On wide receiver Pierre Garçon:
“He left practice early. He had a couple catches and then just had a little soreness in his hamstring. He’ll be OK.”
On if he was pleased with the amount of contact on the first day of players being in full pads:
“Yeah, I thought so. I haven’t had a chance to watch the film but I thought the tempo was great. We had a couple of live sessions, some tackling drills and special teams, and then live sessions there at the end and some of them looked live – we’re getting guys on the ground a lot which shouldn’t happen. But, overall, I thought the tempo was great. Offense had some good looks, defense had some good looks. It was all-around – you’re pretty satisfied as a coach. We’re getting a lot from Coach [Jim] Haslett and Coach Haslett’s giving a lot to the defense, offense. So I think overall it’s a great learning experience and the physicality upfront is where it needs to be. There’s some improvement obviously that needs to be done from certain guys – everybody, for instance, but overall you’ve got to like to intensity and the pad level.”
On the status of cornerback Courtney Bridget:
“He’s going to go get an MRI on his shoulder and we’ll see where he stands. We don’t know the extent of the injury. We’ll find out hopefully by the end of the day or tomorrow.”
On his philosophy on full contact practices:
“This is the first day. You want to try to take advantage of the days you can have full pads. That’s the issue. You’re right, there is a limit to how many times you can go [full contact], so when you go you might as well use them. That’s my philosophy. When we don’t have them, we’ll stay up and we’ll be protective of our guys and we’re not going to go crazy with these full pads and do it every day and do tackling drills. But I think this was a good time to do it. We have a day offtomorrow, so it was good to see some guys tackle – some guys we haven’t seen tackle ever and some guys who have trouble tackling see if their form tackling is up to par. [It was good to see] some guys with the ball in their hands, see how they do with contact because in shorts you just can’t tell. When it’s live tackling, you get a good feel for some of these young guys and that’s what it’s all about. I think we’ve got a good look at a lot of guys, but this will probably be the last time I’ll do live tackling for the season. You know, we’ll play against New England in practice and then we’ll get into the preseason games and those games will be the live tackling part of it.”
On the balance between being physical during live drills and not going to the ground:
“You’re right, some of them were being taken to the ground. They’re trying to get their form tackling and then they hold on too long and another one comes on him and the back falls down. I think it’s a coach’s job both offensively and defensively, and my job, to continue to preach to try to stay up because you’re right, we don’t want people going to the ground unnecessarily. They roll into somebody else who’s not expecting it. Our job as coaches [and] their jobs as players moving forward is to make sure when we’re not going live we’re staying off the ground. It’s easier said than done sometimes but that’s what we’re trying to do.”
On the development of tackle Morgan Moses:
“He’s doing good. He’s playing a lot of left tackle right now. We’ll start to switch him over to the right side here shortly. You know, we’re just trying to get him a good feel for the offense and his position strength right now as left tackle, because that’s what he’s played the last two years at Virginia. Next week, we’ll start him on the right side and see how he does and go from there, but I like the way he’s developing. I really do. He’s big and long and he’s doing a good job. He’s starting to understand angles and getting out on the running game and protecting the quarterback. He’s doing a better job. He’s got a long way to go, but he’s getting there. [Offensive Line] Coach [Chris] Foerster is doing a good job with him.”
On if the team will practice in full pads again:
“We might see them in full pads again, but I doubt we’ll do any live drills. I don’t mind going full pads, getting used to the full pads, but as far as going live and bringing people to the ground with the physical mentality, we probably won’t do that very often.”
On what cornerback DeAngelo Hall’s veteran presence means:
“It means a lot. He’s really taken the veteran leadership role seriously and he’s taking a lot of pride in it. He’s doing a great job not only handling his own business. Number one, he’s got to handle his own business and make sure his job is secure. And then number two, as he’s performing at a high level, he takes the young guys under his wing and teaches them the game and shows them the ropes. Raheem Morris does a good job with the young guys, but it’s good to have a guy who’s playing the position to also talk to the young guys and D-Hall is really, like I said, really doing a good job with that role and hopefully it continues.”
On the continuity of retaining Offensive Line Coach Chris Foerster:
“Continuity is one thing but being a good coach is another and he’s both. He provides the guys with some stable leadership. The guys know him, they trust him and also I feel like he’s very good at what he does. I’ve always admired his work being from other teams and I was very fortunate that he was on this staff where I got the job and I was able to retain him. He does an excellent job with the line. The linemen respect him, I have a lot of respect for him and he works well with Sean [McVay], so it was a natural fit.”
On outside linebacker Everette Brown:
“Yes, we signed him. He’s going to be another pass rusher on the edge and play outside backer. He’s played 4-3 defensive end and he’s played a little outside backer so we’re going to give him a look at outside backer and see how he does.”