QUARTERBACK WILL LEVIS
If that was the correct route, does Calvin (Ridley) have the responsibility to turn that up a little bit more?
It's a flat route, and I mean he was coming from the back side coasting. They clouded it, so I saw the cloud corner and then he retraced back to the corner, so I just got it to him late. You don't love throwing those into cloud, but sometimes that happens, and it was just a late response. But I can maybe get it to him earlier and he can turn up field. But it sucks that we were that close but couldn't get it done on fourth down either.
How much did it hurt to lose and especially with some of the missed opportunities on offense?
It sucks. Got to be better in the red zone. I feel like I played one of my cleanest games all year except for two plays where we could have scored on both of them.
Speaking of that, Chig (Okonkwo), did you not see him?
I saw Nick (Vannett) first. He flashed, I thought he had to step on him and if I would have continued on, I would see Chig (Okonkwo). Vut yeah, it sucks to see someone wide open and right after you release the ball.
Did you have any limitations after getting hit in the first half?
Yeah. I have a sprained AC joint, so I mean, I've been playing through it all year and I made it worse through that hit. Shot it up, played through it. Still able to play, but not fun.
Were there any limitations after coming out in the first part of the second half?
I mean, I was just going to be more cautious with just throwing the ball away and not trying to extend plays and not putting myself in harm's way or trying to take any hits. So that was really the only thing—I knew I could still make the throws, but yeah, just try to be a little more careful.
What was the general frustration around the team after this one? Seemed like this one maybe worse than some others in terms of just letting one get away.
Yeah, I mean, it sucks. It's one that we definitely feel like we should have won, could have won and had opportunities to win. So not fun. After a loss like this, it's important to just stay together and make sure everyone remains on the mission. But this one definitely stings.
Brian Callahan was mentioning that you had said that the ball kind of slid off your fingers?
Yeah, I mean, that was the only throw all day that wasn't a tight spiral. And you could see it on the film. But sometimes that (stuff) happens, and rain comes down and it affects the throw. And of course, it happens on the most part important play of the game.
How much does it fluster you to have the momentum of having played well the last four games in the offense, building some things and then kind of have it fall apart today?
Yeah, like I said, I feel like I still played a clean game other than those two plays and it makes the stat sheet look a lot better if you make those two plays though. We as an offense, we felt like we were getting everything we wanted with them. We were moving the ball and just getting stalled on third downs versus some good defense and they played some sticky coverage and was able to match our guys pretty well. But to not score a touchdown in a game where we felt like we were able to move the ball at least the whole game is frustrating.
On keeping guys together to your point about the rest of the season, how do you as the quarterback go about that?
Just being the same person. Not trying to bring any sort of panic or on the flip side, don't try to be too positive about everything—everyone's got to know about what we got to get done and get fixed to get this ship sailing in the right direction. So, I'm just going to do my job to lead by example and do what I can to lean into guys to get the same out of them.
