Opening statement:
All right. We'll start with the injury update. Jerry Jeudy, he did not finish the game. He's got an ankle. We're hoping that we dodged a bullet there, but we'll evaluate and see how long he'll be. Billy Turner is a knee and we'll have to evaluate that and see where that goes. K'Waun (Williams), a knee also, and Graham Glasgow, a shoulder. All four guys we'll have to see when we get back to Denver and are able to evaluate them.
How disheartening is it when you hold (Derrick) Henry to 53 yards and you have a 10-point lead and then aren't able to find a way to finish.
Yeah, I mean, we were doing some good things in that first half. Again, third down continually gets us. We've got to be sure – we've got to keep mixing it up as much as we can. Had to throw some guys in there and I loved watching them battle. Jalen Virgil came up big for us on an audible that Russ (Russell Wilson) had, which was great to see, but we've got to do a great job protecting Russ (Russell Wilson) and we've got to find a way to run the ball.
Russell (Wilson) was hit 16, 17 times today. How disappointing was that? And was that just part of having so many different guys injured?
It's a combination of a lot of things. We tried, we wanted to mix it up. We wanted to try to master attack. We wanted a quick game. We wanted to do as much as we could to try to keep the defense off and protect those guys, and at the same time be able to protect Russ (Russell Wilson). And it just wasn't coming together. It's unfortunate because it's another close game. Another one-score game. We feel like the defense stepped up to the challenge with Derrick Henry. I give our defense so much credit. I mean, the offense has to find a way where we're one scores each time.
Coming out of the halftime again. The third quarter, second half overall, I think right up until the interception at the end. Can you put your finger on the sort of continued struggles?
Third down. I think third down is one of the biggest things. We have to be able to convert on third down. And whenever we get those explosive plays, we start moving the ball a little bit. Again, the third down is kind of what's continually gotten us. We were better off – we're almost better on fourth down, I think. So we can't – we've got to get better there.
There right before the halftime, their touchdown on from the nine-yard line. Did you feel like kind of a swing point in the game there? You still had a 10-7 lead but third-and-nine for them to score that.
Yeah, that was unfortunate that we gave that long drive up but the defense did their job. They did a great job throughout the game. We had that 10-0 lead. Offense has to score again. That was early in the game and we've got to be sure we put points up. It's that simple.
You mentioned the one-score games that you get now. Five or six losses of one-score games. You guys have been in all of them. How do you continue to preach the same message to this group and then maybe what's the mood in the locker room of these guys?
I mean, I think they see it. For me, it's about accountability. It's about holding myself accountable first, the coaches accountable and the players accountable. As long as we point the things out that we can correct and get better on, and everybody understands what that is and what we need to do to be able to go on a run at some point during the season, I think they'll be able to stay together. That's what this is. We're teachers. We're out there trying to teach them how to be successful out on that field. And all we can do is continually teach and then they go out there. They have the opportunity to make those plays. So, we'll continue that message and keep growing.
The past couple weeks, how much work has (Luke) Wattenberg gotten with the No. 1 offense in practice?
Well, we lost Lloyd (Cushenberry) in Jacksonville so we had to get Graham (Glasgow) up to speed with Russ (Russell Wilson). So, Luke (Wattenberg) did not get as much with Russell (Wilson). So that was a little bit of something they had to work out and get some extra snaps and so forth. We'll have to make sure we get Luke (Wattenberg) going again.
Did that impact how you had to do some things for the second half? You had two offensive linemen who were third on the depth chart at their position in the game.
Yes. For us, we wanted to try to do things to be able to help them up at the line as much as – and be able to still get the ball and still be able to try to win the game. I mean, that's where you – it's hard sometimes because you want to be aggressive. You want to attack. You want to do certain things throughout the game but at the same time, you have to take into perspective there's some guys that haven't played a lot together out there and you want to try to put them in the best positions possible to be successful. So, we tried to mix it up. Some things hit, some did not.
What gives you confidence that you can go on a run at this point?
I think you can always go on a run in this league. I really do. I think if we can keep some guys healthy, get some guys back. You know, hopefully get Jerry (Jeudy) back. Get K.J. (Kareem Jackson) back. All these different guys. Gameplan for those guys and get a good plan. You have to adjust during the game when things like that happen. I think in this league, you always have an opportunity to go on a run if you can get everybody clicking together.
Was Justin (Simmons) close to playing? Do you think he's going to miss more time?
He's day-to-day. I think he is close and he needs at least another week.
