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November 14, 2013
Redskins Park
Executive Vice President/Head Coach Mike Shanahan
On Thursday’s injury report:
“D-Hall [cornerback DeAngelo Hall] was limited today, and [defensive end] Stephen Bowen was limited…What was the final verdict on D-Hall? I’m not sure exactly what it was, but Stephen Bowen tweaked his knee a little bit.”
On if he is concerned about Hall:
“No, he’s just a little bit sore so we kept him out – didn’t take full reps.”
On if the injury to Bowen is the same he has been playing with:
“Yeah, he was just – same thing. He didn’t take full reps, so that’s why we put him as limited. Neither guy should be any problem, or at least that’s what we think.”
On how he learned about the option in his year under Barry Switzer at the University of Oklahoma:
“You know, you go back to those years and you go back to high school and college – a lot of people ran the option back then. They had the Houston Veer, Dartmouth kind of came up with the counter-option. It was big in colleges with Texas and Oklahoma and the Wishbone, so back then a lot of people were running different types of options. The last number of years a lot of people have been running the option, but a lot more out of the shotgun.”
On how much he draws upon his option experience at Oklahoma or if he has had to reteach himself:
“I think everything’s a learning experience. Everything expands in football, or if people go back to some of the base principles. But it’s been fun watching colleges over the last number of years implement some of those things, watch people kind of change some of their schemes to do some of the things that colleges have done.”
On what gave him confidence that wide receiver Pierre Garçon could be so versatile:
“You really don’t know for sure if someone’s going to be able to do that, because he did line up on one side, just ran a few basic routes. But you could see that when he did run routes, he could make cuts at full speed. You could see his speed and his ability to go up for the ball and make plays once the ball was in his hands.”
On how soon into Garçon’s tenure in Washington he believed he had gotten the player he’d hoped to get:
“You don’t know, but it didn’t take long to figure out how competitive he was and how strong in his ability to run different routes and handle a variety of different formations, where at Indy he just kind of was on one side the majority of the time and just ran a few different routes. But I did call [Denver Broncos quarterback] Peyton [Manning] on him and asked him if he thought he’d be able to fit into a system like ours, and he said, 'Definitely.’”
On Hall’s injury:
“He had a little soreness in his left foot.”
On if there is enough character in the locker room to mount a comeback similar last season:
“If you’re asking me about the character in that locker room, yeah, we’ve got a lot of character in that locker room. The new guys, you’re getting a chance to see them, see what they can do, the guys that haven’t been with us. But the guys that have been with us proved last year how they reacted to a little adversity. Some of the new guys, some of the younger guys that we just got or free agents, you’ll get a chance to see how they react to a little adversity next week.”
On what he communicates to the team about resilience and what it takes to make that comeback:
“What we did do is we went back through and looked at last year where we were at after nine games and went through the stats on both offense, defense and special teams. Kind of gave them an idea on what we needed to improve on, on both sides of the ball as well as special teams. So you talk about that collectively – what we have to do over the last seven games. But more importantly, after you talk about those type of things, you’ve got to concentrate on the Eagles and getting that job done.”
On the offensive struggles in the second halves of recent road games:
“In Minnesota, there’s only four drives. Really you had the first drive and the last drive were long drives, and I think we scored on our first five drives. So when you look at a game, you look at it collectively. Can you look at a dropped ball? Can you look at maybe a holding penalty, maybe a throwaway? They had the right coverage. So when you look at a game, you just don’t look at the second drive or the sixth drive or the seventh drive, because there are a number of variables that’s involved. What do you do consistently over nine games? What do we need to work on? What are the things we’re doing poorly? That’s what we try to do is focus on what we need to improve on. And if you do that, then you’ve got a chance to get better.”
On his confidence that special teams is close to eliminating mistakes:
“I’ve got a lot more confidence, but we’ve got to go out there and do it. As you know, we made a couple mistakes against Minnesota, but our game plan with our coverage teams was to squib kick it or pooch it – that was our game plan. We know they averaged the 28-yard line. We averaged the 22-and-a-half, 23-yard line, so we lost a little yardage there. But we were willing to do that because they had a returner that we thought, like a couple of other teams, could go the distance and change the outcome of the game. That’s not necessarily always that way. So when you take a look at a guy like [kicker] Kai [Forbath], sometimes it’s with the wind or against the wind, but our speed in our coverage is much improved over the last three or four weeks with some of the additions that we’ve added.”
On if punter Sav Rocca is in a slump:
“I think anytime you have a shank, you’re always disappointed in that. He’s been pretty consistent for us. A couple times he outkicked his coverage a little bit, but he still has the ability to kick it that far. We’ve got to do a better job in coverage. So I’ve got a lot of confidence in Sav. I think the last seven games of the season, I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t play exceptionally well.”
On if he is opposed to adding a kickoff specialist who can force touchbacks on every attempt:
“First of all, there’s no guarantees that it’s going to be every time, to start with. Some guys are very good at kicking off and they may have a 60 percent or 70 percent touchback. No, we’re not against it. I think Kai has proven at times that he’s much improved in that area. A lot of it has to do with the returner if you can’t kick it out of the end zone. But yeah, that’s part of your game plan, that’s part of your evaluation process. You have to put the best 46 guys on the team. Which direction do you go? Do you need that speed guy? Do you need a returner? Do you need a kicker? That’s all part of the process of getting the top 46 guys out there.”
Offensive Coordinator Kyle Shanahan
On what they will do differently vs. Philadelphia compared to Week 1:
“Really I’m just looking forward to hopefully being in a normal game with them. We started out pretty bad with them, turning the ball over early in the game and getting down pretty fast, so I’m hoping we can stay in a normal game where we can stay balanced and run our offense.”
On if he has noticed how far the offense has come since Week 1:
“Yeah, I mean that game right there is almost like watching a two-minute drill for most of the game, so it’s a little bit deceiving. We didn’t see our offense like that much at all the year prior so it’s definitely been different since then – a little different since the Green Bay game also – so hopefully we can keep it a normal game.”
On why the Eagles’ defense has been better than expected:
“They’ve got good players and they’ve got a good scheme. I think anytime you have a new staff teams don’t do as good in the preseason. You’re mixing in a lot of players in there, you’re trying to do a lot of stuff, so I think they had bad numbers in the preseason so people thought it would carry over to the season. I know their numbers aren’t great, but as a said a few weeks in the past, the numbers definitely don’t tell the truth because this is a very good defense. They’ve given up some yards but they’ve held a lot of people to low points. I don’t think anyone has scored over 20 points on them in – I don’t know what it is – like five weeks, and they’re tough to score on. Some people move the ball on them but they’re tough in the red zone. They don’t give up big plays. They’re very active. They run. They hit. They present a lot of issues with the fronts and the coverages that they mix up.”
