How are you feeling, Will?
I'm alright. You know, it could've been a lot worse. It was definitely scarier in the moment than it was, but we will see what the trainers say. But feel alright.
You couldn't really establish anything consistently, what do you think the problem was today?
Yeah, we just couldn't get it done and never got it rolling. We had a couple of drives where we had spurts here and there, but the rest of the day I just felt like we got up to the ball and we didn't have that same confidence, I felt like. So, we got to keep doing a better job of everyone focusing on their job and focusing on their keys. But can't have a day offensively like that.
How can you guys more consistently run the football, Will? That seems like it's been a struggle for the unit all year long.
Yeah, I don't know. We just got to keep leaning on our guys, keep trusting and teaching what these coaches are preaching every day. Sometimes it's a miscommunication thing, sometimes guys are just getting beat. Guys just have to take a lot of pride in what they're doing and just play hard. We're just trying to do a better job as a team overall, and obviously today we didn't do that.
You and DHop (DeAndre Hopkins) have been on the same page a lot, what maybe was off today?
Yeah. I mean just a couple times where we weren't on the same page, like you said. We had that streak down the middle, I didn't really know that was happening. Still got to put some more on it and he's got to make that catch and he knows that. That's a big play that could have changed the course of that game. Just a couple other times, stuff like that happens. We got to move through it. We got to learn from it. But yeah, that was weird. It doesn't really happen between us.
On the interception, Will, on replay I'm sure it's easy to see, did you see (Treylon) Burks during the play going down?
Yeah, that's on me. One of my keys that I was reminding myself on that play was to make sure the corner carries. So, I saw his back turned, and then I was waiting for DHop (DeAndre Hopkins). During that time with my eyes on him, the corner's falling off of Treylon (Burks) where it happened. So, I just didn't see him, didn't feel him, got to learn from it. Next time, that ball's got to be launched and that's a touchdown.
Do you feel like you could have gone back in the ballgame if the opportunity presented itself?
We knew that we weren't going to really be out there, so it wasn't even something we discussed.
What's the pain level right now? Obviously, you jogged around the sideline after you went in the tent. Do you feel like it's better than you initially thought?
Yeah, for sure. I thought it was worse just how I got kind of rolled up on. We'll see how it feels tomorrow when all the adrenaline and everything wears off. Like I said, it could have been a lot worse, but I think I'll be alright.
Will, that first drive you guys went flying right down the field. How much of that was all scripted all week long? Were those the types of plays you were running on that first drive?
Still didn't necessarily go the way we talked about. I mean, we have our openers we talk about visualizing how we see it going, like, "This will get five, and then we'll get the first, and then get on the ball and do this." How it went wasn't how we imagined it. We got the plays off that we knew we were going to get off in that opening series. When you're able to work on your openers and execute like that and get points in that first drive, usually that leads to confidence the rest of the game. We've got to figure out how we can continue that energy and that focus throughout the rest of the game like we had on that first drive.
As far as the pressure they were getting, was it something like where they were overloading? What was the issue? Why were there so many leaks?
I mean, it wasn't anything that we didn't discuss, nothing that we didn't see. We just had some guys just get beat on some games and a couple of miscommunication errors. But, for me, I got to make sure I can get the ball out sooner too. A couple of times too where I tried to escape, where I just felt—I wasn't feeling the space as well as I usually do. And I got caught up like on that last drive, sacked myself essentially. So, I got to be better in that area. But they know upfront that they got to do their job too. But we're going to work to get better this week and get back on track.
Does there come a point where some of the stuff you guys are doing that isn't working is banging your head against the wall and that needs to be something different over the course of a game?
Yeah. As a coaching staff, you definitely evaluate what you do well and what we do not well. If it's something not doing well for reasons that can easily be fixed, obviously, we want to fix them so that we can try to do it at a high level. You always want to have an idea of what your bread and butter is and what you're good at, but you want to mix it up, too. I thought that Tim (Kelly) had a good game plan and he called it well, and we've just got to do a better job executing out there on the field.
How much input do you have as you guys are sitting there looking at the tablet? How much influence do you have on some of the things that Tim Kelly calls or doesn't call?
I'm not telling him, "Hey, call this play," but we have an open dialog about how I feel about certain plays and usually we're going to the game already having taken out all the plays that I don't feel very comfortable with. We feel good about everything that's on that script on game day, and we're on the same page because of that and how we set up the week and set up the game plan so that when we get to Sunday, it's not, "I don't like that one actually, we're going to do whatever." I think we can do a better job, like we talked about a couple weeks ago, of just adjusting in game, seeing what they're doing and how we can attack it better and what to expect. But like I said, I thought Tim called a fine game and it's on us as players to execute the game plan.
You guys were officially eliminated from postseason consideration. How does that change the motivation going forward in the last three games?
It doesn't change anything. I'd say props to them. I mean, for Case (Keenum) to step up and do that and play a more efficient game than me and come in here and win. It's a good team and they straight up beat us and good luck to them going forward, but it's not going to change how we play. We're still going to just try to win every game and hopefully play spoiler for these last few weeks.
Will, do you feel good enough that you're confident to be able to play next week?
I can't say anything about that right now.
