QB- PEYTON MANNING (on –offense being ready to go at Houston) * *
"I think we need to use these next two weeks of practice. I would say that is true for every season. We are still in training camp mode this week. We are still working on things, still installing things. To say that I think wouldn't be accurate. We still have two weeks left and need to use every day of these practices to get ready for Houston. We are still deciding the roster, still deciding what injured guys will be available, still tinkering with those things. We are still tinkering with those things, so I think there are still two good weeks to prepare and get better. I do think after these two weeks, we will be ready."
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(on if injuries have set the offense back)
"I don't think you can say it set us back. It's another opportunity for other guys to step up and play, which there is no question you are going to need depth throughout the course of a 16-game season. I think we've hopefully taken advantage of some of the injuries and tried to turn them into a positive to give some other guys a chance to play."
QB-PEYTON MANNING (on how much he'll play and prepare for Cincinnati)
"We don't know yet. They haven't told us yet. They usually don't tell us until Wednesday night or even Thursday morning. This week has always been treated as a 'get the Colts better week.' We'll do some Cincinnati review, but always for this fourth game, unlike the third game where we truly do game-plan and get ready and treat it like a game, but this fourth week we are focusing on the Colts and getting better. Obviously, there are some serious evaluations this week on some guys that they are looking at. Who is going to start? Who is going to make the team? Coaches are trying to get a lot of different looks with different guys and putting us in more competitive situations."
QB-PEYTON MANNING (on what he wants to see the offense do better after watching the Green Bay tape)
"I think just maintain drives. Certainly, we had a couple of good drives, (but) just weren't able to finish. On some of the other ones, we got ourselves out of bad field position, hit a long pass here and then we got down there and stalled. So, just working on finishing drives and being able to put up 10, 12 good plays in a row, as opposed to maybe five or six good plays and then having a negative play, a run for zero yards or an incompletion or a penalty, which are all potential drive-stallers. I guess finishing drives is something that came out of that game that we need to improve on, which has always been the case. Over the course of a season you have to be able to finish drives."
QB-PEYTON MANNING (on what the NFL needs to do with the new rule concerning the umpire's placement to speed the game up)
"I don't know. That's not for me to say. We'll have to deal with it, whatever the final outcome is."
QB-PEYTON MANNING (on if it does take adjustment on his part)
"I know everybody is looking for this dramatic impact that it is going to have on us, (but) if we don't win a game it's not going to be because of that rule."
QB-PEYTON MANNING (on if he thinks the umpire's new position could be a problem, specifically with comebacks in the fourth-quarter prior to two minutes)
"To me, mathematically it has to have some kind of effect. It just doesn't seem like they've factored those things in when they thought about it. People run two-minute offenses outside of two minutes, and they've been doing it for quite some time. The penalty, I just don't understand it. I don't understand the penalty at all. Twelve-men on the field? What about that guy (defensive player) getting off the field? Do you just sit there and watch him go off the field? Do you turn back and check and say (to the umpire), 'Hey, are you ready?' Whatever it is, we have to do (it). I do think because they've said it's a work in progress and the preseason was the time to experiment and see what it is and to show them some of the potential pitfalls of making it. I hope they'll take those things into account. I know people are kind of focused on us, but I've talked to some other quarterbacks and they've had similar frustrations with it. The challenge situations are very real. You try to hurry it up to avoid the coach getting a great look at it (and challenging the play). Let's just get them an HD slow motion look now. I was curious the other day after they penalized me since I had not run a play, does that mean because you can't challenge after a team runs a play, but I've always thought you could challenge after a penalty because a penalty isn't a play, but we probably could have gotten all different kinds of angles and looks at it there. That to me seems like it wasn't quite factored in. I do think it'll give defenses more of a chance to substitute if they have one more second to get that 12th guy off the field. Once next Monday gets here I'll be done talking about it, but if they are saying that there is still maybe some potential room to factor out (what) the best way to do it is, then I think we ought to keep looking at some of the things."
