Transcript: Eric Mangini and Mike Holmgren, 3/15 - Mon, Mar 15 2010 at 10:16 pm
Browns President Mike Holmgren and Head Coach Eric Mangini press conference 3-15-10
Mike Holmgren
(Opening statement)- “Good afternoon everybody. Before we get started I want to make something perfectly clear. All of the recent moves we made were done by Tom Heckert and he’s on the road. Eric and I will do the best we can, but we don’t know a lot on why he did stuff (joking), but we will try.”
Eric Mangini
(On the Brady Quinn trade)- “We looked at all the different things in making the decision and it was a collective decision. As I’ve talked about a lot over the past few months, that’s been something that’s been really positive. The ability to sit down, talk through the issues, the plusses and the minuses of all the decisions and then come up with a decision that is collective and that we think is the best one for us at this time and moving forward.”
Mike Holmgren
(On why Quinn wasn’t ‘the one’)- “It has been, probably, the one area that we’ve spent the most time on since I’ve been here, as a group. I’m talking about Heckert. I’m talking about our scouts. I’ve had guys looking at film because, while those quarterbacks have been with Eric a year, I didn’t know them that well. I didn’t get a good enough chance, I don’t think in my opinion, to meet with them. I meet with Brady once briefly and I never had a chance to meet with Derek (Anderson). I think we all came to the conclusion that we couldn’t go into the season the same way we went into last season. That’s very difficult for everybody. Derek’s situation, there was a time element there because of his roster bonus. We didn’t have that to deal with Brady. That factored in, certainly, in our decision for Derek to go first. We knew we were going to make changes at quarterback and add some people to the pile certainly. When we (traded for) Seneca Wallace we were able to do the other. Quite honestly, I didn’t expect and I don’t think anybody did and when you get a chance to talk to Jake (Delhomme) himself, I don’t think he expected to be released. It was a little bit of a surprise and it was a surprise to me. One of the areas we looked at as a group was to look at a veteran quarterback, a guy who had done it, proven that he could do it, to come in here and add some stability to the position, by himself, without affecting other people. When Jake became available and after we signed Seneca, we went ahead and signed Jake. I didn’t know we could sign him. He had other options, but he loved the opportunity. He loved this place. When you get a chance to talk to him, maybe you have already, when you get a chance to really spend some time with him, you’ll see he’s a very charismatic guy. He’s a great leader. He’s a lot of things. When we were able to sign him, now the quarterback in-house situation really looked different. It changed. From my standpoint, this was not easy for anybody here. Brady Quinn is a fine young man. We wish him well and I suspect he’ll do well. Often times players and organizations need a fresh start, you need to cut it off and start over and clean. You don’t always get the chance to add the two players, I think, we’ve added at that position in anyone year. When that happened, we had discussions about where does Brady fall into this group and if we are contemplating a trade, once word got out we signed Delhomme, what does that do to the trade possibilities? After factoring all that in and in fairness to Brady Quinn, we decided to do it. The question was asked about avoiding controversy and all of that, you can’t avoid controversy. Guys come to camp, you compete like crazy. Some guys want that guy to play, some guys want that guy to play. It’s there. It’s real. Whoever is on our roster, there’s going to be a heck of a competition at quarterback as it is right now. In fairness to Brady that’s why we did it when we did it.”
Mike Holmgren
(On why he is confident in Jake Delhomme)- “I’ll let Eric talk about that after I say one thing. In Jake’s career, he had a really fine career and a really bad last year. So did I. I had a pretty good career as a coach and then I had a really bad last year. I thank the lord Randy (Lerner) gave me this job anyway (joking). There are reasons and we talked to him about why that happened.”
