Donger
09-16-2005, 09:55 AM
Q: Coach as we met last week you were a little anxious not quite sure what you were going to see from your team you had to be a little happy with how it all worked out?
VERMEIL: “Well actually it was a little more than expected. I thought we would play well and I thought we could win the football game. I did not think we would dominate the game like we did in the first half so I am really pleased with their performance.”
Q: And as you always say there is always concern for something and injuries it is coming out of the football game?
VERMEIL: “We really lost Ryan Sims for a minimum probably of six weeks and it maybe be the season you never know and he was really having such a great camp and a great preseason. He was playing extremely well when he went down early. Willie Roaf is really doubtful whether he will play or not but he will work today. We will see what he can and can not do. Patrick Surtain is fine so I am pleased that he is ready to go because we will need him in that secondary.”
Q: I saw Tony Richardson last night at the charity function and he is convinced he is going to play?
VERMEIL: “Yeah, I think he is going to be ready to go. It was miraculous. The injury was not as bad as we originally diagnosed.”
Q: Sometimes the diagnosis is a little bit stronger than the actual injury but talk to me a little bit about players who have the mind over matter?
VERMEIL: “Everybody has a different threshold to those kind of things whether it be pain or injury. Tony Richardson is a tough guy but all guys are tough in the NFL. Some guys just heal up quickly too. They say the older you get the slower you heal but Tony Richardson was limping badly ankle and knee Sunday evening and Monday morning and he was running full speed yesterday.”
Q: Very different test for your defense this week than the first game against the Jets. The Jets play action they want to run Curtis Martin the Raiders want to take it long?
VERMEIL: “Yeah, they do, but they do a lot of play action into that scheme and they have the receivers to go down field of course we all know Randy Moss, but Jerry Porter and those kind of guys can get down field, too. (Alvis) Witted who is a track man with great speed a typical Raider type wide receiver who is tall, lean and very fast. The one thing that pass offense requires time to get the ball downfield and what we have to do is get pressure on him.”
Q: That is what you want to see from your defense, you want to see back to back performances?
VERMEIL: I would love to see it, it is a different test. It is like you already said it is a different kind of team and it will be tough. They have a good young offensive line and the whole environment will be tough and it will test us.”
Q: When I say the words Al Davis what comes to mind?
VERMEIL: “Well, part of history of the National Football League. He has come up the hard way he was an assistant football coach for Sid Gilman in the old days of the Chargers. He has been a sort of a controversial subject in regarding NFL’s biggest lawsuits and moving teams and all that kind of stuff. He always has football players and he has three Super Bowl Championship teams, so he has to be doing something right.”
Q: He made the statement one time that he would rather be feared than respected, how do you react to that?
VERMEIL: “I do not know Al Davis that well. I do not know how many people know Al Davis that well. I know that he is very loyal to very close old friends. He can be tough to work for and can step in and interfere sometimes with a head coach coaching a team. All I have for him really is a he’s been in the league a lot longer and more successful than Dick Vermeil so you have to show him respect.”
Q: The Chiefs and Raiders that is always something special?
VERMEIL: “Yeah there is. There is an animosity here that exists between the two teams. A rivalry that has existed for a long time from ownership right on down. It Is nice to be a part of it but once you get into the ball game it isn’t about rivalry it’s about execution and contact with making plays and not making mistakes.”
VERMEIL: “Well actually it was a little more than expected. I thought we would play well and I thought we could win the football game. I did not think we would dominate the game like we did in the first half so I am really pleased with their performance.”
Q: And as you always say there is always concern for something and injuries it is coming out of the football game?
VERMEIL: “We really lost Ryan Sims for a minimum probably of six weeks and it maybe be the season you never know and he was really having such a great camp and a great preseason. He was playing extremely well when he went down early. Willie Roaf is really doubtful whether he will play or not but he will work today. We will see what he can and can not do. Patrick Surtain is fine so I am pleased that he is ready to go because we will need him in that secondary.”
Q: I saw Tony Richardson last night at the charity function and he is convinced he is going to play?
VERMEIL: “Yeah, I think he is going to be ready to go. It was miraculous. The injury was not as bad as we originally diagnosed.”
Q: Sometimes the diagnosis is a little bit stronger than the actual injury but talk to me a little bit about players who have the mind over matter?
VERMEIL: “Everybody has a different threshold to those kind of things whether it be pain or injury. Tony Richardson is a tough guy but all guys are tough in the NFL. Some guys just heal up quickly too. They say the older you get the slower you heal but Tony Richardson was limping badly ankle and knee Sunday evening and Monday morning and he was running full speed yesterday.”
Q: Very different test for your defense this week than the first game against the Jets. The Jets play action they want to run Curtis Martin the Raiders want to take it long?
VERMEIL: “Yeah, they do, but they do a lot of play action into that scheme and they have the receivers to go down field of course we all know Randy Moss, but Jerry Porter and those kind of guys can get down field, too. (Alvis) Witted who is a track man with great speed a typical Raider type wide receiver who is tall, lean and very fast. The one thing that pass offense requires time to get the ball downfield and what we have to do is get pressure on him.”
Q: That is what you want to see from your defense, you want to see back to back performances?
VERMEIL: I would love to see it, it is a different test. It is like you already said it is a different kind of team and it will be tough. They have a good young offensive line and the whole environment will be tough and it will test us.”
Q: When I say the words Al Davis what comes to mind?
VERMEIL: “Well, part of history of the National Football League. He has come up the hard way he was an assistant football coach for Sid Gilman in the old days of the Chargers. He has been a sort of a controversial subject in regarding NFL’s biggest lawsuits and moving teams and all that kind of stuff. He always has football players and he has three Super Bowl Championship teams, so he has to be doing something right.”
Q: He made the statement one time that he would rather be feared than respected, how do you react to that?
VERMEIL: “I do not know Al Davis that well. I do not know how many people know Al Davis that well. I know that he is very loyal to very close old friends. He can be tough to work for and can step in and interfere sometimes with a head coach coaching a team. All I have for him really is a he’s been in the league a lot longer and more successful than Dick Vermeil so you have to show him respect.”
Q: The Chiefs and Raiders that is always something special?
VERMEIL: “Yeah there is. There is an animosity here that exists between the two teams. A rivalry that has existed for a long time from ownership right on down. It Is nice to be a part of it but once you get into the ball game it isn’t about rivalry it’s about execution and contact with making plays and not making mistakes.”