Chris, it felt like you and a lot of veteran players did bring a lot of energy, just really trying to win this game. I guess how disappointing is the result for you?
It's always disappointing when you lose. I played this game since a young kid; all I want to do is have fun and win. Anytime I'm able to step on the field, that's the goal, have fun most importantly, and always try to finish with a dub. Today we were a little unfortunate, but we preached on giving high effort. I think a lot of guys flew around, a lot of guys got new opportunities and we're going to keep it going. We got two more opportunities left at the end of the season and we're going to try to finish strong.
Chris, a fairly unprecedented situation where you've lost a starting quarterback in two consecutive games. On the sideline, did you feel any extra pressure as a defense when you found out?
I mean, it's always unfortunate to just lose a player. Better yet, we're talking about a quarterback who facilitates the ball on our team. It's definitely an unprecedented situation that I've never been a part of. But as Coach (Andy) Reid said, 'We work with who we got, and we just keep it moving'. Defense, we always have the pressure on us to stop, give offense the ball in good field situation and get off the field on third downs. So today it was no different.
You said you've never been in a situation like this before. How important is it to you, a leader on this team, to rally around a practice squad quarterback that's got to come in and lead your team from the majority of the game?
I think my job doesn't change on this team. I'm still who I am no matter the record, if we were 0-16, I'm still who I am. I still play the game with passion. I still love what I do. I'm still going out there fired up every play, every opportunity I'm on the field and everybody else on defense. It's not our job to predict the situation. We're in a very unfortunate situation where sometimes you can't control it. And it's okay, you can finish strong, you can worry about the things you can control, which is your attitude and your effort. A lot of people can talk when they're up. It's about those that have character when you're down or when you are not in a favorable position.
How much do you feel like you guys miss Trent (McDuffie) and Leo (Chenal) and Derrick (Nnadi) in today's game?
I mean, we're talking about starters on our defense, very important pieces on our defense. We're talking about a corner (McDuffie) who's made All-Pro in the last two to three years. When you're talking about Leo Chenal, who we can move around, I mean their presence definitely was missed. But also gave us the opportunity to look at younger guys who had the opportunity to play today. Probably didn't have the opportunity when they were there. So, it's a building point, something we can build off of, especially with the younger guys, going into this Thursday.
You're largely a positive guy, a positive presence. What tells you that maybe this season's more of a blip, where you guys are going to be able to really respond? Not only in the two games, but in the next year?
Well, when you look at it, this team is a make-up of last year's team. And last year's team went 14-2, 15-2, something like that. And there's not many pieces missing. And then you look at, what's the difference? The difference this year is one score games. We didn't finish as crisp as we previously did and that can make a difference because this league, the margin for error is so small. And we have so many games which were one score games. Whether it was the offense, defense, or merely just special teams. We got to hone in on finishing, finishing, finishing, especially at the end of the game.
Chris, what were your thoughts on Cam Ward, the rookie quarterback?
He played well today. We sent a lot of blitzes at him. He was able to get out, use his legs, and get the ball out of his hands. They ran the ball really, really well against us today. I think he (Tony Pollard) had 22, 21 carries for 98 yards. When they're able to run the ball as successful, then it opens up things for the offense. We didn't do a really good job of stopping the run as we did in the previous weeks. So, we can hone in on that coming up with Denver Broncos, division opponent. It's going to be tough. They like to run the ball. They like to play physical. So, this week going into film, we got to help our physicality.
