FRANK REICH: Obviously, a good team win, total team win, really all three phases. All three phases. Defense
really played stout. I think it allowed our offense to get in sync a little bit. Obviously, we weren’t in sync early on offense. We didn’t have great field position, but we couldn’t fight our way out of it. Defense held us in there and played really good football. Then offensively, we got it going a little bit, played good on special teams. Really good complementary football against a good football team who we have a lot of respect for, Coach Flores and his team, obviously a strong proven track record. What we talked about in there is we’ve got to learn from this. It obviously was far from perfect. We’ve got to get a lot better. I believe we will. Hopefully, we can use this to get some traction and get things moving in the right direction.
Q. Does Jonathan capitalize at all on his knee injury? Outside of that, how big was it he had those two big runs?
FRANK REICH: That was big. I felt like he’s been right on the precipice of breaking out a couple times. So O-line did
a good job. We started off a little bit shaky but just hung in there with the defense playing the way it was playing. We
were able to keep calling runs. Jonathan just did a great job and really had another long one called back.
We’ve got to build off of that. Happy for Jonathan, happy for the O-line, the way they played, but we’ve got to build
off of it.
Q. From an emotional standpoint, how much did you guys just need to win a game? Going back to last year.
FRANK REICH: Yeah, it was time. It was time. This was a big win. On the road against a good football team. We
know what our formula is. We’ve got to hang together. It’s about how we prepare and then carrying that with us into
the game and playing for 60 minutes one play at a time.
Q. There’s been a lot of circumstances with Carson and his injury and the offensive line, et cetera. What have you learned through four games? Can you fully evaluate?
FRANK REICH: I know we have a good football team. I think we saw from Carson a little bit of the player we were
expecting. He had a little bit more mobility today. You saw him extend a few plays and make some really big time
plays, but then he also did it from the pocket as well. I feel like that’s where it’s going. That’s where it’s going.
Just continue to fight and get better, but it’s not just him. It’s got to be our whole team. We’ve got to be able to carry
each other’s back because every player is not always going to be happy. They can make a ton of plays and get
some good stuff, but we’ve got to keep fighting.
Q. On the third down, you called that bootleg for him. How confident are you calling that play? He pulled it
off. What did you think?
FRANK REICH: Really, I called bootleg, and I said, if it’s not there right now, take a short sack, right? We’ll let the
clock run, punt it. I had a few words with him over the headset. I said, hey, what happened to the short sack? He said, well, I wasn’t down. I was prepared to go down, but he knew he could get away. Those are the kinds of plays that he can make that really help lead clutch ball games. It’s plays like that when you’re playing good teams like the Dolphins, those are the kinds of plays you need to win games. So that was a good indication, I think, of what he’s capable of.
Q. Was that the kind of play that makes you want to refer to? You talk about a couple times where he was able to break free, take a couple steps, and then found guys up the middle. Even getting the play to Zach across the field. Is that what you kind of envisioned? Take what the defense gives you without trying to do too much?
FRANK REICH: He did a phenomenal job of doing exactly what you’re saying. Didn’t put the ball in harm’s way, was
accurate, made good decisions. I can’t emphasize enough that that really comes because of the total team effort. It’s
just the confidence that we can play with when the defense is playing as well as it was playing. I mean, the defense was lights out today. So that’s a big factor in the overall success, even for the quarterback.
Q. Where are you guys getting better, Frank? Four weeks into the season.
FRANK REICH: I hope we’re getting better in every little aspect, in each group, in each phase. We’ve said from the beginning we believe we have — we understand this is only one game. So it’s a good win. It’s a big win for us. We’ve
got a tough one next week. We did some things on offense. We ran the ball a little bit better, made some plays in the pass game, the kind that you need to make to win games. Defensively, I thought we played a great game. Then special teams, our specialists were money. I think we’re headed in the right direction.
Q. What still gives you concerns? If there’s penalties, there were sacks, there were open touchdowns you gave up? What’s still bothering you about it?
FRANK REICH: I’ll go and watch the film. Obviously, the eight penalties for 86 yards, we’ve got to clean that up. I’m
not happy about that. There were some things in the first third down in the game, we had a miscommunication on
something. We were supposed to get a chip on that guy, and it didn’t happen. We knew he was a force. We knew
early in the game we wanted to get a chip on him, and somehow that didn’t happen, little things like that.
We had the long run. We had penalties. So we’ve got to clean those things up. In really tight games, as the season
goes on, those are the things where we can’t beat ourselves.
Q. Big Mo’s first two touchdown game. What will you tell him?
FRANK REICH: I really felt like it’s been coming all year, and he and I have had those conversations once or twice.
