HC Freddie Kitchens (11.3.19)
Opening statement
“Of course it’s disappointing. I thought our guys fought until the very end. We just didn’t make enough plays to win the game.”
On going for it on fourth down in the third quarter
“It was right at one yard. I thought we could get a quarterback sneak for a yard. I challenged it because I felt like he got to the line. He had to get to the 4-yard line and I thought he was there.”
On the team’s red zone struggles
“Anytime you go 1-for-5 in the red zone, it’s about execution. You have to first be able to run the ball down there, and then when you decide to throw the ball, you have to execute. That means you’ve got to block who you’re supposed to block, you’re supposed to run the right route and you’re supposed to throw the ball in the right place. I’m not saying any of those happened, that’s just how you execute in the red zone. The field tightens, you have to be more precise. We completed one out of the back of the end zone, wide open. We had another challenge for another ball in the end zone on the next drive. You just have to execute better.”
On the fourth-and-four at the end of the game
“It was a play that we repped a little bit a few times. I’ll have to look and see. I don’t think it turned out the way I wanted it to turn out. I’ll have to see it. I know the result wasn’t what I wanted.”
On the defense giving up big plays
“It comes down to having your eyes in the right spot and knowing what you’re looking at, especially against a team like this. They have misdirections, motions that go and don’t really mean anything and you’ve got to go and make sure you’re focused on what you’re supposed to do and where your eyes are supposed to be. I thought for the most part, those guys played well, but again, some critical big-time big plays that cost us.
On their outlook after falling to 2-6 on the season
“I think we’ve got a bunch of guys that won’t let up. They’ll come to work Wednesday and we’ll get better. They did better with pre-snap penalties. We did better with turnovers and that’s the only thing that gave us the chance. You’re never going to have a chance with penalties and turnovers. It’s just sad we couldn’t make the play at the end of the game. We felt more confident in the huddle, confident the whole game until the end.”
On the defense’s tackling
“We’ve got to get them down. We can’t miss tackles.”
On RB Nick Chubb not being on the field on the fourth-and-one in the third quarter, and the play immediately before it
“No reason why other than that’s the play we run with [RB] Dontrell [Hilliard] on the third down. Nick does it also but on that third-and-three, we wanted to switch the personnel up a little bit there just because Dontrell is more of our third-down guy.”
On what gives him confidence they are still headed in the right direction
“I think our guys are still fighting. I think they go out and played well for the most part. Got bogged down in the red zone offensively. Defensively, I think you make a few more tackles and they don’t really have much. They scored 24 points on 21 minutes of possession, so that means that they were getting them off the field and giving up a few big plays and a couple tackles that extended drives for them. Offensively, we moved the ball pretty well until we got in the red zone. It just takes execution. I don’t think we’ve got anyone here that’s going to give up or throw in the towel. We’ve still got eight games left so we’ve got to do something with those eight games. It starts at one game. That’s the only thing we can win is one game. I think these guys focused and concentrated this week. We didn’t have any pre-snap penalties. We didn’t turn the ball over. We’ve got to do a better job in the run game of staying on our blocks, especially when we have double teams. We’ve got to come off the ball and stay with those doubles. I don’t think there’s any quit in these guys.”
On the team’s red zone struggles
“We’ve got to be precise on our route running. We have to be precise on our throws. We have to be precise on our blocks. It goes back to you’ve got to be able to run the ball down there. You’ve got to be precise. Precision is of the utmost importance when you get in the red zone because the windows are so small. Earlier in the year, you saw we were a little off in our windows with the batted balls and our picks. You have to be extremely precise with your landmarks and angles and things like that. I think we can always get better at that kind of stuff. You have to be able to run the ball.”
On QB Baker Mayfield’s passes looking high, and his thoughts on his play overall
“I don’t want to comment on those. I didn’t see it that same way. I thought maybe one or two of them, but I didn’t see it that same way. I thought he did a good job in staying in command of the huddle, of making plays. He even had a couple good scrambles for first downs. I think he probably missed a couple that he’d like to have back. I don’t think they were outright misses, but I think he’d like to have them back a little bit. Overall, I thought he was fine. We were pretty efficient on third down.”
On not having film on Broncos QB Brandon Allen, and if that made defensive gameplanning difficult
“No. We knew what their plan would be. They’re playing with a guy that never started a game in the NFL. They were going to run the ball, they were going to throw naked (bootlegs) and screens, they were going to take a shot down the field and that’s what they did.”
On WRs Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry having to change shoes at halftime
“I just want to win a football game. That’s all I want to do. I want to show up tomorrow and watch some film, grade the film and try to get better. Going to have a good day of gameplanning on Tuesday and come to practice and get better. Get some precision in our route running and our run blocking and double plays and just keep getting better at the game of football. That’s what I want to do.”
On if his job security is a concern
“It really doesn’t concern me. It’s not my decision. I’ve never worried about it before, I’m not worried about it now, I’m not going to worry about it in the future. I’ll just do the best job I can do.”
On injury updates for TE Ricky Seals-Jones and DE Olivier Vernon
“Not yet. I think we’ll get more when we get home and get some X-rays and MRIs.”
On why he made lineup changes on the offensive line
“Just trying to get a little more stout inside. We’ll evaluate it and see how they did.”
###