What happened on the first pass out there with that one that got picked off? What did you see or not see there?
Well, I told the running back the wrong route first, and then when I got to him, I threw it, right when I threw, I seen him. So, I knew a bad play there. But I mean, at the end of the day, I knew the time will come when I throw an interception. Just how we responded from it, we did.
How tough a day was this for you in your mind and as a team and how do you get through it?
I mean, just got to keep working, honestly. We put ourselves in a hole, starting off 0-3, something that we got to climb ourselves out of. But it's all learning stuff, especially from my standpoint, the offense standpoint as a whole, and then on the defensive side of the ball.
After the two timeouts, but before the delay of game with the field goal scenario, before halftime, you urging the call from the sideline there where there's some indecision that cost you the delay there, what were you thinking as that whole thing was unfolding?
I'm just thinking, if you call the play, I'm going to call it in the huddle. And so, just really— just trying to wait to see what we're going to do. End up kicking the field goal, didn't go our way. But at the end of the day if Joey (Slye) get the opportunity again, he'll make it.
Did you see the clock was ticking? Did you know you guys were kind of in trouble against the clock there?
You say on the on the delay part?
Yeah
Yeah. But I mean, he's made that field goal in practice. So, I wasn't really tripping about it on the sideline, but he'll make it next time.
It looked like you, Tyler (Lockett) and Calvin (Ridley) were all kind of talking in midfield near the end of the game. Just curious, what that conversation was? If it was at all about trying to get out of this hole that you've now put yourself in?
Just really us coming closer together. And that's just every day throughout the process we got to continue to stick to it, we got to continue to be around each other. We got to continue to hold each other accountable. And that's just really us three taking a moment right there just talking about what all of us have to do better from our situation both us three talking then just as a whole how we feel we got to get better. As Coach (Brian) Callahan addressed that in the locker room. So, we just go and watch film, flush it, and then we got to try to get a win against a good team.
You've talked very positively about the relationship you have with (Brian) Callahan and through three weeks, has it been what you expected in the on-field relationship?
It's been what I've expected the whole time. He's a cool guy. He doesn't get too high, too low on the sideline like me. I think the biggest thing is us just executing. We haven't done that at a high enough level to win football games.
What do you say to Calvin Ridley when he has these drops? I know you say, 'Hey, look, I'll make a bad throw,' but that conversation, what's that like?
Explain it.
I know in the past you've said that, you've told whoever that you'll make a bad play, so don't worry about it, but is that consistently what the conversation is?
Yeah, and then he knows he has to be better, I know I have to be better. I can't put us down 7-0 at the start of the game. So, I put us behind the eight ball and we have to, the whole game, we have to climb ourselves back until—not win the football game. So, it was kind of just really on my standpoint. Then on his, like, everybody wants a play back every game. Whether it's that play for him, it's a couple plays I want back in this game, but we can't get them back. At the end of the day, we just got to not make the same mistake next week.
Were you wanting to go for it on fourth-and-1?
The delay of game?
Yes.
I'm always trying to go for it on fourth down. That's really my mindset. But the end of the day, that's Coach (Brian Callahan). He's going put us in the best situation, Joey (Slye), he's made that kick before so, he's going to get another opportunity this season he'll make it.
It seems like sometimes the seam passes, there's a little heat on them sometimes through the first three weeks. Is that something that you're working on like with tape study or is it something that you're going to have to take some of the heat off of those passes so your receivers can come down with those?
It's not even that; it's just us just working on them more in practice. And then, especially the one to Chig (Okonkwo), I put it too high for him. He had to make a crazy catch. I shouldn't have put him in that situation to make that catch. So, it's really all depend on my accuracy. I have to be more accurate with football. And I mean, they're there. We just haven't connected with them from my side and the receiver side, but we just got to continue working it.
This is your adopted now hometown team. To hear boos come down from fans, how does that make you feel?
I play football, so I'm always going to have my opinion. I'm not really too worried about that. And I'm trying to score points. We ain't do that enough to win the game today. But I mean, if I was them, I'd be mad, too. I'm trying to win football games, the same as them. So, if that's what they're going to do, we've got to lock in as a group in the locker room and continue to motivate each other, push each other and try to get a win.
What would you say is the confidence level of the offense and just the team overall through three games?
Confidence is high. We know we have a legit football team to make a run. It's really just us beating ourselves from technique to, I would say offensively, just staying above the sticks. And at the end of the day, just come down to us just continuously trying to fight adversity. We can't put ourselves in that situation a lot of times. And the biggest thing is just penalties. We've got to be least penalized.
When you look at the sacks and the pressures that you're under? When you look at some of the other younger quarterbacks that have struggled with it in the past. What is it about you that will keep you from going down that same path?
A lot of the sacks are on me. I think that's the biggest thing, especially one at the end, just not getting the ball out. You see him, throw the ball. So it's just something that I got to continuously remind myself to just help him out, get the ball out. Then at times where I need to hold on to the ball when it's third down, so then we all just got to continue to play together. But half of the sack's on me. At the end of the day, the offensive lineman's going to get beat. They're playing against some good comp out there. So I just got help them out, getting the ball out and not letting them— not taking a bad drop and then making the angle easier for the D-End.
So you would say self-accountability, self-awareness, that's what would keep you from going down the path of maybe a David Carr, a Josh Freeman, where early they had those types of struggles as far as getting sacked all the time and throwing their career.
Mm-hm, I would say that, and then just continuously motivating guys. They motivate me a lot, especially after the pick today, just knowing that we got you. And then just helping those guys out by getting the ball out.
How important have you found decisiveness to be, and are you doing better when you make a clear decision and go with it as opposed to plays where you might hesitate a little bit?
I think I get better at that every week. I would say like Coach Bo (Hardegree) and Cally (Brian Callahan) and Coach Nick (Holz) they've all just let me know what I need to do better to help the offense out because there's times that they were moving the ball efficiently but that's what we have to do throughout the whole season we can't have highs and lows we have be more consistent.
When you were moving the ball, were you having the most success when you were being the most decisive?
Yes, even when we weren't moving the ball when I was being decisive. It was all about us just trying not to stay— trying not be in long situations, trying to stay out of them.
How difficult is it to keep moving the chains when you're facing third-and-eight or third-and-seven on a regular basis?
I mean, third-and-10 better than being like third-and-20. So, I'll take that all day. But we have to consistently try and live in a third-and-five world, third-and-short world because the top offense in the league when they live in that world, they're just more efficient on first and second down. So, that's what we got to do. We did it at times today, but you just got to do it consistent next week.
