Q. How is everything?
HEATH FARWELL: Everything is good. You have a little cloud cover, it seems. Cooled down practice a bit.
Q. Feeling like Seattle.
HEATH FARWELL: Just a light drizzle would really, really be fitting.
Q. What did you see from your two kickers on Thursday night?
HEATH FARWELL: I saw some good stuff. You know, we put Ryan in a really tough spot but I think that's what preseason is about. You know, we challenged them, hey, that's a 60-yarder. That's a tough kick. Those are tough positions to be put in and it was close.
You know, that's part of the deal. Love to have him make it. You know, that would have been a good start to the preseason. But that's part of the deal. We'll see, we're going to challenge them again today with some not only kicks in team periods but also move the ball situations, just kind of a little more pressure, whole team is a watching, you guys are watching, the GM is watching, that kind of thing.
That's just part of the process of just evaluation. I thought Elliot did a really good job as well. That's a good kick in the fourth quarter and then had a good kickoff as well.
So right now those guys, we like where we are at. You guys see a couple kicks but we are charting them on the other side of the field, all practice. And so we have a really good idea of where they are at, the things we need to work on, what we can see us doing this season.
So right now, it's a dead heat. They are both doing a good job, and I believe the guys in this camp can win the job but it's up to them what they do with these next practices/preseason game, is going to determine that.
Q. When you took this job, I'm wondering if you took one look at Logan and said, well, punter is one position I don't have to worry about and he comes right out of the gate the other night, put it inside the ten when you needed it, that's like your least concern right now is your punter?
HEATH FARWELL: When I took this job there was several guys I was excited about. I was excited about Ross. I was excited about our returner and obviously Logan. Logan has been a talented player in this league from watching from afar and he's exceeded expectations.
You saw that on display on Thursday night, he's super talented. He did a good job with his direction, all that's a big deal for us is he was getting them out there far, good hang times and the width. He was burying them on the sidelines that really condenses those returns and helps the coverage units.
Rudy had a good play on the sideline and it was a fantastic release, gunner represent but it was a big part of what Logan did appearing on the sideline. That's how they work together. But I think that's a big part of this team is that punting game of not only Logan but the coverage down the field.
Q. Do you like to go with both guys kicking in the same game or give one guy a game either way or what's the better approach?
HEATH FARWELL: The first game we did every other kick because I was trying to get them evenly -- I was scared we would get -- one guy got four kicks and the other guy got one and not a true evaluation.
This week we are going to switch up the order because they are both doing so well, see what that looks like. We'll go every other kick again this week and see what that looks like.
I may reevaluate this next week depending on, it's one guy getting extra points, are we getting field goals, I may have to adjust on the fly but that's the plan for the week is see where they are at, one for one, see what those kicks look like as well as kickoffs.
Q. What have you thought about the backup returner? How is that battle looking?
HEATH FARWELL: We have a good group. Obviously Agnew is an elite returner in this league and then we have-couple other guys, Christian Kirk can do it, Laviska has been back there and he's done a good job, he's improved tremendously tracking the ball, seeing the ball better. He's a talented player, and if he suits up Thursday night I would love to get him some returns. If he plays this week, you know, I'd love to get him back there. That's something the staff and I have to decide if this is the game to do it.
But there's a chance he could be back there, and then the kick returner battle, I thought Snoop did a good job -- some stuff we are still working through. You hate to see the ball on the ground but he did some good stuff, ran hard, didn't show his feet. That's something you didn't see as a running returner when those bullets are flying and those bullets are flying down the field, you see them hesitate, when it's cloudy, he hit it really hard. I thought did he some good stuff as well.
Q. Would you talk about what Logan's athleticism allows you to do beyond simply punting?
HEATH FARWELL: The fake deal is there, is real. He throws the ball like a quarterback out here. He prides himself on telling me he's the emergency quarterback. We'll see if that plays out that way.
He is a talented player that can do everything. He can run fakes. He's a great holder. That's been a pleasant surprise for me. I knew he was a good holder and he's even better than I thought and should that's something we can't overlook because that helps the kickers so much setting the table. He's the caddie. He's the guy that has to put it in the right spot every single time and turn up the lights if needed so athleticism is a big factor at that position, not only punting but holding/any other things we ask him to do.
Q. Have you coached a gunner like Rudy before? Seems like he always gets out with incredible speed.
HEATH FARWELL: He's one of the top gunners in the league. I have coached a couple guys very similar, Taiwan Jones in Buffalo Siran Neal. But Rudy, those reps we had that he did the other night were special. And I've seen him across the league going back to Arizona and then also Philly, he's been doing it a long time. So I've seen many gunner reps like those.
Q. The versatility of a four-core player what does it take to prove that and how many do you think you have at this time?
HEATH FARWELL: I think we are figuring that out right now. Versatility is going to be big because if you get a guy that can only play left guard on punt, it's a till tougher but if he can go from left side to right side and play thing -- and can they be trusted, especially in the punt game.
If I can just rely on that guy, and his guy is never going to equity a block, going to block the right guy 100 percent of the time, that's value. It puts such a big emphasis on punt protection. I say, all these other things are great but if you want to impress me, you'd better protect on punt because that's the biggest thing and that's how you lose ballgames if you don't protect the punt. Again, that's trust. Trust is the biggest factor.
Q. Has any young players been able to earn that trust yet?
HEATH FARWELL: We have two young players, I'll start with two gunners that have done really well, Josh Thompson and Montaric Brown. Those guys have really stepped up and showed some stuff. They have improved tremendously from the off-season to training camp.
We put them in some tough battles yesterday, got some good players and they battled. It's a work-in-progress as far as we got some time but we are going to continue to challenge those guys because I think they can do it. They are talented enough players, they care, they work hard, they come into my office, they want to learn, that's what I'm looking for.
So we'll put them in those tough spots. They will get more gunner reps this week not only in practice but Friday night. We've got to see if they can do it. See if they can do it for real live Sunday regular-season games.
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