Every week in practice, we’re looking to get him the ball. We really think Mo’s a good player. There’s been a lot of
stuff in the game plan for him over the first four weeks, and for whatever reason, the ball just hasn’t gone to him as
much as I would have thought it would at this point. So for him to have that game today, that was a lot of fun.
Happy for him he’s an excellent football player.
Q. There was a point early last year when the offense had good moments, bad moments on the field. It took
a little while to get going. Do you feel like the offense is going through that now in some of those ways and
starting to take off?
FRANK REICH: Yeah, definitely felt that today. No excuses. We know we’ve had some unique circumstances
with a lot of guys out. It’s not really getting an opportunity to gel together playing good teams. We’re in a spot right
now where we’ve got to prepare every week and keep guys practicing as much as we can so we can continue to get
better in practice and then carry that over into the game.
Q. In that first half, you get a fresh set of downs off the punt. What’s your mentality when you get a second
opportunity like that, and how important was it in the grand scheme of things?
FRANK REICH: It was a huge deal. I just feel like that can break a team’s back, but you’ve got to capitalize on it. We
were able to do that. That’s an example of the way to capitalize and take advantage and take control of a game
when you’re given the opportunity.
Q. 1-3, 0-4, there’s a huge difference over the history of the game with those two marks. Were you thinking
about that heading into day?
FRANK REICH: No, I was not. I really was just geared in on this game. I felt like we were going to play well. I felt
like we had a really phenomenal week of practice. I just felt like we were really ready to go. I felt like the guys were
dialed in. It showed in practice. I think we practice well all the time. I thought there was a little special edge to practice this week, and it showed.
FastScripts by ASAP Sports
Carson Wentz
Visitors Postgame Presser
Q. It’s been a long time since you had a win in The Horseshoe. What does it mean?
CARSON WENTZ: It feels great. I feel like I got the monkey off my back a little bit, for me and the team. Huge
plays going down and executing well. Made some plays on the field. Got some breaks with turnovers and penalties
that kept some drives alive, but huge win for us.
Q. Frank was telling us about that play he was joking about, I think it was that third down when you ran
outside. What did he tell you? I don’t know, were you supposed to throw it?
CARSON WENTZ: He said take a short sack other than throw it away. I said, I made the guy miss and I got a first
down instead. So we chuckled about it, that’s for sure.
Q. Do you feel like your comfort is kind of just coming slowly with this team? We forget how much time you
missed during camp and now you’re playing with an injured ankle. Does it feel like you’re just slowly easing into it?
CARSON WENTZ: Yeah, I feel like every week — I mentioned it last week, but every week we’re learning together, and I’m learning the guys, they’re learning me and playing styles and coaches and everything. So it’s just been fun every week to see us get a little bit better and do some good things. Huge for us to come out here and get a win today. Lots of things really each week that we keep building on. Today obviously was a win.
Q. What did you tell Big Mo after this?
CARSON WENTZ: He’s a big man. He’s a big man, and he played big. He’s a nice target in those situations when it’s one-on-one. They’re not going to give us any easy throws. You can give him a shot like that. For him to come down with it, that was huge for us.
Q. Carson, do you pay attention to things happening individually? Like did you know it will be a year tomorrow since you last won a game?
CARSON WENTZ: I had no idea. It’s not a great feeling, to be honest. No, it’s huge. A big win for us as a team.
Honestly, I had no idea. Hopefully, we’ll never have to deal with that stretch again.
Q. It seemed like the way you played today, you took what the defense gave you. There were a couple times you asked Frank about the play to Zach, shook it off. Player was coming off the edge, but you kind of took what the defense gave you instead of not trying to do too much. Did it seem like that, in your eyes?
CARSON WENTZ: For sure. Part of that was just the way we called the game. We called it to be man coverage, and
a lot of time they’d bluff man and go to cover two or cover three or whatever. Sometimes that’s just the way a game
goes. Yeah, I’m never trying to force anything, trying to make a big play when it’s there. But otherwise, play smart and
keep moving the chains.
Q. Are you happy with the aspects of your play the first four weeks? (Indiscernible) the way you protect the football?
CARSON WENTZ: That’s huge. We talked about it all week. Myself, the running back, any ball carrier, we talk about protect the football. We want to end the drive with a kick. All of us on offense have been doing a pretty good job of protecting the football and making the plays when they’re there. Keeping the ball and ending drives with a kick, that’s a big thing.
Q. You had a little more mobility today, obviously. How does that change your game when you can rely on your legs a little bit?
