HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on the first practice of camp) * *
"It went well. Obviously, in terms of the organization it was probably not as sharp as we like, but that's kind of what you can expect. We have a lot to build upon, and like I told them, even though we had a few more miscues then we like, as long as we come out this afternoon and are a little bit better the second time around and keep making improvements that's what count."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on if he expects much of a difference between camp last year and this year)
"I hope not. Because there are a lot of similarities and the way we have done things over the year it's been very, very positive and we've had great results. We've tweaked it a little bit, which we have every year since I've been here. We've always tweaked training camp a little bit, OTAs, just depending on our circumstances. I'm hoping, obviously, that correlates to some victories as well."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on having Peyton Manning in camp)
"He does a great job of raising the level of expectations with everybody that participates. But he also makes everyone better around him. It's great that he's here. He does a great job of leading and he does a great job of setting an example for the younger players."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on raising his voice and being vocal)
"No, not too often. Every once in a while, but I only raise my voice when I need to be heard, for instruction purposes. Its not like I'm trying to step out and make my stamp on things, its just every once in awhile in order to hear me - there are a lot of people out here – and sometimes my voice has to cover quite a distance, so I speak up a little bit."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on injury updates regarding Mike Hart, Fili Moala and Raheem Brock)
"Mike Hart is (day-to-day), he'll be out there this afternoon. The doctors kind of take a look. Fili (Moala) was doing some work out there for us but he's getting over a little bit of a cold. Raheem (Brock) is also just kind of not rushing it. There are a few guys we're jostling back and forth pending on how they are coming along, but some cases we're not going to force it. You saw a majority of the guys were out there working."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on whether he tells his team positions are open and their play on the field will dictate how much they play)
"That would not be a blanket statement I would use for every position. Obviously they would know very quickly I'm not going to treat them if that was the fact. Nevertheless, my team is true professionals. You don't have to tell them everything about working hard, practicing hard, how important it is to practice. I made this statement to them, from a book I was reading over the summer, that talent is overrated. The premise of the book is talent will prevail over hard work if talent works hard. So that's what I challenge them with to make sure we have some talent on our team but we still work hard."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on if the competition in camp will decide who starts)
"It will. Number one, it will certainly let the cream rise to the top. But we'll also develop some depth along the way. We want to make sure our young receivers get the work they need - Roy Hall, Austin Collie, Pierre Garcon - those individuals have to get their reps and we anticipate they'll get better."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on if there's a front runner for the No. 3 wide receiver)
"No, but I think it will kind of shake itself out in training camp. Hopefully, we'll have a tough decision to make which will mean the guys performed well and we have a little more depth than we anticipated."
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HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on Donald Brown)
"One of the things you can't discount is getting your team all together at the start. (Team President) Bill Polian, (Vice President of Football Operations) Chris (Polian), and (Director of Player Personnel) Tom Telesco do a great job of not just selecting talent but getting them signed and getting them here so we can work with them. To be able to start out first day without any distractions in that regard, without any holdouts, is a testament to what they do and how they do their job. Donald Brown is a guy we anticipate will move quickly, in terms of his knowledge of the game and how he performs out on the field, so it will be exciting to see him in pads and see what he can do."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on Bob Sanders' health status)
"I'm not certain. The doctors will certainly make that declaration. I can tell you he's moving along, he's making good progress, and I know he's eager to get out there. So hopefully in some point in time we'll have him."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on whether it was hot enough today)
"We could turn it up about 10-15 degrees and turn the humidity up a bit. We have a couple of games that are going to test us in terms of the heat, so it'd be nice to work in a lot of heat, but we'll take whatever the Lord gives us."
QB-PEYTON MANNING (on if training camp feels any different this year with a new head coach and no WR-Marvin Harrison)
"It's certainly different. It's an adjustment when you lose two guys that had that big of an impact on our team and certainly on me. It will take a lot of getting used to, to line up under center and not see No. 88 (Marvin Harrison) out to the right, and I think everybody's adjusting, even the coaches, to not having Coach Dungy around. But that is part of what training camp is for, and I think that the more practices we have the more everybody will settle in. Like Coach Caldwell said last night, we have no time to look back. We have to act in the now and go with whose here. Everybody is getting use to Coach Caldwell and there certainly is a receiver spot open now that Marvin is not here. Reggie (Wayne) and Anthony Gonzalez will definitely be there, but that third spot is good healthy competition, and I think that is a healthy thing."
