Jags O-line coach discusses injuries, surge

Discussion in 'Tennessee Titans and NFL Talk' started by NewsGrabber, Oct 30, 2008.

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  1. NewsGrabber

    NewsGrabber Guest

    Posted by ESPN.com's Paul Kuharsky Jaguars offensive line coach Andy Heck met with the Jacksonville media today to discuss the state of his unit and all that it's been through this season.

    He talked about how the line is a team with in a team, admitted his group got whipped in the loss to Cleveland and said he likes his guys to play with ferocity, intensity and bad intentions.

    While he didn't make excuses regarding three season-ending injuries - two in the opener -- that have cost him quality people, he did say there are "not many people on this planet that can move somebody as well as Vince Manuwai does."

    Two sections of his comments, courtesy of the Jaguars public relations staff:

    On recovering from the loss of players to injury:

    "Certainly injuries are tough. They're tough for the individuals they happen to, they're tough for the team, but as we all know they're part of football and they occur. This year we had more than our share of injuries, especially in the offensive line. But where we stand is that we have a great group of guys with a lot of character - guys who care about football, guys who care about their trade. When any injury occurs at any position, somebody has got to step up and that's what guys have done. They've stepped up. The guys around them need to elevate their play, help bring along the guys that are stepping in, and I'm proud of the guys that we've called on. We brought Milford Brown in here off the street and we started him two or three days later, and he did a fine job. Tutan (Reyes) has done a very nice job for us. We've won some game and he's been excellent in pass protection. Uche (Nwaneri), a young player who's grown up and doing a nice job and he's only going to get better. Certainly Dennis Norman, I can't neglect him. This is a guy we've relied on for several years now to win a lot of games with when Brad's (Meester) had some misfortune. Dennis is a true pro, prepares better than anybody in our room. He's a smart guy, of course being an Ivy Leaguer, but he comes every day, he's the same guy every day, and he's been invaluable to our team."

    On the lack of surge last week, was it an off day?

    "As an offensive line we take great pride in being able to run the ball, and when things don't go well in that department we take it personally. And every guy in that room, including myself, is looking at, 'How can I do my job better?' And one of the things we need to do better as an offensive line and that I need to get more of is better surge. We need to drive some guys off the ball and give our talented runners some space to run the ball. And that's something we take pride in, that's something that when we don't get that done it stings, and we're working hard to do that and the guys, like I said, take great pride in that and we're going to be working hard to fix that."


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