Post-Game Skins Quotes 11/17/19: Bill Callahan

REDSKINS INTERIM HEAD COACH BILL CALLAHAN

Opening Statement:
“That's certainly not the outcome we expected or desired, but you have to give a lot of credit to the Jets on their performance today. We were just not on top of our game in any way, shape or form. We got off to a rough start early in the first quarter and it kind of dovetails into the second quarter. By the half, we were down by three possessions and we dug ourselves a little hole. We had to dig out of it in the second half and we did the best we could but to no avail.”

On what he told the team postgame:
“I just let them know that there's no give-up in myself. I'm a positive person and I believe in positivity. The only way I know how to dig out of this is by going back to work and fixing the problems that we've had, whether they're related to coverage, protection, decision-making, special teams or penalties. It was uncharacteristic. I was really disappointed in how we performed coming off the bye, where we put so much time and effort into those areas that we had discussed during the week.”

On RB Derrius Guice:
“I think there was a good rotation. I think we had planned between he and [RB] Adrian [Peterson]. Sometimes those rotations work out differently. Sometimes some players get featured better with the selection, others don't, not that the plays are better for one or the other. We felt that the concept was good for Adrian [Peterson], they defended them well. And some of the plays that [Derrius] Guice had lent itself a little bit more opportunity, so there's a little bit of a give and take in that one play is better than the other. It could have worked out either way.”

On developing players who will be here in the future:
“I think we continue to emphasize what we've been doing. We've been consistent with our approach with our players. We have good players in Adrian Peterson and Derrius Guice. We have played younger players like [WR] Terry [McLaurin], [WR] [Kelvin] Harmon who played. We played a little bit of [T] Geron Christian [Sr.] today at left tackle and also [WR] [Steven] Sims [Jr.] out in the slot. We've moved some players around. We've made some subtle changes along the way and we have pieces a little bit differently this game than we have in the past.”

On if this team looks like a 1-9 type roster that needs improvement:
“I think it's a young team. I think it's a very young team. I think if you look at the nucleus of [QB] Dwayne [Haskins Jr.], [RB Derrius] Guice, [WR] Terry [McLaurin], [WR Steven] Sims [Jr.], a lot of young guys playing tight end are. On the line, that was a strength of ours going into this season. We played around [Geron] Christian [Sr.] a little bit more. Defensively, we're playing some young guys. I think it's a roster that continues to grow, continues to mature. My only intention is that it gets more consistent from an execution standpoint. I think that's where we lie right now. I think that's where we've faltered, just with the simplicity of snap counts, false starts, being smarter, when you know you're rushing a field goal and you know you've done a great job making a stand, keeping them out of the red zone scoring situation and limiting them to a three-point score. I think that would have done a lot to come back from – and not have – a margin to dig out of like we had to in the first half, but it was just way too many mistakes. It was, again, uncharacteristic, not what we expected, not what we had worked on, but you have to give credit to the Jets. They are a good defense and did well today on offense. We blew some coverages. We had some missed assignments in the back end that really hurt us, especially down in the red zone.”

On what he saw on the deep play from QB Dwayne Haskins Jr. to WR Terry McLaurin that was called back because of a penalty:
“I never got a good explanation from the officiating crew. Usually, they're great about coming over and explaining it and they didn't have a chance. As the time rolled on, there was a meeting at center field there for a long time and by the time they made their decisions and things were basically administered, they never got back to the sideline. There was a holding one on [G Brandon] Schreff and I believe Schreff took his helmet off to fix it, and they called him for taking off his helmet. I'm not sure about that, but that's what was conveyed to me on the sideline by our coaches. It hasn't been confirmed by the officiating crew by any stretch. I think our players got frustrated by that to an extent, as you saw Donald [Penn] was really, really upset. I don't know the exactness of it, I was trying to find out as much as I could. Probably know more through the penalty report as we file it with the league tomorrow morning.”

On whether he intentionally put some of the younger cornerbacks in to give them reps:
“I don't think so. I think there were some progressions in their passing game where they got on the perimeter and they high-lowed the corner and the backend safety. I know that coverage was tied down tight enough and you get in those areas where you know the corner should deepen and the safety should be over the top – sometimes the corner comes upfield and the safety is deeper and it creates that void in the coverage – and that's what I noticed. Now, I didn't have a chance to really talk with [Defensive Coordinator] Greg [Manusky] and discuss it as we will tomorrow when we get a chance to evaluate the film, but those are the things that typically happen in zone coverages on the move when a coverage would break down or [there's] a movement pass that extends the perimeter and puts pressure on the corner.”

On the starting corners remaining on the field towards the end of the game:
“I believe [Defensive Coordinator] Greg [Manusky] made the change and put some other players in at the time, looked at some different combinations at the corner and the slot.”

