Friday Media Transcript: Head Coach Pat Shurmur

Head Coach Pat Shurmur -- December 14, 2018

Q: Odell (Beckham Jr.)?
A: Not out here. He’s out. He won’t play this week.

Q: Rhett (Ellison)?
A: Yeah, he was out here practicing. He’s ready to go.

Q: He will play?
A: Yes. I’d like to avoid, we’re starting to go down that path to talking about injuries a bunch, just let the report show what it does. He’ll be ready to go.

Q: What do you think of the job of some of your veteran receivers? How important is it to have those veteran receivers when Odell is out, and the job they’d done? Bennie (Fowler), Russell Shepard, Corey (Coleman)’s not really a veteran, but Bennie and Russell in particular.
A: (Corey) is somewhat veteran. Yeah, it’s important. Any position when you have an injury or a player’s missing, the guys need to step up and I think they’ve done that. It could be said for anybody that’s missing. We’ve had linebackers in and out of the lineup, same thing. A couple defensive linemen have moved in and out. Early on, it was the o-line. It’s important that when guys get their opportunities, they make the best of them, and I think that group has done it.

Q: It just seems like when you have a defensive back or linebacker out, you call on Sean Chandler or Grant Haley or Tae Davis, rookie kind of guys, whereas receiver, you actually have some veterans who can step in.
A: Yeah, I think that’s true. It’s just the nature of the roster. Veteran or rookie, when you’re called on, you’ve got to do a good job. They understand, and we talked about it earlier in the week, if you believe that experience matters, and I think we all do, you guys are probably better writers now than when you first started, right? If you believe in experience, then the veteran presence matters.

Q: What have you fallen back on as far as experience going from 1-7 and then winning four of the last five games, what did you use to sort of maintain things?
A: I just stay in the moment. We’ve spoken, or I’ve answered that question a numerous amount of times. I don’t google my name. Although you guys do a great job doing what you do, I don’t listen to it, good or bad. You’ve heard me say it before, Mike Schmidt, you remember what I said? ‘The thrill of victory, the agony of reading about it.’ You just stay away from that and you just stay the course, and I think that’s the message to the players as well. Just keep going, try to make this Friday the best it can be, and then get your energy high, play with some enthusiasm, and let it show on Sunday.

Q: What was it with Odell this week? Did he not make any progress?
A: He just can’t go. No setbacks, just can’t go.

Q: How much does that affect your offense? Obviously, he’s a big piece.
A: Yeah, he’s a very valued member of this team, but the challenge is for the guys playing in his place to do a good job, and it’s a one-game basis, but the guys that did it last week did a good job. So there’s something to be learned from the experience that comes with that.

Q: How much does Sterling (Shepard)’s role actually change? Does he have to play a different spot a lot more?
A: Sterling plays both spots, and there’s plays when we’ll swap it where X plays Z, Z plays X, so they’re all kind of trained in all the spots. He’ll just play where he plays.

Q: How much does the natural progression (change) without Odell. Do you look to target him more?
A: No, we’re just looking to play offense. We’ll call a progression and Eli’s instructed to throw it to the open guy. That’s it. It’s that simple.

Q: You said on Wednesday that Kyle (Lauletta) was going to be your number-two quarterback for now, but that could change. Friday, do you still expect that?
A: Yeah, we still have a couple days, so we’ll see.

Q: Have any determinations regarding (Odell’s) status been made beyond Sunday, or are you just going to come back here Monday?
A: I think it’s a day-to-day thing. It’s been, I guess, reported a lot, he’s got a quad thing going on, so it’s day-to-day.