Is it disappointing that there's a similar thing to the way that the game was lost last week?
I'm not going to point to one play as to what lost the game. But obviously I can look internally as to what I can do better. You're right, it's something that I wanted to clean up that didn't get done this week. Disappointing for sure. I work my tail off to be better for my team this week.
Not even specifically that one individual play, but you have a punt blocked in this game. I'm just speaking on the team as a whole.
Yeah, it's kind of weird. Cally (Brian Callahan) came in and said the same thing. It's like déjà vu, twice in a row shooting ourselves in the foot, not going to win football games like that. Talked heavily about winning the turnover battle, and it's something we can't do right now.
Is it something that continues to come up in your mind as far as maybe trying to be a hero or trying to do too much in those situations, like when you toss the ball?
I'd like to first say, I didn't mean to say that we can't do that we haven't done. But no it's got to be something that's more second nature to me. I'm going to do everything I can to rewire my brain to make sure that when I'm in those situations, I'm not making those decisions. I think throughout my career, I've gotten a lot better of not forcing things, or at least forcing balls into windows, but that's a different kind of play. That's something that is not going to show up as much but is obviously much more important because the ball is put in jeopardy, and an opportunity for the other team to get the ball. So I'm going to keep working to just be better for my team.
Brian (Callahan) yelled at you as you came off, 'What the f— are you doing?' What did you say in the moment? What would you say now?
I don't remember what I said in the moment. I was understanding his disappointment, obviously. And just had my mind focused on the next drive. What was the second part? Sorry.
And what would you say to it now?
Just take the sack.
You guys got the ball late and got in position to score, how frustrating was it that you weren't able to get into the endzone down there?
Yeah, it's frustrating. Great job to get us down there. We'll look at it, I haven't watched the film but I just got to make something happen there. Four plays from the eight. It's tough to score but we got to dial something up, I got to make something happen. Probably, throw that ball away on that sack and give us a better shot on the fourth down. It's something we got to get better on, just scoring touchdowns in the red zone and that area we can get better on.
You were very close to a couple of long completions, the one to Treylon (Burks) that wound up being pick and the one to Calvin (Ridley).
For sure. Yeah, I thought I put some good balls in the air on those two and just trusting my guys. I know they're going to make those plays and just so happened that they didn't in those. But I'm still confident in them and I'm going to keep testing them and letting them go up and make plays. Just like Calvin (Ridley) did on that second one. So I still got faith in Treylon (Burks) to be able to go up and make that play, the cornerback made a great play on the pick, but gotta keep working on them, keep testing those deep balls.
When you say that you feel like you need to rewire your brain in some ways. How tough is that? Is that tough to swallow knowing that in the middle of a season in your pro career, you're kind of having to teach yourself new things? Destroy old habits?
Yeah, it's tough. But everything's tough about this sport and this position. It's just something that might not have crossed my brain in the offseason. When I'm preparing mentally, I'm more so focused on the playbook and obviously watching film to see how guys are playing and running games. I just can't let that happen.
