(On his approach this week) “I think [it’s] like anything. It’s obviously the last game of a disappointing year. It’s a start of a new year. [It’s] kind of what I talked about yesterday when I talked to the team after the game. It’s the first game of 2021. [We’re] looking at it and trying to say, ‘Okay listen, we’ve got to really focus on this one game and how important it’s going to be to how we feel and how we leave the building, all those things.’ I think after this game, then it’s time to look at [this year], to look back and that’s been my talk with the coaches and the players because reflecting back now is not going to help us win this football game that were playing a division opponent. We’re playing on the road. It’s important for us to win because obviously it’s in division and that’s what we do, we try to win. I know that it’s a big game and it’s obviously been flexed to 4:00 o’clock. There’s going to be a lot of eyes on it and let’s go out there and try to put a complete game together. We put quarters together, we put halves together, [but] we haven’t put four quarters together for the full season and that’s what we’re trying to do. I think I just try to tell them the truth and try to help the coaches and help the players block out a lot of the distractions. You’re talking about being fully committed to the six days and focus on everything you have to do, you can do to help each other win.”
(On an update on RB James Robinson practicing this week) “I can’t tell right now. He still has swelling, so we can’t do anything until that swelling goes down. I’m hoping he’ll have a better chance on Wednesday. If the swelling’s not down, then obviously it’s not going to look good. But I’m not ready right now to say it’s for sure because there’s still a chance.”
(On if QB Mike Glennon and QB Gardner Minshew II will compete for the starting role in practice again this week) “We just obviously as coaches finished up the game, finished up the grading. We haven’t really talked about it. I’m still waiting for the final injury reports to come in, so I haven’t gotten together with [Offensive Coordinator] Jay [Gruden] or [Quarterbacks Coach] Ben [McAdoo] to talk about how we’re going to go forward. Obviously, that’s something that we normally do in the afternoon, so I think we’ll go this afternoon [and] we’ll discuss it and then make the best decision for the team.”
(On the quarterback situation the whole season) “It’s been tough. I think we all know that. I think it’s been tough. It’s not necessarily from the people you’re dealing with, the players themselves. All the players have been great. They’re trying, they’re doing their best, and we’re trying to do our best to put them in that position. It’s just been tough when you don’t get that production out of that position. There’s been a lot of things that go into it but obviously I haven’t really had an opportunity to really have someone in that position that can really get a lot of things done. That’s not the players’ fault.”
(On interacting with the media this season) “Everybody’s been great. Whatever frustration or anything you have, you should never take it out on people that have to do their jobs. You guys have done your jobs well. I don’t get upset at questions that you have to ask. I can say this, Mark [Long] asked me where things have ranked with our quarterbacks, I can tell you from a standpoint of media and people that are high character, prints the truth and asks good questions and appreciate everything and understanding, this is by far the number one place that I’ve been in.”
(On why games seem to become out of reach so quickly especially last week against the Bears) “The communication problem was just on the second interception with the play that was called. We shouldn’t have obviously two receivers in that same area, so that was in regard to the communication question. I think a lot of times when you come back, it’s like if you go back into that third quarter coming out, first of all, I thought Aldrick [Rosas] did a great job. I mean we were trying not to kick the ball to [Bears WR] Cordarrelle Patterson. I think everyone knows how good of kick returner [he is]. He might be the best kick returner I’ve ever faced in my years in the league and I think [Special Teams Coordinator] Joe D[eCamillis] would say the same thing. So, we come out and obviously we kick the ball and we wanted to move him left and right and out here comes the return. All of sudden we get him stopped at the 23[-yard line], inside the 25[-yard line], which is a big win for us. I know from the outside you might not [think so]. People might say, ‘Eh.’ But you watch Cordarrelle Patterson, he has 42 returns and it’s unbelievable. So, you start with that and then you go and you look at it and it’s a short pass and up the middle, now all of sudden they get a first down and now all of sudden you’re sitting third-and-5. It’s third-and-5 and I think it’s an incomplete pass. They’re on our 36-yard line. We had given up the pass to [Bears RB David] Montgomery for big yardage early. Now you’re at third-and-5 and you’re [thinking] maybe it’s going to be a field goal. Now, they go for it, so now it’s fourth-and-5 and they go to [Bears WR] Allen Robinson [II]. He wins and now it’s first down where [if] you make a play there on fourth down, now you got the ball at the 36[-yard line] in a 13-10 game and you have a chance. Those are the things. You start to lose momentum. It wasn’t really a scheme approach. They just went to their playmakers and we tried to do the best we could to get on those guys. They forced us to pretty much cover everyone which is going to spread us a little bit thin. Then they went to what they felt was the best matchup for them and we just couldn’t get it done. So, they scored and then we come back and it’s our first [play of the drive]. I forget, I think Mike [Glennon] threw a pass or it was checked down and we got a bunch yards off a play action pass, we were trying to go deep, and we get called for a holding penalty. Well, we know that we have a lot of challenges with that. We go ahead and punt it and then we get a muffed punt, or a fumbled punt, and they recover and then we get another unnecessary roughness [penalty] and now they’re starting basically close to midfield. They get that and now you’re like, ‘Okay, here we go. Let’s stop them. Let’s keep them’ and then we almost get [an interception]. I think if J-Dub [S Jarrod Wilson] gets that ball, it could be a pick six and I’m not [just] saying that, but we should’ve gotten the pick. Then, now they go ahead and score. So, I think when you look at these games and they’re tight, you start pulling out these critical plays that you wish you could just make a play that’s going to get you the ball back. It changes it and then when you do get the ball, these critical errors of a holding penalty that’s going to put us in [a] tough position. These are the things that occur when you’re not winning football games. When you’re winning football games, you can either overcome these shortcomings or you’re making those plays. Right now, we’re not doing that and that’s why we are where we are.”
(On staying focused knowing that the team has the number one overall pick in next year’s draft) “Obviously, I’m completely focused on the next game ahead of us. I go back, and you guys know with these stories, when I was in high school, one of the assistant coaches, his name was Coach Burke, of the freshman team, so I was out Mount Saint Michael Academy. Our freshman year, our second to last game was really for the championship against a school called Holy Cross and we lost. Obviously, when you’re a freshman and we had a really good bunch of guys, we were devastated. Now we’re going into the last game with really nothing to play for. He had played at Notre Dame and had gotten an injury, so I mean he had played for [a college team]. We had a gentleman named Howie Smith who was also part of the staff who actually played for [another school], he must have been about 80 [years old]. He got up in front of the team, we were all young kids, and he was like, ‘People are going to say what they want about the season, but I can tell you this, you’re only as good as your last game.’ That was his speech to us. [He said,] ‘If you guys go out there and think you had a good season and you get your ass kicked in this last game, well you know what? It’s been a pretty shitty season.’ He goes, ‘But if you go out there and win this game, it’s been a disappointing season, but at least there’s something to go.’ I remember that when I was a freshman in high school because I was feeling sorry for myself. As a kid, you feel shitty, you feel sorry for yourself. I learned the lesson that you just keep fighting, you keep going, and then when you get to this last one, you want to end it the right way. So, my focus is on the team knowing that there’s a part of me that feels if the community is excited and the fans are excited, I’m happy. I know what we haven’t done what we [should]’ve done. If we did a good job, we were winning games, we were getting ready for the playoffs, then we would be excited about something else. I’m just glad there’s people that actually care about what’s going on and care about this football team. That’s the most important thing and I wish that obviously that we all could’ve done a better job of where we are, but we can’t really control what’s on the outside. We put ourselves in this position. Now, we have an opportunity to go out and win this game and this season with a win and that’s important.”
