On that last play there at the end, it looked like you were putting it in the hands of your defense and had the faith they were going to finish it up is that what happened?
“Well, we were going to kick the field goal to go ahead. That’s what we were doing. I don’t know if [you] can interpret it further than that, but that’s—we were going to take the lead. We feel like we have a good kicker and that was the play.”
What happened on the final drive and the run RGIII had?
“As far as I could see, he got under the contained player and then busted out…I have to look at it on tape. I think as athletic as he his he avoided under and then back out and then made a good run.”
You have failed to finish in this game again so how do you get to the point to fix that?
“Well, because you lose at the end you fail to finish, but we really didn’t do a bunch of stuff before that that put us in the position. We didn’t play what I envision as Buccaneer football. Smart football. We had penalties that were not (there are certain penalties I can live with) [and] there are others that are inexcusable. We had a few of those today. We had them in the kicking game. [When] you get penalties in the kicking game and you start to [get] backed up and backed up inside your own 15 or 10 yard line that is a tough road to hoe. Those things that we did not do, we did not play smart. We did not create takeaways. We have to do a better job of coaching because for whatever reason it hasn’t got done in the last couple of weeks. We are a team (I don’t know any team in the National Football League that isn’t) but we are a team that is going to be in the fourth quarter tight ball games and we need to find a way to win. This one, if you don’t make all those errors, I don’t know. I don’t even know what the game is going to look like. It doesn’t matter. We did make the errors. We have to stop playing that way. Hats off to Washington. They made the plays when they had to make them. Again, we came up short.”
Can you talk about your quarterback struggling a little in the first half and then he came back and gave your team the lead in the fourth quarter?
“He did. Yes. [He] hit some big shots to our receivers [and] made some big plays in the passing game. It is what he is capable of doing. Just again as a team we just need to play more consistently. We need to—it starts with me. I need to do a better job of getting an organization to play the game [and] approach it consistently. We will.”
Was tackling and rallying the ball an issue today as well?
“The first half, yes. We didn’t tackle like we have the first three games in the first half. The second half the guys – credit to them – they regrouped and they came out and tackled better and played Buccaneer defense. Up until that last drive they pitched a shutout in the second half, but again that’s like close.”
Did the false start change everything?
“That’s one of what did we have ten penalties? That is one of ten. The offside when it is third and one it is fourth and one. We are just not…that is me. I got to get them to understand the situation. For whatever reason, it hasn’t gotten through. It will get through. We are good enough. We got good enough players [and] good enough coaches. The head coach has got to get them to understand it.”
What do you think happens when your defense doesn’t stop the other team in a minute and 43 seconds where the offense has to go a good distance?
“That’s what so many games come down to in the National Football League. A two minute drill stop them or a two minute drill make it.”
Is it poise or is it youth?
“I will probably be able to better tell you that tomorrow when I watch the tape.”
On Freeman’s 65-yarder to Mike Williams, do you feel that got him into his rhythm?
“Yes, I thought that was an important play. You are kind of fighting [and] kind of swimming upstream for a little bit and then that kind of opened things up.”
Did you get a good look at the roughness call on Mark Barron?
“I didn’t get a good look at it. I did not get a good look at it.”
Was there some miscommunication on some plays today because it looked at times like the ball was behind the receiver?
“Sometimes you need to see the same thing. Sometimes it is not communication, but it is what we see. There is—could be either or.”
Do you feel like your offense redeemed itself today?
“I don’t get into that redeemed redemption and all that stuff. They played better at spurts [and] other times we didn’t. We didn’t run the ball as well as I would have liked to.”
Is a relationship between a quarterback and a coach an evolving thing and do you both think you are starting to learn each other the way you need to learn each other?
“I think there is—a coach and every player that is the case. I think especially with your quarterback. It is really between myself and Josh (Freeman). Mike (Sullivan) and Josh (Freeman) and then Ron (Turner) and Josh (Freeman). [It] is very important.”
Was the philosophy to give up a lot of underneath stuff to try to eat up the clock when you were up in the game?
“No, that’s not what happened. That was not the issue. Giving the underneath was not the issue. Letting them catch it—they caught the ball. That was the issue. We were not giving up anything. We were not laying back.”
What can you take from this game being 1-3?
“It is the National Football League. We could be 4-0 and we could be 0-4. Every game has been six or less or seven or less I guess Dallas—I don’t know. None of that matters. It is what is. What could be [or] what was [or] what isn’t really doesn’t matter. We need to get better. I need to coach better. It starts with me and it goes down through the organization. We just need to get better. You want to win. You are close. Get better and you will win.”
– Mark Cook contributed to this report
COMMENTS
September 30, 2012
9:42 pm