a priority, willing to sacrifice, willing to pay the price, they can be a part of it.
Q: Is Andre Brown the same player you drafted?A: He's faster. To me, he looks faster. He looks faster. I think all his issues with his legs are past and he does look, to me, he looks more explosive.
Q: He got drafted in the fourth round right?A: He did. In the time he was away he got faster.
Q: Are any of the rules changes this year significant?A: Defenseless player. You better know what you're doing with a defenseless player. What you can hit, where, who is a defenseless player. The additions of, for example, the running back that's held up. One of the problems with all that is we didn't always get a whistle but we're supposed to get a whistle now. A whistle will stop a lot of that but there are certain situations that the players are unfortunately now, without a lot of football, this preseason is going to have to be a big learning experience, in my opinion, in that regard because there's semantics that go with the understanding of this and of course different parts of the anatomy involved too. I would say that that's going to take some adjustment.
Q: Justin Tuck told us this weekend that his mind misses the two-a-days but his body doesn't. Are there any advantages to this new schedule?A: Well I'll give you an advantage. The correction part of this thing is much greater than it's ever been before. You're always, in two a days, in a hurry to get to the next, in a hurry to get to the next and I don't think sometimes we do as good a job as we possibly could with the correction part of it. So there isn't any question and I've charted them and between the walk-throughs, the jog-throughs, the separates in practice; we're having, offensively, we're averaging about 104 snaps a day and defensively 118 so you're getting, for example on defense, almost twice as many reps as you're getting on the practice field. So if you really understand what I'm telling you, as I say to the players, if you understand that it's 3-to-1, 4-to-1, whatever you want to say with the number of reps, the mental part of it to the physical with this new CBA, then you understand and can apply yourself so you don't walk out to a jog-through with your mind a million miles away because it is your opportunity to learn, to understand. There's different ways to learn. A lot of guys are not great in the classroom but if you take them out and they can visualize it, they look at a tape, they go in the jog-throughs and they walk through it or jog through it, they see it, they learn it. So, I think there's the advantage.
Q: When you talk about 104 and 118 how does that differ from last year?A: More of it's on the field. Much more on the field snaps.
Q: So they're the same numbers?A: No they're not the same numbers because you didn't get the same amount of jog-throughs. You were practicing. You were doing more with your classroom and your separates were about all you got. Occasionally we would convert a classroom session into a jog-through but in this case we've got the time to do that.
Q: Ayanga Okpokowuruk played in the arena league during the lockout. Do you a difference in him this year?A: I don't know how to compare that in terms of exactly what he would've experienced in the arena league although I do have an idea of how the game is played there. Athleticism, quickness, speed; all those things are critical. He'll just apply that to what's going on here.
Q: Other than that do you see improvements?A: We'll see. I've seen some good things and I've seen some things that have been ok.
Q: Saturday's game is fast approaching. Is this the most challenging situation you've had for a first preseason game based on the amount of time you had to prepare?A: Well it's, again, 11 practices and play a game, and you like to be able to play as many people as you can. Organizationally, we are probably not as far along as you would like to be. Some of this stuff they have to pick up on the fly. Hopefully, it's just an opportunity to go out and play, relax and play the game. We can get the maximum out of that in terms of seeing what the real football player's like not all tied up in, oh my gosh if step with this foot, that's what the problem is. Last year going into the first game we probably had 23 practices, or maybe 20 practices. This year we have 11.
