On the short yardage situations, how frustrating was it to come up short?
I can't speak to what exactly happened. I just have one set of eyeballs out there. So regardless, it's gotta get in, you know what I mean? You have to be able to win those phone booth situations. And it's basically, it is a turnover and they went down and executed. So that was the difference in the game. If we got in there, we're might be still out there playing or we might have won the game, so. Disappointing, we'll see what happened on those. But you have to score from the one-yard line.
You guys have done a good job of cutting down penalties in the last couple weeks, but today a few more, I guess, especially in the offensive line as well?
Yeah, that's not good. They're penalties. I don't think I need to really describe why they're bad. The pre-snap stuff can't happen. I disagree with the hold, but it's also on me, the phasing with the back on the screen. So that's just the last thing that I can do in that situation in the high red zone like that, and put us back and we're fortunate to even get points out of that, honestly. So, it's just something that can't happened. We're not going to dig ourselves out of the hole by doing more penalties. Yeah, not good.
How much Wildcat did you guys practice this week and was that part of the intentional game plan going in for short yardage stuff?
Well, yes. It was part of the game plan all week and we have two really good backs who can make plays and I can't remember the specific results of some of the plays, but obviously probably not good enough. So the front has got to be better and execute and make the holes for those guys.
I know you mentioned stuff down at the goal line, but overall, one for nine was the final number on third down. How much does that just kill in offense when you're trying to generate anything?
Yeah, totally. I think it starts with being in third-and-long. I think that starts the first and second down. So, I mean, that's a huge part and then, you know, executing, picking up pressures, when we have our runs, hitting out runs, too, just being better at that. I think that's been a real challenge for this offense, is third down and you can't have a percentage as low as that.
So, you got a little bit of a break now, you got looking ahead for next week. Everybody is still adamant that when you come back, there's still games to be won?
Totally, there's divisional games, there's tough opponents, and we're only really halfway through. So, I think the break's coming at a good time. I think guys just need a rest. It's been a little bit tumultuous, but the season's not over. We're still grinding. A lot of positives, defense, special teams, and a few things offensively too to build on. So, we have to keep working and try to get some of those.
Does that make it tougher, the two things you just mentioned, defense and special teams, does that makes it tougher as an offense knowing that if we could have just gotten like one more score?
Yeah, I mean, I think it goes to the missed opportunity down at the goal line. I think a missed opportunity like that is tough. But obviously, those guys did a great job. Chim (Dike) had a hell of a return. So, we want to play complementary, we didn't do a great job of that.
