Tic toc,tic toc, get the picture? You guys quit the personal stuff please. Seems to me you\'re just saying the same things over and over. Let\'s get back to the original posting.

Haslett said Sullivan has all the talent in the world but his attitude held him back.

I don\'t understand something. Maybe someone can help me.

Cap wise, cutting Sullivan this year will hit us harder than cutting him next year. Is that correct?

If so, what is the downside of giving him a shot in 2005?

Falcons vs Saints Game Center
Haslett|Brooks


Wednesday, November 24:


Q: What kind of hours are you putting in now?
Jim Haslett: Just normal hours like every other coach in the league. [We] come in early, get in here about five o\'clock, quarter to five. On Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday stay until about midnight and Thursday until nine-thirty or so. Friday, normally you get home for dinner.


Q: When things are going like they are for you, do you feel like you have to do more than that?
Haslett: I think you do what you can do and I don\'t think we\'re going to change - at least from a coaching staff standpoint - from what we\'re doing time-wise and preparation-wise. I think we try and prepare our game as well as we can.

Q: Do you have to address your team about the stuff that your owner said about them?
Haslett: I said something to them, but it was kind of in passing. It\'s just something that...he\'s the owner, he\'s frustrated, he expects more and it\'s his prerogative. And I just think everybody else in this organization is frustrated. It\'s just part of the business and we\'ll deal with it.


Q: Looking back at the way things have turned out this season, is there something you could say like, If only this guy hadn\'t gotten hurt\' or If we hadn\'t lost this game\' or something like that...things would be much different?
Haslett: No. You know what? The bottom line is this thing is not over yet and we\'re one game away from being in the playoffs, so I think everybody has...and you look at all the teams that have a chance to be in the playoffs and I think they\'re all the same. You talk about Minnesota, Saint Louis, the Giants, Arizona, Tampa, Detroit, Chicago and us, the one thing you can say about them, they\'re all inconsistent. So the team that can put a string of wins together - three or four wins in a row - is usually the team that\'s going to make the playoffs. I think we\'re kind of lumped in with all those teams. We\'ve been inconsistent. We\'ve played maybe one or two really good games and then we\'ve been inconsistent in all areas. So hopefully down these next six weeks we can put a couple good games together.


Q: The Falcons have a pretty decent lead in the division. Are you guys looking more at the two wildcard spots?
Haslett: I don\'t know. I think you just worry about trying to win a football game. I don\'t worry about winning a division or chasing the Falcons. We just need to try and get back to a win and try to get a win before you can get two of them. And we just haven\'t done that. I think the Falcons have done a nice job. They\'re finding ways to win football games and different methods and different ways to do it. They\'re playing with great confidence and I think that\'s probably why they\'re where they are right now and we\'re where we\'re at.

Q: What\'s it like for a coach to go through a season with a lot of speculation surrounding his job?
Haslett: I\'ve been in this business where it doesn\'t really bother me. I\'m more concerned with my players and my coaches. I don\'t worry about myself. I want to win games because of these players downstairs and because of the coaches I have in the other room. To me, that\'s the most important thing. It\'s not always about head coaches. It\'s about everyone else who\'s involved.


Q: Has your team\'s inconsistent play been the biggest disappointment for you so far?
Haslett: Yeah, I think so. And it\'s in all areas. We\'ll do something really well and then the next week it\'ll be the same people and we won\'t do very well. That probably bothers me more than anything. You go out and you beat a good football team like the Chiefs and we play well on offense and we do a lot of different things, and then we come back the next week and we don\'t play worth a darn. And it\'s inconsistencies within the game, too. I think if somehow we can put it together, then you always have a chance, then.

Q: If someone from another team came and asked you what you thought of Ricky Williams and should they trade for him, what would you say?
Haslett: I probably wouldn\'t answer them. I think that\'s something...you\'ve got to look at him on the film and you\'ve got to evaluate what everybody thinks about him. I think he\'s a heck of a football player. He\'s aloof, but I think he\'s basically a pretty good kid.

Q: Coach, it seems like you haven\'t gotten a lot of production out of Jonathan Sullivan.
Haslett: Well, Jonathan hasn\'t played to the level that we thought, but Charles Grant\'s done a nice job and [Donte\'] Stallworth is really starting to play well. We\'ve got guys playing....Montrae Holland, who we drafted in the fourth round and Colby Bockwoldt, who we drafted in the seventh round - they\'re playing for us. So we\'ve got a few guys who I think will be good players in the future: Devery Henderson and John Stinchcomb. But Jonathan\'s a guy you\'d like to see be more productive.


Q: Who are some guys on the Falcons who stand out to you?
Haslett: I think they\'re doing a great job. Obviously, the quarterback and both running backs are running at a high level. The line\'s doing a nice job. Crumpler\'s the real deal. We\'ve faced so many tight ends this year who are on his level: [Tony] Gonzalez and [Antonio] Gates and him. It\'s unbelievable. I\'ve never seen this many good tight ends in the NFL. Their receivers are real explosive and I think the defense is really doing a nice job. They\'re playing solid, sound ball. They\'re playing hard and I think Jimmy has done a nice job with that team.

Q: Why do you think it is that there are so many good tight ends right now?
Haslett: That\'s a good question because I didn\'t think a couple years ago that there were this many. But really, Gates came out of nowhere, Crumpler just keeps getting better and better every year and Gonzalez has always been a good players. But there are other ones. Eric Johnson has done a nice job in San Francisco. We\'ve got a couple good tight ends. To me, there are just more quality tight ends then there have ever been.


Q: Could you talk about your friendship with Coach Mora. He talks about you as being someone he thinks a lot of.
Haslett: Well, Jim and I have a great relationship. So do our families. We worked together here for his father and that\'s where we became close. Jimmy\'s got a great mind for football. I was the coordinator one year he was the secondary coach and we really did it together and he\'s just, besides being - to me - a close friend, I think he\'s got a great football mind and he\'s very innovative. He gets along with players really well and I think he has the whole thing. Obviously, he\'s got a great pedigree too because he learned a lot from being around his father all those years.

Q: How much of what Mora\'s doing do you see in some of the things you guys like to do defensively?
Haslett: Jim does a great job. Him and Ed...I think Ed\'s done a great job with that defense, too. He gets the most out of players and he knows coverages and the blitzes and all that. He\'s done an excellent job.


Q: Do you notice that when you\'re on the road and thinking of challenging a play that the Jumbotron is less likely to show the replay and at home it\'s the reverse?
Haslett: Well I hope it works that way. We work it that way here.

Q: So you notice on the road that they\'ll almost never give you replays that\'ll help you out?
Haslett: If they did it here, they\'d get a tongue lashing on Monday.

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\"He is getting better,\" Gullickson said. \"One of the philosophies that I have always held true is that you give a guy three years in your program and you should see some sign at that point where things are going to be good or not so good. We are kind of at that point this year.\"


Sullivan is a major talent, said Haslett, who traded up to the sixth pick in the 2003 draft to select him. He could be a top player in the league if he worked at it, Haslett said. The question is -- will he?

\"You know the old saying that you can lead the cow to the trough, but you can\'t make him drink the water,\" Haslett said. \"We will do everything possible we can as coaches that we need to do to get this kid to help us win football games and that is our goal this year.\"