update on Ro: [font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Rohan Davey NFL Europe Conf. Call Transcript - 4/15/2004 [/font] [font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]16 Apr 04 / by New England Patriots [/font][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif;]HOT LINKS[/font] 2003 Super Bowl Locker Crew Sweatshirt 2003 Super Bowl Locker S/S Tee 2003 Super Bowl Locker Cap [font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Related Bios[/font] [font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]-[/font][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Rohan Davey [/font] [font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif] Q: How is everything going football-wise? RD: Things are going well. We won our first two, so that is always a positive. Offensively we are playing pretty well. We have some good guys on offense and are balanced. We throw the ball a lot and run the ball a lot. The first few games we are doing well. We can definitely improve, but it is going well. Q: What kind of things are you picking up over in NFL Europe that you may not have picked up if you were here? RD: Just getting the time on the field and getting to look at coverages. I'm getting the chance to see rotations and fronts. I'm going through a game plan and getting all of that. Q: You had talked before about the game management and being in the huddle and knowing if it is third-and-12 if the main route isn't there then let the running back do the work. How has it gone for you in that regard over the first few games? Are you pleased with your game management? RD: Yeah. It has gone well. You always go back and look at the film and you see some things that you probably could have done better always. As far as just being out there and being able to run the two-minute drill and put yourself in a position to get a field goal before the half, it makes a difference. It is just little things like that. I think the game management part of it has gone well. I did have a delay of game in the first game, which is inexcusable. Everything else has gone real well. Q: Are you getting feedback at all from the coaching staff here? Are they looking at the film and giving you calls or are they leaving that up to the coaches over there? RD: I get feedback from over there. I have talked to Charlie [Weis] a few times. I talked to Josh [McDaniels] after both games. They just got the tapes in at the beginning of the week, as far as watching it on video. They get all the game stats and how the game went, so we have definitely talked. Q: What have they been telling you? RD: Not many pointers because they just got the film in this week. All they have been going on is what they have seen on paper, as far as percentage and quarterback rating and stuff like that. Q: What else do you want to work on here in the next few weeks? What areas of focus will you have? RD: It is not really one particular thing I want to improve on. Game management is the biggest deal because I haven't managed the game in so long. That is probably the basic thing and the most important thing right now. If it is a five-step drop, hit five and let it go. If it is a three-step drop, hit three and let it go. Don't hold the football on the three-step drop. It is little things like that – recognizing coverages, recognizing rotations -- all the little things that you don't get when you are the backup. Q: How is life there, this being your first time overseas? RD: It is a whole lot different. The customs are different. The people are different. Everything is different basically. It is an adjustment that you have to make. It is not really a big deal because we are here to play football. Q: Do you find that American football is that big of a deal over there compared to the crazy fans in New England? RD: American football is a bigger deal in Frankfurt and Rhein. They enjoy the most fan base in NFL Europe. We are trying to get it right over here in Berlin getting off to a good start. It is definitely wanted over here. Everyone over here wants American football and they want to understand. No one really understands the ins and outs of it, like say back in the states, but they definitely have a hunger for it. In Frankfurt and Rhein, they definitely bring more fans and have a better overall understanding of the game. Q: Obviously you have spent a lot of time with the game, practicing and working, but during your free time have you had a chance to take in some of the historical sites? RD: The free time was at the beginning when we first got here during the first couple of days. We went on a tour and vested a few museums – where the Berlin Wall went down. So we got a chance to visit some museums and stuff like that. At the beginning, that is the only time that we really had which was like two weeks ago. Q: Do you find a lot of competitiveness over there, not just in terms of the game, but when you were in training camp and with your team. Everyone that is over there is competing for their livelihood in the NFL. RD: Definitely. There is a lot of competitiveness because guys are basically fighting to get on the roster. They know that everything they do on film, in practices and in games, is being critiqued by coaches in the NFL. There is definitely a lot of competition. Sometimes it boils over. Q: Are you putting any more pressure on yourself? You have an opportunity now to seize the backup role. Is this even more of a chance to prove yourself? RD: I really don't put any pressure on myself. I go at it like I did when I was there last year competing for the job. This is just a bigger opportunity for me to go out and play in actual games and have 10 or 11 games under my belt to where I can say I know the operation. I'm not just going into a preseason game not having been through it. This is extra compared to me coming into camp. When I get to camp and I get in the preseason games, it is second nature so to speak for me. There is no added pressure. You only want to go out and compete and win. That is the focus and the goal here. To get better with my footwork and timing and my game management while I'm here, that is just an extra-added opportunity for me to get that done. Q: So you don't view it as an audition so to speak? RD: I guess it is kind of like an audition. That is a good way to put it. I guess it is kind of an audition to show the coaches there that I'm still the same person that they drafted two years ago and that I still can do the same things even though the opportunity has come for me to do it. It is definitely an opportunity for me to show that I can play the game if I'm thrown in the situation. [/font]
