BB: As I told Tony Dungy after the game, those were two good football teams
and you have to give the Colts a lot of credit for the way they came back.
You had two 9-2 teams here and it comes down to the last play of the last
drive of the fourth quarter. So it was not really surprising to me that it
finished that way. I didn't expect it to go back and forth the way it did,
but we figured it would be that kind of tough game and it was. The Colts are
real explosive. They've shown they can come from behind like they did
against Tampa. They certainly did a great job of it today. I thought our guys hung in there and made the plays they needed to make. We
talked all week about this being a game that all three units had to
contribute and we got a lot of big plays defensively, we got a lot of big
plays offensively and we certainly got a lot of plays in the kicking game.
It's one of those real team victories that everybody had a hand in and did a
great job. I think when you come into a game like this, you expect it to come out the
way it did in terms of coming down to the wire, coming down to a few plays.
For our guys to hang in there on the road and like I said, with the
contributions we got from everybody, my hat is off to the players. It was a
tough fight down there at the end against a good football team. I'm happy we
came out on top.
Q: How big was Bethel Johnson?
BB: There were a lot of big plays. The kickoff return at the end of the half
was big. The one that set up the winning touchdown was a huge play, too. And
don't forget, he got a lot of good blocking, too. He did a good job of
running; I'm not taking anything away from him, but there were 10 other guys
out there helping him and he needs that. There's no question, though, the
big plays in the kicking game were huge.
Q: What was McGinest's injury?
BB: It looked like he cramped up there at the end and couldn't get off the
field. That's what it was.
Q: How did it come about that you then sent him back in?
BB: A lot of times those things loosen up.
Q: Can you break down the final play?
BB: There were so many guys in there. I was standing so far away from it. I
didn't get a great look at it. I'm sure you guys saw it better than I did.
Q: Did McGinest go back for that last play or was it the play before?
BB: I'm not sure. We were trying to get it called down there and there were
a lot of people in and out so I'm not sure.
Q: He seems to be playing awfully well.
BB: I think Willie is having a real good year for us. It's so important for
him and Mike Vrabel and the outside linebackers to set the edge on the
perimeter of the defense and force the ball back inside where Washington and
Seymour and those guys can make plays. Willie's done a nice job rushing the
passer and he's come up with some big plays in short yardage and goal line
as well.
We've really emphasized our goal line defense starting at the bye week. We
couldn't stop anybody the first half of the season and we put a lot more
emphasis on it starting at the bye week, not that we weren't working on it
before, and we got some big short-yardage and goal line plays that have
obviously been very helpful for us.
We've been struggling offensively in the red area and this was a big red
area week in terms of running extra plays in practice and putting in extra
meeting time and all that. I was happy to see that pay off as well. Those
were two areas that we really tried to improve since the middle of the
season and they came up big for us today.
Q: How concerned were you about your defense with them running a hurry-up
offense often, but especially late in the game?
BB: There is no question that it wears you down. Look, they're a great
offensive football team. They're explosive and they have a lot of players
that can make big plays — receivers, the tight ends, the backs and obviously
the quarterback. So we had our hands full. I think we gave them a few
problems, too, but there is no question that they lead the league in passing
and you can see why.
Q: Was there difficulty substituting?
BB: No, there really wasn't. I thought the players did a good job. I thought
Romeo [Crennel] handled that well. We worked on that during the week and
planned for the different substitution situations — second down, third down,
incomplete passes, trying to get guys on and off. We didn't want to make it
a fire drill, but we wanted to try to match their substitutions. Once Dallas
Clark got hurt, then it was pretty much a three-wide receiver game the rest
of the way whereas up to that point, it was more of two tight ends and two
wide receivers. That kind of shifted it from being a regular game to more of
a nickel game when they went to three receiver sets.
Q: On the last play of the game, was it a guessing game as to whether
they would run or throw the ball?
BB: It's fourth down so they can call whatever they want. It's the last one.
But they've done that a couple of times before. They ran the ball with, I
think, 17 seconds to go in the half against the Jets and scored there with
no timeouts. In another situation, they went for it on fourth down against,
I think it was Jacksonville, and ran it over the top out of their goal line
set. They did it against somebody else. So they've done that before in those
situations. Of course, they threw it the play before on third-and-goal from
the 1. They have the three receivers in there and you have to play them
man-to-man outside and stack everybody inside. Defensively, in that
situation, you have to keep them from running the ball in first and if they
hit it, they hit it out there one-on-one. But you just can't let them walk
the ball into the end zone.
Q: How do you rate that as a goal line stand?
BB: It's a pretty good one. I'd put it up there especially since the game is
on the line on that play. It wasn't like it was the third quarter and you
still have a lot of plays after this. That was the game and that was a big
play.
Q: Can you talk about the decision to deactivate Antowain Smith?
BB: We went a little short on backs so we could go with a fifth receiver.
David Givens was in the game and we went with five receivers this week. We'd
like to have everybody, but you just can't do it.
Q: On your last series, you didn't take any time off the clock...
BB: We thought we could throw the ball and pick up some yardage. We tried to
run it a little bit in the fourth quarter and that wasn't going that good.
They were blitzing it and had everybody on the line of scrimmage. We thought
we could hit a couple of passes. We didn't hit any of them. I really didn't
think time was going to be a factor in the game. I thought it would be that
we could stop them or we couldn't. They don't need much time. If we had run
it and punted it, they would have had 1:30. I think that would have been
plenty of time for them as well. We were just trying to make first downs
offensively and hang on to the ball. We weren't able to do it. It doesn't
surprise me that it came down to the end whether it was 3:30 to go or if it
had been 1:30. I think it would have ended up with one or two plays at the
end anyway.
Q: I know this is a big win for you, but everybody wants to know about
the punting situation. How are you addressing that?
BB: The punting situation is no different than any other situation. Every
week, you try to do what you think is best for your team and areas that
aren't doing as well as you'd like them to, you try to improve them and get
them better. The only way to do that is to work harder and try to correct
the mistakes. I don't know any other way to do it. |
