Obviously, at the end there Strep (Xavier Restrepo) went down with an ankle and (Amani) Hooker came out of the game with ribs there. They're being evaluated now, and I'll have more answers for you tomorrow. But just looking over at the game, just sloppy all around. Too many mistakes throughout the game against a good team. A couple turnovers offensively that hurt us. Any game against a good team you can't have turnovers. I was very aggressive there at the end of the half on fourth-and-1, going for it. It did not work out. Then we had a delay of game going into that, and then after that when they get the ball, penalties to give them the opportunity to get points. So, instead of us getting points at the end, they get it. So that kind of turned things around. We've got to do a better job there. That's that.
It seemed like you guys were making some strides the last few weeks. What changed today?
Yeah, it's sloppy. You look at the whole thing, you have 10 penalties, two turnovers, some big plays were given up. We weren't very good on third down offensively, where that's where we had been better the past couple weeks. I think it was 2-of-12 or whatever. That's never going to be good enough. So there's a lot of things—it was a sloppy game all around.
Do you feel like you had them ready considering all those factors?
Yeah, we were ready, yes.
That first drive, it was like 70 yards. You ended up with 188. What changed after the fumble by Chimere Dike?
Yeah, you have a fumble and then you have three three-and-outs. I'll say this, I think Tony Pollard did a great job running the football today. Very physical. It was blocked well up front. But then you have a couple three-and-outs there so you don't get as many touches you like the way we're running the football there. We've got to be more consistent. That was a great start to—if you look at our games, I think we've been doing a nice job starting the games with the drive offensively, but you can't have three three-and-outs. That really hurts.
Last week Cam was able to get some momentum going with some rollouts and throwing on the move and also with his legs. Why wasn't there much of that involved today?
I think if you look at, like I just talked, there's four three-and-outs during the game, so you can't get in a rhythm there as you go. You have an 11-play drive to start the game, and then obviously there was the turnover, and then three three-and-outs and then we moved the ball down there at the end of the half to get an opportunity when we go for it on fourth-and-1, and then after that we didn't really get anything going. We finished the game on a couple downs going for it.
It seemed like you settled for a lot of short passes, check-downs and things like that. Were there just not open options down the field?*
Yeah, I think they took certain things away. I think we missed a couple opportunities there. I think we dropped a couple balls throughout the game. We've got to do a better job all around. It was sloppy.
How frustrating are the penalties, especially the ones that keep drives alive?
Yeah, that's critical, penalties that get them points. I think there's two scores they have at the end of the half, and then at the beginning of the second half the penalties extended drives, certain things like that. And you understand when you've got a kicker like that, too, we can't have that.
You had more personal fouls than points; what do you think about the discipline part of the penalties, particularly after the whistle?
Yeah, we can't have those penalties. It's unacceptable. We can't be doing it. It's hard enough to win, and to stop teams defensively and move the ball offensively. We've had the past couple weeks, I'd say, way too many penalties.
Did you get an explanation from Julius Chestnut about what started that fight there?
No, I did not, no. I'll look at it on tape. I do not know that.
In your experience, do you choose to discipline players after something like that happens or do you let things...
We'll look at it and see what happened and go from there.
What happened at the end of the first half when you guys take the delay of game? You got all three timeouts on the board?
Well, that's unacceptable. I thought he was going to snap the ball. I thought he was going to snap it. I've got to have more awareness myself, too. So, I've got to call timeout if I see that. There's been a couple times, even last week, that exact same thing came up and he snapped it right at the last second. So that's what I thought he was going to do, but that's on me. I can't let that happen. I've got to do a better job there and just call timeout, even if it's at one second or two seconds and I don't think he's going to get it off. I've got to do a better job there.
What's the process on the first drive where you get down to close to fourth-and-3, what did you balance there?
Yeah, we said if we got down there and the conversation was if it was fourth-and-2 we were going for it, if it was fourth-and-3 we were going to kick it the first drive and get points. That's what we said before the play was even snapped, and that's what it was there. I was very aggressive going down there at the end of the half, it was fourth-and-1, with the time that was left there, get the first down, call timeout if it's inbounds, and then take a couple shots and go for a touchdown, and that did not work, so that's on me. I made the decision, and it did not work. I take full responsibility for that.
Were you guys seeing something on tape during the week that caused you to throw more of the hole shots instead of attacking the middle of the field like you did the past two weeks?
I think you design a game plan, you put a game plan together and you go execute it, and there's certain coverages that are going to be run that take you to one of those hole shots or not. It may not be designed initially to throw that, but then all of a sudden they take a route away underneath or something, so you see it, you throw it. So, you're going to go through a progression. I'm not going to say it's always this or that. It's defensively sometimes change your progression, you've got to move on in the progression.
Do you feel like the players are completely interested in this game today?
Yes, they are.
What tells you that based on the effort?
Well, I know the players that we have and the type of people that we have in that room. I know they're going out there and playing.
You've talked a lot about inconsistency this season and you talk a lot about knowing the players in the room. At this point in the year at 1-11, what gives you the belief that this is inconsistency and it's not just who the team is and that these are what these players are capable of?
I know what kind of players they are, what kind of people they are. They're true professionals. They come in week in and week out, work their tails off. They fight to the bitter end of every single game. When I talk about the consistency part of that, that's the game of football. You want to be more consistent. You always look at that. You're making progress at certain times and then all of a sudden something comes up and you've got to get out of that and continue to keep going.
Would you say the results have been consistent, though?
Well, you're trying to win football games. That's the most important thing. You're trying to go out there and win and play your best football. We've got to do a better job so we can win these games.