Eric Mangini
“I’ve known Jake a long time. I was the DB coach in New England at the Super Bowl against Carolina. I felt pretty good going into the first half, one of the lowest scoring Super Bowls and I can tell you that last 30 minutes were part of the worst coaching experience I’ve had. The way he lit us up. Then we come back the next year and it’s kind of the same. Over time, he’s been a proven winner. He’s been a consistent winner. His completion percentage over the years, that’s been consistent as well. I don’t think it’s uncommon for a guy to have a bad year, but when you look at his body of work last year, I know the touchdown to interception ratio, I know what that was and I get that, but there were a lot of good throws on that tape too. There were a lot of winning throws on that tape as well. Guys do go through bad years, but over time, I think as Mike said, he’s been consistent in terms of his level of production and his ability to win games.”
Mike Holmgren
(On if there is a timetable for naming a starter)- “I’m not coaching any more. He’s got to decided that. The timetable stuff, you went through that last year. Let’s not even talk about a timetable, if that’s okay with you guys (the media). I know it probably isn’t.”
Eric Mangini
“It’s okay with me Mike (joking).”
Mike Holmgren
(On naming a starter before training camp)- “I would hope or not too long into that we have decided that this is the way we want to go. I know this, Seneca Wallace, who I had in Seattle, will come in and will compete like crazy. You guys will like what you see. He’s a fine player. He can really pass the ball. There are a lot of things you are going to like about Jake as well. He is 35 years old. We understand that, but physically he is really fine. It does kind of beg the question about the future and long term and all of those things. There aren’t many (Brett) Favre’s around that can play until, what is Favre? 45? I don’t know. Because of the moves we made right now, it doesn’t preclude us from continuing to do stuff. I will tell you that too. We have this draft coming up, you know. So we will see.”
Mike Holmgren
(On judging Quinn on 12 starts)- “It was difficult and I’m not sure it’s really fair, to be honest. I’ve said and I meant it when I told you that, 12 games aren’t enough to get a real good feel and certainly Eric has a better feel than I do, having coached him and been around him. That’s the unfortunate part of this. He was here three years and only played in X amount of games and that really isn’t enough. You should have a pretty good idea as a coaching staff, kind of where this is headed, I would think, but it’s not enough. Sometimes you have to make decisions that you think it’s the way to go and we’ll see.”
Eric Mangini
“I think Mike said it the best when he talked about our ability to get Seneca and then to get Jake and the way the landscape changed. Sometimes the best thing is for a player is to get a fresh start. I love Brady’s work ethic and the things that he did in our time together and I really hope that he continues to improve. He did everything that we asked him to improve. Sometimes that does happen with the second team that you’re at. I have nothing but hopes for him because he is a great guy.”
Eric Mangini
(On the dynamic of the offense changing)- “I think part of that has to be seen and there’s a lot of things we’re working on this offseason in terms of what we liked from the previous years, some things that we liked that other teams did, being about to sit down with Mike and with Gil (Haskell) and look at those ideas and study those ideas. This is all a part of the offseason. Infusing Jake and Seneca into the mix and who knows what’s going to happen moving forward, but to see how it all fits together. We also added Ben Watson, which I think is a really positive addition for us and the things that he can offensively. I like Peyton Hillis a lot. I played against him when he was getting the most play time in Denver at that point. I thought he did a really nice job as a running back. He plays fullback. He catches the ball well out of the backfield. He’s 245 lbs. He is a really physical runner. That’s going to add an element to the offense that’s a little bit different. I look forward to see what he can do as well.”
Mike Holmgren
(On why Kamerion Wimbley was traded)- “I’ll let Eric take that one. He’s knows the player better. The only thing I’ll say is this, we’ve been very active on the phones with any number of teams for any number of players. I think when you have a season like last year, as remarkable as it was at the end, it was tough so change is going to take place. To build something up with young people is important and trying to develop your core so you don’t have to make this many changes moving forward in the years to come. That was kind of the challenge that I put forth to the coaching staff, the personnel people. Let’s look at everything. People came to us about this young man. We thought we had a chance to do something, to add to our pile of draft choices and so on.”
