Skins Quotes 9/24/19: Jay Gruden

[Boone]

September 24, 2019
Head Coach Jay Gruden

On job security at 0-3 and feeling a week-to-week pressure:
“No, I haven't felt like that but who knows? I am just trying to concentrate on the Giants right now, put our best foot forward, learn from our mistakes and trying to get better. That is all we are trying to do here as a staff and going from there.”

On making changes to the coaching staff:
“No. We have played three games against three playoff teams and we haven't played our best ball yet. I anticipate that we are going to get better. We are a pretty young football team on offense and haven't played together a whole lot. They are going to get better. Defensively I think they have underachieved a little bit but I think they are going to come together and make a move here.”

On what from the film review gives you confidence moving forward:
“We missed a lot of great opportunities that is for sure. Hats off to the Bears defense they created five turnovers. We gave them a few uncharacteristically, but there are some things there that are positive that we did. Defensively, I thought we flew around to the football a little bit better. Still, third downs were an issue especially in the first half. I still feel like we have time and these guys will come together. We have a strong locker room down there and I feel like we are doing some good things. We just have to put it together more consistently and that is what we have been preaching the last couple of weeks. Just trying to find ways to become more consistent and avoid those spells where we have terrible quarters or terrible half quarters where we give up 14 points and can't get out of the rut. If we can figure out ways around that I think we will be competitive here on out.”

On being surprised that teams are going at CB Josh Norman:
“A little bit. I think a lot of it is schematics. I think they have good players out there. They had some big plays, some rough plays where they have had to scramble. They had a long touchdown there at the end of the half. A couple of other instances they have gone after [CB] Jimmy Moreland a couple of times. They got [CB Fabian] Moreau on the first third down of the game. They got our linebackers out in space a few times. It was a combination of everyone. I feel like when we do play man-to-man we have to do a better job with our leverages. Avoid getting picked and doing some things of that nature. Trying to get home with our defense, I thought our pass rush was a little bit better yesterday.”

On the status of TE Jordan Reed and if he will ever be able to play again:
“I'm not worried about that, no. He has seen specialists and we are just trying to get to the bottom of it and figuring out the best way to make him more comfortable, get him back in the lineup. We are trying to see if there is anything else we can do to try and help him a long in that way to get into practice and start to feel better. If he has to see a specialist every day, I really don't care, the big thing is to get him healthy and make sure he has a great state of mind so when he does come back he feels really good and confident that this thing will not linger.”

On getting WR Terry McLaurin more opportunities:
“We try to do that from time to time. If it is a mirrored route and everything is equal we can try and work Terry's side but I think you still have to work with the progression of the play. We have to have time to throw and deliver the ball, step in the pocket and get through our progressions. Terry [McLaurin] has done a great job. I have been very impressed with him. We missed a couple of great opportunities to get him some more catches. We had an unfortunate penalty that took of another 25, 30 yards on a nice catch he ran on a little deep slant. He has definitely been the spark of our offense and we will continue to work him in to the game.”

On if the defense implementing multiple defensive linemen in place of some of the linebackers is because of their early struggles getting pressure on the quarterback:
"That was a combination of things. One, you get more pressure and two, I think you have bigger people in there to stop the run. Some of their 11-personnel defenses, so it was just a way to get the big guys on the field, our most talented guys, get them matched up, try to get more 1-on-1's up front and get more pressure."

On the status of QB Colt McCoy and what it means for the quarterback room when he is back on the field:
"We were told that he might practice on – Wednesday we're probably just going to do walkthrough tomorrow and then Thursday we will see. I think he might be able to take some individual tomorrow. As far as the status when he does get back, I think we have to see a lot for him to get back in the lineup as far as his ability to push off and make the accurate throws and stand in the pocket. It is a little bit a ways a way, but I'll be anxious to see him practice Thursday."

On QB Dwayne Haskins Jr.'s development and what he wants to see from Haskins in the coming weeks:
"Same. I think he's still working. It's hard to get him reps with the No. 1's because you don't have as much practice time this time of the year. During training camp and OTAs you can mix it up pretty equally, but when you're trying to get a starter ready to play in a game it is hard to get Dwayne a lot of those reps against the ones. What you're going to see is he is mainly doing scout team right now, but he is learning in the classroom. It is new for him as it is for every rookie quarterback in the NFL that is playing right now. Some of them are doing fine, some of them are struggling a little bit, but right now I think Dwayne is on pace. He just needs to continue to sit back and learn and continue to develop."

