Ron Turner Quotations

We stand behind the work as fiction and that it's good.

We're looking hard at tight end, and we're looking hard at a slot receiver type of guy. That's exactly the area we're looking at right now.

Most people listen to music and he's listening to me. I feel sorry for him.

Maybe there might have been a couple times when he could have taken a shot down the field, which he'll get. It's a matter of seeing the whole field, and they were disguising a little bit and doing some things he'll pick up.

No, you don't expect this. And it's not just from a rookie. As an offensive team, we didn't get it done today. You don't expect to go out and play like this.

If we get a single safety look, he knows he's going to look to the weak side and he'll have two reads, ... If it's a double safety look with the middle open, now he's going to look to the strong side and go through his progressions one, two, three.

I don't think he's surprised me, but we're real pleased with what he's done. He's kept up especially the last few weeks since he's come back from injury and given us a big boost and we're excited about what that can mean down the road.

He was definitely behind, no question. It's taken him a little while to get going, but to be able to start utilizing everything, we still have a long ways to go.

He saw the field really well, made quick decisions and I thought he threw the ball with really good accuracy, especially down the field.

He did a nice job on that. As soon as we called it, he saw the safety come up and he recognized it.

We've got to have balance. We've got to where we are at right now ? winning the division ? by playing great defense, running the football and protecting the football. Now we need to add the next dimension, which is more big plays in the passing game without sacrificing any of the other three.

He obviously is not going to play this week, and from there beyond that I really don't know.

His ribs were hurt. He's a tough guy. He tried to fight through it, but you could tell he was in a lot of pain. But he needed to rest. He really did, his knee, his ribs everything.

His quickness with getting rid of the football, his quickness with decision making. The normal things that a young quarterback needs to work on.

He's a very tough, hard-nosed player, great run blocker. The attitude and his style of play, he's a real good fit for what we want to do running the football and getting after people. He brings that attitude we're looking for.

We have to be careful. Eventually, yeah, but this is his third week of practice. We've got to be smart with him. We've got to be careful that we don't try to do too much, that we do the things that he knows and feels real comfortable with.

John and Fred did a great job. They did an outstanding job. I thought our backs did a real good job of helping. You're not going to leave (the linemen) blocking them one-on-one all day. The backs have to get involved. You have to change up your protection. You can't just drop back several steps and ask those guys to block them all day. You have to run the football, which is first and foremost with us. And then you've got to change up the looks and the protection.

It all starts with the running game, and we feel great about our depth there.

I think he should be ready to go. He looked better last week in practice and the word I got last week was that he should be fine. He should be ready this week.

I think they're going to concentrate on stopping the run, which is what they do.

John's playing really well. He's been very solid and steady, and if he's not able to go, definitely that's going to hurt a little bit.

That was one of the first plays we wanted to run in short yardage based on what their adjustments were, so we wanted to stick with it.

I was pleased overall with the execution. We have things to clean up (but) I thought all that was pretty good.

We were going to put Cedric in. The only reason we put Adrian in is because it was a nickel situation, and it was a pass-protection deal that he is (more) ready to handle right now. If it was a normal situation, Cedric would have gone in.

We've been doing a lot of good things, especially running the football, protecting the football.

When most people are listening to music, he's listening to me. I feel sorry for him. He definitely has intensified his preparation.

Thomas is running tremendously well and, obviously, that opens up a lot of other stuff. That's a great defense we went against. We were watching film all week, saying, 'What are we going to be able to do?' But our guys accepted the challenge.

The good news is we have plenty of time almost a month, before our opener,

We'll just stick with the formula that got us where we are, which is play great defense, run the football and protect the football. Hopefully we can make some plays when the opportunity is there.

You look at most young quarterbacks, that's what you see. I don't think people appreciate exactly what Kyle has done.

Teams knew we were going to run the ball and they were stacking guys up there. I think that's a credit to our offensive line for doing a real good job for us, being able to run it pretty effectively, and definitely to Thomas. He's done a tremendous job and has all year. He's been very consistent for us.

No question, to me that's a huge part of playing that position is the confidence that your teammates have in you and the intangibles that you bring to the table. I've seen that from Kyle ever since he's got here. I really have ? every time he's gone in and even in practice. He definitely has that.

As coaches you have to be careful. If you talk too much about it, they get uptight and they play not to lose, not to make mistakes. You can't do that. They have to go out and play, yet you have to have focus. If you have that focus, usually you won't hurt yourself.

That was a big jump for Kyle. We challenged him all week about taking care of the football, taking advantage of opportunities, executing the offense and giving ourselves a chance. Let's see how good we are. Let's see what we can do. We made very few mistakes, and that is what it's all about.

There is nothing wrong with punting the ball, and I have made that comment to Kyle a few times. We have a good defense. Punting the ball is not a negative play. A negative play is a sack, a fumble or an interception.

Then he can really zero in on those, and we won't change drastically week to week. You put little wrinkles in, variations. You maybe change the formation but not the concepts.

Every blitz that you'll probably see the rest of the year he saw on Sunday, and he saw them all. He handled it, he saw the field very well, he did a lot of things well, so he'll be able to do more as the season progresses.

That's a big loss. He's quick, explosive, powerful, a good player.

That'll be the toughest thing blocking the pass routes. The running game will come.

Not at all. That was our plan coming in. That is what we said we were going to do on short-yardage situations.

They can dig through that film a whole lot. That is all they got on him.

I just want to see him run the offense, make good decisions, get rid of the ball quickly. I know the physical part will be there, the accuracy, everything else. I know he'll do that. But just to make sure he's focused in and running the offense.

In spite of the fact that these studies have been repeated and that the designs have been modified in a way that has tried to make the studies more valid, we continue to see this disparity in the final results of the study.

But if we can add the dimension of getting the ball down the field and making more plays in the passing game, then we obviously have a chance to be much better and I believe we can do that.

Before we showed him the pictures (on the sideline), he'd tell us what happened.

Hey it's a tough blow. I'm not going to sit here and tell you it isn't. We'll get through it.

I don't know. I think that depends on the individual. That's tough to say.

I don't know if I could say I see him playing the entire game. We have to wait and see how much everybody else is going to play before we make a decision on what Rex is going to do. We could always get him more time. But we have to be smart with it too.

(Because of) all the mental reps that he's gotten all season, sitting in on meetings, taking notes, paying attention and being prepared when he wasn't even out there, there wasn't much of a learning curve. He was rusty the first week, which is to be expected, but after that he looked much more confident.

He's way ahead of somebody who's played 1 1/2 games, but he's not where somebody who's played 15 games would be; he's probably somewhere in the middle. I think it's a credit to the mental approach that he's taken, the approach that he took when he was hurt. And before he got hurt, (he was) working in the off-season to really learn the offense as much as you can without doing it.

You can't give too much away. It'll be a chance for Kyle and the rest of the group to get some work in, and then we'll get a long look at some of our other guys.

The line was one of our biggest strengths we had. Having those guys back is a good thing.