On how they incorporated WR Terry McLaurin in the game plan early:
“We were definitely trying to get him the ball and get [QB] Dwayne [Haskins Jr.] into a rhythm and comfortable and take the shots. We wanted to take a few shots each quarter and it didn't work out the way we were playing. I think going back to [WR] Terry [McLaurin] and your point about his ability to make the big play, whether it's short, deep, intermediate – he's everything we talk about, he gets better every game and he's into it. He's sound, competitive, highly competitive. He knows when to go for the ball and knows where he's at – great balance. I think he has tremendous focus and framing of the ball as it's in flight. He knows how to position his body and also the awareness of the boundary lines as well. His instinctiveness, intuitiveness – deep, short, middle – is really impressive. But the shot that he took on the slant down in the red zone, I mean that's a tough catch in traffic. You know you're going to get lit up. He stayed strong, clutched it and took a took a pretty good hit on the catch, but I have the utmost respect for his play and he will continue to get better in the years to come.”

On whether he would consider any changes to the defensive coaching staff:
“No, not at this juncture.”

On receivers not getting open and winning their matchups:
“I think they win, there's always other elements to coverage that you're facing, decisions you're facing. Not only that but we opened it up a little bit more. We got the run phase down to expand the pass. That's one of the things that we learned in the self-scout this past week, trying to broaden our passing game, attacking more. Unfortunately, it didn't work out. They're a good defense. They play tight coverage and you have to beat man coverages or find the zones and be able to work out the squeezes in the zones or the wall often in the zones. At times it worked and sometimes it didn't, but the most disappointing thing is not coming up with points. We didn't come up with the three, we didn't come up with the seven, and that's frustrating. That's really, really frustrating. I thought we worked diligently at it and then we were working up at it. We have to go back and do it again, focus on trying to fix it and address it and not give up on it. I think that's the main thing, that they don't give up. I don't see any quitting in that locker room from our players. We're down, they're hurt, but that's to be expected. We're here to win. You don't win these types of games and you have opportunities to win it, it's a tough scenario. Younger guys are looking to the older guys for leadership, older guys are leading, that's a team tied together. I think that's a vital point when you're in a situation that we're in. I haven't been in this situation very many times, but it happens. I think if you're in the National Football League long enough, you're in there over 25 years, you're going to have great years and you're going to have down years. This is just the ebb and flow of the game and how organizations function.”

On if the team is close:
“I don't think we're close today. I have to be honest with you. I thought in the last few games we played, we were close. We had breakthroughs. We were looking for closers in the second half. We weren't in that scenario today and that was the disappointing aspect of our performance. We didn't come out and really put together the type of game early on to make it competitive and put ourselves in a position late to win or separate or do anything. We've dug ourselves a pretty good hole and we never really recovered from it. There were some flashes of playing by the young players during the course of the second half but not enough to sustain the stamina that's needed to win on a consistent basis. I'm not making excuses, but there are a lot of younger players on the roster that are learning. I think Dwayne's learning. This will be a great learning experience for him and he'll get better from it. We all have those experiences in life where we fail and don't do as well. Then you come out of it learning a little bit more about yourself about, what you can do better and take it to the practice field. Ultimately, changing your game as you move on as a professional.”

On QB Dwayne Haskins Jr.'s rhythm:
“He had rhythm, I thought. It took a little time to get comfortable. I thought we opened the passing game up a little bit more today. We tried to make it more player-friendly for him ¬– we tried to simplify the progressions, the reads that he had in the game. I thought we were both conceived. I didn't think that it was anything that was elaborate or anything that was really too much or that can congest his mind with a lot of thinking. I really felt that the reads were simple, but you have to execute and at times when you have a rush you have issues. Sometimes it's a protection, sometimes it's the receivers not getting there quick enough, fast enough, soon enough to be on time to deliver the ball to, so in those instances there's a holding of the ball. All those things are great learning experiences for him. Unfortunately, it comes in a bad loss and I look at this as a game that was winnable for us. To come out of it in the way that we did was really disappointing.”

On the uncharacteristic mistakes made by the team:
“One of those was in the last four weeks. I think we have improved our penalty play, somewhere in the area of top-five, top-eight in the league. I don't know the exact fact, but it was really a substantial upgrade in our penalty play. We had limited penalties and today we had 11. That to me is uncharacteristic. When you have a load of penalties like we had, it puts you back, pushes the chains for our defense and allows a team to move the ball forward. It hurts and it puts us in a tough position to recover from. Then, the mental errors I felt were uncharacteristic. Six sacks – I don't think we've given up six sacks in a while around here. Just to give those up under really simple pressures – there was nothing really exotic about the pressure package that we were facing, we were prepared for it, we knew where [S Jamal Adams] was coming from, we knew the line, we knew what their stunts were. That was disappointing. I expected more from our players. I think they would tell you the same thing. We could've done better, much better.”

"On the uncharacteristic mistakes made by the team:"

Um, actually I think those mistakes are very in character for this team.