Who is playing quarterback on Sunday?

Ha ha.  I was going to ask you that question.  I have no idea.

How is Eli, where is he now in his progress?

You are getting about as much information as I am getting.  We don’t speak to the doctors; we don’t speak to the trainers, so all we do is listen to what he tells us.  I know he has been throwing lightly and that is about it.  I have no idea.

Can a guy go all week without throwing and then just show up and play?

It is not the preferred method of preparation but I think he is so into it mentally and he has thrown all of the routes so many times that if physically he was able to do it I think he could go and perform.  I don’t know if he would be at his best obviously, but I think he could perform well enough.  It is really going to come down to how sore it is, how much strength he has, and not only can he make the throws but can it withstand the potential contact: the contact with players and the contact with falling on the ground. 

If he can’t go, how does that change your game plan?

Hopefully not in a significant manner because Jared (Lorenzen) has been around enough that he has listened to everything, he has carried it out in practice when he has had his opportunities in preseason, camp, and during the spring, but it is completely different when you get to a game.  That is what we will have to wait and see and judge, to the best of our ability, what we think he can handle and if it is him, we will go with as much as we think he can handle and hopefully be as close to what it would have been with Eli as we can possibly make it.

You are dealing with a double whammy of injuries after losing your running back as well?

It is not a good situation to be in.  The good thing is I think we feel good about the performance of Derrick (Ward) when he got in there.  I thought he ran the ball very well.  You certainly don’t want to lose the big guy.  I don’t know if you can appreciate what he did, like on the third play of the game, that touchdown pass, it was his chip that just destroyed Demarcus Ware and gave us a chance to make that throw.  You lose that aspect of the game with Brandon (Jacobs).  Derrick runs the ball very well and if there is a position that we have a little bit of depth that is the one position.  As disappointing as it is, it is the one position right now that we can withstand, for a while at least, his loss.

How much does it change week to week in your game plans in relation to what Eli needs to know?

There is always the core and you try to do the core as much as you can and then you try to camouflage it and tweak it a little bit to adapt.  What is your opponent doing?  Here is what we do, here is what they do, here are areas that we think we might be able to probe and maybe go after successfully, so there are always moderate adjustments.  I would say the majority of the offense is going to be there at least two-thirds of the time, two-thirds to three-quarters of the offense is going to be there week to week. 

Does Lorenzen have more familiarity with Ward than some of the other players in the offense?

With Derrick?  Yeah, probably in that sense.  When they have been on the scout squad and the look squad in that respect, but you are not running your plays, you are usually running the opponent’s plays so from that standpoint I don’t know how much benefit that is.

It looks like Jared has always been good in seven on seven but he seems to not be as productive in a game, is that going to be a problem?

It is hard to judge.  He has shown some times when he has a gun for an arm, he is remarkably accurate for a guy that has that strong an arm, and at times he shows incredible touch, it is just a matter of can he consistently do that?  I think he can, but doing it seven on seven and doing it when people are rushing around you and trying to take your head off are two different things.  He is a tough kid, he is physical, he is very courageous, and so there is no reason for that to bother him from that standpoint.  It is just a matter of can you keep your focus?  Can you keep your concentration on the things that you should be concentrating on, which is: what is the coverage doing?  Who are the guys that are getting open based on that coverage.  I think he can, I believe he can, and I think he can play well.  Certainly he has got to prove it. 

How has Brett Favre changed over his career and is he different now?

You know, I don’t watch him as much as you guys would because I am always watching the defenses, but occasionally you will see him.  He is a phenomenal player.  What I call a “freak” in the most complimentary of terms.  To have the physical ability to withstand all the hits he has taken, it is an incredible thing.  It is just amazing.  Not many people can do what he has had to do.  He has always had the gun for an arm.  He has always had that swashbuckling attitude, I don’t think that has changed, I think it is just a matter of the supporting cast.

Is his game too swashbuckling for today’s quarterbacks to model themselves after? 

I don’t think that is necessarily a bad quality or characteristic.  Obviously he has had incredible success and some of the great ones in this league.  I think the combination of a guy that knows what he is doing and also has the ability to kind of step above the Xs and Os once in a while and maybe make a play that, by design, shouldn’t have happened.  That is what you are looking for.

If he was a rookie right now?

Would they try to tame him?  I think you could but I don’t know if you would.