(Was RB Mark Walton on the sideline for the two-point conversion attempt due to injury?) – “There were a lot of guys dinged up on the sideline at the end of the game – a 60-minute ballgame. Yeah, he got dinged a little bit, along with everyone in the game who had a bump or bruise or something. Yeah, he was dealing with something.”
(The only reason I asked about RB Mark Walton specifically is because RB Kenyan Drake and Mark said that Mark had practiced that play all week. Knowing that Mark was unavailable, how did that impact calling that play?) – “Well, we have a lot of confidence in Kenyan that he would be able to execute the play. He’s run it before in the past. Mark got them last week. Kenyan’s gotten them in previous weeks. I think we were all confident that we would get the play executed and it just didn’t work out that way.”
(How would you assess the execution of the play overall?) – “I mean we didn’t score, so it wasn’t executed very well. A lot of things could’ve gone a lot better. We’ve got to make a good throw and a good catch. That’s really where it starts. If we don’t get that, then the rest of it doesn’t really matter. At the end of the day, I think it looked a little bit better watching it again. We may have had a little bit better of a shot watching it last night. At the end of the day, we didn’t execute it, we didn’t get it done. We didn’t get the outcome we wanted.”
(This is your first late-game situation as a head coach. I’m wondering if you could offer us any insight into the process from the standpoint of did you and Offensive Coordinator Chad O’Shea discuss that two-point conversion? Or did you give him the freedom to make that call and did you listen in? How did that go?) – “We talk about that over the course of the week. We’ve got a two-point play menu. Obviously those plays we like, we like them all. Yeah, there was a lot of discussion about what we were going to do, what we liked. Really anything that is on the menu we like or else it wouldn’t be there. That’s kind of how we handle those and some other situations – anything on third down, anything on red zone. If we don’t like it, it’s out. At the end of the game, there were a lot of situations. If we wanted to take a timeout, how much time? Are we going for two? There is a lot of conversation going on there. That part of it, I thought we handled all of that well. We gave ourselves a chance at the end to score. To kick the extra point, or go for two, we chose to go for two. We had a play that we liked, we could’ve executed it better, we didn’t and we learned from it.”
(When you were the coordinator, did you want the head coach offering his input or did you want it to be your decision? How does that influence how you handled it yesterday?) – “I think the head coach and coordinators are normally on the same page. That’s kind of been my experience. Again, that’s not a split-second decision within the game. I think it’s something we talk about – or I know it’s something we talk about – over the course of the week, especially in what’s called the ‘got to have it’ situations. We’re all on the same page on what we want to do offensively, defensively or in the kicking game. If we’re not, then we need to get on the same page. There are only a handful of those situations, so if it comes down to this, we’re doing this. That’s really kind of how everybody operates.”
(Do you have an analytics guy, or do you consider analytics in that situation, in late-game situations?) – “Yeah, we – analytics is a big part of the game now. If it gives us any type of advantage or anything that gives us any kind of advantage I look into, so analytics is a part of that. So yeah.”
(The two-point play, is that a play where it’s most ideal coming out of a timeout or is it ideal when you’re having a couple of plays and you’re at the line of scrimmage?) – “I think it’s either or. I think timeout, no timeout, if we execute it, it’s a good play. If we don’t execute it, it’s not a good play. I don’t think the timeout had anything to do with whether to or not to call it.”
(With CB Xavien Howard, when was the decision not to play him? Are you concerned now that he’s had issues with both knees before the season, are you concerned that he’s got a knee problem?) – “I think four, five or six weeks into the season, everyone is dealing with something. I’m not concerned with Xavien from that standpoint. He just couldn’t go. He tried all week, just wasn’t ready to go. He’s working his way back. He’s obviously in there today working to do everything to get back out on the field. Hopefully we see him this week at practice and hopefully in the game next week.”
