On whether P Sav Rocca is playing better this year: "I think he's a lot better, at this point. I think the biggest thing with Sav, right now, is his level of consistency. It's something we struggled with a little bit last year, just trying to focus on some fundamentals with him. He's come a long way and we're anticipating him having a good season this year."
On whether there's anything that he would have like to have tried on special teams in the preseason, but didn't get a chance to: "Not necessarily. The things you work on during preseason are the fundamentals that are going to carry over regardless of what scheme you're running; whether it be some type of trickery-type scheme or what have you. I think we got accomplished exactly what we wanted to during preseason, in terms of just working on our fundamentals, and making progress with guys who may be inexperienced at certain positions. We feel pretty good about where we are at this point."
On how excited he is to have LB Tank Daniels on the team: "We're excited about having Tank here. He's a guy that's got some experience under his belt now. He understands how to play the game on special teams and he takes a lot of pride in his work there. We've got a couple of guys on the roster now that are in that same position and, hopefully, we can expect some good things out of them this year."
On whether Rams WR/return specialist Dante Hall is still a premiere returner in the NFL: "Absolutely. You know, he's a really explosive returner back there. He had a return for a touchdown last year in the punt return game. He's a threat every time he touches the ball. We're going to have to make sure we're very disciplined in our coverage units this week."
On how encouraging it was to see S/KR Quintin Demps follow up his 101-yard kickoff return for a TD at NE with a 51-yard return the next week vs. NYJ in the preseason: "We brought him in knowing that he was a capable returner. We're expecting him to be able to get the job done there. At the same time, he hasn't done anything in the regular season yet. Now's when it starts to count and we've got to make sure that we have the same level of success with him, as we start the regular season."
On whether he's worried about WR/PR DeSean Jackson having too much on his plate: "I don't think so. DeSean is a great football player. He's going to do whatever we ask him to do back there and do a great job at it. If, for whatever reason, he's too tired to get out there, maybe in a punt return situation, we've got Quintin Demps who's readily available there. So, we feel good about where we're at with those two guys."
On whether he has a specific number of big returns that he aims to reach during the season: "Our main goal is to just make sure we're putting our offense in a position to be successful. We try to give them the best field position we (can). Obviously, the big plays are going to come when you're executing week-in and week-out and making sure that each guy is taking care of his responsibility. We don't say that we're going to have to have this many returns out past the 50, or whatever. Again, if each guy does his job and he executes his assignment, that kind of thing will come."
On why he doesn't set specific goals like that: "Obviously, we're after big plays. We want to make some big plays there, but, in terms of having that specific number, we don't have that specific number because, obviously, every time we go out we want to be successful and put our offense in the best position possible."
On whether it's easier now that the special teams unit is set and he doesn't have 80 players on the roster to rotate in and out: "It's definitely much easier from a substitution standpoint. Going into the regular season game, we've got our core guys and we know who's going to be on the field. We've got specific subs per position. It's a lot easier to keep up with who's going to be out there and now you're more concerned with your specific assignments and what we're going to try to do gameplan-wise, as opposed to making sure that we've got eleven guys on the field each rep. You know, we're excited about getting out and just being able to go out and execute what we've been working at up to this point."
On whether it's daunting for a rookie like DeSean Jackson to handle both returning and wide receiver duties: "I think he's in great shape. He's been working on his conditioning there and I think he's going to be able to do both jobs there. You know, obviously it depends on his number of reps at receiver. I know we've got a few guys we'll be rolling in there, but it just comes down to that specific situation and whether or not he can or cannot go. Right now, we're planning on using him as the primary punt returner."
On whether the special teams unit is a more confident unit after the preseason: "Again, we haven't done anything in the regular season yet and that really affects your mentality going into the year. We're all sitting here at zero and zero at this point. To say 'we're more confident going into the regular season,' I don't know. I'm sure each individual guy has a different opinion there. We definitely have the guys back there who are capable of getting the job done, I will say that."
On whether it's disappointing that free agent additions TE Kris Wilson and LB Rocky Boiman aren't on the team anymore: "We feel like we have the best guys out there on the field. Whether they're guys we brought in as free agents or whether they're guys who've come up as younger guys, or guys like Tank who we just brought back in. We feel like we've got some good ballplayers on the field and we've got high expectations for them."
On the increased emphasis on special teams this offseason and whether he's excited to see how it works in the regular season: "Very much so. There are certain guys that we're definitely counting on as far as going out and being more productive from certain positions than they were last year. Anytime you look at a fullback position or a tight end position, you've got to have those guys out there producing for you. We feel like we've got some guys that can get that done for us this year."
On whether DE Chris Clemons will play on special teams this year: "We've been repping Chris back in. It's been difficult, obviously because of his injury status and things, but we've been working him in on several phases and we're expecting him to possibly get some reps there for us this week."
On how tough it was to rebound from last year's first game at Green Bay: "After that first game, we didn't have any ball security issues. It was a situation where we probably didn't have the most explosive return game; we were just solid in what we were doing. This year, we feel like we've got guys who are going to be solid in terms of both ball security and being able to create some big plays for us. Right now, we're here at this point ready to go forward and we feel good about what we've got."
