On whether he sleeps less the week before playing Chicago Bears WR/KR Devin Hester: "I sleep about the same, but he is a great player and there's no doubt about that. Anytime he gets his hands on the ball you know he can make anything happen, even when you're in position to make the play. He has the ability to make the play and keep the other guy from making the play. So he's good. He's better than good, maybe the greatest returner of all time. His records certainly show that. And in only six years there's been some greats that he's passed that took twice as long to have that many. So I guess he's sort of like [former RB Jim Brown] in that he passed everybody in a shorter period of time. So he's a great player and there's no doubt about that. He's a great player."
On whether they are going to avoid kicking to Hester: "Well I wouldn't want to reveal my strategy or what we're going to do because it's almost like calling up [Bears special teams coordinator] Dave Toub and telling him what we're going to do. So I'd rather not commit on what we're going to do. I just would rather say that we have a real challenge unlike a lot of people. But every week you're going to play a player that probably has a little more niftiness, a little more skill in space than most of your punt return teams [you face] - this guy may be a real exception to everybody. But you know, we face some pretty good players. [San Francisco WR/KR] Ted Ginn Jr. was no slouch. And next week, [Arizona DB] Patrick Peterson is no slouch. And [Redskins WR/KR] Brandon Banks is no slouch. So they're all pretty good, they're all good in space, and they're all tough to bring to the ground."
On his thoughts about punting to Hester twice last year in the game against the Bears: "Well, last year we punted more than once; one he didn't field [and] one, was it nine yards? You know, we just did sort of a normal punt and tried to hang the ball up and tried cover it. You know to steal from [Houston Texans defensive coordinator] Wade Phillips – you don't want to get beat by a bomb but you don't want to get killed by a bunch of hand grenades either. So every time you give up a first down, or a couple of first downs in field position on the punt or the kickoff coverage because you kept it out of his hands, then you generally had to do something to bring the ball closer to your goal line. So it's a fine mix in there and we'll have a strategy, obviously, on how we're going to do it either in coverage or kicking or whatever. But yeah, he's a definite challenge that you have to really do a good job. I kind of elected to say that we really have to do a good job this week because we're going to try to do just as good of a job this week as we did against [Rams WR] Danny Amendola. I wasn't trying any harder [against Hester] I don't think. I wouldn't want to give you the impression, 'Oh we're really going to try this week and we might ease of a little bit this week' or 'two weeks ago we didn't try that hard or work that hard.' I mean, they're all tough to tackle in space and at any moment any of those guys can break it. But obviously, this guy's percentage is way up there. But in terms of us going down there I think we're always trying our best to stop them."
On whether LB Akeem Jordan would be a big loss for the coverage units: "Well you know, Akeem has done a really good job and has been a really productive player. And I wouldn't want to diminish how well he's played, but if he doesn't play, somebody's got to step up [because] it's a team deal. And certainly Akeem, over the period that I've been here, has been one of our most outstanding guys. So somebody would have to do a heckuva job to replace him."
On whether Hester runs kickoffs back from almost anywhere in the end zone: "Yes. I mean, if something gets away from him or he mishandles it or doesn't field it clean; I've seen touchbacks against his that haven't just gone out of the back of the end zone, but it's mainly because he hasn't handled it. He'll handle it nine yards – and that's as deep as you can go- so he'll bring them out unless he mishandles it or it kind of get past him. But he's not fielding it and taking a knee."
On whether having a rookie punter affects the gameplan and whether they will kick to Hester or not: "Yeah, that's a good question because he hasn't punted a lot in this league and he is growing a lot as a punter. [In fact], he's not close to what his true potential is, and it generally takes a while for those guys to get there. We expect him to do the job of taking him away. I mean, we have full expectation that he can live up to everything we ask him to do. So we have confidence in him."
On whether he feels like he has to work with P Chas Henry to prepare him mentally for kicking to Hester: "Yeah, I think there's some merit to deciding if there's going to be an advantage or disadvantage. But you know, we think that whatever we have him do we have full confidence in him. We haven't really cut back anything or said, 'He can't do this or can't do that'. It's more, 'What can he do?' or 'Make sure we get that done.' And so, I don't know that's just the approach."