On if they do anything specific in the red zone that contributes to their success:
“No, they’ve been doing the same thing – I mean, I see the same stuff from when we played them earlier. They’ve got a big package. They’re not a team that just relies on a couple of things. They have a ton of fronts. They have a ton of different stunts. They have a bunch of blitzes, a bunch of different ways they can do it. It’s not a team that you can just go in and know what you’re going to get. You’ve got to be ready for any situation, any personnel groupings and what you see for a little bit doesn’t mean you’re going to see it for the rest of the game. You’ve got to be really fundamental in what you do and you’ve got to execute.”
On why running back Alfred Morris doesn’t get the same attention as some other backs:
“I really don’t know. You guys probably could answer that better than me. I think he gets more and more each year. It’s only his second time in the league. It’s not like he was a big hyped up guy coming out of college, so I don’t think people started to even know his name until probably halfway through the year last year. But he’s a good player so more and more people are noticing him and he doesn’t draw attention to himself so he doesn’t get any extra attention that way. If you watch the tape and stuff, he’s a hell of a player and I think the more tape out there the more people are seeing him and the more everyone’s going to know him.”
On if he feels like the team running the ball as well as it was at the end of last season:
“Yeah, I definitely do. Look at our yards per carry. Look at our numbers. I think it’s right on pace with it.”
On what has led to teams having success pressuring up the middle:
“I don’t think necessarily – they didn’t get us in too many situations where we had to pass. We had a couple of third-and-longs, which you have to pass on third-and-long. One third-and-long we ended up taking a sack, but it was a long developing play and it’s tough to hold up on third-and-long on a seven-step drop. There was one play in particular – a third-and-three – that we didn’t have good protection on. The pocket collapsed fast and we got a sack. You know, as far as that we weren’t in a throwing game. I think we ran it 16 times and threw it 16 times in the second half, so I didn’t see it as just a two-minute deal.”
On if he is pleased with interior protection of the offensive line:
“As a coach I’m never going to be pleased until the quarterback doesn’t get touched an entire game, and that’s really probably never going to happen in my entire life so I’m probably just going to be grouchy probably forever. You never want them to get hit but it’s part of the game. When you drop back, quarterbacks get hit. Just growing up trying to be a coach and hearing coaches talk, you go through a progression and it’s usually you hit your fifth step, you take one hitch and then you throw the ball and then the next part of the dropback is you get hit. You usually get hit as you let that ball go and that’s what happens when you get into those passing situations. That’s why it’s so important for us to try and keep people off-balance.”
On if there are things quarterback Robert Griffin III can do to help the protection:
“Yeah, there’s things that everybody can do – there’s things that I can do, there’s things the O-line can do, there’s things the receivers can do, there’s things Robert can do. When someone has a sack, when someone has an interception, when you have a run for no yards, it’s never just the running back, it’s never just the O-line. Sometimes it’s not a good call. Sometimes people don’t get open. So there’s without a doubt no absolute to that answer. I think it’s pretty obvious each time is a different situation. Like I said the third-and-three – the pocket collapsed, Robert had no choice what to do with that. There’s other plays we could have gotten rid of it earlier to avoid a sack and there’s sometimes guys have got to get open faster.”
On how what he is getting from wide receiver Pierre Garçon compares to his expectations for Garçon when he signed with the Redskins:
“He’s meeting our expectations. We knew we needed a No. 1 receiver and we thought we needed to do it through free agency. It’s tough to get a No. 1 receiver when you don’t have a first-round pick. You take shots on guys later and you hope you can develop them and get them ready. But we knew we had to go out and get a guy. There were a few choices that year and we thought Pierre was the best one. He was our No. 1 choice. He’s definitely been our No. 1 receiver. I thought he was last year when he was healthy. I thought he played at this level, just wasn’t healthy as much. He’s been out there consistently now so I think everyone has been able to see it and notice it more because he’s done it every week.”
On the reason for wide receiver Joshua Morgan seeing fewer targets:
“It’s more that [wide receiver Leonard] Hankerson has been stepping it up so we’ve given Hank more reps. It’s something we said back in training camp – those guys have been competing since the starting of OTAs this year through camp. They were always neck-and-neck. Right when one guy would take a step up the next day he would take a step back and they were always right here and that’s how it was kind of at the beginning of the year. We just felt on the practice field that Hank had been stepping it up so we’ve been giving him a few more opportunities, especially on third down and stuff – more passing situations – and that’s how it’s been. Still doesn’t mean it’s final. We evaluate everything every day and week-to-week and Hank has definitely earned more playing time as the time has gone on.”
On if he believes in fitting players to a system or a system to players, and how that worked out with Griffin III last season:
“It was more different last year than earlier in my career because I never had a quarterback like Robert, but I think this is my sixth year as a coordinator and I’ve had a different system every year. You call it the same system because it’s the same verbiage. It’s the same type of plays, but you call stuff that you think puts your players in the best situation to succeed. Every quarterback we’ve had we’ve done a different offense with. We’ve leaned on certain plays that they’re good at depending on what the receivers are and do we have time to hold up for those type of things, but you don’t just put in a system and say this is what we’re going to run. If you do, you’re not going to be successful. You’ve got to have a system that you’re capable of doing everything so you can find out what your guys are good at, you can find out what the defense is allowing you to do, and then you’ve got to be able to attack guys different ways.”
On if it is dangerous to run a certain system regardless of the players on the roster:
“It’s pretty stupid. I personally don’t think anybody really does that. Guys have systems they believe in but usually a system is language and they have plays that they like, but coaches aren’t just going to keep running plays that their players aren’t good at unless they want to get fired and suck at everything they do. Eventually you’ve got to adjust and you’ve got to do what you can do, and obviously coaches – myself, everybody – we have plays that we believe in. Things you believe in are stuff you’ve had success with in the past, that’s why you believe in it. Just because you’ve had success with something in the past doesn’t mean you’re going to have success with it now or in the future. And sometimes you’ve got to learn the hard way, but you better adjust pretty quick and quit beating your head against the wall trying to run something that’s not working.”
