HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (On the possibility of RB-Donald Brown returning) * *
"He practiced some on Monday. He is headed that way."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (On what impresses him about RB-Mike Hart)
"He's been performing well with the amount of time he's been in. The most impressive thing about him is he has a real good grasp of what we do. He's a smart guy. He catches on quickly. He can do something once he gets the ball in his hands. He had some pretty important and key runs for us down the stretch the last couple of weeks."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (On if K-Adam Vinatieri and WR-Anthony Gonzalez could come back this week)
"It depends. It just varies. You want to see some live work just in case any complications exist. In both cases, this week is a very important."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (On WR-Anthony Gonzalez practicing this week)
"He was at practice on Monday. Today we will see. His (recovery) road has not been an easy one."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (On the health of the team)
"This time of year we don't have one guy who doesn't have some issue. In this league, that's just the way it is. Our injury report has been long as of late. We take all those things into consideration down the stretch."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (On his approach this week)
"Our approach is the same as last week. Towards the end of the week some issues may change. It depends on the health of some guys. We won't change our approach. Every week we try to approach it the same way. This one (game) is no different. Winning is extremely important. This is a competitive game with competitive people. We don't take the field with anything other than that in mind."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (On not telling the players how long they will play on Sunday)
"I don't see an advantage in doing that. We are dealing with men here. We have a pretty veteran squad. If you speak plainly and bluntly about issues, they (team) respond accordingly, if they know what to expect. We try to keep them informed as much as we can."
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HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (On if milestones play a role in the decision-making process for playing time)
"It's a team game. If our guys happen to accomplish individual things along the way, it's great. They (milestones) don't come into play in terms of our decisions."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (On not fumbling and what has gone into that)
"We work at it. Clyde (Christensen) does as fine a job with teaching drills and fundamentals for the receivers. Gene Huey is the same with the running backs. Any of the guys who handle the ball get a pretty good dose of fundamental football in terms of securing it. We also work on it during the course of practice. When a guy has the ball in his hands, we are always trying to strip it. Therefore, it requires that he also pays particular attention to how well he grips the ball. This can occur even when he's on his way back to the huddle. Sometimes guys will come up behind players and try to knock it out. I think that is a good practice that we've always done here. Therefore, we have not had very many fumbles. We hope that continues."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (On how may snaps the No. 2 QB gets during the week)
"In a normal week it varies. It really does. There have been times the No. 2 quarterback has gotten no snaps in terms of our offensive unit. Towards the end of the season, Peyton (Manning) typically doesn't take them all. He gives a few up as the season goes on. That's the stage we are in right now. I could not give you an exact number. It varies from week-to-week."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (On if he feels the team is getting better)
"I do think right now we are getting better. That is important. I see guys who have had the opportunity to play more often get better. Fili (Moala) is doing a better job in terms of knowing what to expect on the defensive line. Guys playing special teams in some of the roles they are playing are getting better. We want to keep finding things that we can focus in on and improve. That's the key as a team. We've done that from week-to- week."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (On the offensive line preparing for the Jets defense)
"We have a pretty studious group. They (Jets) give you so many looks. You can't prepare for everything. You can't look at everything they do in a two-hour practice. They (Jets) use different packages against different teams. We have to figure what they may use against us. Some of our practices are stretched a little because we have to go over a look a couple times to make sure everyone is on the same page. They (Jets) give you a heavy dose of different personnel. They are very, very good at it."
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HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (On Jets QB-Mark Sanchez)
"I see a guy who is ultra talented. He can make all the throws. He has a strong arm. He has the touch to make intermediate passes. He is mobile. We've seen on several occasions his coming through the line-of-scrimmage, find a gap and convert a third down. He really does have a lot of ability. He plays with a lot of enthusiasm. He has a great future ahead of him."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (On Jets RB-Thomas Jones)
"He's a very good down-hill runner. That's one thing he does extremely well. He's outstanding running between the tackles. He can get up a head of steam in a hurry. He has an immense amount of power. He's really quick in terms of being able to accelerate through the hole. He gets north and south quickly and he packs a punch."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (On the balance between the holiday and football)
"It's difficult for the young guys. We talk about it. We had the same thing around Thanksgiving with family in town. What we try to do is make certain we talk to them about that. We want to be able to spend time with family and do all the things we want to do this time of the year. Yet, we can't lose our focus. We won't start our meeting on Friday until 10:00 a.m."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (On his coaching staff)
"We are blessed to have a great group of coaches here. I haven't added up their years of knowledge in terms of experience, but it's vast. Very few things shake them because they've seen so much. Adjustments are made rather easily. There's not a whole lot of confusion. We are all on the same page. It makes for productive adjustments and productive play."
