Marinating with Marinelli Thursday

LIONS HEAD COACH ROD MARINELLI
Opening statement: "Shaun Cody - (toe), and he's out, we're still waiting we don't know how long yet; Kenoy Kennedy is out; Alex (Lewis) is out; (Damien) woody - we know about him; Rex Tucker is questionable still; (Ross) Verba is still questionable; (Shawn) Bryson is probable; (Barry) Stokes is probable and Roy Williams looks like he has a chance to go, it's a personal matter right now (for Roy), but we'll be getting him in tonight."

On if there is concern that WR Roy Williams hasn't had any treatment on his back injury: "Well, we got to see - he'll be in about (5:00 p.m.) today, so we'll get a good look at him. Right now it sounds like he's doing good, but oh yeah, there's always concern. We'd like to have had him here all the way through it, but he had a personal matter he had to attend to."

On if G Barry Stokes is probable: "Yes, yes. He practiced today and he was moving around pretty good, but it was without pads in practice. He got the work in and seemed to be moving pretty well."

On how the morale of the locker room has been up in the past few days and if it's something he feels he's accomplished here: "I just keep working on football. I go in every morning with a plan, with what I want and what I want to accomplish. I try to explain what I'm looking for - I'm up beat."

On if he thinks he can tell when people buy in to what he's saying: "Oh I think so - yeah. I've just got to eliminate the mistakes; I got to eliminate just the discipline parts of those things (and) I keep working at it with them. That's the only thing. I think they can see that because it's just little discipline things. It starts with me and I just got to keep explaining those things correctly. So, I think they can see that they're a good football team. We don't worry about anything else. We don't worry about injuries, we don't worry about anything - we just worry about playing good football. So, I think when your focus is there and improving, you should have a good attitude. I wouldn't say I'm 0-5 - you should have a good attitude. If you're getting better and you're trying to get better - this is your profession, so it should be good."

On if a decision has been made on the right guard position: "It will probably be Blaine (Saipaia)."

On if WR Roy Williams will be good to go on Sunday: "It sounds like that and he feels like that but we have to get him in and the trainer has to look at him."

On if Williams will affect how many receivers are up for Sunday's game: "We'll have to look at that whole number. But No. 1 is to make sure we have our kicking game - get the right guys up for coverages and those things."

On if WR Shaun Bodiford has taken a step back with his knee: "No, he seemed to flying around pretty good today. It looked like he had some pretty good juice today."

On how WR Mike Williams looked this week: "We're just kind of working this whole week out right now and getting all these guys in to see where we're at."

On what WR Devale Ellis has done in practice this week: "He's fast, I mean really fast. He has to keep working. This is the time of the year you have a chance to really look at some of these good young players. Some of them are surfacing, so we'll see. But he has great, great speed, great quickness - really."

On the offensive line and the injuries: "Anything can be concerning, but how I'm looking at it is - somebody has a chance to be Wally Pipp - 'Wally Pipp' somebody. You have an opportunity, so 'Wally Pipp' somebody. You get a chance to go in and that's the positive part I see. So go in and compete and see if you can play like a starter because you might just 'Wally Pipp' somebody."

On his halftime speech during the Minnesota game and if he was fired up: "I try to be very consistent in what I say all the time. If we're ahead or behind the message has got to be consistent."

On if his approach changes depending on the record: "The whole thing when I started is the consistency. I have to be consistent about our game - the passion I want, the energy I want and they have to see that from me. If they don't see that for me then it's false."

On if it would be lighter or heavier with the record: '"Oh no, no."

On if the team was rolling would he pull the reins in and give a different message: "One of the things I've always believed is don't just look at the scoreboard - it influences you. Just play the snap. Just keep doing that. If you win a game just keep playing the snap. If you're not successful, just keep playing the snap. That's always been my message and I have to try to stay with it and help them get more disciplined and it starts with me."