Andy Reid explained how Jon Runyan fell on his but in the training room and missed practice because his tailbone is sore. Jon should be able to go on Sunday and so should William Thomas. Thank God we're not ready for more Winston Justice.
Head Coach Andy Reid Press Conference
10-19-07
Injuries:
“[TE] L.J. Smith did not practice today and is listed as doubtful. [RT] Jon Runyan did not practice today. He hurt his tailbone. He slipped and landed on it in the tub in the training room, so we just held him out. He should be ready to go for the game.”
Opening Remarks:
“We look forward to the challenge of playing the Chicago Bears, the reigning NFC champs. Again, as I mentioned on Wednesday, they’re a very fast football team defensively, and their offense has continued to get better each week with big plays down the field the last few weeks. Their special teams is second to none with [KR/PR Devin] Hester back there as a returner.”
On whether Runyan was sore this morning:
“Yeah.”
On whether Runyan was more sore than expected:
“When it happened he was sore, and this morning when he woke up it was sore. It wasn’t an increase in soreness, or decrease.”
On when Runyan slipped:
“It happened after practice yesterday. He was going in the cold tub, and he slipped. It’s a long way down to that tailbone.”
On how he decided FS Brian Dawkins was ready to return to practice yesterday:
“We just wanted to ease him back in there. He’s feeling better. First we had to see if wearing the helmet would bother him, so we tested him out the last couple of days before putting him out there. He felt comfortable with it on, so we took the next step getting him out doing some football things. He’s been staying after practice and doing drills with Otis Smith. We felt like he was far enough along where he could get in, as long as he didn’t have any pain there.”
On whether Dawkins will play on Sunday:
“He won’t play this game.”
On how you gauge when Dawkins will be able to return:
“First of all, we have to make sure that he’s injury free when we put him in that situation and that he doesn’t have any pain. So, that’s what we’re going through now. When he feels like he has his full strength back, and we’re comfortable putting him back in, he’ll have the contact and we’ll try to ease him back into that in game situations. We’ll see how he does this next week, and maybe he can get himself in there.”
On whether LT William Thomas is expected to play on Sunday being that he practiced today:
“Yeah, he felt pretty good today.”
On how far off the offense is from where he wants it to be:
“We’re obviously gaining a lot of yards; we just have to tighten some things up in the red zone. We’re going against a very good defense this week, so it’s going to be a good challenge for us. We’ve got to do a better job there.”
On whether he paid more attention this week to working on the red zone offense:
“You want to do better, as coaches, at putting your guys in as good a position as you can. Is it more than what we’ve done in the past? No, not necessarily. We’ve got to make sure that we put our guys in a good position. When we have opportunities, you don’t want to have penalties on plays, and touchdowns taken away. That’s not a good thing. We just have to do a little better of a job as coaches and players.”
On how he feels about the defensive players holding meetings on their own:
“I think it’s great. The more the players are together, and the more film they watch, [the better]. The coaches introduce it to them, and then the players are expected to take it to the next level. Not all players and not every team does that. I think it’s a great thing that [FS] Brian [Dawkins] has done with that.”
On what rookie DE Victor Abiamiri can bring to the team:
“We’ll see. He hasn’t had an opportunity to do it. We think he’s a good young player who has some pass-rush ability, and at the same time he’s strong enough that he can defend against the run.”
On whether S Quintin Mikell will play on special teams:
“We’ll see. We’ll see as we get into the game.”
On whether they focus more in practice when they are going to play against a guy like WR/KR Devin Hester:
“To a point. He’s a pretty dynamic player. He’s doing things that other people aren’t doing right now in the league. You might use a little different strategy than you normally would.”
On whether fatigue becomes a factor with a young player like DT Brodrick Bunkley:
“He’s rotating enough where I don’t think it will. But, you look at him like you would a rookie, as far as that part goes. He’s never had to play through a whole season.”
On whether he has noticed Bunkley fatigue at all during any of the games:
“No.”
