04:43 Mon 09-28-09
(On any clarification on Chad Pennington's status) - "No, still waiting right now. Trying to gather a little bit more information, really don't have everything together right now."
(On if he has gotten a chance to view the play in which he got hurt) - "Yes, I did. They ran an interior game in there. Really, somebody came all the way around. They were keying the [running] back and the back blocked and they just kept coming. When he kept coming in there, it looked liked as Chad [Pennington] felt him; he then started to sink a little bit to Jake (Long). But, there is no hit underneath or on top of or any of those things. It was kind of a weird looking deal. When he let go of the ball that is where, as he threw the ball, that is where the hit came."
(On if the injury came when Pennington hit the ground) - "No, I don't think it was when he hit the ground."
(On if anything good came out of yesterday's game) - "I would say this. If you were to tell me that we would rush it for 150 against that team. I think we converted 42%-43% on third down. At the end of 12 series in the game, I believe the score was either 10-6 them or 6-3 [Dolphins] at the end of [12] total series in the game or somewhere in there. [Darren] Sproles had 131 all purpose yards. Now in the first two games he had over 200 a piece. It was out of about 24/25 total touches which averaged about 5 yards per touch. The tight end had a couple plays there; we had a couple self inflicted plays from our end as well. Where maybe we didn't make a play or two. I thought there were some decent things. Our rushing defense was very good, 2.5 yards a carry. Got them out of that deal. I thought our special teams played well yesterday again. Those were the positives. Now, on the other side of the coin, we did not do a good job in the red zone. We were, in my mind, about 43-44% efficient in total plays in the tight red area, in the red to tight red area. So what I mean by that is, an efficient play for us being X amount of yards or better down there and it was all, quite honestly, few execution deals there. We turned the ball over down there, which we can't do. Then on the other side of the ball, we talk about big plays. The first big play, I don't remember the number of play it was during the course of the game, there was one big play, which I think resulted in a field goal at the time, and then another big play and then followed up with a big play which was a little flea-flicker. That was a 21-yard gain. In the span of about six plays we had zero big plays for like 30 something plays in the game - in the span of 6 plays, we gave up 3 [big plays]. That will hurt you."
(On Chad Henne's play) - "I think that Chad made a couple of mistakes in there. One of the mistakes was the interception. He actually looked to the right first, they did a pretty good job of sitting on the route there, and then came right to the left, without hesitation, threw the ball out there. I think that one of the ... that is a mistake he can learn from during the course of this thing. Other than that, there were some location issues, throwing the ball with location. Those were the biggest issues during the course of the game from a minus standpoint. From a positive standpoint, he scored 10 points while he was in there on a couple of drives. I don't think at any point during the game was really flustered at all. Thirty something plays. He got hit a couple of times in there. One time we had a mental error up front and [Kevin] Burnett came through the A gap. They made a sack and he wasn't fazed in the least bit. I thought his look and demeanor for going into the game at that point was very good and his handle of the offense was pretty good. Location, he completed 50% I think. A ball here or there and he is over 60%. He has to do a little bit better that way."
(On the injuries to Joey Porter and Vernon Carey) - "Still looking at Joey right now. Joey gave us about 24, 25 plays in there yesterday, some really solid plays. Just there at the end, [it] tightened back up again. We will take a good look at him today, little bit longer look at him today. I think he is a little bit sore right now. Vernon I don't see as an issue."
(On what they can do to get the mid to long range passing game going) - "On the first play of the game, we took a shot down the right side to Teddy [Ginn]. We probably practiced the play, I don't know how many times during the week, and didn't execute the play. Teddy was on top of the play, we didn't execute it. Whether it was the throw, whether it is the adjustment we didn't execute it probably. We tried to get the ball down field a couple of other times and coverage did not dictate it. We had to check the ball down a few times. I think one of things we have to do a better job of, is eventually we have to start to work the ball into the middle of the field a little bit. See if we can get Anthony [Fasano] and Joey [Haynos] involved that way. I think if we can do some of that stuff, we have a chance at some chunk plays at the end of that."
(On if he is considering line-up changes) - "Yes, sure. We're going to sit down as a staff and go through it and see what's what. I told this team yesterday, and I'll say it again: it's not okay to be 0-3 right now. It's not, it's not acceptable, so if there's a place where we can shake some things up, we will."
(On what the team will miss if Pennington is out for an extended period of time) - "Again if, and I really don't know the details, and I'd rather not go down that road, but I would say to you that the leadership thing can't be water off a ducks back. That to me is a major issue. I think just the experience of a guy of his caliber in the huddle like that, he's is our offensive leader and has been. We'll wait and see, we'll see what happens, and we're not sure yet, so hopefully we have him."
(On his assessment of the offensive line against the Chargers) - "The offensive line played physical yesterday, I mean really physical. At the end of the game, Norv [Turner] had come over to me at the end of the game, and that's exactly what he'd said: ‘just how physical of a team you have.' I think that the offensive line set the tone really well early in the ballgame. Very physical, a lot of movement up front. We just got to finish better. We have to learn to finish better and to finish our blocks. I think some of these five yard runs can be eight or nine yard runs at the end of this. Again, there was progress there. Where I didn't love us completely yesterday up there was how we handled a little bit of pressure at times. I think we got to do a better job there."
(On if the team was planning on using QB Pat White yesterday) - "Yes, anytime we plan to activate Pat that way, there's plans to use him. To be honest with you, at the time, he really wasn't needed - and I don't mean this in a bad way - every play matters - but we felt like we were doing some things okay. Although methodical at times, however many plays - 18 plays, 90-something yards, whatever it is - we're still moving the ball well. I think our average [yards] per-carry was 4.8, 4.9 somewhere around there. 42, 44 percent third-down [conversion rate]. So, doing some of those things just never really presented itself. With Pat, backed-up is not the best time to do any of that. We don't do it with Ronnie when we're backed up. I wouldn't say that that's the best time to do it, just didn't present itself at that point. Of course, once Chad [Pennington] was out of the game, that was the end of that."
(On the NFL adages about winning football games, specifically about outrushing your opponent, having not held true this season) - "I have to be honest, I guess I've seen it before, but I've got to look far and hard. Time of possession, third downs, rushing yardage, rushing yardage allowed, all those things. At the end of the whole thing, red zone efficiency and big plays. Red zone efficiency on our offense, big plays on the other side of the ball, I think have to factor in. Rushing attempts and number of completions per team, so you have x amount of rushing attempts and x amount of completions: if that number's greater than your opponent's rushing attempts and completions, that team usually wins 94% of the time. Well, that doesn't work either. Last week we were almost 50 rushing attempts and/or completions better, and this week seven of eight better, and that didn't work either. So, what I have to look at is I have to look at big plays, and the big plays have hurt us, and then our red zone efficiency. We're kicking field goals, and field goals when you're playing the teams that we're playing right now is not going to do it. The teams were playing, the quarterbacks we're playing, we have to have touchdowns down there."
(On if he can rule Pennington out for this week against the Buffalo Bills) - "I can't rule anything out right now. We'll just wait and see."
