(Opening statement) “I just wanted to give you a little insight. After yesterday, and then watching the film again and then brought the players in today, and I talked to the players about we’re out there – We’re not playing with a lot of confidence. We have to coach with better confidence, we have to play with better confidence and that’s my responsibility. So, I’ve got to do a good job and fight. It’s obviously disappointing. There’s a lot of words that can describe how we feel, but we don’t have that opportunity to sit back and feel sorry for ourselves. We have to go; we have to fight. Every day we’re earning something and every day we have to build this thing back to where we can go out there, and play with confidence, and coach with confidence and that starts with me.”
(On how to build confidence during a five-game losing streak) “We understand that, and again, wins and losses are obviously on me. I think it starts with the small things. Knowing that this is the way we want it done. I’m going to be able to get you to do it during the week, and then we need you to go out there and execute it on the field. I think that when people talk about confidence, it really only comes about like you said, and your point is well taken. It comes with winning football games and we haven’t done that for five-straight [games]. So, you can’t just look ahead and say, ‘Hey, we have to win a game to build this confidence,’ How do you do it during the week so you can go out there and have a better performance. And it starts with me, to the coaches, and then on to the players.”
(On a team injury update) “DJ [Chark Jr.] rolled his ankle. So right now, he’ll probably be week-to-week or day-to-day. I think with ankles it’s the 24-hour deal, 48 hours, 24-to-48 hours. I know he was on a scooter last night. We’ve got him in a walking boot today. I know in speaking with him that he wants to play, which is always a great time, but again, I think we’re going to just see how it goes. Jake Ryan, I think will be out for a while. He strained his hamstring, so with history, he’ll probably be out. Ronnie’s [Harrison] cleared the concussion protocol, so we expect to have him back on the field this week and play Sunday. And then Seth DeValve obviously practiced all week. We expect him to be full on Wednesday and should be back playing for us on Sunday as well.”
(On how injuries on the defense have impacted the defenses performance over the past several weeks) “You wish you had all those guys back there on the field, and they’re all good football players, but at the end of the day, someone has to step up and play. And as the head coach, it’s my job to get those guys that we have ready to play on Sunday. So, I think it’s easy, and you guys have been around me awhile, I’m not going to make any excuses. Injuries are part of the game, and it’s something that you have to be able to overcome as a team and it’s my responsibility. So, that’s why I’m talking about getting these younger guys … getting them to play better.”
(On who is responsible for the communication errors on the back end of the defense) “I think the [play] that we could have done a better job from a coaching standpoint is probably the last touchdown that they scored. That was a tough play schematically for us, but the rest of them, when you describe miscommunication, everything was communicated but it’s more missing the key, or being late, and where they’re going and what’s going on. And again, it’s on us as coaches to make sure that we rep it, and get them ready for it, then we have to go out there and execute. So, if it was a simple fix where it was communication, I’d feel a whole lot better about it, but we have to make sure that we’re trying to focus in on – I’ve always said this when I was a coach, ‘See a little, see a lot.’ Don’t try to look at too much stuff that goes on. Just read your keys, adjust to them and have this laser-like focus and it’ll put you in position to make plays. And I just think right now there’s too much going on for us. We have the calls, we know how we want to play it and then we just get out of position.”
(On at what point he considers making lineup changes) “We talk to the coaches about it, we talk to the players about it. You have to put people out on the field that you trust, that are going to be able to do the right thing. So, have to trust that the coaches are preparing them the right way. I’m in all the meetings and all the game plan situations, but if the players aren’t playing well on the field, I’ve always put it on us as coaches. It’s something that we have to do. Now, if we don’t feel a player is able to do something out there from a standpoint of [he] maybe hasn’t gotten it yet, then it’s our responsibility to put someone in there that can. I think right now, we’re at a point right now that we’re putting guys out there that we believe in, that we think that can get it done, but obviously we’re all not doing a very good job of it.”
(On if he feels that they were out-schemed defensively against the Chargers) “If we can make sure that we put people in the right spot. Like I said, I think schematically the last play, the last touchdown, is probably scheme. We can obviously do a better job of that schematically. I think the first first down that we had gotten when they brought the free safety, we knew they had the ability to do that. We switched some things up, and ran it again, and for some reason, it didn’t get communicated, or something happened, and that’s what we’re trying to get fixed. I think that when people can read the keys, every defense is set to stop. Every offense is set to get the ball at least on one player or safety. And when that’s not happening, I put it on myself and the coaches to put them in position to do that. So, when you get beat, I think there’s a lot of things out there that when you look at, maybe the tight end’s crossing is something that we could have done a better job with, with the players, from a coaching standpoint. But we’re all in this thing trying to figure it out and get it right, because it really sucks. And you guys understand that, where we are, and I’m going to keep fighting and to keep trying to lead this team. And if we can make adjustments and do things, that’s fine, but it seems like the more we try to handle every single thing, the more mistakes keep going up and the more that we might be overcoaching it. So, it’s a tough balance of what we need to get done.”
(On at what point it becomes less about coaching and more a lack of talent on the roster) “I think everything is going to get looked at. I can only speak from myself that what I believe as a coach that –and you know me – you’ll never hear me say that talent is an issue for poor performance. It’s my responsibility as the head coach to continue to push our coaches and push our players to improve on a daily basis. That’s how I approach it. That’s how I was raised. I’m going to keep fighting and keep working hard and just take it one day at a time. I’ve always believed this as a coach: if you sit around and you start saying, ‘Well, it’s a lack of this, or injuries, or talent.’ What it does is, it doesn’t pull you in the proper direction for my position. My position has to be standing up, telling you guys what’s going on, giving you the insight to things. Pushing the coaches, pushing the players, and I’ve just never been that guy to really put it on anyone else. I’ve always believed that I can go ahead and lead, I can take this team where they can’t take themselves. And for me, it’s really hard because it’s not happening, and whatever words we want to use – challenging, frustrating, pissed. It’s all that. But at the same time, once I start to feel that, to give you guys some insight, my mind goes right back to, ‘OK, listen, I’m not going to sit here and mope or make excuses. How am I going to take this feeling, and go out and try to get a coach better, or a player better, or some support staff better?’ And that’s what I try to keep my goals at if I feel my mind going in a different direction.”
(On what he saw out of QB Gardner Minshew II against the Chargers) “Looking back at it, there’s a couple plays that – The one thing about Gardner [Minshew II] that I’ve always appreciated is that you never really see him make the same mistake twice. I was really happy with the ball security that we worked quite a bit. I think there’s little things that are going to make him better as he gets out there and it’ll make him better this week. Again, obviously he can escape and we’re going to try to get those guys around him to be in better position for him to make more plays. So, I can’t say enough about him. It’s a tough situation that we’re in, the quarterback situation. I think he’s gotten better in his time when we were working with him, and I just think you’re going to see him grow each and every week.”
