On whether he has to wait until Sunday to really get a feel for his special teams units: "You feel good about going into the season with the guys we have. [I am] comfortable with them. Would I have liked to have seen them get a little more work in the preseason as cohesive units? Yes, but we feel good about what we have and the direction we are going."
On which of the young players he is counting on to play in the core coverage units: "[S] Macho Harris, [LB] Moise Fokou, those guys will be getting reps in the game, first time out of the gate. They've shown well in the preseason and we expect them to do well."
On whether WR DeSean Jackson is ready to step in as a punt returner despite not returning punts during the preseason: "I think so, he's a very talented guy. [He's] very comfortable catching the ball. [He has] very good ball skills, obviously as a receiver and as a returner. I don't have any problem with him at all going back there on Sunday."
On how S Macho Harris starting on defense will affect his role on special teams: "It will have something to do with it, obviously. It's his first game and he's going to be starting on defense so you have to limit, to some extent, what he does on [special] teams, but I expect him to play well when he is out there."
On whether CB Ellis Hobbs or S Quintin Demps will be the primary kick returner: "Both Ellis Hobbs and Demps will be available to return kicks during the game. Again, as their role during the course of the game plays out, you could see either one back there depending upon how much either one is playing."
On how P Sav Rocca can work on his consistency: "We just have to get him back on track. When you kick or punt it's a matter of rhythm and being comfortable. We just have to get him back into a rhythm this week. I though he had done fairly well. He's been progressing as a directional punter. [He] did not have a good night against the Jets and he needs to get that squared away by Sunday."
On whether the team had to monitor the amount of work that Rocca did after P Ken Parrish was released to make sure he didn't wear down: "You do that and a lot of that is by feel. Each guy is different. Sav will let me know exactly if he feels his leg is getting tired or if he needs work those kinds of things. We try to monitor that every day. It goes by the individual. Some guys like to kick more than others and you just have to get them comfortable before the game."
On whether it is easy for him now that final cuts have been made and he has a better feel for the players that he has: "Absolutely. You identify who your guys are. Now we've got to get them honed in and it's still –you don't want to say the season is a work in progress, but you'd really like improve each week and be playing your best football at the end of the year. It's a long season and we've got a lot of work to do, but we've got to start making progress here pretty quick. You would like to see progress throughout the year. That's what we really want to do."
On RB Eldra Buckley's contributions on special teams: "Absolutely, he'll be out there running around. That's my mistake I should have mentioned him earlier. He's done a real nice job. [He] won himself a spot on this team. He will be a core player. He might not play on every special team but he'll be out there and knowing him he'll be out there flying around playing well."
On where he sees K David Akers and his preparation for the season: "David knows what he needs to do. He knows how much work he needs. He's been through this a few times so he has a good feel about what he needs to do to get himself prepared. I've kind of left that to him. You always monitor and make sure he's taking care of the things he needs to do, but David knows what he needs to do to get ready."
On how technically sound Akers is as a kicker: "Very. He's very [technically sound]. You don't last, I believe it's his tenth year, you don't last that long in the NFL with out being very, very sound fundamentally. He's very good and he's very consistent with his footwork, his tempo and all of those things. It's tough to make every kick, but we feel good about Dave going into the season."
On whether trying to mix the young players with the veteran players is the biggest challenge for the coverage teams:"That's exactly what it is. You're trying to get the new guys to understand exactly where they belong, where they fit, where they need to be and that they bring that enthusiasm and effort that they are going to bring to the game. You have to be in the right spot doing the right thing. That's the whole thing about the coverage. You have one guy out of his lane and you get a big play against you and that's what we've got to eliminate."
On why he choose to use Hobbs as the primary kick returner over Demps: "If you look back and I really like Quintin Demps I think he's an excellent returner and he did a good job a year ago. I don't have the statistics right in front of me, but I believe over the last four or five years Ellis Hobbs might be as good as a statistical returner as there is in the NFL. I believe his average is around 28 yards and that's very good. They are both good returners. I am very comfortable with either one."
On whether he has considered having both Hobbs and Demps on the field at the same time as returners: "That was mentioned and not to get real technical, but it's a total different thing being an off returner as opposed to the main returner. The off returner is really a blocker and you need a guy back there with the skills to return the ball but his main role is as a blocker and you'd prefer offensive players to have that role."
On comparing Cleveland Browns WR/KR Josh Cribbs to Hobbs: "[They have] different styles. Ellis is a smaller built guy, maybe a little more lateral quickness than Josh. Josh Cribbs is a big, strong, physical, hard-nosed tackle breaker, great instincts. He has tremendous will to run the ball. He was very good in our schemes and what we did. He is a north-south guy. He's as physical as a kick returner as there is in the NFL, where Ellis is more elusive, quick, can change direction, good vision, [he is a] home-run hitter kind of guy, and again I like Demps too. Demps is more like Josh Cribbs. He's a bigger body, physical, a slasher type of runner to categorize him that way."
On whether he thinks there will be fewer long returns with the new wedge rules: "I hope against us, yes. I hope there are much fewer long kickoff returns. Everybody in the NFL, you adjust and you adapt, whether it's offense, defense or special teams, you adjust and adapt. The wedge change-up is probably good for the game and it's a good decision. We just have to adjust and adapt and fit the wedge and get down and get our coverage in the right spot and we should be fine with that."
On how Demps has responded to losing his starting job and how he has embraced special teams: "[He] has great character, [he's] a good person, [he's] a good worker, [he's] a good team guy and you know he's disappointed. I understand that. We want him to play a big role for us. We think he will and we expect him to play well in whatever we ask him to do. It's a disappointment and as a coach you understand that. You have to respect the players and understand their perspective and to see them react in a positive way, like he has, is very encouraging."
On whether he is comfortable with the new wedge rule: "I think so. The officials have done a good job of explaining it to us in the preseason. I think that the coaches, the other coaches, have done a good job of staying within the frame work of what we've all had explained to us as the rule and I don't see that being an issue as we go into the game. I know the officials, if they see something that's contrary to the rule, they are going to throw a flag."