CARSON WENTZ: It helps. If it’s something I never want to rely on or have to go to, but when I have to move in the
pocket or extend a play, the one run first down that was not supposed to be a run, but the guy slipping across got hit. I
was like I’ve got to get moving. I felt like I was in quicksand there. That wasn’t a designed route, but it was definitely better today. As the game went, I definitely felt a little bit more comfortable throughout.
Q. Later on, I want to say there was a play when you threw it to Pittman, I think, down the field. Those plays can’t happen if you’re in the situation you were last week.
CARSON WENTZ: For sure.
Q. Does it open up things for you?
CARSON WENTZ: I know. That will continue to get better. It will continue as an offense. We talked about doing those things but were limited offensively. Those things will keep coming and keep being part of what we do.
Q. You say offensive linemen. Your line hasn’t even played together. You’ve had your issues. Have we not seen what this offense is supposed to look like yet?
CARSON WENTZ: I don’t think we’ve seen it. I think we have a lot of ability to be an explosive offense. I think we’ve seen glimpses of it, and we go back to the film and we just have to fix this one little thing or this one little thing.
For us, it’s about keep getting better. Scratch off the wins early and keep getting better throughout the season. I
think we’ll be an explosive offense when it’s all said and done.
Q. Same thing last week. It seemed like you missed that throw. I wonder how much of what’s going on down here with your footwork and your ankles is getting in the way of the fundamentals maybe. I mean, you’re just kind of playing with a hand tied behind your back or something like that?
CARSON WENTZ: I don’t think it was as bad today. I wouldn’t think so. I’ll go watch the film. Some of those fundamentals are things where I’ve got to be consistent whether I’ve got good ankles or not. There’s always things in the game that you want to be clean up and better with. So I’ll go back and watch it.
Q. Can we get a percentage on your ankle? It will continue to be a question every single week until it looks like you’re 100 percent.
CARSON WENTZ: I don’t know percentage. Definitely much better than last week. Not quite 100 percent, but getting there for sure.
Q. Did you tweak it at all during the game?
CARSON WENTZ: No.
Q. I know last week you felt like you tweaked it during the game?
CARSON WENTZ: This week it came out relatively scot-free.
Q. Two Mondays ago, you were like there’s no way I’m playing, but you haven’t missed a snap.
CARSON WENTZ: Pretty thankful for that, I’m sure.
FastScripts by ASAP Sports
Darius Leonard
Visitors Postgame Presser
Q. Darius, do you think the defense held Brissett today?
DARIUS LEONARD: We did that for a while, and then the last two drives, we weren’t up to par defensively. They tried to get going there. So if you want to be a good defense, you’ve got to play great four quarters of football. He’s a competitor. He knew what read we were going to be in. He was making the right checks, but you’ve got to understand what you’re going against and the tendency they have to run. You’ve got to stop that.
Q. Going in thinking about 0-4, there’s only been one team to make the playoffs. Is that on your mind?
DARIUS LEONARD: No, you don’t think about losing. You think every day about winning the games. Who is even thinking about 0-4? That’s the mindset. We want to keep building and try to get better each week.
Q. Darius, you made strides today on defense. It seems at times it’s not buttoned up all the way. I’ve seen you throw your hands up. Do you feel like the defense isn’t quite there yet?
DARIUS LEONARD: No, you can’t find a defense who is there yet. It’s early in the season. We’re still building, still
learning. Who the hell is perfect, you know what I’m saying? You’ve got to understand that. I don’t even know
how many plays we’ve played. You can’t think of a defense that’s going to be perfect all hundred and whatever plays it is. There’s absolutely no way. But you learn from it and understand what teams are doing. You understand it on Monday or on the way back, you look at the tape and say how can we be better? That’s the game plan every week.
You figure out how we got beat. You figure out what you’re going to do to not get beat, and you go out the next day
and don’t get beat by the same stuff.
Q. You feel better? How’s your ankle feel? You looked a little bit faster today.
DARIUS LEONARD: It’s getting there. It’s getting there. It’s just taking a lot of time. I think this week of practice really helped out an Wednesday, then Thursday was a little slower, then Friday came and flying guys in, just being on top of it. That’s the main thing. You’ve got to make sure that you understand what’s the problem, understand what it is, and understand that you’ve got to take care of it. You’ve got to be the professional there. You don’t want people to keep talking trash about you, so you’ve got to find a way to sharpen up, and that’s what I’m trying to do.
