Q. So did G/T Matt Tobin sustain a concussion on Sunday?
COACH KELLY: Yeah, he's got to go through the concussion protocol and when he's cleared he'll be back out to practice.
Q. When did he sustain that?
COACH KELLY: I think really on the last drive or [the last] play or two of the game. He told the trainers in the locker room and then he went through the whole thing.
Q. So he won't practice today? COACH KELLY: Nope.
Q. What factored into the decision to bring CB Roc Carmichael back?
COACH KELLY: We just needed another DB in here, and we liked Roc. We obviously couldn't keep him there when we made the cut down to 53, but had him in last Friday and worked him out. Felt like he was in good shape. He's got a real good understanding of what we're doing. He's got versatility. He's a corner; he's a nickel; he can be a dime. He's also a really good special teams player. Q. Is DB Jaylen Watkins going to play more safety now?
COACH KELLY: Yeah, we'll experiment with him in there and see what he can do from that standpoint. But we still have two safeties in [Chris] Prosinski and [Chris] Maragos.
Q. With concussions guys can't take certain tests until they are not feeling the symptoms anymore. Was he still feeling symptoms yesterday?
COACH KELLY: I have no idea. They just tell me when he's cleared to go. Q. What can you tell us about T/G Andrew Gardner and the way he's played when he's had the chance? Also, is G/T Dennis Kelly in the mix as well?
COACH KELLY: Andrew is real versatile. I think he's a guard-tackle for us, has played both positions for us, and when he's been in there he's done a good job for us. He's a veteran, and has been in the league for a while. I think he's got a good amount of experience that I think he can draw back on when he gets in there, so he's done a good job for us.
And then Dennis is exclusively a guard for us and did a good job when he was in there. We got a couple of guys back, so he's battling in there, but we'll see what happens with Matt [Tobin].
Q. Is LB Mychal Kendricks practicing today?
COACH KELLY: Should be, yeah. Q. That was his second day off yesterday?
COACH KELLY: No. No one takes a day off. He just couldn't practice yesterday. Q. S Earl Wolff played the full game against the Houston Texans. What happened between then and now that landed him on injured reserve?
COACH KELLY: He just came in on Monday and said that ‑- I had a long talk with him on Monday about where he was and that his leg was really bothering him. So had him sit down with Dr. DeLuca and [head athletic trainer] Chris Peduzzi, and they went and got another MRI on him and it doesn't seem like he was healing from his injury. So they made a decision to shut him down.
Q. Do you think he ever fully recovered from his knee injury from last season?
COACH KELLY: I don't know.
Q. How much do you think the injury was affecting his performance?
COACH KELLY: I mean obviously he wasn't making plays like he did before, so it had to be affecting him.
Q. Was it ever a consideration for him to have surgery at the end of last year?
COACH KELLY: You can ask him that question.
Q. Although it's early in the week, do you like the way this team has responded so far? Do you like the way they've responded in meetings and at practice?
COACH KELLY: Yeah. Our guys have been ‑‑ they understand it. There's a rhythm that you're in in this league. Fourteen of our 16 games are played on Sunday, so you kind of get into the same mindset whether you win or lose on Sunday. We're not in on Mondays. The guys that are in are just getting treatment. We meet again on Tuesday and then our week starts again. So whether you win or lose the week before your attention has to move on to your next opponent, and those guys have been very good with it all year long in terms of whether it's a win or loss on Sunday.
Q. So you haven't seen anything different or seen a little more attention to detail this week after what happened on Sunday? COACH KELLY: No, because we didn't have a lack of attention to detail last week.
