What is your message to the fans?
It's disappointing. It's disappointing the way we finished our season. Obviously, it's definitely not good enough. Things start with me, and I got to make sure that I'm holding myself accountable and doing all I can to help our football team win, on and off the football field. But it's just not good enough.
What can you pinpoint on defense that led to Derrick Henry and Tyjae Spears having such a good day?
Not until I really dive into the tape. But obviously, we had missed tackles again, and some of the same self-inflicted gap integrity, rules, things like that. I would venture to say it would show up today. But until we really dive into the tape, it's hard to fully comment on that.
Was the misses Trevor Lawrence had today due to missing practice time the last few weeks?
It could be. But those are obviously plays that he knows that he can make. It's just unfortunate at the end, we're just couple inches away from either scoring or catching that deep ball at the end. It's all something we have to process moving forward.
With the situations on the goal line, are you hopeful that next year you guys can generate more of a push on short yardage plays? It seems like short yardage was an issue all year.
Yeah, those are all things we'll have to take a look at this spring.
Why did you pass up the field goal and go for the touchdown?
At that point, where it was in the game, three points really didn't matter. You're going to need a touchdown at some point. So, if you get the touchdown and two points right there, you're back in the game.
What are your emotions that you are feeling right now?
Me personally, I'm frustrated, I'm disappointed, I'm mad, I'm angry. My hearts hurts, obviously for the players and coaches involved. They've worked their tails off. Today's game was sort of our season in a nutshell really. The mistakes, the penalties, the turnovers, the missed tackles. Those were all the things that hurt us down the stretch.
Is it more disappointment or frustration?
I think it's the disappointment honestly. I know we're a good football team. I see it during the week in how the guys prepare. I got to look at why it doesn't show up on game day and those are all the things I'll take a look at in the coming weeks.
Josh Allen said the team was always looking for a spark. Do you agree?
I think that's accurate. But the thing is, you can't sit around and wait for a spark. You got to be the spark, right? That's either me being it, or Josh (Allen) being it, or Trevor (Lawrence) being it or something when that other team catches fire. That's all part of learning how to win, learning how to do things right repeatedly week in and week out. And it's a long season. And I know there's going to be losses during the year, you're going to lose a game, you're going to lose a player to injury and things like that. But it doesn't change your attitude, your mentality towards trying to win the games.
What went into Trevor Lawrence stretching the arm out for a full yard to go?
Yeah, Trevor's trying to make play. Obviously, he had success in the past on it, just came up inches short. But you can't fault him for trying to make a play.
Was that the call play from the get-go or is it something that he went to at the line because he saw something?
He saw something that wasn't the actual play call. But if he saw something there and he had an opportunity to sneak it with his length, usually that works.
What was the single biggest issue this season that kept you out of the playoffs?
Gosh, I don't think there was one single issue. I think there were multiple issues. I look at, we talked a lot about it this season, execution, third down, red zone. You look at the turnovers versus the takeaways. The penalties. All those things just add up, right? So, there's multiple things I think that—we just didn't play clean football games. And down the stretch, I think that was our—the amount of turnovers we had in the last four or five games, those things add up. You just can't give your opponents that many opportunities in the game. You just can't, it's hard to overcome. I think there's a few things you can really kind of pinpoint.
How do you make sense of the inability to finish games this year when you do have the same cast of guys that were able to do it last season?
You've got to remember this is a new year. This isn't last year. The teams we play are good football teams. They get paid to stop us, and we get paid to stop them, and move the football and vice versa. You've got to take everything—it's kind of case-by-case, it's year-by-year, it's game-by-game. This is a week-to-week business. It's how well can you perform for three hours on a Sunday afternoon. And then, you put that one behind you and you go to the next one. You put that one behind you, and you go to the next one. We didn't do that consistently enough, right? It goes back to the penalties and the turnovers. You won't be consistent if you don't get that fixed, right? If you don't stop the run or at least slow a run team down. You just can't gain the consistency you want. It always puts you behind. Again, those are all things we need to—I need to look at going forward.
How difficult is it to figure out how much of it is execution by the players, system and coaching, and figure out exactly what you have to do to fix it for next season?
It's a little bit of everything. But again, it comes down to now, taking time and going back through everything and really studying it and evaluating it. I think as coaches what we need to do is communicate with our players and make sure that they understand the game plan, or the technic, or the scheme for that week. And then it's the players who take it, they have to study it based on the tape and go do their job and let their talent take over. It's a two-way street, right? But obviously, coaches are held accountable and that will start with me.
How baffling was it to you with having eight or nine men in the box and not being able to stop Derrick Henry?
That's the whole game plan, right? That's what you got to do, and you know that coming in. That's the frustrating part, that's the disappointing part. You know what's coming and you still can't stop it. Great player. He's a great player and he is a load. Give him credit. He had a good game today.
