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O'BRIEN CONTINUED FROM 14 Linebacker was the one area where you had to stay healthy. With the news of Ben Kline, you've been unbelievably unlucky in that area. I think that injuries are a part of the game. I think every team out there has to deal with injuries, and that's just the way it goes, especially during this time of the year. You have to give our players a lot of credit for stepping in and trying to fulfill that role – whether it's Stephen Obeng-Agyapong or maybe even Brandon Bell this week. [Bell] is maybe going to get some playing time this week if he practices well. Injuries happen and we're expected to go out there and play well. That's what we need to do. How do you assess turnovers – not only in practice, but also the mental aspect behind them as well? Turnovers have been an issue this year. N O V E M B E R [Against Minnesota] we fumbled on the first play of the game and we fumbled the last play of the game on offense. That's not very good. We address it, we emphasize it and we find different ways to drill it. There's a fine line between overcoaching it, too. What we tell them is that when you're a ball-carrier on our team, you're carrying the hopes and dreams of this football team. That's what you try to relate to the guys. The guys don't mean to fumble. It's just something that happens, and we've got to try to correct it and we've got to stop doing it. Where is Zach Zwinak's confidence at after last week? It's pretty good. He ran for 150 yards. I thought he ran the ball really hard against Minnesota. You have to give him credit. He really did run hard. There was some good blocking, too. I think he's confident. He and I talk every day, and I think he feels pretty good about where he's at. 1 3 , 2 0 1 3 16 We'll continue to rotate him and Bill [Belton] in there. Akeel Lynch (knee) came back to practice [Monday], so we'll see how he's doing, too. The defense has also had some bumps in the road this year. Do you feel that the [shutout] in the second half vs. Minnesota will be something that you can carry over to this week? I think there were a lot of positives from the second half. I think we stopped the run well and I think that we challenged their receivers more. I think we need to challenge some receivers a little bit more, but I think that we play good run defense – I really do. I know some teams have run the ball on us in different schemes, but I think the core of our defense plays good run defense. I think that it will carry over, and I hope it does. It's a different scheme that we'll go against this week, but I think our defense will continue to improve and I believe it will carry over. B LUE W HI T E ON L I N E . COM

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