Interim Head Coach Darrell Bevell
On what happened during the last two plays of the game – the spike on third down and not being able to get the play call in on fourth down…
“So, at the end we ended up having that play where the ball almost got tipped, and then (WR) Marvin (Jones Jr.) ended up catching it at the one, and we ended up spiking it to get the clocked stopped there on third down to try to get us into the best play and then we just didn’t do a good job communicating and getting lined up on the last play. It should of given us plenty of time but we didn’t execute very well there.”
On the reasoning for the run call during the last drive with no timeouts remaining…
“Yeah, we’re fine on the clock right there and there’s times where you feel like you can pop a run and if you pop that run right there you end up getting a pretty good play out of it. It didn’t happen, so we ended up moving on.”
On if this was the best that QB Trevor Lawrence has looked since the win over Miami…
“Yes, I was really proud of him today. I thought he did a really good job of managing the game, he took the checkdowns that were there, he took the shots that were there. That’s probably the thing that impressed me the most, the shot opportunities that he had that, that he took those and whether it’s the one early in the game down to (WR Laquon) Treadwell, that got a pass interference. Even late, the ball that he threw to (WR) Tavon (Austin) there on the right side, their sideline, in that two-minute drill, did a really good job of taking that. So, I like the throws he was taking, and then when they were deep, he took the checkdowns, got a lot of completions – I don’t know what he ended up (with) but I liked how he played today.”
On if they went into the game with a more conscious aggressive mindset and if so, how much of that was a function of (Passing Game Coordinator) Brian (Schottenheimer) calling the game…
“Definitely was going in to play this game to win and we were able to make some aggressive calls. I thought Schotte did an outstanding job for us today, it did give us a boost, I think we scored on the first three drives. The thing I point to is that our execution was on point and I thought the guys did a really good job of executing the plan and Trevor was really the key factor in that. The plays that were there he hit them, and he took the shots when he had to and he took the checkdowns when he had to.”
On if he made the call for the fake punt or someone else…
“Yeah, we ended up taking the ball, as you know, we won the toss, but we took the ball, just wanted to change it up, wanted to play from ahead for once so by taking that just wanted to be aggressive, we had a really good opportunity to do it. I had greenlighted that with (Special Teams Coordinator) Nick (Sorensen) early and it just played out that way that we ended up in that situation. Great job of executing there, and it did lead to points for us to get out in an early lead.”
On the defense having a hard time stopping the run game…
“Yeah, we didn’t do a good job. I don’t think of really staying in our gaps and filling the gaps where we needed to. One of the runs particularly late there was an explosive play, we also let (Jets QB) Zach Wilson out early in the game for that long touchdown, I know that adds to the yards, had opportunities to make tackles there on the sideline and we didn’t do that. When teams are running the ball it’s a function of everybody and you have to do a great job of playing gap-integrity defense.”
On S Andre Cisco making his first career start today, and the decision to challenge the ruling on the interception…
“Yeah, we got a quick look at that upstairs and thought his hand was under it. Once we had thrown the flag, we got a couple better looks at it and they slowed it down so we could see that it did roll out of his hand, but I was actually right behind the play so I didn’t see it from the other side so we took a chance on it, thought it was a solid replay opportunity and again, it would have gotten us some momentum. And just early I thought Cisco did a good job, we want to make sure before I make too many comments that we go back and look at the tape and be able to give you a better assessment.”
On RB James Robinson’s injury and how RB Dare Ogunbowale played in his absence…
“It’s unfortunate for us that we lose a player of James’ caliber, he’s such a rock for us really on our team, as well as the offense. When one of your bell cows like that goes down like that it’s a tough blow, I thought Dare came in and did a good job. Again, I’ll have to wait and see all the tape once we evaluate that, but just from the sideline I thought he was solid with the ball number one, which is really important for us, protecting that, and then the runs that were there looked like he was hitting the holds.”
On the kickoff return team being vastly different than last weeks and if it’s just as difficult to re shuffle special teams groups on the fly…
“Well yeah, anytime guys go down it’s a next-man up mentality and there are no excuses. We have to do a better job in coverage, we gave up one last week, we gave up one this week and it ends up being a difference in a game. Whoever we put out there, it’s those guys responsibility to be able to go out and make plays. We’ll continue to look at it, but the guy didn’t even break stride as he ran through our kickoff team so we have to do a better job of filling our lanes, backside has to do a better job of closing, we’ll go back, we’ll look at it, we’ll evaluate it and continue to work on it.”
On how difficult it was to design different plays for different players because of absences due to Covid-19 and how WR Tavon Austin played…
“I thought Tavon did a really nice job for us filling in for (WR) Laviska Shenault. Late in the week, that thing happened so there’s not a lot of maneuvering that you do, you just kind of plug and play the guys and make sure that the plays that we’re asking Tavon to do he can handle, if we need to make a change then we can make a change, but Tavon stepped up big time. Thought he made some big plays, made some big catches and that’s the next man up mentality and he was there for us.”
