Post-Game Skins Quotes 10/29/17: Redskins Players

REDSKINS QB KIRK COUSINS

On what's going on in his mind late in games with backup offensive linemen:
“Oh, boy… No, it's a challenge, and I think the challenge for me as a quarterback is how much do you keep your eyes down the field, trust the rush and just play, and how much do you start to say I'm going to plan for the potential of it being loose. Now, I have to avoid the chance of a sack-fumble. We saw what a sack-fumble can do to kill a drive and give them a short field. So, it's that balance of trying to play conservative and protect your opportunities in the game while also being aggressive and having to go make plays at some point. That was the balance I was trying to find throughout the game, and I think for the most part handled it well, but there's obviously plays here and there that you wish were different.”

On the impact of injuries on play calls:
“We could run a fair amount of our offense from that zebra personnel. It certainly takes away some of our ability to be multiple and to keep the defense on their toes, but we can run a vast amount of our offense. But, there are a lot of special week-to-week plays that we put in. For example, the long play to Jamison Crowder was a play that we thought had a great chance this week specifically, and that was out of a two-tight-end set. That kind of play is no longer available to us once the injuries stacked up. You know, a lot of our plays are tough when you haven't been here for OTAs, haven't been here for training camp, or even early in the season, and now we're asking to make all these calls and understand audibles and some of the deep down the line plays that we might not have repped this week but are certainly up for every game. That's where it gets tough.”

On how to improve on fast starts and slower finishes:
“Well, I think we have started fast the last several games and that's a positive. I think it goes back to the coaches quite a bit, crediting them for the way that they game plan going in to the game. Having a plan the first 15-20 plays and really making sure that were at our best in those moments. And I think it's just a matter of continuing that through the second quarter, and into the second half. You know, we certainly can still move the ball but there's no doubt that we'd love to keep that pressure on the defense the entire game as opposed to how we've started fast and then sputtered at times. But, you're not going to score every possession either so there's a balance there understanding that eventually they do make adjustments and you have to just keep evolving.”

On how defenses change with TE Jordan Reed out of the lineup:
“I don't notice too much difference. I think they're going to call their defenses. I'm sure that they have certain third downs, certain calls that are going to double him or drop a defensive lineman out to have an eye on him or create a safety rotation that's going to be inside and outside on him. You know, Jordan is a great player and defenses have to be aware of him, but they also have to cover so many other people. So, I don't sense a major difference suddenly when he's out, it just affects a little bit of our variability in our offense.”

On challenge of having a 3-4 record:
“You know, we'd love to be 7-0 right now but we're not. You just go back to work and whether we were 0-7, or 3-4, or 7-0 I would approach Tuesday the exact same when I go back to work. It doesn't really change anything. So, we just stay the course, keep working, look for ways to continuously improve, and trust that if we do that good things will happen in the end.”

On the hit following the completion to WR Jamison Crowder:
“Those hits happen sometimes. You have a bit of a moment where you collect yourself, but that one wasn't too bad. I'm grateful for the helmet that I wear, thanks to Riddell for making that helmet – they do a good job. They do a good job. It's those kind of hits where you say, ‘I'm really glad that someone, somewhere at a university is doing research to protect my head,' because that's the hit where you say, ‘I need the best of the best on my head' and when you are able to walk away from that with no headache, no vision problems, keep playing, you've got a clear mind, that's a beautiful thing in and of itself and certainly gives you confidence for the next time you step out there, the next snap, trusting that your equipment will do its job for you.”

On the impact of the quarterback position with few carries by Redskins running backs tonight:
“Yeah, not ideal with the new guys up in front and the weather what it was, you'd love to just throw the ball 17 times and go 12-of-17 and just pound the rock and go find a way to win the game, run the clock out. It just wasn't the way the game went for us today, and I'm just going to run the plays that were called and I felt like we did some good things in the pass game but ultimately we just couldn't overcome a sack here or an incompletion there, whatever it may have been.”

On the mentality of the current win/loss record:
“I don't know what the word myopic means, but we definitely keep a focus on individual weeks. I can't do anything but first of all rest. Tomorrow I'm going to rest, that's what my focus is on getting recharged. Tuesday I'm going to focus on watching this game, taking criticism, taking notes, and then working on the run game for the Seahawks. That's where it starts, I can't play the Seahawks until Sunday, so I have a very focused perspective and approach each and every day of what can I do today and look no further than that. But you know it's fun for fans and obviously you guys do a great job looking at big picture things and where we're headed and I think sometimes you have a much better idea of all that than I do even. But all I'm going to do is focus on each day what I can do to be ready for the next test.”

On adjusting and preparing for weather conditions:
“We take a Gatorade water bottle and just squirt the ball, literally do that in practice to try and get used to a wet ball feel. It's only so much you can do, eventually you just have to go play. I did feel like for about three quarters it was irrelevant, it didn't have a major impact on the game. The footing and the grip of the ball wasn't too bad, it was really the fourth quarter where I felt like it couldn't rain any harder, it did, and that was when I felt like it was hard to grip the ball, harder to be consistent down the field, but other than that it wasn't a big deal.”

REDSKINS CB JOSH NORMAN

On the loss:
“It's tough. You want to win and we had opportunities to do that and we fell up short. We came up short.”

On if he has ever seen this many injuries:
“No, I have never seen something like this before. Never ever have I ever. This is the first time for me to see these types of injuries. I think, shoot, how many offensive linemen are out? Four or five all down. I have never seen it before. It's crazy. I can't really say nothing much about how crazy that is. The guys just got depleted. The defensive line, they are a little banged up as well. The secondary, the linebackers, you name it and we got it but it is no excuse. We are not making it one either. We just have got guys that have to come in a fill in for those guys and go out there and play. Put your hard hat on and go to work. It's the NFL and guys are going to take us as wounded men and go out here and play. When you're on the field you better strap up because it's go time [whether] you like it or not.”

