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HEAD COACH TONY DUNGY (general comments)
"It's fun being back at work preparing for a big game. December games with kind of division standing ramifications are always fun to prepare for. I think our team is re-energized and looking forward to the challenge. Jacksonville is playing very good football right now since they got David Garrard back. I think they've been re-energized, too. They won two out of three with Quinn Gray playing, but Garrard is playing excellent football, doing a lot of great things for them. His passer rating is right up there with all of the household words that everybody talks about, and I think he's doing as much for his team as Tony Romo and (Brett) Favre and some of the guys that he's right there with, (Ben) Roethlisberger, in terms of numbers. So we'll have our work cut out for us. We went down there and we were able to outplay them in the game down there, and it's going to take the same type of effort, the same type of fundamentals, not turning the ball over. It's all those things that we need to work on, and I think we'll be able to get three good days of practice in and should have our best practices in a while with the rest that we've had and a few people back."
HEAD COACH TONY DUNGY (on not looking too far ahead in September and October, but if this is the time where he say's, 'This is what's on the line, etc.' regarding division and playoff implications)
"It really is because you can see how things are going to unfold. There's not a lot of guess work to it. If we win this game, it would take really a monumental disaster for us not to win the division. If we don't win this game, then it's going to be a dogfight the last four weeks of the year and we're going to have to come in and not only win our division, but hope Pittsburgh loses some games (as well). So we have everything in front of us to understand that it is a big game, and I think we'll play accordingly."
HEAD COACH TONY DUNGY (on if the Colts win, being in control)
"And that's what you want. That's why the beginning of the year is so important, to put yourself in this position rather than be in Jacksonville's position where they have to win and then hope someone else beats us. We can still control everything. We've worked hard to get there, we've won nine games, and that's put us in this position and now you want to take advantage of it."
HEAD COACH TONY DUNGY (on surviving the war of attrition and injuries, and Jacksonville doing it this year as well as the Colts)
"I think what you start out every year is try to develop a 61-man roster and use all your players and know that at some point you're going to have to use them. And if you're fortunate and you go through the year with no major injuries and you don't lose any players, that's an unusual year. But the good teams, I think, get those rosters developed where they do have confidence in guys, and they've (Jacksonville) done it. They've lost some players that have been really good for them and guys have stepped in and played well. We've had players out and our guys have stepped in well, and I think that's what the good teams do."
