BB: Good afternoon. I don't really
have a whole lot to add from last night. After looking at the films, it
pretty much confirmed what it looked like to me on the field. There were a
lot of things that we need to do better. It was competitive, but it just
wasn't good enough. Clearly we were up against a very good group of
offensive skill players, similar to the Jets and Cincinnati, teams that have
really good quarterbacks and really good skill receivers. We'll see that
same type of challenge again this week in the passing game as it relates to
the pass rush and pass coverage, that type of thing. In the end, we just
didn't make enough plays to win. So it was disappointing. It's just time to
move on.
Q: Is there any time to appreciate what Troy Brown accomplished
yesterday?
BB: Troy is a special guy, but I really haven't thought too much about
it.
Q: Did you feel like there was one particular point in the game that was
a turning point one way or the other?
BB: No. We had a chance there on the last possession. Down by seven and
had the ball on their side of the 50. No. The last play, the interception,
up until that point everything was still competitive.
Q: Did the Colts do anything to attack you that was different from the
way they played you in the past?
BB: No.
Q: It didn't seem like they were gearing toward stopping the run?
BB: The things they did, we've seen them do before. I would say
they played...I mean, they do
the things that they do. They do them well. They're a very athletic, quick,
active group. That's the way they play. They played a lot of zone coverage,
mixed in a little bit of man, mixed in a little bit of blitz zone, but not a
whole lot percentage-wise, not like some teams that we've seen. That's
pretty much the way they played us.
Q: Did you feel like your team struggled at all with the speed of the
defense?
BB: I don't think there was a lot of pressure on the quarterback. There
was a little bit, but I don't think there was a lot. Look, they're a good
team, I'm not saying that. I just don't think we played as well as we are
capable of playing. I think we need to play better if we're going to beat
them. That's obvious. We just didn't do it. We need to coach better. We all
need to do a better job, that includes me.
Q: Patrick Pass, will you start the clock on him this week?
BB: He'll start practicing this week.
Q: And that gives you three weeks from the day he starts practicing?
BB: I'm not sure if it's from that exact day or that Sunday, two and a
half weeks or whatever it is. But, yes, something like that. That's right.
Q: In the third quarter, with the first seven runs, you gained 13 yards.
I think there were a few negative runs in there as well.
BB: Yes, there were.
Q: When you got to the point after the seventh run, did you feel like you
needed to get away from running the ball after those series of plays in the
third quarter?
BB: No, because then we came back and we hit a couple of plays. We hit
the draw to Kevin [Faulk] and we hit an inside play, I think it was Laurence [Maroney]. No. We had some plays that weren't that successful early in the
third quarter, or wherever it was, mid-third quarter. We came back and made
a couple of adjustments and came back and then had some a couple more
successful plays in the running game. We drove it down and got some points,
but it wasn't consistent.
Q: Is it safe to say that you're more concerned about the execution of
the plays than you are with the play calling itself?
BB: Look, the bottom line is we gave
up too many points and didn't score enough. That includes everybody that's a
part of it. There are a lot of things that we all could've done better.
Starting with me. Starting with the players. There are plays that we all would've liked to have back, plays that I
think could've been better. That's why they won and we didn't.
Q: [Bob] Sanders made some plays on the back side. Was that a surprise at
all, how they used him?
BB: No. That's the way they use him.
Q: How much of a difference did having him out there make to their run
defense?
BB: I don't know. You would have to ask them. He's a good player. He's an
active player. We all know that. He made a few tackles, most of the time
unblocked. That's what happens with the eighth guy.
Q: Do you feel like your pass rush failed to finish plays on Peyton
Manning?
BB: There were definitely plays where
he got the ball off and we were there. That's pretty much the way it always
is when you rush the passer. There are going to be some plays where you get
there and there are going to be some plays where the ball is gone. There are going to be other plays where he
holds the ball and you don't have enough pass rush. You're always trying to
get those things together in sync. I thought it was competitive. We hit him
a few times. We pressured him a few times. There were other times where we
didn't have as much pressure on them. That's pretty much the way it is in
every game.
Q: Do you at all chalk it up to him just been Peyton Manning and being a
great player?
BB: They do a good job. They have the best passing game in the league.
Don't take anything away from them. They have the best passing game in the
league. They have receivers that can get open. They have a good quarterback
who reads coverages well, gets rid of the ball quickly. They have a good
offensive line. They involve everybody in the passing game, so you have to
cover them all. They do a good job. No doubt about that.
Q: You mentioned Sanders being the eighth man going unblocked, how do you
combat that?
BB: It depends on what play you have called and what formations you have
and that type of thing. It's no different than anybody else. Whoever the
eighth guy is, whoever the extra guy is, whether it be by formation, or
play, or complementary plays, that's how you handle the extra people they
bring down if you still want to run the ball.
Q: Are there certain runs that you will shy away from just because of
that configuration?
BB: It depends on what you have called. There are some things that you
can handle. It's just like any other team, some things you can handle. Some
things you'd probably rather not be in. There probably other plays that
you'd rather have called. It would just depend on what it is.
