(The two turnovers in the first half, how much did that rattle the team?)
It didn't rattle us. You can't have it. The two turnovers we had particularly with the sack-fumble took points off the board and the second, the interception, should never have happened. Just the timing and the fit between the quarterback and the receiver is something we cannot let happen there. They took points off the board.
(How about the job you did on Peterson?)
I thought the rush defense played very well to hold Adrian to those numbers. It was definitely a focal point. I thought that was definitely the strength of the evening.
(You gave up eight sacks. How are you going to shore that up?)
Well, it's a combination of things. We need to look at the specifics of it. It's obviously an issue. It's gone on for four weeks. You can't play this way. We're playing way too up and down and it's hurting us because of the big plays we're able to generate; we're too much a big-little offense right now.
(Did you feel on some of those that Aaron should get the ball out?)
To be honest with you I need to watch it. In the flow of the game, I don't think it'd be practical for me to sit here and evaluate the left guard and the right tackle, time clock and things like that. I'm calling plays out there, so I need to look at the film.
(The penalties killed you ...)
Penalties was a negative. I think we had six, and they didn't have any in the first half. I know it didn't balance out either as the game went on, so it was definitely a factor in the game.
(What's the injury report?)
(Cullen) Jenkins had an ankle and cramps but he returned. Will Blackmon has a knee sprain. We need to look at him. Daryn Colledge also had a knee sprain. DeShawn Wynn had a wrist injury and (Desmond) Bishop has a rib bruise.
(What did you think of how Favre played?)
I thought Brett played well. Not sure what his numbers are, but I'm sure they're very good. I thought with us containing their run that they were explosive in the passing game. I didn't think we put much pressure on him, but I thought he played well.
(Did your team handle the emotions of the night?)
Yeah definitely, they were into the game. All the preparation leading up to it, thought they did a good job, but we made way too many mistakes this evening. You have a hard time beating any football team let alone that football team. I thought they played pretty well. They did not make too many mistakes tonight, and I thought that was a huge factor in the game.
(If you had known you were going to get into their end of the field so often, would you have thought you were going to win the game?)
I always plan on getting in their end of the field every week I play. We felt that if we were able to get the ball on the perimeter, we would be productive. Once again, I don't want to be redundant but we're a big-little offense in some ways right now and we need to fix that.
*(Sometimes you had the tight end on the left side, but Allen still got through.
Was it frustrating you couldn't pick him up?) *
It's a combination of things. It's not always just on the tight end. Frankly I thought T.J (Lang) did an excellent job when he played down the stretch. We didn't help him a whole lot. We were in three two-minute type drills, and I thought he did a good job coming off the bench.
(On fourth-and-goal at the 1, did you consider kicking a field goal there?)
Not at all. I'm playing to win. I thought it was a good play. Frankly the third-down call bothers me more than anything. They're in a goal-line defense, we're in a goal-line offense and it's a tempo play and the ball was held up by the referee or whatever happened, and frankly I didn't have time to change the play because of the 40-second clock. Liked the fourth-down call, wish I had the third-down call back.
(What were you yelling at the ref about on that TD pass against Harris?)
I don't recall.
(You have the bye now. Will this stick with the team, or how do you make sure the guys know it's just one game and the season is at the quarter pole?)
It's the fourth game of the season. Obviously it's a game we came up here with every intention of winning, had a lot of opportunities to accomplish that. We need to learn from this experience. I thought it was a great opportunity for our football team, especially our younger players to play in this kind of environment during the regular season. I think it's something we can really carry forward with us, but we're 2-2. We're 2-2 for a reason. We need to fix those things, and that's what we'll do Wednesday.
(You've talked about all three phases, special teams and penalties, how much did that factor in?)
I don't know if you can sit here and say any of the phases won tonight, and that's what the film review is for. The penalties definitely factored. They didn't have penalties; we did. That definitely factored in the outcome. And eight sacks, my goodness. I mean how many games do you win when you give up eight sacks? When you have those types of plays, we need to look at them and make sure we fix them. It's an issue that's gone on now for four weeks.
