"He's a big guy [6-1, 233] that can rush the passer. He's played some linebacker, he's played down on the line when he was at Maryland. He's been in our system now for, ah, a couple months, so he should be fine, right?"
After a morbid chuckle, McDermott went back to praising Fokou, a training-camp standout.
"He's been in the system long enough and he studies, he really works hard. He's a conscientious young guy that works hard."
Fokou said his fellow linebackers have been communicating with him on the practice field, "which has allowed me to play up to Chris' speed almost, even though I'm not as experienced as he is. It's Week 8 already? Week 8, Week 9 - I've been studying this defense, learning what I had to do week-in and week-out. I feel pretty comfortable with the defense. It's just little things that I haven't seen that probably Chris s has seen I need to work on, pretty much detail my work a little bit."
Fokou got 11 or 12 snaps in Gocong's spot against the Giants, he said, which gave him a taste of what he needs to do.
As a special-teamer, he is often around the ball, but he also has seen some penalty flags dropped with his name on them.
"I'm an aggressive player. We're trying to correct those things right now," he said.
Ingram at work
Rookie tight end Cornelius Ingram was a standout in the spring and early on in training camp, before the repaired ACL in his right knee gave way again. Ingram, who missed his senior year at Florida, is going through a second successive season on the sideline.
Ingram said yesterday it helps that he's busy, going to position meetings, doing rehab. "I try to forget about it, but it's definitely something I think about every now and then," he said.
