(Opening Statement) "There were a number of things, I thought in particularly offensively, that I thought we did. I thought we ran the ball well. Our red zone efficiency was really good when we were down in the red area. We were able to score touchdowns. We were better on third down, and yet, I still think we need to be better than we were in the game. Defensively, I do not think we were very good. We had one takeaway in the game, which was a positive. I thought we were better in the run game in the first half, and then in the second half, I do not think we did a very good job stopping the run. We kind of switched positions a little bit. We did not do a very good job defending the passing game and were not able to get much of a rush in the first half. Then, in the second half, I thought we did a little bit better of a job of getting a little bit of a rush and defending in the passing game didn't do a good enough job in the run game. I think we had a good training camp. I think we got a lot accomplished. I think we have some tough decisions to make over the next 48 hours or whatever the case may be. We will be turning our attention to doing that."
(On the backup quarterback situation) "I would say over the last week to ten days, I feel like (Jake) Haener took a real big step forward in practice. I do not think we saw as much of that in the game. What are the reasons why? Whether it be routes or protections or misreads, whatever the case may be, I think we go back and we look at the tape and evaluate where that was. I thought Spencer (Rattler) did some nice things today. I thought he looked calm, poised, made some good throws, was able to extend some plays with his feet and get some first downs, tucking and running. I felt good about and feel good about the quarterback role."
(On the game plan for the quarterback rotation) "The plan going in was Jake in the first quarter, Spencer in the second quarter and really trying to two-fold get them with the second offensive line group where they were kind of playing with the same people and playing against a higher level of competition on the other side to try to make this thing a little bit more of a fair evaluation. The second half was designed to be Jake in the third quarter, Spencer in the fourth quarter. Then, when you started looking through play count, Spencer was at 27, 28 plays or something like that. Jake was at 15-18 plays. I kind of wanted to even out the play count a little bit."
(On snap counts in the season across all three quarterbacks) "That will be something we will have to navigate, if that's the case. I think to your point, being able to work with these young quarterbacks and develop these young quarterbacks, that's our job. That's what we have to be able to do. We have to figure out how we are going to be able to get that done."
(On the emotions of making cuts) "Here's the reality. The reality is you go from 90 guys on your roster, and you have to get all the way down to 53. That's always tough. Look, these guys worked extremely hard going all the way back to the beginning of the offseason program through the OTAs, minicamp, training camp, preseason games. These guys put their heart and soul into this - young guys, vet guys. It's always a tough deal. On the flip side, as you said, to see some of this hard work payoff is also just as gratifying as it is difficult on the other end."
(On decisions about those on the bubble) "I am not going to get into any type of potential personnel decisions. Those are things that we will have to look at over the next 48 hours and make those decisions."
(On the decision to have Blake Grupe handle all kicking duty today) "Charlie (Smyth) had a little bit of some groin tightness come up on Friday. I didn't want to really risk it too much in putting him out there and have him kick a bunch of kicks. I thought Blake (Grupe) responded to getting an opportunity and kicking the ball through the uprights. I thought he had a good day today."
(On Khalen Saunders) "Khalen Saunders is dealing with a calf injury."
(On Isaiah Foskey's production) "My overall view is I think he's taken a step forward, and yet, I think there are still some things that he's got to improve on. I think, there are some things that he could potentially help us with in the passing game some. I certainly see a vision for this guy helping us on special teams. I think you still have a young player that still needs to develop, but I think he's taken a step forward from where he was at this point last year."
(On players who were drafted versus those who were undrafted and the investment) "I think you come into it probably with a little bit of a leg up being that you were a draft choice. At the end of the day, we have to evaluate what we see. You have to be able to go out there and earn it. I guess probably if there was, using a baseball analogy, the ties goes to the runner. If you spent assets to go and draft a player and there hasn't been anything to truly create a separation, you probably get a little bit of the benefit being a draft choice. Really, the reality is, we've seen a lot of practices, a lot of game action, and we're going to base our evaluation on that."
(On Trevor Penning) "It is hard for me to comment too much. I do think, there were a few plays in there that I thought were an improvement. Without looking at it, the offensive line, defensive line, those are tougher evaluations just coming right off the field. Overall, I know this, I thought he played better than last week's game. I thought he improved this week in practice. I saw some good things tonight, too. I think there's some improvement."
(On if challenging Penning had anything to do with his improvement) "Probably a better question for him. You know what I mean? All I can tell you is I thought he played better in the game. I thought he had a good week of practice, and I thought he did some good things tonight.
(On Samson Nacua's big field goal return) "Score - that's what was going through my mind. Really it was, no blindside blocks, block above the waist, all of those things. You can't let an offensive lineman get you out of bounds, right? That is a play that rarely shows up in our game, but when you really think about it that is why we work that situation. The coverage unit's generally offensive lineman. Sometimes you might have a d-lineman, tight ends, those type of players. There are more skill players on the return team at that time, and it is a space game. That is not the game those guys are used to playing in. I thought their guy did a nice job of making the play and getting enough of him to get him out of bounds."
(On the return) "It was a lot. He needed just a little bit more juice at the end to get that block."
(On if that play makes an big impact on roster evaluations) 'You're not going to look at that play and that play alone and say 'OK, we are going to base all our decisions on that play alone'. Yet, that's part of however many plays we've seen, that's just part of the evaluation. I think the positive thing about that was there was a lot of smart football that took place on that play. There was a competitive nature of the guys who were on that unit and trying to score. It think it certainly was an exciting play, that's for sure."
(On offensive holding penalties negating two touchdowns) "I think that's pretty obvious, right? You have two touchdowns, and now you don't have two touchdowns. That's frustrating. That's part of why we play preseason games. We're trying to iron some of those things out. It was unfortunate that happened in the game."
(On Jacob Kibodi's performance) "I thought () did a henice job. I thought he ran the ball well today. I thought he ran it physical. I thought he made the right reads. I thought he did some good stuff."
(On Kibodi's overall improvement throughout camp) "I think so. I think (Jacob) has run the ball pretty tough the last week of training camp and ran it hard in-game and was effective in the game. I think he's done some good things."
(On Spencer Rattler's in-game improvements) "(Rattler) has made some good conversions. He has made some nice throws. He's made some good reads. He converted some things with his feet. He was poised under pressure. Those are the things I thought he did in the game today that impressed me."
(On the work plan next week) "There's a little bit of both of that going on. Obviously, these next couple of days is all going to be about roster management. That's where our focus will be over the next couple of days. I think being able to get a little bit of recovery. This was a tough, physical camp, and it was intended to be that way. Part of this week will be about how do we refine some of the things we are doing, how do we get an initial jumpstart and get prepared for Carolina, and how do we get these guys back ready physically for the opening game?"
(On using Taliese Fuaga) "(Taliese) would have played (if all starters played)."
(On Klint Kubiak being on the sideline instead of the booth) "Ultimately, that will be my decision, but yes, there will be some conversations that will be had. What did I like? What did I not like? What did he like? What did he not like? What's best for our players? There are a lot of things that are going to go into that decision. We will communicate on that over the next week or so and figure out what we are going to do for the opening game. We might go one way in the opening game, and somewhere down the line, we might decide we need to do something different. Whatever we decide to do for Week One is just kind of a starting point."
