(On Wednesday’s practice)
“Josh Bidwell has an illness. He did not practice today. Derrick Brooks did not practice, although we did get some good news. Hopefully he’ll be available towards the latter part of the week and on Sunday. Gaines Adams, Greg White – or is it Stylez now? Is it officially Stylez White? They did not do much today. They were limited. Jeff Garcia practiced a little bit; he was limited. Jeremy Zuttah was limited. Jovan Haye and Chris Hovan did return to practice, which was encouraging. I’ll answer any questions that I can.”
(On Garcia’s health)
“He looked better. Again, with this injury, it’s going to be a day-to-day situation. We’ll do the best we can to get the next guy ready to go.”
(On who will be the next in line at quarterback if Garcia can’t go)
“We’ll make that announcement if we need to Sunday.”
(On how the preparation is different)
“We just split the reps a little bit differently than we did last week and put the game plan together a little bit differently than we did last week. There’s a lot of things that are different this Wednesday than last Wednesday. You guys know why. We have an obvious injury at the position that is a little bit more serious than, unfortunately, maybe we all thought.”
(On if he has to think ahead to the playoffs in regard to the quarterback situation)
“We’ve just got to win a game. We have to win this game. San Diego has to win this game. We’re going to play our best players, the guys that are healthy. We’ve got a lot of guys, as we already stated, that are nursing injuries and we’ll do the best we can to field our best guys to help us win this game.”
(On Darren Sproles)
“He’s great. He’s a problem. Any time you check the ball down, normally it’s a gain of eight or nine. I’ve seen this guy go 89. He is really fast, he’s a great returner, he’s an impact player and we’ve got to take care of business when he’s in the game, there’s no question about that.”
(On Derrick Brooks’ injury status)
“I feel like he’s improving. You know Derrick – he’s going to find a way to the field. I really have a lot of confidence that Derrick Brooks will be available for the game. At the same time, he’s sore right now.”
(On Adams and White)
“They’re struggling a little bit, but they’re fighting through it and hopefully they’ll be ready to go on Sunday. It’s unfortunate – we missed our two inside guys last week, now we’re a little bit light on the outside, to say the least. But by the end of the week, hopefully we have everybody back.”
(On referring to White as “Stylez”)
“I call him No. 91. I like to just hear that number called – 91.”
(On Brooks playing through injuries)
“Again, I was wrong last week, so I don’t want to predict these things, but we did get good news today. That doesn’t mean he’s going to be out there running around tomorrow, but there is a better chance, at least, that he can play in this game. Knowing Derrick Brooks the way I do and you do, he’ll find a way to get to the field, and chances are he’ll play one of his best games, hopefully.”
(On players struggling to com back after taking a week off)
“For some players it might be. For other players, it might not be the case. Everybody’s different. That’s why they play the games.”
(On Hovan and Haye)
“They looked better. They were full participation. Once again, our Wednesday practices, due to numbers, aren’t what they used to be, But they looked good. I’m very encouraged by what they did and that’s really good news for us.”
(On the San Diego Chargers)
“They’re not 6-8. I’ve got a lot of friends that left messages on my receiver, on my message and said, ‘Watch out for these guys.’ They’re talented. You have rosters, you have programs – they’re a star-studded football team. They’ve lost some heartbreaking games, controversial games also. We know they can score when they have the ball. They have firepower, and defensively, they are very good on the corner with [Antonio] Cromartie and [Quentin] Jammer, and their nose tackle is as good as there is in the league. If you were putting a 3-4 defense together, you’d start with [Jamal] Williams. He’s awesome. He’s a great player. He’s a train wreck in there. Great punter, great field goal kicker and excellent return man. Our players recognize that.”
(On stopping Antonio Gates)
“Stopping San Diego. Gates is going to be everywhere. You’ll see him split out, you’ll see him in a conventional position, and he’s capable of working zones, he’s capable of working against man-to-man coverage and he’s a great receiver when the ball’s in the air.”
(On if the red zone struggles are a function of Earnest Graham’s absence)
“You lose a go-to guy inside the red zone, it’s a problem. It’s hard to replace a guy like that. He scored a lot of touchdowns for us last year. Not that Warrick [Dunn] can’t do it or Cadillac [Williams] won’t do it, but we’ve got to get better. We’ve got to call better plays.”
(On the Chargers’ body clocks being affected by the cross-country trip and time change)
“Their body clocks? I’m not quite sure what that is. You have some tough questions today. You’ve got to play, man. You’ve got to play Monday Night Football, you get a tough loss, you’ve got to go to Atlanta on a short week and you’ve got to play without your starting quarterback. Your body clock or your mental clock or your clock, period has to go off at whatever time the game starts.”