Comments from Carolina Panthers head coach John Fox following the team's practice.

On injuries: Chris Conklin did not practice today, he was ill. Muhsin Muhammad did not practice – ribs. He'll be day-to-day. No concussion. We did get Steve Smith, Ken Lucas and Dwayne Jarrett back. Everybody else is the same. Gary Barnidge (glute), Chris Gamble (hamstring), D.J. Hackett (toe), Chris Harris (groin), Ryne Robinson (knee), Dante Rosario (hamstring) and Ian Scott (knee).

On the significance of having cornerback Ken Lucas and wide receiver Steve Smith on the field together: That's well (in the) past. Until you mentioned it, I didn't even think about it. It was good to have them both back.

On how much Lucas practiced: He fully practiced. We'll take that one day at a time. Unless there is a setback, he did just fine today.

On if Smith has been cleared to play versus Washington: We don't get into who's playing in the game until that gets closer to game time, but he was cleared to practice today.

On if having nine days between games changes preparations: No. We just get to catch up for the short week last week. It's just when the games are. We have an installation schedule and we're right back to it; we just happen to be back here in Charlotte instead of down in Spartanburg. But we're still in camp mode other than we are only practicing once a day.

On if players will be evaluated harder this week with the first round of cuts approaching: We've been evaluating them really hard since we've been at camp. This week, typically, teams extend their starters a little bit longer, probably into the third quarter, so they get used to coming out (and playing) after halftime. Beyond that we're still evaluating guys every time they get an opportunity.

On if the third preseason game is the most important because it is the one where the starters play the most: They are all important. Your first group plays the first quarter in the first one. That's critical. Last week, our starters played the first half. I thought we did well. At the end of the day, it's still preseason. They are all key to evaluating our process, and I'm looking for us to get better in game three than we were in game two.

On cornerback Richard Marshall: Richard played very well last year for us. He's an integral part of our defense. He made some big plays for us last year and he made a big play again Thursday night. It happened to be on special teams, but he's been a real good special teams player for us, too. He's a real viable part of our defense, and we've grown to expect him to play like that.

On Marshall's interception return for a touchdown on the fake field goal at Philadelphia: In the preseason, we don't have a lot of time to game plan, but special-teams wise we have a lot of meeting time, a lot of practice time that is dedicated to special teams. Richard is a heady guy. He's been around a little bit. We've played them before. Most of those trick plays you've seen before, and Richard was very disciplined on that play and did a great job.

On if having so many wide receivers injured limits what quarterback Jake Delhomme can do: I think we already lived that. That was last week. We'll be better off this week than we were a week ago. Any time guys aren't out there, it's a concern. We've got to get them healthy, because really our main goal here is to get ready for Week 1 against San Diego. When guys miss time, they miss time. That's all concerning, but we're better off at this point right now than we were at this point a week ago.

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