Jon Gruden Three Quotations

Great running backs have a tendency to run by instinct, run by feel, and when they see the same blocking pattern three or four times, sometimes they anticipate what you are going to do the next time, ... There's some of that, and then some of that is just sheer determination, guts and talent. He is a phenomenal competitor, and he is blessed with great talent.

He's played pretty good in the two games. He's had a steady training camp, ... He's become a more versatile member of our receiving corps. He's not one-dimensional. He can play flanker, split end or in the slot in our three wides or four wides. I think he has a chance to be on our special teams. He's made a run at it.

I was very happy with the last three days of Clayton's camp,

I was very happy with the last three days of it. The first 10 or 12 days, he was sluggish. He missed the whole offseason coming off of surgery. The last two or three days particularly, you see the life in his legs, the stamina, the physicalness that he possesses.

We'll make a tough call here in the next three or four days, ... We have a couple of days to kick the ball on the practice field. We have compiled a lot of statistics and numbers on all their kicks and we'll make that call in the next couple of days.

We've lost three starters ourselves, ... We haven't been totally injury free. I'm sure we'll be tested just like everyone.

We have so far to go. Though we are 3-0 ... we look at the tape at who's on the horizon. There's an analyst on every corner that's telling you, 'Hey, you are one of the top five or six teams in the league.' Three weeks ago, we were in the 30s, you know what I mean?

We're not going to sit here and try to justify what happened two or three years ago and what happened last year,

And these are guys we can develop over the next three or four years, which we haven't been able to do, really.

And with Travis Stephens, I think you see the instant quickness and acceleration he has. He's a completely different size. But those three guys are going to be a big part of the running game, and hopefully the passing game.

Veterans Stadium is a historic landmark as far as I'm concerned, ... I hate to see that place go. I lived under the Vet for three years. ... Our offices at that time were underneath Veterans Stadium. I can recall a lot of interesting things I saw early in the morning underneath the Vet. They were crawling. ... I think it's fitting for Veterans Stadium to close with an NFC Championship Game of this magnitude.

Veterans Stadium is a historic landmark as far as I'm concerned. I hate to see that place go. I lived under the Vet for three years. ... Our offices at that time were underneath Veterans Stadium. I can recall a lot of interesting things I saw early in the morning underneath the Vet. They were crawling. ... I think it's fitting for Veterans Stadium to close with an NFC Championship Game of this magnitude.

This game will play into those decisions, no question about it, ... We've got a pretty good idea what we're going to do on opening day in Minnesota in terms of who the starters will be, but the competition is still pretty tight at those three spots.

That just means that after three games, I'm making that statement. He has to back it up the rest of the season. But I'll say this about him. He's as tough as they get.

They got after us early. They had three sacks on our first five or six passes and that will knock your quarterback out of rhythm on the road against a defense of this caliber.

It's hard to get there, hard to win it. You'd like to have three bye weeks and just be anointed Super Bowl champions. You've got a tough road. I don't care where you go or what you're schedule is. But we understand the implications of the game.