On what he likes about running back screens and what they do to neutralize a pass rush:
“It’s just about keeping people off-balance. Sometimes you want to get easy completions. Usually when you can throw a screen it’s a lot easier than doing other stuff. You don’t have to attack coverages. You don’t have to wait on a pass rush. You don’t have to count on people to get open. If you knew people were going to be in soft zones all the time and they were going to pass rush, you would run screens up the field every play, but guys mix it up. When you feel you’ve got a beat on somebody and they’re doing a certain coverage or the D-line is teeing off, then run a screen, but when you call a screen versus man-to-man or the D-line is not rushing, it looks like a very stupid call because they guys are just sitting there and there’s nothing the quarterback can do. He’s got to bounce pass it and it’s a total waste of a call so you’ve got to pick the right time. We try our hardest to do that and when you do have the right time when you call a screen, they’re awesome, because they’re pretty easy to convert and when you scare a defense with that stuff, they don’t want to pressure as much. They start slowing it down because if you call it in the right look just like you see [Broncos quarterback] Peyton Manning do to [Broncos wide receiver] Demaryius Thomas all the time, they get that quick slammer screen out there when they get a pressure and Demaryius hits it 60 yards to the house untouched. That only works versus a few coverages, but you get in the right coverage and it’s a great call. You get in a bad coverage and it’s a bad call.”
On how much of his scheme has changed since last year and how much of that is just evolution:
“I think we have a foundation and know what we’re best at. There’s certain things that defenses present against you that – last year teams didn’t change up much what they did versus us so we were able to have success doing a lot of the same stuff – stuff we still worked on last year that we had ready to call in games but we didn’t see a lot of those coverages. Sometimes we’ve seen those coverages this year and we’ve had to do a couple of other things that we didn’t do – just different distribution of routes but same type of protections, trying to do it off stuff that we’re running in the run game, but it changes week to week. It depends who you are playing, what teams are on your schedule, and what kind of coordinators you’re playing.”
On if he is satisfied with blitz pickups:
“I think we do fairly good with blitz pickups. We try not to hold on to the ball long. We don’t sit there with max protect all day. There’s two ways to go about it. You get guys out in coverage, which means you can’t hold up on the blitz, so you’ve got to get rid of it and you’ve got five eligibles out so you can’t pick up everybody blitzing, but then you have people open and you have to get rid of it quick. Or you can keep everybody in and block and pick it up and get a little bit more time, but now there’s only three guys, sometimes two guys, out on a route, so if they don’t get open then you just sit there with nowhere to go and you get sacked. There’s a fine line on what you want to do. I always try to get people open first and hope you can have the answer to get rid of the ball and get it to them. Sometimes if that’s not working and we need more time to see it, you’ve got to bring more guys in to protect and give your quarterback more time to see it, help the O-line pick guys up with extra blockers.”
On why Griffin III has been more statistically successful the last two weeks:
“I think it’s a lot of things. I think any time somebody misses OTAs and training camp they’re going to have rust whether they are healthy or not. If you’re not able to go out there and really throw and get in full-speed stuff, you still might feel good but it’s still going to be hard with the speed of the game. So I think each week he has gotten better at throwing, more comfortable, just really in game shape and I think that’s helped him. I don’t think maybe the stats always show, but I think without a doubt Robert has gotten better every week this year and sometimes we don’t have a good game offensively and sometimes it will look like he’s up and down but just from a throwing standpoint and seeming in rhythm and seeming crisper, it starts on the practice field and I’ve seen it each week – him get better and better and looser and looser.”
On if he is learning more about what works best for Griffin III:
“Yeah, I think always. The more time you get with somebody – I think I’ve got a pretty good feel on what he does best. You know what he does best and you’re always trying to push him to do more and that’s the goal working with him. That’s always the goal. That’s what you look forward to in the offseason because that’s where you do get to improve the most, but I think the main thing with Robert, especially during the season since we didn’t have that offseason, is he hasn’t gotten frustrated. He’s kept working and stuff and he’s been able to learn on the run this year. I think it has shown. I think he has progressed throughout this year and I think he’ll continue to do that. I think he’s going to get a lot better going through this year right now – fighting through some of the stuff he’s fought through – and I think it will lead him into a great offseason and I think Robert is going to have a hell of a career.”
On the process of Griffin III being less of a run threat earlier in the year:
“I think it’s a process of being down 31-6 at halftime, or whatever it was. Getting blown out halfway through the second quarter in two games you’re not going to sit there and just run the ball and basically give up to losing the game. You’re trying to get back into a game and you’re getting blown out in the first half and you’re trying to throw the ball. We did have zone read plays in that game – only called a couple of them because they were earlier in the first half, and we didn’t end up getting first downs. We punted and we turned it over. The game was out of hand. That’s why you didn’t see stuff in those first two weeks, but by no means was it, 'Hey we’re changing. We’re going to make this a dropback situation and just do a two-minute drill all the time.’ I think that was the situation that the games present. Who’d we play our third game? Detroit? Detroit was a closer game. We stayed in it the whole game and everyone saw Robert run that game. They saw us get more of our offense – more of what you saw last year – and I think that wasn’t a coincidence.”
On if he thinks Griffin III needs to evolve into a pocket passer:
“Robert is a great player. He was a great college player and he’s a great NFL player. I want Robert to be Robert and I don’t want him to be Peyton Manning, I want him to be Robert. What’s good about Robert is he’s capable of having qualities like Peyton Manning. He can be a great passer. He already is a good thrower. He is, at times, really good in the pass game, but he hasn’t had those reps since he was six years old like somebody like Peyton has. Robert’s always been able to run. He’s always been able to get away from trouble and when you can do that your entire life and make plays, you don’t have to sit in there as much and throw. But Robert’s more than capable of being it. He’s more than capable of being a great thrower, and the more he works at that, he can be as well-rounded and have more weapons than anybody does. I don’t think someone like Peyton or [Patriots quarterback] Tom Brady and stuff can say, 'Hey if I just keep working on my zone read maybe I can have a little bit of Robert’s game, too.’ They have no choice. They have to be what they are. Robert has a choice and he can win a game with his legs, he can win it with his arms, and the more he plays, the more situations he gets put in, the more he’ll be capable of being great in all areas. That’s why I think the ceiling on him is so big.”
On if he knew Garcon was as physical of a receiver as he is or if it has evolved since he’s been here:
“He’s always shown it. Seeing it in person more on a consistent basis, he’s definitely – I would guess it’s a little bit more. But we knew we were getting a physical guy who didn’t mind to get after it, did not fear contact but he’s been one of my most fun guys to coach for that reason.”
