HEAD COACH BRIAN CALLAHAN
Okay. Lot of positive things, disappointed in the outcome. But our defense played their tails off today. I thought we recovered well on special teams. They were challenged to not let them start outside the 30, we never let them do that. We played great run defense for most of the game, and at the end of the day we needed to score in the red zone. We were O-for-two down there and that's the difference in a tight ballgame in a divisional game and that's—you got to score touchdowns down there and we didn't. So, we're O-for-two and that's the difference in the ballgame. Again, I thought there was a lot of positive things. We put ourselves in position and didn't execute when we had to have it the most, which is down there tight. Again, I'm disappointed in the outcome, certainly. But at the end of the day, we didn't do enough to win again. So go ahead.
You didn't score a touchdown against arguably the worst team in the league. A lot of positive things is the first thing you take from that?
I wasn't talking about the touchdowns. We need to score touchdowns in the red zone, certainly. Didn't do enough good (stuff) on offense to be able to score points and we lost the game. So yeah, there's positive things to point out, but ultimately we didn't score enough points to win. So, it is what it is.
What do you mainly attribute offensively—So much progress for this group over the last month or whatever, and then against one of the worst defenses, it feels like it all went away.
Yeah. I don't know. I'll have to watch the film, I'll get back to you.
First red zone situation, did Will Levis not see Chig Okonkwo?
Yeah, he missed him, Chig (Okonkwo) was open. He missed—he didn't get his eyes down to Chig. So yeah, we had a shot, we had a guy open. So, didn't convert.
You had a great degree of run success early in the game. Why didn't you try to run down there in that first red zone series?
We did run some. I can't remember the exact play selection, but we had the runs that scored, we scored on one and got called for a hold and got called back and punched us out. But yeah, I mean, we ran the ball a bunch in that possession in the red zone down inside there. So got down to the two and had a guy wide open in the end zone. I don't regret the play selection.
Do you think Will Levis had any limitations in the second half after the shoulder?
Todd (Toriscelli) said he was good to go, Will (Levis) said he was good to go and didn't feel like there was anything there from an injury perspective.
I know you've in the past talked about the risk versus reward on a play like that to end the half or whatnot. Yeah. What was the thought process?
That was the risk. We weren't throwing a Hail Mary. We were trying to get a block play set up to see if we could get the ball and do something. I felt like we had gotten the momentum with the interception so we tried to see if we can't get the ball in the hands with some blockers out front. But it takes a second to get down the field enough to make it count. So, it's a play we ran against Buffalo, to be honest. The same one we had. Gives you a chance to get down there one-on-one and get guys blocked and see if you can't punch it in and just felt like we—to just intercept the ball and take a knee was not the right thing. And we didn't block the left side the way we needed to and took a shot. So those things happened. But that's the balance that I have to work through when you're calling one play with four or five seconds left on how aggressive you want to be. And I thought with the turnover—to see if we couldn't get the ball in somebody's hand and see what could happen.
In your last series down by the end zone, did Calvin (Ridley) have a good enough sense of where he was with the marker? Could he have tried to plant a foot there and turn up field?
Yeah, it got extended a bit because there was a guy in the window. But we got the ball to him with space and then felt like we had a chance to convert that. And from where I was standing, I thought we had it. And then he sort of ended up on the boundary. I would have liked to have seen that turn up. I thought we had a shot for a first down there.
Did Calvin Ridley say anything about why he wasn't able to get up field?
No, I haven't talked to him yet.
The run game was pretty effective, which normally would make you think play action and explosive plays would be the add-on result of that. But why were you able to hit any explosives?
We had a few. We had some off the run action. Called a couple more that got called into two-high shells and got covered. It wasn't for lack of intent. Sometimes you have them and sometimes you don't. We hit a couple. That's just how it goes sometimes.
Did you think Nick Westbrook-Ikhine could have made the catch on the play after Calvin's play?
I think that would have been a tough catch. I mean, again, we try if it hit his hands, you gave him a chance. And then Will (Levis) said that was the first time all day that the ball had gotten a little slick, kind of slipped out so he didn't have full control of it. But yeah, I think it had a chance. I'm not going to say that without really seeing it again, how close it was or wasn't. But he put the ball up in a spot where we can try to go get it.
What's your message to the team after one like this?
Yeah, it's hard. You got to keep going. They played their ass off. They did everything in a lot of areas that was asked of them, and we didn't score enough points. In a tight division game, which all these games are tight, it doesn't matter what the records are when you play in the division. We had a chance with two possessions in red zone and came away with no points, and that's ultimately the difference in a game that you got to score. Especially a limited possession game and the way it was playing out, didn't have an opportunity to win the game. But again, there's a lot of other things that were good, but no one gives a (crap) anyway. So, we got to find a way to score more points.
We talked about the red zone a lot in this game. But are you surprised with how difficult it's been for you guys on a regular basis?
Yeah. We also scored down there once and then got called back and then we had a wide-open guy again, should have scored. But that's the way it is. It's hard down there. It's tough defenses. It's not a lot of space. I would expect that we could be better than we've done.
Are you disputing the penalty that called back that touchdown?
I couldn't see it from where I was at. Didn't seem like it was a real egregious call. But they called it and we got to keep our hands inside and don't hold and the ball should have been in there for six.
Do you think you guys have seen the right mentality in the red zone? Do you think the lows are weighing on them?
I don't know. I think we have the right mentality a lot of the time everywhere, and to not come away with a win and not come away with points is disappointing, certainly.
Is there anything that you want to preach to the team going forward? You guys are the most penalized team in the NFL, and it seems like those calls are a detriment to momentum.
Yeah, they're killer. We coach it and talk about it all the time. It is what it is. Penalties happen. We only had, I think, four or five today, which was improved. But yeah, those things got to get cleaned up. And we've stalled drives because of it on offense, we've given up conversions on third down on defense. Not today necessarily, but just in general, yeah. Those penalties got to get cleaned up and we're working like hell to get them cleaned up.
