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HEAD COACH MIKE MUNCHAK
(on adjusting the game plan in the first quarter to pass the ball more)
Going into the game, like any game, you think about going balanced. We knew they were very good against the run, but we just didn't want to abandon the run from the beginning. We wanted to come out and be able to do some things we thought we would be able to do early, but they did a good job keeping us to short gains. Then it became obvious what was working and right off the bat guys were getting open and Matt (Hasselbeck) was pretty sharp with his delivery and we thought that situation would go until we saw otherwise.
(on what has changed that allows the receivers to be more involved than in the past)
I don't know that we have done anything different, it's just guys are getting open, guys are making plays. It's only been two games but the Jacksonville game in the first half wasn't quite…we thought we would start even quicker that game than we did. So at the end of the Jacksonville game, and this game, I feel good about the guys and they are getting confidence. I think that's what comes with getting comfortable with the system and getting comfortable with each other and realized that, hey, if I get open, I'm getting the ball.'
(on if it's to the point where defenses can stop keying on the run game and must now respect the passing game)
I think we will always get a combination, I think it's going to be a guessing game. I think there are going to be times in a game, where it may be the situation in the game, or the down and distance or what's going on, that teams are going to have to be smart and maybe mix it up with us more on defense and I'm sure they will. It will probably be the same thing if we are running the ball well. For example, I'm sure this game this week they will have to concentrate on getting eight guys down there and stopping us. I think it's exciting to know that you have a lot of ways to win games, you are not so one-dimensional when you go into a game. I think when you start showing that you will do that and guys will do that and guys are making plays, I think that everyone gets excited on the offensive side of the ball knowing that we have a lot of guys that can make plays.
(on Matt Hasselbeck being fully up-to-speed on the offense)
Well he does a great job, we were excited about that when we talked about 'why did you bring Matt Hasselbeck in here' when camp started, I think one of the things we talked about was, besides the obvious experience factor, and the fact that he led a team to the Super Bowl and was an All-Pro and those things, and wouldn't he be great for our young quarterback to be here with. We knew that knew that he could come in and be a leader and if anyone could get caught up on what we are doing in a short period of time it would be a guy like him. I'm sure he feels like there are still a lot of things he can do. He will get more comfortable every week with what we are doing on offense in the run game and the checking, understand the thinking behind it and what we are doing and why we are doing it. I think all of that just comes by playing. I think you just got to play, get the guys playing together more as we have been now two games in. I'm excited to see where he is at and the guy finds windows to deliver balls. They got one bat in the game and that's what they are known for. That could have been ugly but the defense did a great job of shutting them down after the interception on the batted ball. Other than that, he really did a great job. He did a heck of a job delivering balls when there were tight windows all over the field, and the guys made catches and I think that goes hand-in-hand. When he knows the guys are going to catch those balls, he feels more confident sticking it in there.
(on if he is a bit of a gambler because of his play-calling on fourth down)
I don't think so, like I said from the beginning, it's going to be situational. When people ask me about being a head coach or even challenging a play, I think it's more of what's going on in the game, having a feel for the game, having a feel for what's going on and having confidence in what we are doing offensively and defensively. It makes it a lot easier to call the play when the coordinator feels good about the play he is calling and he has confidence as I'm asking him. That's part of my involvement in the game is having a feel for what's going to happen next. 'OK if this happens Chris (Palmer), do you feel good doing this? Do we feel we have a good play?' Talking to Alan Lowry, 'how about the field goal here if we have to,' and we are in second or third down. I think that just gives you more confidence in making those decisions and I think like the one in the third quarter. I think that's what it was based on, that I mentioned yesterday, was it was about the history with this team. I have been around the Ravens and lost too many games because we got too many three-point plays and not enough touchdowns. I have that factor in my mind as far as making a decision, but also because Chris (Palmer) on the offensive side had a couple of really good plays that we thought were really good on third down and in this case fourth down to convert.
(on how he celebrated his first win as a head coach)
It was a good weekend because my mom and dad came to town for the game. They will be here for this one and the next one. Two of my brother-in-laws were in town, and my uncle, so we went out and had something to eat and just relaxed and enjoyed it and got home early.
