The following is my response to Molly Yanity's blog entry.

It is a big day for the media, for the results of QB Jake Locker's MRI have been made available to the team. Reporters wait with breathless anticipation, their voices fading to an almost inaudible perception as the coach enters the room. Soon, they'd have a story that could rock the football world, a reporter's dream come true.

But as the interview ran away from the reporters, it pulled a hammy (my pun on the proceedings, which is not meant to make light of Jake's injury.)

A frustrated Molly:

"OK, so I'm just going to let you listen to this one. Maybe you can make a little more sense out of it than I.

"The results of Jake Locker's MRI are in, but Tyrone Willingham says he hasn't seen them, nor does he care to do so.

"He explained: 'It's not a big concern for me. ... He'll be well when he's well.'

"Now, I can understand Willingham being blasé about Locker's strained left hamstring in front of us reporters. I can understand his desire to be positive and/or aloof to keep the team's spirit's high, or in a business-as-usual mode.

"Hmmm..."

Me:

So I obliged Molly and listened to her tape, trying to make sense of it.

The tape:

Reporter(1): “Do you want to start off with the results of Jake’s MRI?”

Tyrone: “I don’t have them. I don’t worry about them.”

Reporter(1): “You don’t…care?”

Tyrone: “No. “

Reporter(1): “No?”

Tyrone: "No. He’ll be well when he’s well. We’ll be ready to roll. Okay?  So I am sorry. I don’t have the results of it. It hasn’t been a concern. We said it would be day-by-day. He’ll be ready pretty soon. And away we go.”

Reporter(2) prods him about the MRI.

Tyrone “I haven’t looked at them. They are not a big concern for me. Okay.”

Questions about other players intervene.

Reporter(2): "You said Jake will be ready pretty soon."

Tyrone: “Yeah. He says he’s ready tomorrow. That’s not accurate. But he says he’s ready tomorrow.”

Reporter(3): “Knowing what that MRI said, it makes no difference to…“ (the rest of his words are inaudible  as Willingham interrupts)

Tyrone: “No, no. It always makes a difference.”

Reporter(3): "So they know and you don’t…know."

Tyrone: “They know. I haven’t looked at them. I haven’t asked them about them.”

My observations:

This is vintage Willingham, Tyrone at his best. He’s a gamer, responding from a solid defensive position, keeping things simple. Did you notice how Tyrone was in control, not the media.

Tyrone's inherent conservativeness and "distrust" of the media refuse to contribute to a potential story that could be subject to speculation and interpretation.

Did "Ty Willie" leave the reporters aghast, wondering about their skills at ferreting out a story and whether the headman even respects them?

No, they understand the guy. 

As to the prognosis for the injury, Locker’s hamstring will heal on its own time, not anyone else's, not the media's, not the doctors’ -- but Locker’s own time.

When the medics give Jake the green light to play and, if Jake feels he’s ready to go at that time, he’ll participate fully in practice again, presumably taking most of the snaps.

Anyway, why not let Mike Bellotti -- Willingham’s opponent on August 30 -- fritter away some practice sessions preparing for two different quarterbacks.

I thought the interview was hilarious, not to make light of Jake's injury. That's just me.

Also, click on the link, Washington and the media, for more on this subject.