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Opening Statement: **"Injury report today: Chimdi Chekwa was limited with a knee; Maurice Jones-Drew did not practice; Matt McCants was limited, knee; Sio Moore did not practice, ankle; Rod Streater did not practice, hip; Nick Roach was limited in practice again today; Carlos Rogers did not practice with a knee; and Justin Tuck did not practice with an illness. So, that's the injury report. We're focused on the New England Patriots. It's a good football team, 11-1 in home openers. Tom Brady is the starting quarterback, 49-3 in his last 52 starts at home, so we recognize that this team plays really good at home. It's a good football team. Offensively, they've got a lot of weapons. They're good up front, their offensive line. Their backs are explosive, wide receivers can make some plays down the field, tight ends are good at receiving the ball down the field, so that's going to be a challenge. Defensively, I think they're very aggressive. They're big, they're physical. They're outstanding in the secondary. Obviously, Darrelle Revis has been a top-notch corner in this league and he's playing at a high level, so that's a challenge. And then special teams. This is a team that is very well coached, they play very well and we're going to have to play well to have an opportunity to beat them."
Q: What did you see in Vincent Brown to sign him and do you anticipate him contributing right away?
Coach Allen:"Well, we're going to work him out and see where he's at, how fast he can pick up with what we're doing offensively. But, after having an opportunity to compete against him for a couple of years there when he was in San Diego, he's got some explosiveness. He catches the ball really well and he's got some vertical threat down the field. I think probably the biggest thing when you watch the guy is, when the ball goes in his direction, he generally makes the catch."
Q: How do you weigh the good practices?
Coach Allen:"Ultimately it comes down to how do you play on Sundays. That's what we've got to be able to do. We've got to be able to go out and execute and play fast, play hard, play physical on Sundays. It's good to practice good during the week, and I felt like we've practiced good during the week, but we've got to go out and put it on the field on Sunday."
Q: Do you look at lineup changes or is it too early to do that?
Coach Allen:"We're evaluating our football team on a daily basis and we'll do what we feel like we need to do to try to give ourselves the best chance to win."
Q: Do you think Rod Streater and Sio Moore could play this week?
Coach Allen:"Yeah. I mean, I do. Whether they do or not, I don't know. We'll have to see how they progress throughout the week."
Q: Were the MRIs negative?
Coach Allen:"Yeah."
Q: Where is this team better right now than it was last year?
Coach Allen:"Well, we need to go out and prove it on the field. Like I said the other day, the talk is cheap. We've got to go out and play well. I think we've got more talent on this football team and we need to go out there and play like it on Sunday."
Q: Has Nick Roach done more than he did last week?
Coach Allen:"He's steadily getting a little bit better every day, and so, again, it's kind of a wait and see deal and see how he responds on a daily basis."
Q: Is Carlos Rogers' injury something from the game?
Coach Allen:"It's mostly something from the game. I don't think it's anything serious. I expect to have him back, but we'll see how he's doing tomorrow."
Q: I'm sure you've seen that there has been speculation about your job and the General Manager's job. Is that something that matters at this point?
Coach Allen:"What matters is getting ready for the New England Patriots. That's all I'm going to focus on."
Q: Do you think you're on a short time frame?
Coach Allen:"I'm getting ready for the New England Patriots."
Q: Have you developed a sense of what you're going to get when this team takes the field?
Coach Allen:"Well, my hope is that we're going to go out there and play well. I firmly believed that we would go out there and play well the first two weeks. Unfortunately, we haven't got it done. Like I said, we've practiced good during the week, but we've got to go out there and play on Sundays. We've got to execute on Sundays.
Q: Do you have an idea for why there is a disconnect between what you're seeing at practice and what you're not seeing on Sundays?
Coach Allen:"It comes down to going out there and doing your job and doing your job fast, doing your job physical and making the plays when you get the opportunities to make the plays."
Q: Do you try something different this week?
Coach Allen:"We've got a different game plan every week. We're going to try to do the things that we think gives us the best chance to win."
Q: Players always say that when you watch the film you see where things went wrong. Two weeks in a row you've seen the film where things went wrong. As a coach do you feel personally responsible?
Coach Allen:"I think everybody's got to take it personal. As coaches and players, we've got to take it personal. It's all of our jobs to get it corrected. It's not all on the players, it's not all on the coaches. It's on us as a football team. We're 53 guys working as one, and that's what we've got to get. We haven't been that yet, but we get another opportunity this week against the Patriots."
Q: Do you take more of a role in defensive signal calling and game planning?
Coach Allen:"I'm not going to get into how we're going to game plan or who's going to do what. Ultimately it's my responsibility for this football team and I take full responsibility for it and we've got to go out there and play and execute and try to get a win on Sunday."
Q: Generally when a team adds veteran players with success in the past, one of the elements you add is character, confidence and pride. Are you seeing that?
Coach Allen:"Yeah. I'm seeing it. I'm seeing guys that are taking it to heart and again, I mean, we can all sit here until we're blue in the face and talk about it, but we've got to change it and we've got to play better. I said that the other day. I'm not sure what we're searching for here. Ultimately it gets down to we've got to do a better job on Sundays."
Q: Have you had any separate meetings with any of the veteran guys?
Coach Allen:"We've talked as a football team, we know what we've got to do and we're going to continue to work to put a better product on the field."
Q: Have you talked to Mark Davis specifically this week?
Coach Allen:"No, we have our normal chain of command in how we communicate and nothing has changed as far as that's concerned."
Q: So you've talked to [General Manager] Reggie McKenzie, not necessarily Mark Davis?
Coach Allen:"Correct."
Q: Is there anything new with Maurice Jones-Drew?
Coach Allen:"No, nothing new to update."
Q: Did you mention Justin Tuck earlier in the injury report?
Coach Allen:"Illness."
Q: Is there some concern about the linebacker corps? Do you have enough pieces there?
Coach Allen:"It's a concern, but we're going to take the healthy bodies that we have and go in and try to get a win on Sunday. That's what you do in the NFL, everybody has to deal with injuries."
Q: Are the spirits up in the locker room?
Coach Allen:"Yeah."