(on what changes the offensive line made from week one to week two)
Well I think in the protection part, not a whole lot. I think they protected well a week ago as far as pass protection went. I think the same thing happens sometimes. It's very easy for an offensive line to get very frustrated because what offensive linemen want to do is run the ball. They want to run the ball, they don't want to have to back up and pass block all day. They are good at both, teams are going to make it hard if we aren't having things going, and they are good at the opposite. They are good pass blockers, they did a lot of different things, they did a lot of three-man stuff, four-man stuff, a lot of different blitzes and if you ask Matt (Hasselbeck) that's when you are happy you have a veteran group in front of you because they can make a lot of adjustments in the huddle, during the play to fix problems that are going on and they did a nice job. They knew what the challenge was going to be, and we didn't expect to pass the ball as much as we did. It just got into that type of game and what helped us do it was that the protection was good. If the protection is good and the guys are getting open, then it would be foolish not to do what we tried to do. If we are not running the ball well, well how long are we going to bang our head against the wall? If they are taking something away, not necessary because there are eight guys, sometimes we didn't block the play well. They did a good job. Chris (Johnson) may not have run perfectly. The combination, whoever is fault it was, they were keeping us from controlling the line of scrimmage in the run game. As the game went on, I felt we did a good job of getting the four and five-yard run as we went into that third and fourth quarter that gave us a lot of second-and-six's and third-and-two's. We got some of those situations that are more manageable for the quarterback.
(on Chris Johnson and the offensive line working together)
I think the easy answer is about the same, but being a line guy and a line coach, I'm always going to say you wanted more opportunities at it. Yesterday, we got a lot of opportunities at it, enough to be more successful than we were. The good thing was that towards the end of the game, we didn't get frustrated, he didn't get frustrated, and he had some nice five and six-yard runs. Unfortunately, it was a combination of them doing a nice job with the big guys they have up-front that are known for making it very hard for teams to run against. He just pressed the hole a few times, jumped outside, yeah there were definitely two or three times when you could have said, 'Chris (Johnson) could have done this,' or 'Chris could have done that.' Other times it wasn't blocked as well by the line, the tight ends, and the fullback. Unfortunately there are a lot of pieces that go into that puzzle. The line gets a lot of praise when the run game goes well, but there are a lot of guys involved in that. It's just a combination of things right now that is not quite where we want it to be. Obviously, we want to have more success at that, but at least we are having success in one area right now in a big way. We know that everyone wants to be balanced, but hey, we will take what we can get.
(on if it bothers him to hear the fans getting impatient with Chris Johnson already and booing him at the game)
You don't want that for anybody, to me it's part of the game. People pay a lot of money to be in those seats and people asked me even after the game, 'what was the difference between this week and last week,' and I would say, 'the fans.' When you come into your place and there 70,000 people cheering for you, I think that's what really got the defense going strong. Early in that game I think that's why you saw us make plays and I think it just added to the adrenaline of why we played well early in that game especially on the defensive side of the ball because of the 12th man thing is a huge factor for players. I just think its frustration. The good thing is he is not frustrated. Fans are entitled to be frustrated if things aren't going the way they hoped for their team, but in the long run, in the next week or two, I think you will start to see that thing even out.
(on if he looks at Chris Johnson's numbers from last year at all because they were down at the end of the year)
I don't look at it at all, we look at it on a weekly basis on what we are doing and what we can fit and learn from the last two games. 'OK, here is where we were. Here are the runs where maybe we need to start doing a little more of this. Maybe we need to put him in situations to have a chance to make some bigger runs.' We got to work hard at that. We have our part in it as coaches, to do that too and then the rest of the group…believe me they want to run the ball and we don't see it as a problem. We sit here and say we would love to be 50-50, but have seen that for years here in the run game versus. the pass game and we ran the ball 75 percent of the time. You like to find a happy medium, but if one is working then… at least we won a big game yesterday obviously throwing the ball more than running it, but on the fourth-and-one we ran the ball for a touchdown, that's a pretty good productive play when you do that.
