(On what his kids are going to be for Halloween)- “Let’s see, we have Puss in Boots from Shrek. Yoda, that’s the one year old and Luke Skywalker, that’s Luke. Luke loves Luke Skywalker. The two oldest, they are big Star Wars fans. Jake is Han Solo and Luke is Luke Skywalker. I am usually either Darth Vader or the Emperor. It’s great. I have a Darth Vader mask in my office. I am sure the players are wondering what that is for. [It’s for] when I Skype with them, I hope nobody ever walks in when that is happening. It’s fun. I know the Star Wars Symphony is coming to Cleveland. I had to watch that documentary last Friday about the making of. Good times, good times.”

(Opening statement)- “Today what we are going to do, you saw yesterday, continuing to emphasize tackling. We got it a couple days this week. We have been doing it since training camp. We are going to keep doing it. That, to me, is such a fundamental skill. It’s something that can improve and needs to improve across the board. It also helps our offensive players with running with the football, understanding where a defender’s leverage is, how to attack it. [I] have been doing that for years, all of the different places I have been and [I] believe in it. I thought that defensively we had a good day. I thought we had a really good day yesterday with the communication. I can’t stress that enough. I can’t emphasize that enough. The ability to identify what they are in, what the check is, what to anticipate, and [to] do it quickly is key. I thought they did a nice job with that. Everybody has to understand it. Everybody has to take part in it. That, to me, is another skill that is developed and as it improves, we improve.

“Offensively, I think there are some things that we need to clean up from yesterday that we will do here today. In all three areas whether it be the routes, the protection, the reads. It is a little bit different package than what we have seen over the last couple of weeks. I feel like we are getting closer in understanding how to deal with it. It’s a different type of front in terms of the way they penetrate versus some of the other teams that have been a little bit more reacting. We are making some strides there as well. What we will do today is, clean up those things, work on the red zone and ideally finish the week, practice wise, on a good note.”

(On the notion of using Josh Cribbs as a running back)- “I’ve done some of that in the past, and I don’t love making comparisons between guys, but with Brad Smith where you could get into multiple wide receiver set. Say you had four wide receivers on the field and a tight end, traditionally that would be an empty formation, everybody would be out because you don’t have a running back. We would take Brad, at times, motion him back in the backfield and now you are in a three wide receiver, tight end and running back set. You can run those types of plays with a guy like that, so they have to deal. It’s one personnel group which presents one set of issues, but you are creating another one because that guy does have some running back skills. It takes time. It takes a lot of work by the player and the group to get that. It’s something that we have done a little bit of. Josh has played a lot of different roles with the Wildcat, the receiver so you have to build the package as you go.”

(On why he chose to play Cribbs at wide receiver instead of running back)- “He does have really good hands. He is strong when he is running his routes. He’s good with run after the catch. It’s not that you don’t think that he’s going to be as good in the other role, but you think that he has a chance to keep developing, potentially be really good in that role, and also, our receiver group when we first got here was in a bit of a state of flux. I thought that was an area where we needed to develop depth.”

(On how the trade for Kenyon Coleman has worked out)- “I like the players that we got. I think that if you look at Kenyon’s production versus the other d-linemen that were available high in the draft, where our initial spot was, and the production that he’s had and the play time that he’s had, that’s been a plus decision. Alex (Mack) has started every snap and I think he gets a little bit better each week. I don’t think last week was his best week, but as a young guy, we all need to practice. We all need that and I think especially with the younger guys, at a position that has as much communication as the center does and as many variations as the center does, it’s hard to get those days back that you miss in practice. Some of the veteran guys who have years of experience can relate things back. He’s building that experience each time he plays and each time he practices. I’ve liked the things that he’s done. Same thing with Abe (Elam). Brett’s (Ratliff) been in his role and that’s really the role that I saw him having when he came here. I think there are a lot of plusses with it.”

(On if it was determined before the draft that the team did not need to draft a quarterback)- “You look at all the players available, but having D.A. (Derek Anderson) and Brady (Quinn) here, it was important to me to see those guys. I liked working with those guys and I liked the things that they brought to the table. It wasn’t really our mindset, in terms of that position going into the draft. That wasn’t part of the equation.”

(On if he saw enough from Anderson and Quinn before the draft to have a good idea of what they are capable of)- “It’s like anything else, you look at what they’ve done based on the systems they were in and getting to know them and going through that experience. You also have to then, see them in your system, the things you’re asking them to do, getting to know them through the course of the season, all those things come into play. You may feel like you have a really good handle on a guy, but as you go through the season, you know them much better than you did coming into it.”

