BB: You got the announcement there on Billy [Yates]. We'll figure out what we're going to do with
that roster spot here by Wednesday. On yesterday, I don't think there's
really much more to add from what we talked about last night. I just feel
like, from top to bottom, they just did a better job than we did yesterday
in all three phases of the game. Everybody involved with the football team – players, coaches,
everybody involved, we just all have to do a better job to win. It's
disappointing. We just didn't do enough things well enough to win in any
three phases of the game. We ended up losing a close division game that's
obviously very disappointing to lose. That's what it is. We'll have to turn
the page. Move forward. Improve. If we can make some improvement then I
think we have a chance to be all right. If we don't, then we're probably
looking at the same results as we did yesterday. So that's where we are.
Q: How did some of their pre-snap
movements defensively challenge setting the protection for the offense?
BB: That's what they usually do. They do a lot of disguising with their
secondary. It's similar to what we saw in the first game. They've done that
throughout the course of the year. We just have to do a better job with it.
Identify it and block it.
Q: When [Tom] Brady doesn't necessarily take sacks, but he takes hits,
can there be a cumulative effect you think?
BB: I don't know. You probably can.
Q: Can you see it in a lot of quarterback's...
BB: No I didn't see it yesterday, if that what you're asking. No, I
didn't see that.
Q: How important do you feel it is to be able to hang your hat on one
thing offensively if everything else isn't going well?
BB: I don't know. If they take it away from you, I don't know how good
that is. If you have one play you have or one route that you have, I think
defensively you can take those things away if you only have one thing to
take away. I think the more things you can do better the better off you're
going to be, whatever that is.
Q: How about the idea of an offensive identity, like Pittsburgh who would
be like the smash mouth type of football?
BB: If you look at Pittsburgh, they run as much play action, they throw
the ball to four wides and all of that. They're about as balanced as
anybody. I think that's what good offensive teams are, is they're balanced
offenses. Teams that only do one thing, they're easier to stop.
Q: Have teams been scheming your screen passes more or have you moved
away from those?
BB: No. We have an assortment of plays in the game plan every week,
misdirection plays, plays like that. You try to get them called at a time
when you think they will be effective. I didn't seem to think there was an
inordinate amount of those opportunities yesterday.
Q: Do you think Tom Brady has taken more hits this year than in years
past?
BB: I don't know. We were one of the lowest teams in the league in sacks
going into the game. I don't know where we are now, but I'm sure it's moved
up a little bit. Relative to sacks, I'd say there are other teams that are
taking a lot more than we are. Relative to hits, I don't know. Somebody else
would have to keep that statistic. I don't know what that is.
Q: The penalty they called for the illegal formation at the end of the
third quarter, they had announced that it was on the outside receiver. Was
that the right player that the penalty was called on?
BB: I don't know. I don't know what they announced. They called an
illegal formation. I can see why they called it. It's a close call, but
evidently they didn't think we were legal, so we weren't legal.
Q: I guess I was just wondering if it was the outside receiver or the
receiver lined up next to the tight end.
BB: I'm not sure. I'm not sure. Whatever the case is, we have to lineup
legally. If we were on the line of scrimmage and we covered up one of our
eligible players then we have to move back. We just have to do it right.
Q: Have you seen rapid improvement from Jabar Gaffney?
BB: Yeah, I thought he made a few plays yesterday and that was good. I
think he's coming on a little bit each week. He's only been here a few
weeks, but he's a smart kid. He understands the passing game and understands
passing concepts. He has some skill. He was able to make a few plays
yesterday. It was good.
Q: Did playing in Coach [Chris] Palmer's system in Houston maybe shorten
the learning curve a little bit for him?
BB: Well, I think that some of the things that they did down there, from
a terminology standpoint, were familiar to him. I think there was some
carryover between their offensive system and ours, terminology wise. Route,
techniques I'm not sure. You'd probably have to ask him that. We've been
trying more to tell him how we want it done and then he's been trying to do
it rather than spending a lot of time going back over how he did it
somewhere else. He's just trying to understand how it's supposed to be in
our offense or on that particular play and then get that right. That's where
the emphasis has been.
Q: How difficult is it to on the last second, last drive, no timeouts to
throw outside the numbers?
BB: I think they either have to make a mistake or you have to fit it into
a real tight space. They were definitely defending the sideline, as you
should in that situation. I thought we still had a chance there at the end
with nine seconds. We needed to get a little bit closer to get into field
goal range, but we weren't able to do it.
Q: Tom is on the injury report every week and we make light of it, but in
all seriousness, how much do you feel that his shoulder is affecting him?
BB: I think he's been able to play in every game, so you'd have to ask
him that. There probably isn't a player in the league that plays every week
that's 100 percent today. He's probably in that category. So is everybody
else. That's pro football.
Q: Do you see anything in his performance that leads you to believe he's
hampered in any way, even if it's just slight?
BB: I think that Tom has had good days, good weeks of practice. I just
think overall, we collectively as a team – coaches, players, everybody we
just have to do a better job. I think we all feel that way. That includes
everybody.
Q: Do you think that Tom has struggled this year?
