Mike Shanahan Quotations

The one thing we have in our division is everybody tries to get better. We've got ownership throughout the division where teams are looking to improve. . . . If you're not improving in our division, chances are you're not going to win.

We started out a little slow. The way we came back offensively in the second half was impressive.

There is no question that Troy is ready to be an offensive coordinator. At some point, Gary is going to get bogged down with the responsibilities that go with being a head coach, and he will turn it over to Troy.

We're going to go back to the drawing board,

We know we control our destiny. We have two games left and hopefully we can do what we are capable of doing.

We really feel like Mike is in great shape. He's had a great camp. There are no questions in our minds that he's totally healthy.

We have Rod Smith and Ashley Lelie and beyond that there are some question marks for the third, fourth and fifth spots, ... The obvious ones are Darius Watts and we all know what he can do and Jerry Rice, who we know what he's done throughout his career.

Obviously, there were some good things, good record, but we fell short of our goal.

Obviously, he hurt enough not to be able to play. The extent of it I can't tell you right now. (We) probably won't be able to tell for a couple of days. Obviously, it was bad enough that he couldn't go back in.

Obviously, anytime it happens in our organization we're embarrassed by it.

Points will come. Yards will come. I think we've proven over history that we can move the football. So, maybe some day we'll get some yards and some points.

No. 1, he's very talented. He's got a lot of speed. He's a very savvy player. He plays sideline to sideline. They use him in a role where they utilize his talents.

If these guys are hurt, they'll play. If they're injured, they can't play. . . . But we'll evaluate that later in the week and find out where they're at.

. . . But we're trying to win Super Bowls, not just playoff games. Obviously, we'd like to win our division, have home-field advantage . . . we're going to keep on working and, hopefully, we can get over the hump.

I feel very good (about the No. 3, 4 and 5 receivers),

I can't say it's any one thing. He's in his third year. He feels comfortable with the system. I think it's a process and hopefully, he can keep it up.

I don't think along those terms until it happens. You've got an off-season to go through at the end of the season and you've got a procedure you go through every year. It's always nice to have a couple extra draft picks, and you're hoping when it's time, you get a couple good players out of it.

He will get a chance to adapt this week and start to get used to a different language.

He is healthy, ... He said he feels real good and I think the last 10 days or so in New England he felt pretty good. He's getting back in football shape and he should be ready to go.

He had an excellent preseason. There wasn't much more we could have asked of him, ... Now, he's got to carry that over to the rest of the year.

He had a lot of reps in practice today and looked pretty good out there. So unless there's a setback, he should be ready to go.

He doesn't have to think, he just has to react.

He felt good, ... I said before I had a good feeling about it. I still do.

He'll have to play in a harness, ... Al Wilson had it last year. John Lynch had it.

We try to get everything done as quickly as possible. We have to be ready for March.

When he's in there, there is a presence. He really picks up our team.

We feel like he's got some skills. We like the way he plays. When you take a shot on somebody, you're not really sure it's going to work out. But we thought it was worth a gamble.

We've got to make that tough decision on what's the best thing for the team,

He said he was ready to go, he felt good. He got a little worn out at the end. He went as long as he could go without probably being in football shape. He felt good to start. He tightened up a little bit.

He's been more consistent throughout training camp. I told Charlie before the Arizona game that he was going to be our starting third wide receiver and to get ready to play.

We look at all avenues to improve our team,

He can take some visitors, so that's a good sign. We'll have a number of players and coaches going over there this afternoon, but they still want him to rest. (The doctors) feel very good about his progress.

He kind of held us together a little bit, at least until Lenny came back.

Jake played extremely well. He made a bunch of big plays. They had a lot of pressure on him and they had a very talented defensive front.

I would say on Friday, I should be able to give you an idea.

I talked to Jerry a couple of days ago and I informed (him) that he would not be one of our top three wide receivers,

I think it's a better system. There are more opportunities, and because teams have to come to your city to do the interviews, it can be done without conflicting with what you're trying to get done.