On how Garçon has evolved since entering the league and signing with Washington:
“Just understanding a lot of different things that we’ve asked him to do. At Indy, they don’t do many formations. He was pretty much on the right side of the formation, outside the numbers, about 95 percent of the time. That was [Indianapolis Colts wide receiver] Marvin’s [Harrison] spot for a while then it was Pierre’s spot for a while. To bring him here and to move him inside, to motion him, to change his splits, to not always be running straight stem routes but widened routes and stuff from stack releases – it’s been a lot for him because it’s something that he never did in Indy. So he’s really grown, and he’s always tried to do it but I feel like you never can be great at it until you really understand why you’re doing it. After him getting these reps over this last year and a half, he’s gotten a lot better at it, understanding it and really opening his game up and not making him as one-dimensional on certain routes.”
On what it takes for Garçon to become comfortable being more multi-dimensional:
“I mean you have to be good, which he is, and it’s got to be important to you. Pierre really works at it. Pierre really listens to coaching, tries to understand what we’re saying, then he tries to figure it out for himself and he has. He watches tape. He works at it on the field. If something doesn’t work he doesn’t give up on it. He tries to figure out why it didn’t work and he tries to come back the next day and do it again. It takes time but he’s gotten better each week at that stuff.”
Defensive Coordinator Jim Haslett
On what he can learn from the game in Week 1:
“There’s a lot to learn from that one. Obviously we’ve got to do a much better job in the run game. Overall I think you have a better understanding of what they’re doing scheme-wise, so I think that area will help us also.”
On Philadelphia’s pace:
“The pace is the pace. You’ve got to deal with it, and we’ve seen a lot of that this year obviously from Denver, San Diego and a bunch of teams, so that should help us also.”
On second half struggles in the last few games:
“The last game, you’ve got to take away the third downs. We weren’t very good in that area. We had a lot of third-and-shorts that we should have got off. We didn’t tackle well in those third downs. Then we had a couple of penalties – three or four penalties that hurt us that kept drives going. We could have had a couple of stops and we’ve just got to do a much better job in that area.”
On his assessment of the pass rush:
“We’ll do that when it’s all over, but you talk about last week, we had a number of times we had great pass rushes, and that’s not an excuse. I don’t know how many times [linebacker] Ryan [Kerrigan], 'Rak [linebacker Brian Orakpo] had opportunities to get to the quarterback where they were grabbed and held. To me that was more disappointing than anything, but I thought there was a number of times we did a nice job last week of rushing the quarterback. We just didn’t get there more for that reason than anything.”
On if he is content with the effectiveness of the base defense’s pass rush:
“Yeah, I think those two are really good football players. [Nose tackle] Barry [Cofield] has got a number of sacks – he’s doing a good job. Obviously we want to get better in all areas. We have to do a better job in that area also.”
On the difference in having safety Brandon Meriweather this week as opposed to Week 1:
“You can see Brandon is getting his legs under him. He’s starting to feel good. He’s starting to move well. Coming back from the injury a year ago you can see he’s starting to get better and better every day when he’s out on the practice field, so I think it will help immensely.”
On what Meriweather allows them to do differently:
“He can cover wideouts because he’s an ex-corner. He’s gives you flexibility. He’s good in the box, he’s a good tackler. He does a lot of different things for us.”
On the difference in Eagles quarterback Nick Foles this season and in this system:
“I think Nick is playing at a great level. You know, he’s the highest rated quarterback in the National Football League. He’s got a 135 rating, [16] touchdowns, no interceptions, has only been sacked 10 times. I think Nick’s doing a heck of a job within in the scheme, and then they’ve got a good offensive line, they’ve got good receivers, and a great running back, so I think that helps. Obviously I think Nick is playing about as good as he can play.”
On how Foles changes the read option element of the Eagles’ offense:
“It hasn’t changed at all. Nick’s run the ball 20 times – he’s run the ball 20 times for 80 yards. Now they’ll still run the zone read, they still run the option, they don’t do anything different than they’ve done before. It’s just instead of maybe a 10-yard gain it’s a six-yard gain. Nick’s got 20 rushing attempts for 80 yards this year.”
On the danger the Eagles present in the open field:
“They make people tackle one-on-one in space. They use the whole field. They stretch you out. They stretch your point in the run game. They make you play one-on-one and tackle in the pass game. So you’ve got to be able to do a good job. Everybody’s got to rally to the ball, and you’ve got to run to the ball, you’ve got to get off blocks and make tackles and when you have that opportunity to tackle somebody in space you’ve got to bring them down.”
On if he will be more aggressive with his defensive play calling:
“We’ll try to do whatever we can do if the opportunity arises, but obviously there’s things you can do based on who you’re playing, personnel, all that stuff. But we’re always looking to do something to help us win the game.”
On if there are any pieces he would have liked to add to the defense this season:
“You know what, I can’t say that right now. That’s something you do when the season’s over – you go back and look at it and you evaluate everything – your scheme, the players, all that stuff. Right now we’re just in that mode of trying to win one game and then move on from there. That’s kind of where it’s at right now.”
On if the team began looking past the “one game at a time” mantra last year once it began winning and if it could do so again:
“I think our guys believe they can do it again. I said last year at this time, I made a comment to Coach, I said, 'We’re going to win these next seven games and win our division.’ I said it last week, I said, 'I feel good about where we’re at.’ I love the way our guys practice and they’re into it. Teams that are going downhill don’t practice the way we practice. Those teams are negative. We don’t have that here. We’ve just got to go out and put a whole game together. I’m talking about offense, defense, special teams. We’ve got to put a complete game together on defense, offense, special teams. We do that then we’ll get things rolling and we haven’t done that. We’ve done it on defense – a good half here, a bad half here, good three quarters here, bad quarter here. We need to put the whole thing together. The [first] half at Minnesota, they had 127 yards and they end up with 300. It’s just those things. Philadelphia the first half, we were like the guinea pigs. They got 300-something, but we did a good job in the second half. So we just haven’t put it all together. I think once as a team we get one of those, we get it together, then you can get things rolling.”
On how hesitant the defense was against the Eagles in Week 1:
“I know one person that watches the tape and that’s you. So if you’re asking that question then you saw a lot of that. You saw guys trying to figure out the scheme and all that. I think we’ll be much better this time.”
On if the defense hesitated less in the second half of that game:
“Yes, we did, because we got a little more aggressive. Guys knew what was going on.”
