Matt, just to get it out of the way. The pick six with blitz there. Can you just give us some feedback on that?
Yeah, it was one of those – we were a little bit down on the clock in that situation and they kind of checked it after our first cadence. I should have gotten out it and I don't know if I had enough time to. Regardless, even in those situations, you've got to dirt it or find a way just to not have a negative play. And obviously, that one cost us.
So you were just trying to get it out as fast as you can but Parris (Campbell) was probably not ready. Am I looking at that right? Is that fair?
Yeah, it's something. We both have to be on the same page. We'd like to get to something else in that situation, but we didn't. And again, it's one of those that you can't make a bad play worse. You've got to find a way to dirt it and move on with it.
More games are lost than won. Was this game lost?
I felt like we fought hard. I felt like we moved the ball pretty well. Just turning the football over has kind of been our Achilles heel. And so again today, disappointing. I thought defense played well, kept it tight. I mean, they really did. And we've got to do a better job offensively.
Does it feel like you guys are putting the defense in a really tough spot more often than not this season? It seems like that's been a repetitive thing. Turnovers. It's like another short field or another correction.
It felt like it today, Correct. I'll talk about today. I think today it felt like that. When you throw pick sixes, it's tough. Because you're going right back out there and you've got to go again and you've got to put them behind you. But we've got to find a way to eliminate some of those as we move forward. Because if we do, when we've done that, we've played very well.
Did Tennessee change what they were doing in the secondary to take away the big plays? Previously this season, they've given up about three plays down field.
I think they did a nice job today. I'll give them credit - coming off a Bye and kind of self-evaluating and taking a look at what they had done through their first five games of the season, I thought they did a nice job kind of trying to keep things umbrellaed and in front. I give them credit. Mike Vrabel is a great coach. Their staff is very good. And I thought they played well.
What happened on the second interception? What did you see?
I lost. We kind of had a match series going and it looked like to me that the guy was cutting and then peeling off and I lost a peeler. And so, again, those are things – you can't have those kind of plays. I've got to be better than that.
You guys have obviously evolved a lot on offense this season. You've seen changes on the offensive line, so you've made a lot of changes. The results haven't gotten consistently better. What's next? Do you think you guys have other changes you can make or moves or whatever?
No, I think we've just got to clean up. Listen, we're seven games through it. And we're 3-3-1. Obviously, we'd like to be in a better position, but we are where we are. And so, we've got to play cleaner. When we do, we play well. And I think that that's got to be the point of emphasis for all of us on the offensive side of the ball is to play clean football and stay in front of the chains, stay on schedule, and limit the opportunities for turnovers.
In the second half, you looked like you're a little more willing to throw the ball away. Is that going to be part of the change here? Just live for another down type of mentality?
I've always tried to do that. Just like I said, playing this position is running the balance of being aggressive and then trying to just stay on schedule at certain spots too. So, I've got to do a good job of staying aggressive and making plays when they present themselves and giving our guys chances, but also at the same time, finding ways to be more secure with it.
Do you feel comfortable in the pocket?
Yeah. I mean, obviously, we've had a lot of pressure, but I feel like my pocket movement has been good. We're finding lanes to throw the football. I'm not sure how many completions we had today. We had quite a few. So, on balance is pretty good. But it really is. It's the one, two plays, particularly in this league, in tough division games. There's always three or four plays in a game that are going to change the outcomes of the games and you've got to be on the right side of them. And when you're playing a good football team like Tennessee and you're not, it becomes extremely difficult to get on the right side of them. So, we've got to find a way to be the team that's making those four to five plays in the game that win ball games.
What's the conversation like throughout the offense to pick up the defense or to pick it up so they're not just going back out there it seems so quickly and so often?
You want to make some first downs. You want to come away with points. Our defense has been playing well and keeping us in those games. But at times, we've done a pretty good job of that. Just consistently we haven't done a good enough job of it and so we've got to go back to it. We've got to get back to work. We've got to find a way, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, to practice better. I think the intent has been good, but the result has not been what we want. We've got to keep finding ways, keep self-evaluating and finding ways to get better.
