(It looks like Favre will play for the Vikings after all. How does that strike you?)
It's fine. I don't know how much to speculate. Quite frankly, I haven't received any inside information, any more than what you guys have. But we're still focused on getting our team ready for this weekend, and certainly getting them ready for the first game against Chicago. If in fact that is the case, there'll be plenty of time to focus in on that.
(Does he make them a better team?)
I'm going to defer all those questions.
(With Justin Harrell's latest setback, do you fear his career could be in jeopardy?)
No, I don't think anybody's talking in those terms. That's not what our guys say on the medical end. I'm sure it's very frustrating for him. That's the kind of thing, I've never really had a bad back, but people tell me when you have one it's kind of debilitating, everything hurts, that sort of thing. But no, our medical people aren't talking in those terms.
(What are they saying? Have they pinpointed what's wrong?)
I don't know if I can get very specific. I'm not knowledgeable enough to do it. It's just that my conversations with our medical people have led me to believe that they don't think it's over and done.
(Do they feel like they can treat it?)
Yeah, I think so. Sure.
(With Clay missing so much time, have you gotten a chance to really evaluate him?)
I think he was performing very well. I think he is a good, natural football player and we're trying to be extra cautious. We want to see if we can get this thing over and done with and get him back out there so he can stay out there. I know he is frustrated about it and I'm sure our coaches would like to see him out there, but we have confidence that he is a good football player.
(What have you seen from B.J. Raji so far, and how do you balance getting him back quickly but not asking him to do too much too soon?)
With all of the guys that we took off of one status or another yesterday, I think you have to be careful. As much as you want to just throw them back in and let them dive in the deep end, you have to come to grips with the fact that everybody else is two weeks ahead of them as far as being in pads and going through the rigors of practice. We want to expose them to it. We want to be smart in terms of how much exposure. We want to, if we can, avoid those third and fourth day of training camp blues where things kind of break down on you. That's the reason we are approaching it this way. They are all anxious to do more, but we're going to continue trying to do this smartly.
(What have you seen so far from the punters, and how confident are you that one of those two can be the guy when the season starts?)
I feel pretty good about them, especially I think the last couple of weeks. I think the start of training camp was a little tough but those guys, I don't know how much you all watch them, we pay a lot of attention to them. I think their performance in pre-game, because that's a little bit more of a focused situation, and prior to the start of the cancelled scrimmage, and in practice recently. We think they both have performed pretty well. We think it's a pretty good competition. Obviously we would like to see a little bit more.
(As an old special teams guy, what do you think of Spencer Havner?)
Yeah, we think he is an interesting guy because of his versatility. He has played on our special teams in the past. He has been primarily a backup linebacker in the past. We are asking him to do a few more things. It's cross-training. It's done around the league from time to time. I think you have to be careful who and when you do it. But I think this helps his ability to be of certain value to the team, and we'll see how it all works out. We're asking a lot of him, but we think he's a very smart kid and a pretty good football player.
(Does he remind you of you at all as a special teamer?)
I hope not. I hope he is much better than I. I couldn't have played tight end. I couldn't have practiced as a tight end. I was barely able to practice as a linebacker. I was a go-getter though.
{sportsad300}(With the first game, would you say the 3-4 defense is ahead of schedule?)
I don't know ahead of schedule. I'm not sure we had a schedule. I think we are doing OK. Everybody is getting a taste of it. We haven't had any crucial, crucial injuries yet. I think our players are pretty excited about what we might be able to do.
(With Finley's experience level and age, did you expect some growing pains with him and are you starting to see the guy you projected when you drafted him?)
It's hard to predict in terms of growing pains or how fast someone can jump into the fray and do certain things. We certainly think he is a very talented player, and we've only scratched the surface I think. He did a nice job blocking the other night and he is obviously a threat as a vertical guy down the field and making matchup problems for linebackers. So we like what we have seen so far.
(From a personnel standpoint, would you hesitate to bring someone in who missed all of the offseason program and training camp?)
I think it would depend on the circumstance.
(What if it's a veteran quarterback who has a pliable relationship with commitment?)
You guys just try to get me in trouble.
(How has the face of the division changed in terms of the quarterback position?)
There will be different faces. This division, those that of us that are in it and you guys that cover it, know that this is a tough division and it always is no matter who is playing quarterback for who. These are tough rivalry games and I would expect it to be that again, and it probably has been so since there has been an NFC North.
