9/4/2002 - Football
Navy Football Press Conference Wednesday, September 4
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Q. What can you tell us?
A. About what? It?s a nice day. There are a lot of boats out there on the bay. I thought practice went a little better. It was a normal week. Tuesday there?s a lot of learning going on, Wednesday it improves, hopefully tomorrow you polish it up and get ready to play.
Q. You guys looked like you were raising the intensity a little bit coaching wise. Was that to just get them in game mode?
A. I don?t think so. I think you coach the way you need too. If their intensity is up and they are going pretty hard, you don?t have to be intense. We need to understand the goal line is an important place on both sides of the ball. Defensively you better run your butt to the ball and offensively get your pads down and score. When you have a 235-pound back, I mean, the guys we are playing will be just as fast or faster then he is. He needs to hit it up there with his pads down.
Q. Little easier this week preparing because you don?t have to go on the road?
A. No, it?s not any different. Hopefully the home crowd will be the difference. Hopefully we will get the Brigade behind us and the hometown folks behind us and make this place a home field advantage.
Q. Are you excited about the fact it?s your first home game?
A. I?m excited to play every week. If you don?t get excited, you ought not to coach. I think what you have to do is you have to temper it until you get closer to game time. You can?t run around like your hairs on fire seven days a week.
Q. Talk a little bit about Philip Rivers and have you done anything different to prepare for him?
A. He?s a great player, he makes things happen. I think he would try to throw that thing in a coke bottle. He?s not afraid to throw it and it works out for him. We didn?t do anything different to get ready for him then you would for another quarterback, you just have to understand that he?s a great player and he?s going to make plays. Your probably not going to shut him down, you just have to try and slow him down.
Q. What?s the biggest challenge for your secondary?
A. Covering their receivers. I mean, it?s like that every week, it?s not going to be any different. We have to get some pressure on the quarterback; you can?t cover guys all day. It?s a team effort. If they are throwing the ball successfully it?s not just the secondary. It?s everybody involved.
Q. You had a lot of success running the ball outside against SMU, will that maybe open up Kyle a little bit up the middle?
A. It depends on how defenses play. We?ll know after two series probably. A lot of it depends on how they are playing the option and who is taking whom. I?ve never worried about that. Hopefully the guy they are not taking will run the ball, whether it?s the fullback, the quarterback or the pitch. It really doesn?t matter to us whose got it if were doing it right.
Q. Were you pleased with the way Eric Roberts played on Saturday?
A. Yeah, I thought Eric played hard. He did some really good things in the game and was very productive. He made some nice plays for us. He?s one of the guys that we have that has good ability.
Q. On that note there were four guys who played well against SMU that were on the JV last year. Do you find that interesting-Smith, McClarin, Roberts and Eckel?
A. I wasn?t here last year so I really don?t know.
Q. Do you think these guys just all of a sudden developed in a year?
A. I wouldn?t know. I wasn?t here. It would be crazy for me to try and tell you why the coaches last year did what they did. I don?t know. All I know is that when we came in the spring we evaluated everybody new and they were pretty good players and we decided to play them.
Q. Has Coach Green been able to give you guys a little bit of help since he formerly coached at NC State?
A. I mean yeah he can tell us that they run fast, I can see that on film. He can tell us their pretty good. I already knew that. We know how they?re going to line up.
Q. Do you think you guys will have to throw more this week, because NC State is going to be a lot quicker?
A. I don?t know, it might make you not want to throw as much if they were faster then you wouldn?t it? I mean I don?t know. We?ll just have to see. We?ll go in and try to do whatever it takes to win the game.
Q. What stands out in your mind the most about last week?s game?
A. I thought we played with great effort. I thought we played with great effort all the way around. The kids played really hard. We created some turnovers and we took advantage of them and that?s the way you play, you play as a team.
Q. How did you think Craig played?
A. I thought Craig played well last week. He can play better, just like everybody can, but he made some plays for us and for the most part he did a nice job of taking care of the ball which is really important.
