Opening Remarks: "We've got a tough game coming up. This defense is playing very well. They are well coached by (defensive coordinator) Greg (Blache). They've got some excellent cover-men on the back end. They're fast, and they play physical, so we have a good challenge ahead of us. It's also a good opportunity with the division game at home."
On how he's been able to score twice as many points in the first half than the second half: "We play a little bit better the first half, and we have to play a little bit better the second half. It's important to start fast, and it's equally or even more important to finish strong. And so, we have to do those things, and we have to do a little bit better job at the details that win the game."
On whether the amount of injuries played into the lack of execution in last week's game against the Bears: "Those are excuses. We expect precision in the game and it doesn't matter who's in there. That's what we fully expect. That's the mentality that we go in with, and I would expect to execute well."
On whether QB Donovan McNabb's continued soreness concerns him: "Donovan's a tough guy now. He was hurting pretty good the last couple of ball games but fought through it, and I'm sure he'll continue to do that."
On whether there is a reason the pass fade hasn't been used as much in the regular season: "It has been in. It depends on how the corners are playing and if they are getting help down there. There are some teams that will give you an opportunity to do that. There are some teams where they just simply won't, and in many cases, you might have that route and you might have another combination if that man is being doubled or hard outside leverage or soft outside leverage, those types of things and come back."
On whether the pass fade was something that the Bears tried to take away down at the goal-line: "Yeah. They played, basically, cover two soft corners and outside leverage on the outside receivers, but there will be some teams where we may have an opportunity for that."
On whether the Redskins did anything particularly on defense to discourage Dallas' run game last Sunday: "I don't want to speak for Dallas. You probably have to ask them, but Washington does play a lot of man coverage, and Dallas has a lot of really good receivers."
On what he saw from WR Kevin Curtis in practice yesterday: "He's coming back from rehab. He looked pretty good yesterday, so that's a good thing. He's continuing his rehab so he's coming, and in talking to him, I know that he wants to start turning it loose here, but he looked pretty good yesterday, so we'll see."
On whether there is a rush to get Curtis back: "I believe there is. We like our players back as quickly as possible, but he has to be rockin' and rollin' before we would do that."
On whether there is an adjustment being made by the opposing defense during halftime that makes it harder for the offense to score in the second half: "Not much at all. It's not normally what your opponent does; it's normally what you did when you come out of something like that. We simply just have to play a little bit better and execute a little bit better. I have to do a better job. Last week we came out of halftime and we were backed up and we popped it out. Then, all of a sudden we had a problem and turned it over."
On where the offense hurt most with TE L.J. Smith's absence in the past game: "He's back now. Again, you can make up a lot of reasons but we expect to play better than that and perform better and execute better. He certainly will help in the future."
On whether Smith's blocking is underrated: "Yeah. He's a fine blocker. He's very good on the line of scrimmage. The matchups against defensive ends are usually good. For some tight ends in this league, those matchups, you really have to be careful on those matchups. L.J. has a pretty good matchup usually, and then, if he draws the linebacker then it's an even better matchup for L.J."
On whether Smith is a guy who can go without catching a ball in a game and still have a good game: "Oh yeah, and he has in the past. Then he's caught a bunch of balls for us and has had good games doing that as well. But he does a good job at the line of scrimmage, yeah."
On what happened on the goal-line series in the Bears game: "What were we? First and goal at the four (yard line) and then we got three (yards). It was a good play. And then, I thought they did an excellent job and then we didn't perform quite where we needed to be. That's what happens. You have to finish. You have make sure of the detail down there."
On what those details are: "We had a couple of leverage problems on both of those last two plays. We certainly had an opportunity on both of those plays, so we have to get better there."
On what he saw from RB Brian Westbrook during practice yesterday: "He looked better. He went through the walk through this morning and looked better. He's day to day, and we'll see."
On whether McNabb's continued soreness from the injury could affect the gameplan for the Redskins: "Well, the healthier player is always a part of that, and yeah, it occasionally does. Yes."
On whether he would like to work RB Correll Buckhalter in more even with Westbrook coming back: "Yeah. I think highly of Correll. We've discussed that in the past. I think he's an excellent football player. He runs hard. He normally takes care of the football. He's got speed. He's a very physical runner."
On whether Buckhalter sometimes gets lost in the mix when Westbrook is in there: "Yeah. That has happened occasionally. Last year, just a little bit."
On whether there is a difference in working on the script than off the script: "We have scripts for the second half, too. I think that's a little bit cyclical. There's been times when we've been excellent coming out of half(time). However, certainly as an offense, we have discussed that for the last two to three weeks really, and the fellows are emphasizing that and the coaches are emphasizing that, and hopefully we'll do a better job coming out of halftime."