(On if there is a possibility of a player earning playing time by performing well enough at their primary position, but not on special teams)- “Yes, you look at both sides of it, but they really have to beat somebody out at their position in order for that to be the dominant part of the decision making process, or play a role on substituted defenses that is significant. If they’re not doing either one of those things and you bring them to the game and they’re not giving you reps on [special] teams, you can’t do it.”

(On if a player’s playing time can be decided solely on his performance at his primary position)- “Yes, definitely. If you’ve carved out a role somewhere else, the most important thing is what is the role? What is the game day role? The role can take a lot of different shapes. If you’re the star, the third defensive back playing in the slot. Are you a substituted safety? Are you the third wide receiver? What is your role? How are you contributing on game day? You want to be able to make sure that the 45 guys that you bring there are all adding value to the game. Some of the reps that you take off somebody else, allows them to play better at their spot. What you don’t want to do is, bring someone to a game, give them reps because you feel like they should have reps, but it’s not what’s best.”

(On how much the health of the tight ends affects the game plan)- “It was tough last week, I can tell you, because we had both those guys (Robert Royal and Steve Heiden) down. Greg (Estandia) had played, had been here a little while. With (Michael) Gaines, he had just come in. Hank (Fraley) had played a role there to some degree, sort of hoping that one of those other two guys, whether it be Robert or Steve, could go, [we] we’re sure, we had the flu element. (Lawrence) Vickers was out, so Gaines had to play some fullback, as well as play some tight end. There were a lot of moving parts. Now, the good news is, for Gaines, he’s been here an extra week and he has some exposure to those different spots. We’ve gotten Lawrence back. Steve’s been able to go to some degree. Robert’s been able to go to some degree. Greg has been able to go to some degree. Is it as clear as you would like it to be? No, but at least it’s moving in that direction, which is good.”

(On if he has separate game plans depending on how many tight ends will be able to play)- “There’s not really a group that you have where you can [plan for not having a tight end], 21 there’s a tight end. 12 there are two tight ends. 11 there’s a tight end. You’re kind of down to 20 personnel, which is two backs, three wide receivers, or 10 [personnel], one back, four wide receivers. That’s what you’re working with at that point. You try to build some flexibility with the plays. Hank may be able to be an in-line guy, like he has been. Going back to a long time ago, and I’ve said it a lot, the whole concept of building flexibility, ‘Who can play here? Who can fill in here?’ in case you get into spots like this where you have moving parts or you don’t know what exactly the equation’s going to be come Sunday because you’re working through it during the week.”

(On Green Bay saying that they had practiced against Elam’s blitz all week)- “I think that when you win the game, there are a lot of decisions that look really good. We run a lot of different things out of that set, and if they were able to pick that up, I think that was [a] good job by them. I think that play could have been minimized if we had made the tackle. It’s like anything else, you take a chance, it should go for 15, not for whatever it went.”

(On if he has been pleased with how Elam has done in blitz situations)- “Yes, we’re bringing a lot of different guys just based on formation and I think Abe has done a good job when he has blitzed. It was a quick pass, so it wasn’t going to get home either way. At the point, you just make the tackle.”

(On the intensity of the team against Green Bay)- “The one thing I’ve been really pleased with is, the three weeks prior I thought that we were really getting a sense of how we had to play each game. Sometimes there are setbacks, but there’s a way that you have to do it. We had been moving closer to understanding that. You have to learn from it and you have to be able to come back and do those other things that we’ve been looking for, because there was progress there. You don’t want to take a step back to move forward.”

(On how satisfied he has been with Brian Daboll’s play calling and if he has thought about taking a bigger role in it)- “I try to help out in all three areas, and be involved in all three areas to whatever capacity I can and in whatever positive way that I can. I have an understanding of what we’re doing, why we’re doing it, the thought process, what our next steps are, if those things that we planned for aren’t working, what’s our alternative, which base plays are we going to go back to, or if it looks a little bit differently, what’s the next move. I think collectively, there’s not one area where we could say, ‘Okay, that’s exactly what we want,’ and I don’t think you’ll ever find that. There are plenty of things that everybody can do better. I thought we can throw the ball better, we can catch the ball better, we can coach better, we can pick up blitzes better, there are plenty of areas to improve. Believe me, it’s not just offensively.”

(On if Daboll takes it hard after a rough game)- “Most coaches I’ve been around, they all take it hard. You enjoy the win for about a half hour and then the losses tend to stick longer, but you have to move on. You have the next team and the next opportunity and you look at it objectively and correct it and move forward.” Mangini