QB Trevor Lawrence
On what the end of this game felt like compared to some of their other comeback opportunities..
I really feel like every opportunity we’ve had to come back and win the game on a two minute drive or whatever it is, I always feel like we’ve had that confidence on offense. What was different about this one is just, so close. Get down there and we’re two yards away and obviously didn’t execute cleanly there at the end. A lot of stuff to learn from, but the way we put that drive together, the way we stayed on schedule, it was great. And then even (James O’Shaughnessy) goes down, gets hurt, can’t do anything about that, lose our last timeout – for us to just keep our head in the game and really execute and put ourselves in a situation to get down there – we spiked the ball with, I don’t know, 15 seconds or so on the clock and have an opportunity to get a last play off from the two -that’s all you can ask for. We’ve got to be better executing, on the same page.
On what the last drive felt like for him personally…
I felt like we were really clicking on all cylinders today on offense. Obviously, every game there’s going to be a few things that you want back. There’s going to be some throws, some opportunities that you missed or whatever, but I really feel like offensively we played clean football today, and we took advantage of a lot of our opportunities. At the end of the game, obviously get the ball with, I don’t know, 1:40 or so with a timeout left, that’s kind of just what you want. Obviously, it’s nice to have that timeout and you’ve got enough time to where you don’t have to rush too much, and I really liked the way we move the ball all day, so we had a lot of confidence. Come off, first play Tavon (Austin) on the sideline, 20-yard gain or so, get out of bounds, great start. And then from there we just stayed on schedule with it. Obviously had that run on the sideline, part of me kind of wishes I would have tried to cut back and score, but in that situation we don’t have any timeouts left, just trying to get out of bounds, and I think there was 30 seconds or so left. So just trying to get out of bounds and give us a new set of downs from the five. I felt like that was a good situation to be in. So obviously hindsight is 20/20, but I had a lot of confidence, I know the whole offense did. I mean the guys up front today just protected great. I mean I had all day. That’s why a lot of those I was sitting in there getting to my third and fourth progressions and we were hitting some big plays because I just had so much time. So really got to I guess just talk up those guys because they played amazing. So, it’s disappointing, you walk in the locker room and you were that close, literally two yards and you know everybody left it out there. It’s a bad feeling, but I’m proud of these guys the way we fought and had a chance to win. So, we’ve got to get better. Good teams win those games, so we’ve got to get better.
On how he felt seeing one of his offensive linemen score…
I mean I don’t feel great about it when it’s because I fumbled, but I told him, ‘Thanks for saving my butt there.’ I mean obviously fumbling on the one yard line is not what you want to do, but I was happy for Will (Richardson Jr.), he was on the PAT team, so I had to take the ball over there to give it to one of our equipment managers to keep it for him. It’s always cool getting to see those guys score, just fun. At the end of the day this is a game and it’s fun to see those guys enjoy it. But yeah, obviously you don’t want to do it that way, but hey we’ll take it.
On if guys on the offense weren’t sure what was going on in the last two plays of the game…
Obviously there’s a lot of different ways to handle that between spiking it and trying to get another play in real quick on the ball. I mean it’s tough, I was kind of with Schotty (Brian Schottenheimer) there, spike it and give us a chance to just think about what we really want to call, get us in a good situation. So I liked that and we’re on the two yard line. One play from the two, I mean you can’t ask for any closer than that – you could be on the one – but I mean, right there. So that opportunity we liked where we were at and then I just think there on the last play just formationally got a little bit confused. And then we also had a motion, so it made it hard, and then we got behind the play clock and tried to get everybody set and then we had two guys in motion. I had to snap it because it’s fourth down, there was only three seconds when I started asking for the ball. Like I said it wasn’t clean. For as clean as we played all day, to just be that chaotic on the last play is just something we can’t do. We fight, get ourselves back in the game and have a chance to go win it, and we’ve got to go win it. So we’ve got to clean that up.
On if today was the most time he had in the pocket all season…
I don’t know compared to all the games, it’s tough to say, but like I said the guys they played great up front. You can’t ask for anything more, hardly any pressures at all. I had a lot of time, and that was an emphasis I wanted to make this week too was sitting in there, trusting those guys a little bit more instead of looking to scramble. So just sitting in there, trusting those guys, allowing myself to have an opportunity to make the plays downfield, and you saw we made a lot of them. We even left some out there that we’ve got to hit, missed a couple throws, a couple guys go up and make the play, like there’s still more plays out there as many big plays as we hit. So, that’s a positive thing.
