**
Opening Statement: **"Injuries: Larry Asante today, did not practice with a shoulder and a quad; Tarell Brown did not practice today with a foot and an ankle; Chimdi Chekwa did not – was limited today, I'm sorry, with a shoulder; Andre Holmes was limited today with a shoulder; Brian Leonhardt did not practice today; Denarius Moore did not practice today, knee and ankle; Pat Sims did not practice today; Neiko Thorpe was full today with a hand; Menelik Watson did not practice today, foot and ankle; and Sio Moore was limited today with a hip."
Q: Did Pat Sims get hurt yesterday?
Coach Sparano:"Yeah, something that flared up overnight."
Q: You guys are obviously creature of habit and doing things in a certain way. To uproot an entire team on buses and bring them across town to practice indoors, it was probably a pretty big undertaking I would imagine?
Coach Sparano:"No, it wasn't really that big. I mean, to be honest we had seen the forecast and we went out last week in the rain, but with the way this thing was coming in and the wind and rain and any of those other things, it wasn't much we were going to get accomplished there so we planned ahead and had the thing pretty well organized. We got good work in today. Guys handled it well."
Q: Did the facility hinder you guys in what you were able to do?
Coach Sparano:"I mean it restricts you a little bit, yeah, sure, any time you do that. But, I think we were in pretty good shape today."
Q: Do you still get all the film and everything that you need?
Coach Sparano:"Yes."
Q: Is there some concern maybe that it might be time to shut Rod Streater down?
Coach Sparano:"There's concern, yeah."
Q: Did he have a setback?
Coach Sparano:"He was sore and did not practice yesterday or today. He's been sore and [General Manager] Reggie [McKenzie] and I will visit about that but we'll make that decision here, probably real soon."
Q: Any concerns about Tarell Brown being ready to play on Sunday?
Coach Sparano:"I didn't have much of a concern – I mean, I didn't have as much of a concern yesterday, but today not practicing gives me a little bit more concern."
Q: Would you like to see improvement in your punt and kickoff coverage units?
Coach Sparano:"I mean the punt unit against St. Louis allowed 11 yards to a pretty good returner, but I think that, I mean this game is going to be a big game special teams-wise. On paper right now it's a major, it's a big advantage to Kansas City and we're aware of that. So, they have their return units are all ranked I think in every category in the top five, but top 10 for sure. I would say top five in several. We're aware of that, our team is aware of that and we're trying to make and take the appropriate steps here as we go forward. Our punt team, the issue for us has been more coverage of course than it has been Marquette [King]. Marquette has done a great job in keeping us in ball games. In fact, he got a game ball for his game last week. We need to do a better job in the coverage units and I have challenged that group this week."
Q: With Neiko Thorpe being full this week after missing the last two, that should hopefully shore things up a little?
Coach Sparano:"Yeah, you would hope so. Again, I just really have to see him continue to use his hand a little bit, but he's been getting better and better. I've got to see him be able to do that. Obviously he's got fresh legs, he can run, he can do all those things but he's got to be able to get somebody on the ground in those situations. So, I need to just make sure that I can see those things. He had a good day yesterday. Today, it wasn't that kind of day today obviously, being indoors."
Q: What's the biggest improvement you've seen in Sio Moore this season?
Coach Sparano:"I think probably the biggest improvement I've seen from Sio this season is the way that he's reacted and responded to some of the different run reads that he's seen. I think he's pulled the trigger a lot faster right now than he did a year ago. I thought he played fast a year ago as a young player coming in and I had a little bit of history on him because I knew some of the coaches up at UConn being from that area and had a little bit of background when we drafted him. In fact, was asked a couple questions about him when we drafted him and I dug up some information there. But, I think he's a guy right now that sees the picture pretty clear and is not afraid to pull the trigger fast in there and I think that's the biggest improvement. The other thing I think he's done a really good job of is in the past some of the different pattern matches and the different things in the underneath coverages, maybe were things that came a little bit – didn't come as easy to him because you see so much at that position. I think those are things that he's improving on and he's getting better at and he needs to continue to improve in those areas. Sio knows that, but he's making really good progress that way. It's allowing him to play faster."