BB: I think Tom has played with a pretty good level of consistency. Some
games some plays are better than others, that's the way it always is,
especially at that position. He's made a lot of good plays. He's made some
that I'm sure he'd like to have back like we all have. I don't think there's
anybody that has played that wouldn't fall in that category. You'd always
like for it to be better. We won a few games around here. He's had a lot to
do with those wins.
Q: Do you feel like over the last couple of weeks blitz pickup,
identifying the fronts, identifying the rush has been a problem for you
guys?
BB: I don't think we got sacked in Indianapolis game did we?
Q: Right, but there were some hurries…
BB: Tell me a game where the
quarterback hasn't been hurried. Just let me know when one of those games
comes along so I'll make sure and identify it. Every quarterback gets
hurried and every quarterback gets hit. You want it to be as few as
possible. Sometimes you break down on your protection or your pick up.
Sometimes they have a free guy and you have to get the ball off before he
gets there and he still gets there. There are a lot of different
things that can happen. You always want your protection to be better, but
the best way to protect the quarterback is to have a big lead and run the
ball and throw it when you feel like throwing it because they're not really
rushing because they're playing the run. If you never get into that
situation, that's the best way to protect your quarterback. It's not always
the situation you're in.
Q: Do you think yesterday maybe playing from behind was part of the
problem?
BB: Most of the pass rush came in long yardage situations, third down,
two-minute, end of the half, those kinds of things. Not all of them, I'm not
saying that, but that was where most of it was. Yes, definitely.
Q: What about the pass rush when you were second-and-inches at the four
and [Laurence] Maroney lost a yard, was that just from the end on that? Was that just
an individual breakdown?
BB: No, they brought six people and we had four guys out in the pattern.
We had it all picked up, but there wasn't really anybody open. When nobody
is open and Tom is kind of waiting for somebody to come free, then
eventually the pocket collapsed on him.
Q: Is there a higher percentage of coverage sacks this year with Tom than
in the past, a higher percentage of time where it's just the receivers
aren't free?
BB: Again, there really hasn't been
that very many of them. I don't know. I would say it's a combination of
both. There have been times when we've broken down and he hasn't had a
chance to throw the ball. There have been other
times where there's been probably enough time to get rid of the ball and
then it's a question of whether somebody is open and or whether you get rid
of it to avoid taking the sack. I think on that particular play it was a
little bit of both. I didn't think he held the ball an extraordinarily long
amount of time. He was in the pocket and there was nowhere to go. It's not a
situation where he was out of the pocket and he could have thrown it away.
It probably would have been a grounding call or throwing into tight
coverage.
Q: You've talked in the past about offensive linemen switching from the
right side to the left side. Is it the same for defensive linemen? Switching
sides?
BB: I think it's true for any position. Some players can easily make that
transition and like it and kind of enjoy the change. Others I think it
affects them a little bit differently.
Q: How did you feel it affected Richard [Seymour] playing left end
yesterday?
BB: Well, he's done it in the past before. He's played on both sides.
Q: So you don't think it affected his performance?
BB: I think he's played more on the right than he has on the left, but
he's played on the left. He practiced on the left all week. Some plays could
have been better than others. Some plays were good. Some could have been
better. Again, I think you could say that about just about everybody
yesterday.
Q: Was that just a function of Jarvis Green being a better fit on the
right?
BB: Jarvis pretty much played exclusively on the right except in passing
situations. He's really never played on the left.
Q: Was there a particular reason that Richard wasn't on the field?
BB: I'd say he played about the same number of plays he normally plays.
Q: He didn't seem to think that.
BB: I'm just telling you what the numbers have been game by game. It's
pretty close.
Q: This is two weeks in a row you had communication issues with the
officials down the field. The half-the-distance-to-the-goal play. Can you
talk about what happened on that play?
BB: I was just asking whether it was a first down or not. Well, first of
all, I didn't know who the penalty was on. Then they marked it off and then
I didn't know if it was first-and-goal or second-and-short. I think the
second board actually had it as first down, not that that's anything
official, but I think they actually had it first-and-three on the three.
Then I looked at the down marker and it was second down. I just wasn't clear
as to what down it was. It was something I wanted to know. Sometimes it's
hard to get the officials' attention when the ball is down at the other end
because they're all looking at the ball and you're kind of standing back
there behind them and they're not really looking at you. For the most part,
they're pretty responsive in terms of trying to, on a penalty, or a
challenge, or the timing situation or something like that, they're pretty
good about getting you that information. They usually do a real good job of
it. The ball was down on the four or three-yard line, whatever. They weren't
really looking at me, but it was important to me to know what the down was
and what the situation was.
Q: And obviously it affects the play calling.
BB: Yes, and just wanting to know what the situation was.
Q: Do you worry at all when you see bad things start to trend?
BB: I'd like to see our team improve. I think that's important. I think
it's important through the course of the season, not just early in the
season, but through the entire season. I think I've seen that. I think we
can certainly do more of it. I think we need to do some of it this week. We
should've had more of it last week. I think we need to start doing some
things better. Yes, I definitely do. I don't think that is a representative
of what happened, but I think we have to improve them or it will keep
happening.
