ALAMEDA - Here are highlights from today's conference calls with Denver coach Mike Shanahan and quarterback Jay Cutler.
Shanahan on not having suspended receiver Brandon Marshall:
"I just look at it as a guy sprained his ankle on Friday. At least we have the whole week to get somebody else ready. And you never know for sure who's going to be ready to go on game day so that's just one of those situations that you don't worry about because you have no control over it and you just get ready to go."
On why Javon Walker's time with Denver ended:
"I'm not going to go getting into those type of details. I just wish Javon the best and leave it at that."
On how improved the Raiders' running game might be:
"Hopefully not because they averaged 187 yards a game against us in both games. Hopefully they don't get too much better or we'll really be in trouble. They're very well coordinated, they're very well coached, they play extremely hard together. You can see that the system has been very successful."
Now here's Cutler.
On facing the Raiders' secondary:
"They're going to have one of the best secondaries in the league. I mean, going and getting (DeAngelo) Hall from Atlanta. And the guy they got there on the other side (Nnamdi Asomugha), he's one of the best in the league. They made their safeties better. So they're going to be good. Obviously we've watched the films from Atlanta, and Hall, he's one of the best out there as well. So we've got our hands full, especially with Brandon Marshall out."
On Walker:
"He'll be good. Javon's a good guy. He means well, and his knee got a little bit messed up last year, and you know, that makes things hard. I mean, he wants to be on the field. He's a competitor. I mean, when he's out there, he's explosive. He makes plays."
On what JaMarcus Russell can expect as a young quarterback
"If they can't get the running game going, it's going to make a long day for him. Probably the coaches are going to keep things basic, try to run the ball and get eight in the box so he gets some one-on-ones outside. And he's going to see some blitzes that he's not accustomed to seeing, because teams are going to test him, see if he's on his stuff protection-wise. It's a learning process. There's a learning curve, and you've got to go through it to be successful."
--Jason Jones
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