QB-PEYTON MANNING (on how this year right now feels different from last year)
"It is certainly a lot better. It was my first time out on the field (today). I went 0-for last year. It certainly feels good to be back, and I've never taken it for granted being healthy and being able to be out there and practice. This is certainly the way I prefer it. Last year was not much fun at all. It did feel good to be back out there. I felt like a rookie again. I was excited to drive up here yesterday. I was glad to be back out on the field today, and hopefully staying on the field the entire training camp."
QB-PEYTON MANNING (on if he has talked to former Head Coach Tony Dungy recently)
"I have. I hope he is not too hard on me during the season in his new job in the studio. I think Coach Dungy will keep in touch with a lot of guys. I know he and Coach Caldwell have talked. He certainly is close with a lot of guys on this staff. (Assistant Head Coach/Wide Receivers) Clyde Christensen has been with him the entire time. I texted him on Saturday before we came up here and told him that we'd miss having him around tomorrow, and he said that he misses all of us. Coach Dungy is going to be apart of my life forever."
QB-PEYTON MANNING (on what the biggest difference is between current Head Coach Jim Caldwell and former Head Coach Tony Dungy)
"You know, it's kind of like when you guys (media) ask 'How'd you do in the draft?' It's hard to give that evaluation after you've just started to get to know someone. I certainly know Coach Caldwell very well as my quarterbacks coach, but I, like all of our players, are getting used to him as a head coach. He is different, because he has more of a leadership role, and he's having to speak a lot more in front of the team. I feel like I'm just like all the rest of the players. I'm getting to know him and his mannerisms. I think we'll learn when he's not happy and when's he pleased. I think that just takes time. In last night's meeting when he went over his expectations and our team goals, they are very similar. There is no question that he is going to coach from Coach Dungy's book in a lot of ways, at the same time he has some things that are unique to his style, and the team is learning those as we move forward."
QB-PEYTON MANNING (on what he wants to see out of the running game this season)
"That is more of a question for (Senior Offensive Coordinator) Tom Moore and for Coach Caldwell on what their expectations are. As far as the role I can play, obviously, I always want to be 100 percent in my run game decisions and try to get us in the right run, trying to give Joseph (Addai) and Donald (Brown) and the line and tight ends the best chance to succeed by checking to the right play. That's where my focus is on the run game. I never liked answering those questions. I think those are questions for Jeff (Saturday), for Tom, for (Senior Offensive Line Coach) Howard, (Mudd) for Ryan Diem and Joseph and Donald. As far as the impact I can have on the running game I won't be running it a lot this year, I don't think. I do take a lot of pride in trying to make the best run game decisions."
QB-PEYTON MANNING (on if it got to a point last season where he felt he had to stay away from the run game)
"(Senior Offensive Coordinator) Tom (Moore) calls them in, and we're pretty much calling the same plays throughout the season. If the run look is there that is the right read, and we have to take it. That's what we've been doing from the get-go. That's what I've been coached to do, and that will certainly be part of the plan this year."
QB-PEYTON MANNING (on what he was doing last year on the day that camp opened)
"I was home on the first day last year. I think I got here the day after. It's not a good feeling. It's kind of a lonely feeling. You feel guilty, even though you're in a lot of pain and you couldn't walk. You feel guilty that 79 other guys are here, sweating it out in the heat, and you can't be apart of it. I can assure you they were having more fun than I was, even though it was hot and they were running around. But you always want to be apart of it. That's all I had ever known was being apart of it, never missing a practice and never missing a meeting. It was a completely different role for me last year, but I felt like I took advantage of it, and I still stayed involved in it mentally. Certainly, this is the way I prefer being out there, being involved in all the meetings, and being one of the guys."
QB-PEYTON MANNING (on how long it will take for a third wide receiver to distinguish himself)
"It'll be (Assistant Head Coach/Wide Receivers) Clyde Christensen's decision as far as who he puts in there and the starting rotation, but my guess is that it will probably go all the way through the preseason, who stands out and who makes some plays. I think the idea will be to have a pretty good mix in the rotation. Where you feel good about putting whoever in there, and they can all be treated as X's besides Anthony (Gonzalez) and Reggie (Wayne). It's been good competition so far this offseason and all those guys, Pierre (Garcon), Roy (Hall), Austin (Collie) and Taj (Smith) made a few plays today. I think that's kind of where it is headed."
QB-PEYTON MANNING (on what he thought about WR-Reggie Wayne's entrance to training camp)
"That was pretty creative. We watched it on the news last night. That's kind of what you expect out of Reggie. I can't say we were surprised. We would have been surprised if he had just shown up in shorts and a t-shirt. It got a pretty good response from the audience."
