FF Presser 10/11/05

ESPN.com News Services. Last updated: Tuesday, October 11, 2005, 2005 at 9:30 AM

Vote for Pedro Head Coach and GM Jessica Bailey did something she hasn’t done in a while in Tuesday morning’s press conference. She smiled.

“You guys haven’t seen me do this much this season…quite frankly, there hasn’t been too much to smile about,” she said. “But we’re improving, we’re getting better. That makes me smile.”

Vote for Pedro beat The Ron Burgundys 56-37 in their Week 5 match-up. Once again, the team was lead by quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who had 18 points. The team’s next highest scorer was wide receiver, Drew Bennett, who had been benched due to his injury status.

Vote for Pedro has struggled with injuries and depth issues all season.

“We’re not using that as an excuse,” Bailey said. “I hate excuses, no matter how healthy we are, we need to play like well and work hard. We had some last minute decisions to make on Sunday morning as to who was going to start for us. Drew was one of those guys where an injury has been a factor in his performance in the past. We decided he might need the rest and went with our two new free agents, Antonio (Chatman) and David (Givens). It turned out that Drew might have been more ready that we thought. We’ll definitely take that into consideration next week,” Bailey stated.

Another thing that Bailey said would be taken into consideration next week would be the play of bench player, Chris Henry. Henry, a wide receiver, scored 14 points from the bench on Sunday.

“Chris is a guy we picked up in a free agent signing in Week 3. He’s been a little inconsistent and hadn’t quite proven himself in practices yet.” Bailey reported. “But Chris is a dedicated guy and he’s really come on strong. He’s going to get a second look this week. This is a big game, so we’re going to make sure that we’ve got the best players on the field.”

Vote for Pedro faces Division 1 rival O Trident My Trident in a home game this week. Trident is currently leading the division with a 4-1 record. Coach Bailey said to expect some juggling of the lineup this week.

“We’re examining the match-ups and watching all the film from last week,” Coach Bailey reported. “We’ve got some guys who have been starting all season who might need to step it up a little bit. Big players show up in big games, so we need great numbers not just from proven guys like Ben (Roethlisberger) and Corey (Dillon) but also from guys like “Fat Rudi” (Johsnon) and the Jets Defense.

Vote for Pedro’s players were also enthusiastic and eager to face the Division 1 leading Trident team.

“This is a big game for us,” said Ben Roethlisberger, who is averaging 18 points a game this season. “Any time you go up against a Division rival, you want to win. That Division 1 title, that’s a goal for us all season long.” Roethlisberger's status for the game is yet to be determined, after a knee injury in the 4th quarter of his Monday night game. "If the docs clear me to play, I'm gonna be out there, " he said.
“We’re staying focused. We want to get out there and give our home crowd something to cheer about,” Drew Bennett said Tuesday. “We’re in the playoff hunt, sure, but right now the only thing we’re worried about is O Trident My Trident. We’ve got to take this season one week at a time.”

“We all need to play hard and play as a team and we’ll get the ‘W’,” Coach Bailey said. “If all goes well, you’ll see me smiling again next week”


Information from the Associated Press has been used in this report.