I think (in) my years as a head coach and my years as a coordinator, I don't think I can remember an offense putting as much pressure on a defense as we did,

I think that goes unnoticed quite a bit.

I think this will be the true year to evaluate Jake Plummer.

I watch a lot of college film, not only looking at what different colleges do from an offense and defensive standpoint, but also evaluating players, ... so we do that quite a bit during the off-season. Especially a team like LSU, who has a number of players (in draft consideration) year-in and year-out.

I think they feel very good about Clinton, and we feel very good about Champ,

Larry calls all of the defenses. Every once in a while, I'll give a suggestion. When I do, it's usually wrong.

I sat down with him, I said, 'You don't go to a game with (an obscenity) written on the back of your shirt,'

Our guys aren't as big as some. But they do have great speed. We really thrive on speed with our defense. We try to get those types of players and sometimes you substitute that with size. Our linebackers do have good speed.

Pittsburgh deserved to win; they played better than we did. To do what they've done three weeks in a row against three excellent football teams is really an accomplishment.

Playing the way they have on the road the past three weeks is really an accomplishment. They play big on the road.

Some guys (have) got more growing to go. That's part of the season. But I thought we made some strides and hopefully it pays dividends.

Matt felt a little better (Friday) than he did, so that's a big plus, ... It's just like a game. If a guy goes down, you like to see guys come up. We'll get a look at some guys, and it should help them down the line.

I was in denial at that time. I read the quote the next day and I thought I might have been pushing a little bit.

I think if you take a look at any of the six teams, any of those six teams could go all the way.

I think Plummer was frustrated. Obviously when you throw interceptions, you're frustrated. That's part of the game and you've got to try to overcome those mistakes.

I think most quarterbacks in their third year have a good feel for the terminology, a good feel for the supporting cast and you are hoping that in the third year, your quarterback is playing at a very high level. He feels a lot more comfortable with our system and a lot more comfortable with the supporting cast and he has played well.

It didn't seem to bother Steve Young when he went from Tampa Bay to San Francisco. The next place Steve goes will be Canton.

The All-Star Classic is a great event to showcase our league and we are excited that we can bring it to the St. Louis region. We are so fortunate that we have one of the nation's best pediatric hospitals in our community, so anytime there is an opportunity, we want to support their efforts.

That's what coaches do, teach. If you can't teach, you can't coach. And these guys have done an excellent job since they've been here.

You just think of it being automatic, you don't even think about them missing it. I do think there is a comfort level. Saying, 'Hey, we do need the field goal?' You don't question if he's going to make it.

Yeah, it is frustrating. But there is some good with it. When you move the ball 80 yards on your first drive, and all of a sudden you're on the 1-yard line, and all of a sudden you lose your momentum like we did. When you go against a good defense and you're in long-yardage situations, you're going to be in for a long day, so you can't stop yourself. We're going to play a lot of good defensive football teams this year, so we'd better pick it up. If we don't, then we're going to be inconsistent like we have been the past two weeks.

We'd sure take him. He's the type of guy you love because he handles himself with so much class. When you have a guy who does that as a rookie being drafted as high as he was, it speaks volumes for the future.

We got behind in Miami and threw the ball quite a bit in the fourth quarter,

We've done a good job through the season, but that fourth quarter wasn't one of our better quarters when it came to run defense.

You know what Mike Anderson is. It doesn't take a regular-season game to tell you that Mike has been playing pretty good. . . . I'm pleased with the way he's come back and rebounded after a serious injury. I like the way he handles himself.

We've been evaluating throughout training camp, two-a-days, the off-season program, all the way through. We'll be fine.

We haven't made a decision as to what direction we're going to go with the 53rd spot now that Jerry's not with us, ... We have not finalized another roster spot and I can't tell you when that will be for sure.

We haven't faced a better defensive team this year.

We haven't been very consistent on offense. We have to get back on track like we did in the preseason. We have to get back to not making mistakes and stopping ourselves. If we can do that, good things will happen.

