Washington QB Dwayne Haskins (9.27.20)
Washington QB Dwayne Haskins:
On the interceptions:
“I was really just trying to do too much. I was trying to make a play or fit into a window in a scenario where we had moved back in the chains on third-and-8, third-and-12 or whatever the case or scenario may be and trying to get it all back. That is kind of what happened as far as a couple of those interceptions. Just trusting the progressions and that you are not going to get all 18 yards back if it is not wide open. Finding the running back and finding the check down is something that I will continue to work on and get better at and not trying to make everything back when you have a penalty, sack, incompletion or third-and-long or whatever the scenario is trying to make and put you in bad spots.”
On if he made some pre-determined reads that caused him to stare down receivers that led to interceptions:
“No, I didn’t feel like I was staring anybody down. The first interception was a Cover 3 look with four verticals. The MIKE carries and the Y was on a crossing 9. I felt like I could get it over top of the backer. They did a good job of leveraging so he couldn’t finish over the top and the safety made a great play on the ball. The second interception, it was a curl route to the field that I should have just thrown the flat. I was trying to fit into a window. I was trying to get that third-and-10 back. The third interception, I got hurried up and I tried to throw it early, and the linebacker undercut me. It is just about playing situational football and understanding when to take a sack or when to throw the ball down to the running back and not make [negative] plays for us.”
On having Coach Rivera’s support to start in future games:
“It means a lot. In spite of the bad, I thought I had some good stuff out there to work on and improve off of. (Washington Head) Coach (Ron) Rivera and I are very close, and I don’t want to ever just get comfortable thinking that I’m his ‘guy’ or he believes in me. That doesn’t matter if you are not producing on the field. I’m definitely appreciative of that and how he feels about me going in that direction. I want to keep getting better for myself and my teammates and try to help these guys find a way to win and honestly not being so competitive or take myself out of the game.”
On what he was thinking following a few of his turnovers:
“Getting the ball back. I was trying to focus in on what we are doing next. When you make mistakes, especially at quarterback, everybody wants to give you their opinion on what they would do. I was just clearing my mind, letting myself just process and play.”
On overcoming tough moments:
“It is just like life. Sometimes you get fired. Sometimes you don’t get an A on your project. Sometimes you want to get a certain gift for Christmas, and you don’t get it. That’s just life, and that’s adversity. You have to learn how to deal with it and get better from it. I felt like I learned from my adversity this week. I felt a lot more confident in-game and before the game. Just trying to figure out ways to carry the good stuff from this game and learn from the bad stuff and move forward to next week with a tough team in the Ravens at home. It’s tough. The competitor in me wants to go back out there and play again. The best thing from this is learning and using those experiences, not only for myself but for the rest of the team. Offensively, we made some mistakes. We have to do better taking care of the ball. Penalties cost us defensively. We are still working through that. We are just trying to play team football and play situational football. We are all trying to come together as a team. A lot of these guys are played for the first time with each other ever. Really, there are no excuses for anything, but I’m going to make sure that I keep motivating and pushing these guys and not only that, motivating and pushing myself to know the potential that we have and how much better we can be and how good we can be.”
On what Washington DE Chase Young was saying to him on the bench:
“It was really just that he believes in me. I had a lot of guys on the sideline just come up to me and tell me that they believe in me. Chase said that it doesn’t matter if we’re down 40, he is still going to be on the sideline rooting me on and saying, ‘Let’s go No. 7.’ For a guy like that – somebody who I look at and admire his work ethic and have love for, he is like a brother to me and I have known for some years now – and for him to have the utmost respect for me and have the trust in me to get the job done, not only that but a lot of other guys on this team. I feel like my teammates did a great job today, just trying to keep my head up knowing that I wish I could have had some of these plays back. We all made mistakes today, and I want to make sure I’m better and take the blame for what I did and get better from it.”
On whether or not in-game encouragement helps him in that moment:
“Maybe more at the end of the game. When playing quarterback, it is more so keeping yourself or the quarterback coach or (offensive coordinator) Coach (Scott) Turner or the other quarterbacks and just keeping that circle small as far as people that you let influence your mental during the game or just in general in a week and in the week of practice. We always have a saying, ‘It is us in this room. That is all we have to worry about and all we have.’ (Washington QBs) Alex (Smith), Kyle (Allen) and (Washington quarterbacks coach Ken) Zampese and Coach Turner, we are very supportive. They gave me some tools that I can use going into next week and some stuff that they have been through or situations that they had a three-pick game or whatever happened where they took a loss and next week they got better. It is only Week 3. We have a lot more ball to play, but by no means are we content with how we are playing football. We want to keep getting better.”
On people focusing on his interceptions rather than the positives of the game:
“Honestly, talk is just talk. It is outside noise. When you let outside noise into your head, you start thinking and believing whatever the hell you read or see. I’m really just letting all of that go and letting it go. It is Week 3, and that’s just the week that it was. Week 4 is a whole different week. You start over. Monday, you wipe it clean. You figure out who you’re playing, what they’re good at or bad at and just worry about them. You can’t worry about what someone thinks about you. You can’t worry about the game last week and you can’t worry about the game before. If you go into that game still worrying about other stuff and you’re not focused on what you’re doing this week, you’re going to lose again. We’re just trying to figure how moving forward and how to find the positives, find the negatives and ignore the noise and ignore whoever has something to say that is not in this building.”
On the OPI call in the fourth quarter:
“That pissed me off, but that is a conversation you should have with (Washington WR) Terry (McLaurin).”
On Washington’s skill-position players performance today:
“Those guys are hungry. (Washington WRs) Isaiah and AGG (Antonio Gandy-Golden) are young guys, and they want to find ways for themselves to get better. They asked me a lot of questions during the week about what we are doing and how they can defend the gameplan. I felt like they did a good job this week filling in for (Washington WRs) Steve, (Sims Jr.) and Dontrelle (Inman) so I’m really happy for those guys. I’m hoping that they can continue to better and be pieces for me moving forward this season.”
# # #