We lost two great players ‘ who were part of a dominating front, … Young players are going to determine the depth and quality of the kind of defensive team we’re going to have.

Anytime you make plays, they have a lot to do with the momentum. That play did,

If you look at most teams’ needs, probably half of them are solved developing from within. When you take that ability away, that’s when you get out of balance on the salary cap and everything else.

You certainly have to look at what the issues are and certainly have to have a relationship with that particular player, which can only be brought about by a lot of conversation and getting to know someone. I don’t know this particular player well enough to make that determination right now, but it’s something we...

There are lots of players who have had this injury. There are lots of players who come back and play from this injury, and they actually come back to full mobility and full speed.

What we’re trying to do is to develop a strategy to where [Mare] could be the kicker here … because sometimes guys’ contracts could make them targets as to what you have to do because of their contracts relative to the salary-cap hit.

He bought a bus and went and picked everyone up so they wouldn’t have to hitchhike,

I think that was really probably the turning point of the game, that we could recapture the momentum and come right back and make a big play and score and keep them three scores behind,

We’re pleased to have someone as well-respected as Dom join the Dolphins. He brings a wealth of knowledge to Miami and will be a valuable addition to our staff.

It’s the trademark of both guys in terms of their endurance and ability to get better as the game goes on. That’s something we’d like to continue to utilize in the future if we can.

Richard is an outstanding coach who has been in the NFL for 17 years. I coached with him in Houston and have always thought he was one of the best coaches I’ve had the chance to work with.

We’re not going to second-guess anything that we did. There [are] things that we need to do long-term to make our team better that we’re going to do. And if we suffer for it in the short term, then maybe we have to do that a little bit. You got to give to get.

Physically, we got beat up out there.

That’s not something I’m interested in doing right now. I’m very happy to be the coach here, … We’re looking forward to the challenges of making LSU a dominant program in the future.

against things we haven’t seen and that we will see in the near future.

John St. Clair will probably get an opportunity to play someplace else. We certainly wish him the best and in a lot of ways we would like to have him on our team again, but that may not happen.

I’m not here to say we’re disappointed with Gus. I’m not here to say we’re satisfied with Gus. I don’t think it’s just that position. There are other issues that create a problem for that position.

I’m very confident in him, … Him being able to manage this situation with the first team out there is going to be a good experience for him. If this circumstance ever pops up in the future, it will be something that will serve him well.

One of the most difficult parts of my job is having to release players, and the past week has emphasized this fact. This is especially true when those players made significant contributions to the success of the team in the past. Ideally, we would like to keep many of those players on our roster, but...

I’m assuming that he will be in a decent place from a physical-conditioning standpoint, and it will take a little while to get him back to where he was. But he was in pretty good condition when this started and I think he’s worked hard, and I think it will come back quickly to him.

We were very fortunate that we were able to sign a free agent who turned out to be even better than maybe we thought in his ability to snap and protect. From a business standpoint, it always makes sense to go with the younger guy.

I don’t know if anyone will know who the legitimate national champion is, … unless all three of the teams in consideration get the opportunity to play one other.

At this point, I’m not ready to say that changing quarterbacks is going to solve all our problems, so that’s where it’s at.

I don’t think that Blaster can do what Brooks can do,

We have to get the kind of execution at quarterback that will give it to them.

the die was pretty much cast.

It’s an expectation: What are the most important things to accomplish at this time? To find out as much as we can about what those combinations are may be more important at this time than the end result so we can build on a better end result in the long term.

It’s something we need to continue to evaluate. It seemed the entire pre-season whichever quarterback has played second has played best. It’s the second week in a row we gave Gus the opportunity to start, and A.J. has come in and done a nice job in both of those games in the second half.

He looked quick. He looked fast. He made the right cuts. I’m not disappointed at all in the way he played for the first time out of the box.

When other players think it’s not acceptable by their peers how they go about what they do, they will change more readily. If they don’t change then, then maybe they are the wrong guys.

I think it’s something we need to evaluate. It seems the entire preseason whichever quarterback played second has played best.

We have people in personnel, coaching, the front office. Everybody should be working toward the same goal.

He played with a lot of poise and he executed. It’s a positive that the results were gotten by a systematic approach of doing the right things, and it paid dividends in results for him. I hope he gains confidence in his ability to do that in the future.

It’s been wonderful. I really do feel like this was coming home to play a game and it was exciting for me even though I didn’t say it (earlier). It was exciting to be back in Tiger Stadium and I feel really great that our team did a nice job to make us proud of...

We’re modern-day gladiators, and that mental toughness is really important to have (in) a good team. It’s got to permeate your team, and there has to be a core group of guys that buy in and believe in that.

Managing the game is the most important thing. Gus has done a pretty good job of that. Turnovers are not killing us. We won the turnover battle in the games that we won and we didn’t in the one that we lost.

I really felt badly for the players, just about every one of which we recruited,

Every time I ask him how he’s doing, he says, `Good.’

It would be very unfair to put it on that position when things aren’t being done well around them.

Nobody in this room, with all of our power and might put together, can have anything to do with where it goes. What we can try to do is have something to do with preparing for the game and doing our job well and having pride in the performance of what we have to do.

It’s something that we need to continue to evaluate. It has seemed the entire preseason, whichever quarterback played second has played best.

I don’t think we are going to do a lot of stuff. We haven’t done much the whole preseason. . . but what we want to do is, go through a preparation so the players get an idea of what we are doing and the kind of adjustments they have to make and things like...

[But like everything else down here, it’s an ongoing project.] Are we where we need to be? We are making progress, … Will there be ups and downs? Probably, yes. Will we get frustrated some with it? We probably all will. Will we overcome adversity at some point? I am sure that we will, but...

There were too many penalties in the game. We talk about playing hard and competing, but you also have to play smart. That’s something we need to do a better job of. We did a lot of good things out there, but they were negated by our errors.

He looked fast, quick. I was impressed.

He didn’t look like a defensive end doing that.

There are a lot of questions about the offensive line, and we’re going to continue to work some different players in different spots to get the best combination of what we can do,

I have never operated on the assumption that anybody should do anything because they are afraid,

I don’t think we’re considering a lot of changes.

We are not disappointed in Ronnie Brown. As I said before, expectations always create frustration and a lot of anxiety, which doesn’t necessarily help a guy’s performance.