Alright there's no injuries to report. You look at the game, you come in, you walk off the field at the end and too many mistakes that we beat ourselves. You look at the missed opportunities that we had in the first half. Seven penalties in the first half, that's tough. It hurts your football team. You have seven of them. Last couple of weeks, we've been outstanding not having penalties in games and today we have seven in the first half. So that can't happen. And then, the big turning point, obviously, is getting stopped on the one-yard line and then letting the big drive go down there and score. So that's the difference. It's frustrating to look at it because of the missed opportunities that we had early in the game or some big plays the defense gave up in the first half. So that's part of the game. So, I'll open it up to questions.
I'm curious, in various short yardage situations, you guys continued to go to the direct snap to the running backs. Not something you had done a lot before. Is it something that you saw? Why did you continue to...
Well, that's all part of game planning. I think, as the offensive staff, when you go look at a game plan, how you're going to attack a certain opponent, there's certain things you always put in. So, when the staff put the plan together, they had a lot of—they thought this was the best thing to do.
Any read on why they didn't work?
The defense stopped them.
Did you see anything schematic that surprised you?
It comes down to execution. We've got to execute better in all—not just those plays but plenty of other plays during the game. I think our third down conversion rate was not great overall. So, there's plenty of things. It's not just wildcat that didn't work.
Did you feel kind of a big discrepancy in third downs? A lot of it seemed to be they were very short yardage on third down where you guys seemed to regularly be pushed back six, seven, eight yards?
Like I said, we had some self-inflicted wounds during the game where we let some things—unfortunately we didn't execute the way we wanted to, or penalties, certain things. You've got to eliminate that, and we had not had that problem the last two weeks. False start penalties, things like that, that's what gets you beat and makes it that much harder to win a football game and be successful in situational football.
How agitating is it that you get a special teams touchdown and a defensive touchdown, and the offense can't chip in?
Yeah, I should have mentioned that to start. Two great plays. Cody (Barton), the pick-six to start to energize. You talk about complementary football, that was outstanding. It's just a smart player reading, pattern reading something and getting the one thrown right in your lap, and there you go, touchdown. And then, we all know what Chim (Dike) does. That's who he is. You talk, you look at the game planning things, and (John Fassel) Bones told the team, if we block these guys a certain way, he's going to score. There's going to be a big return. But you just love the way he works every day, and it was a great plan there. So those were two big plays, so compliments to those guys.
How much tougher is it to accept when there's a play that could have changed the game for you?
Well, losing sucks any way you look at it. It's hard. Like I just told these guys, we talked about playing hard, tough and together. That's what they did. But we made too many mistakes in the game from the first quarter all the way to the fourth quarter. You can't just say it's one play here and there. The goal line stop's, obviously big, but there's plenty of other things that we had an opportunity to go out there and execute better, and we didn't.
Regarding the wildcat stuff, you said they and the staff and seemed to not include yourself in that. Were you not part of putting that together?
I'm part of everything. My name is on everything here. But when we put plans together and they go and install it to the offense, same thing on the defense, when they install it, I would say the same thing.
Numbers weren't great for Cam today. It seemed like he had been making incremental progress. Was it more pressure, do you think, that was coming on him, or did he just have a little bit of a...
I'll have a better answer for that tomorrow for you. I'll go watch the tape like we do all the time and kind of see some things. You look at the tape, you see certain things, or you watch the game and you might miss something, there might be someone in a throwing lane. There's certain things that might come up that we may not see, and we'll look at the tape and I'll have a better answer for you tomorrow.
Pass rush was as lively as it's been all year to get six sacks and still get hurt by Justin Herbert running and for it not to make a big difference in the game, how much did that hurt?
The big thing, we went in with a plan, understanding what we could do, how we get after the quarterback. But he's one of the best in the business of his ability to read things and get out and escape, and that's all over every game you watch this year, that's what he's done. He's one of the best in the business of making plays with his legs, getting out, all of a sudden there's a free runner. Somehow if you don't have the right rush lane, he's going to see that, and expose it and have some big plays like he did today.
When you have a time that hasn't had a lot of success, how much of this is just learning how to win, expecting to win at this point?
Well, I think everyone expects to win every time you step out on the field. I think our guys work extremely hard. We've got to play better on Sundays. I've told you guys this the last couple weeks, how practice has gone, certain things. But when you have the self-inflicted wounds, you don't execute a certain way for four quarters against a good team, that's what happens. We've just got to keep grinding. That's the only way to do it, keep working hard, and you've got to get one. You've got to find a way to win one and get on a roll. I've been around a long time, and you get that second half—bye is coming at a good time for everyone to get away and think about what we can do to improve moving forward here.
You mentioned the explosives on two of those, you guys were kind of in a cover two look, and Oronde Gadsden and Quentin Johnston were able to get outside there was that a miscommunication between the corner safety or what?
Well, there's certain techniques and certain things you've got to use. Like I said, we'll talk as a staff and everything tomorrow, and with the players and everything and go over all those things.
What's your stance on the push play on short yardage gains? I noticed you guys not using those on the third-and-short, fourth-and-short. Are you anti-using that play, or is it something that wouldn't have fit in those moments?
No, I'm all for it. I'm not against it by any means.