On feelings about the team moving forward:
“That's a good question. You just have to go and reset, hit the reset button. Today just – we wanted that one. We really did want that one. We just came up short. So we have to go back home and suck this one up and sit this one out and come back tomorrow and it will be a brighter day. Right now it is a little tough, but you have to tip your hats off to them. They came in here and did what they had to do. Injuries or not, they came in here and they got a win.”

REDSKINS S D.J. SWEARINGER

On if he has seen this many injuries:
“Never in my life, man. I have never seen that. We can say it is a physical game but we are not taking care of our bodies. We have to take care of our bodies. We have to do the extra stuff. We have to do the extra treatment. We have got to do injury prevention. I've never been on a team – I've been on four teams – with this many guys get injured. I think, as players, we have to take care of our bodies better and do a better job. We can say it is the training staff. We can say it is the weight room. It's us. We have got to get ourselves healthy. We have to be better. The guys that are coming in have to step up. We have injuries and we can't count that as an excuse. Guys are getting their opportunities and have to be ready to play and guys that are healthy have to step their game up. We just have to be better.”

On the defense after two fumbles:
“It's extremely tough, but our defense – something we try to take pride in is we bend but we don't break. [When] we are ever in a situation like that, we just have to force the three or get the turnover. Three or nothing is what we always say. I think we did a good job of forcing the three both times and we just have to do a better job of complementary football, all phases working together so we can be better.”

On the change of momentum after the blocked field goal:
“It changed the whole momentum. We had the momentum and that's something that Coach [Jay Gruden] talks about all the time. When we have the momentum, we have to keep the momentum. History has repeated itself with special teams and we just have got to do better. We have to do better on all three phases. But we can't continue to shoot ourselves in the foot with plays like that. We have to get better and get better [when we] go on the road and play in one of the toughest places in the NFL.”

REDSKINS LB RYAN KERRIGAN

On the loss:
“It sucks. I mean – on a lot of levels – we are obviously 0-3 in the division. This is our alumni weekend. We have a lot of former players here that you want to put on a good show for. Those guys hate the Cowboys as much as we do and that's the team you want to be beat, especially on your home turf. So it's a disappointing loss in all ways.”

On the opportunities lost:
“We just have to get off the field in that four minute situation and give our offense a chance. They have had a good drive and scored on the previous one. We just had to give them another chance with more time on the clock.”

On RB Ezekiel Elliott:
“He's hard enough when you have holes filled, let alone when you're giving him a clear running lane. It is never going to be easy.”

REDSKINS TE VERNON DAVIS

On how he's taking the loss:
“It's football. It happens. It's unfortunate, but we have to move on and use the depth that we have – and that's the one thing I love about this team. If you're behind someone, you're going to step up, and that's the mindset we have around here – and they know that. We just have to continue to move forward.”

On Head Coach Jay Gruden's postgame message to the team:
“He addressed us in a way that you address the team whenever you lose. And it was never pretty. You can take it, meditate on it, just pray that it sticks. And at the end of the day, we're going to get back into practice and we're going to work extremely hard and do all that we can to fix the issues, whatever they are, and try to win some games.”

If he's ever seen an injury situation like the current one:
“No. Maybe similar. In 12 years, you see a lot. So I can't recall when, but I know I've seen something similar.”

REDSKINS G ARIE KOUANDJIO

On his return to the Redskins offensive line:
“It kind of was a little bit seamless. Like you said, I have been here for some time. Like I've said before in interviews, these guys are like my brothers. Being out there and knowing that I can help them, that's all I care about.”

On where he thought problems stemmed from tonight:
“I don't know. I haven't even seen the film. I don't know what all went on – I can't see everything. All I know is the guys fought really hard today. After some time they're chopping wood, that tree is eventually going to fall down.”

On the difficulty of joining a depleted offensive line:
“I don't know, man. I trust in God a lot, so I don't know. I just went out there and kind of believed in God and not really myself, but in God. And really, I kind of already knew the plays, the Ravens have done a great job training me and doing all that stuff – a lot of guys did a lot of great things over there for me and I'd be [a]miss if I didn't thank those guys. As far as coming in, it was good.”

REDSKINS G TYLER CATALINA

On the game:
“Credit to the Cowboys, they played a great game, played better than us. We're going to have to get in, watch the film, get better and learn from it.”

On challenges with communication on the offensive line:
“When you're splitting up the five guys that have played so long together for a couple years, they know things without even having to communicate it. So when you throw a wrench in there and throw in two, three different guys that you've never played with, there's going to be a little bit of a slow start to the communication process and learning how everybody plays.”

On how to handle the loss of so many players:
“Yeah, obviously you're going to say, ‘What the hell is going on?' But, the motto of football is, ‘Next man up.' So whoever's going to step in and play is going to have to do a great job, because we're expecting to win no matter who's out there.”


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I don't think it is so much a factor of starting 'fast', so much as being able to hold up physically for a half or so of competitive NFL football, before the cumulative weight of the injured players out there giving it a go results in the opponent being able to assert their will on the flow of action.

Right now the Cowboys offense is very healthy. 10 of the 11 starters have been there all along (Tyronn Smith has missed some time).

The Redskins' defense is missing its two best DL, Allen and Ioannidis (hurt during game), and is now without Foster, a healthy Breeland, and both backup safeties as well.

The defense kept the Cowboys to field goals for the most part, but the offense and special teams' inability to get out of their own way, compromised any chance of stealing the game.

Once they needed to the Cowboys simply did a 'rope a dope' with Elliott and their OL as a hammer to close it out.