On the late defensive pass interference call and if it reminded him of the 2018 NFC Championship Game
“Well this is years later, so a completely different game, different players. I think there were two calls really that I guess that a lot of people were looking at, one over on [WR] Pat Bryant’s side and then the one that was a little bit later. Each week when these things come up… The longer you get in this thing, the less you discuss penalties. You just got to go out and play. I’ve yet to see one get changed either way. You hope that when the game’s over with, the season’s over with, you’re on the positive side of the ledger. I focus a little bit more on the penalties that we can control relative to pre-snap, post-snap, those types of things, but that’s really where I sit with it.”
On WR Pat Bryant’s performance
“He has real good hands away from his body. He high points the two-point play. It was really covered, and [QB] Bo [Nix] and he do a great job of just finding a throwing lane. Because of how he can catch, he’s good with run after the catch. We saw a few snaps of it last night. You guys saw it all through training camp, so it’s good to see him come up in a game like that.”
On if the team lacked urgency in the first half and how it can establish that urgency earlier
“I thought defensively we played pretty well, 13 points and then the last two-minute drive for a field goal. It’s hard to pinpoint it on urgency. I think there probably are a handful of things that we didn’t do particularly well and that they did well for the way the game started. Clearly everyone has a sense of urgency when the game starts. You understand who you’re playing. So I think that it was a tale of two halves, but I don’t know that it wasn’t because of urgency.”
On what they can work on to improve the slow starts to games
“I think it gets back to your initial assessment of the gameplan and how you want to begin a game. Cleaning up the details. Obviously you can’t throw them all in a first-half slow start bin. What you have to be able to look at is, ‘All right, what are the things that have kept us from some early-down efficiency?’ We’re not splitting the atom here relative to trying to move the football more efficiently earlier in the games. I just think that we’ve had a few games that—look at Kansas City and then this game—where just from a yardage, third down, all of those numbers, and even Jacksonville for that matter.”
On if they anticipated the Rams’ offense being so pass heavy
“No. I would’ve said no. Sometimes it’s a by-product. I don’t think we get that game from them if we don’t tie the game or fight back into the game. Then when we were able to, it was never one-dimensional, but I think all of the sudden you throw six passes or however many in the final series. Generally it’s kind of a by-product of you’re not in the lead late. We’ve seen a number of times where those guys—with the lead—are doing a great job with the run-action, the run, the run, and then boom they hit a tight end over the middle to take a knee. I think a lot of it had to do with the second half, and how that unfolded and the attempts then really spiking up.”
On if there is an art form to NFL players selling calls like in the NBA or soccer
“We’re not at that soccer level yet, cause we saw that for a summer. (Laughs) I think it’s probably south of where the NBA is. I think there’s nothing that anyone works on. If they’re trying to catch a pass or… It’s not something that’s practiced. I don’t know other than his [WR Pat Bryant] natural reaction, outside of that, there’s really nothing we look at.”
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