Injuries: "(WR) Reggie Brown, his achilles was still bothering him today, so, he's not practicing. (WR) Frantz Hardy has an ankle sprain. (P) Sav (Rocca) has some knee inflammation, so we gave him the day off to let the swelling go down. (G) Stefan Rodgers has a slight concussion. (T) Tra Thomas had back spasms. Tra came out and tried to go, but he couldn't. (DE) Victor (Abiamiri) you know about. (T Franklin) Dunbar you know about. (DT) Montae Reagor had knee inflammation. (DT Brodrick) Bunkley I excused for personal reasons. He'll be back here tomorrow or, possibly, for this afternoon's practice."
On last Friday's game at Pittsburgh: "I had a chance to look at the film. Like I mentioned, I saw some good things and then I saw some things that we obviously need to work on. The thing I was very pleased with was the effort. The guys played fast and hard and aggressive. We had some technique things we need to work on and get straightened out. We came out here today and we were able to review some of the mistakes that we made to get them corrected so that when we play Carolina here, we'll do a little better."
On whether he has a plan to bring CB Asante Samuel back slowly: "He went through about three-quarters of the practice; maybe a little bit more than that, even, just until the last team period there. We took him out (and we're) just easing him back in. He feels good and I want to make sure he keeps feeling good."
On the possibility that Samuel will play vs. Carolina: "There is a chance, yeah. There's a chance. How much? I don't know that. I don't know if it will be as much as the first group goes or if he'll just take a few snaps, but we'll see how he feels here. We'll see how he feels after this practice."
On whether it is still a learning process for Samuel: "Absolutely. He needs to practice in this scheme, but he'll pick it up and be fine. But, yeah, I think it'll be a learning process, though."
On whether he intended to give Samuel the last part of practice off: "Yeah. I wasn't sure he was going to make it that far. I was gauging it on how he felt. (Head athletic trainer) Rick (Burkholder) was communicating with him during the practice. We actually got more out of him than what I anticipated."
On the roster move today for DT Mike Marquardt and whether that addresses the need for more defensive tackles: "We brought a fellow in and he worked. We let (DT) Kimo (von Oelhoffen) go. Kimo's just got to get himself right and we can always bring Kimo back if we need to, later."
On FB Jed Collins working with the ones: "Jed did a nice job in the limited plays that he had offensively, but also on special teams. That fullback position, you've got to produce on special teams or you're going to struggle to make it there. He did the best job of the other guys on the special teams unit."
On whether he expects G Shawn Andrews to be here today: "I think he'll be here sometime today. I'm not sure exactly when, but we'll get him up here and have a chance to talk to him; see how he's doing, where he's at. He won't practice this afternoon."
On how far away Andrews is from practicing: "I want to see him first before I make any judgment there. I know he's been working out, but I just want to sit down and talk to him face to face and make sure everything's set up for him here so he can be successful."
On whether he needs to see Andrews level of conditioning before he can practice: "I think that's important. I'm going to gradually feed him back in. I want to see how he's doing. That's my primary focus right now. Then we'll see about those other things, we'll see where they fall in."
On whether he feels it's necessary to talk to the team about Andrews' situation: "Quite a few of the players know the situation and have been in communication with him. We'll address that down the road."
On whether it's important for Andrews to have a support system: "He's got some guys here that really care about him."
On whether he has talked to Andrews recently: "Yeah, I did. I haven't talked to him today, but yesterday I did."
On whether the conversations were extensive: "Yeah, it was for quite a while."
On whether Andrews sounds enthusiastic about coming back and playing: "He wants to come back, yeah. He wants to come back. I'm sure there's some apprehension there, but I know he wants to get back going; get back up here with the guys."
On whether Andrews is in Pennsylvania right now: "No. No he's not."
On T Tra Thomas' back spasms and whether it is a concern at his age: "It happens periodically. He made it through this much of camp without it, which he hasn't done (in the past). It's always happened sooner than this. I guess, if I'm looking for a positive in the situation, that would be the positive. I expect him to get working here, and get out and be ready to go here in the next little bit."
On the backup plan for left tackle, should Thomas miss any games, and whether T Winston Justice is solely a right tackle now: "We're just trying to keep Winston in one spot, let him be productive at that spot. (G) Todd (Herremans) is playing out at the left guard spot and he loves playing tackle, so it gives him a chance to work in there and he's pretty good at it. We also keep bringing (T) King (Dunlap) along. He had a good game the other night. He's getting better ever day; working his tail off."
On whether he would still consider Shawn Andrews at left tackle: "I think Shawn could be a great left tackle. I think he could step in and be one of the better left tackles in this league. He just hasn't had a chance to work there. We were going to do it in the offseason and he had the baby and that situation there, then this here. We haven't been able to work him in there. We have in years past; he's worked there in the offseason. He just hasn't had any work there this year."
On how he thought G Max Jean-Gilles played at Pittsburgh: "You know, Max did a nice job. I thought he played very well, actually. Now, it's against a 34-front. He had a handful of times that he was covered where they kicked it down on the weak-side. This week, he'll be covered up just about every snap. It'll be another challenge for him there."
On whether he was impressed with WR DeSean Jackson's physical play in the game: "I thought he did some really good things. He's got some things he has to work on. He's got to refine. I thought he caught the football well. I thought he showed courage. I didn't think the game was too big for him. Sometimes with guys, you sense that they're a little nervous and you don't get full production out of them. I didn't feel that way with him. I thought, when the lights went on, man he was ready to go. We'll work on all the technique things and some of the route running deals, but I thought he was focused in and I was happy to see that."
On the possibility that Shawn Andrews practices tomorrow: "No, I'm not going to bring him out to practice."
On what happened with the first touchdown that Pittsburgh scored on Friday: "We had a corner blitz and then Dawk (S Brian Dawkins) didn't quite get over there quick enough. The guy caught the ball and then just had leverage on Dawk and scored."
On whether he will prepare Todd Herremans to play left tackle: "Yeah, we started practicing him there during the offseason; giving him some reps. Really, he wants to play. He loves playing tackle. He enjoys starting at guard, but, if you asked him his choice whether he could play guard or tackle, he's going to tell you tackle. That's what he sees himself as. He's doing a heck of a job right now at guard too. He's having his best camp so far and he's playing very well there."
On DE Jerome McDougle's play at Pittsburgh: "Jerome did some good things. He had a couple nice pass rushes. He's got plenty of things to work on, but he showed up. Both he and (DT Dan) Klecko in that group, both showed up, but then again, both of them have things to work on."
On McDougle's career and how he's had some setbacks: "He's kind of climbed the ladder, and then had a setback. That happens. He's come out and he's played well. He's put all that behind him, he feels good and he seems to be playing productive football. We'll just see how he finishes this thing out."
On whether it was planned that the team would practice in pads today: "Yeah. That's what we were going to do."