Eric Mangini
“Kam, he’s another player that I really enjoyed working with. I think he’s a team player, a hard worker, all of the things that you look for, but as you do look at the team, we were 5-11, we have a lot of places, a lot of things that we need to address. At the outside linebacker spot, I like the depth that we have. We have quite a few players there with Matt Roth, David Bowens, (Jason) Trusnik, Marcus Benard, Scott Fujita has played there as well, David Veikune potentially could move out there as well, we’ve got to figure that out. There’s a lot of candidates there. In getting a third round pick, that allows you some ability to address some other needs as well, whether it’s at a different position or whether you use that to move around the draft, whatever it is. All of those things went into the decision making there.”
Mike Holmgren
(On if the potential for a strike next year has any influence on his decisions)- “No.”
Mike Holmgren
(On trading two former first round picks)- “The idea of focusing in on where a player was chosen before I got here, doesn’t hold a lot of weight with me. I understand they were chosen for a reason, but maybe I look at things differently. That happens, you’ll see that happens periodically through the league. You are absolutely right, Pat (McManamon) you are not going to get the same value most of the time as a first round pick. It happens. It happens with teams throughout the league, throughout the years. I think Eric said it very well about the linebacker, is that maybe we felt we needed another pick or at least a package of picks to shore up at another position because we have a little depth there. At quarterback, it probably wouldn’t have happened if we weren’t able to make the earlier trades. We were, so now what do we do? I did not want to go into training camp with the type of uncertainly that they went into training camp last year. I just didn’t want to. I don’t think it’s a healthy thing for the team. That’s me, so that’s why we did it.”
Mike Holmgren
(On why the quarterback position is better after trading for a career backup and an aging veteran)- “That doesn’t sound that great (joking). One, the ‘career backup’ played for me so I know him better than any quarterback that has been mentioned in this room. I think he is a potential starter. Yes, he has been a backup, but he has been a backup to a Pro Bowl player. Mark Brunell was a backup for me to Brett Favre and he went to the Pro Bowl. You get into a situation and you are a career backup, but that’s a phrase and I’m not sure exactly what that means sometimes. As far as the ‘aging veteran,’ my own belief is this team needs an aging veteran. They need a guy who’s going to grab everybody by the throat and say follow me through that door. That’s what we need. I don’t look at him as an aging veteran. I look at him as the leader that I wanted in the locker room if in fact he is the starter. We are using a different lens to look at those two guys, I guess, is the best way to put that.”
Mike Holmgren
(On if he ever remember another team having to deal with an older quarterback joining a new team who had a good career then a bad year)- “Personally, I’ve never had to deal with anything quite that specific with his age and so on. I think this, when I was able to sit down and we talked extensively about his year. Quite honestly I said, ‘Hey. I’ve watched you play and played against you a long time. What the heck happened?’ He was very candid, very open. I suspect he will be with you, when you ask him those questions. Once we had that discussion, I really felt like this will work. If there are physical reasons why, now you probably don’t do it. You can’t overcome those. The reasons why this happened, I think we have a fine coach, a fine staff and I have every confidence they are going to make that work and I really have a lot of confidence in this guy. Again, let me just say this, how long is Jake going to play? I forget how many years we signed him to. How many years? Who knows? Two? Thanks. So we have two and you can kind of paint the picture yourself what we are going to try to do, but as for right now, this next season, I think we have a great combination.”
Mike Holmgren
(On if the quarterback position was stuck here last year)- “I did not. When I watched film of last season, which is what I had to go on. It looked like they were struggling a little. I’ve told you this and I will say it again, when your quarterbacks play kind of the way they played, forget about the reasons why, you can come up with a million reasons why, but when they play the way they played it’s pretty hard to win games in this league. I just felt I wasn’t going to be doing my job if I didn’t attack that situation. It wasn’t just me, I want you to know that. You can ask me all the questions you want and I said this in our first day, Eric, Tom Heckert, there’s a group of five guys that get in there and we bang around pretty good on all these decisions. He’s the coach and I made him a promise when I first got here. I am not going to give him a player he doesn’t want. I’m not going to do that. We have to talk about this stuff. The quarterback thing was very important and that’s kind of how it happened.”