Redskins Park
Executive Vice President/Head Coach Mike Shanahan
On Thursday’s injury report:
“D-Hall [cornerback DeAngelo Hall] was limited today, and [defensive end] Stephen Bowen was limited…What was the final verdict on D-Hall? I’m not sure exactly what it was, but Stephen Bowen tweaked his knee a little bit.”
On if he is concerned about Hall:
“No, he’s just a little bit sore so we kept him out – didn’t take full reps.”
On if the injury to Bowen is the same he has been playing with:
“Yeah, he was just – same thing. He didn’t take full reps, so that’s why we put him as limited. Neither guy should be any problem, or at least that’s what we think.”
On how he learned about the option in his year under Barry Switzer at the University of Oklahoma:
“You know, you go back to those years and you go back to high school and college – a lot of people ran the option back then. They had the Houston Veer, Dartmouth kind of came up with the counter-option. It was big in colleges with Texas and Oklahoma and the Wishbone, so back then a lot of people were running different types of options. The last number of years a lot of people have been running the option, but a lot more out of the shotgun.”
On how much he draws upon his option experience at Oklahoma or if he has had to reteach himself:
“I think everything’s a learning experience. Everything expands in football, or if people go back to some of the base principles. But it’s been fun watching colleges over the last number of years implement some of those things, watch people kind of change some of their schemes to do some of the things that colleges have done.”
On what gave him confidence that wide receiver Pierre Garçon could be so versatile:
“You really don’t know for sure if someone’s going to be able to do that, because he did line up on one side, just ran a few basic routes. But you could see that when he did run routes, he could make cuts at full speed. You could see his speed and his ability to go up for the ball and make plays once the ball was in his hands.”
On how soon into Garçon’s tenure in Washington he believed he had gotten the player he’d hoped to get:
“You don’t know, but it didn’t take long to figure out how competitive he was and how strong in his ability to run different routes and handle a variety of different formations, where at Indy he just kind of was on one side the majority of the time and just ran a few different routes. But I did call [Denver Broncos quarterback] Peyton [Manning] on him and asked him if he thought he’d be able to fit into a system like ours, and he said, 'Definitely.’”
On Hall’s injury:
“He had a little soreness in his left foot.”
On if there is enough character in the locker room to mount a comeback similar last season:
“If you’re asking me about the character in that locker room, yeah, we’ve got a lot of character in that locker room. The new guys, you’re getting a chance to see them, see what they can do, the guys that haven’t been with us. But the guys that have been with us proved last year how they reacted to a little adversity. Some of the new guys, some of the younger guys that we just got or free agents, you’ll get a chance to see how they react to a little adversity next week.”
On what he communicates to the team about resilience and what it takes to make that comeback:
“What we did do is we went back through and looked at last year where we were at after nine games and went through the stats on both offense, defense and special teams. Kind of gave them an idea on what we needed to improve on, on both sides of the ball as well as special teams. So you talk about that collectively – what we have to do over the last seven games. But more importantly, after you talk about those type of things, you’ve got to concentrate on the Eagles and getting that job done.”
On the offensive struggles in the second halves of recent road games:
“In Minnesota, there’s only four drives. Really you had the first drive and the last drive were long drives, and I think we scored on our first five drives. So when you look at a game, you look at it collectively. Can you look at a dropped ball? Can you look at maybe a holding penalty, maybe a throwaway? They had the right coverage. So when you look at a game, you just don’t look at the second drive or the sixth drive or the seventh drive, because there are a number of variables that’s involved. What do you do consistently over nine games? What do we need to work on? What are the things we’re doing poorly? That’s what we try to do is focus on what we need to improve on. And if you do that, then you’ve got a chance to get better.”
On his confidence that special teams is close to eliminating mistakes:
“I’ve got a lot more confidence, but we’ve got to go out there and do it. As you know, we made a couple mistakes against Minnesota, but our game plan with our coverage teams was to squib kick it or pooch it – that was our game plan. We know they averaged the 28-yard line. We averaged the 22-and-a-half, 23-yard line, so we lost a little yardage there. But we were willing to do that because they had a returner that we thought, like a couple of other teams, could go the distance and change the outcome of the game. That’s not necessarily always that way. So when you take a look at a guy like [kicker] Kai [Forbath], sometimes it’s with the wind or against the wind, but our speed in our coverage is much improved over the last three or four weeks with some of the additions that we’ve added.”
On if punter Sav Rocca is in a slump:
“I think anytime you have a shank, you’re always disappointed in that. He’s been pretty consistent for us. A couple times he outkicked his coverage a little bit, but he still has the ability to kick it that far. We’ve got to do a better job in coverage. So I’ve got a lot of confidence in Sav. I think the last seven games of the season, I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t play exceptionally well.”
On if he is opposed to adding a kickoff specialist who can force touchbacks on every attempt:
“First of all, there’s no guarantees that it’s going to be every time, to start with. Some guys are very good at kicking off and they may have a 60 percent or 70 percent touchback. No, we’re not against it. I think Kai has proven at times that he’s much improved in that area. A lot of it has to do with the returner if you can’t kick it out of the end zone. But yeah, that’s part of your game plan, that’s part of your evaluation process. You have to put the best 46 guys on the team. Which direction do you go? Do you need that speed guy? Do you need a returner? Do you need a kicker? That’s all part of the process of getting the top 46 guys out there.”
Offensive Coordinator Kyle Shanahan
On what they will do differently vs. Philadelphia compared to Week 1:
“Really I’m just looking forward to hopefully being in a normal game with them. We started out pretty bad with them, turning the ball over early in the game and getting down pretty fast, so I’m hoping we can stay in a normal game where we can stay balanced and run our offense.”
On if he has noticed how far the offense has come since Week 1:
“Yeah, I mean that game right there is almost like watching a two-minute drill for most of the game, so it’s a little bit deceiving. We didn’t see our offense like that much at all the year prior so it’s definitely been different since then – a little different since the Green Bay game also – so hopefully we can keep it a normal game.”
On why the Eagles’ defense has been better than expected:
“They’ve got good players and they’ve got a good scheme. I think anytime you have a new staff teams don’t do as good in the preseason. You’re mixing in a lot of players in there, you’re trying to do a lot of stuff, so I think they had bad numbers in the preseason so people thought it would carry over to the season. I know their numbers aren’t great, but as a said a few weeks in the past, the numbers definitely don’t tell the truth because this is a very good defense. They’ve given up some yards but they’ve held a lot of people to low points. I don’t think anyone has scored over 20 points on them in – I don’t know what it is – like five weeks, and they’re tough to score on. Some people move the ball on them but they’re tough in the red zone. They don’t give up big plays. They’re very active. They run. They hit. They present a lot of issues with the fronts and the coverages that they mix up.”
