Sir Purr
Well-known member
- Mar 16, 2019
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HEAD COACH MATT RHULE
RE: Opening Statement
Obviously, not happy about tonight. Specifically, the second half. Let it get away from us. It hasn't really happened this year and it happened today. Credit to the Saints. They had a lot on the line. You've guys have heard me talk about December football. That was it. That was a December football second half. Sealing it. Running the football. Playing good defense. Those are all the things you have to do to be a legitimate playoff team. That's what they were, and we were not able to respond the way we like. With regards to Teddy [Bridgewater] obviously he got hit in the ankle and tried to gut through it. (It) just didn't look like he was getting the velocity and the movement. They were going to pressure us all night so we made the decision to go to PJ [Walker] and let him play the rest of the half and see what happened. Again, credit to them. Not our best football tonight.
RE: Teddy Bridgewater's performance today and whether he will be the starter next season
I'm going to talk to you guys tomorrow. I think tonight I'm going to just talk about this game and today. Obviously, we can't have those interceptions. The first one, afterwards Joe [Brady] said to me, that's just not a good play call by me. The guy saw DJ [Moore] and just came out of coverage and went and got it. I have to see it on tape to see exactly what happened. The second one just can't happen. Throwing the ball into zone coverage and trying to do a little too much. That was when he was dealing with the foot. I wasn't sure if he just couldn't get the velocity on the ball that he wanted or if he was rushing to get through his progressions, but I think tonight was the story of early on in the game of us getting down inside the 30, inside the 40 and not getting points. We had the interception inside the 40. We had the 4th and 1 that we didn't get inside the strike zone. We had many chances to score but from the 30, really, 40 on in, came up empty. We had to play better overall. I'm sure Teddy would be the first to tell you tonight was not a great night for him but it really wasn't a great night for anybody.
RE: On decision to replace Bridgewater and the play of the defense
Teddy [Bridgewater] was just what I said earlier. He got banged up. Didn't look like he was moving great. Didn't look like he had a lot of velocity pushing off that foot, so I pulled him. I thought maybe PJ [Walker] would go in there and play well and give us a spark. Again, I just didn't think Teddy looked real healthy to me. Defensively, obviously, we turned the ball over twice inside their territory. I think that's what happened, the game goes so fast for me. They had 14 points off of turnovers. We have been a team who hasn't really turned the ball over a ton. We protect the ball. To have a five-interception night obviously really hurts us. Defensively, I thought we struggled versus the run at times. Played some great defense early on third down. Got a couple sacks. Knocked the ball loose. Got our hands on a couple balls and then I think we just kind of wore down. Didn't have [Brian] Burns out there, but I thought the other guys played well in his absence. I just think we wore down as the game went on and the second half couldn't make the stops. Obviously, those turnovers didn't help us.
RE: Reasons for Bridgewater's production over the last month
Like I said, tonight I would probably just talk about this game. I'll answer everything tomorrow in terms of perspective of the year and all those different things. Tonight, I thought we had guys open early. I thought we were moving the ball. Again, just when we got down inside the 40, we kind of bogged down and missed some opportunities. We didn't hit on that one ball in the corner to DJ [Moore] that would have been a huge, obviously, touchdown for us, a big play for us. I just felt like crossing the 40, we just couldn't make something happen. Another thing, it says here 1 of 9, at one point in the first half we were 1 of 6 on third down. I talked all week we had to be efficient on offense on third down and that did not happen tonight.
RE: Whether the decision to sit Bridgewater was partly based on performance and injury
I'd rather let my words speak. Just what I said, he got hurt on that one, I don't know if it was a sack or whatever, but he came limping off. I shouldn't say that. The one that got the ball down to Curtis [Samuel] down to whatever yard line that he hit that big play. He got hit. He got up. He limped down there. If you go back and look at the tape, kind of limps handed the ball off on the run. So, I just said, 'hey, how is he doing?' They said he was fine. He went back in there and then he was just, didn't look like he had the movement or the power that he needed. So, I said, let's give PJ [Walker} a shot.
RE: Who told Teddy Bridgewater he was not going back in and how did he take it?
Joe [Brady] and the offensive staff talked to him. I didn't talk to him. Joe and (the staff) talked to him. Teddy [Bridgewater] is a consummate professional. I'm sure he was fine.
RE: Whether there was consideration to take Bridgewater out at half time
Like I said, I was watching him in the second half. It was, I'm not sure of the score at halftime, 16-7, I can't remember the score at halftime. We came up and held them to a field goal moving the ball. It just looked like he was limping. Looked like he just didn't have what he needed so I made that call.
RE: Decision to make Tommy Stevens active over Will Grier
He was going to play wildcat. Will [Grier] is a quarterback, quarterback. Tommy ran a route tonight. We knew with only two tailbacks active, we would have an opportunity to use someone else as a wildcat quarterback. Tommy filled that role. That has nothing to do with Will.
RE: Whether the decision to play Tommy Stevens was based on the lack of running backs available for the game