Opening statement: "OK, good to see you guys here. We appreciate you guys coming out on Saturday, unlike some of your less committed colleagues. (laughter) All you guys are out here; we appreciate that. We're out here working; you guys are out here working. Well done."* (Reporter: "Want to name names?") "If you ask a good question, I'll be happy to give you credit. Jerry Coleman is here. We'll see what kind of a question he asks." *(Reporter: "He just got here.") "Oh, he just got here? He didn't see practice? So, you don't get the first question, Jerry. Who was here for the whole practice?" (Reporter: "Joe [Platania]") "Joe? You got it. The camera guys were here."
Coach, what have you seen from G/T Jah Reid? It looks like he has really progressed from last year to this year. (Ryan Mink) "First of all, he has stayed healthy. He got his weight down from OTAs. It was a problem. He's way down; he's under 320. He's very lean, and he has stayed healthy. He has continued to improve every single practice. He just has to continue to do that."
Coach, what's the process for evaluating players for the first preseason game? There's so much to look at, so many guys.* (Todd Karpovich)* "We have a lot of time, a lot of coaches looking at [the film], so we can look at every guy. We look at every play. We look at every time they twitch. Every bit of communication they make, we study it and document it and talk about it and try to improve."
Coach, how are you able to use that as a carryover to today after looking at the film – it's the first time we've had a chance [to talk] since what transpired the other night – taking that and using that today as a teaching tool for some of the players? (Jerry Coleman) "That's actually a very good question. That's what you do. That's the whole process of what we're doing. You take that two-week period, and you build up to the game. That's why the game is so exciting, because you never really know until you play a game. And the next game will expose different things, good and bad. The things that were exposed [that were] positive, you build on. And the things that were exposed [that were] negative, you correct. And plenty of those things are scheme things that we need to correct as coaches, too. We're all in this thing together. We try to really communicate well and try to improve as much as we can as a group."
OLB Za'Darius Smith had a sack on the night. As a pass rusher, evaluate any progress you're seeing, and his potential to have an impact in that area. (Cliff Brown)"You hope every one of those guys has a huge impact as a pass rusher. You never know who it's going to be, necessarily. Obviously, the top guys are going to do well, but those young guys, which of those guys is really going to step up and make a difference? He's definitely a candidate for it. He still has a long way to go. Sometimes he rushed around the quarterback – all of them did – too deep. We opened up some rush lanes inside. It's not just going and getting the quarterback either. It's organized, it's coordinated in terms of not giving up scrambles and losing contain and things like that. But he did OK. He still has a long way to go, just like they all do."
Coach, after evaluating the film the other night, was there something in the game that really bothers you that you worked on today? (Bill West) "We didn't really change, specifically, our practice schedule. We work on individual mistakes in individual period. I didn't like that drive at the end of the half one bit. I thought we gave them 14 points. We had gone in there talking about not giving one thing up. It was the young guys that are in that situation for the first time, so for them to put that all together is a little more difficult. Understand that you're going to get a draw or screen early in two-minute [situations]. You don't give them a chunk play on one of those – you make them earn it. That's something that those guys will have to learn. We got stuck on two blocks, we missed two tackles all on the one play, and that's what jumpstarts their drive, along with when they didn't call intentional grounding when they should've there. That would have helped, too. Obviously, the officials are very rusty. But they only get three days of practice in training camp, so they're going to be rusty. If they had a little more practice in training camp, I think they'd do a little bit better. I have proposed that to the NFL, just for the record."
John, OLB Za'Darius Smith played a lot; you got to see him a lot. What did you think of [him]? Did he impress you? What did you like out of him? He's trying to learn a new position. (Jamison Hensley)"Yes, I thought he played well; he did. It's the first preseason game. We're not going to lavish praise on anybody in the first preseason game. All the rookies played well. There was nobody that disappointed us that played, and we're counting on those guys to play big roles for us. But we have a lot of work to do before Denver rolls around. We're just grinding right now, really. We're just working right now."
John, understanding you're only going off of what you're told by the training staff, have you gotten any indication that WR Breshad Perriman is getting close to getting back to practice? Just because it has been over two weeks. (Luke Jones)"Not really. I haven't. [Breshad Perriman has] a whatever they want to call it with his knee situation there. It's not something that's going to keep him out for a long period of time – they tell me – and if I were a doctor, I would give you more. [Head certified athletic trainer] Mark Smith is right in there. You can walk right in there and ask him yourself. I doubt he would talk to you, but …" *(laughter) (Reporter: "Can we tell him you said so?") *"Sure, absolutely." *(Reporter: "Absolutely?") *"I have to be honest with you: The medical field must be tough. We've all gone in there. You get something, you go to the hospital and they take how many tests? You're in there for five days, and they still don't know what it is sometimes. You come out here, and we expect to have definitive answers about injuries from coaches. I didn't take those classes in college. I wasn't interested. He'll be back sometime here in training camp, hopefully soon. I hate that he's missing it, hate that he's not out here. I have a knot in the pit of my stomach in some ways about it. In other ways, I know it's all out of our control, and I'll put it in God's hands and let him take care of it. To me, that's the best strategy, right there."
I'm curious; what was your proposal? Is it for the refs to ref throughout training camp, or what is it? (Ryan Mink)"It's for refs to referee throughout training camp. And it's interesting, because when you get into it – when you ask the league – they'll say, 'Well, the union won't let them do it.' When you ask the refs, they all say they want to do it. So, I would suggest, my proposal is that they get together and they get on the same page, because every ref that I've talked to would like to come out here as often as he could. And I know, for us … I know every team wouldn't want them. If they don't want them, they don't have to have them. We want them. We would want to have them here every day. We think that makes us better, and it certainly makes the officials better, too. Gosh, you're doing something at the highest level possible – you're at the top of your field – you'd think you'd need more than three days of practice a year to really be good at it. I don't think it's a very outrageous thing to ask for. And to me, both sides want it. Maybe they ought to start talking to one another. That's what I would suggest. Maybe, like our government, too, maybe talk to one another – solve a problem once in a while instead of creating a problem. Be more concerned about the country than you are your party. How about we do that? Let's try to fix things around here in this country. That's what made us great." *(Reporter: "[The officials] would still get free lunch, too, I would assume?") *"They get free lunch at the Capital, too. Congress, they probably get free lunch there, too. Go eat your free lunch, and then go sit in your corner and don't solve anything. And who suffers? All of us suffer, because they can't get along. I'm going [Donald] Trump here. *(laughter) *Build the wall – it's not that hard. If you don't have a border, you don't have a country. You're not a country without a border, right? At the same time, you have 12 to 15 million hard working people here – give them a shot! Give them a chance to become a citizen so they're paying taxes. All of us know that it's not that complicated, but this side doesn't want to solve it and neither does this side. Neither one of them wants to solve the problem. Solve the problem. It'd be done that fast." *(laughter) (Reporter: "Is this Harbaugh in 2016?") *"I might be coming out. I might be running." *(laughter) (Reporter: "New mayor of Baltimore?") *"Get a couple votes here? We're shooting hire than that. *(laughter) *What else do you have? Have you ever seen 'Animal House,' when the Germans bomb Pearl Harbor? 'He's on a roll. Leave him alone!'" *(laughter) (Reporter: "I think we've covered everything.") *"Alright, good. We're good. I'll see you later."