On if they do anything specific in the red zone that contributes to their success:
“No, they’ve been doing the same thing – I mean, I see the same stuff from when we played them earlier. They’ve got a big package. They’re not a team that just relies on a couple of things. They have a ton of fronts. They have a ton of different stunts. They have a bunch of blitzes, a bunch of different ways they can do it. It’s not a team that you can just go in and know what you’re going to get. You’ve got to be ready for any situation, any personnel groupings and what you see for a little bit doesn’t mean you’re going to see it for the rest of the game. You’ve got to be really fundamental in what you do and you’ve got to execute.”
On why running back Alfred Morris doesn’t get the same attention as some other backs:
“I really don’t know. You guys probably could answer that better than me. I think he gets more and more each year. It’s only his second time in the league. It’s not like he was a big hyped up guy coming out of college, so I don’t think people started to even know his name until probably halfway through the year last year. But he’s a good player so more and more people are noticing him and he doesn’t draw attention to himself so he doesn’t get any extra attention that way. If you watch the tape and stuff, he’s a hell of a player and I think the more tape out there the more people are seeing him and the more everyone’s going to know him.”
On if he feels like the team running the ball as well as it was at the end of last season:
“Yeah, I definitely do. Look at our yards per carry. Look at our numbers. I think it’s right on pace with it.”
On what has led to teams having success pressuring up the middle:
“I don’t think necessarily – they didn’t get us in too many situations where we had to pass. We had a couple of third-and-longs, which you have to pass on third-and-long. One third-and-long we ended up taking a sack, but it was a long developing play and it’s tough to hold up on third-and-long on a seven-step drop. There was one play in particular – a third-and-three – that we didn’t have good protection on. The pocket collapsed fast and we got a sack. You know, as far as that we weren’t in a throwing game. I think we ran it 16 times and threw it 16 times in the second half, so I didn’t see it as just a two-minute deal.”
On if he is pleased with interior protection of the offensive line:
“As a coach I’m never going to be pleased until the quarterback doesn’t get touched an entire game, and that’s really probably never going to happen in my entire life so I’m probably just going to be grouchy probably forever. You never want them to get hit but it’s part of the game. When you drop back, quarterbacks get hit. Just growing up trying to be a coach and hearing coaches talk, you go through a progression and it’s usually you hit your fifth step, you take one hitch and then you throw the ball and then the next part of the dropback is you get hit. You usually get hit as you let that ball go and that’s what happens when you get into those passing situations. That’s why it’s so important for us to try and keep people off-balance.”
On if there are things quarterback Robert Griffin III can do to help the protection:
“Yeah, there’s things that everybody can do – there’s things that I can do, there’s things the O-line can do, there’s things the receivers can do, there’s things Robert can do. When someone has a sack, when someone has an interception, when you have a run for no yards, it’s never just the running back, it’s never just the O-line. Sometimes it’s not a good call. Sometimes people don’t get open. So there’s without a doubt no absolute to that answer. I think it’s pretty obvious each time is a different situation. Like I said the third-and-three – the pocket collapsed, Robert had no choice what to do with that. There’s other plays we could have gotten rid of it earlier to avoid a sack and there’s sometimes guys have got to get open faster.”
On how what he is getting from wide receiver Pierre Garçon compares to his expectations for Garçon when he signed with the Redskins:
“He’s meeting our expectations. We knew we needed a No. 1 receiver and we thought we needed to do it through free agency. It’s tough to get a No. 1 receiver when you don’t have a first-round pick. You take shots on guys later and you hope you can develop them and get them ready. But we knew we had to go out and get a guy. There were a few choices that year and we thought Pierre was the best one. He was our No. 1 choice. He’s definitely been our No. 1 receiver. I thought he was last year when he was healthy. I thought he played at this level, just wasn’t healthy as much. He’s been out there consistently now so I think everyone has been able to see it and notice it more because he’s done it every week.”
On the reason for wide receiver Joshua Morgan seeing fewer targets:
“It’s more that [wide receiver Leonard] Hankerson has been stepping it up so we’ve given Hank more reps. It’s something we said back in training camp – those guys have been competing since the starting of OTAs this year through camp. They were always neck-and-neck. Right when one guy would take a step up the next day he would take a step back and they were always right here and that’s how it was kind of at the beginning of the year. We just felt on the practice field that Hank had been stepping it up so we’ve been giving him a few more opportunities, especially on third down and stuff – more passing situations – and that’s how it’s been. Still doesn’t mean it’s final. We evaluate everything every day and week-to-week and Hank has definitely earned more playing time as the time has gone on.”
On if he believes in fitting players to a system or a system to players, and how that worked out with Griffin III last season:
“It was more different last year than earlier in my career because I never had a quarterback like Robert, but I think this is my sixth year as a coordinator and I’ve had a different system every year. You call it the same system because it’s the same verbiage. It’s the same type of plays, but you call stuff that you think puts your players in the best situation to succeed. Every quarterback we’ve had we’ve done a different offense with. We’ve leaned on certain plays that they’re good at depending on what the receivers are and do we have time to hold up for those type of things, but you don’t just put in a system and say this is what we’re going to run. If you do, you’re not going to be successful. You’ve got to have a system that you’re capable of doing everything so you can find out what your guys are good at, you can find out what the defense is allowing you to do, and then you’ve got to be able to attack guys different ways.”
On if it is dangerous to run a certain system regardless of the players on the roster:
“It’s pretty stupid. I personally don’t think anybody really does that. Guys have systems they believe in but usually a system is language and they have plays that they like, but coaches aren’t just going to keep running plays that their players aren’t good at unless they want to get fired and suck at everything they do. Eventually you’ve got to adjust and you’ve got to do what you can do, and obviously coaches – myself, everybody – we have plays that we believe in. Things you believe in are stuff you’ve had success with in the past, that’s why you believe in it. Just because you’ve had success with something in the past doesn’t mean you’re going to have success with it now or in the future. And sometimes you’ve got to learn the hard way, but you better adjust pretty quick and quit beating your head against the wall trying to run something that’s not working.”