Q: How is Rodney Harrison feeling today?
BB: I think we have a lot of guys on the team that are sore. It was a
physical game. I would put him in that category.
Q: How was the communication in the secondary with him out?
BB: For the most part, I think it was okay. Again, like in any other
game, there were times when it could've been better. It wasn't perfect, but
I don't think it was a major problem. There were things that we could've
been a little bit sharper on.
Q: Without Eugene [Wilson] or Rodney, who did those responsibilities fall
to?
BB: Chad [Scott] and Artrell [Hawkins].
Q: Do you feel like part of the defense improving was those four guys
getting a little more comfortable with that alignment?
BB: I don't know. It's not like the Colts ran 50 different formations. They had a few looks like they
always do. They try to pre-read the coverages and see how you're aligned. I
just think that there were times in the game where I thought we executed
fairly well and there were other times that weren't as good. Like I said,
that extends – I'm not just talking about the
playing, I'm saying the preparation, the things we emphasized from a coaching
standpoint. When you look at a game like that, there are things that we all
could've done better. I don't think it necessarily went from...I know they
scored the first two times they got the ball, but there were plays within
those drives that were really pretty good plays for us. I mean really good.
We ended up not stopping them for one reason or another. But that still
doesn't really take away from...it's not like it was all 10 yards every time
the ball was snapped. That wasn't the case. There was enough for them to get
the ball in the endzone, which was the case, so that's the bottom line.
Q: Given the circumstances, did you feel like Chad did a decent job?
BB: Yes, I do. Chad is very professional. He works hard. He knows what's
going on. He's a real pro. You can give Chad a lot of different things to do
and he's always prepared. He kind of takes a lot of personal pride in it and
he's a guy that we all have a lot of confidence in, as does Artrell. They're
two of our best.
Q: When Rodney initially went down, he was listed as probable to return.
What did you see in the interim to downgrade him to out? What changed?
BB: I never gave that. I don't know. That was from the medical people.
Q: Was special teams a mixed bag yesterday?
BB: Like everything else – some good, some not, some needs to be better.
Yes, it's just like offense and defense. That's the way it was all night
for the whole team in every phase of the game. Exactly.
Q: Can you just talk about Troy Brown and his accomplishment?
BB: Like I said, Troy is a special player. Right now that's not really at
the forefront of my thoughts to be honest with you.
Q: On the Asante Samuel play, you were pretty animated on the sideline.
What was the message that you were trying to get across to the officials?
What did you see?
BB: I don't know. It didn't have anything to do with that play. You're
talking about the illegal contact play?
Q: Yeah, I thought it was that play.
BB: No. It didn't have anything to do with that. We're working on some
other issues.
Q: Do you care to elaborate?
BB: Well, it was just a communication thing between me and the official
and the crew officials. That's all. It wasn't about a call or one particular
play. It was about just mechanics and communication between the crew and the
sideline.
Q: Will the red sweatshirt be retired?
BB: I don't know. Have a big ceremony for it.
Q: How did you feel about some of the calls made down the field by the
officials?
BB: It doesn't matter what I think. It doesn't matter what I think. It
only matters what they think. They make the calls, we play the game.
Q: Did their calls force you to change anything in your approach?
BB: No, we coach the game and try to play the game by the rules. That's
what we try to do. Sometimes there are infractions. If they feel there's an
infraction, they call them. That's what the officials do. It's our job to
know the rules and understand them and try to play within them. Sometimes
they're violations and that's when they throw a flag. It doesn't really make
any difference what we think. It just matters what they think and how they view the play, and we have to try to play it so that they don't see it as an
infraction. It's no different than any other phase of the game. That's the
way it is.
Q: Were you surprised at all that Troy Brown got a taunting penalty? He
doesn't really seem like a taunting type of guy. It didn't look like he was
trying to do anything.
BB: Yes, I mean I don't really think he was trying to taunt on the play.
The officials ruled that it was a violation so they threw the flag. We've
talked to them about that.
Q: How have you seen Dave Thomas come along?
BB: Dave is a smart guy who works hard. He's out there everyday. He's in
good condition. He's a good athlete. He's picked up a lot of different
assignments. We move the tight ends around a lot. They have a lot of
different responsibilities. I think that Pete Mangurian has done a good job
with him. He works hard and he's improved. He's improved steadily, both on
offense and in the kicking game. I would say he has a ways to go, too. He's
improved and he's making progress.
Q: Does he primarily need a little more work as a blocker than as a
receiver?
BB: Well, I would say he could use
work in everything. I don't think there's anything that he has absolutely
down cold at this point. I think in every phase of the game he's still a
rookie halfway through the first season. I think there are a lot of things he can still work on and will do
better and is doing better in every phase of the game.
Q: I know you coach your players to play to the whistle, but what happens
in the case of a late whistle, like in the game yesterday?
BB: Right, well we don't tell the team to play to the whistle. That rule
has been changed. That's the way it used to be. We don't play to the whistle
anymore, we play to ball possession. That's what we try to do. The rules
change, then we have to change it to the way the rules are. |
