Anything in particular that led to the false start penalties?
No, that's a mental thing. You just got to do better.
Was there something different? You say mental but—
Yeah, nothing different, just penalties. Can't get penalties.
What were the mental issues that caused the penalties?
We called a cadence, and when we mixed up the cadence to change procedure, I executed that poorly on three occasions.
So each of those three times there was a change in the cadence?
I mean, you want to vary the cadence, in general. So it's like not saying — I don't remember vividly what each cadence was, but you want to execute the cadence.
Did you feel like you had to be a little bit jumpier going against the rushes you were going against?
They are premier rushers, but you just want to get off the ball, so wouldn't say you want to jump it.
How much you feel like hurt the team with the penalties overall?
I don't know the stats on it. But I know we converted one of them. I know we scored on the other drive. But I don't remember the second one. I think we got a field goal. But I think at the end of the day though, it's not about how I feel. I think you just want to play penalty free. Penalties hurt the team, kill drives.
Is there a point along the way that got in your head at all?
No.
Are you frustrated at yourself after—
Absolutely, yeah. You want to do your best for your team. Felt like that didn't help that, so.
What's the takeaway with this being a one-possession game all day and then having the end result right there on the field goal?
We got to watch the film specifically. Like I said, I know penalties didn't help at all so that was one thing that procedurally you have to clean up. We preach about that every day since training camp, since OTAs honestly.
What was able to work on that 95-yard touchdown drive and why do you think you guys weren't able to do that in other parts of the game?
I mean just playing loose. Just playing loose. I mean not worrying about X, Y, and Z. We should have and could have played us that all game, that's the job. You know I said we got the penalty wrong, but, we understand every play is not going to go your way. Whether pre-snap, during the play or post-snap, understanding that you're going to have to fight through adversity and we did that there. And we just have to continue to do a better job throughout the whole game of doing it, myself included.
Why do you think there's a disconnect for the offense in terms of playing loose like you just said and being able to do that more consistently?
If I had to give my own feeling, honestly, I just think it's just — I wouldn't be able to say actually. The biggest thing that sticks out to me is just the inconsistency of guys being available with injuries. We got Rid (Calvin Ridley) back. Unfortunately, he got hurt. Chimere (Dike) and Elic (Ayomanor) are doing a great job this year and Elic got banged up one play, Chimere got out. So, I mean you want to have a consistent group of guys and you don't want to have to fall off when the next group of guys come in. But at the end of the day that's something that we all got to work through as a team.
