What were they trying to take away from you that was effective or difficult for you?
I mean, they're sticky on the outside. Good coverage guys and played a lot of two-shell and we just couldn't run it effectively enough to kind of get them out of it. On tape, there's been a lot of pressure, a lot of different personnel rooms. Now with 'Spoon (Devon Witherspoon) being out, they played less, different groupings, less pressure, much less pressure and more two-high.
What wasn't working for you on third down? I believe you were 5-of-15 on the day.
Everything. I wasn't on target. We weren't getting open effectively enough and they were getting some good pass rush.
There were times in the game you looked like you were pretty spirited out there, maybe a little bit disappointed with stuff that was happening, whether it was with yourself or... is this starting to get a little frustrated?
No, it's Week Two. Come on. Come on. It's Week Two. I mean, like, it's good for us. Last week probably there were some people feeling pretty good because everybody outside the building was talking about how great we were on offense. And 34 points. That's the League, you can't ride the highs or ride the lows. You have to refocus every single week and be a professional and it starts with the practice and the preparation and so we just get a chance to reset. Take a look at what we did last week, what worked, what didn't work from the preparation standpoint? Do better next week.
Sometimes when you're in the red zone and you get to a certain point and you end up with a field goal, is it harder to motivate, especially some of the younger players you get off to the sidelines and tell them to just keep on pushing?
No, not at all. I look at myself first and if we have a field goal, I probably wasn't effective enough in a situation. But I feel like we had a good couple drives, defense is playing good in the first half and we just came out and just couldn't do a whole lot in the third quarter and obviously the play that took a lot of points off the board was the interception there on the three-yard line or whatever.
What were you looking for on that interception?
Pat Freiermuth. And Cal (Calvin Austin III) is the best kid ever, but he probably should have just stayed in the flat there. He knows it. He was kind of stealing it from Pat or catch it and put it away. Score a touchdown. But Cal's the best kid and, you know, it sucks because he's such a great kid, but unfortunately that whole sequence took points off the board.
The offense was not effective enough on first down.
So, what do you need to do to get that turned around? Because that's so important being effective on first down.
Yeah, we have to run a little better. I have to be a little more effective at throwing the football. We have to do our job. I think if you go back and watch the film which we will tonight and tomorrow, we were close in a lot of plays, and it was probably one person. Sometimes it was me, sometimes it's somebody in front. Sometimes it's the perimeter. We just got to own our mistakes and be very accountable to each other and take this kick in the chin the right way and be a professional about it and come to work this week and move on and get ready for New England.
I just want to ask you about the performance that Jaylen Warren had, a couple of monster plays, obviously, for you. It looked like a number one running back in the NFL.
What do you mean?
Well, his part here has never been really a feature back before.
Yeah, Jaylen's a great player, man. He's a great player. That was an awesome catch and run. He brings a lot to the table. Might have to keep giving him more opportunities in the pass game. Every time he touches it, something good happens.
What's the concern level of the amount of hits you're taking? Was today, like you alluded to more coverage than it was protection.
I have to look at the film. I'm not trying to take a lot of shots. I feel like I was moving a little bit better today, but, you know, we got to protect it. Get the ball out, get open on time. Sometimes the coverage dictates holding on to the ball a little bit longer. But it's on all of us. I got to get rid of the ball, we got to get open, got to hang on up front.
You had a lot of crossing routes last weekend to different players. What do you feel like disrupted you from that aspect of your offense this week?
I don't know if we called a lot of crossing routes, but they played a lot of zone coverage two high, so that's good against a lot of that stuff.
What would be your advice to Kaleb Johnson after his missed play and on special teams?
Kaleb's a great kid and this is a 'what have you done for me lately league' and when you have success early on, you have to learn how to handle success and when you deal with adversity, you have to learn how to deal with adversity the right way and you can't let this get your confidence down. You can't hang your head. This is a professional league, and we expect greatness. But we also understand there's going to be mistakes. They happen. We're human. You must move on and get better but he's a great kid and I know he'll come to work on Monday and Tuesday and keep his mind sharp. He's always asking me, hey, what do I got to do better, and I tell him things, and he works on it.
Hate to see it, but this is professional football, and we got to get him to raise the standard of his game without losing that confidence and understanding he can't ride the wave. There's going to be great games. There's going to be disappointing games. They're going to love you when you're riding high. They're going to try to crush you when you get beat. So can't let it crush you, crush your spirits. Keep your confidence.
On the touchdown drive and two-point conversion, you used two combat balls to DK (Metcalf) and Darnell (Washington), and they won them. How can you maximize more of that in the red zone to be more consistent in finishing when you have that kind of size advantage?
It's been two weeks. Last week we were 100% in the red zone. So, this week we weren't, so. I think we need to take it easy. It's a small sample size. That was two nice plays on 50/50 balls by two big guys. We had a chance, you know, I think probably a touchdown to Pat (Freiermuth) that makes it 21-14 and change it is whole scope of the game. So, we got to understand this is the league and things happen and we're not trying to crush anybody on our team. Just what happened, happened. Disappointing for KJ (Kaleb Johnson), we love KJ. Cal's (Calvin Austin III) trying to make a play. We love Cal. We just got to be 100% with our assignment in order to win some of these games. It comes down to one or two plays. It could be in the first quarter. It could be this the fourth quarter.