Head Coach Pat Shurmur -- December 5, 2018
Opening Remarks: I’ll start with the obvious, some of the injuries: Lorenzo Carter, he didn’t play in the game; Tae Davis probably won’t participate today, and then we’re all aware of Landon Collins’ situation. He’s got a shoulder injury that most likely will require surgery. That hasn’t one hundred percent been finalized, so he’s going through that process. He’s been trying to get that evaluated for the last couple of days. Evan Engram will be out there in a limited role, B.J. Goodson, Sterling Shepard. You knew about Evan and you knew about B.J., and I think Sterling had ribs from the game. Those are the guys that will be out, or out there, and I can answer any further questions if you have some. Otherwise, getting ready to play the Redskins, second time around, last time was a close game, we just didn’t make enough plays to win and so we’ve got to get that fixed and play against a really good opponent. I’ll take your questions.
Q: Can you elaborate on the timing of Landon? You didn’t seem overly concerned with him on Monday.
A: No, I’m always concerned about anybody that gets banged up. I think I said he was in and out of the lineup. By the time we had spoken on Monday, we hadn’t gotten the final as to what it was.
Q: Just to double check, Olivier Vernon – no worse for wear (after Sunday)?
A: No, he’s not on (the list). He’ll be out at practice today.
Q: What did you make of Landon’s season? I don’t want you to eulogize it, it may or may not be over.
A: Landon displays what he is, he’s a very tough guy, very good tackler, he’s made a lot of plays for us, especially close to the line of scrimmage. I’ve said it numerous times, in a sport where toughness is required, he’s got a lot of it, so that’s what I appreciate about him.
Q: You asked him to do a lot of things in coverage. Was that (one of his skills)?
A: All safeties have to cover. If you play any form of man, then a safety’s either got to cover in most cases a tight end or a (running back), there aren’t many choices beyond that. So we asked him to do that, we play man like every other team, so he’s required to do that.
Q: You said the shoulder (Landon) is still getting evaluated. What’s the breaking point here as to what’s next?
A: What’s next is he won’t be playing this week, he’s out this week. We’ll just have to see moving forward. That’s that, but it’s an injury that potentially could require surgery.
Q: You’ve talked many times about operating parallel, here and now with this game and then the parallel of looking forward. When you look at your offensive line and you said how much better you think they’re playing, the parallel portion of this, is this a group you think that can sustain and be your offensive line?
A: I think so. I think this group has played well together, so when you have a group of guys out there playing well together, then the important thing for them to do is to continue to get better. We’ve got some young players in there, we’ve got some new players, and I think we all understand that between the first time you do something and the second time, there’s huge improvement. That could be said for seasons, too. At some point, Will Hernandez is going to be in the middle of the offseason and he’s going to go, ‘Wow, I played a whole season and I didn’t know what I was doing.’ He’ll have an ‘ah-ha’ moment that will help him, because if you think about it, rookies playing, they really don’t know how this is going to play out. We dumped him into the unknown, and he’s been in there battling and getting better. To answer your question, I think when you have a group of guys that you feel good about working together more and more and more, I think they’ve got a chance to get better, sure.
Q: On team roster building in the offseason: You evaluate people, do you also evaluate how they work with the guys who are here, or do they get evaluated individually?
A: No, this is the ultimate team sport, so a guy obviously has to have the skillset to do his job, but then he also needs to be a good teammate, how he fits on the team. That’s what you’re looking for when you build a team. We’re building a house, and I think everything’s connected. I mentioned it last night on the radio, but everything is connected. We took over a 3-13 operation, we need to learn how to win again. Moving forward next year, and this is not looking toward next year, but moving forward next year, a lot of these same guys are going to be with us – hopefully, most of them. There’s a lot to be learned about battling through adversity at the end of the season and fighting to win games. I think you create a memory bank of stuff that helps you moving forward.
Q: When you look at the Redskins and the injuries they’ve had, how much harder is that for you to evaluate them and try to anticipate what they’re doing because different quarterback, different strengths? How much trickier is it for you?
