- Joined
- Apr 11, 2009
- Messages
- 49,994
- Reaction score
- 7,730
- Points
- 2,544
- Location
- Greensboro, NC
- Military Branch
- Alma Mater
December 22, 2013
FedExField
Executive Vice President/Head Coach Mike Shanahan
On the game:
“That type of game is really a tough one. The players played extremely hard. Anytime you have a game like that, and you can’t find a way to get it done, especially against Dallas, you just take a look back at your opportunities, and you are very disappointed you didn’t take advantage of them. I thought our fans were great, especially with three wins. Good support out there, just disappointed we couldn’t get it done.”
On if this loss is more difficult because of all he has been through this week:
“Anytime you are prepared the whole week for a game it always hurts. A lot of preparation goes into this season, and anytime you lose an opportunity to win a football game, you are very disappointed. I think you always want to send a guy out like [linebacker] London [Fletcher] with a win. Disappointed we couldn’t get it done. We had a number of opportunities to get it done. I was pleased with the effort of our football team, they played hard. It’s our job to get them to eliminate some of the mistakes, and we didn’t get it done.”
On thoughts behind the timeout called while the clock was stopped:
“Somebody called it, but it wasn’t me. What happens sometimes with the defense, they come out into formation, they are not aware of the 40-second clock. It was a call from the field, and there was no idea what time was on the play clock. It could have been 15 or 20 seconds. It was called on the field because of a defensive adjustment that wasn’t in place.”
On wide receiver Pierre Garçon setting the team record for receptions in a season:
“It tells a lot about Pierre and his preparation during the offseason. What he brings every week, week in and week out, he’s a competitor. Not only does he do it catching passes, but he does it in the running game as well. It’s hard to find complete receivers like Pierre. He’s a complete receiver.”
On the defense in the second half:
“I think you can see what happened. They made a couple of key third downs to keep a couple of drives going. It was a credit to them. We had a couple of opportunities there to get them out on third down, and they kept the drives going. Even at the end on fourth-and-10. They took advantage of some of the opportunities that we gave them and they capitalized on it on third and fourth down.”
On how much linebacker Brian Orakpo’s injury affected the defense:
“You are going to have guys go down during the game, and we had four or five guys go down. They had guys go down, and it’s just part of the game. Making adjustments and trying to make those adjustments and still win a football game.”
On the drive with quarterback Tony Romo’s long pass:
“It was a broken play. They ran a corner route, and we had a two-deep safety and went to make the play. Then the receiver went up the field. Romo scrambled a little bit, got a little extra there, and then made an excellent throw down the field. That’s what happens on the scramble play, especially a guy like Romo. You’ve got to keep the guy in front of you, he got behind us, and it was a great throw. Good job getting out of the pressure of the pocket.”
On how tough it is for quarterbacks to do that:
“Every quarterback in the NFL, the great ones, what they do is, before they get to the line of scrimmage, they are always looking down the field. If you can keep your eyes focused down the field, you can make those plays. A lot of guys, all they want to do is run. Romo’s done a great job of focusing down the field. If his guy’s not there, he will dump it, like he did on the last play for the touchdown, or at the last second if nobody is open, and he is really disciplined, he will run for about five or six yards. He won’t beat you running, but he’s got a way of making a lot of big plays.”
On quarterback Kirk Cousins:
“I think at the end of the day, you’ve got to find a way to win those games, but I was pleased with the way he handled himself. I think we’d like to have the one pass back that he had to [wide receiver] Santana [Moss] in the first half. It was a good read, Santana had good moves, he threw it slightly behind him and he’d like to have that one back. But overall I was pleased with the way he handled himself, and he’ll get better every game.”
On the possibility of this being his last home game:
“Like I said, I was pleased with our football team and the way they fought. And we’ll talk about the other stuff after the season’s over with. As I told our football team – that’s a tough one to take because our football team played extremely hard and we had a lot of chances to finish the game and we didn’t. And our football team, even though they’re very disappointed, will be ready for the Giants. I’ll address all those other things that we’ve talked about over the last few weeks after I talk to [Redskins Owner] Dan [Snyder] and we’ll go from there.”
On Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Micheal Spurlock’s long return:
“Well, I think if you watch [safety Trenton] Robinson and you watch his location, he had an opportunity to make a play. And we’ll have to take a look at it again, but I thought he was in perfect position to make the play and he [Spurlock] did make a great return. But I thought there were some hands right there in the back. It was disappointing. Maybe I didn’t look at it the right way, but it sure looked to me like it was a push in the back because I thought he was going to decapitate him right there on the spot. Either way, we could have had some other players make the play if he [Robinson] misses. Those things are going to happen in a game. You don’t want to leave those plays in the official’s hand because you have to make enough plays to make sure that doesn’t happen and still find a way to win.”
On if he can put his finger on why the team is 3-12:
“Yeah, we’ll address that at the end of the season. There are always a lot of things that you go back and you take a look at, but collectively, we’ll talk more in detail at the end of the season.”
On how difficult it’ll be for the team to get ready for a “meaningless” game:
“Well, people had talked like that last week against Atlanta – how were people going to get ready for Dallas? Our football team will get ready. They’re pros, a lot of character, it means a lot to them regardless of where you’re at in the NFC and they’ll come back and they’ll play hard.”