On his thoughts about Henry only having eight of his punts returned so far this season: "Well, a lot of them have been he's hit the ball and they just haven't been able to get to them. And then he's hit a couple of pretty good balls where they've been fair caught. And then he's had some plus-50 kicks that are all very hard to return. And then he's gotten a few touchbacks. And then we haven't punted that much [because] our offense has really moved the ball. And I know we had a stretch in there when we had turnovers, but that eliminates the punt, too. So when you have this offense that's always moving the ball - you know, as an offense you always want the series to end in a kick, you'd like it to be an extra point, you're not totally miffed if it's a field goal, and your settle for a punt and realize that you didn't get stopped on fourth down or you got a turnover. But our offense has done a great job of moving the ball and picking up first downs, so we just haven't punted a ton."
On his thoughts about what makes Toub such a great special teams coach: "Well look at his pedigree first of all. He played for [head] coach [Andy] Reid at UTEP. Then he went to Missouri and was a G[raduate] A[ssistant] for coach Reid. Then he came here and he coached. So his whole upbringing has been here and coach Reid's a great coach and produced a lot of great coaches. So I think that's helped Dave. I've never coached with him, but he obviously brings a tremendous toughness and he's brought a real culture of intensity in their team. I mean, it's not just Hester that returns the ball well, [but] all of their guys fly around, they hustle as much as anybody I've seen and their kickers are good. So this guy's one of the top five coaches in the league and I don't mean just special teams coaches because you can't put any coordinators record against his. I mean, there is no offensive or defensive coordinator – well I may be wrong. Maybe [Pittsburgh Steeler defensive coordinator] Dick LeBeau is up there where every single year they're in the top three or four. Maybe Lebeau would be an exception. Aside of that, I challenge anybody to say, 'Well, you've gone five, six, seven consecutive years.' It's just the culture we live in. And I'm saying, maybe I shouldn't say and somebody else should [because] I can talk about the Catholics, but if you're Protestant you can't really talk…You know, just the culture is that those guys don't get recognized, those special teams coaches don't get recognized like somebody else. You know, whoever, 'They have a really good year on offense and this guy's one of the greatest coaches in the league [and] he should be a head coach. Why isn't he?' [I think] 'Toub' should have that consideration I think because that's what he's done. So I can't compliment him anymore than that. But I think he's just unbelievable. And it's not just Hester. A lot of it is his talent. Those guys were playing and they have good schemes. That play they scored the touchdown on against Green Bay that was called back, that was the greatest special teams play I've ever seen. It takes creativity to do that, and it takes motivation, and it takes a lot to convince your guys that you can actually do that, 'Well, when they punt over here, we're going to send everybody over there and they're going to go with us.' I mean, just to convince them to execute it would be a tough challenge."
On whether he thinks K Alex Henery is untested between the 40-45-yard field goal range: "Anybody, until they do it on Sunday is probably untested because a lot of guys can do a lot of stuff, but they can't do it on Sunday. So it's totally different playing in a game than seeing a guy at the combine and that's kind of how we practice here. So until he has a pretty good resumé of 40-plus kicks, I wouldn't say he's unskilled, but he doesn't have that on resumé."
On his thoughts about Henery's leg strength compared to former Eagle K David Akers: "Well, I think right now he's not as strong as Dave, and I think that has a lot to do with his age and his maturity. I think he'll grow into a really strong kicker. Now, a lot of his kicks have been good kicks. I mean, he's kicked off pretty good and he's kicked field goals pretty good. But Dave I think probably has a little bit stronger leg, had a little bit stronger leg last year. But you know, I think that comes with being in the offseason program [and] I think that comes with a lot of things, and I think it comes with being a pro and that type of thing. So generally – maybe he'll never be as strong, but David is a strong legged guy, you know, we're comparing him to a strong guy. But I think his leg is plenty strong."
On his thoughts about Akers saying last year that his leg wasn't as strong as it had been in the past: "All I can go off of is how many touchbacks he had and he kicked the ball deeper into the end zone last year than he did at any other point. Like I said, Dave is strong and in this case [Henery] may never be as strong, I don't know, Dave's a strong guy and probably came out strong. I'm just looking at last year and he had twice as many touchbacks, or close to that, that he ever had in his career. So I don't know. Dave knows himself better than I do, so I would agree with Dave."
On whether he is going to prepare for trick plays on special teams: "They're hard to prepare for because that's hard to execute. That's one that's tough to replay. You can walk through it, you can do it staged and that type of thing, but it's pretty tough to do it in the moment and to actually practice that like that happened. That that one even happened the way it did was a rarity. I mean that kid reached out and caught the ball two yards from the sideline, and then he had to tiptoe to stay in bounds. That was a unique play."