A: They have elements of what they do, run the ball, play action. They’ll make decisions how they’re going to move forward with the players that they have in there. I was with Mark Sanchez for more than a year, so he’s very capable of leading a team to victory. I watched it happen. They’re going to try to do what Mark can do best, and try to play to the strengths of their team. I know they’ve got probably a soon-to-be Hall of Fame running back, so you can just connect the dots and see what they’ll probably do on offense to compensate for some of the injuries they have.
Q: Have you ever been around a team that’s had two quarterbacks break their leg in the same season?
A: Not that specific injury. I’ve been around teams that have had – one year in Philadelphia, we had Donovan McNabb that went down, Koy Detmer came in and played, blew out his elbow, and then A.J. Feeley came in and won six games for us and kept us alive. I’ve been around situations where you’ve had to play three quarterbacks, but not two legs, I guess, is the point.
Q: Didn’t that happen to you in Minnesota, too?
A: Yeah, not to mention recent memory. We had that. Getting to Case Keenum – you go from Teddy Bridgewater to Sam Bradford to Case Keenum. That overlapped a year, but still nonetheless, and that’s the challenge. It puts a stress on your system, it puts a stress on your team, and you have to really evaluate what you do well and try to play to your strengths.
Q: You’ve talked about what you like in Eli (Manning). Everything you just talked about in the last two questions, the idea that his durability never seems to come up. From your perspective, are you amazed by it?
A: (Knocks on wood) I am amazed by it, but I have an opinion on that that sort of holds true. (This) wasn’t the case with Alex Smith, but a lot of times quarterbacks get banged up running around outside the pocket. Like Colt McCoy, he was running around outside the pocket and clicked legs with Malcolm Jenkins, and that’s not something Eli does. He’s got a lot of other strengths that make him an outstanding player and so the fact that he’s been as durable as he has for all these years is a credit to him.
Q: Mark Sanchez. Obviously, people in New York know a lot about him. What did you learn about him when you were with him in Philadelphia?
A: He’s extremely competitive. He’s an emotional guy, he really gets into it emotionally. He trains extremely hard. My sense is, he’s been one of those guys that’s first in the building, last to leave, always looking, studying. He’s one of those guys that can be able to finish a play call as it comes in. He’s got a good set of legs in terms of being able to move around, boots and nakeds and extending plays from that standpoint, so I think that’s the good in him.
Q: Last week, he didn’t have the whole play book, he’s the third guy. Do you expect this week they’ll get him up to speed more so?
A: Just like RJ McIntosh was, he’s way behind on their system. That’s the reality of it time wise, and so they’re going to try to find a grouping of plays that works against our team that he can execute. That’s the challenge as you put a plan together with a third quarterback.
Q: On Scott Simonson and the job he’s done stepping in with the increased role with Evan out:
A: I’m fond of him for the reasons I’m fond of football players. He’s tough, he’s competitive, he’s resilient, he does everything we ask him to do, and he’s a battler. This is my first experience with Scott. We have guys in the building that have been with him in a previous lifetime, Mike Shula and Dave Gettleman and those guys. It’s their opinion that he’s playing his best ball, so that’s a credit to him.
Q: With Landon, are we talking about a tendon, an AC joint?
A: Shoulder. I’m not going to get into it, it’s a shoulder. I don’t want to misspeak, and as we all know, I’m not a doctor.
Q: How do you replace him?
A: We’re going to do it with the guys that have been playing. (Sean) Chandler will be in there, we still have the guys that have been playing, and we’ll just try to work the next man up.
Q: What do you think of Grant Haley? He saw some extensive work in this game. What is your opinion of him as a player and how he’s coming along?
A: He was a guy that we certainly knew enough about and liked enough to make the team, and then he steadily got better and has had an opportunity to get in there and compete. He’s one of those young guys that is getting better each week, so we’ve got the arrow up on him for sure.
Q: There’s a report that says Landon has decided on surgery and is going on IR. Just want to make sure you said it’s not definitive yet?
A: That’s a fluid thing that’s going on right now. There’s conversations that may be happening right now as I’m up here. Certainly in the event he has surgery, and I may be late to the party because we just finished walk-thru that he was out at, and he may have gone upstairs to speak to Dave, I don’t know – but in the event that he has surgery, then certainly he’ll be on IR.