Q: Were there yards that your running backs could've gotten or was it
largely just a case of the Jets plugging the holes and just eating your
offensive line?
BB: We ran for 143 yards. We had a long run and a high yards-per-carry
average. Could the running game have been better? Of course it could have.
It certainly could have. There were some plays that we could have blocked
better. There were probably a couple plays that we could have called
differently that didn't matchup particularly well against what they did.
That's not uncommon in the game. As far as moving the ball goes, we were
able to move the ball. The yardage was in our favor, not the turnovers and
we had some penalties at the wrong time and at times we didn't have real
good field position so we had to move it further to get it into scoring
range. There were other factors involved there, but I never really felt like
it was an inability being able to move the ball. We didn't score enough
points and get it where we needed to get it to at the right time. Red area,
third down, field position, those are things that you have to do and make it
worthwhile and make it count.
Q: Yesterday after the game a number of players, veteran players who are
respected, questioned the play calling. How do you feel about that type of
communication?
BB: I talk to the players every week. I talk to them everyday. I'm sure
that every player felt like they could've done a better job. I think every
coach feels like we could've done a better job. We're all disappointed that
we lost the game. I think we all feel that way. I think I would speak for
everybody on that one.
Q: Where would you rate Tom in terms of toughness?
BB: Tom is pretty tough. I put
him in the top category – mentally and
physically.
Q: You have a couple of NFC games coming up in the next couple of weeks.
How are those games going to be different?
BB: Green Bay is a team that
we're not very familiar with. We have to do a lot of work on them. New
coach. New staff. New players. Certainly a very talented group offensively.
A good offensive line. A couple of good tight ends. Good receivers. Good
running backs. Good quarterback. Defensively they have a really good
secondary. A pretty active group up front. They cover well. The play a lot
of man-to-man coverage. They get on you pretty tight. A lot of things we'll
have to get familiar with and work on. Anytime you play an NFC team, of
course you only play them every three years basically, unless you happen to
catch them some other time in a preseason game or something, but for the
most part anytime there's a three-year timeframe in there, there are a lot
of things that have changed since the last time you've played them. In our
case here, this time around it's new coaches from our last time we played
this conference. There are a few players we're familiar
with, but we still have a lot of learning to do in the next few days. We'll
have to really hit the books on it, hit the film and have a good week of
preparation, but there's a lot of work to do.
Q: That sleeve that Tom wears on his arm, how concerned were you with
that affecting his throwing? Slightly?
BB: Less than that. Zero.
Q: Is that something that you talked about at all before he started
wearing it?
BB: Zero concern.
Q: On the interception, was that a bad throw or was Maroney not where Tom thought he was going to be?
BB: It was a combination of things on the play, it just obviously didn't
work out very well. Anytime the ball leaves the quarterback's hand, he wants
it to go to the right spot and when it doesn't, regardless of what the
circumstances are, that's not what he wants. It's not what anybody wants.
It's not what you're looking for. Again, there were a number of factors on
that play though and obviously it just didn't work out. There's plenty of
responsibly to go around on that one.
Q: On the Jerricho Cotchery touchdown, it looked like Ellis Hobbs was
there to make the play. What did you see on the film?
BB: It looked like Cotchery went up and jumped up and got the ball.
That's exactly what it looked like.
Q: Was there any more that Ellis could have done?
BB: You'd like to think so. You'd
like to think that anytime a defensive back is there playing the ball and
the receiver that you'd find a way to get it out. There are a lot of
different techniques in doing it and there are good receivers and they go up
and get the ball at the high point and they have good hands and they're a
skilled athlete, that's why they play that position. But defensive backs,
that's their job – to break them up. No
matter how good the throw is, or the receiver, or how good the runner is, if
you're tackling them or whatever. If you feel like there's a way you have
to…somehow you have to find a way to get them down or get the ball out,
whatever the case might be.
Q: Would you say that Doug Gabriel was benched because he didn't have
good ball security on the fumble that he got stripped of in the second
quarter?
BB: We played all of the receivers. They all played. They all knew they
were going to play going into the game and that's what we did. How that all
breaks down, those are coaches decisions based on a number of different
things. That's not uncommon. It could probably be that way again. It's been
that way in other weeks. It could be that way again next week. It could not.
We'll play the players that we think are the players that give the team the
best chance in those situations.
Q: It's not uncommon for a starting receiver to not play the rest of the
game when he's not hurt?
BB: I'm just telling you what was told to the receivers and what the plan
was going into the game. You want tell me that isn't the way it is, you can
tell me that, but I'm telling you that's the way it is.
Q: No, it's just that he seemed pretty upset after the game.
BB: There were a lot of people upset after the game. I was upset after
the game and so was everybody else. I'm sure everybody was upset after the
game. It was a disappointing game. But as players have heard me say many
times, they don't control playing time. What they control is their
performance when they're on the field. Coaches control playing time. That's
what a coach's job is, to call plays, make substitutions and prepare the
team. A player's job is to be ready to play and when he's called on and gets
the opportunity, go out there and play the best he can. That's what every
player's job is. They're all told the same thing. |