(Are you worried – I know DE Avery Moss left the locker room in a boot yesterday – is his going to be a long-term deal?) – “It’s still early. It’s Monday. We’ve got the rest of the week to kind of go through the progression, the treatment, the rehab. It’s still so early. It’s hard to say long-term, short-term. I know he’s – if you ask him, he’ll tell you he’ll be back tomorrow, so we’ll see how it goes.”
(I guess by that answer, it’s not a season-ending type of situation?) – “It’s early. I don’t think so but there’s no way to know.”
(Was there a conscious effort to try to get some shots down the middle of the field to TE Mike Gesicki or was this a matter of what the defense was giving you?) – “Obviously you want to take what the defense gives you. I think there are some opportunities, especially when the team is playing split-safety coverage to try to get down to the tight end or receiver down the middle. We had a couple shots at it. We missed one. We hit one. Those are big plays if you can make them, but it’s a tough throw. It’s a tight throw. You’ve got to get it out now. One we fired it in there. One we probably gave them an opportunity to make a play on it, and that’s kind of how that works. We gave it a shot. We got one. We didn’t execute on the other one, but I thought Mike (Gesicki) made a really good catch on the one down the middle.”
(Does your message to the team change at all after losing a one-point heartbreaker as opposed to the other games this year?) – “No, it doesn’t. We try to at least stay the course. We continue with our process, which I think has been better. We continue to prepare. The one part of the message that may change – or not ‘may change,’ as it was my message to them today – is these types of losses really sting and they can linger. The challenge now is for us to move on from that as quickly as possible because if we don’t, it’ll make that preparation for Buffalo that much harder, and this is a good team we’re playing. That’s part of being a professional. That’s part of the maturity this team has to have to move on to the next challenge, which is the Buffalo Bills.”
(After getting a chance to watch the film, do you still expect QB Josh Rosen to be the guy going forward?) – “I thought ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick) played really well when he went in there. I thought he did. Yes, I anticipate Josh (Rosen) being the guy, but I think we’re going to do what we feel is best for this team. That’s what we did yesterday in the fourth quarter. I thought ‘Fitz’ played really well. I thought Josh has played well in spurts, also, so we’ll see how this goes in practice – this week of practice – but yeah, Josh will be the starter.”
(How did you go about making that decision? Like you said, QB Ryan Fitzpatrick looked good. What made you decide to go back to QB Josh Rosen?) – “Just trying to keep some – I don’t want to say continuity – but I just feel like Josh (Rosen) has played well. He’s made a lot of strides. He’s developed over the course of the last, let’s call it six weeks – training camp, even more than that. But he’s done a good job. You never want to just pull a guy for one bad game, but I think this is still an ongoing conversation between myself, our coaching staff, and we’ve really got to take a look at Buffalo and see what they’re doing. We’re always going to try put what we feel is the best group out there.”
(What role does the long-term view of getting a fair evaluation on QB Josh Rosen – making sure we know what Josh is by the end of the season – play in your decision?) – “I wouldn’t say that’s part of the thought process. Right now it’s one game at a time and we try to win every game and try to put the best group out there each week. I would say I think by now, we’ve got a pretty good evaluation of him. We’ve had him since April and all of OTAs, all of training camp, three starts and the guy’s developed to get better. As far as the development part of that, I don’t think that’s necessarily a part of it. It’s more what we feel is the best for the team.”
(Do you happen to take any special care at all when you make quarterback decisions given how important that position is to the team and organization?) – “I think every decision we make is – you take thought and try to do what’s best for the organization and for the team. I don’t like to look at the quarterback position as any differently than I do the punter or the kicker or the center. I realize that obviously it’s the premier position, but at the end of the day, we try to do what we feel is best for the team. I think that’s something for me personally, that’s what I think about when making any decision.”
(How would you grade the offensive line’s play yesterday?) – “I thought we struggled in the first half, especially the first let’s call it two, three series. They’ve (Washington Redskins) got a really good defensive line. Powerful. They were in the middle of the pocket early. (We) kind of settled down after some time and then played better as the game went on. Things kind of settled down after let’s call it the first three series; but overall the group was, like I said, played better as the game went on. But we still need more consistency.”