FedExField
Executive Vice President/Head Coach Mike Shanahan
On the game:
“That type of game is really a tough one. The players played extremely hard. Anytime you have a game like that, and you can’t find a way to get it done, especially against Dallas, you just take a look back at your opportunities, and you are very disappointed you didn’t take advantage of them. I thought our fans were great, especially with three wins. Good support out there, just disappointed we couldn’t get it done.”
On if this loss is more difficult because of all he has been through this week:
“Anytime you are prepared the whole week for a game it always hurts. A lot of preparation goes into this season, and anytime you lose an opportunity to win a football game, you are very disappointed. I think you always want to send a guy out like [linebacker] London [Fletcher] with a win. Disappointed we couldn’t get it done. We had a number of opportunities to get it done. I was pleased with the effort of our football team, they played hard. It’s our job to get them to eliminate some of the mistakes, and we didn’t get it done.”
On thoughts behind the timeout called while the clock was stopped:
“Somebody called it, but it wasn’t me. What happens sometimes with the defense, they come out into formation, they are not aware of the 40-second clock. It was a call from the field, and there was no idea what time was on the play clock. It could have been 15 or 20 seconds. It was called on the field because of a defensive adjustment that wasn’t in place.”
On wide receiver Pierre Garçon setting the team record for receptions in a season:
“It tells a lot about Pierre and his preparation during the offseason. What he brings every week, week in and week out, he’s a competitor. Not only does he do it catching passes, but he does it in the running game as well. It’s hard to find complete receivers like Pierre. He’s a complete receiver.”
On the defense in the second half:
“I think you can see what happened. They made a couple of key third downs to keep a couple of drives going. It was a credit to them. We had a couple of opportunities there to get them out on third down, and they kept the drives going. Even at the end on fourth-and-10. They took advantage of some of the opportunities that we gave them and they capitalized on it on third and fourth down.”
On how much linebacker Brian Orakpo’s injury affected the defense:
“You are going to have guys go down during the game, and we had four or five guys go down. They had guys go down, and it’s just part of the game. Making adjustments and trying to make those adjustments and still win a football game.”
On the drive with quarterback Tony Romo’s long pass:
“It was a broken play. They ran a corner route, and we had a two-deep safety and went to make the play. Then the receiver went up the field. Romo scrambled a little bit, got a little extra there, and then made an excellent throw down the field. That’s what happens on the scramble play, especially a guy like Romo. You’ve got to keep the guy in front of you, he got behind us, and it was a great throw. Good job getting out of the pressure of the pocket.”
On how tough it is for quarterbacks to do that:
“Every quarterback in the NFL, the great ones, what they do is, before they get to the line of scrimmage, they are always looking down the field. If you can keep your eyes focused down the field, you can make those plays. A lot of guys, all they want to do is run. Romo’s done a great job of focusing down the field. If his guy’s not there, he will dump it, like he did on the last play for the touchdown, or at the last second if nobody is open, and he is really disciplined, he will run for about five or six yards. He won’t beat you running, but he’s got a way of making a lot of big plays.”
On quarterback Kirk Cousins:
“I think at the end of the day, you’ve got to find a way to win those games, but I was pleased with the way he handled himself. I think we’d like to have the one pass back that he had to [wide receiver] Santana [Moss] in the first half. It was a good read, Santana had good moves, he threw it slightly behind him and he’d like to have that one back. But overall I was pleased with the way he handled himself, and he’ll get better every game.”
On the possibility of this being his last home game:
“Like I said, I was pleased with our football team and the way they fought. And we’ll talk about the other stuff after the season’s over with. As I told our football team – that’s a tough one to take because our football team played extremely hard and we had a lot of chances to finish the game and we didn’t. And our football team, even though they’re very disappointed, will be ready for the Giants. I’ll address all those other things that we’ve talked about over the last few weeks after I talk to [Redskins Owner] Dan [Snyder] and we’ll go from there.”
On Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Micheal Spurlock’s long return:
“Well, I think if you watch [safety Trenton] Robinson and you watch his location, he had an opportunity to make a play. And we’ll have to take a look at it again, but I thought he was in perfect position to make the play and he [Spurlock] did make a great return. But I thought there were some hands right there in the back. It was disappointing. Maybe I didn’t look at it the right way, but it sure looked to me like it was a push in the back because I thought he was going to decapitate him right there on the spot. Either way, we could have had some other players make the play if he [Robinson] misses. Those things are going to happen in a game. You don’t want to leave those plays in the official’s hand because you have to make enough plays to make sure that doesn’t happen and still find a way to win.”
On if he can put his finger on why the team is 3-12:
“Yeah, we’ll address that at the end of the season. There are always a lot of things that you go back and you take a look at, but collectively, we’ll talk more in detail at the end of the season.”
On how difficult it’ll be for the team to get ready for a “meaningless” game:
“Well, people had talked like that last week against Atlanta – how were people going to get ready for Dallas? Our football team will get ready. They’re pros, a lot of character, it means a lot to them regardless of where you’re at in the NFC and they’ll come back and they’ll play hard.”