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News | Washington Commanders - Commanders.com

Joe Gibbs Mini-Camp Media Session

On if everyone was at practice:

"Everybody was accounted for. Joe Salave'a's (DT, #95) mother is extremely sick. We are all praying for him. Other than that, we knew where everyone else was."

On how Jason Campbell (QB, #17) looked during mini-camp practice:

"He is having a good camp. He has done a lot of good work. He has had a lot of extra meetings with Bill (Lazor). I think this will be a big year for him. He will play a lot this pre-season. He is everything we thought he was going to be. He has done everything we have asked him. He has worked extremely hard. Last year was a big learning curve for him. This year there is some new terminology on things that we are doing. He has worked extremely hard at it. He is going to play a ton in the pre-season and we will see how he does."

On if the team looks like they are ahead of the curve:

"It is so hard. We are not hitting anybody. The good thing about OTA's in today's football is that you get a lot of mental work. You get to put the packages and all the things that you want to do. The bad thing is that you are not in pads and you are not hitting people. A guy can look awful good out here running around in shorts. Some of them when they wear pads their play elevates and other guys drops. You can't get carried away with this as far as making evaluations. You can talk about quarterbacks and their passing or receivers and catching balls and doing athletic things. This game evolves around having pads on and hitting people. Really we are trying to get the most you can get out of the off-season. In today's football, you can get a lot of practices and conditioning work and you get your team in shape that way. Then when you come to training camp it is shorter which is good."

On if he feels like making the playoffs last season helps this season:

"I just finished a little study on that. Last year there were five teams that made the playoffs (in 2004) that did not make it the next year. What you get up here is big swings back and forth. Someone comes on and makes it. A lot of teams that make it, it really doesn't buy you anything. What you can get out of making the playoffs is confidence. Making the playoffs you realize this is what we are capable of. Also if you think more of yourself then what you should as a team it can lead to trouble. It does every year. Our trouble is our division. You know what is going to happen in Philly. They are going to come roaring back. Dallas always does a terrific job and so does New York. New York won the division. Our problem is our division and our schedule. You start Monday night and turn around on a short work week to Dallas. You have all of those things looking at you. You get confidence from making the playoffs. You know you can do it."

On how much Jon Jansen (OL, #76), Casey Rabach (OL, #61) and Randy Thomas (OL, #77) were able to do today:

"We were real limited with Jansen and Rabach. Randy did quite a bit. We won't have a problem with Jon and Casey being ready. Casey is healing up real well. He wanted to do some things. Our problem is that he is real tender there where he had that transplant. Our feeling is that we don't run the risk of pushing something these three days when we have six more weeks after this."

On what he would like to accomplish over this mini-camp:

"OTAs and the way we have mini-camps is not very different. Each one of these practices we put in a lot of offense and we put in a lot on defense. We are putting in different packages. It is installation and getting all the things that you want put in. It is also the mental portion of it. The players this afternoon will be in film work and doing things with the coaches. Mentally you are getting a lot done individually with players, particularly the young guys. Hopefully what you get when you come to camp is that you don't have to worry about condition and we have already had one go around with everything. Then camp can go much quicker mentally."

On Sean Taylor (S, #21):

"We have a big investment in him from a standpoint of the high draft choice that we used to pick him. He can be a dominating player. He is behind because of a lot of the stuff he missed. That is tough for us and tough for him. He really likes football. He needs to be here and he understands all that. He has had a lot of personal issues there."

On Sean Taylor (S, #21) needing a trouble free year:

"He wants that. We have had a good talk. He understands that. He loves football and this is where he belongs. He belongs here working out all the time and being with us. Since this court thing has been over with he has been here. He has been able to make some off-season work."

On if he believes the process Sean Taylor (S, #21) went through has helped to mature him:

"Certainly, he has been through a lot. He has learned a lot. Our feeling when we talk to him is that he realizes some of the things and positions that he put himself in (were bad choices)."

On the depth of the wide receiver position:

"Last year at the end of the year we had two players, (James) Thrash (WR, #83) and David (Patten) (WR, #80), hurt and it really hurt us from a passing standpoint. We went out this year with the idea that we would strengthen ourselves there and we did that with (Antwaan) Randle El (WR, #82) and Brandon (Lloyd) (WR, #85). We went two different ways to get them with free agency and a trade. I feel real good about it. Randle El has two ways he can help the team playing receiver and as a return guy. Brandon is your typical outside receiver. He is very young and has a great future in front of him. We have helped ourselves with depth and hopefully it is going to show up this year and we won't get into a bind like we did last year."

On the offensive line depth:

"We are pretty comfortable there. What has hurt us a lot is the guys that we are missing. When you have Randy and Casey missing in one way it has been tough for us, but in another way some of those other guys have gotten a lot of work. So, you get a chance to see if some of those young guys can step in there and play for us."

On if this is one of the closest knit teams he has worked with:

"We had a little talk on the last day of OTA's and we actually averaged, on the possible work outs that our guys could have attended that are all voluntary, 98% attendance. That is better than it was last year and we actually graded it tougher this year. Even if a guy had an excused absence it was till counted as a miss unless they made it up. This group had great attendance in our voluntary work outs and that says as much as anything."

On if he has talked to the players about being smart and safe in the wake of the Ben Roethlisberger incident:

"I talk to our guys all the time about when we are on breaks and go for long weekends. I shared some stories of players that I have been around in different places, where I have seen guys completely throw away their career. Not only that, they have also had everything taken away from them financially. We have a smart group here but they are also a young group. Because they are young guys you always worry about that. We had an innocent incident with Casey (Rabach) (OL, #61) on a four wheeler. He was not racing around the street or anything. He was just at his house working in the dirt and he turned it over. You talk to them about everything from skiing to riding motor bikes."

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