On how he felt playing out there and if he felt more loose than normal…
Yeah, I felt really good. I don’t know, just had a lot of confidence in our plan. I thought we had a great week of prep and really liked some of the stuff we had gameplanned. So that’s obviously part of it, but then just going out there and just being the person that got me here and playing my game. I think obviously besides some of the ball security issues – I’ve got to clean that up – I thought I played a pretty clean game. I was happy with it. Like I said, all the guys around me, everybody played well, guys stepped up. Dare (Ogunbowale) ended up having to play pretty much the whole game because of James (Robinson) and just things like that get thrown at you, and just to see guys react well and Dare to play really well and just know everything. He did a great job. I felt good though, I felt comfortable, felt confident and just trying to carry that momentum to finish the season out. Obviously didn’t get the result we wanted today, we’ve still got two more games and just trying to finish strong.
On the loss of James Robinson to injury and what that means…
Yeah it’s sucks, it’s tough. I really love James, great guy, super hard worker. Just to kind of see him fight through these injuries this year and every week besides the Buffalo game been available even though you know he’s fight through some pain. To see him go down like that, it’s like, ‘Gosh, can’t catch a break.’ Hate it for him more so than for us. Obviously we need him, he’s a great player, but I just hate it for him, a guy that works that hard and to go down with an injury like that it’s very unfortunate. So, praying for him for sure and support him anyway we can.
On if the team played aggressive on purpose or is it because they had nothing to lose, and if they cost themselves going for two in the first half…
Like I said, hindsight is 20/20. If we go and get that two-point conversion, that changes the game too. So I don’t know, obviously when you don’t get a two point conversion or you don’t get two of them it’s easy to say after the game, ‘Man we should have taken the points,’ because then we would have been down by a field goal, but you never know that in the situation. That’s a tough call, and from the one yard line – you get a chance to go for two from the one, it’s pretty good odds especially with our guys up front the way they’ve been playing, felt good about it. Obviously didn’t get it, it’s easy to say after the fact. But I think us being aggressive was a part of the reason that we were so productive on offense as well. So that kind of goes both ways.
On if he expects to play aggressive like that throughout his career…
Obviously you have to be smart. I wouldn’t say at all times, but having those opportunities to make the plays downfield and taking those shots, like that’s something you’ve got to do in this league and you see the best teams do it, they have a bunch of explosive plays. I think situationally, besides the last play, situationally we played really well today. Like I said, executed on the two-minute drive. But yeah, I’d say being aggressive, that’s a big part of this game, but you’ve got to be smart too.
CB Shaquill Griffin
On the emotions on the sidelines this week…
I can honestly say this game has been different than every last one of them. I remember talking to the team out there and I was telling them on the sidelines being there watching Trevor (Lawrence) and the offense driving down the field, I’m just looking around at everyone’s faces and that faith, that belief and that hope that, “Dang, we really can do this.” That’s the part that I feel was missing for so long. Going into the game and knowing that we can really win this. Knowing that this W can come to us and I’ve seen that on everybody’s face that believed that. I can play with a team like that any day. Any person that has that kind of fight and that kind of belief that we can make this happen, that’s the team we have to be. And that was my message to the team after. I’m going through the same things you guys are. I’m here with you. I understand that belief that you have, you all have to have that in the beginning. From the beginning to the end, we need that. Understand we can be the team we want to be. When that offense runs out on the field, we can be that offense every time. The way that defense stopped that team on third down in the red zone, let’s make that stop earlier. We can be that defense. We can get off the field a little earlier. We still made a hell of a stop, just do it earlier. Special team, they don’t have to fake for one to go away behind us to tighten up and do better. Start early. It was definitely different than every other game. It was great to see.
On the dropped interceptions…
I guess we have to start catching, starting with me. I dropped a couple, so it’s hard for me to say, ‘Don’t drop that pass,’ knowing that I dropped some. I’m definitely going to have some trash talk here and there, because I’m not the only dropping interceptions, but I was hoping maybe with a tip up, I’d have my chance to redeem myself but I didn’t get that chance this game, so hopefully next game. It’s all right. I have those guys catching balls with me at the jug machine at practice.
On if this game can give them some positive momentum going in the last two games of the season…
Most definitely, I think that. Even though we lost, the momentum is definitely going in the right direction going in the next two games (and) going into the offseason. That’s what we needed. Understand, it’s been a long season. No one wants to go through that with so many losses. It’s painful, but we’re all going through it. It’s not just one person. It’s everybody. I want everybody to continue to believe in something. Understand that game was different. If you believed in it, hang onto it. This team, this organization is going to flip around and I felt that today. I felt that. Let’s go the drawing board. We have 48 hours to get in and out and figure out what we did wrong, fix it and move forward. We’re going in the right direction. I love that and I need everybody to believe in that. I need everybody to see that. Some people may believe that and not say anything, but I’ll be that voice. Whatever you feel, keep that feeling. It’s the right one.
