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Coach Allen Day 4

Coach Allen: Injuries are still the same as they have been. Basically it is still the same five guys. Hopefully we will start getting some guys back out here. Obviously Denarius Moore was back out there today so got a chance to get a little bit of work, so hopefully some of those other guys will start coming back here pretty soon.

Q: Does he have some kind of brace on?

Coach Allen: It was just a little wrap he had on his lower leg. That is nothing. The hamstring deal is the issue.

Q: What was it like with the fans out here and how did the players react with actually having a 1,000 people out here?

Coach Allen: I thought it was good. I thought the fans were great. I thought the players reacted well to it. At the end of the day this league is what it is because of the fans. So our ability to do something to give back and give them an opportunity to come and check out what we are doing here, there is a lot of excitement here, so I thought it was a good situation for both the fans and us as an organization.

Q: What were your marching orders in terms of fans in the stands? Did you want them to not play into the fans at all or did you not want them to pay attention?

Coach Allen: No. I didn't really make a big deal out of it. Really at the end of the day my expectations for us as a team was to come out here and focus on getting better at football and I think for the most part we were able to do that today.

Q: What have you seen from the receivers so far?

Coach Allen: A lot of speed, I think we have some young guys that are learning how to play the game of football. I think our explosiveness and our speed from a wide receiver stand point gives us a lot of options.

Q: Now here a week into a camp and talking about changing the culture of this team. What actually are you able to do implementation wise here at training camp to start working towards changing the culture?

Coach Allen: It's all about the mindset. I believe in that. I believe you can do a lot of things if you set your mind to it. We talk a lot about the mindset, determination, and not letting anybody else be in control of what happens to you. You're in control of yourself. We take advantage of the opportunities that you have. So really it is all about the mindset.

Q:  You mention about Darius [Heyward-Bey] the other day about him being a bigger guy, kind of being a veteran guy. But he hasn't been able to have the production of maybe a star receiver. How do you get a guy like that to be a leader when a lot of the times the leader is the guy who is kind of been consistent and productive?

Coach Allen: At the end of the day the leaders are the guys that are going to do things the right way. That are going to be exactly what we talk about, being smart, tough, discipline football players that are going to do it the right way no matter what the situation is. They are going to hold everybody else accountable to the same standard.  That's the thing I'm looking for him to take the leadership role in that [wide receiver] room. I'm not big on stats I don't pay much attention to it. We got enough good football players that we can spread the ball around. I think we aren't concerned who catches 75-100 balls. I'm concerned about how well he's blocking on the running plays. I'm concerned about how well he's running routes. And I'm concerned about his mindset going into the season, and so far I've been pleased.

Q: How much do you prod a guy in terms of personality wise if there not maybe outward as another guy, but you want him to be a leader? Darius has always been pretty much a guy to let stuff roll off his back even when he was struggling the first couple of years. You wouldn't see a major difference in him than when he had a good practice. If that just the way he is do you still get him to exert himself more with the younger players?

Coach Allen: I think there's a lot of different ways you lead. People talk about leading by example, he can be a guy that can come out here and do it the right way every time. There's nothing that says a guy that even though he might not be a vocal guy that says he can't get on somebody if they're not doing it right. We are all held to a certain standard. At the end of the day we've got a job to do, and we have to make sure that we get our job done no matter what who's called to do what. We have got to get our job done.

Q: You said you're not worried about the stats from that position (WR). Are you okay with not having a clearly defined number one guy?

Coach Allen: Absolutely. I think our ability to use our weapons in different ways and be able to spread the ball around can give us an advantage. I think a lot of times when you have a guy that's the "go-to guy" teams are able to game plan against that. I think having a bunch of versatility and having a lot of different types of receivers is a good thing.

Q: A lot of talk outside of here of Plaxico Burress showing some interest. Any interest on this end?

Coach Allen: I'll say this; we are going to look at any options out there that we think are going to make us better. Whether or not we make any moves or not that's to be determined, but we are not going to rule anything out.

Q: But you're happy with what you have in camp right now at receiver?

Coach Allen: Yes. Absolutely.

Q: After having a day off yesterday how did the team bounce back today with tempo, energy, and that type of thing?

Coach Allen: I thought there were some points in practice where I thought it got kind of sluggish. I didn't think we started off real well in the first kind of group period; it was a little sluggish there. But I thought as we got going it picked up a little bit.

Q: Was there any change made to this practice at all in regards to the fans being here? Or is this the same practice you would have had if the fans weren't here?

Coach Allen: This was the exact same practice we would have had if no fans were here. We are focused in on how we are going to get better as a football team. We don't worry about any of the outside influences; we are just worried about us.

Q: Up to this point and in OTAs, mini-camps, and the beginning of this camp it's been basically discussed that a lot of multiples you are wanting to institute, have yet to be instituted.  You're kind of sticking to the basics. Have you begun to bring that into full now?

Coach Allen: A lot of the things we are going to do even in OTAs we mixed some of that stuff in. We are going to continue to add as we go along. We still got a long training process and we still got a lot of stuff we have to get installed both offensively, defensively, and special teams between now and when we kick off Monday night against San Diego.

Q: Pads again tomorrow?

Coach Allen: Pads again tomorrow.  Yes. That's the way you play the game.

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