Q. Are the big plays coming back? Do you feel like the splash plays are coming back?
DARIUS LEONARD: I think so. I think we missed out some things defensively. Bobby missed an interception. Sendejo missed the interception. I missed the interception. I think we missed maybe two to three sacks. Those are the things we’ve got to capitalize on to win. If you want to be a good defense, we talked about 40-plus take-aways. We’ve got to take the ball away each and every time. I think we only have one take-away. That’s Grover with the strip sack. We’ve got to have more of them and put the offense in a better position to score. Like if I catch an interception and get the ball in the plus field, that’s three points automatic. They don’t even move the ball from there. We’ve got to be better there.
Q. (Indiscernible) How do you guys do that?
DARIUS LEONARD: Just play.
Q. To get to where you want to be?
DARIUS LEONARD: You just play ball. You can’t panic. I feel like people on the outside looking in don’t see what’s getting built. They just see the big picture of the mistakes of five or six plays in the game, but I don’t feel like people
really break down and understand in the game what’s going down and understand it. We feel like we’re building a great defense, and each week we continue to get better and better. We’ve got to do that. If we want to shut down the critics, we’ve got to play ball all four quarters.
Q. Explain that play. When they scored a touchdown, you had your hands up. Was there a breakdown?
DARIUS LEONARD: It was a tough play. We practiced that play. We knew it was going to come. It was a man to man. I don’t know who was on him. He just came free. Usually two backers in the box, Bobby. Usually if I see a free guy, I’ll go on him too. If you see the play, Jacoby’s stepping in the pocket, and he’s usually running in that situation. So I stepped up, and I thought whoever was on him was going to be right there, but it didn’t work. I wish I would have stayed on him a little longer just to help whatever corner or whoever was on him out, and that’s what happened there. The last play, which I don’t think was a touchdown, it was fourth down. I don’t even want to talk about that. I fell like we were off the field.
Q. Did you get banged up at all in the middle of the game? Was that anything?
DARIUS LEONARD: Banged up, no. What happened was I went in for a hit, and my helmet hit me in my neck a little bit. Tried to get it out. Just get up, get in, and try to do what you can do to help this team win.
Q. Did you get a chance to talk to Jacoby during the game?
DARIUS LEONARD: I talked to him before the game, then I kind of messed with him on the two-minute mark. He was
trying to go no brainer on the play. I was just messing with him, and we kind of laughed about it. After the game, we had a good conversation wishing him the best of luck. I was talking to Zaire during the afternoon thing when they announced Jacoby’s name and everyone is just cheering for them. Those are the things that you want from a former
teammate going somewhere else, the new team to love him as much as we did. Jacoby’s a great guy. We wish him nothing but the best. He’s been a great leader for us, and now he’s out trying to change the Miami Dolphins offense. I wish him the best of luck.
Kemoko Turay
Visitors Postgame Presser
Q. Got the pass rush going. Do you feel like Jacoby felt you guys today?
KEMOKO TURAY: I felt like we did. Getting a lot of good pressure. First we started with practice. Trying to execute the scheme, and having Jacoby last year, we know what kind of passer he is, what type of quarterback he is. We needed to study him more and try to refresh our memory and just execute.
Q. What’s the vibe been in the defensive line room? Coming into the game, you guys were not getting after the quarterback and not getting them.
KEMOKO TURAY: It bothered me a lot last week. I was talking to Ben, I was talking to quidy, and talking to Buck, him being the leader. We’ve got your back, bro. We’re going to have to step it up. We’re going to have a meeting next week and him being the leader, he has to call the meeting and stuff like that, and we’ve got to get this right. Just talking to the ends, just knowing my job, my responsibility, just knowing that I’ve got to do what I’ve got to do as a pass rusher and help Buck out and know we’ve got his back. We just need to execute today and going into next week.
Q. So you guys had a meeting?
KEMOKO TURAY: Yeah, we had a meeting.
Q. All the players?
KEMOKO TURAY: Yeah, all the players. We’ve got to get together, we’ve all got to work together. The same meeting we had two years ago.
Q. Was it all the players or just the defensive line?
KEMOKO TURAY: Everybody.
Q. That was your idea?
KEMOKO TURAY: Yeah, I talked to Buck about it, him being the leader. He called the meeting and talked to all of
us. As you can see today, we all did our job.
Q. What made you think about mentioning it to Buck?
KEMOKO TURAY: It’s not my place, but the thing is it bothered me. I love this game. The Coaches emphasized that we need an end to do their job, we need an end back there, and watching Buck the first two weeks in the season and being out there just pressuring the quarterback, then it just, as an end, it’s hard for us not doing our part to help him out. We couldn’t just leave him hanging and stuff like that. So it bothered me last week, and we needed that talk.
Q. It’s been a long time to come back and have a game
like this with two sacks. Does it feel like you’re back?