On what he made of QB Case Keenum's performance last night:
"Well, let's start off with the five turnovers and that can't happen. He overshot the first one to [WR] Trey Quinn. Trey had a little step, it was a tight-window throw but we expect him to make those throws and then the second one he got his arm hit and the third one was just uncharacteristic and he stared it down and Ha Ha Clinton-Dix got it. You can't stare down a vertical seam route in cover three or cover one -- the safety is reading your eyes and he threw it right to him. Then the two turnovers -- the quarterback sneak was, we've never talked about jumping over the pile like that and showing the ball. When you do a quarterback sneak and jump over the pile people really swat at the ball and that is why we don't preach that. But, those turnovers we've got to correct, they were our first three of the year, first five of the year. He had two games with no turnovers and we had a lot of them last night which we can't have moving forward."

On what gives him confidence going forward with QB Case Keenum:
"Well he's done some good things too. It hasn't all been -- I know last night the three turnovers, five turnovers weren't good and that is never good, but he has done some good things. He is No.2 in pass completions, No. 4 in passing yards, he's tied for fourth in touchdowns and he's ninth in passer rating, so he's done some good things as far as in the pocket and getting outside the pocket. We've got to do a better job protecting for him and I think the more he sees the better he will get. And again, this is his first time in this offense and he has played against three really good defenses. It is no excuse, but I think he has done some good things to show that he deserves a chance to get us out of this thing here this week against the Giants."

On possibly playing QB Dwayne Haskins Jr.:
“Well, we've played three games and there's 13 games left in the season. This season is not lost. It's not over. I know everybody wants to say, ‘it's over and the season is over so go ahead and play Haskins.' We feel confident we can turn this thing around. I'm out here at practice every day. We're out here at practice every day evaluating everybody. If we feel like Dwayne gives us the best chance to win in a coming game, we'll definitely put Dwayne in there. If we feel like it's Colt [McCoy] when he gets healthy, it could be Colt. Right now, we feel like it's Case Keenum and we're going to move forward with him this week.”

On if there were any other injuries from yesterday's game:
“No, not really. I think just some bumps and bruises here and there. Chase [Roullier], I think he'll be day-to-day and same with Brandon [Scherff] with his ankle sprain.”

On struggling to get pressure on the quarterback on third down:
“Well, it's a combination of a lot of things on third down. You want to get pressure. You know, we're bringing five guys. Like it was mentioned before, sometimes we have five defensive linemen in the game. We're getting some one-on-ones. We're getting pressure. Matt [Ioannidis] won on a couple rushes, obviously [Montez] Sweat got a sack, [Ryan] Kerrigan was pushing the pocket, [Daron] Payne was pushing the pocket, [Jonathan] Allen did some good things. Unfortunately, we lost on a couple crossing routes. We lost on a pick route. We have to do a better job of combination coverage from time to time, knowing where your help is and making sure we don't get picked. This is every week that this is going to happen. Any time a team sees man-to-man, they have man-to-man checks that'll get to their picks and their crossing routes. We have to do a better job of covering them.”

On what can be done to get back on track with the run game:
“Yeah, last night we got down a little bit quick. We missed some opportunities to run the ball effectively. You know, one time it might have been an offensive lineman not getting to the linebacker or maybe it's a poor cut by the running back a time of two. We have to all be in-sync for sure. We have to get moving up front, we have to get up to the next level, and our backs have to have some great vision and make some quality cuts. In order to stick with it, we have to do a better job of getting first and second down runs, staying in the game, staying close to games and sticking with it.”

On if he feels the locker room is together at 0-3:
“I sure hope so. They better be because we're going to start practice tomorrow and get ready for the Giants. We're full throttle. We have every thought of winning this game against the Giants and getting our season started and going from there. Taking it one game at a time. I thought the guys showed a lot of heart last night coming back. We had a chance to cut it to six points there with about six minutes to go, and we couldn't get a second and one, third and one or fourth in one, which is mind-boggling to me. I know there's a lot of fight in these guys. They have a lot of pride. They want to win. They want to do whatever it takes to win. They're going to come to work Wednesday and get our first win Sunday.”

On what has surprised him the most this season:
“Probably a little bit of the struggle of the defense on third down. Probably the most surprising and disappointing, really. When we were 6-3 last year before Alex [Smith] got hurt, we were playing really good defense and protecting the ball. I thought that might be the key to our success this year, you know with a new quarterback and some new offensive lineman, a bunch of new receivers. I thought that might be our key, but we've had to score a lot of points and weren't able to keep the lead against Philadelphia. I still have a strong feeling that the defense will get better and play better moving forward. That's my answer.”



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[Bulldog]

‘We haven't played our best football yet'

How about playing just mediocre NFL caliber football and simply not Arena level?

 

[Ax]

Could we beat an Arena team playing like we are?

 

[Bulldog]

Only Jay would know with his all-star status in that league.