Head Coach Bobby Petrino
Q: Are there any players back who you didn’t expect back today?
A: “There was nobody who we didn’t expect back. Rod Coleman took a lot of reps and Jonathan Babineaux got in there and did some individual work. He took a couple of reps in the team portion. I think it was particularly good to see Rod because I thought he was really pushing hard.”
Q: Do you think this could be the week that Rod Coleman plays?
A: “It looks like he really has a shot at it and we’ll see how the rest of the week goes. In his mind, he’s definitely going to play and you could see that out there today.”
Q: Can you talk about Wayne Gandy going on injured reserve?
A: “That was hard on everybody and there was no question about that. He’s been in the league for a long time and he’s done a great job for us. He’s really helped the offense and provided the leadership for them. He’ll let the knee settle down for a while and then he’ll get the operation in about a week.”
Q: What is the status of Todd Weiner?
A: Weiner re-injured his knee in the game (last Sunday). They went in this morning and had it scoped. They are giving us a timetable of two to six weeks. We’re hoping he is back in the earlier time slot, but we’ll just have to wait and see.”
Q: Talk about two new tackles going against a solid New York Giants defensive front.
A: “They are looking forward to the challenge and that’s a good thing. Renardo Foster will be in there at the left tackle and Tyson Clabo will come in at right tackle. He’s been working hard at that for over a month now and I think he’s really improved. We’ll have Quinn Ojinnaka as the swing guy backing both positions up.”
Q: Is Byron Leftwich now the No. 2 quarterback?
A: “Yes. He worked with the twos today. We watched the video of the game this morning and one of our periods was just offense against defense. He took a few more reps in that period.”
Q: How do you redesign the offense to go with the strengths you have?
A: “We are a work in progress with our running game. We’re working hard at it and we felt that we were making big strides following the Carolina and Houston games. We took a step back last week. Our guys are working hard out here again today.”
Q: How does your offense change with a drop-back quarterback?
A: “You don’t have as many guys staying on the backside, so you have more guys running to the ball. You utilize more misdirections.”
Q: What’s the mentality of the team coming off of a tough loss?
A: “It was a tough loss and there is no question about it. We felt like we had 10 to 12 opportunities to win the game. The defense came up with a lot of big plays with five turnovers. When you watch the video, the effort was good and there were a lot of good performances. That makes it hard when you play like that and you don’t win. Our guys will be back. Everyone was a little down today and they’ll start getting back tomorrow. By Monday, we’ll be ready to go.”
Q: How would you handle freezing the kicker in a game-winning situation?
A: “Use every timeout you have and get the ice bucket out. The spirit of the game is to win it. Everyone is going to do it. As long as they have that rule, teams are going to do it.”
Q: What do you see in the team this season that makes you believe you can be a contender?
A: “I’ve seen improvement each week. I think our defense has played well. We’ve been working hard on the turnovers coming and we got them last week against Tennessee. We really have to put it all together. The offense performances we had against Carolina and Houston with the defense we had against Tennessee. Our special teams is getting better and I’m encouraged with the way it has improved.”
Q: How is this practice week different?
A: “It’s a little different because we had Monday off. Tuesday they worked out in the community and they weren’t in here. That was good because they needed a two-day break. Today’s practice was short. They got out and got the blood flowing and the regular work week will start tomorrow.”
