Head Coach Hue Jackson:
Opening statement:
"It is an exciting time. Obviously, getting ready for the regular season. Good first Wednesday practice. Guys worked hard. We had a couple days off and came back and kind of moved around a little bit. Today I thought we got after it a little bit so I thought it was a good practice, some good things in practice.
"First off, just the injuries, I think everybody is good to go. Everybody else practiced, but (DL) Myles (Garrett) was limited today with an ankle. We will kind of go from there. That is all we have on the injury front."
On Garrett's injury and if it was something that has been bothering him:
"No, that was today in practice."
On if Garrett's injury in today's practice was a result of a previous injury:
"No, that was just today."
On if Garrett's injury happened today:
"Yes, absolutely."
On if he likes Garrett's confidence in saying he wants to sack Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger:
"Absolutely, I do. Now you have to back it up. You can say that, but I think he understands that his teammates are with him in that. In order to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, we do have to get Ben down. That is just the truth. That is not something that is out of the ordinary. I think he was expressing what is true. In order to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, you have to slow Ben down. That is the only way to slow him down is by getting him on the ground."
On level of concern with Garrett's status:
"We will see. I don't want to make medical decisions. I am not very good at them so we will see where we are as we move through the week."
On if Garrett's injury is to the same ankle as before:
"That I don't think so. No, I don't think it is the same ankle at all."
On if Garrett could not continue practicing:
"He went as long as he could."
On how weird it will be to see Steelers DB Joe Haden on the opposing team Sunday:
"It is going to be weird. I think it will be weird for everybody, but at the same time, he is part of their organization now and he is on the other side. We will wave before the game and wave after the game, but in between the white lines, it is football so we have to play."
On how QB DeShone Kizer has responded to the preparation of facing Pittsburgh:
"He is handling it well. He is hiding it from me if he hasn't. He has done a good job in his preparation, working at it every day and doing the things he needs to do. I can't tell you exactly how he is going to feel come Sunday, but he has done everything thus far that he needs to do to prepare for this football game."
On if he expects FB Danny Vitale, OL Joel Bitonio and DL Nate Orchard to play Sunday:
"I envision we will be. We want to go through the week and see how it all works out, but it is good to have them all back out there today and working, and we will see where we are."
On WR Kasen Williams' ability to go up and get the football and if he expects Williams to make an impact Sunday:
"I hope so. He has to be out there playing. He went and made one of those plays today in practice so it is something he does all of the time. I saw it again today so he has a talent for that. I am glad he is on our football team."
On if the team is any closer to determining how many QBs will remain on the roster:
"No, this week will tell the tale. Today was the first practice. We have one more big practice. After that, hopefully, we will start moving in the direction we need to."
On if he challenges Kizer the same way he would challenge a veteran QB:
"Absolutely, he is a starting quarterback in the National Football League, whether he is young, old or whatever so he has to go play and he knows that. Do I have an expectation for him? Yes. Does he need to understand the situation in the first game in our stadium against the Pittsburgh Steeler? Yes, he does, but if I know DeShone well, he is gearing up ready to play and excited about the opportunity."
On how tough it is to keep a rookie QB from taking too many risks:
"You have to be smart. Hopefully, we have broken him from a lot of those issues here in practice. He has got to continue to just work at it and see the right things. They are going to do some things differently, I am sure, to throw him off and he has to be able to handle those things. This is still just football. At the end of the day, it is football and you have to go play and make great decisions and take care of the ball and play within the structure of our offense."
On if he heard that Buccaneers' QB Jameis Winston told Kizer to 'embrace the check-down':
"Yeah, I like that. In the right situation, yeah (laughter)."
On if Kizer making a 'big mistake here and there' is something that he is going to have to live with:
"But maybe he will make a big play, too. Yeah, it is part of it playing quarterback in the National Football League. Like I said, I don't know what is going to happen on Sunday as far as that is concerned, but the goal is for him to make more plays on the positive than the negative. That is what we have to do to win this game."
On WR Sammie Coates:
"Fast. He is really fast. He made some plays on the practice field and did some good things."
On if Coates will be ready for a full workload on Sunday:
"We will see. First day with these guys and first day at a practice with these guys so we are trying to implement them into our system and kind of go from there."
On how long Garrett was out at practice today:
"He was out there at practice. Obviously, he didn't finish practice so let's just leave it at that. He didn't finish today so we will see where we are."