Mike Holmgren
(On which third round pick the Browns got for Kamerion Wimbley)- “The second one. We tried to get the first one but Al Davis wouldn’t give us the better one.”
Eric Mangini
(On if Jason Trusnik is better than Wimbley because he got a second round tender)- “The way the tender system works, all of those decisions are tied together. It was a pretty complicated formula from that perspective. With any trade you’d love to get a number one for everybody but it’s based on what the opportunities are. It’s not saying one is better than other but as you enter into a trade with someone else, it’s what’s available or what the options are. That’s the only way it works, if both parties agree to it. In terms of the tender for Jason, each one of the tenders was tied in to each other based on this being an uncapped year. It’s not your traditional formula. We aren’t saying that necessarily, we are just saying that they are two different situations.”
Mike Holmgren
“I would agree. To answer your question, no. That’s not what we are saying. I think had we been able to get more for Kamerion we would have, obviously. Its two separate things, trade value, it’s very difficult to get, what I think we should get.”
Mike Holmgren
(On Seneca Wallace’s height and if it’s an issue)- “Isn’t he six foot tall? I think Drew Brees kind of settled some of that for everybody last year. It is an issue at times, absolutely. You’d like a little taller quarterback, I think. It’s been my experience that the guys who are good and not as tall, not the 6-3, 6-4 guys, they have learned to see in the pocket. They have learned to either move, see lanes, they are comfortable with it. Most of them can move very well. It did not appear to me in my time with Seneca that that was a major problem. It did not. He had pretty good vision down the field and he has great movement. He’s an explosive runner and he’s a very dangerous guy that way.”
Mike Holmgren
(On if they are targeting a quarterback in the draft)- “We will probably look at the quarterbacks, yes. We have all these picks now. How many picks do we have now? 12. If we were to package 10 of them and move up, we could do all sorts of stuff. I will ask him to do that every year. I always like to get a quarterback in the draft, regardless of where we picked him, fifth, sixth round. You’ve studied all the guys and say, ‘This would be a good fit for us.’ Maybe he’s not the most highly rated player by everybody, but this is a good fit for us. He’s smart, I like him and we take him. A few times it worked out very well, fifth and sixth round, things like that. Could we use a higher pick for one? Absolutely.”
Eric Mangini
“Our philosophy in New York was based off what you guys did in Green Bay. We always had three and one on the practice squad or you may carry a fourth on the active roster. You just don’t know when they are going to hit. I think it’s just good business to have multiple guys around.”
Mike Holmgren
(On if they are considering taking a quarterback at number seven or trading up to get a quarterback in the first round)-“We would consider both those things, but we are going to consider a lot of things. You just asked me if we’d consider it and I said yes.”
Mike Holmgren
(On if he likes Sam Bradford)- “I like Sam a lot. I like him a lot. He’s a fine player.”
Mike Holmgren
(On if he has looked at all the top rated quarterbacks in the draft)- “I have not yet. The personnel people, clearly, and the coaching staff are head of me on that area. Before the draft comes and before we decide how we are going to do that, I will have done my homework on all of them.”
Eric Mangini
(On what quarterback stood out the most to him at the combine)- “We didn’t actually talk to the quarterbacks at the combine. Those were 15 minute interviews so we are going to spend more time than that with the quarterbacks. We have a lot of people that have talked to them whether it’s the scouts or Carl (Smith), but you like to spend more than just the 15 minutes so we allocated those interviews differently understanding that we’d talk to those guys and set up those things moving forward.”
Eric Mangini
(On Peyton Hillis)- “I like Hillis as a tailback. Hillis had 126 yards against us in New York. He had a string of three or four weeks there, before he got hurt late in the season, this was in I think ’08. He had been very productive as a tailback and that’s what he played in college and he got behind two really good draft picks and kind of got lost in the shuffle there. He’s a physical guy. He’s tough with the football in his hands. You could use him as the tailback and (Lawrence) Vickers as the fullback and you get a lot bigger. You could use him as a fullback with Jerome (Harrison) and both of those guys are really effective catching the ball and even running with the ball, you can give the fullback the ball, not that we gave Lawrence a few bones this year. You can mix him in a lot of different places. He’s returned some kicks. He’s played on special teams. He’s done a lot of good things in a young career. In terms of where we will use him, I’m not sure, but it adds versatility when you try to decide on the 45-man roster to have a fullback that can play tailback and can also do something on (special) teams.”
