Thursday Practice Report

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Did you go outside today? We did not go outside, practiced inside. We were able to get the temperature close to 30 degrees, had a pretty good wind going in the Hutson Center there later with the exhaust fans. Thought the work was good practicing with the weather.

Was the field not in condition to practice? It could have been, but the report going down to practice, the 25 mph gust of winds and we’re expecting 6 to 8 mph winds Sunday. We made the decision based on the weather.

How strong are the winds from the exhaust fans? Never measured them, good question. We’ll have to get you that information.

Any concern about Randall Cobb playing Sunday? Had a chance to talk to randall on the field, returning punts, he said he feels a lot better today than he did yesterday. I’m not concerned about his availability Sunday. He’s getting better through the week, and once he gets off the field tomorrow he’ll have 50-plus hours to get ready, I think he’ll be fine.

In what ways has he made you better as a returner? Randall’s a playmaker and he’s brought productivity to our return game that we really haven’t had at that level in my time here with the two scores. His ability to put his foot down and get vertical, he doesn’t waste returns, he’s not trying to bounce things, he’s been disciplined and getting better through the year (with) discipline, his path and his course is coordinated with the return blocking scheme. With that, it’s not always just the returner it’s the coordination with the blocking unit. I feel we’re doing a much better job of that on both the punt and the kickoff.

Are guys still competing for final spots on the game day active roster? Definitely, there’s a number of competitions going on. This is the situation you’re in when you are healthy. It’s been unfortunately easy to pick 46 in the prior weeks because our injuries haveansweredthose questions. It’s definitely going to betough when we have the game management Saturday and have to let the players know Sunday. Ther’es going to be some tough decisions.

Are you attending Michael Philbin's funeral as team or is that an individual decision? it’s definitely a personal preference. Everybody’s aware of the scheduling of tonight and tomorrow.