Yardage Quotes

Having Mike Anderson back, that`s big. We really missed him last year. And having Ron Dayne, that makes us better in short-yardage right there. It`s the will, if a guy wants it, he`s going to get it. If the guys up front help him, the back can do the rest himself, and we have those kind of backs.

Mitchell said. ``He`s still ticking pretty good. No question the system you run in is very important. How do you get your yards? Ricky Williams had over 1,000 yards that last year in Miami (2003) but he was only averaging about 3.5 yards a carry. That`s tough, tough yardage. Your body will only take but so much of that. Corey can get those yards, but he gets them outside, too.

Peyton Manning is a great passer, but he has to rely on receivers to catch it to be productive. Running backs are guys whose role is to churn out yardage and touchdowns. That`s exactly what you`re looking for.

Every time I called that play, I knew it was going to be a long-yardage play.

Hollis is still playing the run well. He`s not a pass-rusher. We know that. He`s kind of our role player, used in short-yardage, goal-line and (other) run situations, and he`s done well. He lacks that great pass-rush ability. But he`s played consistently.

Our defense stiffened up a bit in the second half, ... We shot ourselves in the foot a couple of times with penalties. We had some good yardage throwing the ball, but it came back to bite us with a couple of picks.

We have some things in our passing game that might fit one guy better. A short-yardage situation might fit better for a certain guy. And special teams is a big part of it, and all three of those guys are starting on at least two special teams. So we`ll just see where we go from here. But we`re in a great position. Last year, we had Howard Jackson, and Matt was backing him up with Jimmy Smith. This year I think we`ve got three threats, as opposed to just one.

Brandon Jackon and Johan Givens and Jon Lane have all played well. They`re all dependable. Jon Lane is kind of the faster back out of the three guys. He`s a real surprise. He worked really hard this offseason. We tried to get him in on some special teams. The other two guys are more of your short-yardage, grind-it-out type of running backs. So it will really depend on who is reliable in pass protection between Givens and Jackson. But Lane knows the offense, he studies his butt off, he works hard . He`s just been an all around surprise.

We take a lot of pride in what we do. Most fans don`t pay attention to what we do, but there`s a lot of hidden yardage as far as coverage units. People say you have to be a little crazy, a little off to play special teams anyways. We have 11 guys that are crazy.