(Obviously you addressed yesterday that you think QB Ryan Fitzpatrick will start on Sunday and you’ve always said you want to start the guy who you think gives you the best chance to win. One thing with regards to QB Josh Rosen, is there any more critical information that you and General Manager Chris Grier and Vice President of Football Administration Brandon Shore think you need to know from seeing him in a game this year or do you already know everything that you feel like you need to know about the player at this point?) – “You can always get more information and gather more information; but we have what we have, which is the practice reps and the game reps that he’s had along with his play from a year ago. I think the most important thing we get is what we see in practice on a weekly basis. That’s kind of my thoughts on that.”
(So how much temptation, if any, is there to get a look at QB Josh Rosen in the last two games?) – “We’re always going to do what we feel is in the best interest of this team. We’re going to play the guys who give us the best chance to win. I think we feel that’s Ryan (Fitzpatrick). It’s been that way for the last – I don’t know – eight to 10 weeks. We’ll continue to go that way.”
(With S Walt Aikens, is the issue that left him home Sunday resolved in terms of will he be available to you next Sunday?) – “Yeah, it’s been resolved.”
(We saw LB Raekwon McMillan leave yesterday. Was that anything that you determined was serious or was there anybody else out of yesterday that you think might be in jeopardy the rest of the season?) – “It’s early in the week. Guys are – everyone is a little bit sore from the game. It was a tough game so we’re still evaluating a few guys. I think if you feel a little bit better tomorrow and see what Wednesday looks like – those guys, it’s a tough group. They’ll try to battle back and get out there and play Raekwon is definitely part of that.”
(What is your message this week?) – “The same as it always is. Let’s get better in practice, let’s improve in practice, meetings, walkthrough, and try to go out and play a good, solid football game next week. But that starts with our process on Tuesday, preparing for our next opponent – Cincinnati in this case – and building throughout the course of the week. Getting your rest, getting your hydration, doing all of the things you have to do from a preparation standpoint to give yourself the best chance to play at an optimum level next Sunday.”
(The narrative around this team is the team that loses the game Sunday is better off. Have you ever gone into a game feeling that way and if not, as a competitor and seeing that and hearing that and probably the way they feel in the front office, how do you deal with all of that and handle all of that?) – “I mean I don’t know whose narrative that is. I’ve said this all year: we’re going to try to win every game. That’s kind of my thought process.”
(You guys are favored for the first time this week. Where does that equate in your mind? Obviously I know you don’t pay attention to lines but they believe you are the superior team to the Bengals.) – “I think every week is hard in this league. I think the Bengals have played well the last few weeks. It’ll be a tough game, just like every game in this league. We’ve got to do a good job with our preparation, going through our process – Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday – and try to build over the course of the week. We’re going to play a tough, competitive team, and we’re going to have to play well if we want to win, just like any other week.”
(What have you seen in the red zone the last two weeks?) – “From us? Not enough. Not enough production. We’ve got to punch it in. We’ve gotten stalled out too often, and you’re not going to win games if – I think we moved the ball efficiently at times, and we just haven’t been able to finish off those drives. It’s hard to win with field goals in this league.”
(I wanted to ask you about the run game. Obviously you had a pretty much resurgent game – one of the three times you’ve run for over 100 yards. What was the difference this week against the Giants?) – “I thought we could’ve ran the ball better, to be honest with you. There’s still a lot of things we need to improve on. I’d say the first thing that comes to mind is we need to be able to pick up one yard when we need one yard. I know there were some good runs in there, but I think we need to do it more consistently really at the start of a game and really throughout. We’ve still got a lot of work to do there.”
(And how would you assess the way G Michael Deiter and G Shaq Calhoun performed?) – “Good plays, bad plays. I think it was a good front. They’ve got some good players, so I think we again, had some good plays, had some not-so-good plays; but I thought those guys battled every week. The competitiveness, the effort, the toughness – that was never in question, but they had some good players, and it was tough to block them one-on-one at times. We’ve got to do a better job of just playing with fundamentals and technique and giving ourselves the best chance to get those guys blocked, especially when you’re playing against good players.”
(Do those comments about the guards also apply to C/G Evan Brown? I guess he was the third guard.) – “Yeah. Evan went in there and played a little bit yesterday. He got some live action for the first time with us this year. Again, this is no different. (Evan) had some good plays, had some bad plays, showed some quickness and some change of direction. Again, (there were) some instances where he didn’t play as well. He lost a couple one-on-one matchups, I would say; but we had that at some other positions, as well. It was good to get him out there, him to get his feet wet and hopefully we can build on that over the last couple games this season.”
(How has T Julién Davenport played the last couple weeks?) – “Better. You’re seeing some steady improvement. We’ve just got to build on that week-to-week, practice-to-practice and try to string some good play together.”
(Do you notice anything that’s correlating to that improvement for T Julién Davenport?) – “I think he’s just playing – we’ve harped on him about just consistency with his technique. The kid’s athletic, but he’s got to play with good footwork, hand placement, tight hands, a low base in the run game. He’s starting to do those things a little bit more consistently. Again, this is someone who was out for a good chunk of the year early and then came back. It takes a little while to kind of get back into the groove of things as far as fundamentals and techniques from that standpoint. We just need him to continue to play consistently and improve over these next couple weeks. Hopefully that’ll lead into a good offseason and so-on and so-forth, but right now the focus is on getting better this week.”
(We’ve seen I think 10 players signed over the last two weeks. One of the 10 – RB Zach Zenner – is no longer here. A couple were inactive yesterday. Among those who played yesterday – DT Zach Sieler, DB Nate Brooks, CB Linden Stephens – did anyone flash to you?) – “I thought they all flashed. Some good plays; some plays they could’ve been better on. Sieler plays with great effort, had some good technique plays and I thought he played strong inside. Brooks had a couple good tackles, same with Linden. Again, they’ve got to get in the game. It’s good to get them in the game, see them run, see them move around. Then we had some plays we could be better on, and we’ll coach them up and make those corrections. Hopefully we’ll learn from them. We’ll have a quick turnaround – not this week from a playing standpoint, but for them individually, playing their first games of the season and then turning around and playing another game next week will be good for them.”
(How surprised were you to see so many dropped passes?) – “It’s disappointing. It’s something we work on really a daily basis and something we haven’t had as many issues with over the last – let’s call it five to six weeks – but you play in a little bit different environment. There’s wind – not to make excuses, but – they’re not excuses, they can’t be excuses, is really what I’m getting at. We had too many, really at all positions – receivers, backs, tight ends. We had them everywhere. It wasn’t just one guy. It was a collective problem, I would say, and it cost us some big plays. It really did. Those plays would have helped us, specifically in the first half. Maybe we put up a couple more points, maybe we break a tackle, maybe this, maybe that, if, if, if. But we have to make those plays.”
(Eighteen sacks in 14 games. Obviously that’s an issue that this team needs to improve on. Is there anything that you guys can do from a coaching standpoint or a scheme standpoint, play-calling standpoint to get the sack production up or pressure production?) – “I think it’s something that, we always want to get pressure on the quarterback. Every team’s trying to do that. We’re trying to do it as well. We’ve got to coach it better. We’ve got to play better. There’s a few different ways you could do it. We could all-out blitz them. We could fire-zone them. We could five-man pressure them. We could bring a corner, bring a star, bring a safety. I think at points in the season we’ve done all those things, and we’ll continue to do the things we feel we need to do to create some pressure and hopefully we play better, coach it better and hopefully we’ll see some improvement there.”