Mike Holmgren
(On if he expects more trades)- “There could be a couple more. I think we are kind of slowing down just a little bit, a lot of things happened rather quickly and happened close together. We have a couple of other things we are working on right now.”
Mike Holmgren
(On if he expected to make this many changes when he first came in)- “No, I can’t say that because I didn’t know the roster well enough and those things. I think it adds a sense of wildness, if you will, because of the quarterbacks. You are dealing with quarterbacks and everybody, goodness me. I say this affectionately, but if it were just a bunch of nose tackles no one would care. The fact that it’s quarterbacks and they are so important to your football team that it adds a different feel to it. We still have a couple more things to do, and Eric and I were talking about this earlier today. Anything we do, we’ve done it thoughtfully, hopefully. We’ve done it together. We’ve done it to make the team better in our opinion and however that manifests itself. We’ve done what we thought was best for the Cleveland Browns. Hopefully moving forward, it doesn’t get so frantic in years to come. We’re doing what we think we have to do.”
Mike Holmgren
(On if they could go after a restricted free agent)- “We haven’t ruled it out altogether. But you know, Tony (Grossi), historically there is not many things that take place there, with restricted guys. This year is a little different because the pool is bigger, because of the uncapped year and so on. We are not taking it off the table, but I don’t anticipate a lot more being done this year than in other years. I really don’t.”
Mike Holmgren
(On the wide receivers)- “I think we have to add some things to the pile there. I really like to two young guys they drafted last year. (Joshua) Cribbs, who was here briefly for his press conference. I’m sorry, for those of you who were really angry with me it wasn’t my fault. He was showing cars at the auto show or whatever it was. I think he is in that mix somehow. We are going to try and add to that pile. I would like to look for some real speed guys if we can find them. I mean fast, fast guys, not track guys, but guys who play football and can really run. Our guys are fast, but you need that guy that really scares people running down the field, so we are going to look at that.”
Mike Holmgren
(On Tony Pashos and Scott Fujita)- “Tony scares me. I don’t know if you’ve had a chance to meet him. He’s like an offensive tackle and the look test, you know. How many years did you play here Doug (Dieken)? 15 years? And Tony is twice as big as Doug. That’s how they are now. He is a big young man. My hope is that he comes in and really competes for that right tackle position. As far as Scott, what’s not to like. He is a classy young man. He’s smart, Super Bowl champion, leader.”
Eric Mangini
“I think with both these guys, as Mike said with Tony, if he could have started working out last week and had all of his things settled, he would have been here last week working out. He couldn’t wait to get here for the offseason program. It’s all football with him all the time. I’m excited to put him in that mix with John (St. Clair) and Floyd (Womack) and see what happens. I think those three guys all have done some good things playing tackle. With Scott, he has played inside and he has played outside. He can really run, which helps. He can probably put his hand down in the dirt on third downs if you wanted him to. Or at least have a combination of guys with him in that mix. His intelligence is a real asset. Again, move him around to different spots and the learning won’t be an issue.”
Mike Holmgren
(On if his mind was made up about Quinn before Delhomme became available)- “No, I hadn’t made up my mind. Yeah, I think that was a living, breathing, discussion. It was on my mind constantly. How it was going to come down, I think it probably was a day-to-day thing and then finally, like I said, we were able to add Jake to the pile. I might as well bring this up now, I think it’s worth stating. In all our talks, when a free agent come here and he talks to me and then talks to Eric, talks to Heckert, or whomever we have him talk to. They are not promised the starting job. We don’t do that and I’ve told our guys don’t do that. We promise them to be fair, we expect them to compete. We have an idea of what could happen, certainly, when we sign guys. Jake Delhomme hasn’t been promised a starting position. That hadn’t been said yet. That would be unfair to Seneca or anybody else we sign. While we think, the table will be set a certain way. What I’m trying to avoid is if it doesn’t happen, all of a sudden you have a disgruntled player he comes back and says you made these promises to me. I can then I can always say that is not what happened. That’s going to be a philosophy we have in free agency at all times.”
