Q. What is the plan at quarterback this week?
COACH SHURMUR: We're going to get them ready to go and start one of them.
Q. Which one?
COACH SHURMUR: We'll see. We'll see. We won't learn any more today because today is a walkthrough as well. So we'll find out.
Q. If QB Sam Bradford can't go, do you lose much going with QB Mark Sanchez again?
COACH SHURMUR: No, Mark will be ready to play.
Q. If he is medically cleared, is Bradford the guy?
COACH SHURMUR: We've got to see. Right now, for me to speculate, I don't want to lead anybody down a wrong path here. I don't know. I really don't know. We're going to go out and walk today. Tomorrow, we're going to run around. We've got to see who's healthy and then we'll make that decision. I'm sure Coach [Chip Kelly] will get that to you.
Q. When will you make that decision?
COACH SHURMUR: When we can. We don't know today because they're not going to be moving around. It's a walkthrough. The way we train today is 48 hours before. I'm not trying to mislead you. You guys just snickered. When I'm answering your question, you guys are snickering at me. I'm trying to be honest and transparent and I can't tell you what's going to happen because I don't know who's going to be healthy. That's the answer.
Q. Tomorrow is a walkthrough, rihgt?
COACH SHURMUR: Tomorrow we're running and we're traveling so we'll know more then. Again, I'm not trying to mislead you. I've been through this before. I'd love to give you an answer and say, 'So and so is starting.' But I don't want to do that and then it's not correct. You can understand where I'm coming from.
Q. Bradford couldn't do your major prep yesterday, all of it anyway. Does that have a big impact on whether he would be able to start this game?
COACH SHURMUR: We're going to have to see. He participated in some of what we were doing. Yesterday was a half-speed deal, too, because we were just one day out from the game. Again, it's really kind of up in the air.
Q. What did Bradford do yesterday and how did he look?
COACH SHURMUR: He took some team stuff. But, again, we weren't going full speed. He looked good.
Q. Is the shoulder a concern right now?
COACH SHURMUR: I think him getting back on the field from both the concussion and the shoulder. He's cleared from the concussion, so we'll just see what he can do.
Q. Chip Kelly said that WR Josh Huff was rotating with WR Nelson Agholor. Is it safe to assume that WR Miles Austin is rotating with WR Riley Cooper?
COACH SHURMUR: Yeah, that's the way we do it.
Q. Do you have two different positions at wide receiver?
COACH SHURMUR: No. We roll our guys in, as you know. We're a no-huddle operation. Last week, Riley and Miles each had 31 snaps. Josh rotates in with Nelson. We intended to have it be even, but as you know, last week Josh missed one of our training sessions with a back [injury]. We weren't sure how much he could go, although he was up. The intention was for them to share the reps. It was good we got Nelson more reps. Really what people don't understand is throughout the game, there are small stretches in the game when he comes off on special teams and he needs a minute to gather himself. So he may lose a couple reps there. But when you look at it in total, our four outside receivers through the course of the season, they've all played between 340 and 380 snaps. So that's that.
Q. How does the playcalling change with Sanchez as opposed to Bradford? Are there things you feel more comfortable doing with Mark?
COACH SHURMUR: Maybe one or two things. But for the most part, it's the same preparation.
Q. Did you feel like you guys were able to adjust against Tampa's defense on Sunday?
COACH SHURMUR: Yeah. They didn't do anything that we hadn't planned for. There were some plays throughout the game we didn't execute well. But for the most part, we saw the defense that we were expecting to see.
Q. So why did Chip say that when they went more Cover 2 as the game progressed that you weren't able to throw as much to your outside receivers?
COACH SHURMUR: When the game got a little bit lopsided, score-wise, that's typically what teams do. They'll play a little softer coverage, which then clouds the outside receivers. So then the focus has to then go inside.
Q. But isn't that what Buccaneers Head Coach Lovie Smith has done during his career with the Tampa 2 defense?
COACH SHURMUR: Tampa 2 defense, it's how they play Tampa 2. But teams that play a Tampa 2 scheme, most of the time they play Cover 1 and Cover 3. It's how they play Tampa 2 that makes them special. So if they get you in obvious passing situations, then what they do is they cloud the field, make you check it down and tackle you. The definition of the Tampa 2 defense is how they play Tampa 2, where they run the pipe with the mike, they got monument players that read the quarterback's eyes. In reality, Tampa 2 teams mostly play single high safety.
Q. Isn't Huff a good weapon against a defense like that because he's good after the catch?
COACH SHURMUR: Yeah, the scoring play was terrific. We hit him on a slant and he ran across the field. Yeah, he did a good job on that play.
Q. You say Nelson and Josh rotate. Are there schemes or plays where Nelson and Josh could both be on the field at the same time?
