December 3, 2009

Redskins Park



Redskins Head Coach Jim Zorn




On injuries:

“Today Albert Haynesworth was limited. I think he is looking better and better as we go along here. [Justin] Tryon was limited with his hip pointer, but he’s going to work in. I think he will be ready to play. We had Mike Sellers go this morning and his ankle stiffened a little bit so we just backed him off this afternoon. He was very limited. DeAngelo [Hall] did a lot of footwork drills, but did not participate in practice. He was just off to the side working with the trainers, trying to get any kind of stability or lateral movement. I think he’s doubtful.”



On the NFL’s new concussion policy:

“I think that’s fair. I really do. The rule really applied to a guy like Fred Smoot last week. There was a perfect opportunity – because Fred really wanted to go back in – but when you looked at him and kind of observed him, you could see that it just wasn’t all together where a guy is bright and upbeat and all that kind of stuff. He was a little lethargic, so we kept him out. I think it’s a great safety issue for the league.”



On the importance of a pass rush against Drew Brees and the New Orleans offense:

“It’s really important. It really wouldn’t matter who it was, but it just happens to be the top team – if you will – in the National Football League. So I think everybody will be motivated to play and give our best effort on Sunday.”



On how hard Drew Brees makes it on the secondary:

“It really is hard, and I’ll tell you how he makes it [hard]. He’s just going to throw the ball in there when a guy is covered. You have to have the best possible position, and you have to be active when the ball gets there. That’s the challenge of playing against Drew Brees this year. He’s playing really lights out. He’s kind of an in your face QB right now. He’s throwing the ball when a receiver is covered by a DB in an excellent way. If the DB is not active when the ball gets there, the ball is caught.”

On if he confers with the Redskins defensive coaches on some knowledge of Gregg Williams’ tendencies:

“What we try to do is get ourselves ready. We’ve got an offense that has been working and trying to look at each defense from our standpoint of what we do. We can talk over lunch and things like that and say, ‘hey, what do you think,’ and there are always conversations going back and forth, but they have to get ready as well as we do, but there’s only so much time during the week.”





Secondary Coach Jerry Gray



On Drew Brees:

“Well I knew Drew when he played in high school, he played high school right there in Austin. He was a really good football player. Everyone always tended to underestimate him because nobody in the state of Texas recruited him. That’s why he left the state and went to Purdue - but we’re not going to hold that against him. Drew is a great guy. You see him making tough throws, really accurate even on the move. He’s always done that. He’s real smart. I think they have done a great job of putting a lot of guys around him that can make tough catches. He can throw the ball up to big wideouts, or he can throw it on time. Then you give him Reggie Bush and that just adds to what he can do.”



On how difficult it is to defend against Drew Brees:

“The thing you have to do is that you can’t just sit back there and play zone. You can’t just play man the whole time. It makes you basically play a strategic game. You have to try to get him to guess what you are doing. I think if you can get him a little bit off rhythm, that may give our guys a chance to get there.”



On if the New Orleans offense is better this year than the previous two years:

“Of course. Those guys almost have NFL records in every category right now. You don’t see the receivers catching a lot of balls, but you see everyone catching a lot of balls. I think that’s what makes them more dangerous because you can’t just say, ‘Well Reggie Bush is going to do this.’ Because now you have two other backs that can run the ball downhill and catch the ball through the screens. Those guys make real tough runs after the catch. I think you have to be really sound on defense. You can’t make any mistakes or those guys will make you pay for it. I think New England made one mistake and all the sudden 75 yards later, there’s a touchdown. It happens about that fast.”



On the importance to being a disciplined defense this week:

“To me, you have to be very disciplined. We have to make sure that Drew [Brees] is not throwing the ball on time. I think that is where he does a lot of damage. When he can drop back, pass the ball, and get it out of his hands – there is no one better in the league right now. We may be looking at the league MVP. You have a guy like that who is making a lot of plays. They are undefeated and they have a lot of confidence because they’re making plays and throws that you will see other teams that are losing don’t get those catches. Their big wide receivers are going up and taking the ball away from defensive backs.”