We haven't been very consistent on offense, ... We have to get back on track like we did in the preseason. We have to get back to not making mistakes and stopping ourselves. If we can do that, good things will happen.

We'll get a chance to evaluate him (today).

We'll get a chance to evaluate him during the week and see if he is ready to go, ... If he doesn't practice a certain amount, you question yourself on how many reps you can give him in the game.

Well, first of all, you don't think about those things that you just mentioned ? excuses. You either get it done or you don't.

We are playing the best rush defense in the National Football League, so I hope we have that problem. You always want your players to achieve goals, but I don't think that is a game plan going in. We are just trying to play it as it comes on.

What you try to do is get guys to understand their role. They may not like being second team, but when they do get an opportunity to play, they take advantage of that opportunity. . . . We've got a lot of players like that.

When you are 0-6 and you havent won a game out there, it is a great challenge for our football team, ... It is not with the same team, but it never is.

The deal with Clarett, that was a non-issue, ... because he never got the chance to practice very much.

We'll just get up a little earlier, watch the (video) from the game, have our meeting and go from there. We'll just have about four hours instead of 24. But it's got to be done.

We liked the way he handled himself at the Senior Bowl, and the way he played throughout the season. There's a big upside with his speed.

We knew it was going to be difficult to come in here and deal with the elements in their backyard,

When you have your second, third or fourth back that knows the system, you can throw him in there every day. That is why it's tough to pick a guy up during the season, because you actually want that guy to contribute to the team.

When you have four starters out of the game as we do, you have to have everybody else playing. If you did play your second unit, who would play special teams?

When you do that, it makes it hard for your defense to play four quarters at the level that we expect them to play. We did not do a very good job on offense. I can not put my thumb on it, because there was some great effort, guys played hard, but you have to have eleven guys out there playing together. One guy here (and) one guy there just doesn't get it done.

We had some opportunities in the first half offensively and couldn't get any points in that end zone. When you do that on the road, usually good things don't happen.

We'll keep all three of those guys out, ... But they should be able to go next week.

We had a good practice. It was a good tempo. It was a little tougher this morning with the snow, but it lightened up a little bit. The weather was pretty good.

We knew he had those type of abilities. He's just been hampered by injuries.

You hope he can step up in games like he does it in practice, but he hasn't done it yet.

You hope a guy can step up in games and do it like he does it in practice,

You have to be a little worried about it.

We just want him to get better and ready for the regular season. I have no worries he'll be ready.

We just got him signed here about 15 or 20 minutes (earlier), ... He didn't get a chance to practice, but he'll be on our football team.

You look at Kansas City, they were No. 2 in point production and San Diego was third in point production in the NFL. So we're going to see it a few times this year.

Both guys played extremely well. I was really happy with the young corners.

First of all, I think you don't get too caught up in that. I know the situation, what's happened. His slate is clean and we're giving him an opportunity.

So, obviously, first comes the AFC West. The goal is to win playoff games, but the division is first, ... You can do it other ways, and we have won a Super Bowl as a wild card, but the statistics show there is no question, being at home gives you an advantage.

Coming out of college he was a zone running back. That was his style and we run a system very similar to the one he ran at Wisconsin. I think he fits our system a little better than the other system.

Coming out of college, he was a zone-running back. That was his style, and we run a system very similar to the one he ran at Wisconsin. I think he fits our system a little better than the (Giants) system.

That's not saying Maurice doesn't have a chance to go on to another football team and make that team and contribute,

You're not really sure how much you're going to reshape your team. What you try to do is get the best players in to compete, and those players eventually separated themselves on who's starters, who's second team and who doesn't make the squad.

You're hoping a guy performs better than that, ... He's been pretty consistent in practice ... You always hope a guy is going to step up and do it in a game like they do in practice, but he hasn't done that yet.

You never know with those ankles, we'll just have to wait and see. I don't think it's that serious where he would have to get (a magnetic resonance imaging test).

The way they controlled the tempo of the game ... once you did have the ball, you had to try to take advantage of it. They did a good job stopping us defensively in the first half. They just played better and coached better than we did.