COACH SHURMUR: Could be. As you've seen, we've also put [WR] Jordan Matthews outside. So we've got a rotation of guys. When you play no-huddle, it's probably a lot for everybody to get used to, when you play no-huddle, there's guys in and out all the time. So you watch that. We're doing everything we can to make sure we play the players, so they are out there and they're fresh. And we believe in the guys that are up. When they're in there, they've got to compete and make plays.
Q. Are you expecting to have the same rotation at running back this week?
COACH SHURMUR: If we have the same combination of guys, then you're going to see [RB] DeMarco [Murray], [RB Darren] Sproles and then [RB] Kenjon [Barner] in there until we add [RB] Ryan Mathews back to the mix.
Q. What does Detroit show you defensively?
COACH SHURMUR: They're a four-man front much like Tampa. I think they play their edges a little bit wider. That's another, whatever they call it, the wide-nine look. They play a little bit wider on the edges. Although because we run the ball inside, every team we play will then sometimes tighten the edges down. They're a four-man front. [Lions DE] Ziggy Ansah is a terrific pass-rusher. They're real sturdy in the middle with [Lions NT] Haloti Ngata. Their linebackers are active. Their secondary, I think they're starting to play well together. I think they found a combination of guys that they feel good about. Certainly the last two weeks they've played good defense.
Q. Getting back to the quarterbacks. I want to clarify. Has no decision been made?
COACH SHURMUR: We're going to see what training brings us to and then we'll put one in there.
Q. In the next 48 hours what would Sam Bradford need to show you?
COACH SHURMUR: You got to ask Coach [Kelly] that, really. We're walking today, and tomorrow we're going to run around. We'll see. I mean, we'll see. I admire the fact you're trying to pin me down on this, but there's nothing for me to say. It's admirable, but there's nothing for me to say right now.
Q. I know you've got TE Trey Burton, but if TE Zach Ertz can't play, does that limit how much 12-personnel you can play?
COACH SHURMUR: A little bit. I think each team's different. There were a stretch of games there we played way more 12 than we had in the past. I think if Zach is out, safe to say we might veer a little bit more toward 11.
Q. How did you think RB Kenjon Barner did in his first time?
COACH SHURMUR: He had some good reps. He also dropped the ball. So he's like everybody -- not good enough to win [the game], but there's some hope that he'll get better.
Q. Do you know anything about Ryan Mathews?
COACH SHURMUR: I guess he's in the protocol still. I know a lot about him.
Q. As far as his concussion?
COACH SHURMUR: Yeah, he's in that process. Everybody recovers from those at a different rate.
Q. What have you seen out of Agholor since he's been back? Is he still working his way back to being 100%?
COACH SHURMUR: I think each week when he's out here training, he looks smoother and smoother and more dynamic and explosive. More getting back to what we thought we would get earlier in the year.
Q. Do you think you put too much on his plate as a rookie having him play the same amount of reps as former Eagles WR Jeremy Maclin?
COACH SHURMUR: No, no. He was making good progress. Unfortunately, he had an injury.
Q. Were Sanchez's interceptions more mental or physical?
COACH SHURMUR: They weren't physical. With a quarterback, you've got the ball in your hands. Decision making is at a premium. Each one of those interceptions happened for reasons. There's multiple things that happen, but ultimately you just can't do it.
Q. Do you talk at all about the value of tempo versus the results that you're getting from your skill position players?
COACH SHURMUR: Sure.
Q. In other words, is it worth running tempo if it means that you're having players that are in there that are less productive than others?
COACH SHURMUR: Well, I think there's the advantages to playing with pace, which we see each week. We see less defense. We see less types of defense. We see less types of pressures. We see things within the scheme that help us, in our opinion, execute better because we'll play with pace. When you're a team that gets in the huddle and you're more lethargic and more surgical about your approach, which are offenses around the league, you see most teams play that way, then defensively they've got time to kind of organize their guys and give you more to deal with. For us, we feel like being able to see less defense and play with pace opens things up for us that we might not otherwise see if we were in a huddle.
Q. Two weeks ago on third-and-one, DeMarco Murray ran outside and he slid. What happened there?
COACH SHURMUR: I don't know. What are you talking about?
Q. Third-and-one play. He ran outside.
COACH SHURMUR: He got the first down and then he slid, yeah. I think he felt like he had the first down. He was well aware of what he needed to get for the first down. We certainly teach our guys to fall forward or continue to fight for yardage. You'd have to ask him specifically. He did get to the first down.
Q. Did you talk to him specifically about that play?
COACH SHURMUR: Yeah, we did. Within our meetings, we talked about making sure we finish forward. Other than that, it's just the fundamentals of finishing that run.
Q. On Sanchez's second interception, the one in the fourth quarter where he was targeting Cooper, what happened on that play?
COACH SHURMUR: The second one? The initial part of the progression was to the left. It was covered or Mark had moved on. As he worked back, he just kind of flicked it in there a little quicker than he would have wanted to.
