Opening Statement: “Just from special teams, offense, defense, we did some really good things. Special teams we had two explosives in the return game. I thought coverage was good. Our return units were good. I mean, we had some close ones where we could’ve gotten even more, but those guys played hard. Obviously, everything that puts a black eye on it is the field goal, the extra point and the field goal, but that doesn’t take away from the way those core guys played on special teams, the core unit. Defensively I thought was one of our better games. They played a lot of plays. They weren’t clean, they weren’t all clean, but it was much better. We played violent. We played physical. They believed in the plan. They executed it. We were better in the red zone. On the one they scored on, that was an M.A., but it was a little bit schematically, too. They end up – A.J. (Parker) ends up in, ‘Should I carry? Should I not? Is it a wheel? Is it a rail?’ Just the nuances of, ‘How do I treat this?’ But, we cleaned that up because they came back to it later in the game and tried to hit us again and we did clean it up, we adjusted, had three turnovers. We needed to affect the quarterback better than we did, but we only gave up four explosives and 4.8 a play, which is a season-high for our defense. That was outstanding. Offensively, we had no turnovers, which was important. Our run game efficiency was outstanding. Those guys upfront did a great job, the backs ran hard, but ultimately our protection was not good enough. We didn’t throw it a lot, but the ones where we truly needed to try to push it downfield a little bit more, we did not hold up in protection. We gave up four sacks, three was in the protection, and then one was on the quarterback. That’s a hard way to live. Now, that being said, we were in it to the end, had a chance to win and we did not do that, but we didn’t lose. So, you take it for what it is and we just coach these guys off of why we didn’t win and why we didn’t lose. That’s how we handle it.” On T Taylor Decker and T Penei Sewell’s performances in yesterday’s game: “I thought they both played well. Sewell I thought was a pretty smooth transition to go back over there. He looked pretty comfortable and thought he played fast. I thought he played physical. We did a number of things where you see him on the perimeter too, aside from the run blocking, the pass pro. Sometimes, you may take for granted just how good of an athlete he is. That’s a big man, 330 pounds that can run on the perimeter and block screens and do some things, but I thought he played well. And then just having Decker back, you can feel it and you know it. There is a difference and I thought he stepped in and played really well. There were a couple of things – he’s a little rusty, but ultimately it was good to have him back and you could feel his presence.” On if the team is trying out kickers or sticking with K Ryan Santoso: “We’re going to bring some guys in, work them out, just see who the best man for the job is.” On if there was anything besides the weather that could have affected K Ryan Santoso’s missed field goal in overtime: “No, the procedure was good. The snap and hold was good on both. Nope. They did a good job with the procedure.” On QB Jared Goff’s injury status: “He’s getting checked out right now as we speak, so we’ll know a lot more in a little while. I know he’s a little sore, but I’m sure he would be, just like all of those guys are. So, we’ll know more later this afternoon.” On the multiple injuries sustained in yesterday’s game: “I would say most of these guys we won’t know a lot, but I can’t say that anything looks long-term. I think, actually, some of these aren’t as bad as maybe they appeared, but we’ll know more in a couple of days. I feel like we may get out OK here a little bit.” On if there is hope QB Jared Goff’s injury is not significant: “Yeah, yeah. Sure.” On if he would have kept QB Jared Goff out of the game if he felt his injury was affecting his play: “Oh, yeah. I would say that was – yeah, absolutely. If I felt like there was no way that he can function then I would do it, but I didn’t feel that way yesterday.” On why WR Josh Reynolds was a healthy inactive in yesterday’s game: “It was more just I wanted to make sure that when he’s up, that he’s up, he has a chance to have some success – there is enough that he knows in the playbook – before we just throw him to the wolves. That’s all. I mean, not that he couldn’t handle a couple of plays, but I just felt like we had just gotten him and we’ve worked some of these other guys and I wanted him to be able to digest what we were doing before. But, he’ll be up this week.” On LB Derrick Barnes and NT Alim McNeill’s decreased snap counts yesterday: “I would just say it was more game plan and kind of where the game went. It wasn’t something like they don’t deserve to continue to play, it was just that’s where it went. Normally, you don’t see it working out that way, but it did yesterday.” On DE Da’Shawn Hand’s performance in yesterday’s game: “We wanted to move him outside a little bit. He’s got some versatility inside and outside and it just kind of gave us a bigger package to be able to set the edge with their run game. And so, yeah, he played quite a bit and some of that was because Trey (Flowers) went down for a while, so he had to take more than we anticipated. Honestly, now that’s kind of his first real true taste of getting a lot of that outside work. He can be better, let’s put it that way. I think he’s got the potential to be a really good player and you’d like to see a little more production out of him. But, he’s also just getting his feet under him. He’s learning kind of that spot, but certainly he’s got the ability and he’ll be better for those snaps he took yesterday.” On what he learned about QB Jared Goff yesterday that he did not know before from talking with him over the headset: “I think you just kind of figure out how the game goes with him and how he feels, a little bit of what he’s thinking. Just how he feels throwing the ball, too, the throws that he likes, where he feels like he can go. Just things that maybe subconsciously you think maybe affect him. I think it maybe can push you one way or another. I think that if anything, the communication went well between he and I, and just getting it in to him so that he can get it in to our offense and we’re up to the line, we’re functioning fast. He did a good job with all of the checks, the kills, everything that we had in. We had a lot in for the run game and he handled all of that stuff well. As far as that goes, it ran smooth and efficient.” On why QB Jared Goff deserves to be the starting quarterback: “I think right now when you think about what we’ve changed after the bye and the fact that we wanted to tinker with a couple of things – and then there again, I kind of took over the green dot if you will – there was a certain way we wanted to go. We wanted to take shots early. We took one shot and we didn’t get it, but there is also pressure in his face when he’s trying to throw it. So, that thing comes up and then you end up in one of these games where the weather and you realize that you’re running it well, you’re going to continue to run it. It’s hard to say that he shouldn’t be the guy right now. It’s hard to say that because – there again, every time we try to throw it in dropback just about, our protection breaks down. Until we can do things right around him – now, he – yeah, there are throws we want to see that he needs to make. There was a dart that we threw to (Kalif Raymond) Lif that he should make and he’s pissed off about it, too. But ultimately, I still think right now he’s the guy that gives us the best chance.” On when COVID-19 tests will occur for the players after Steelers S Minkah Fitzpatrick tested positive today: “I’m not sure. I don’t know when all of that is going to happen.” On RB Jermar Jefferson’s injury and production yesterday as well as RB Godwin Igwebuike’s performance: “Jefferson, he got rolled up yesterday on the touchdown, so we’ll see where he’s at. I don’t think it’s as bad as we thought it was going to be, but that doesn’t mean that this isn’t going to be a week or so or something, but we’ll know more tomorrow. But, it’s a good sign when you see him coming in to run the way he ran and then to see Godwin go in there and do what he did, I thought those backs all went in there and ran hard, ran angry, and ran behind the O-line. I mean, the O-line was moving the line of scrimmage before they even got there a yard and a half, in some cases two yards. So, that’s a pretty good sign and they took advantage of it. It’s good, man. I love the way those guys went out there and competed.” |
