HEAD COACH MIKE TICE(on if he is able to put the losses behind him) 11/4/04
"I think you do after a couple of days, but as the week progresses, something might come up in watching type of a situation that you probably didn't handle the right way in the game, as far as whether it was schemes or execution, and it still continues to haunt at you a little bit and drive you nuts. But, you have to put it behind you. You have to close the window and move forward."
HEAD COACH MIKE TICE(on the status of WR-Randy Moss) 11/4/04
"He's progressing every day. He's obviously not the factor we want him to be right now. We have to be so intelligent with the injury. When he strained the hamstring, we knew he wasn't going to be healthy between four and six weeks. We've been blessed that he hasn't taken a step backwards. The first week was more of a start so he could keep his streak alive. Last week, we thought he would be available to us in the red zone. It turned out, we didn't get to the red zone, and by the time we got to the red zone, he was stiff. So, he really wasn't a factor. We took him out in the second half so he wouldn't take a step backwards. It's an injury we're going to have to monitor. I don't expect the league will see the real Randy Moss for a few more weeks."
HEAD COACH MIKE TICE(on if he anticipates a 45-35 game like last week's Indianapolis-Kansas Citygame) 11/4/04
"We're hoping we don't. We're hoping they don't score 45 points on us. You have to prepare your team to stop the other offense. Does it always work out that way? Not usually. But, they're so high-powered and have so many weapons and have so much speed and quickness, and their quarterback gets the ball out of his hands so well, (Edgerrin James) is running the ball real well, two nice tight ends…you can go on and on with the amount of weapons they have. You want to execute and tackle and hopefully slow the opponent down. I don't think we can stop them. And I'm sure they're trying to do the same thing with their defense."
HEAD COACH MIKE TICE(on if you can enjoy the years Peyton Manning and Daunte Culpepper are having) 11/4/04
"I love Peyton Manning, he's my son's favorite football player. I've taken him down to the ManningPassingAcademythe last two years and gotten to know Peyton a little bit. I admire him very much. I admire his preparation and how he gets himself ready to play the game. I admire how he manages the game. I'm certainly a very big fan of Peyton Manning. It reminds me of the days I watched John Elway play when I was playing for the Seahawks or standing watch Dan Fouts play. If you're a football fan, you have to admire it."
HEAD COACH MIKE TICE(on the difference in QB-Daunte Culpepper's play) 11/4/04
"Managing the game, getting more familiar with the schemes and our offense, how to control the line of scrimmage, and changing plays, just being more comfortable with what we're trying to do. He's operating the system much better."
HEAD COACH MIKE TICE(on OL Coach Howard Mudd) 11/4/04
"Howard is a technician. Howard is a thinker. Howard not only teaches technique to his players, he does a tremendous job of teaching awareness. I think that's a lost art with line coaches. I think line coaches get caught up in footwork in schemes and they forget to teach awareness sometimes. Watching his players play, it's just a joy to watch how well-coached the offensive line is, and it's really a joy to watch them play with so much awareness."
QB-DAUNTE CULPEPPER(on if he and Peyton Manning can continue the pace they are on now) 11/4/04
"Honestly, whatever it's going to take to win. I'm preparing every week to go out and be the best player I can be. Numbers, whatever, I'm not really concerned about. The only number I'm concerned about is the win and loss column. As long as we keep winning games, I don't care about numbers at all."
QB-DAUNTE CULPEPPER(on what is making him a better quarterback this year) 11/4/04
"It's a combination of things—maturity and the guys around me. It's makes it a lot easier when you have good players all around you. I'm going out there trying to make good decisions with the ball and put us in good positions to make good plays and ultimately, win the game."
QB-DAUNTE CULPEPPER(on how he approaches this game as a QB) 11/4/04
"Just take it one play at a time, one drive at a time. Every drive and every series is different. No matter what happens on the series before, it's all about the next drive. That's how you go about the game. You want to be good on every play, execute every play that's called. Obviously, it's not going to happen like that, but teams who can make adjustments on the sideline or at halftime and come out and make plays are the ones that can win games."
QB-DAUNTE CULPEPPER(on the difference in this year's team) 11/4/04
"I think we know how to win now. I think last year, we were just learning. I think as far as our maturity level, we're a much more mature team now. I think that showed in previous weeks. We went to some tough places on the road and got some good wins. It just shows we've stepped our maturity level up as a team, and we just want to build on that. We definitely don't want any let-downs like last year creep in anybody's mind, and I don't think anyone will let that happen."
QB-DAUNTE CULPEPPER(on if he can appreciate how Peyton Manning is playing this year) 11/4/04
"You have to appreciate it. My hat goes off to him because week in and week out, season after season, he's stepping up and putting up numbers. That's what it's all about. My hat goes off to him. He's just a great player."