On what he likes about running back screens and what they do to neutralize a pass rush:
“It’s just about keeping people off-balance. Sometimes you want to get easy completions. Usually when you can throw a screen it’s a lot easier than doing other stuff. You don’t have to attack coverages. You don’t have to wait on a pass rush. You don’t have to count on people to get open. If you knew people were going to be in soft zones all the time and they were going to pass rush, you would run screens up the field every play, but guys mix it up. When you feel you’ve got a beat on somebody and they’re doing a certain coverage or the D-line is teeing off, then run a screen, but when you call a screen versus man-to-man or the D-line is not rushing, it looks like a very stupid call because they guys are just sitting there and there’s nothing the quarterback can do. He’s got to bounce pass it and it’s a total waste of a call so you’ve got to pick the right time. We try our hardest to do that and when you do have the right time when you call a screen, they’re awesome, because they’re pretty easy to convert and when you scare a defense with that stuff, they don’t want to pressure as much. They start slowing it down because if you call it in the right look just like you see [Broncos quarterback] Peyton Manning do to [Broncos wide receiver] Demaryius Thomas all the time, they get that quick slammer screen out there when they get a pressure and Demaryius hits it 60 yards to the house untouched. That only works versus a few coverages, but you get in the right coverage and it’s a great call. You get in a bad coverage and it’s a bad call.”
On how much of his scheme has changed since last year and how much of that is just evolution:
“I think we have a foundation and know what we’re best at. There’s certain things that defenses present against you that – last year teams didn’t change up much what they did versus us so we were able to have success doing a lot of the same stuff – stuff we still worked on last year that we had ready to call in games but we didn’t see a lot of those coverages. Sometimes we’ve seen those coverages this year and we’ve had to do a couple of other things that we didn’t do – just different distribution of routes but same type of protections, trying to do it off stuff that we’re running in the run game, but it changes week to week. It depends who you are playing, what teams are on your schedule, and what kind of coordinators you’re playing.”
On if he is satisfied with blitz pickups:
“I think we do fairly good with blitz pickups. We try not to hold on to the ball long. We don’t sit there with max protect all day. There’s two ways to go about it. You get guys out in coverage, which means you can’t hold up on the blitz, so you’ve got to get rid of it and you’ve got five eligibles out so you can’t pick up everybody blitzing, but then you have people open and you have to get rid of it quick. Or you can keep everybody in and block and pick it up and get a little bit more time, but now there’s only three guys, sometimes two guys, out on a route, so if they don’t get open then you just sit there with nowhere to go and you get sacked. There’s a fine line on what you want to do. I always try to get people open first and hope you can have the answer to get rid of the ball and get it to them. Sometimes if that’s not working and we need more time to see it, you’ve got to bring more guys in to protect and give your quarterback more time to see it, help the O-line pick guys up with extra blockers.”
On why Griffin III has been more statistically successful the last two weeks:
“I think it’s a lot of things. I think any time somebody misses OTAs and training camp they’re going to have rust whether they are healthy or not. If you’re not able to go out there and really throw and get in full-speed stuff, you still might feel good but it’s still going to be hard with the speed of the game. So I think each week he has gotten better at throwing, more comfortable, just really in game shape and I think that’s helped him. I don’t think maybe the stats always show, but I think without a doubt Robert has gotten better every week this year and sometimes we don’t have a good game offensively and sometimes it will look like he’s up and down but just from a throwing standpoint and seeming in rhythm and seeming crisper, it starts on the practice field and I’ve seen it each week – him get better and better and looser and looser.”
On if he is learning more about what works best for Griffin III:
“Yeah, I think always. The more time you get with somebody – I think I’ve got a pretty good feel on what he does best. You know what he does best and you’re always trying to push him to do more and that’s the goal working with him. That’s always the goal. That’s what you look forward to in the offseason because that’s where you do get to improve the most, but I think the main thing with Robert, especially during the season since we didn’t have that offseason, is he hasn’t gotten frustrated. He’s kept working and stuff and he’s been able to learn on the run this year. I think it has shown. I think he has progressed throughout this year and I think he’ll continue to do that. I think he’s going to get a lot better going through this year right now – fighting through some of the stuff he’s fought through – and I think it will lead him into a great offseason and I think Robert is going to have a hell of a career.”
On the process of Griffin III being less of a run threat earlier in the year:
“I think it’s a process of being down 31-6 at halftime, or whatever it was. Getting blown out halfway through the second quarter in two games you’re not going to sit there and just run the ball and basically give up to losing the game. You’re trying to get back into a game and you’re getting blown out in the first half and you’re trying to throw the ball. We did have zone read plays in that game – only called a couple of them because they were earlier in the first half, and we didn’t end up getting first downs. We punted and we turned it over. The game was out of hand. That’s why you didn’t see stuff in those first two weeks, but by no means was it, 'Hey we’re changing. We’re going to make this a dropback situation and just do a two-minute drill all the time.’ I think that was the situation that the games present. Who’d we play our third game? Detroit? Detroit was a closer game. We stayed in it the whole game and everyone saw Robert run that game. They saw us get more of our offense – more of what you saw last year – and I think that wasn’t a coincidence.”
On if he thinks Griffin III needs to evolve into a pocket passer:
“Robert is a great player. He was a great college player and he’s a great NFL player. I want Robert to be Robert and I don’t want him to be Peyton Manning, I want him to be Robert. What’s good about Robert is he’s capable of having qualities like Peyton Manning. He can be a great passer. He already is a good thrower. He is, at times, really good in the pass game, but he hasn’t had those reps since he was six years old like somebody like Peyton has. Robert’s always been able to run. He’s always been able to get away from trouble and when you can do that your entire life and make plays, you don’t have to sit in there as much and throw. But Robert’s more than capable of being it. He’s more than capable of being a great thrower, and the more he works at that, he can be as well-rounded and have more weapons than anybody does. I don’t think someone like Peyton or [Patriots quarterback] Tom Brady and stuff can say, 'Hey if I just keep working on my zone read maybe I can have a little bit of Robert’s game, too.’ They have no choice. They have to be what they are. Robert has a choice and he can win a game with his legs, he can win it with his arms, and the more he plays, the more situations he gets put in, the more he’ll be capable of being great in all areas. That’s why I think the ceiling on him is so big.”
On if he knew Garcon was as physical of a receiver as he is or if it has evolved since he’s been here:
“He’s always shown it. Seeing it in person more on a consistent basis, he’s definitely – I would guess it’s a little bit more. But we knew we were getting a physical guy who didn’t mind to get after it, did not fear contact but he’s been one of my most fun guys to coach for that reason.”