QB-PEYTON MANNING (on WR-Reggie Wayne saying that he wasn't looking his way a lot today in practice after saying yesterday that he would throw to him often this season)
"Well, that's what makes Reggie, Reggie. All the great receivers want the ball every play and think they are open every play and that is what separates them. I kind of noticed that, I can kind of tell throughout the course of practice if he's not getting a lot of balls – and he's real good about it – but he has sort of his subtle ways (of showing his displeasure). I feel confident that come crunch time Reggie will be getting plenty of catches."
QB-PEYTON MANNING (on Senior Offensive Line Coach Howard Mudd seeming to enjoy being back on the field coaching)
"I'm sure Howard and (Senior Offensive Coordinator) Tom (Moore) are both glad to be back out there … It is good to have both of those guys back. I'm sure they are glad to be back, and it's just good that everything is in place, and we can move forward."
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WR-REGGIE WAYNE (on his arrival to training camp Sunday)
"The only theme I could think of this year was us getting dirty, being like construction workers, just going out and getting it. I robbed a bright, yellow dump truck…I've had some scenarios, it started out with me and an old buddy of mine, Edgerrin James. We started out years and years ago. And he left, so I had to keep the train going for the last few years. It's getting harder and harder each year, but I'll figure something out."
WR-REGGIE WAYNE (on having Peyton Manning back in camp)
"I guess it depends on who you're asking. Whenever you get your starting quarterback out there on the first day, not just the quarterback but everybody on the first day, its always a plus. He's enthused, he's fired up. I talked to him on the way to camp, he hit me up on the phone and you could tell in his voice he was fired up and ready to go. I don't think he cared too much for sitting in the bedroom last year when we were out here practicing, so it's always good to see him out there getting a lot more work."
WR-REGGIE WAYNE (on if camp feels the same as last year)
"So far it feels the same. But there's a couple of little hiccups here and there that throws you off a bit. Change, for the most part, is good…(Coach Caldwell) has a little vocal side about him. He just wants everything done right. Everybody seems to know his system. I'm excited to see what he can bring to the team and I know it'll be great and everybody is glad he's running the show."
WR-REGGIE WAYNE (on life going on without Marvin Harrison)
"Yeah, life goes on. That's what you're all going to say when I'm gone. That's the nature of the beast. You hate to see Marvin gone, you hate to see (Tony) Dungy gone, but that's just how it goes. You just have to keep trucking. If you sit back and worry about what happened and what we used to have then the wheels falls off and all of a sudden you're not going anywhere. Everyone has to pick up the load. And pick up for the guys we lost like Marvin,. It's extra work for me, and extra work for Gonzalez."
WR-REGGIE WAYNE (on the first day of practice)
"Man, I was a decoy in my own practice. It was good to go out there and kind of run around and get our legs up under us. A little Midwest sunshine, I guess you can call it. It was good, I had a couple of little hiccups but that's expected on the first day. Got some stuff we can build on and we'll go from there."
WR-REGGIE WAYNE (on if camp feels different without Coach Dungy)
"Not necessarily. Pretty much the same system for the most part. Not much, so far it's just like coaches of the past."
WR-REGGIE WAYNE (on the fan turnout for the first practice)
"Yeah, we did. It started off a little slow. I guess they're like me, not a morning person. It takes awhile to get warmed up. But its always good, you'd rather play in front of people than just like at West 56th street with no one standing there, its just us and the airplanes going over top and the birds chirping. It's always good to have fans out there who are excited to see you play.
WR-REGGIE WAYNE (on if the hard work has started)
"The hard work has started. I'm ready now. Got a practice under my belt. There's no turning back. I have no more gas in my car, so I'm here. "
RB-DONALD BROWN (on camp expectations)
"Just to go out and improve everyday. That's all, and to give my best efforts. That's all I can control."
RB-DONALD BROWN (on the OTA's)
"They helped tremendously. To hear the offense and just be able to be out there with the guys, it makes it a little easier for training camp."
RB-DONALD BROWN (on what he has learned as a first-year player)
"Just to keep your mouth shut and to keep your eyes open and listen. That's the biggest thing, and watch the veterans. We obviously have a great group of veterans here so if you follow what they do, you'll be successful. "
RB-DONALD BROWN (on learning from Joseph Addai)
"Joe has been very helpful. He's obviously a veteran, and somebody in your position that's a veteran is helpful. It really is. Joe helped me out a lot this practice. I'm grateful to have somebody like him in my corner."
RB-DONALD BROWN (on the first practice)
"It went well. I made a couple of mistakes but as long as I don't make the same mistake twice, I'll be alright and take it one practice at a time."