Mike Holmgren
(On what factors went into the decision to sign Delhomme and if they kicked tires and looked at anyone else)- “I would also toss the money in there too. Anytime you are kicking tires, you find out what it is actually going to cost you. When you find that out, you have to make a value judgment. Yes, we were doing that. There were a couple other fellows that were on our list, and I think we were just doing our due diligence. I asked our guys to explore anything and everything. Don’t just say, ‘Well they are not going to do that.’ You don’t know until you don’t ask. Let’s go out and let’s really dive into some possibilities here, even if it sounds a little screwy. All the things you mentioned were factors. I think they have to be anytime you make a decision like that.”
Mike Holmgren
(On drafting a quarterback high in the draft and playing him right away because of the recent success other teams had)-“First of all, if you believe the young man is the guy, you take him. If you are in the position to take him, you take him. At that position. You are not scared off by the fact that it has not worked in years past and I’m sure some of you have written stories about it, you read them all the time where they list all the guys that haven’t panned out. You can’t look at it that way. If you believe he is the guy you take him and then you coach him up and you make him the player you want him to be. I think if you take the cases you’ve mentioned, and I would toss (Mark) Sanchez into that. I had a good discussion with the owner of the Baltimore Ravens when I was at recent meetings. If you decide to play a rookie quarterback, and you make that decision, the team you have has a lot to do with how successful that young man is going to be and what you ask that guy to do. It’s a difficult thing to do. The transition from college to our league is difficult. The teams with the really solid veteran defenses, fine kicking game, pretty strong running game, you plug a young man in there he can function and survive. You plug a young man into that position and you don’t have those things, he takes it on the chin hard. Now, you make a judgment is he going to be scarred for life, or is he going to be able to handle it or if it’s the best thing for him. The teams you mentioned were set up to handle that better than some. Probably better than us right at this particular point.”
Eric Mangini
(On the turnout for the offseason workouts)- “I thought it was a good turnout. We had more guys than last year, and some of the guys that weren’t here are going to be here next week. With some of the newer guys we had in talking to them, we gave them a little bit of extra time. This is voluntary, they wanted to go home and get some things settled. They’ll be joining us next week. I talked to the guys, went down for all three groups, mainly to say hello to everybody and see where we were. There was really good energy in the workouts. This is Kent’s (Johnston) first exposure to the groups, so it was fun. It was fun to see everybody, fun to hear about what they’d been doing, fun to see them working and kind of kicking off the beginning of the next year. I don’t know where exactly the kickoff point is, is it the draft? For me, it’s getting the players back into the building. It gets those juices flowing again.”
Eric Mangini
(On if Delhomme was here today)- “Jake was here this morning and I think you guys are really going to like him when you have a chance to sit down and talk to him. He called me first thing in the morning when he made his decision to sign. I can tell you his energy was contagious. I was hanging out with the boys and we were running around, but it was better than coffee. The way that he felt and his excitement to be here. He feels that rejuvenation, that passion that he has had over so many years. It was fun to hear from a head coaches’ perspective.”
Mike Holmgren
(On if they like Bradford enough to trade up for him)- “We haven’t had that discussion yet and I believe that it what it’d take. I agree with you there. We are not quite there yet. What we are going to have to do is analyze what our needs are. Going back to how to make the team better right away. We have some areas that we have to address that are as crucial now immediately as the quarterback thing. This is probably the only year we will have all these draft picks. So we have to be wise on how we do that. That is still to come, that meeting.”