QB-PEYTON MANNING (on if the umpire was quicker to spot the ball in the first two preseason games)
"A couple of times, but I had to wait on him a couple of times. I think during the course of 60-minute games, it'll be interesting to see how it all plays out. It depends on what the score is. Like I said, the 12 men on the field and the replay, I think are two things that are pretty interesting to see how they play out."
QB-PEYTON MANNING (on this year's training camp)
"I would probably say that it's been a good training camp. We've gotten good work done. We have had a number of injuries that have put new guys in there, which I think in the long run we can make into a positive because some guys - whether it's Jamey Richard at center or a defensive guy or Jacob Tamme getting more repetitions at tight end - that are going to have to play for us down the road in critical situations, I think it's been positive to get those guys so much work."
RB- JOSEPH ADDAI (on –how he feels after Green Bay game)
"I'm good. I'm good. You all must obviously be talking about the hit that I made on the guy. Actually, I was fine. I think once I regrouped on the sideline, if that was a real game, a regular game, I would have gone back in. I knew I was OK. (It was) preseason, so let's be smart about it. Obviously, we, the starters, came out after that, so it looked like, 'When are they going to go back in?' So, obviously I was fine."
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RB- JOSEPH ADDAI (on –playing in preseason)
"You can look at it so many ways. If it is meant to be, it is meant to be. I feel that preseason is needed to get some of the kinks out, get some of the younger guys stepping up, get some of the things we need to work on, try to correct those things. I really feel like it is needed. At the same time you want to hit the ground running when Week 1 comes. You don't want to make any mistakes. You try to limit all of that. I feel for each individual it is different, but I think it is needed."
RB- JOSEPH ADDAI (on –where running game is at right now)
"I feel like we are getting better. I think everybody in house, we all are getting on the same page if that makes sense. Everybody is on one accord. Everybody's making the effort to get it better. I think the club, we kind of feel good about that. We had some sparks during the preseason. We showed that now we just have to carry it on in the regular season."
RB- JOSEPH ADDAI (on –if the offense is making the progress it needs to make with relation to the people who are out with injuries)
"Football is a rough sport. Everybody has to step up and we know that. We want all the guys to be healthy, but it is impossible to have that and think that everybody is going to be healthy the whole 16 games, playoffs, and Super Bowl. It is not reality that you have everybody healthy, but the biggest thing is just working with what you have got. We have been making strides. The young guys have been stepping up and doing a great job."
RB- JOSEPH ADDAI (on –if offense is ready for Houston in first game)
"Yes, I think we are ready. That will be a good test for us. Houston always plays us good and is always a good challenge. That is the first game on the road. It is a lot of things to face and I think we will be ready for it."
RB- JOSEPH ADDAI (on –looking past Cincinnati to Houston)
"You have to keep it one game at a time. What is today, Monday? We focus on Monday. Just trying to stay focused and get ready for Cincinnati. We are still focused on that and Houston is a long ways from now. We understand that is an important game, but we are still focused on Cincinnati right now."
RB- JOSEPH ADDAI (on –if he will play against the Bengals)
"I don't know yet. Right now I really don't know what the coaches will do. If they want me to play, I'm playing."
RB- JOSEPH ADDAI (on –amount of work he has gotten done with the injured offensive line)
"There is a lot of work to be done. Not only on the field. You watch film, you are in the classrooms and you are talking. A lot of those things help. I think every chance we get to be involved in football helps a lot."
RB- JOSEPH ADDAI (on –Reggie Wayne telling him to quit being macho--trying to make a tackle)
"He told me that after the fact. If I didn't go down everybody would have been, 'Hooray.' But since I had a little ding it was, 'Joe, you never should have done that.' So it is kind of, I'm in a bad situation…It was all fun and games and the good thing is I didn't come out on the bad end. We looked over it and I probably would do the same thing next time. I was trying to save a touchdown and whatever it is to win the game, that is the situation we are trying to put ourselves in and it just so happened I went down. I was fine, but I think everybody liked the effort of me trying to go for the tackle, so it was a good call."
RB- JOSEPH ADDAI (on –what the defense said after the hit)
"They want me on their side of the ball now."
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