Redskins.com: Quotes From Training Camp, August 11

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Quotes From Training Camp, August 11

08/11/2003

HEAD COACH STEVE SPURRIER

On today’s practice:

“I think we had a pretty good practice. We tried to pick up the tempo a little bit. We had to practice a little tougher and I think we did that today.”

On Patrick Ramsey (QB, #11) today in practice:

“Patrick looked very good. Patrick can stand in the pocket and can throw with courage. He actually played very well the other night. I think he was five for six with three drops, so he ended up two for six. But it sometimes happens that way and we certainly had some chances the other night to do better offensively. I think back to last year at this time, we scored 38 (points) the first game and I think we were probably leading the NFL in offense. So we don’t have to worry about being over-confident right now. We looked pretty bad the other night. Our whole group was not very good.”

On what the team needs to work on after the first preseason game:

“We certainly have a lot to work on, there’s no question about that. It showed itself last Saturday night but again it is preseason and again it’s a practice game. Some people said we took it too seriously last year, but I thought we approached it in a similar manner.”

On Sultan McCullough (RB, #22):

“Sultan ran the ball well. He’s a tough guy, a good runner. He was one of the best free agents probably around. He’s got a good chance to make the team if he continues playing like that.”

On whether he’s disappointed in what they’ve accomplished so far:

“We’re disappointed and we’re embarrassed by the effort level we played with the other night. We didn’t play very tough. Some guys did, but not the whole team. Overall, as a team we’re pretty soft and played with a lot of errors the other night. We’ve got a lot to improve upon, so hopefully we’ll be ready to play this Saturday.”

JAMES CANNIDA (DL, #95)

On whether he believes that he can be a starter:

“Whatever they tell me they want me to do, I’m going to go out there and try my best to get in that situation. Right now, I’ve got to try to catch up because I’m two weeks behind.”

On whether he was surprised he wasn’t in a training camp before coming to Washington today:

“A little bit, but at the same time I had a little bit of an injury bug last year. I thought that might have been why it took so long for me to get picked up.”

On whether he will play against New England on Saturday:

“We’re going to see. I’ve been working out hard, but at the same time it’s not football shape. I have to get used to running around with these pads on and get things going. I’m going to try my best to be ready by Saturday night.”

JESSIE ARMSTEAD (LB, #98)

On what the team is striving for during the rest of the preseason:

“We have no excuses. We have all the things we need in place, and it’s up to the players to create toughness and make plays out there. We have to take it upon ourselves right now to make sure we start building game by game until opening day.”

On the team’s mindset after Saturday’s loss at Carolina:

“A lot of people are worried about what they saw against Carolina. But if you know the game of football, and you go in there and look at the film, it’s one or two mistakes here that created that gap for them to run on us. These are things that you can correct. If it were things that we couldn’t correct, then we’d all be nervous around here.”

On the pros and cons of physical play in training camp:

“You don’t want to beat down your teammates because we need each other to be able to play on Sunday, but this is training camp. Training camp is where you kind of lay down the law on both sides and get the toughness in your team.”

“You can’t afford to beat down your players, not in today’s game. The game has changed. There are times when you are going to have to go out there and hit heads.”

On balancing toughness and discipline as a linebacker:

“You have to be balanced. Being a linebacker, you want to be aggressive but you want to be smart, too. You have to have an aggressive attitude when you play, but you have to have a smart attitude because you have to be able to cover, you have to be able to call the front side and make right-and-left calls. You have to be able to balance yourself.”

CHAD MORTON (RB/KR, #20)

On the physicality during practice:

“When the game and the practice is finished, it’s all over. But between the lines, anything goes. We needed to pick it up, and I think we did that today. I really think we got better today.”

On using practice as a physical outlet after a frustrating weekend:

“Nobody on the team likes to lose, whether its preseason or not. I know it doesn’t count, but at the same time nobody wants to lose. The next day after a loss when you have full pads on, there are going to be guys taking out their frustrations. That's good. I think you need that sometimes. If you get the team going and if you can get the team fired up, then I think we’ll be ready going into this weekend.”