Opening Statement:
I just want to start of by saying that I am very proud of my team and their performance so far this season. This is a great group of guys with a lot of fight and zero quit in them. They have gone up against some very formidable opponents in recent weeks and they have let their grit and their drive carry this team to victory. Our name may suggest that we rely on last minute long shots, but make no mistake, there is nothing about this team that includes even a speck of desperation. We are a contender in this league.
Coach, what are your comments on your team’s winning streak of 5 games, the longest in the league? Streaks mean nothing, whether you are on the winning or the losing end. The only thing about streaks that are true, is that every streak comes to an end at some point. If you guys want to pay attention to winning and losing streaks, you go right ahead, but how many games in a row we have won is not even on our radar screen. We take each game as it comes. It doesn’t matter what we did last week against one team because this week we are playing a whole new set of guys, with a whole new playbook, and whole new matchup challenges. Last week, or the last five week’s, don’t matter come this Sunday. Streaks are for news headlines. We are after a W, not a streak.
Mrs. Tara, you are the only female coach in the league. Any comments on the challenges you face because of that? First of all, you need to refer to me as Coach, because that is what I am. You have never asked Phillip Campbell or Daniel Campbell or Jason Young a question by calling them “Mr. Phillip or Mr. Daniel or Mr. Jason”. So, you may refer to me with the same respect as them. Call me coach. As far as me being the only female coach in the league….no one cares. It has never come up until your question.
You went on record as saying that you are not a huge Terrell Owens fan. How does that previous statement affect your relationship with one of your highest producing players? Well, TO knows why I made that comment and we have an understanding. I have no tolerance for cry babies and the football field and my locker room is no place for drama queens. If you will notice, since becoming a Hail Mary, TO has behaved himself much better, with people like Randy Moss and Vince Young taking up his old antics. There is no room for that on my team. TO knows this and he performs best when he just shuts up and plays. We get along just fine. He knows my expectations and he meets them every single week. This is a business and right now we make great business partners.
Coach Matt Campbell commented to you a couple of weeks ago about how few roster changes you have made this season. Why is it that you are one of the teams with the fewest waiver pickups and zero trades? Well, that is because I recognize that the guys I have on my team have the talent. It is my job to coach them. We have several guys on our team that were not big name superstars at the beginning of the season, but we have fine tuned our program so that their talent shines. I don’t need to make moves and changes to my roster; I just need to continue to put my men in a position to win. I wouldn’t get rid of any of my guys on my roster with the way they are playing right now.
Who are you referring to when you talk about your players that weren’t huge names at the beginning of the season? Well, first and foremost, has anyone seen Peyton Hillis’ numbers lately? That man is a star. Then, there is Danny Woodhead. He may be small in stature and virtually unheard of until he became a Hail Mary, but he is very consistent at putting up points and he busts his ass every single play of every game. It is guys like that that I want playing for me.
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