How tough is it offensively when you fall behind like you did today and the defense looks for a it to be a little more one dimensional going forward?
"It's tough because we've – it's been like that the majority of the time. So, we constantly have to try and fight ourselves back into the game. That's the biggest thing that we have to change, just from week to week. That's something that we're trying to change. We've got to be able to help the defense out earlier in the game. We can't just have spurts here and there. We've got to help them from the first play of the game."
How much would you like to be aggressive on that fourth-and-three and go for it?
"If it was up to me, I want to go for it every chance I could, just because I'm a competitor. That's just my breed. That's just what I want to do – my football journey. I just think it's a missed opportunity just for us as a team to get a first down, keep the drive moving. But I mean, we weren't down that much at that time, so we're going to always support whatever decision is made. But at the end of the day, we shouldn't put ourselves in that position. We just get the first down on third down."
Were you able to give Mike McCoy that feedback before the punt?
"I mean, I'm thinking I'm going for it as soon as I cross the 50 every time. I'm not talking to him on a headset. I'm talking – Bo (Hardegree) is talking to me on the headset because he's calling the plays but I mean I'm trying to go for it, but I know we're going to end up going for it eventually."
Early in the game, you a missed opportunity to Elic Ayomanor. You had some things to say afterwards. What happened there? Did you want him to come out of his break differently? Did he slow down, try to track the ball? What happened on that?
"I just think I didn't throw a catchable ball for him, and I got an unbelievable relationship with E (Elic Ayomanor). He's one of the first people in the building every day and the last one to leave. He watches an insane amount of film, and I got to put the ball in his radius for him to make plays for us. I think if I did that at that time, it would have been a touchdown. So, that's something that me and him have got to click on next week and we got to make it work."
Was that one where you wanted to put a little more loft on it?
"I think if I just throw it right at him instead of putting more loft on it, I think he'll have a better chance to get to the ball and score a touchdown."
How deflating was that sequence right after halftime? You guys weren't able to finish that drive in the third, and then they score on a long touchdown run. How much do you think that kind of changed everything?
"It's not deflating. We just got to score. That's the biggest thing. At no point in the game it ever gets deflating for us. We know how to bounce back from adversity. We just have to do our job on offense. When the defense gives up a touchdown, we have to go respond with points. We can't just move the ball and then get stopped on third down every now and then. We just got to finish drives with points."
You guys had some positive moments in this game early. Is it hard to appreciate them?
"Yeah, we had some positive moments, but it wasn't enough to win the game. I have to do more. I have to be more accurate with the football. We have to consistently move the ball up and down the field and end with points. I think the last couple of weeks we've been better just moving the ball, but we have to end it with points. If we don't score points, we're not going to be in a lot of games."
Did you expect it to be this hard to be consistent as a pro, to be competitive as a team in the pros?
"I mean, it's not really a crazy amount of hard. It's one person not doing our job whether it's me on first down or someone else on second down. It's been like that from week-to-week. It's died down at times, but we have to be just a great offense in terms of not having Mas, myself getting completions for the offense, and then just moving the ball. And once we do that, I think we'll be one of the better offenses."
Do you feel like you're closer to doing that? You've been saying this since the beginning of the season. Do you feel like that is coming along?
"It is coming along. I think it's coming along a lot for us rookies now and myself. We're a very young group. But the biggest thing is like we don't make excuses. We really take in day-to-day process. We try to get better every week, and we try to go win every week."
Did you expect more to change since the coaching change? It seems like it's very much the same deal with being conservative and not being more aggressive?
"I think we're an aggressive offense, especially the last couple of weeks we've been aggressive. I just think we have to capitalize on aggression. From myself, just move consistently, moving the sticks on first and second down. I think when we get behind the chains that's when we end up putting ourselves in the hole. I mean, I think Bo (Hardegree) is doing an unbelievable job in the situation that he's in. From being the quarterback coach to calling the plays, him and Nick (Holz), they work eye-to-eye, and they're for sure putting us in the best, situation every week. We just got to do our (inaudible) – the people on the field, and go capitalize on the big-time plays."
We've talked about the problems that are cropping up. Does it feel like that it's just something that's minor, or do you feel like it's something that can't be fixed?
"I think it's something that's minor. We've got some key guys out just with the unfortunate circumstances and injuries. Then the guys who get a chance to play, we've got to maximize opportunity. I have to maximize my opportunity every play, and we just got to keep on going. I mean, at the end of the day we have nothing to lose. We got to keep playing football and we've got to man up and try to win next week."
With the punt, in the heat of the moment obviously coming to the sideline, you were expressing your frustration. Can you just kind of talk about how you measure what you do coming off the field there where you're expressing yourself to the coach?
"I think I'm a competitor. Our whole offense is like that, our whole defense is like that from o-line to d-line – those guys, they compete every day in practice. So, I just think the biggest thing (is) that we want to be is an aggressive team, especially with the record we have right now. We have to be an aggressive team at the end of the season to get to where we want to be. So, we just got to keep on going one day at a time. We got to try to win the game next week."
Mike McCoy, he'll mention a lot of times you're not the first rookie to struggle, and he always points to Peyton Manning. I know you have a relationship with him. Have you gotten any input from him because he struggled really badly right here in this building?
"Just keep on going one day at a time. You see different things every game, but you also got to be able to be a reactionary football player. I think I got better at the little things each and every game. Just having a relationship with Peyton (Manning), I mean it's cool because he constantly tells me just the little things I have to work on, and then a little things will turn into just being consistent on offense."
Any example of a little thing?
"I'll say the best advice that he gave me is you've just got to continue to be yourself, no matter how high you get or how low you get. Just got to continue to be yourself, lead the guys, you know how to lead the way, and then just play football how I know how to play football. Then just be a great teammate and try to win games."
Do you think this losing is stunting your development, or how can you benefit from it in the future?
"I don't think it's stunting it because whether you win or lose, you will get better and you also got to get coached up on certain things every game. Nobody in the NFL is going to play a perfect game each and every night. So, I just stay just right here at the same time. I never get too high, I never get too low. Try to do the best for my teammates to win."
