Opening statement:
"On the injury front, Ray Shipman, linebacker, felt a tweak in his hamstring. It's mild, so we took him in. Roman Harper was limited and doing well. Jarred Fayson did not practice again today, nor did Marques Colston, Patrick Robinson, or Victor Butler. It was our first padded practice. I thought the early part of the practice was pretty good. I thought the end tapered off a little bit, but it was good to get the first one in and stay relatively healthy."
Are you going to take a look at the offensive and defensive lines now that they are in pads?
"(It will be) One of the things we have to do, for me especially, (because with) all of these drills going on you only get to see portions of it, so we will look at the film and start looking at the reps individually and (see) how guys are doing."
What do you see in Jason Smith?
"He is athletic, he has a really good work ethic and I think more than anything else, (what's important is) getting that confidence, repetition through hard work and getting him to where he feels more comfortable. When he puts the time in, he is very diligent in his preparation. More than anything, it's confidence."
How is it when a guy comes out of college highly touted they seem to lose confidence?
"It's not an exact science. In other words, every year there are a lot of guys taken early that maybe struggle more than others, and some other guys that are taken later in the draft that do well. So, we like the opportunity for us to take him (Jason Smith) here and take a peek at him and see how he is doing. He fits in well, he has trained (hard), like I said, (and) he has worked really hard."
Do you like the tempo of this defense so far?
"Yes, guys are flying around here. What's encouraging is (that) you want it to be competitive and I thought toward the end of practice, it wasn't as crisp. But when you are having that type of competition in your periods, it benefits both sides of the ball. It (even) benefits the kicking game. When there is an even flow, it goes back and forth, but I think that you are trying to create as best we can a game like situation."
How much confidence do you have in Charles Brown?
"He is working with the one's right now, but there is some competition at that position and I said earlier, we talked, and I think he is ready for the transition to step in to that spot. It is not going to be handed to him. He is going to have to earn it. Part of that for him is staying healthy."
Kenny Vaccaro seemed to be a little chippy, do you encourage that as a rookie or tell him to settle down?
"I think within the framework of what the drill is, we talk about what the tempo is and he is someone that flies around. I think he is someone who is very instinctive. We don't necessarily want to throw our own players on the ground, that's not the drill. We will get that cleaned up, but he is an instinctive player and I know he is anxious to be in the pads. One of the things you find with a young player, especially rookies, they know and they want to and they feel that sense of urgency to make an impression and so the key thing is making it the right way."
