OPENING STATEMENT:"As far as injuries go (Husain) Abdullah has a foot contusion. Eric Berry has an ankle sprain and Jamaal Charles has a high ankle sprain. Cyrus Gray has a foot strain, looks like he should be heading in the right direction. And De'Anthony Thomas has a hamstring strain but should be able to work himself back in this week, we will just see how he does. As far as the game goes, it was a hard fought game, I was proud of the effort the players put forward. There were some real good things that they did, there were some things that we can do better. I think that's what I'm most optimistic about, that the guys battled like crazy and we have room for improvement. With that attitude, with the attitude of this football team and the personality that they are building there together, it gives you an opportunity for success. Just to reiterate a couple things, the job that John Dorsey has done on bringing players in here through all the different realms that you can build a team with, as far as draft and free agency. You look at the job that (Ron) Parker did, for example, who's been working at corner and we asked him to step in at safety and virtually plays the whole game at safety, and I thought he did a nice job. Jaye Howard, the job that he did. (Kevin) Vickerson coming in after just a few days here and Ryan Harris stepping in at tackle. These are guys that are good quality football players that as they get more used to our system in some cases will even get better. That helps to be able to compete when you have a few injuries. From a football standpoint I thought the third down differential was important in this game. Defensively, we held them three-for-eight on third downs. On the other side of that we were able to make 11 out of 16 there. We've got to do better obviously in the red zone, both teams struggled a little bit down in there. But we've got to do a better job down there of scoring when you have the ball first and goal at the four, you've got to make sure you get that in. I take, again, responsibility for that. Cairo (Santos) is taking a little heat right now. He's a young guy who will continue to get better. There are some things he can do, just mechanically, to fix his issue there with the consistency. He will do that and get himself back on track. None of us have lost trust in him as a kicker, just got to make it a little bit more consistent."
Q: What's Jamaal Charles' time table looking like with a high ankle sprain?
REID:"I don't know. It doesn't look to be, these things take time, but it doesn't look to be real severe. But it does have the component of a high ankle sprain. What does that mean? Well we will see what happens here."
Q: Categorize Cairo's confidence level right now.
REID:"He hasn't missed many field goals in his time, so this is a new experience for him. I would compare it to a batter in baseball, sometimes you get into a funk as a kicker and you've got to work your way out of it. He's hitting it here early, if he figures it out and works it out, he'll have a nice long career, steady career. And you've got to be able to do that as a kicker. Sometimes that ball is going to look real small, sometimes it's going to look real big. So you've got to work through those things."
Q: How much does this change Knile's role, can he carry the same work load as Jamaal?
REID:"I don't think it would change much from what you saw yesterday. He was involved in a lot of different areas. I'm not saying in number of carries. You saw him go and play a few different roles."
Q: This is two weeks in a row you've struggled in the red zone, is it execution, play calling or a combination of things?
REID:"I'll take responsibility for that. I have to make sure I put the guys in a better position to score touchdowns. We'll work on that."
Q: Is there certain things you've seen from players that make you not trust them in the red zone?
REID:"No, not at all. I'll take responsibility for that."
Q: Why move Ron Parker to safety when you have two safeties on the roster. Are they not familiar enough with the scheme?
REID:"He would probably tell you that's his natural position, Parker would. But he's not bad at corner either. We've had him learn that position because we want to put who we consider the best players out there as often as we possibly can, even if it means switching positions. We've done it with the offensive line, the same type of thing. Moving guys from guard to tackle and tackle to guard. So that's why he's out there."
Q: What were your impressions of the offensive line?
REID:"I thought they did a nice job, they played good physical football. Both in the run and the pass game, is there room to improve? Absolutely, I'd say that about all of us, we've got a ton of room to improve here. They are playing a little bit better as a unit and that's important. I think every game that they play together they'll improve in that area."
Q: What about Zach Fulton, he's a young guy. Where is he at?
REID:"Zach's getting better every chance he has to get out there. Some of these looks are new looks for him. For a rookie he's doing a pretty good job right now."
Q: First game without Derrick Johnson, how would you assess James-Michael Johnson and Josh Mauga?
REID:"I thought for the most part they did a good job. Early, there might have been a couple things in there. I thought they had good communication and set the front well. I thought they played physical football, they tackled well. I think early they settled themselves in and played pretty good."
Q: Marcus Cooper's first game and got targeted on that first play and then responded well.
REID:"Yeah, that was probably the perfect call for that coverage that we had on. You respect Peyton for being able to put you in positions like that. So they got us, they got Coop on that one. But he came back and, I thought, did well after that."
Q: What were you able to do defensively the second half?
REID:"The best thing is to keep them off the field the best way you possibly can. They didn't have a ton of plays the second half on the field. Then we were able to get pressure on Peyton – which is a tough thing to do. When you get pressure on the quarterback it kind of encompasses everybody. That's your coverage doing a good job, that's your front doing a good job. I thought guys stepped up, we had a nice little rotation going there and guys were fresh throughout the game. And again, I'm telling you this, we can even do better. In this thing you count the wins, that's what you count and we didn't win the game. So in all areas we can get better."
Q: Eric Fisher was lined up with DeMarcus Ware the entire game, what were your thoughts on his performance and development?
REID:"I thought he did a nice job. Again, he'll be able to go back against a top notch pass rusher in pass rush situations and analyze his performance and see where he can even do a better job there. Again, you're talking about one of the real good pass rushers in this league. I thought he did a nice job and he didn't worry much about the left side there."
Q: You chose to defer and put Peyton Manning and that offense on the field first. Why that decision?
REID:"Well I knew we were going to have a 23 play drive in the second half. I wish. The obvious answer there is they got points and we didn't. Your studies will show you that teams that deferred, for whatever reason and mainly it comes back to that first drive in the second half, have a better win percentage. I've always been one that took the ball to start the game. But the studies the past few years have shown the opposite there and I'm not sure exactly of the reason, other than the first drive opportunity knowing what rhythm the opponent is in and being able to come out and take advantage."
Q: Can you remember the last time you deferred?
REID:"I've deferred every game since the first preseason game, I believe it was. We just haven't won a toss."
