Opening Statement: “I thought that one of the bright spots for us yesterday was just defensively, the first half, that was the most efficient that we’ve played all year. We did some really good things. We did give up the shot play there before halftime, which hurt, but we just needed more of that in the second half. They have to continue down that road until offensively we find some type of rhythm. They have to continue to play that way because they are getting better. But, we started doing things that aren’t us, the way that we want to play defensively and it caught up to us. In the meantime, we couldn’t recover or do enough offensively to get back in the game. That’s where we’re at.” On how he resets his anger after yesterday’s loss: “I think you – last night it takes a minute just to step away from it and just calm down, don’t let your emotions play into it as you grade the tape. It takes me a minute and then look at it with open eyes and somewhat of a clean slate and take it for what it is, not let your emotions overcome you. So, that’s what I did. Look, you always have to find the positives in there and you take that and you build from those. And I know this, we still go back to – and this is on me, but I go back to the fact that it’s like, ‘OK, well we’re not doing this well. We’re not doing this well.’ All of that is irrelevant until we’re able to clean up MAs and penalties that just shoot ourselves in the foot. We don’t have a leg to stand on until we clean those up. Then let’s figure out where we’re at. Maybe now we’re second-and-3 instead of second-and-17, which puts us in a better third down. There again, you take the things you’re doing well and you build on them and you find ways to do things you’re not doing so well, obviously much better. That’s what I’m charged with.” On if he has immediate changes in mind for either the roster or practices: “I do. There are a couple of things and it’s – I would say all of the above. I don’t want to get too far into where that will go as far as the roster, but we’re looking at that. I think we’re going to shake things up here a little bit. And then as it pertains to practice, there are a couple of things that I have in my head as to which way I want to go with it, but I do want to change it up and see if I can get us into some type of – there again, more of a rhythm or tempo early just to get us going offensively and defensively. I said this yesterday, but this is what we wanted to – we wanted to come in this game and really come out of the gates and we did not do that. We went the opposite way. I think there are some things in practice we have to do to at least see if we can supercharge ourselves somewhat.” On how the coaching staff can support QB Jared Goff playing against his former team: “Look, he’s no different than anybody else as far as the last game. You coach him up on those things and the things he needs to improve in, his reads, the calls, whatever it may be. You coach him on those to get him better and then as it pertains to this week, I think it’s really, ‘How do we give him the best plan possible to have success?’ Things that he really, really does well and try to take some of the pressure off of him, per se, going into this week. I would do that with anybody, not just him. Shoot man, I remember last year it was the (Buccaneers QB) Tom Brady and (former Saints QB) Drew Brees deal and you don’t think a lot of it, but those two guys going at it, man, that was all that was being pushed that week and it was a huge story. Sometimes, you take it for granted and you don’t realize the amount of pressure that those guys are under to perform against – you’ve got two of the GOATs going after each other. So, I know this a little different, but in the same regard, I know it will be a big story. And so how, ‘How do we calm it down just to where he can go and play fast and efficient and help us offensively run game-wise, play action, anything that we can do that’s going to take a little bit off and help him play fast?’” On establishing a rhythm and tempo on offense and why it is important: “It’s important because when we’re not in tempo as of two weeks now, we’ve not done well, we really haven’t. We stalled out. In Minnesota, we started the game well. Now, we turned the ball over, but we didn’t move it, and then at the end of the game, we moved it. Other than that, we just haven’t done much unless we’re in the two-minute mode and we’re kind of flowing. I think we just need to be prepared to change it up a little bit. There again, if we need to get out of the world of true called plays and they’re one word, we’re in a one-word system for what we do and we’re up to the ball and we’re functioning that way, then we’ll do that. I think we just – whether we’re calling what we call and change the tempo, I think we need to start really experimenting with things like that.” On calling plays faster and getting to the line of scrimmage faster: “You’re trying to pull out my whole game plan for the Rams. Look, I think any and all of the above. I think maybe there is a time where we don’t need to be huddling and we need to just get back to the line and call everything at the line instead of huddling. I do think there is a place to huddle. I think there is a place to huddle, run a play, and then get right back to the line. I think that you just have to keep tinkering with it and you’ve got to explore some of these things that we haven’t quite done yet. I know this is – now, some of it is because the defense is in more of a, ‘Bend, but don’t break,’ because we’re down and behind. But, some of our better production has been when we’ve been in two-minute. We just get up there and go, and so it’s hard to ignore that.” On what the offense is doing well: “Not much. Not much. We were running the ball pretty good. We got flushed out of the run a little bit, but I felt like it just – as the game went on, in particularly once we hit the second half, once we gave up that touchdown coming out of halftime, it really felt like, ‘Alright now, we’ve got to go. We’ve got to find a way to get something here offensively to produce some type of movement.’ And so, we got flushed out of the run game, and that’s tough for us. We’re throwing over 40 times a game. That’s going to be tough for us to win.” On if it is hard to balance taking the blame for losses and criticizing players: “Yeah, but I think it’s – the players know. They’re being told and they realize it. They know when they mess up and they’re being held accountable as far as that’s concerned, but I also do believe that we have a hand in it. We have a huge hand in this. I still believe that whatever we have to do, whether it’s putting somebody else in a position to maybe give them an opportunity to have success – or it’s just the roster in general, how do we balance between special teams, O and D, and then inside of that, who are our best 11 and what are we playing and what are we doing? I think we just keep tinkering and try to find the best solution that we can. We’re really no different than anybody else, either. We’re a new staff and we’re kind of learning and growing and working with each other and figuring each other out. The staff is no different than the players. You have strengths and you have weaknesses, and how do you complement each other is something that we’re also working with right now. It doesn’t make anybody feel better, but that’s the reality of it. We’re having to get through some of these bumps and bruises and figure things out right now. So, we’ll just keep tinkering and figure out what we can, we’ll keep propping the playbook or changing it, and if we have to go to nothing but tempo, or on the line and not even huddle, we’ll do that. If we can huddle, we’ll huddle and then we’ll just build defensively off of what we’ve begun to start over the last three weeks here a little bit, or last couple.” On what message he can he give to the team as a former player to get through the start of the season: “‘You’ve got a job to do. This game is the best game in the world, man. It’s a privilege to play it.’ Shoot, man, if I could go back right now, I would do it in a heartbeat. I’d give up a body part, as long as that body part didn’t affect the way I played football. But, I would do it to go back and play again. You miss it, you miss the locker room, you miss the competition, you miss the being on the road and you can’t hear anything and it’s a hostile crowd, hostile environment, you miss that. It doesn’t matter what it is. At the end of the day, no matter what the record is, no matter how bad things may seem, somebody is going to line up across from you, and if that doesn’t give you enough juice to want to win and to beat them in your 1-on-1, then you’re in the wrong business.” On if he would like commit to the run game more when losing: “It’s a good question. It’s a fine line because if you feel like you’re going to try to commit and you get stuffed a couple of times, now you’re forced into a third-and-8, and you’re not very good on third down, then you’re going to wish you would’ve passed more. But, it’s a valid question, it is. Like yesterday for example, I just felt like it was time for us to try to go tempo once we hit the second half to see if we can change something up. It didn’t feel like anything was going our way. Really – I’ve said this before, it’s really no different than – ‘Hey, man, you get some turnovers or you turn the ball over, it becomes contagious and when you make mental errors and penalties, offensively, we started to feed off each other from that negatively.’ It snowballed and it just crushed us. We’ve got to be able to stamp that stuff out and find a way to hang in there to where we can stay inside the game plan, if you will.” On if missed assignments are a result of scaling back the playbook or incorporating new players to the offense: “I think it’s a little bit of everything. I think that some of it certainly deals with some of the players. They’re the ones who have it. I think it’s also we can do a better job of coaching it and coaching the details of it and helping them. I think we can do better by the way we do crop it. If that’s what we have to do and we have to crop it even more, we’ll crop it even more. But, I think everybody’s got a hand in it and they need to be held accountable, but so do we. At the end of the day, these are our guys and we have to help them and we have to help them have success.” On CB Jerry Jacobs covering Bengals WR Ja’Marr Chase: “Jerry’s getting better. Jerry’s getting better, and really there was the one time that we didn’t have help over the top was the big shot play in the second half. They found him and they got us a little bit, but Jerry is improving and he’s competitive and he plays hard, and he communicates well. Yeah, you take those two out, he’s doing a pretty good job, he really is. Look, Derrick Barnes is doing pretty good. He’s improving. Alim McNeill is getting better. Tracy Walker is starting to get on this elevation. He’s playing better. I thought Jonah Jackson did some good things. Austin Bryant, he wasn’t in there a ton, but I thought he did some good things. So, there are guys that are making an improvement and they’re quietly just kind of coming into their own. They’ve got to keep going. So, there are things in there, but Jerry – look, we like where he’s going and he’ll only get better with reps.” On Rams QB Matthew Stafford: “I haven’t watched – I just breezed over the first half earlier, but I haven’t really done a deep dive. I know that – look, he’s doing a dang good job out there. They’re an explosive offense, he’s a good quarterback, they’ve got the best defensive player in the League over there. This is another tough opponent, as is every week. He’s a good quarterback and it’s going to be a huge challenge for us.” On OLB Charles Harris’s injury: “Right now, it’s kind of an oblique and it will be day-to-day. We’ll see where he’s at.” |