Mike Holmgren
(On what he remembers about Wallace)- “I think he was dealt a little bit of a bad hand. My last year, all of our linemen and receivers were on IR. It was the darndest thing you’d ever seen and our quarterback, most of our good defensive players. It was a train wreck. So here is Seneca, here, you are playing, boom. Go out there, play. Like Eric said, he had really good football games. I think he wound up throwing 11 touchdowns, three interceptions. He is a threat running. I think he won three games. Played a very fine football game against the Patriots, we were in every game. I’ve said this, to that group of players, because some of them you’ll never see play again. They will never play again, just young guys who we got and they were playing. That it was, for a coach, even though it was horrible year with wins and losses, was as gratifying a year as I’ve had in this business because we were clearly overmatched yet they gave clearly everything they had and we won two of our last three games. Not unlike Eric last year with the last four ball games. That is what I remember of Seneca, against the odds. Wait until you see him practice. Wait until you see him play. He can really flat out pass the ball, well. Aside from his movement. Don’t let the fact that he runs around and wow, you’d be dazzled by some of that stuff. Watch him in drills throwing the ball. The other thing is, he says, ‘I’ll do anything you want me to do.’ I passed that along to Eric. He is a football player and he is happy to be here. It’s a lot of good stuff.”
Mike Holmgren
(On Delhomme being a mentor)- “We talked specifically about that. He is going to have his hands full learning a new offense. Being the player I want him to be and Eric wants him to be. This is not a stop gap. As a quarterback, we want him to win games for us. Not manage the game and all that stuff, but win games for us as the quarterback. That’s his job. When I told him was this, because he has this natural instinct I think. He is a very friendly guy, he is easy to like, with his teammates as well. I said, ‘I want the younger players to just watch you. You don’t have to be anybody but what you are. You don’t have to go overboard to be their teacher. We have coaches, we have good coaches. They are going to coach the team, you play, and they will watch how you do things. That is your mentoring.’ If it goes any farther than that it’s fine, but that’s what I asked him to do.”
Eric Mangini
(On Watson)- “I was there Ben’s rookie year and the year after. Ben has the ability to threaten in the middle of the field. He can really run. He puts pressure on the safeties, which is something you are always looking for from the tight end position. He is good on over routes, the deep overs or seven cuts, things like that. In playing against him in New York, multiple times, he creates issues. You guys probably saw that Buffalo game early in the year last year where he caught the two touchdowns there pretty close to back-to-back. He’s made some big catches in some big games. I really like the guy. I like all the aspects of him as a worker, as a person. I think his best football is ahead of him. Remember New England had quite a few guys they could throw to. You trying to cover (Randy) Moss and (Wes) Welker and Watson kills you. You try to deal with Watson and one of the other two guys kills you. I am looking for him to kill somebody else now.”
Mike Holmgren
(On if Wallace is strictly a quarterback)- “He’ll do all sorts of great stuff. In talking with coach about it, he sees Seneca’s value that way. There’s real value there. The problem I had, and it’s the problem Eric’s going to have too, if he’s your second quarterback, if he is your second quarterback, and your third quarterback is some young guy or someone you don’t think is really ready. It’s hard to play him a lot doing other things. That was the dilemma I had. I would have loved to have put him out there more. He practiced a fair amount at other positions. Whenever I put him in the game he did really wonderful things catching the ball as a wide receiver. Just about every time you threw to him, something good would happen. We were so injured, I just couldn’t do it. I was too nervous to do it. Now, Eric I don’t think is that nervous. He’s not as nervous as I am so he might decide to do it.”
Eric Mangini
(On if he has thought or dreamt about Cribbs and Wallace on the field at the same time)- “I haven’t dreamt about it, but I have thought about it and I think that’d be good. Both guys can throw the ball. Both guys can run with the ball. We may want to run the option. You can do a lot of things with guys like that. It creates problems defensively. Seneca’s primary position is going to be quarterback. That’s where we want him to play, but he’s a competitor and like Josh, he wants to do whatever he can to play football. His primary goal is to get on the field in whatever capacity. You do have to make those decisions if he is the two, how many of those plays are you willing to live with and roll the dice on.”
