WP:Q Quote Sheet From Thursday's Redskins Practice

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/redskins/longterm/2003/week11/quotes13.htm

Quote Sheet From Thursday's Redskins Practice

Chris Samuels | Fred Smoot | Jeremiah Trotter

Patrick Ramsey | Champ Bailey

Compiled by Gene Wang

washingtonpost.com Correspondent

Web Posted: Thursday, Nov. 13, 2003; 3:31 p.m. EST

Chris Samuels

Q: What makes Stephen Davis such an effective runner?

A: Well, you know you can go out there and create just a small crease, and Stephen can take it the distance. Her breaks tackles well. He only gets stronger during the course of the game.

Q: What about the challenge of facing the Panthers?

A: They're a good team. We got our work cut out for us. We've just got to go out there and do what we do best and execute well.

Q: Do you think Sunday was a day Stephen Davis circled on his calendar when the schedule came out?

A: Yeah, I'm pretty sure he's fired up to play against us. We're excited to play against Stephen also.

Q: Are you surprised at his success in Carolina?

A: I'm not surprised. I knew Stephen would do well. He's a great back.

Q: Is this a must-win game for you?

A: I think so. Our backs are against the wall from here on out. We created this mess. We've just got to dig ourselves out of this hole.

Fred Smoot

Q: How does it feel coming off a win?

A: Anything is a plus right now. We're just trying to regroup and do it one more game. We're going on a couple one-game winning streaks.

Q: What do you have to do stop the Panthers?

A: Stop the run. Ain't no question. Stop the run. Stop Steve, and on defense make them make some mistakes, and our offense can capitalize on those mistakes.

Q: Can you talk about having to try to tackle Stephen Davis?

A: I wish I didn't have the little fracture in the middle of my chest when I have to go up against a 240-pound running back, but I know he's going to be real pumped up about it. Anytime a person gets to play his old team, regardless of what happened or how the separation happened, they're going to come out with a lot of emotion. We need to kill his emotion early in the first half.

Q: What makes Davis so successful?

A: The fact that he doesn't go down easy. It takes more than one person to get him down. If you think one person is going to get him down, you're wrong. You've got to gang tackle him. For four quarters too. Carolina, if you look at them, they've won a lot of their games in the fourth quarter, so you've got to play four quarters with these guys.

Q: Is there a part of you that asks why Davis isn't on this team right now?

A: It's kind of funny how after he left, all of a sudden we're running the ball. But things happen for a reason. I can't control those, so I'm going to go with the punches.

Q: How do you get ready to face the challenge of stopping Stephen Davis with a defense ranked 13th against the run?

A: Basically, get up for it and know what you've got to do. Know that wherever they go, all 11 of us have got to be there. It's going to take a lot of team defense to stop them.

Jeremiah Trotter

Q: Can you talk about playing Carolina?

A: It's a dogfight. I think those guys are averaging about 124 yards rushing a game. Stephen had a week off. I really don't think he was hurt. I just think he was resting up for us. So that's all good. It's going to be a dogfight. We all know what type of runner Stephen is, and they got a good change-up. But you've got to go out, go get our minds ready to be in a fist fight to the bitter end and hopefully come away with the win.

Q: When you were playing in Philadelphia, what was the key to stopping Stephen Davis?

A: Just attacking the line of scrimmage. Stephen breaks a lot of tackles. You've definitely got to wrap him up, continue to hit him. He's going to keep coming back, play after play, and you've got to do the same thing.

Q: Are you surprised at Carolina's 7-2 start and beating Tampa Bay twice?

A: The way Stephen's running? No. When you have an offense with ball control like they're doing and you got a running back like Stephen who's putting up 120, 130 yards in game, no, it's not hard to believe. Just watching them over the course of a season, they put themselves in position to win. They've won like three games in overtime, and when you put yourself in position to win, sometimes you get the lucky break, or you win the toss, and you win the game.

Q: What about when they beat the Bucs last week without Davis?

A: Hey, they got some good backs coming in behind Stephen. No matter who's back there, they stick to their game plan to run the ball. You still got to go out there and stop them.

Q: Do you think input from Steve Spurrier on the defense is something that has been lacking so far?

A: No, I wouldn't say that. I think it's just that the season has been going so rough. You know, when things go rough, sometimes you spend a lot time trying to figure out what's the problem. I won't say he's lacked spending time with us, but we all know how the season's been thus far. Hopefully now with the move they made on offense, with Hue calling the plays, maybe that will give him a little more time to come spend time with us.

Patrick Ramsey

Q: With 33 passes and 32 runs last week, is that the type of balance in play-calling that you expect to see this week too?

A: Hopefully. As we watch tape and as we really develop the game plan and practice our plays, we'll get good feel for what we want to do. But I think we've shown that when we're balanced, it puts us in a position to win ballgames.

Q: Can you tell who's calling the plays during the game?

A: I don't know who called every one of the plays this past week. This week, Coach Hue [Jackson] was in my ear telling me the plays, and I just go out there and try execute it and get out of the bad ones when they're not good.

Q: Were you told beforehand that change was going to be made?

A: I know shortly before the game. It's kind of a team effort. That's really what I knew.

Q: Can you talk about Laveranues Coles and his big play last week when he forced the fumble?

A: To me it kind of captures Laveranues, the way he's been so far this year, always hustling. He has every opportunity to be a guy who sometimes can have an attitude just cause of his status and his ability as a player, and he's never like that. He always hustles, he always works, and he never sits anything out. To me it just epitomizes what he's capable of doing and what he's always willing to do.

Q: Would you call it a game-saving play?

A: Sure. We've been down 21-3 and come back before, but it's a bad position to be in. He helped us avoid being in that position.

Q: Can you talk about Randy Thomas's play?

A: Randy's playing great. He's a good guy to have there with his enthusiasm. He kind of keeps guys loose in the huddle at times. He's a great player. He's shown that week in and week out this year.

Q: Is there a difference between the way Hue Jackson calls plays and the way Spurrier does?

A: Not particularly. They both have their own things that they like to do. We have a script, and we try to stay to that script and just try to call it down the script so everybody knows what to expect and knows what to do when we face certain situations.

Champ Bailey

Q: Are you surprised Carolina was able to beat Tampa without Stephen Davis?

A: Not really. I mean, they've got a good backup. They've got a first-round draft pick playing behind him. He could start anywhere, but of course he's got Stephen in front of him, so he doesn't start. I'm not surprised what they can do without Stephen.

Q: What makes Davis better than the average back you face each week?

A: His power. His deceptive speed. You never realize a guy that big can run as fast as he does. You let him get going, you better get out of his way.

Q: How would you describe tackling Davis?

A: Move to the side and jump on his back. Nah, I'm going to hit him. I don't care what it takes. I won't be one of victims. You better believe that.

Q: What were the players thinking when Davis was let go?

A: It's a business part of football. You don't like it. You hate to let one of your leaders go, but it's just the name of the game. We're aware what's going on. It wasn't like it was a surprise because we knew it was going to happen. You guys were talking about it for weeks, basically all year. So it wasn't a surprise. It's just one of those things you've got to live with and keep moving.

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