KEMOKO TURAY: Yeah, I felt good. I felt good today. Doing everything I’ve got to do, staying in the training room and getting up early, just constantly working in the weight room. Staying around the coaches and watching the game and studying my film and just focusing. That’s the main part, focus.
Q. How important was it for you to get a bunch of games in a row now where you’re playing significant snaps in games? It’s been a long time.
KEMOKO TURAY: It feels good. I’m getting more snaps. I’m starting to feel like myself. It’s keeping me going. It’s bringing the energy in the room to all of us. Darius is going hard and watching D. Buck do his thing and all of us helping each other try to do our job and bringing that energy.
Q. Was there much talk between Brissett and the defense today on the field?
KEMOKO TURAY: Not much. We were there for business. There was no talking, no friendly conversation. Just we’ve got to do our job.
FastScripts by ASAP Sports
Mo Allie-Cox
Visitors Postgame Presser
Q. Welcome back to the end zone. It’s been a long time. Why don’t they throw it more to you?
MO ALLIE-COX: I mean, we have plays every week, but that’s the kind of thing we calling, the defense is in, things like that. Last week they called a screen pass at the 5 yard line twice, but the defense wasn’t in the right look, so we killed it. It just depends on the looks they give us.
Q. Is it hard to be patient?
MO ALLIE-COX: It’s hard to be patient, but I mean —
Q. When you’re losing?
MO ALLIE-COX: Especially, but you’ve got to play the long game.
Q. When you’re in the red zone, do you feel like with your size and strength, you can go up and get the ball?
MO ALLIE-COX: That’s just the confidence I have. If he’s right on me, just put it up. I think I can go up with anybody.
That’s an example of that. Almost had the first one, kind of went through my hands a little bit. The second one he told me he was going to put it on the back shoulder and put it up there, and he did it, and I just made the play.
Q. Kind of like getting a rebound over someone on the basketball court?
MO ALLIE-COX: For sure.
Q. This offense, it hasn’t really flourished yet. Your offensive line has kind of been messy and Carson’s been hurt. Do you feel like you’re starting to see the improvement?
MO ALLIE-COX: Yeah, it happened last week with the run game. We started running the ball well, but the way the game went, we couldn’t get as many runs called. But this week we started running the ball well, and it opened up the rest of the offense and we could do what we want to do. We didn’t play perfect, but it’s a start, and we can build on it.
Q. You guys met just players this week. What was the message and who spoke up?
MO ALLIE-COX: Buck spoke. Darius spoke. And Quan spoke, 97 Al-Quadin. Pretty much they were just like — Quan said, if you’re hurt, you’re hurt and injured, he was talking about just go out there and practice. If you’re hurting, everyone’s hurting. We’re losing. We’re 0-3. Go out there and practice and sacrifice for the rest of the team and things like that.
Darius talked about doing your job. Nothing else matters but doing your job, and everyone else is going to pick up on the energy. That’s pretty much what Buc said also. The message hit, and Wednesday was probably our hardest practice in five years. That was probably my hardest practice ever since I’ve been here.
Q. When was the meeting, Wednesday morning?
MO ALLIE-COX: It was — I’m not sure. It was either Monday or Wednesday. One of the days. It was at the start of the week. That’s all I know.
Q. What was the response from the rest of the guys?
MO ALLIE-COX: Guys just took it. Everybody just listened with open ears. Nobody took anything personal or anything like that. At the end of the day, the goal is to win. We’re losing, so guys are going to listen with open ears. We’re all professionals. We know what we need to do.
Q. You talked about missed opportunities the last couple weeks and stuff like that. When you’re trying to feature in the offense and the defense keeps coming up with the wrong looks, doesn’t get going, how tough is it to stay patient?
MO ALLIE-COX: It’s tough, man. It’s not just tough that, you hear the outside noise. Everyone’s like why aren’t you getting the ball? You all don’t understand everything that’s fully going on. It’s just a lot of stuff. I mean, one thing I learned really from Coach Smart back at VCU is just that mental toughness and having that mental capacity to flip it. Ignore the outside noise and stay the course. I’ve been patient up to this point, and today it paid off in a big way.
Q. I know Carson’s been pretty much hurt since week 2, but what are you seeing? Are you starting to see the guy you thought you were getting?
MO ALLIE-COX: Yeah, for sure. Coach talked about taking some of the simple sets out there instead of just waiting to try to get the big play, and you saw some of that today. If we just continue to keep that going, that’s going to open up a whole lot of stuff in our offense. We have guys that could make — get YAC, yards after the catch. I get a lot of yards after the catch. Pittman, you see how hard Pittman runs with the ball in his hands, J.T., things like that. Just get us the ball, and we can make plays down the field.
FastScripts by ASAP Sports