On New Orleans having the fifth-ranked rush offense:

“That is why they are No. 1 [total offense], it is not just one-sided. I think a lot of times, like when Reggie [Bush] wasn’t there in previous years they kind of went down in the run game. Nothing against Reggie, but those guys (Pierre Thomas and Mike Bell) are very good. Those are the two guys coming down hill. They are trying to punish defenders who hit them. The thing we’ve got to do is you’ve got to be sound in the run and the pass now. To me, the big thing you’ve got to do is stop the run, don’t let Drew [Brees] really get in rhythm to throw the football. I think if we can do that we will be a lot better team on Sunday.”



On whether the Redskins can stop the run with a seven-man front:

“You can stop it with eight, six. I mean you’ve got to do some tricks to do it though.”



On whether the run defense has not been as effective as he had hoped:

“When Albert [Haynesworth] is not in there it hurts us a little bit. Because now they’ve got to pay attention to what Albert is going to do, they’ve got to double-team Albert on a pass down. It creates a little more problems for them too. That’s a good thing Albert is going to play this week. Now you can look around and say ‘ok, what are they going to do with Albert?’ If that is the case, ‘what are you going to do with Brian [Orakpo]?’ ‘What are you going to do with [Andre] Carter?’ Now we’ve kind of got our d-line back intact and we’ve got pass rushers and guys that can stop the run. It makes us a little more dangerous.”





Redskins Player Quotes




Running Back Rock Cartwright



On Saints quarterback Drew Brees possibly being the best quarterback in the NFL:

“Right now I got, hands down, Drew Brees MVP of the league. He is playing exceptionally well right now. He knows the offense like the back of his hand and he is playing great - hands down MVP.



On if he is astonished by the kind of numbers Drew Brees is putting up this season:

“I don’t look at his numbers, I just watch the game. I see how hard he plays and how smart he is and how he makes the right decisions. You can’t ask more than that from a quarterback.”



On if there is pressure to score points this weekend because the Saints have such a high scoring offense:

“We know it is going to be a tough game. We got to control the ball, keep the chains moving, score points and try to keep their offense off of the field.”



On what it would do for the team’s confidence to get a win over the Saints:

“It would be great just to get a win against any team, but a team that is 11-0, coming in here and playing with a lot of confidence it would be exceptionally exciting. It is going to be a tough game but we are going to bring our A game. Hopefully we can get a win.”



Defensive End Jeremy Jarmon



On his season-ending knee injury:

“It’s definitely disappointing. It’s a setback for me. I’m going to recover. I’m going to come back stronger. I know that. I love to play football so I’m excited about my return.”



On if he has ever had a knee injury:

“Yes, my freshman year at Kentucky. I missed about six or seven months. I know it’s going to be a long recovery process, but I’m up for it. I’m optimistic. I’m looking forward to it as much as I can be.”



On if the injury will affect his ability to get stronger in the offseason:

“No, absolutely not. My lower body strength was never something that was a concern. I’m going to use this time off to get stronger in my upper body and just continue to work on some other things.”



On if he knew it was a serious injury when it happened:

“Sometimes I’m a bit too optimistic, but when I got up I knew something was wrong. I came to the sidelines, did some stretches, did some high knees, ran around a little bit and I knew something was wrong. I just didn’t know the extent.”





Defensive End/Linebacker Brian Orakpo



On New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees:

“He’s one of the elite quarterbacks in the league right now. He’s putting the ball where it needs to be, scoring a lot of touchdowns and really leading that offensive unit. You’ve got to respect that. He’s been doing his thing for awhile and he’s finally getting the recognition.”



On all of the Saints’ offensive weapons:

“It makes it very difficult. When we watch film, it’s not just one guy they’re getting the ball to. You may think it’s [Marques] Colston all the time, but they have a lot of threats that they spread the ball to with all the receivers and running backs and Reggie Bush in the flats. They’ve just got so many different weapons, we need to be prepared for it.”



On how to disrupt Drew Brees:

“You’ve got to get in his face. We’ve got Albert [Haynesworth] up this week, able to get some great pushes and keep our ends hot. Dre (Andre Carter) and I are able to get on the edges and be productive again. We’ve been missing that presence inside to flush these quarterbacks out. Albert’s back and everybody’s getting back healthy to where we can really be productive on the defensive line.”