Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin was somewhat relaxed during his weekly press conference Tuesday as he and his Aggies get this weekend off.

Sumlin answered questions concerning the week off, his staff, his players and former NFL player Brian Dawkins spending time with the team in College Station.

On the timing of the bye week: “I think it depends on the kind of luck you’ve had. There have been a lot of teams to have players go down early. This is really the first week I’ve had to pay attention to what is happening around the country. I didn’t know Notre Dame had players going down early.

“There’s no real way to say what is the best time, but for us it is good, we didn’t have it like this last year, I think we had eight games before the bye.”

On the advantages of resting mentally: “They (the players) need time away from me, from you (the media) and from being told how bad they screwed up. They are still kids and people forget that it’s not pro football.”

On how it has been with John Chavis as the new defensive coordinator: “I think I’ve said right from the beginning it was a good fit for both. He was ready for a change and we were too. He was able to communicate with the coaches, recruiting had started and he communicated with the players and that is a big deal.”

On the biggest question mark during the bye week: “We’ve got plenty of questions so I don’t know. This whole year, from day one, our goal was to get better every week.

On the difference between last year and this year: “We have different players playing and they are a year smarter and stronger.”

On former NFL star Brian Dawkins spending time with the team: “His philosophy of how he played the game and the passion he played the game is great for us to see. For us it was a good fit and this time he stayed three days and bonded with the players.”

On his confidence in kicker Taylor Bertolet after he missed a potential game-winning field goal against Arkansas and had to go to overtime to get the victory: “He missed it. I see guys who kick Thursday through Sunday and they miss. The week before we praised him for being perfect with five touchbacks. But it is easy to make those decisions when you’re around someone seven days a week and not just three hours on Saturday.”

On playing Alabama after the bye week after losing to the Tide last year: “You mean the fact that we were blown out? There is not any positive impact on that. But these are two different teams this year.”