Turner: 'We all held our breath, but Adrian is fine'
Here are some of the highlights of the press conferences held not long ago with offensive coordinator Norv Turner and defensive coordinator George Edwards …
With Turner …
– He confirmed that running back Adrian Peterson, who injured his right thigh on a play on Tuesday, isn’t injured seriously, but isn’t expected to practice this afternoon. “Coach [Mike] Zimmer obviously gives the injury reports, but I talked to [head athletic trainer] Eric Sugarman. We all held our breath for a second [when Peterson went down], but Adrian is fine.”
– On the passing of Zimmer’s father, Bill, last night: “Having been through it in a couple different occasions, it’s the hardest thing to go through when your father or your mother [pass away]. That’s a tough time. It doesn’t matter if they’ve been sick or it’s sudden, it hits you. And it’s hit Mike. He’s as tough as there is, but it’s difficult. But the greatest thing about being involved in a team sport is you become family immediately. He’s getting a lot of support from the coaches here and the players here. He means a lot to us and you don’t want to see anyone going through a difficult time.”
From Edwards …
. On the injury that has sidelined backup defensive end Scott Cricthton, who didn’t play in Sunday’s preseason opener: “Anytime you’re missing time, it’s not like riding a bike and you just come out and all of a sudden you’re back on the bike and pedaling. So there will be some adjustments. But he’s been in meetings, paying attention to the details, been out here at walkthroughs paying attention to the details. We’ll think he’ll come back and have a good grasp of what it is we’re trying to get accomplished.”
. On what he saw from rookie middle linebacker Eric Kendricks in Sunday night’s game. Kendricks, the second-round draft pick, is running as the No. 2 middle linebacker but hasn’t been ruled out in the competition with Audie Cole: “I think he did a good job for his first game out. Kendricks is a guy who wants to make every play. And the thing is we got to get him to slow down. He did a good job with the communication and all those things from the mike position. He did a good thing handling all his assignments. The big thing is with alignment and shifts and motions that the offense was giving us, just to get him to calm down and not overrun the ball, not over-pursue and take good angles in the open field and all those kinds of things. We’re pleased with where he’s at.”