On how Garçon has evolved since entering the league and signing with Washington:
“Just understanding a lot of different things that we’ve asked him to do. At Indy, they don’t do many formations. He was pretty much on the right side of the formation, outside the numbers, about 95 percent of the time. That was [Indianapolis Colts wide receiver] Marvin’s [Harrison] spot for a while then it was Pierre’s spot for a while. To bring him here and to move him inside, to motion him, to change his splits, to not always be running straight stem routes but widened routes and stuff from stack releases – it’s been a lot for him because it’s something that he never did in Indy. So he’s really grown, and he’s always tried to do it but I feel like you never can be great at it until you really understand why you’re doing it. After him getting these reps over this last year and a half, he’s gotten a lot better at it, understanding it and really opening his game up and not making him as one-dimensional on certain routes.”
On what it takes for Garçon to become comfortable being more multi-dimensional:
“I mean you have to be good, which he is, and it’s got to be important to you. Pierre really works at it. Pierre really listens to coaching, tries to understand what we’re saying, then he tries to figure it out for himself and he has. He watches tape. He works at it on the field. If something doesn’t work he doesn’t give up on it. He tries to figure out why it didn’t work and he tries to come back the next day and do it again. It takes time but he’s gotten better each week at that stuff.”
Defensive Coordinator Jim Haslett
On what he can learn from the game in Week 1:
“There’s a lot to learn from that one. Obviously we’ve got to do a much better job in the run game. Overall I think you have a better understanding of what they’re doing scheme-wise, so I think that area will help us also.”
On Philadelphia’s pace:
“The pace is the pace. You’ve got to deal with it, and we’ve seen a lot of that this year obviously from Denver, San Diego and a bunch of teams, so that should help us also.”
On second half struggles in the last few games:
“The last game, you’ve got to take away the third downs. We weren’t very good in that area. We had a lot of third-and-shorts that we should have got off. We didn’t tackle well in those third downs. Then we had a couple of penalties – three or four penalties that hurt us that kept drives going. We could have had a couple of stops and we’ve just got to do a much better job in that area.”
On his assessment of the pass rush:
“We’ll do that when it’s all over, but you talk about last week, we had a number of times we had great pass rushes, and that’s not an excuse. I don’t know how many times [linebacker] Ryan [Kerrigan], 'Rak [linebacker Brian Orakpo] had opportunities to get to the quarterback where they were grabbed and held. To me that was more disappointing than anything, but I thought there was a number of times we did a nice job last week of rushing the quarterback. We just didn’t get there more for that reason than anything.”
On if he is content with the effectiveness of the base defense’s pass rush:
“Yeah, I think those two are really good football players. [Nose tackle] Barry [Cofield] has got a number of sacks – he’s doing a good job. Obviously we want to get better in all areas. We have to do a better job in that area also.”
On the difference in having safety Brandon Meriweather this week as opposed to Week 1:
“You can see Brandon is getting his legs under him. He’s starting to feel good. He’s starting to move well. Coming back from the injury a year ago you can see he’s starting to get better and better every day when he’s out on the practice field, so I think it will help immensely.”
On what Meriweather allows them to do differently:
“He can cover wideouts because he’s an ex-corner. He’s gives you flexibility. He’s good in the box, he’s a good tackler. He does a lot of different things for us.”
On the difference in Eagles quarterback Nick Foles this season and in this system:
“I think Nick is playing at a great level. You know, he’s the highest rated quarterback in the National Football League. He’s got a 135 rating, [16] touchdowns, no interceptions, has only been sacked 10 times. I think Nick’s doing a heck of a job within in the scheme, and then they’ve got a good offensive line, they’ve got good receivers, and a great running back, so I think that helps. Obviously I think Nick is playing about as good as he can play.”
On how Foles changes the read option element of the Eagles’ offense:
“It hasn’t changed at all. Nick’s run the ball 20 times – he’s run the ball 20 times for 80 yards. Now they’ll still run the zone read, they still run the option, they don’t do anything different than they’ve done before. It’s just instead of maybe a 10-yard gain it’s a six-yard gain. Nick’s got 20 rushing attempts for 80 yards this year.”
On the danger the Eagles present in the open field:
“They make people tackle one-on-one in space. They use the whole field. They stretch you out. They stretch your point in the run game. They make you play one-on-one and tackle in the pass game. So you’ve got to be able to do a good job. Everybody’s got to rally to the ball, and you’ve got to run to the ball, you’ve got to get off blocks and make tackles and when you have that opportunity to tackle somebody in space you’ve got to bring them down.”
On if he will be more aggressive with his defensive play calling:
“We’ll try to do whatever we can do if the opportunity arises, but obviously there’s things you can do based on who you’re playing, personnel, all that stuff. But we’re always looking to do something to help us win the game.”
On if there are any pieces he would have liked to add to the defense this season:
“You know what, I can’t say that right now. That’s something you do when the season’s over – you go back and look at it and you evaluate everything – your scheme, the players, all that stuff. Right now we’re just in that mode of trying to win one game and then move on from there. That’s kind of where it’s at right now.”
On if the team began looking past the “one game at a time” mantra last year once it began winning and if it could do so again:
“I think our guys believe they can do it again. I said last year at this time, I made a comment to Coach, I said, 'We’re going to win these next seven games and win our division.’ I said it last week, I said, 'I feel good about where we’re at.’ I love the way our guys practice and they’re into it. Teams that are going downhill don’t practice the way we practice. Those teams are negative. We don’t have that here. We’ve just got to go out and put a whole game together. I’m talking about offense, defense, special teams. We’ve got to put a complete game together on defense, offense, special teams. We do that then we’ll get things rolling and we haven’t done that. We’ve done it on defense – a good half here, a bad half here, good three quarters here, bad quarter here. We need to put the whole thing together. The [first] half at Minnesota, they had 127 yards and they end up with 300. It’s just those things. Philadelphia the first half, we were like the guinea pigs. They got 300-something, but we did a good job in the second half. So we just haven’t put it all together. I think once as a team we get one of those, we get it together, then you can get things rolling.”
On how hesitant the defense was against the Eagles in Week 1:
“I know one person that watches the tape and that’s you. So if you’re asking that question then you saw a lot of that. You saw guys trying to figure out the scheme and all that. I think we’ll be much better this time.”
On if the defense hesitated less in the second half of that game:
“Yes, we did, because we got a little more aggressive. Guys knew what was going on.”