Q. What have you seen from Prosinski defensively as far as picking things up? Would he be the next guy in now?
COACH KELLY: He's a real sharp guy -- intelligent. He's played football in this league at the safety position. He's not just a special teams player, so I think it's just a matter of how comfortable he is with our terminology compared to where he was before. He can definitely play safety for us, but we haven't made any determination on who the next safety in is. *Q. Is S Ed Reynolds II still kind of learning his way in this defensive scheme? You have now signed Prosinski and Carmichael this season. *
COACH KELLY: We signed Chris originally because of the impact he can make on special teams and obviously he was up in the first game. Then Roc plays a different position, but we felt like we needed depth at nickel if we were going to move Jaylen [Watkins] in to safety. Then who's your second nickel in terms of how we're experimenting and what's going on at that position, and then everything we do, especially when you get into the guys that aren't starters on your roster, all special teams impact.
Q. How does the fact that Roc has been here and knows the program -- I think the same thing applies to C/G Julian Vandervelde -- factor into making in‑season personnel decisions?
COACH KELLY: It helps, but we're still trying to find the best player. You also have to understand that when you're at this point in time I think there's 2,106 guys on rosters, so it's not like there's a whole bunch of guys out there where there's a million DBs you can select from. So there are only certain guys that you can look at. So we've been proactive throughout the season in terms of working guys out in case there's an injury at any position just so that we've got a short list so that if we get to a point where we have to replace, whether it be an O-lineman or a DB or a running back or whatever, that we have kind of a list of guys that we can go to. We can also go to practice squad players, and we've done that before, too.
Q. How is Reynolds doing and what does he need to do? COACH KELLY: Ed's doing a good job. He's coming along. Obviously he missed a lot of the OTAs and mini camp because of the rule [that] you can't come until your class graduates. So he was behind a little bit there, but I think he's progressed. He's done a really nice job. He's been an outstanding practice player for us.
Q. Yesterday, WR Josh Huff used the term 'piss poor' to describe his rookie year and what he has done so far. I think the other day he mentioned you'd like to see him be more consistent. You've been around him for a while. Can you tell if he's letting things get to him mentally?
COACH KELLY: No, I just think he's a rookie and he's missed a lot of time. There's a maturation process no matter who you are and where you come in. And I think a lot of times those guys have had success. It's no different than a high school senior coming into college and then all of a sudden you have got to start at the bottom again. You were a freshman in high school and you're kind of looking up and all of a sudden you're a senior and you're the guy. Then when you're a freshman in college the same thing happens. It's a very difficult league. Not many players come in right away and make a huge impact as a true rookie, even though they want to and they've been successful in the past. I think he's just in the process of understanding that it'll come, we've got high hopes for Josh, and I think he's working extremely hard at it, but this isn't an instant-success league. You've got to continue to work at it and continue to grow, and I think the time off that he missed really impacted him just from a mental standpoint, because I think the perception is that we run the same offense that we did at Oregon and we don't. It's a difficult deal for anybody to come in here and learn that.
Q. You have mentioned DE Vinny Curry before as someone who has kind of grown into his role. Obviously he can rush the passer, but he's handled the other parts of it. How has he improved?
COACH KELLY: Vinny's improved. He's doing a better job of being a two-gap guy and depending on what we're calling from a defensive standpoint, obviously, if we're just lining up in base he has to do that, but that part of his game has improved also. Q. You've talked about that Tuesday process staying consistent. Where did you develop your philosophy for reviewing and correction after games?
COACH KELLY: I think just wherever I've been, whether I was at Johns Hopkins or New Hampshire or at Oregon. Just took it from different people. You're always talking to people [about] how you can do things better than before. What we do the day after a game isn't anything revolutionary. Everybody meets, shows the film, discusses it, meets as a group, then meets in small position meetings and goes over the film in terms of corrections.
Q. A couple years ago this team really struggled with winning at home. You guys have now won nine straight games at Lincoln Financial Field. How important is it to make sure that your home field, Lincoln Financial Field, is a place where it's really tough for other teams to come in, even if that's a psychological thing making this a real tough place to play?
COACH KELLY: No, we don't look at it that way. We look at every game we play as important. So we don't say, 'Hey, it's an away game, it's okay.' You know, we want to win every single game we play and we keep the same mindset whether we're home or away.
Q. Defensively, what jumps out to you about the Tennessee Titans?
COACH KELLY: Very aggressive. They got an attacking style of scheme. I think they're a team that actually puts an extra guy in the box. If you don't play Cover 0, you never put an extra guy in the box. I know that's been a confusion for a lot of people, but it's not. No one's ever put an extra guy in the box. These guys do, and the Arizona Cardinals do. It's the first time we've really faced teams that play zero-man. Anybody that plays single-high safety isn't putting anybody extra down there for us.
So these guys will play Cover 0. They will play Cover 0 in the run game. They did it against the Steelers a lot on this past Monday night. So it's something that you have to prepare for. They've got a bunch of tough, hard‑nosed physical guys and they play extremely hard.
Q. What does TE Zach Ertz have to do to get on the field?
COACH KELLY: I think Zach Ertz is on the field for us. We have two very, very good tight ends. I think the one thing that -- I love the questions. We have 46 guys on our team, but only a certain amount of guys can play. [TE] Brent Celek is doing a hell of a job, so it would be very injustice if I told Brent he has to sit because we want to put someone else on the field.
Q. What does Celek bring?
COACH KELLY: Brent's an outstanding blocker. I think he may be the best blocking tight end in the league. I think with what we do, I think he's a sure‑handed receiver, he had a huge game against Carolina a week ago and had over 100 yards receiving. So, I don't think it has anything to do with Zach. It has really to do with how well Brent Celek is playing.
Q. In Cover 0, what's important when facing that? What do you have to do?
COACH KELLY: You got to obviously beat 1-on-1s on the outside because there's no help from anybody. Everybody's on an island from a receiving standpoint, but you also have to identify where the blitz is coming. When they do play Cover 0, they're blitzing, so you have got to be able to pick up and make sure that if you are throwing the ball in those situations, your quarterback has an opportunity to get the ball off, because there's going to be a lot of guys coming, it's going to happen real fast. And in the run game you've got to make sure you have a hat on a hat and nobody's got a free run at the running back.
Q. You made a lot of moves at the wide receiver position, and I think the numbers are pretty comparable to where they were through 10 games last year. You may be passing a little more, but how do you feel like that group has panned out?
COACH KELLY: We made two moves at the wide receiver position. So I think our slot receiver, Jordan Matthews, has done a really good job. He was a prepared guy coming in. That's one thing we felt about him when you saw him from the jump, you know, how mature he was as an individual, thought he could make an impact inside, and we really wanted to get bigger at the receiver position because of matchups in 1-on-1 situations. I think Jordan has done a really good job. I think Josh, because he's missed the amount of time, he's still coming along and doing some good things for us, but we need to get a little bit more from him right now, and he knows that.
Q. Does the uptick in Matthews' numbers related to QB Mark Sanchez starting?
COACH KELLY: No. I think the uptick in Jordan's numbers has to do with where we are in the season. It's just later in the year. So it's not who was in or who wasn't in. I think it's more that Jordan is a lot more comfortable, and you can see it as he runs around here and prepares each week, he's a lot more comfortable kind of in his role and what he has to do.
You know, we're 10 games in now and he's got that wealth of experience from OTAs, training camp, now 10 games into the season. I think he's just feeling a lot more comfortable in terms of what he's doing.
Q. Do you think rookie wide receivers coming into the league are better prepared in college to have an impact right away in the NFL?
COACH KELLY: No. I just think it's an individual thing. I just think this year was an outstanding class, so I don't think next year you're going to get the same impact from rookie receivers. It may be another class when you look at the draft. But this year was kind of, I think, an exception when you talk to people around the league. And you see how many receivers were drafted early. It's a very, very talented class, but I don't think by position it's an easier position to play and make the transformation. It's just that there happened to be a lot of talent in that individual group in the 2014 draft class at wide receiver, probably more than any other position. And we felt going in that the depth was at the wide receiver spot. Some of the other spots we didn't think there were a lot of guys. It was kind of low at some of the other spots, but at wide receiver there were a lot of them.
